Leadership team
Andrew Penn
Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Penn became Chief Executive Officer on 1 May, 2015 after serving as Telstra's Chief Financial Officer and Group Executive International.
Andrew is an experienced senior executive with a career spanning more than 30 years. Prior to joining Telstra, Andrew was with AXA Asia Pacific for 20 years where he held a number of positions including Group Chief Executive (2006-2011), Chief Executive Officer for Australia and New Zealand, Group Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive for Asia and spent time based in Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia. Under Andrew’s leadership AXA built a successful Asian platform, which was sold to its parent company in 2011 for $10.4bn.
In addition to his business activities, Andrew has contributed widely to not-for-profit and community organisations. He is Life Governor and Foundation Board member of Very Special Kids. He is also a member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Advisory Council, The Big Issue Advisory Group, and an Amy Gillet Foundation Ambassador.
He is a passionate about the visual arts and supports Telstra’s programmes with the National Gallery of Victoria, Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Art Award.
Andrew is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, he has an MBA from Kingston University, London and is a Graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
Warwick Bray
Chief Financial Officer
Warwick Bray became Chief Financial Officer on 1 May, 2015 after serving as Telstra's Group Managing Director Products.
Warwick has more than 25 years of global experience in finance, strategy, telecommunications and business development.
He is internationally recognised for his mobile strategy and technology expertise and has a proven track record in leading and significantly growing multi-billion dollar businesses.
Mr Bray lead Telstra’s Product group from 2013 and was responsible for business activities generating $15 billion in annual revenue including mobiles, cable, ADSL, PSTN, NBN and Wi-Fi.
He joined Telstra in 2009 as head of corporate strategy, working with CEO David Thodey to redefine Telstra’s corporate growth strategy and renew Telstra’s emphasis on customer service. He became head of mobiles in 2010, growing the business to $9.7 billion in FY14 from $8.0 billion in FY11.
He was Chairman of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association from 2012 to 2014, a Director of Telstra’s former Hong Kong mobile subsidiary, CSL, from 2012 to 2014 and served on the strategy committee of the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) from 2013 to 2015. He has been on the Board and Chairman of the Audit & Risk Committee of Foxtel since May 2015.
Prior to Telstra, Mr Bray worked in investment banking roles at Taemas Bridge in Australia (2008-2009), Babcock and Brown in London (2006-2008), independent consultancy and a start-up firm (2004-2006), JP Morgan in London (2002-2004) and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London (1999-2002). He spent 10 years at McKinsey and Company in London and Melbourne from 1989-1998 advising incumbent, new entrant and mobile telecommunications companies on strategy, regulation, mergers and acquisitions, capital spend and operational effectiveness.
He started his career in 1983 as an analyst programmer with Shell and joined Hewlett Packard as a Systems Engineer in 1984 before leaving to join McKinsey.
Mr Bray holds a BSc (Hons) and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Melbourne.
Alexandra Badenoch
Group Executive, Human Resources
In August 2016, Alexandra Badenoch rejoined Telstra to take up the role of Group Executive Human Resources. She oversees the HR function which provides strategic advice and support to the business in the areas of Organisational Development and Performance, Talent, Recruitment, Remuneration and Rewards, HR Systems, and Workplace Relations.
Prior to this, she was Director of Human Resources, Corporate Affairs and Customer at Asciano, Australia’s largest rail and ports operator, and brings a wealth of experience dealing with a highly diversified and international workforce.
Before joining Asciano, Alex worked at Telstra for more than five years as Executive Director Organisational Development & Talent and Executive Director HR for Telstra’s Consumer business, including BigPond and Telstra Country Wide.
Known for her change management skills and ability to deliver strong commercial outcomes, Alex has designed and implemented key initiatives to drive successful change across multiple organisations, including Novell Inc and Coles Myer.
Robyn Denholm
Chief Operations Officer
Robyn Denholm joined Telstra as Chief Operations Officer in January 2017. Robyn oversees Telstra Operations which is responsible for all aspects of Telstra’s Networks, design build and run, for the delivery of new network services and solutions, for both enterprise and network information technology systems and for group wide property and facilities. Telstra Operations is also responsible for the negotiation and delivery of Telstra’s commercial agreements with nbn co.
Robyn was most recently Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer of global networking equipment and software security firm, Juniper Networks.
Robyn was in her role at Juniper Networks from 2007 to mid-2016. Over that time Juniper’s revenues more than doubled and she was a driving force in the company’s 2014 restructure and turnaround with record revenue and profitability performance in 2015.
She led global functions including Field Operations, Information Technology, Manufacturing, Finance, Treasury, Planning, Business Transformation, Real Estate, Investor Relations and Internal Audit.
Robyn joined Juniper after 11 years with Sun Microsystems most recently as Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategic Planning. She held roles with Sun in Australia and the United States. She also worked for Toyota and Arthur Andersen in Australia.
Robyn has been on the California National Diversity council list of Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology for both 2015 and 2016 as well as being honoured with the commonwealth Club 2016 Distinguished Citizen Award.
She is a Board member of renewable energy and electric vehicle company Tesla Inc. and the Swiss robotics, power and automation technology company ABB.
Robyn holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Sydney and a master's degree in commerce from the University of New South Wales and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants ANZ.
Stephen Elop
Group Executive, Technology, Innovation and Strategy
Stephen Elop was appointed to the newly created role of Group Executive, Technology, Innovation and Strategy and commenced on 04 April 2016. Technology, Innovation and Strategy brings together the aligned parts of the business which includes the Chief Technology Office, Chief Scientist, Telstra Software Group and Corporate Strategy with strong links into product development functions. Stephen will be responsible for leading the company strategy to become a world class technology company.
Prior to this Stephen held global executive roles including EVP, Microsoft Devices Group where he lead the transition of the Nokia devices asset into Microsoft; and President and Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board at Nokia responsible for driving fundamental strategic, structural and cultural change during an intense challenging period.
Stephen also was also President of Microsoft Business Division, Chief Operating Officer at Juniper Networks, President, Worldwide Field Operations at Adobe Systems Inc. and Chief Executive Officer at Macromedia Inc.
Stephen holds a Bachelor of Computing Engineering and Management, Summa Cum Laude and Doctor of Science (honorary) from McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.
Will Irving
Group Executive Telstra Wholesale
Will Irving commenced his role as GE Telstra Wholesale at the end of April 2016 following a brief period as the GE of Retail from mid-March pending Kevin Russell’s arrival. Will was Group Managing Director of Telstra Business from mid-2011 to March 2016. He was responsible for revenues of $4.9 Billion and Telstra’s relationships with over one million Australian small and medium sized enterprises. In that time, Telstra Business improved its customer service, grew market share and lifted its growth rate – particularly in cloud services. Telstra Business also made three acquisitions in intelligent monitoring, video analytics as well as e-commerce.
Previously Will was Telstra’s Group General Counsel from January 2005 to August 2011. He played a key role in Telstra’s $11B NBN deal and in the T3 Telstra privatisation, and was the Australian Corporate Lawyer of the Year in 2006. Will joined Telstra in 1997 from King & Wood Mallesons and headed legal teams in Wholesale, International, Technology and Operations prior to being Deputy Group General Counsel from 2001-2005.
Will has served on NFP boards in corporate law and access to pro-bono legal services and is currently on the Advisory Board of the Melbourne University Law School. He chaired Telstra’s Gender Diversity Council under David Thodey and is a White Ribbon Ambassador (the campaign to end male domestic violence).
Will has degrees in Commerce and in Law (Hons) from the University of Melbourne. Will has four children aged between 9 and 16, lives in Melbourne, and somehow finds time for running half-marathons and a bit of tennis in-between his most important weekend role as a taxi service!
Carmel Mulhern
Group General Counsel
Carmel Mulhern is Telstra's Group General Counsel. Carmel is responsible for providing legal advice to Telstra's Board, CEO and senior management. Carmel manages one of Australia’s largest in-house legal teams, with lawyers in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth, Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, London and New York.
Prior to this, Carmel was the Telstra Company Secretary reporting to the Board and responsible for continuous disclosure compliance, corporate governance and communication to Telstra’s 1.4 million shareholders.
Carmel joined Telstra in July 2000 as Corporate Counsel and soon became General Counsel within the Finance and Administration business unit. Carmel played a key role in the T2 and T3 transactions, Telstra's first share buyback and, more recently, the NBN transaction.
Prior to joining Telstra Carmel was a senior associate in the Mergers and Acquisitions group of Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Melbourne. Carmel has also held the position of associate to Justice Mary Gaudron of the High Court of Australia and associate to Justice Philip Cummins of the Supreme Court of Victoria. She has lectured at Monash University on director’s duties and advanced corporations law and is the author of two legal text books.
Carmel holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland and a Master of Laws from Monash University.
Carmel is a member of Telstra's Ethics Committee, a member of the St James Ethics Advisory Council and a Director of Justice Connects (formerly PILCH VIC).
Joe Pollard
Chief Marketing Officer and Group Executive Media
Joe Pollard became Chief Marketing Officer and Group Executive Media on 9 October 2015 after serving as Group Managing Director Marketing and Media.
Joe is an experienced media and marketing executive with over 30 years experience in business leadership positions in the marketing, media and digital industries in Australia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the United States and Japan. Joe joined Telstra from Nine Entertainment where she was a Non Executive Director. Previous roles include CEO of Publicis Mojo, Sales and Marketing Director for Nine Entertainment and CEO of Nine MSN. Joe also spent ten years at Nike Inc in the United States running their global media investments, direct to consumer digital channels and branded content divisions.
She is currently a Non Executive Director of AMP Bank Limited and a member of Chief Executive Women.
Brendon Riley
Group Executive, Telstra Enterprise
Brendon Riley is the Group Executive, Telstra Enterprise, which is responsible for providing services to thousands of enterprise, government and international wholesale customers. With revenues in excess of A$6 billion per annum and operations in 20 countries, GES offers connectivity, platforms, applications and tailored industry solutions to its enterprise and government customers and operates the largest submarine cable network in the Asia Pacific region.
Brendon joined Telstra in 2011 as Chief Operating Officer (COO) with responsibility for all aspects of Telstra’s operating environment including networks, field services and the National Broadband Network. During his time as COO, Telstra deployed its award winning 4G LTE mobile network, developed the Network Applications and Services business and transformed the division’s operating model to align to the company’s long term strategy.
Prior to joining Telstra, Brendon spent more than 25 years with IBM and held a number of senior executive positions in Europe, Asia and Australia, including the Head of Europe and CEO of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Brendon is currently a member of the boards of Ooyala and Telstra Ventures. He has also served as a member of the President’s Council of the Confederation of British Industry and as a director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Brendon holds a Bachelor of Business in Information Processing from the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University).
He hails from the South West of Western Australia and is now based in Sydney.
Kevin Russell
Group Executive, Telstra Consumer and Small Business
Kevin Russell is currently Group Executive Telstra Consumer and Small Business, commencing in the position in late April 2016.
Kevin is an experienced Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer in telecommunications and technology companies with both international as well as Australian experience.
Kevin joined Telstra from his previous role as Chief Executive Officer of Collinear Networks Inc, a USA based start-up company bringing to market cutting edge technologies and products that deliver disruptive capabilities and reliability for global telecommunication providers and enterprises.
Kevin was Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Australia and Chief Country Officer, Optus between 2012 and 2014. In this role he was responsible for the day to day operations of the mass market segments of Optus’ business as well as the Wholesale and Satellite division. He was the principle liaison with Australia’s local and regulatory bodies.
Prior to joining Optus, Kevin spent 16 years working for the Hutchison Whampoa Group in a variety of senior leadership roles. He spent five years (2006 – 2011) in the United Kingdom as Deputy Chief Executive Officer and subsequently Chief Executive Officer of Hutchison Three UK, where he was responsible for leading the turnaround of the business. Before joining Hutchison Three UK, Mr Russell was Chief Executive Officer of Hutchison Telecoms Australia (2001 – 2006) where he led the roll-out of Australia’s first 3G network and the launch of 3G services. Previous roles included Chief Financial Officer at Partner Communications in Israel and Director of Finance for Hutchison Telecom International.
He has a Bachelor of Arts in Accountancy & Computer Science from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Mr Russell lives in Sydney with his wife and two teenage sons. His interests include cycling, both mountain bike and road, and football.
Tony Warren
Group Executive, Corporate Affairs
Dr Tony Warren is Group Executive of Corporate Affairs at Telstra. He is responsible for Regulatory Affairs, Government Relations, Engagement,External and Internal Communications, and Sustainability. The group has accountability for managing Telstra's external environment and corporate reputation. Dr Warren is also responsible for leading Telstra's renegotiations with the National Broadband Network (NBN). He is based in Canberra.
Dr Warren was previously Executive Director of NBN Engagement for Telstra. Working with a dedicated team of experts from across the company, Dr Warren led the negotiations on behalf of Telstra that culminated in an AUD11 billion deal to secure Telstra's participation in the Australian Government's National Broadband Network. From September 2005 to June 2010, Dr Warren was Executive Director Regulatory Affairs for Telstra. In this role, he had primary responsibility for managing Telstra's regulatory issues and public policy positioning.
Prior to joining Telstra in 2002, Dr Warren was a Director of the Network Economics Consulting Group (NECG). He joined NECG in 1997 and helped build it into Australia's premier regulatory economics consulting firm, working closely with companies such as Telstra on all economic aspects of regulation, competition policy, trade practices, intellectual property and related issues. During his time at NECG, Dr Warren spent four months on secondment at the Oxford Economic Research Associates in the United Kingdom working on a series of projects.
Before joining NECG, Dr Warren was a post-doctoral fellow in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University, where he led a team of researchers developing methodologies for quantifying barriers to trade and investment in services. This project, which built upon Dr Warren's PhD dissertation on “The Political Economy of Services Trade and Investment”, allowed, for the first time, the systematic modelling of the economic effects of services liberalisation, including telecommunications.
Cynthia Whelan
Group Executive New Businesses
Cynthia Whelan has been the Group Executive responsible for Telstra’s New Businesses portfolio, including Telstra Health, Home and Premium Services, Ventures, Energy and Connected Business, since October 2015. She is also the Chairman of the Foxtel pay-TV business.
Cynthia joined Telstra in August 2013 as the Group Managing Director Strategic Finance covering Strategy, M&A, Treasury and Investor Relations and she was responsible for Telstra’s international operations from 2015-2016.
Prior to joining Telstra, Cynthia had a career spanning more than 20 years in investment banking in the Asia-Pacific region and her last role was the Chief Executive for Barclays in Australia/New Zealand. As the CEO she was a member of Barclays' Asia Pacific Executive Committee and co-chair of Barclay’s Women’s Initiative Network for Asia Pacific. She has also previously held roles at Merrill Lynch and UBS.
She is a member of the Australia Advisory Board for Room to Read, a global organisation focused on literacy and gender equality in education.
Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University and has completed the Oxford Strategic Leadership Program.