- 14th Bell chief executive leads Canada's
communications company into its 140th year
- Announces new strategic imperatives, promotions to Bell
executive team
MONTRÉAL, Jan. 6, 2020 /CNW
Telbec/ - BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE) (NYSE: BCE) (Bell) today
welcomes Mirko Bibic as President
and Chief Executive Officer and announces his appointment to the
boards of BCE and Bell Canada. Mr.
Bibic assumes the chief executive role following George Cope's retirement yesterday.
"We welcome Mirko Bibic as our
new chief executive as he leads Bell in delivering all the benefits
of the digital communications future to Canadians," said
Gordon Nixon, Chair of the Board for
BCE and Bell Canada. "A key leader
in every part of Bell's transformation into Canada's driver of
communications innovation, Mirko has the vision, skills and
experience to build on Bell's strengths as the country's leading
communications company and deliver value for all our
stakeholders."
"It is an honour to lead the Bell team into our 140th
year of service to Canadians since our founding here in Montréal in
1880, and we thank George Cope for
his leadership in laying such a strong foundation for continued
success," said Mr. Bibic. "We look forward to bringing all the
opportunities of the new era of integrated digital communications
to our customers, communities, investors and employees."
"Bell's goal is to advance how Canadians connect with each other
and the world. Our strategic imperatives frame our longstanding
strengths in networks, service innovation and content creation, and
position the Bell team for continued growth and innovation
leadership in a fast-changing communications marketplace," said Mr.
Bibic. "The near-instant connections of fibre and upcoming 5G
service, and the opportunities represented by IoT, AI and new
content platforms, will create unprecedented opportunities for
consumers, businesses and communities. The Bell team's role is to
champion customer experience in a new world of communication
possibilities."
Bell's 6 Strategic Imperatives
- Build the best networks: Expand Bell's next-generation
network leadership with continued capital investment in all-fibre
home and business connections in more places, enhanced rural
connectivity with Wireless Home Internet and the upcoming launch of
mobile 5G service.
- Drive growth with innovative services: Leverage our
network superiority to provide innovative, integrated
communications services to Canadian consumers and businesses,
including the fastest Internet and best Wi-Fi, the highest-quality
mobile services and a growing range of next-generation IoT
solutions, smart home products and business solutions like Virtual
Network Services.
- Deliver the most compelling content: Inform and
engage Canadian audiences with a unified approach to delivering our
top TV, media and entertainment assets, leveraging our trusted
media brands and content creation leadership to bring Canadians the
content they want the most on any platform they choose.
- Champion customer experience: Deliver a positive
customer experience for consumers and business customers by making
it easier to do business with Bell at every level, from shopping to
buying to installation to after-sale support.
- Operate with agility and cost efficiency: Enhance our
operational excellence in a competitive marketplace and build on
our industry-leading cost structure with a focus on efficiency and
disciplined cost management across our business segments.
- Engage and invest in our people: Recognize our team's
importance to Bell's competitive success by strengthening our
award-winning workplace culture with new technology and support
resources and by offering enhanced development opportunities,
enabling our diverse and dynamic team members to achieve their full
potential.
Bell executive team update
Mr. Bibic also announced a
restructured Bell executive leadership team effective today: "I'm
proud to welcome Claire Gillies and
Karine Moses to the Bell executive
team and announce new roles for current executives Blaik Kirby and John
Watson," he said. "These seasoned leaders will all bring
their dedication, proven skills and deep experience across multiple
Bell business units to leading the execution of our growth
strategy."
- Blaik Kirby becomes Group
President, Mobility, Residential and Small Business. Previously
President of Bell Mobility, Mr. Kirby has held a range of senior
marketing and executive positions since joining Bell in 2005 as
Vice President, Corporate Strategy.
- Claire Gillies has been
promoted to President, Bell
Mobility. Previously Senior Vice President, Retail, Ms.
Gillies joined Bell in 2000 and has served in progressively senior
roles in marketing, sales and channel management, including as
President of Bell subsidiary The Source.
- Karine Moses has been
promoted to Vice Chair, Québec. Also continuing in her role as
President, Bell Media Québec, Ms. Moses joined Bell in 1997 and has
held senior leadership positions across Bell's Network, Field
Services and Media groups. Ms. Moses succeeds retiring Vice Chair,
Québec Martine Turcotte.
- John Watson becomes Group
President, Customer Experience, continuing to lead all customer
service and support operations in the execution of Bell's Champion
Customer Experience imperative. Previously Executive Vice
President, Customer Operations, Mr. Watson joined Bell in 2010 as
Senior Vice President, Operations.
About Mirko
Bibic
Previously Bell's Chief Operating Officer, Mr.
Bibic assumed the role of President and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada today. He has also served as Bell's
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and as Chief Legal
and Regulatory Officer. He joined Bell in 2004 as Senior Vice
President, Regulatory Affairs.
You can find more details about Bell's executive team at the
newly enhanced BCE.ca website. To learn more about Bell products
and services, please visit Bell.ca.
Bell Let's Talk Day #10 is January
29
Wednesday, January
29 marks the 10th annual Bell Let's Talk Day, and the mental
health initiative's 2020 national awareness campaign begins today.
Please join us in talking about the ways we can enable positive
change in mental health through actions large and small that
improve the lives of people living with mental illness.
Bell Let's Talk promotes Canadian mental health with national
awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let's Talk Day and
significant Bell funding of community care and access, research and
workplace leadership initiatives throughout the year. To learn
more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.
Caution concerning forward-looking statements
Certain
statements made in this news release are forward-looking
statements. These statements include, without limitation,
statements relating to our network deployment and capital
investment plans, BCE's business outlook, objectives, plans and
strategic priorities, and other statements that are not historical
facts. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the
words assumption, goal, guidance, objective, outlook, project,
strategy, target and other similar expressions or future or
conditional verbs such as aim, anticipate, believe, could,
expect, intend, may, plan, seek, should, strive and
will. All such forward-looking statements are made pursuant
to the 'safe harbour' provisions of applicable Canadian securities
laws and of the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements, by their very nature, are subject to
inherent risks and uncertainties and are based on several
assumptions, both general and specific, which give rise to the
possibility that actual results or events could differ materially
from our expectations expressed in or implied by such
forward-looking statements and that our business outlook,
objectives, plans and strategic priorities may not be achieved.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance or
events, and we caution you against relying on any of these
forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements
contained in this news release describe our expectations as of
January 6, 2020 and, accordingly, are
subject to change after such date. Except as may be required by
applicable securities laws, we do not undertake any obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this
news release, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise. Our network deployment and capital investment plans,
are subject to risks and accordingly, there can be no assurance
that our network deployment plans will be completed. In addition,
the forward-looking statements made in this news release assume
that the economic, market and operational assumptions as well as
the material risk factors described in the documents referred to
below will remain substantially unchanged during the periods for
which these forward-looking statements are made.
For additional information on assumptions and risks underlying
certain forward-looking statements made in this news release,
please refer to BCE's 2018 Annual MD&A dated March 7, 2019 (included in the BCE 2018 Annual
Report) and BCE's 2019 First, Second and Third Quarter MD&As
dated May 1, 2019, July 31, 2019 and October
30, 2019, respectively, filed by BCE with the Canadian
provincial securities regulatory authorities (available at
Sedar.com) and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(available at SEC.gov). These documents are also available at
BCE.ca.
About BCE
BCE is Canada's largest communications
company, providing advanced Bell broadband wireless, TV, Internet
and business communications services from Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Bell MTS and other
leading brands alongside the country's premier content creation and
media assets from Bell Media. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca
or BCE.ca.
Media inquiries:
Caroline Audet
514-391-9794
caroline.audet@bell.ca
@Bell_News
Investor inquiries:
Thane Fotopoulos
514-870-4619
thane.fotopoulos@bell.ca
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SOURCE Bell Canada