Ex-acting CEO Luiga to leave Telia

Christian Luiga, the chief financial officer and now ex-acting CEO and president of Nordic service provider Telia has resigned.

Christian Luiga

Luiga’s departure follows new CEO and president Allison Kirkby taking up her post.

Luiga, who been working for Telia Company in various positions since 2009, started as CFO in April 2014. Since September 2019, He was appointed as acting CEO and President following the departure of Johan Dennelind, the architect of Telia’s acquisition of Bonnier Broadcasting an now CEO of Emirates service provider Du.

Telia said that a search process for a permanent CFO will start immediately. Douglas Lubbe will continue in his role as acting CFO for now.

Luiga will continue to work for Telia during his notice period and assist with the hand-over of several ongoing projects. He will report to Kirkby, but not be a member of the group executive management, before leaving on September 15

“Christian has been an important part of Telia Company’s executive management for many years and has, with his strong leadership and business acumen, been a driving force for many of the changes that the company has implemented during this time. I want to direct a special thank you to Christian for his time as acting CEO; a task he has performed with a strong commercial focus and engagement,” said Lars-Johan Jarnheimer,” chair of the Board.

“Christian has done an excellent job throughout his time at Telia and during these last eight months as he steered the Company as acting CEO. I am especially grateful for his desire to ensure the CEO transition was handled in the best possible way, and I look forward to him helping me get off to the fastest possible start during the next few months,” said Kirkby.

Luiga said: “Being part of a leader like Telia Company through these times of massive changes and challenges, first as CFO and then as acting CEO and president, has been a very rewarding experience. But all good things must come to an end, and after some time for deliberation I have concluded that this is the right time for me to leave Telia Company. It is with great confidence I hand over to our new CEO Allison Kirkby. I also would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our amazing employees for their hard work and support during this period.”