T-Mobile US has promoted Srini Gopalan to chief executive officer (CEO) from his role as chief operating officer (COO) on November 1 to replace Mike Sievert, who has held the job for nearly six years.
Mike Sievert, 56, will become vice chairman, a new position in which he will continue to advise management on strategy, the telecom carrier said in a statement.
“Srini Gopalan brings a wealth of experience and is a very impressive leader, and they’ve handled this transition exceptionally well. I don’t expect there to be any fall-off at all in T-Mobile’s performance,” MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett said.
Moreover, Srini Gopalan expressed his expertise in “technology-driven transformations.”
“That’s really what the next stage of growth at T-Mobile is going to be. What you should expect is a lot of continuation of changing the industry for the good of the customer,” Srini Gopalan said during his interaction with Bloomberg.
As T-Mobile continues to evolve, the industry will watch to see if Srini Gopalan can steer the company into new waters, while keeping to its core of being a disruptor, said Roger Entner, an analyst and founder of Recon Analytics.
“The biggest internal risk is, how does the new direction mesh with the traditional ‘un-carrier’ ethos? His challenge is how to keep the un-carrier spirit alive,” he said.
Meet Srini Gopalan
Before he was appointed the CEO, Srini Gopalan oversaw the company’s global technology, telecommunications and business operations to drive results through operational excellence, digital innovation and customer-first strategies.
He has led T-Mobile’s digital transformation, enhanced execution and customer experience across the Consumer and Business groups, and continues to evolve the company into a more data-driven, AI-enabled, digital-first organisation.
As CEO, he is charged with unleashing the next era of growth for the un-carrier, leading from a position of strength and continuing to reimagine what’s possible for customers.
Before joining the leadership team, Srini Gopalan served on the board of directors at T-Mobile, where he played a role in the success of the un-carrier strategy.
Srini has a Master of Business Administration from St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi, India, and he holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad), one of the top business schools in India.
Srini brings extensive technology, telecommunications, and business operations expertise to T-Mobile, as well as a record of delivering operational excellence, digital transformation, and customer-first strategies.
Before joining T-Mobile, he served on the board of directors and most recently served as CEO of Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) Germany business, where he doubled its growth rate, expanded fibre to millions of homes, and secured record mobile market share.