Eir’s Dublin headquarters. Image: William Murphy/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Ahead of an expected flotation on the stock exchange, Ladbrokes Coral executive Carl Leaver has been named as Eir’s new chair.
Over the past few months, Eir has been trying to trim its annual budget as it plans to offer itself to the mercy of the stock market. This included an announcement this month that it is seeking up to 240 redundancies, largely within its Dublin office.
Now, the telecoms company has revealed that current chair Pádraig McManus will end his almost five-year term and hand over the reins to Ladbrokes Coral executive, Carl Leaver.
Leaver is expected to begin his tenure on 1 September this year, with McManus set to stay on in an advisory role.
Prior to joining Ladbrokes Coral, Leaver was the CEO of Gala Coral before the takeover, where he subsequently held the role of executive deputy chair.
Before that, Leaver held the position of director of international, home and direct for Marks & Spencer, overseeing its restructuring that led to the doubling of underlying profits over a two-year period. He was also previously CEO of the financial consultancy group DeVere and, since September of last year, he has been the non-executive chair of the Italian restaurant chain, Carluccio’s.
Commenting on behalf of the board, Eir CEO Richard Moat said: “Carl has a wealth of business experience across a range of consumer sectors and we look forward to his leadership of the board. I also look forward to Pádraig continuing to play a key role in supporting Eir.”
Meanwhile, Leaver himself said he hopes to continue the company’s rural broadband programme.
“I am looking forward to working with Richard and his senior management team on the roll-out of super-fast broadband to a further 300,000 premises, which represents an additional €200m investment,” he said.
Eir’s Dublin headquarters. Image: William Murphy/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
