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Report claims BT’s appointment of outgoing Worldpay chief could be made official next month
The BT CEO rumour mill coughed up another potential candidate over the weekend in the form of Worldpay co-chief executive Philip Jansen.
A source familiar with the recruitment process said in a Sky News report on Saturday that Jansen is the U.K. incumbent’s preferred choice for CEO.
Payment technology company Worldpay revealed last week that Jansen will leave the company at the end of the year. Outgoing BT CEO Gavin Patterson, who in June announced his intention to step down, has maintained that he will leave by the end of this year provided a suitable replacement has been found.
Jansen once served as managing director of U.K. cableco Telewest, the forerunner to Virgin Media.
The BT role is "his job to turn down," claimed Sky’s source on Saturday.
Jansen joins Verizon Wireless president Ronan Dunne, former Ofcom and NTL chief Stephen Carter, current EE CEO Marc Allera, Tele2’s Allison Kirkby, and Openreach CEO Clive Selley on the alleged list of possible replacements for Patterson.
Proximus CEO Dominique Leroy and former EE chief Olaf Swantee are also said to be on BT’s radar.
However, according to Sky’s source, BT’s new chairman Jan du Plessis would prefer to recruit someone not currently working in telecoms.
"He wants someone to look at the business with a fresh pair of eyes," the source claimed.
