Gulf Bridge International announces two key appointments
DOHA, June 23, 2021
Gulf Bridge International (GBI) has announced two senior appointments - Brendan Press as the chief commercial officer and Karl Erik Broten as the chief financial officer - as part of its global expansion strategy.
Headquartered in Qatar, GBI is a global cloud, connectivity, and content enabler that owns and operates a smart and fully managed network.
Press has over 20 years’ experience in telecommunications across sales and business development, marketing and customer service.
He joins from Orange Business Services, UK, where he was Global Lead Director, Business Development and led teams delivering digital transformation programmes to global companies in the areas of cloud, security and data management.
Prior to this, Press was VP, UAE Global Services at Etisalat, UAE.
In this position, he had clinched contracts with major regional and global companies including Thomson Reuters, ADIA, FAB and Emirates and partnered with multiple carriers in the delivery of global services.
Commenting on his appointment, Press said: “GBI ensures connectivity across the Middle East and beyond with our GBI Smart Network spanning internationally. It’s an incredibly exciting company to be a part of at a time of rapidly increasing demand for data and digital services across the region."
"As a team I want to make sure our partners and customers understand our unique proposition and can trust GBI to deliver quality and cost effective solutions. I look forward to leading a high-performing team to deliver unique value and provide a platform for transformation across the region,” he added.
Broten similarly brings decades of extensive experience in the ICT sector. He previously worked for the Telenor Group for 23 years in various finance functions, 16 of which he was as CFO, across six different markets in Europe and Asia.
Most recently he was CFO for Digi Telecommunications in Malaysia, and for Grameenphone in Bangladesh. Both companies are locally listed with Telenor ASA as the controlling shareholder.
At Grameenphone. Broten contributed to grow revenue and operating profit by controlling spending and streamlining approval processes, and by strengthening relationships with regulatory/tax authorities.
At Digi Telecommunications he boosted cost control and efficiency, reduced the cost of capital, and delivered best-practice operations oversight. Moreover, during this time, he relished establishing a sharia compliant bond via a heavily oversubscribed book building exercise.
Broten said: “GBI is at the top of its game, offering unparalleled bandwidth and low latency to customers globally, so I’m delighted to be a part of the team helping to propel GBI forward. My experience working in multi-cultural environments and ensuring seamless cooperation across organisations will support us in achieving strategic and financial goals set by the board.”
Welcoming the new appointments, CEO Cengiz Oztelcan said: “We have made these two strategic senior hires to support GBI on our exciting journey ahead. Press and Broten will be great additions to the existing team and their valuable experience will push us forward."
"Press has an impressive track record in leading teams to achieve exceptional results, while Broten is a highly accomplished finance professional specialising in promoting efficiency, innovation, and customer satisfaction in large service organisations," he noted.
"They both bring a great mix of hands-on experience and expertise which will add value and continue the success of GBI,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service
