BT appoints new Global Services chief

8th Jan 2010 07:41

British Telecom has appointed a new chief executive for its troubled Global Services arm, the third person to head the division in under two years.Jeff Kelly, a US citizen, will replace Hanif Lalani who is leaving BT after 26 years, but just a year in charge of Global Services, to pursue 'personal business interests'.Kelly is an IT industry veteran with 25 years IT services experience at US firm EDS, where he most recently ran its $10bn Americas division.Global Services has been thorn in BT's side for the past two years. Its poor performance prompted a profits warning for the whole group in October 2008 and BT took huge write offs last year as it rationalised the business. In May, BT wrote down £1.2bn on Global Services' contracts, with the NHS and Thomson Reuters. In addition, there was a restructuring charge of £280m with a further £420m hit to be taken over the next two years.BT said today that Lalani has played an important role at Global Services, stabilising the division and delivering improved financial results over sequential quarters. He will step down immediately from the Global Services post and leave the group in March. Kelly will start with immediate effect with the task of helping BT Global Services realise its potential as a world leading provider of managed networked services, the statement said. The business is now focused on serving UK corporate customers and multinationals.