COO appointment completes Internode management restructure

Peter Dinham
Wednesday, 09 September 2009 07:56

IT People - People

Internode has established a new position of chief operations officer as the company completes a 12-month management restructure of its business which included the appointment of a new CEO, CFO and CIO and the formation of a media group within its operations.

CEO of the South Australian-based ISP, Patrick Tapper, said today the management restructure had been completed with the appointment of Liz Cornelissen to the newly-created role of chief operations officer after six years with Internode, initially as customer services manager.

Internode says it has revamped its management structure to allow it to “continue its strong growth through product diversification and increased geographical availability. The restructure included appointing Tapper as CEO from long-time role as group general manager, the promotion of financial controller, Sean Habgood, to chief financial officer, and the recruitment of Mike Damms as Internode’s inaugural chief information officer.

Tapper said Cornelissen, in her previous role as customer services manager, had assisted Internode to maintain its reputation for “excellent customer service during a period of massive growth in customer and staff numbers.

“As well as more than six years leading our customer services group at Internode, she previously held senior management positions with Reuters and AAP, leading customer service teams operating in Asia and Australia.  As COO, Liz's primary responsibilities will be to lead and manage our business units in customer services, sales, media, product management and the business programs.

“The COO role is a new one within Internode and will be key in leading a number of important transformations for the business.”

Tapper also said that company founder, Simon Hackett, was continuing as managing director, and as part of the restructure a media group had been established within Internode’s operations to oversee the design and delivery of a range of higher-level services such as video over broadband services.

Internode claims the position of the largest independently-owned broadband services company in Australia, and that it has quadrupled in size during the past four years, now employing more than 430 employees and with 150,000 broadband customers nationally.

In her role as COO, Liz Cornelissen said she would ensure Internode maintained and improved quality as it grew, focussing on core business to “ensure we maintain superior customer service and innovative products.

“We’ll continue to do that by having great quality service, adding plenty of extra value for our customers and staying ahead of the industry.”

According to Cornelissen, there’s more diversity in the marketplace today, which she said “makes it highly competitive, but I think Internode is better placed to succeed in the next few years than it has ever been.”