The chief executive of TalkTalk is to step down, the telecoms giant has confirmed.
Tristia Harrison has led the Salford-headquartered company since May 2017 having previously been managing director of its consumer business before joining the board in 2014.
She first joined The Carphone Warehouse Group in 2000 and has held a number of senior management and executive positions in both companies.
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READ MORE: TalkTalk puts 50 jobs at risk of redundancy amid major restructure and sell off
Mrs Harrison is also an independent non-executive director at retail giant Next and a trustee at Comic Relief, Ambitious about Autism and also sits on the board of trustees for Crisis, the national homeless charity.
When taking on the role of CEO in 2017, she succeeded Dido Harding who had been in place since 2010.
The confirmation comes after TalkTalk put 50 jobs at risk of redundancy as the telecoms giant prepares to split its operations in three.
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The business is gearing up to sell its business-to-business division which has previously been valued at £150m. Possible suitors for the arm include Sky and Lancashire-based Daisy Group.
The firm will reorganise itself into three divisions: TalkTalk Consumer, TalkTalk Business Direct and the wholesale business, with a formal demerger expected to be completed by March 1 next year.
After stepping down as CEO, Mrs Harrison will chair a newly established oversight board when the divisions are separated legally on March 1, 2024. She will also become a non-executive director of the B2B Wholesale Platform.
TalkTalk has also confirmed that Tom O'Hagan, founder of Virtual1 and current MD of TalkTalk Business Wholesale, will be CEO of the Wholesale Platform, while Adam Dunlop, the former managing director of iD Mobile and current MD of TalkTalk Consumer and Supply & Partnerships, will be CEO of TalkTalk Consumer. Ruth Kennedy continues as managing director of TalkTalk Business Direct.
The company said: "The demerger will allow each company to focus on meeting the needs of their distinctive customer bases, eliminate operational complexity, and support balance sheet refinancing and investment on a standalone basis."
The leadership changes comes after TalkTalk was taken private in 2021 in a £1.1bn deal. Its B2B division was previously linked with a possible £175m takeover with Daisy in 2018 but a deal was never completed.
TalkTalk was first established in Leeds as a subsidiary of Carphone Warehouse before being demerged as a standalone company in March 2010. It was then listed on the London Stock Exchange for more than a decade.
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In the 12 months to February 28, 2022, TalkTalk posted a turnover of £1.4bn and pre-tax losses of £86m. Its next set of accounts are due to be published by the end of November.