KPN named company veteran Joost Farwerck as its new CEO and chairman, wasting little time in hiring a new chief after deciding to drop the appointment of former Proximus CEO Dominque Leroy over a share dealing row.

Farwerck will take over as boss on 1 December, on a four-year term, the company announced in a statement.

He has been a member of the board since 2013 and has held the position of COO since 2014, as well as serving as interim chairman.

Farwerck’s appointment was confirmed after the company decided to not to go ahead with the appointment of Leroy, who has come under fire for selling her shares in Proximus before her appointment to KPN was confirmed. She is currently under investigation by Belgian authorities.

Unexpected challenges
The chairman of KPN’s supervisory board Duco Sickinghe said the newly appointed CEO is “an experienced telecommunications professional”, adding Farwerck knows the company and the environment the company is operating in “inside out”.

Sickinghe also acknowledged the row surrounding Leroy in the statement: “As supervisory board we recently had to deal with a number of unexpected challenges in terms of CEO succession.”

Farwerck said his primary focus will be to deliver on KPN’s strategy and “explore how we can accelerate the execution even more to deliver organic sustainable growth.”