Zain Group appointed Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi as its vice chairman and Group CEO, with outgoing CEO Scott Gegenheimer moved into the newly created role of CEO of operations.

Gegenheimer (pictured) changes role after four-and-a-half years at the helm of the company. Zain did not reveal the reasons for his removal as CEO.

Announced at the company’s Ordinary General Assembly, the management restructure coincides with the election of a new board for the next three years which saw Mohannad Mohammed Al-Kharafi replace Asaad Ahmed Al Banwan as company chairman.

Al Banwan said the company’s financial performance in the last twelve months had been impacted by social unrest and security risks in several of its markets, in addition to currency exchange rate fluctuations.

In February the company reported a year-on-year decline of 11 per cent in Q4 net income and an eight per cent drop in revenue during the same period.

At the time, Gegenheimer blamed the decline on “exceptional circumstances” in several of its markets. “Considering the sound operational progress and transformation we have undertaken across all our markets, it’s unfortunate that exceptional circumstances such as the currency issue in Sudan and tax settlements in Iraq affected our financial performance,” he said.