Leadership change at KCOM Retail

John Rooney, Managing Director of KCOM Retail, is to leave the business at the end of this month.

John, who joined KCOM in 2020, has decided to return to his home country of Ireland where he will take on new opportunities.

During his two years at the Hull-based broadband provider, John has overseen the transformation of KCOM Retail as it has established itself in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire and outside of its traditional Hull heartlands.

As well as achieving record customer growth John has led the business through its separation from KCOM’s national ICT business as it has refocussed on becoming a regional broadband powerhouse, following its acquisition by Macquarie Asset Management, Real Assets (MAM) in August 2019.

A KCOM spokesperson said: “We wish John all the best for his return to Ireland and thank him for all his efforts to make KCOM’s expansion into new areas a roaring success. 

“During John’s stewardship KCOM Retail has undergone a huge transformation, attracted record numbers of new customers and delivered performance improvements in earnings, employee engagement and customer satisfaction levels - all set against the challenging backdrop of a global pandemic.”

Stepping up to replace John is Neil Bartholomew who has been KCOM Retail’s Head of Sales and Marketing since 2021.

Neil has more than 20 years’ experience working within the telecommunications and broadband industry including time at Virgin Media where, as Executive Director of Customer Operations,  he led its customer operations teams across all consumer facing areas of sales, care, field service and installs including in their network expansion areas.

A KCOM spokesperson said: “We’re delighted that Neil has agreed to step-up to the KCOM Retail Managing Director role. This will ensure continuity and enable us to build on the great progress he has already overseen winning new customers and spreading the KCOM brand across our new network expansion areas.”

Earlier this week, KCOM announced that Tim Shaw, currently the Managing Director of the business’s Wholesale & Networks division, has agreed to become KCOM’s new Chief Executive Officer. He will also take on his new CEO responsibilities this month.