Mark Evans

More Management Changes at BCE

As BCE Inc. tries to reinvent itself, the company has now shifted its attention to the executive suites. Gone is Pierre Blouin, who headed up the consumer business since May 2003. It's an interesting move given the business had a good second-quarter after struggling for some time. With Blouin out of the picture, Kevin Crull moves up the corporate ladder to become president of residential services, which looks like Blouin's old job but with a new title. Crull, who spent five years at AT&T before joining BCE earlier this year, may be in the running to eventually replace CEO Michael Sabia. Another executive with a shot at becoming Sabia's successor is Robert Odendaal, who has been named president of Bell Mobility and Bell Distribution Inc. Odendaal, a former BSkyB executive, was running BCE ExpressVu and took on the top spot at Bell Mobility when Michael Neumann quit earlier this year. If the overhaul of BCE's senior management team is an indication the board and/or shareholders weren't happy with how the company was being run, a question that begs to be asked is how long does Sabia have at the helm. With a stock price that has not budged since he took over in early-2002 (granted, it has been difficult sailing in the telecom industry), when does the spotlight turn to Sabia's performance. My take is the board seems content - at least for the time being - with how Sabia has restructured operations and reduced costs. The big challenge, however, will be to see if Sabia has the ability to move beyond “blocking and tackling” to create a growth strategy/vision for BCE. It appears investors are getting restless with growing suggestions BCE shed its BellGlobemedia assets (CTV, The Globe & Mail, TSN) and/or convert Bell Canada into an income trust. In a year, it would not surprise me to see Sabia overseeing a dramatically different company or no longer with BCE. There is simply no way BCE can remain the same beast.