Austar CIO promoted, leaves Australian operations

CIO of Austar, Dean Walters, will leave the top job after being poached by parent company Liberty Global where he will begin work as CIO for its European broadband operations.

The pay TV company this week announced a management reshuffle, which also resulted in chief operating officer, Dana Strong, being appointed to the role of CEO at Libery Global’s UPC Ireland.

Austar’s CEO, John Porter, said the move of both Walters and Strong will open up new opportunities for current Austar employees looking to move up its internal corporate ladder.

“The departure of Dana and Dean provides the opportunity for their excellent management teams to step up to the next level,” Porter said in a statement.

“The operational senior managers, who have an average tenure of 12 years, will now report directly to me as CEO, and continue to work in the effective cross-functional style that has been critical to our success.”

Austar’s general manager of technology and operations, Phil Blackwell, and general manager of information systems, Brian Matulin, are among the IT team members who will now report to Porter.

In an interview with CIO Australia last year, Walters revealed that the deployment of unified communications software helped Austar to improve customer service across the organisation.

The reshuffle at Austar comes as Australian CIOs appear to be moving and shaking across the sector in recent weeks.

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