Beeline CEO Vasil Latsanich. A veteran of MTS, a native of Ukraine, became the CEO of Beeline
Vasil Latsanich, the current vice president for strategy and marketing at MTS, is leaving the company, two people close to MTS shareholders and one of his acquaintances told Vedomosti.
According to three interlocutors of Vedomosti, Vasil is a candidate for the position of CEO of Veon (former Vimpelcom) in Russia and may take the chair of Schell Johnsen. According to a person close to Veon, Latsanich's talks do not affect the Russian division of the group.
MTS PR director Elena Kokhanovskaya says that the company knows Vasil's plans to leave, but he has not yet submitted an application. “We understand his career aspirations. We wish him success in his new position,” says Kokhanovskaya. According to her, the company is deciding on a successor, but is not in a hurry, as the team is strong and successfully operating in the market.
Latsanich declined to comment, noting only that he did not write a letter of resignation from MTS.
The top manager had been looking for work outside the CIS for a long time, so he wanted to work in a global foreign holding, says a source close to MTS. He considered the first position in the Russian VimpelCom as a springboard for a career in the West, the source of Vedomosti knows. He says that the top manager's family lives in the UK and his aspirations are to leave the CIS.
Andrey Bykasov, PR director of Russia's Vimpelcom, notes that Shell Johnsen said at a recent meeting with employees that he would continue to be the company's CEO for a long time. Veon's director of external relations, Mark McGann, ignored questions about Lacanich's move to the group, but noted that Shell Johnsen remains CEO.
The interlocutors of Vedomosti remind that this is not the first top manager of the operator who goes to a competitor. Earlier, Mikhail Gerchuk, who heads the business of the Eurasia region, and Alexander Popovsky, who holds the position of executive vice president for corporate strategy and business development, moved from MTS to the Veon group. Lacanich has spent the past year focusing on business development strategy rather than marketing. MTS is not afraid of competition from his side, as the company still has a strong, healthy team, he said.
Shell Johnsen has been appointed CEO of Vimpelcom following the sudden departure from the company of Mikhail Slobodin. He said that he would occupy this chair until a replacement was found for him.
Prior to Latsanich's appointment in 2011 as MTS Vice President for Marketing, he headed MTS Ukraine. Since 2001, he headed the marketing department, in 2005 he took the post of marketing director of MTS Ukraine.
From 1996 to 2001, he held various positions in marketing and general management at Coca-Cola Amatil Ukraine Ltd., Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine, Coca-Cola Bottlers Siberia, Coca-Cola Krasnoyarsk Bottlers in Ukraine and Russia.
The interlocutors of Vedomosti in the management of other operators call the transition of Latsanich a very interesting and promising solution for Veon. “Vasil is a legend,” one of them says. He clarifies that it was largely thanks to Latsanich that MTS was able to consistently implement its strategy in the field of marketing and product development for a long time, which allowed it to maintain and increase the subscriber base without significant damage to marginality.
11/28/2017, Tue, 12:17, Msk , Text: Igor Korolev
Vasil Latsanich, a Ukrainian, will become the new head of VimpelCom. Prior to that, he worked for many years in the structures of MTS.Vasyl Latsanich to head VimpelCom
VimpelCom (trademark Beeline, part of the Veon Group) has announced the appointment of a new CEO. He became a Ukrainian Vasil Latsanich.
Veteran of MTS
Latsanich worked for many years at VimpelCom's competitor, Mobile Telesystems (MTS). Since 2001, he has been in charge of marketing in the Ukrainian mobile operator UMC (future "daughter" of MTS). In 2011, the head of MTS-Ukraine, a Russian Andrey Dubovskov headed the Russian MTS. After that, Latsanich became MTS Vice President for Marketing.
From MTS to Beeline via Italy
Last summer Latsanich. At the same time, information began to circulate on the market about his transition to the position of Vimpelcom General Director. However, Lananich could not immediately take this position due to restrictions on working with competitors.
In this regard, Latsanich first moved to the Veon headquarters in Amsterdam, where he oversaw the Italian subsidiary of Wind Tre.
VimpelCom has been looking for a new CEO for a year
VimpelCom has been looking for a CEO since the fall of 2016. Then the company Mikhail Slobodin, who was put on the wanted list due to allegations related to his former place of work - the energy company IES-Holding.
Vasil Latsanich, new CEO"Beeline"
VimpelCom is headed by a Norwegian Shell Morten Johnsen(Kjell Johnsen), who shortly before that came to Veon as a curator of the Russian and Italian divisions. At the same time, it was claimed that Johnsen would not for a long time work in this position, and they are looking for a new candidate for the post of head of VimpelCom.
Vasil Latsanich will become CEO of PJSC VimpelCom, the Russian business unit of the VEON holding, from January next year. In this position, he will report to the head of the largest markets VEON Ltd. Shell Morten Johnsen. Previously, Vasil Latsanich served as Vice President for Marketing at PJSC Mobile TeleSystems (MTS).
Vasil Latsanich will take over as CEO of VimpelCom on January 10, 2018. He will report to the head of the largest markets, VEON Ltd. (as part of the group - Russia and Italy) Shell Morten Johnsen. So far, Shell Morten Johnsen combines two positions in VEON. In addition to performing his main duties as head of the largest VEON markets, since September 2016 he has also held the position of CEO of VimpelCom.
In his new position, Vasil Latsanich will strengthen the company's position in the Russian market, develop digital products and services, implement strategic initiatives of the VEON group and improve customer experience. As the VimpelCom press service told a ComNews correspondent, Vasil Latsanich's top priority will be to immerse himself in operational matters companies.
Shell Morten Johnsen positively characterizes the experience of Vasil Latsanich in the telecom industry. "His appointment will further strengthen and develop the strong position of VEON, especially at a time when we are implementing important strategic initiatives in a dynamically developing Russian market," he said. Vasil Latsanich himself said that he is looking forward to working with clients to provide them with "the best digital services and solutions at a time when Russian market telecommunications is entering a new phase of development and digital transformation.
Prior to joining VEON, Vasil Latsanich worked at MTS since 2001, where he held senior positions in marketing. From September 2011 to June 2017, Vasil Latsanich was MTS Vice President for Marketing and Strategy. He was responsible for the company's commercial and strategic initiatives, as well as customer transformation and digital development. After his departure in June, this post was taken by Vyacheslav Nikolaev, who previously headed the mass market marketing direction at MTS. As a source of the Kommersant newspaper reported, Vasil Latsanich's departure was associated with career growth, since "he was the second person in MTS, but dreamed of being the first."
Financial analysts have mixed opinions about the new appointment at VEON. Raiffeisenbank analyst Sergei Libin considers the appointment of Vasil Latsanich to the post of head of VimpelCom as expected after his transfer to VEON. Sergei Libin believes that Vasil Latsanich does not immediately take up a new post due to the terms of the contract with MTS, which does not allow him to hold leadership positions in competing companies for a certain period of time. The analyst does not expect cardinal changes in VimpelCom's activities with the arrival of Vasyl Latsanich, even despite his rich managerial experience. He explained this by the fact that in the case of VEON, strategic decisions are made at the group level, and not at the level of regional units.
Analyst of Finam Group Leonid Delitsyn emphasized the experience of Vasyl Latsanich in the field of telecom in the Russian and Ukrainian markets. In his opinion, this sheds light on the development strategy of VEON. "The goal of the holding now is not to bring Italian or Pakistani experience to the Russian market, but to ensure that the CEO has a good idea of Russian competitors, their strategies, including the recently announced digital ones, their approaches to decision-making and marketing, and was also prepared to aggravate competition in the absence of big ideas," the analyst said. According to him, the appointment means that Russian operators will rely on marketing, and given the ambitions of the new director, competition will become tougher. "Despite the digital strategies, the price wars of the operators subsided for a while, and Sergey Svetlakov will not be bored," he joked.
Georgy Vashchenko, head of operations on the Russian stock market at Freedom Finance Investment Company, noted that VEON aims for maximum efficiency and EBITDA margin of 42%. According to him, until the end of the year the group will strive to maintain the dynamics of the main indicators. "It is especially important, in my opinion, to focus on the development of the 5G network, which MTS, MegaFon and Rostelecom have announced plans to deploy. Most likely, this, as well as messengers and services in the B2B segment, will become the main ones in the company's marketing strategy. I expect that by the end of the year, VimpelCom will receive revenue of $9,400 million and EBITDA of $3,960 million," the analyst predicts.
Let's remind that while the general director of VimpelCom is Shell Morten Johnsen. He replaced Mikhail Slobodin at this post, who worked as the CEO of VimpelCom from 2013 to September 2016. Mikhail Slobodin left the post because he became a defendant in a criminal case on the dacha by former and current executives of the T Plus company (until 2015. - CJSC "Integrated Energy Systems", KES) multi-million dollar bribes former leadership Republic of Komi (see ComNews of September 6, 2016) for establishing the maximum favorable rates for heat and electricity, as well as the provision of other benefits and the creation of comfortable conditions for the implementation commercial activities on the territory of the republic. Mikhail Slobodin at that time was on the board of directors of T Plus.
ComNews dossier
Vasil Latsanich was born in 1972. In 1995 he graduated from the Higher State Institute named after. N.V. Lysenko. From 1996 to 2001, he held a number of positions in marketing and general management at Coca-Cola Ukraine Ltd., Coca-Cola Bottlers Siberia. In 2001-2005 was the head of the marketing department of MTS Ukraine, in October 2005 he was appointed to the position of marketing director. Since March 2011, he headed MTS Ukraine. From September 2011 to June 2017, he was Vice President for Marketing of PJSC Mobile TeleSystems and was a member of the Management Board of MTS. From January 2018, he will become the General Director of PJSC VimpelCom.
In 1995, he graduated from the N. Lysenko Higher State Musical Institute in Lvov (Ukraine) with a degree in Opera and Symphony Conducting with a qualification of Musical Theater Conductor, Symphony Orchestra Conductor.
Additional education in marketing received in educational institutions Moscow, Brussels, Prague, Vienna and London.
Labor activity
Coca Cola
From 1996 to 1999, he worked in the Ukrainian representative offices of Coca-Cola "Coca-Cola Amatil Ukraine Ltd" and "Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine", having gone through a career path from a trade development manager to the director of the Ivano-Frankivsk branch and a sales channel development manager in Kyiv.
From the late 1990s to early 2001, he worked as a marketing manager for Coca-Cola Bottlers Siberia (Novosibirsk) and Coca-Cola Krasnoyarsk Bottlers (Krasnoyarsk), major Russian bottlers of Coca-Cola products in Siberia.
MTS
In November 2001, he was accepted as the head of the marketing department of CJSC Ukrainian mobile connection» (UMC), which became in 2003 subsidiary OJSC Mobile TeleSystems and adopted the MTS Group brand.
In 2005, he took the position of Marketing Director of PrJSC MTS Ukraine. In the second half of the 2000s, he implemented a number of successful projects that strengthened and strengthened the Company's position in the market cellular communication in the face of intense competition: launched a service based on the CDMA-450 network, launched the first virtual operator (JEANS) in Ukraine, carried out a productive rebranding in 2007, formed an optimal portfolio of services for cellular users.
In the spring of 2011, he was appointed to the position of General Director of MTS Ukraine PrJSC, in the fall of the same year he was invited to the post of Vice President for Marketing of Mobile TeleSystems OJSC.
Since 2012, he has been a member of the boards of directors of JSC NIS and CJSC Russkaya telephone company”, since 2014 - Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited and MGTS OJSC.
Since 2013, he has been a member of the Management Board of MTS OJSC.
On June 29, 2015, by the decision of the general meeting of shareholders, he was re-elected to the position of a member of the Board of Directors of MTS Bank PJSC with official duties involving the presence and active participation in the preparation and discussion of issues considered at meetings of the board and participation in the work of the strategy and risk management committee.
Beeline
On June 15, 2017, information appeared in the media that on June 30 he would leave MTS, and from January 1, 2018 he would become the head of the Russian VimpelCom.
Since January 10, 2018, he has been the head of VimpelCom (elected CEO for a period until December 31, 2020).
An explanation of the reasons and a corresponding discussion can be found on the page Wikipedia:To be deleted/November 10, 2018 . |
Vasil Igorevich Latsanich (July 19 (1972-07-19 ) ) - Russian and Ukrainian manager, worked in senior positions in the field of telecommunications, IT technologies and digital services.
Since January 10, 2018 - General Director of PJSC VimpelCom.
Biography
From 1996 to 1999, he worked in the Ukrainian representative offices of Coca-Cola - Coca-Cola Amatil Ukraine Ltd and Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine. He started his career as a trade development manager, and completed his work as a director of the Ivano-Frankivsk branch and a sales channel development manager in Kyiv.
Then, from the late 90s to 2001, he was responsible for the development of the company's global brands and products in the regional markets at Coca-Cola Bottlers Siberia (Novosibirsk) and Coca-Cola Krasnoyarsk Bottlers (Krasnoyarsk), large Russian bottlers of Coca-Cola products in Siberia.
Since 2001, he began working at MTS Ukraine. First, as head of the marketing department of CJSC Ukrainian mobile system”, which soon became a subsidiary of MTS OJSC.
He took the position of Marketing Director of MTS Ukraine in 2005. As a result of the launch of the first virtual operator (JEANS) and a service based on the CDMA-450 network, as well as rebranding in 2007, he strengthened the company's position in the cellular market.
From September 2011 to June 2017, he was Vice President for Marketing of PJSC Mobile TeleSystems and was a member of the Management Board of MTS. He was responsible for the company's commercial and strategic initiatives, as well as the transformation of customer experience and digital development.
From late June 2017 to January 2018, he served as Vice President at Wind Tre (a joint venture between CK Hutchison and Veon). In November 2017, the Board of Directors of VimpelCom PJSC V. Latsanich was elected General Director for a period of 3 years, took office on January 10, 2018, replacing Schell Johnsen, who took the post of Head of the largest markets of VEON Ltd.
Education
In 1995 he graduated from the Higher State Musical Institute. N.V. Lysenko in Lvov (Ukraine) with a degree in opera and symphony conducting with the qualification of a musical theater conductor, a symphony orchestra conductor. He received additional education in marketing at educational institutions in Moscow, Brussels, Prague and Vienna. He has an MBA from London Business School.
Ratings and awards
In 2012, the MTS brand and BBDO Branding entered the top 100 of the world's brightest corporate identity renewal projects (Rebrand 100® Global Awards). In 2012, 2014, 2017 MTS was a laureate of the Effie Russia Awards. In 2016, he won the CMO of the Year award according to the international publication European Communications’ (Great Britain, London). Experts evaluated according to five criteria: the nominee's contribution to brand value increase, improvement of customer experience, dynamics of the subscriber base, development of new products and services, as well as the dynamics of financial indicators.
