Telecommunications industry veteran John Townsend has been appointed chief financial officer at the Digicel Group.

Immediately prior to joining Digicel, Mr Townsend was CFO — business group at Verizon, and also served in the CFO capacity across various areas of the business for roughly the past ten years.

He also worked as CFO for Vodafone Europe, UK and Australia and earned his BA (Econ) Hons in accounting and business finance from the University of Manchester.

Over his career as a CFO, Digicel said, Mr Townsend gained experience in business and consumer operations, wireless, wireline, enterprise solutions, supply-chain management and logistics, carrier relations and new business models, making him an all-rounder when it comes to the business of telecommunications.

He will replace David Lomas as Digicel’s CFO.

Oliver Coughlan, Digicel Group CEO, said: “John has worked at two of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, Verizon and Vodafone, with responsibility for billions of dollars in revenue, so his financial background, coupled with his extensive experience in telecoms, will serve him well as he gets to know our business and the Caribbean, and we expect that his fresh perspective will serve us well in turn.

“And as David leaves us, we also want to thank him for the work done over the last three-and-a-half years and to wish him all the best going forward.”

Mr Townsend said: “For over 20 years, Digicel has been delivering quality service in the Caribbean, keeping the region connected to the people and things they love most. I am excited to be joining the team and look forward to the great work we will do together.”