Sprint has appointed telecom and cable industry executive Michel Combes as President & CFO, taking over from the current CFO Tarek Robbiati who is leaving the company.
Combes will be reporting to CEO Marcelo Claure and will also be appointed to Sprint’s Board of Directors at a later date.
For more than 30 years, Combes, 55, has led telecommunications and cable companies including wireless, wireline and equipment manufacturers. Most recently, he served as CEO, and previously COO of Altice and chairman and CEO of SFR Group, a leading French telecommunications and media company.
Combes delivered two of the most successful turnarounds in the telecommunications industry in recent history. In 2013 he joined Alcatel-Lucent when the company was near bankruptcy. As CEO, he helped strengthen the company and orchestrated its sale to Nokia.
From 2003 to 2006, Combes held various senior financial positions with France Telecom, including CFO and Senior Executive Vice President for Financial Rebalancing and Value Creation.
Combes has also served as CEO of Vodafone Europe and chairman and CEO of TDF, a French tower company. Combes also served as an advisor to Brightstar, the company founded by Claure, to support its global expansion. He is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and Telecom ParisTech.
Marcelo Claure, CEO, Sprint
Michel is an extremely capable and accomplished global telecom and cable industry leader and I know bringing him on board will help to accelerate our progress as Sprint begins the next chapter of our transformation.
Michael Combes, Incoming CFO, Sprint
I have known Marcelo for many years and am delighted to join the Sprint team and build upon the great progress achieved to date. This is an exciting challenge and unique opportunity to help lead a distinguished company through an historic turnaround and its most exciting period yet.
