- Christian von Reventlow to become new Chief Product & Innovation Officer at Deutsche Telekom
- Predecessor Thomas Kiessling leaving Deutsche Telekom to become CTO at Securitas Direct
Christian von Reventlow (54) will become the new Chief Product & Innovation Officer (CPIO) at Deutsche Telekom. He succeeds Thomas Kiessling (49), who is leaving the company as of March 15 to join Securitas Direct. Von Reventlow (54) was previously platform manager (SVP Core platform) at Nokia's map service and navigation system subsidiary Here.com in Chicago. Replacing Thomas Kiessling, he will also become a member of Deutsche Telekom’s extended board of management, the Executive Committee (ExCom).
"We have found an ideal successor for Thomas Kiessling, who regretfully has chosen to leave the company: Christian von Reventlow brings more than 20 years of experience in the innovation divisions of a variety of major high-tech companies to Deutsche Telekom," says Niek Jan van Damme, Member of the Board of Management responsible for Germany and Innovation and Product Development. "With his long tenure in Silicon Valley in the U.S., he has an impressive network and really knows his way around the industry." Telekom CEO Tim Höttges is also thrilled with the new addition: "He covers a broad spectrum: he knows major international corporations, but has also worked with startups. He has worked in Europe and the U.S. He knows what counts!"
Von Reventlow will assume his new position on March 1: "I'm happy that things are finally getting started. Deutsche Telekom is an exciting company with the right approach to innovation. The company has an ideal position at the interface between information technology and engineering. The employees have a vast treasure trove of personal experience. Betting on open platforms and the right partners in the Internet industry is the right way to go. My international experience will be a good fit here. I look forward to working together with the team."
Christian von Reventlow studied at TU Berlin and has a doctorate in electrical engineering. He has worked at Siemens, Bosch, Avaya and Intel, among others, and most recently at Nokia subisidiary Here.com. His work will focus on the development of new products and software solutions for the areas of cloud computing, mobile applications and hardware. At Here.com, he supervised the development of the first real-time cloud backbone for high-resolution maps in connected vehicles. At Intel, he was responsible for the software development of the first and second generations of Windows 8 and Android tablets; at Avaya he managed the relaunch of the "Avaya Flare" videoconferencing solution.
His predecessor, Thomas Kiessling, is pleased for his successor: "He is an absolute expert and a great guy. I wish him all the best." Asked about his departure, he replied, "The decision to leave Deutsche Telekom wasn't an easy one. The last four years were an incredibly exciting time in which the team and I achieved a great deal. But I am also looking forward to the new challenges at Securitas Direct, where I will be taking over an exciting job." Thomas Kiessling joined Deutsche Telekom in 2010, coming from gaming provider Bwin, and was appointed to the company's extended board of management at the beginning of 2014.
Telekom CEO Tim Höttges thanked Kiessling for his successful work at Deutsche Telekom: "Thomas established a strong culture of innovation in the Group for our customers and our partners. He played a key role in simplifying our customers’ product experience. Thomas and his team implemented one of the best partner programs in the industry. He was the driving force behind Telekom's open platform strategy."
Products and solutions created under Kiessling's leadership include the machine-to-machine (M2M) industry platform, Qivicon – the platform for connected home applications and a number of cloud platforms, including "next-generation TV", the Business Marketplace – an app store for the SME segment – and the Publishing Platform, the technical foundation for the tolino e-reader, which Deutsche Telekom successfully launched with German book retailers. Within just one year, tolino achieved a similar market share as its American competition, making Germany one of the few countries worldwide to establish a serious alternative.
Niek Jan van Damme, member of the Board of Management responsible for Germany and for the "Products & Innovation" segment, also thanked Kiessling: "The successful tolino e-reader, as well as the fruitful reorganization of the innovation segment and improved networking of our R&D activities with our European subsidiaries, are indelibly linked with the name of Thomas Kiessling." He is pleased with the seamless transition process, in which Kiessling himself played a major role, by getting actively involved in the search for his successor.
About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 142 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-network lines and more than 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2013). The Group provides fixed network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has approximately 229,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 60,1 billion in the 2013 financial year – more than half of it outside Germany.