Al-Saleh was appointed to the position on 13 September, but the decision was kept secret for a time at Northgate’s request. He replaces Reinhard Clemens, whose departure was announced on 13 September.
“[Al-Saleh] has the right spirit and attitude, paired with a profound knowledge for the job,” said Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. The new CEO also becomes a member of the board of management at Deutsche Telekom. He takes up both positions on 1 January, when Clemens leaves.
According to the website of Northgate – which still hasn’t announced the CEO’s departure – Al-Saleh was trained in electrical engineering at Boston University in the US and is now based in the UK. He had been group CEO of Northgate’s holding company since the start of 2011. It describes itself as “one of the leading global providers of software solutions and technology services for human resources management and for organisations across the public sector”.
Two years after he joined Northgate he also became CEO of its subsidiary NGA Human Resources.
Al-Saleh started his career at IBM, where he spent 19 years and was variously general manager of its global wireless business and VP of its Americas communications sector, covering telecommunications, utilities, media and entertainment.
After IBM and before Northgate Al-Saleh spent five years at IMS Health, an analytics and services company in the healthcare industry.
The chairman of Deutsche Telekom’s supervisory board, Ulrich Lehner said: “We are happy to welcome Adel. With his deep knowledge of the industry and his great international experience, he is the right person for the position and its challenging environment.”
Lehner used similar words in September when he announced the departure of his predecessor: “In a difficult competitive environment, [Clemens] provided the company with important momentum. His successor possesses the necessary experience and know-how to continue to drive consistently T-Systems’ transformation.”
Höttges said: “Adel has a proven record of turning businesses around. He will start to become acquainted with T-Systems right away and will use the phase until the end of the year to bring himself up to speed.”
