Wildanet Bolsters Leadership Team with Three New Appointments

Published On: 28 November 2024Last Updated: 28 November 2024By CornishStuff

South West broadband provider Wildanet has announced three high-profile appointments to strengthen its senior leadership team. The company, the largest Alternative Network Provider (Altnet) in Cornwall, is accelerating the deployment of its gigabit-enabled Full Fibre network across the region.

Meet the New Leaders

Simon Hughes has joined Wildanet as Chief Commercial Officer, bringing a wealth of experience from top-tier organisations including Microsoft, BT, and BP. Simon’s career spans blue-chip companies and growth-focused SMEs in energy, cleantech, and telecoms. Most recently, Simon was Chief Commercial Officer at County Broadband, an Altnet in the east of England.

Alastair Woods has been appointed Chief Operating Officer. Alastair has over a decade of experience in senior leadership roles at Openreach and BT Group, including leading Openreach’s massive Full Fibre rollout across the South West, South East, and London. His role at Wildanet will be key in continuing the company’s Full Fibre network expansion across Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and Devon.

Jai Madhvani takes up the role of Chief Financial Officer. A qualified chartered accountant with 20 years of financial expertise, Jai’s background includes roles at Deutsche Bank and PwC, as well as CFO positions in innovative businesses like The Collective. Jai’s leadership will be pivotal in steering Wildanet’s financial strategy.

A Strengthened Team for Full Fibre Deployment

These appointments enhance Wildanet’s leadership team, led by CEO Helen Wylde-Archibald, and supported by experienced professionals such as Justin Clark, Deputy CEO and Chief Strategy & Technology Officer. Justin oversees strategic partnerships, including Wildanet’s collaboration with Nokia, and leads government programme management and compliance efforts.

Julie-anne Sunderland, the company’s award-winning Chief People Officer, continues to drive Wildanet’s HR and sustainability goals. Julie-anne played a key role in Wildanet becoming the first UK Altnet to achieve B Corp certification, and leads the company’s Training Academy in partnership with Truro and Penwith College.

Helen Wylde-Archibald said: “We are delighted to be able to announce the completion of the Wildanet senior team with three high calibre appointments bringing highly relevant expertise and huge industry experience to the business. Simon, Alastair, and Jai are all inspirational leaders and managers who will play key roles working with myself, Justin, Julie-anne, the Board and the wider Wildanet team as we continue our work to bring Full Fibre broadband to more communities across the region, with support from Project Gigabit, the UK government’s rollout of lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK.”

Driving Connectivity and Economic Growth

Wildanet, founded in 2017, is transforming connectivity for rural and hard-to-reach areas in the South West. The company employs 94% of its staff from Cornwall and Devon and has doubled its workforce in the past 18 months to over 200 employees. Backed by Gresham House’s sustainable infrastructure strategy, with nearly £100 million invested since 2020, Wildanet also prioritises using local businesses in its supply chain.

Since 2023, the company has secured three contracts worth £77 million under Project Gigabit, aiming to connect over 37,000 premises in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to Full Fibre broadband.

Award-Winning Recognition

In 2024, Wildanet was recognised as the UK’s ‘Best Rural Fibre Provider’ at the UK Fibre Awards and ‘Broadband Provider of the Year’ at the Connected Britain Awards. In addition to these accolades, Wildanet launched its Technical Training Academy in 2023, supporting the rollout of high-speed broadband and training the next generation of telecom engineers.

Find out more about Wildanet and its work here.