Rogers Com New CEO Joe Natale Starts Next Week

Joe Natale

After six months without a permanent chief executive officer, Canada's Rogers Communications Inc. is preparing to welcome Joe Natale on board next week, bringing an end to an awkward and uncertain leadership transition.

The Globe&Mail reports Natale will start about two months earlier than expected thanks to a “confidential” deal Rogers struck with his former employer Telus Corp., which agreed to release Mr. Natale from the terms of a non-compete clause that would have barred him from working at the rival firm until July.

Mr. Natale, the long-time Telus executive who left the Vancouver-based telecom provider after about a year as CEO in 2015, will officially begin as Rogers’s CEO on April 19, the company said Thursday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Sources close to Rogers say the company was initially optimistic it could negotiate an earlier start date for Mr. Natale. But after several months passed and Rogers was unable to reach an agreement with Telus, it announced in late January that he would not start until July.

Until Thursday’s announcement from the company, Mr. Natale had never publicly commented on his plans to become CEO of Rogers. His new start date means curious employees will finally get a better sense of their new leader and his plans for the company.

Mr. Natale, who will also join the board of directors at the company’s annual general meeting next week, added that he is “really excited” to join the company.