Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Another women-led firm closes a debut fund, a player achieves a 'first' at the Women's World Cup, and the telecom industry keeps hiring women as CEOs. Have a lovely Tuesday.
- Call to action. Yesterday, the U.K. telecom giant BT Group announced that Allison Kirkby will take over as CEO in early 2024.
Kirkby currently runs the Swedish telecom business Telia. She’ll take the reins at BT, a £20.7 billion ($26.5 billion) firm ranked No. 436 on the Global 500, amid a major cost-cutting drive. The company, whose brands include BT, mobile network EE, internet services provider Plusnet, and broadband network Openreach, has outlined a plan to eliminate as many as 55,000 jobs by 2030.
That strategy isn’t a surprise to Kirkby; she’s served on the BT board since 2019 and she endorses her predecessor Philip Jansen's plan.
“BT is such an important company for the U.K., and our many customers both in the U.K. and internationally and is uniquely placed to help everyone benefit from the rapid advances in digitalization," she said in a statement. "Our products and services have never been more important to how our customers live and work."
When she takes over next year, she’ll be BT’s first female chief executive. The company's modern-day history dates back to 1984, when Britain privatized its telecom industry.
She's also set to be the tenth female CEO among the leaders of the FTSE 100, the group of the largest businesses traded on the London Stock Exchange by market cap. Others include Amanda Blanc, leader of the insurer Aviva, and Diageo head Debra Crew.
Kirkby joins a growing group of influential female execs in the telecom industry. Margherita Della Valle became the CEO of Vodafone on a permanent basis in April. Former Microsoft U.S. president Kate Johnson took over the U.S. telecom business Lumen in late 2022, instituting a turnaround plan focused on digitization. Tristia Harrison runs TalkTalk, a U.K. value mobile provider.
While male CEOs still run much of the industry, the sector in need of modernization seems to be turning to women for that task.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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