Michael Sainsbury | August 19, 2008
PHIL Burgess, the man who said he would not recommend Telstra shares to his mother in the months ahead of the $15 billion Government share sale, will leave the telecoms giant shortly with few of his goals fulfilled.
Telstra's high-profile public affairs chief has quit after three years and will return to the US soon, citing family reasons.Dr Burgess was one of the original group of senior executives branded the "three amigos" who were brought from the US to Telstra by its imported chief executive Sol Trujillo.
Burgess joined Telstra operations chief Greg Winn and marketing tsar Bill Stewart as the core of a group of Trujillo's former colleagues -- eventually there would be dozens of them -- helping him make widespread changes to the company. Voluble and controversial, Burgess has been the main public progenitor of the company's extraordinary and relentless campaign against federal government regulations.
Despite the high-profile campaign, which included anti-government campaigning in last year's federal election and a High Court challenge to the foundation of government regulations, Telstra has had no wins against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission under Burgess's leadership.
"It was hard for some to give up the idea that Telstra is community property. The cultural change required by privatisation was difficult both for Telstra and for the government," Burgess says.
During his period as a Telstra executive Burgess waged war with ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel and every significant Australian media outlet.
His techniques included black-banning journalists from talking to the company's executives, pulling the telecommunications giant's advertising, and trying to side-step the press altogether with a Telstra website devoted to company issues.
He was also renowned for colourful phone calls and emails that left little to the imagination.
Burgess will return to the US at the end of this month. His replacement will be the former cabinet secretary of the Howard government, David Quilty, who was also a long time chief of staff to Howard-era communications minister Richard Alston.
Like Burgess, Trujillo, his operations chief Greg Winn and marketing boss Bill Stewart are all former executives of Denver-based telecommunications group Qwest, formerly known as US West. Burgess follows Telstra's chief technology officer Dan Burns and mobile networks chief John Gonner home to the US.
Trujillo, who last year earned $13.4 million, can walk away from Telstra with only 30 days' notice.
Details of the contracts of Winn and Stewart are not in the public domain but market analysts suggest similar no-notice periods would apply.
For all the bluster, Burgess's bid to end the regulation of Telstra was stillborn and he failed twice to negotiate a deal with the ACCC and the federal government that would see Telstra build a national fibre-to-the-node network. That project is now out to tender.
Burgess will remain on the Telstra payroll, serving as a "consultant to Telstra and adviser to the CEO".