From The Gleaner

Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), the parent company for LIME, has hired Phil Bentley as its new chief executive officer, replacing Tony Rice. Bentley took office on January 1, 2014.

Bentley, who will be based in Miami, Florida, will receive an annual salary of £800,000 (J$139 million) and have an annual bonus opportunity of 1.5 times that salary, dependent on him achieving a number of financial and personal performance targets.

He will also be granted a long-term incentive award for 2014 equal to three times his base salary, with annual awards equal to two times his base salary in subsequent financial years. CWC is in the process of relocating its headquarters from London to Miami so that executives can be closer to its businesses in the Caribbean, including LIME in Jamaica.CWC has business in most of the English-speaking Caribbean islands as well as Panama, Monaco in Europe and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Digicel, the main competitor for LIME in the region, has its regional headquarters in Kingston.

Bentley was previously managing director at British Gas, the UK’s leading energy and services provider between 2007 and 2013. Prior to that he was managing director at UK energy company Centrica PLC and served on its board since 2000.

Rice decided to step down as CEO, ahead of the establishment of CWC’s new executive office in Miami, and has also left the board, according to a news release from the company.

Latin America strategy

Bentley is to push ahead with the company’s strategy of establishing CWC as the leading provider of mobile, fixed line and broadband communications services in Latin America and the Caribbean.CWC is investing in its operations in the region, particularly in mobile data, high-speed broadband and customer experience systems, as well as considering strategic acquisition opportunities. It has also committed to reducing operating costs by US$100 million (J$10.6 billion) over the next two years.

Bentley led a turnaround of British Gas, increasing profits from £300 million (J$52.2 billion) to £1.1 billion (J$191 billion), and sales by over 30 per cent to £14 billion (J$2.4 trillion).

Prior to Centrica, Bentley held senior executive roles at Diageo Plc, the parent company of Red Stripe Jamaica, and at oil giant BP.

Sir Richard Lapthorne, chairman of CWC, said he was “delighted to have attracted someone of Phil Bentley’s calibre to lead the company.”

He thanked Rice for his service saying he had “reshaped the group’s portfolio while maintaining its strong market positions and evolving its services to focus on data, which has provided an excellent platform for future growth.”

Bentley has lived and worked in the UK, China, Egypt and the United States. He holds a master’s degree from Oxford University and an MBA from INSEAD in France.

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