Telstra finds its next networks and technology boss – Training & Development – Telco/ISP

Telstra has named Shailin Sehgal as its new networks and technology boss, succeeding Nikos Katinakis who left late last year.

Sehgal is being promoted from his current position leading Telstra’s network, applications and cloud engineering team, where he worked on fixed and wireless technology, and cloud-hosted products and services, including security services.

Sehgal’s appointment follows a search lasting several months, following Katinakis’ decision to leave the role after five years.

Telstra CEO Vicki Brady said Sehgal’s “deep technical competency” along with strong strategic, execution, and leadership skills, made him a good fit for the role.

Sehgal is a lifetime telecommunications specialist, having entered the industry in 1991 as a scientific staff member at Nortel.

After management roles in the US with Verizon and Sonus in India, he joined Texas-based IP optical networking company Genband as senior VP and CTO of the multimedia business unit.

He then headed back to India to head up product development and architecture at Reliance Jio, moving on to executive VP for R&D in core products at telecommunications software vendor Mavenir before joining Telstra in 2019.

Katinakis announced he would leave in October 2023, and is now CTO at US network services company Zayo.

He was appointed in 2018 following Telstra’s decision to bring IT and networks under one manager.