Neil Berkett
Virgin Media chief executive
Neil Berkett assumes the enviable position as CEO and Director of Virgin Media, Inc., one of the key telecommunications and media company based in the UK. He has served as its COO at the old NTL when he joined the company in September 2005 and engineered the merger between NTL and Telewest to become what is Virgin Media. Right before his appointment, he has served as acting CEO after Steve Burch resigned his CEO position in August last year.
Promotion
Chairman Jim Mooney is all but praises for Neil, proclaiming before the board that Neil more than deserves the promotion. He clearly demonstrated “strategic vision and operational experience to take the company into its next phase of growth”: after driving the successful NTL-Telewest merger. He added that under him, the company has seen the best financial results since the merger.
During the year Virgin media saw its total customer base grow to almost 5 million with Neil doing most of the work designing and promoting the company’s products and services for the new millennia. The company saw an added 61,000 subscribers for its TV service up from a 20,000 increase in the previous months.
Excellent Credentials
Neil has more than 25 years of corporate experience in highly competitive customer-facing businesses. Before joining Virgin Media before the merger in 2005, the now 53-yar old Neil Berkett was the managing director at Lloyds TSB Bank plc since 2003 in charge of its distribution. He was the COO of Prudential Assurance Co., Ltd for a year since 2002. Before that, he occupied a concurrent role as CEO of chief executive of Trek Investco Ltd and a principal at Marsh Mill Consulting Ltd. He headed the retail operations of St George Bank and had worked overseas before that as Sr General Manager of Citibank’s Australian division, CEO at Eastwest Airlines Australia and Financial Controller at ICL Australia in succession.
