Glen Post III, the longtime chief executive of Monroe-based telecom CenturyLink, is retiring from the company much earlier than originally planned.
CenturyLink announced today that Post will step down at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in May. He was initially set to retire on Jan. 1, 2019. COO Jeff Storey will succeed him.
When CenturyLink acquired Colorado-based Level 3 Communications last year for $34 billion, activist investor Keith Meister pressured CenturyLink to replace its management team with Level 3 executives, The Wall Street Journal reports. Meister cited weak execution under Post as the reason for the change.
Storey is the former CEO of Level 3.
“While my original plan was to stay in my role through the end of 2018, Jeff has more than demonstrated his ability to assume this leadership role and I believe we should make this change sooner than originally planned,” Post says in a statement. “Also, while I will continue to serve the company as a board member, I will not assume the role of chairman of the board in order to ensure there is clarity that Jeff will be CenturyLink’s new leader.”
Post has been CEO of CenturyLink for 26 years. Under his leadership, the company’s revenues have grown from $281 million in 1991—the year Post became chief executive—to approximately $24 billion, on a pro forma basis, in 2017.
CenturyLink is the second largest telecommunications provider in the U.S.
