Ex-3 marketing head takes Virgin Mobile reins

Virgin Media has appointed former 3 marketing director Graeme Oxby as managing director of Virgin Mobile. Oxby left phone operator 3 after five years and was replaced by director of customer marketing John Penberthy-Smith.

Oxby joined 3 in November 2001 as director of consumer marketing, and was promoted to the top brand role in 2003 with a brief covering product development, marketing, pricing and communications.

His appointment follows a raft of changes at Virgin Mobile, which was integrated into the Virgin Media business a year ago after being bought by the cable group for £962m.

In June, managing director Alan Gow and deputy managing director and commercial director Joe Steel resigned from the business. Gow was chief financial officer at Virgin Mobile prior to its acquisition. Steel was promoted from commercial director at the same time.

Both were co-founders of Virgin Mobile in 1999 and were responsible for steering the company’s development before and during the launch of Virgin Media.