Communications service provider Spark New Zealand (ASX:SPK) has announced the appointment of Ed Hyde as the new CEO for Spark Ventures and a member of the Spark Leadership Team.

Hyde will be replacing Rod Snodgrass who, as announced in April, is leaving Spark later in the year to concentrate on driving corporate innovation and growth across a select range of New Zealand businesses.

Hyde will take up his appointment effective 1 October 2016.

Spark Managing Director Simon Moutter said, “I’m very pleased to have Ed join my Leadership Team. Ed has been instrumental in the success of Spark Ventures to date, helping Rod build the Venture portfolio via a number of key roles, most recently as CEO of Qrious, our fast-growing data analytics business.”

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Spark Ventures has played an important innovation role in the company’s transformation to date and, as Spark shifts to “Ventures 2.0”, it will continue to be influential in setting the company’s forward-looking agenda, Moutter said.

“I’m confident Ed will take Ventures to the next level of its evolution. His move into the CEO Spark Ventures role will understandably have an impact on leadership in Qrious, which we will finalise and announce shortly,” he added.

Moutter stressed that the move is yet another appointment from within, reflecting both a commitment to building capabilities for future growth, recognition of its rising talent and sound succession planning.

Hyde joined Spark in 2006 and is currently CEO of Qrious, a Big Data and Analytics business which launched in March 2014 tasked with delivering value to customers through the better use of data.

Spark New Zealand is a New Zealand-wide communications service firm that provides fixed line telephone services, a mobile network, an internet service provider, and a major ICT provider to NZ businesses. – BusinessNewsAsia.com

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