Alejandro Plater,
CEO A1 Group

Alejandro Plater was born in 1967 in Argentina. He studied economics at the University of Buenos Aires and completed several business postgraduate studies in sales and executive development at Columbia University and Wharton School in the USA as well as at London Business School in UK.

He began his professional career in 1991 as Risk Analyst at “Sud America Seguros” before joining Ericsson in 1997 as Sales Director for Argentina. Briefly afterwards he became Head of Business Development for several countries in South America. In 2004 he moved to the global headquarter in Stockholm, Sweden as Sales Director for the Americas. Two years later he was appointed as Sales Director for Mexico and the following year as Vice-President and Key Account Manager for major customers.

From 5 March 2015, Alejandro Plater was Chief Operating Officer (COO) of A1 Group and from 1 August 2015 to 31 August 2018 Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of A1 Group. From 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2023, he was COO and Deputy CEO. As of 1 September 2023, he resumed the function of CEO of A1 Group. He is also responsible for the cyber security strategy of the A1 Group. Contract term until 31 August 2026 with an option to extend for a further 2 years.

Thomas Arnoldner,
Deputy CEO A1 Group

Thomas Arnoldner was born in 1977. He studied business management at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and the Stockholm School of Economics.

The professional career of Thomas Arnoldner started in 2003 at Alcatel Austria. After several management positions in the company he took over as CEO of Alcatel-Lucent Austria in 2013. From 2015-2016, after Nokia acquired Alcatel-Lucent, he was a member of the integration team and developed the post-integration strategy for the combined company. From 2016-2017, he led Nokia’s European growth strategy for several business areas and markets. From 2017-2018 he was a member of the executive board of T-Systems Austria GesmbH.

From 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2023, Thomas Arnoldner was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the A1 Group.  As of 1 September 2023, he assumed the function of Deputy CEO. Contract term until 31 August 2026 with an option to extend for a further 2 years.

Sonja Wallner,
CFO A1 Group

Sonja Wallner was born in Steyr in 1971. She studied commerce at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and at Luigi Bocconi University in Milan as part of the CEMS programme at WU Vienna. She also attended executive programmes, such as at Columbia University in New York City.

Wallner joined Telekom Austria in 2000. After various project and management roles, she took over as Head of Corporate Controlling in 2009. In 2015 she was appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of A1 Telekom Austria AG and has since played a key role in shaping the strategic development and orientation of Austria’s leading telecoms company.

Sonja Wallner became CFO of the A1 Group on 1 September 2023 (reporting to CEO), in addition to her role as CFO of A1 Austria, and reports directly to CEO Alejandro Plater.

Marcus Grausam,
CEO A1 Austria

Marcus Grausam, born in Upper Austria in 1968, studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Vienna. After a few years as research assistant at the TU Vienna, Marcus Grausam started his career at mobilkom austria in 1998 as a sub-project leader for the introduction of a billing system. In 2006 he took over the area “Operation & Maintenance”.

In 2010, Marcus Grausam joined A1 Telekom Austria as Head of Operations. In this position he was responsible for the quality and stability of networks and services, management of the billing system, applications and data center topics, as well as housing, hosting, operating customer networks and information security.

Since October 2012, Marcus Grausam took over the position of the CTO at A1, where he made important progresses for the technological future of Austria, including the extension of the fiber network, as well as introducing new technologies such as 4G, 5G or vectoring. As of September 3, 2018, Marcus Grausam took over the function of CEO of A1 Austria.

Alexander Dimitrov,
CEO A1 Bulgaria

Alexander Dimitrov was born 1973 in Sofia. He holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Machines and Equipment from the Technical University in Sofia and a Master’s degree in Marketing and Management from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia.

Alexander started his career in the cosmetic industry taking various leadership positions in Sarantis Bulgaria (1996 – 1999), Sarantis Czech Republic (1999 – 2000), and Intercosmetics (2000 – 2001).

Alexander is Chief Executive Officer of A1 Bulgaria since October 1st, 2015. He has over 15 years of professional experience in telecommunications. Alexander joined Mtel’s team from Vivacom, the Bulgarian incumbent telecom, where he was Chief Commercial Officer since 2008. Previously, from 2001 till 2006, he was Chief Commercial Officer of Germanos Telecom Bulgaria, mobile products and services dealers’ chain, and from 2006 till 2008 – a Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Dejan Turk,
CEO Cluster A1 Slovenia & A1 Croatia

Dejan Turk was born in Maribor, Slovenia, in 1967. He studied marketing and finances at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. He began his career as a restaurant manager at McDonald’s Slovenija, where he later became CEO of the chain of restaurants in Slovenia and Croatia.

Dejan Turk joined A1 Group in August 2004, when he became the head of marketing and sales at Si.mobil (now A1 Slovenia). In August 2006 he was appointed Member of the Board responsible for market operations and from March 2007 to February 2014 he was the Chairman of the Management Board of Si.mobil.

He took over position of CEO/CMO A1 Serbia in March 2014. As of May 1st 2015 he became CEO/CMO of the new organizational unit “Serbia & Slovenia” within A1 Group. As of June 1st 2024 he was appointed CEO of A1 Slovenia and A1 Croatia.

Helmut Duhs,
CEO A1 Belarus

Helmut Duhs was born in Klagenfurt, Austria in 1971 and has one daughter.

In 1990 Helmut Duhs got a degree of Engineer of Communications Technology and in 1993 graduated from University of Vienna as Master in Business Informatics. In 2002 he completed post-graduate study at Danube University with Diploma of Executive MBA.

Helmut Duhs works since 1996 for A1 Group in different managerial roles, starting within the financial sector. In 2004 he was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer of mobilkom austria group services GmbH and since then he is also a member of Group Leadership Team. Since 2007 Helmut Duhs runs the Belarusian Segment of A1 Group successfully, being recognized on local and international level.

Judit Albers,
CEO A1 Serbia

Judit Albers looks back on a long international career in the telecom industry. From 1999 to 2018, Judit Albers worked for Deutsche Telekom in several locations (Bonn, Budapest and in the Balkan region), where she held numerous management positions. Most recently, she was Head of Voice Trading, CEE, ME and Asia, where she managed the traffic of Deutsche Telekom and numerous Eastern European subsidiaries, drove the Asia business and also recorded significant growth in the Middle East through active business development.

Judit Albers was then Head of International Business at AzerTelecom in Azerbaijan, where she was responsible for the operator’s international business segment including voice and data worldwide. In 2021 she joined A1 Group as Director International Business. As of June 1st 2024 she was appointed CEO A1 Serbia within A1 Group.

Judit holds a BA degree in “Business and International Relations” from Corvinus University in Budapest and an MBA degree in “Telecommunications” from Corvinus University in Budapest as well.

Metodija Mirchev,
CEO A1 Macedonia

Metodija Mirchev started his career in the FMCG industry in Poland holding management positions in several international companies. Before moving to the telecom industry, he held an executive position at L’Oréal Poland. In 2005, he was appointed head of sales at telecommunication company Cosmofon, part of COSMOTE Group and two years later he became chief commercial director. In 2011 he was named Director of Sales and Marketing at telecommunication company One, and in 2013 he was promoted to Executive Member of the Board of Directors as Chief Operating Officer.
 
Metodija received his master’s degree from the Faculty of Technology in Warsaw and holds MBA degrees from several prestigious business schools such as London Business School, HEC Paris and NHH Norway.
 
He was appointed as executive director of A1 Macedonia in January 2020, and in April 2024 he was promoted to the position of CEO.

Elisabetta Castiglioni,
CEO A1 Digital

Elisabetta Castiglioni was born 1964 in Premosello Chiovenda, Italy and holds a PhD in Business Administration from Munich Technical University and an MBA from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich.

She has a proven track record of delivering growth in complex and innovative businesses. In her role as CEO of Siemens Global Media Business, a unit of the Group´s IT Solutions and Services, she developed a diversified global business, serving top tier media and entertainment clients worldwide. Prior to that, Elisabetta was Executive Vice President Europe for the Siemens Cordless Business Unit. At MCI – now Verizon Business – she was EMEA Director of Product Marketing launching cutting-edge Data Communications solutions for the corporate market. She also oversaw the rollout of MCI’s network expansion in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Having served as a Member of the Supervisory Board of A1 Group, Elisabetta has already known our company for three years, before joining A1 Group as CEO Digital Business in June 2016.

Eva Zehetner,
Director A1 Group HR

Eva Zehetner studied International Business Administration at the University of Vienna. Parallel to her studies she began her career at HP, where she initially worked on various HR projects. After completing her studies, she worked in finance department for more than three years before returning to HR and working as an HR Business Partner. She also worked for HP Technology Services, later in an international role.

In 2011, Eva Zehetner joined the A1 Group and became Head of Compensation & Benefits at A1 and A1 Group, where she was responsible for the introduction of a group-wide job architecture, the implementation of a new flextime model in Austria and the group-wide performance management system.