[London, March 2026] The idea to hand the reins to Kirsty Dunne, says Owen Keenan-Lindsey, did not come from a board meeting or a strategy review. It came from Costco.

"Costco is famously one of the most successful businesses in the world," says GTN’s founder, "and one I’ve long drawn both parallels and distinctions with. On the one hand, they deliver tremendous customer value through excellent, targeted wholesale purchasing and fair pricing, exactly what we do at GTN. But on my visits I’d find myself constantly thinking ‘it would be so much quicker if that was automated’ or ‘if that display was moved there, efficiency would increase by x percent.’ Those instincts sit at the heart of my personal obsessions with automation and efficiency."

But it was not the efficiency that stuck with him. It was something harder to define. "What makes Costco the business it is, is its soul. That’s what keeps customers and staff happy, and that’s what truly distinguishes it from its competitors."

It was those visits, he says, that crystallised something he had been turning over for some time: who at GTN best represents that soul? The answer, without hesitation, was Kirsty Dunne.

This month, Global Telecom Networks, fresh from being named B2B Dealer of the Year at the Mobile News Awards, has announced that Kirsty Dunne is its new Chief Executive Officer. Owen Keenan-Lindsey moves into a newly created role as Chief Technology & Finance Officer (CTFO), focusing on the automation and platform development that has long been his obsession. The reins, deliberately and thoughtfully, have been passed.

An award that captures a moment

Judges’ Comments, Mobile News Awards

“A well-thought-out customer-facing strategy, with lots of enthusiasm for the work the organisation does, and clear priority on customer experience.”

“Their personal approach, retail transformation and proactive problem-solving set them apart. Exceptional customer service, backed by omni-channel accessibility, continuous innovation, strong operational improvements and market-leading NPS ratings.”

“Customer empathy is clear in the scoring for satisfaction, lower response times and use of web chat and included in the customer reviews.”

Read those judges’ comments carefully and a pattern emerges. Almost every word describes something human. Relationships. Empathy. Personal approach. These are not the qualities of a system or a platform. They are the qualities of people, and of a culture. They are, in other words, exactly what Owen means when he talks about soul.

Owen Keenan-Lindsey has built GTN into an international connectivity specialist supporting businesses across more than 180 countries, delivering mobile, IoT, internet and unified communications through a single, network-independent platform. It is a genuinely complex business, operating at global scale. But he has always believed that complexity should never be allowed to erode the fundamentals.

“Nobody reflects the soul of GTN better than Kirsty: fighting on behalf of every customer and employee to deliver value and fairness at all times,” he says. “That’s what makes this the right move for GTN. While I focus on finance and automation, giving customers more control and driving operational efficiency, Kirsty will be driving the business forward, championing excellence in relationships and ensuring that in the automated age we’ve entered, we never lose our soul as a business.”

-Owen Keenan-Lindsey, CTFO, Global Telecom Networks

Kirsty Dunne: seven years in the making

For Kirsty Dunne, the appointment represents the culmination of more than seven years at the heart of GTN, and a deeply personal milestone.

“Stepping into the role of CEO is an incredibly proud moment for me, both personally and professionally,” she says. “I joined GTN more than seven years ago, and during that time I’ve seen first-hand how much passion, hard work and care goes into building this business and supporting our customers. Telecommunications is still a very male-dominated industry, so reaching this point in my career, at a company I genuinely love being part of, means a huge amount to me.”

“GTN has always been about putting customers and partners first, building real relationships and delivering solutions we genuinely believe in. As businesses grow internationally, they need simple, reliable ways to stay connected across borders, and that’s exactly what we provide. Over the next year we’ll be bringing that capability much more to the forefront. We’re attracting brilliant talent, deepening our multinational partnerships and strengthening the GTN brand, and we’re ready to be much louder about it.”

-Kirsty Dunne, CEO, Global Telecom Networks