OREANDA-NEWS. May 3, 2012. VimpelCom Ltd. (“VimpelCom” or “the Company”) (NYSE:VIP)  announces today that Maximo Ibarra has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. (“Wind”), and as a member of the Management Board of VimpelCom. Mr. Ibarra’s appointment will take effect on May 11, 2012.  Mr. Ibarra was previously Head of the Consumer Business Unit for Wind.

 Jo Lunder, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom, stated:”I am delighted to announce the appointment of Maximo to lead our Italian business. He has a track record of success in running the Consumer Business Unit and broad experience in both the Telecoms sector and other industries. I am confident that Wind will continue its successful track record of performance whilst executing on our Value Agenda under his leadership.”

Maximo Ibarra

 Maximo Ibarra entered the mobile business in 1994 at an early stage of the industry’s growth, working for Telecom Italia Mobile in the marketing function before joining Omnitel/Vodafone in 1996 where he became Marketing Director of the Consumer Division. In 2000, he was appointed Commercial Director of DHL International and in 2001 he became Vice President of Fiat Auto with responsibility for Strategy and Business Development. In 2003 he left to join Benetton Group as Vice President of Marketing and Strategy and in 2004 returned to the Telecoms industry as Marketing Director within the Mobile business unit at Wind, where he rose to become the Company’s Consumer Director before his appointment as CEO of Wind.