Telecom service provider VimpelCom has hired Telefonica Deutschland CEO Rene Schuster as group chief operating officer.

Rene Schuster will have direct responsibility for operational and financial performance of the Business Units, said VimpelCom.

Yogesh Malik, group chief technology officer; Mikhail Gerchuk, group chief commercial officer and Romano Righetti, group chief regulatory officer will now report to VimpelCom CEO Jo Lunder.

At Telefonica Deutschland, he worked as chief executive officer and delivered organic and market share growth.

Prior to joining Telefonica Deutschland, Rene was CEO of the UK and Irish operations of Adecco, a recruitment and managed service business.

Before that, he worked with Vodafone Group as the global marketing director.

Rene has held a number of other senior positions with companies including Hewlett Packard, Compaq, KPMG, IBM and General Electric.

Rene succeeds Jan Edvard Thygesen, who will retire at the conclusion of his contract in December 2014, will focus on strategic projects in his remaining period of time with VimpelCom.