Denholm joins from Juniper Networks, where she has served a number of roles over the last decade, most recently as chief fincancial officer and COO.
Denholm trained as an accountant and is expected to take up her new role in early 2017. Having left Australia for the US in 2001, she will be based in Sydney and oversee Telstra’s operations.
She has also held roles with Sun Microsystems and Toyota, and is a board member of Tesla and Swiss robotics firm ABB.
"Robyn has a proven track record as a global COO in a business focused on telecommunications networks. She has overseen business model transformation, supply chain, and broader business process re-engineering," Telstra CEO Andy Penn said.
"She also brings strong understanding of the Australian market and Telstra as the leading network provider, as Juniper has been a valued partner of Telstra."
McKenzie was part of a raft of departures this year when she quit the telco in July. Her responsibilities as COO were taken on by group executive global enterprise and services Brendon Riley who became interim COO.
Reports claim Rile will move back to his previous role while David Burns, who was filling for him while he took on the COO responsibilities, will also return to his role as group managing director of networks applications and services.
“I am grateful for Brendon and David for outstanding work in their acting roles and I look forward to continuing to work closely with them in their permanent roles,” Penn added.
