Natale's departure followed an extended dispute at Rogers, which made headlines last month. Chairman Edward Rogers was reported to have been at odds with other Rogers family members, the board and the firm's CEO, Natale. It was reported that at one point he tried to replace Natale with another executive.
Now confirming its change in leadership, Rogers said its C$20 billion acquisition of Shaw "continues to move forward as previously expected" and the CRTC public hearing scheduled for November 22 will go ahead as planned.
Rogers' share price has dropped 0.23% in 24 hours and closed yesterday at C$60.45.
Edward Rogers said: “On behalf of the Rogers family, the board and our 24,000 team members across the country, I thank Joe for his leadership and contributions to our company, including paving the way for our future together with Shaw.
“While Joe is moving on, we have an experienced interim CEO and leadership team who will continue to focus on the business, return to stability, and closing our transformational merger with Shaw.”
The board will appoint a permanent CEO and Staffieri "will be a candidate for this role".
However, Staffieri actually left Rogers in October. He was succeeded by Paulina Molnar, who took on the CFO role on an interim basis. At the time neither Staffieri nor Rogers gave a reason for his abrupt departure.
A former Bell Canada exec, Staffieri brings more than 30 years of telecom, financial, media and sports experience, including more than nine years as the CFO of Rogers. Prior to joining Rogers, he held senior positions at Bell Canada Enterprises, Celestica International and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
He said: “It is a real privilege and honour to be assuming the role of interim president and CEO for Rogers and I am excited to be working in this new role with the Rogers family, the Board, the leadership team and our colleagues from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
“Rogers has been successfully built over the past 60 years as a result of the hard work of tens of thousands of employees, and I am looking forward to building on the legacy Ted Rogers established for this company and for Canada.”
