Mitchinson takes Brightstar hot seat

Industry veteran Mark Mitchinson replaces Naz Dossa as MD

Industry veteran Mark Mitchinson has returned to the channel as managing director of Brightstar UK.

He replaces Naz Dossa with immediate effect. A Brightstar statement said: “We are excited to announce that Mark has joined Brightstar to lead the next phase of transformation and growth in our UK business”.

The company declined to add any more detail to its statement.

Mark Mitchinson has been one of the mobile channel’s most dominant players. After time spent at Nokia and distributor Brightpoint in the early 1990s, he went on to run Samsung’s mobile division, was a group managing director of Carphone Warehouse, and kick-started Huawei’s mobile device activity in the UK.

He left the mobile industry a few years ago to set himself up as a professional coach and mentor specialising in holistic wellbeing and business and life coaching (full story next issue of Mobile News).

Strong leader

An industry source who knows both Mitchinson and Brightstar welcomed the move and said it would be good for both parties.

“Mark knows distribution and he knows the manufacturers and how to work with them. He is very friendly with (Brightstar Corp CEO) Rod Millar and the relationship will be key. Mark has all the attribute to run the business well.

“He knows the key people and he’ll get a good team around him. Mark would have thought about it very carefully and I think he will welcome the challenge. He has been wasted not being in the industry. That said, he has kept his hand with Gusto where he was a non-executive director. So he won’t be struggling to catch up He’s a good manager of people. He knows how to get the best out of a team. Given his head he’ll do great things for the business.

“There has been a lack of quality leadership and direction at Brightstar. There has not been consistent and strong leadership at the top for some time. Nobody has been there long enough to set long term plans in motion.”

Mdee boss Tanny Jeffrey added: “He’s got a good reputation. He focuses on the people and not just the numbers. I think he’ll do a good job.”

Dossa joined Brightstar in July 2017 to replace Jim Michel, who left the business at the end of 2016. Dossa came to Brightstar with 20 years of specialist leadership within telecoms, networks and IT sectors including 15 years at COLT Telecom where he held several senior commercial and leadership roles, including vice president of sales and capital markets.