Aussie Broadband’s Phillip Britt wins Managing Director of the Year

Aussie Broadband co-founder and Managing Director Phillip Britt has been named Managing Director of the Year by CEO Magazine, one of the highest honours at the 2021 Executive of the Year awards.

The awards, which were held at The Star in Sydney last night, acknowledge the outstanding contributions made by leading executives and entrepreneurs in Australia.

​​​​​​​Phil was recognised for being an innovator, with a no-nonsense approach, and for successfully leading Aussie Broadband through an extended period of extraordinary growth.

The CEO Magazine said: “As an industry disrupter, Britt leads his team with the mindset of taking a stand on matters that affect all telco users across Australia and changing the game by driving innovation. He is also focused on rising to the challenge of scaling the business while maintaining its family feel and values. This is most likely one of the reasons Aussie Broadband has become a certified Great Place to Work and an environment where setting breakthrough targets leads to novel solutions for solving problems.”

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Brian Maher accepted the award on behalf of Phil, who was unable to attend the ceremony as he was overseas.

“Phil will never beat his own drum. If it was up to Phil, he would steer the praise toward his team. But because he isn’t here, it’s fitting to focus the spotlight on him,” said Aussie Broadband Chair, Adrian Fitzpatrick.

“For nearly three decades Phil has carved out an impressive career, including his own personal achievement of transforming Aussie Broadband from a small regional telco to a major player on the Australian landscape.”

“At just 18 years old, he started his first Internet Service Provider, mostly because he wanted cheap internet. Then, in 2003, he founded Wideband Networks with his mate John Reisinger, and like all great tech companies this started from his lounge room, in Morwell.”

“The company merged with Westvic Broadband five years later to create Aussie Broadband – a dynamic and high-quality ISP, soon to become the nation’s fastest growing telco.”

“His ongoing commitment to competition and dedication to Australia’s telco industry is what drives others to do better, including his own team. This is why he’s recognized as an industry disruptor in the telco field.”

Phil is at his best when he’s told something is not possible. In 2016, Phil announced Aussie Broadband’s intention to go Australia-wide by rolling out its own national network. Many in the industry said at the time this could not be done. This led to Aussie becoming the first ISP outside the big four to build a network to all 121 NBN Points of Interconnect across Australia.

Five years ago, Aussie had approximately 60 staff.  Today, the company employs over 750 people across Australia.​​​​​​​

“Aussie Broadband is widely recognised for its excellent customer service. This is due to Phil’s passion for putting customers at the heart of the business and to an unwavering commitment to his rapidly growing team of employees,” said Adrian.

In 2020, Aussie’s in-house development team – designers of the award-winning self-service app MyAussie® – built a new business platform, Carbon.

Phil pioneered the concept of Carbon, after seeing a growing need for a new product to revolutionise how business connectivity is managed. Since then, Carbon has completely transformed the way businesses order telco services.

Aussie Broadband is also rolling out its own $67 million fibre network across Australia. By having its own fibre in the ground, the company aims to attract more business users, and save on expenses by minimising its reliance on third-party carriers.

“Phil’s great achievement has been to successfully combine his incredible technical knowledge with a deep commitment to customer service to create a telco that sits at the forefront of innovation in the country,” said Adrian.

The coveted award from CEO Magazine provides a perfect complement to being named Communications Ambassador of the Year at the industry’s ACOMM awards in 2020, and Phil’s induction into the Edison Awards Hall of Fame in 2019.

Senior leaders at Aussie Broadband, who have known and worked with Phil for many years, also paid tribute to him.

“I was humbled to accept the award on Phil’s behalf. It is an amazing achievement,​​​​​​​ and we are all very proud of him,” said Brian Maher, CFO. ​​​​​​​

“I admire many things about him – his absolute trust in his team, his love of doing a great deal, his ability to question the norm, his sense of humour and fun, his conviction that you always need something to look forward to, but most of all, his humanity and deep care about people.  I wish Australia had more leaders like him,” said Janet Granger-Wilcox, General Manager Corporate Affairs.

For the full list of finalists and winners, head to the CEO Magazine website.