Virgin Media O2's executive director of brand and marketing, Rachel Swift, is leaving the business as part of a leadership shake-up that hands marketing oversight to consumer CEO Lyssa McGowan.

The restructuring follows McGowan's arrival in July, when she took charge of the newly merged commercial and operations functions. The company says she has been "working at pace" to reorganise the leadership team to ensure there is "greater prioritisation, simplification, alignment and focus on the areas that will make the biggest difference" to customers across the business's three brands: Virgin Media, O2 and Giffgaff.

McGowan will now oversee marketing across the business as part of her role, bringing what the company describes as a fresh look at the direction and role of the Virgin Media O2 brands.

Who else is leaving?

Swift is not the only senior departure. Chief operations officer Rob Orr and chief commercial officer Christian Hindennach are also leaving the business under the new structure.

Swift joined Virgin Media O2 in 2024 after four years at Tesco Mobile. Part of her remit was to "reset" the O2 brand, work that produced the 'Essential For Living' platform and repositioned O2 as an enabler of "life's greatest moments".

A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said: "Throughout her time at Virgin Media O2, Rachel has led brand and advertising with heart and ingenuity, delivering stand out campaigns and helping to shape the Virgin Media and O2 brands for their next chapter. We thank her for her contribution and leadership, and wish her every success for the future."

What prompted the reorganisation?

McGowan reports to CEO Lutz Schüler and came to Virgin Media O2 after more than a decade at Sky, where she rose to chief consumer officer. Her most recent role was CEO of Pets at Home.

When her appointment was announced, Schüler said it had always been the company's ambition to bring together the commercial and operations teams.

"This is a highly competitive and rapidly evolving market, so just doing what we've always done isn't the answer – we need to be simpler, faster and focused," Schüler said.

"These changes will do that with Lyssa being exactly the right person to lead our new consumer unit. Lyssa has a wealth of experience, and I have full confidence that she will bring fresh thinking and healthy challenge to the executive team."

With McGowan now holding direct responsibility for marketing across Virgin Media, O2 and Giffgaff, the shape of the telco's brand strategy — and whether the 'Essential For Living' platform survives the reset — will be the first signal of what her "fresh thinking" means in practice.