Good Technology co-founder joins Telstra board

Telstra has nominated Good Technology co-founder and product manager Trae Vassallo to join its board of directors.

Vassallo left the San Francisco-based mobile device management company after nearly three years to join Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers (KPBC), the major Silicon Valley capital investment firm that has backed tech companies such as Netscape, Google and Amazon, as well as recent hot startups like hyperconverged vendor Simplivity.

During her 11-year stint at KPCB, she invested in such successful startups as Nest, Opower and Dropcam.

Vassallo recently appeared as a witness to support Ellen Pao's high-profile gender discrimination case against KPBC, according to Re/code.

At Telstra, she will replace outgoing directors Geoffrey Cousins and John Zeglis, who announced plans to retire after Telstra’s annual general meeting.

Zeglis was a former chief executive, president and chairman of US telco giant AT&T, serving from 1999 to 2004. He joined Telstra in 2006 and chaired its technology committee from 2009 to 2012.

Cousins also joined Telstra in 2006 and was previously a consultant to former Prime Minister John Howard. He has been a member of Telstra’s remuneration and nomination committee since 2007.

Telstra chairman Catherine Livingstone said Vassallo was nominated for her experience across a range of industry sectors.

“We are pleased that Trae is able to commit her time and energy to Telstra, given her wide range of expertise and global perspective on many of the opportunities and challenges we are contemplating as an organisation,” said Livingstone.

Vassallo is expected to join on 13 October at Telstra's annual general meeting pending a shareholder vote.