Telstra’s Ted Pretty, “Mr Black Skivvy,” and a close confidant of former CEO, Ziggy Switkowski, has become the first old Telstra senior executive to follow his boss out the door. This statement, released amid the flood of 2005 results information today, reveals Ted’s decision to depart. Well, actually, it wasn’t his decision.

The announcement reveals that new Telstra boss, Sol Trujillo, has found the task of running this ‘small’ Telco Down Under a bit too hard. Telstra is to get a Chief Operating Officer, Greg Winn, an old member of Team Sol at the US West Telco. He will be the fourth Yank Telco executives working at Telstra, including Sol, the new marketing guru Bill Stewart and consultant Phil Burgess.

Trujillo was asked to reveal Winn’s packages this morning and said he believed it was in the release, when it wasn’t. Stand by for more details this afternoon.

Ted Pretty was responsible for quite a few of Telstra’s hysterical investments. His enthusiasm for all things internet and hi-tech led the Telco down the route of Solution Six, Keycorp, Sausage Software and the like. But don’t fret for Ted, in the year to June the 2005 financial statements reveal that he was paid $2.98 million, including a base salary of $1.12 million. The year before he was paid more than $2.4 million. He can afford to continue living in the style to which he was accustomed.

Ted was actually the highest paid of the reports to Ziggy, earning a bit more than David Moffatt ($2.833 million in 2005). Bruce Akhurst, the ambitious Sensis head and one time contender for the top job, was paid $2.568 million and had the biggest pay rise in 2005 of just over half a million dollars.

Ziggy was paid a base salary of $1.83 million, a short term incentive of $1.9 million deferred and other equity of $2.7 million for a total package of $6.89 million in the year to June. Ziggy was also paid a termination payment of just over $3.1 million, with two thirds of that a ‘termination benefit’ of $2.09 million. All up, Ziggy received $10 million in his last year at Telstra.

There’s no other employee of a government-controlled body who has ever received these sorts of numbers, although compared to the likes of News Corp, the Telstra board has been positively restrained.

CRIKEY: Whatever happened to: “I’m here, I’m enthusiastic, and I’m committed to Telstra”? That was Ted Pretty little over a month ago, reading from another prepared statement (quoted in the Age 5 July, not online) in response to rumours published in Crikey that the technology and innovation chief was leaving the Telco for the US, with newly arrived Trujillo holding open the door. Guess we were out by a month.