Maik Retzlaff (Circles.Life)
Singapore-headquartered mobile virtual network operator MVNO Circles.Life has appointed former amaysim director Maik Retzlaff as its new Australian lead.
Sydney-based Retzlaff will be expected to “continue to drive innovation at Circles.Life and bring much needed competition into the region”, according to the telco.
He largely takes over from the previous general manager of Australia, Ben Murray, who left in December 2020. ARN understands that while Murray’s previous position does share some crossover in responsibilities, Retzlaff’s role is new for the company.
Retzlaff previously worked at amaysim from 2012 to 2019, first as its director of business development until 2015, when he transitioned to commercial director mobile for amaysim and vaya until departing in 2019.
He also spent time at Tailored Wines as its founder and managing director from June 2019 until May 2021 in a freelancing capacity, as well as working in Germany at meetOne, Skillnet and Bauer Media.
In addition, Retzlaff also currently works in as a freelancer at Twinn Technologies as its founder and managing director.
“Circles.Life does for telecommunications what neo-banks did for banking by using technology and agility to deliver a customer-centred, frictionless experience," he said. "This is especially appealing to young Australians, the digital natives, who expect flexibility, such as no lock-in contracts, and transparency, such as real-time, in-app visibility of their data usage.
“We’ve seen the rise of the neo bank, now it’s telco’s turn. Circles.Life is here to change the game and our current offering is just the beginning.”
Alongside Retzlaff’s appointment, Emile Chell has been brought on as local head of marketing, coming most recently from insure-tech start-up Integrity Life.
