Telecom is splitting into two entities - New Telecom, which will focus on retail, and New Chorus, which will be a fixed line telecommunications access network with a dominant position in the market.
Sue Sheldon has already been named as the chairwoman of New Chorus.
Both Telecom chairman Wayne Boyd and chief executive Paul Reynolds have previously announced they are leaving the company once the demerger is completed. In the case of Dr Reynolds, he will remain to help New Telecom get established before departing.
Mr Boyd said in a statement the Telecom board believed Mr Verbiest was the right man to lead the company as Telecom addressed the opportunities and challenges after a demerger.
Between 2000 and 2008, Mr Verbiest was a member of Telecom's senior executive team as general counsel.
Subject to the demerger proceeding, Mr Boyd and director Ron Spithill will leave Telecom's board.
Murray Horn and Kevin Roberts will stand for re-election at the annual meeting.
In addition,the board is proposing Charles Sitch, Justine Smyth, Maury Leyland and Paul Berriman join the New Telecom board.
Telecom yesterday published the demerger scheme booklet to provide shareholders with the necessary information to allow them to vote on the proposal.
Splitting Telecom into its retail and network businesses may cost as much as $150 million though the estimated benefits of the plan are more than three times as great, information in the booklet showed.
Restructuring costs were put at between $85 million and $120 million, including fees for lawyers, accountants, corporate advisers and communications. A further $20 million to $30 million may be spent on separating the IT systems.
The demerger will be voted on at Telecom's annual meeting on October 26. The demerger will happen by November 1, if the vote is in favour.
Once the demerger is complete, eligible shareholders will get one Chorus share for every five Telecom shares.
Dr Reynolds said the Telecom board believed the demerger would maximise long-term value for shareholders.
"It allows Chorus to take a leading role in the Government-led fibre initiative, aligns the interests of Chorus with the Government's ultra-fast broadband objectives and avoids Telecom competing with Government-backed fibre competition if Telecom is not a partner in the UFB initiative."
Telecom would be the first comparable incumbent telecommunications company in the world to fully separate its fixed line access network business.
