New CEO will be Chief Commercial Ops head Ahmed Essam
Vodafone UK CEO Nick Jeffery is leaving the network operator on February 15 to join American telco Frontier Communications president and CEO. The company previously served primarily rural areas and smaller communities, but now also serves several large metropolitan markets
He is being replaced by Group Chief Commercial Operations and Strategy Officer Ahmed Essam who joined Vodafone in 1999.
Essam has held many senior roles including CEO of the Europe Cluster, CEO of Vodafone Egypt, Commercial Director for Vodafone’s Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific region plus Group and local Commercial functions including Consumer Business and Customer Care.
Alex Froment-Curtil will become Group Chief Commercial Officer and will join the Vodafone Group Executive Committee effective 1 February. He joined Vodafone in 2003 working at Group and in markets including CEO in Vodafone Hungary, Egypt and Turkey.
Jeffery said: “I am honoured to be appointed Frontier’s next CEO, and I am excited to lead the Company in its next phase,” Jeffrey said in a statement. “Frontier owns a unique set of assets and maintains a competitive market position. My immediate focus will be on serving our customers as we enhance the network through investments in our existing footprint and in adjacent markets while building operational excellence across the organization.
Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone Group said: “I want to thank Nick for his contribution to Vodafone over his many years with the company and in particular for the achievement in recent years of strengthening Vodafone UK’s position in the UK market.
“I am pleased that Ahmed, an experienced Vodafone executive, has accepted this new role as CEO of Vodafone UK and I welcome Alex to his new Group role and the Vodafone Group Executive Committee”
Jeffery became CEO of Vodafone UK in September 2016. Before joining the UK business, he had led Vodafone Group Enterprise as chief executive since January 2013, and was appointed Chief Executive of Cable & Wireless Worldwide after the company was acquired by Vodafone Group in 2012.
He was appointed Chief Executive of Vodafone Global Enterprise in 2006 after beginning his career with Cable & Wireless Plc (Mercury Communications) in 1991.