The current CEO will be succeeded by chief financial officer Nick Read from October 1
Vodafone has announced that its chief executive officer Vittorio Colao will step down after over a decade at the international operator on October 1 this year.
Colao will be succeeded by current chief financial officer Nick Read who will, in turn be succeeded by deputy CFO Margherita Della Valle.
During his tenure, Vodafone has grown its total mobile customer numbers by 267 million to 536 million in over 25 countries and has also gained 19.7 million broadband customers.
Read joined Vodafone UK in 2001 as finance director, making his way up to CEO of the UK operator and has also served as Vodafone Group chief executive for Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific before joining the group board in April 2014.
Vodafone Group Chairman Gerard Kleisterlee said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to express our gratitude to Vittorio for an outstanding tenure.
“He has been an exemplary leader and strategic visionary who has overseen a dramatic transformation of Vodafone into a global pacesetter in converged communications, ready for the Gigabit future.
“Vittorio will leave as his legacy a company of great integrity with strong inclusive values that is exceptionally well-positioned for the decade ahead.”