Ex-CEO of EE UK Joins Vodafone Board as Non-Executive Director
Mobile operator Vodafone has announced that the former CEO of rival operator EE UK (BT), Olaf Swantee, is to be appointed to their board as a non-executive director. Mr Swantee will also become a member of the company’s Audit & Risk Committee.
Some readers may recall that Mr Swantee held the position of CEO at EE until the merger with BT in 2016, which saw him being replaced in the role by Marc Allera. More recently he has also held the CEO position at Sunrise Communications between 2016-2020 and is credited with helping to transform the company’s brand, network and services to establish it as the quality challenger in the Swiss market.
Meanwhile Mobile Zone, a company listed on the Swiss stock exchange, has announced that Mr Swantee will be proposed to be appointed as its chairman at its AGM in April 2021. Mr Swantee is currently also a non-executive director of Telia, but he does not intend to stand for re-election. He has a long history with other telecoms and technology businesses too.
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Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, Chairman of Vodafone, said:
“I am delighted that Olaf will be joining Vodafone’s Board, subject to shareholder approval at this year’s Annual General Meeting. He brings a wealth of communications expertise, has a strong track record of value creation and has presided over a number of Europe’s leading telecoms businesses. He is also passionate about technology and its potential to change society for the better. I look forward to Olaf’s contribution to our Board and him playing a significant role in the next stage of Vodafone’s strategic development.”
End.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Interesting…. Virgin moves to Vodafone from EE. So does the CEO! Same with Asda too I believe
Eh ? This makes little sense. Swantee left EE 4-5yrs ago and has never worked for Virgin. He left Sunrise Comms in 2020 after a failed takeover of a cable company owned by Liberty Global. He never worked for VM’s parent company.
It would be fair to say you are observing the frequently incestuous executive level merry go round that happens in European Telcos.
Worth noting that in his last two roles Swantee has left in the aftermath of takeovers.
Wasn’t Olaf the CEO of Community Fibre?
Executive Chairman,
Still is, I think. Suspect this is a non-exec role.