Vodafone CTO Steve Pusey Announces Retirement Plans

Vodafone (VOD) CTO Stephen Pusey on Thursday announced his plans to retire from the telecommunications company after leading its global technology strategy for more eight years. His decision will become effective on the last day of June of this year.

Most recently, Pusey has led Vodafone’s organic investment program. He has also played a defining role in developing the company’s convergence strategy, which includes the acquisition of fixed-line businesses in Germany, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom — and additionally consists of ongoing development of fiber networks in Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Many of his notable achievements as CTO include the international expansion of Vodafone’s 3G services, the launch of 4G in 15 countries and the development of global IT, procurement and cyber security functions.

“Steve has been an outstanding colleague who has made an immense contribution to Vodafone, and I would like to thank him for his wisdom, focus and commitment,” said Vittorio Colao, CEO at Vodafone, in a statement. “He will leave as his legacy a business strongly placed for success as a result of his efforts, including most recently his leadership of Project Spring which is well on track and already delivering significant benefits for our customers.”

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Johan Wilberg, who is currently executive vice president and head of the Networks segment at Ericsson, a mobile broadband Internet communications company, will be Pusey’s successor. At Ericsson, Wilberg led his segment’s business strategy, R&D, product management and sales.

Pusey, who was appointed to the Vodafone’s board of directors in 2009, will step down from the company’s board after the Vodafone Group Annual General Meeting on at the end of July. He will not stand for re-election.

“Vodafone is a great company and it has been a great privilege to share in its journey over the last eight years,” Pusey said in a statement. “I have worked with the best people in the industry and have made friendships that will last a lifetime. I will leave the Vodafone technology community in excellent hands and wish Johan every success.”

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