Margherita Della Valle
Group Chief Executive Officer
2023 – Present
3 years (current)
Key Decisions & Impact
A veteran Vodafone financial and operating executive who joined the group in 1994, serving as Group CFO before being appointed Chief Executive Officer in April 2023. Recognized that Vodafone was spread too thinly across unprofitable, fragmented markets with crushing debt. Executed a bold, ruthless European restructuring: agreed to sell Vodafone Italy to Swisscom for €8 billion and Vodafone Spain to Zegona for €5 billion, negotiated the £15 billion merger with Three UK, slashed 11,000 corporate jobs over three years, and refocused capital expenditure on Germany, the UK, enterprise IoT, and high-growth African telecom operations (Vodacom/Safaricom).
Legacy
The decisive turnaround leader restructuring Vodafone into a leaner, simpler, high-margin telecommunications and enterprise technology champion.