Marten Pieters to step down as Vodafone India CEO; Sunil Sood appointed as successor

The Board of Vodafone India today announced that Marten Pieters will be standing down as Managing Director and Chief Executive of Vodafone India with effect from 1 April 2015 and will be succeeded by the Vodafone India Chief Operating Officer, Sunil Sood. After that date, Mr Pieters will continue to remain on the Board of Vodafone India in a non-executive capacity.

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Marten Pieters was appointed as Vodafone India Managing Director and Chief Executive in February 2009 after an international telecommunications career which included Board-level roles with KPN, Celtel and Millicom. Under his leadership, Vodafone India doubled revenues, added more than 100 million customers, increased market share and launched data services used by more than 57 million customers. The longest-serving Chief Executive of an Indian telecommunications company, he has led Vodafone India’s participation in all spectrum auctions since 2009. Mr. Pieters was appointed as the Chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) in 2014.

Marten Pieters will be succeeded as Vodafone India Managing Director and Chief Executive by Sunil Sood. Mr Sood is currently the Vodafone India Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for day-to-day operations and P&L management together with new business development initiatives including the launch and expansion of mobile commerce activities. Mr Sood joined Vodafone India’s predecessor business, Hutch, in 2000 and has held roles leading the company’s operations in Gujarat, Kolkata and Chennai. He had previously worked for Pepsi in a range of Indian and international leadership roles. Mr Sood graduated with a B Tech from IIT (Delhi) and PGDM from IIM (Kolkata) and is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.