Delphine Ernotte Cunci and Simon Segars will be appointed as non-executive directors of Vodafone following the company’s AGM on July 26, subject to shareholder approval.
Ernotte Cunci has considerable experience in the telecoms sector and, more recently, in media and technology. Since 2015, she has been president of France Télévisions, the French national public television broadcaster. Her mandate was extended in 2020, the first time this has happened to an incumbent President. Prior to that, she spent 26 years at Orange, where she became deputy CEO in 2010 and led the successful turnaround of Orange France.
Ernotte Cunci’s non-executive roles include president of the EBU and she is on the board of Suez. She has been a non-executive director of Suez since 2012, where she chairs the Audit and Finance Committee, and will step down from this role in the coming weeks as a result of the merger with Veolia. She is also chair of CentraleSupélec, the top French graduate engineering school, and chair of the public cultural centre Le CentQuatre-Paris.
Meanwhile, Segars brings significant experience and insights on technology trends and how these are reshaping industry landscapes. He has just stepped down as CEO of Arm, the global leader in the development of semiconductor intellectual property. He joined Arm in 1991 as an engineer and worked on some of the company’s early microprocessor designs. He subsequently held various leadership roles, including as a GM and heading Worldwide Sales, before becoming pPresident and then CEO. Prior to joining Arm, he was an engineer at Standard Telephones and Cables, the former FTSE 100 technology company.
Segars is currently a non-executive director of Dolby Laboratories, the American audiovisual technology business, and he is also chair of the Global Semiconductor Alliance. During 2017-2021, he was a board member of the SoftBank Group.
Commenting on the appointments, Vodafone’s chairman Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said: “I am delighted to welcome Delphine and Simon to Vodafone’s Board. They are well-respected leaders who bring extensive experience and track records of value creation across the telecoms, technology and media sectors. I look forward to Delphine and Simon’s valuable contribution as the Board and management team work closely together to drive the execution of Vodafone’s strategy, to achieve our commercial and portfolio priorities and deliver long-term value for shareholders”.
