Nicholas Jonathan Read (born 1964) is a British businessman. He was the CEO of

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

from October 2018 to December 2022.

Education

Read earned a degree in accounting and finance from

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

in 1986. He is a Fellow Certified Management Accountant.

Career

Read worked for Federal Express Corporation, with roles located in the UK, Belgium and the United States. He also worked at

United Business Media UBM plc was a British business-to-business (B2B) events organiser headquartered in London, England, before its acquisition by Informa in 2018. It had a long history as a multinational media company. Its main focus was on B2B events, but its ...

Plc, performing divisional

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

roles in both companies. While Read was serving as CFO for Vizzavi in 2001, Vodafone bought out its

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

partner, Vivendi Universal and subsequently merged Vizzavi's operations with Vodafone. Read became the CFO for Vodafone's UK business in 2002 and then CCO in 2003. On 1 May 2006, he became the CEO of Vodafone UK. In 2008, Read became the Group's Chief Executive for the Africa, Middle East and Asia region. As part of the role he became a board member of numerous Vodafone subsidiaries, joint ventures and minority positions. They included

China Mobile China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited () and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. (, formerly known as China Mobile Communications Corporation, "CMCC"), a Chinese state-ownedSt ...

, Vodacom Group, Safaricom plc,

Vodafone Egypt Vodafone Egypt (Arabic: ڤودافون مَصر, ''Vodafone Maṣr'') is the largest mobile network operator in Egypt in terms of active subscribers. It was launched in 1998 under its former name Click GSM ( Egyptian: كليك چى اس ام). I ...

, Vodafone Qatar, Indus Towers,

Vodafone India Vodafone India (formerly Vodafone Essar Ltd, Huchison Essar Ltd) was the Indian subsidiary of UK-based Vodafone Group plc and was a provider of telecommunications services in India with its operational head office in Mumbai. As of March 2018, ...

, Vodafone Hutchinson Australia, and VodafoneZiggo. In 2014, Read became the CFO of Vodafone Group plc and joined the company's main board. He was appointed Group CEO four years later in October 2018. In his role as CEO, he became a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Broadband Commissioner and HeForShe alliance champion. Read also joined the board of Booking Holdings Inc as a non-executive director in 2018 and member of the Audit Committee. In 2022, Read was the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree from Manchester Metropolitan University. In December 2022, it was announced that Read would be stepping down as Group CEO of Vodafone. He remained as an advisor to Vodafone's board until 31 March 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Nick Living people 1964 births Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University British technology chief executives British telecommunications industry businesspeople English accountants English chief executives Vodafone people