Max Taylor becomes new Vodafone UK boss

Max Taylor (Source: Max Taylor)

Vodafone UK has named chief commercial officer Max Taylor as the new CEO, replacing Ahmed Essam who will become CEO of European markets and Germany executive chair. 

Taylor steps into his new role from April 2, with Essam to leave his post after three years as chief executive at the company.

He first joined the telco in 2018 as chief commercial officer. During his tenure Taylor was responsible for the commercial performance of UK’s consumer business. Prior to Vodafone, he was at EE for nearly a decade, where he most recent role was managing director of commercial.

Essam first joined Vodafone in 1999, he has since served as group chief commercial operations and strategy officer, CEO of the Europe cluster, CEO of Vodafone Egypt, and customer care director and consumer business unit director.  He has also previously been the group management director for Vodafone’s Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific region and has held senior roles within Vodafone’s group commercial functions.

Vodafone said Taylor and Essam will continue to work closely together in their new roles, with Essam to also oversee the proposed merger of Vodafone UK and Three UK.

The restructure comes following the announcement of Vodafone Deutschland boss Philippe Rogge’s plans to step down and to exit the company at the end of the month. The German division’s managing director for consumer business, Marcel de Groot, has been named as his successor

Commenting on his appointment, Taylor said: “I am thrilled to take on the role of CEO at Vodafone UK. Leading the consumer team over the past five years has been a real privilege as we’ve seen our customer base and revenue grow, and we’ve improved the customer experience.”

Essam said” “I am so proud of what we have achieved at Vodafone UK over the past three years, and I’d like to thank everyone for what we’ve made possible. Our business has made continuous strides in all areas, from the expansion of our full fibre footprint across the UK, to launching innovative propositions and improving our award-winning, reliable network.

“And, of course, we’ve made huge progress in improving our customers’ experience while making a difference to those most in need through our everyone.connected programme. I am confident that under Max’s leadership, Vodafone UK will continue to go from strength-to-strength and I look forward to continuing to work together,” he added.

Elsewhere, Swisscom also recently confirmed it will acquire Vodafone’s Italian operation for €8 billion, with plans to merge Vodafone Italia with its existing Italian operator, Fastweb. Swisscom said the combination would bring together complementary high-quality mobile and fixed infrastructures, competencies, and capabilities to create a leading converged challenger in a market with material growth opportunities.