A 31-year veteran is the latest executive leaving Verizon. | Image by PhoneArena
As Dan Schulman settles down as CEO of Verizon, trying to turn the carrier into a wireless provider where customers come first, we saw former Executive Vice President Sowmyanarayan Sampath announce his departure. This was a big deal because Sampath was also CEO of Verizon Consumer Group when he announced his departure this month. That business unit generates approximately 78% of Verizon‘s revenues. He is expected to leave Verizon late next month.
A 31-year veteran of Verizon says that it is time to go
Before Sampath announced that he was leaving, Verizon started to lay off 13,000 employees, about 10% of its workforce, in an effort to become a leaner organization fast enough to take advantage of rapidly changing industry conditions. Of course, it also removes a large chunk of payroll costs too. Last October, Schulman’s predecessor as CEO, Hans Vestberg, lost his title, but he remains a special advisor to the carrier until this coming October.
On Thursday, in a LinkedIn post, Verizon‘s Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Technology & Operations Officer Shankar Arumugavelu wrote that he is leaving Verizon “after 31 unforgettable years.” Arumugavelu says that it is his time for him to start a new chapter. Shankar said that he was fortunate to be involved in many “groundbreaking” moments at Verizon including the launch of DSL, Fios, flagship mobile phones, the move to 4G LTE connectivity and then 5G. “It’s been a constant journey of learning and adaptation,” he says.
He praises all of the people he worked with and said that he was lucky to work alongside of “world-class leaders and mentors” who helped him become the executive and the person he turned into. “To my Global Services team and our business partners, thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this memorable journey with me,” Arumugavelu said.
“I most recently served as Executive Vice President and President of Global Services at Verizon, leading technology, digital, data & AI, supply chain, sourcing, and global real estate. Previously served as Chief Digital and Information Officer, leading the digital transformation across the company to scale the business and drive profitable revenue growth. I currently serve on the board of directors of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC, a leader in data storage and infrastructure solutions.”
-Shankar Arumugavelu, departing Verizon executive
Arumugavelu was with Verizon at the very beginning
Arumugavelu started his Verizon career as a Director at GTE when the latter merged with Bell Atlantic in 2000. That combination led to the creation of Verizon. So when you think about it, Shankar was there when Verizon started its long journey to become the nation’s largest carrier. That’s a role Verizon still owns according to the total number of subscribers during the current first quarter. Verizon has 146.9 million subscribers, vs. 142.4 million for T-Mobile.
However, in November Recon Analytics’ analyst and founder, Roger Entner said that T-Mobile is on top. Based on the momentum that T-Mobile has, and the small gap between the two, it would seem that if T-Mobile is not already number one in the U.S., it will be soon.
