Vodafone targets former Arm, Orange execs for board

Vodafone targets former Arm, Orange execs for board

Vodafone Group sought to add further media and technology experience to its board with former Arm chief Simon Segars along with one-time Orange executive and broadcast-industry big-wig Delphine Ernotte Cunci proposed as new non-executive directors.

Segars is set to join Vodafone months after his departure from chip design company Arm following the collapse of a controversial proposed sale of the company by SoftBank Group to Nvidia.

He had been in charge of Arm since 2013 having been at the company since 1991. Prior to that, Segars was an engineer at Standard Telephones and Cables.

Ernotte Cunci is an executive best known recently for work in France’s broadcast sector, but she previously spent 26 years at Orange including a stint as deputy CEO.

Currently she is president of public service broadcaster France Televisions and holds the same role at the European Broadcast Union, which operates a range of international productions including the Eurovision Song Contest.

Vodafone chairman Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said the pair would “bring extensive experience and track records of value creation across the telecoms, technology and media sectors”.

The two floated appointments are set to be put to Vodafone shareholders at its AGM in July.