MEDIA RELEASE - Russell Stanners has today announced that he has decided to step down from his role as Vodafone New Zealand CEO at the end of October 2018.

Vodafone Regional CEO for AMAP, Vivek Badrinath, thanked Russell for his enormous contribution to Vodafone over the past 17 years.

“Russell has long been a part of the Vodafone family, starting his career as Vodafone New Zealand’s first Enterprise Director in 2002.

“Since his appointment as CEO in 2005, Russell has transformed the company from a consumer mobile business to a digital technology leader providing fixed, TV, converged and mobile services to more than two million customers across New Zealand.

“I would like to sincerely thank Russell for his significant contributions to our business during his impressive career at Vodafone,” Vivek said.

Vodafone CEO Russell Stanners said the company will continue to operate as usual until he completes his tenure in October.

“It’s been an incredible journey and the time has come for me to step down from my role as Vodafone NZ CEO. I’m committed to leading our great team until October and beyond that, I wish the company all the best as it enters a new era,” Russell said.

Russell Stanners will be succeeded by Jason Paris, currently Vodafone’s Director for Convergence Acceleration, AMAP Region.

In 2018 Jason joined Vodafone Group from Spark where he was CEO of Home, Mobile & Business. Jason’s new appointment will be effective from 1 November 2018.

“I would like to thank Russell for his tremendous contribution to Vodafone and wish him every success in the future, and congratulate Jason on his new appointment,” Vivek said.