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Aricent appoints ex-Vodafone CEO to its board
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Global technology and services company Aricent that focuses exclusively on communications has announced the appointement of Arun Sarin, ex-CEO of Vodafone, to its Board of Directors. Sarin is presently senior advisor at KKR, prior to which he was CEO of the mobile telecommunications giant Vodafone Group, PLC. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) is also an investor in Aricent.
The Indian-born telecommunications industry veteran started his career in 1984 at Pacific Telesis Group (PTG), pioneering the expansion of the mobile communications industry by acquiring numerous domestic and international cellular licenses while holding several senior positions at the company over a decade. In 1994, he led the review and recommendation for the spinoff of the wireless businesses from PTG, which became AirTouch Communications. He was appointed President and COO of AirTouch in 1997, which merged with Vodafone in 1999, at which time Sarin became CEO of Vodafone's US/Asia Pacific region. He quit Vodafone in 2000, only to rejoin as CEO in 2003. The group's M&A focus was originally on opportunities in developed markets, which under Sarin's leadership evolved to include emerging markets in 2006. He led the company's re-entry into the Indian market in 2007 while acquiring several other mobile operators in high growth regions such as Turkey, Ghana, Romania, Czech Republic and Qatar. In his five years as CEO, Vodafone returned capital of approximately £34 billion to shareholders including dividends and buy backs. He retired from Vodafone last year.
Sarin has an MS in Engineering and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. He received his BS in Engineering from IIT, the Indian Institute of Technology, and is a member of the Boards of Directors of Cisco Systems, Inc., Charles Schwab Corp., and Safeway Inc. He has served on numerous Boards in the past, including Gap Inc., and as a Non-Executive Director of the Court of the Bank of England.
"The one common thread today in telecom is meeting consumers ever growing expectations for innovative products and services,” said Arun Sarin, on joining as board member at Aricent. “Innovation and technology are so tightly coupled today that operators’ cannot look at them separately. Aricent is the first company with a complete solution to this difficult set of challenges, and the future looks very exciting. I’m thrilled to be joining the Aricent team." |
