Hans Vestberg (born 23 June 1965) is the CEO and Chairman of

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

, where he has worked as executive vice president of the company's network and technology team, and as chief technology officer. Vestberg was previously the CEO of telecommunications company

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

, president of the Swedish Olympic Committee, and chairman of the Swedish Handball Federation.

Early life and education

Hans Vestberg was born in Hudiksvall, Sweden, in 1965. He received a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

from

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in Sweden in 1991.

Career

Vestberg began his career in Hudiksvall at Ericsson Cables in 1991. He worked at Ericsson for 25 years, with management roles for the company in Sweden, China, Brazil, Mexico and the United States. He was CFO for Ericsson in Brazil from 1998 to 2000. From 2000 to 2002, Vestberg was CFO for Ericsson in North America and

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

for the Americas. He was president for Ericsson in Mexico from 2002 to 2003. Afterward, he was a senior vice president and executive vice president for Ericsson before he was named chief financial officer in 2007, a post he held through 2009. Vestberg became the first CEO of Ericsson without an engineering background when he replaced

Carl-Henric Svanberg Carl-Henric Svanberg (born 29 May 1952) is a Swedish businessman and chairman of Volvo. He was chairman of BP for eight years, from 2010 to 2018. In December 2023, Svanberg was appointed commission chair to the AI Commission to the Swedish Gove ...

in January 2010. Slowing industry demand and new competition impacted Vestberg's tenure as CEO, despite his cost cutting efforts and acquisitions. He was ousted July 2015, following Ericsson's poor financial performance. Vestberg joined Verizon as the company's chief technology officer and executive vice president of its network and technology team on April 3, 2017. There, he oversaw Verizon's

fiber Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often inco ...

network and the development of Verizon's nascent 5G network. On June 8, 2018, Verizon announced that Vestberg would succeed Lowell McAdam as the company's chief executive officer on August 1, 2018. In 2021, Verizon and Vestberg were criticized by with a group of retired shareholders called the Association of BellTel Retirees for Vestberg's $39.4 million

golden parachute A golden parachute is an agreement between a company and an employee (usually an upper executive) specifying that the employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is terminated. These may include severance pay, cash bonuses, ...

executive compensation plan.

Awards and Recognition

In 2019, Corporate Responsibility Magazine named him Responsible CEO of the Year for a public company. In 2021, the

Ad Council The Advertising Council, commonly known as Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements or PSAs on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-gover ...

recognized his corporate citizenship for Verizon's role in supporting its COVID-19 vaccination education initiative. In 2024, the McCain Institute recognized Vestberg with the In The Arena Award for his character-driven leadership and philanthropic work.

Board participation

Vestberg chairs the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

's Edison Alliance, a global telecom ecosystem that in 2021 focused on digital inclusion. In May 2021, Vestberg was elected to the board of directors of

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

, where he is on the governance committee. Vestberg is a board member on the

United Nations Foundation The United Nations Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., that supports the United Nations and its activities. It was established in 1998 with a $1billion gift to the United Nations by philanthropist Ted Turn ...

, and the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative, as well as a commissioner on the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.

Sports

Vestberg was the chairman of the Swedish Handball Federation from 2007 to 2016. He left the Swedish Handball Federation to be president of the Swedish Olympic Committee from 2016 to 2018 as the country vied to host the 2026 Winter Olympics in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and

Åre Åre () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpe ...

. Vestberg had previously played semipro handball in Brazil.

Personal life

Vestberg is married and has two children. He is fluent in Swedish, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vestberg, Hans Swedish chief executives Uppsala University alumni 1965 births Living people Ericsson people Verizon people BlackRock people