Speaker Details
Nick Read
CEO, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific Region, Vodafone
Nick Read is responsible for all Vodafone operations in the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific region, which includes Vodacom (South Africa, Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique, Lesotho), Ghana, Kenya, India, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, Qatar, Fiji, and our strategic partnership in China with China Mobile.
As a Fellow Chartered Management Accountant, having taken a BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance in Manchester, Mr Read went on to pursue the first phase of his career in finance. His early finance roles were in retail - J. Sainburys plc, BAA plc and DSG plc.
In 1989, Mr Read moved to Federal Express Worldwide (Fedex) a worldwide logistics company, spending ten years with the company covering a number of senior finance positions, including Vice President and CFO for Europe, Middle East and Africa, based in Belgium, and Vice President Global Corporate Finance and Planning based in the global HQ in the States.
On returning to the UK, Mr Read then moved to become CFO for Miller Freeman Worldwide plc, the largest division of the media group United News and Media plc, where he was instrumental in reshaping the portfolio of assets.
Mr Read joined Vodafone in 2001, initially through a JV with Vivendi, and then spent six years at Vodafone UK, with a short period as CFO, before becoming CCO and then CEO in 2006. He has been in his current role since November 2008.
