Hans Vestberg

Hans Vestberg (born 23 June 1965) is the former CEO and Chairman of Verizon, 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, 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 from Uppsala University 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 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 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.