Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg announced today that Tony Skiadas has officially assumed the role of Verizon’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
“Given his rich experience of 27 years at Verizon, Tony knows every aspect of our business, and he’s the right leader at the right time to strengthen our financial position while accelerating our momentum,” Vestberg stated. “Tony not only understands how we must perform as a business to deliver strong financial and operational results, but he also has the vision to look beyond the here and now to prepare us for what the future will demand.”
The announcement was made at Verizon’s Leadership Forum and in a LinkedIn post.
“I am excited to continue partnering with Tony to translate the opportunities ahead into greater growth and profitability as we take on Verizon's most ambitious chapter yet,” Vestberg added.
Skiadas was named interim CFO in March when it was also announced that CFO Matt Ellis was leaving on May 1 “to pursue other interests.” Ellis had been in the CFO role for six years.
Vestberg didn’t say exactly when Skiadas became the permanent CFO, but it’s been sounding like it was in the works for a while.
During Verizon’s Q3 earnings call, Vestberg was asked about the choices he made about six months ago and he acknowledged they did “quite a big change” in one swoop when the leadership changed. He called out four of the team leaders, including Skiadas.
Vestberg said he’s proud of the progress the team has made and Verizon’s operating results over the last three quarters. The Consumer group has been losing subscribers for multiple quarters but the loss narrowed to 51,000 in Q3 2023 compared to 189,000 in the year-ago quarter. In the Business segment, Verizon added 151,000 in Q3, for a net gain of 100,000 postpaid phone additions.
Heading into 2024, Verizon continues to focus on strong free cash flow generation and opportunities for meaningful debt reduction, Skiadas said during the earnings call.
In an interview, he told Reuters that “we think we’re on the right track” in terms of continuing to show improvements both in volumes and in profitability.