Margherita Della Valle’s career at Vodafone began long before she occupied the company’s top leadership position. She joined Omnitel Pronto Italia in 1994, the Italian mobile operator that later became Vodafone Italy, and spent more than three decades moving through marketing, operations, customer management, and finance before becoming Group Chief Executive.
Her rise is notable not simply because she became one of the most senior women in European telecommunications, but because she built her career inside the same organization she eventually came to lead. Along the way, she moved from understanding individual customers and commercial operations to managing the financial and strategic direction of one of the world’s largest telecommunications groups.
Della Valle was appointed Vodafone Group Chief Executive on April 27, 2023, following a period as interim CEO that began in January that year. Before taking the top job, she had served as Vodafone’s Group chief financial officer from 2018 to 2023 and Deputy CFO from 2015 to 2018.
Her journey offers an unusual view of how long-term experience inside a company can translate into leadership of a global telecommunications business.
From Omnitel to Vodafone
Della Valle joined Omnitel Pronto Italia in 1994, when Italy’s mobile telecommunications market was still developing rapidly.
Her early career was focused on consumer-facing areas, including marketing, business analytics and customer-base management. She later moved into finance, gradually taking on broader responsibilities within Vodafone Italy and eventually across Vodafone’s European operations.
The combination of commercial and financial experience became an important feature of her career. Rather than following a purely finance-led path, she developed an understanding of how customer behaviour, operations, technology and financial performance interact within a telecommunications company.
She also became involved in Vodafone’s infrastructure expansion in Italy, including work associated with the rollout of network towers, an experience that gave her exposure to the physical infrastructure underpinning mobile connectivity.
Building Experience Across Vodafone
Della Valle’s responsibilities expanded significantly in 2007 when she moved into a Group finance position.
According to Vodafone, she subsequently established several shared operations functions covering areas including IT operations, customer care, supply-chain management, human resources and finance operations. These services were provided to 28 partner markets within the wider Vodafone organisation.
She later became Vodafone’s Group Financial Controller before serving as CFO for Vodafone’s European region and then CFO of Vodafone Italy.
In 2015, she became Deputy Group CFO, and in 2018 she was appointed Group CFO. The progression gave her responsibility for increasingly complex financial and operational decisions across the multinational telecommunications group.
Her academic background is in economics. Della Valle holds a master’s degree in Economics from Bocconi University in Italy.
From CFO to CEO
Della Valle’s move into the CEO role came during a period when Vodafone was under pressure to simplify its operations and improve growth.
After Nick Read stepped down as Group Chief Executive at the end of 2022, Della Valle initially became interim CEO on January 1, 2023. She was subsequently appointed permanently on April 27.
The Vodafone board highlighted her long experience within the company and her background across marketing, operations, commercial management and finance when announcing the permanent appointment.
Della Valle herself identified three broad priorities for Vodafone: improving customer service, simplifying the business and returning the company to growth.
That became the basis of a multi-year transformation programme.
Transforming Vodafone
One of Della Valle’s central objectives has been to make Vodafone a simpler and more focused business.
The strategy has involved reshaping the company’s portfolio, simplifying its operating model and concentrating investment on markets and areas where Vodafone sees stronger long-term potential.
The transformation has included significant changes to Vodafone’s European operations. One of the most important developments was the combination of Vodafone UK and Three UK, creating VodafoneThree after the transaction received regulatory approval and was completed in May 2025. Vodafone subsequently moved toward full ownership and consolidation of the combined UK business.
The deal was intended to create a stronger competitive position in the UK telecommunications market while providing greater scale for investment in network infrastructure and customer services.
Della Valle’s leadership has therefore involved not only financial management but also portfolio restructuring, major transactions and operational change.
Vodafone’s Financial Performance Under Della Valle
The company’s latest financial results provide a clearer measure of the transformation.
For the financial year ended March 31, 2026, Vodafone reported €40.46 billion in total revenue, up 8% from €37.45 billion the previous year. Group service revenue increased 8.8% to €33.48 billion, while organic service revenue grew 5.4%.
Adjusted EBITDAaL increased 3.8% on a reported basis to €11.35 billion and grew 4.5% organically. Adjusted free cash flow was €2.62 billion.
Vodafone also returned to a reported operating profit of €2.84 billion in FY26, compared with an operating loss of €411 million in FY25. The previous year’s result had been affected significantly by impairment charges.
The results led Della Valle to describe Vodafone as a “simpler company with a stronger growth outlook” and to say the group was positioned for mid-term growth.
The numbers do not mean the transformation is complete. Vodafone continues to face intense competition, significant capital requirements and differing market conditions across Europe and Africa.
Vodafone’s Business Is Changing
Della Valle is leading Vodafone at a time when telecommunications is becoming increasingly broader than traditional mobile and fixed-line connectivity.
The company’s growth strategy includes consumer connectivity, Vodafone Business, digital services, enterprise technology and operations across Europe and Africa.
In FY26, Vodafone Business recorded organic growth of 3.2%, with digital services revenue growing at double-digit rates. The company also continued investing in its networks and technology infrastructure.
Vodafone is also exploring newer approaches to connectivity. The group has been developing partnerships around direct-to-device satellite connectivity, including its agreement with AST SpaceMobile announced in 2025.
These developments reflect a broader shift in the telecommunications industry, where network operators increasingly compete not only on mobile connections but also on cloud, digital services, enterprise technology and new forms of connectivity.
A Different Kind of Telecom CEO
Della Valle’s career gives her a perspective that combines several parts of the telecommunications business.
She entered Vodafone through consumer marketing and customer management, moved into finance and eventually became responsible for the group’s financial strategy before taking over as CEO.
That breadth matters in an industry where decisions about pricing, network investment, customer experience, technology and capital allocation are closely interconnected.
Her experience also means she understands Vodafone’s internal culture and operating model from several different positions. She has spent more than 30 years inside the organisation, moving from one of its national operations to the group’s global leadership.
That makes her succession different from that of an external turnaround executive brought in to completely reset the company.
The Road Ahead
Della Valle’s next challenge is turning Vodafone’s simplification programme into sustained growth.
The company entered FY27 with positive momentum. In its first-quarter trading update published in July 2026, Vodafone reported 5.2% organic service revenue growth and 6.2% organic growth in adjusted EBITDAaL, citing broad-based growth across its segments.
The focus now is on continuing to improve customer experience while maintaining financial discipline and generating growth across Vodafone’s European and African businesses.
For Della Valle, that means moving Vodafone beyond a transformation programme and into what the company describes as a new phase of growth.
Her career is already unusual. She joined a young Italian mobile operator in 1994, moved through marketing, operations and finance, became Group CFO, and ultimately took charge of the global organisation.
The more interesting part of her story is what comes next.
After spending more than three decades helping build Vodafone from the inside, Margherita Della Valle is now responsible for determining what the company becomes next.
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Photo: Margherita Della Valle, CEO of Vodafone Group
Source: Business Connect
