Sowmyanarayan Sampath to lead Verizon Business

Verizon has elevated Sowmyanarayan Sampath as the executive vice president and chief executive officer of Verizon Business, effective July 1, 2022.

Sampath will succeed Tami Erwin, who served as Verizon Business CEO since 2019 and will now assume the role of strategic advisor to the CEO until the end of 2022. Sampath will report to Verizon Chairman and CEO, Hans Vestberg, the company said.

Given Sampath’s tenure in Verizon Vestberg said, “This will be a seamless transition and I expect him to continue the business momentum.”

Sampath joined Verizon in 2014 and is presently serving as Chief Revenue Officer for Verizon Business. He joined as SVP of Business Transformation, transforming the operating model of Verizon and created two of the company’s largest core initiatives – Network Transformation and OneFiber.

As the chief product officer for the consumer and enterprise businesses, he spearheaded joint initiatives across networks, IoT, next-generation video, and developing the 5G product portfolio.

Sampath then operated as the chief financial officer at Verizon Media Group, focused on strategy and transformation, before becoming President of Global Enterprise, where he led the commercial launch of Verizon’s 5G networks and multi-access edge computing (MEC) solutions. 

In a statement, Sampath said that he comes to this role from a very “diverse background, a mindset to constantly learn and a mission to lead with kindness and integrity during this critical moment of radical digitisation for our customers.”

Prior joining Verizon, Sampath was the partner and managing director, Global Sector Leader, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Sampath served as senior consultant at ADVENTIS Corporation before BCG.

Before ADVENTIS Corporation, Sampath was Senior Consultant, Global Corporate Finance at KPMG.