Verizon shook up its executive ranks, shifting leaders to head up different operating divisions and announced the impending departure of long-time CFO Matt Ellis. The shifts appeared to be rather abrupt and hint at Verizon attempting to jump start growth across some of its lagging operating divisions.

The biggest move was Sowmayanarayan Sampath shifting from head of Verizon Business Group to become CEO and EVP of Verizon’s Consumer Group. Manon Brouillette had held that position until late last year, when she stepped down after less than a year in the role. CEO Hans Vestberg had been overseeing that position.

Verizon’s consumer business has struggled over the past year to match growth from rivals AT&T and T-Mobile US. This includes slower consumer wireless growth that has stifled revenue growth.

Sampath took over as head of Verizon Business Group last June, having previously served as Verizon’s chief revenue officer. He replaced long-time Verizon Business leader Tami Erwin.

The executive changes were announced late Thursday, with an investor conference held early this morning. Sampath was not on the call.

Kyle Malady, who currently heads Verizon’s Global Networks and Technology division, will replace Sampath as head of Verizon Business. The move and accompanying language indicate Vestberg wants to have deeper network insight in the business group.

“The technology is moving forward, especially in the Verizon business segment,” Vestberg said on the call. “It’s very important to have the technology acumen to be able to talk to the customers, the CIOs of our customers, the chief procurement officers, and even the CEO, so [Malady’s] extremely capable of doing that given his background and his way of leading.”

Verizon has been trying to better penetrate the business market, specifically around private networks. Sampath said during an investor conference in November that the carrier had dozens of private networks already deployed, with accelerating momentum.

“On the private networks, we are very bullish on that opportunity and I think things have gotten a little faster in the last 90 days than they’ve gotten in the last year or so,” Sampath said, adding most of Verizon’s initial private network deals have resulted in incremental spending by customers.

However, earlier this year, Vestberg bemoaned slower than expected uptake in the space could limit the carrier’s ability to hit $2 billion in MEC and enterprise-related revenues by 2025.

He told an investor conference this week that “we’ve seen a little bit slower in the beginning,” adding that this has been partly due to network radio availability challenges that have in turn impacted service and deployment pricing options.

“We need certain radio base stations for private networks, different price ranges. We need modems for certain things. You need more than the handset and the macro sites that is now in there,” Vestberg said at Citi’s 2023 Communications, Media, and Entertainment Conference. “We would now have offerings for cheaper private 5G networks with certain suppliers and more high level, high quality. We didn’t have this optionality, and that’s why we’re now sort of seeing that we’re actually meeting the customer demands of building private 5G networks.”

Vestberg at the time added that the carrier now has “the ecosystem for radios so we are fully committed. We strongly believe in private 5G networks, and that’s a revenue stream we don’t have today because we’re not into Wi-Fi networks and optimization of a manufacturing site. We’re not into that today.”

Joe Russo, who is currently SVP and chief network officer, was named to replace Malady. Russo will be tasked with overseeing Verizon’s continued network build with drastically fewer resources.

Verizon spent $23.1 billion on capex in 2022, which was substantially higher than the $20.3 billion it spent in 2021. Much of that increase was tied to expediting the build out of its C-band spectrum holdings, which the carrier paid $45 billion to acquire.

The carrier is forecasting capex of between $18.25 billion and $19.25 billion for 2023. That will include the final $1.75 billion of guided spend on the C-band deployment, with Ellis previously stating the year-over-year drop in total capex will “drive higher free cash flow in 2023 despite increases in cash interest and cash taxes.”

Vestberg during the carrier’s most recent earnings call further tempted investors by stating Verizon was currently planning around $17 billion in capex for 2024, “which we expect to represent the lowest capital intensity in over a decade and among the lowest in the industry. We expect we will deliver a best-in-class network experience while reducing our 2022 capex leveraged by more than $5 billion over the next couple of years.”

Vestberg said the newly moved executives would report directly to him. He also positioned the changes as being key for the carrier to grow its customer base, though stated the moves were not part of a broader change in strategy.

“You're constantly finding new ways to deliver and do better, and if we didn't do that we shouldn't be in our jobs,” Vestberg said, adding “I believe we can accelerate even more the strategy execution because we're such a proven team. They know it and they're really focused on operations.”

Ellis is set to leave Verizon effective May 1, having been with the carrier for 10 years and in his current CFO role for six years.

“This is the right time for me to step away, recharge my batteries for a while, and then decide what I want to do next,” Ellis said during a call on the news, adding that his tenure is the longest by any Verizon CFO.

Tony Skiadas has been tapped to replace Ellis, though on a short-term basis. Skiadas currently serves as SVP and controller at Verizon, and has held various other roles within the carrier’s finance team.

Vestberg told investors that the carrier will start the process of looking for a long-term CFO replacement “pretty soon.”

Mary-Lee Stillwell, who is currently VP of accounting and external reporting, will replace Skiadas.