Arun Sarin

Biography

Arun Sarin joined Accenture’s board of directors in October 2015. He was Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Group Plc from 2003 until his retirement in 2008, and also served as a director of Vodafone from 1999 to 2008. Mr. Sarin, who was born in India, began his career in the telecommunications industry in 1984, when he joined Pacific Telesis Group. He progressed through various management positions there and at AirTouch Communications—which Pacific Telesis spun off in 1994—and was named president and chief operating officer of AirTouch in 1997. After AirTouch merged with Vodafone in 1999, Mr. Sarin was appointed CEO of Vodafone’s U.S./Asia-Pacific region. He left Vodafone in 2000 to become CEO of InfoSpace, Inc., and from 2001 until 2003, he served as CEO of Accel-KKR Telecom. He rejoined Vodafone in 2003 as its Group Chief Executive Officer. He grew the company globally from 100 million subscribers to 300 million subscribers and expanded its services to include data and broadband. Following his retirement in 2008, he served as a senior advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for five years. Mr. Sarin is a director of Blackhawk Network Holdings, Charles Schwab Corporation and Cisco Systems. He previously served as a director of The Gap and Safeway, and as a non-executive director of the Court of the Bank of England. In 2010, he was named an Honorary Knight of the British Empire for services to the communications industry. Mr. Sarin holds MBA and Master of Science (Engineering) degrees from University of California-Berkeley, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India.

Research Interest

business