Ivo Rook, chief executive officer for Vodafone’s IoT Business, will join Sprint to head Internet of Things (IoT) business in January 2018.
Vodafone’s IoT Business has $1 billion in revenue, 50 million connections and 1,400 employees spanning 30 countries. Sprint has a strong IoT strategy in place. Both Verizon and AT&T are pursuing growth opportunities in the IoT space.
At Vodafone, Ivo Rook led Vodafone’s IoT strategy, driving its business growth, products, operations and profit and loss globally. He also held positions at Vodafone Global Enterprise as director of Northern Europe and director of Germany and Central Europe.
At Sprint, a SoftBank company, Ivo Rook will lead and build Sprint’s IoT business and will be a strategic advisor to Sprint and Softbank.
Jan Geldmacher, president of Sprint Business, said: “Ivo Rook brings a wealth of experience to Sprint including organizational leadership, sales success and the ability to develop end-to-end product and marketing strategy that leads to sustained growth for companies.”
Sprint on Friday said Ivo Rook will lead a group of product specialists to develop and operationalize IoT solutions. Ivo Rook will be responsible for driving B2B and B2B2C growth strategies, including funding, alliances and development of operationalized solutions.
Ivo Rook will act as the Liaison Officer to the Softbank Group of companies involved in the IoT space.
“My focus will be on developing secure IoT solutions for our business customers and all people who want to make the best of the digital revolution,” Ivo Rook said.
Ivo Rook earned a Masters in Information Management from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and has leveraged his scientific background into a career in strategy and deal making as a corporate entrepreneur.
