Vodafone recently announced the appointment of Joakim Reiter as Group External Affairs Director, succeeding from Matthew Kirk who is leaving the company. He will be reporting directly to Vodafone Group CEO, Vittorio Colao.
Joakim Reiter was until recently an Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Previous roles include Deputy Director-General of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden's Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, Head of the Trade Section within the Swedish Representative Office to the European Union and an EU negotiator with DG TRADE at the European Commission. A Swedish national, Joakim Reiter holds a Masters in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Masters in Political Science from Lund University.
Matthew Kirk joined Vodafone in 2006 after more than 20 years with the UK Diplomatic Service including serving as Ambassador to Finland. He was appointed to the Group Executive Committee in 2009 and established the Group's External Affairs department, managing public affairs, regulatory, communications, corporate security and corporate social responsibility functions worldwide.
Vittorio Colao, CEO, Vodafone Group
Joakim has extensive experience of multilateral trade negotiation and diplomatic and political engagement at the highest levels. We are delighted to welcome him to Vodafone. Matthew is a greatly valued and trusted colleague who has made an enormous contribution to the Group.
