Vivek Sood

Vivek has over 35 years of extensive experience across telecommunications, Financial and FMCG industries. He has successfully led multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams across Asia and Europe. 

Vivek recently accepted the role of Advisor to the Board of Axiata Group Berhad following his tenure as the Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, a position held for four years. Prior to that, he served as Group Chief Financial Officer of the Group. 

Axiata Group Berhad is a prominent regional telecommunications company with a presence in 7 countries across South and Southeast Asia, serving more than 190 million customers. During his tenure as Group CEO, Vivek led the transformation of Axiata from a pure telecommunications company into a diversified telco-tech portfolio by streamlining the Group’s portfolio, developing new tech businesses and strengthening the market position of telecommunications operations. 

In his previous capacity as Group CEO & Managing Director of Axiata Group, Vivek also served as Chairman of ADA Data AI Solutions Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Axiata Digital & Analytics Sdn Bhd), Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd and SMART Axiata CO., Ltd. He also served as a Board Member of Dialog Axiata PLC and President Commissioner of PT Link Net Tbk. 

In addition, he currently serves as a Board Member of CelcomDigi Berhad, Robi Axiata PLC as well as a Commissioner on the Board of PT XLSmart Telecom Sejahtera Tbk.

Prior joining Axiata, Vivek spent more than six years with Telenor Group, where he held several senior leadership positions, including Executive Vice President and Group Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Executive Officer of Telenor India, Chief Executive Officer of Grameenphone Bangladesh, and EVP–Finance of Telenor India. 

Earlier in his career, Vivek held key positions as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Tata AIA Life Insurance India. Prior to that, he served at Hutchison Essar South Limited as Vice President of Finance for the South Circles, and at Tupperware as Director of Finance–India Operations. 

He began his career at Hindustan Unilever Limited in India, a subsidiary of Unilever, where his final role was Regional Commercial Manager. 

Vivek holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Delhi and is a qualified Chartered Accountant of India. 

Most recent speaking engagements:
    CNBC Converge Live
    MWC Barcelona 2026 - AI-Powered. Future-Ready
    MWC Barcelona 2025 - New Digital Economy: Connecting the Dots
    APOS CEO 2024 Forum 
    TMT Finance APAC Forum 2025 - Digital Infrastructure Leaders: Driving Transformative Growth in APAC’s Next Era
    Fortune Innovation Forum 2025 – The Execution Gap (AI)