Verizon Appoints Former PayPal Head Dan Schulman as CEO

Verizon appointed its independent lead director and former PayPal Holdings CEO Dan Schulman as CEO, effective immediately, saying he will lead the company’s “new chapter of growth.”

Schulman succeeds Hans Vestberg, who will serve as a special advisor through Oct. 4, 2026, and as a member of the board of directors until Verizon’s 2026 annual meeting, the company said in a Monday (Oct. 6) press release. In his role as special advisor, Vestberg will focus on the integration of Frontier Communications, the $20 billion acquisition of which is pending.

Vestberg developed Verizon’s 5G network strategy, according to the release. He became CEO in 2018, per his Verizon bio.

In addition, Mark Bertolini, CEO of healthcare technology company Oscar Health, has been appointed chairman of the board of directors, the release said.

“Dan is a seasoned and decisive leader with a unique set of experiences and a proven record of transformative leadership and operational excellence,” Bertolini said in the release. “He is the right leader to chart Verizon’s next phase of increased customer focus and financial growth.”

Schulman has served on the Verizon board of directors since 2018 and was elected lead independent director in December 2024, according to the release.

He served as president and CEO of PayPal from 2014 to 2023 and as a member of the board of directors from 2015 to 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile. Earlier roles included group president, enterprise growth, at American Express; president, prepaid group, at Sprint Nextel; CEO of Virgin Mobile; CEO of Priceline.com; and president, consumer division, at AT&T.

In the Monday press release, Verizon highlighted Schulman’s financial and operational leadership experience with large public companies and his expertise in the telecommunications, technology and financial sectors.

Schulman said in the release that he believes in Verizon and its future and that the company is “at a critical juncture.”

“We have a clear opportunity to redefine our trajectory by growing our market share across all segments of the market, while delivering meaningful growth in our key financial metrics,” Schulman said in the release. “We are going to maximize our value propositions, reduce our cost to serve, and optimize our capital allocation to delight our customers and deliver sustainable long-term growth for our shareholders.”

In the release, Verizon reiterated its financial guidance for full-year 2025 and said it will report its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 29.

PYMNTS reported in March that telecom firms are banking on financial services as mobile phones help blur the line between telecom and financial services.

For example, during that month, Verizon launched a partnership with Santander’s U.S. digital banking platform. In that collaboration, the companies offer a high-yield savings account on Santander’s Openbank platform to Verizon’s mobile and 5G customers in the United States.