Ola Electric Mobility (Ola Electric) today announced that it has appointed Arun Sarin, former CEO of the Vodafone Group, as an independent director on its board.

Sarin, a veteran in the telecom space and a respected business leader, also serves on the boards of Cisco Systems, Accenture, Charles Schwab and Ola’s parent company, ANI Technologies. He has also received an Honorary Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in 2010.

Commenting on his appointment to Ola Electric’s board, Arun Sarin said, “I am delighted to be joining the board of Ola Electric. Electric mobility at scale is the need of the hour and can help us solve some of the world’s most complex problems like climate change, pollution, over-dependence on non-renewables amongst others.”

“Ola Electric is pioneering the change by building an ecosystem that can help catalyse the adoption of electric vehicles globally. I look forward to working with Bhavish and the team at Ola Electric, towards their bold vision for the future of mobility,” added Sarin.

Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO, Ola said, “I am very excited to welcome Arun on the board of Ola Electric. Over the years, his guidance and support have helped Ola grow as an organisation with a global perspective. Ola Electric aims to build an ecosystem that can accelerate the adoption of electric mobility in India and across the world. Arun’s experience of building global businesses and his deep understanding of emerging markets and opportunities will be very valuable for us at Ola Electric in executing towards our mission.”

Arun Sarin graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and subsequently earned an MS in Engineering and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. He served as the former CEO of Vodafone Group, where he was instrumental behind expansion into emerging markets like, India, Turkey and Africa, and grew the data and internet businesses globally, produced record revenues and profits with a market capitalisation of over $150 billion (Rs 1,044,450 crore).