VODAFONE IRELAND has named Dutchman Jeroen Hoencamp as its new chief executive. He will succeed Charles Butterworth in the role on July 1st. Mr Butterworth, who has led the Irish arm for almost three years, is moving back to the UK to take an as-yet-unspecified role at Vodafone.

Mr Hoencamp will join the Irish operation from Vodafone Netherlands where he has been director of enterprise since 2006 and a member of the general management board.

He joined Vodafone Netherlands in 1998 and has held senior management positions in sales, corporate, marketing and retail.

Mr Hoencamp previously served as an officer with the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps and also held a marketing role with Canon Southern Copy Machines in the United States. He moved back to the Netherlands in 1994 to work in senior marketing and sales positions for Thorn EMI/Skala Home Electronics.

Under Mr Butterworth’s watch, Vodafone retained its position as the country’s biggest mobile phone group and also entered the fixed-line and broadband markets.

Vodafone says it provides communication services to about 2.33 million people here.

It has become the second-largest provider of fixed-line services with nearly 200,000 customers following the launch of Vodafone at Home in 2007.

During his time here, Mr Butterworth led the acquisitions of Perlico and of BT’s consumer retail and small business customer base.