Vodafone appoints ex-Bupa boss Val Gooding as a non-exec director

Vodafone has recruited ex-Bupa healthcare chief executive officer Val Gooding to be a non-executive director, making her the third woman on the 13-member board.

The FTSE 100 mobile giant paid its independent directors a basic salary of £115,000 last year.

Chairman Gerard Kleisterlee praised Gooding as a “seasoned” non-executive director with a “wealth of global business experience” at companies with “high levels of customer service”.

She was a non-executive at the BBC from 2008 to 2011 when the Corporation suffered a string of problems over executive pay and  the botched Digital Media Initiative  that ended up in a huge write-off  this year.

Gooding also used to be a non-executive at Cable & Wireless Communications, the emerging-markets mobile business, supermarket Sainsbury’s and Standard Chartered bank.

Her main board role at present is as non-executive chairman of FTSE 250 electronic components manufacturer Premier Farnell.