(Source: Verizon)

Verizon's technology leadership lineup continues to change as Adam Koeppe, chief network officer for core engineering and operations, announced he is leaving the company at the end of this year.

Koeppe, a veteran network executive with a 26-year career at Verizon, said on LinkedIn that "it's time to move on to the next chapter" and that he will be stepping away from his role.

"While there is a quiet satisfaction in closing this chapter, I am equally excited for what lies ahead," he wrote, but did not hint at what his next move might be.

He described his career in building and operating Verizon's networks as "an extraordinary and humbling journey" and signed off his leaving note with praise for the company. "My confidence in Verizon's future remains high," he said.

His departure is the latest executive exit since Dan Schulman took over as CEO last October and another change to the top technology team.

Koeppe was appointed to his current position less than a year ago in December 2025 to lead the newly combined core engineering and operations organization with a focus on "network excellence."

He was one of a new trio of chief network operators promoted at the same as part of a reorganization of the carrier's network technology team amid mass layoffs of more than 13,000 employees. Along with Koeppe heading up core operations, Srini Kalapala was named senior VP to lead wireless networks, and Lynn Cox was named senior VP and head of fiber networks.

Since then, the carrier revealed in June that Joe Russo, executive VP and president of global networks and technology, is retiring in the first quarter of next year after 30 years at the company. He will be replaced by Abdu Mudesir, who suddenly left his position as head of product and technology at Deutsche Telekom in March.

Verizon's consumer CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath resigned and left the company at the end of March this year. Sampath has since been appointed CEO of Zayo and started his new role last month.

Making way for more change

Roger Entner, founder and analyst at Recon Analytics, views the executive changes going on at Verizon as signs of a "generational shift" and a company "in transition" under the new leadership of Schulman.

The people who have left are "at the right age to retire," but that doesn't necessarily mean "sitting in a rocking chair and watching the sunset," he said.

Koeppe appeared to nod to a new cohort of technology leaders in his LinkedIn post with a shoutout for Verizon's Leadership Development Program. The internal training initiative aims to help "emerging talent prepare to take the next step in their leadership journey," and has had 300 participants in the last ten years.

"I will be enthusiastically rooting for the V–Team (especially all our Leadership Development Program team members)," he said.

Koeppe started his career in 1994 as a customer service representative for Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile. He joined Verizon in 2000 and rose through various senior technology and network roles. He led technology strategy, architecture and planning as senior VP until the end of 2025 before taking over as head of core engineering and operations.

He is leaving the carrier ahead of the arrival of Mudesir who will take responsibility for networks, platforms and technology. Mudesir will join CTO Yago Tenorio in Verizon's technology leadership who made a similar trans-Atlantic move to the US from Vodafone in October 2024.

Schulman said of Mudesir in his June letter to employees that he is "a recognized pioneer in Open RAN, cloud infrastructure, and AI-driven network automation; technologies that are critical to our next chapter of growth."

After a year of upheaval and shrinking workforce, the tech talent overhaul continues into next year.