Verizon has kicked off a search for a new chief financial officer, with a view to finding a candidate that could potentially become its future CEO.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the operator is still on the hunt for a replacement for CFO Matt Ellis, who departed the company last month to pursue other opportunities.

Verizon is said to favor appointing an outsider and is working with executive recruiting and consultancy firm Spencer Stuart to make an appointment, while current CEO Hans Vestberg is also involved in the search.

A number of candidates are said to be under consideration, according to the WSJ.

Tony Skiadas, who was formerly Verizon’s SVP and controller, replaced Ellis temporarily, as part of a reshuffle at the company in March, which also saw Verizon name Sowmyanarayan Sampath as CEO of Verizon Consumer Group.

Vestberg has been CEO of Verizon since 2018, joining the business initially as chief technology officer and executive VP, and president of global networks a year earlier.

Prior to this, he was CEO and president of Swedish vendor Ericsson, where he began his career in 1988.