Meet the Board

Mr Sigve Brekke, born in 1959, has been President and CEO of Telenor Group since August 2015.

Telenor Group is one of the world’s major mobile operators with 180 million mobile subscriptions in 9 countries across the Nordic region and Asia. Prior to assuming his current role, Mr Brekke served as Executive Vice President and Head of Region Asia. He was a key driver and shaper of making Telenor Group a leading force in key Asian markets, and he has served as CEO of Telenor‐controlled mobile network operators in Thailand (dtac) and India (Uninor/Telenor India).

Prior to joining Telenor Sigve Brekke had a political career in the Norwegian Labour Party. He served as State Secretary of Defence in Norway from 1993 to 1996. Mr Brekke holds a Master of Public Administration degree from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is married, has three children and resides in Oslo.

Mats Granryd is Director General of the GSMA and a Member of its Board. In this role, he leads the GSMA in supporting its global membership through a range of industry programmes, advocacy initiatives and industry-convening events.

Mats is a strong proponent of sustainability and led the mobile industry in becoming the first sector to broadly commit to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2016. He is now spearheading initiatives to amplify and accelerate the mobile industry’s impact on all 17 of the SDGs, across both developed and developing markets.

Mats serves on the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, which is focused on leveraging ICT and broadband-based technologies for sustainable development. Within the Commission, he chairs the Working Group on Digital Gender Divide to address the digital gender divide and foster the equal inclusion of women and girls in broadband access and use. Mats is a leader with The B Team, a not-for-profit initiative formed by a global group of business leaders to catalyse a better way of doing business, for the wellbeing of people and the planet. From 2016 to 2018, Mats was also a Commissioner on the Business & Sustainable Development Commission, working with CEOs across many industries to make a powerful business case for achieving a sustainable, inclusive economy.

Mats brings to the GSMA a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success in the highly dynamic mobile industry. Prior to joining the GSMA in 2016, Mats was President and CEO of Tele2, one of Europe’s fastest-growing telecom operators with more than 16 million customers across nine countries.

Previously, he spent 15 years in a variety of roles at Ericsson, most recently as Head of Northern Europe and Central Asia. While at Ericsson, he also led the North West Europe, India, CDMA and North Africa units, as well as the global customer accounts for Vodafone and Bharti.

Mats holds a M.Sc. from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Louise Easterbrook is Chief Financial Officer of the GSMA. In this role, Louise is responsible for overseeing the business and financial performance of the GSMA, leading the company’s corporate services functions, including finance, legal, HR, IT and facilities.

Before joining the GSMA in September 2014, Louise was Regional Financial Controller, Africa for Vodafone Group. Louise joined Vodafone as Investor Relations Executive, acting as the liaison between Vodafone and the financial community.

From 1996 to 2006, Louise held a series of positions at Cable & Wireless plc., including Group Director of Investor Relations, Director Corporate Finance and Head of Group Planning, Reporting and Analysis.

Louise is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from the University of Birmingham.

As Chief Regulatory Officer for the GSMA, John Giusti is responsible for leading the organisation’s public policy and industry advocacy agenda with governments, regulators and international institutions, as well as overseeing the work of the GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation and engaging with key development organisations worldwide.

Prior to joining the GSMA in 2011, John spent 17 years at the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), working in a variety of capacities. Most recently, he served as chief of staff and senior policy advisor to Commissioner Michael Copps, where he provided legal, strategic and policy support to the Commissioner on all major agency actions, including the implementation of the National Broadband Plan.

He also previously ran the FCC’s International Bureau, where he managed the agency’s relationships with its foreign counterparts and served as its chief negotiator at meetings of the International Telecommunication Union, the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission and other multilateral organisations.

John was educated in the United States, earning a Juris Doctorate from Boston University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunications from the University of Florida. He has been a member of the Massachusetts bar since 1994.

Kaan Terzioglu is an internationally acclaimed leader in telecommunications and the Group Co-Chief Executive Officer of VEON Group that serves more than 200 million customers in 9 countries. He transforms telecoms companies into agents of digital transformation in the broader economy,creating new areas of growth built on mobile connectivity and maximizing the value that the industry as a whole delivers.

As VEON’s Group Co-CEO, a position that he has taken over on 1 March2020 following earlier roles as a VEON Board member and VEON Co-COO,

Kaan Terzioglu leads the executive teams of 9 operating companies around the world. VEON Group operating companies in Russia, Pakistan, Ukraine, Algeria, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia provide their customers with connectivity and digital solutions.

Before joining VEON Group, Kaan Terzioglu was the Group CEO at Turkcell, where he created the “Digital Operator” model.

Mr Terzioglu had also previously served on the Board of the GSMA between June 2015 and April 2019. His visionary approach to telecommunications brought him GSMA’s “Outstanding Contribution to the Industry” award in MWC Barcelona in February 2019.