GSMA Board

Mr. Álvarez-Pallete has a degree in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid and he also studied Economics at the Free University of Brussels, in Belgium. He holds an International Management Programme from IPADE an Advance Research Degree from the Complutense University of Madrid.

In February 1999 he joined the Telefónica Group as Chief Financial Officer of Telefónica Internacional S.A.U., and in September of the same year he became Chief Financial Officer of Telefónica S.A. In July 2002, he was appointed Executive Chairman of Telefónica Internacional S.A.; in July 2006, General Manager of Telefónica Latinoamérica; and in March 2009 Chairman of Telefónica Latinoamérica. In September 2011 he was named Executive Chairman of Telefónica Europe, and in September 2012 he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Telefónica S.A.

Since April 8th 2016, he is Chairman & CEO of Telefónica S.A and he joined the board of directors in July 2006. Since March 2019 he is member of the Advisory Council of SEAT, S.A.

He began his professional career at Arthur Young Auditors in 1987, before joining Benito & Monjardín/Kidder, Peabody & Co. in 1988. In 1995 he joined the Compañía Valenciana de Cementos Portland (CEMEX) as head of the Investor Relations and Analysis Department. In 1996, he was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in Spain, and in 1998 to Chief Administration and Finance Officer of the CEMEX Group Indonesia and to a member of the Board of CEMEX Asia Ltd.

In 2001 he was granted the best “CFO Europe Best Practices” award in the Mergers & Acquisitions 2000 by the CFO Europe Magazine. In 2003, he was appointed “Member of Merit” at the Ibero-American Forum of the Fundación Carlos III and in 2007 he was awarded with the “Gold Master” of the Executive Management Forum. In 2011 he received the “Personality of the Year in Economics Award”, given by the Spanish newspaper El Economista. In 2013 he received the “Excellence 2013 Award” for his contribution to the development of telecommunications, granted by the Spanish Telecommunication Engineers Association. In 2014, he received the “Medalla Sorolla” by The Hispanic Society of America, he was named “Innovative Corporate Leader of the Year” by Latin Trade Magazine and the magazine FastCompany included him in its “100 Most Creative People in Business 2014”.

In 2016, Mr. Álvarez-Pallete was named “Best CEO” in Spain by Forbes Magazine and the Consejo Superior de Deportes granted him the entry in the “Royal Order of Merit Sports” in the category of Bronze Medal. In 2019 he was granted with the “Cross of Military Merit with white distinction”, he received the “Manager of the Year” award in the Large Corporations category granted by the Asociación Española de Directivos, and was chosen “Business Leader of the Year” by the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce. In 2020 he was awarded with the ECOFIN prize for “Financiero del Año” and the Spanish Marketing Association named him “Lider Empresarial Impulso del Marketing”. In 2021, he was named “Honorary Ambassador of Spain Brand” by the Leading Brands of Spain Forum and Actualidad Económica has recognized him as “Best Businessman of the Year”

Gopal Vittal is currently the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (India & South Asia) of Bharti Airtel Limited. In his role as CEO, he is responsible for defining and delivering the business strategy and providing overall leadership for Airtel’s India & South Asia operations.

Under the leadership of Mr. Vittal, Airtel had achieved a life-time high revenue market share. Airtel was recognized as the second most valuable brand in the country. In 2018, Airtel was also ranked 10th ‘Best Company to Work for’ and the ‘Best Employer in Telecom’ in India. In the last six years, he has strengthened the operation while driving transformation of the telco to be a strong digital services player.

Mr. Vittal was previously with Bharti Enterprises where he was the Group Director, Special Projects (April 2012 – Feb 2013). In this capacity, he worked towards formulating and supporting Airtel’s International strategy and data expansion. He also held the post of Director, Marketing at Bharti Airtel (2006-08).

In addition, Mr. Vittal has also been with Hindustan Unilever for over a 20 years. He led several national and global assignments across sales, marketing and general management. In his last four years he was the Head of the US$ 3.5 Home and Personal Care Business driving accelerated growth from 5% to 15%.

Mr. Vittal is an alumnus of Madras Christian College and has completed his MBA from IIM, Kolkata.

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.

Carlos M. Jarque is Executive Director in America Movil, heading international relations and government and corporate affairs.  He is a member of the Board of Telekom Austria Group, and member of the Broadband Commission.

He holds a Bachelor Degree in Actuarial Science and Finance from Anahuac University; a Master Degree from The London School of Economics; a Post Graduate Certificate from the University of Oslo; a Ph.D. from The Australian National University; and a Post-Doctoral from Harvard University.

In his professional career he has been Director of Economic Studies in Telmex; President of the Inter Ministerial Committee for Public Finances; President of the National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Information (INEGI, official statistics Agency for Mexico); Secretary of Mexico’s National Development Plan, and Minister of Social Development in the Mexican Cabinet.

He has had a distinguished international career, being Director of the International Statistical Institute; President of the UN Statistical Commission (leading the definition of the Millennium Development Goals); President of the UN Cartographic Conference; Director and Secretary General of the Inter-American Development Bank; and CEO of a leading international group for infrastructure and citizen services, Fomento de Construcciones y Contratos (FCC), with activities in 35 countries.

He led the integration of Mexico’s First National Informatics Development Plan.   Dr. Carlos M. Jarque has received several awards: Honorary Doctorate from Anahuac University; Benito Juarez Medal of Merit; Quetelet Medal; the Mahalanobis Lifetime Award by the International Statistical Institute; Prize “Ricardo Flores Magon” for support to Freedom of the Press and of Expression; Prize 2017 Master of GOLD of the Royal Forum of Top Business Executives (Forum that includes High executives of Ibero America, President of Honor King of Spain).

He has taught at the Faculty of Economics at the Australian National University; ITAM; Anahuac University, and has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University teaching in its Doctoral Program in Economics.

Igal Elbaz is Senior Vice President -Technology & Network Services, Network Chief Technology Officer, AT&T Services, Inc. Igal oversees the global mobile and fixed network technology direction for AT&T, which includes the design of the company’s 5G infrastructure, AT&T’s software-defined networking (SDN) initiative, protecting and monetizing AT&T’s intellectual property portfolio, and network software automation platforms. His responsibilities include network architecture, standards, planning, development, testing and certification of infrastructure and device technologies.

Igal’s past leadership roles at AT&T included senior vice president of Engineering and Operations, where he was responsible for engineering and operations for AT&T’s mobility and voice core networks, common IP backbone network, technology space engineering and management, transport and cloud engineering as well as global monitoring and surveillance of AT&T’s network, tier 3 advanced technical support, business continuity planning and AT&T’s Global Technology Operations Center which provides centralized command operations. Prior to that, Igal was senior vice president of Wireless and Access Technology; where he was responsible for wireless and wireline access network architecture, design and technology roadmap, including radio access network, subscriber product engineering, Network AI, 5G and LTE mobility, voice core network functions and driving industry standards and the device specification, testing and implementation program.

Igal also led ecosystem and innovation through AT&T’s Foundry and his focus on understanding and leveraging the startup community. Through his many assignments, Igal brings strong leadership and key experiences to deliver advanced access technologies and innovative products and services with speed and agility.

Igal serves as Chairman of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Board of Governors. ATIS delivers standards and solutions to advance ICT industry transformation.

Igal has an MBA from the College of Management Academic Studies and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Business Management from Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.

He lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and two sons.

In his capacity as the CEO for Telecommunications Business, Dr Wijayasuriya heads the pan-region Telecommunications Operations of the Axiata Group Bhd., spanning the markets of Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

Dr Wijayasuriya serves on the Boards of several Axiata Group Companies across Asia including Dialog Axiata PLC in Sri Lanka, where, for 19 years up to 2016, he held the role of Group Chief Executive. During the Period 2012-14, Dr Wijayasuriya also functioned as the Founding CEO of Axiata Digital Services – the Group-wide Digital Services Business of the Axiata Group.

In the Year 2016, Dr Wijayasuriya was honored by the GSM Association as the first recipient of the “Outstanding Contribution to the Asian Mobile Industry” Award. Dr. Wijayasuriya is a past Chairman of GSM Asia Pacific – the regional interest group of the GSM Association and has been a frequent Keynote Speaker and Panelist at GSMA events including the Mobile World Congress. Dr Wijayasuriya has also served on the Board of the TMForum.

Dr. Wijayasuriya has published widely on the subject of digital mobile communications, including research papers in publications of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) USA, Royal Society and the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) UK (S.S.H Wijayasuriya et. al).

Dr Wijayasuriya is the immediate Past Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and has formerly served on the Boards of the Sri Lanka Institute for Nano Technology, the Information & Communications Technology Agency of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Institute for Information Technology and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies as its Chair. Dr Wijayasuriya was named ‘Sri Lankan of the Year’ by Sri Lanka’s premier business journal the LMD in 2008.

Dr. Wijayasuriya graduated from the University of Cambridge UK in 1989. He subsequently obtained his PhD in Digital Mobile Communications from the University of Bristol UK in 1994. A Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Engineering Technology UK, Dr. Wijayasuriya also holds an MBA from the University of Warwick UK.

Mr. Gao Tongqing is Executive Vice President of China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., a Director and Vice President of China Mobile Communication Co., Ltd.. Mr. Gao previously served as Chairman and General Manager of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Telecom Company, Chairman and General Manager of China Telecom Jiangsu branch, Vice President of China Telecommunications Corporation, and Executive Director and Executive Vice President of China Telecom Corporation Limited. He graduated from the Changchun Institute of Posts and Telecommunications with a major in telecommunications engineering, and received a doctorate degree in business administration from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Mr. Gao is a professor-level senior engineer with extensive experience in management and the telecommunications industry. He also serves as a member of National Advisory Committee of experts on Internet Plus, Vice President of Alliance of Industrial Internet, and Vice President of Internet Society of China.

Mr. Li Jun is a principal-level senior engineer and a Doctor of Engineering from Wuhan University with a major in photogrammetry and remote sensing. He is now the Vice President of China Telecommunications Corporation Limited. Previously, Mr. Li served as Deputy Chief Engineer of China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute (CCID), and Deputy Chief of the Department of Planning, Science and Technology, Chief of the Department of Planning, Science and Technology (Office of the Science and Technology Commission), Head of the General Office and Head of the Department of General Administration of China Electronics Corporation.

Born in October 1969, Mr. Liang Baojun has a master’s degree in Engineering. Mr. Liang served as Deputy General Manager of Beijing Branch of China Telecommunications Corporation (CTC); Deputy General Manager of Beijing Branch of China Telecom Corporation Limited, General Manager of CTC Henan Branch, General Manager of Corporate IT Department of CTC, and General Manager of Government and Enterprise Accounts Department of CTC.

Mr. Liang is currently Vice President of China United Network Communications Group Corporation Limited.

Since November 2020, Ms. Leroy has served as a member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG.

She is responsible for the Board Area Europe. Ms. Leroy has over 30 years of experience in the consumer goods and telecommunication sector. She started her career at Unilever where her last position was Managing Director for Belgium and Luxembourg. In 2011 she joined Proximus (formerly Belgacom) where she quickly became Head of the Consumer Market and held the position of CEO from 2014 to 2019. During this time she managed to turn around the company with a continuous growth phase and a strong customer experience focus. Over the last year, she was an Advisor at Bain & Company. Ms. Leroy currently serves as a director at Royal Ahold Delhaize and Compagnie de Saint Gobain. In addition, she has more than 10 years of Board experience, having been a Board Member at Lotus Bakeries, Proximus, and BICS. She holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Solvay Business School in Brussels.

Makoto Takahashi was named President which is the CEO position, Representative Director of KDDI Corporation (KDDI) in April 2018. Concurrently, he retains his position as a Member of the Board, which he became in June 2007. Mr. Takahashi was an Executive Vice President, a General Manager for Value Business Sector and Corporate Strategy Planning Division from June 2016. He was named a Senior Vice President, General Manager for Group Strategy Sector in June 2010. He was an Associate Senior Vice President, General Manager for Consumer Business Sector from June 2007. He became a Vice President, General Manager for Content Division and Content Business Planning Department in Solution Business Sector in April 2003. Mr. Takahashi entered DDI, former KDDI, in April 1984, after graduating from Yokohama National University with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

Dr. Hyeonmo Ku is currently CEO of KT. He was appointed as the CEO of KT in March 2020.Prior to his appointment as CEO, Dr. Ku served as President and Chief of Customer & Media Business Group. Dr. Ku served as Chief Strategy Officer from 2015 to 2018. He also served as Chief of Staff in 2014. Prior to that, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Telecom & Convergence Business Group in 2013. Dr. Ku is a veteran in the telecommunications industry with more than 33 years of experience. He has assumed outstanding leadership in the development of business strategy. From 2009 to 2012, he was the head of Strategy and Sales Unit in Mobile Business Department, where he played a key role in making mobile business strategy, as well as planning and implementing of distribution channel strategy of KT. He started his career in ICT industry at KT after graduating from the Seoul National University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering in 1985. He received a Master of Science degree in Management Science and Ph.D. in Management Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 1987 and 1998, respectively

Michaël Trabbia is a member of the Executive Committee as Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for the Orange Group, overseeing the Orange Innovation division.

Michaël Trabbia joined Orange in January 2011 and held several senior positions within the company: CEO of Orange Belgium, Chief of Staff for the Chairman and CEO of Orange, and Secretary of the Group’s Executive Committee and Group Senior VP for Corporate Public Affairs.

Before joining Orange, he was Deputy Head of Cabinet of the Minister for Industry and Head of “Industrial Sectors Policy”, Head of Strategy and Development at TDF, Advisor for “ICT and Europe” to the cabinet of the Minister for Regional Development and Advisor to the cabinet of the Minister for European Affairs. He began his career in 2001 with the French regulator ARCEP, where he was responsible for the attribution and regulation of mobile licences.

Michaël Trabbia is a graduate of École polytechnique and Télécom ParisTech and holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Industrial Economics.

Mathew Oommen as President of Reliance, leads Jio’s Network, Strategy, and Service Platforms enabling India’s digital transformation to affordable and scalable broadband connectivity for the creation and adoption of digital services leveraging cloud centric open source platforms disaggregating hardware, software and services. Mr Oommen has been part of Jio since the beginning of its ambitious green field all-IP network build.

At Reliance Jio, Mr Oommen personally leads technology and product development. His focus has been driving innovation across network, applications, devices, and systems, having successfully implemented new technologies and solutions enabling industry-leading innovation across Devices and Applications, including Automation, Big Data Analytics and Software Defined Platforms across Jio’s Network and Business Operations. All of these have become key building blocks in transforming the industry as a whole and have set the stage for India’s rapid inclusive growth in digital services adoption across verticals and segments.

Prior to Reliance, Mr Oommen was Chief Technology Officer of Sprint, responsible for network and technology development, systems architecture, device development, including leading the M2M/Connected Car Service development. He has also held executive positions at Williams Communications/Wiltel and MCI Worldcom/Verizon.

Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, 54, is the Group CEO of Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel), Asia’s leading communications technology group.

Appointed Group CEO on 1 January 2021, Moon directs the Singapore-based multinational’s global strategy and oversees its consumer, enterprise and digital businesses.

Prior to this, Moon was Singtel’s CEO, Consumer Singapore, a post he held since 2012. He led the Singapore consumer business to deliver an integrated suite of mobile, broadband and TV services. Concurrently, Moon was responsible for driving the Group’s digital transformation as Group Chief Digital Officer, a role that was created in 2018 to unlock digital growth opportunities in an era of disruption.

Since joining Singtel in 1993, Moon has held several leadership roles in Marketing, Business Development and Sales, including VP of Regional Operations and EVP of Digital Consumer. In 2003, Moon was posted to Telkomsel as General Manager for Product Development and appointed Director of Commerce from 2005 to 2007.

Moon has served on the Board of Commissioners in Telkomsel since 2009. He also sits on the Board of SkillsFuture Singapore and the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM). He is a member of MCI’s Digital Readiness Council and also a member of the GSMA Board.

Moon holds a First Class Honours degree in Engineering from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Science in Management from Stanford University.

Mr. Olayan is Saudi Telecom Group CEO since March 2021. stc is the leading mobile operator in the middle east region. Prior to his current role, Olayan assumed the role of stc SVP for Consumer Business Unit, where he has been leading a commercial turnaround program with focus on preserving mobile leadership, repowering the residential/ fiber business, doubling down on digital/ non-core services, and leading in customer experience. Mr.Olayan pioneered the B2C concept, bringing consumers an end-to-end value proposition revolving around mobile and fixed connectivity, smartphones and devices, digital media, financial services and direct carrier billing for many leading services.

Mr.Olayan played an important role in steering the consumer business during the COVID-19 pandemic to consistent commercial success, strongly pursuing digitization of all touchpoints, taking the award-winning mystc app to the next level, doubling down on 5G investments and monetization efforts, and putting customers’ digital needs at the heart of go-to-market efforts. Olayan continues to serve as the chairman for several Boards of Directors such as Channels, Intigral, and CCC, in addition to holding the chairmanship role for many other committees. He also serves as the vice chairman of stcPay Board of Directors and plays an important role in steering the company’s growth agenda, attracting major international investments, and fueling demand for its services through the consumer side of the business. Olayan champions diversity and is currently the head of stc Women Forum. He has a comprehensive experience in new ICT-related technologies, digitization, cloud platforms, IoT and cyber security solutions, and is interested in innovation and connected societies and ecosystems.

Prior to his SVP role, Mr.Olayan assumed the role of stc VP of Corporate Development in 2018, leading the inorganic growth strategy, focusing on media and advertising, financial services, IT services and digital platforms, and connectivity assets. Previously, Olayan served as CEO of stc Bahrain, driving its success from third entrant to market leader within two years of launch.

Mr.Olayan has a proven executive management track record and more than 20 years of experience in the telecom, media and technology sectors. He holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals and has many certifications in the field of ICT, leadership, strategic planning and governance.

Roberto D. Nobile is a Certified Public Accountant with a degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires and an AMP (Advanced Management Program) at Harvard Business School. With broad experience in the telecommunications and media industry, since January 1st 2020 he is CEO at Telecom. Prior to this position, since May 2016 he was the Company´s COO in charge of Marketing, Sales and Operations. In October 2006, he joined Cablevisión, where he worked for 10 years, as COO and Deputy Managing Director. Earlier in his career, Roberto was part of the Arthur Andersen staff; and later worked at Honeywell as South Regional Controller (Brazil, Argentina and Chile). In 1997, he was CFO of Arte Gráfico Editorial Argentino S.A. Roberto was born on September 27, 1967. 

Pietro Labriola is the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of TIM, the latter position already assumed since November 26, 2021.

In Brazil he headed, from 2015, TIM as Chief Operating Officer and then, from 2019, as Chief Executive Officer leading the growth by consolidating the development path with the acquisition of Oi and the 5G licenses, giving a decisive contribution to the digital development of one of the most vital countries.

In the TIM Group since 2001, he held increasingly senior roles in the field of Marketing for the corporate and consumer segments of fixed and mobile telephony services.

In 2006, furthermore, he was appointed Managing Director at Matrix and in 2013 he assumed the responsibility of the Business Transformation office.

Before joining the TIM Group, since 1996 Labriola worked in Infostrada, at first as Head of Business Development and then as Marketing Director, and previously held positions in Boston Consulting Group, Cable & Wireless and France Telecom.

Pietro Labriola has a degree in Economics and Commerce from the University of Bari and a Master in Management of Innovation and Technologies from Tecnopolis, Scientific and Technological Park of Bari.

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.

MScM (Stanford GSB), B.Com (ANU), CA

Vicki Brady became the CEO and Managing Director of Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications company, on 1 September, 2022. She will lead T25, Telstra’s strategy for sustainable growth which is designed to:

• create exceptional customer experiences you can count on;
• lead network and technology solutions that deliver your future;
• deliver sustained growth and value for shareholders; and
• create the place you want to work.

Vicki joined Telstra in 2016 and was most recently Chief Financial Officer and Strategy & Finance Group Executive. In this role, Vicki guided the company’s financial performance and reporting, led the development of and progress against its corporate strategy, and oversaw its risk and internal audit capabilities, with the aim for delivering shareholder value over the long term.

Before this, Vicki was head of Telstra’s Consumer & Small Business function. In this role she led a business unit with $14.6 billion of income and was one of the architects of the T22 strategy. She has also held roles as Group Managing Director, Sales & Service and Group Managing Director, Consumer. Before working at Telstra, Vicki gained extensive executive leadership experience in telecommunications and services companies in Australia and internationally, working for organisations including Optus, SingTel and KPMG.

Vicki has a Batchelor of Commerce from the Australian National University and a Master of Science in Management from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants ANZ and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

When she is not working, Vicki enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters at home in Sydney.

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.

Rima Qureshi is executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Verizon. She is responsible for development and implementation of Verizon’s overall corporate strategy, business development, partnerships, new business incubation, strategic investments and acquisitions.

Before joining Verizon in November 2017, Qureshi was president and CEO of Ericsson North America. She has extensive experience in successfully managing various business segments, including sales, product management, operations and research and development. She also has extensive experience in acquisitions and integration.

Before becoming president and CEO of Ericsson North America in 2016, she was Ericsson’s chief strategy officer and head of mergers and acquisitions. Her more than two decades of leadership experience in the mobile communications industry include more than 15 years of global experience.

Qureshi joined Ericsson in 1993 and was a vice president there since 2000. In 2010 she was named senior vice president of Ericsson’s CDMA Mobile Systems Group, and she assumed additional responsibilities as senior vice president of strategic projects in 2013. She also served as chairman of Ericsson’s Northern Europe, Russia, Central Asia group, and chairman of Ericsson’s Modem division before becoming chief strategy officer.

Rima is currently a board member of MasterCard Incorporated and GSMA, the global telecom industry association. She also serves as an international advisory board member of McGill University. She has significant experience working with the humanitarian sector and various United Nations agencies.

She earned both her undergraduate and master’s degrees from McGill University in Montreal, and is fluent in both English and French.

Vodafone Group Executive Committee member since September 2016

Ahmed Essam was appointed Chief Commercial Operations and Strategy Officer in October 2018 and prior to this, he was CEO of the Europe Cluster which comprises Albania, Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Hungary, Malta, Portugal and Romania.

Ahmed held the position of  CEO, Vodafone Egypt from July 2014 to September 2016. He joined Vodafone Egypt in 1999 and held a variety of roles including Customer Care Director and Consumer Business Unit Director.  Previously he was the Group Commercial Management Director for the Africa Middle East and Asia Pacific region and has held a number of senior roles within Vodafone’s Group Commercial functions.

Ahmed graduated from Cairo University with an Honours Degree in Systems and Biomedical Engineering and also holds an MBA and Management Diploma from Henley Management College, UK.