The MEF Board will introduce a brand-new Emeritus position and increase the number of women on the Board.
‘I am very honoured and thankful to have been elected Chairman of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum,” said Robert Gerstmann, Chair of the MEF Board.
“This is an exciting time with rapid changes across all our six focus sectors: enterprise communications, IoT, connectivity, payments, personal data & identity and content & advertising.
“The rise of generative AI, growing 5G adoption, impending RCS support on iOS, and WhatsApp's expanding business messaging market share will revolutionise mobile communications.
“At the same time, enterprises, service providers, networks, and regulators must collaborate to ensure digitisation delivers consumer value without neglecting security and privacy. Excited to team up with fellow Board Members, the MEF team, and all ecosystem players to navigate the mobile industry's growth potential and overcome the pitfalls together!”
The Board has two new Vice Chairs; Waheed Adam, executive chairman of iTouch Messaging Services in South Africa and Tim Ward, VP for number information services at XConnect in the UK.
Female appointments
In addition, MEF has increased the number of women on its Board to 30%. Better gender diversity is something that the MEF says it is committed to, not just at board level.
The new women on the Board are Divya Wakankar and Amira Akra, who join existing Board member Valeria Magoni from Kaleyra.
Wakankar is the EVP of strategy, corporate develop and chief marketing officer at BICS. Previously she led BICS’ enterprise business and digital product management. Akra, meanwhile, is product manager for messaging at Vodafone and has years of experience from research to business development to project and product management.
Valeria Magoni is the senior director of product and corporate marketing at Kaleyra. She has over 15 years of experience in international marketing roles across Digital, IT services, and technology organisations. Magoni was a “Women in Tech” mentor at the Web Summit and a SaaStr speaker and has been confirmed as the Chair of the Growth and Marketing Committee within the MEF Board.
‘Women are still underrepresented in the telecoms sector," Magoni said.
"Things are much, much better than they used to be, but the industry still has a long way to go. Over 50% of the staff employed at MEF identify as women, but once you get to Board level that number is much lower.
“This is something we are all committed to changing and are actively working on ways to encourage the talented women already working in the industry to step forward and apply to join the MEF Board."
The Board is diverse not only in terms of its members' backgrounds but also their geographic locations.
They come from four continents and eight countries, including South Africa, India, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Belgium, Sweden, and the UK. Furthermore, the Board represents four different value chains within the mobile ecosystem: MNO, wholesale carrier, customer engagement services, and telco vendors.
