The GSMA admitted it has yet to appoint a new director general to replace Anne Bouverot, who is stepping down from the role today.
A spokesperson for the association told FierceWireless:Europe that the search for a full-time replacement is still ongoing and that CTO Alex Sinclair has been appointed as acting director general to lead the group while that search progresses. Sinclair has been CTO of the association since 2005, and has 25 years of experience in the telecoms sector.
Bouverot announced in March that she would leave the GSMA to take up the role of chair and CEO of Morpho, a provider of security and identity solutions, following a four-year tenure as director general of the association.
The spokesperson told FierceWireless:Europe that Sinclair will lead the GSMA "in the interim" while it continues its search for a full-time replacement.
That search, the spokesperson added, "is progressing well", but an interim appointment was necessary because the association's board has "not yet completed that [search] process."
The association offered no hints on who might replace Bouverot in the long term, with the spokesperson stating only that it would "make an announcement of the new director general in due course." The association made the same statement in its announcement of Bouverot's departure, when it said the process of searching for a new director general had begun.
While the GSMA remains tight lipped on who it is evaluating as Bouverot's replacement, Jon Fredrik Baksaas--the association's president and Telenor Group CEO--hinted at the qualities the organisation would seek in Bouverot's replacement in that March announcement.
Baksaas hailed Bouverot's "significant impact" on the association, and noted that she had built "a stronger organisation focused on our industry's priorities" and had advocated "effectively on behalf of mobile operators across the globe," suggesting that her successor would be tasked with making similar strides.
Bouverot, meanwhile, used the announcement to state that she was "proud of the progress that the GSMA" made during her tenure, referring to the association's work with its members "around key industry initiatives, driving forward important advocacy programmes, and convening the broad mobile communications ecosystem at leading events such as Mobile World Congress."
For more:
- see the GSMA's March announcement
Related articles:
GSMA nears agreement with Apple, Samsung et al on eSIM standard
Closing the mobile gender gap: what the GSMA, Orange, Ericsson and others are doing to empower women
GSMA DG says EC must back plans for joint mobile and broadcast usage of UHF frequencies
GSMA tips sub-Saharan Africa mobile phone penetration to double by 2020
GSMA launches online commerce platform to aid mobile procurement