Member States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have elected Doreen Bodgan-Martin as Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) during the Union’s 20th Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Mrs Bogdan-Martin of the United States was elected Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of ITU with 95 votes. 179 Member States were present and voting and the required majority was 89. Cosmas Zavazava of Zimbabwe received 66 votes. William Ijeh of Nigeria received 16 votes.
Mrs Bogdan-Martin will become the first woman to serve as one of ITU’s top elected officials when she begins in her role as Director of BDT on 1 January 2019.
Bogdan-Martin served from 2008 to 2018 as Chief of ITU’s Strategic Planning and Membership Department where she acted as advisor to the ITU Secretary-General, and was responsible for ITU’s corporate communications, external affairs, corporate strategy and membership – as well as managing the ITU-UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development.
She also served as the Head of BDT’s Regulatory & Market Environment Division from 2007-2008 and as Head of BDT’s Regulatory Reform Unit from 2003-2007.
Prior to joining ITU, Bodgan-Martin served as a Telecommunication Policy Specialist at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the United States Department of Commerce.
The ITU Plenipotentiary Conference election process also includes the posts of Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, Director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau, and Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau.
These elections will be followed by elections for the Radio Regulations Board and ITU Council, the governing body that oversees the running of ITU between quadrennial Plenipotentiary Conferences.