Secretary-General Hamadoun I. TOURÉ
Dr Hamadoun Touré was elected Secretary-General at the ITU Plenipotentiary
Conference in Antalya, Turkey, in November 2006 and took office on 1 January
2007.
He served as Director BDT from 1998 until 2006.
Born on 3 September 1953, Hamadoun Touré holds a Masters Degree in Electrical
Engineering from the Technical Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications
of Leningrad (LEIS, USSR) and Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) from the
University of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics of Moscow (MTUCI,
Russia).
Dr Touré is committed to make ITU an innovative, forward looking organization
adapted to meeting the challenges created by the new ICT environment and to
spearhead the Union towards implementing the resolutions of the World Summit on
Information Society (WSIS) and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
As Director BDT from 1999 until 2006, he played a significant role in the WSIS
process by launching numerous projects based on partnership building with
International Organizations, Governments, Civil Society and the Private Sector.
He is married with four children and a granddaughter.
Prior to his election as Director of BDT in 1998, Dr Hamadoun Touré was
Africa’s Regional General Manager for ICO Global Communications (1996–1998). He
spearheaded the company’s activities from its Africa Regional Office in South
Africa, where he laid the foundation to ensure the successful introduction and
operation of ICO’s regional operations: marketing and network distribution,
coordination with service partners, regulators and operators of fixed, mobile
and special services.
He joined the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization
(INTELSAT) in December 1985 where he occupied several important positions. From
1986 to 1990, he was Telecommunications Officer of INTELSAT Assistance and
Development Programme (IADP). In this capacity he participated in several IADP
projects including the design of earth stations, feasibility studies for
domestic satellite communication systems and the implementation of technologies
such as time division multiple access (TDMA) and demand assignment multiple
access (DAMA) in several developing countries.
From 1990 to 1994, he was INTELSAT’s Director for the Africa Region and later
served as the Group Director for Africa and the Middle East from 1994 to 1996.
During this time, he took an active part in the continental initiative launched
by the Regional African Satellite Communications Organization (RASCOM) to pool
trans¬ponders on the INTELSAT system. He pioneered studies for regional
interconnectivity and worked closely with all African and the Middle East
countries to enhance the development of their telecommunication infrastructure.
In these positions he managed annual revenue budgets of more than USD 115
million.
He is well known for his steadfast commitment to projects such as AFROSAT,
AFSAT, PANAFTEL (Pan-African Telecommunications Network), as well as for his
contributions to numerous conferences and meetings of ITU, INTELSAT, RASCOM,
PATU (Pan-African Telecommunications Union), PANAFTEL and CAPTAC (Conference of
Post and Telecommunication Administrations of Central Africa).
On the national scene, he was Manager of the Sulymanbougou II earth station
in Bamako, Mali, where he coordinated activities between the country’s national
Office des postes et télécommunications (OPT) and TELEMALI in 1985. Later that
year, he headed OPT’s Satellite Communications Section.
From 1981 to 1984, he was Engineer in charge of operation and maintenance of
the International Satellite earth station in Bamako, Mali. He interfaced with
the International Switching Centre in Bamako in 1980 and with the PANAFTEL
microwave terminal from October 1979.
His sound operation and maintenance of satellite communications earth
stations earned him the reputation of a committed manager.
Dr Touré’s language and negotiating skills help him to efficiently broker
agreements in several international arenas. He is proficient in three official
languages of the Union: English, French and Russian.
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