ITU’s top management team for the next four years is now complete

Conference elects François Rancy of France as Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau and Brahima Sanou of Burkina Faso as Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

On Friday evening (8 October 2010), the conference completed the elections for ITU’s five top jobs. This issue of the Highlights gives the election results of the two posts, for which the first round of voting started on 7 October 2010 - the post of Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) and the post of Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) (see also Issue No.4 of the Highlights).

François Rancy, Director Elect of the Radiocommunication Bureau

François Rancy (France) Director Elect, Radiocommunication Bureau

François Rancy (France) was elected Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) on 8 October 2010 in the second ballot with 90 votes out of 157 countries present and voting, with Fabio Leite (Brazil) obtaining 67 votes. The required majority in this ballot was 79 (see table below for full results). Dr Veena Rawat (Canada),the third contender, withdrew her candidature after the first round of voting on 7 October.

Addressing the delegations upon his election, Mr Rancy said it was a great honour for his region, and for his country. He thanked all his supporters, in particular the French government, who put forward his name as candidate, placing their trust in him. He then thanked the two other contenders: Dr Veena Rawat and Fabio Leite. “Competing with them encouraged me to give my best and to better understand the aspirations and wishes of the Member States of the Union”. Paying tribute to his predecessor, Mr Rancy said “it will be difficult to fill the shoes of such a man as Valery Timofeev”.

Looking ahead, Mr Rancy added that it was a real honour to be part of the great team led by Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré, who in just four years has allowed ITU  to make a  great step forward. He told participants: “Rest assured that I will do all my best to meet your expectations. I know that many of our countries will have very difficult choices to make, in the coming years, in the field of radiocommunications. You can be assured that I will do all my best to help you, in particular in the transition to digital television and the transition to future generations of mobile radiocommunications.” These challenges, he said, were not only technical or financial, but were also social and political, adding that ITU will have an essential role to play in responding to them.

Dr Touré told participants: “You have just elected to the directorship of BR a very distinguished man in Mr Rancy”. He thanked the French government for having nominated Mr Rancy as candidate. Welcoming the new Director Elect  Dr Touré said: “You are coming to join a vibrant team that has in its heart the ambition to make ITU shine. I am sure that you will live up to the challenge.”
 
Mr Timofeev said: “It is not easy for me to speak at all today. That is because it is so hard to find the right words to say... I know it wasn’t an easy choice, with those three candidates — all of them worthy candidates. But I am sure you  made the right choice.” Congratulating his successor and old friend, Mr Timofeev recalled: “We’ve been together so often in so many different situations, where we’ve had to tackle very difficult tasks. So, I am confident that our new Director, although he may be taking a new path, I can assure you that whatever he chooses to do will be no worse than what we used to do before.” He then told Mr Rancy: “I am convinced that you will be a success in this post.”

Career highlights
François Rancy is an engineer, a graduate of the École Polytechnique (1977) and the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (Paris, 1979). Between 1979 and 1997, he worked as systems engineer and subsequently Head of Department in France Télécom’s research laboratories, where he was in charge of studies on national and international satellite systems and activities relating to the spectrum and the regulation of satellite systems. As from 1992, his responsibilities expanded to cover the entire radiocommunication sphere.

From 1997 to 2004, he was Director of Spectrum Planning and International Affairs at the National Frequency Agency (ANFR). Since 2004, he has been Director-General of ANFR, responsible for frequency management in France.

At the international level, he led the coordination of European delegations (CEPT) at WRC-03 and chaired the European Union group on spectrum management policy (RSPG) in 2007. He chaired the ITU–R Special Committee on Regulatory and Procedural Matters from 1997 to 2003, and the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2007.

François Rancy was awarded the ITU Silver Medal in 2007 after successfully chairing the World Radiocommunication Conference. At the national level, he holds the titles of Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur (1998) and Ordre national du mérite (1992).

Brahima Sanou, Director Elect of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

Brahima Sanou (Burkina Faso) Director Elect, Telecommunication Development Bureau

Brahima Sanou (Burkina Faso) was elected Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) on 8 October 2010 with 81 votes out of 158 countries present and voting. The majority emerged in the third round of voting, with Héctor Olavarría-Tapia (Mexico) obtaining 47 votes and Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid (Saudi Arabia) 29. The required majority in this ballot was 79 (see table below for full results).

Speaking after his election Mr Sanou paid special tribute to the government and people of Mexico. He then expressed his heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaoré for placing so much trust in him, as well as to: the entire team of the government of Burkina Faso, in particular his campaign team run by the country’s Minister of Posts and Information and Communication Technology, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, represented at this conference by the country’s Ambassador of the Permanent Mission to the Swiss Confederation and the Office of the United Nations in Geneva; African Heads of State, who endorsed his candidature; and to the African group, who provided him with unyielding support and backing; and finally, to all  ITU Member States who participated in the elections and who voted for him.
 
He paid tribute to the two other contenders, praising “Héctor for engaging in a very courteous and noble campaign”. Turning to him he said “Mr Olavarría-Tapia, you are a true noble man”.
 
Paying special tribute to Mr Al Basheer, Mr Sanou said it had been a privilege to work with his predecessor these last four years. “I would like to reassure him that I will build upon everything that was done, thanks to his very masterful work.” He added that he counts on the support of Saudi Arabia — a friend of Burkina Faso — which has always shown very strong commitment in favour of development.
 
Mr Sanou then expressed his “warmest congratulations to Dr Touré, Houlin Zhao and Malcolm Johnson for their brilliant re-election and to the newly elected Director of BR, François Rancy”. Finally, he thanked his wife for playing a very active role in his campaign and his children for “always being there for him”. He expressed the wish that the Guadalajara Conference would be a full success, and pledged to implement the Hyderabad Action Plan in the light of this conference’s conclusions.

Mr Al Basheer congratulated Mr Sanou and thanked Héctor for also running “a very elegant campaign,” adding that “he is worthy of all our respect and consideration”. Recalling his commitment to boost the worldwide development of telecommunications and information and communication technologies (ICT), Mr Al Basheer said: “I will always be proud to have been one of those who have worked hard to make sure that telecommunication development could function and exist as a third Sector in ITU. Ever since my youth I worked very hard in favour of the development of the telecommunication sector, especially ICT in developing countries, and I  always attached great importance and focused on the African continent.” He thanked Mr Sanou for his promise to continue the work BDT had embarked upon. He then expressed gratitude to his BDT staff for their support and tremendous achievements reached together over the last four years.

As Mr Al Basheer was speaking at the conference for the first time, he also congratulated the re-elected officials, with whom he had worked closely for the last four years and Mr Rancy on his election. He paid special tribute to Mr Timofeev, who is attending his last Plenipotentiary Conference as an elected official. Mr Al Basheer said he would continue to follow closely the activities of the Union, which he holds so dear.

Career highlights
Mr Sanou has accrued 30 years of experience in the telecommunication/ICT sector, 12 of them as an ITU official, including 10 as Director of the ITU Regional Office for Africa, the largest region in terms of number of countries. Africa faces the greatest development challenges — it is home to 28 of the world’s 48 least developed countries and operates in a multilingual environment (English, French, Spanish and Portuguese).

Mr Sanou has a vast experience at the international level, having represented his country in the ITU Council for almost 10 years and having also represented a group of 15 African countries on the INTELSAT Board of Governors in the 1990s. At the national level, Mr Sanou has held senior positions in the telecommunication sector, and has been elevated to the rank of Knight of the National Order of Burkina Faso (Chevalier de l’Ordre National).

A trained telecommunication engineer, he also holds a postgraduate diploma from the Centre of Financial, Economic and Banking Studies in Paris, which affords him the requisite capability and open vision to grasp the economic and financial aspects of telecommunication/ICT development problems. He is co-author of the first report on the impact of the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) on the telecommunication sector in Africa. In recognition of his rich experience in the field, immersed in the daily concerns of the developing countries, he was awarded the prize of “Best Public/Private Manager” by Africa Telecom People in 2007.