Agenda

Doreen Bogdan-Martin is currently Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau. She took office on 1 January 2019, becoming the first woman in ITU history to hold one of the organization’s top elected management positions.

On 29 September 2022, Ms Bogdan-Martin was elected as ITU’s first-ever female Secretary-General by Member States at the Union’s Plenipotentiary Conference in Bucharest, Romania. She will take office on 1 January 2023.

Ms Bogdan-Martin is a strategic leader with more than 30 years’ high-level experience in international and inter-governmental relations and a long history of success advising governments around the world on policy and regulatory issues.

From 2008-2018, she led ITU’s Strategic Planning & Membership Department. She was instrumental in establishing the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, on which she has served as Executive Director for more than a decade, and was an architect of the annual Global Symposium for Regulators, the pre-eminent global event for digital policymakers, as well as director of ITU’s first global youth summit, #BYND. She pioneered and oversees ITU’s ongoing contribution to the EQUALS Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age, and is leading ITU’s collaboration with UNICEF on the Giga project to connect all the world’s schools.

Ms Bogdan-Martin is a frequent speaker at top-level international policy events and has spearheaded ITU’s new Youth Strategy to more actively engage with the young people who are driving the next wave of digital transformation.

During her tenure as Director of BDT, she has led the implementation of a Results-Based Management system, improved internal accountability frameworks, and initiated a comprehensive review of reporting mechanisms across BDT’s global network of field and area offices, with a view to creating a more dynamic, responsive and fit-for-purpose organization.

Ms Bogdan-Martin holds a Master’s degree in International Communications Policy from American University in Washington, DC, post-graduate certification in Strategies for Leadership from the Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, and is certified in Accountability and Ethics by the United Nations Leaders Programme.

She is an affiliate of the Harvard University Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society, a Generation Unlimited Champion, and a Champion of the EDISON Alliance led by the World Economic Forum. She serves on a number of advisory bodies, including the Geneva-Tsinghua Initiative, the SDG Lab Advisory Board, the UN Technology Innovation Labs, and the Alumni Expert Council of the Internet Governance Lab of American University in Washington D.C. She is also a qualified amateur radio operator.

Ms Bogdan-Martin is married with four children.

BDT Director, Twitter​​: ​@ITUBDTDirector
​​​Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Twitter: @DoreenBogdan​​​​
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/doreentbogdan

Video Message

Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) is the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Prior to his appointment as a Minister, he was the Director-General (DG)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). He serves as Chairman of several Presidential and Inter-Ministerial Committees.  He has received over 150 awards, including the Award of Best Minister on multiple occasions.  He lectured at universities for almost two decades and is currently a Professor of Cybersecurity at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian and British Computer Societies and is happily married with children.

Torbjörn Fredriksson is the Head of the E-commerce and Digital Economy Branch at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The branch’s work covers the Digital Economy Report, the eTrade for all initiative, eTrade for Women, the E-commerce Week various capacity-building activities, and the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-commerce and the Digital Economy. He joined the UN in 2000. Before joining UNCTAD, he held positions at the Invest in Sweden Agency and the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Commerce. He has an MSc in International Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Hon. Neema Lugangira (MP) is a Member of Parliament in Tanzania who bring forward extensive experience and successful track record in championing policy and legislative reforms for improved investment enabling environment for the agricultural, mining and oil & gas and health sectors to mention a few. As a Parliamentarians her personal prioritised agendas include food and nutrition security; digital development, community health, gender equality in politics and NGOs sector development in Tanzania and across Africa. Her continued passion and commitment for sustainable and economic development not only in her country Tanzania but also Africa led her to be the Founding Chair of the African Parliamentary Network on Internet Governance (APNIG) and the Founding Chair of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund – Tanzania Chapter. Hon. Lugangira is also the Founder of two NGOs; Agri Thamani, which is committed to ending malnutrition in Tanzania; and Omuka Hub that aims to accelerate digital inclusion in peripheral regions of Tanzania. Internationally, Hon. Lugangira is a Member of the International Parliamentary Network on Education (IPNEd); the UNITE – Global Parliamentarians Network to End Infectious Diseases; serves as the Co-Chair of Global Parliamentary Group to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases; Vital Voices Fellow; and WSIS Gender Trendsetter for Advancing Digital Gender Inclusion.

Gitanjali Sah is Strategy and Policy Coordinator at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is responsible for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process. She has more than 15 years of work experience in ICT policy issues at the national, regional and international level. She is an experienced International Civil Servant having worked at several UN Agencies. She holds M.Phil. Development Studies, University of Cambridge, UK and a Masters in Political Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India.