The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance has named Anita Döhler as new CEO and board director.
She will take over her new role from Dr. Peter Meissner, who will retire from this position on 30 June. Since its incorporation in 2006, Meissner acted as founding director and CEO of the NGMN Alliance. Under his leadership, it grew from a handful of operators to a group that consists of 100 operators, vendors and research institutions - plus more than 20 cooperation partner organisations - and has successfully guided and shaped the evolution of 4G and 5G. Peter Meissner will remain active as senior advisor to the NGMN Board.
Emmanuel Lugagne Delpon, group CTO of Orange and chairman of the board of NGMN said: ‘Peter has been at the helm of NGMN as CEO for nearly 14 years. He led NGMN through the development of the 4G White Paper, the subsequent LTE-based Work Programme, the 5G White Paper and the following 5G Work Programme and, recently, the initiation of “Beyond 5G”. These activities have substantially impacted the developments in standardisation and the industry to meet the ambitious requirements of the global telecommunication community. Peter drove the growth of NGMN to an active and impactful organisation with a strong global presence. We thank Peter for his leadership and relentless drive for the success of NGMN and the partnership and wish him all the best for his well-deserved retirement.
‘At the same time, we welcome Ms. Anita Döhler as our new CEO and board director. She is a long-term telecoms industry executive, with hands-on operator and vendor experience. Her qualifications are outstanding, and we are looking forward to working with Anita to drive the next step of the evolution of telecommunications technology in a dynamically growing ecosystem and with new requirements, that are not only technically driven, but have become an integral part of the ecological and societal challenges of the future.’
Anita Döhler said: ‘I am proud to be leading NGMN as one of the major driving forces of the telecommunications industry. This industry has become a solid backbone of the day-to-day life of global society, which was proven during the recent Covid-19 crisis. I am looking forward to contributing to the future of communication together with the leading operators, vendors and research institutions of the world, as well as new players from other industries that are joining the telecommunication ecosystem. With 5G on a successful growth trajectory, NGMN has now started to investigate the further evolution of things to come with our “Beyond 5G” activities. You can expect to hear more from us soon.’
Anita Döhler will take over on 1 July, joining the NGMN office team in Frankfurt.