Established in 2000, The Mobile Ecosystem Forum is a global trade body that acts as an impartial and authoritative champion for addressing issues affecting the broadening mobile ecosystem. We provide our members with a global and cross-sector platform for networking, collaboration and advancing industry solutions.
The goal is to accelerate the growth of a sustainable mobile ecosystem that drives inclusion for all and delivers trusted services that enrich the lives of consumers worldwide.
MEF board members play an active leadership role in contributing to the direction of MEF, helping the organisation to champion and develop global initiatives and programmes across an international ecosystem while delivering value to the Members.
Robert Gerstmann – Chairman
Chief Evangelist & Co-Founder, Sinch
As Chief Evangelist Robert is a brand ambassador for Sinch and drives growth strategy by providing input and direction to the product and technology teams and by engaging with customers and partners around the globe.
In founding and growing Sinch, formerly known as CLX Communications and previously working for Mblox, Robert has been in the mobile enterprise communications space for over 15 years and previously served on the EMEA board between 2015-2017.
Divya Wakankar – BICS
EVP Strategy
Divya, the EVP of Strategy, Corporate Development & Chief Marketing Officer at BICS, is driving BICS’ strategy for both enterprise and telco markets. She is spearheading the company’s vision, strategy, and execution. Previously, Divya led BICS’ Enterprise business and Digital Product Management, creating innovative solutions and guiding enterprises through their digital transformation journey. Her passion lies in the global impact of digitalization and emerging technologies.
Divya is an eloquent speaker and a thought leader at industry events. Recently, she featured in an Avnet Silica podcast discussing the evolution of IoT technology. She frequently contributes to whitepapers, blogs, and she holds patents as well.
Jason Lunn – Cisco International
Global Connectivity, CPaaS
Following a successful career within Infracast for over 8 years, I have continued with my passionate approach to high quality messaging within IMImobile, now being responsible for connectivity for the billions of personalised communications which are transmitted by the IMImobile group to consumers every year. This volume has been earned by applying the ethos of MEF and focussing on high quality routes to give the best quality of service to business customers and building their confidence.
We are now in our 4th year of active MEF membership and have introduced many others to the forum with the goal of improving the messaging eco-system for the benefit of all. Most recently I have being heavily involved in bringing the UK mobile operators together to ensure a future successful outcome with MEF for the ‘Smishing’ initiative. This initiative feels closer than ever to approval and implementation and will be a major step forward in maintaining trust in messaging.
Anurag Aggarwal – GMS
Chief Revenue Officer – Enterprise Business
Anurag is a seasoned industry veteran with over a decade of experience in the CPaaS ecosystem. He has been instrumental in building Tata Communications’ A2P messaging business, launching Blockchain initiatives at Tanla Platforms and leading the Growth vertical at Globe Teleservices. Now, Anurag has taken the helm of the Enterprise Business at GMS, a very engaged and active MEF member.
As a consistent contributor to the industry, Anurag has been an MEF Board member since 2020 and is part of MEF’s Compliance Committee. Additionally, he’s a Board Advisor and Founding chair of i3forum’s Messaging Fraud Workgroup, where key global Carriers work together to fight spam and fraud. Anurag also hosts the “Humans of Telecom” podcast, which delves into the ‘human side’ of some of the most well-known individuals within our telecom industry.
Consistently, Anurag’s MEF tenure has focused on two core pillars:
1. Fostering industry collaboration within MEF and with external bodies like Hyperscalers and CPaaS providers, and enhancing collaboration among industry bodies such as i3forum and GLF carrier community.
2. Keeping MEF at the forefront of knowledge leadership by engaging in discussions around fraud prevention, industry innovations, and fostering a culture of learning and growth.
Rajiv Singla – Globe TeleServices
CEO Global Messaging
Rajiv Singla is the CEO of Global Messaging. He is energetic, driven and motivated professional who consistently goes above and beyond to drive brand evolution. Within GTS (Globe TeleServices), Rajiv thrives on embracing new challenges and takes on the crucial responsibility of forging partnerships with Tier-1 and Tier-2 global telecom carriers. He is also a prominent representative of the GTS at numerous international conferences. Rajiv is widely recognized as a highly accomplished technology specialist, renowned for his robust analytical and management skills, which played a pivotal role in establishing the highly successful SMS business at Globe TeleServices.
With a wealth of experience exceeding 15 years in the Wholesale Telecom industry, Rajiv has meticulously honed his expertise through roles at IcallGlobe, Jaina Systems Network, and Aircel. Notably, he played a crucial role in resolving complex issues within the Middle Eastern Market for VoIP resellers, optimizing the intricate network structure of Jaina while establishing key partnerships with Indian operators in the Southern region. Additionally, Rajiv led the expansion of Aircel’s ILD network, achieving an impressive termination capacity of 3 billion MoUs (Minutes of Use) per month.
Waheed Adam – Vice Chair
Executive Chairman, iTouch Messaging Services
Waheed Adam, once a young activist and today better described as a serial entrepreneur began his career at the young age of 22 after being rejected for his skills due to his race and young age in apartheid South Africa. He lives by the motto “through tragedy comes opportunity” and did exactly that when in 1988 he started his first company today known as the Prime Group, its core focus being the various disciplines of the mobile tech sector, both in SA and abroad.
Waheed’s personal passion to making South Africa a better place is highlighted by his commitment to working with various NGO’s that focus on youth.
Valeria Magoni – Kaleyra – part of Tata Communications
Director of Business Strategy
Valeria Magoni heads Product & Corporate Marketing at Kaleyra. She has spent over 15 years in international marketing roles across Digital, IT services, and technology organizations. Now she is responsible for the global go-to-market strategy of Kaleyra’s products, including WebRTC, Conversational AI, and WhatsApp Messaging.
Valeria is a Durham University MBA graduate and further completed her education at MIT and SFU Business School; she was a “Women in Tech” mentor at Web Summit and a SaaStr speaker.
Dario Betti – MEF
CEO
Dario’s experience in the mobile industry goes back to 1999; first as a consultant for Ovum advocating for attention to the nascent Mobile VAS, then launching the first Mobile Internet product for T-Mobile in Europe, and more recently expanding the concept of innovative partnerships between telcos and digital players in Asia and the Middle East, for Ooredoo and Axiata and as Director of Products for MTS.
Dario’s focus is in creating new business opportunities in the fast changing digital world, and he enjoys the cultural challenges of working in different countries to give deeper and richer engagement. Previously Dario has also worked in the Middle East, for Qatar based group Ooredoo (in Qatar, Myanmar and Indonesia). For Ooredoo Dario was part of the launch team for its greenfield mobile operator in Myanmar and repositioned the mobile brands of Indosat in Indonesia.
Dr. Marco Lafrentz- netnumber
VP Business & Market Development
Dr. Marco Lafrentz, Vice President of Business and Market Development at netnumber, an industry leader in phone number intelligence data, brings more than a decade of experience in messaging, CPaaS, portability, authentication, product innovation and more to the MEF board.
Along with his extensive background and enthusiasm for the mobile ecosystem, Marco is active in several leading industry associations, including GSMA, i3forum and M3AAWG working groups, and he’s an early constituent of the One Consortium Initiative dedicated to restoring trust in international telecommunications. You can also catch him as a featured MEF panelist at one of the MEF Leadership Forums or webinars.
Marco views communications fraud and its impact on trust as one of the most important issues facing the mobile ecosystem. As one of the newest MEF Board members, he hopes to leverage his experience to help drive solutions for restoring and protecting trust in messaging and voice. A resident of Germany, Marco holds a Ph.D. in Physics from TU Dortmund University. When he’s not participating in telecom events or customer meetings, he enjoys beach volleyball or sailing.
Rafael Pellon – Pellon de Lima Advogados
Partner
Graduated in Law from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ; Pos-Graduated in Information Law from Universidade Cândido Mendes; Pos-Graduated in Procedural Strategies, Advocacia Empresarial, Fundação Getúlio Vargas/SP. Attended the Course “Political and Economical Aspects of the European Union” at INSPER/SP.
Has over 17 years of experience in legal practice specialized in contracts, intellectual property, media and entertainment. Worked for some technology and telecom companies such as Claro, Embratel, IG and UOL. Is a Director of ABDTIC – Associação Brasileira de Direito e Tecnologia da Informação and Legal Consultant of Policies & Initiatives of MEF LATAM and the Mobile Marketing Association – MMA
Amira Akra – Vodafone
Product Manager – Messaging
As a Telecommunications engineer, Amira has been in the industry for more than 10 years. She has been involved in different areas from product development, marketing, project management, strategy, etc. covering roaming products, VAS and landing with messaging where she currently is the Product Manager of Business Messaging (RCS Business Messaging and A2P SMS) at Vodafone Germany. In her role she is also part of the API-Monetization team which seeks to provide the best combination of APIs to the clients. Hence, being a part of MEF is the perfect complement to the day to day activities that she practices.
Tim Ward – Vice Chair
VP Number Information Services, Xconnect
Tim is Head of Number Information Services at XConnect, which provides data to the telecoms ecosystem to support validation, fraud prevention and routing optimisation. He has come from a telecom infrastructure background, leading sales, marketing and strategy, and has participated in industry work groups including GSMA, ITU, i3F and MEF, where global number registry and data sharing projects have been top of the agenda.
Tim is a strong proponent of the MEF’s Codes of Conduct, where XConnect was one of the early signatories of the “Trust in Enterprise Messaging Business SMS Code of Practice” and sees self-regulation, based on common values and priorities as the route to a safe and trusted ecosystem. He is a regular speaker and contributor on voice, messaging and CPaaS applications where phone numbers’ trusted identity continues to be the key.