Redl, US Delegation at MWC Make Case of Bogdan-Martin for Key ITU Slot
The Commerce Department strongly supports Doreen Bogdan-Martin as director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (ITU-D), NTIA Administrator David Redl said Thursday. Bogdan Martin has been campaigning for the post, running one of the three ITU sectors (see 1710230052) in an upcoming ITU election. But Bogdan-Martin likely faces an uphill fight, since the ITU-D job usually goes to someone from Africa, and Americans have never had an easy time getting elected to ITU positions.
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U.S. officials actively promoted Bogdan-Martin’s candidacy at the Mobile World Congress last week, said David Gross, a key State Department official during the George W. Bush presidency, now at Wiley Rein. “I was very pleased to see the blog,” Gross said in an interview. “I was very pleased in the bilateral meetings held last week at the Mobile World Congress.”
The U.S. delegation -- including Redl, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel and Robert Strayer, deputy assistant secretary of state for cyber and international communications and information policy -- “all were advocating with delegations around the world the election of Doreen,” Gross said. “They were really working hard on that.” Strayer promoted Bogdan-Martin’s candidacy during a Wiley forum on Monday (see 1803050054).
Bogdan-Martin, an ITU employee since 1994, is the highest-ranking woman at the ITU, as chief-strategic planning and membership. She would be the highest ranking U.S. official at the ITU in many years and the highest ranking woman in history. Redl blogged that in 153 years, the ITU has never elected a woman to one of its five leadership roles. “This year, the voting members of the ITU have a chance to take a significant step forward,” Redl said. He tied his post to Thursday's International Women’s Day.
As chief of ITU-D, Bogden-Martin would work to bring communications and information services to the developing world. “In her work at the ITU, Bogdan-Martin has shown a unique ability to lead transformative programs, attract private investment, and bring together the right people and organizations to address the digital divide,” Redl wrote. “As the head of the D-Sector, she plans to increase global connectivity, strengthen partnerships, improve resource mobilization, and encourage digital inclusion and skill development.”
“I trust that the ITU member nations will give serious consideration to Ms. Bogdan-Martin, as her background makes her immensely qualified for the D-Sector position,” O’Rielly told us. “As I have stated before, the United States must have a greater role within the ITU leadership and the election of Ms. Bogdan-Martin would help mitigate the current imbalance.”
“It’s time to make history and Doreen is the person to do it,” Rosenworcel said.
Bogdan-Martin “has done a spectacular job at the ITU and I’m pleased to see the administration is supporting her,” said Raul Rodriguez of Lerman Senter, who headed the U.S. delegation to the first ITU development conference in 1994. “I can’t think of a better person to head up the ITU-D.”
Bogdan-Martin is “more than qualified, but who knows when it comes to ITU politics,” said Doug Brake, director-telecom policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. “The United States should be working to advance its influence at the ITU, and it is past time for U.S. senior leadership. Beyond helping to spread our rules-based, market-led approach to ICT development, ITU-D leadership would be a win for U.S. sway in the one-country, one-vote body.”