MEF board of directors appoints new member

Industry association MEF has welcomed Verizon Business Group's senior vice president and chief product officer Aamir Hussain to its board of directors.

Hussain will join the MEF board alongside an impressive group of service and technology provider executives and other senior experts who are guiding the organisation's ambitious MEF 3.0 initiative to transform the communications industry.

Hussain is a technology veteran with more than 25 years' experience implementing global technology operations. He joined Verizon in December, and before that served as CenturyLink's CTO.

"I am honoured to rejoin the MEF Board and be a part of the innovation to transform the way services are created, certified, and delivered," Hussain says in a statement.

"It's an exciting time for MEF, the industry, as well as myself, and I look forward to partnering with global service providers and technology vendors to progress the journey to automated, virtualised, and interconnected networks.

MEF president Nan Chen adds, "We welcome Aamir to the Board of Directors again, as his insight gained from leading some of the world's largest service providers and now being an integral part of the Verizon team, is beyond valuable.

"The outstanding team of industry innovators on our Board offers a wealth of experience that MEF will leverage to accelerate transformation to dynamic and assured services across a global federation of automated networks.

Furthermore, board member Shawn Hakl is stepping down. He has been a member since 2017.

"We are extremely thankful for the time Shawn devoted to MEF and its initiatives. He is a distinguished member of our community and the communications industry, and he's made outstanding contributions that continue to propel our efforts forward," says Chen.

MEF board of directors and advisory director

• Ericsson senior advisor Nan Chen
• PCCW Global chief commercial officer Frederick Chui
• CenturyLink chief technology officer Andrew Dugan
• Verizon Business Group senior vice president and chief product officer Aamir Hussain
• Sparkle Group chief marketing solutions - business development officer Daniele Mancuso
• AT-T Business chief product officer Roman P. Pacewicz
• Fujitsu Network Communications head of digital services Ralph Santitoro
• Allstream president and Zayo Group managing director for Canada, Michael Strople
• Comcast Business senior vice president of product management Robert Victor
• Colt Technology Services global head of network on demand, Mirko Voltolini
• Bell Canada senior vice president marketing for Bell Business Markets, Jeremy Wubs
• Orange Business Services (advisory director) vice president of connectivity services, Frank Morales

MEF is an industry association of 200 member companies.