ITU re-elects Zhao Houlin secretary-general
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has announced the re-election of Zhao Houlin as ITU secretary-general during its 20th Plenipotentiary Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Zhao (pictured) will begin his second, and last, four-year term on 1 January 2019, the ITU said in a statement.
An information and communication technology (ICT) engineer who has served in a variety of senior management positions at ITU, Zhao was first being elected as ITU Secretary General in 2014.
Prior to that, Zhao served eight years as ITU deputy secretary-general. He also served two elected terms as director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), which develops technical standards to ensure worldwide ICT interoperability.
Before that, he was a senior counsellor with TSB for 12 years.
Optus appoints new territory GM in Tasmania
Australia’s Optus has appointed Peter West as its territory general manager in Tasmania.
West started in the newly created position at the end of September and will be based in Tasmania. He is responsible for day to day operations across Tasmania, including oversight into the stores across the state.
Optus head of regional Marcus Grimes said West’s appointment further strengthen the company’s regional management team and its commitment to the state.
“With our ongoing and significant investment in regional Australia it is important that we have a strong team in place to support and respond to opportunities as they arise,” Grimes said. “It was also important to us that this role was filled by someone living locally, who understands the needs of the state.”
AVIA announces new board of directors
The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA), formerly known as CASBAA, has announced the election of new directors to its board.
Following its annual general meeting on November 1, first-time directors elected were Brightcove’s Greg Armshaw, Ernest Cu of Globe, Birathon Kasemsri Na Ayudhaya of True Corporation, AsiaSat’s Roger Tong and Tony Zameczkowski of Netflix.
Re-elected were current AVIA chairman Joe Welch of 21st Century Fox and, Rohit D’Silva from FOX Networks Group Asia and Alexandre Muller of TV5 MONDE.
The new directors join Desmond Chan (TVB), Belinda Lui (WarnerMedia), Amit Malhotra (The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia)) and Ricky Ow (Turner International) to form the 2018-2019 AVIA board, the trade body said.
“We are very fortunate to have such an excellent group of video industry executives willing to serve on the Association’s Board. We are deeply appreciative of the long and committed service of our out-going Directors and thank them tremendously. At the same time, we offer a heartfelt welcome to our new Directors, and look forward to working together with them to lead the Association for the benefit of our members and the video industry at large,” said AVIA CEO Louis Boswell.