Award-Winning Industry Veteran to Lead Industry Association’s Efforts to Guide Membership & Industry Success in Digital Business Transformation  

MORRISTOWN, NJ —January 26, 2015 – TM Forum today announced that Peter Sany will become the global industry association’s president and CEO starting on March 1, 2015. 

Currently serving on TM Forum’s Board of Directors, Peter builds on his broad experience as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at multinational companies to spearhead the Forum’s pivotal role in helping its members successfully transform to digital businesses. He brings a wealth of experience in transformation from a number of business sectors, having been Chief Information Technology Officer at Swiss Life, Group CIO at Deutsche Telekom, Corporate CIO at pharmaceuticals company Novartis and a senior global executive at IBM. Peter has also served on a number of non-executive boards, including those of Swiss Post, Unitel Mongolia and Datalynx, a supplier of certified cloud computing services. Among his numerous career accomplishments, Peter was named the CIO/IT Executive of the Year by Computerwoche, an IDG publication.

Welcoming Peter’s appointment, TM Forum Chairman Michael Lawrey said, “The Board is delighted to have attracted such an experienced and seasoned executive as Peter to help drive TM Forum to its next growth stage. The digital world is making companies rethink everything – their business models, portfolios, operational processes and systems – in a drive to become more agile, more customer- and partner-focused and more innovative, all while lowering risks and costs. They also need to work out how to play in an increasingly broad and complex ecosystem, and Peter’s experience at the top level of a number of industry sectors will be invaluable to help our members accomplish that.”

Keith Willetts, TM Forum’s founder and former CEO, also welcomed Peter’s appointment: “Peter is a superb choice to lead TM Forum. We have consistently grown by being on top of our members’ most urgent issues, and the biggest one today is transforming to be competitive in a rapidly digitizing world. As technology moves from playing a supportive role to being at the forefront of business, a new breed of technically savvy business leaders is emerging, and Peter is one with first-hand experience in multiple businesses.”

Peter Sany succeeds Bill Ahlstrom, who served as interim president and CEO since November 2013. Bill has led a major transformation of the Forum’s operations, organization and culture, significantly broadening and deepening its talent and leadership and deploying up-to-date tools and processes. Michael Lawrey said, “Bill helped drive the change TM Forum needed to ensure it stays relevant to our members and the industry. This laid the foundation for the Forum’s next stage of growth under Peter’s leadership, extending its value and impact to the broader digital services market. The Forum has benefitted greatly from Bill’s knowledge and insight as we delivered on our strategic programs.”

Peter paid tribute to TM Forum’s team and, in particular, Bill Ahlstrom: “I’m delighted to take the helm at TM Forum, and look forward to building on the excellent work that Michael, Keith, Bill and their team has achieved. Our members face new business and technological challenges every day, and I’m determined to ensure that the Forum is at the forefront of helping them overcome these challenges to innovate better, faster, and with less risk. Being able to tap into the collective wisdom and experience of hundreds of member companies and tens-of-thousands of talented individuals from around the world is a huge asset to any business or IT leader facing the digital tsunami.” 

Note to editors: Peter Sany takes up his new appointment on March 1, 2015. Editors can schedule meetings with Peter at Mobile World Congress, taking place March 2-5, 2015 in Barcelona, by contacting TM Forum’s PR team at [email protected] or +1 617 960 9881.

About TM Forum

TM Forum is a non-profit global industry association which helps its members transform and succeed in the digital economy. The collective experience and interests of our member community comprised of tens-of-thousands of professionals within hundreds of market-leading global enterprises, service providers and technology suppliers drives everything we do, from thought-provoking research and publications, to practical guidance, collaboration programs, tools and best practices, hands-on events, and training for business and IT leaders.

Through three key programs – Agile Business and IT, Open Digital Ecosystem, and Customer Centricity – we provide a unique platform for our members to connect and collaborate with individuals and groups from around the world to solve key challenges and rapidly innovate to deliver new services, improve business agility, partner for success, reduce cost and risk, and enhance customer value and loyalty. To learn more about the Forum and join our digital journey as a valued member and collaborator, please visit www.tmforum.org.

Press Contacts
Sarah Love / Beth Brenner
March Communications
[email protected]
+1 617 960 9875