Michael O’Hara, chief marketing officer, GSM Association

The GSMA has evolved to become one of the most powerful trade associations in the world, lobbying governments on everything from tax policy to pricing strategy and producing feature-length documentaries on the improvements that mobile has brought to the lives of people across the world.

The organisation has long sought a profile above and beyond the walls of the industry itself and managing this profile is a responsibility that falls to Michael O’Hara. A former Microsoft and Nortel executive, O’Hara is identified by one GSMA source as the most dynamic member of the GSMA’s senior management team.

“He’s not even been there a year and he’s totally transformed the marketing and communications functions of the GSMA,” says our source. “He seems to have really captured the imagination and support of the executives and the board.” That board consists of the leading carrier CEOs in the business, of course, whose bidding the GSMA now exists to do.

Internal politics have been known to create tensions at the GSMA so anyone that can help smooth these out, say insiders, is a welcome addition.

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