Houlin Zhao
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Houlin Zhao | |
|---|---|
| 赵厚麟 | |
.jpg) Zhao in 2017 | |
| Secretary-General of the ITU | |
| In office 1 January 2015 – 31 December 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Hamadoun Touré |
| Succeeded by | Doreen Bogdan-Martin |
| Deputy Secretary-General of the ITU | |
| In office 1 January 2007 – 31 December 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Hamadoun Touré |
| Succeeded by | Malcolm Johnson |
| Director of the ITU's Standardization Bureau | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 March 1950 Gaoyou, Jiangsu, China |
| Alma mater | The University of Essex, UK The Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China |
| Houlin Zhao | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 赵厚麟 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 趙厚麟 | ||||||
| |||||||
Houlin Zhao (Chinese: 赵厚麟; pinyin: Zhào Hòulín; born 7 March 1950) is a Chinese engineer who served as the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) from 2015 to 2022. He was first elected at the 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, and re-elected at the 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference in Dubai.[1] The ITU is the specialized United Nations Agency for Information and Communication Technology (ICT), working on promotion, collaboration, and standardization.
Zhao was born on 7 March 1950 in Gaoyou, Yangzhou in Jiangsu province. Houlin Zhao graduated from the Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and holds a Master of Science degree in Telematics from the University of Essex, UK. He is married and has one son and two grandchildren. He is fluent in three of the official UN languages – English, French and Chinese.[2]
Early career
From 1986 to 1992, Zhao was a senior staff member in what was then the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (known under its French acronym CCITT), and from 1993 to 1998 in ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, TSB.[2]
Before joining ITU, Zhao served as an engineer in the Design Institute of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of China, taking an active role in his country's expert meetings on telecommunication standards and national plans, as well as participating in ITU's technical Study Group meetings as a Chinese delegate. He contributed seminal articles to a number of prestigious Chinese technical publications, and in 1985 was awarded a prize for his achievements in science and technology with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.[2]
Zhao was elected Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau in Minneapolis, USA in 1998 and re-elected for a second term in Marrakech, Morocco in 2002. During this period, he led consensus based discussions between ITU, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on developing and publishing 'common terms' on 'technically aligned texts' of standards of these organizations, harmonizing policy approaches to intellectual property rights. This led to the adoption of a Common Patent Policy for ITU/ISO/IEC still in use today.[3]
During his term of office, he also spearheaded the introduction of new efficiency measures to improve ITU's standards-making environment and strengthen its promotion.[2]
He enhanced the strategic partnership(s) between Member States and Sector Members, while initiating and maintaining good relationships with industry members. Under his leadership, ITU enhanced its level of international cooperation with other standards development organizations, and was instrumental in helping bridge the standardization gap between developing and developed countries.[2]
