Biography of ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré ( 2007 -2014)
Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) since January 2007, was re-elected for a second four-year term in October 2010.
As Secretary-General, Dr Touré is committed to ITU’s mission of connecting the world, and to helping achieve the Millennium Development Goals through harnessing the unique potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
A long-standing champion of ICTs as a driver of social and economic development, Dr Touré previously served as Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) from 1998-2006. In this role he placed considerable emphasis on implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), launching projects based on partnerships with international organizations, governments, the private sector and civil society.
Dr Touré started his professional career in his native Mali in 1979. He built a solid career in the satellite industry, serving as managing engineer in Mali’s first International Earth Station. He joined Intelsat’s Assistance and Development Programme in 1985. He was appointed Intelsat’s Group Director for Africa and the Middle East in 1994, earning a reputation as an energetic leader through his commitment to various regional connectivity projects such as RASCOM. In 1996 he joined ICO Global Communications as African Regional General Manager, spearheading the companies’ activities across the African region.
A national of Mali, Dr Touré holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of Leningrad, and a PhD from the University of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics of Moscow. He is married with four children and two grandchildren, and is proficient in four official ITU languages: English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Decorations, honorary titles and memberships
- Knight of the National Order of Mali
- Knight of the National Order of Comoros
- Grand Master of the National Order of 27 June 1977 of Djibouti
- Grand Officer of the National Order of the Dominican Republic (Orden al Mérito de Duarte, Sánchez y Mella)
- Grand Knight of the National Order of Chad
- Medaille de Commandeur de la Côte d’Ivoire & Traditional Chief of Côte d’Ivoire
- Officer of the National Order of Burkina Faso
- Officer of the National Order of Côte d’Ivoire
- Officer of the National Order of Mali
- Order of Honour, Republic of Moldova
- Honorary Citizen of Grecia, Costa Rica
- Honorary Citizen of Yamasa, Dominican Republic
- Honorary Citizen of Quito, Ecuador
- Honorary Citizen of Busan, Republic of Korea
- Honorary Citizen of Guadalajara, Mexico
- Honorary Doctorate, Azerbaijan Technical University, Azerbaijan
- Honorary Doctorate, Russian-Armenian Slavonic University, Armenia
- Honorary Doctorate, State University of Belarus
- Honorary Doctorate, Razzakov Kyrgyz State Technical University, Kyrgyzstan
- Honorary Doctorate, National University of Moldova
- Honorary Doctorate, Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
- Honorary Doctorate, Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, Rwanda
- Honorary Doctorate, Odessa National Academy of Telecommunications, Ukraine
- Honorary Doctorate, Bucks New University, United Kingdom
- Member of the World Federation of Scientists (Erice, Italy)
- Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences
- Member and Officer of the Golden Order of Honour of the International Telecommunication Academy, Moscow, Russian Federation
- Member of IEEE (since 1986)
- Radio Amateur (call sign: HB9-EHT)
