GIGAEurope Governance
GIGAEurope brings together private operators who build, operate and invest in the gigabit communications networks that enable Europe’s digital connectivity.
board
The Board is the managing body of the association and it consists of 8 members, including the Chair, elected by the General Assembly.
The Board’s responsibilities include preparing the association’s strategy and main priorities, setting up permanent and/or ad-hoc committees, examining membership matters and analyzing strategic partnerships. The Board also prepares the annual activity report, the financial accounts and the budget and presents them to the General Assembly.
Board members
Reinald Krüger
Chair, Board of Directors
Eke Vermeer
Liberty Global
Manuel Kohnstamm
Liberty Global
Bram Tijdhof
VodafoneZiggo
Thomas Roukens
Telenet
general assembly
The General Assembly is the association’s highest decision-making body and it comprises all our full members.
The General Assembly’s responsibilities include deciding on the association’s strategy and main priorities, approving changes in the association’s membership, deciding on the association’s annual plan, approving the annual activity report, the financial accounts and the budget.
committees and working groups
Regulatory Committee
In the Regulatory Committee, members discuss and decide upon GIGAEurope’s regulatory and public policy strategy and priorities, and on any other relevant matter concerning regulatory affairs. The Committee is formed of representatives appointed by each member of the association.
Communications Committee
In the Communications Committee, members discuss and decide upon GIGAEurope’s communications and public relations strategy and priorities, and any other relevant matter concerning public relations affairs. The Committee is formed of representatives appointed by each member of the association.
Working Groups
Working Groups are created to cover various policy matters. They focus on specific dossiers/campaigns/industry topics and they work on contributions/position papers that are presented to the relevant stakeholders. A Working Group is formed of representatives from our members who express an interest in joining and contributing to that group’s specific policy matter and it is dissolved once its assigned tasks have been accomplished.
MANAGEMENT
The GIGAEurope team is responsible for the day-to-day work of the association within the framework of its annual mandate. The association is managed by a Managing Director and supported by a small, but very motivated and effective team.
Our team’s main purpose is to develop and implement the public policy & communications strategy of the association, in order to strengthen the voice of the connectivity industry. The team coordinates all activities of the association and deals with financial and human resources matters.
Irina Varlan
Managing Director
Irina Varlan, the Managing Director of GIGAEurope, is an experienced corporate executive who has worked in multinational companies for more than 20 years.
Prior to joining GIGAEurope, she was General Counsel, Public Policy and Regulatory Director of UPC Romania, Liberty Global. Before she joined Liberty Global in 2012, Irina held a number of senior management positions in leading international telecommunications companies, including DTH Television, Telekom Romania and the American company Metromedia International.
A graduate of the Bucharest Faculty of Law, Irina is also a legal practitioner, an attorney-at-law member of the Bucharest Bar, having worked in the private legal practice at the associated law firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania.
Reinald Krüger is Chairman of the Board of GIGAEurope representing private corporations who build, operate and invest in Gigabit communications networks across Europe.
He advises both private and public sector clients on competition policy, regulatory policy, and public affairs matters. He is the former Policy and Public Affairs Director of Vodafone Group and Member of Vodafone Group’s Senior Leadership Team.
Prior to joining Vodafone Group, he held leadership and management positions with the European Commission for 23 years; in the Directorate-Generals for Industry (until 2000); for Competition (until 2008); and for Communications Networks, Content, and Technology (until 2018). Until 1995, he was Head of Industrial Economics and Competition Policy at the HWWA-Institute for Economic Research in Hamburg. He was also a Consultant with the Bureau of Economics of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in Washington, D.C. (1989) and a Competition Expert to the World Bank (1990).
Reinald is an economist by training and author of many publications in the areas of industrial economics, competition policy, and transition economics.
Manuel Kohnstamm is Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Liberty Global, a position he has held since March 2012. In his current position, Manuel is an executive officer of Liberty Global and sits on the Company’s Executive Management Committee.
Based in Amsterdam and Brussels, he is responsible for regulatory strategy, public policy and government affairs throughout the Liberty Global group. Manuel joined United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC), which later merged into Liberty Global Europe, in September 1999.
Manuel graduated in Political Science and holds a Doctorandus Degree in International and European Law from the University of Amsterdam. He also holds a Postgraduate Degree in International relations from the Clingendael Diplomat School in The Hague, and successfully completed the Cable Executive Management Program from Harvard Business School, Boston (MA).
Thomas Roukens has been Head of Legal & Regulatory since early 2020 at Telenet, were he started in 2004 as Regulatory Affairs Manager.
He started his carrier at lawfirm De Bandt, moving quickly to the cable industry as Regulatory Affairs Manager at ECCA, the predecessor of GIGAEurope, in early 2000.
Thomas has a law degree from the Utrecht University and a post-graduate degree in European Law from Ghent University.
Only his passport reveals he is a Dutch national, having lived in Brussels on and off for over 20 years.
Eke Vermeer is Vice President Public Policy at Liberty Global. Responsible to EU Affairs and the Brussels office since 2019. Prior to this, she served for 4 years as Vice President Corporate Affairs and Director, Regulation & Public Policy. She moved to Liberty Global from UPC (now VodafoneZiggo) where she served for 8 years as Senior Manager Public Affairs and Corporate Responsibility. Eke is founding member and Co-Chair of Women in Cable Telecommunications Europe. Eke holds a master’s degree from the University of Groningen in International Relations and completed part of her studies at Willamette University in Oregon, USA. She is a Dutch national based in Amsterdam.
Bram Tijdhof is Director Regulatory, Policy & Public Affairs at VodafoneZiggo since the start of this Joint Venture. Prior to this he was responsible for the strategy at Ziggo, having started in 2009.
Before joining Ziggo he worked for the Boston Consulting Group and NERA Economic Consulting in London.
Bram holds master’s degrees from the University of Amsterdam in both Macro Economics and Dutch Law. He is a Dutch national based in the vicinity of Amsterdam.