Henry Chasia – Executive Deputy Chairperson, e-Africa Commission, NEPAD

Dr Chasia is a Member of the Presidential International Advisory Council on ICT to President Mbeki, following an announcement made by the President in his State of the Union Address to the South African Parliament in February 2002. This Council, which comprises the CEO’s of major international corporations in the ICT sector, provides advice to the President on the ICT industry and its role in the development of the South African economy and society.

The Council also looks beyond South Africa to the rest of the African continent. Dr Chasia’s service on this Council has played a major role in forging private sector support for the NEPAD ICT programme

Dr Chasia served on the Board of Directors of INMARSAT Ventures plc between 1999-2003. Following sale of the company to a private equity concern in 2003, all directors, Dr Chasia included, resigned their positions on the Board. However, in early 2004, the new owners asked Dr Chasia to continue association with the company by serving on its public services committee, which is concerned with the company’s international public obligation to afford satellite communications that are critical to the assurance of safety of life to global maritime traffic and civil aviation. INMARSAT is a London-based company, the most important global provider of voice and data communications by satellite to ships, aircraft and land-based communication terminals. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Dr Chasia has been a Member of the Board of Advisors of MANSAT, an Isle of Man( UK) space corporation, since 2000. Dr Chasia is a former Deputy Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). ITU is the United Nations Agency for telecommunications. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Dr Chasia was elected to this post in 1994 and served his mandate between 1995-1999.

Dr Chasia was a Member of the African Advisory Group on ICT( AAG-ICT), 1999-2001. This Group, comprised of eminent African professionals resident on the continent and in the diasporra, was set up by Dr Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburri, Minister of Communications of South Africa, in her capacity as Chairperson of the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC), of African Ministers of Communications, overseeing the the African Telecommunication Union and other continental ICT matters. The AAG-ICT formulated a number of important proposals for action by the MOC and the African Ministers of Communications, including the establishment of the e-Africa Commission.

Dr Chasia spent most of his professional career in communication satellite technology as an employee of the International Telecommunication Satellite Organisation (INTELSAT) (1974-1994) in Washington DC. In INTELSAT, he held a variety of senior managerial positions in planning, operations and management of orbital resources. INTELSAT was the pioneer and still the largest provider of global communication satellite services to fixed earth terminals.