Following yesterday’s vote made by the Alliance Board Directors, the WBA is pleased to announce the continued appointment of J.R. Wilson, Vice President of Partnerships & Alliances for AT&T Mobility, as its Chairman, a position he has held for the past two years. Chris Bruce, Director of BT, will also remain as the Alliance’s Co Chairman.

J.R. Wilson is currently responsible for developing international wireless strategy and partnerships at AT&T, as well as managing domestic, international and Wi-Fi wholesale and retail roaming support. He joined the WBA Board in 2010 and has played a key role in championing Wi-Fi as an essential part of the mobile ecosystem and ensuring its benefits are widely recognized throughout the industry. He will continue to encourage interoperability and collaboration between members and further bolster the reputation of the WBA and its initiatives such as the ICP program, Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) and Wi-Fi Roaming. On the 9th October, J.R. Wilson will open proceedings at the Wi-Fi Global Congress in San Francisco hosted by the WBA.

Chris Bruce is responsible for managing International Sales and Consulting at BT Global Telecom Markets having worked for BT since 1991. He has over 20 years’ experience of the Telecommunications industry and joined the Board of the Wireless Broadband Alliance in 2009 where he has taken on the role of both Chairman and Co-Chair. During this period, he was in charge of delivering the largest high density public Wi-Fi installation in the world for the 2012 London Olympic Games, a hugely successful project that was the most socially-connected games ever. Chris Bruce has been pivotal in the promotion of the work carried out by the Alliance to help Wi-Fi meet its full potential. He will be launching Day 2 (10th October) of the Wi-Fi Global Congress where he will discuss Wi-Fi’s role in making the Connected World a reality.

The WBA Board comprises of Arqiva, AT&T, Boingo Wireless, BT, Cisco Systems, Comcast, iPass, KT Corporation, NTT DOCOMO, Orange and Ruckus Wireless. The term served by the elected Chair and Co-Chairs shall be for a fixed duration of two years. We would like to congratulate J.R. Wilson and Chris Bruce and look forward to continuing the WBA’s progress in the industry for the foreseeable future.