GlobalPlatform, the standard for secure digital services and devices, has announced its Board of Directors for fiscal year 2019. Six Board seats were open and after a close election, the following individuals were re-elected to serve a further two-year term:

• Nils Gerhardt – Group VP and Head of Product and Project Management, Production IT and Professional Services for the Region Americas, Giesecke + Devrient Mobile Security.
• Marc Kekicheff – Vice President of Chip Innovation, Visa Inc.
• Eikazu Niwano – NTT Research Professor, Secure Platform Laboratories, NTT Corporation.
• Jeremy O’Donoghue – Principal Engineer / Manager, Qualcomm Inc.
• Christophe Colas – SVP Products, Trustonic.
• Mark Lipford – Director Global Standards & Ecosystem Development, Sprint.

Nils Gerhardt has also been elected Chairman of the Board after serving as Vice Chairman for three consecutive years. Rob Coombs, Director of IoT Device IP at Arm, will serve as Vice Chairman and Stephanie El Rhomri, Vice President of Services at FIME, who joined the GlobalPlatform Board of Directors in 2015, will continue in her role as Secretary and Treasurer.

Nils comments: “Quality, security and privacy need to be of the highest priority for all involved in the development, deployment and management of digital services and devices, especially in fast growing markets like IoT, connected cars, digital identities and industry 4.0. Standardized, foundational security is fundamental to prevent attacks on networks, devices, data and intellectual property (IP). But security should not restrict innovation and time to market, which is why we work at GlobalPlatform to create specifications, such as the Device Trust Architecture (DTA) framework, that support the development of open, collaborative and fast-moving ecosystems. I look forward to working with my fellow Board colleagues, all GlobalPlatform members as well as our industry and media partners to promote greater security, privacy, simplicity and convenience for the evolving markets and their consumers.”

Kevin Gillick, GlobalPlatform Executive Director, adds: “GlobalPlatform’s legacy of successful technical specification development has been made possible by strong leadership and cross-industry collaboration. As the industry evolves, the Board works to ensure that the technology specifications remain interoperable and ahead of the curve. As discussed at our annual seminar, ‘Security in Our Connected World’, everyone is looking for the holy grail - a secure system that will do everything, is easy-to-use and, ideally, free. Although the industry has not reached that point yet, there is certainly commitment to getting there. In 2019, GlobalPlatform will continue to work towards meeting the security requirements of the digital service and device ecosystem, with a focus on the DTA framework.

DTA is a security framework which shows how GlobalPlatform’s standardized secure component technology can be used to build a Chain of Trust to protect devices and digital services. It does this by offering secure services, implemented within a secure component, which can be used at each level of a Chain of Trust: from the boot mechanism, to the device operating system and up to the application layer. It enables seamless interaction between stakeholders when deploying secure digital services, regardless of market or device type.

Learn more about GlobalPlatform’s Board of Directors and how to become a member by visiting the GlobalPlatform website.