The GLF is looking for a replacement, and has also promoted project manager Elena Harris to the role of GLF community and communications manager.
Makela (pictured) said: “I’m really proud what we have achieved with GLF in the past four years. We have established the GLF as truly the voice of the industry and also executed and delivered several projects that have a tangible impact on the industry.”
Marc Halbfinger, CEO of PCCW Global, who chaired the GLF when Makela was appointed, said: “Ros Irving, the CEO of Capacity Media, identified the value of leveraging the GLF platform to promote common industry objectives and values. She recognised the need for a confident, humble and intelligent programmatic leader who would be able to politely coalesce agendas from all parts of the world, and from service providers with a variety of interests. Jussi was her outstanding choice.”
Laurinda Pang, who now chairs the GLF, said: “Marc [has] described Jussi perfectly well. If I were to add anything, it would simply be to thank Jussi on behalf of the entire GLF for his commitment to excellence and to wish him well on this new journey.”
Makela said of the work at the GLF: “I think we have made an impact on the ongoing fight against fraud through our code of conduct, regular reporting, and the soon-to-be-published attestation process.”
He said: “We incubated and launched Communications Business Automation Network, a membership organisation with the sole purpose of accelerating the adoption of decentralised and automated settlement.”
In addition, he said, “we have promoted and galvanised our membership behind our purpose of ensuring technical and commercial interoperability between international carriers as the foundation that enables global digital ecosystem, and what keeps the world connected.”
Halbfinger noted: “To the participants of the GLF, Jussi and his colleague Elena Harris have become synonymous with the values represented by the GLF and have helped create an environment which has over the years become a key voice of the industry.”
Makela highlighted the GLF’s work against fraud: “We are now seeing much more engagement and open discussion from carriers than we did back in 2017 when we started our fraud working group. There have always been organisations like i3Forum, who have done amazing work on setting best practices and common processes for anti-fraud activities, but what we have done in the GLF is made it a strategic issue for the C-level, and amplified those voices who have always been against fraud in the industry.”
Makela, whose final day with the GLF is 5 November, has not yet announced what his next role will be. He plans to start a new life in Spain, where he’s been based intermittently for several months. But he does intend to be at Capacity Europe next week, giving colleagues in the industry a chance to ask him for details.
