T-Systems CTO Maximilian Ahrens elected Gaia-X Chairman

• Maximillian Ahrens becomes Chairman of Board of Directors
• 26 new board members elected for the next two years
• Ahrens takes over from Hubert Tardieu

T-Systems' Chief Technology Officer Maximillian Ahrens has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Gaia-X initiative.

Deutsche Telekom, including its IT services unit T-Systems, was one of the project's 22 founding members. 'We as Deutsche Telekom are proud to be part of GAIA-X. In close cooperation with our partners we want to build a European data ecosystem and so ensure European data sovereignty,' Maximilian Ahrens said, adding: 'The new board will be significantly involved in shaping the further development of Gaia-X services and the structure of the organization. I am pleased and congratulate the other elected on their new responsibilities.'

Member companies participated in an electronic vote on Monday 7th June, where a total of 26 board members were elected from a list of 64 candidates. The appointments will run for two years. Maximilian Ahrens follows Hubert Tardieu who supervised the founding process of the GAIA-X organization. The Board of Directors decides on important matters regarding the Gaia-X Association while CEO Francesco Bonfiglio and his Management Board manage the day-to-day running of the pan-European initiative.

The Gaia-X Association commits its members to creating common standards and building an open-source, sovereign digital infrastructure for Europe. It was first announced in October 2019 by the German and French economic ministries, with the Association for Data and Cloud (AISBL) officially founded in January 2021 and hubs now set up in 19 different European countries. The first Gaia-X services are planned by the end of this year.

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