Board of Directors
Mr. Håkon Bruaset Kjøl is a senior corporate and public affairs leader and has held global and regional leadership roles in the telecommunications sector across Europe and Asia.
Kjøl is the Chair of the Board of Grameenphone. He is currently the Senior Vice President, Head of Investment Management and Deputy Head of Asia for Telenor in Asia. In this role, he is responsible for Telenor’s activities in Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Kjøl serves on the Board of Directors of several Telenor Group companies in Singapore, and CelcomDigi Berhad in Malaysia. He is also a non-executive Director of the internationally renowned architect and design company Snøhetta AS, headquartered in Oslo.
Kjøl holds a Master of Business Administration degree from BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, where he also studied public relations. He has completed INSEAD’s International Directors Programme (IDP47) and INSEAD’s Certificate in Corporate Governance. He is an ordinary member and a Senior Accredited Board Director of the Singapore Institute of Directors.
Mr. M Shahjahan brings decades of experience in finance and operations in the development sector.
He serves as the Chair of the Grameenphone’s Treasury Committee. Currently, he is performing as Executive Vice Chairman of Grameen Kalyan. Earlier he was the Managing Director of Grameen Telecom Trust. In addition, he was former Managing Director of Grameen Bank. His previous experience includes serving as the Deputy Managing Director, the General Manager and Head of the Accounts, Finance, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division, Chief of the Audit Department, and the Zonal Manager of Grameen Bank. Mr. Shahjahan is a member of the Board of Directors of several Social Business companies that work in the fields of health, education, agriculture, welfare, renewable energy and telecommunications.
Mr. Shahjahan holds a Master’s degree in Accounting and a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of Dhaka. He was awarded ICAB Medal (Silver) for passing the ‘C.A. Intermediate’ examination at the earliest eligible chance.
Mr. Md. Ashraful Hassan has extensive and diversified knowledge in various business and industrial sectors. He has profound knowledge in projects and business development, industry setup and management as well as wide exposure in the local and international market. He has extensive knowledge in the field of construction engineering.
Currently he is serving as Executive Vice Chairman of Grameen Telecom and is engaged in promoting and providing easy access to GSM cellular services in rural Bangladesh. Mr. Ashraf also serves as Executive Vice Chairman of Grameen Distribution Ltd., Grameen Shamogree, Grameen Knitwear Ltd., and Grameen Fabrics & Fashions Ltd. and CEO & Managing Director of Grameen Telecom Trust. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of several enterprises in the fields of renewable energy, technology, education, health care, food & nutrition, construction, employment generation, and information & communication technology etc.
Mr. Ashraf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET), Bangladesh.
Ms. Nurjahan Begum has extensive experience in SME and microcredit, human development, training and education, both locally and internationally.
She is currently working as Advisor to Professor Yunus, Additionally, she is serving several Grameen organisations as Chairperson, Director or Trustee. Ms. Nurjahan is one of the earliest associates of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus during the establishment of Grameen Bank. She has served as Acting Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director of Grameen Bank; the Principal of Grameen Bank Central Training Institute; Managing Director of Grameen Shakti and Grameen Shikkha; and a Director of Grameen Foundation, USA. Currently, she also serves as Director of Grameen Italia Foundation, Italy, Centre for Mass Education in Science (CMES), Bangladesh, and also on the Council of Advisors of DSK (Dushtha Shasthya Kendra), Bangladesh. She has been presented with many awards, including the Susan M. Davis Lifetime Achievement Award, the World Summit Millennium Development Goals Award, the Outstanding Contribution to Education Award at Ed Leadership 7th International Roundtable, and the Yunus Social Business Summit Award.
Ms. Nurjahan holds a Master of Arts degree in Bangla from the University of Chittagong.
Mr. Øivind Burdal has deep knowledge of legal affairs with operational and management experience in Europe and Asia.
He joined the Legal Department of Telenor ASA in 2004 where he practiced and held managerial positions in several areas. In August 2017, he was appointed Vice President and Head of Group Legal Asia in Telenor ASA after having served as Senior Vice President and Head of Legal in Telenor Myanmar Limited since July 2015. After obtaining his law degree, he joined Thommessen Krefting Greve Lund, one of the major law firms in Norway, focusing on M&A and TMT.
Burdal obtained his Law degree (Cand. Jur.) from the University of Oslo, Norway, a degree in Business Administration (Bedriftsokonom BI) from BI Norwegian Business School Oslo, Norway, and a Master’s degree (LLM, Master of Corporate and Commercial Law) from London School of Economics and Political Science in London, England.
Ms. Tone Ripel brings broad legal experience, corporate governance and business ethics, in addition to the Board of Directors experience in the telecom industry.
She currently holds the position of Attorney-at-Law in the Group Legal of Telenor ASA. She has been working in Telenor since 2013. She started her career as Higher Executive Officer, advisor and senior advisor in the Norwegian Competition Authority. In 1999, Tone joined Wiersholm Lawfirm in Norway as an Associated Attorney and Senior Attorney working primarily with corporate issues hereunder competition law, corruption issues and regulated markets, which included project management of high-profile investigations, crises management and contact with relevant authorities. She has served as Director of the Boards in Total Access Communications Public Company Limited (dtac), Thailand (until February 2023), Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Malaysia and Telenor Norge AS, Norway.
Tone holds a Master’s degree in Law from University of Oslo.
Mr. Irfan Wahab Khan has extensive Executive and Board experience within Telecoms, Technology Consulting and FinTech having served in the UK, USA, Norway, Philippines, Saudi, Pakistan, Thailand and Singapore.
He is Chair of the Grameenphone’s HSSE Committee. Mr. Irfan is the SVP, Head of Portfolio Development at Telenor Asia. Prior to that, he served as Head of Emerging Asia cluster Telenor Group, Chair of Telenor Myanmar and CEO of Telenor Pakistan. Since joining Telenor in 2004, he has held a several executive positions across Telenor Group. He is presently Chair of Telenor Bank and Board member IMD Board Governance Community. Prior to Telenor, Mr. Irfan worked at Orange UK, T-Mobile USA, Telcodia Technologies and Ericsson.
Mr. Irfan holds a Master’s degree in Mobile and Personal Communications from the University of Westminster, London, UK. He also holds qualifications in Financial Management from Harvard Business School, Executive Diploma in Marketing from London Business School and Advance Management from INSEAD and a Qualified Board Director from IMD. He is also a lifetime Alumni of INSEAD.
Mr. Marius Gigernes is a senior corporate and finance leader and has held leadership roles in the telecommunications sector across Europe and Asia.
He is currently Vice President and Head of Investment Management Team Bangladesh and Pakistan. In this role, he is responsible for Telenor’s activities in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Previously Gigernes served as a member of the Investment Management Malaysia and before that, he had several CFO roles in entities within Telenor Group across Europe and Asia.
Gigernes holds a Master of Business and Economics/Siviløkonom from BI Norwegian Business School. He also has courses from Harvard Business School and INSEAD. He has completed the Mandatory Accreditation Programme by Bursa, Malaysia.
Mr. Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhury was a civil servant belonging to the erstwhile Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) cadre which he joined in October 1967. He has extensive experience in administration working with the Government of Bangladesh in field level assignments as Deputy Commissioner and Divisional Commissioner as well as at the policy level as Secretary in several ministries.
He served as an Adviser to the non-party Caretaker Government of Bangladesh in 2001 and held charge of five ministries.
He serves as Chair of the Grameenphone’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) and is currently serving as the Managing Director & CEO of Tiger Tours Limited. He has spent more than three decades in the civil service of Bangladesh, including as Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh in charge of various ministries, including holding leadership roles as Secretary of the Internal Resources Division (IRD) of the Ministry of Finance and ex-officio Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR). Among other roles he headed the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority and served as ex-officio Secretary of the Jamuna Bridge Division. In this role, he successfully managed and completed the largest-ever development project of the country “The Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge”. He was made a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE), UK, for this accomplishment. He was the founder Chair of the SME Foundation and also Board Member of several other public institutions. Mr. Chowdhury is a nominated member of the Board of Directors of several listed companies, and Independent Director of four listed companies including Grameenphone.
Mr. Chowdhury holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree with honours in General History from Dhaka University and a Master of Arts (1st Class) in Modern History from the same University. He also attended a certificate course in Public Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA as a Fulbright Awardee.
Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed was a civil servant of the erstwhile Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) with extensive experience in administration working with the Government of Bangladesh.
He is Chair of the Grameenphone’s Audit Committee; a Professor at the BRAC Business School, BRAC University, Bangladesh; and a non-executive Independent Director of ASA International Group plc. He started his career as a lecturer in Economics at Dhaka University. Dr. Ahmed was appointed as the Governor of the Bangladesh Bank (Central Bank) in May 2005, for a term of four years up to 30 April 2009. He has also served in leadership roles with intergovernmental and micro-credit organisations in Bangladesh. Dr. Ahmed was awarded the Nawab Sir Salimullah Foundation Gold Medal for contributions in Economics. He also received the Distinguished Alumni Award from McMaster University, Canada.
Dr. Ahmed holds Master’s degrees in Economics from Dhaka University and McMaster University and attained his Ph.D. in Economics from McMaster University, Canada in 1978.