About

GMS is the single point of access for messaging traffic exchange with mobile operators and enterprises worldwide

GMS has been active in the international messaging market for over 15 years. Partnered with 900 mobile operators worldwide, GMS has an extensive network of connections, which ensures safe and transparent traffic routing for mobile operators and a broad audience reach for enterprise clients.

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About GMS

We are an international messaging service provider with over 15 years of operational expertise. GMS’ core values are commitment, integrity, and progress – our goal is to drive innovation and value while offering best-in-class customer service. We want your business to grow just as much as you do. To achieve this, we offer you our in-depth knowledge of the market, and bespoke, high-quality solutions perfectly tailored to fit your needs. In this context, our bold vision is to become the leader and the ambassador for trusted and transparent messaging worldwide.

GMS Global Message Services Associations


GMS Team

The GMS team is what drives our company’s success. At the helm of the company, we have some of the most knowledgeable, driven leaders from all around the world. With their extensive expertise in the industry, personal integrity, and unwavering commitment to GMS’ core values, our management team leads the company towards progress.


Board of Directors

Iurii Makarenko
President of the Board / Executive Chairman of the Board

Iurii Makarenko

President of the Board / Executive Chairman of the Board
Graduated from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute with a degree in management and marketing. Since 1995 Iurii worked management positions at Utel and MTS Ukraine being responsible for the development of the international business of fixed-line and mobile operators. To drive the development of messaging services, Iurii founded and headed the Global Message Services company in 2006. In 15 years of growth under his leadership, GMS has transformed from a local company operating in the CIS market to an international player in the messaging services market. In early 2020, Iurii moved to the position of Executive Chairman of the Board, focusing on GMS’s strategic development.
Robert Rose
Member of the Board / Chief Strategy Officer

Robert Rose

Member of the Board / Chief Strategy Officer

Robert has more than 25 years’ experience of the digital information business and for the last 15+ years has been closely involved in the expansion of mobile messaging. Between 2007 and 2017 he was Senior Director of what is now SAP Mobile Services, long-established as the world’s largest messaging hub. Within SAP Robert’s main area of responsibility was the development of messaging revenues arising from the entire global telco customer-base. In this role he established productive relationships with mobile operators all over the world and secured consistent revenue growth throughout his tenure. He has now taken the opportunity to join GMS as Chief Strategy Officer helping the company achieve its goals of geographical growth and service evolution at a time of significant change in the mobile messaging ecosystem.

Illia Solodovskyi
Member of the Board / Chief Growth Officer

Illia Solodovskyi

Member of the Board / Chief Growth Officer

Illia has been on the Board of GMS since 2006. Having graduated as a radio engineer in 1992, he has amassed huge experience. He spent a lot of time in his native country of Ukraine, as Chief Engineer and later General Director of different Ukrainian-Israeli JVs. He served as MD of a Swiss innovative manufacturer of system solutions for EDP and telecommunication cabling worldwide for a decade.

Illia then spent 9 years on the Board of a leading Ukrainian system integrator and partner of major national telecom operators.

Illia’s interests are not limited to just telecommunications. In 2014, he co-founded a professional cloud-based platform which provides cities and drivers with a comprehensive parking management solution.

Eugene Zimin
Member of the Board / Chief Innovation Officer

Eugene Zimin

Member of the Board / Chief Innovation Officer

An accomplished professional who has worked 25+ years in the IT space, Eugene Zimin’s experience encompasses tech, entrepreneurship and tech investment. He holds a Master’s Degree in Mathematics and a post graduate degree, both from Kiev Polytechnic University.

Eugene has been closely involved in a variety of ambitious projects in various fields, with particular focus on engineering and design of telecom networks and software development for banking and card payment corporate solutions. With a keen interest in Fintech companies, Eugene has invested in several of them. He also founded Pri-Num UK, a partner of VISA Inc and a vendor for other worldwide payment companies.

Previously, Eugene has served as both Chief Information Officer and Chief Innovation Officer for Ukrposhta, the Ukrainian postal operator. Eugene joined the Board of GMS in 2013 and has used his wealth of experience to guide GMS to greater visibility and provide valuable advice and inputs.

Management

Charles Upchurch
Chief Executive Officer

Charles Upchurch

Chief Executive Officer

Charles has more than 25 years’ experience as a CEO. He has led organizations from a 5-person technology start up to a 4,000-person global business unit in the service industry. Charles started his professional career in the offshore oil & gas exploration industry where he obtained U.S. Coast Guard Master’s license. Later, Charles moved to Switzerland where he began 16-year career with SGS, the world’s largest inspection, testing and certification company, in Europe, Asia and North America. Then Charles led technology startups in Switzerland for 15 years primarily in IOT and has been an Executive Coach for the past 4 years. Charles has joined GMS as Deputy Managing Director in June 2019. In February 2020 he has taken on the role of CEO, bringing his wealth of experience and vision to help build upon the GMS success story.

Chris Almeida
Chief Revenue Officer

Chris Almeida

Chief Revenue Officer

Chris Almeida is a veteran global telecom professional and a seasoned sales leader with a proven track record of evolving innovative business strategies and models to deliver revenue growth and building world-class sales teams.

With over 36 years of sales and marketing experience (25 years in telecom and 15+ years in global CXO roles), Chris has close relationships with global MNOs, service providers, and large OTTs. He also has a keen understanding of the UCaaS/CPaaS industry and customer segments.

Before joining GMS, Chris was a senior vice president at Tata Communications Ltd for 17 years and was most recently responsible for delivering the Voice, A2P Messaging and SCCP Signaling AOP.

Chris has held several other global leadership responsibilities in Tata Communications in Voice, Mobility, Data. He developed and executed GTM strategies for the global enterprise, top OTTs, and MNOs segments.

Chris has a tremendous customer focus, is passionate about his business and has successfully fostered inclusiveness in multicultural teams.

Chris adopts a results-oriented, analytical, and scientific approach to his work, and this will enable him to deliver success for GMS and our customers.

Amer Siraj
Chief Commercial Officer

Amer Siraj

Chief Commercial Officer

Amer Siraj, our CCO, has a knack for business with his 20+ years as a commercial leader in the communications industry. Since 2017 he has led several high impact initiatives to the delight of our customers, be it the telcos, telco-groups or large enterprises. Besides his go-to-market positions, he has acted as an advisor with startups and GSMA. His projects have been widely recognised at the global forums. He is an avid golfer and does social work in his spare time. Amer holds an MBA in Marketing and has been trained at different leadership institutions in North America, UK and Europe.

Virginie Debris
Chief Product Officer

Virginie Debris

Chief Product Officer

Virginie has been working in the mobile industry for more than 15 years occupying various positions, from business development to international operations and product management. She has honed this experience providing services for operators and enterprises such as multi-channel customer engagement, RCS messaging, IoT and monetization services – gaining a profound appreciation of all aspects of the telecom sphere in the process. Virginie shares her expertise through multiple fronts. She is a board member of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum, participates in industry workgroups by the GSM Association and CTIA, takes part in other different groups and forums. She holds a Master of Science degree in Telecommunication Systems Engineering and an MBA in Marketing.

Syed Ali
Chief Operations Officer

Syed Ali

Chief Operations Officer

As a COO, Syed brings into the company close to 15 years of high quality and varied experience in the telecom and ICT industries. Syed’s strategic leadership will steer the company to grow extensively and sustainably at an international level. His expertise in international commercial management, wholesale and retail international roaming and A2P SMS monetization with leading telecom operators makes him an important addition to the GMS management team in the role of the Chief Operations Officer.

Sarah Keller
Chief Global Enterprise Officer

Sarah Keller

Chief Global Enterprise Officer

Sarah is a telco expert with over 25 years of experience under her belt.  She joined GMS in 2015 and swiftly rose through the ranks to become its International Business Development Director in 2018. She later took on the position of Strategic Account Director, giving a powerful boost to our global expansion. In 2020, Sarah was recognised among the top 100 most influential people in the telecom industry by ROCCO Research.

Alexander Panov
Chief Financial Officer

Alexander Panov

Chief Financial Officer

With a Master’s Degree in Finance from Kiev National Economics University, Alexander has been helming financial matters at GMS since its inception. His keen business acumen has steered GMS from a start-up to a global player. Alexander is responsible for financial and managerial planning, budgeting, financial analysis, cash flow control, communications with banks and state authorities, as well as business planning and evaluation of new products, amongst others.

Olha Velhus
Chief Marketing Officer

Olha Velhus

Chief Marketing Officer

A highly experienced Marketing and Communications professional, Olha came on board GMS to help the company successfully navigate its rapid international growth phase. Her deep understanding and insight of the field comes from her work experience at agencies as well as companies and gives her the invaluable ability to parlay the importance of marketing into the success and advancement of the company and makes her a crucial part of GMS. Apart from a Master’s Degree in Marketing, she also holds a Diploma in Public Relations and brings clarity of thought and coherence of vision to the table.

Vitaliy Gardyuto
Chief Technical Officer

Vitaliy Gardyuto

Chief Technical Officer

A consistent internal award winner at all his employers throughout his illustrious career, Vitaliy is vastly experienced in his chosen line of work, both by education and by profession. Before he commenced charting his destiny with GMS, he helmed the technical side of things at several big names in the CIS telecom world, successfully overseeing technical projects essential to the growth of those companies. In Vitaliy, GMS has a CTO who lives and breathes his work and who has, together with the CISO, helped GMS to obtain vitally important ISO certifications.

Alexandra Spirig
Chief Legal Officer

Alexandra Spirig

Chief Legal Officer

Our Chief Legal Officer, Alexandra Spirig brings more than 20 years of international technology industry experience to her role. She possesses a legal degree from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, a postgraduate diploma (LL.M.) in European and Business Law from the University of Leuven in Belgium and is admitted to the Zurich bar. An expert in international telecoms and contract law amongst others, she has previously completed stints at two of Switzerland’s top telecom providers. Widely travelled and used to dealing with countries as varied as the United States, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, India, Singapore, Japan and Australia, she is a perfect fit to take up the crucial role of CLO in our global company.

Olena Dovhanets
Chief Human Resources and Administration Officer

Olena Dovhanets

Chief Human Resources and Administration Officer

Olena holds an MSc in Psychology from Kiev National University. She is a certified coach of Ericsson College International. With 20+ years of experience holding key positions in various areas of Human Resources, she is an expert in her field and very well-suited to efficiently manage and add to GMS ever-growing staff. Her pragmatic approach to business and her skill at balancing the interests of a company with employee expectations are her hallmarks. She believes in decision-making based on common sense and economic feasibility. Olena is a highly-regarded professional in her area of expertise and embodies the GMS values of commitment, integrity and progress.

Ivetta Talapova
Chief Executive Officer / Chief Financial Officer GMS Ukraine

Ivetta Talapova

Chief Executive Officer / Chief Financial Officer GMS Ukraine

Having joined GMS from the day of its foundation, Ivetta played a crucial role in setting up financial processes from scratch and tuning all financial flows as GMS grew internationally. Ivetta’s career philosophy is simple: to advance in business, you need to actively follow your goal, explore new territories, and not be afraid to overcome difficulties. Having come to the telecom business from a large national metal trading holding, where she held senior positions for many years. Ivetta has successful experience in building a business from scratch, financial management, and reorganizing companies during crisis. Now, with more than 12 years of experience in telecommunications, Ivetta is responsible for compliance control, interaction with government regulatory and supervisory bodies for GMS Ukraine, and also serves as the Deputy CFO for GMS Global. Ivetta holds a degree in economics and business management from the International Personnel Academy (Member of the European Network of National Information Centres of Academic Recognition and Mobility Council of Europe/UNESCO).






GMS facts

GMS is your one-stop shop for worldwide communications.
Our network encompasses 900+ mobile operators, over 240 directly connected to GMS.

15

years of leadership in the market

900

mobile operators in 200 countries

240

mobile operators directly connected to GMS

400

enterprises worldwide

CIS

60 mobile operators directly connected in the CIS region

ISO

ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 9001






Information security and compliance

As a company working with information, GMS is well aware of the threats to information security, and we are committed to providing the best kind of data protection and security to our partners. With phishing, fraud, ransomware, data breaches and leaks crowding the headlines, information security is paramount. Being methodical, disciplined and alert in all business operations at all levels, staying up to date with the latest encryption and protection protocols, upholding the highest standards of transparency and security – all these efforts are mandatory for telecommunications companies today. More importantly, none of these measures done once guarantee protection, because even the most secure system will become vulnerable again unless it is constantly updated. Security is not a state, it is a process, requiring a responsible attitude and daily work. At GMS, we realize the risks and put the security of our partners’ information at the top of our list of priorities.

We do not tolerate negligence when it comes to cybersecurity and stand up to the challenge of keeping our partners’ data safe. A testament to our commitment to the global standards of quality, transparency, and security is GMS’ compliance with the industry’s highest standards for security procedures and all other business operations. Organizing and systematically maintaining all levels of our operations to consistently, year after year, pass the ISO certification process is an effort and expense that we do not neglect because the security of our partners’ data is of utmost importance to GMS. ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 9001 testify to our commitment to security and compliance. Having an impeccable compliance history, we are the perfect partner for operators looking to work with only those suppliers who can abide by the highest security and compliance standards and guarantee data protection.


Clients and partners

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Rakuten Viber
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OLX
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Credit Agricole
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Allo
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Azerfon
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Uniqa
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OpenMarket
Array
Openmind
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Comfy
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Maxi
Array
Yves Rocher
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Metro
Array
Armentel
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Mobileum
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Cellusys

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