Biography
Stephen Bereaux is currently the Deputy to the Director, and Chief of the Field Operations Coordination Department of the BDT, a position he has held since March 2020.
As Deputy to the BDT Director, Mr. Bereaux has operated as the key leadership partner of the Director and has overall responsibility for many of the day-to-day responsibilities in the Bureau. These include; strategic and operational planning, monitoring and evaluation, administration of BDT events, expert recruitment, and leadership of ITU’s regional presence. His work leading the Review of the ITU’s Regional Presence and implementing the recommendations coming out of that review has already delivered tangible improvements in performance and accountability in the ITU’s regional and area offices. Mr. Bereaux is committed to digital inclusion both globally and within ITU, and since joining ITU he has been a supporter of ITU’s work to achieve gender balance within ICT’s globally and in ITU itself. He currently Co-Chairs ITU’s Gender Task Force, which works within ITU to drive the organization’s efforts to achieve Gender Balance in its work.
Mr. Bereaux leads the secretariat of the Telecommunication Development Advisory Group (TDAG). In 2020 and 2021, it took on additional work to support the BDT during the Covid-19 pandemic, both in advising the Director on BDT’s work and assisting membership in preparations for the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2022 (WTDC-22).
Mr. Bereaux was responsible for leading the secretariat that planned and executed WTDC-22 which was successfully held in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2022, following several delays from its original 2021 dates due to the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical issues. WTDC-22 was a highly successful event that attracted more than 1,300 participants physically. Beyond spearheading the planning of WTDC- 22, during the two week event, Mr. Bereaux was the overall coordinator of the conference Secretariat, and Secretary to the Plenary.
Mr. Bereaux is an experienced executive and regulator, with more than 20 years of executive and senior management experience in regulatory bodies in the Caribbean region. Prior to joining ITU he was Chief Executive Officer of the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), Bahamas which regulates the country’s ICT and Electricity sectors, advises the Government on policies relating to those sectors, and represents The Bahamas at international sector related organisations such as the ITU.
Joining URCA shortly after its creation, Mr. Bereaux was instrumental in designing and implementing The Bahamas’ regulatory framework and several successful regulatory initiatives, including stewarding the successful liberalisation of The Bahamas’ mobile and fixed telecommunications markets.
As an international representative, Mr. Bereaux stewarded The Bahamas’ election to CITEL’s Assembly and then led the country’s successful campaign for election to ITU Council at the 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18). At that Conference, Mr Bereaux also successfully chaired Committee 5 on Legal and Policy Matters, and has been involved in brokering consensus between ITU delegates on several contentious issues at various ITU conferences and meetings.
Prior to joining URCA in 2010, Mr. Bereaux served in senior management roles at the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) from 2004. Again having joined shortly after the formation of that regulator, he was part of the team that oversaw the design and implementation of the independent body and its regulatory framework, and the successful liberalisation of the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in Trinidad and Tobago.
Before becoming a Regulator, Mr. Bereaux, an Attorney by profession since 1996, practiced law at multinational firms based in London and Hong Kong, specialising in Information Technology and Telecommunications Law.
