19 July 2021 The Risk & Assurance Group (RAG) has inducted four leading exponents of risk management in the electronic communications sector into the RAG Hall of Fame. Each of the new inductees has demonstrated their commitment to excellence in risk management and assisting the development of the professional community over the course of several decades. They join other professionals whose lifetime contribution to the industry has been acknowledged by members of the RAG Steering Committee. The four inductees are:
Sebastian Milczanowski: Fellow professionals recognise that Seb is exceptional in the extent to which he seeks to further the profession of revenue and margin assurance. His openness to co-operate and collaborate is evident in the extent to which he initiates the sharing of best practices between companies. Seb equally aspires to motivate counterparts that work for competitors to Vodafone, a business he has faithfully served since the beginning of the century. Wherever the source, Seb wants business leaders to learn from the best assurance methods to be found in the industry. This has resulted in improved methods, new ways of work and higher standards across Vodafone and more generally. Seb’s drive to learn and improve has helped Vodafone, all those working for Seb, the vendors who work with Vodafone and the profession at large. Seb’s dedication to professional skills development is responsible for the development of future leaders in business assurance globally.
Nixon Wampamba: Nixon is a dedicated coach, he gets things done, and he engages with everybody in the community positively. During his long career he has worked in the fraud, risk and assurance functions of telcos in South America, Europe and Africa, in addition to spells as a specialist consultant serving clients in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, with the result that he has won friends and admirers across the world. His extraordinarily broad experience means Nixon is affectionately described as the most travelled manager in RAFM by his friends. Aside from his remarkable knowledge and capable nature, Nixon is always cool in a crisis, stepping back to fully assess both risk and benefit. His knowledge and skills traverse many industries, demonstrating what a champion and ambassador of fraud management and business assurance he is.
Moly McMillan: Few people can take as much credit for the birth and growth of revenue assurance as Moly McMillan. He has been an articulate and passionate champion of the discipline across several decades, during which time he has reliably given advice and encouragement to his peers. Moly was responsible for the creation of some of the very first RA functions whilst working at Thus, ntl and Virgin Media from the late 90’s to the mid-00’s. He then oversaw the spread of revenue assurance to many more countries worldwide whilst serving as the first Global Head of Revenue Assurance at Millicom Group. This was followed by Moly becoming the first senior RA professional to apply the same principles to the OTT domain when he became Skype’s first Director of Revenue Assurance and Fraud. Latterly Moly’s work as a business advisor sees him continue to expand the envelope for assurance techniques to new business models that cross the boundary from electronic communications to other sectors.
Geoff Ibbett: Geoff is the curator of both the RAG Leakage Catalogue, the most extensive inventory of leakages suffered by electronic communications providers, and the all-new RAG Fraud Catalogue. It is because Geoff has the respect of his peers that he is trusted to oversee the development of these crowdsourced inventories of industry knowledge. The task requires a keen insight into the scale of commercial and technological challenges faced by a wide variety of comms providers combined with the kind of modesty and enthusiasm that inspires others to be generous with their knowledge. All of this is testament to the considerable experience Geoff has accumulated through a career that has seen him work as a product developer, business developer, business advisor, expert trainer and Chief Technology Officer for a range of businesses oriented around risk management for electronic communications providers.
Eric Priezkalns, Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group, welcomed the four inductees to the Hall of Fame on behalf of the RAG Steering Committee.
Seb, Nixon, Moly and Geoff have each made an outstanding contribution to risk management in the electronic communications sector and they are all worthy additions to Hall of Fame.
The RAG Steering Committee faced some tough decisions in evaluating the nominations for this induction round, as they have a deep commitment to maintaining the uniqueness of these awards by only granting them to professionals who have demonstrated excellence over the course of a career, unlike other awards that focus on more transitory accomplishments. It is the depth of the service provided by Seb, Nixon, Moly and Geoff that marks them out as special. This service has been given to their employers and to the risk management community, and also to comms providers and their customers more generally.
Each of the four inductees has remained dedicated to improving professional standards of behaviour and the effectiveness of risk management techniques over the course of several decades. They are each mentors in their own way. RAG applauds them for the leadership they have each shown and hopes it will long continue.
Inductees will be acknowledged through an awards ceremony at RAG London 2021, a conference to be held on 29th and 30th September. RAG conferences are free for employees of electronic communications providers with an interest in the management of risk, making them an ideal environment to celebrate the contribution of risk leaders in the company of all their peers.
The biographies of all the Hall of Famers and their acceptance speeches can be found at riskandassurancegroup.org/rag-hall-of-fame. An example of the plaque presented to Hall of Famers is pictured below.
About the Risk & Assurance Group
The Risk & Assurance Group (RAG) is dedicated to improving the practice of risk management, business assurance, fraud management and security within the providers of electronic communications services. RAG is a not-for-profit corporation run by experts in the field of risk and assurance within telcos. Its goal is to facilitate the education and networking of professionals in order to improve standards of performance, reduce waste, and better serve customers. Practitioners may attend our events and access our online services free of charge; financial support is provided by specialist vendors with an interest in highlighting the importance of the work done in this field, and in expanding its remit.