![[Financial Times] Lord Mark Malloch-Brown to chair election technology group SGO](https://w4ce34.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/financial_times_logo_04.jpg?time=1715754821)
London, 25 November 2014.- "There’s nothing more powerful in terms of reallocating resources among the poor than effective democracy which allows the poor a political voice." That’s what Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, recently appointed as Chairman of Smartmatic, the world’s leading provider of election technology, said to Murad Ahmed, European Technology Correspondent for the Financial Times.
Malloch-Brown will also chair SGO, a new venture based in London which will become the parent company to Smartmatic and other companies to be launched next year. He explained how he has taken up his new role because he believes that promoting fair elections in emerging nations is "the best way to fulfil international development goals."
Antonio Mugica, Smartmatic’s CEO and co-founder, will continue in his role in the enlarged group. Also on the board are Sir Nigel Knowles, Global CEO of DLA Piper, renowned entrepreneur David Giampaolo and Roger Piñate, Smartmatic’s COO.
To read the complete interview, go to the Financial Times.
![[CNN] Richard Quest interviews Mark Malloch-Brown, SGO chairman](https://w4ce34.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/MarkMallochBrown_CNN_03.png?time=1715754821)
London, 25 November 2014.- Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, the new Chairman of SGO spoke to CNN news anchor, Richard Quest, on the flagship news programme "Quest means Business", about how the new company will ensure the integrity of elections around the world. He spoke about how cutting edge technology has the potential to tackle issues around elections, by making democracy more accessible to the people.
Malloch-Brown explained how SGO’s subsidiary company, Smartmatic empowers people to have a say in their country’s future and to hold governments accountable. He referred to how the company has set the industry standard ensuring maximum accuracy in results.
Watch the interview here:
Antonio Mugica y Mark Malloch-Brown anunciaron el lanzamiento de SGO, una nueva empresa construida bajo el extraordinario éxito de Smartmatic, el proveedor de tecnología de votación más importante del mundo. Mugica, fundador y CEO de Smartmatic, continuará en su mismo rol dentro de este nuevo emprendimiento. Malloch-Brown será el presidente.
"El lanzamiento de este nuevo grupo empresarial, más la llegada de Mark como presidente de la junta directiva, refleja nuestra visión de crecimiento y nuestro firme objetivo de aprovechar el talento de nuestro personal más allá del área de tecnologías electorales y consultoría", explicó Mugica. "Con Mark a bordo continuaremos haciendo inversiones importantes en nuestro negocio principal y en tecnología, pero en los próximos meses, ya como grupo SGO, impulsaremos el lanzamiento de una serie de nuevas empresas que comercializarán el fascinante trabajo que estamos haciendo en otras áreas tales como biometría, verificación de identidad en línea, voto por Internet y participación ciudadana, gobierno electrónico y control de la contaminación, así como mejoras a nuestros productos y servicios electorales fundamentales".
Desde su fundación en el año 2000, Smartmatic se ha convertido en una empresa global para contribuir con la transformación de las elecciones en todo el mundo, garantizando total integridad en soluciones electorales que van desde el registro, conteo de votos, hasta la proclamación de resultados, respaldado por una tecnología única y una reconocida metodología de gerencia de proyectos. La compañía ha participado en más elecciones que cualquiera de sus competidores; registrado y contado más de 2.300 millones de votos en los cinco continentes, desarrollando su propia tecnología innovadora, convertida hoy en estándar mundial.
Al comentar sobre su nombramiento, Malloch-Brown dijo "cuando conocí a Antonio y a su equipo identifiqué tres activos extraordinarios: un negocio electoral que puede ayudar a restaurar la fe en la democracia, pero que a pesar de ser el más grande del mundo sigue siendo muy poco conocido; una red de científicos e ingenieros que en vez de aislarse en esos grupos tradicionales que trabajan cómodamente en las universidades, hacen trabajo de campo, diseñando productos que funcionan en cualquier rincón del mundo. Y por último, una ola emocionante de soluciones con el potencial para lograr un impacto social positivo en la vida de las personas”.
Malloch-Brown fue director del Programa de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas (PNUD, por sus siglas en inglés) por seis años. Durante ese tiempo estableció su práctica “Democracia y Buen Gobierno” y la convirtió en la especialización líder del PNUD a escala global. "A lo largo de su carrera Mark ha insistido en que las soluciones a los desafíos de desarrollo comienzan con el empoderamiento exitoso de la gente a través del voto y la participación. No puedo imaginar a un activista más comprometido para liderar nuestra junta directiva y que nos represente a medida que avanzamos", dijo Mugica.
London UK, 25/11/2014.- Antonio Mugica and Lord Mark Malloch-Brown today announce a new venture, SGO, built on the extraordinary success of Smartmatic, the world’s leading voting technology provider. Mugica, Smartmatic’s CEO and co-founder, will continue in this role in the enlarged group. Lord Malloch-Brown will become chairman. He will be joined on SGO’s board by Sir Nigel Knowles, Global CEO of DLA Piper, renowned entrepreneur David Giampaolo and Roger Piñate, Smartmatic’s COO.
“The launch of our new group, coupled with Mark, David and Nigel’s arrival on the board, reflects our widening vision and our ambition to harness the talents of our staff outside election technologies and consulting” said Antonio Mugica. “Led by this inspiring group of individuals, we will continue to make substantial investments in our core business and technology but over the coming months, as SGO, we will be rolling out a series of new ventures built on the fascinating work we are doing in other areas such as biometrics, online identity verification, internet voting and citizen participation, e-governance and pollution control, as well as enhancements to our core election products and services.”
Since it was founded in 2000, Smartmatic has grown into a global business, transforming elections around the world by guaranteeing total integrity in electoral solutions from registration, to vote count, through to results proclamation, backed by unrivalled technology and project management. The company has been involved in more elections (over 3,500) than any of its competitors; registered and counted over 2.3 billion votes in five continents, and developed its own innovative technology that sets a worldwide standard.
Commenting on his appointment, Malloch-Brown said, “When I discovered Antonio and his team I saw three extraordinary assets: an elections business that could help restore faith in democracy but which despite being the largest in the world remains too little known; a network of software engineers and scientists who were not closeted in the typical IT clusters near comfortable university campuses but were out there in the field, designing products that work in every corner of the world; and third, an exciting wave of solutions with the potential to change people’s lives.”
Malloch-Brown was head of the UN Development Programme for six years. During that time he established its Democracy and Good Governance practice and made it UNDP’s leading global specialisation. “Throughout his career Mark has insisted that solutions to development challenges start with successfully empowering people through voting and participation. I cannot imagine a more committed campaigner to lead our Board and, together with Nigel and David, to represent us going forward” said Mugica.
United Kingdom, London – November 21, 2016- “All over the world, there is frustration and anger. A lot of people feel that democracy doesn’t represent them. All of us who care deeply about this need to take the time this week to learn from each other and see how we can restore the faith in democracy. We must argue forcefully for the kind of elections which leave people confident that their vote was accurately and fairly counted and that it will be reflected in the outcome.”
With these remarks, Smartmatic’s Chairman, Lord Malloch-Brown introduced the 2016 U.S. Election Program and Seventh Global Elections Organization (GEO-7) Conference organized by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
The event, held from November 6-10, 2016, was the largest international gathering of election professionals of the year, with representatives from Albania to Zimbabwe in attendance. More than 500 guests attended the conference; among them 250 election management bodies from around the world.
Read more here
