MEF MY LIFE: Read The Face-Saving Email from their New Chair That Just Made Matters So Much Worse For Them

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So as everyone knows Mobile Ecosystem Forum disrespectfully (disgustingly?) kicked Puja off a panel on International Woman’s Day in the most dismissive way possible.

This lead to protests and, it seemed, it lead to change at MEF.

Indeed just last week, MEF announced new board members, and a new chair–seemingly in direct response to the protest. And in LinkedIn posts just last week global board members were liking a comment suggesting Troutman Amin join MEF and Puja be considered as a board member:

This all looked very positive to me and we’ve all moved on.

BIG WIN FOR TROUTMAN AMIN AS MEF ADDS WOMEN BOARD MEMBERS: MEF’s Leadership Change and Installation of New Board Members Satisfies the Czar

But apparently, MEF was just planning a sneak attack.

Received word today that new Chair Robert Gerstmann–the very same dude who was liking posts inviting us to become members of MEF just last week–apparently just sent around a very odd face-saving email to his new followers. Here it is:

Dear Members,

It is a pleasure reaching out to you in my new role of chair of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum.

It is unfortunate that the topic of my first message is about the news of a group of people smearing the name of MEF for what it seems the purpose of gaining visibility within our community. The MEF Board took time to evaluate the recent defamatory statements on social media directed towards MEF and our CEO Dario Betti by this small group of people, and we would like to assure all members that the comments were factually incorrect in addition to being malicious.

Let me reassure you about the following:

  • The statements that there are no female members in the MEF board is evidently wrong. After the MEF election in Barcelona there are now two additional women in the board, i.e. we as members have elected 3 women to our 10-member board. Still room for improvement in the next election, but any claims that MEF is anti-women is nonsense.
  • The statement that an individual was asked not to participate as a panellist for our Miami event because she was a woman is also false. At that event 32% of the speakers were women. The person in question did not answer multiple requests for a preparation call with the MEF team, so it was not possible to prepare for the panel with her. After multiple attempts over several weeks, a voicemail and an email were shared as it was not possible to reach her. In those communications, MEF explained that due to the impossibility to align ahead of the event, MEF would not be able to invite her to the panel this time. Furthermore, a phone call was offered to explain the decision. She decided to start a social media campaign instead of discussing with us.
  • Additional claims, including the fact that MEF changed its board because of the social media campaign or the fact that MEF is collaborating with these people are also clearly unfounded.

Over this time, the MEF team has decided not to engage online with this group of people as this would have given the defamers more visibility. We would also encourage the MEF members to take the same course of action.

These events show how MEF has grown over the last few years. While these attacks were unwanted and uncalled for, our organisation becoming a target probably confirms that MEF has become more influential and grown to be truly part of the foundation of our industry. 

Our association is behaving in an ethical and upstanding way. And we will continue to do so.

I would have hoped that my first email to you as chairman would have been on a more joyous topic, but we don’t always get to choose.

Best Regards

Robert Gerstmann

Chair, Mobile Ecosystem Forum

What. In. The. World.

Dario can you explain this please?

The bolded part in particularly is wild. These people are plainly living in an alternate reality. I guess we’ll release the emails so folks can see for themselves.

And you’ll DEFINITELY want a copy of Deserve to Win magazine’s April edition.

One last thing– be careful who you’re calling a defamer Robert. Those chickens can come home to roost very quickly. Luckily for you, I’m a nice guy.

More soon.

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

4 Comments

  1. Don’t mess with the czar or queenie… they don’t bark… it’s a bite coming back.

    Reply

  2. Incredibly ineffective response from MEF. But, on parallel lines, I am STILL waiting for my FREE (for the asking) copy of 2023 TCPA Annual Review which you said you would send me, and even my first copy of Deserve to Win. Can you please get me on the Deserve to Win mailing list in time for the April 2024 edition?

    Reply

  3. Never mess with a person who has a dedicated audience and an unlimited amount of ink!

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Podcast 63: TADSummit Innovators, Eric J Troutman, The Czar of TCPAWorld - Blog @ Telecom Application Developer Summit (TADS)

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