The GÉANT association, which oversees the European research network, has elected new members to its Board of Directors. Claudio Allocchio, Senior Technical Officer GARR, was also elected for a three-year term.

Cezary Mazurek (CEO of the Polish research network PSNC) and Ronan Byrne (CEO of the Irish HEAnet network) have also joined the Board of Directors.

Floor Jas (Head of Trust & Security of the Dutch SURF network), elected for a second term, Janos Mohacsi (KIFU, Hungary), Gilles Massen (Restena Foundation, Luxembourg), Heidi Fraser-Krauss (Jisc, Great Britain), George Konnis (CYNET, Cyprus), and Lars Fischer (NORDUnet, Scandinavian countries) round out the composition.

The election of Claudio Allocchio to the organisation's Board of Directors confirms the position of GARR on an international level, which was previously represented by former director Federico Ruggieri.

"The Community, or rather the people and their way of working together, is the greatest value that GÉANT, GARR, and all the research and education networks have in common," said Claudio Allocchio. “I am determined to keep this principle in mind at all times while doing this crucial and delicate new duty".

Contributing to the development of global interconnections is an essential component of GARR's purpose, and it addresses the needs of the Italian research and university community, which is increasingly confronted with technologically advanced issues within major international collaborations.

About Claudio Allocchio

Claudio is one of the founding members of GARR, and since 1989 has acted as Senior Technical Officer of the Application Services, Middleware, Security, Policy, and International Relations. He is also GARR’s Chief Information Security Officer. Since 2002 his role has been Senior Manager and Advisor, directly assisting the GARR Director in the management of the organisation and a member of the GARR Exec Team.

He has also been extensively involved throughout the development of the community, with a leadership role in TERENA and as part of the team that created the bylaws of the GÉANT Association. He was awarded the Vietsch Foundation Medal of Honour for his career, and in 2020 and 2023 received the RedCLARA ‘e-Culture Award’ for his contribution to Latin America to blend network technologies and the arts.

Since 2020 Claudio has been chair of the GÉANT Community Committee, incorporating the Community Programme, Task Forces and Special Interest Groups, and the Innovation Programme.