Bas Burger

Bas Burger (born 1970) is a Dutch business executive known for his work in the international telecom industry. Currently president of BT in the Americas, Burger has made periodic appearances in the media to speak on telecom-related topics or represent BT Group, and he is on the Committee for Economic Development.

After starting his career with the telecom companies Fifth Generation Systems, PTT Telecom, and KPN in the early 1990s, in 2002 he was appointed CEO of KPN Entercom Solutions BV. In 2006 Burger was appointed executive vice president of Getronics NV, a Dutch IT company.

In 2008 Burger was appointed CEO of BT Benelux, which gave him oversight for BT business in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. BT Global Services appointed him their president of global commerce in 2011, and in 2012 BT Global Services named him president of its EMEA & Latin America division. In 2013, he was appointed president of BT in the Americas.

Early life and education

Bas Burger was born in 1970 in the Netherlands. From 1989 until 1993 Burger attended Hogeschool Utrecht in the Netherlands, graduating with a bachelor of business administration. He subsequently attended the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom from 1993 until 1995, where he earned his master of business administration.

Career

In the early 1990s Burger served as a sales manager at the computer security company Fifth Generation Systems in the United Kingdom, also serving as the company's marketing manager for Europe. He began working with the telecom company PTT Telecom in 1994. PTT then became KPN, where Burger held various sales and senior management positions. In 2002 he was appointed CEO of KPN Entercom Solutions BV, also serving as a managing director. In 2006 Burger was appointed executive vice president of Getronics NV, a Dutch IT company. Until 2008, he was also a member of Getronics' management committee. His responsibilities as executive vice president included channel and partner management, global sales, and support and development of international business.

In May 2008, it was reported that Burger had been appointed CEO of BT Benelux. A unit of the BT Global Services division of BT, BT Benelux oversees business in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and focuses on "network-based ICT services to business customers." Burger started the position on June 1, 2008, replacing Michel De Coster.

By January 2011 he was overseeing 1900 people with a responsibility for "a turnover of approximately 700 million euros" annually.

BT Global Services appointed him their president of global commerce in 2011, and in 2012 BT Global Services named him president of its EMEA & Latin America division. In 2013, he was appointed president of BT in the Americas. He kept his role overseeing BT’s global commerce customers. At the time of his appointment, BT had around 1,000 customers in North America using its network infrastructure, including TD Bank and Unilever. Burger assumed oversight of the around 2,600 staff in the United States. Burger remains president of the BT Americas unit.

As of 2017, Burger is a member of the Committee for Economic Development.

Media presence

Burger has made periodic appearances in the media, often to speak on telecom-related topics or to represent BT. In 2013 he was interviewed on PBS about cloud computing and his work with BT Global Services. He has also been interviewed on NASDAQ video on topics such as Google's dark fiber projects, and in 2014 he met with government officials in Washington, D.C. to "ask for regulation of special access including Metro Ethernet... to end the negative effects of the effective monopoly held by AT&T and Verizon in the U.S." Burger contended in interviews around that time that both AT&T and Verizon were "manipulating pricing to discourage the move to Ethernet for most companies," for example appearing on Fox News. In 2015, Burger stated to the Financial Times that BT was being overcharged by Verizon and AT&T for access to their networks, arguing that American monopoly laws were insufficient to guarantee fair market competition among telecom and landline companies.

Personal life

Burger and his family moved from the Netherlands to Southlake, Texas in 2013, near BT's North American Dallas headquarters.