CRAIG EHRLICH was never likely to opt for a quiet life after leaving Hong Kong's brash young telecoms upstart Sunday Communications. As group managing director of Sunday, Mr Ehrlich helped create a company with an image of youthful vigour and energy, turning it into one of the city's most identifiable (though unprofitable) brands.
A year after stepping down as Sunday's top executive, the 46-year-old is no closer to his day of rest.
Not content with sitting on the boards of companies in China, the United States and the Philippines, Mr Ehrlich has also taken on the mantle of global industry ambassador.
At the start of this year, he took up the chairmanship of the CEO Advisory Board of the GSM (global system for mobile communications) Association (GSMA), which represents more than 636 mobile companies with a global subscriber base of close to 700 million. He is in line to take over as the body's chairman next month.
Mr Ehrlich is now dedicated to the mission of unifying the industry behind a set of common principles and objectives.
'We are promoting the interests of our industry. That is the sole purpose, and we have not done it in the past,' he said.
'I accepted this position only under one condition - I would work to change the governance structure of the organisation because I believed the issues [around our industry] were so serious, so big and we did not have an organisation that could promote our interests or present our position in a proper way.'