Somos, a New Jersey-based registry management and data company, has appointed president and CEO Gina Perini as chair of the board.

Perini succeeds Anna Patruno as chair, as her term as chair expires. Patruno will remain on the board.

“I am honoured to serve as chair of the Somos board of directors and look forward to working closely with the rest of our board to continue our company’s transformation and growth,” said Perini. “I would also like to express my gratitude for Anna’s exceptional leadership as our chair and look forward to the benefit of her immense talents, insights and experience as a Somos board member for years to come.”

Perini has served as president, CEO and a member of the Somos board since 2013. During that time she has led the company through a dramatic period of strategic business expansion. She was recently awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 award for the New Jersey region and is a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) board leadership fellow.

Since joining the company in 2012, initially as chief administrative officer and general counsel, and later as acting president and CEO, she has strategically positioned Somos as a provider of numbering and database administration services.

Prior to joining Somos, she was at GTC Law Group & Affiliates, and Foley Hoag, where she advised businesses on global corporate and intellectual property law matters related to technology, telecommunications, internet, new media and advertising.

Somos has also appointed Howard Woolley as lead director.

“Somos is a unique, dynamic company and it is a pleasure to serve on the board,” said Woolley. “Our board is truly a strategic asset to the company, and I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to work closely with Gina to help lead this outstanding group.”

Woolley has served as a member of the board of directors since 2017 and most recently chaired the nominating and governance committee. Woolley is president and CEO of Howard Woolley Group, a business and public policy advisory firm serving the telecommunications and technology sectors.

Woolley is known for regulatory risk management, public policy and government affairs. He had a long tenure as a senior executive at Verizon, most recently serving as senior vice president of wireless policy and strategic alliances. He currently serves on the board of trustees of Johns Hopkins Medicine and Syracuse University and the board of directors of Allianz Life Insurance of North America.

Somos aims to empower more intimate and trusted connections between brands, consumers and communities. It accomplishes this through a suite of authentication enablement products as well as its numbering administration roles.

The company serves as the North American numbering plan administrator for more than 800 million local and wireless telephone numbers and as the reassigned number database administrator. It operates the SMS/800 TFN Registry for more than 42 million toll-free numbers in North America, and the TSS Registry, the centralised registry for the use of toll-free numbers in text messaging and multimedia services.