Samsung hires former Microsoft executive to bolster EU policy response

SEOUL, January 19 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has hired Jeremy Rollison, a U.S.-born European Union digital policy specialist who previously worked at Microsoft, as an executive director-level official, in a move widely seen as aimed at strengthening the company’s response to tightening EU digital regulation.

Rollison, 46, has begun work with Samsung’s Europe external relations team in Brussels, the hub of EU policymaking. He spent more than a decade at Microsoft handling EU government and policy affairs.

Samsung is expected to draw on his experience in artificial intelligence and cloud policy, as well as cybersecurity, along with his network in Brussels, as it navigates an increasingly complex EU regulatory environment.

Rollison graduated from the University of Richmond in Virginia and earned a master’s degree in European studies from Sciences Po in France. After starting his career at Nokia, he joined Microsoft in 2014, where he worked on EU external relations and most recently served as head of the company’s EU policy team for European external relations.

The European Union is a key market for Samsung, accounting for about 17 percent of its annual global revenue, or roughly 50.1 trillion won. However, concerns have been growing as the bloc rolls out stricter regulations and protectionist measures.

One of the most significant rules is the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which designates certain large companies as “gatekeepers” and subjects them to special obligations to curb abuses of market power. Samsung narrowly avoided being designated as a gatekeeper in 2023.

Seven companies are currently classified as gatekeepers under the act: Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, along with China’s ByteDance and the Netherlands-based Booking.com.

* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.