Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl

Director General, DIGITALEUROPE

Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl is Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, the leading digital technology industry association representing over 45,000 digital companies in Europe. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Gaia-X and of the European Commission’s Industrial Forum and High-Level Forum on European Standardisation. She is also a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity). Formerly, Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl served as a member of the Advisory Group to the Secretary General of NATO on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies. She was also a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, and of the High-level Strategy Group on Industrial Technologies in charge of identifying Key Enabling Technologies, as well as a member of the B20 Digital Transformation Taskforce, a board member of the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and the European Parliament-led European Internet Forum. Previously, she was an Executive Board Member of the Royal Danish Export Council and Chair of the Export Grant Committee under the Danish Foreign Ministry. She also served as Executive Board member in DIGITALEUROPE, and as a member of the association’s high level Digital Advisory Council. Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has served as Board Member of the Danish Chamber of Commerce and was President of the Board of the Danish ICT association (ITB), where she led the development of policy positions on issues such as business digitalisation, ICT security, disruptive business models, telecoms and education. Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has more than 25 years of experience in the ICT industry. She previously held international positions at IBM and Oracle as well as with SMEs, building businesses across Europe and China and founding the global SAP implementation company and cloud provider GlobeIT. She has deep insights into the digitalisation of business and society and the data-driven economy, and is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches on these issues at high-level events across the world.

Hilary Mine

President, DIGITALEUROPE and Vice President Strategy & Technology, CX, Nokia

Based in the Netherlands, Ms. Mine leads Customer Operations for Nokia in eleven countries across Nordics, Baltics, and Benelux. She and her teams lead sales, business management, delivery and operations across the region. Prior to her current role, Ms Mine was based in Silicon Valley, and ran Nokia’s Global Network Transformation practice. She has also run Alcatel-Lucent’s global Consulting Services business, and the full regional business of Alcatel-Lucent in North Asia and Australasia/Oceania which included sales and delivery of large transformation and managed services projects, and well as being Managing Director of both Australia and New Zealand. Before joining Alcatel, Ms Mine was a much-cited and published analyst and consultant working across the IT and telecom industries. She has worked in the communications and IT field for more than 25 years, during which time she has held senior executive roles with Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, Technicolor and Probe Research, and has lived and worked extensively in Asia Pacific and Europe, as well as North America. Ms Mine holds an MBA from San Francisco State University and a BA in Economics from Reed College. She has one daughter, and enjoys cooking, yoga, running, hiking, and travel.

Věra Jourová

Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency

Věra Jourová is currently Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency and deals with democracy, rule of law, media pluralism and fight against disinformation. From 2014 to 2019, she served as EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. In 2014, before arriving to the European Commission, Ms Jourová held the position of Minister for Regional Development in the Czech Republic. Previous to this, from 2006 to 2013, she worked in her own company as an international consultant on European Union funding, and was also involved in consultancy activities in the Western Balkans relating to the European Union Accession. She holds a Degree in Law (Mgr.) and a Master’s degree (Mgr.) in the Theory of Culture from the Charles University, Prague.

Alexandra van Huffelen

Minister for Digitalisation, Netherlands

‘I’m going to put a lot of energy into digitalisation. Technological innovations and effective European cooperation can strengthen our society and economy. At the same time, we need to do everything we can to combat or minimise threats. Democracy, security and fundamental rights lie at the heart of our society. We must provide for clear rules and oversight when these values are are under threat. I want to work – on the basis of equality – with and for the Caribbean parts of our Kingdom on the important issues at hand. I look forward to meeting with residents and officials of the islands as soon as possible.’

Valeriya Ionan

Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

Valeriya Ionan — Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. In charge of digital literacy national program, development and growth of SME, new digital professions, online children protection, eurointegration and digital transformation of regions. Valeria and her team have launched Diia.Digital Education as a national project. It consists of two components. The first one is an online component. It’s the national platform for digital education https://osvita.diia.gov.ua. The educational process is presented in the form of educational series. More than 1 million Ukrainians have already started to get digital skills on the platform. The second one is an offline component represented by digital education hubs all over Ukraine. There are places where every citizen could come to and get free access to the online platform. Valeria’s team has already built a network of more than 6000 such digital education hubs. Also, Valeriya’s team has launched Diia.Business as a national project, aimed at helping entrepreneurs. It consists of two components too. An online component is represented by a national platform for entrepreneurs https://business.diia.gov.ua There are free online consultations for entrepreneurs on different aspects (taxes, sales, marketing, HR), free online courses for entrepreneurs, columns from the market leaders, and a lot of other useful services. An offline component is represented by entrepreneurship support centers all over Ukraine. Before working in the Ukrainian government, Valeriya had been an entrepreneur. She launched Quadrate 28 specializing on teams on outsource for SME, that has 250+ clients worldwide. Also, she launched MC Today, a first online-magazine for entrepreneurs. She’s got certificates from the MBA program at Edinburgh Business School Eastern Europe in Marketing, Organizational Behavior, Negotiations. Valeria speaks Ukrainian, Russian, English and Spanish. Learning Chinese. Valeriya in social media https://www.facebook.com/valeriya.ionan https://www.instagram.com/valeriya_ionan https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriyaionan https://twitter.com/valeriya_ionan

Taro Kono

Digital Minister, Japan

Taro Kono was previously the Foreign Minister in the Abe Government in 2017. He is an eight-term Member of the House of Representatives. Among positions he has held are Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, or Minister in charge of the National Police Organization; Minister for Administrative Reform; Minister for Civil Service Reform; Minister for Regulatory Reform; Minister in Charge of Consumer Affairs and Food Safety; and Minister in Charge of Disaster Management in the Abe Government, Parliamentary Secretary for Public Management and Senior Vice-Minister of Justice in the Koizumi Government, and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. Taro is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

Mariya Gabriel

European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

She is responsible for European Union (EU) policies related to Horizon Europe (the EU R&I programme), research and innovation, the Erasmus+ programme, education, culture and sport. Between 2017 and 2019, she was European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society. Under her leadership, the Digital Single Market of the European Commission became a reality. She created the first pan-European programme Digital Europe with a budget of €9 billion. She has been elected as Member of the European Parliament in 2009, 2014 and 2019. Mariya Gabriel is First Vice-President of the European People’s Party, and since 2012 Vice-President of EPP Women.

Margaritis Schinas

Vice-President of the European Commission for Promoting our European Way of Life

Margaritis Schinas took office as Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life in the Von der Leyen Commission in December 2019. In this capacity, he oversees the EU’s policies for migration, security union, social rights, skills, education, culture, youth, health and dialogue with churches, religious associations and non-confessional organisations. Mr Schinas started his career in the European Commission in 1990. He also served as a Member of the European Parliament, from 2007 until 2009. Upon the completion of his parliamentary term of office, he returned to the European Commission and held various senior positions. In 2010, President Barroso appointed Mr Schinas as Deputy Head of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers. Later he served as Resident Director and Head of the Athens Office of the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN). In 2014, President Juncker appointed Mr Schinas as the European Commission’s Chief Spokesperson. Margaritis Schinas holds an MSc on Public Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics, a Diploma of Advanced European Studies on European Administrative Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges and a Degree in Law from the Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki. You can follow him on Twitter: Margaritis Schinas (@MargSchinas)

Pedro Tavares

State Secretary for Justice, Portugal

Since April 2022, Pedro Tavares is the Portuguese State Secretary for Justice. Previously, he worked as General Coordinator at eBUPi – Simplified Land Digital Registry Mission Unit, the Portuguese public agency responsible for the expansion of a new cadaster and registry initiative using a digital approach (Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Environment). From 2015 to 2020 he was a Senior Advisor at the cabinets of the Minister of Justice and of the State Secretary for Justice, where he managed different innovation and transformative projects and policies, including a Justice Innovation Lab, transparency and participation projects, or new digital Citizen-centric services. He acted as the Ministry’s contact point for the OECD report on Justice Innovation in Portugal and for several international projects with the European Commission. In the public sector, Pedro worked on innovation projects such as the new concept for the citizens’ one-stop shops (Lojas de Cidadão), or the Citizens’ Portal. Pedro also worked in the private sector as marketing & innovation director at different IT companies, including Vision-Box, PHC Software and Inetum. Moreover, he was a digital marketing & communications lecturer and trainer at INA, Lisbon Digital School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa and Instituto Politécnico de Santarém. Pedro holds a master’s degree in Digital by Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a post- graduation in Business Administration by ISEG – Lisbon School of Economics & Management, a BA in Communication Studies by Universidade Nova de Lisboa and an advanced course in Digital Innovation by The University of Chicago.

David van Weel

Assistant Secretary General, NATO

David van Weel is NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges. He is the Secretary General’s primary advisor on emerging security challenges and their implications for the security of the Alliance and a member of the Secretary General’s senior management team. The Emerging Security Challenges Division, which he directs and manages, aims to provide a coordinated approach by the Alliance to all new and emerging challenges. These include cyber and hybrid threats, terrorism, as well as emerging and disruptive technologies (such as AI and quantum computing), energy security challenges, including those posed by environmental changes, and data policy. The division also runs the Science for Peace and Security Programme, which promotes dialogue and practical cooperation between NATO and partner nations through scientific research, technological innovation and knowledge exchange. The Division aims to provide innovative policy solutions for countering and defending the Alliance and Allies against these challenges and to maintain the innovative and technological advantage of the Alliance in conjunction with partners, industry and other multilateral organisations. Prior to joining NATO, David van Weel was the Foreign Policy and Defense Advisor for the Prime Minister of The Netherlands (2016-2020). This position followed a long career in The Netherlands Ministry of Defence, where he ended as Director for International Affairs and Operations/ Policy Director (2014-2016) after serving as the Chief of Cabinet for the Minister of Defence and the Permanent Secretary (2012-2014) and as the senior policy officer for amongst others operations in Afghanistan and Libya, NATO, nuclear policy and disarmament, special operations and the preparation of the Defence Budget. David started his career in the Royal Netherlands Navy, where, upon completion of the Naval Academy (1994-1999), he served on different frigates, served in the British Royal Navy as an exchange officer, worked as a Staff Officer for Middle and Eastern European countries in the Defence Staff and ended as a Primary Warfare officer and Navigation Officer. David is married to Iris and has two daughters, Felice and Alix.

Helle Thorning Schmidt

Co-Chair of the Oversight Board

Helle Thorning-Schmidt became the first female Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015. Helle Thorning-Schmidt was born in 1966 and studied political science at the University of Copenhagen, and then earned a master’s degree in European studies in 1993 from the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium. Having earned another master’s degree, in political science, from the University of Copenhagen (1994), Thorning-Schmidt became an administrator for the Danish Social Democratic Party’s delegation to the European Parliament (1994–97) and then worked as a consultant for the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (1997–99). In 1999 she was elected as a member of the European Parliament (1999–2004). In 2005 she was elected to the Danish Folketing (parliament) and that same year was chosen as the leader of the Social Democratic Party. After her time as Prime Minister she became the first female CEO of Save the Children International since 2016. In January 2019 she announced that she would be stepping down as CEO. Since 2020, Thorning-Schmidt has served as a Co-Chair of the Oversight Board.​

Florian Tursky

State Secretary for Digitalisation and Telecommunications, Austria

Florian Tursky studied press relations and integrated communication in Krems, Austria. He gained his first political steps in the youth organization of the Austrian Peoples Party in Tyrol, and experience in the private sector as regional manager of P8 Marketing as well as CEO of 3D-Elements. He returned into politics as press officer of Tyrols governor Günther Platter and later being his office manager. Florian Tursky is currently coordinating the Austrian digitalization as State Secretary for Digitalization in the Ministry of Finance.

Pernille Weiss

Member, European Parliament

MEP Pernille Weiss, is a politician from the Conservative People’s Party of Denmark and a member of the European People’s Party, EPP. Ms. Weiss holds a seat in the Industry, Research & Energy Committee (ITRE) and is a substitute in The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). Ms. Weiss also holds a substitute seat in The Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee (FEMM). Prior to being an MEP, Ms. Weiss served eight years as a County Council member. Ms. Weiss holds several degrees; she is a nurse (RN), Master of science (health) and additionally holds a Master degree in Innovation and Leadership (LAICS). She is an acknowledged Nordic expert in architecture and health as well as the impact of the build environment on complex institutions. In addition, Ms. Weiss has been a board member of SME Europe since 2019. Ms. Weiss has been a head manager in the public health care sector and the building consultancy industry before establishing her own consultancy firm in 2008.

Dragoş Tudorache

Member, European Parliament

Dragos Tudorache is a Member of the European Parliament and Vice- President of the Renew Europe Group. He is the LIBE rapporteur on the AI Act, former Chair of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA), and he sits on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), and the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with the United States (D-US). Dragos began his career in 1997 as a judge in Romania. Between 2000 and 2005, he built and led the legal departments at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN missions in Kosovo. After working on justice and anticorruption at the European Commission Representation in Romania, supporting the country’s EU accession, he joined the Commission as an official and, subsequently, qualified for leadership roles in EU institutions, managing a number of units and strategic projects such as the Schengen Information System, Visa Information System, and the establishment of eu-LISA1. During the European migration crisis, Dragos was entrusted with leading the coordination and strategy Unit in DG-Home, the European Commission Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, until he joined the Romanian Government led by Dacian Ciolos. Between 2015 and 2017, he served as Head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, Minister of Communications and for the Digital Society, and Minister of Interior. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2019. His current interests in the European Parliament include security and defence, artificial intelligence and new technologies, transatlantic issues, the Republic of Moldova, and internal affairs.

Juhan Lepassaar

Executive Director, ENISA

Mr. Lepassaar took up his functions on 16 October 2019. He has more than 15 years of experience in working with and within the European Union. Prior to joining ENISA, he worked for six years in the European Commission, including as Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip responsible for the Digital Single Market. In this capacity he also led and coordinated the preparations and negotiations of the Cybersecurity Act. Mr Lepassaar started his career in the EU affairs with the Estonian Government Office, leading for five years the national EU coordination system as the Director for EU affairs and EU adviser of the Prime Minister.

Marina Kaljurand

Member, European Parliament

Biography to follow shortly.

Victor Negrescu

Member, European Parliament

Victor Negrescu is a Member of the European Parliament, Vice-President of the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT), being part of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. Victor Negrescu has been the rapporteur of the European Parliament for the report on Shaping Digital Education Policy and an active promoter of the allocation of 10% for quality and inclusive education of the National Recovery and Resilience Facilities, as well as 2% to the cultural and creative sector. He managed to obtain in this regard the support of the Budgets Committee members and integrated that in the official position of the European Parliament. Moreover, MEP Victor Negrescu has been the rapporteur for the CULT Committee opinion regarding the new strategy for SMEs and requested the European Commission to develop efficient and personalised measures, adapted to different regions and sectors, containing a firm request to create 1 million new start-ups at European level. In his activity as MEP, Victor Negrescu strongly advocates for consistent investments in education, culture, digitalization and youth, by Member States and the European Commission. He is the winner of the MEP Award 2015 for Digital Agenda and the MEP with the most significant pilot projects, generating in both mandates initiatives that go up to more than 90 million euros in the fields of entrepreneurship, education, innovation, digitalization, health, culture and media. One such pilot project regarded the establishing of an e-learning platform for entrepreneurship, destined to support SMEs and aimed at the development of entrepreneurial skills, financial education, the sustainability component in entrepreneurship, as well as the improvement of digital skills.

Annemarie Große Frie

Senior Vice President, Head of Research & Predevelopment, Technology, Siemens

Professional history Since 10/2022 Siemens AG, Munich, Germany, Technology – Senior Vice President, Head of Research & Predevelopment 2020 Siemens AG, Munich, Germany, Corporate Technology – Senior Vice President, Head of Research in Energy and Electronics 2016 Siemens AG, Munich, Germany, Corporate Strategy – Vice President, Head of Transformation & Projects 2014 Siemens AG, Munich, Germany, Corporate Strategy – Director, Strategic Projects 2013 Siemens AG, Munich, Germany, Corporate Sustainability Office – Strategy & Environmental Portfolio 2006 Boston Consulting Group, Munich, Germany – Associate, Consultant, Project Leader Memberships Atlantik Brücke e.V. Young Leader 2018

Sandra Gallina

Director-General, DG SANTE, European Commission

Sandra Gallina joined the European Commission in 1988. She is today Director General for HEALTH & FOOD SAFETY. Before joining DG SANTE, between 2018 and 2020 she was Deputy Director General for TRADE. Between 2014 and 2018 she was Director of DG TRADE Directorate D “Sustainable Development; Economic Partnership Agreements – African, Caribbean and Pacific; Agri-food and Fisheries”. Sandra Gallina was also the EU chief negotiator for the EU-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement. Between 2001 and 2009 she was the EU Lead Negotiator for Non-Agricultural Market Access in the WTO Doha Round and in that capacity, she defined and presented EU policy for the Doha Development Agenda on non-agricultural market access negotiations. Before joining DG TRADE, she worked in the Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) at the end of the 1990s.

Judith Gerlach

Minister for Digital Affairs, Bavaria

Biography to follow shortly.

Maria Rosendahl

Deputy Director General and Head of Department for Industry Policy, Teknikföretagen

Maria Rosendahl is Deputy Director General and Head of Department for Industry Policy at Teknikföretagen (the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries) since 2021. She joined Teknikföretagen in 2017 as Head of Skills and Innovation Division. Maria has multiple years of experience from management in telecommunications, technology and transport industries. Her areas of responsibility have many times had a close link to R&D and innovation and the international dimension has been a constant part of her career. Prior to joining Teknikföretagen she was Business area manager at one of Sweden’s major transport companies. She has also been Head of Product management at Ericsson and there responsible for the establishment of a new office in Shanghai. Maria holds a MSc of Industrial Management and Economics with specialization in innovation.

Francesco Buonarroti

Chief Information Officer, Janssen Pharmaceuticals EMEA, Johnson & Johnson

Francesco Buonarroti is the Chief Information Officer, Janssen Pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson, where he has been working for 12 years now. His previous positions include Senior Director IT, Janssen Commercial EMEA and IT Director EMEA Finance Logistic and HR amongst other. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Francesco has worked for SAP

Morten Løkkegaard

Member, European Parliament

Biography to follow shortly.

Daniel Mes

Cabinet Member, Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, European Commission

A lawyer by training, Daniel Mes started his career at the European Commission in its competition department. There he worked on transport and digital technology files. During the last Commission term, he managed relations with the European Parliament and the Council, including on digital policy files, and was a speechwriter to Margrethe Vestager. Since 1 December 2019, Mr Mes has worked in the Cabinet of Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans on digital aspects of the European Green Deal.

Nanna-Louise Linde

Vice-President, European Government Affairs, Microsoft

Nanna-Louise Linde is Microsoft’s Vice President of European Government Affairs with responsibility for Microsoft’s government affairs and public policy work across Europe since September 2022. Nanna-Louise leads a team of government affairs professionals tasked with strengthening Microsoft’s external relations with the EU institutions and governments across Europe and ensuring the company is a constructive partner in supporting policy makers in Europe achieve their goals and adapt smart legislation. A competition lawyer by training, Nanna-Louise brings with her almost two decades of experience at Microsoft. Most recently, she has been leading Microsoft’s Corporate External & Legal Affairs team in 32 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, responsible for and relations with governments and other authorities. Prior to that, she was leading Government Affairs for Microsoft in Western Europe. Nanna-Louise and her teams have helped Microsoft build important partnerships with governments in Europe and position Microsoft as a trusted partner in the region, ranging from digitally preserving Greece’s cultural legal matters heritage as part of Microsoft’s AI for Cultural Heritage initiative to spearheading our efforts to support the Ukrainian Government, including through partnerships to strengthen cybersecurity and resilience. Nanna-Louise is known to be a modern leader who empowers her team and facilitates cross country and cross group collaboration with a transparent and authentic approach.

Christiane Kirketerp de Viron

Head of Unit, European Commission

Biography to follow shortly.

Ray Eitel-Porter

Global Responsible AI Lead, Accenture

Ray Eitel-Porter is Accenture’s Global Lead for Responsible AI, based in London. He joined Accenture in 2013 and has worked across a number of industries, mainly focusing on analytics strategy and operating model projects, and in the last four years developing Accenture’s solutions for data and AI ethics, advising clients and Accenture internally in this area. Ray led the formation of Accenture’s Strategic Partnership with The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, to further research and innovation applied to real-world business challenges. He chairs the government’s Data Skills Taskforce and led the creation of a national data science prize for schools, in association with TeenTech, to excite interest at an early age in the possibilities that a training/career in data science can offer. Ray holds an MA in Modern Languages from Christ Church, Oxford as well as an MBA from INSEAD.

Anca Toma

Executive Director, EPF

Anca Toma joined EPF as Executive Director in March 2022. Her career started in the Romanian EU accession negotiations team, continued as a consultant in a public affairs and communications agency in Brussels, followed by ten years in Smoke Free Partnership, a European coalition of NGOs working to advance tobacco control for cancer and NCD prevention. Anca has over 15 years of experience in European health policy working in policy advocacy, strategic communications, developing and coordinating successful pan-European advocacy campaigns, and leading her team and organisation. Anca is a political science graduate of the University of Bucharest and holds a masters in European politics and administration from the College of Europe.

Marc Vancoppenolle

Vice President, Government Affairs International, Nokia

Marc Vancoppenolle is leading the Government Affairs International function at Nokia. His responsibilities include Policy and Regulatory advocacy, geopolitical insight and international relations. He and his team are working with institutions and stakeholders to create a favorable political and regulatory environment fostering broadband investments and digitalization at large. Prior to this, Mr Vancoppenolle led the Alcatel-Lucent Public and Regulatory Affairs function for EMEA – including the representation office in Brussels – and APAC. Before joining Public Affairs, Marc led EMEA Strategic Customer Marketing at Alcatel-Lucent. Mr Vancoppenolle has over 30 years of experience in the telecommunication industry. He joined Alcatel in 1991 where he took various international and worldwide technical, commercial, marketing and communication leadership roles based in Belgium and in France. He has been driving marketing and awareness strategies supporting the growth of the company in the areas of DSL, IP, telecom services and software applications. As Chief Marketing Officer for Alcatel Northern Europe, he led the development of Alcatel’s market positioning in the Industry & Public Sector. Mr Vancoppenolle is Vice-Chair of the BUSINESSEUROPE Digital Economy Taskforce and advisor to FITCE Belgium (forum for ICT & Media professionals). He has been a member of the board of DIGITALEUROPE (representing the Digital Technology Industry in Europe) and of the board of IICB (Innovation & Incubation Center Brussels). Mr Vancoppenolle holds a Master of Science, with a specialization in Telecommunication from the University of Leuven complemented with marketing studies from the University of Antwerp.

Tomislav Sokol

Member, European Parliament

Tomislav Sokol was born in Zagreb in 1982. He obtained his first degree in law at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, in 2006, magna cum laude. He then obtained a Masters of Law (LL.M.) specialising in European Union Law at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), Belgium, in 2009, magna cum laude. He defended his PhD at KUL, dealing with free movement of cross-border health care services in the EU and its impact on national health insurance systems in 2014. He was an Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Science and Education in 2017, after which he became a Member of the Croatian Parliament. He was a Member of the Croatian Parliament until July 2019, when he became a Member of the European Parliament. He is a Member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Special Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned and recommendations for the future (COVI) and also EPP Vice Coordinator in COVI Committee, and a Substitute Member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and Committee on Regional Development (REGI) in the European Parliament. So far, he has published around 20 papers and 1 book on issues concerning EU law, including several articles in European journals, such as the European Law Review and the European Law Journal. He has presented papers at many international conferences and worked on different research projects. Previously, he worked in a legal practice and is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management where he has taught Introduction to European Union and Principles of Law courses since the academic year 2010/2011. He is also an assistant professor at the Catholic University of Croatia where he has taught since the academic year 2016/2017. His areas of professional interest include the law of the European common market, EU health law, competition law, International and European social law and International and European trade law.

Alia El-Yassir

UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia

Alia El-Yassir was appointed as UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia in September 2018 and in this capacity also serves as UN Women Representative to Turkey. She has been working on gender equality and women’s empowerment within the United Nations system since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. She has extensive experience of working as UN Women Representative at country level managing normative, coordination and operational work within complex contexts that span the development, humanitarian and political continuum. She has also served at HQ level supporting UN Women’s global programmatic work. In her country, regional and global roles, she has built strong partnerships with and among diverse groups of stakeholders to advance the rights of women and girls. Before joining the UN system, Ms. El-Yassir worked as a teacher and developed educational media for children, in addition to volunteering with a number of women’s and human rights non-governmental organizations. Alia El-Yassir holds a BSc degree in Biology (with a specialization in Ecology) from McGill University and a MSc degree in Desert Studies (with a specialization in Gender Studies) from Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

Floriane de Kerchove

Business Group Leader & Senior Advisor Advocacy Digital, Agoria

Floriane is Responsible for Government Affairs for Europe at Agoria. As Responsible for Government Affairs for Europe (with special focus on digital) she wants to develop a new dynamic for Agoria and its members. As a first achievement, their proposals were incorporated in the EU Recovery plan for Belgium. Before that, she led fixed & mobile telecom infrastructure deployment in Belgium (mostly 4G and 5G) for Agoria and its members. She was successfully leading lobby and communication actions for new emission norms and the spectrum auction (2017-2020) in a sensitive and controversial context. From 2007 to 2017, she was Director of Agoria Brussels, which included defining priorities and coordinating Agoria’s experts to lobby for the CEO members in Brussels. She was also chairwoman of the Board for a new training center for digital skills (digitalcity.brussels), being the driving force behind its launch and development with public and private partners (4 years). Floriane has also been senior advisor to various Belgian Ministers (federal/regional) for topics such as financing of SMEs or Intelligent Transport Systems.

Chiara Riondino

Head of Unit, Vocational Education and Training, DG EMPL, European Commission

Chiara Riondino is head of unit for vocational education and training in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission, where she is also responsible for skills for the green and digital transformation. Chiara previously worked on employment policies, focusing mainly on employment opportunities and challenges in the changing world of work, active labour market policies and fair working conditions. She also worked more broadly on taking forward the European Pillar on Social Rights. Before joining the Commission, Chiara had worked in both the private and the public sector, including as head of unit in the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Hazel Diez

Global Head of Cyber GRC & CISO Central Services, Santander

Hazel is a cybersecurity specialist with more than 20 years of experience in multicultural organizations, leading different cybersecurity global roles in 1st, 2nd and 3rd lines of defense. Currently, she leads the Cyber GRC function globally and is the CISO for Santander global services. In her current role, she is responsible for the cybersecurity governance, risk management and compliance processes, including IT SOX, across the Group. Prior to joining Santander, she has led different senior roles in cybersecurity, including IT & Cyber risk European Head and Global Head of Cybersecurity Architecture & Design at Aviva, the largest insurer in the UK.

Alberto di Felice

Director Infrastructure, Privacy& Security Policy, DIGITALEUROPE

Alberto Di Felice leads the Infrastructure, Privacy and Security teams at DIGITALEUROPE. He is responsible for data protection, cybersecurity and telecoms. Alberto joined DIGITALEUROPE in February 2018, having previously spent seven years at Qualcomm, a world leader in mobile technologies. His work there cut across EU technology policy areas such as privacy, telecoms regulation and the impact of digital on innovation and business models, including verticals such as connected cars and mobile health. Alberto is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E). He holds degrees in law and European studies from the universities of Teramo and Trento in Italy as well as a masters in diplomacy from the Institute for International Political Studies in Milan.

Katarzyna Udała

Project Manager, DIGITALEUROPE

Katarzyna Udała joined DIGITALEUROPE in October 2018. As Project and Communications Manager, she drives DIGITALEUROPE projects, especially those related to the topic of digital skills, such as Women4IT and European Digital Academy. Apart from project coordination, her expertise lies in communication and stakeholder outreach. Before becoming Project and Communication Manager, Katarzyna worked at DIGITALEUROPE for over a year as Communications Officer, focusing mainly on social media and website content management. Prior to joining DIGITALEUROPE, Katarzyna gained her digital marketing and communications expertise interning with a youth-work oriented non-profit organisation, where she worked towards implementing a yearly communication strategy, building brand visibility, and maintaining relationships with clients and institutional partners. Katarzyna is also an experienced trainer specialised in soft skills development and youth participation. She has delivered a number of training events and workshops across Europe, including training events co-developed with the Council of Europe. Katarzyna holds a BA in Management and Sociology in Business and Media from Kozminski University with a curriculum strongly focused on intercultural communication and digital communication strategies. She also studied Business Administration at IE University in Madrid, Spain.

Dr Martin McShane

Chief Medical Officer, UHG

Qualified as a doctor in 1981. Training in General and Vascular surgery, Leicester, Southampton, Sheffield: FRCS England 1985 and subsequently an MS from the University of London 1989. In 1990 entered General Practice in Eckington, North Derbyshire obtaining the MRCGP in 1992. Experience in fundholding led to chairmanship of the North Eastern Derbyshire Primary Care Group and Professional Executive Chair of the successor PCT. After participating in the Clinical Strategist course at INSEAD appointed Chief Executive of the PCT in 2004. In 2006 became Director of Strategic Planning for NHS LIncolnshire, commissioning services for 750k people in association with 102 General Practices with a budget of over £1 billion. Member of the National Patient Safety Forum, Vice Chair of the East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group and a member of the DH Strategy Unit Forward Thinking Group. Domain Director Long Term Conditions 2012-2015 NHS England. Specialties: Strategic planning, scenario planning, simulations, innovation and quality improvement in healthcare.

Ray Pinto

Director for Digital Transformation Policy, DIGITALEUROPE

Ray Pinto is currently the Digital Transformation Policy Director for DIGITALEUROPE. Ray joins DIGITALEUROPE with over 20 years of government affairs and communications experience in Brussels and across the EMEA region. Ray is responsible for the digital transformation strategy providing policy recommendations to government stakeholders on the disruption being caused to European industries including manufacturing, healthcare, transport, and financial technologies. Ray leads the Digital Transformation Policy Group helping our members to advance important work on areas impacting vertical industries such as data, cybersecurity, data protection, international trade, emerging technologies (AI, blockchain, IoT, etc), and skills development. Previously, he worked at Microsoft responsible for socio-economic issues and strategies to improve relations with governments. Ray holds citizenship with both Canada and France and is a graduate of McGill University in Political Science.

Padraic Ward

Head of International, Roche

He joined the company in 2004 and has worked in a number of key roles including leading the team bringing a new medicine for breast cancer through the final stages of development and regulatory approval, and leading the commercial organisation first in France and then in Europe. He was appointed to his current role as Head of Commercial Operations for Roche Pharma International in June 2018. Before joining Roche, Padraic worked for Coras Tráchtála (CTT)/Irish Export Board, as a strategic consultant in the industrial and distribution sector, and for Glaxo, first on the launch of new medicines for infectious diseases, particularly HIV and viral hepatitis, then as Commercial Strategy Director in Glaxo Wellcome’s Latin America Regional Office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Padraic holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University College Dublin and an MBA from INSEAD.

Vincenzo Renda

Associate Director for Digital Transformation Policy

Vincenzo Renda joined DIGITALEUROPE on 1 August 2019. Before joining DIGITALEUROPE, Vincenzo spent three years and half at CECIMO, the European association of the machine tool industries and related manufacturing technologies. As Innovation Policy Officer, he heavily contributed to CECIMO’s strategy on industrial technologies such as 3D-printing, influencing EU activities on product compliance, data, skills and standardisation issues. Vincenzo was also in charge of CECIMO’s 3D-printing Committee, which brings together market-leading OEMs, and represented CECIMO in a variety of EU-funded projects on industrial technologies. Prior to that, he gained working experience in Brussels-based industry associations and by helping to deploy EU ERDF funds in Germany. Besides a B.A. in Political Sciences, Vincenzo holds an M.A. in European Public Policy and Administration from Maastricht University.

Jot Chahal

Vice President, Global Digital Health, Johnson & Johnson

Entrepreneurial and results-driven health technology executive with twenty years of experience in driving top-line profitable growth through innovation, and data-driven strategies across industries, services, and markets globally. On a mission to transform healthcare through advanced analytics, AI, wearable sensing, and the internet of medical things. AREAS OF EXPERTISE STRATEGY & GROWTH: • Growth Strategy Development • Business Model Development • M&A Evaluation & Due Diligence • Acquisition Integration • Partnership Development & Management LEADERSHIP & CULTURE CHANGE: • Team Leadership & Trust Building • Change Management • Global Matrix Collaboration • Talent & Bench Strength Development • Process Renewal & Adoption HEALTHCARE MARKETING & INNOVATION: • Strategic & Downstream Marketing • Clinical Evidence Generation • Market Research & Segmentation • Corporate Branding • Integrated Marketing Communication & Messaging

Bárbara Navarro

Head of Research, Public Policy and Institutional Relations at Banco Santander

Bárbara Navarro is currently working as Head of Research, Public Policy, and Institutional Relations at Banco Santander. Prior to this she spent 14 years working for Google as Director of Public Policy and Governmental Affairs for the South of Europe in Madrid, Head of Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, and head for Google Cloud APAC based in Singapore. Before her work at Google she was Director of Public Policy and Government relations for NBC Universal and before that Director of Intellectual Property for ClarkeModet. Bárbara received a Degree in law from Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE), an Executive MBA from IESE Business School. For 8 years, she has been a professor at Carlos III University.

Lubomila Jordanova

CEO and Founder, Plan A

Lubomila Jordanova is the co-founder and CEO of Plan A, a software provider offering an end-to-end platform that uses machine learning and science to enable businesses to reduce their emissions and improve and report on their ESG performance. Lubomila is also co-founder of the Greentech Alliance, a community of more than 2,000 Greentech startups connected to more than 500 advisors from VC, media, and business. Prior to Plan A, she worked in investment banking and venture capital as well as the fintech industry in Asia and Europe. Lubomila has been recognised as an Obama Europe Leader 2022, MIT Innovator Under 35 Europe 2022, Marshall Fund Fellow 2022, Top 50 Women Entrepreneurs in Germany 2022 (Handelsblatt) and 30 under 30 (Forbes), among others.

Laura Urquizu

CEO, Red Points

In the past 8 years, Laura has turned Red Points into one of the fastest-growing scaleups in the world and has transformed its business model into a disruptive, globally renowned SaaS solution. Previously, she held executive and management positions at Arthur Andersen, Caja Navarra, and CAN Corporation. Laura has been named one of the “50 Most Influential Women Entrepreneurs and Investors in the European Technology Industry” by EU-Start-Ups; one of the “Top 50 SaaS CEOs” by The Software Report; and one of the “100 People Transforming Business” by Business Insider.

Alfred Kuijer

Country Director, Benelux, Easee

Country Director for Easee in The Benelux. Started for Easee in Amsterdam over 2 years ago to launch activities in Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. Active in eMobility for 10 years and started his career in sales for Tesla, which was a Future Unicorn back then. Alfred is a proud father and husband. His passion is to combine travel and sustainability.

Helena Lovegrove

Director for Operations & Projects, DIGITALEUROPE

Helena has some 20 years working in EU public policy with experience in both the public and private sector on a range of policy and EU funded projects. After her experience at the European Commission as an economist at DG Competition (cost analysis) she worked for a couple of years at Brussels based public affairs consultancies (Prisma and Blueprint Partners, FTI) focusing on advocacy, business development and marketing. More recently her work has focused on not-for-profit organisations where she has advocated for archives and research library associations in their digitisation efforts and concerns around EU copyright law. Another ongoing project is as a coalition partner in the EU funded project Europeana (Europe’s digital platform for cultural heritage) advising on both engagement and funding. Before coming to Brussels, she was an export consultant in Sweden focusing on helping mainly SMEs tap into European markets. Helena holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Economics, BSc BA & Econ, as well as a Bachelor of Art in French, both degrees from Lund University.

Tomas Lamanauskas

Deputy Secretary General, ITU

20+ years of international senior, executive and board-level leadership experience, at the intersection of infrastructure, digital technologies as well as government regulation and policy. Finds excitement in supporting and leading teams through major transformations in highly multicultural environments. Has served as a head or deputy head of national regulatory authorities in three different regions of the world, senior government advisor in another one, and has led international teams at a UN agency as well as multinational technology and communications company.

Susanne Dehmel

Member of the Executive Board & Head of Legal & Security, BITKOM

Susanne Dehmel has been a member of the Executive Board of Bitkom since October 2014, where she is responsible for the Legal & Security business unit and the topic of artificial intelligence. She is a member of the Enquete Commission of the German Bundestag "Artificial Intelligence - Social Responsibility and Economic, Social and Ecological Potential". She also represents the business community on the Expert Council for Consumer Affairs of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection and is on the Data Protection Advisory Board of Deutsche Telekom AG. For Bitkom, Susanne Dehmel also serves as deputy chairwoman of the Self-Regulation of the Information Economy Association (Verein Selbstregulierung Informationswirtschaft e.V.). (SRIW) and of Deutschland sicher im Netz e.V. (Germany Secure on the Net). Susanne Dehmel is a lawyer and completed her law studies in Passau, Freiburg and Cardiff. Before she took over the area of data protection at Bitkom, she was responsible for the areas of copyright and industrial property rights from 2002-2009. She has been head of the data protection department since 2010. An important part of her work is the promotion of trust and security in the digital world and, in particular, the practical further development of the legal framework for the digital economy and society.

Karen Melchior

Member, European Parliament

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197567/KAREN_MELCHIOR/home#detailedcardmep

Stina Soewarta

Head of EVP Vestager's Cabinet, European Commission

Biography to follow shortly.

Una Fitzpatrick

Director, Technology Ireland

Una Fitzpatrick was appointed Director of Technology Ireland in June 2018. Una is a Dublin City University STEM graduate with a master’s in management from Smurfit Business School. She has spent the last 15 years working in the knowledge economy, specifically the last six years being spent with Technology Ireland, the largest and most influential tech sector representative group in Ireland. Una is vice-chair of the Digital Europe Brexit Taskforce and sits on the Board of Directors of FIT Ltd (Fastrack into Technology). She has extensive advocacy experience both at national and European levels and has developed good working relations with national ministers as well as Irish MEPs.

Jacques de La Rivière

Member, Cybersecurity Department, Numeum and President and Co-Founder of Gatewatcher

Jacques de La Rivière is a member of Numeum’s Cybersecurity Department. He is also President and co-founder of Gatewatcher. After studying engineering at ESIEA, he started his career at Mahindra Satyam in India as an offshore project manager. He then worked as a Sales Engineer at ADNEOM and BK Consulting on high frequency trading platforms. Jacques is Vice President of Hexatrust. His cross-disciplinary vision of cybersecurity and his passion for technology contribute to the development of the cyber sector.

Kadi Silde

Chief of Staff, Head of the Transition Team, DIANA, NATO

Kadi Silde is the Chief ofStaff/Head of the transition teamfor DIANA(Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic)at NATO since July 2022.She previously served as Undersecretary for Defence Policy at the Estonian Ministry of Defence in 2019-2022. In this position, she was responsible for policy planning, intelligence coordination and operations planning; EU and NATO matters and other bilateral and multilateral international cooperation. Kadi Silde joined the Ministry of Defence in 2008, holding various positions including the director of policy planning. She joined Estonia’s EU Council Presidency team in 2017, coordinating defence efforts and working on defence initiatives such as the European Defence Fund. She was subsequently seconded to the European Commission to implement it.She holds a BA in political science from Tartu University, an MA in International Relations fromTallinn University, and anMSc in Digital Transformation from Tallinn Technical University.

Andrea Bauer Vaugan

Founder, Wyngs

After more than 15 years as an international marketing director in the European e-commerce sector and in digital consulting, Ms. Bauer-Vaugan founded her own European marketing & communications agency Wyngs.co in 2012 and has since then supported over 70 young tech companies in their endeavour of exploring the European markets, especially the DACH region, France and the Netherlands. Andrea is the President of the French-German Digital Club and the Cluny Forum (French-German innovation forum for young executives) and co-founded in 2020 the European Champions Alliance, where she holds the position of Secretary-general and General Manager. She also holds a master’s degree in International Management from the University LMU-Munich.

Chris Ruff

Director for Political Outreach & Communications, DIGITALEUROPE

Chris leads DIGITALEUROPE’s communications team and coordinates contacts with policymakers in Brussels and across Europe. Before joining DIGITALEUROPE, Chris was communications adviser to Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström and served in her cabinet. He had previously spent two years in the DG Trade media relations team, and one and a half years as an assistant to a member of the European Parliament. His previous experience includes roles in a software start-up in Berlin and at Bristol City Council. As well as an in-depth knowledge of various policy areas, notably trade, he has extensive experience of working in the EU institutions and coordinating with Brussels-based media. He holds a joint M.A. in European studies from Bath University, Sciences-Po Paris and the Humboldt University in Berlin, as well as a B.A. in French and Political Science from Bristol University.