Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speaker

Speakers

Michel Barnier

European Commissioner, Internal Market and Services (via video)

Personal details:
French
Born January 9, 1951 in La Tronche (Isère)
Married
3 children

Current duties:
Since February 2010 - European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services
Since March 2006, Vice President of the European People's Party
Since 2006, Political Advisor of the UMP (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire)

Political career:
June 2009 - February 2010: Member of the European Parliament, President of the French delegation of the EPP
June 2007 - June 2009: Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
April 2004 - May 2005: Minister of Foreign Affairs
1999 - 2004: European Commissioner in charge of Regional Policy and the Reform of European Institutions
1997 -1999: Senator of Savoie
1995 - 1997: Minister of European Affairs
1993 - 1995: Minister for the Environment
1982 - 1999: President of the Regional Council of Savoie
1978 -1995: Deputy of Savoie
1973 - 1999: Regional Councillor for Savoie (Bourg-Saint-Maurice District)

Professional career:
February 2006 - May 2007: Vice President of Mérieux Alliance, in charge of International Relations
Since September 2005: Member of the Council of State

Other activities:
In 2006, Special Advisor to the President of the European Commission, José Manuel BARROSO. Presentation of a report proposing the creation of "For A European Civil Protection Force: Europe Aid "
Since May 2003: Founding President of the club "New Republic"
1997 -1999: President of the French Association of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions
1987 - 1992: Co-president with Jean-Claude KILLY of the Organisation Committee of the XVIth Olympic Games of Albertville and Savoie

Publications:
2008: "Europe, cards on the table“ - Acropole
2008: "Who will feed the world: a new agricultural revolution" - Acropole
2007: "Atlas for a sustainable world" - Acropole
2005: "Sortir l’Europe des idées reçues" - Plon
2001: "Notre contrat pour l'alternance" - Plon
1994: "Vers une mer inconnue" - Pluriel
1994: "Le Défi écologique - Chacun pour tous" - Hachette
1992: " Atlas des risques majeurs" - Plon
1985: "Vive la politique" - Stock

Education:
Diploma - Paris College of Business
1972: Diploma - ESCP

Languages:
French (mother tongue)
English

Werner Stengg

Head of Unit, Online and Postal Services, DG MARKT, European Commission

Werner Stengg
Head of Unit Online and Postal Services, European Commission

Born 1968 in Friesach, Austria.

Studied at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (master's degree 1992, PhD 1995).

Professional experience:
• Assistant Professor at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (1992-1996);
• Administrator at the General Secretariat of the European Council of Ministers, Brussels; air and maritime transport (1996-1998);
• Administrator at the European Commission, DG Enterprise, in charge of negotiating bilateral textile agreements between the EU and third countries (1998-2001);
• Assistant to the Deputy Director General of DG Enterprise (2001-2002);
• Administrator at DG Budget, in charge of evaluation (2002-2006);
• Head of Unit in DG Internal Market and Services, in charge of "Impact Assessment, Evaluation and Economic Analysis" (2006-April 2011);
• Head of Unit in DG Internal Market and Services, in charge of "Online and Postal Services" (April 2011-present).

Pablo Arias Echeverria

Member, European Parliament

Since June 2009, Pablo Arias Echeverría serves as a Member of the European Parliament (Spanish EPP Delegation). Mr Arias is a member of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection as well as a member of the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. Currently, he is the Rapporteur of the Own Initiative Report on "Completing the Internal Market for e-commerce".

Before serving as Assistant to the former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar López between 2002 to 2004 and as his Executive Adviser since 2004, he was Deputy Executive Secretary of the Brussels-based CDI (Centrist Democrat International) from 2000 to 2002.

Mr. Arias Echevarría holds a Diploma in Marketing, a Master's degree in Business Administration and Management and a Public Management Leadership Program (PLGP) from the IESE Business School (Madrid, 2008-2009).

Claire Bury

Director, Unit E1: Business-to-consumer services, DG MARKT, European Commission

Claire Bury is currently Director of Services in Directorate General Internal Market and Services. She was previously Head of Unit for Company Law, Corporate Governance and Financial Crime in Directorate General Internal Market and Services, Deputy Head of Cabinet to Internal Market Commissioners Charlie McCreevy and Frits Bolkestein.

An English barrister by training, she worked in the Commission's Legal Service and, before coming to Brussels, in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Michel Catinat

Head of Unit ICT for Competitiveness and Industrial Innovation, European Commission

Michel Catinat is a civil servant with the Commission of the European Union, having joined in 1986. Since the 1st of October 2010, Michel Catinat is Head of Unit "ICT for Competitiveness and Industrial Innovation", Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry. Amongst other duties, he is currently in charge of the European policy on “Key Enabling Technologies”.

For two years, Mr Catinat has been adviser and published a report on critical raw materials in the European Union.

Previously, Mr Catinat was Head of Unit “Sustainable development, climate change and competitiveness”. His unit’s mission was to ensure the implementation of Sustainable Development Strategy and that the most cost-effective solutions for environmental, energy and transport objectives were adopted.

Mr Catinat has also been Head of Unit responsible for the Information Society and the Information Technologies. He has been involved in the definition and implementation of measures to support the emergence of the Information Society in Europe. From 1986 to 1989, he has been appointed as Economic Adviser in the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission. He carried out the economic analysis of the European Single Market Policy.

Before joining the Commission, Mr Catinat held a number of posts as economist in the French administration services in the Economic Planning Office (Prime Minister) and in the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs).

Mr Catinat attended the “Ecole Polytechnique” in Paris where he graduated with a Master of Science in Engineering. He is also graduated with a Master in Economics. He is former Fellow at the Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University (USA) and was professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, teaching “Information and Communication Technologies: Impact and Structure”.

Herbert Götz

Director Marketing, IPC

In his role as Marketing Director, Götz heads IPC’s Markets, Regulatory Affairs, Communications and Intercompany Pricing services.

Herbert Götz, an Austrian national, joins IPC from Österreichische Post, where he was responsible for sales and the branch network. He led the restructuring of both the branch network and the product portfolio of Österreichische Post, and was involved in its initial public offering.

Before being recruited by Österreichische Post in 2004, Götz held several positions at Siemens AG Austria. As Head of the Information and Communication Networks Division, he managed a major re-organisation within the company as the Austrian and central/eastern European telecommunications markets were liberalised.

Nick Basford

Vice President Marketing, UPS Europe

As Vice President of Marketing based in Brussels, Belgium, Nick Basford oversees and directs all of UPS’s marketing, business planning, revenue management, communications and brand management activities across more than 50 countries and territories in Europe.

Basford (50) joined UPS in 2005 via UPS’s acquisition of Lynx Express Ltd in the UK, where he had worked in high-level marketing and operational positions since 1994. He held the position of marketing director for UPS in the UK and Ireland from 2005 until 2010 and was UPS’s director of communications for all of UPS EMEA from 2010 until 2011.

Basford holds an MBA from the University of Nottingham Business School and has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and communications roles in multi-national companies.

James Roper

Vice President, EMOTA, CEO, IMRG

James Roper is Vice President of EMOTA (the European Multichannel and Online Trading Association – www.emota.eu ) and Chief Executive and Founder of IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group), the industry association for e-retailing, based in London, England.

IMRG (www.IMRG.org) is a membership organisation that takes responsibility for guiding, protecting and facilitating the advancement of electronic retailing via the internet, mobile, interactive TV, kiosks and other networked screens in the home, office and pocket. Founded in 1990 to represent the needs of pioneer interactive merchants, today IMRG serves some 4,000 individuals in the UK and across the world.

James has worked exclusively on interactive retail projects since the mid 1980s, and has been personally involved in the commercial development of hundreds of solutions using all forms of screen-based delivery channels.

James previously held Business Development Director positions with London-based application developers Convergent Communications and New Media Productions, where he managed work for retailers, financial institutions and manufacturers. In 1990, James managed the original IMR (Interactive Media in Retail) survey that led to the formation of IMRG later that year. Since that time, James has worked full time for the IMRG, developing and expanding its activities.

Acknowledged as having a unique and holistic insight into the evolution of the electronic commerce industry, James is a regular speaker on the subject at conferences worldwide. James is regularly called on to serve as an industry expert, and has served the European Commission in that capacity on a number of ESPRIT and other R&D programmes.

Walter Devenuto

President, EMOTA

Walter Devenuto is the President of EMOTA (European Multi-channel and Online Trade Association), which represents the interests of more than 2.700 distance selling and e-commerce companies in 19 European countries, with its 20 member national associations.

He is also Managing Director Italy of Bakker, European leader in direct marketing of gardening products, since 2004.

He previously worked for 6 years for a primary American management consultancy, Booz-Allen & Hamilton, where he managed important strategy and reorganization projects in large multinational corporations, in Italy, UK, and USA. He then acquired a significant managerial experience at Mediaset and Wind-Infostrada, with P&L responsibility for online media and broadband internet.

He holds an MBA from INSEAD, France and a Degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University, Milan.

In addition to his native Italian, he is fluent in English and has a good working knowledge of French. He has a dual citizenship, Italian and American.

Katarzyna Lasota Heller

President, EDiMA

Katarzyna Lasota Heller has been dealing with legal issues connected with the Internet for more than 11 years. She is a qualified business oriented lawyer in Poland and in Switzerland. She wrote and defended her doctoral thesis on consumers on the Internet at the Max Planck Institute in Munich. She also completed postgraduate studies (LL.M.) in the United States, specializing in issues related to patenting computer programs and Internet business models.

Having worked for a number of international law firms and consulting companies in Germany, Austria and Poland, Dr. Lasota Heller currently drives the global Legal Compliance Programme at the MIH/Naspers Group, and is responsible for dozens of companies operating worldwide. From 2010-2012 Dr. Lasota Heller headed the regulatory affairs of the MIH/Naspers Group and represented MIH Napsers Group before the authorities of the European Union and the Member States, and entered into dialogue with other players on the e-commerce market.

As President of the European Digital Media Association (EDiMA), Dr. Lasota Heller is devoted to e-commerce in Central and Eastern Europe, in particular in Poland and actively promotes the removal of barriers in the European Internal Market, primarily in the areas of e-commerce, digitisation and innovation. Dr. Lasota Heller is also a lecturer in International Intellectual Property Law at the Kozminski University in Warsaw.

Chris Sherwood

Head of Public Policy, Allegro Group

Chris Sherwood joined the Allegro Group in 2013 as Head of Public Policy. He is the first permanent Brussels public policy professional to be employed by a European Internet company. He has responsibility for all of the Allegro Group’s public policy issues. Chris previously worked for Yahoo! as Director for Public Policy, and at the US Department of Commerce at the US Mission to the EU, where he worked on ICT sector-related issues, including privacy and environmental rules. He has also been a public affairs consultant in Brussels and an IT systems implementation consultant. He has Masters Degrees in German and European Studies. He speaks fluent English, French, German, and Polish. He has UK, French, and US nationalities.

The Allegro Group is the leading Central and East European e-commerce company, with consumer-focused businesses in 16 countries spanning e-marketplaces, e-retail, online classified ads, and e-payments. Its headquarters are in Poznań.

Jörgen Bödmar

CEO, Scandinavian Design Center

Mr Jörgen Bödmar is the founder and CEO for Scandinavian Design Center, Sweden.
He has his background in Executive Search and Recruitment as well as working with HR in Scandinavian Airlines.

The company was founded 2002 based on a vision to make it possible to buy Scandinavian Design home interior products globally
using the Internet. Today, customers from seventy countries buy design products and get them delivered within a week.

He is also elected VP of EMOTA since 2013.

Brian Williamson

Plum Consulting

Brian Williamson believes in the power of ideas clearly communicated. His broad focus is the transformation of the economy and society via the effective use of ICT, and the strategy, policy and regulatory challenges of convergence. Brian has addressed issues in relation to next generation access investment and regulation, radio spectrum policy and markets and the development of online markets, the apps economy and open internet policy. Brian also has extensive experience of the application of economic impact assessment to policy appraisal.

Brian sees innovative thinking as essential in meeting these challenges, and has contributed to the development and application of ideas including "equivalence", radio spectrum administrative incentive pricing (AIP) and "anchor product" regulation. Brian has an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Physics from the University of Auckland.

Roberto Viola

Deputy Director General, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Roberto Viola holds a doctor degree in electronic engineering (Dr. Eng.) and a master in business administration (MBA).

He is Deputy Director General at European Commission - DG CNECT, with responsibilities for Electronic Communications Networks and Services Directorate, Cooperation Directorate - International and Inter-institutional relations, Stakeholders cooperation, Coordination Directorate - Growth and Jobs, Innovations and Knowledge Base, Media and Data Directorate.
Since 2005 to 2012 he has been the Secretary General in charge of managing AGCOM (Italian media and telecom regulator).

He has been Chairman for 2012-2013 of the European Radio Spectrum Policy group (RSPG), he was Deputy Chairman for 2011 and Chairman for 2010.

He was in the Board of BEREC (Body of European Telecom Regulators).

He was Chairman for 2007 of the European Regulatory Group (ERG).

He served in AGCOM (1999-2004), as Director of regulation department and technical Director being in charge of, inter alia, regulation in terrestrial, cable and satellite television, frequency planning, access and interconnection of communication services, cost accounting and tariff in telecommunication and broadcasting services.

From 1985-1999 he served in various position as a staff member of the European Space Agency (ESA) in particular, he has been head of telecommunication and broadcasting satellite services.

He is Professor of Business models for ICT at the Computer Engineering Faculty – University of Rome “La Sapienza”.

He pioneered novel communication systems (UMTS, satellite radio, digital broadcasting) publishing more than 100 scientific papers and holding key patents in the sector.

Fabienne Weibel

Deputy Head of Government Relations for EMEA, eBay Inc

Fabienne Weibel is Deputy Head of Government Relations for EMEA at eBay Inc., based in Brussels. Fabienne began her career in 1999 with Franklin, a Paris-based law firm, where she was part of the New Technologies division, advising French and international High Tech companies operating in France. She then moved in house and joined eBay in Paris in 2004 as legal counsel, working on all legal matters relating to the operations of eBay Inc.’s websites in France. In 2007, she became Head of Legal for Southern and Eastern Europe at PayPal and moved to Milan. At the beginning of 2011, Fabienne joined eBay GR office in Brussels where she manages relationships with policy makers across the EMEA region, focusing on payment services. Fabienne has a degree in business law and English from the University of Paris X-Nanterre and was a member of the Paris Bar before moving in house.

Róża Gräfin von Thun Und Hohenstein

Member, European Parliament

Since 2009 Member of the European Parliament (Civic Platform). In the European Parliament, she works in the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. 2011 and 2013 voted “The MEP of the Year” in the category Internal Market and Consumers Affairs. Head of the European Commission Representation to Poland (2005-2009). Chair and member of several civil society organisations (European Movement International, Spinelli Group, Polish Robert Schuman Foundation, and others).

Cornelia Kutterer

Director of Regulatory Policy, Microsoft Corporate Affairs Europe

Cornelia Kutterer is Director of Regulatory Policy for Microsoft EMEA, responsible for security and data access governance issues, as well as child safety and consumer policies. She has long standing experience in Information Society regulatory policies at EU level and represents Microsoft at various trade organisations. She currently chairs the privacy & security working group at TechAmerica and serves as Vice-President for Edima.Previously, Cornelia was Head of Legal Department and Senior Legal Advisor at BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, driving the policy agenda for consumers’ digital life and consumer protection laws. She was a member of the Permanent Stakeholder Group of Enisa representing users in security matters. She has also gained experience in a top 10 law firm in the fields of competition law, intellectual property and e-commerce and in a German trade organisation focusing on the freedom of services. She started her professional career in the European Parliament as a political advisor to a MEP in 1997.

Cornelia Kutterer is a qualified German lawyer, and holds a master’s degree in information technology and communication laws. She studied law at the Universities of Passau, Porto (Portugal), Hamburg and Strathclyde (UK).

Hugh Morgan Williams OBE

Founder, Canford Group Plc

Hugh Morgan Williams is a significant figure in entrepreneurship and management of businesses in the UK. He has also been involved in national and European business policy over the last twenty years.

Founder and Chairman of award winning Canford Group plc for over 30 years; he remains a consultant to the business. Hugh has developed a portfolio of private and public sector appointments. He has been a director of ten successful private sector businesses over the last ten years, with a media and technology focus.

He is a former chairman of the CBI SME Council, a former CBI regional chairman, a former chairman of The Northern Way and a former board member of the north east regional development agency. He is a board member of Durham University. He has just concluded a four year stint as Chairman of BUSINESSEUROPE’s Entrepreneurship & SME Committee.

Over the last ten years Hugh has developed a Europe wide expertise in Access to Finance. He was founding Chairman of North East Access to Finance, a JEREMIE funded vehicle for SME investment. He has spoken at many international conferences on access to finance in the last five years.

He is an ardent exponent of language learning and was awarded an OBE for services to business in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2008.

Susanne Czech

Secretary General, EMOTA

Ms Susanne Czech has been Secretary General of EMOTA, the Brussels-based European Multi-channel and Online Trade Association, since January 2007.

On behalf of its 16 national member associations, EMOTA advocates a barrier-free European single market for distance sales, off and online, and collaborates with business partners that actively encourage cross border distance selling across the European territory as a whole.

Before joining EMOTA, Ms Czech directed the Single Market and International Affairs Committees at CEA, the European Insurance Federation, in Brussels, after representing, for more than eight years, the interests of the Austrian insurance industry at European and international level from her position as a lobbyist at VVO, the Austrian Insurance Federation, in Vienna.

Ms Czech graduated from the University of Graz as a Doctor of Law.

Nick Sohneman

Founder and Managing Director, Futurecandy UG

Nick Sohnemann, originally from Hamburg – Germany, is an expert in trends and innovation research. After he finished his studies he succeeded to build up a career based on a deeply understanding of the internet and marketing industry. He has got a MBA in Media Management from Hamburg Media School and a BA in Media Studies from the University of Westminster in London.

The experienced trend and innovation enthusiast and innovation consultant Nick Sohnemann is Founder and Managing Director of Futurecandy and also the Head of InnoLab at the Hamburg Media School. Innovations and trends accompany Nick’s professional life from the beginning. So he worked almost three years in the innovation field of media agency OMD for well-known national and international companies (Vodafone, McDonalds, Daimler, Beiersdorf). On his last position was active as a trend researcher and Global Innovation Advisor at TrendONE, where it was his job to guide clients through the interpretation of trends and help them to develop their own innovative ideas.

Nick Sohnemann is an influential and experienced speaker and innovation consultant. His inspiring communicational skills have delighted the audience during workshops and presentations.

Jan-Remi Gratadour

Managing Director, ACSEL

Jan-Rémi Gratadour is Managing Director of ACSEL (Association of Digital Economy) and member of EMOTA Strategy Committee (European Multichannel & Online Trade Association). Previously, he was E-commerce Director at GeoPost (GeoPost Group regroups the Express subsidiaries of La Poste Group). He was also Secretary General of the Club Sénat association and cofounder of the on-line art bookstore DessinOriginal.com.

Jolanda Girzl

Director, ECC Sweden Swedish Consumer Agency

Jolanda has over 15 years of experience in Consumer Affairs. Since December 2007, she is the Director of European Consumer Centre in Sweden. The centre offers free information and counseling to all consumers within the EU, Norway and Iceland. The ECC-offices cooperates closely, share cases and mediates between consumers and traders on cross-border problems.

Prior to her current position, she has worked several years as a local consumer advisor and she built up the local consumer advice centre in the Municipality of Karlstad, who is very successful and now serves five municipalities and have a good national reputation.

She has studied Law at Uppsala University. Jolanda is very interested in promoting safe and responsible use of the Internet and mobile devices. She was awarded for her commitment and involvement in the Surf Calm campaign in Sweden for promoting safety and security on the web. Jolanda is a board member of HumanIT at Karlstad University, a multidisciplinary research centre, exploring the impact of information technology on society, in close cooperation with the industry. The research is focused around two main research clusters, ICT for Development and Surveillance and Integrity in Information Society.

Krzysztof Zurek

Policy Officer, Financial Institutions, DG MARKT, European Commission

Krzysztof Żurek joined the Internal Market Directorate General of the European Commission in 2006. He is working as Policy Officer in the area of payment services. He was involved as expert in many policy development projects at the EU level: SEPA migration, card payments, payments security as well as on rights and obligations of the payment service users.

Krzysztof has also provided expertise, analysis and been co-drafter of several EU laws, including Regulation on cross-border payments in the Community, Regulation establishing technical requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro as well as of the recent proposals (July 2013) for the interchange fees Regulation and the second Directive on payment services. He is representing the European Commission at the Payment Systems Policy Working Group of the European Central Bank.

Before coming to Brussels Krzysztof worked as diplomat in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as Assistant to the Minister. He has a Master in Economics degree from Warsaw School of Economics (Szkola Glowna Handlowa), a Master in Management (CEMS MIM) from CEMS, and post-graduate studies in diplomacy (Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Alasdair McGowan

Director Government Relations UK & Ireland, EMEA Policy Counsel, eBay Inc.

Alasdair McGowan heads up the Government Relations function for eBay Inc in the UK and manages the relationship between the company’s various business units and a range of government and regulatory stakeholders. Prior to joining eBay in 2005, he was a Special Adviser – firstly in the Ministry of Defence and latterly in 10 Downing Street. He has a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from University College, Oxford.

Siada El Ramly

Director General, EDiMA

Siada is the Director General of EDiMA. She has a background in Public Affairs and Association Management; having worked with global and European trade associations. Her specialty sector areas are mainly the technology and health sectors. Siada has a proven track record in providing European and Global trade associations and interest groupings strategic advice.

She holds an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) - University of London and a BA in Political Science – specializing in International Relations from the American University in Cairo.