Speaker Biographies

Speakers

Pearse O'Donohue

Director, Future Networks, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Pearse O'Donohue is Director for the Future Networks Directorate of DG CONNECT at the European Commission, dealing with policy development and research supporting the Digital Single Market as regards 5G networks, IoT, cloud and data flows and conceptualising new and innovative approaches towards service platforms and next generation Internet. Before becoming Director, Pearse was Head of the Cloud and Software Unit in DG CONNECT, dealing with the strategic development and implementation of policy on cloud computing and software.

Until October 2014, Pearse was Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Neelie Kroes, previous European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda. He was responsible for advising the Vice-President on the development and implementation of policy on electronic communications, networks and services, as well as broadband, spectrum and other related policies such as Internet governance.
Before that, Pearse was Head of the Radio Spectrum Policy Unit in the European Commission, DG CONNECT.

Prior to joining the European Commission, Pearse held posts in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU in Brussels, and as Assistant Director of the Brussels office of the Irish Business & Employers' Confederation.

Maria Rautavirta

Director, Data Business Unit at Data Department, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Finland

Maria Rautavirta (M.Sc. Eng.) is leading at the Ministry in the unit that is responsible for data business - which increases the availability and access to data in order to generate new business possibilities. The unit is also responsible of promoting automation in all modes of transport in which data and networks are seen as the key enablers.

Prior to her current position at the Ministry, Maria Rautavirta has been working for over 20 years with domestic and EU regulative framework for automotive, climate and electrification. She has acted as the deputy of the unit and worked with the Transport Services Act, which is seen as an internationally recognized benchmark on regulative framework for digital era transport services. Not only does the Act streamline processes for the benefit of open transport market that enables digitalization in all modes, it also addresses the need to access and reuse transport data and obligates service providers to provide real time connectivity and open their ticketing systems for third parties through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).

Business models for connected and automated mobility are directly linked with the ability to provide innovative mobility services. However connectivity and future generation mobile networks – such as 5G - are key enablers and currently Maria’s team is walking the talk towards future ready regulative and operational environment for automated mobility. Finland has been the spokes country to address interoperability and the need for future ready regulations also in the EU level.

In Maria’s view the C-ITS Delegated Act has for the first time raised proper level discussion on the decisive role that individual decisions can play in the future of interoperable, connected and automated mobility landscape if not properly evaluated. At the moment Finland is preparing for the EU presidency. As a practical Finn, Maria is welcoming you all to experience future of data driven connected and automated mobility in the multiple events Finland will be hosting during it’s presidency of the EU this fall.

Maximilian Strotmann

Member of Cabinet of Andrus Ansip, European Commission

Maximilian Strotmann is a Member of the Cabinet of Andrus Ansip, European Vice-President in charge of the Digital Single Market. Max's main areas of responsibility in Mr Ansip's team are e-government, interoperability and start-ups.

Working for the Commission since 1997, Max’s career has spanned a broad range of portfolio topics including tourism and enterprise policies; audit and anti-fraud issues; communication and institutional IT issues as well as maritime transport and logistics and intelligent transport systems.

Max studied sociology, psychology and economic and social policies at Augsburg University (Germany). The 1989 fall of the Berlin wall was a unique opportunity to expand on his university studies with extensive trips around central and Eastern Europe and having the opportunity to learn more about Europe's political, historical, economic and cultural history. Jobs at a printer and a bookshop, among others, provided a useful understanding of different work realities.

Elena Plexida

Vice President, Government and IGO Engagement, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Elena Plexida is Vice President for Government and IGO Engagement at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Prior to joining ICANN, Elena worked for the European Commission DG CONNECT on internet governance issues. Before that, she was a Telecom Attaché with the Permanent Representation of Greece to the EU. During the Greek Presidency of the Council of the EU, Elena co-chaired the Council Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society. Before joining the Permanent Representation, Elena was an international affairs officer at the Hellenic Ministry of Telecom. Her main responsibilities included EU affairs and relations of the country with a number of international organizations.

Elena holds a master’s degree from the National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens and a degree in economics and political science. She is also a graduate of the National School of Public Administration of Greece (ESDD).

Ceren Ünal

Regional Policy Manager- Europe, Internet Society

Ceren Ünal studied law at Ankara University, subsequently gaining an LLM degree from Queen Mary, University of London, specialising in Computer and Communications Law as a British Chevening Scholar. Always fascinated by the Internet and the challenges and opportunities it presents to the law as we know it, Ceren has been teaching and consulting on IT/Internet law issues since 2003.

Since 2017, she has been working as the Regional Policy Manager at the Internet Society European Bureau in Brussels, focusing on a wide variety of Internet policy issues including privacy and data protection, IoT and cybersecurity.

Olivier Bringer

Head of Unit, Next Generation Internet, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Olivier Bringer is the Head of Unit at the European Commission in charge of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative and internet governance policy.

Before working on NGI, Olivier was executive assistant to the Director General of DG CONNECT. Before that, he held various positions in the European Commission, dealing with policy development and implementation in the area of cybersecurity, telecom regulation and competition law.

Prior to joining the Commission, Olivier worked as a consultant in the field of telecom. He is an engineer by training.

Björn Blondell

Head of Market Development, PTS Sweden

Mr Blondell has over 20 years of experience within the telcoms industry, both from the infrastructure manufacturing side as well as the operator side. His main focus has been identifying new business strategy as well as new business concept development. Over the last ten years he has reoriented towards public management and operational efficiency in the defense, migration and telecoms regulatory arena.

Peter Stuckmann

Head of Unit, Future Connectivity Systems, DG Connect, European Commission

Peter is managing the Commission's policy on 5G communication systems and the related research and innovation programme.

Before his appointment as Head of Unit he was managing the office of the Director General of DG CONNECT, Roberto Viola, coordinating the Commission's digital policy initiatives. The portfolio included Digital Single Market, Broadband Policy, Telecoms, Media and Online Policy, the Copyright Reform as well as the EU ICT Research and Innovation Programme.

Between 2010 and 2014 he had different roles in the Commission's telecoms policy Directorate. These included Head of Sector "Spectrum Policy", penholder of main elements of the Commission proposal on the Telecom Single Market and the Roaming regulation, and the implementation of the EU telecom rules in Germany and Austria.

Between 2005 and 2010 he coordinated the EU R&D programme leading to the 4G mobile communications standards.

Before joining the European Commission in 2004 he has occupied several engineering and management positions in industry, academia and start-ups. He holds engineering and doctoral degrees from RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

Esmeralde Marsman

Process Manager Client Innovation Centre, City of Rotterdam

Esmeralde Marsman works as process manager in the Client Innovation Center of the City of Rotterdam. She leads projects within the Interreg NSR project Like!, building a local digital innovation culture. Esmeralde initiates the innovation of local services for citizens with mental or physical disabilities, or who are difficult to reach. After the summer she will start a two-year project on the human centred approach in the Smart City program of the City of Rotterdam.

Before her work in the Client Innovation Center Esmeralde was working on strategic issues for the development of the digital services in the City of Rotterdam, like personal data
management.

Prior to working for the City of Rotterdam Esmeralde gained broad experience as consultant within business and with the government.

Nikos Isaris

Deputy Head of Unit, Future Network - Internet of Things, European Commission

Nikos Isaris is Deputy Head of the 'Internet of Things (IoT)' Unit within the European Commission's Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT). The Unit is responsible for the research, innovation and policy actions to accelerate the take-up of IoT and to unleash its potential in Europe for the benefit of European citizens and businesses.

Before that, Nikos was Deputy Head in the Unit responsible for Future Internet Research and Experimentation in the same Directorate. He joined DG CONNECT in 2013 coming from the Directorate- General for Home Affairs, where he was Deputy Head in the Unit 'Large-scale IT systems and Biometrics' dealing with IT systems for the Schengen area.

Before the European Commission, Nikos worked in the private banking and electronic banking sectors in his home country Greece. He holds an MBA with Honours from ALBA, a Master's degree with distinction in Data Communications and Networks from University College London and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Heraklion in Crete.

Rob Van Kranenburg

Founder, Council

Rob van Kranenburg (1964) wrote The Internet of Things. A critique of ambient technology and the all-seeing network of RFID, Network Notebooks 02, Institute of Network Cultures. He is co-founder of bricolabs and the founder of Council. Together with Christian Nold he published Situated Technologies Pamphlets 8: The Internet of People for a Post-Oil World. He worked as Community Manager at the EU Project Sociotal, and currently as Ecosystem Manager of the Horizon 2020 Project TagItSmart.

Rob is co-editor of Enabling Things to Talk Designing IoT solutions with the IoT Architectural Reference Model, Springer Open Access. Rob is in the SmartCitiesWorld Advisory Board. He chairs AC04 - IoT Hyper-connected Society of the IERC, The European Research Cluster on the Internet of Things. He is a member of The IoT Asia 2017 International Advisory Panel (IAP)Rob van Kranenburg (1964) wrote The Internet of Things. A critique of ambient technology and the all-seeing network of RFID, Network Notebooks 02, Institute of Network Cultures. He is co-founder of bricolabs and the founder of Council. Together with Christian Nold he published Situated Technologies Pamphlets 8: The Internet of People for a Post-Oil World. He worked as Community Manager at the EU Project Sociotal, and currently as Ecosystem Manager of the Horizon 2020 Project TagItSmart. Rob is co-editor of Enabling Things to Talk Designing IoT solutions with the IoT Architectural Reference Model, Springer Open Access. Rob is in the SmartCitiesWorld Advisory Board. He chairs AC04 - IoT Hyper-connected Society of the IERC, The European Research Cluster on the Internet of Things. He is a member of The IoT Asia 2017 International Advisory Panel (IAP)

Jonathan Litchman

Co-founder, The Providence Group

Jonathan Litchman is a national security veteran with experience as an intelligence officer and as a staff member on the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was also a senior executive at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) where he led efforts in software product development and consulted on information operations and strategic planning. He most recently led Edelman Public Relations’ Washington, D.C. cybersecurity policy and national security practice.

Twitter: @jdlitchman

Dan Caprio

Co-Founder, The Providence Group

Dan Caprio is an internationally recognized expert on privacy and cybersecurity. He has served as the Chief Privacy Officer and Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Commerce Department, a transatlantic subject matter for the European Commission's Internet of Things formal expert group, a Chief of Staff at the Federal Trade Commission and a member of the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee. In 2002, Dan represented the United States revising the OECD Security Guidelines that formed the basis for the first White House Strategy to Secure Cyberspace.

Liga Rozentale

Director of EU Governmental Affairs for Cybersecurity Policy, Microsoft

Līga Raita Rozentāle recently joined Microsoft as the Director of EU Governmental Affairs for Cybersecurity Policy bringing to the role her experience as the Counsellor on Cybersecurity Policy at the Latvian Permanent Representation to the EU and the Latvian Delegation to NATO. During the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU, she was the Chairwoman of the Council Working Party on Telecommunications on the NIS Directive and for the Friends of Presidency on Cyber Issues. Ms Rozentāle has also worked for the Global Cyber Alliance and James Martin Center for Non-proliferation Studies.

Ms Rozentāle completed her studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA, USA and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. Ms. Rozentāle is a former UN Fellow on Disarmament.
Līga is enthusiastic about enhancing and energizing public private partnership, facilitating the role of Micorosft in Europe and driving the future of cybersecurity policy in the EU and globally.

Eline Chivot

Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Data Innovation

Eline Chivot is a senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation. Based in Brussels, Eline focuses on European technology policy issues and on how policymakers can promote digital innovation in the EU. Prior to joining the Center for Data Innovation, Eline Chivot worked for several years in the Netherlands as policy analyst in a leading think tank, where her work included research projects on defense, security and economic policy issues. More recently, Eline worked at one of Brussels’ largest trade associations and managed its relations with representatives of the digital tech industry in Europe and beyond. Eline received Masters degrees including from Sciences Po in France, in political science, economics, strategic management, and business administration.

Guillermo Beltrà

Global Policy Director, Access Now

Guillermo Beltrà leads Access Now’s policy team globally in our mission to defend and extend human rights in the digital age. Guillermo provides strategic vision, guides and coordinates the operations of our team in Latin America, North America, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Before joining Access Now, Guillermo was Director of Legal and Economic Affairs at the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), the largest NGO defending consumer rights in Europe.

Michael Knott

Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting

Michael Knott is a Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting and is based in London. Mr. Knott leads the Telecom, Media and Technology (TMT) practice in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He is an experienced telecom, media and technology advisor with 20 years of experience in transaction advisory, strategy and business consulting, performance improvement and business transformation.

Mr. Knott has experience serving as a transaction advisor on a wide range of aspects, including advising buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions; providing due diligence on behalf of corporates; financing sources and private equity investors; investigating financial synergies of merger transactions; preparing corporate strategies for acquisitions; identifying target companies and post-merger integration programme management.

Mr. Knott has extensive experience providing strategic consulting, corporate and business development, business planning, financial planning, and sales and marketing consulting services for various TMT clients across the EMEA. Clients include Vodafone, Telefonica, Orange, BT, Telenor, Swisscom, Eircom, MTN, Cable & Wireless, Telkom SA, Zain, Qtel, Viatel, QinetiQ, BBC, CBFW and Yota.

In addition, Mr. Knott has led a number of performance improvement and strategic transformation engagements. Clients include CME, Telefonica, BT, NTL, Dunn & Bradstreet, Logica, Orange, OTE and Eircom.

Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Mr. Knott held leadership roles at Booz & Company, including UK TMT partner lead and leadership roles at Accenture, including partner lead of Europe, Africa, Middle East and Latin America TMT strategy group.

Mr. Knott holds an M.B.A. from London Business School, a M.A. in economics from the University of Western Ontario and a B.A. with honours in economics from Queen’s University.

Vesela Gladicheva

Senior Correspondent, Telecoms, Media and IT, MLex

Vesela reports on topics including telecom regulation, privacy, cybersecurity and copyright, focusing on EU regulatory and legal risk in the telecoms, media and technology (TMT) sectors. She holds a Master's degree in journalism from City University London, and works in English, Spanish, French and Bulgarian.

Robert MacDougall

Head of Enterprise Public Policy, Vodafone

Robert MacDougall is Head of Enterprise Public Policy at Vodafone Group, where he leads on all public policy matters relevant to Vodafone’s enterprise activity, including IoT and vertical specific topics. Robert has spent the majority of his career in electronic communications policy and regulation, including eight years at the UK’s Communications Regulator Ofcom (and its predecessor Oftel).

Prior to joining Vodafone, he was an Assistant Director at the UK’s Competition and Consumer Protection Authority. This included a secondment to the US Federal Trade Commission as an FTC International Fellow.

Robert was the inaugural Chair of the Policy Working Group of the Alliance for Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI), which was initiated by the European Commission to contribute to the creation of a dynamic European IoT ecosystem. He has also been EU policy lead for the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA).

Karl Pihl

Head of European Affairs Office, Ericsson

Karl Pihl currently serves as the Head of Ericsson's EU Affairs Office, responsible for driving Ericsson’s policy agenda in Brussels, where his main tasks are to lead and create a favorable environment for Ericsson and its customers’ success through thought leadership and trusted advice that proactively influences EU institutions, EU member states representations and EU industry organizations, in EU policies, legislation and regulations for ICT and trade. Karl holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science with a specialization in EU Affairs from Uppsala University, as well as from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences-Po).

Matthew Van Niekerk

Co-founder and CEO, SettleMint

Matthew has started 3 companies and has worked for more than 12 years in the financial services sector in Japan and Belgium. After completing his MBA at Vlerick, Matthew first brought his entrepreneurialism to enterprise in 2007 and excelled as an entrepreneur and leader at KBC where he held positions as COO in KBC Consumer Finance and Head of Platform Innovation at KBC Securities where he led the launch of the Bolero Online Investment platform and the Bolero Crowdfunding platform.

Having entered the Blockchain technology space in 2014 focused on capital markets applications, Matthew brought his learnings, skills and experience into his latest venture, SettleMint in 2016.

Monica Serrano

Head of European Affairs, Ingka Group

Monica is Head of European Affairs at Ingka Group (strategic partner in the IKEA franchise system and operating IKEA in 30 markets). She is responsible for the overall advocacy strategy at EU level and the team based in Brussels. Monica works closely with different business units to develop European positions in a wide range of topics from retail establishment to digitalization, sustainability and diversity and inclusion. She supports board members in carrying out engagement activities in Brussels and other European capitals.

In addition, she is responsible for providing Public Affairs support in different markets where IKEA operates. Monica previously worked as a consultant to a number of companies dealing with environmental and CRS issues. In that role, Monica designed and implemented Public Affairs and Communications campaigns in Brussels. Although her focus has been on EU policy, Monica also ran short term projects in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai and Istanbul. Monica holds a Master's degree in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies from the College of Europe.

Shiv Malik

Head of Comms & Marketing, Streamr

Shiv Malik is a former Guardian investigative journalist, author of two books and a co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation think tank. He has previously advised the Golem project and is currently head of communications and marketing for Streamr where he evanglises about a new decentralised data economy. His book, The Messenger an intrepid personal tale about a relationship with a terrorist, will be published by Faber in June 2019.  

Marco Giordani

Information Engineering Department, University of Padova

Marco Giordani received his B.Sc. in Information Engineering in 2013 and his M.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering in 2015, both from the University of Padova, Italy. From October 2016, he has been a Ph.D. student at the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Padova, Italy. 

He visited New York University (NYU), USA, from January to April 2016, and TOYOTA Infotechnology Center, Mountain View, CA, USA, in 2019. He is collaborating with several academic and industrial research partners, including InterDigital, NYU, TOYOTA, and NIST. In 2017 he was awarded with the “Francesco Carassa Prize” by the National Telecommunications and Information Theory Group (GTTI), and in 2018 he received the “IEEE Daniel E. Noble Fellowship Award” from the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS) and Motorola Inc.

His research interests include design and validation of protocols for mobility and control-plane management in next–generation cellular networks (5G) and vehicular systems operating at millimeter waves.

Dimitri Pirnay

Founder, OneBonsai

Dimitri Pirnay is co-founder of OneBonsai (https://onebonsai.com/). OneBonsai builds Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality solutions for the industry.

For the last 5 years, Dimitri has been hard at work shaping how Virtual Reality is used by companies to create new business models, save costs and create new revenue streams. From virtual crane simulators to industrial safety trainings, OneBonsai has delivered fruitful Virtual Reality solutions to clients of all sectors : healthcare, engineering, military, retail and B2C marketing.

Natalie Samovich

Co-founder and Managing Director of Enercoutim, Chair of WG on Smart Energy, AIOTI

Natalie is heading Research and Innovation projects at Enercoutim within digitalisation in the energy domain. She is based in Lisbon, with the Solar Demonstration platform and Solar Lab projects located in the Algarve region. She is developing spin-off ventures in digitalisation of energy, expansion programs and distributed renewable energy production projects. The Solar Demonstration Platform was co-founded in 2011 and established an innovative shared renewable infrastructures awards nominated model.
Natalie contributes her expertise as an expert in ETIP-SNET WG1 and Chairs Working group on Smart Energy in the Alliance of IoT Innovation (AIOTI). She is actively engaged in H2020 program and manages VICINITY IoT and SHAR-Q energy storage projects at Enercoutim. She also serves as an advisory board member for R&I projects and through mentorship programs. Resilient Energy is a spin-off company she co-founded, focused on bringing digital energy solutions and IEQ solutions within public and private sectors.

Natalie holds MBA from U of Rochester, Simon school and U of Bern; MSEng in Sustainable Energy Systems from MIT Portugal Program (IST/MIT), PhDc. The research interests are within renewable energy systems digitalisation, Internet of Things impact on energy systems and the related socio-economic impact issues within smart grids.

Johannes Nitschke

Senior Director EU Government Affairs, Siemens

Johannes joined Siemens in 2016 as Director for Government Affairs. He mainly follows EU policy and legislation linked to Digitalization topics. He was part of the project team that developed the Charter of Trust which was launched at the Munich Security Conference in February 2018 together with several other companies. 
Johannes has extensive experience in Public Affairs and Communications, having worked in Brussels and Washington, D.C. over the past ten years.
He holds degrees in International Relations and Business from Universities in Germany, Spain, France and the UK.