Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speakers

Speakers

Moderators

Viviane Reding

Vice-President and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, European Commission

Personal details
* Luxembourger
* born April 27, 1951 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

Political career
* 2004-2010: Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media
* 1999-2004: Member of the European Commission responsible for Education, Culture, Youth, Media, Sport
* 1989-1999: Member of the European Parliament
* 1995-1999: Vice-president, Parti Chrétien-Social, Luxembourg
* 1988-1993: National president of Christian-Social Women, Luxembourg
* 1981-1999: City councillor, city of Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
* 1979-1989: Member of the Parliament of Luxembourg

Professional career
* 1978-1999: Journalist, Luxemburger Wort
* 1986-1998: President, Luxembourg Union of Journalists

Other activities
* 2009 Member of the Global Council of the Women's Forum
* 2009 Member of the Board of Les Journées d'Echternach (association sans but lucratif)
* 2007 Member of the Board of Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth (fondation d'utilité publique)

Education
* 1977: Doctor of human sciences, Sorbonne, Paris

Languages
* Luxembourgish: mother tongue
* French: fluent
* German: fluent
* English: fluent
* Italian: good knowledge

William E. Kennard

US Ambassador to the EU, US Mission to the EU

William E. Kennard is the United States’ Ambassador to the European Union. Prior to assuming this position, Mr. Kennard was a Global Partner and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm with approximately $90 billion under management. Mr. Kennard joined The Carlyle Group in May 2001. At The Carlyle Group, Mr. Kennard specialized in investments in the telecommunications and media sectors.

Before joining The Carlyle Group, Mr. Kennard served as chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission from November 1997 to January 2001. He presided over the agency at an historic time. During his tenure, he shaped policies that created an explosion of new wireless phones, brought the Internet to a majority of American households, and resulted in billions of dollars of investment in new broadband technologies. At the same time, he implemented bold new policies to bridge the digital divide in the United States and around the world.

Mr. Kennard is well known for his advocacy for people at risk of being stranded on the wrong side of the digital divide. He implemented the FCC’s e-rate program, which brought the Internet to almost every school and library in the United States. Under Mr. Kennard’s leadership, the FCC dramatically expanded access to communications technologies for people with disabilities. The FCC also adopted policies to increase telephone service to rural areas, especially to Native Americans living on tribal lands. He reached out to create more ownership and employment opportunities for women and minorities.

As FCC chairman, Mr. Kennard promoted the benefits of technology worldwide. He pioneered an innovative FCC Development Initiative to assist countries in the developing world to participate more fully in the global growth of digital technology. Through this initiative, Mr. Kennard signed the first partnership agreements on behalf of the FCC with ten countries on four continents to share U.S. regulatory experience with emerging regulatory authorities.

U.S. News and World Report dubbed Kennard a “consumer champion for the digital age.” He has received many honors and awards for his accomplishments, including awards from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the Easter Seals Foundation, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and honorary degrees from Howard University, Gallaudet University and Long Island University.

Mr. Kennard previously served on the boards of directors of The New York Times Company, Sprint Nextel Corporation (national US wireless carrier), Handspring, Inc. (manufacturer of the Treo and other wireless devices), eAccess Ltd. (national Japanese wireless carrier), as well as on the boards of several companies owned by The Carlyle Group.

Mr. Kennard also served on several nonprofit boards including the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, One Economy Corporation, Common Sense Media, Year-Up Inc., the Yale University Council, Gallaudet University and Media Access Project.

Before his appointment as FCC Chairman, Mr. Kennard served as the FCC’s general counsel from 1993 until 1997. He joined the FCC from the law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand (now DLA Piper) where he was a partner and member of the firm’s board of directors.

Mr. Kennard is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School. He resides in Brussels, Belgium with his wife, Deborah Kennedy Kennard, and their son, Robert.

Jan Philipp Albrecht MEP

Rapporteur, General Data Protection Regulation

Jan Philipp Albrecht is a Member of the European Parliament from the German Greens. Albrecht studied law in Bremen, Brussels and Berlin and worked for the Walter-Hallstein Institut in Berlin. He graduated in ICT-law at the Universities of Hanover and Oslo in 2009 and was spokesman of the Green Youth in Germany from 2006 to 2008. Jan Philipp Albrecht is specialized in the field of civil rights, data protection and democracy. In the European Parliament, he works especially on home affairs, data protection and police & justice cooperation. He is the European Parliament's chief negotiator ("Rapporteur") for the General Data Protection Regulation.

Christopher Graham

Information Commissioner, UK Information Commissioner's Office

Christopher Graham became UK Information Commissioner in June 2009, with responsibility for overseeing the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act regimes – upholding information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals. He is the Vice Chair of the Article 29 Working Party of the European Data Protection Authorities.

Christopher was Director General of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) from April 2000 to June 2009. From 2003-5, he was Chairman of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), the federation of advertising self-regulatory bodies across the EU Single Market.

Prior to joining the ASA, Christopher was for three years Secretary of the BBC. Christopher first joined the broadcaster as a News Trainee in 1973. He was a Current Affairs Producer for BBC radio and TV before becoming Managing Editor of News Programmes for TV and Radio.

Dimitrios Droutsas MEP

Rapporteur, Data Protection Directive, European Parliament

• Degree - Magister juris (Mag.jur.) from the Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna (12 April 1994).

• Assistant professor of European law at the European Affairs Research Institute of the Vienna University of Economics (November 1994 - September 2000). Legal adviser in the Austrian Foreign Ministry (January 1998 - September 1999). Special adviser in the Greek Foreign Ministry (September 1999 - March 2004).

• Director of the Diplomatic Office of Georgios A Papandreou, President of PASOK and of the Socialist International (March 2004 - October 2009). Secretary of the PASOK Foreign Policy and International Relations Section- (May 2008 - October 2009). International press spokesman for PASOK.

• Greek Deputy Foreign Minister (October 2009 - September 2010). Greek Foreign Minister (September 2010 - June 2011).

• Commander of the Order of Makarios III (Republic of Cyprus). Grand Officer of the Order of Orthodox Crusaders of the Holy Sepulchre (Patriarchate of Jerusalem). Medal of the Holy Sepulchre (Patriarchate of Jerusalem).

Bruce Swartz

Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

Peter Hustinx

Supervisor, European Data Protection Supervisor

Mr. Hustinx (1945) has been European Data Protection Supervisor since January 2004 and was re-appointed by the European Parliament and the Council in January 2009 for a second term of five years. He has been closely involved in the development of data protection legislation from the start, both at national and at international level. Before entering his office, Mr. Hustinx was President of the Dutch Data Protection Authority since 1991. From 1996 until 2000 he was Chairman of the Article 29 Working Party. He received law degrees in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and in Ann Arbor, USA. Since 1986 he has been deputy judge in the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam.

Joan Antokol

Managing Partner, Park Legal LLC

Joan Antokol is internationally recognized for her work in privacy and data protection. She is the managing partner of Park Legal LLC, a new Indianapolis-based boutique law firm that focuses its practice in the areas of data privacy, information security and records management. Ms. Antokol also owns an online training company and a software company. She assists organizations with many aspects of privacy and security, including healthcare and clinical research, security breaches, international data transfers, enterprise management, and privacy auditing. Joan is a frequent presenter at privacy conferences and has a number of published articles and has written twenty booklets on various aspects of privacy and security. She is the 2011 Chair of the Indiana Security and Privacy Network (InSPN), an organization comprised of about 75 privacy and security professionals, and is also a member of the International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications (IWGDPT), let by Dr. Alexander Dix, the Berlin Data Protection Commissioner.

Prior to launching Park Legal LLC in May 2010, Joan spent three years as a partner at a large Indianapolis law firm and chaired that firm’s privacy and records management practice group. Before that, Joan spent seven years working for Novartis in New Jersey and Switzerland, and served as Vice President and Global Head of Privacy for the Novartis Group companies. Previously, she worked for Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. in New Jersey, and eventually served as the head of product liability litigation for that company, handling litigation matters in the U.S. and other countries. At Roche and Novartis, Joan also handled certain international drug safety and regulatory matters. Joan spent the first four years of her career as a trial attorney at a large New Jersey based law firm (Shanley & Fisher, PC., which is now Drinker Biddle) and simultaneously served as an acting municipal prosecutor in New Jersey for two years.

Joan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), and a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law (Newark, NJ), where she was the Business Editor of the Computer & Technology Law Journal.

Daniel Drewer

Data Protection Officer, Europol

Daniel Drewer is Head of the Data Protection Office of the European Police Office. He holds a Masters Degree in Law from the University of Hamburg (Germany).

Daniel Drewer worked as legal advisor for a media group before starting further professional training at the Hanseatic Court of Appeal. During this time he had been seconded to Eurojust, Europol and to the Data Protection Authority of Hamburg.

At the European Police Office in The Hague, his first post was as a lawyer in the area of corporate standards. He went on to become Head of the Data Protection and Confidentiality Unit with responsibility for policy and assurance of processing of law enforcement data at Europol.

Since 2010 he fulfils the function of Data Protection Officer for Europol as an agency of the EU.

Thomas Boué

Director, Government Affairs, EMEA, BSA | The Software Alliance

Thomas Boué oversees BSA | The Software Alliance's public policy activities on security and privacy. He advises BSA members on public policy and legal developments and advocates the views of the ICT sector with both European and national policy makers.

Prior to joining BSA, Boué served as a consultant in Weber Shandwick where he advised clients on a wide range of technology and ICT-related policy issues and represented them before the EU institutions and industry coalitions. In this role, he also served as policy and regulatory adviser for both EU and US telecom operators. Prior to that Boué worked for the EU office of the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry where he was responsible for the lobbying activities towards the EU Institutions in the areas of trade, education, and labor, as well as for the organization and running of seminars on EU affairs for SMEs and business professionals.

Boué holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Europa-Institut (Saarbrücken, Germany), a Certificate of Integrated Legal Studies (trilateral and trilingual degree in French, English, German and European Law, from the Universities of Warwick (UK), Saarland (Germany) and Lille II (France) as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Law from the University of Lille II, France. He is based in BSA’s Brussels office.

Monika Kuschewsky

Partner, Van Bael & Bellis

Monika Kuschewsky is a partner at Van Bael & Bellis, a leading independent law firm headquartered in Brussels.

Monika heads the firm’s European data protection law practice and is supported by an international team of lawyers from more than 15 different countries. She is qualified as a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E) and company data protection officer (Betrieblicher Datenschutzbeauftragter (GDDcert.)) and has extensive experience managing pan-European data protection law projects and audits for multinationals and companies established in Europe, the USA and Asia. Monika develops and implements tailor-made compliance programmes and provides data protection training to clients. She also represents clients before the national data protection authorities in Europe and oversees multi-jurisdictional filings.

Monika advises on all questions of data protection law with a particular focus on international data transfers and HR as well as on data security and other data protection issues, which are relevant to global companies, such as outsourcing and cloud computing. She constantly provides hands-on practical advice regarding the data protection divide between the EU and the US, be it in the field of whistleblowing, e-discovery or others, as well as the challenges for data protection compliance raised by new technologies and practices, such as cookies, social networks, RFID, biometrics and behavioural advertising.

Monika is the general editor of Data Protection & Privacy – Multijurisdictional Comparisons, a reference guide for companies, legal professionals and data protection officers covering 30 major jurisdictions worldwide, published in The European Lawyer Reference series. She regularly publishes articles on data protection law and speaks at conferences. Monika is a member of the editorial board of PDP’s Privacy & Data Protection Journal as well as of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), the Digital Economy Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union, the German Association for Data Protection and Data Security (GDD e.V.) and the French Association of Data Protection Correspondents (AFCDP).

Monika is a German qualified lawyer (Rechtsanwältin). She obtained her law degree from the Free University of Berlin in Germany and an LL.M. in Legal Studies from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Recommended by Legal 500 for Information Technology.

Daniel Pradelles

EMEA Privacy Officer, HP

Daniel Pradelles manages the Region Privacy office, and ensures, with his team, that goals, objectives and strategies of HP Corporate Privacy Office are carried out within region. Working with local lawyers the Privacy office stays aware of current privacy regulations and identifies main trends and developments affecting HP businesses. It also works closely with a broad network of local managers in businesses and other organizations and countries to provide efficient business operation support and privacy policy implementation in the region.

Daniel’s responsibilities include maintaining relationships with Government /European Union privacy regulators, identifying and participating in consortia, standards and other bodies that are of strategic importance. Main objectives to heighten HP’s Privacy Program; actively collaborate with key stakeholders, be aware of new privacy regulations; new technologies and practices and keep abreast of privacy developments within the region. Daniel is member of the International Association of Privacy Professional (IAPP --- USA), the European Privacy Officer Forum (EPOF – Belgium), and the European Privacy Officers Network (EPON – UK). He also speaks at major conferences and associations’ meetings.

Daniel has been with HP for 33 years. Prior to current assignment, Daniel was Customer privacy manager for EMEA; he also held several management positions in HP at local and international levels, in Customer Support, Product Marketing, International project management, and EMEA Information System Manager. Prior to joining HP he worked in R&D and served as a university professor in Canada. A native of France, Daniel holds a Telecommunications Engineer degree from ENSEA (France), an MScA in Electrical Engineering from Sherbrooke University (Canada), an MBA from UQUAM University (Canada) and holds CIPP certification from IAPP.

Claus-Dieter Ulmer

Group Data Protection Officer, Deutsche Telekom

Dr. Claus D. Ulmer studied law in Germany, with a period of practical studies in Haifa, Israel.

From 1993 to1999 he worked for a law firm in Stuttgart, Germany. From 1999 to 2002 Dr. Ulmer was a legal adviser with international responsibilities at debis Systemhaus GmbH, a Daimler subsidiary, before he took over the function of Data Protection Officer for the whole debis Systemhaus Group.

From August 2001 to June 2002 he was Head of Data Protection at T-Systems International, part of the Deutsche Telekom Group. He has been Group Privacy Officer with Deutsche Telekom Group responsible for worldwide Privacy policy since July 2002.

Dr. Ulmer has published several articles in trade journals and published the "Telecommunications Data Protection Manual". He has also addressed several national and international conventions. Dr. Ulmer is a lecturer at the Data Protection and IT Security Academy in Ulm, Germany, which is a training Institute for data protection and privacy officers.

Joe McNamee

Executive Director, European Digital Rights

Joe McNamee is Executive Director of European Digital Rights (EDRi), an association of 32 privacy and digital civil rights organisations from across Europe. He studied Modern Languages in Bristol (BA), European Politics (MA) in Swansea and International Law (LLM) at the Brussels Schools of International Studies. He has worked on Internet-related topics almost continually since 1995, having started his online career as a technical support advisor for an Internet provider in 1995. He was responsible for three independent studies for the European Commission on Local Loop Unbundling, on Convergence and on Telecommunications and the Information Society in eight former Soviet states.

Joe is leading EDRi’s work on the data protection package. He is a member of the advisory group for a UNESCO privacy project, the Privacy Advocates Advisory Group and the Advisory Board for the ICT branch of the European Commission’s project on Developing Guidance on Corporate Social Responsibility. He has a particular interest in the trend to devolve online law enforcement to Internet intermediaries and the collateral damage that this causes for privacy, legal certainty and free speech.

Rainer Stentzel

Head of Project Group, Data Protection Reform, German Federal Ministry of the Interior

Since March 2012 Rainer Stentzel leads the Task Force Data Protection within the German Ministry of Interior. He is head of the German delegation in the DAPIX working party dealing with the EU data protection package. Before he worked on internet policy issues (2010-2012), as German Liaison Officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2009) and information sharing and data protection in the police sector (2003-2008). From 2002 to 2003 he was judge in administrative law. Rainer Stentzel studied in Göttingen, Berlin and Paris and holds a Ph.D. in law. He published among others scientific articles about policy making and democracy in the European Union and information sharing and data protection.

Ruth Cullinane

European Data Protection Officer, Dell

Ruth has been working in the area of Data Privacy since 1999, across multiple sectors.

She started in financial services with JP Morgan Chase as their first European Data Protection Officer, moved to the telecoms sector with MCI, worked in consulting with Logica and now works in the tech sector for Dell.

In her various roles Ruth has been responsible for all aspects of data protection compliance across the organisation. Currently she supports Dell’s Marketing, HR and online organisations.

She is an advisor and partner for the Business providing guidance on compliance with evolving legal data protection requirements in all areas of operation for Dell, such as cookies, social media, on-line behavioural advertising etc. Ruth has experience in building global compliance programs and weaving data privacy compliance into existing business frameworks.

Ruth has an honours degree in management and a masters in corporate governance. She holds a certificate in data protection from Information Systems Examining Board /British Computer Society (UK), as well as IAPP’s Certified Information Privacy Professional for US and Europe.

Jonathan Zuck

President, Association for a Competitive Technology

Jonathan Zuck is a widely known and respected leader in the technology industry. As a professional software developer and IT executive with more than 15 years of experience, Mr. Zuck brings an insider's perspective to his role as President of the Association for Competitive Technology.

Since assuming leadership of ACT, Mr. Zuck has provided analysis, commentary and background information on a wide range of technology issues to the media, the public and Congress. He has been called on as a technology expert for the major news networks including CNN, CNBC and ABC, he is a frequent contributor to national and local radio news programs, and is consistently quoted in the trade and popular press. A prolific writer whose work has appeared in trade publications including PC Magazine, PC Week, Windows Tech Journal and in several books, Mr. Zuck is in high demand as a speaker at trade conferences around the world.

Just prior to coming on board for ACT, Mr. Zuck served as Director of Technical Services at the Spectrum Technology Group in Washington, D.C., a consulting firm specializing in client/server, Internet and data warehouse solutions development. In 1988, Mr. Zuck founded and served as President of User Friendly, Inc., of Washington, D.C., a company providing consulting and software development services to local businesses. Mr. Zuck also set up U.S. operations for a French software firm where he helped build the company into an $11 million business.

In 1996, Mr. Zuck joined Financial Dynamics as Vice President of Technology, where he set the standard for innovation in technical architecture, career management and employee empowerment. During his tenure, company revenues doubled, and his leadership helped position the firm for a strategic combination with the Spectrum Technology Group in November 1997.

David Hoffman

Director of Security Policy and Global Privacy Officer, Intel Corporation

David Hoffman is Director of Security Policy and Global Privacy Officer at Intel Corporation, in which capacity he covers Intel’s privacy compliance activities, legal support for privacy and security and external privacy and security policy engagements.

Mr. Hoffman serves on the Department of Homeland Security’s Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee and the Board of Directors of the National Cyber Security Alliance. Mr. Hoffman has also served on the US Federal Trade Commission’s Online Access and Security Committee, the Center for Strategic and International Studies Cyber Security Commission, the Steering Committee for BBBOnline, the TRUSTe Board of Directors, and the Board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Mr. Hoffman has a JD from The Duke University School of Law, where he was a Member of the Duke Law Journal. Mr. Hoffman also received an AB from Hamilton College.

Laurence Djolakian

Vice President, Legal counsel, Motion Picture Association

Laurence Djolakian joined the MPA Brussels office in October 2000 and now holds the position of Vice President, Legal Counsel. She has worked on EU & national copyright legislation; copyright aspects of e-commerce; data protection; domain names; jurisdiction/applicable law issues. Laurence completed her law studies at the University of Aix-en-Provence where she obtained a Masters’ degree in law. She studied for one year at the University of Exeter (U.K.). She received a Postgraduate degree (D.E.A.) in European and Community law in Aix-en-Provence and obtained a Postgraduate diploma from the King’s College London in UK, European and US law on Copyright and Related Rights in 2002. Laurence also followed the courses of the “Institut Multi-Médias” (Paris).

John Vassalo

Vice President EU Affairs, Microsoft

John Vassallo is Microsoft Vice President EU Affairs as well as Associate General Counsel for the company. He leads Microsoft’s EU Corporate Affairs and Regulatory team. His position was created to help advance the company’s dialogue with the EU policy and regulatory community. Vassallo is also Chair of AmCham EU, the organization in Brussels that represents 140 companies of US parentage at the European Institutions and EU governments

From 1993 to 1997 Vassallo was Ambassador of Malta to the European Union, NATO’s Partnership for Peace and Belgium, where he negotiated the timing of his country’s accession to the EU and NATO Partnership for Peace. He then became General Electric’s Senior Counsel & Director of the European Affairs Office, based in Brussels, a post he held until he joined Microsoft in 2008.

Vassallo attended the University of Malta and graduated with a B.A. degree in English, Italian and Maltese in 1968. He went on to obtain a Doctor of Laws from the same university in 1973. He undertook his postgraduate studies in European Law and Economics at Amsterdam University and in Swedish Law at Stockholm University. After one year at his family law firm in Malta, he joined the Euroc Corporation of Malmo, Sweden, in 1975. During his 15 years at Euroc, he moved from Audit Staff to Group Controller at the Siporex Division. In 1984 he became Manager of Siporex France for a major reconstruction of the company and moved to Vice President and Director Finance and Administration of Dynapac, another division of the group, in 1986.

In 1987 he became President of Dynapac Concrete. From 1991 to 1993 he worked as a lobbyist and Director of Cembureau, the European Cement Association in Brussels.

Koji Ouchi

First Secretary, Mission of Japan to the EU

Giuseppe Abbamonte

Head of Unit, Trust & Security, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Mr Abbamonte is an Italian qualified lawyer ("avvocato"). Mr Abbamonte have been working as a Commission official since June 1992.

Before joining the Commission Mr Abbamonte was an associate in the law firm Allen & Overy in Milan for four years (1989/1992). In his private practice Mr Abbamonte dealt mainly with commercial law and competition law.

In the Commission Mr Abbamonte has worked in five DGs (TREN, COMP, SANCO, JLS and INFSO). During my first five years (1992/1997) in TREN, Mr Abbamonte was responsible for State aid control in the air transport sector, where he was the desk officer in some major restructuring and recapitalisation cases (e.g. Air France, TAP and Aer Lingus). During this period Mr Abbamonte acquired a good grasp of business accounting, elements of corporate finance and microeconomics.

Mr Abbamonte joined COMP in 1997 as State aid expert and for one year Mr Abbamonte was mainly responsible for some complex State aid cases in the French postal sector.

Mr Abbamonte joined the Merger Task Force in 1998, where for four years he worked as desk officer on numerous prominent mergers and acquisitions cases. Those were the years of the "new economy" and the dot-com bubble, and Mr Abbamonte became an expert in mergers in digital media markets, particularly those involving online distribution of audiovisual content. Mr Abbamonte was the main case handler in AOL/Time Warner (at that time the largest merger in US business history) and in EMI/Time Warner. Mr Abbamonte worked on several mergers between telecoms companies (e.g. Telia/Telenor: the merger of the main Swedish and Norwegian telephone and TV operators). During these years Mr Abbamonte enhanced his understanding of microeconomics, and particularly industrial economics. Mr Abbamonte also obtained sound knowledge of the telecommunications industry and Internet economics.

Mr Abbamonte moved to SANCO in 2001 as deputy head of a legal unit, responsible for most of EU consumer laws. Mr Abbamonte became head of unit in 2005, and was promoted to AD13 in 2008.

In SANCO Mr Abbamonte acquired deep knowledge and experience of EU policy making and the impact assessment culture. He was tasked with the revision of the existing old regulatory framework to bring it up to date with market developments, particularly on-line. Producing good legislation, which is principle based and technologically neutral has been a major challenge. Mr Abbamonte’s main legislative files were the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive -which regulates commercial practices on-line and off-line- and the proposal for the Consumer rights Directive, which will set out the regulatory framework for consumer contracts, and in particular for on-line consumer contracts.

As a result of the reorganisation of the Barroso II Commission, my unit was moved to JLS where Mr Abbamonte was responsible, in addition to consumer law, for developing general European contract law.

Since January 2011 Mr Abbamonte has been the head of the electronic communications policy development unit in INFSO. My main files include on-line privacy, universal service obligations, net neutrality and the CEO Roundtable on the sustainability of the Internet ecosystem and the broadband investment framework.

From the first of July 2012 Mr Abbamonte will be the new head of the unit dealing with Trust and Security matters in the new DG CONNECT (former INFSO).

Mr Abbamonte is the author of several publications mainly in English law magazines.

Mr Abbamonte is a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre of Competition Policy of the University of East Anglia.

Auke Haagsma

Director, ICOMP

Auke Haagsma specialises in providing strategic advice on European Union law and policy. He is also a director of ICOMP, the Initiative for a Competitive Online MarketPlace.

Mr. Haagsma has advised some of the world’s largest companies and various trade associations on privacy, competition and trade policy, environmental and single market issues, including intellectual and industrial policy. He also assisted companies in obtaining approval of major mergers and acquisitions from the European Commission in a variety of sectors.

A former European Commission official, Auke Haagsma has more than 35 years of first-hand experience in legislative and other procedures on a wide variety of issues. This includes his work inside a number of Commission Directorates-General as well as representing clients before the European Parliament and the Council. His consultancy work focuses on privacy and data protection issues, intellectual and industrial policy, competition policy and a variety of policy initiatives facing the tech industry.

At the European Commission he held a number of posts including Head of the Unit responsible for reviewing the public procurement regime and promoting electronic procurement via the SIMAP project. He also led the European Union’s delegation to the WTO Committee on public procurement and negotiated a bilateral agreement with Switzerland. Among his responsibilities was also the application of the EU procurement regime to contracts in the defence sector.

Before taking on these responsibilities he was a head of unit in the Commission’s Competition Policy directorate-general (DG COMP) where he was in charge of international relations. He negotiated a bilateral agreement with the United States’ antitrust authorities and developed the concept of positive comity.

During the second half of the 1980s Mr. Haagsma was stationed in Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for various trade-related issues in the Commission’s Delegation. In this capacity he lobbied the US Administration and Congress on a broad range of issues, including intellectual and industrial property and export controls. From 1976 until 1986 Mr. Haagsma worked on a large variety of issues in the Commission’s Legal Services, including pharmaceutical products, food safety and labelling, chemicals legislation, transport, environment and consumer protection.

Mr. Haagsma has a law degree from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and a postgraduate degree in European Law from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. He taught at Yale University and at the American School of Law at American University in Washington, D.C. In addition to his Dutch mother tongue he is fluent in English, French and German.

Pat Walshe

Director of Privacy, GSMA

Pat is responsible for the GSMA’s work on privacy. Pat is currently working with GSMA members and other key stakeholders to establish dialogue and explore ways to shape—collaboratively and collectively—the way privacy is advanced, managed and protected across the mobile ecosystem.

Pat has more than 13 years of experience in data privacy and regulatory policy in the fixed, mobile and internet sectors. He has represented industry on a number of privacy matters with various regulatory and international public interest groups.

Pat has a degree in Social Anthropology and Development and holds privacy and information security qualifications. He has served on the International Standard Organisation's Privacy Steering Committee and is a member of the British Computer Society.

Andrea Renda

Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)

Dr. Andrea Renda is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), where he started and currently manages the Regulatory Policy Unit and the CEPS Digital Forum. He is Professor of Economic Analysis of Law, Antitrust and EU policymaking at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome, as well as Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute. Andrea sits in the Scientific Board of the International Telecommunications Society and of the European Communications Policy research (EuroCPR), as well as in the Editorial Board of "Telecommunications Policy". He is the author of several publications and expert reports in the field of telecommunications and Internet policy.

Mario Oetheimer

Team co-ordinator, 'Data Protection'

Mario Oetheimer is a member of the Agency’s Opinions Committee and coordinates exchanges between the Agency and the Council of Europe.

His areas of expertise with respect to the FRA’s work include: data protection and freedom of expression; disability and human rights; the European Court of Human Rights. He previously worked for the Council of Europe for thirteen years – first with the Council of Europe media division and then with the European Court of Human Rights research division.

He studied law, and is the author of the book Harmonisation of Freedom of Expression in Europe (2001) in French. He has authored several articles on freedom of expression and the European Court of Human Rights.

Stewart Dresner

Chief Executive, Privacy Laws & Business

Stewart Dresner graduated from the University of Lancaster in politics and marketing in 1973. He has written and researched extensively on data protection/privacy and freedom of information since 1976, when he initiated a research project on this subject at the UK Consumers Association. His research in the USA and Canada in 1976 enabled him to prepare a submission to the UK government-sponsored Lindop Committee, and write Open Government: Lessons from America, published in 1980.

He then joined Business International as a business journalist where he wrote on privacy laws for its publications and organised conferences in Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. The company became a subsidiary of The Economist and he wrote its report on the first prosecution under the UK’s Data Protection Act 1984.

When The Economist rejected Stewart’s proposal for an international data protection law newsletter, he established Privacy Laws & Business in 1987. Its first service was the Privacy Laws & Business International Report which has now developed to become the hub of a comprehensive global information service. Privacy Laws & Business services include consulting, conferences, training, recruitment, the Privacy Laws & Business UK Report (which also covers the Freedom of Information Act), advice to policy makers, and the Privacy Officers Network.

Privacy Laws & Business has clients in over 50 countries including:

• 8 out of the top 10 global companies,
• 10 out of the top 20 US companies,
• 7 out of the top 10 European companies,
• all of the top 10 UK companies, and
• 70% of the top 20 law firms in the London and UK Legal 500 lists.

Stewart was a founder and first Chairman of the UK's Data Protection Forum. He has spoken on data protection/privacy law at conferences in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the USA and to groups, such as the International Association of Privacy Professionals, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, The Records Management Society, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, and the International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association.

The Privacy Laws & Business website, www.privacylaws.com provides details of the firm’s services and links to privacy information worldwide.

Djordje Djokic

Privacy Expert and Researcher, Bearstech

Djordje Djokic is a Privacy Expert and a Researcher at Bearstech, a Paris based IT Company. He is also a PhD candidate at the Research Centre for European and International Studies and Documentation CRDEI at the University Montesquieu - Bordeaux IV.

Focused at the intersection of privacy, policy and technology, his research interests include Internet of Things and Cloud Computing, as well as other IT related privacy issues.

Djordje is the author of Protection de la vie privée sur Internet et Conseil de l’Europe (Protection of Privacy on the Internet and the Council of Europe), a book exploring the evolution of the concept of privacy in Europe.

He is a member of Council, a think-tank, consultancy, accelerator and forecasting group for Internet of Things.

During 2006 and 2007, Djordje worked for Serbian Governments’ National information technology and Internet Agency (now Directorate for Digital Agenda).

In addition to law, Djordje likes classical music, information technologies and foreign languages.

djokic.org
djokic.org/blog
@Djordje_Djokic