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Speaker Biographies

Full biographies of confirmed speakers at the European Serious & Organised Crime Conference 2015 can be found below.

Speakers

Kristalina Georgieva

Kristalina Georgieva

Vice-President for Budget and Human Resources, European Commission

 

Kristalina Georgieva is currently Vice President of the European Commission, responsible for Budget and Human Resources. In this role, she is responsible for managing the EU budget and ensuring that it is invested in the best way to serve EU citizens. She is also in charge of the internal organization of the European Commission as an institution, and makes sure that Commission resources are used to deliver on priorities.

From 2010 to 2014, she was European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. During her term in office she has overseen the delivery of life saving assistance to nearly 500 million children, women and men affected by conflicts and natural disasters around the world.

Before joining the European Commission in February 2010, she worked for the World Bank from 1993 to 2010. From 2008 to 2010, she was Vice President and Corporate Secretary, where she played a key role in the World Bank's governance reform and accompanying capital increase in the wake of the 2008 international financial crisis. From 2007 to 2008 she was Director for Sustainable Development. In this role she oversaw around 60% of lending operations of the World Bank Group, including support to fragile and conflict-affected countries.

Kristalina Georgieva has an M. A. in Political Economy and Sociology and a PhD in Economic Science from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she was an Associate Professor between 1977 and 1991. She has researched and trained at the London School of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School among others.

Kristalina Georgieva was born in Sofia in 1953. She is married, with one child. In addition to her native Bulgarian she is fluent in English and Russian, and is constantly improving her French.

Rob Wainwright

Rob Wainwright

Director, Europol

 

Rob Wainwright was born in 1967 in Carmarthen, Wales, UK.

Having graduated in 1989 from the London School of Economics, University of London with a BSc, he worked in the following ten years as an intelligence analyst in the UK in the fields of counter-terrorism and organised crime.

Between 2000 and 2003, Mr. Wainwright was the Head of the UK Liaison Bureau at Europol, and also responsible for the Europol National Unit in London. The Liaison Bureaux are a key link in Europol’s cooperation with the EU member states.

In 2003, he was promoted to the position of Director International of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), where he was responsible for its international operations and for developing and implementing the UK strategy against facilitated illegal immigration.

Between 2006 and 2009, he was Chief of the International Department of the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). In this leading role, he was overseeing 20,000 law enforcement cases each year as well as establishing the international strategy and operational capabilities of the newly formed agency. His mandate extended from SOCA’s international operations and global partnerships to the worldwide network of SOCA liaison officers.

Mr Wainwright was appointed Director of Europol in April 2009. He is also currently an active member of the World Economic Forum, primarily on cyber issues.

Rob Wainwright is married with three children. He speaks English, Welsh and Spanish and his interests include history and literature.

Matthias Ruete

Matthias Ruete

Director General, DG HOME, European Commission

 

Mr Matthias Ruete is the Director General of the Directorate General for Home Affairs (DG HOME).

Mr Ruete’s initial post at the European Commission was in DG Social Affairs (Health and Nuclear Safety). He then moved to DG Internal Market (first TV without frontiers, then assistant to the Director General), becoming Head of the Industrial Cooperation Unit in DG Industry in 1993. From 1995 to 1998 Matthias Ruete served as a Member of Cabinet, afterwards Deputy Head of Cabinet of the Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Education. From 1998 to 2000 Matthias Ruete was Director in DG Transport in the area of international relations, Galileo, trans-European transport and infrastructure networks. From 2000 to 2004 he was Director in DG Enlargement coordinating enlargement negotiations, first with Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus, and from 2003 onwards with Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. In 2005 Matthias Ruete worked as Director in DG Enterprise and Industry.

Between 2006 and 2010 Mathias Ruete was Director General of DG TREN (Energy and Transport) and from 2010 to 2014 of DG Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE).

Matthias Ruete studied law and political sciences. He holds a Master (London) and doctorate (Giessen) in law and the German state exams in law. Before joining the European Commission, Matthias Ruete lectured in Constitutional, European and International Public Law at Warwick University.

Ingeborg Gräßle

Ingeborg Gräßle

MEP, Chair of the Committee for Budgetary Control, European Parliament

 

Inge Gräßle (EPP Group) is Member of the European Parliament for Baden-Württemberg (Germany) and Chair of the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT).

Since her first election to the European Parliament in 2004, she has been a member of both the Budgets Committee and the Budgetary Control Committee. From 2007 until her appointment as CONT Chair in July 2014, she served as the Coordinator of the EPP Group in CONT Committee, as well as Chief Whip of the CDU/CSU delegation within the EPP Group.

Inge Gräßle is currently negotiating, as co-rapporteur, the Directive on the fight against fraud to the EU’s financial interests by means of criminal law (the PIF Directive). She acted as co-rapporteur and lead negotiator on the Financial Regulation 966/2012. She is the European Parliament standing rapporteur for the Financial Regulation and for the legal basis of the European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF. She also works on the setup of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), and on various other issues pertaining to the field of budgetary control.

In 2013, Inge Gräßle was awarded, together with former Commissioner Michel Barnier, the European Taxpayers Association Prize for her long-lasting fight against the misuse of tax monies and tax evasion, as well as her engagement for more transparency and efficiency of the EU administration and better control and use of the EU budget.

Inge Gräßle studied romance languages, history and political science at the University of Stuttgart and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques Paris (IEP). She holds a doctoral degree in political science from the Freie Universität Berlin. Having worked as a journalist and a spokesperson for several years, Inge Gräßle served as a Member of the State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg from 1996 – 2004.

Vincent Sauvalère

Vincent Sauvalère

Head of Unit B2, Tobacco & Counterfeit Goods, OLAF

 

Vincent Sauvalère is currently working at the European Anti-Fraud Office (DG OLAF) as the Head of Unit 'Tobacco and Counterfeit Goods'. He has a remarkable experience in Customs matters and has acquired excellent leadership of international operations to combat trafficking in cigarettes, counterfeits and narcotics. He is reserve colonel in the French Army. Amongst his achievements he has been Head of Operations of the National Directorate for Customs investigations and Intelligence (DNRED) in Paris From 2008 until 2014 ; from 2003 until 2008 he worked as Customs Attaché to the French Embassy in Berlin where he was responsible for Germany and Northern Europe ; from 1993 until 2003 he was the Head of Customs Investigation Squad in Metz, France (DNRED).

Ana Gomes

Ana Gomes

Member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament

 

Ana Gomes is a Member of the European Parliament since 2004.

Ana Gomes was re-elected in June 2009 and in May 2014 for a third term.

In this mandate (2014-2019), she is full member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, and of the Subcommittee for Security and Defence, as well as full member of the Delegation for the relations with the United-States and the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean . She is substitute member on the Foreign Affairs Committee and on the Subcommittee on Human Rights. Ms. Gomes has been Rapporteur for Libya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the PCA with Indonesia, on "EU CBRN Action Plan", "Maritime Dimension of CSDP", on "Human Rights and corruption", etc.
In her previous mandate, she was elected as the Socialists & Democrats Group Coordinator for Foreign Affairs.
Her main work focus on foreign affairs, namely security & defense and human rights, justice and home affairs, fight against tax heavens and corruption, and the rule of law.

Ana Gomes' academic background is Law. She was a career diplomat since 1980 till she suspended it to enter party politics in 2003. She had joined the Portuguese Foreign Service in 1980 and served in the Portuguese Missions at the UN in New York and Geneva and also in the Embassies in Tokyo and London. Between 1999 and 2003 she was Head of the Portuguese Interests Section and then Ambassador in Jakarta, where she played a role in the process leading up to the independence of East Timor and in the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Portugal and Indonesia.

Maria Manuela Cabral

Maria Manuela Cabral

Head of Unit, Risk Management and Security, DG Taxation and Customs, European Commission

 

Ms. Cabral is currently working as Head of the Unit on Risk Management and Security at the European Commission-DG Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD). She is responsible for the coordination of customs risk management related to international trade, for the enhancement supply chain security and trade facilitation through management of the EU Authorised Economic Operator programme, international mutual recognition thereof and the development and use of innovative technology to detect illicit cargo.

She has a thorough professional experience as a Head of Unit in charge of customs policy and electronic customs (until 01.02.2012), as a Head of Unit in charge of Transit, suspensive regimes and supply chain security (until 16.04.2006), as a Head of Unit in charge of transit and economic tariff questions (until 15.09.2004). Ms Cabral has also three years experience at the Office of Commissioner Vitorino. Prior to that she worked in the European Commission mainly in the origin area and the Ministry of Finance of Portugal where she was responsible for the coordination between Customs and Taxation, the implementation of export procedure, the Free zones, free shops and inward processing, preparation for accession etc.

Ms Cabral is graduated of Lisbon's Catholic University in the field of Business and Administration. She speaks fluently English and French.

Chris Perryman

Chris Perryman

Project Manager for Focal Point Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC), Europol

 

Chris Perryman is a Customs officer from the United Kingdom, having joined Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise (now Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs – HMRC) in July 1978.

In the mid-1980s Chris took up a position as an Inspector of Value Added Tax, and in the 1990s joined the local VAT Office investigation team. Eventually becoming the Senior Officer on this team, he then led the Anglia Region (East of England) civil VAT fraud investigation team.

Chris joined the national Customs investigation service in the early 2000s, eventually becoming a Senior Investigation Officer leading around 30 investigators specialising in Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud, based in Custom House, London.

In 2006, Chris came to Europol as a Seconded National Expert to assist in setting up an analysis work file on MTIC fraud. This file – AWF MTIC – commenced in April 2008.

Chris is currently the Project Manager of this team, now known as Focal Point MTIC, in Europol’s Fraud Team.

Ernesto Savona

Ernesto Savona

Director, Transcrime

 

Ernesto U. Savona is Director of TRANSCRIME, Joint Research Centre of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and the Università degli Studi di Trento and since 2003 professor of Criminology at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. From 1986 to 2002 he was professor of Criminology at the Faculty of Law at the Università degli Studi di Trento. In 2003 he was appointed Editor in Chief of the European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, an international refereed Journal published by Springer. He is also Editor in chief of the series Research in Brief in International and Comparative Criminology published by Springer.

He has been consultant to the United Nations, Council of Europe, the European Union and various national governments. He was also nominated President of the European Society of Criminology for the years 2003/2004. In June 2011 he was appointed Chair for the term 2011-2012 of the Global Agenda Council on Organized Crime del World Economic Forum. He is today member of the EU Commission experts group on ‘Policy needs for data on crime & criminal justice and of the expert group on Firearms”.

He has been coordinating many international projects financed by local, national and international entities. Furthermore, he takes part as speaker in many conferences and seminars at national and international level. He has published extensively on organized/economic crime, corruption, money laundering, mafias and prevention policies against organized crime, illicit markets. His last research interests are in finding indicators for the measurement of organized crime and its illicit activities in Europe and for the measurement of illicit markets.

Peter Vergauwen

Peter Vergauwen

Senior Specialist, Operations Department, O4 Counter Terrorism Unit, Europol

 

Peter Vergauwen is Senior Specialist within the Operations Department, dealing with terrorism and maritime piracy in Europol. Mr Vergauwen holds a master's degree in Contemporary History (Gent University, 1986). Equally, he studied International Relations at the ‘Académie Internationale de Géopolitique” (Paris Sorbonne University – liege University, 2003). After a four stay in the Belgian army as a commissioned officer in the Paracommando regiment, he joined the Belgian Federal Police in 1991 where he currently holds the rank of Superintendent. Following the 9/11 attacks, Mr Vergauwen joined Europol serving as terrorism specialist in the Counter Terrorism task Force until December 2006. In 2008 he served as a Team Leader in the International Criminal Court and in 2009 he re-joined Europol.

Ewan Duncan

Ewan Duncan

Head of Anti Illicit Trade Intelligence Unit, British American Tobacco

 

Born in Scotland and educated at Edinburgh University, Ewan was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1980, and then the Intelligence Corps in 1990 in order to pursue a career in Security and Intelligence. Ewan served in various roles, operations and foreign countries. After 4 years as a Brigadier and Director Intelligence Corps, he joined British American Tobacco (BAT) in 2009. His appointment is Head of the Anti Illicit Trade Intelligence Unit. There, he manages a team of experts who conduct investigations into counterfeiting and smuggling of illicit tobacco goods. Based in London, this unit with global responsibility is a key element within BAT's fight against those involved in this serious crime. It works closely with Regions and Markets as well as Law Enforcement Agencies around the world; same with other FMCGs who are similarly affected by the counterfeiting and/or smuggling of their goods.

Michael Olmsted

Michael Olmsted

Senior Counsel for the European Union and International Law Enforcement Matters, United States Mission to the European Union

 

Michael Olmsted is a career prosecutor in the Department of Justice. He joined DOJ’s Criminal Division in 1987 as a Trial Attorney, and then worked as Special Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General. Beginning in 1992, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in New York, serving as his district’s International and National Security Coordinator. From 2009-2011, he was Director of INTERPOL, and served as its Special Representative to the UN from 2010-2011. Mike’s focus as a prosecutor has been on complex financial and corruption investigations, particularly those with international and national security issues, including terrorism. Mr. Olmsted is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School. Prior to his career at DOJ, he worked in private practice and in the White House Counsel’s Office.

Jean Bergevin

Jean Bergevin

Head of Unit, Fight against counterfeiting and piracy, European Commission

 

Jean Bergevin joined the European Commission as a policy officer in the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs in 1989 where he was involved in the analysis of firms’ strategies in the Internal Market. He also acted as this Directorate General's contact point for Competition policy and worked closely with the team who established the Merger Task Force in DG Competition.

Since October 1991 he has been working in the Directorate General for the Internal Market and Services (DG MARKT). He was a member of policy Units dealing with media, commercial communication, e-commerce and services in the Internal Market between 1991 and 2004. He was involved with the preparation of the Commission Green Paper on commercial communications in the Internal Market in 1996, the 1998 Commission Communication on this same issue and the Commission Proposal for a Regulation on Sales Promotion adopted in 2001.

In June 2004 he was appointed as the Head of Unit of DG MARKT E-2 (Retail and Information Services). This Unit was responsible for applying Internal Market law to distributive trade services, commercial communication services, media services, technical testing/accreditation services and gambling services. It was also responsible for the e-commerce and conditional access directives and for the evaluation of notifications of new national information society rules falling under directive 98/34. The Unit prepared the Commission's second implementation Report on the Conditional Access directive in 2008 , the Commission's Retail Market Monitoring report in 2010 and the Commission Green paper on on-line gambling services in 2011.

In April, 2011 he was appointed to his current position as the Head of Unit of MARKT D3 (Fight against Counterfeiting and Piracy). This Unit is responsible for the application of Directive 2004/98/EC on the enforcement of IPR. It also was responsible for the drafting and adoption of the Regulation that established the European Observatory on the infringement of IPR within OHIM in 2012. The Unit is also developing stakeholder dialogues seeking to establish agreements to improve IPR compliance. The first of these resulted in the MoU on the sale of counterfeit goods that was signed in Brussels in May 2011 and on which the Commission reported in April 2013 (COM(2013) 209). In November 2013 the Unit was responsible for the adoption of the proposal for a directive on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition (COM(2013) 813) that is currently being negotiated with the European Parliament and Council. It also drafted the recently adopted Commission Communication for an EU Action Plan for the enforcement of IPR rights (COM(2014) 392 final.

Steven Chatfield

Steven Chatfield

Senior Advisor, Emergent BioSolutions

 

Steve has worked at Executive Management and Board level in several leading UK and International Companies and Organisations for more than 20 years, including Emergent Biosolutions, Medeva plc, Microscience Ltd, Wellcome Biotechnology and Prokarium Ltd. He also has significant, senior-level experience in the public sector having spent 3 years at the UK’s Health Protection Agency.

Throughout his 35 year career Steve has focussed on the development of vaccines and therapeutics to prevent and treat infectious disease and is recognised as an opinion leader in the field of Biotechnology, having published over a 100 peer reviewed papers in the field.

Steve has extensive business development experience having led the development of scientific and strategic plans for several organisations, and has been instrumental in raising over $180 million in funds through private equity placements and IPO activities.

Steve has also taken a special interest in developing emergency preparedness and response plans to counter the threat of bioterrorism and emerging diseases including the development of medical countermeasures.

From 2007-2009 Steve led the HPA Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response at Porton Down which is responsible for the development of threat disease models, diagnostic capability, the development and manufacture of interventions to improve public health such as vaccines and an emergency preparedness function.

The site has a number of highly specialist facilities including high containment laboratories which are used to identify emerging dangerous microbial pathogens such as Ebola or pathogens used in deliberate release such as bioterrorism.

The Emergency preparedness and response function at Porton Down works closely with the NHS, local authorities and emergency services to improve emergency plans, and identify countermeasures. Exercises to test the health service response to realistic scenarios are conducted across the UK and with EU partners.

Steve also served as an Executive member of the HPA, playing a key role in developing the strategy for the Agency and managing the business development function. While serving in this role he also acted as National Incident Director during the swine flu pandemic in 2009.

Monica Macovei

Monica Macovei

MEP, Member Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament

 

Monica Macovei is a Member of the European Parliament in the European People's Party Group, elected in Romania in 2009 and in 2014 for a second mandate. In the European Parliament, she is the head of the EP Delegation to the EU-Albania Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, member in the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Budgetary Control (CONT) Committees, and substitute in the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET). In 2012, she was ranked the 1st out of 754 MEPs with 35 laws and reports adopted by the Plenary of the European Parliament and in September 2012, she received "MEP 2012" award for her work in the field of justice and civil liberties.

She served as Romania’s Minister of Justice from 2005 to 2007, and received international recognition and awards for her anti-corruption initiatives and justice reforms that allowed Romania to enter the European Union. Financial Time wrote "To her admirers in Brussels, Monica Macovei is a hero who presided over Romania's transformation from one of Europe's most corrupt corners into a credible candidate to join the European Union", and Die Welt stated that "For Romania, joining the European Union would have been barely possible without Monica Macovei" (2006).

Monica Macovei was a legal expert for the Council of Europe and other international organizations, has successfully represented applicants before the European Court of Human Rights, and has published on human rights and judicial matters. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Central European University and of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience. She is also a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, an Eisenhower Fellow, as well as a founding member of Transparency International, Romanian Chapter, and member in other NGOs.

Dietrich Neumann

Dietrich Neumann

Head of Corporate Services, Europol

 

Mr. Dietrich Neumann is the Head of Business of Corporate Services at Europol, which includes the organisation’s legal affairs unit. Before starting his job as Europol’s in-house counsel in 2004, he held positions at the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and the German Federal Investigation Office. Mr. Neumann studied law at the University of Passau and the University of Erlangen. He also holds an L.L.M. from the Erasmus University Rotterdam in EU and International Public law.

Joëlle Jenny

Joëlle Jenny

Director of Security Policy and Conflict Prevention Department, EEAS

 

Joëlle Jenny is Director for Security Policy and Conflict Prevention at the European External Action Service.

Prior to joining the EEAS she worked successively as a Swiss and a British diplomat, covering international security issues, non-proliferation/arms control, conflict prevention and peace building, including at the UN. She has worked for the UK’s Department for International Development, the Swiss Foreign Ministry and the International Committee of the Red Cross. She worked extensively in Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian Territories, and held postings in New York, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Rwanda and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. She was also a research assistant at NATO. She holds a Master in International Security from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, USA, and is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Exeter.

Glenn Vaughan

Glenn Vaughan

Chief Executive, British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium

 

An expert in EU policy-making and economic development, Glenn has worked in Brussels since 1995. As Chief Executive of the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium since 2008, he has led the business to a growth of more than 50% in the last three years. The Chamber’s 300 member companies include a wide range of multi-nationals from Europe, North America and the Far East. In 2011 it was voted the Best British Chamber of Commerce in Europe and European Trade Association of the Year at the European Public Affairs Awards.

He regularly works with major international companies and senior policy makers on policies affecting the environment for business, as well as helping to grow internationalized businesses in Belgium and British-Belgian trade and investment. Glenn has advised businesses, public agencies and scientific organizations on EU policy and funding. He was part of the small Brussels team that successfully lobbied for €2bn EU funding for Wales and was later MD of the Brussels-based Wales European Centre until 2005.

Moderators

Nicholas Ilett

Nicholas Ilett

Director of Investigations, OLAF

 

Nicholas Ilett is currently Principal Adviser and acting Director of Investigations II in OLAF. Since joining OLAF in 2002, he has been successively Director for Intelligence and Information, Policy and Resources, and Investigations II, and was acting Director General in 2010-2011. His earlier career was in the British Treasury (central Finance Ministry) and the UK Permanent Representation to the EU. He holds degrees in History from Oxford University and Economics from Cambridge University and also studied at the University of Munich and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration.

Anabela Gago

Anabela Gago

Head of Unit, Organised crime, DG HOME, European Commission

 

Anabela Gago is currently heading the unit "Organised Crime", DG HOME, and prior to this she was head of cabinet of Commissioner Andor, European Commissioner responsible for Employment and Social Affairs. Before she spent five years in the Cabinet of Commissioner Kovács (Taxation and Customs Union), where she was deputy head of cabinet and primarily responsible for relations with the European Parliament and for customs matters, in addition to non-portfolio issues such as Environment and Justice and Home Affairs. She has worked before for Commissioner Vitorino (Justice and Home Affairs) where her portfolio contained notably relations with other institutions, international and enlargement issues, Fundamental Rights. She also assisted her Commissioner during the Convention on the Future of Europe and has a solid experience in international competence issues and bilateral relations, specifically with the US.

During almost nine years in DG Environment, she participated in a number of major international negotiations, in particular on climate change, including the Kyoto Protocol process, access to information, transboundary movements of chemicals and waste. She has also been responsible for bilateral relations with a number of third countries, the Commission’s representative at the OECD Environmental Committee. Anabela Gago then moved to DG Justice and Home Affairs where she was responsible for enlargement negotiations, legal/institutional matters in the field of external relations and relations with the Council of Europe.

Prior to this, she spent two years in the Commission’s Legal Service.

Anabela Gago joined the Commission with the accession of Portugal in 1986, just after acquiring her degree in Law in Lisbon. In Brussels, she obtained a masters degree in European Law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and studied International Relations at the Centre d’Etudes de Relations Internationales.

Having also worked upon arrival in the Commission as a translator, she speaks five languages fluently; Portuguese, French, English, German, and Spanish.

Logistics

When

Wednesday 22 April, 2015
08.30 to 16.30

CET

 

Where

Renaissance Brussels Hotel

Rue du Parnasse 19
Brussels
1050 Belgium

Google location map

 

Downloads

Serious and Organised Crime Post-Conference Report 2015

Sponsorship Brochure

 

 

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