Speaker Biographies

Confirmed Speakers

Moderators

Lorena Boix Alonso

Head of Unit for Converging Media and Content, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Lorena Boix Alonso is the Head of Unit for Converging Media and Content Unit, Directorate General for Communications Networks Content and Technology since July 2012. Formerly, she was Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice President Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda. During Ms Kroes' mandate as Commissioner for Competition, Lorena Boix Alonso commenced in October 2004 as a member of her Cabinet and became Deputy Head of Cabinet in May 2008.

She holds a Master of Laws, with a focus on Antitrust Law and Intellectual Property, from the Harvard Law School. She graduated in Law from the University of Valencia (Spain) and then obtained a Licence Spéciale en Droit Européen from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

She joined the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition in 2003. Prior to that, she has worked for Judge Rafael García Valdecasas, at the European Court of Justice, as well as Deputy Director and Legal Coordinator of the IPR-Helpdesk Project and in private practice in Brussels.

Martin Bailey

Acting Head of Unit, Digital Single Market DG CONNECT, European Commission

Martin Bailey is leading the team on the Digital Single Market in DG CONNECT, European Commission.

Martin was educated in England, Germany and the Netherlands.

Born in 1972, Martin worked as a lawyer for an international law firm in London for five years before joining the European Commission in 2003. Back now in the Commission after a stint at the European Court of Justice, he has worked principally in the fields of single market and competition law, technology and economic regulation.

Speaks English, French, German and Spanish. His interests including acting, cooking, winter sports and mountain-biking.

Jürgen Tiedje

​Head of Unit, Service Policy for Consumers, DG GROW, European Commission

Jürgen Tiedje is a lawyer by profession and of German nationality and has worked within the European Commission since 1992. He worked as a judge in Germany from 1989 to 1992. He started his career with the European Commission in 1992 and worked in different Commission departments in DG Agriculture, DG Internal Market and Services and since 2014 in the newly created DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. He spent his career working on services, professional qualifications, capital markets, accounting, as well as policy on statutory audit and audit firms. He has been appointed Head of Unit in the Commission in 2004. Since October 2013, he is heading the unit "Business to Consumers" which is in particular in charge of the horizontal aspects of the Services Directive from 2006 and the monitoring of services markets.

Tanja de Coster

Associate General Counsel, Airbnb

Tanja is Associate General Counsel at Airbnb. She counsels the business on new product and business initiatives and works on EMEA regulatory matters. Prior to joining Airbnb in 2013, Tanja was a global director of IP at eBay. Tanja received her law degree from the University of Leuven (Belgium) and her Master’s Degree in IP/IT Law and Management from the University of Namur (Belgium). She is a member of the California Bar. She has worked and lived in the U.S. and the EU.

Cécile Despringre

Executive Director, Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA)

Cécile Despringre has studied International and European law at the University of Paris I and obtained a Master in International Economic Law in 1996. After a traineeship at the Delegation of the European Commission to International Organisations in Geneva, she started working in 1997 as the European Affairs Officer of SACD in Brussels and became at the same time the Legal advisor of FERA (Federation of European Film Directors) and AIDAA (International Association of Audiovisual Authors). In 2001, she moved to SACD headquarters in Paris and was promoted Deputy Director for European affairs and Trade Negotiations. Since then she has been involved in the movement of the Coalitions for Cultural Diversity. In 2006, she became the CEO of FERA and managed this European network of directors’ organisations during three years.

Renate Dörr

Senior Manager European Affairs, ZDF

Dr. Renate Dörr is working as an Senior Manager for European Affairs for ZDF, one of the German public service broadcasters. Before joining ZDF she was a German civil servant and worked for the federal Government (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media) as well as for a reginal Government (State Chancellery of Hamburg). She was equally a seconded national expert in DG Information Society and Media of the European Commission.

Siada El Ramly

Director General, EDiMA

Siada El Ramly is the Director General of EDiMA – the European association representing online platforms. She has extensive experience in European public affairs and in particular experience in the European Digital sectors- having worked for the hardware and software industries in the past. Before joining EDiMA Siada was Secretary General of the European Software Association, Director of the AHIMA global services office as well as Senior EU Affairs Manager at Digital Europe.

Siada has furthermore worked for the content sector and the healthcare sectors. She also set up her own consultancy company that provides public affairs, association management and strategic advice to interest groups.

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

Damir Filipovic

Chair, Copyright Group, DIGITALEUROPE

Damir started his career in public sector in 1998, working for Croatian Government and telecom regulator.

In 2000 he joined telco operators, working for Deutsche Telekom and Telekom Austria in Croatia, as head of public and regulatory affairs as well as wholesale business.

In 2008, Damir joined Telekom Austria office in Bruxelles, working on spectrum, health and m-commerce for the Group, and providing support to operations in Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia.

In 2010 Damir became Director Public Affairs of DIGITALEUROPE, supporting Technical and Regulatory Policy Group.

In 2012, Damir joined new Samsung office in Bruxelles, working on digital economy and products and technology.
Damir holds degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Marco Giorello

Deputy Head of Unit Copyright, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Marco Giorello is Deputy Head of the Copyright Unit in the European Commission, DG CONNECT.

An Italian national, lawyer by training, he has worked in the European Commission for about 15 years covering different areas of the Internal Market policy such as public procurement, freedom to provide services and copyright. Before joining the Commission he worked in an Italian law firm and as a teaching assistant on EU law matters. He is a qualified lawyer in Italy and holds an LLM in European Law from the College of Europe in Bruges (1998).

Marco Giorello is working in the Commission's unit responsible for the EU copyright policy since 2011, first in the former DG Internal Market and Services and, since the end of 2014, in DG CONNECT.

Aarti Holla

Secretary General, ESOA

Aarti Holla has been Secretary General of the European Satellite Operators’ Association (ESOA) since 2004. She was named one of the Faces of Satellite of 2014 by the Society of Satellite Professionals International and is Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Space.

Under Aarti’s leadership ESOA & the CEOs of its member companies lead the effort to showcase the benefits of satellite communications for society and foster a better environment to allow users to profit from satellite services that are available anywhere on land, at sea or in the air.

Aarti has seventeen years' experience in the aerospace industry, starting at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (now Airbus) in Germany, before moving to Brussels. She represented Galileo Industries towards European institutions on the European navigation system Galileo, working on the development of the public-private partnership scheme and management aspects of the Galileo programme. She has organized workshops on negotiation skills for young managers.

Aarti holds a Masters of Business Administration from HEC, France & Stern Business School, NY, USA. She qualified as Solicitor of the Supreme Court in the UK in 1995, holding a LLB Hons Law with German Law degree from King's College, University of London & the University of Passau, Germany. Aarti lives in Brussels, has 3 children and speaks 5 languages.

Chris Hutchins

Vice President, Public Policy, Liberty Global

Chris Hutchins is Vice President, Public Policy for Liberty Global, the largest international cable company with operations in 14 countries - www.libertyglobal.com. Liberty Global’s consumer brands include Virgin Media, UPC, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Kabel BW, Telenet and VTR.

Chris is responsible for public policy campaigns throughout Europe, and leads a Brussels-based team responsible for policy development, advocacy and guidance to Liberty Global and its affiliates on European and EU regulatory issues including on network regulation, net neutrality, internet policy, and media and interoperability regulation.

He is also responsible for directing Liberty Global’s engagement with EU policy makers, regulators and industry stakeholders at a European and EU level. He also directs Liberty Global’s policy work at Cable Europe, in which he serves as chairman of their European regulatory group.

Chris has held several regulatory and public positions within Liberty Global and its predecessor companies since joining them in 2000. He began his career at Burson Marsteller, the global public affairs consultancy, before joining DG Employment Affairs of the European Commission in a press and information capacity.

Mr Hutchins holds a BA degree in Politics from Loughborough University, an Mdip in EC competition law from King's College London, and in LLM in telecommunications and IT law from Strathclyde University.

Kristina Janušauskaitė

Senior Legal Counsel, IFPI

Kristina Janušauskaitė works as a senior legal counsel at the European Regional Office of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the recording industry worldwide, based in Brussels. Kristina joined IFPI in 2012. Before that, she worked as an external consultant for WIPO, and as an attorney at law in the field of IP at Law Firm Baltic Legal Solutions in Vilnius, Lithuania. Kristina studied law in Vilnius University. She holds an LL.M. Degree from Munich Intellectual Property Law Centre and a PhD from the Ludwig Maximilian University / Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law in Munich, Germany. During her studies in Germany, Kristina completed a traineeship at the Law Firm Ashurst in Munich and at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. She continues teaching IP Law in Vilnius University. Kristina is the author and co-author of several publications on different aspects of IP rights, as well as the author of the monograph on enforcement of IP rights.

Jeremy Olivier

Head of Internet Policy, Ofcom

Jeremy Olivier is Head of Internet Policy at Ofcom; his work covers policy advice and implementation across a broad range of issues, including the evolution of audiovisual media regulation, net neutrality, protection of minors, and OTT services. Mr Olivier's current focus is on the EU Digital Single Market programme, and in particular the revision of Audiovisual and Telecommunications regulatory frameworks. Before Ofcom, Mr Olivier worked at the BBC, providing strategic advice to the Directors of the BBC's Online and Television services.

Mathieu Moreuil

Head of EU Public Policy, The Premier League

Mathieu Moreuil has been dealing with sport related issues in Brussels for over 10 years. He started in 2003 in the European Commission, first in the sport unit and then in the free movement of workers unit where he was in charge of infringement proceedings in the field of professional sport.

In 2007 Mathieu joined APCO, a Public Affairs Consultancy, where he advised clients in the media and sports sectors.

In 2010, Mathieu was appointed Head of EU Public Policy for the English Premier League.

Mathieu also coordinates the Brussels activities of the Sports Rights Owners Coalition (www.sroc.info).

Mathieu graduated from the Strasbourg Institute for Political Sciences and holds two Master Degrees, one in European law and one in Business. He speaks fluent French and English and good German and Spanish.

Ursula Pachl

Deputy Director General, BEUC

Ms. Pachl has been with BEUC since October 1997, first as Legal Advisor, then as Senior Policy Advisor and presently as Deputy Director General.

BEUC represents 41 independent national consumer associations from 31 European countries. The primary task of BEUC is to act as a strong consumer voice in Brussels and to try to ensure that consumer interests are given their proper weight in the development of all Community policies. Apart from deputising for the Director General, Ms. Pachl is leading BEUC’s work on the consumer legislation acquis and is responsible for horizontal and strategic policy issues.

Prior to working for BEUC, Ms. Pachl worked at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health and Consumer Protection in Vienna and at the Austrian Consumer Information Association as a member of the Consumer Advisory Board.

Ms. Pachl is the author of several articles in consumer policy and law journals.

Paul Pacifico

CEO, The Featured Artist Coalition - FAC

Paul is CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition (‘FAC’), the organization in the music industry that represents the interests and rights of the artists. Paul is also President of the International Artist Organisation (‘IAO’), which unites artist organisations from different country to speak with one voice. In his early career, Paul spent almost 10 years in the City in banking and strategy consultancy before leaving to focus on Specific Music in 2005. Specific Music is a creative music consultancy which designs and delivers bespoke music for industry clients as well as brands and charities. Paul also set up The AllStars Collective, which is made up of 40 of the world's top session musicians. Paul continues to perform and record with his band, Pacifico Blues.

Agustín Reyna

Digital Team Leader, BEUC

Agustín works as a Senior Legal Officer and Digital Team Leader in BEUC, The European Consumer Organisation.

BEUC represents 41 independent national consumer associations from 31 European countries. The primary task of BEUC is to act as a strong consumer voice in Brussels and to try to ensure that consumer interests are given their proper weight in the development of all EU policies.

Within BEUC, Agustín works in the Legal and Economic Department following the development of consumer rights in the digital environment. He leads the Digital Team coordinating BEUC’s policies in the area of copyright, data protection, telecommunications and competition.

Argentinean born, Agustín obtained his law degree in the National University of Córdoba. He studied ICT law in Spain (ICADE, Comillas Pontifical University) and Belgium (CRIDS, University of Namur) and he is currently writing his doctoral dissertation on copyright and consumer protection under the supervision of Professor Norbert Reich (University of Bremen).

He can be contacted at are@beuc.eu

James Waterworth

Vice President, CCIA

James Waterworth is Vice-President, Europe for the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) advising members and policy makers on a wide range of issues including intellectual property, international trade and internet regulation. He brings with him more than a decade of experience in technology policy having held government affairs posts for Nokia, Cable and Wireless and Telefonica in Brussels and London.

As Director of Government Affairs for Nokia he lead calls for the European Union to create a Digital Single Market; a unified market to the advantage of business and consumers. He took Nokia into the field of internet policy for the first time. From 2007 to 2008 he worked for the Nokia CTO on media relations.

Between 2001 and 2005 he worked in London for Cable & Wireless and then Telefonica UK on telecommunications network regulation, most notably on the regulation of the wholesale broadband market and the structural separation of the former UK telecommunications incumbent BT.

Between 2009 and 2012 he was President of the European Digital Media Association.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and French from the University of Leeds and a master’s degree in European Politics from the University of London.

Fabienne Weibel

Head of EU Public Policy, BlaBlaCar

Fabienne Weibel joined BlaBlaCar as Head of Public Policy in September 2015. Previously she has been worked for several years in the eBay group, successively as legal counsel for eBay in France, Head of Legal for PayPal in Southern/Eastern Europe, and finally as Director of Government Relations for PayPal for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Before joining the eBay group, she was an associate at the Paris-based law firm Franklin, where she advised French and international High Tech companies operating in France. She has a degree in Business Law and English from the University of Paris X-Nanterre in France and is a member of the Paris Bar.

Susan Wilson

United States Intellectual Property Attaché to the European Union, US Mission to the EU

Susan Wilson is the USPTO’s first IP Attaché for the European Union (EU). In that capacity, she interfaces with European institutions, member state governments, and a wide array of stakeholders on a broad range of intellectual property (IP) policy and market access issues. She also contributes to U.S. bilateral IP-related efforts with Switzerland and Turkey, works to advance U.S. policy objectives at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and supports fellow Geneva-based U.S. IP Attachés in their work with the WTO and various U.N. institutions.

Prior to being sworn in as Attaché, Ms. Wilson was director for Intellectual Property and Innovation at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), where she coordinated the annual Special 301 Report of trading partners’ IP policies and practices, including the “Notorious Markets List” of physical and online marketplaces that facilitate trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy worldwide. She also represented U.S. IP interests in various OECD work streams and served as member of the U.S. delegation in U.N. negotiations on climate change, science and technology, health, and development. Ms. Wilson also contributed to USPTO’s bilateral IP dialogue with trading partners in South America and the Caribbean region.

Before joining USTR, Ms. Wilson served as director of the Office of Intellectual Property Rights in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, where she helped develop and manage the department’s effort to protect U.S. IP at home and abroad, and served as a U.S. Co-Chair of the Transatlantic IPR Working Group. Her other federal government experience includes work at the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Customs Service. She also worked at a nonprofit, the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, as senior policy counsel.

Ms. Wilson graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with a B.A. in International Relations and received her J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law.

Stefano Quintarelli

Head of the Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Technological Innovation and Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Italian Digital Agency (AGID)

In the past: Serial entrepreneur, founder of the first italian business ISP listed on the stock market. Founder and board
member of Clusit, Italy's security association, Chairman of AIIP, Italy's ISP association, Chief Information Officer of
Gruppo 24 Ore, Italy's leading financial publishing group.

Present: Member of the Italian Parliament (Scelta Civica Group) member of Commission of Internet rights of the
Chamber of Deputies, Chairman of the steering committee of Italy's Digital Agency.

Adrian Whitchurch

Vice President European Affairs, BT

Adrian Whitchurch is BT’s Vice President European Affairs, based in the BT EU Affairs Office in Brussels. He has been working in this capacity since 1994, covering BT’s relations with European Institutions, and dealing with regulation of telecommunications and new services both at EU level and in a number of European countries.

He joined BT in 1987. Since then he has worked in a variety of positions including information systems and finance, before moving to regulatory affairs.

Before joining BT he worked in the UK Civil Service on European Community economic policy.

He has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Canterbury Business School, University of Kent, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Modern Languages and Management Studies from the University of Leeds.

Adrian Whitchurch is British. He was born in 1963, and is married with two children.

Isabelle Buscke

Head of Brussels Office, Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V.

A biography for Ms Buscke will appear here shortly.

Paul Adamson

Chairman, Forum Europe

Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe and founder and editor of E!Sharp, an online magazine dedicated to covering the European Union and Europe's place in the world. He is also a Senior European Policy Advisor at Covington.

He is a member of Rand Europe's Council of Advisors, sits on the external advisory board of YouGov-Cambridge, a polling think-tank, is a member of the advisory group of the Washington European Society and is a trustee of the Citizenship Foundation.

Paul is a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

He founded the consulting firm Adamson Associates, which was sold to Weber Shandwick and The Centre, which was later sold to Edelman.

In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to promoting understanding of the European Union”, a part of the Queen's 2012 New Year Honours Diplomatic Service and Overseas List.

Magnus Franklin

Chief Correspondent, MLex ITM

Magnus Franklin, Chief Correspondent for MLex ITM, was previously an analyst and reporter on Mobile Communications Europe and Telecom Markets. He provides comprehensive coverage of regulatory and legal developments in the telecoms, media and IT sectors both in Brussels and across Europe. Magnus studied journalism and economics in London, and works in English, Spanish, Swedish and Norwegian.
Email: franklin@mlex.com

Jennifer Baker

EU Policy Correspondent, Reporting on TPL

Jennifer has been a journalist in print, radio and television for more than 18 years. She has worked across a wide range of sectors, from editing a national daily paper in Malta, to television reporting on EU affairs to the Middle East. She has a wealth of experience in writing about politics, business, legislation and tech.

She moved to Brussels to work as a freelance EU correspondent in February 2009 and now focuses all aspects of policy relating to IT, from data protection to trade agreements, antitrust cases to copyright law.

Jennifer has written for The Register, PCWorld, ArsTechnica, Politico, CIO and IDG. She is senior presenter on Vieuws.eu and regularly features as an EU tech expert on the BBC.