Speaker Biographies

Speakers

Moderators

Henrik Hololei

Director General, DG MOVE, European Commission

Henrik is an economist by training and holds degrees from Tallinn Technical University and Aarhus University in Denmark.

He held various positions in the Estonian Government Office between 1995 and 2004. He was mainly responsible for coordinating the work for the Estonian accession to the European Union. In 2001-2002, he was Minister of Economy.

In 2004, he moved to the European Commission as Head of Cabinet of Vice President Siim Kallas until 2013, when he became Deputy Secretary General.

In October 2015, he became Director-General for Mobility and Transport in the European Commission.

Married, one daughter.

Pedro Marques

Minister of Planning and Infrastructure, Portugal

Pedro Marques was born in Lisbon, in 1976.

He is graduate in Economy (1997) and Master in International Economy (2001).

He was member of the Executive Commission of Capgemini Portugal, and - since October 2014 – he was responsible for the Commercial Department, Information System Development Department, and Senior Management Consultant for Planning Projects and Financing of Territorial Development and Companies’ Redesign.

He was member of the Assembly of Republic and vice-president of the Parliamentary Group of Socialist Party between June 2011 and October 2014.

He was Secretary of State of Social Security between March 2005 and June 2011.

He was Councilor of Montijo City Hall from January 2002 to February 2005, where he was responsible for health, social development, social housing, youth, planning and economic development.

He was advisor of the Minister of Labor and Social Security and Secretary of State of Social Security from January 2001 to March 2002.

He was member of the work group that studied the aging population issue and the sustainability of public finances.

He was Senior Consultant of CISED Consulters from August 1999 to December 2000.

He was member of the technical support group of urban renewal, integrated into the European Program QCAII, between August 1997 and July 1999.

Volodymyr Omelyan

Minister of Infrastructure, Ukraine

Volodymyr Omelyan graduated from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, the faculty of International Relations, specialized in Finance and International relations as well as from the Lviv Polytechnic National University with a focus on Economics and Business.

During 2000-2008, he was working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine as well as at the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna.

During 2009-2013, he held the number of senior positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Finance.

Since March until December of 2014 – the Head of Minister’s Office at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. At the end of December 2014, he was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, the Head of Administration. He has initiated a number of strategic, operational changes at the Ministry.

In April 14, 2016, he was appointed as the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine. He set off for a highly demanding and much needed process to scale up transport infrastructure reforms in Ukraine. His priorities are the formation of a free market of transport services, boost of investments and attraction of global leading companies, digitalization of infrastructure, innovation as well as advocacy of the breakthrough ideas in transport sector. He has been a strong advocate for creating a test platform for Hyperloop technologies in Ukraine and is working to realize the project in the nearest future.

Volodymyr Omelyan is a member of the National Investment Council of Ukraine.

Artur Runge-Metzger

Director, DG CLIMA, European Commission

Artur Runge-Metzger, Director ‘Climate Strategy, governance and emissions from non-trading sectors’, DG Climate Action of the European Commission.

He took up his current position on 1 January 2016. The current directorate covers international and EU climate strategy and economic assessment and evaluation, EU domestic legislative initiatives related to households, road transport (including CO2 emission standards for cars, vans and trucks), waste, agriculture and forestry, carbon capture, use and storage, various financing instruments for EU innovation, monitoring, reporting, and verification.

Since 1 September 2003, he was first Head of Unit, and since 2009 Director focussing on international and domestic climate strategy, international climate change negotiations, climate finance, land use and monitoring and reporting. During this time he was one of the EU lead negotiators, Vice-President of the UNFCCC Bureau in 2010-2012, and also co-chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) in 2013/14 preparing the Paris Agreement.

Before this, he spent two years as Head of Operations in the EC Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.

From the end of 1997 until 2001, he worked in DG Development and DG Environment in Brussels on a wide range of environmental issues, particularly climate change in developing countries.

He joined the European Commission in 1993, when he was first responsible for the bilateral co-operation covering agricultural policies, rural development and the environment in the EC Delegation in Zimbabwe in Harare.

After his University education, he started his professional career at the University of Göttingen, Germany in 1985. His main scientific and lecturing topics were natural resources economics and development economics, including extensive field research in rural West Africa.

Eddy Hartog

Head of Unit, Smart Mobility and Living, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Mr Hartog has Dutch nationality and was born and raised in Utrecht (the Netherlands). He obtained a degree in political economics at the Erasmus University (Rotterdam) and subsequently a post-graduate degree at the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium). He has worked in the European Commission since 1989, first in Trade policy, then in Regional policy and in Maritime policy and lately in Information Society and Media policy. He is a Head of Unit since 2003. His present responsibility (since July 2016) is Head of Unit for Smart Mobility and Living in DG Communication Networks, Content and Technology. Mr Hartog is married and has two daughters.

Remi Eriksen

President and CEO, DNV GL

Remi Eriksen is the Group President and CEO of DNV GL Group since 2015. With more than 23 years with DNV GL, he has extensive management and technical experience from working in the oil and gas, maritime and renewable energy sectors in Asia, Europe and Americas.

Mr. Eriksen is acknowledged for his leadership skills in capturing growth opportunities in a complex and everchanging global business environment. His keen interest in building resilient and sustainable business drives him to develop new competencies in leadership, transformative technologies and to the accelerated application of ’datasmart’ and digital solutions. He is a technology optimist and strongly believes business has to make a bigger impact on the journey towards a sustainable future.

In his previous position as Group Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of DNV GL Group, Mr. Eriksen was responsible for the merger integration of DNV and GL, two companies present in many industries and each with a 150 year history of global operations. During this work he ensured that the common purpose of “Safeguarding Life, Property and the Environment” became a central driver for the merged company’s culture and all aspects of its business operations. Mr. Eriksen was also responsible for developing a new corporate strategy that positions DNV GL to lead towards a digital, agile and efficient future.

During 2006‐2010 Mr. Eriksen was a Member of the OG21 Board of Norway ‐ a Board appointed by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, tasked with the responsibility to develop and implement a common national Technology Strategy for Norway. During 2012‐2015 he was a Board Member for Maritime 21 to give advice on strategic matters related to research and innovation in the Maritime Industry, and since 2012 he is a member of MARUT Strategic Council, appointed by the Norwegian Government to advice the Minister of Trade on maritime related matters. Mr. Eriksen is a member of the Executive Committee of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Mr. Eriksen holds a Master’s in electronics and computer science from the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTNU) and has conducted his executive education at Rice University, IMD and INSEAD. In the course of his career he has also published several professional papers and articles and has become an appreciated public speaker.

Reza Karimi

Director, Huawei Technologies

Reza Karimi is Director, Corporate Strategy, at Huawei Technologies, with focus on technology standards and spectrum regulation. Prior to this, he was Technical Policy Director at the UK communications regulator, Ofcom, with responsibilities in a range of spectrum management initiatives, including a review of the UK’s licence exemption framework, the auction of spectrum for 4G mobile communications at 800 MHz/2.6 GHz, and database-assisted access to TV white space spectrum.

Previously, he was with Bell Laboratories at Lucent Technologies, and Motorola GSM Products Division. He received a first class honours degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Surrey, UK. He also holds a MSc/DIC degree in Digital Communications, and a PhD in Adaptive Array Signal Processing, both from Imperial College, UK. He is the author of over sixty publications in international conferences and peer-reviewed journals, and is co-inventor in over thirty patents. He is also visiting professor at Imperial College, London.

David Hon

Founder and CEO, Dahon

Dr David T Hon was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to America in the early 1960s, along with his parents and siblings. He gained his BA in physics from UC Berkeley and began his PhD at UCLA. He went on to be both and NSF and NASA scholar, and senior lecturer at The University of Southern California, where he gained his PhD in physics. Hon went on to a career at Hughes Aircraft, and then Hughes Research Labs. He specialised in work with lasers and registered a number of patents for his breakthroughs.

In the 1970s Hon became frustrated with society’s reliance on polluting cars, and began to work on refining the ideal folding bicycle. In 1982 he founded DAHON, and the Hon Convertible was an instant hit. 36 years later the brand is a world leader and hundreds of thousands DAHON bikes are making journeys easier across the globe.

Miguel Gaspar

Deputy Mayor for Mobility and Safety, City of Lisbon

Between 2003 and 2015, he was a consultant in the area of transports with experience in planning and transports engineering. In urban mobility, he collaborated in different projects, with emphasis on the parking regulation and urban logistic. In terms of public transport, he has been involved in regulatory, contractual and procurement issues, including the development of innovative on-demand transport initiatives. More recently, he developed projects in the area of the development of Intelligent Transport Systems.

He was assistant of the Deputy Secretary of State and Environment of the XXI constitutional government until he was elected to a councilor of Municipality of Lisboa, where he participated actively in the development of sectorial regulation legislation, including innovative transport solutions and where he provided technical support for the Ministry of the Environment regarding its role as Transport Authority. He also actively participated in the process of the transference of Carris (Public Company of Lisbon Transports) to the Municipality of Lisboa and STCP management process, as well as in the design of public financing instruments for the transportation system.

Nowadays, is the Deputy Mayor for Mobility and Safety, responsible of the Municipal Police, Municipal Direction of Mobility, Carris and EMEL.

Steffen Rasmussen

Head of Department of Traffic and Urban Life, City of Copenhagen

Steffen Rasmussen is a leader with skills and flair of leading organizations in change, strategic planning, managing processes and building organization.

He has experiences from public administration and governance from several assignments in municipalities, counties and ministries in Denmark. Furthermore, he has earned experiences from working in international context as consultant, technical advisor, project manager and director in African and Latin American Countries. He is experienced in analyzing, conceptualizing, planning, implementing and evaluating comprehensive development strategies and plans.

Merja Kyllönen

MEP, European Parliament

Mme Merja Kyllönen (born 1977) is a Finnish Member of the European Parliament in the GUE/NGL, representing Left Alliance. Mme Kyllönen is a member in the Committee on Transport and Tourism and a substitute member in the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. She was also a member in the Committee of Inquiry on Emission Measurement in the Automotive Sector.

Mme Kyllönen is a former Minister for Transport in Finland (2011-2014). She started her political career at 19, and has been serving as a councillor in her hometown Suomussalmi since 2000. She was a member of the Finnish parliament 2007-2014. Before concentrating on full-time political work, she had a career as a professional in healthcare.

Ivo Cré

Director Policy & Projects, Polis Network

Ivo is involved in Polis’ policy coordination and activities of EU project development. He leads Polis' thematic pillar Access and coordinates the Polis working groups on parking and Access. He is currently working on the European Projects Future Radar, CIVITAS SATELLITE, PARK4SUMP and SUNRISE. Ivo has extensive experience in city networks and policy in the field of mobility.

Andor Deli

MEP, European Parliament

Andor Deli is a Hungarian Member of the European Parliament (FIDESZ-KDNP), representing the Hungarian national minority from Vojvodina (Serbia) as a member of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians.

Before his election as an MEP in 2014, he served as a Vice-President of the Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and Provincial Secretary responsible for Education, Administration and National Communities (Republic of Serbia).

Mr Deli is a full Member of the EP’s Committee on Transport and Tourism, the Delegation to the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, and a substitute Member of the Committee on Regional Development.

Frédéric Versini

Deputy Head of Unit for Transport Networks, DG MOVE, European Commission

Frédéric Versini is Deputy Head of Unit for the Transeuropean Network in the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport. He joined the European Commission in 2004 where he worked successively as State aid case handler, inter-institutional co-ordinator and policy officer in charge of the 4th railway package. He was until recently a member of the private office of the President of the French Competition Authority.

Frédéric Versini studied at the Universities of Strasbourg and Paris, at the HEC Business School and at the College of Europe in Bruges. He was a qualified lawyer at the law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel before joining EU institutions. He published "The EU Transport Policy: Towards Sustainable Mobility", La Documentation Française, 2009.

Joost Vantomme

Smart Mobility Director, ACEA

Joost Vantomme is Smart Mobility Director at the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which represents the Europe-based car, van, truck and bus makers.

Joost has over 25 years’ experience in legal, regulatory and public affairs. He served as legal and regulatory affairs director in the telecommunications, postal, logistics and automotive sector. He had leading policy making roles in European associations such as PostEurop and FEDMA, as well as at the UN level (UPU). Joost has also been member of the cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Economy and director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, an EU consultancy firm.

Since 1 September 2016, Joost holds the position of Smart Mobility Director at ACEA, bringing his vast experience together to address the challenges of the new ecosystem ‘cooperative, connected and automated mobility’.

As a frequent speaker at conferences and author of papers, he engages with stakeholders on European and international policy issues in a digital agenda context. Joost holds a Master in Economic Business Law, a Master in Law and a Diploma in Teaching Law (Universities of Leuven, Poitiers and Louvain). He is fluent in Dutch, French, English and German.

Jacob Bangsgaard

CEO and President, ERTICO - ITS Europe and MaaS Alliance

Jacob Bangsgaard has been leading ERTICO – ITS Europe since 1st January 2017. ERTICO is a multi-sector platform with 123 partners from more than 25 countries and with headquarter in Brussels, Belgium. He worked for ERTICO also from 2001-2006 as Director of International Affairs and communications where he was responsible for the international deployment support for ITS on markets like China, India, Russia, and Brazil.

Mr Bangsgaard is a Danish national with a university background in international economics and 26 years’ experience working in Brussels on transport and mobility issues.

Mr Bangsgaard was from 2010-2016 Director General of FIA Region I and responsible for the mobility activities of the FIA in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Before becoming Director General he worked as Director of International Relations at the FIA Foundation where he was responsible for the deployment support and global campaigning for vehicle safety technologies.

He has also represented mobility interests for a regional authority and he worked for two years in the European Commission Transport Directorate.

Jacob Bangsgaard is also President of the MaaS Alliance, and was on the Board of Euro NCAP from 2010-2016 and Secretary General of the Belgian association eSafetyAware from 2009-2016.

Thomas Avanzata

European Department Director, International Association of Public Transport (UITP)

Thomas Avanzata is Director of the UITP European Department. He is specialized in European law applicable to the transport sector. He has extensive backgrounds and experience on the Public Service Obligations’ dossier. In particular, from January 2004 to January 2008, Thomas Avanzata has been in the European Commission’s DG TREN one of the responsible agents for passenger public transport.

Maciej Surowiec

EU Government Affairs Manager, Microsoft

EU Government Affairs Manager at Microsoft, covering digital transformation and cybersecurity policy work. Prior to joining Microsoft over 4 years ago, Maciej has worked as a government affairs consultant in Brussels, at a European Parliament as well as at the diplomatic missions overseas. Alumnus of the College of Europe, Maastricht University and Jagiellonian University in Kraków. A Polish national.

Chris Carroll

Policy Director, Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Region 1

Chris Carroll has been the Policy Director at FIA Region I since September 2017. The FIA Region I office, based in Brussels, is a consumer body representing 107 Mobility Clubs and their 38 million members from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Chris is responsible for overseeing all policy affairs of the office including on connectivity, sustainability, safeguarding mobility and the environment. Before joining FIA Region I Chris worked in the advocacy field for the past 8 years in Brussels on maritime and road transport affairs. Chris has also worked in the private sector as a market analyst in London for the energy information service Platts.

Julia Poliscanova

Manager, Clean Vehicles and Air Quality, Transport & Environment

Julia joined Transport & Environment in June 2015, having previously worked for the Mayor of London and in the European Parliament. During her four years in the parliament, she was researcher and advisor to Fiona Hall MEP, and followed EU legislation on renewables, energy efficiency and sustainable transport in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee. Julia works on T&E’s clean vehicles team and is currently engaged with CO2 legislation for cars and vans, as well as work on sustainable batteries for electric vehicles. She is also coordinating T&E’s work on reducing emissions from diesel cars in European cities.

Hailing from Latvia, Julia studied European politics and French at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is about to finish the MSc in energy engineering programme at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, specialising in batteries and fuel cells. She speaks English, French, Latvian and Russian, and loves swimming and travelling in her spare time – as well as good red wine (with emphasis on oenology, not drinking, of course).

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 a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board, Rand Europe's Council of Advisors and the external advisory board of YouGov-Cambridge, a polling think-tank. He is a member of the board of advisors of the European Institute in Washington DC, the advisory board of the Washington European Society and the advisory committee of the EU chapter of Women in International Security (WiiS).

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. In 2016 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite by the French government.

Johanna Tzanidaki

Innovation and Deployment Director, ERTICO - ITS Europe

A Greek national, Johanna Tzanidaki holds a PhD in EU Law from the Universities of Southampton and Cambridge, UK, and an LLM from Leiden Law School, The Netherlands. She also holds an MA and an MPhil from the UK Universities of Bristol and Cambridge and has professional qualifications in Project Management (PRINCE2), in CSR (Harvard Business School) and in Social Accountability (SAI). With long experience in EU Affairs and Policy, she has previously worked for the TomTom Group as Director of Public Affairs where she was responsible for advocating for the Group’s interests and liaising with global and European ITS stakeholders on policy recommendations at national and EU Institutions level. She was also TomTom spokeswoman within the industry and public authorities associations (ERTICO, TISA, iMobility and C-ITS Platform). Johanna was a member of the ERTICO Supervisory Board for five years as she was annually elected to speak on behalf of TomTom and the Service Providers sector (2012-2017). She has launched and co-Chaired the ERTICO Innovation Platform TM 2.0 on Interactive Traffic Management since 2014. She has been extensively involved in the TISA ITS Directive WG and the EU EIP-TISA work on the ITS related EU Commission Delegated Regulations. She is specialised in EU Regulation and Policy in the field of Mobility and Transport. She joined the ERTICO team in July 2017 and in addition to her native Greek, she is fluent in English and Italian and also speaks some Dutch and French.

Thomas Willson

Mobility Policy Advisor and Project Coordinator, EUROCITIES

Thomas joined EUROCITIES in April 2018 as the Mobility Policy Advisor and Project Coordinator. EUROCITIES is the network of major European cities, which brings together the local governments of more than 140 of Europe’s largest cities and over 45 partner cities that govern 130 million citizens across 39 countries. Thomas coordinates the network’s policy advocacy on mobility and implements project work on sustainability mobility indicators. Previously, Thomas managed standardization programmes on transport, energy and refrigerants for ECOS, and held positions in the Sustainable Food Trust and Environmental Justice Foundation.

Thomas holds a master’s degree in Environmental Science Legislation and Management from Brunel University and a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Exeter.

Pascal van den Noort

Executive Director, Velo Mondial

Pascal van den Noort is Executive Director of Velo Mondial, conceptual thinker, skilled moderator and mobility expert. He became involved in urban mobility after developing a successful career in international healthcare. His transition to urban mobility came from being asked to organize the second Global Cycling Conference: Velo Mondial 2000 in Amsterdam.

Since then he pursues his passions to making cycling glamorous all over the world while putting urban health at the heart of his endeavors.

He has worked on projects promoting cycling and bike sharing as essential modes of transport across Europe and abroad. He has worked with cities like Barcelona, Berlin, Gothenburg, Bucharest, Ploiesti, Rome, Krakow, Szeged, Padua, Burgos, Lambeth, Southwark, New York, Pittsburgh, Gdansk, Merton, Bologna, Tallinn, Utrecht, Funchal. He now is partner in CiViTAS Handshake where Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Munich guide 10 European cities to the status of Cycling Capital.

He also focuses on the ‘Digital Urban Public Space’ as a new realm for cities to plan digital tools that can regulate digitally offered modes of shared mobility.

Stijn Hoorens

Head, Brussels Office; Associate Director, RAND Europe

Stijn Hoorens is the head of RAND’s Brussels Office and an associate director of RAND Europe. He has extensive experience in designing and leading policy studies at RAND for a range of international clients in the private and public sector. His research interests are broad, but most of his work has revolved around issues related to illicit markets, security, demographic issues, employment, and skills.

Prior to joining RAND, Hoorens held research positions at Delft University of Technology and at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). He received his M.Sc. and B.sc. in systems engineering, policy analysis, and management from Delft University of Technology.