Speaker Biographies

Speakers

Moderators

Vĕra Jourová

Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, European Commission

Ms Věra Jourová is currently European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality.

In 2014, before coming to the European Commission, Ms Jourová held the position of Minister for Regional Development in the Czech Republic. Previous to this, from 2006 to 2013, she worked in her own company as an international consultant on European Union funding, and also was involved in consultancy activities in the Western Balkans relating to the European Union Accession. In 2003 Ms. Jourová was appointed Deputy Minister for Regional Development, a position which she held for three years.

Previously she worked as Head of the Department of Regional Development in the Vysočina Region, from 2001, and before that as Secretary and Spokesperson of the Třebič Municipal Office, from 1995 to 2001.

Ms Jourová holds a Degree in Law (Mgr.) from the Charles University, Prague and a Master's degree (Mgr.) in the Theory of Culture from the Charles University, Prague.

Mariya Gabriel

Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, European Commission

Bulgarian-born Mariya Gabriel is the current European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society.

She was the Vice-President of the EPP Group in the European Parliament from 2014-2017.

Mariya Gabriel was a Member of the European Parliament, EPP/GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) from 2009-2017. Since 2012, Mariya Gabriel has served as Vice-President of EPP Women. Prior to this she was Parliamentary Secretary to MEPs from the GERB political party within the EPP Group in 2008-2009.

She is part of project teams, such as Digital Single Market, Energy Union, Better Regulation and Interinstitutional Affairs, Budget and Human Resources, and Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness.

As a member of the project teams, her responsibilities include launching ambitious proposals for the completion of a connected Digital Single Market, supporting the development of creative industries and of a successful European media and content industry, as well as other activities turning digital research into innovation success stories.

Yeong Zee Kin

Deputy Commissioner, Personal Data Protection Commission, Singapore

Yeong Zee Kin is Assistant Chief Executive (Data Innovation and Protection Group) of the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) and Deputy Commissioner of the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC).

In his capacity as ACE (Data Innovation and Protection Group), Zee Kin oversees IMDA’s Artificial Intelligence and Data Industry development strategy. This is one of four frontier technology areas IMDA has identified for its transformational potential for a Digital Economy. The other three are cybersecurity, the Internet of Things, and immersive media. In his role as an AI and data analytics champion, Zee Kin’s work includes developing forward-thinking governance on AI and data, driving a pipeline of AI talent, promoting industry adoption of AI and data analytics, as well as building specific AI and data science capabilities in Singapore.

As the Deputy Commissioner of PDPC, Zee Kin oversees the administering and enforcement of the Personal Data Protection Act (2012). His key responsibilities include managing the formulation and implementation of policies relating to the protection of personal data, as well as the issuing of enforcement directions for organisational actions. He also spearheads the public and sector-specific educational and outreach activities, to raise both awareness and compliance in organisations and individuals in personal data protection.

Andrea Jelinek

Chair, European Data Protection Board

On January 1, 2014, Andrea Jelinek, who holds a doctor degree in law, took over the Austrian Data Protection Authority. While still a student, she worked as a consultant at the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), then as a trainee lawyer and from 1991 as a legal officer at the General Secretariat of the Austrian Rectors' Conference.

Two years later she moved to the Ministry of the Interior, where she first worked as a legal officer and later as head of department in the legal and legislative department. One of her special fields - asylum and immigration law - should also determine her further career. From October 2010 to June 2011 she took over as head of the Vienna Foreign Police. Before that, in 2003, she was the first woman in Vienna to be appointed head of a police commissioner's office.

Since February 2018, she has also been the Chair of the Article 29 Working Party.

Peter Davidson

General Counsel, US Department of Commerce

As the General Counsel for the Department of Commerce, Peter B. Davidson is the legal advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and the Department’s Chief Legal Officer. Mr. Davidson recently served as a Senior Vice President at Verizon Communications, and prior to that, as General Counsel to the United States Trade Representative.

He also has served as a Vice President at USWEST and Qwest, General Counsel and Policy Director to the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Attorney-Advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice, a director at the United States Information Agency, and law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Mr. Davidson graduated from Carleton College and the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Notes Editor on the Law Review.

Mercy Wanjau

Chair of the Taskforce on Data Protection and Privacy Policy, Kenya

Mercy Wanjau is a commercial lawyer, regulatory and governance professional currently working with the Communications Authority of Kenya as the acting Director Legal Services. She has been involved in designing and harmonizing policy and regulation in the ICT sector at the local, regional and international level for over 15 years. She also has vast experience in corporate governance reform, training and practice. She is currently chairing a taskforce for the development Policy and Regulatory Framework on Privacy and Data Protection in Kenya.

Her work is predicated on her belief that public policy choices must be informed by balanced considerations that seek to maximize gain and mitigate unintended consequences within an integrated framework. Given her great interest in technology, gadgets and social impact, present day events have significantly validated her belief. She is a mentor and a team leader.

Prior to this, she consulted with PricewaterhouseCoopers Kenya, KPMG South Africa and also had a stint in commercial legal practice. She chairs the board of the CPS Governance Centre, serves on the Board of the SOS Children’s Villages and is a Council Member of the Institute of Certified Secretaries (Kenya).

She is a graduate of the University of Nairobi (LLB) Hons. University of Cape Town (LLM) and Strathmore Business School (AMP). She is a Certified Secretary and a Certified Professional Mediator. She is also an Eisenhower Fellow.

Currently, Mercy is Assistant Director, Regulatory Affairs and Governance at the Communications Authority of Kenya, the ICT sector regulator. Her role entails providing advisory support in legal and regulatory aspects, public policy analysis and legislative development.

She has engaged extensively in negotiations, stakeholder consultations and implementation of the ICT frameworks locally, in the region e.g. Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC) and internationally e.g. United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), World Bank and Infodev.

Mercy is also an Eisenhower Fellow and a published author with the ITU and UNCTAD.

Tetsuo Narukawa

Commissioner for International Cooperation, Personal Information Protection Commission, Japan

Tetsuo Narukawa is a commissioner for international cooperation of Personal Information Protection Commission, Japan since 2017.

He started his career at The Industrial Bank of Japan, Ltd. and he has been devoted to financial affairs for many years. He also has overseas experiences as a chairman of the board of managing directors, Industriebank von Japan (Deutschland) Aktiengesellschaft, IBJ (Germany) .

In addition, he worked as a managing director, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., president & CEO of Nippon Steel Kowa Real Estate Co.,Ltd. and director of Okasan Securities Group Inc. etc. before becoming a commissioner.

Through his careers of working at various companies as an executive, he has gotten extensive knowledge and wide experience in matters relating to the practices of private enterprises.

He holds an economics degree from Keio University.

Giovanni Buttarelli

European Data Protection Supervisor

Mr. Giovanni Buttarelli (1957) has been European Data Protection Supervisor since December 2014. He was appointed by a joint decision of the European Parliament and the Council on 4 December 2014 for a term of five years. He previously served as Assistant EDPS, from January 2009 until December 2014.

Before joining the EDPS, he worked as Secretary General to the Italian Data Protection Authority, a position he occupied between 1997 and 2009. A member of the Italian judiciary with the rank of Cassation judge, he has attended to many initiatives and committees on data protection and related issues at international level.

Birgit Sippel

Member, European Parliament

Birgit Sippel has been a member of the European Parliament since 2009. In 2014, she was elected Coordinator (spokesperson) of the S&D Group in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). She currently serves as the European Parliament rapporteur for the regulations on ePrivacy as well as for access to e-evidence.

In the past, she has been involved in a wide range of topics covering the area of privacy and data protection (e.g. Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme, Passenger Name Record data (PNR)). Moreover, she has been involved in the advancement of police and judicial cooperation at EU level (Area of Freedom, Security and Justice), e.g. by supporting the adoption of several directives on procedural safeguards. In addition to this, she is working on files related to the EU asylum policy, migration and the Schengen area. She is also a member of the Delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries, and a substitute member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL).

In 1982, Birgit Sippel joined the Socialist Youth of Germany ("Die Falken", belonging to the International Falcon Movement). That same year, she also joined the Social-Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and became actively involved in her local party branch in Neheim (Germany). In 1983, she became a member of the German Industrial Union of Metalworkers (IG Metall), in which she served, amongst others, as an employee representative. From 1994 to 2004, she served as an SPD member of the city council of Arnsberg (Germany). Apart from her commitment at local level, Sippel was a member of the SPD's Federal Party Council from 1996 to 2010 and has been a member of the party's council and presidium in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westfalia since 2010.

Mathias Cellarius

Global Data Protection Officer, Head of Data Protection & Privacy, SAP Global Security

Mathias Cellarius is SAP’s Global Data Protection Officer and the head of Data Protection and Privacy at SAP.
Mathias further heads ‘SAP Export Control’ as a second regulatory responsibility. His professional experience spans the company’s legal, public policy, research and intellectual property functions.

Mathias holds a law degree from the University of Freiburg and his bachelor law degree with the higher regional court of Karlsruhe. In addition, he holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with the University of Mannheim.

Linda Thielova

Data Privacy Counsel, OneTrust

Linda Thielová serves as Data Privacy Counsel at OneTrust, the largest and most widely used dedicated privacy management technology platform for compliance with global privacy laws. In her role, Linda provides guidance on GDPR-related privacy obligations to support product innovation and assist with compliance efforts for a wide spectrum of organistions from both private and public sectors. She also conducts training and workshops on the global privacy landscape and contributes to various publications and conferences on a regular basis.

With five years of professional experience in privacy from various roles and sectors, Linda's background combines judiciary review of administrative decisions and more hands-on experience of building internal company privacy programs from an in-house legal counsel position.

Linda is a Certified Information privacy Professional (CIPP/E, CIPM) and holds a master’s in law and Legal Science.

Despina Spanou

Director Digital Society Trust & Cybersecurity DG CONNECT, European Commission

Despina Spanou is the Director for Digital Society, Trust and Cybersecurity at the Directorate-General Communications Network, Content and Technology. In this capacity she is responsible for cybersecurity policy and law, digital privacy, connected cities and mobility, digital health and e-government as well as electronic identification. She oversaw the work on the actions on Cybersecurity adopted in September 2017, including the Cybersecurity Act and Recommendation on large scale cybersecurity incidents. She is a member of the Management Board of ENISA and of the Steering Board of CERT-EU. She recently led the restructuring of the Directorate to expand on research technology and capacity building in cybersecurity.

She was previously Director for Consumer Affairs at the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (2013-2017). She has served as Principal Adviser in the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers where she was responsible for communication and strategic issues.

She was the Deputy Head of Cabinet for the European Commissioner for Health and Consumers Mr. Kyprianou (2004-2008) and for the Commissioner for Health, and later Education & Culture, Mrs. Vassiliou (2008-2010).

Despina Spanou started her career at the European Commission at the Directorate General for Competition in 2003. She had previously practised European law with the Brussels branch of a US law firm. She is of Cypriot origin, a member of the Athens Bar Association and holds a Ph.D. in European law from the University of Cambridge.

Sanford Reback

Vice President of Global Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Twilio

Sanford Reback is Vice President, Global Public Policy and Government Affairs at Twilio, where he heads the policy team and undertakes advocacy on a worldwide basis.

Reback has more than 25 years of policy, business, and legal experience in the technology and communications sectors. Immediately prior to joining Twilio, he was Senior Director of Global Public Policy at Akamai Technologies, where he advocated for the company globally on a broad range of issues including privacy, cybersecurity, and net neutrality.

Previously, he served as Deputy General Counsel for Policy, heading the public policy team, at UUNET Technologies, then the world’s largest Internet service provider (ISP); Senior International Counsel at MCI, then a Fortune 100 company; and a senior executive at two venture-backed technology companies. In the Executive Office of the President at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Reback helped negotiate communications and technology agreements and the accords that established the World Trade Organization.

Reback holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a Master’s from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a B.A. from Stanford University, and was a Fulbright Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. He is a member of that institution as well as the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Joan Antokol

Managing Partner, Park Legal LLC

Joan is the managing partner of Park Legal LLC, a data protection and security law firm with offices in Indianapolis and New Jersey. Prior to starting her own law firm in 2010, Joan was a partner at a large law firm headquartered in Indianapolis for three years, and also chaired that firm’s data protection practice group. Before becoming an external counsel, Joan’s was a Vice President and Global Privacy Officer for Novartis for 7 years.

Since 2002, Joan has been a member of the International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications (IWGDPT), a group chaired by the Berlin data protection commissioner and comprised of the data protection regulators from across the E.U. as well as a growing number of other countries around the world. As such, Joan has longstanding professional relationships with the data protection regulators in many countries along with strong knowledge of the requirements and the regulator expectations.

Joan is also a Privacy by Design Ambassador (appointed by the former Ontario, Canada Privacy Commissioner), based on her assistance in developing and implementing global privacy frameworks for multinational companies, and is the author of a number of data protection articles. She received her undergraduate decree from Cornell University and her law degree from Rutgers University.

Jeremy Rollison

Director, EU Government Affairs, Microsoft Europe

Jeremy Rollison is Director of EU Government Affairs within Microsoft’s Corporate, External, & Legal Affairs (CELA) group. Based in Brussels, his work focuses on policy related to the EU Digital Single Market (DSM), with a particular emphasis on data issues and corresponding public policy covering privacy, cybersecurity, cloud policy, and the cross-border provision of online services. Prior to joining Microsoft, he worked in the Government Relations team at Nokia in the company’s EU representative office, and was previously Director of the European Digital Media Association (EDiMA) in Brussels. He has over a decade of experience in Brussels at the company, association, and consultancy levels, focusing and engaging with EU stakeholders on issues related to the development and delivery of online services in the Internal Market and corresponding EU regulatory policy.

Bruno Gencarelli

Head of Unit, International data flows and protection, DG JUSTICE, European Commission

Mr Gencarelli heads the International data flows and protection Unit at the European Commission (DG Justice and Consumers). In the past years, he led the Commission's work in the area of data protection, as regards both new legislation and international negotiations. He notably headed the Commission's delegation in the interinstitutional negotiations with the European Parliament and the Council that resulted in the adoption of the EU data protection reform ("General Data Protection Regulation" and "Law Enforcement Directive"). He was also one of the lead negotiators of the EU-US Privacy Shield and "Umbrella Agreement". He recently negotiated the mutual adequacy arrangement with Japan.

Mr Gencarelli previously served as a member of the European Commission's Legal Service and as an assistant (référendaire) to a judge at the European Court of Justice after having practiced law in the private sector. He holds degrees in law and political science, and teaches EU Competition Law at Sciences Po Paris. He is the author of numerous publications on EU law.

Jan Ellermann

Senior Specialist Data Protection Function, Europol

Jan Ellermann works as Senior Specialist in Europol's Data Protection Function and provides operational data protection related guidance across the organisation. This includes advising the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), the European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) as well as the European Migrant Smuggling Centre (EMSC) in the continuous development of new and innovative initiatives.

Jan has joined Europol in late 2007 after starting his professional career as a research assistant and lawyer in Germany, later serving his country as a Public Prosecutor. He holds a doctoral degree in law connected to Europol and the FBI and has published various articles on data protection and information security related topics.

Jan is a certified data protection auditor and is holding a Master of Science in Forensic Computing and Cybercrime Investigation at the University College in Dublin (UCD). He is regularly invited to share his professional experience at national and international level.

Jan is passionate about data protection and one of the initiators of the Europol Data Protection Experts Network (EDEN), i.e. an online collaboration platform which has been developed with the aim to involve stakeholders from various backgrounds in order to strike the right balance between freedom and security. EDEN includes law enforcement as well as representatives of relevant private parties, academia, NGOs etc. It can be used as a channel to present projects, best practises and events linked to data protection in a law enforcement context.

Thomas Boué

Director General, Policy - EMEA, BSA l The Sofware Alliance

Thomas Boué oversees the BSA | The Software Alliance’s public policy activities in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. 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. He leads on security and privacy issues as well as broader efforts to improve levels of intellectual property protection and to promote open markets, fair competition, and technology innovation in new areas such as cloud computing.

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 Master of Business Administration from the Europa-Insitut (Saarbrücken, Germany), a Certificate of Integrated Legal Studies (trilateral and trilingual Master’s 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.

Ilias Chantzos

Senior Director, Government Affairs EMEA & APJ, Symantec

Ilias Chantzos is Senior Director of Symantec’s Government Affairs programmes for Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific Japan (APJ). He is also the Global Advisor for Critical Infrastructure and Data Protection. Chantzos represents Symantec before government bodies, national authorities and international organisations advising on public policy issues with particular regard to IT security and privacy.

Before joining Symantec in 2004, Chantzos worked as legal and policy officer in the Directorate General Information Society of the European Commission focusing on information security policy. He covered the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention and the Framework Decision on Attacks against Information Systems. In addition, he worked on a number of EU legislative initiatives relevant to information society and security, including directives on Privacy on Electronic Communications, the Data Retention Directive and the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA). He also represented the European Commission in various international debates and conferences.

Chantzos holds a law degree from the Aristotle University, an Erasmus degree from the University of Limburg, a Master degree in Computers and Communication Law from Queen Mary College, University of London and a Master in Business Administration from Solvay Business School. He has also completed executive education at the JFK School of Government in Harvard. Chantzos is member of the Athens Bar Association. He served as Chairman of the Executive Board of TechAmerica Europe. He also served for four terms as Chairman of the European Policy Council of Business Software Alliance (BSA). He is appointed member of the Permanent Stakeholders Group of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) and at Europol’s European Cybercrime Center (EC3) Advisory Board. He also represents Symantec at the NATO Industry Cooperation Platform. Chantzos is a member of the Young Global Leaders 2014 class of the World Economic Forum. He speaks Greek, English, Dutch and German.

Paolo Cesarini

Head of Unit, Media Convergence and Social Media, European Commission

Paolo Cesarini is Head of the Unit responsible for media convergence and social media within DG Communication Networks, Content and Technology at the European Commission.

He previously held other management positions in the Commission, namely in DG Competition where he was responsible for antitrust enforcement and legislation (in the media, consumer goods, basic industries, agricultural and manufacturing sectors) from 2001 until 2010, and for State aid policy (in the areas of R&D&I, risk finance and environment) from 2011 until 2016.

Previous assignments include work as a legal officer at the Legal Service of the International Labour Organization in Geneva (Switzerland) and as a researcher at the Institute for Public and International Law of Siena University. He obtained a master degree in international law at the University of Siena (Italy) and an LLM in EU law at the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium).

During the last ten years, he has also been teaching EU competition law as visiting professor at Siena University, and as lecturer at the universities of Turin and Montpellier.

Zsuzsanna Belenyessy

Head of Sector, Digital Privacy, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Zsuzsanna has joined the European Commission, DG CNECT in June 2018 as head of sector for digital privacy. Prior to that, she worked for the European Data Protection Supervisor as a legal officer since 2006, first in the supervision and enforcement team, and since 2010, in the policy and cooperation unit. She provided advice to the European Parliament, Council and the Commission on new legislative proposals and cooperated with data protection authorities across Europe to help ensure a common approach.

Prior to joining the EDPS, she worked in private practice on cross-border transactions in Brussels, Prague, Bucharest and Budapest (1995-2006). She also spent 2 years in the United States on a Fulbright scholarship (2001-2003) and was admitted to the New York Bar. Her main area of interest is seeing how data protection and privacy laws can evolve and remain relevant in the era of big data.

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.

Estelle Massé

Senior Policy Analyst and Global Data Protection Lead , Access Now

Estelle Masse is Senior Policy Analyst and Global Data Protection Lead at Access Now. Her work focuses on data protection, privacy, surveillance and telecoms policies. In particular, Estelle leads the work of the organisation on data protection in the EU and around the world. She is a member of the Multistakeholder Expert Group of the European Commission to support the application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). She graduated with a Master in European Law from the University of Granada, Spain.

Trisha Meyer

Postdoctoral Researcher, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Dr. Trisha Meyer is an Assistant Professor at Vesalius College and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for European Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Through her research and teaching, she explores the role and effects of technology and participatory mechanisms in governing societal problems, such as copyright infringement, disinformation and the transition to a sustainable lifestyle.

She recently co-authored a European Parliament study commissioned by the Scientific Foresight Unit of the European Parliament, which examined how governments can regulate tech companies that themselves regulate disinformation spread on their own platforms. Meyer and her co-author Marsden analysed the effects that AI-enhanced disinformation initiatives have on freedom of expression, media pluralism and the exercise of democracy, from the wider lens of tackling illegal content online and concerns to request proactive (automated) measures of online intermediaries, thus enabling them to become censors of free expression. In line with the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, they call for assessments of the impact of technology-based solutions on human rights in general, and freedom of expression and media pluralism in particular.

David Longford

Chief Executive Officer, DataGuidance

David Longford is Chief Executive Officer of DataGuidance, the leading regulatory platform for privacy professionals. He was appointed to the position in March 2015, and has since led the Company through a period of significant growth and structural change.

Prior to this role, David spent several years working in data privacy and the financial services industry. A regular commentator on privacy issues, both in print and at events, David has a particular interest in the regulation of emerging technologies.

Catherine Mayer

Executive Director, Datum Future

Catherine Mayer is a bestselling author and journalist, with a career spanning The Economist, the German news weekly FOCUS and TIME magazine, where she served as Europe Editor and Editor at Large. Her most recent book, Attack of the 50 Ft Women, examines, among other things, the impacts of technology on gender equality. She is the co-founder and President of the UK Women’s Equality Party.

She served as the elected President of the Foreign Press Association in London from 2003-2005. She is on the founding committee of WOW—the Women of the World Festival and was a judge for the 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

The winner of the FPA Story of the Year in 2010 and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize the following year, she has also been named in WIE Women in Excellence 2013, Progress 1000 Evening Standard Equality Champion 2016, Oxford University Suffrage Champion 2018, Gender Equality Top 100: Most Influential People in Global Policy 2018 and, with Sandi Toksvig, NatWest Spirit of Everywoman Award 2018.

Lauri Rautio

Senior Advisor in Legislative Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Finland

Mr Lauri Rautio is working at the Finnish Ministry of Justice as a Senior Adviser in Legislative Affairs. He is responsible, amongst other things, for negotiations on the so-called e-evidence legislation.

Before his current task Mr Rautio has, inter alia, worked in the Permanent representation of Finland to the EU as a Senior Specialist in Criminal law and in the Helsinki District Court and in the Helsinki Court of Appeal.

Diego Naranjo

Senior Policy Advisor, European Digital Rights

Diego Naranjo is a qualified lawyer and co-founder of the Andalusian human rights organisation Grupo 17 de Marzo. During the last six years, Diego has been specialising on human rights law. He owns a Master's degree in human rights from the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation in Venice.

Diego joined EDRi in October 2014 where he works as Senior Policy Advisor. He advocates for the protection of citizens' fundamental rights and freedoms online in the fields of data protection, surveillance and copyright. In the past, Diego gained experience in the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and the Free Software Foundation Europe. Previously to all that he worked as a lawyer in Spain. He is part of the expert group on digital rights of the Spanish Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda.

Diego is co-author of the Council of Europe's Study DGI(2014)31 "Human Rights Violations Online", prepared by EDRi for the Council of Europe on 4 December 2014.

Mika Lauhde

Vice President, Cyber Security & Privacy Affairs, Huawei Technologies

Mika Lauhde works as Vice-President, Cyber Security & Privacy, Global PACD in Huawei Technologies Co., LTD.
He leads public relations team to understand and provide insight of governments Cyber security and Privacy policy, public opinions, threads, technologies, laws, regulations, inside informations, situation and trends.

His work in Huawei is to understand the “big picture” what comes to Cyber Security and its requirements globally.
Prior joining Huawei he worked in SSH Communications Security as VP, Government Relations and Business Development. Engaging governments, industry partners, and customers on important security and privacy issues such as critical infrastructure protection, compliancy, software assurance, risk and identity management.

In Nokia Corporation, Mika Lauhde headed Business Security and Continuity, where he was accountable globally Government Relations in Cybersecurity and Privacy area, Criminal compliancy and forensic, Nokia wide crisis management as well terminal and manufacturing related security tool manufacturing.

Mika has an extensive experience with cyber security related topics and governmental institutions both in Europe, ASIA and USA. Currently he is a Member of ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency) Permanent Stakeholder Group and Europol Cyber security and privacy adviser as well Senior Fellow, Maastricht University, Faculty of Law, Centre of Data protection and Cyber Security (2017-)

Ania Helseth

EU Policy Manager, Facebook

Ania Helseth is a Policy Manager for Facebook in their Brussels office. In her role, she is responsible for evaluating various digital policy developments at the EU level as well as for formulating of the company's positions, focusing especially on false news issues. Prior to that, she worked at various trade associations, including American Chamber of Commerce the EU, and served as a telecom attache at the Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU. She started her career in Brussels as an MEP advisor in the 2004-2009 legislature. She holds a law degree from Oxford University.

Tania Schroeter

Deputy Head of Unit, Procedural Criminal Law Unit, European Commission

Tania has joined the unit in DG Justice dealing with judicial cooperation in criminal matters beginning of 2016. She has been dealing with mutual recognition instruments, including the Directive on the European Investigation Order. She is co-leading the task force on e-evidence established in 2016 between DG Home and DG Justice, which prepared the two legislative proposals of the e-evidence package and is also working on implementing practical measures to improve access to e-evidence.

Robert Dehm

Attaché, Information Society and Telecommunications, Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU

Mr Dehm's biography is not yet available

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.

Paul is a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board and Rand Europe's Council of Advisors. He is also 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.

In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to promoting understanding of the European Union” and in 2016 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite by the French government.

Eline Chivot

Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Data Innovation

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

Dan Michaels

Brussels Bureau Chief, The Wall Street Journal

Daniel Michaels is the European Aerospace and Aviation Editor of The Wall Street Journal, based in Brussels. He writes about and oversees coverage of airlines, aviation and aerospace industries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He has been covering these industries since 1999. He also frequently writes aheds, about almost any subject.

From 1993 to 1999, Daniel covered Central & Eastern Europe for the WSJ, based in Warsaw, focusing on business, politics and society. He previously worked as a management consultant on privatization in Poland and Russia. Before that, he was a management consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton in New York City, working across a range of industries in the U.S. and Canada.

Daniel is a graduate of Princeton University, where he studied China and East Asia. He speaks French, Polish and rusty Mandarin Chinese.

Daniel Gehrt

Research Leader, RAND Europe

Daniel Gehrt is a Research Leader in the Innovation, Health & Science team of RAND Europe. His primary research interests are in the area of research and innovation policies, with a particular interest in the field of eco-innovation. Based in the Brussels office, Daniel naturally focusses on EU-related studies and activities.

Prior to joining RAND, Daniel had been working for almost nine years as Project Manager with the Joint Institute for Innovation Policy (JIIP), a Brussels-based policy research organisation with a clear focus on research and innovation policies. One of his key achievements there has been the coordination, management and successful completion of “RECREATE” (www.recreate-net.eu), a large FP7 Coordination and Support Action running from 2013 to 2018, comprising 16 partners and a budget of 3 million EUR, the objective of which has been to advise the European Commission on funding priorities in the “Societal Challenges” pillar of Horizon 2020.

Daniel holds degrees in European Studies (B.A. Honours, Trinity College Dublin) and International Relations (M.A., King’s College London) and has also done extensive postgraduate coursework on Evaluation of Public Policies (Manchester Institute of Innovation Research; Université Catholique de Louvain). Besides English and his native language German, Daniel has full professional proficiency in French and good understanding of Spanish, Italian and Dutch.