Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speeches

Speakers

Viviane Reding

Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, European Commission

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

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

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

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

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

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

Evelyne Gebhardt

Shadow Rapporteur Consumer Rights Directive, Member, European Parliament

Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament
Member, Germany

Born on 19 January 1954, Montreuil-sous-Bois (France)

Member
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China

Substitute
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis
Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia

Curriculum vitae
Baccalaureate at the Lycée Lamartine in Paris (1972). Degree in literature at the Sorbonne, Paris (1975). Freelance translator (since 1977). Has lectured in Germany and abroad (on gender equality, civil rights, biotechnology and genetic engineering). Has worked as an expert in South America and Africa for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Member of the Baden-Württemberg SPD Land Executive Committee (since 1989). Federal Vice-Chairwoman of the Working Party of Social-Democratic Women (since 1992). Chairwoman of the Baden-Württemberg SPD European Advisory Committee. Member of the executive of the European women's organisation 'Grain de Sel' (Paris) (since 1993).

Member of the Akademie für Ethik in der Medizin (academy of medical ethics) (since 1997). Board member of the association on young people's art colleges (since 1999). Member of the Marie Schlei Association and of 'Gegen Vergessen - Für Demokratie'.

Member of the European Parliament (since 1994).

Federal Cross of Merit with ribbon (1999).

Monique Goyens

Director General, BEUC

As Director General of BEUC Monique represents 41 independent national consumer associations in 30 European countries acting as a strong consumer voice in Brussels, ensuring that consumer interests are given weight in the development of policies and raising the visibility and effectiveness of the consumer movement through lobbying EU institutions and media contacts.

Having a background in law she has published numerous articles in scientific journals on consumer and European law.

Prior to BEUC, Monique led the Belgian Commission Universitaire pour le Développement with international and national donors and partners in developing countries. She had been BEUC’s Senior Legal Adviser and contributed to the promotion of consumer interests through research as Project leader for European Affairs at Centre de droit de la consommation–UCL.

Ursula Pachl

Deputy Director General, BEUC

Ms. Pachl has been with BEUC since October 1997, first as Legal Advisor , then as Institutional Affairs Advisor and recently as Senior Policy Advisor , coordinating the BEUC team working on the consumer acquis and being responsible for horizontal policy issues.

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

Ms. Pachl is the co-author of a collection of decisions related to consumer law, edited by the Austrian Consumer Association and has written several articles in consumer policy journals. Ms. Pachl graduated in Law - Magister Juris - from the University of Innsbruck in 1990 and later received a postgraduate diploma in cultural management from the University of Linz in 1995.

Michael Aendenhof

Counsellor for Consumer Affairs, Permanent Representation of Belgium to the EU

After having worked at the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a couple of years on European institutional matters, Michael now works at the Belgian permanent Representation, focusing in particular on issues relating to the internal market, including intellectual property rights, gambling and consumer affairs. He will be presiding the consumer affairs working group during the Belgian presidency.Michael holds a Masters degree in international relations from the University of Ghent and a postgraduate degree in European external relations from the Institut d'études européennes (Université libre de Bruxelles).

Virginie Alloo

Senior Analyst, Cullen International

Virginie joined Cullen International as a senior analyst in May 2008. Virginie is responsible for monitoring and analysing in an independent manner EU regulatory developments related to e-commerce, privacy and content issues. Her work covers regulatory developments under the responsibility of the European Union Institutions, as well as developments in five Western European countries: France , Germany , Italy , Spain and the UK. She is also responsible for producing benchmarks on ecom-related regulatory topics in these countries.

Previously, Virginie was Regulatory Affairs Advisor for Belgacom where she worked on a number of telecom related regulatory questions including universal service, interconnection and pricing.

Guillaume Delvallée

Conseiller en charge de la protection juridique des consommateurs, Représentation permanente française auprès de l'UE, French Permanent Representation to the EU

Biography will appear here shortly...

Michael Meissner

Vice President Corporate Affairs Europe, Amway

Professional Career:
Since 2010 Amway Europe, Vice President Corporate Affairs Europe
2007 - 2009 Diehl Stiftung & Co. KG, Senior Vice President, Head of External Affairs
2006 - 2007 EADS, Vice President, Head of Central Marketing and Sales Sup-port of the company's Defence & Security Division
2003 - 2005 EADS, Vice President and Head of Communications and External Relations of the Defence and Communications Systems Business Unit
1999 - 2003 Audi AG, Head of Government and Economic Relations
1995 - 1999 VIAG, PR Manager
1988 - 1995 Federal Armed Forces (Deutsche Bundeswehr), Commanding Officer at various positions
1985 - 1988 Study at the Federal Armed Forces University
1983 - 1985 Federal Armed Forces, Commanding Officer

Other activities:
Chairman of the Research and Technology Committee and associated member of the Bavarian Industrial Association

Michael Meissner is married and has two children.

Jens Karsten

Director European Regulatory Affairs, FEDSA

Jens is Director Regulatory Affairs for FEDSA, the Federation of European Direct Selling Associations (www.fedsa.eu).

He is advising FEDSA on broad EU strategy and legislative lobbying. Before that, he worked at the Directorate-General Health and Consumer Protection of the European Commission (DG SANCO) where he specialised in consumer law. Prior to his spell at the Commission, Jens has worked for the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) advising candidate countries acceding to the EU on the implementation of the acquis communautaire. He also taught at the University of Porto Alegre (Brazil) and completed a stint as researcher at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium).

In non-store retailing, Jens has years of experience in advising and representing direct selling interest in the EU-institutions.

Jens did his undergraduate studies in law at Frankfurt University. He has a Masters in EU law from the University of Nottingham. He has published widely on Community consumer law and transport law in English, German and French. Jens is a researcher at Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law of the University of Oslo and a member of the European Air Law Association (EALA). He is a speaker at the European Law Academy (Trier).

Patrice Pellegrino

Senior Adviser on Internal Market & Consumer Affairs and Fiscal Affairs , Eurocommerce

Biography will appear here shortly...

Cornelia Kutterer

Senior Manager - EU Regulatory Policy Corporate Affairs, LCA, Microsoft

Cornelia Kutterer is Senior Regulatory Policy Manager for Microsoft EMEA, responsible for data governance, security, online safety, human rights, and consumer policies. Her experience in Information Society regulatory policies at EU level, including data protection and communication policies makes her a strong advocate dedicated to increasing trust in the Internet. She is working with a number of trade associations and is currently chairing the DigitalEurope as well as the TechAMerica privacy & security working group.

Previously, Cornelia was Head of Legal Department and Senior Legal Advisor at BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, driving the policy agenda for consumers’ digital life and consumer protection laws. She has also gained experience in a top 10 law firm in the fields of competition law, intellectual property and e-commerce and in a German trade organisation focusing on the freedom of services. She started her professional career in the European Parliament as an assistant to a MEP in 1997.

Cornelia Kutterer is a qualified German lawyer (registered at the Frankfurt bar) and holds a master’s degree in information technology and communication laws. She studied law at the Universities of Passau, Porto, Hamburg and Strathclyde.