Digital Transformation – How Do We Enable an Open, Safe and Secure Space for Future Global Communication?

Ajit Pai joined CTIA as its President and CEO in April 2025.  He joined CTIA from Searchlight Capital Partners, a leading global private investment firm, where he has been a partner since 2021. Prior to Searchlight, Mr. Pai had a distinguished public service career at the Federal Communications Commission. He was designated FCC Chairman by President Donald Trump, and during his tenure, he implemented major initiatives to help close the digital divide, promote U.S. leadership in 5G, encourage innovation, and safeguard consumers and national security. Mr. Pai was appointed to the FCC as Commissioner in 2012 by President Barack Obama. Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University and from the University of Chicago Law School.

Botlenyana Mokhele has a wealth of experience in broadcasting media policy and regulation from a career spanning over two decades. Prior to being appointed to the Council of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), she was a Principal Consultant at Pygma Consulting based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Before becoming a consultant, Ms Mokhele served in a number of senior positions at the Department of Communications (DoC), including that of the Chief Director 2010 Broadcasting, responsible for implementation of the South African Government’s ICT Guarantees for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Prior to this she served as Deputy Executive Director of the National Association of Broadcasters and Manager at Broadcasting Policy Research and Development at ICASA. During her tenure in both positions, Ms Mokhele contributed towards broadcasting policy and ICT legislative processes in South Africa, and served on the country’s Digital Migration Working Group.

Ms Mokhele has a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of the Witwatersrand. She has Honours in counselling psychology from the University of South Africa (UNISA), a Postgraduate Diploma in information policy from UNISA, a Postgraduate Diploma in telecommunication studies from the Cable and Wireless College and an Advanced Project Management Diploma from Damelin College.

Ms Mokhele passed away in September 2020.

Brendan Carr was nominated to serve as a Commissioner of the FCC by President Donald J Trump and was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on August 3, 2017. He was sworn into office on August 11, 2017.

Commissioner Carr brings to the position over a dozen years of public and private sector experience in technology and communications law and policy.

Most recently, Mr Carr served as the General Counsel of the FCC. In that role, he served as the chief legal advisor to the Commission and FCC staff on all matters within the agency’s jurisdiction. Previously, he served as the lead advisor to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai on wireless, public safety, and international issues. Before that, he worked as an attorney in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, where he provided legal advice on a wide range of spectrum policy, competition, and public safety matters.

Prior to joining the Commission in 2012, Mr Carr was an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP, where he worked in the firm’s appellate, litigation, and telecom practices. He represented clients in both trial and appellate court proceedings, including complex litigation involving the First Amendment and the Communications Act.

Earlier in his career, he served as a law clerk for Judge Dennis W. Shedd of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr Carr graduated magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and obtained a certificate from its Institute for Communications Law Studies. He also served as a Note and Comment Editor of the Catholic University Law Review. Mr Carr received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University.

David J Redl was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the Department of Commerce in November 2017. He serves as Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Executive Branch agency that is principally responsible for advising the President on telecommunications and information policy.

Mr Redl is a lawyer and communications policy expert with more than a decade of experience in government and the private sector. He was previously the chief counsel at the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. In that role, he served as principal legal advisor to the chairman and members of the Energy and Commerce majority on communications and technology matters. Prior to his time with the committee, Mr Redl was director of regulatory affairs at CTIA, a trade association that represents the US wireless communications industry.

Mr Redl earned his JD from the Catholic University of America with a certificate from the Institute for Communications Law Studies, and he is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with degrees in journalism and political science. Mr Redl is admitted to the New York and District of Columbia bars

Ms. Koh comes to Ciena with significant experience in government. She held the title of U.S. Ambassador, while serving as the U.S. Representative and Head of Delegation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC -19). In this role, she negotiated for favorable outcomes for the United States on spectrum policy and allocation. She has also served as Special Assistant to the President for Technology, Telecom, and Cybersecurity Policy at the National Economic Council, coordinating policy and advising the White House on these matters.  Ms. Koh previously served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology in the U.S. House of Representatives.  In this role, she advised the chair and committee members on policy and legal issues arising in the telecommunications and technology sectors.

Ms. Koh has also worked in various positions in the private sector, including as a partner in DLA Piper LLP, an associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. She also worked for Cox Enterprises as Policy Counsel, advising the company and its subsidiaries on telecom and technology policy developments in Washington, D.C. Before joining Ciena, she led the U.S. office for government relations at Nokia.

Ms. Koh received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities from Yale University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Leonardo Euler de Morais started his career in Anatel in 2006. Since then he has worked as an advisor for the Board of Directors, as Head of the Economic Monitoring Management Office and as Head of the Technical Advisory Office. In 2016 he started his mandate as Commissioner. He is also the President of Spectrum and Orbit Committee (Comitê de Espectro e Órbita – CEO), responsible for supporting the Board of Directors in the decision-making process regarding the allocation plan, allocation and distribution of radio frequency bands in Brazil. At the end of 2018 he was appointed Anatel’s Chairman with a mandate until November 2021. Mr Euler is the first public servant from the Agency to become the President.

After graduating from University of Brasília (UnB), Mr Euler worked for Eletronorte as an analyst.

Mr Euler graduated in Economic Sciences and holds a master’s degree in Economics, both from the University of Brasília (UnB), where he has also taught courses in Economics.

Prior to joining COAI as DG in April 2010, Mr Mathews served in many senior executive positions in major companies such as Telargo (a JV of NTT DoCoMo), Afghan Wireless, Call Sciences, AT&T Wireless, Birla-AT&T (now IDEA), and as a senior financial executive at Beatrice International, Columbia-Tri Star Pictures, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

Mr Mathews specialises in international operations and start-up ventures, turn-arounds, mergers & acquisitions and venture financing. He assisted in raising over $1.5 billion of financing for companies through public and private offerings of equity, debt and private placements and has managed companies in such diverse places as the USA, Afghanistan, India, UK, France, Germany, Belgium Taiwan and Hong Kong. He has served, and continues to serve, on the boards of several for-profit and non-profit organisations.

He earned both his Master of Business Administration (Finance & Accounting) and Master of Arts (Economics) degrees from Rutgers University (USA) and is a CPA from the State of New Jersey, USA.

Robert L Strayer is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy. In this capacity, he leads development of international cybersecurity, Internet, data, and privacy policy and related negotiations with foreign governments. He has led dozens of bilateral and multilateral dialogues with foreign governments’ foreign affairs and communications ministries.

Mr Strayer was named by the President, as an Ambassador, to lead the 90-plus person US delegation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2018, and served as vice-chair of the conference. He managed the successful election of first US citizen to an ITU senior management position in more than two decades. The United States also achieved successful, pro-innovation results on resolutions related to cybersecurity and emerging technologies.

Before joining the State Department, Mr Strayer was the general counsel for the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee under the leadership of Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). In that position, he oversaw the drafting and passage of the committee’s legislation and advised the Chairman on policy matters, including cyber security, sanctions, and digital economic policy. During 2015, Mr Strayer taught a seminar on cyber security law as an adjunct law professor at the George Mason University law school.

From 2011 to 2012, Mr Strayer was the director of the homeland security project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, which was led by 9/11 Commission co-chairs former Governor Tom Kean and former Congressman Lee Hamilton. During that time, he initiated and directed a task force on cyber security that published a report on eliminating cyber security information sharing impediments.

From 2005 to 2011, Mr Strayer served as a counsel and, subsequently, Republican deputy staff director on the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In that role, he managed the development of cyber security policy and the drafting of cyber security legislation. In addition, he was a counsel on the committee’s special investigation of the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, reviewing communications failures following the hurricane.

From 2002 to 2005, Mr Strayer practiced telecommunications law at WilmerHale. Prior to the law firm, he clerked for then-Chief Judge Lanier Anderson on the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and served as the Si Karas fellow in the Solicitor’s Office of the Ohio Attorney General.

Mr Strayer received a law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he was Order of the Coif, and he earned his BA in Economics, summa cum laude, from Denison University.

Terrell McSweeny is currently a partner at Covington & Burling where her practice focuses on the intersection of technology, competition and consumer protection law and policy.

Ms McSweeny is a former Commissioner of the US Federal Trade Commission. Prior to joining the Commission, Ms McSweeny held several senior government appointments including: Chief Counsel for Competition Policy in the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division; Deputy Assistant to President Obama and Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President Biden; and Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Thomas Dailey is Verizon’s Chief International Legal and Regulatory Officer responsible for strategic-level legal advice and regulatory and policy guidance regarding the corporation’s business operations outside the United States, including those in the European Union, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region. Mr Dailey manages a diverse team of legal and regulatory professionals based on five continents around the globe who advise on a wide variety of issues including privacy, commercial, corporate, product, employment and security.

Mr Dailey also serves as chief strategy counsel providing legal, regulatory and policy guidance to Verizon’s head of Corporate Strategy and her team on matters affecting the future direction of the corporation across all lines of business, including wireless, wireline, digital advertising, content and telematics. Outside his work at Verizon, Mr Dailey served from 2011 to 2014 as the Chair of the Center for Copyright Information, an organisation formed as part of a ground-breaking collaborative effort between US content creators in the movie and music industries and leading ISPs to help educate the public about legal content options and deter copyright infringement. Mr Dailey has testified numerous times before the US Congress and various state legislatures and is a periodic speaker on Internet, communications and other policy issues in the US and internationally.

Alexander Hoehn-Saric serves as Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, for Charter Communications and leads Charter’s Government Affairs policy and external affairs teams. Prior to joining Charter in September 2013, Mr Hoehn-Saric served as Policy Director for Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel advising her on Media and technology issues. Mr Hoehn-Saric previously worked at the Department of Commerce as the Deputy General Counsel for Strategic Initiatives focusing on Internet and privacy matters. He also worked for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee as Senior Counsel for Chairmen Rockefeller and Inouye. While at the Commerce Committee, Mr Hoehn-Saric worked on the subcommittees responsible for oversight of the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.

Mr Hoehn-Saric received an AB from the University of Chicago and a juris doctor degree from UCLA Law School.

Alice Munyua has extensive experience in multi-stakeholder ICT policy development and internet governance at national, regional and international levels. She is the founder of the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), an interdependent multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation.

Ms Munyua chaired the 2011 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held in Nairobi and convened the East Africa Internet Governance Forum (EA-IGF) and the Kenya IGF for five years. She served on the board of directors of the Communications Commission of Kenya for six years, chaired the board of directors of the Kenya Network Information Centre (KeNIC) and was vice chair of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) for two years. Ms Munyua served as the advisor to the African Union Commission (AUC) dot Africa initiative and represented the AUC on the GAC. She chaired the GAC Public Safety and Under-served regions working groups.

Ms Munyua currently leads the GAC capacity development initiative. She is a current member of the Internet Society (ISOC) board of trustees, board member of the Global Partners Digital (GPD) and iAfrica.

Andrew Barendse is Head of Regulatory Affairs Vodacom SA where he is responsible for managing all regulatory issues in SA.

Dr Barendse offers over twenty five years’ experience in the telecoms sector, including five years at Board level (Telkom International [Pty] Ltd, and International Institute of Communications Board Director 2010-2024) and over ten years in academia (Delft University of Technology, University of Witwatersrand). Dr Barendse is a published researcher presenting a global footprint in telecoms policy (including a five-year residence in the Netherlands).

He holds a Ph.D from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, an MBA from the University of Cape Town and a B.Ed from the University of Johannesburg.

Andrew Haire has been associated with some of the industry’s most successful telecom initiatives and his portfolio includes architecting major policy frameworks in the telecoms, technology, and postal sectors, as well as serving as regulator and ICT policy for 10 years at Singapore’s IDA, soon after its inception in the year 2000.

Previously, his experience included senior management roles with regulatory and public policy portfolios at one of the world’s largest telecom operators and before that, various engineering and management positions at the world’s largest computer company.

Mr Haire holds a degree in engineering in the United States, and attended the advanced management program from Harvard University.

Andrew Haire is also an Advisory Council member at the International Institute of Communications.

Boutheina Guermazi is the Director of Digital Development (DD) Department of the Infrastructure Practice Group of the World Bank. She heads a global team working on building digital economies in developing countries, to drive shared prosperity and reduced poverty. The team advises policymakers and regulators, works in collaboration with leading firms and partners, and designs investment and technical assistance programs to improve broadband connectivity and use of digital technology to address development challenges of client countries. The work covers a wide area of focus including broadband networks, mobile networks, cloud infrastructure, internet of things, and big data analytics. The team works collaboratively across sectors to ensure the availability and use of digital government platforms, identification for development and other key foundations to harness digital development, while strengthening cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection. Ms Guermazi also leads the Digital Development Partnership (DDP), a Multi-Donor Trust Fund focusing on Digital development globally.

Prior to her role as Director, Ms Guermazi was Practice Manager of Digital Development covering Africa and the Middle East regions of the World Bank. She also served as Lead Operations Officer in the Regional Integration Unit of the Africa region of the World Bank. During her tenure, she has written and published articles and book chapters on trade law, telecommunications policy, and regulatory reform.

Before joining the World Bank, Ms Guermazi was Assistant Professor at the University of Law and Political and Social Sciences of Tunis, and a Telecommunications consultant to the Sector Reform Unit at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Ms Guermazi holds a PhD in Telecommunications Law and Policy from the Faculty of Law at McGill University, Canada; an LLM in International Law from Indiana University, USA; and a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Law from the University of Tunis, Tunisia. She held a Fulbright Scholarship and was a research scholar at the University of Michigan (USA), the Social Science Research Council (USA), and the Center of Studies for Regulated Industries (Canada).

Brett Solomon is co-founder and Executive Director of Access Now, which defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world, fighting for open and secure communications for all. Mr Solomon sits on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Internet.

Previously, he was Campaign Director at Avaaz.org, a global movement which has rapidly grown into the largest online activist community in the world at almost 20 million subscribers in all 193 countries. He was the first Executive Director of GetUp, an Australian independent political movement which uses new technologies to facilitate Australians’ participation in democracy.

Mr Solomon has worked both locally and internationally on a range of social justice and human rights issues. He honed his career at Oxfam Australia, where he founded the International Youth Parliament (IYP), an international network of young social change leaders from 140 countries tackling issues such as poverty, conflict and globalisation. Prior to this, he worked as the Campaign Coordinator for Amnesty International Australia, where his main focus was refugees and asylum seekers, the arms trade and national security.

Mr Solomon has a bachelors degree in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney and a masters degree in International Law from the University of New South Wales.

Brian Hendricks is Head of Policy and Public Affairs for Nokia in the Americas Region, responsible for regulatory and legislative developments impacting technology, innovation, and deployment, including: spectrum allocation, infrastructure policy, privacy, and emerging policy on technologies critical to connected healthcare, intelligent transportation, and SmartCities. Mr Hendricks has nearly two decades of regulatory and legislative experience dealing with technology policy issues in the private sector, as a senior congressional staffer, and as an enforcement lawyer with Federal Communications Commission.

Prior to joining Nokia, Mr Hendricks served as Staff Director to the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation where he also served as General Counsel. He was the Committee’s lead legal and policy advisor in the areas of commerce, science, space, telecommunications, and emerging technology. Earlier in his career, Mr Hendricks served in the Enforcement Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. Before joining the FCC, he spent six years in a variety of management positions with Ameritech and SBC Communications.

Mr Hendricks is a graduate of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary where he also earned a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree specialising in regulatory policy. He is an adjunct professor in the law school and graduate Public Policy program at William and Mary. He is a past Visiting Lecturer at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado.

Clete Johnson provides advice and advocacy to clients navigating the complex terrain at the intersection of technology and security. Having served in a wide variety of national security and cybersecurity leadership roles on Capitol Hill, in the national security and intelligence communities, in the regulatory arena, and in the Executive Branch, Mr Johnson focuses in particular on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of government-industry collaboration.

Mr Johnson was Secretary Penny Pritzker’s Senior Adviser for Cybersecurity and Technology at the US Department of Commerce, where he coordinated the Department’s cybersecurity initiatives and the Department’s support for the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. He was also the Department’s representative for National Security Council staff deliberations on cybersecurity, encryption, and other policy issues at the intersection of technology and security.

Previously, Mr Johnson was appointed by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler as the FCC’s first Chief Counsel for Cybersecurity. In this position, he helped develop the FCC’s cybersecurity mission, focusing on creating new legal mechanisms for government collaboration with private sector stakeholders to improve the security and reliability of communications infrastructure. He was also the primary drafter of the charter for the Cybersecurity Forum for Independent and Executive Branch Regulators, a coordinating body of regulatory agencies which is presently chaired by the FCC.

Prior to his time at the FCC, Mr Johnson was Senator John D Rockefeller IV’s designated counsel on the Senate Intelligence Committee and counsel for defense, foreign policy, and international trade. In these roles, he was a leading staffer on bipartisan Senate cybersecurity initiatives and the primary staff drafter of the legislation that codified the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s collaborative process to work with industry to develop and update the widely-praised Cybersecurity Framework.

Before his government service, Mr Johnson worked for a major Washington-based law firm, where he practiced in the areas of international trade, defense, and security. Earlier, he served as an Army officer.

He is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was the editor-in-chief of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, and he received a master of science degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard, where he graduated cum laude, cross-enrolled at MIT for service as Executive Officer of its Army ROTC Paul Revere Battalion.

Danil Kerimi leads the Information Technology & Electronics Industries at the World Economic Forum. He develops relationships with the leaders and executives of the top technology companies in the world, senior policy-makers/regulators and is responsible for shaping industry agenda. In addition, Mr Kerimi leads the work on national digital/cyber strategies and evidence based policy making.

Prior to joining the World Economic Forum, Mr Kerimi held various positions with the United Nations, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and in the private sector.

He is a graduate of Shandong University, Vienna Diplomatic Academy and Global Leadership Fellowship offered by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with a number of academic partners. He is an affiliated fellow of the Berkman –Klein Centre for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School and serves on the Advisory Board of Stanford Cyber Policy Program.

Ambassador David Gross co-chairs Wiley’s Telecom, Media & Technology Practice. He is widely recognised as one of the world’s foremost experts on international telecommunications and Internet policies, having addressed the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and led more U.S. delegations to major international telecommunication conferences than anyone else in modern history.

Noted as bringing “innovation and vision to the rapidly changing TMT industry” by Who’s Who Legal and as one of the “Top 30 Telecommunications lawyers in the world” by Euromoney, Ambassador Gross draws on more than 30 years of experience as a lawyer, global policymaker, and corporate executive to assist US companies seeking to enter or expand international businesses.

He also advises non-US companies, and industry organizations seeking to invest in, monitor, and understand the US and international markets, as well as national governments. Ambassador Gross advises companies and others on international and domestic telecoms, Internet, and high-tech strategy focusing on both specific markets and international organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), as well as many regional organisations.

Ambassador Gross is also an Advisory Council member at the International Institute of Communications.

Elena Scaramuzzi leads regulatory services and research activities with a global reach. At Cullen International since 2009, Ms Scaramuzzi led and contributed to new service developments, including, more recently, the Global Trends service, covering the most wide-ranging trends shaping the future of the communications sector. Most of Ms Scaramuzzi’s previous work at Cullen International focused on regulatory research in the Americas.
With over 25 years’ work experience in the sector, before joining Cullen International Ms Scaramuzzi worked for Telecom Italia and the World Bank.

Heather West works on security, data governance, net neutrality, and privacy in the digital age at Mozilla, maker of the Firefox browser. At the intersection of public policy and technology, she is part policy-to-tech translator, part product consultant, and part long-term internet strategist. She works was recognised as one of the 2014 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Law and Policy.

Ms West helped found the public policy team at Cloudflare, a website performance and security company, served as privacy and security issue expert on Google’s public policy team, and started her career working on government technology, privacy, and identity management at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

She holds a dual BA in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from Wellesley College with concentrations in philosophy and legal studies, and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US). She is also recognised as a Christian Science Monitor Passcode Influencer and serves on several advisory boards.

Howard Symons is a partner at Jenner & Block LLP, an international law firm with more than 500 attorneys. Mr Symons has nearly 40 years of experience in telecommunications law and policy, including senior positions in government and the private sector. Most recently he served as General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission from 2016 to 2017 and as Vice Chair of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force from 2014 to 2016, appointed to both posts by Chairman, Tom Wheeler. From 1981 to 1985, Mr Symons served as Senior Counsel to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications in the US House of Representatives.

During his time in private practice, Mr Symons has represented companies in the cable, wireless and telecommunications industries as well as their trade associations before the US FCC, Congress and State legislatures, and the courts. He has authored several articles on the telecommunications policy process, testified before Congress and state legislatures, and spoken at numerous industry conferences and continuing legal education seminars. He has also served as an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s National Law Center, where he taught courses in telecommunications law and regulation for 10 years.

Mr Symons graduated from Yale University summa cum laude and earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

Jacquelynn (Jackie) Ruff has more than 25 years of experience in global law and public policy around policy frameworks for digital services, Internet governance, digital trade, expansion of broadband connectivity, and women and technology.

Previously, Ms Ruff was a consulting counsel at the law firm of Wiley Rein where she provided legal, regulatory and public policy guidance on international issues impacting telecom, media, and technology industries.

Ms Ruff was also Vice President of International Government Relations and Policy at Verizon Communications. Her responsibilities included leading work in international organisations such as the UN International Telecommunication Union, the OECD, ICANN, and the Internet Governance Forum, and regional organisations CITEL and APEC.

She also represented Verizon on federal advisory committees to the US Department of State, the US Trade Representative, and the US Department of Commerce. Ms Ruff was a board member of the US Telecom Training Institute and co-chair of the Digital Trade group of the US Council for International Business, and she participated in the Policy and Spectrum Groups of the GSM Association. She is currently a Director of the International Institute of Communications. She is also a professorial lecturer at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs.

Ms Ruff joined Verizon in 2004 from the International Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where she was Associate Chief and Chief of Staff for the Bureau. Previously she practiced with the communications and Latin America groups of an international law firm and served as staff for a US Senate Committee.

She has a BA from Radcliffe College/Harvard University, MA from Harvard University, and JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Jeff Brueggeman is Vice President-Global Public Policy for AT&T, responsible for developing and advocating AT&T’s global public policy positions on privacy, cybersecurity and internet policy issues. In addition, he leads AT&T’s engagement with various privacy and internet policy organizations.

Mr Brueggeman supports AT&T’s business in the operation of its global network and development of emerging technologies, including Internet of Things and cloud computing services. Prior to assuming his current rule, Mr Brueggeman helped manage AT&T’s privacy policies and coordinate the implementation of data privacy and security programmes across the company. He has participated extensively in international internet policy events and organizations, and served on the Internet Governance Forum’s Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group.

Before joining AT&T in 2001, Mr Brueggeman was an attorney in private practice, specialising in communications law. He holds a JD from the University of Virginia and a BA in Journalism from the University of Minnesota.

Jeffrey H Blum is Senior Vice-President and Deputy General Counsel of DISH Network L.L.C., overseeing litigation and government affairs in Washington, DC. He has been with DISH for over 11 years.

Before joining DISH, Mr Blum was a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, where his practice focused on copyright, First Amendment and anti-piracy litigation. There, he co-represented a class of songwriters and music publishers in the Grokster P2P file sharing case, which was decided by the United States Supreme Court in favour of Mr Blum’s clients. The Grokster decision established a new basis for secondary copyright liability, called “inducement liability.”

He currently serves as Chairman of the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA), and was Co-Chairman of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG) from 2013-2015. Mr Blum also serves on the boards of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and BUILD Metro DC.

Mr Blum graduated summa cum laude and first in his class at Boston University School of Law. He received his undergraduate degree from McGill University, with a BA in History and Classics. After law school, he clerked for Chief Judge Joseph Tauro of the US District Court of Massachusetts. Mr Blum was a part-time lecturer at the University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Journalism from 2003-2005, where he taught “Media Law”.

Kristina Milbourn is an experienced lawyer specialising in the areas of copyright and communications law for one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, Rogers Communications. Ms Milbourn has extensive experience with Canadian regulatory matters and is the resident copyright and piracy expert at Rogers, supporting both the media and cable lines of business.

In 2015, Ms Milbourn was recognised by Women in Communications and Technology as one of their Jeanne Sauvé career development laureates, for her leadership skills in the field of ICT. She recently co-authored a paper exploring copyright reform in the context of the 2017 Canadian copyright law review: “Copy & Paste or Ctrl + Alt + Delete – Will Canada maintain or reset its copyright policy in the face of a Parliamentary Review and international pressures?”

Ms Milbourn holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Laws from Western University. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2009. Prior to joining Rogers, Kristina practiced law with an international full-service firm, where she appeared before the Federal Court of Canada and the Ontario Superior Court.

Krysten Jenci is the Director of the Office of Digital Services Industries (ODSI) at the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA). As Director, Ms Jenci oversees three teams that provide expertise on a number of Internet trade policy issues. The Global Data Policy Team works to promote privacy policy frameworks to facilitate the free flow of data across borders to support trade, including through implementation and expansion of the Global Cross Border Privacy Rules system. The Privacy Shield Team leads and administers the European Union (EU)-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks. The Digital and Internet Services Team works on a wide range of evolving ICT services issues, including cloud computing, software and applications, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. ODSI also provides industry expertise on the negotiation of Internet-related issues in trade negotiations. Ms Jenci is a member of Commerce’s Privacy Policy Coordinating Committee, co-chair of the Digital Attaché Steering Committee, and has won several awards for her work on privacy policy issues, including an award for best supervisor/manager for her leadership in support of ITA’s mission.

Ms Jenci is a Certified Information Privacy Professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and was previously a member of IAPP’s Education Advisory Board. Ms Jenci is certified for the Senior Executive Service by the Office of Personnel Management, completed ITA’s Leadership Program in 2019, and completed Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation in October 2019. Ms Jenci is also a coach as part of ITA’s Coaching Cadre, is a member of the International Coaching Federation, and coaches ITA colleagues with a goal of improving employee wellness in the organization.

Lauren Maxim Van Wazer is Vice President, Global Public Policy, for Akamai Technologies, and the immediate past Chair of the Board of the Information Technology Industry Council, the largest global technology trade association. Through 2013, she was Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and her work was recognised with the OSTP Award for Excellence for contributions to science and technology policy.

Previously, Ms Van Wazer served as Assistant General Counsel in OMB’s Counsel’s office and as Associate Chief for the Office of Engineering and Technology of the Federal Communications Commission. Ms Van Wazer also spent several years as the head of regulatory affairs for Cox Enterprises. Before becoming a lawyer, she worked as an engineer in the Network Services Department of AT&T.

Ms Van Wazer is a member of the Class of 2018 of Women in Technology’s Leadership Foundry, a programme to prepare women for corporate board positions. She received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she received a BSE in Systems Science Engineering.

Mike Saperstein rejoined Frontier Communications in 2016, having served in the federal regulatory department there from 2010-2014. Mr Saperstein focuses on issues related to broadband infrastructure, including rural broadband policy development via the Connect America Fund (CAF). He has also worked on issues related to pole attachments and removing other barriers to broadband deployment, including as a subcommittee member of the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee.

From 2014-2016, Mr Saperstein was a member of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, concentrating on ensuring network reliability. Prior to re-joining Frontier, Mr Saperstein served as Director, Government Affairs, for PCIA—The Wireless Infrastructure Association (now the Wireless Infrastructure Association). In this role he focused on promoting wireless infrastructure deployment.

Mr Saperstein received his BA from the University of Notre Dame and his JD from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where he was a member of the Communications Law Institute.

Nuala O’Connor is the President & CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a global non-profit that advocates for human rights and civil liberties in the digital world. She has worked in privacy, data, and digital policy in companies, government, and law firms, including as Vice President for Compliance & Customer Trust at Amazon, Chief Privacy Leader & Senior Counsel for Information Governance at General Electric, and Chief Privacy Officer for Emerging Technologies at Doubleclick. Ms O’Connor’s government service includes her appointment as the first Chief Privacy Officer of the US Department of Homeland Security.

Ms O’Connor holds an A.B. from Princeton, a Master’s in Education from Harvard, and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

In his twenty-nine years with Microsoft, Paul Mitchell had held diverse roles spanning numerous products and technologies: digital programing tools including Microsoft’s first C++ development system, the launch of MSN, Microsoft’s digital television platforms including Mediaroom (now owned by Ericsson), numerous media standards, digital rights management systems for content protection, and wireless technologies. Mr Mitchell has also led Microsoft’s engagement strategy with the International Telecommunication Union, participating in WCIT-12, WTDC-14, and WRC-15 and associated preparatory work.

Mr Mitchell holds ten issued US patents related to wireless communications and has 11 pending. He led the team that developed Microsoft’s TV White Space trial programs with the goal of making Internet access possible for those that remain unconnected today, and he was responsible for Microsoft’s spectrum observatory project – now transitioned to the University of Washington/National Science Foundation as an open platform for spectrum studies.

Mr Mitchell is currently a member of the US International Telecommunication Advisory Committee for the 2016-2018 term and also serves as a Commissioner on the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development. He has previously served on the board of directors of BET.com as well as Vision TV and SVOX in Canada.

He holds an MPA from, and is on the advisory board for, the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.

Paul de Sa is a co-founder of the advisory firm, Quadra Partners. He was part of the leadership team at the FCC from 2009-12 and 2016-17, serving as Chief of its Office of Strategic Planning, with a focus on merger reviews, broadband, and spectrum policy. Between his two periods of government service, Mr de Sa was the senior analyst at Bernstein Research covering the US telecom sector. He was previously a Partner at McKinsey & Company, spending almost a decade serving communications and private-equity clients from the firm’s Washington, D.C., and Seoul offices.

Mr de Sa holds a doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford. He was a John F Kennedy Memorial Scholar at MIT, and researched technology policy as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard.

Richard Nohe serves as General Counsel for BT in the Americas, responsible for legal, governance, compliance, and regulatory issues.

Over the past three decades, Mr Nohe has built comprehensive experience in corporate legal affairs, complex multi-jurisdictional contract negotiation, government relations and regulatory-economic analysis across the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pac. Before joining BT, Mr Nohe had been with MFN/Abovenet, then a NASDAQ-100 company, most recently serving as VP Global Real Estate responsible for more than a billion dollars in asset value. Prior to that, he served as VP International & Managing Director Europe, leading expansion into 16 European cities in 8 countries.

During the 1990s, Mr Nohe was with NTT and served as VP Law & Strategy, as well as General Manager Washington, DC office. The Brookings Institution granted Mr Nohe a Congressional Fellowship through which he worked as a professional staff member on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.

During the late 1980s he worked at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business where he participated in research on the economic and regulatory issues surrounding the deployment of broadband networks.

He currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of BT Federal, Inc. A recognised leader in his field, The Legal 500 named him US In-House Individual of the Year: Telecoms, and to its GC Powerlist. He has also received commendations from the Financial Times Innovation Awards, and the Ernst Stiefel Award for Excellence in Comparative, Common, and Civil Law.

Robert Pepper is Senior Fellow, Global Digital Inclusion Partnership. He was previously Head, Global Connectivity Policy and Planning, Meta until August 2024.  He helped lead Meta’s connectivity and technology policy activities focusing on new technology development, deployment and adoption. Dr Pepper previously was Cisco’s Vice President for Global Technology Policy for more than a decade working with governments across the world helping them develop their digital strategies and address areas such as ICT and development, broadband plans, IP enabled services, wireless and spectrum policy, the Internet of Things, security, privacy and internet governance.

As Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy and Chief of Policy Development at the FCC for 16 years beginning in 1989, Dr Pepper led teams designing and implementing the first US spectrum auctions, developing policies promoting the development of the internet, implementing telecommunications legislation, and planning for the transition to digital television.

Before joining the FCC, he was Director of the Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy. His government service also included Acting Associate Administrator at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and initiating a programme on Computers, Communications and Information Policy at the National Science Foundation.

His academic appointments included faculty positions at the Universities of Iowa, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, and as a research affiliate at Harvard University. He chairs the US Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy and has served on the board of the US Telecommunications Training Institute, the US Department of Commerce’s Spectrum Management Advisory Committee and the UK’s OFCOM Spectrum Advisory Board.

Dr Pepper received his BA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Robert Pepper is also an Advisory Council member at the International Institute of Communications.

Steve Satterfield is a director on Facebook’s Privacy and Public Policy team. He is part of Facebook’s cross-functional privacy review team and engages on behalf of the company with policymakers, regulators, consumer advocates and other stakeholders on privacy and data security issues. Mr Satterfield has particular experience on privacy issues relating to the online advertising ecosystem, having worked closely with Facebook’s advertising and monetisation product teams, as well as with industry associations such as the Digital Advertising Alliance and the Coalition for Better Ads.

Before coming to Facebook, Mr Satterfield was a privacy lawyer at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, DC, where he represented a number of leading technology and media companies.

He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Brown University and The George Washington University Law School.

Susan Fox serves as Vice President, Government Relations of The Walt Disney Company, representing all Disney’s operating divisions before the federal government. She has a particular focus on the policy issues that affect Disney’s media interests, including the Disney ABC Cable Networks, ESPN, ABC, and the ABC Owned Television Stations. Ms Fox represents Disney on several boards, including the National Association of Broadcasters and the Family Online Safety Institute.

Prior to her present position, Ms Fox served as Senior Legal Advisor to former FCC Chairman William Kennard. Prior to that, she was an associate with the law firm of Hogan & Hartson and served as law clerk to the Honorable H Robert Mayer, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Ms Fox is a graduate of Lafayette College, where she received, with magna cum laude distinction, a Bachelor of Arts degree in engineering, where she now is a member of the Board of Trustees. She earned her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.