Trends in Converged, Cross-Border, Cross Sector, Digital-Ecosystems

Michael O’Rielly is currently Principal at MPORielly Consulting, LLC, a Visiting Fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for the Economics of the Internet, and a Senior Fellow at the Media Institute.

He served as a Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission from 2013 through 2020. Before joining the FCC, Mr O’Rielly held a variety of leading staff positions during 20 years on Capitol Hill in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, ending as Policy Advisor in the Office of the Senate Republican Whip.

Nicole Chan has expertise in the field of Science & Technology Law, Intellectual Property Law, Convergence, Internet & e-Commerce Regulation, Creative Industry Regulation and Management.

Ms Chan has served as Vice President & Director General, Science & Technology Law Institute (STLI), Institute for Information Industry. She also served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Culture & Creative Industries Management, National Taipei University of Education.

Dr R S Sharma was appointed Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on 10 of August 2015. Prior to joining TRAI he was Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Electronics and Information Technology. He has also worked as Chief Secretary to the State Government of Jharkhand (India). His other assignments include Director General & Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) where he was responsible for the overall implementation of the project to provide Unique Identification (christened as “Äadhaar”) for all residents.

Before his posting at UIDAI, Dr Sharma worked with the Government of Jharkhand as Principal Secretary of the Departments of Science and Technology, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Information Technology (IT), Rural Development and Human Resources Development. As Principal Secretary of the IT Department, Dr Sharma was responsible for formulation of State policies in the IT and e-Governance areas and oversaw the implementation of various e-Governance Projects in all the Departments of the State Government. Mr Sharma’s contributions to IT and e-Governance have been widely recognised both within and outside India and he has been responsible for implementing a number of Projects relating to ICT Infrastructure, Process Re-engineering and Service Delivery with Public Private Partnership (PPP) models.

Dr Sharma holds a Masters degree in Mathematics from IIT, Kanpur (India), a Masters in Computer Science from the University of California (USA) and a PhD from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.

Roberto Viola is Director-General of DG CONNECT (Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology) at the European Commission.

Dr Viola was the Deputy Director-General of DG CONNECT, European Commission from 2012 to 2015. He served as Chairman of the European Radio Spectrum Policy group (RSPG) from 2012 to 2013, as Deputy Chairman in 2011 and Chairman in 2010. He was a member of the BEREC Board (Body of European Telecom Regulators), and Chairman of the European Regulatory Group (ERG). He held the position of Secretary General in charge of managing AGCOM, from 2005 to 2012. Prior to this, he served as Director of Regulation Department and Technical Director in AGCOM from 1999 to 2004.

From 1985 to 1999 he served in various positions including Head of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Satellite Services at the European Space Agency (ESA).

Dr Viola holds a Degree in Electronic Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).

Sharon White has been Chief Executive of Ofcom since March 2015.

Before joining Ofcom Ms White had a long career in the civil service. She was second Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, responsible for overseeing public finances. Before this she held Board level positions at the Ministry of Justice and the Department for International Development.

She has worked as a civil service adviser at the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit and in Washington DC as a Senior Economist at the World Bank.

Ms White is a trained economist and studied at Cambridge University and University College London.

Sébastien Soriano was apointed the Chairman of Arcep (the French telecom regulator) in 2015.

He was the BEREC Chair 2017 (the European telecom body) and was the BEREC Vice-Chair in 2016 and 2018.  In 2019, he was Chair of Fratel, the network of French-speaking telecommunications regulators.

Mr Soriano has spent most of his career in digital policies, competition and telecoms regulation areas. He started his career at the French Competition Authority, as a case handler (2001-2004) and then as Deputy General Rapporteur (2009 and 2012). Between 2004 and 2009, he held various positions at Arcep.

From 2012 -2014, he was Chief of Staff of Mrs. Fleur Pellerin, French Minister for SMEs, Innovation and Communication. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of Arcep, he was Special Advisor to the French Minister for Culture and Communication.

Sébastien Soriano has published several papers on the challenges of regulators and law makers in the digital era. He also teaches regulation and digital economy in the Master’s programme in Public Policy at SciencesPo. He is also member of the board of directors of the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE).

Sérgio Sá Leitão was the Ministry of Culture’s chief of staff during the tenure of former minister Gilberto Gil and Rio de Janeiro’s municipal culture secretary between 2012 and 2015.

Before taking over the Ministry of Culture, he was the director of the National Film Agency (Ancine) and the CEO of RioFilme (the latter from 2009 to 2015). Leitão also advised the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) when it was creating its Department of Culture. He was a member of the Petrobras Cultural Council, vice-president of the OAS Inter-American Committee on Culture and vice-president of the Brazilian Distributors Association (Adibra).

Leitão also participated in the creation of the Audiovisual Sectorial Fund (FSA) and advised the drafting of Law 12,485, which regulates pay-TV in Brazil.

Sérgio Sá Leitão obtained his undergraduate degree in journalism from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), after which he obtained postgraduate degrees in E-business from the IBMEC (now Insper) and Public Policy from the University of São Paulo (USP).

Professor Abu Bakar Munir is an internationally renowned scholar, expert and consultant on ICT Law and Data Protection Law. He was a Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, Malaysia. Currently, he is a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Atmajaya, Indonesia. He is also the Legal Adviser and Data Protection Consultant to the Straits Interactive Pte. Ltd., Singapore, Senior Adviser to the Schinder Law Firm, Jakarta, a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the Asia Pacific Institute for Digital Economy, (APIDE) Tokyo. He is the Founder and Advisor of the Bali International Arbitration and Mediation Center and Adviser and Expert Council member of the Pandya Astagina Institute.

Professor Abu Bakar Munir has been far and wide consulted by the governments and private entities in Malaysia and around the globe. He was appointed the Adviser to the Government of Malaysia and was instrumental in the crafting and passing of the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010. He was seconded as the IT Law Adviser and Principal Consultant to the Government of Dubai, UAE where he led an international team of consultants in developing and drafting several IT legislations to facilitate the Dubai Internet City, a multi-billion-dollar IT project. He was a Council Member of the Asia Pacific Privacy Charter Council (APPCC) and the recipient of the Malaysia Cyber Security Awards (Minister’s Award) 2010 and the Malaysia Cyber Security, (Information Security Visionary of the Year) Award 2010.

He represented Asia in the Europe – Asia Dialogue on the Digital Economy at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C.

Professor Abu Bakar is the author of several books; Privatization (1992), Cyberlaw: Policies and Challenges (1999), Privacy and Data Protection (2002), Internet Banking: Law and Practice (2004), and Information and Communication Technology Law: State, Internet and Information (2010), Personal Data Protection in Malaysia: Law and Practice (2010). Data Protection Law in Asia (2014 ) and Data Protection Law in Asia (second edition 2018).

Adriana Labardini Inzunza is currently an independent public interest lawyer and consumer rights expert, she has always acted afar from political, partisan and corporate interests and has fought to deter anticompetitive practices and eliminate barriers to competition. She has promoted initiatives to bridge the digital divide, promote rural and indigenous connectivity and media, at the same time as she has insisted to embed innovation in the agency, build consumer empowerment tools, work permanently towards gender equality and effective implementation and enforcement of regulation.

Ms Labardini served as Secretary of the Board of COFETEL, the former, telecommunications agency (1999-2003); practiced law in a major law firm, specialising in the areas of corporate, administrative and telecommunications law (1986- 1998). Upon her return to Mexico after completing the H. Humphrey Fellowship in North Carolina, UNC and Duke (2003-2004), she co-founded Alconsumidor, a nonprofit watchdog, pioneer in advocating for consumer rights and consumer class actions, a project that ended in a constitutional and legal reform.

Ms Labardini is a Fulbright scholar and a Hubert Humphrey and Ashoka Fellow. She is a professor at the Escuela Libre de Derecho LLM program in Mexico City and has lectured at CIDE, UNAM, ITAM, ITESM, UP as visiting professor.

She obtained her law degree cum laude from Escuela Libre de Derecho in Mexico City in 1987 and her Masters degree (LLM) from Columbia University in New York, on a Fulbright scholar in 1991. For four and a half years she has served as Commissioner at the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT), the Mexican independent regulatory body and competition authority for telecommunications and broadcasting industries. She also chaired the IFT for an interim term in the fall of 2017. Her tenure ended on February 28th, 2018.

In such capacity she has successfully led efforts to create a research center within IFT, strengthen regional and international relations among regulators, such as FCC, CRTC, and through Regulatel, BEREC and IIC; she has fought for pluralism in media, truly independent public media as well as initiatives for inclusion & accessibility and innovating the regulator. During the first two years of her tenure, she was the Commissioner in charge of transparency and access to public information at IFT and a member of the Ethics Committee.

Agustín Díaz-Pinés is a telecommunication expert at DG Competition, European Commission, dealing with mergers in the telecommunications, IT and media sectors. He previously worked as an economist/policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, Paris, 2009-2015) in the Digital Economy Division, including projects on international mobile roaming, convergence and various country studies (Mexico, Colombia). He started his career at the Spanish government (State Secretariat for Telecommunications and the Information Society), involved in national and European ICT policy. Mr. Díaz-Pinés holds a Masters in Telecommunications Engineering from the Madrid University of Technology and a PhD in Management/Economic Sciences from École Polytechnique/Paris-Saclay in Paris (France).

Alee Fa’amoe is an independent consultant.  He was the Deputy CEO and Executive Director ICT for OfReg, the newly formed (January 2017) converged utilities regulator overseeing ICT, fuels, electricity, and water industries in the Cayman Islands until August 2020.

Mr Fa’amoe has a broad background in technology, operations, and management and has spent 20 years in the telecommunications industry, working as an industry expert on telephone numbering and network operations. He spent several years at Deloitte Cayman as Chief Operating Officer where he was responsible for HR, marketing, IT, operations, and finance departments. He also served as a subject matter expert on client consulting engagements, and worked with Deloitte offices in several Caribbean locations with operational matters.

Mr Fa’amoe was previously appointed Managing Director of the Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA) in 2013, which has since become part of OfReg.

Dr Alexandra Borchardt is Director of Strategic Development at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Prior to this she was managing editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), Germany’s leading quality daily newspaper, where she is still a contributing writer.

At SZ she held several functions in the politics and business sections. She was also founding editor of Süddeutsche’s ‘Plan W’, an award winning quarterly magazine for women and business. In her reporting she has focused on democracy and the internet and the future of work. She teaches ‘Leadership and Strategy in the 21st Century’ at TU Munich and gives lectures and talks on digitisation and the media. In 2015 she published The Internet between Dictatorship and Anarchy: Ten Assertions about Democracy in the Digital World (Das Internet zwischen Diktatur und Anarchie: Zehn Thesen zur Demokratisierung der digitalen Welt (Süddeutsche Zeitung Edition Streitschrift)). Before joining SZ she worked in several functions for Financial Times Deutschland and Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Dr Borchardt holds a PhD in Political Science from Tulane University, New Orleans (1994), and in 2013 completed a Programme for Management Development at IESE Business School, Barcelona.

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.

Ann LaFrance retired from Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP on 30 June 2022.  She was a senior partner in the New York office of Squire Patton Boggs and a founding member of the Firm’s global Data Practice. She was also an active participant in the Firm’s Communications Law Practice. Her experience covers a broad range of issues affecting the provision and regulation of advanced digital services and applications in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Ms LaFrance began her legal career in 1980 with Squire in Washington, DC, where her practice focused on US and international telecommunications transactions, regulation and legislation. In 1996, she moved in-house to work as Chief International Counsel of MCI Communications Corp. (now Verizon), based in Washington, Brussels and London. Following her return to private practice in the Firm’s London office in 2004, she has advised a broad range of tech, telecom and multinational clients operating across a variety of sectors, as well as government and regulatory bodies, on data protection policy, GDPR compliance, international transfer agreements, AI ethical guidelines, blockchain, regulation of dominant operators, and the interplay between regulated “electronic communications” status and privacy laws in Europe, the U.S. and around the globe.

Since her return to the U.S. in 2019, Ms LaFrance continues to advise on complex cross-border data protection, e-privacy and cybersecurity matters, including transfer risk assessments post Schrems II and integrated approaches to global data protection compliance. She is currently advising clients on the new wave of U.S. state privacy laws that will take effect in 2023.

Ms LaFrance served as the Firm’s first Data Protection Officer in the UK and the EU and on the Firm’s data governance board. She is a Member of the Board of the International Institute of Communications and currently serves as its Vice President.

She is admitted to practice in New York, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia and is a Registered Foreign Lawyer in England and Wales.

Ms LaFrance also served as a International Institute of Communications Board Director 2016-2023.

Antonio Nicita is a Professor  of Economic Policy at Lumsa University, Italy.

Professor Nicita was previously Commissioner of the Italian regulatory authority (AGCOM) until October 2020.  He has also been Associate Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Siena and Visiting Fulbright Professor at Yale University. From 2005-06 he was a Non- Governmental Adviser to the International Competition Network (ICN) for the report on telecommunications sector. From 2006-07 he was an economic adviser to the Italian Minister of Communications and member of the Governmental Unit for the Improvement of Regulation. He was Economic Adviser for the 2009 OECD Regulatory Report on Italy.

Professor Nicita is a member of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, European Commission, as well as the Board of Directors of the Italian Society of Law and Economics, European Association of Law and Economics and of the International Society for New Institutional Economics (ISNIE).

He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Siena, Italy. His research interests cover industrial organisation, law and economics, competition economics and regulation.

Arvind Gupta is the Co-Founder and Head of Digital India Foundation. He spearheaded the digital and social media campaign for Prime Minister Modi during 2014 elections, for which he was awarded the Digital Leader of the Year and Path Breaker Award and has been covered in leading PR, trade publications including WSJ, FT, Gartner, PR Week.

Mr Gupta is an Eisenhower fellow for innovation and an active member of industry forums NASSCOM, TiE and Founding Member of iSPiRT (Indian Software Products Industry Round Table). He is on the Board of Directors of IIT – BHU Alumni Association, PAN-IIT Alumni Association and Illinois Alumni Board.

He holds a B Tech in Electronics Engineering from IIT-BHU and a Masters in Computer Science and MBA from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He is based in New Delhi and tweets at @buzzindelhi.

Carel van Straten is an investigator at The Spamhaus Project, where he looks at the motives of spammers and the iinfrastructure they use, with a mission to stop and prevent spamming. He investigates malware, snowshoe spam, DNS, abused free services, domains, their owners and anything in between.

Chris Chapman was appointed President of the International Institute of Communications on 1 April 2016. He is also a member of the IIC Advisory Council and Former Chair of the IIC Nominations Committee.

Mr Chapman previously held the position of Chairman and CEO of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). He was appointed in February 2006 and was re-appointed for a 2nd five year term in October 2010 until April 2016. He was appointed an Associate Member of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in September 2007.

Mr Chapman is a seasoned executive with experience in the media, broadcasting and film, internet, telecommunications, sports rights and infrastructure development worlds.

Before joining ACMA, Mr Chapman held a number of senior management positions with the Seven Network, Stadium Australia Management, Optus and Babcock & Brown. He has also been the Chairman of Film Australia and Sports Vision Australia, and a previous member of the National Film and Sound Archives’ Advisory Council.

Mr Chapman has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and has completed the Harvard Business School AMP program.

Cornelia Kutterer leads Microsoft’s European Rule of Law, Responsible Tech & Competition team which focuses on the impact of new technologies and regulatory frameworks that meet expectation of society and healthy competition. Her team covers policies such as responsible/ethical/trustworthy AI, digital safety and content regulation, privacy, lawful access, human rights and competition. She regularly engages with leading European scholars in these fields to advance academic thinking. Cornelia has long standing experience in Information Society & Internet policies and speaks regularly at regional and international conferences.

Before joining Microsoft, Ms Kutterer led the legal department of BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation. She has also gained experience in a top 10 law firm and started her professional career in the European Parliament as a political advisor to an MEP.

Ms Kutterer is a qualified German lawyer and holds a master’s degree in information technology and telecommunication laws. She studied law at the Universities of Passau, Porto, Hamburg and Glasgow/Strathclyde.

Damir Hajduk currently chairs the Electronic Media Council, having been appointed by the Croatian Parliament to the position of a Council Member in 2009. Mr Hajduk is also Director of the Agency for Electronic Media and Chair of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA).

In the period between 2011 and 2017, for three consecutive mandates, Mr Hajduk acted as Vice-Chair of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA).

In his professional career he has held various senior management positions including a national cable TV start-up project, global news agency Reuters and Croatian Public Service Broadcaster – HRT.

Mr Hajduk holds a masters degree in economics.

David Wheeldon is Group Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Sky, advising the CEO and Group Executive Committee on strategic public policy, regulatory advocacy, government relations and industry engagement across Sky’s major European markets where his team cover a wide range of media, telecoms, consumer and digital issues. Previously Mr Wheeldon looked after Sky’s sustainability strategy and for its initiatives to inspire customers and staff in sports, arts, environment and schools. He has also served as deputy president of the Association of Commercial Television Europe and he is currently a board director of Internet Matters, a not-for-profit company that helps keep children safe in the digital world. Prior to Sky Mr Wheeldon held a similar role at the London Stock Exchange Group where he was responsible for the Group’s UK, EU and global public policy covering listed companies, equities trading and the capital markets. In the early 2000’s, he was a partner in a leading London based communications firm where he provided political advice to major international businesses. He began his career as a university administrator before becoming a political speech writer and strategist.

Dean Bubley is the Founder of Disruptive Analysis, an independent technology industry analyst and consulting firm. An outspoken analyst and futurist with over 25 years’ experience, he specialises in communications, mobile, and telecoms fields. He is one of the leading market observers covering network infrastructure and software, telecom business models, voice/ video communications and broadband/ spectrum policy. He is known as a contrarian and visionary, often with challenging opinions that go against industry consensus.

Mr Bubley’s present focus is on 5G network technology, WiFi, spectrum policy, blockchain and distributed ledgers, the ‘future of voice and video’, mobile broadband, developer platforms and contextual communications. He also advises on trends in telco service creation and monetisation, mobile devices, IoT, applications ecosystems, broad futurism and telecoms regulation/policy.

He provides clients with advice and analytical opinion on topics such as business model validation, technology innovation and go-to-market strategies, ‘addressable market sizing’, planning and due diligence. His clients include many of the world’s leading telecom operators, vendors, regulators and industry associations.

Mr Bubley was formerly an equity analyst, covering communications stocks, with the UK arm of investment bank Robert W. Baird. Prior to that, he spent eight years at UK research firm Datamonitor, where he co-founded the company’s technology business, managed the
internet & networking area and custom consulting operations, with roles of chief analyst and director of consulting.

He holds a BA in Physics from Keble College, Oxford University.

Enrique Medina Malo is currently Chief Policy Officer at Telefónica S.A.

Mr Medina Malo joined the Telefónica Legal department in 2006, as Head of Public Law and with responsibilities in the field of Regulation and Competition legal affairs.

In 2008 he was appointed Chief Legal Officer of Telefónica, S.A., reporting to the Group´s General Counsel and in September 2011, General Counsel of Telefónica Europe, reporting to the regional CEO.

Before joining Telefonica, Mr Medina Malo served as in the Spanish Government Legal Service in different posts: Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Energy and the High Court of Cataluña. He also served as General Director for Legislation (Secretario General Técnico) of the Ministry of Science and Technology (2002-2004) and Chief Legal Officer of the Spanish Broadcasting Corporation RTVE (2004-2006).

Mr Medina Malo has a law degree from Carlos III University of Madrid (1994) and was admitted to the Spanish Government Legal Services in 1997 (Abogado del Estado).

Now a Board Member of RAI Way, and an economist by training, Fabio Colasanti stepped down as President of the International Institute of Communications in March 2016, having taken up the role when he left the European Commission, where he was Director General in charge of the Department for Information Society and Media, in 2010.

Prior to his DG role in the Commission, Fabio had headed the EC’s Enterprise Department, and has had a number of roles in the Commission, dating back to 1977. Prior to joining the Commission, Fabio worked with Italcable SpA of Rome (an international telecommunications company which is now part of Telecom Italia).

Fabio holds diplomas in economics from the University of Rome and the College of Europe in Bruges.

Fanny Hidvegi (@infofannny) is Access Now’s Europe Policy Manager based in Brussels. She develops Access Now’s European policy strategy and manages the EU office. Ms Hidvegi got appointed to the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, she serves on the board of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), and she is a Marshall Memorial Fellow (2019-20). Previously, Ms Hidvegi was International Privacy Fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC where she focused on EU-US data transfers. For three years Ms Hidvegi led the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Program of the HCLU where she engaged in strategic litigation with journalists and other NGOs, participated in the fight against the national data retention law in Hungary, and promoted privacy enhancing technologies. There, she gained experience on how to operate as a human rights advocate in a restrictive environment. Ms Hidvegi has also worked as a consumer protection lawyer both in the public and the private sector.

Ms Hidvegi has a law degree from Eötvös Loránd University Budapest and she spent one academic year at the University of Florence.

Fiona Taylor leads Verizon’s International Public Policy function with a team located across three continents. She is in charge of defining the company’s public policy strategy across Verizon’s international footprint, advising cross functional teams on policy issues affecting the business and the company’s global strategy.

Verizon and its subsidiaries are among the world’s leading providers of communications, entertainment, information technology and security solutions, with annual revenues in 2019 of $130 billion. Outside of the US, Verizon also serves large business and government customers, including 99% of the Fortune 1000, covering over 150 countries worldwide.

Ms Taylor has also headed Verizon’s EU representation in Brussels since October 2010. She represents the company before international policy-makers including EU institutions and in different organisations such as the European Internet Forum (EIF), ETNO, etc., and has served as Vice-chair of the Digital Economy Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (AMCHAM EU).

Prior to joining Verizon, Ms Taylor worked with the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO), where she led the public policy function. Her responsibilities included the overall strategic positioning and advocacy of the association focusing on the impact of Internet-related policy and regulation on the member companies.

George Wright is Head of Internet Research and Future Services for BBC Research & Development, where he leads a cross discipline team of engineers, researchers, UX Designers, production staff and domain experts researching and creating digital products and services to help shape the future output of the media and broadcasting. He has worked in broadcasting for more than 25 years, the last 20 of which have been in digital and new service research and development.

He began his career as a schoolboy making radio programs for a BBC local radio station, and since then has been involved in broadcasting and internet innovation as well as producing linear programmes and making pop records

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.

James Beveridge is responsible for directing Juniper Networks Government Affairs and Public Policy in Emea. Prior to joining Juniper he worked for Microsoft as senior director for Technology Policy In the Azure Networking Division. Mr Beveridge joined Microsoft through their WebTv division. He had previously worked in the European Audio Visual field with management roles in News Corp and Pace Micro Technology where he spearheaded their global transition to Digital TV. Mr Beveridge was a member of the Geneva based, DVB Steering Board, and chairman of the Brussels based, Digital Interoperability Forum, defining next generation Digital Media Standards and Regulation. Mr Beveridge is a regular presenter at ITU events.

Mr Beveridge started his technology career in Motorola Semiconductors, working in Scotland and Germany. He held a number of senior positions in their Microprocessor, Microcontroller and Communications Divisions.

During his time working as Gartner/ Dataquest’s Semiconductor Divisional Head, he provided strategic advice to the management of Semiconductor Corporates and Start Ups across the globe.
For Juniper Networks, Mr Beveridge leads on cybersecurity and privacy policy with a special interest in 5G/M2M/IOT

Mr Beveridge studied Electrical Engineering at Glasgow University.

Jean-Jacques Sahel was appointed Asia-Pacific Information Policy Lead at Google in November 2019, overseeing Google’s public policy approach in the region for issues including misinformation, online safety and intermediary liability.

He has been involved in international government and regulatory affairs for over 15 years in both the private and government sectors. Before joining Google, Mr Sahel was Managing Director of ICANN’s Brussels office and led the organisation’s corporate strategy and operations across the European region. He also led ICANN’s strategic plan for outreach, support and engagement with governments, private sector, and user groups throughout Europe, and worldwide for civil society.

Previously, Mr Sahel headed government and regulatory affairs for Skype, then digital policy at Microsoft for Europe, Middle-East & Africa regions. He had started his career in the City of London, before spending several years in the UK Government, leading in particular its international telecommunications policy.

Ex officio, Mr Sahel chaired the UK Chapter of the International Institute of Communications (IIC) from 2009-2019, and served on the Board of Directors from 2011-2024.

He was a member of OSAB, the Advisory Board of UK communications regulator Ofcom for 2 terms until 2016. He has authored articles and research in both mainstream media and academic publications particularly on Internet policy and governance.

Dr Joan Barata works on freedom of expression, media regulation and intermediary liability issues. He teaches at various universities in different parts of the world and has published a large number of articles and books on these subjects, both in academic and popular press. His work has taken him in most regions of the world, and he is regularly involved in projects with international organisations such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Organisation of American States or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, where he was the principal advisor to the Representative on Media Freedom.

Dr Barata has previously held the the positions of Secretary General of the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia in Spain and as a member of the Permanent Secretariat of the Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities.

Juan Manuel Wilches’s work experience began in Colombia in 2000 as Advisor for the Telecommunications Regulation Commission – CRT where, for a period of almost 7 years, he led and advised several projects on telecommunications regulation, carrying out activities such as the definition of interconnection conditions, termination rates and conflict resolution, as well as performing market analysis, and developing models for fixed and mobile network costing.

In 2010 he was contacted to be part of the team that created the National Spectrum Agency (ANE) in Colombia, joining as Senior Advisor to the Director General. He was subsequently promoted to Deputy Director for Spectrum Management and Planning, a position in which, with his team, he developed the National Spectrum Management Policy adopted in 2012 and the comprehensive spectrum management and planning framework currently in place in Colombia.

His recognized experience in regulation and spectrum management led him to be appointed by the Minister of Information and Communications Technologies as Commissioner in 2013 and Executive Director in 2014 for the Communications Regulation Commission (CRC)

Mr Wilches has represented Colombia in several international meetings such as the ITU-R Study Groups and Working Parties, as well as the World Radiocommunications Conference in 2012. He also has been President of the Spectrum Management Group at the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (OAS-CITEL).

Mr Wilches has a Bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, York University, in Toronto, Canada, where he graduated with honours in 2009. During his stay in Canada, he worked at Kazam Group as a consultant in telecommunications, where he specialised in wireless communications.

Karim Lesina was appointed Executive Vice President, Chief External Affairs Officer for Millicom in November 2020. In this role, Karim oversees the group’s Government Relations, Regulatory Affairs, Corporate Communications and ESG functions. His focus is on developing and driving Millicom’s global engagement to support of business objectives and particular responsibility for special situations and reputation strategies.

Before joining Millicom, Karim held the position of Senior Vice President, International External and Regulatory Affairs at AT&T, directing the internal international and regulatory affairs teams, as well as the external and regulatory affairs teams across AT&T and its global affiliates.

Before his term at AT&T, Karim was at Intel as the Government Affairs Manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Rounding out a strong portfolio, he acquired extensive agency experience through his work with multinational public relations and communications firms at the commencement of his career.

Karim is an active member in several industries and community organizations, including current service as Co-Chair of the Corporate Council of the Meridian International Center, as Board member of IREX, a nonprofit organization committed to global development and education, as Vice-Chair of the US-Colombia Business Council, as Board Member of the United States Telecommunication Training Institute, and as member of the GSMA Chief Policy & Regulatory Officer Group. He is also a member of the Board of Cogni, a digital banking app based in NYC and Co-Founder of the Centre for Latin America Convergence (CCLATAM), a pioneering think tank dedicated to advancing the realms of policy discussions and transformative change across the diverse landscape of Latin America.

Born in Dakar (Senegal), Karim is an Italian-Tunisian national and has a master’s degree in Economics of Development at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

Mr Lesina also served as a International Institute of Communications Board Director 2013-2022.

Kathleen. Abernathy recently joined the law firm of Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP as Special Counsel following her retirement from Frontier Communications. She first joined Frontier in 2006 as a member of the Board of Directors following her term as a Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In 2010 she accepted the position of Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President, Regulatory and Governmental Affairs. Over the next seven years she was on the senior leadership team that oversaw three major strategic acquisitions that eventually grew Frontier to a Fortune 250 company. She was responsible for obtaining the state and federal regulatory approvals critical to the growth of the company. At retirement she was Executive Vice President, External Affairs.

She is also a member of the Board of Directors of ISO New England, a regional energy transmission organization authorised by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and is a Senior Industry and Innovation Fellow with Georgetown University’s Center for Business and Public Policy, McDonough School of Business. Prior to her term as an FCC Commissioner, Ms Abernathy worked for a number of different telecommunications companies and law firms.

She has received numerous awards in recognition of her professional accomplishments and has taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law.

Before founding Leegal Oy in Finland, Leena Kuusniemi has worked in Legal departments of Rovio and Nokia supporting strategic technology licensing, IP, mobile advertising and global privacy, data security and regulatory matters.

Ms Leena Kuusniemi is a Visiting Fellow at the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (Maastricht University) lecturing regularly on data protection. She has attended several EU Commission Working Groups such as data protection, consumer rights and technology platform issues.

Ms Leena Kuusniemi has her qualification degree from the University of Helsinki and an additional LL.M. (Law and Information Technology) from the University of Stockholm.  She also attended Harvard Law School’s Internet Law course in 2001.

Linda Griffin established, and heads, public affairs at King – one of the world’s leading mobile games developers, with a network of 342 million monthly active users.

Ms Griffin is Chair and a founding member of the European Tech Alliance, which brings together companies from a variety of tech industries that have started and are scaling in Europe. It is the first alliance of its kind, and was established in response to the EU’s Digital Single Market Strategy, as it looks to amend and create an unprecedented amount of legislation covering the digital world. Its members work as a pool of knowledge and experience for policymakers as they look to create a functioning digital single market in the EU. Ms Griffin also sits on the board and is Vice President of the European Digital Media Association (EDiMA) in Brussels.

Prior to King, Ms Griffin led Facebook’s policy communications in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with a focus on government transparency reporting, safety, security and privacy. She joined Facebook from political consultancy, having advised clients ranging from the Africa Progress Panel to governments such as Dubai and Singapore on public outreach.

Early in Ms Griffin’s career she helped to establish the China Programme at the London think tank, the Foreign Policy Centre, and lived in Shanghai where she taught Chinese and English and wrote textbooks.

Ms Griffin holds a BA in Politics and Classics from University College Dublin, and an MSc Econ in International Politics from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Manish Tewari is a practicing lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. He is a National Spokesperson of the Indian National Congress. He is Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Indian National Congress (INC). He is the distinguished senior fellow of Atlantic Council, Washington DC, USA.

During 2009 to 2014 Mr Tewari was a Member of the Indian Parliament, and Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting in the Indian government during 2012 to 2014. Mr Tewari was also a Member / Special Invitee to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Investments; and a member of Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) and Group of Ministers dealing with a diverse array of policy issues. He was a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committees of External Affairs, Law & Justice and Defence. He also served on the Parliamentary Consultative Committees of the Ministries of Defence and Law & Justice.

Mr Tewari has travelled widely both in his professional and personal capacities and has an interest in history, international and strategic affairs.

Manuel Kohnstamm is Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for Liberty Global. He is responsible for developing and implementing Liberty Global’s regulatory strategy, public policy, government affairs and corporate communications. Mr Kohnstamm is an executive officer of Liberty Global and sits on Liberty Global’s Executive Leadership Team and the Regulatory Committee.

Mr Kohnstamm joined the Europe operations of Liberty Global’s predecessor in September 1999 and held several positions in corporate affairs, public policy, and communications. He was appointed to his current position in January 2012. From 1992 until he joined Liberty Global, Mr Kohnstamm worked at Time Warner Inc., most recently as Vice President of Public Affairs in Brussels for its subsidiaries Time Inc., Warner Bros., and Turner Broadcasting. Prior to joining Time Warner, Mr Kohnstamm worked with the consulting group European Research Associates in Brussels where he conducted macro-economic and policy studies on the telecommunications and defense industries.

Mr Kohnstamm is a member of VodafoneZiggo’s Supervisory Board as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Liberty Global’s subsidiary Telenet Group Holding NV, a Liberty Global subsidiary and a Belgian public limited liability company.

Mr Kohnstamm is Co-chair of GIGAEurope, an industry association bringing together independent private telecoms companies. In addition, Mr Kohnstamm is a trustee of the non-profit organisation Street Child, a charitable organisation focused on improving the lives of some of the poorest and most vulnerable children in the world.

Mr Kohnstamm graduated in Political Science and holds a Doctorandus Degree in International and European Law from the University of Amsterdam. He also holds a Postgraduate Degree in International relations from the Clingendael Diplomat School in The Hague, and successfully completed the Cable Executive Management Program from Harvard Business School, Boston (MA).

Marjolein Geus has over 25 years of experience her practice covers the full range of contentious and non-contentious matters in the communications, postal, information technology (IT) and media sectors. She has extensive knowledge of EU and national regulation and has advised many national and multinational companies in the communications, postal, IT and media sectors on a variety of transactions and commercial contracts.

She has consistently been recognised as a leader in the Tech & Comms sector for close to two decades and is the author of a range of national and international publications on national and European telecommunications, postal and media law.

Ms Geus is a co-head of the International Communications Group and leading the Global Regulatory Consulting Group of Bird & Bird.

Martin Duckworth is a Director at Frontier Economics and a leading expert in telecommunications regulation, competition policy, and commercial strategy. With over 25 years of experience, he has advised regulators, governments, and telecoms operators across the UK, Europe, and internationally. Martin began his career at OFTEL before moving into consultancy, and has since been at the forefront of major regulatory and policy developments in liberalised telecoms markets.

His recent work includes advising on spectrum auctions, mobile merger reviews, and frameworks to support investment in next-generation networks, including 5G. For example, Martin led the mobile workstream of the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review in 2019, directed the Digital Connectivity Forum’s report on the mobile ‘investment gap’ and advised Vodafone as part of the CMA clearance of the Vodafone/Three merger.  His strength lies in combining technical rigour with strategic insight to help shape effective policy and deliver results for clients.

Mathieu Moreuil has been dealing with sport related issues in Brussels for 15 years. He started his career in 2003 in the European Commission, first in the sport unit and then in the unit in charge of free movement of workers including professional players.

In 2007 Mr Moreuil joined APCO, a Public Affairs Consultancy, where he advised clients in the media and sport sectors.

In 2010, Mr Moreuil was appointed Head of EU Public Policy for the English Premier League and set up the Brussels Office. In 2018 he was promoted Director of International Football Relations and EU Affairs

Mr Moreuil also coordinates the Brussels activities of the Sports Rights Owners Coalition (www.sroc.info) a group of 50+ sport events’ organisers which deals with IPR and rights issues.

Mr Moreuil graduated from the Strasbourg Institute for Political Sciences. He also holds a Masters in European Law from the Free University of Brussels and an MBA in International Management from the ESCP Europe.

Bio coming soon…

Olaf Kolkman, Chief Internet Technology Officer, Internet Sociaety, is in charge of the Internet Society’s strategic technical activities, particularly as they pertain to issues and opportunities for enhancing the internet’s evolution.

Mr Kolkman has been actively involved with internet technologies since his astronomy studies during the early nineties. Internet became his professional focus in 1996 when he joined the RIPE NCC to develop the first version of what has become a worldwide test-network. In 2007 he became the managing director of NLnet Labs. Under his responsibility NLnet Labs produced open-source products, performed research on technical issues with global impact, and contributed actively to the regional and global collaborative standard and governance bodies (e.g. ICANN, RIPE, IETF), and ‘pushed the needle’ on the development and deployment of DNSSEC.

Mr Kolkman has had numerous responsibilities in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the premier standards organisation for the internet. He chaired the IETF DNS Extension Working Group (dnsext) and the Web Extensible Internet Registration Data Service (weirds) working groups. He was IAB member from 2006 to 2012 and its chair between March 2007 and March 2011. He was member of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) and the IETF Trust, and was Acting RFC Series Editor in 2011.

Mr Kolkman is the IETF/ISOC representative on the European Multi-Stakeholder Platform on ICT Standardisation and a Trusted Community Representative in the context of the DNS Root-Signing ceremony.

Pastora Valero is Senior Vice President, International Government Affairs and leads government affairs activities in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific, Japan, and Greater China (APJC) regions. She manages a team of professionals who engage lawmakers, regulators, and industry stakeholders across both regions on technology and communications policies that can deliver the promises of a digital world..  She previously held the position of Vice President, Public Policy and Government Affairs, for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia (EMEAR) for Cisco Systems Inc.

Ms Valero joined Cisco in 2003, and she has close to three decades of experience in regulatory and public policy issues concerning telecommunications, internet regulations, competition, and trade, among others. During her 19-year tenure at Cisco, she has successfully advocated for policies that foster the deployment of broadband networks, enable the future of wireless technologies, promote the green and digital transition, and enhance privacy and cybersecurity.

She is passionate about mentorship, talent development, and women’s leadership—serving as the executive sponsor for the Women of Cisco Community in EMEA—and is an advocate for the role of digital technologies in powering a more sustainable and inclusive future for all. She is also a member of Cisco’s Senior Leadership Team in EMEA and APJC and the country sponsor for Egypt, a key market for Cisco in the Middle East region.

Prior to Cisco, Ms Valero was Vice-President of Regulatory Affairs for Global TeleSystems (GTS), a pan-European fibre-optic network operator. She started her career with the Brussels law firm Van Bael & Bellis, dealing with EU trade and competition law issues.

A qualified lawyer in Spain, she holds a master’s degree in European law (ULB, Brussels) and an L.L.M in international law (VUB, Brussels). She serves on the Board of Directors of Digital Europe and has represented Cisco on boards of various technology trade associations that are active in the EMEA market, including serving as a former vice-chair of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU.

Prof. Paul Milgrom is the Shirley R and Leonard W Ely Professor of Humanities and Sciences in the Department of Economics at Stanford University, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and winner of the 2008 Nemmers Prize and the 2013 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge prize. According to Google Scholar, his research works have more than 80,000 citations, covering multiple fields in economics. A leader in radio spectrum policy and auction theory and applications, Prof. Milgrom co-invented auction formats used for selling spectrum licenses in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

In 2009 Prof. Milgrom co-founded Auctionomics, a high stakes auction consulting and software firm that has helped governments worldwide design and implement complex auctions. It has also prepared companies across the globe to bid in complex auctions. Prof. Milgrom and Auctionomics recently led the design of the US Incentive Auction, which reallocated TV broadcast spectrum to mobile broadband use in the 600MHz band.

Dr Peter Lovelock is Principal, Fair Tech Institute, Access Partnership. Prior to its acquisition by Access Partnership, Peter Lovelock was the Director of TRPC, along with Professor John Ure.  Peter and John established the Telecommunications Research Project (TRP) at the University of Hong Kong in 1993 and the Telecoms Infotechnology Forum (TIF) in 1996. Peter subsequently established the TRPC offices in Beijing (1999) and Singapore (2006) and expanded the academic collaborations in both locations, initially with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and subsequently with Qinghua University and the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Between 1999 and 2004, Peter built and ran China’s leading IT research consultancy, and prior to that he was a lead policy analyst at the UN in Geneva, where he was principal author on the World Telecommunications Development Report amongst others, including many of the ITU Secretary General’s speeches from this period.

He brings more than 25 years’ experience in telecoms, technology and media to these undertakings, including regulatory assessments, implementation and execution projects, and due diligence and market entry strategic guidance projects throughout Asia.

In recent years, Dr Lovelock has provided advice to governments and companies alike regionally on digital enablement and digital transformation, including to ASEAN on its ICT Masterplan, and to APEC on the Internet and Digital Economy principles and roadmap; as well as authoring reports on global data networks and bandwidth developments, cross border data flows and the economic impacts of data localisation, digital transactions, authentication and digital identity.

In the financial services and fintech spaces, Dr Lovelock has been involved in the establishment of new payments regulatory regimes in Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Zambia, focused on facilitating fast access channels and furthering financial inclusion He has advised and authored thought leadership on blockchains, digital and crypto currencies and national payment gateways and is currently working with multilateral donor agencies on the development of regulatory financial sandboxes in several jurisdictions and national eID schemes. Dr Lovelock is advising the Central Bank of Myanmar on their QR code standardisation and adoption, and is an expert on TV White Spaces and other non-traditional connectivity options for extending access.

Dr Lovelock is an advisor to PECC on digital and internet economy developments and sits on the board of the International Institute of Communications (IIC). TRPC provides Executive Director and Secretariat support to the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) and the Asia Pacific Spectrum Innovation Group (APSIG), among others.

Between 1999 and 2004 Dr Lovelock built and ran China’s leading IT research consultancy. Prior to that, Peter worked at the ITU in Geneva.

Dr Lovelock also served on the International Institute of Communications Board of Directors, 2014-2023, and is a Former Chair of the Singapore Chapter.

Peter MacAvock is Head of Delivery, Platforms and Services, EBU Technology and Development and DVB Chairman. At EBU, Mr Macavock heads the team responsible for innovation projects relating to delivery technologies, spectrum management and software platforms. Amongst other things, he is responsible for spectrum matters and high level projects related to Hybrid Radio and Television including HbbTV, DVB, RadioDNS and others. In July 2016, he was elected chairman of the DVB Project, and retains a role as co-chair of the HbbTV Reuqirements Group.

Prior to joining the City of London Corporation as Parliamentary Affairs Counsel in the Remembrancer’s Office, Philip Saunders worked in independent practice at the bar and at a global law firm where he specialised in litigation and regulatory work. The City of London Corporation’s wide-ranging activities, from promoting London and the UK as a global business hub and caring for London’s famous open spaces to providing a specialist police force dedicated to combatting economic crime, give rise to significant legal and policy issues. Mr Saunders provides guidance on matters of legislative, constitutional, and government relations interest to the City.

Mr Saunders is the lead on digital policy issues and works with government, regulators, industry and the property sector.

Rebecca Arbogast serves as Senior Vice President for Global Public Policy for Comcast Corporation. In this role she is responsible for the development and coordination of the company’s public policy efforts across the corporation.

Prior to joining Comcast in 2011, Ms Arbogast served as Managing Director at Stifel Financial where she provided advice to institutional investors on legal issues affecting communications, media, and technology industries. She joined Stifel from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) where she was Chief of the International Bureau Telecommunications Division, leading an office of attorneys, economists, and engineers shaping the agency’s policies for international communications services. Prior to this, Ms Arbogast served in the Office of Legal Counsel of the US Department of Justice, and she began her legal career as a corporate attorney with Wilmer Cutler practicing international and communications law.

Ms Arbogast holds a Law degree from Yale Law School and a Masters Degree from the University of Iowa. She has taught Constitutional Law at Johns Hopkins School of Public Policy and Global Communications at American University. She clerked for Judge Fletcher on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and was a Fulbright Fellow in European Community Law.

Richard Hooper CBE has devoted his career to the converging worlds of telecoms, media and technology. After senior management roles in the BBC, BT and satellite television he has spent the last thirty years advising Governments and businesses and sitting on a range of Boards. He was founding deputy chairman of Ofcom (the UK communications regulator) and Chairman of its Content Board. He has just stepped down from the Board of VocaLink which runs the national payments infrastructure in the UK, after its successful acquisition by MasterCard.

He is Chairman of the Broadband Stakeholder Group which advises Government and Ofcom on broadband policy.
In 2016 Richard Hooper was a member of the panel of experts advising the Australian Government on the future of the ACMA.

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.

Sanford C Reback is Senior Director of Global Public Policy at Akamai Technologies, where he formulates Akamai public policy positions and advocates on behalf of the company on a global basis.

Mr Reback has more than 25 years of policy, business, and legal experience in the technology sector. 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, and a senior executive at two venture-backed technology companies.

In the Executive Office of the President at the Office of the US Trade Representative, Mr Reback helped negotiate NAFTA, the World Trade Organisation agreements, and several international technology agreements. Immediately prior to joining Akamai, he was Senior Technology Analyst and Director of Global Business at Bloomberg Government.

Mr Reback holds a BA in political science from Stanford University, a JD from Harvard Law School and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was also a Fulbright Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

Dr Stephan Netzle was a member of the Swiss Federal Telecommunication Commission (ComCom) and was appointed President for ComCom on 1 January 2017 until 2020.

Dr Netzle specialises in telecom and IT law, international sports law, and arbitration. He advised and represented telecom operators in prior spectrum auctions and was an external legal counsel of the leading Swiss cable company.

He is also a listed arbitrator with the ICC. He participated in many commercial arbitration proceedings as a party-appointed arbitrator, sole arbitrator and chairman of panels, in disputes concerning sports but also information technology (IT) and intellectual property. ComCom is currently preparing the allocation of the spectrum for the 5G generation (2018) and assisting in the review of the Swiss Telecom Act.

Dr Netzle is a graduate of the University of Zurich and the University of Virginia School of Law. He is a qualified attorney at law practising in Zurich and Lausanne. He is a lecturer for International Arbitration at the University of Zurich.

Steven was appointed Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer (CCEO) at the CRTC in November 2016. He is responsible for the enforcement of the Unsolicited Telecommunication Rules, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, and the Voter Contact Registry.

As the CCEO, Steven Harroun’s leadership approach is to promote compliance with the applicable legislation and regulations through education and outreach and, when necessary, encourage and enforce compliance through both traditional and innovative approaches.

Mr Harroun joined Canada’s converged communications regulator in 2002 and has developed his expertise in both broadcasting and telecommunications through various positions of increasing responsibility. As Director General, Strategic Policy from 2012-2016, Mr Harroun led the development and implementation of key Commission policies, including the Wireless Code of Conduct, Video Relay Service, and Broadband Performance Measurement, through his leadership of the Social and Consumer Policy, Network Technology and Strategic Policy and International Affairs teams.

Mr Harroun began his federal public service career in 1999 with the Canada Revenue Agency, following several years in the private sector.

Mr Harroun has a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree (accounting and management double major), Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Tshoganetso Kepaletswe is currently the Acting Chief Executive of Botswana Communication Regulatory Authority. Previously he was the Deputy Chief Executive – Regulatory Affairs responsible for the technical and economic regulation at the Authority. He has extensive knowledge and experience on telecommunication and broadcasting regulation. He is one of the founding staff members of Botswana Telecommunications Authority, where he has been involved for the past twenty years. Mr Kepaletswe has represented Botswana and actively participated at the ITU World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC’s), Regional Radiocommunication Conference (RRC) and World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT). In addition, he also served as National Broadcasting Board Member for a period of three years.

Mr Kepaletswe graduated with a BEng Telecommunication Systems Management and Design from Anglia Polytechnic University & Cable and Wireless College, United Kingdom and MSc Telecommunication and Information Systems from University of Essex, United Kingdom. He is a Registered Professional Engineer with Botswana Engineers Registration Board (ERB) and a Member of the Botswana Institution of Engineers (MBIE), Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (MIEEE)

Ulf Pehrsson is responsible for telecom, regulatory and trade policy at Ericsson.

Leveraging over30 years experience in government and telecommunication, Mr Pehrsson is the architect of the company’s strategic focus on developing strong ties to governments and regulators around the world.

Prior to joining Ericsson, Mr Pehrsson served as the Deputy Director-General, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA), Director, Ministry for Industry and Trade working primarily in the trade policy, trade & investment promotion and EU Single Market fields as well as represented the Swedish government at various embassies around the world.

Currently Mr Pehrsson is on the board of a number of organisations such as the Swedish Foreign Trade Association (Chairman), DigitalEurope, the Swedish IT and Telecom Industries, the International Council of Swedish Industry – NIR, the Stockholm China Economic Research Institute – SCERI and the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (Chairman). He is also Vice-chair of the Trade & Investment Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce – ICC, and Chair of the Digital Economy Policy Committee as well as the Trade & Investment Policy Committee of ICC Sweden.

Mr Pehrsson holds an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Vianney Hennes was appointed Director of the Representation to the EU institutions and Director, European Public Affairs at Orange in February 2007.

Mr Hennes began his career as department head with France Telecom’s Nanterre operational unit from 1984 – 1987, where he was then appointed Director of France Telecom’s representation office in Germany until 1990. From 1990 to 1998 he was responsible for Europe within France Telecom’s International Affairs unit. He contributed to business development strategies for the group in Western and Eastern Europe. As Director of France Telecom’s Brussels Office from 1993 to 1997, Mr. Hennes represented the enterprise with EU institutions. From 1997 to 2002, Mr. Hennes was involved in the management of different mobile and fixed activities in Switzerland, in the UK and in Germany. In 2002 Mr. Hennes contributed to the development of Global Products and Services at Orange, the mobile unit of France Telecom. From 2003 to 2005, and was appointed Senior Vice President in charge of the international strategy at France Telecom, and later he was in charge of European and International Regulation at France Telecom.

Mr Hennes is graduate from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1982 and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in 1984.

William Bird is the director of Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and is both an Ashoka and Linc fellow both in recognition of his work focused on children and the media. MMA is a media watchdog and NGO. At MMA William has overseen or been directly involved in over 100 media monitoring projects on subjects ranging from gender based violence, sexual harassment, HIV, and racism to children and the media and public broadcasting. Some highlights include the conceptualising a range of data journalism tools including, Newstools.co.za, Wazimap.co.za and MMA’s own monitoring tool, Dexter. He is also involved in conceptualising MMA’s tools to build media credibility and combat misinformation in the news.

Mr Bird has been making policy submission since his first years at MMA and most recently worked on MMA’s submission on draft principles on Access to Information and Elections for the African Commission. William has also presented to parliament on several occasions, most recently before the SABC Adhoc Inquiry into the SABC. In his spare time William likes to monitor the media, and as a father of two boys has already introduced his children to the wonderful world of media monitoring.

Wolfgang Kopf has been Senior Vice President for group public and regulatory affairs at Deutsche Telekom AG since November 2006. He is responsible for regulatory affairs, competition and media policy, spectrum strategy and public affairs. Mr Kopf joined Deutsche Telekom Group in 1995 where he held various senior positions since. His previous projects include the foundation of Global One, mobile operator WIND, the sale of DT’s cable networks, market entry in the US and building up the Antitrust and International Regulatory departments at DT and T-Mobile. Mr Kopf is a Board Member of GSMA, a Member of the ZDF Television Council and a Member of the Foundation Board of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen. In addition he is the Vice-Chair of the BIAC Competition Committee at OECD and co-editor of two German Law Journals.

Mr Kopf studied Arts and Law at the Universities of Mainz and Speyer, and holds a master of laws (LLM) degree from the University of London.

Dr Yaser Bishr is the Executive Director of Digital Division at Al Jazeera Media Network. Dr Bishr is leading the network’s transformation from a news broadcaster to a global digital media player.

Prior to joining Al Jazeera, Dr Bishr was chief strategist and business development director at Lockheed Martin, based in the Washington DC Area, with the remit to lead the transformation of its intelligence and cyber business from government-focused to commercial.

As an entrepreneur, software engineer, and academic, prior to joining Lockheed, Dr Bishr successfully founded and sold several startups in location based services and social media analytics in Germany and in the US.

Dr Bishr holds an MBA from Duke University, Fuqua School of Business where he was honoured with the Duke University Scholar Merits Award. He also holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Civil Engineering, an MS and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Twente and Waginengen University in the Netherlands. During his time as associate professor in the University of Muenster, Germany, he published a book on Interoperability and Knowledge Management. He also has over 30 refereed papers and book chapters on various computer science topics.