International Regulators’ Forum 2022 – In Person

Ms Aileen Chia is currently the Deputy Chief Executive and Director-General (Telecoms and Post) of the IMDA, a statutory board in the Singapore government which regulates the infocomm, media and postal sectors, and comprises the Personal Data Protection Commission. She has served as a Board member of the Singapore Network Information Centre (a subsidiary of IMDA) since 2009 and has been its Chairman since 2020.

Ms Chia seeks to create a competitive, internationally-connected and trusted environment to enable the development of the infocomm, media and postal sectors in Singapore through the formulation and implementation of policy and regulatory frameworks, and development strategies for these sectors.

Ms Chia holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics (Honours) and a Masters of Public Policy from the National University of Singapore.

Andrea Sanders-Winter has been heading the subdepartment “Internet, Digitisation – especially in SMEs, Market Analysis” of the Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (Bundesnetzagentur) since August 2020.

Ms Sanders-Winter was previously responsible for the international coordination in telecommunications and railways where she was head of unit since 2010. In this function, she managed the activities of the Federal Network Agency in BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications).

From 2005 until 2010 Ms Sanders-Winter was responsible for the European ICT Policy in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. From 1993 to 2005 she worked for the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in various units including “European Coordination”, “Twinning Programs” and “Posting of workers”. In 1997/1998 she joined the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the EU in Brussels and in 1996/1997 she worked for the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group on labour and social affairs.

Ms Sanders-Winter holds a degree in law from the Westfälischen-Wilhelms-University in Münster, where she also completed her legal traineeship, including periods abroad and traineeships in Seville and Madrid.

Annemarie Sipkes has been director for Telecoms, Postal and Transport at the ACM, the Dutch authority for markets and consumers, since 2018. This year, she is the BEREC Vice Chair. Before working as a telecoms regulator, she held different posts in the Dutch government, working from an economic perspective on strategic issues in the field of Education, Culture & Science and in Social Affairs & labour market policies. After completing her MSC in economics and an MA in General Arts in Maastricht, she started her career at the Dutch Central bank and also spent several years in consulting at KPMG.

Bio coming soon ……

Benoît Loutrel is an economist engineer, specializing in industrial economics, economic development, digital transformation and regulatory economics.

After working at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) as a research officer in environmental economics in 1993, Mr Loutrel was appointed in 1996 technical advisor to the administrator representing the France at the World Bank in Washington and then, in 1999, chargé d’affaires and head of the European office (in Paris) of the infrastructure department of the International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of the World Bank Group until 2003.

In 2004, he joined the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts. (Arcep) where he was Director of Fixed and Mobile Market Regulation, then Deputy Director General. From 2010 to 2013, he was Director of the “Development of the Digital Economy” program of the “Investments for the future” to the Commissioner General for Investment. From 2013 to 2016, Mr Loutrel was Director General of Arcep. In 2017, Mr Loutrel became Director of Institutional Relations and Public Policy at Google France. From 2018 to 2020, he carried out various missions within the INSEE General Inspectorate, and in particular, he was General Rapporteur of the interministerial mission “regulation of social networks”.

Mr Loutrel joined the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel in February 2021. He chairs Arcom’s “Supervision of Online Platforms” working group. He is also Vice-President of the working group “Televisions, SMAD, distribution and digital uses”.

Mr Loutrel studied industrial economics and regulation at Ecole Polytechnique, ENSAE, and Toulouse School of Economics.

Bio coming soon ……

Chaucer Leung was appointed Director-General of Communications of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in July 2019.

As the Director-General of Communications, Mr Leung heads the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA), the executive arm of the Communications Authority (CA), and is the ex-officio member of the CA.

The CA is an independent unified regulator for both telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in Hong Kong.

Mr Leung provides support to the CA in the exercise of the CA’s statutory functions under the relevant Ordinances. These mainly cover licensing matters for both the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors, management of radio spectrum and enforcement of the provisions safeguarding market competition and fair trade practices, as well as giving advice to the Government with regard to telecommunications and broadcasting matters.

Mr Leung is also appointed as the Director of Films, Newspapers and Articles Administration and is responsible in that capacity for enforcing the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (COIAO) and overseeing the work pursuant to COIAO, as well as acting as the Film Censorship Authority and the registrar of newspapers.

Chenda Thong has more than 20 years of experience in public sector.  After working at the central level of government, in November 2020 he was appointed Chairman of the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia.

Prior to joining the TRC, Chairman Thong held various positions such as a Secretary of State for the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, an advisor to the Office of the Council of Ministers, a legal advisor to the Chairman of the Third Committee of the National Assembly and the Vice President of the Royal Academy for Judicial Professions, one of the first state institutions to offer a fair and transparent national judicial entrance examination.

As a renowned leader within the public entity, Chairman Thong creates a culture of solidarity and harmony with the core value of high integrity in the working place. His previous background powered his aspiration to lead the TRC to be one of the world class regulators, finding practical answers for some of the nation’s complex questions and to ensure good governance and transparency in management and operations.

Chairman Thong holds qualifications in Law from Norton University and English literature from the Institute of Foreign Languages in Cambodia.

Chris Chapman was appointed President of the International Institute of Communications on 1 April 2016. He is also 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.

Elisa Giomi is an Associate Professor at Roma Tre University, Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts, where she teaches Sociology of Media and Communication, Television Narrative, and Advertising. Prof. Giomi also teaches at the MA course in Cultural Leadership Research, a double postgraduate degree programme (University of Groningen and Roma Tre University) and coordinates the Media and Communication module of the MA in Gender and Political Studies.

Prof. Giomi is the author of more than 60 publications for major italian and international publishers and peer-reviewed journals.  Her latest publication is “Male and Female Violence in Popular Media” (Bloomsbury 2022) and “The Media today. Technologies, markets, socio-cultural issues and regulatory responses” (forthcoming).

Prof. Giomi has coordinated national and international scientific projects aimed at studying the media and identifying good practices in the sector, on behalf of various bodies and institutions including: European Parliament, EJC-European Journalism Center, EIGE-European Institute for Gender Equality. She has coordinated television content analysis projects on behalf of italian broadcasters, including monitoring the representation of women in public programming.

Prof. Giomi has collaborated with the “Commission of enquiry on feminicide, as well as on all forms of gender-based violence” of Italian Parliament; she is a member of the board of the “Gender Studies” section of the AIS-Italian Association of Sociology and of the magazine “AG.About Gender-International Journal of Gender Studies”.

By decree of the President of the Republic, Prof. Giomi was appointed on 15 September 2020 as a member of the Board of AGCOM- Authority for Communications Guarantees.

Emmanuel Gabla was nominated as Membre du Collège at the board of Arcep at the beginning of 2019. He was previously the Head of the Economic Section of France’s embassy in Norway from 2016 until his appointment at Arcep.

Mr Gabla began his career in 1993 at the Ministry of Post & Telecom, which developed the 1996 Act that opened the telecoms sector up to competition. Starting in 1999, Mr Gabla served as an advisor on telecoms, the information society, postal affairs and industrial aspects of the internal market to the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union, as Technical Advisor to the Prime Minister, Jean Pierre Raffarin, in charge of telecoms and postal affairs, industrial property and space, and the head of the Technologies and Information Society department at the Directorate-General for Enterprise.

From 2009 to 2015, Mr Gabla was a member of the Board of the French broadcasting authority, CSA, and a member of the General Council for the Economy, Industry, Energy and Technologies from 2015 to 2016.

Mr Gabla is a former student at the Ecole Polytechnique, a graduate of the Ecole nationale supérieure des télécommunications (ENST), and a Chief Telecommunications Engineer.

Fiona Gilfillan was appointed Executive Director of Telecommunications in November 2021. Her extensive and broad experience in the Telecommunications field combined with her strategic planning and leadership skills contribute to ensuring that Canadians have access to a world-class communications system by leading most of the CRTC’s telecommunications regulatory activities.

In 1993, she began her public service career with the CRTC as a rates project officer.

From 1996 to 2002, she gained management, planning and leadership experience working with various private telecommunications companies including Call-Net Enterprises Inc. and AT&T Canada Corp.

Ms Gilfillan returned to the CRTC from 2002 to 2007 as Director General, Industry Analysis, Policy and Consumer Affairs. Among her many accomplishments and contributions, she was instrumental in attracting, hiring and retaining new graduates at the CRTC. She led key telecom policy files including the establishment and implementation of the National Do Not Call List, forbearance from regulating the incumbent telecommunications providers, price cap regulation, and a policy framework for the regulation of voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP).

She then joined Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, where she led spectrum operations, spectrum auctions and policy. Most recently, from 2017 to 2021, Fiona was the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Spectrum Telecom Sector, where she was responsible for, among other things, spectrum management, the Communications Research Centre, and standards and certification of telecommunications equipment in the spectrum and telecommunications sector.

Ms Gilfillan has a Master’s in Business Administration, emphasis in strategic planning, York University and a Bachelor of Mathematics, University of Waterloo.

As Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Ian Scott supervises and directs the work and staff of the Commission. He also chairs Commission meetings and participates in public hearings and consultations.

Mr Scott has over 25 years of policy and regulatory experience in broadcasting and telecommunications both in the public and private sectors.

After working at the Competition Bureau, he joined the CRTC from 1990 to 1994, where he collaborated on the development of a framework for long-distance telephone service competition in Canada. Between 2007 and 2008, as part of the Executive Interchange Program, he was Senior Policy Advisor to the Chairman at the CRTC.

Before rejoining the CRTC in 2017, Mr Scott held various executive positions in the communications industry, including at Telesat Canada, Telus and Call-Net Enterprises, one of the first companies to offer competition in the Canadian long-distance market. He also provided leadership on broadcasting policy and regulatory issues as an executive at the Canadian Cable Television Association.

Mr Scott has served on various boards, including Women in Communications and Technology and Ski Quebec Alpin.

Mr Scott has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, McGill University

His Term ends January 4, 2023

James Cameron is an Authority Member with the Australian Communications and Media Authority, having been appointed in August 2013.

Mr Cameron has over 25 years Australian Government public policy experience, including senior executive roles in the telecommunications, radio communications, broadcasting and digital economy fields. Mr Cameron has also held executive positions managing government policies and programs supporting Australia’s arts and sports sectors and, immediately prior to joining the ACMA, was Chief Executive Officer of the National Water Commission.

John Pecman is an economist with an MA from McMaster University and worked at the Competition Bureau as an investigator, manager, and executive for more than 34 years. Mr Pecman served as the Commissioner of Competition of the Competition Bureau Canada from June 2013 for a five-year term. Under Mr Pecman’s leadership, the Bureau’s enforcement actions preserved competition and drove innovation in a variety of major areas of the Canadian economy, including the automotive, manufacturing, e-commerce, telecommunications, and retail sectors. John was responsible for reinvigorating the Bureau’s role in advocating for Canadians by promoting the benefits of increased competition in regulated sectors of the economy. Mr Pecman’s philosophy of a more open, transparent, and collaborative Bureau led to many initiatives including a realignment of the organization, prioritization of corporate compliance programs and building many trust relationships with domestic and international partners. Mr Pecman held executive positions with the OECD Competition Committee and the International Competition Network (ICN) and served as ICN/OECD Liaison to ensure coordination of work by these international bodies. Presently, Mr Pecman holds several appointments, including as a Non-Government Advisor (NGA) to the ICN, Fellow at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute, as well as the TMX Industry Professor at DeGroote Business School at McMaster University.

Julie Inman Grant is Australia’s eSafety Commissioner. In this role, Julie leads the world’s first government regulatory agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online.

Julie has extensive experience in the non-profit and government sectors, and spent two decades working in senior public policy and safety roles in the tech industry at Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe.

The Commissioner’s career began in Washington DC, working in the US Congress and the non-profit sector before taking on a role at Microsoft. Julie’s experience at Microsoft spanned 17 years, serving as one of the company’s first and longest-standing government relations professionals, ultimately in the role of Global Director for Safety & Privacy Policy and Outreach. At Twitter, she set up and drove the company’s policy, safety and philanthropy programs across Australia, New Zealand & Southeast Asia.

As Commissioner, Julie plays an important global role as Chair of the Child Dignity Alliance’s Technical Working Group and as a Board Member of the WePROTECT Global Alliance. She was recently designated one of Australia’s most influential women by the Australian Financial Review and a leading Australian in Foreign Affairs by the Sydney Morning Herald. In 2020, the World Economic Forum and Apolitical designated the Commissioner as one of the #Agile50, the world’s most influential leaders revolutionising government.

Kalana Prince-Wilson is an Attorney-at-Law, Certified Mediator and founder of Kalana Prince-Wilson & Company, Attorneys-at-Law – a general law practice with experience in civil, conveyancing, estate and succession, family and land law and other non-criminal contentious and non-contentious matters.

Currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad & Tobago since 2016, Mrs Prince-Wilson serves on two sub-committees of the Board, the Board Review Committee which reviews all consultative documents of the Authority for approval prior to consultation and the Board Tenders Committee.

Mrs Prince-Wilson has over ten (10) years’ experience in the telecommunications industry having served in several positions including Product Manager at the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad & Tobago (TSTT) the incumbent provider of mobile and fixed telecommunications and subscription television broadcasting Services.

Mrs Prince-Wilson is a charismatic choir director, youth leader and inspirational speaker.  She is also a very patriotic servant and citizen of the great Republic of Trinidad & Tobago and has a passion for driving persons and organizations toward achieving excellence through promoting change and improving approaches and/or processes.

Bio coming soon …….

Biography coming soon.

Masego M. Jeremih is Head of Broadcasting and Corporate Communications at Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA). Ms Jeremiah is a Broadcasting and Corporate Communications professional with more than ten (10) years’ experience in the industry. She was previously in the Digital Migration Task Force appointed to ensure a smooth transition from analogue broadcasting to digital platforms. Her roles and responsibilities have been developing, directing, and implementing industry codes, operation guidelines and licensing frameworks in the broadcasting industry. She is also responsible for monitoring and compliance of broadcasters with regulatory tools and licence conditions. Ms Jeremiah guest lectures at the University of Botswana on Media Regulation and also teaches Primary and Junior students Digital Transformation, Online Safety and Cyber Hygiene.

Possessing a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) as well as a Bachelor of Media Studies (BMS), with Majors in Video & Television Production and Public Relations, both attained from the University of Botswana. Ms Jeremiah also has a Diploma in Telecommunications Management, a Diploma in Economic Regulation and a Diploma in Broadcasting Regulation.

A dynamic, innovative and result oriented professional who has worked with decision makers in government institutions, regulators and operators across the Southern African region and experts in the field of regulation. Harnessed research skills and stakeholder engagement especially in developing regulatory instruments.

Ms Jeremiah is currently on the Communications Regulators Association of Southern Africa (CRASA) Working Group established to assess the impact of Online Broadcasters on Broadcasting Regulation and the Electronic and Communications Committee (ECC) to develop a template for data collection on broadcasting regulation requirements in SADC Region for the SADC TV Bouquet.

Mr Meddy Kaggwa Sebagala is the Ag. Director for Industry Affairs and Content at the Uganda Communications Commission.

Mr Sebagala has a wealth of experience in ICT regulation, broadcasting and content regulation, and consumer protection issues. He possesses a vast experience in the ICT sector spanning policy development, research and implementation in various aspects including content regulation internet development, licensing, as well as promotion of research and innovation. communications.

Mr Sebagala holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from Makerere University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics and Mathematics from Makerere University Kampala.

Dame Melanie Dawes joined Ofcom as an Executive Board Member and Chief Executive on 2 March 2020.

Prior to joining Ofcom, Ms Dawes was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (2015-2020). She has held senior roles across the Civil Service, working in partnership across the public and private sectors. She became the overall Champion for Diversity and Inclusion in the Civil Service in 2019.

Ms Dawes started her career as an economist and spent 15 years at the Treasury, including as Europe Director. She was Director General of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat at the Cabinet Office between 2011 and 2015, and prior to that she served on the Board of HMRC as Head of Business Tax. Ms Dawes was Director General for Business Tax from November 2007, which involved responsibility for all the business taxes and duties as well as leadership of the department’s relationships with big business. From 2009, she also led the development of HMRC’s overall strategy as a department.

Ms Dawes has held non-executive roles including with the consumer body Which? and is a trustee of the Patchwork Foundation, which promotes the participation of under-represented young people in democracy.

Isaac Alcalá is a Mexican qualified lawyer specialized on Competition Law issues. He began his work in the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE) in 2014. In October 2021 he was appointed by COFECE Board as Head of the Digital Markets General Directorate, where he was Executive Director since August 2020. Prior to this position, he collaborated as Executive Director at the Investigative Authority and as Director on the Legal Affairs General Directorate, where he participated in high-profile investigations and procedures for COFECE.

Before COFECE, Mr Alcalá participated in important local law firms and companies from the food industry and the energy sector, focused on Constitutional Administrative Law and Intellectual Property.

Mr Alcalá, a qualified lawyer from Universidad Panamericana, holds an LLM in Competition Law by King’s College London and he is currently lecturer in the Competition Law course at Universidad Anahuac Mexico.

Pirongrong Ramasoota (Ph.D. – Simon Fraser University) is one of Thailand’s six National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commissioners (NBTC).

Prior to joining NBTC in April 2022, Dr Ramasoota was Vice President of Chulalongkorn University (2016 – 2020) and was professor of Communication at the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, where she researched and taught in media policy and regulation and social implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) with a special focus on Thailand and ASEAN. Her research interests include media reform, free speech issues and content regulation. Her past published works range from online game, hate speech, online intermediary, echo chamber to OTTs regulation. She has been an active contributor to the international journals and conferences of repute.

Dr Ramasoota has received many national awards and international appointments. She was given the Nationally Distinguished Researcher Award from the National Research Council of Thailand in 2017 and was on the board of several international think tanks such as Asian Media Information and Communication Center (AMIC), Privacy International (PI), and Communication Policy Research South (CPRsouth).

Dr Ramasoota has had trainings in media law and regulation from Oxford University and London School of Economics and Political Science. She has also received research grants from UNESCO, IDRC (Canada), Social Science Research Council (SSRC) (USA), Google, National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), and the Thailand Research Fund (TRF).

Some of Dr. Ramasoota’s published works:
• https://mitpress.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.7551/mitpress/9780262016780.001.0001/upso-9780262016780-chapter-5
• https://publixphere.net/i/noc/page/OI_Case_Study_Internet_Intermediary_Liability_in_Thailand.html
• http://www.jlisjournal.org/abstracts/Ramasoota_Panichpapiboon.23.1.html
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596121000604?dgcid=author#!

NBTC’s website: https://nbtc.go.th/

Ramiro Camacho Castillo was appointed Commissioner of the Federal Telecommunications Institute of Mexico (IFT) in March of 2019 for a period of nine years.

Commissioner Camacho has worked as an economist at the competition and telecommunications authorities of Mexico for the past twelve years. He was General Director of Economic Consulting at IFT and Deputy General Director of Economic Studies at the Competition Commission (COFECE). Previously, he was an Associated Professor at the University of Guadalajara for eleven years.

Commissioner Camacho holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from the University of Guadalajara, and three master’s degrees: In Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; in Operations Research from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); and in Energy Economics from Scuola Superiore Enrico Mattei in Italy.

Robert Mourik  is Chairperson, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg).

Mr Mourik has almost thirty years’ experience in the telecoms sector, as an industry executive and as Government official.

Prior to joining ComReg, he worked for Cubic Telecom, a new entrant in the automotive IoT space, where he was responsible for all wholesale activities. Robert spent almost 10 years in Telefonica as the European Regulatory Strategy Director at their corporate HQ in Madrid and as Strategy Director in Ireland.

He also worked for Vodafone Group, as its head of the Brussels Office and in the regulatory department in Newbury, UK.

In 1991, Mr Mourik began his career in the Dutch Department for Transport and Telecommunication and from 1994 until 1999 he served, as Telecom Attache at the Netherlands’ Permanent Representation in Brussels. He was a Member and Chair of the Council Telecoms Working Group in 1998 when the first telecom regulatory package was adopted.

Mr Mourik studied Economics and Public Policy at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and the University of Hull (UK).

As Executive Director of Broadcasting, Scott Shortliffe works with a diverse and talented group to provide Canadians with a wide range of Canadian programming that displays Canadian talent and serves the interests of Canadians across the country. This includes analyzing emerging trends in broadcasting, providing solutions to Canadian broadcasters and distributors, and working with all part of the Commission.

Mr Shortliffe joined the CRTC in 2017 as Chief Consumer Officer. In this role, he served as a focal point in ensuring that the interests and concerns of consumers are considered in the Commission’s decision making.

Before joining the Commission, Mr Shortliffe spent 23 years at the Department of Canadian Heritage, including as Deputy Director General of Broadcasting and Digital Communications. As an executive, his duties included creating the Canada Periodical Fund and managing $75 million in grants and contributions, dealing with complex and sensitive ownership and control issues, advising senior officials and Ministers on issues related to CBC/Radio-Canada policy issues, the Canada Media Fund, and petitions to Cabinet of CRTC broadcasting licence decisions. From 2011 to 2017, Mr Shortliffe was an observer on the Board of Women in Communications and Technology Canada (WCT) and the Canadian Heritage champion for the Jeanne Sauvé Professional Development Program.

Mr Shortliffe has a Bachelors of History, Carleton University.

Selina Chadha has worked at Ofcom for over 20 years. She currently leads Ofcom’s work on digital markets. Her areas of responsibility include Ofcom’s digital markets strategy, net neutrality and content gateways. Prior to her current role, she has led both telecoms and broadcasting competition and consumer protection work, including work on ensuring the availability of universal services and extending mobile coverage.

In his current role, Sheehan Carter leads the CRTC’s work on social and consumer policy; data collection and market intelligence; as well as strategic planning and international collaboration. He also plays a key leadership role in preparing the CRTC for significant legislative change.

Over his 25 years at the CRTC, Mr Carter has had the opportunity to lead or work on many of the most significant regulatory decisions made by the CRTC with respect to both broadcasting and telecommunications. He has also authored or co-authored a number of CRTC reports and other publications, including, most recently, its 2018 Harnessing Change report.

Mr Carter holds degrees in mass media communications and English literature from the University of Ottawa and a Master’s degree in communications from Carleton University.

Sékou Oumar Barry is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Agence Nationale de Service Universel des Télécommunications et du Numérique (ANSUTEN), Chairman of the Executive Committee and the General Assemblies of the Association of Telecommunications Regulators of West Africa (ARTAO) and sits on the Board of Directors of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) for the Republic of Guinea.

Mr Barry works for the establishment of a sufficiently independent regulation and a development of the sector for the benefit of consumers.

His career started at Triad Financial in 2003 before joining the local team of the Nestle Group as Product Manager and entering the telecommunications sector through the Guinea Operation of the MTN Group where he held several positions at the national and international levels.

He continued his career in other Groups and in different countries with the Bharti Airtel Group as Vice President/Marketing and Communication Director in Zambia, the ORANGE Middle East Africa Group as Marketing, Communication and Innovation Director in Cameroon and the Vodafone Group where he held the position of Deputy Managing Director responsible for the Commercial Policy.

Since December 2021 out of patriotism and in response to the call of the current Authorities of the Country, Mr Barry suspended his international career to accept to lead the destiny of the Autorité des Régulations des Postes et Télécommunications (ARPT) as Director General of this institution.

He puts his expertise in business management and his knowledge of the telecommunications sector at the service of regulation both in Guinea and internationally.

Mr Barry holds an MBA in Telecommunications and a BS in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate from Saint Cloud State University, Minnesota. He has over 17 years of experience in the telecommunications industry both with operators and the Regulator.

Owen Ripley is Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs and works closely with the Senior Assistant Deputy Minister to advance the Department’s mandate in the area of arts, culture, information and media.

Over the last few years, as Director General of the Broadcasting, Copyright and Creative Marketplace Branch, Mr Ripley was instrumental in advancing the work on several complex initiatives which are now reaching maturity. These include: modernization of the Broadcasting Act, review of the Copyright Act, adapting the policy framework of the Canada Media Fund, establishment of the Digital Citizen Initiative and the Indigenous Screen Office program, and leading policy development related to online harms and news media remuneration.

Prior to this, he was Chief of Staff at the Office of the Deputy Minister where he provided daily operational support and strategic advice to the Deputy Ministers on all matters requiring their attention.

Mr Ripley has a Common Law and a Civil Law degree as well as a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from McGill University.

Dr Tobias Schmid is Director of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is also elected as the European Affairs Commissioner of the Conference of Directors of the German Media Authorities (DLM).

Dr Schmid is also Chairman of the Federal Media Committee of the German Music Council. Since 1st April 2021, he is also a Member of the Expert Committee for Communication and Information of the German UNESCO-Commission.

Dr Schmid holds a doctorate in law.