Riga 2019: Competing Continents

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.

Tālis Linkaits was appointed Minister for Transport of the Republic of Latvia in January 2019. He also was appointed a Member of the 13th Saeima on 6 November 2011.

Mr Linkaits was previously Head of VASAB (Vision&Strategies Around the Baltic Sea) Secretariat for both the State Regional Development Agency (2006-2018) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (2006). He has held a number of other senior positions in the Ministry of Economics, as well as at the SJSC “Privatization Agency”. Mr Linkaits was also a consultant and project manager for Development Cooperation Projects in Serbia, Montenegro, Algeria, Libya, Moldova, Kosovo (2001-2009). In addition Mr Linkaits has been a freelance advisor to the Minister of Transport on Strategic Issues (2009-2010) and, before that, to the Prime Minister on Public Administration (1999-2000).

Mr Linkaits also has held several corporate governance positions including, most recently, as Independent Member of the Council for SJSC “RIGA International Airport”, (2016-2018) and with various airline-related companies.

He is a graduate in Economics with a Speciality in Economic and Social Planning from the University of Latvia.

Ms Gonzalez-Fanfalone (PhD), a Mexican national, is an Economist/ Telecommunication Policy Analyst for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the Directorate of Science Technology and Innovation. As an OECD Policy Analyst, Ms Gonzalez-Fanfalone has worked on several analytical reports and country reviews on broadband infrastructure and services. At present, she is working on issues related to 5G networks and the IoT; she has also worked on analytical reports on a broad range of communication issues such as IoT measurement and applications, bundles of communication services, and international traffic termination. She previously worked as an economic advisor to one of the five board members of the former Federal Telecommunications Commission (COFETEL) in Mexico, and was a trainee at the Under-Ministry of Communications in Mexico (SCT). Her research has addressed the benefits and costs of digital technology in infrastructure targets for the Post-2015 UN Development Goals. She obtained a PhD from the Toulouse School of Economics (TES) and holds a Master’s degree from the TSE and a dual Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon and the TSE.

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.

Carlos Rodríguez Cocina was appointed Director for European Regulatory Affairs and Head of Telefónica’s Brussels Office in 2016. In this capacity he coordinates Telefonica’s regulatory position with its business units in Spain, Germany and the UK , and manages the interaction with the EU institutions and other relevant stakeholders in Brussels. He currently represents Telefónica on the Executive Board of ETNO, the Board of Management of the European Internet Forum and the Board of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Mr Rodríguez was previously the Manager of Regulatory Affairs of Telefónica Internacional USA, acting as the first permanent representative to the company’s group in Washington DC.

He holds a degree in law from the University of Oviedo, Spain, and a specialisation in international trade from the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX).

Cate Nymann is a Senior Manager with Cisco’s Government Affairs and Public Policy team and is an expert on EU broadband and telecoms policy as well as digital trade. She takes a leading role within industry amongst others as the chair of DIGITALEUROPE’s Working Group on Digital Infrastructure and Services as well as one of the Vice-Chairs of the Digital Economy Committee of AmCham EU.

Prior to joining Cisco, Ms Nymann was the Head of Office for a Danish Member of European Parliament (MEP), at the time Vice-Chair & Coordinator in the Parliament’s Industry Committee (2009-2014). She has also worked as an advisor on European Affairs in the Danish national Parliament.

Ms Nymann holds an MSc in EU Politics and Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science

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.

Dan Sjöblom is the Director General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) and was appointed by the Swedish Government on 1 February 2017.

He served as Chairperson of BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communication) in 2020, having served as a vice-chair in 2019.

Prior to taking up his position, Mr Sjöblom was the Director General for the Swedish Competition Authority for eight years, between 2009 and 2017.

He is also board member of the Swedish Broadband Council.

Mr Sjöblom has served as a civil servant at the European Commission between 1996 and 2009. He holds a Master of Laws from Stockholm University.

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.

Bio coming soon ……

Florian Damas, Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Nokia Bell N.V. is responsible for the development of corporate positions on key regulatory and thought-leadership issues for Nokia.

Mr Damas advises regulators and competition authorities to ensure infrastructure interoperability and competition. He engages with governments in supporting national broadband plans and reaping the maximum economic and societal benefit from ICT.

Mr Damas is an active member of several trade associations and non-for-profit organisations.

Before joining Nokia, Mr Damas worked for several telecommunications providers including MCI Worldcom (now Verizon) and COLT Telecom, and the equipment vendor Alcatel-Lucent.

He is personally involved during his free time in helping a non-profit organisations to provide online courses using open source software over fiber access.

Harald Gruber is head of the Digital Infrastructure Division at the Projects Directorate of the European Investment Bank based in Luxembourg. He oversees project appraisal in the ICT and space sectors and advises on the Bank’s business strategy with respect to financing of broadband infrastructure, innovation policy and the digital economy in general. He has also contributed in work related to the contribution of SMEs toward the innovation policy of the Bank as well as the role of start-up companies. He has also led the EIB’s technical appraisal team in assessment of financing of SME and start-up companies, including also the context of economic development. He has investigated the scope of digital technologies in furthering economic growth.

Dr Gruber has a considerable record of accomplishment in scientific publication. Recent work is on proposals for a digital industrial policy. He has published articles in refereed journals such as Economic Policy, European Economic Review, Telecommunications Policy, Information Economics and Policy and International Journal of Industrial Organisation. He has published The Economics of Mobile Telecommunications at Cambridge University Press in 2005.

Dr Gruber is on the editorial board of academic journals such as Telecommunications Policy, Information Economics and Policy, Journal of Industrial and Business Economics.

Dr Gruber has been Professor at Bocconi University (Milan) for telecommunications economics. He holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Henk Don is a Member of the Board, Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). He previously worked for the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) in The Hague between 1978 and 2006, working the University of Pennsylvania for one year during that time. Until 1984, he was involved in the development of models for national and global economies, and became a head of sector in 1985, and deputy director in 1989. From 1994 until 2006, Mr Don was director of the CPB.

In addition to his positions at the CPB, Mr Don was part-time professor in economics at the University of Amsterdam (UvA, 1990 – 1999), and a Professor in Econometrics and Economic policy at the Erasmus School of Economics (Erasmus University, 2006 – 2009). From 2009 to the launch of the ACM, he was a member of the Board of the NMa.

Mr Don earned a Master’s degree in econometrics from the University of Amsterdam (UvA), and received his PhD from the same university, with a dissertation on ‘Linear methods in non-linear mod

Dr Hui Cao has experience in the telecommunications industry ranging from the operator, academic research to the vendor. He has a broad knowledge of market trend, industry challenges, network deployment and technical development.

As head of Strategy & Policy at Huawei’s EU Public Affairs and Communication Office based in Brussels, Dr Hui Cao is responsible for regulation issues on connectivity and innovation technologies.

Prior to this position, Dr Cao was the Network CTO in Huawei Western Europe region with focus on the latest technologies to explore cost-effective solutions and do more practices to build experience-oriented and future-proof broadband network with Simplicity, Automation and Intelligence.

Dr Cao obtained his doctoral degree in Electronic Engineering from Oxford Brookes University, UK.

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

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.  He currently serves on the IIC’s Board and is Chair of the IIC Strategy Committee. 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.

Jeremy Godfrey has over 30 years of regulatory, government and business experience in the communications, technology and online sectors, in Ireland and Hong Kong.

Mr Godfrey was previously Chairperson of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). He served eight years as a Commissioner and Chairperson of the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). During that time, he also served as Chair and vice-Chair of BEREC, the coordinating body for EU telecoms regulators. In Hong Kong, he served as Government Chief Information Officer, as a management consultant and as a senior executive in the telecommunications sector.

Mr Godfrey has been involved in regulatory developments such as the EU’s Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the Open Internet Regulation. As Hong Kong Government CIO, he had responsibility for the e-government programme and cloud computing strategy, as well as for Internet governance, digital inclusion and promoting online safety. As a consultant, he advised clients about online business strategies and on regulatory issues in the communications, energy, transportation and financial services sectors. While in the telecommunications industry he was involved in the launch of the world’s first commercial online video-on-demand service as well as in many regulatory issues.

Mr Godfrey started his career as a civil servant in the UK government. He holds an MA from Cambridge University, where he studied mathematics

Johan Keetelaar joined Facebook as Director Public Policy in 2018. In this role Mr Keetelaar leads Facebook’s Connectivity Policy activities in Europe, Middle-East and Africa.

Prior to joining Facebook, Mr Keetelaar was the Director of Telecommunications, Post and Transport and Director Competition at the Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) and a member of BEREC.

Before the launch of the ACM in 2013 Mr Keetelaar worked at the Netherlands Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) as Director Markets. Prior to that in the telecommunications and aviation industry for almost ten years.

Mr Keetelaar holds an MSc. in Econometrics from the University of Amsterdam.

Mr Johannes Gungl was appointed CEO for Telecommunications and Postal Services, at the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunications (RTR), in 2014. Mr Gungl has over 15 years of experience in the Austrian telecommunications industry, working in the field of legal and regulatory affairs for several fixed-line and mobile operators.

Prior to his appointment as CEO of RTR, Mr Gungl served as General Counsel and Head of Legal & Regulatory Affairs for Orange Austria. In this role he was directly involved in the precedent-setting merger of Orange Austria with Hutchison, which was cleared by the European Commission (EC) following a phase II investigation and the Austrian Competition Authority. Between 2006 and 2008 Mr Gungl was General Counsel and Compliance Officer for Competition Law to Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Corporation in Vienna. Before that he worked for the Austrian mobile operator tele.ring as Head of Legal & Regulatory Affairs until the merger with T-Mobile Austria in 2006, which was also cleared by the EC in a phase II review.

Mr Gungl holds a law degree from the University Graz and a post-graduate degree for European Law from the University of Innsbruck.

John Blakemore is Director of European Regulatory Affairs and Head of the Brussels office of CK Hutchison (CKH). In this capacity he is responsible for representing CKH’s interests in Europe. John is involved in projects concerning CKH’s container ports, retail businesses and mobile networks and his work brings him into day-to-day contact with the European institutions.

Over the past 12 years, Mr Blakemore has been co-ordinating the regulatory activities of CKH’s telecommunications interests in Europe – the Three Group. He has been active in developing regulatory policy on, amongst other things, international roaming charges, mobile termination rates and spectrum. Currently, he is working on the regulation of 5G.

Mr Blakemore has worked in the telecommunications industry for 17 years. Prior to that he was at the UK’s competition authority, the Office of Fair Trading, where he was Chief Financial Analyst. There he was responsible for the financial analysis of competition cases involving abuses of dominance, anti-competitive agreements and mergers.

Mr Blakemore has a first degree in economics, an MSc in finance and is a qualified accountant.

Mike Corkerry was head of the external and regulatory affairs function for AT&T’s EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Region. Based in London, he was responsible for coordinating AT&T’s regulatory affairs, public policy and government advocacy in the Region. Prior to this, Mr Corkerry performed a similar role at Concert, the AT&T/BT global venture.

Mr Corkerry started his career at British Telecom where he worked in several BT functions in the UK and continental Europe. Between 1994 and 1997 he was based in BT’s Brussels office where he was responsible for relations with key EU institutions.

Mr Corkerry serves on the Board of Directors of the UK Competitive Telecommunications Association (UKCTA).

Nicholas Degani has served as Chairman Pai’s Senior Counsel since January 2017. During this time he also served as the agency’s Acting General Counsel for six weeks.

Mr Degani previously served as then-Commissioner Pai’s Wireline Legal Advisor from June 2012-January 2017. He joined the office from a detail to the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he served as Counsel under Chairman Fred Upton and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden. Before his detail, Mr Degani served as an Attorney Advisor in the Wireline Competition Bureau’s Telecommunications Access Policy Division and Competition Policy Division, as well as the Commission’s Office of General Counsel.

Mr Degani entered the Commission through the Attorney Honors Program. Earlier in his career, Mr Degani clerked for Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and magna cum laude from Yale University, where he studied Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and History.

Philippe Defraigne is a founding director of Cullen International, a company monitoring regulatory developments in telecommunications, digital economy, media, postal and competition law. He is an economist by training and has spent the last 30 years analysing telecommunications regulation and market developments.

He started his telecommunications career as a researcher at the University of Namur in the 80s. Between 1991 and 1994, Philippe worked for the European Commission where he was mainly involved in the legislative process that lead to the adoption of the ONP Leased Lines Directive.

Reinald Krüger is Director, Policy and Public Affairs of Vodafone Group, based in London. Prior to joining Vodafone Group in 2018, he held management positions with the European Commission, in the Directorate-Generals for Industry, for Competition and for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Until 1995, Mr Krüger was Head of the Research Group “Industrial Economics and Competition Policy” at the HWWA-Institute in Hamburg. He was also a Consultant with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in Washington, D.C. (1989) and a Competition Expert to the World Bank (1990). Mr Krüger is an economist by training and author of more than 30 publications in the areas of industrial economics, competition policy and transition economics.

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).

Dr Stanford Levin joined the Department of Economics in the School of Business at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 1972. He became Professor of Economics in 1985, was Chairman of the Department of Economics from 1986 to 1994 and became Professor Emeritus in 2002. In November 1984, he was appointed Commissioner of the Illinois Commerce Commission, the state utility regulatory agency, by Governor James R Thompson, serving until March 1986, when he returned to the University. From 1996 until 2002, Dr Levin was Director of the School of Business’ International Exchange Programs. In addition, Dr Levin is President of the Resource Group, Inc., an economic consulting firm, and he has served as a member of Bellcore’s Advisory Board. He was a consulting economist to the Chicago Regional Office of the Federal Trade Commission from 1979 to 1983, and he spent a sabbatical leave in 1978 at the Energy Service of Data Resources, Inc., in Washington, DC.

Dr Levin has published numerous articles, papers, reports, and monographs, including articles in the Southern Economic Journal, The Review of Economics and Statistics, the Review of Industrial Organization, the Journal of Energy Law and Policy, Telecommunications Policy, and the International Review of Economics and Business. He is also a co-editor of a book on antitrust and a book on telecommunications. In addition, he has presented papers at professional economics meetings, served as an expert witness in antitrust and regulatory proceedings, and testified before federal and state regulatory commissions in the US and in Canada and in US federal and state courts. Dr Levin consults in the areas of telecommunications, energy, antitrust, and economics, and his clients have included companies and public agencies in the US and in several countries around the world. He has organised economics conferences and has spoken to a variety of professional and trade groups. Dr Levin is on the Board of Directors of the International Telecommunications Society, has been a trustee and president of the Illinois Economic Association, and is a member of several professional economics organisations.

Dr Levin has a BA in Economics from Grinnell College and a PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Dr Stephen Unger was until recently a Board member of Ofcom, the UK regulator responsible for digital communications. He had various responsibilities, including setting regulatory strategy for the UK, representing the UK internationally, and leading Ofcom’s technology programme. For a period he was Acting Chief Executive.

Before becoming a regulator Dr Unger spent several years in the private sector. He worked for a variety of high-tech start-ups who were developing and exploiting new wireless technologies.

Dr Unger’s current focus, working as a non-executive board member, consultant, and academic, is on the practical implications of disruptive technology change. He is a member of the IIC Board.

For more background see www.linkedin.com/in/ungersteve. Dr Unger can be contacted at swunger@swunger.com

Susan Ness is a former Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission and the founder of Susan Ness Strategies, a communications policy consulting firm. Ms Ness is a distinguished fellow at both the German Marshall Fund, where she works on transatlantic digital policy issues, and at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania (APPC), where she convenes a transatlantic high level working group to address hate speech, violent extremism and viral deception online while protecting freedom of expression and a vibrant, global internet.

Previously, Ms Ness was a senior fellow at the SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations (Johns Hopkins University). Ms Ness served on the US Federal Communications Commission from 1994 to 2001, playing a leading role on spectrum policy, competition and new technologies. She taught international and domestic communications policy at the Annenberg School for Communication (U.PA) after completing her FCC service. She was founder and CEO of GreenStone Media, which produced talk radio programming for women.

Ms Ness currently serves on the board of TEGNA Inc (NYSE-TGNA) a broadcast and multi-platform media company, and on the board of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an NGO that invests in women’s leadership worldwide.

Sverre Holt-Francati has been in the industry for 25 years mainly working with issues related to regulation, public policy and strategy. He has had various management positions since he joined Telenor in 1996 working across Telenor’s footprint in Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Asia.

Tony Shortall is Director of Telage, a consultancy in the field of telecommunications economics and regulation. He is an economist specialising in the regulation of network industries and is an acknowledged expert in the area of telecommunications policy and regulation.

Mr Shortall previously worked as senior economist at the European Commission and the Irish Competition Authority, Mr Shortall also worked in the telecommunications industry having worked with both fixed and mobile operators. He has written extensively on these matters and has advised governments, regulators and firms.

He holds degrees in economics (MA) and computers (BA) from University College Cork, Ireland and an LLM from the BSC in Brussels, Belgium.

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.

Wen-Chung Guo has been serving as a commissioner since August 2016 but has contributed significantly to deregulation and rate-rebalancing of telecommunications since 1994. More recently, his work has encompassed areas such as price regulation, pay TV network policies, the digital divide, and spectrum auctions in Taiwan. Besides his current position at NCC, Mr Guo is also a professor of economics at National Taipei University.

Mr Guo’s primary areas of research include Internet economics, telecommunications, media economics, and financial economics. His academic research has been published in various international economic journals, such as Journal of Industrial Economics, Economic Theory, and Journal of Media Economics, among others.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and PhD of Economics at National Taiwan University.

Werner Stengg, who joined the European Commission in 1996, was appointed Head of Unit in the Directorate General in charge of Communication Networks, Content and Technology (“DG CONNECT”) in 2016. Responsible for “E-Commerce and Platforms”, he has mainly been in charge of the E-Commerce Directive, the Geoblocking Regulation and the proposed Regulation on business-to-platform relations.

Between 2006 and 2016, Dr Stengg held various roles in the European Commission, dealing with public interest services, online, gambling and postal services, and with the better regulation agenda. Prior to that, he was involved in mainstreaming policy evaluation across the Commission, in the negotiation of bilateral and multilateral textile trade agreements, and in the negotiations on regulatory files in the areas of aviation and maritime transport.

Dr Stengg earned his doctoral degree in economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administra

William Webb is CEO at Webb Search, an independent consultancy. He was one of the founding directors of Neul, a company developing machine-to-machine technologies and networks, which was formed at the start of 2011 and subsequently sold to Huawei and became CEO of the Weightless SIG, a body standardizing IoT technology.

Prior to this Mr Webb was a Director at Ofcom where he managed a team providing technical advice and performing research. He has worked for a range of communications consultancies and spent three years providing strategic management across Motorola’s entire communications portfolio, based in Chicago. He was IET President 2014-2015.

Mr Webb has published 17 books, 100 papers, and 18 patents. He is a Visiting Professor at Southampton University, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the IEEE and the IET. He has been awarded multiple honorary doctorates by the UK’s leading universities and in 2018 was awarded the IET’s prestigious Mountbatten Medal for technology entrepreneurship.

Yulia Kossykh works in the telecommunications practice at Frontier Economics. She over 10 years of experience advising clients on a range of competition, regulatory and policy issues related to connectivity in the high capacity networks. She has advised private and public sector clients in a number of European Member States, the Middle East, South Africa and South East Asia.

Previously, Ms Kossykh worked for the mobile operator (Three) in the UK, where she led Three’s work on its 4G auction bid strategy among other regulatory issues.