Brussels Telecommunications & Media Forum 2022 (Online)

Alexandre de Streel is professor of European law at the University of Namur, Hauser Global Fellow at New York University Law School and visiting professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and SciencesPo Paris. Dr de Streel is also academic director at the Brussels think-tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE), chair of the expert group on the online platform economy advising the European Commission and part-time judge at the Belgian Competition Authority.

His main areas of research are regulation and competition policy in the digital economy as well as the legal issues raised by the developments of artificial intelligence.

Previously, Dr de Streel worked for the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, the Belgian Permanent Representation to the European Union and the European Commission.

Dr de Streel holds a PhD in Law from the European University Institute and a Master Degree in Economics from the University of Louvain.

Andrea Katalin Tóth works as the policy assistant to the Director at the Directorate for Data, as well as a legal and policy officer at the Data Policy and Innovation Unit within DG CNECT, at the European Commission in Luxembourg. Her work focuses on the implementation of the European Data Strategy of 2020, and on the development of the legislative initiatives as part of this process, including the Data Governance Act and the Data Act.

Ms Tóth holds an LL.M. degree in Intellectual Property and Information Law from the University of Houston and she is also currently a Ph.D. candidate at Eötvös Loránd University, where her research focuses on the interplay of cutting edge technology and the classical concepts of intellectual property.

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.

Anthony is a Content Policy Principal at Ofcom, where he leads on high-profile policy and research projects focused on public service media and media plurality. He has led on several of Ofcom’s recent major projects on public service media, and was responsible for the design and delivery of Small Screen: Big Debate, Ofcom’s major review of public service media. Prior to Ofcom, Anthony worked at the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority.

Augusto Preta is a consultant, economist and market analyst, with long-established experience in the field of content media and digital markets. As Founder and CEO at ITMedia Consulting, he has assisted and advised for almost 30 years, public institutions, authorities and major companies in media, telecommunications and the internet industries.

Mr Preta is Member of the SIE (Società Italiana degli Economisti).  He has been a visiting professor on Media Economics at Urbino University, Sassari University e Università Cattolica di Milano for almost 20 years, and has been involved in many research projects, writing influential papers and cooperating with organisations such as: Aspen Institute, European Law and Economics Society, Luigi Einaudi Foundation. He is author of “Economia dei contenuti” (2008) and “TV and relevant markets” (2013). He co-authored with Gerard Pogorel the Fondation Robert Schuman research report  “Convergence in Media and Telecom in face of Covid-19” (2020).

Mr Preta is President of the Italian Chapter.

Bernardo Herman is Executive Board Member of the BIPT – the Belgian regulator for postal services and telecommunication – where he is responsible for departments related to network security, device control, postal services and IT.

Before joining the BIPT, Mr Herman has been holding various legal, regulatory and management positions for over 20 years in the electronic communications and audio-visual sectors in several private and public organisations such as the mobile operator KPN-Orange/Base Company, the European trade association ETNO and the CSA, which is a Belgian regulator for audio-visual matters.
In his last positions at the CSA, he was Director General and then Director of European Affairs.

Mr Herman holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Saint-Louis in Brussels and a master’s degree in law from the University of Louvain-La-Neuve

Camilla Bustani is Director, international at Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, where she oversees Ofcom’s programme of international engagement and activities in Europe and beyond. She has been actively engaged in the work of European and regional regulatory networks (including BEREC, ERGA and EPRA), and was involved in several EU legislative negotiations in the sectors Ofcom regulates. Ms Bustani has participated in a number of regulatory debates in communications sectors over the last 15 years, most recently around online regulation and the interaction between the different regulatory regimes that might be implicated. She has written on regulatory reform in developing countries and on the impact of institutional design on forms of regulatory cooperation.

Prior to joining Ofcom in 2006, Ms Bustani worked as a lawyer at Clifford Chance LLP in London for 8 years.

She obtained her bachelors’ degree from Harvard University, a masters’ degree from SIPA at Columbia University, and a law degree from Oxford University.

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.

Christopher Mondini was appointed Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement, Europe and Managing Director, Brussels Office, ICANN the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in January 2021.  He previously held the position of Vice President and Managing Director for Europe at ICANN.  ICANN coordinates the addressing systems, such as the Domain Name System, that allow the Internet to expand rapidly as a globally unified network.

Mr Mondini leads ICANN’s outreach efforts to the business sector worldwide. His work with ICANN is focused on broadening participation among a variety of Internet stakeholders, while improving the quality of their experience.

From the halls of Washington to the start-ups of Silicon Valley, he has dedicated his career to bridging communications gaps that occur among diverse sectors — public, private and non-profit – and across international borders.

Mr Mondini began his career as a United States diplomat and later became a corporate investigator with Deloitte. He has investigated the world’s largest corporate corruption cases, while working with NGOs on ways to mitigate corruption risks. He also led grant-making teams for the Full Circle Fund, an engaged philanthropy organization addressing economic development challenges.

He speaks and writes frequently on topics such as Internet governance, technology policy and the digital divide

Mr Mondini holds degrees from Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities.

Bio coming soon …..

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.

Daniel Friedlaender is the head of Sky’s EU office and European Affairs Director, working on a range of European policy files, public affairs and outreach for Sky in Europe. Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company, active in content production, distribution, news, sports, and also an internet service provider, mobile operator and device manufacturer. With the SkyShowtime joint venture, Sky and its partners are launching a new European service in over 20 markets. Mr Friedlaender has been with Sky for six years, having previously worked in consulting and for the music sector. He is Swiss and Canadian.

David Shanks was appointed as New Zealand’s Chief Censor in May 2017.  As Chief Censor he leads the Classification Office, which is a government agency that is legally required to make independent decisions.

His role is a media regulator, with responsibility for classifying both commercial content (such as films), and potentially illegal content (such as terrorist attack livestreams). This requires a careful balance to be struck between the need to protect New Zealanders from harm, particularly children and young people, with the equally important need to uphold every citizens right to freedom of expression.

Mr Shanks is a barrister and solicitor who has had a career spanning both private and public sector senior roles. He has been the Chief Legal Officer for the largest government department in New Zealand, led major public inquiries, and also served as Director for a technology sector private company.

As a parent Mr Shanks has a passion for the job and a determination to transform the thinking around freedom and responsibility in the changing world of media content.

Elena Grimme serves as Microsoft’s Associate General Counsel and General Manager of Corporate, External & Legal Affairs for the Western Europe region. She is based in Brussels, Belgium and oversees the company’s legal and corporate affairs team across the region, providing support for commercial transactions, government relations and regulatory counsel on public policy issues such as cybersecurity, competition, privacy, and international trade.

Ms Grimme joined Microsoft in 2007 and in the last 15 years Elena has held a variety of senior roles at Microsoft in Europe and at the U.S. headquarters in Redmond, WA. Prior to joining Microsoft, Elena worked both in-house and in private practice in Italy and the U.S., practicing primarily in the field of intellectual property law.

Ms Grimme is originally from Italy but has spent most of her life outside of her native country. Elena holds an LL.B. degree (Hons) in English and European Law from Queen Mary University of London, and an LL.M. in Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law from the University of New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property.

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.

With over 20 years’ experience working in the EU regulatory environment, Francine Cunningham leads Bird & Bird’s Regulatory & Public Affairs practice in Brussels. Ms Cunningham advises enterprises on how to prepare for new digital and data-related regulation and understand the practical application of incoming rules to their sectors. She helps businesses to navigate complex EU decision-making processes and is a regular writer on issues related to legal framework for digital services and IP.

Ms Cunningham joined Bird & Bird in 2018 from the U.S. Mission to the European Union where she worked as a senior specialist for the U.S. Commerce Department. She previously ran a trade association in the European news media sector.

Ms Cunningham holds an LLM on Intellectual Property & ICT Law from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and a master’s degree in UK, EU and US Copyright Law from King’s College London, where she was awarded the Dickson Poon School of Law Prize law. She is also a former Fulbright Scholar at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Gabriel Solomon is Head of Government & Industry Relations, Europe & Latin America. He runs Ericsson’s regulatory and policy practise across some 110 countries. He has more than 25 years international experience of the communications industry, in roles spanning the different business functions.

Before joining Ericsson, Mr Solomon served as Vice President, Public Policy at the GSMA where he developed a comprehensive portfolio of policy and regulatory strategies and led multiple advocacy initiatives. Earlier in his career, Mr Solomon worked in management consultancy and established commercial technology ventures in Africa, Asia and Europe.

He has a MBA from INSEAD and volunteers as Chairman of the UK Telecommunications Academy.

Dr George Houpis is a Director at Frontier Economics.  His main areas of expertise are the theory and application of regulation and competition policy, market research and forecasting in the telecoms, postal and other sectors.

Examples of his recent project work include advising regulatory authorities and operators on the application of the EU telecommunications regulatory framework, fixed and mobile interconnection, regulation and costing of NGNs, margin squeeze cases in the broadband internet services market, and advice on auctioning of spectrum.  Mr Houpis has also advised on postal sector reform, including advice on access pricing and costing, competition issues in the postal sector, and costing and funding of universal service.

Dr Houpis has also extensive quantitative experience, including the production and review of forecasts for fixed and mobile revenues, penetration and usage and has provided support to a number of bids for telecommunications, TV and radio licences.’

Hana Továrková was appointed by the government in November 2019 as a CTU Council member for a 5-years term. In January 2020, the government appointed her as CTU Council Chair .

Since 2009 Mrs Továrková has worked as an advocate at Továrek, Horký and partners. She was also a board of directors’ member and chair of IT and Telecommunication Section at the Czech Chamber of Commerce.

In the long term, she aims to promote the development of telecommunication sector by pushing through acts facilitating network deployment or by supporting active absorption of grants. She helped to unify opinions of associations and companies acting on the electronic communication market, under the auspices of the Platform for high-speed Internet development, to which she has been a chair for 4 years.

Mrs Továrková graduated from the Faculty of Law at the Masaryk University in major Law and legal science and from the Faculty of Business and Management at the Brno University of Technology in major Corporate finances.

Jakob Bluestone runs the European Telecoms Equity Research Team at Credit Suisse, one of the world’s leading financial institutions. The Credit Suisse telco research team has regularly been ranked among the top research teams by institutional investors. Mr Bluestone has been a European telecoms sellside analyst since 2001 and is responsible for covering the major European telco operators and towers.

Before joining the Credit Suisse telco team in 2011 Mr Bluestone worked on the top-3 rated Bank of America Merrill Lynch telco team from 2007 to 2011. Before that, he worked on the top-3 European telecoms team at HSBC from 2001 to 2007.

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

Juan Montero Rodil was appointed Chief Public Policy, Competition and Regulatory Officer at Telefonica S.A in July 2021.

After five years initially practicing law in a firm in Madrid, he joined the Telefónica Group in 1996, becoming part of the Legal Services of Telefónica Móviles at the time when telecom liberalization process began in Spain. From 2006 to 2016, he was head of the Telecommunications Legal Department in Telefónica España. In 2016 he joined the Corporate Legal Services of the Group, at Telefónica S.A., as Director of the Competition Law, Privacy and Legal Regulatory Units.

Mr Montero Rodil holds a degree in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid and a PDD from IESE.

Bio coming soon ……

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.

Lynn Robinson became Director General of the International Institute of Communications (IIC), in March 2020.

Lynn is an experienced senior director and trustee / non exec-director, having held key senior leadership positions in the technology, built environment, regulation, accreditation and dental industries. She has extensive experience of professional membership bodies working within the full spectrum including, Regulatory bodies, Industry associations and Chambers of Commerce. Lynn is a well-known and established ambassador in these areas having led on many strategic programmes to aid engagement, growth, retention, change management, stakeholder and political engagement.

An experienced Trustee / Non-Executive Director as Vice Chair at Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust, a unique heritage site in the heart of Bristol (UK), Lynn is also a Trustee / Non-Executive Director at The Bristol and Bath (UK), Parks Foundation.

Reflecting on becoming Director General at the IIC at the outbreak of a pandemic, Lynn said, ‘these last two years have been like no other we have known, with many challenges coming our way. In 2020 we successfully pivoted the organisation through a digital transformation programme to maintain a full schedule of events and by increasing the outputs delivered. Transforming the programme enabled us to continue to deliver the professional service and increase our engagement with IIC members and stakeholder community to remain connected to them through such a difficult time.

As we move through 2022, I am delighted to return to a combined in-person and online programme and to continue to evolve the IIC in to the next phase, with the vision and strategic focus to deliver our objectives and to build on our growth, engagement and retention’.

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).

Marc Vancoppenolle is leading the Government Affairs International function at Nokia. His responsibilities include Policy and Regulatory advocacy, geopolitical insight and international relations. He and his team are working with institutions and stakeholders to create a favorable political and regulatory environment fostering broadband investments and cross sectoral digitalization at large.

Prior to this, Mr Vancoppenolle led the Alcatel-Lucent Public and Regulatory Affairs function for EMEA – including the representation office in Brussels – and APAC. Before joining Public Affairs, he led EMEA Strategic Customer Marketing at Alcatel-Lucent.

Mr Vancoppenolle has over 30 years of experience in the telecommunication industry. He joined Alcatel in 1991 where he took various international and worldwide technical, commercial, marketing and communication leadership roles based in Belgium and in France. He has been driving marketing and awareness strategies supporting the growth of the company in the areas of broadband, IP, telecom services and software applications. As Chief Marketing Officer for Alcatel Northern Europe, he led the development of Alcatel’s market positioning in the Industry & Public Sector.

Mr Vancoppenolle is advisor to FITCE Belgium (forum for ICT & Media professionals). He has been Vice-Chair of the BUSINESSEUROPE Digital Economy Taskforce and a member of the board of DIGITALEUROPE (representing the Digital Technology Industry in Europe) as well as of the board of IICB (Innovation & Incubation Center Brussels).

He holds a Master of Science, with a specialization in Telecommunication from the University of Leuven complemented with marketing studies from the University of Antwerp.

Marco Scialdone  is a lawyer and adjunct professor of law and management of digital content and services at European University of Rome, where he is deputy coordinator of the LLM in “Artificial Intelligence: law and ethics of emerging technologies”. PhD in legal categories and technologies, in 2018 he was appointed by the Italian government in the high-level expert group on Artificial Intelligence and in 2019 he was appointed member of the Italian permanent advisory committee for copyright. He is currently head of litigation & academic outreach at Euroconsumers, the main international group of consumer organizations, uniting Test-Aankoop / Test-Achats (Belgium), Altroconsumo (Italy), DECOProteste (Portugal), OCU (Spain), Protests (Brazil).

Marco Valentini is Head of Public Policy & EU Affairs at Sky Italia. Since joining Sky in 2012 he has worked on media, entertainment and TLC policy projects across a wide range of areas, playing a key role also in different associations at national and European level.

Before joining Sky, Mr Valentini worked for Telecinco and then as a lawyer in Media and Copyright Departments of several well known Italian law firms.

Combining broad public affairs experience with deep legal knowledge, he has acquired significant experience in multiple aspects of the media and entertainment industries.

Bio coming soon ……

Martin Duckworth, an Associate Director in Frontier’s Telecommunications Practice, is a highly experienced regulatory and financial expert with extensive knowledge of competition and commercial issues. Mr Duckworth combines his vast technical and financial telecommunications policy experience with his outstanding analytical ability to deliver results that achieve clients’ strategic objectives. Mr Duckworth has worked since 1995 in the field of communications regulation, first as an employee of OFTEL and, since 1998, as a consultant based in Belgium, Spain and the UK. During this period Mr Duckworth has been at the forefront of regulatory developments in the United Kingdom, the EU and other liberalised markets around the world.

Mr Duckworth has extensive experience on mobile networks and spectrum working on bids in both the 2000 round of 3G spectrum auctions and 2010 round of 4G spectrum auctions. He has also advised on the regulatory clearance for number of mobile mergers in recent years. He also led Frontier’s work last year advising the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission on how to incentivise investment in 5G.

Matt Allison is Senior Public Policy Manager at Vodafone Group, covering Data, Platforms and Artificial Intelligence. Mr Allison has worked at the cutting edge of tech public policy for a decade in a variety of roles spanning industry, consultancy and NGOs. During this time, he has grappled with some of the key public policy challenges facing the technology sector and helped shape the policy landscape as governments and regulators look to confront and harness the rapid growth of digital services. At Vodafone Mr Allison is responsible for developing policy and regulatory strategies for data, AI and digital platforms, influencing new regulation and creating alignment between Vodafone’s local market activities.

Prior to joining Vodafone Mr Allison was a Manager in the International Public Policy team at Access Partnership, a leading government affairs consultancy in the technology sector, as well as working in the NGO sector focused on the development of Internet safety policy.

Mr Allison holds a Masters degree in Politics, Security and Integration from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), part of University College London. His studies focused on Russian and Eastern European politics, European integration and national identity. Prior to this he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in History at the University of East Anglia where he specialised in Soviet history and the economic and social history of early modern England.

Natalia Vicente is the Director of Public Affairs & Communications at GSOA, former ESOA (EMEA Satellite Operators Assoaciation), where she works closely with the Secretary General and the CEOs of GSOA Member companies to drive forward high-level advocacy for the satellite communications sector. Specifically, Ms Vicente focusses on the Development Agenda working with international organisations to ensure nation states understand the value of leveraging available satellite communications services to bridge digital, education and health divides in their countries.

Ms Vicente is also a Board Member of the European Internet Forum where she represents GSOA in front of Members of the European Parliament. Natalia has over a decade of experience in the digital sector, focusing on public policy, government relations and building international partnerships.

Before joining ESOA, Ms Vicente worked for the European Telecommunications Network Operator’s (ETNO) working on public and regulatory affairs. Prior to that, she worked for Telefonica, Telecom Italia and TagTagCity, where she was one of the first employees involved in establishing a start-up venture providing mobile solutions to municipalities and local businesses in Belgium.

Ms Vicente is a qualified lawyer with an LLM from the University Autonoma of Madrid and holds a Master of Business Administration specialised in Marketing.

Nina Cummins is an EU antitrust and telecoms regulatory lawyer, with over 20 yrs’ multi-jurisdictional legal experience. She graduated from the University of Nottingham, England and Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) Germany, where she specialized in EU law. She has a Masters of Law degree in EU antitrust from RUB. She is admitted as a lawyer in England & Wales, Republic of Ireland, N. Ireland and Germany. She was a partner in international law firm Osborne Clarke, leading UK & EU telecoms regulatory issues. And also worked as senior legal and policy adviser at the Telecoms Regulatory Authority in Bahrain, dealing with complex strategic projects, legal separation of the incumbent fixed telecoms provider, as well as proposals to revise the prevailing communications sector regulatory framework.

Ms Cummins  re-joined Facebook (now Meta) in Oct 2019 where she leads Meta’s Connectivity Policy in EMEA, covering a broad range of regulatory issues regarding OTT regulation and regulation of emerging technology, net neutrality rules,infrastructure and subsea cable projects, spectrum frameworks and accessibility.

Pål Wien Espen was appointed Director General of the Norwegian Communications Authority by the Norwegian Government, as of June 23, 2020.

Prior to taking up his position, Mr Wien Espen has worked in a security company, the Norwegian Refugee Council, two major business law firms in Oslo, served as deputy judge and held the position as Group General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Telenor Group between 2000-2016.

Mr Wien Espen holds a Master of Laws from University of Oslo, Norway.

Rita Wezenbeek is Director Connectivity in DG CONNECT. The Connectivity Directorate’s mission is to ensure widespread access to and take-up of gigabit and 5G networks for all citizens and businesses of the European Union, as one of the key targets of the Commission’s Communication “The 2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade”. As such, the Directorate ia. deals with the preparation of a collaborative governance framework for the Digital Decade. It also develops policies in the area of electronic communications, fostering private and public investment in gigabit networks, and ensuring that Member States efficiently manage and use harmonised spectrum. Furthermore, it shares the responsibility for monitoring and reviewing the digital parts of EU Member States’ Recovery and Resilience Plans. More broadly, the Directorate deals with the application and enforcement of the European regulatory framework on electronic communications.

Ms Wezenbeek joined the European Commission in 2002. Before moving to DG CONNECT in December 2020, she was the head of the units dealing with Anti-Trust and Telecommunications (2017-2020) and Retail Financial Services and Payment Systems (2010-2017) in DG Competition.

Before joining the Commission, Ms Wezenbeek worked for sixteen years as a private lawyer, specialized in European and corporate law, in a Dutch/ Belgian law firm. She also was a Member of the Commission on European Integration, an independent advisory body on foreign policy to the Dutch government and Parliament.

Tim Stok is Tencent’s Director of Public Affairs for the Europe, Middle East & Africa region. Tencent is a leading global technology and content company focused on connecting people and developing innovative products and services that improve the quality of life of people around the world.

Prior to Tencent, Mr Stok held public affairs roles in Europe at AstraZeneca and data analytics firm RELX, focusing on IP, technology, healthcare and digital files. Mr Stok started his career as a civil servant for the Dutch government in The Hague and Brussels.

Tommaso Valletti is Professor of Economics at Imperial College London, and also Professor of Economics at the University of Rome. He is currently the Head of the Department of Economics & Public Policy at Imperial College Business School.

He also is a Non-Executive Director to the board of the Financial Conduct Authority and Director of the CEPR Research and Policy Network on Competition Policy.

Professor Valletti was the Chief Competition Economist of the European Commission (Directorate General for Competition) between 2016 and 2019, when he led the economic analysis on many large mergers (e.g. Deutsche Börse/London Stock Exchange, Dow/DuPont, Bayer/Monsanto, Microsoft/LinkedIn, Siemens/Alstom), state aid, and antitrust cases (e.g. Google Shopping, Google Android, Google AdSense, Qualcomm exclusivity, Qualcomm predation, Mastercard and VISA).

Professor Valletti has a magna cum laude degree in engineering and a flute diploma from Turin, and holds a MSc and a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics. He has published in the fields of industrial economics, regulation, and competition economics, for a full list see http://ideas.repec.org/f/pva219.html.

Wouter Gekiere currently works for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world’s leading alliance of public service media, as Head of the EBU Brussels office.

He previously held the position of Head of EU Regulatory Policy with the lead on key European regulatory and policy matters in the media and audiovisual fields. He has worked for over a decade at the EBU Brussels office on a range of strategic policy dossiers. His career has also encompassed expert policy and legal advisory roles for EU decision makers and academia.

Mr Gekiere holds master’s degrees in Law (1998) and in International Relations (1999) from the University of Leuven and a master’s degree in Public and International Law from the University of Melbourne (2004).

Ľuboš Kukliš is Chief Executive at the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission of Slovakia and Chair of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA).

In 2018 and 2019, he was Chair of European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) and currently leads ERGA’s work on disinformation.

Mr Kukliš frequently speaks at public events and cooperates with international organizations on possible solutions on topics such as the spread of disinformation, protection of minors in the online space, or regulation of new media.

Mr Kukliš is a lawyer by training and holds PhD in Administrative law.