Speakers

H.E. Mr Nikos Pappas, Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media 

H.E. Mr Nikos Pappas was born in 1976. He lived in the working class suburb of Kesariani. He joined the Youth Structures of Synaspismos (the left wing Coalition Political Party) in 1993 and he was elected afterwards Member of its Board. He studied and worked in Scotland for several years. He taught economics and worked as researcher in various projects at the Fraser of Allander Institute – University of Strathclyde. He was awarded a PhD degree in Economics from Strathclyde University. Nikos Pappas held the position of the director of Alexis Tsipras office from 2008 to 2015. In the (January 2015) general elections he was elected as Member of the Parliament in the Athens B constituency. He was re-elected in the general election of September 2015 He served as the Minister of State from January 2015 until November 2016. He is currently the Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media and he is also member of the Political Council of Syriza.

 Mr Chaesub Lee, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

Mr Chaesub Lee is the Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, following his election at the 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, Republic of Korea. He took office on 1st January 2015. Dr Lee has been involved in the telecommunication and ICT standardization field for 30 years, specializing in areas such as integrated services digital networks (ISDN), global information infrastructure (GII), Internet protocol, next-generation networks (NGN), Internet protocol television (IPTV) and cloud computing. He started his professional life in 1986 as a researcher at Korea Telecom. After 17 years he took up a role at the country's Electronic and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), where he stayed for the next eight years.  Most recently he worked at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and as a senior advisor to the Koreans Ministry, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP). Within ITU Dr Lee served as Chairman of the ITU Next-Generation Networks (NGN) Focus Group to address the growing need for global standards for NGN, including service requirements, functional architecture and mobility, security and Quality of Service (QoS). He was also Vice-Chairman of the ITU IPTV Focus Group which works to coordinate and promote the development of IPTV standards. He acted as Vice-Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 13 'Future Networks and Cloud' from 2001 until 2008, becoming Chairman of that group in 2009. Study Group 13 works to develop standardization solutions for NGNs, future networks and cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile telecommunications, to ensure their smooth international deployment in the coming years. Dr Lee holds a PhD in Multimedia Engineering. He is married with two children.

Ms Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner in charge of Digital Economy and Society, European Commission

Bulgarian nationality. Married with one child. Vice-President of the EPP Group in the European Parliament (2014-2017); Member of the European Parliament, EPP/GERB (Citizens for European development of Bulgaria) (2009-2017); Vice-President of the EPP Women (2012); Parliamentary secretary to MEPs from GERB political party within the EPP Group (2008-2009); Research Assistant, Institute of Political Sciences, Bordeaux, France (2004-2008); ATER (Attaché Temporaire d'enseignement et de Recherche), Institute of Political Science, Bordeaux, France (2004-2007); Master in Comparative Politics and International Relations Academy for Political Science, Bordeaux, France (2002-2003); Certificate in Political Science, IEP Institute for Political Studies, Bordeaux, France (2001-2002); BA in Bulgarian and French Languages in Paisii Hilendarski Plovdiv University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (1997-2001)

Ms Angeliki Alexiou (alexiou@unipi.gr), Associate Professor, Department of Digital Systems, ICT School, University of Piraeus, Greece

Angeliki Alexiou received the Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 1994 and the PhD in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London in 2000. Since May 2009 she is faculty member at the Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, where she conducts research and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the area of Broadband Communications and Advanced Wireless Technologies. Prior to this appointment she was with Bell Laboratories, Wireless Research, Lucent Technologies, now Alcatel-Lucent, in Swindon, UK, first as a member of technical staff (January 1999-February 2006) and later as a Technical Manager (March 2006-April 2009). Prof Alexiou is a co-recipient of Bell Labs President's Gold Award in 2002 for contributions to Bell Labs Layered Space-Time (BLAST) project and the Central Bell Labs Teamwork Award in 2004 for role model teamwork and technical achievements in the IST FITNESS project. Prof Alexiou is the elected Chair of the Working Group on Radio Communication Technologies of the Wireless World Research Forum. She is a member of the IEEE and the Technical Chamber of Greece. Her current research interests include radio interface for 5G systems and beyond, MIMO and high frequencies (mmWave and THz wireless) technologies, cooperation, coordination and efficient resource management for Ultra Dense wireless networks and machine-to-machine communications, and 'cell-less' architectures based on softwarization, virtualization and extreme resources sharing. She is the project coordinator of the H2020 TERRANOVA project (ict-terranova.eu).

Dr. Angelos J. Amditis

Dr. Angelos J. Amditis is Research Director in the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, and member of its Board of Directors. He is the founder and the Director of the I-SENSE Research Group (http://i-sense.iccs.gr ). He is the Vice President and one of the founding members of ITS Hellas. Since June 2018 he is the ERTICO Chairman while he was representing ICCS at ERTICO-ITS Europe as a member of its Supervisory Board since 2012. He has participated to the C-ITS Platform, Digital Transport & Logistics Forum (DTLF), GEAR2030, TM2.0 Platform (Steering Body member), Trilateral WG on Automation, euRobotics, SENSORIS, ALICE (Steering Committee Member), UITP, EFFRA, AIOTI and many other EC Groups and Platforms. He is the writer of several peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters and more than 180 conference papers. His current research interests in the field of ITS include Automated Transport Systems, Cooperative Systems, Electromobility, Smart Mobility both for people and cargo (ITS for Logistics), sensor and information fusion, data management/aggregation, communication technologies, highly and fully automated driving and embedded systems, vehicle to grid connectivity and charging optimization strategies, control algorithms, human machine interaction, and FOTs. He is also quite active on Internet related research (IoT, Cloud services etc.), ICT for environmental and security applications etc. He has participated in a large number of Research projects being the scientific responsible of more than 120 projects in the last 17 years and currently he is the coordinator of the following ones: newly accepted ICT4CART, RESIST, COREALIS, ELVITEN, IN-PREP, SAFERtec, PLUGGY, SCENT, NeMo, FABRIC, INACHUS and SENSKIN.

Mr Antonio Amendola, AVP, REGULATORY, ADVOCACY - CORP E&LA - INTERNATIONAL, AT&T

A legal background, an expertise in international law and new media and communication law and extended experience in intl institutions start up and intl diplomatic negotiations. With a legal background, an expertise in international law and new media and communication law and extended experience in intl institutions start up and intl diplomatic negotiations Antonio Amendola joined AT&T ( in the role of executive director of international external affairs) from the Italian Government where he acted as senior advisor to the Secretary of State of Economic Development. Prior to this Antonio spent 15 years at AGCOM, the Italian Communication Authority, where he held several roles including senior advisor to the executive leadership on policy, media regulation and regulatory matters. As an expert on cybersecurity, privacy, data protection and cross border data flow, he leads the advocacy and the regulatory activities with regards to EU legislators and national Regulators. He has been a media law visiting professor at Rome University, La Sapienza, Faculty of Communication Science

Mr Jim Beveridge, Senior Adviser on Connectivity, ERTICO

According to the OECD, the digital transformation of economic activities is creating significant opportunities for innovation, convenience and efficiency. However, this transformation will require that all individuals, businesses and governments have reliable and affordable access to digital networks and services. This requires a wide coverage of digital networks, and targeted measures for disadvantaged entities. ERTICO members are planning Intelligent Transportation Services that will rely upon wide network coverage, connecting next generation transportation services to the cloud. Jim has been working at the leading edge of International Connectivity policy, working on the challenge of connecting the more remote regions of the globe. Jim started his career in telecoms and security working for Motorola Semiconductors as an engineer on communication microcontrollers. His passion for technology led him up the stack from semiconductors to the cloud where he spent many years working for Microsoft's Azure Division.  Jim continues to contribute to cloud policy development with his membership of ISO IST/038, Cloud Computing and Distributed Platforms. Jim has a wide range of international experience in Telecoms. He participated in the OECD Going Digital Group, was a Steering Board member of the, Geneva based, Digital Video Broadcasting standards group and Chaired the, Brussels based, Digital Interoperability Forum. Jim has a passion for bringing internet connectivity to the poorer regions of the world by reducing the cost of broadband, using AI , machine learning and software defined radios to reduce the cost of  secure 5G/IOT connectivity.

Mr Laurent Bodusseau

In October 2017, Laurent joined the GSMA's spectrum team as the Senior Director. He represents the organisation with governments and regulators. He focuses on developing policy positions on spectrum issues, responses to consultations and monitoring new technology developments in the communications industry. Laurent is a chartered engineer. He has been working on spectrum management since 2000. He has previously worked for the UK Radiocommunications Agency (UK), Ofcom (UK). He then led the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games spectrum programme from 2009 to 2012. After the Olympic Games, he joined the Agence Nationale des Fréquences (French administration) where he was the head of future spectrum and European Affairs.

Mr Akos Bona, Digital Champion of Hungary to the EU

Mr Akos Bona is one of the founders of the Digital Future Foundation. More than 15 years of management experience in the IT and Telecom sector as well as in Non-Profit Organizations. Besides being the Digital Champion of Hungary to the EU, also a Member of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and a former State Secretary responsible for Info-and Telecommunications. Main priorities are fostering Digital Innovation, incubating local digital projects to EU level, creating and sharing local best practices and to constantly build the channels of Digital Education and Digital Literacy.

Maria Boura, Director, Government & Industry Relations & Innovation, Ericsson

Maria Boura is currently Director, Government & Industry Relations and Innovation at Ericsson. A thought leader and strategist with solid business understanding and international experience in complex high technology multi-customer, multi-country environment, Maria has matured a long, solid experience from leadership positions across a variety of functions in the ICT industry. Distinguished speaker and senior Ericsson spokesperson at events and industry conferences. Maria is used to leading change across large organizations and has a proven ability to build trusted customer relationships and to deliver win-win results in fast-paced, complex environments. She has worked both in Greece and abroad, speaks four languages and has an international culture and mindset. Before Ericsson, Maria has worked at Intracom S.A., a Greece-based leading ICT company, as well as at the National Centre for Scientific Research Demokritos. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Physics from the University of Patras in Greece, as well as a Master's Degree in Telecommunications from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens. Maria is passionate about promoting more women in leadership positions and in ICT. Since May 2016, she is one of the founding members of the non-profit Women Leadership Hub Association – WLH. She has served in the past as elected Member of the Board of Directors at WOMEN (Women Manager & Entrepreneurs Institute) of the Hellenic Management Association. She also represents Ericsson as an expert at collaborating Venture Capital firm Metavallon and at the Tech startup incubator Invent ICT.

Ms Marta Capelo

Marta Capelo is ETNO's Director of Public Policy. She leads on core regulatory issues related to telecommunications networks. Marta also oversees engagement on horizontal issues such as competition in the Digital Economy, 5G and IoT, including the inter-sectors dialogue on connected and automated driving and the representation of the association in international organisations. Prior to joining ETNO, Marta worked as the Transport and Communications Counsellor for the Portuguese Permanent Representation to the European Union. Before that, she was a Member of the Cabinet of the Portuguese Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications. Marta has extensive experience in regulation as well as intellectual property, data protection and e-Commerce services, commercial contracts and competition. Prior to joining the Portuguese government, she worked ten years as a lawyer for leading Portuguese and international law firms in the technology, media & telecoms practice.

Mr Didier Chauveau, Deputy Director, Spectrum Planning and International Affairs Directorate, Agence Nationale des Fréquences, France

M. Chauveau is Deputy Director of the Spectrum Planning and International Affairs at ANFR. He is involved in the development of national spectrum policy, planning and regulation in France and is a member of number of national committees, chairing few of them. He is currently leading the national project refarming L band 1427-1518 MHz in order to roll out mobile SDL in this band. He joined ANFR by mid-2007 as head of European Affairs. He is active in number of European committees and is a member of national delegation at WRC. M. Chauveau is deeply involved in European Spectrum Policy and framework. He is co rapporteur of the RSPG activity assessing the impact of the European Electronic Communication Code on the RSPG. He is contributing to RSPG Opinions on 5G. He is the head of delegation at the Radio Spectrum Committee since 2012. M. Chauveau is an active member of the CEPT ECC PT1 deeply involved in 5G and IMT WRC 19 agenda items.  He chaired this group during more than 6 years. M. Chauveau has been also involved in European standardization. Between 1999 and 2006, he has been member of the ETSI Board and, during 2 years, acting as vice chairman of ETSI Board. He is still a member of the ETSI finance committee. He is graduated from Telecom Paris (2007), Institut National des Télécommunications (INT) (1992) and University of technology (1983).

Mr João Miguel Coelho – ANACOM

Mr João Miguel Coelho is the Vice-chairman of ANACOM (Portuguese NRA for communications) since February 2018. He was previously Head of Technical Budget Support Unit at Assembleia da República (the National Parliament) and Economist at the Portuguese Central Bank. Mr. Coelho holds a Master's degree in economics.

Prof. Panagiotis Demestichas

Prof. Panagiotis Demestichas received the Diploma and the Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He is full Professor (since April 2012) and has been the Chairman (September 2011 – September 2015) of the Department of Digital Systems of the University of Piraeus. In the period from October 2015 to September 2016 he was on Sabbatical, collaborating with the University of Surrey and in particular its 5G Innovation Center. He has over 25 years of experience in R&D in the fields of wireless/mobile broadband networks, fixed-mobile broadband convergence, Internet technologies, network planning and management, smart cities and environment management. Recent interests include 5G aspects, and especially, the exploitation of spectrum beyond 6 GHz, overall spectrum management, 5G architectures, knowledge-based and predictive management, virtualization technologies based on SDN and NFV. Currently, he also focuses on technology development for the SMEs WINGS ICT Solutions and Incelligent. He has several publications in these areas in international journals and refereed conferences. At the European level, he has been actively involved in, and coordinated (project manager, deputy project manager, technical manager), a number of international research and development programs. He also organized the European Conference on Networks and Communications (EUCNC 2016), which took place in Athens, Greece in June 2016. He has also been involved in several bilateral collaborations with international and national industrial entities and public-sector organizations. In terms of standardization, he has contributed to various standardization bodies such as ETSI and IEEE. He was also chairing Working Groups of WWRF related to next-generation networking and advanced management technologies. He is a senior member of the IEEE, member of ACM and the Technical Chamber of Greece.

Mr Dimitar Dimitrov

My name is Dimitar Dimitrov. My current position is Acting Director of “Communications" Directorate in Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications.I was born in 1959. In 1982,I graduated a higher Air force school as a radioelectronics engineer. From 1982 to end of 2011, I worked as military officer in Air force and in the Ministry of Defense in area of radio communication and navigation systems. From 2012 to August 2014, I worked in former Executive Agency “Electronics nets and Information Systems" as an expert in branch “Projects in Communication Technologies". From August 2014, I started to work in Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications as a Head of Department “Radiocommunication Management" in Communications Directorate. From May 2017, I execute temporary the position Director of “Communications" Directorate as Acting Director. As such, I perform the functions of Chairman of the National Radio Spectrum Council, which develop the Nation Frequency Plan. My responsibilities also include developing communications and postal policies, working on communications and postal legislation, implementing national obligations on EU instruments and international organizations in these areas.

Mr Martin Fenton, Policy Projects Director, Ofcom, United Kingdom

Martin is a Policy Projects Director in the Technology Policy Team of the Spectrum Group of Ofcom (UK). He is an expert in international and domestic spectrum regulation; specialising in interference analysis, RF performance and technical licence conditions. He has 20 years' experience in spectrum management at the UK communications regulator, Ofcom, and its predecessor, the Radiocommunications Agency. Currently, Martin is leading the technical work in support of the award of the 700 MHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz bands in the UK; and he is leading studies on the potential spectrum implications for future 5G systems in mmWave bands (e.g. 26 GHz, 40 GHz and 66-71 GHz), improving the RF performance of radio systems; and the spectrum implications of the growth in demand for mobile data. Martin is the Chairman of ITU-R Study Group 5, responsible for terrestrial radio frequency services. During the last ITU-R study cycle he chaired the JTG 4-5-6-7 looking at additional spectrum for 4 and 5G mobile services in the run-up to WRC-15.

Dr Maxime Flament

Dr. Flament represents 5GAA, the global cross-industry association for the development of connected and automated cars, where he works as Chief Technology Officer since April 2018. Maxime was working previously as Head of Department for Connected & Automated Driving (CAD) at ERTICO – ITS Europe. Maxime holds a Ph.D. E.E. (2002) and M.Sc. E.E. (1997) from Chalmers Technical University, Sweden. He also holds an “Ingénieur Civil" degree from the Free university of Brussels (1997). In 2001, he was visiting researcher at Stanford University, CA, USA.
 

Mr Paolo Gemma, Huawei

Paolo Gemma is a senior Specialist and representative of Huawei on issues related to energy saving and environmental sustainability. 
Prior to joining Huawei, Dr. Gemma was working with Nokia Siemens Networks, where he was responsible for EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) and electrical safety areas. He also worked in the Siemens Communications Division.
Dr. Paolo Gemma also plays an active role in international standardization activities. Since 1993, he has been engaged in ETSI (European Telecommunication Standard Institute) activities and he also participates in the development of EMC standards. 
In 1997, Dr. Gemma joined ITU-T Study Group 5 on Environment, Climate Change and Circular Economy as a Rapporteur and he is now the Chairman of Working Party 2 “Environment, Energy Efficiency and the Circular Economy". He also acts as Vice-chairmen of the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative. 
In 2002, Paolo Gemma was appointed as the Secretary of the Committee ETSI TC EE and as of 2009 he holds the position of Chairman of the EEPS EE (eco Environmental product standard) working group. Paolo Gemma is a graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Genoa.

Ms Maria Guta

Maria Guta is Senior 5G SatCom Solutions Architect in the Future Projects and Applications Division (TIA-TF) of the Telecom Technologies, Products and Systems Department Directorate of Telecommunications & Integrated Applications in the European Space Agency (ESA). Involved in the ESA initiative for 5G, prepares and implements technologies and services development activities to foster the integration of satellite and terrestrial solutions within the 5G and for various verticals. Interfaces with external stakeholders i.e. space and non-space organizations, national space agencies and EU, DG Connect/Grow, to develop common understanding for the requirements for satellite systems and services, in view of convergence with terrestrial 5G networks. She has more than 20 years of experience in satcom field. In her previous positions, she was with Eutelsat in the Systems Studies Division and the Space Engineering SpA in the Telecom Programmes Division.

Mr Luc Hindryckx, Director General of ECTA

Luc has 20+ years of experience in the telecom industry and has been active in business development, operations leadership as well as regulatory and public affairs. Before joining ECTA he worked as Monitoring Trustee on behalf of Advolis. As a rule, the task of the monitoring trustee is to control the implementation of commitments undertaken by companies under merger, antitrust or state aid proceedings on behalf of a domestic or European competition authority. In 2009 he was appointed Executive Chairman of BIPT the Belgian Regulator and served as an elected or appointed member of multiple boards and delegations, including BEREC, ERGP, CERRE, ENISA, and UPU. From 2008 to 2009, he set up his own company to provide executive leadership and strategic advisory services and completed assignments for Coditel/Numericable, KPN Belgium, IPM, WIN, and TECTEO/VOO. From 2000 to 2007, he held senior positions at Telenet, the largest provider of cable broadband services in Belgium, where he was successively Carrier Division Manager, Manager of Business Markets Strategy, Director of Interconnection Services, and Director of Residential Wholesale Operations. From 1996 to 2000, he was the Benelux Voice Support and Traffic Manager and then the Projects and Interconnection Manager of Global One. He was initially recruited to drive voice support service delivery and leading voice engineering (including network design and capacity expansion). From 1991 to 1996, he first developed products for military, commercial, and public utility applications and then led Benelux sales and marketing strategy design and execution for Prescom, a provider of telecommunication systems. Luc is a Belgian national and has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in International General Management from the Vlerick Business School, as well as a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from Haute École Louvain en Hainaut (HELHA). He is a native Dutch and French speaker, and speaks fluent English.

Mr Christoforos Kachris

Christoforos Kachris is a senior researcher and project manager at the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS-NTUA) in Athens, Greece. He is also the founder and CEO of InAccel Inc. for efficient acceleration of ML applications in the cloud. His main expertise in on hardware acceleration of applications like network processing, image processing, high performance and cloud computing. He has over 15 years of experience on FPGAs (reconfigurable computing), digital design, embedded systems (SoCs), and HW/SW co-design mainly in network processing, microservers, optical interconnects, and telecommunication systems. He was co-authored more than 60 scientific papers in international peer-reviewer conferences and journals. Currently he is the Technical Project Manager of the H2020 VINEYARD project working on efficient utilization of hardware accelerator-based servers for data analytics.

Ms Nadia Katsanou

Ms Nadia Katsanou is serving the telecom sector in various positions for 25 years. She is an Scientific Expert in Telecommunications and Spectrum at the Greek Regulator, EETT. Currently she is Senior Advisor to the Secretary General for Telecommunications and Post, Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media, dealing with International spectrum coordination, the implementation of 5G policy in Greece, C-ITS (CAD -  automated and connected driving) and preparation work for the World Radiocommunications Conference -19.
She was for several years a member of the European Commission network «TEAM EUROPE» representing electronic communications in Greece. She has been the Initiator and partner of the Grand Coalition « Women and Girls Go Digital in Greece » and she is a cooperative researcher -expert in R&D projects focused on telecommunications and advanced, communications technologies and services at the National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos" (NCSR “D"), Netmedia Laboratory. She has also worked for several years on R&D projects , coordinator and technical responsible. She holds master degree from University of Paris on Expert Systems  and a PhD grant from the JRC Euratom Center on Distributed Artificial Intelligence.

Mr Konstantinos V. Katsaros 

Konstantinos V. Katsaros, Ph.D. is a Senior R&D Engineer at Intracom Telecom (Greece), active in the areas of NFV, MEC and SDN for 5G networks. His research interests and areas of expertise further include information-centric networking, content distribution, IoT interoperability, smart grids, inter-domain carrier services and multicast/broadcast service provision over cellular networks. Before joining Intracom Telecom, Dr. Katsaros held research positions at University College London (UK) and Telecom ParisTech (France). He holds a BSc in Informatics, a M.Sc. and a Ph.D.  in Computer Science, from Athens University of Economics and Business (Greece). Dr. Katsaros has an extensive experience in European Research, spanning FP6, FP7 and H2020 frameworks. He has published and presented his work in numerous academic conferences, workshops and scientific journals and has received scholarships and awards from Greek institutions and international companies.

Mr Achilleas Kemos

Achilleas Kemos is Policy Officer within the European Commission's Unit dealing with Future Connectivity Systems, with a particular focus on 5G standardisation activities. He is currently co-chairing RIPE's Cooperation Working Group. In his career with the European Commission, he has dealt with issues on Internet Governance, ITU, Network and Information Security and Digital broadcasting.

Mr Aris Kikis,  5G Solution Sales Manager, Huawei Technologies S.A.

Aris Kikis has more than 19 years of  experience in the Mobile Industry. Today he holds the position of Solution Sales Manager for LTE and 5G Solutions in Huawei Technologies Greece office. He joined Huawei in 2010 and between 2010 and 2016 he worked in the Central Eastern Europe & Nordic Chief Engineering Office, where he supported the regional business development and participated as a key speaker in numerous conferences. Prior to Huawei, between 1998 and 2010, he worked for Motorola European Cellular Infrastructure Division in Swindon UK, for Nokia Networks R&D in Kista and Ericsson Mobile Platforms in Lund, Sweden, where he developed radio solutions for UMTS and LTE systems. He working experience extend in Mobile Operator Orange UK and Vodafone Greece. Aris Kikis has an M.Sc. Degree from King's College, University of London, in Communications and Radio Engineering.

 Mr Thomas Krenz, Rohde & Schwarz

Thomas Krenz graduated from the University of Bonn with a diploma degree in Physics and Astronomy. He started his professional career at the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, researching black holes and star formation in Galactic Nuclei. After that, he founded his own company for Software Consultancy. In 1999, he joined BetaResearch, the R&D company of the major German Pay TV provider. Here, he established and headed the System Integration department. Since 2002, he is working for Rohde & Schwarz as product manager responsible for Spectrum Monitoring Systems. In this role, he participates regularly in various ITU events and activities. 

Mr Mariano Lamarca i Lorente

Mariano Lamarca i Lorente holds a degree in Telecommunications engineering from UPC and a degree in Electronics from URL (Ramon Llull University). Additionally holds Masters on Quality Assurance, Facility Management & MBA. Currently working for Digital Innovation and Smart Cities Staff at Barcelona City Council (IMI), his career is devoted to develop a wireless testbed for pre5G technologies, including sensor networks and last mile EDGE/MEC architectures over municipality infrastructure. Mariano has a wide experience in the support to the development and execution of International complex projects and has participated in several EU projects. Also, he participates, as municipality representative, in several standardization activities and societies: UNE, IEEE, ITU, ISO, etc.

Mr Vassilis Maglaras

Mr Vassilis Maglaras was born in Athens in 1975. He has studied Economics and Political Sciences at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences and at the Athens University of Economics and Business. He has a PhD in Economics, as well as in Political Sciences. He speaks English and French and he has served in positions of responsibility in the private and public sector, where he is working currently as Secretary General of Telecommunications and Post. He is the author of several studies, monographs and scientific articles in the subject of Economic Theory and Political Science, while he teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate levelς at the Department of Economics of the University of Athens, as well as at the Hellenic Open University.

Mr Aarti Holla-Maini, Secretary General, EMEA Satellite Operators Association (“ESOA")

Mr Aarti Holla has been Secretary General of the ESOA since 2004. Under Aarti's leadership, ESOA & the CEOs of its member companies lead the effort to showcase the benefits of satellite communications for society and foster a better environment to allow users to profit from satellite services that are available anywhere on land, at sea or in the air. Mr Aarti has more than twenty years' experience in the aerospace industry, starting at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (now Airbus) in Germany, before moving to Brussels. She represented Galileo Industries towards European institutions on the European navigation system Galileo, working on the development of the public-private partnership scheme and management aspects of the Galileo program. Mr Aarti holds a Masters of Business Administration from HEC, France & Stern Business School, NY, USA. She qualified as Solicitor of the Supreme Court in the UK in 1995, holding a 2:1 graded LLB Hons Law with German Law degree from King's College, University of London & the University of Passau, Germany. Aarti lives in Brussels, has 3 children and speaks 5 languages.

Mr Pavel Mamchenkov

More than 25 years of professional career are dedicated to regulation, development, operation and researches of the latest advances in telecommunication with the emphasis on radiocommunications. The area of expertise is spectrum management in government and private sector including socio-economic trends in telecommunications on global, regional and national basis. The comprehensive experience in spectrum management gained through direct participation in development of strategies, implementation of economic aspects in regulation, researches of spectrum re-allocation and re-farming, spectrum sharing as well as spectrum pricing and other related topics. The most recent area of engagement is focused primarily on spectrum aspects of 5G future implementation.
Experience and Competencies: 27 years of professional engagement in telecommunications, radiocommunications and spectrum management, of which twelve years of research and analysis practice with R&D centres, seven years of regulatory practice with the Telecommunication Administration, and eight years of operational spectrum planning with mobile operator company. More than 19 years of participation in ITU activities resulting in the strong knowledge of spectrum regulatory procedures, allocation methods, legal instruments, software tools and issues at the international level. The qualified ITU's expert. Six missions on Spectrum Management and ICT Development in developing countries to carry out surveys of national spectrum regulatory institutions, development of spectrum management master-plans.

Mr Mauro Martino, Head of Telecommunications Spectrum Office - Agcom

 Mauro Martino is currently head of the Telecoms Spectrum office in AGCOM, the Italian National Regulatory Authority for telecommunications and broadcasting. He is responsible for telecoms spectrum management and policy issues. He joined AGCOM almost 20 years ago soon after its institution and since then he has been responsible for spectrum management and licensing procedures dossiers preparing for the AGCOM decisions. Some of the main proceedings he carried out are those regarding the regulation and licensing of UMTS, Wireless Local Loop, Radio-LAN (Wi-Fi), BWA at 3.5 GHz, LTE at 800 and 2600 GHz, the 900 and 1800 MHz band refarming, the GSM and BWA renewal, up the very recent award procedure of the 5G pioneer bands at 700 MHz, 3.7 GHz and 26 GHz, which raised 6.5 billion euros. At EU level, from its creation in 2002 he is member of the Radio Spectrum Committee, that deals with the spectrum harmonisation and implementing measures, and from 2008 of the RSPG, the Radio Spectrum Policy Group, advisor to the Commission for spectrum policy issues, within the Italian delegation. Over time he was also member or chair of numerous Working Groups in Berec (former ERG), IRG (Independent Regulators Group), RSPG and Cocom, dealing with spectrum management or mobile market issues. In 2005 he chaired a Working Group that developed a Common Position on International Roaming after the first pan-European market analysis, and paved the way to the EU Regulation, and was the first proponent in 2008 of the so called “local break out" solution, that was later introduced in the EU Roaming III regulation in 2012. He assisted the AGCOM chairmanship of ERG in 2007 and RSPG in 2009 and 2012, and was member of the related leading groups. Before joining AGCOM in 1999, he had worked for more than 10 years in the private sector, with leading companies in the telecommunications and ICT sectors.

Mr Konstantinos Masselos, President, Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT), Greece

Professor Konstantinos Masselos has been appointed as the President of the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) in February 2018. In 2006 he joined University of Peloponnese, where he is currently a Professor in the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications and the leader of the computer systems research team. He served as Rector of the above university the period 2012-2017. He was also Head of the Department of Computer Science (2009-2011), Vice Rector (2010-2012) and Head of the Research Committee (2010-2013). During the period 2010-2016, he served as Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, at the Imperial College London. Also, from 2005 to 2008, he was Lecturer in digital systems at the same university. From 2001 to 2004, he joined Intracom Telecom SA, Greece, where he was involved in research and development projects regarding wireless communication systems. He has been involved in several research and development projects and has consulting experience in various industries, start-up companies and public organizations. Since 2005 he is also regularly involved as an expert in different European Commission units. He was member of the Scientific Committee of European COoperation in Science and Technology (COST) organization from 2015 to 2017. His main research interests include compilers, High Level Synthesis (HLS), FPGAs, high performance computing and computing systems for space. He has authored more than 120 papers in international journals and conferences. Professor Konstantinos Masselos received his first degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece (1994) and an MSc in VLSI Systems Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, United Kingdom (1996). In April 2000 he received a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Patras, Greece in cooperation with the Inter-university Micro Electronics Centre (IMEC) in Belgium, where he was a researcher from 1997 to 1999.

Mr Branko Mirkovic, Head of Networks, Services and Electronic Equipment Division, Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services (RATEL), Republic of Serbia

Mr. Mirkovic has more than 15 years of extensive experience in the telecommunications industry covering fixed and mobile broadband infrastructure and services and network transformation strategies. Before his appointment in 2017 as Head of Division he occupied engineering and management positions in several network operators responsible for technology development, network deployment and projects coordination. He holds engineering degree in field of telecommunications at the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia. He is also active member of BEREC Contact Network.

Mr Evangelos Mitsakis

Ο Δρ. Ευάγγελος Μητσάκης εργάζεται ως Ερευνητής Β βαθμίδας στο Ινστιτούτο Βιώσιμης Κινητικότητας και Δικτύων Μεταφορών του Εθνικού Κέντρου Έρευνας και Τεχνολογικής Ανάπτυξης. Είναι διπλωματούχος πολιτικός μηχανικός και κάτοχος διδακτορικού διπλώματος στη συγκοινωνιολόγια. Τα ενδιαφέροντά του εστιάζονται στα Ευφυή Συστήματα Μεταφορών (ITS), τόσο σε θέματα διαχείρισης κυκλοφορίας όσο και ενημέρωσης των μετακινούμενων, ενώ τα τελευταία χρόνια ασχολείται συστηματικά με τα συνεργατικά ευφυή συστήματα μεταφορών (C-ITS) και με τα συνδεδεμένα και αυτόματα οχήματα. Συμμετέχει σε μεγάλο αριθμό έργων έρευνας, ανάπτυξης και εφαρμογής της ευρωπαϊκής ένωσης στα θέματα αυτά, με πολλά αποτελέσματα αυτών να έχουν βρει πραγματική εφαρμογή σε διάφορες ευρωπαϊκές πόλεις. Είναι μέλος διαφόρων επιτροπών στα θέματα Ευφυών Συστημάτων Μεταφορών και βιώσιμης κινητικότητας τόσο στο εξωτερικό, όπως για παράδειγμα στο ERTICO και στο ECTRI, όσο και σε εθνικό επίπεδο, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των επιτροπών για την ανάπτυξη της εθνικής στρατηγικής καθώς και της εθνικής αρχιτεκτονικής για τα ευφυή συστήματα μεταφορών στην Ελλάδα. Επίσης, είναι Πρόεδρος του Οργανισμού Ευφυών Συστημάτων Μεταφορών Ελλάδας ITS Hellas.

Mr Jannis Nassoulis

Jannis Nassoulis has 20 years of experience in the infrastructure construction and transportation industry. As a telecomunications engineer, he started his career designing smart home systems and class D audio amplifiers. He then switched to the mega project world and succesfully managed the deployment of the first large scale Intelligent Transportation System project in Greece, the Attiki Odos Integrated Toll and Traffic Management System. Subsequently he was involved in motorway operations undertaking the role of the Tunnel Safety Officer of Attiki Odos. In 2007, Jannis organized the operation and maintenance of the 230km long motorway concession project, Aegean Motorway, as Chief Operations Officer. Holding the position of the COO for nine years, Jannis lead the effort to introduce modern technology into a world of earthworks, concrete, iron and asphalt. Since 2016, Jannis has been working with IBI Group, defining the cities of tomorrow.

Dr. Ioannis NEOKOSMIDIS

Ioannis is the CEO of inCITES Consulting and has more than 15 years of experience in research and professional services having worked with operators, regulators and enterprises across Europe. His primary areas of specialisation include consulting on investment and strategic decision-making in ICT. Ioannis has considerable experience on business planning and market assessment in the areas of both fixed and mobile next-generation access networks. Before joining inCITES, Ioannis was a senior member of the Optical Communications and Broadband Access laboratory of the University of Athens where he participated in numerous European R&D projects. Other held positions include lecturing as Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Athens, Harokopio University of Athens and University of Hertfordshire. Ioannis holds a BSc in Physics, a MSc in Radioelectrology and Electronics and a PhD in optical nonlinear networks, all from the University of Athens. Ioannis has more than 40 publications with two best paper awards and more than 250 citations. Ioannis also serves as a reviewer in leading IEEE/OSA journals and conferences and he is also biographee in several lists (Marquis and Hübners Blaues Who's Who).

Mr Michael Nugent 

Michael Nugent is head of TV Development at the Greek Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) and is responsible for the public broadcaster's TV technology investment plan. With over 20 years of experience in television, Michael has served in engineering and management positions for the private and public sector, promoting emerging technologies in content production and delivery. He is currently a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Technical Committee, contributing towards the goals and objectives of the EBU technical community. He holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from Rice University, Texas, USA, and a Master's degree in Business Administration from ALBA, Athens, Greece.

Mr Georgios A. Onapos

Mr. Georgios A. Onopas was born in Athens, Greece, in 1968. He is currently Director of the fixed & mobile Access Network Devops Department of OTE Group in Greece. He has actively participated in the development of all Cosmote Group Networks in the Balkan area. He has been engaged in NGA, Fttx, 2G, 3G, 4G, WiFi deployment, Spectrum Strategy, Radio Network Planning, Network Performance monitoring, access network operation and to a greater extent in measurements of receptivity and the quality of COSMOTE Network since October 1997. He has leading many innovative technology projects on a variety of technologies like GSM, UMTS, LTE, FEMTO, WiFi.

 Dr George Pantos

George Pantos is the Head of Broadband and Electronic Communications Networks Directorate of General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Post (Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media). Dr. Pantos holds a Dipl. Ing. Degree and a PhD, both from National Technical University of Athens. He has work in academia for several years, as a researcher and professor and from 2007 onwards he is a senior scientist of General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Post. He has participated in several research projects and he is National Delegate in European and International Bodies for Telecoms, ICT and Space issues.

Ms Sophia Papathanasopoulou

Mrs. Sophia Papathanasopoulou holds a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).  After her 14-year experience as a Senior Engineer at the biggest telecommunications industry in Greece, in 2009 she joined the public sector and was enrolled in the General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Post of the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media. She is Head of the National Broadband Planning Dep’t and her duties include Standardization in Telecommunications and ICTs (she’s Head of National Delegation at ETSI) and the creation of institutional framework through Ministerial Decrees and Regulations for the development of broadband, sharing of infrastructures and ICT products

Mr Luca Pesando, Telecom Italia

Luca has a master degree in Physics a PhD in Particle Physics from the University of Torino and twenty-five years of experience in Information and Communication Technologies with Telecom Italia. He is coordinator of the activities in standardisation for wireline technologies since 2006, managing the participation in the relevant standards bodies in collaboration with the coordinators of the other standardisation areas in the company. He is co-Chairman of Working Party 1 (IMT2020 or 5G) of SG13 in ITU-T for the study period 2017-2020 and has been previouosly one of the vice-chairmen of the FG IMT2020 for the pre-standard activities. In ETSI he has been previously Chairman of the ETSI Project E2NA and of the M493 joint WG M493 in TC NTECH till the end of 2017. He is following the Experiential Network Intelligence ISG activities with particular focus on PoC selection and support. In the past years he has been Vice-President of the Open IPTV Forum. Previously he worked in the optical communications and networking R&D fields, with management roles in internal and external collaboration and consultancy projects. He is co-inventor for several patents in TIM portfolio.

Mr Jaroslaw Ponder, Head of ITU Office for Europe

Mr Ponder is Head of ITU Office for Europe at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (Geneva, Switzerland). Within the last years Mr. Ponder has been carrying out numerous projects, activities and initiatives at national, regional and international levels. He has been taking lead role in many international conferences and summits dealing with development of ICT ecosystem, information society, and advancements of digital economy worldwide, while setting strategies and ensuring their timely implementation. Along the professional career Mr. Ponder held official positions in the public sector and was a contributor to the legislative projects having impact on the public policy. Since 2004 Mr. Ponder has been working for ITU. In 2004 he was consultant at the Market, Economics and Finance Unit (MEF/ITU). In year 2005 he moved to Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU/ITU). In year 2007 he moved to Project and Initiatives Department (PRI/ITU). In year 2008 upon his former duties he acted as Europe Officer (EUR/ITU) as well as as Project Manager for European Centres of Excellence Network (CoE-EUR). In August 2008 he was appointed as Coordinator for Europe. After successfull recreation of the coordination for the region in February 2009 he moved to the General Secretariat becoming Strategy and Policy Coordinator and one year later Senior Strategy and Policy Advisor with the objective to lead the ITU activities on World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and its 10 year review, amongst the others successfully establishing WSIS Forum, WSIS Prizes, WSIS Stocktaking, and organizing WSIS+10 High Level Event (2014) that resulted in negotiated texts. In parallel, since October 2011 he has been working as Coordinator for Europe strengthening coordination and implementation mechanism. In July 2017 he became a Head of ITU Office for Europe, directing actions, projects, initiatives and experts groups targeting 43 countries.

Dr Christos Raptis

PhD in Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Head of EMF Control and Measurements Section, COSMOTE, OTE GROUP, Technical Manager of Environmental EMF Laboratory of COSMOTE (certified with ISO17025), OTE GROUP EMF Manager, Fixed & Mobile Acces Network Dpt

Mr Ulrich Rehfuess, Head of Spectrum Policy, Nokia

Ulrich holds a diploma degree in Electrical Engineering of Technical University of Munich, Germany and one in Industrial Engineering of Fernuniversität Hagen, Germany. Of his 25+ years of professional experience in Siemens, Nokia Siemens Networks and Nokia, he spent 20+ years in R&D, business strategy, system architecture and product management of mobile radio network systems covering GSM, EDGE, UMTS with HSPA, Flash OFDM, WiMAX, LTE and LTE Advanced. In 2011, he assumed responsibility for spectrum policy within Nokia, now organised within the CTO and Nokia Bell Labs team. Ulrich is vice chair of the BITKOM Spectrum working group in Germany and chairs the DIGITALEUROPE spectrum working group in Brussels.

Prof. Dr. Irini Reljin, Acting Assistant Minister for Electronic Communications and Postal Services, Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Republic of Serbia

Irini S. Reljin received the B.Sc., M.Sc. and the Ph.D. degrees from the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, all at the School of Electrical Engineering, major Telecommunications, being a full professor there. She is a Senior Member of the IEEE, member of the SMPTE (Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers) and several other telecommunication societies. Her main interest is in the field of telecommunications and signal/image/video processing, including the use of fractal and multifractal analysis. She has authored several textbooks and book chapters and more than 350 papers. She has been Lead Guest Editor for special issue of Wiley - Hindawi scientific journal Complexity. She has been responsible for developing the Terrestrial Broadcasting Digital Switchover Strategy in the Republic of Serbia, as well as for technical issues regarding the digital switchover project, including the digital dividend planning and broadband strategy. Irini Reljin is Assistant Minister for Electronic Communications in the Ministry for Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Republic of Serbia.

Ms Franziska Schill

2006-2012: Studies of law at the Universities of Heidelberg (Germany), Münster (Germany) and Warwick (England), 2013-2015: Postgraduate judicial service training at the District Court of Münster, since 2015: Policy advisor, Division DG 12 - Spectrum policy, Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure

Dr. Aggeliki Sgora, Vice President for the electronic communications sector

 Dr. Aggeliki Sgora, is Vice President for the electronic communications sector of the Hellenic Telecommunications & Post Commission (EETT), since January 2018. From November 2015 to March 2017, she worked as a Special Scientist at the General Secretariat for Media and Communication and during the period March-November 2017, as a Special Advisor at the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media. She participated, as a member, in the frequency coordination teams of the neighbouring countries on electronic communications issues (SEDDIF and Transadriatic/Ionian) and the Steering Committee for the implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation between Greece, Egypt and Cyprus, aiming at the establishment of a Collaborative Innovation Network (CEG COIN). Since 2009, she has developed research activity in the field of wireless networks, distributed computing and telecommunication systems. Her research interests are mainly in the areas of Quality of Service (QoS) Experience (QoE) issues, as well as Software Defined Networking (SDN). The results of her research activity have been published in peer-reviewed journals, conferences and symposia, and she has more than 500 cross-references to her work. She has also presented her research activities at international conferences, and has participated as principal researcher in projects. She has taught in undergraduate and postgraduate programs at Greek universities and technological educational institutes. Dr. Aggeliki Sgora is a graduate of the Department of Mathematics and holds a Master from the University of the Aegean, specializing in technologies and management of information and communication systems. In 2009, she completed her PhD on "QoS provision and resource allocation in contemporary wireless networks", at the University of the Aegean. The PhD, and part of her post-doctoral research, have been funded by the European Union (ERCIM Marie Curie Postdoc Fellowship Program, 2013) and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (Research Enhancement Program 2003, Excellence II 2014). She has worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland and the University of Piraeus.

Dr. Branimir Stantchev

Position: Head of Sector 'Spectrum for Wireless Broadband' in DG CONNECT, European Commission, Brussels
Responsibilities: EU level spectrum policy development and implementation for wireless broadband and towards 5G, including an UHF band strategy, a 5G spectrum roadmap, harmonised spectrum designation and usage, integration with research policy and convergence. Past: Branimir has been working for the European Commission since 2008. He regularly represents the Commission services on spectrum topics at the CEPT and ITU levels. He started his professional career in 1995 at the Vodafone Chair for Mobile Communications Systems at the Dresden University, Germany (now part of the 5G Lab Germany). From 2000 until 2008 he worked with the companies Philips, Qimonda and Signalion in Germany in the area of wireless equipment design, manufacturing and marketing. Branimir has a PhD degree in mobile communications from the Dresden University.

Mr Alexandros Stavdas

Alexandros Stavdas, received a B.Sc. in Physics, University of Athens; M.Sc. in Optoelectronics and Laser Devices, Heriot-Watt University/St-Andrews University; Ph.D. , University College London, in the field of wavelength routed WDM networks. He is the author or co-author of over 160 journal publications and conference articles. He is Professor in the Department of Telecommunications Science and Technology, University of Peloponnese, Greece. He served as Technical Program Committee Chairman and Member in a large number of International Conferences. Current interests include 5G fixed-mobile convergence, network solutions for the next generation Clouds, physical layer modeling of optical networks, end-to-end optical networking

Mr. Stockdale

 Mr. Stockdale is the Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to rejoining the Commission, Mr. Stockdale was a partner at Bates White Economic Consulting and, before that, a partner at Mayer Brown LLP. Mr. Stockdale first joined the FCC's Common Carrier Bureau (now the Wireline Competition Bureau) in 1994 as an attorney advisor and later as Deputy Division Chief and Associate Bureau Chief for Economics. He later served as Director of Research in the Office of Policy and Planning and finally as Deputy Bureau Chief and Chief Economist for the Wireline Competition Bureau. He earned his doctorate in economics and a law degree from Yale University and bachelor degrees from Yale College and King's College, Cambridge University.

Dr Ioannis Tomkos

Dr. Ioannis Tomkos (B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.), is with the Athens Information Technology Center (AIT), since Sep 2002. He was elected “Chair of Excellence Professor" (Cátedras de Excelencia) in 2017 at the University Carlos III (Madrid, Spain), “Adjunct Professor" at the College of Optical Sciences of University of Arizona (2013) and “Adjunct Research Fellow" at the ECE Department at University of Cyprus (2014). In the past, he was an Adjunct Faculty member at the Information Networking Institute of Carnegie-Mellon University, USA (2002 - 2010), senior scientist (1999 - 2002) at Corning Inc. USA and research fellow (1995 - 1999) at University of Athens, Greece. At AIT he founded and serves as the Head of the “High Speed Networks and Optical Communication (NOC)" group that was/is involved with leading role in a record number of funded EU R&D projects, related with telecommunications, over the past 15 years. Together with his colleagues and students he has authored over 600 peer-reviewed archival articles, which have received over 8250 citations. He is included in the "Top H-Index" list of "Guide2Research" for the fields of "Computer Science & Electronics". For his research work he has been awarded several times (most notably with the “2014 IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology Best Paper Award" and the “2001 Corning Outstanding Publication Award"). Dr. Tomkos has served as Chairman of the International Optical Networking Technical Committee of IEEE Communications Society (2007-2008), Chairman of the International IFIP working group on “Photonic Networking" (2008-2009), Chairman of the International OSA Technical Group on Optical Communications (2009-2012) and Chairman of the IEEE Photonics Society Greek Chapter (2010-2013). He is/was involved in several high-level committees (including the OSA/IEEE Tyndall Award Evaluation/Nomination Committee, the FTTH Innovation Award Evaluation Committee, etc.). He has been General Chair, Technical Program Chair, Subcommittee Chair, Symposium Chair or/and member of the steering/organizing committees for the major conferences (e.g. OFC, ECOC, IEEE GlobeCom, IEEE ICC, ICTON, ONDM, BroadNets, etc.) in the area of telecommunications/networking (more than 150 conferences/workshops). In addition, he is/was a member of the Editorial Boards of the IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology (Deputy Editor), the IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, the IET Journal on Optoelectronics, the Springer Photonic Network Communications, etc. He is the co-editor (together with Prof. Biswanath Mukherjee) of the Springer Book Series on “Optical Networks". Dr. Tomkos has received in 2007 the prestigious title of “Distinguished Lecturer" of IEEE Communications Society. He was elected Fellow of the IET (2010) and Fellow of OSA (2012) “for outstanding scientific contributions to the field of transparent optical networking".

Ms Evangelia Tzifa, Director Networks

Evangelia has been working in Ericsson Hellas since 2000. She is responsible for customer-centric offerings in Networks area having as focus LTE Evolution and 5G. Evangelia holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).

Mr. Antonis Tzortzakakis, Chief Strategy Officer

Mr. Antonis Tzortzakakis holds the position of Chief Strategy Officer in WIND Hellas, having under his responsibility the functions of Strategic Program Office & Planning, Legal & Regulatory affairs, Wholesale & Roaming and Information Security.  Following an extensive career in the Greek and European Telecommunications sector in various companies such as Siemens, Vodafone, Forthnet, Tellas and Hellas on Line, Antonis Tzortzakakis joined WIND Hellas in the beginning of 2010, as Head of the departments of Fixed Telephony Marketing and Business Commercial. Mr. Tzortzakakis is also a member of the Board of Directors of ECTA (European Competitive Telecommunications Association) and serves as Treasurer for a 2nd two year tenure since January 2017. Mr. Tzortzakakis is also member of the Board of Directors of Hellenic Federation of ICT Enterprises (SEPE). Antonis Tzortzakakis holds a Diploma of Electrical Engineering & Computer Technology from the Polytechnic University of Patras and an International MBA from the Athens University of Economics and Business.

Mr Joost Vantomme

Mr Joost Vantomme is Smart Mobility Director at the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), which represents the Europe-based car, van, truck and bus makers. Joost has over 25 years' experience in legal, regulatory and public affairs. He served as legal and regulatory affairs director in the telecommunications, postal, logistics and automotive sector. He had leading policy making roles in European associations such as PostEurop and FEDMA, as well as at the UN level (UPU). Joost has also been member of the cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Economy and director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, an EU consultancy firm. Since 1 September 2016, Joost holds the position of Smart Mobility Director at ACEA, bringing his vast experience together to address the challenges of the new ecosystem 'cooperative, connected and automated mobility'. As a frequent speaker at conferences and author of papers, he engages with stakeholders on European and international policy issues in a digital agenda context. Joost holds a Master in Economic Business Law, a Master in Law and a Diploma in Teaching Law (Universities of Leuven, Poitiers and Louvain). He is fluent in Dutch, French, English and German.

Dr. Anastasios Zafeiropoulos, Senior R&D Architect, UBITECH Ltd.

Dr Anastasios Zafeiropoulos received the Dipl.-Ing. and Ph.D. degrees from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, and the M.Sc. degree in public policy and management from the Athens University of Economics and Business. He is currently the Head of the 5G/IoT Research Group at UBITECH, focusing mainly on the design and implementation of innovative technical solutions on the fields of SDN/NFV, IoT, open/linked data, data mining and analytics and energy efficient IT technologies. In the past, he worked as a Senior Project Manager in the Greek Research & Technology Network (GRNET) where he was responsible for the Green IT activities while he also interacted with multiple parties at various levels and coordinated national and European research projects. He has also worked as an associate researcher in the National Technical University of Athens with active participation in national funded research projects and teaching/educational activities. He has acquired great experience in the area of next generation networking, green IT, software defined functionalities (SDN/NFV technologies), and at the design of context-aware, data management, and linked-data oriented solutions. He has co-authored over 50 publications in high level international journals and conferences.

Mr Franz Ziegelwanger, Director Department PT3 - Technical Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology 

Since 2003 he is working in the field of frequency management in the Administration especially representing Austria in ITU, CEPT and EU, where among other topics also part of his work is leading the strategic issues on frequency policy and telecommunications standardisation and market surveillance. Franz Ziegelwanger graduated at the technical University in Vienna in electrical engineering, high frequency communications technology and telecommunications. Since 2010 Franz Ziegelwanger is Technical Director in the Division of Post and Telecommunications of the Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology which is covering all aspects of frequency management, standardization and enforcement in telecommunications. The ranges of activities cover all general technical regulatory and operational questions for radio applications. He is participant of Frequency management associated working groups in the ITU and takes part in the CEPT/ECC (Electronic Communications Committee). Mr Ziegelwanger is also participant in the Radio Spectrum committee of the European Commission. Franz Ziegelwanger is responsible for the national and international radio frequency issues in Austria, which is within the range of activities in the technical department in the division of telecommunications in the Austrian federal ministry for transport, Innovation and Technology.