Speakers

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​H. E. Mr. ROSSEN JELIAZKOV MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS 
Rossen Jeliazkov was born on 5 April 1968. He has been awarded a Master’s Degree in Law from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. In the period 1994-1995 he was consecutively a Counselor, a Senior Counselor and later a Secretary and a Deputy Mayor at the Sredetz district of the Sofia Municipality. Since 1995 he has been an attorney in Civil and Commercial Law, Member of Sofia Bar Association. He was a Deputy Mayor for “Law enforcement and Control” of the Lozenetz district of the Sofia Municipality (1998-1999). From 2003 until July 2009 he was a Secretary of the Sofia Municipality. In the period 2011-2013 he was a Chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of Public Administration and a representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, the Netherlands.  From 2009 to 2013 he was a Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, and in the period 2014-2016 he was an Adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Administration and e-Government issues. He managed and participated in the preparation of a number of conceptual and strategic documents and programmes in the field of e-government, local government and local administration, as well as public-private partnerships. He was a representative of Bulgaria to the annual meetings of the Open Government Partnership Initiative (2011, 2015). He coordinated the Bulgarian contribution to the initiatives related to the European policies on implementation of the European Programme for Global Monitoring for Environment and Security. He participated in the strategic planning and policy making in the field of public administration and e-government. As of 30 September 2016 by Decision of the Council of Ministers he was appointed Chairman of the State e-Government Agency. 

​​​H. E. ​Ms. ANDREANA ATANASOVA, Deputy Minister responsible for information technology and communications.
Ms. Andreana Atanasova holds a Master’s Degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the Technical University of Sofia. She has over 20 years of experience in the field of telecommunications and European affairs. Andreana Atanasova has started her professional career in 1996 as a Chief Specialist at the State Communications Inspectorate where she supported the work of the Interinstitutional Committee on Radio Frequency Spectrum as Secretary of the Committee. From 1998 to 2000 she was an Expert at the Committee of Post and Telecommunications, and in the period 2000-2005 she consecutively held the positions of State Expert and Head of the Telecommunications Development Department at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. She was strongly engaged in the development of telecommunication sector policy and its periodic amendment, the harmonization of the national legislation with the EU legal framework. She was Head of the European Integration Department and Acting Director of the European Integration and International Cooperation Directorate at the State Agency for Information Technology and Communications from 2005 to 2008. During this period she was responsible the organization and the coordination of the tasks and activities in the communications sector, concerning the accession of the Republic of Bulgaria to the EU as a full member. As an Advisor to the Cabinet of the Communications Regulation Commission in 2008-2009, she participated in the first round of the electronic communications market analysis, as well as in the drafting of secondary legislation, regulatory instruments and decisions. From 2009 to 2011, Andreana Atanasova was Director of the Communications Directorate at the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications. She was responsible for the policy in the field of electronic communications, drafting of the Electronic Communications Act, the Postal Services Act and other strategic documents and secondary legislation in the communications sector. In the period 2011-2013 she was a Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Bulgaria in the EU on all issues related to communications and information society. In 2014 Andreana Atanasova was appointed by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria as a Member of the Communications Regulation Commission with a five-year term. On August 12, 2019 Andreana Atanasova was appointed as a Deputy Minister of Transport, IT and Communications responsible for information technology and communications.

​​​Mr. Oskhat Orazbek is Vice-Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He graduated from Yevney Buketov Karagandy State University with a degree in mathematics, software development engineer in 1997.  In 1995-1999, he worked as engineer of laboratory of computer mathematical physics of the Institute of Applied Mathematics. In 2003-2006, he was Head, Informatization and Information Protection Sector, Official Secrets Protection and Informatization Department, Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From 2006 to 2017, he occupied management posts in JSC National Information Technologies, Republican State Enterprise Centre of Technical Support and Analysis in the field of Telecommunications, JSC National Information Technologies, Zerde National Infocommunication Holding, Al.As.Ay, JSC KazTransOil, JSC Transtelecom.  In 2017-2019, he was Vice President, Association for Development of Blockchain and Cryptotechnologies in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

​​Mr. Marian Murguleț - Secretary of State, Chief Information Officer – Government of Romania

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​​Mr. Ruslan Abdikalikov is Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Information Security of the Ministry of Digital Development, Defense and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He graduated from Korkyt ATA Kyzylorda humanitarian University, Karaganda state technical University. From 1997 to 2005, he served in the national security bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From 2005 to 2011 he worked as Head of Software and Support Department at RSE "Engineering and technical center" of the CEC, Head of Software and Technical Management of RSE "ITC" of Kazakhstan, Astana, Acting Deputy Director of RSE "ITC" of the CEC of Kazakhstan, Astana. From 2011 to 2014 he held the positions of Director of Laboratory Testing Department of RSE «Center of Technical Support and Analysis in the field of Telecommunications» of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of Kazakhstan, Head of Monitoring of Infocommunication Systems of RSE «State Technical Service» of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kazakhstan, Director of Control in the field of Communication and Informatization of the Committee of Communication, Informatization and information of the Ministry of investment and development of Kazakhstan.

​​​Mr. Arman Abdrassilov is co-founder and GR Director of a group of private companies united into Centre of Analysis and Investigation of Cyberattacks (TSARKA), the first private CERT in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Mr. Abdrassilov contributes as expert to government processes. He is member of the Public Council at the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan; member of the Cybersecurity Council under the Security Council of  the Republic of Kazakhstan; member of Expert Technical Committee of the Zerde National Infocommunication Holding JSC. For several years, Mr. Abdrassilov has been cooperating with SecDev Foundation (Canada) and is engaged as its expert since 2019. ​

​​​​​​​Mr. Adel Abusara has expertise in cybersecurity governance, especially in the Western Balkans. His interests circle around public-private partnerships in cybersecurity, awareness-raising methods in this field, and different legislative and strategic frameworks for cybersecurity governance in Europe. He currently works as Project Coordinator in the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF), whereas his previous experience includes working for the OSCE Mission to Serbia, where he developed the cybersecurity portfolio of the Mission and a number of civil society organisations dealing with security sector governance. Adel is also a recipient of the 2019 UK Foreign and Commonwealths Office (FCO) Chevening Fellowship for Cybersecurity in the Western Balkans and a French Government scholarship for undertaking an MA in European Politics and Administration at the College of Europe in Bruges (2007/2008).

​​Ms. Daniela Androvic is a Senior Advisor for ICT Systems Security at the National CERT in the Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services - RATEL Serbia. She was engaged in the process of establishing Serbian National CERT, implementing a virtual platform for simulation of cyber attack and contributed in preparing the Model of Act on Cyber Security for Serbian public institutions. She is passionate about information technologies, its dynamic development and has 15 years of extensive experience in information technology. She is involved in technical trainings for public sector and she is a lecturer in the master’s degree studies at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Organisational Sciences, course Cyber security. She was a software developer with main project ISDACON, Information System for Coordination of the Development Assistance to the Republic of Serbia, developed for the purposes of Ministry of European Integration. She also has international working experience from the United Nations court of law in the Hague, the Netherlands. Daniela is a graduated IT engineer with Master thesis in field of cybercrime. Her area of interests is focused on legal and technical aspects of digital forensics, cybercrime, public-private-academic partnership and enhancing cybersecurity skills through knowledge transfer.

​​​​Mr. Marwan Ben Rached is a technical Officer - Cybersecurity at ITU (International Telecommunication Union ) and has more than 12 years’ experience in Cyber Security.
Marwan has provided information security consulting services and has managed cybersecurity projects for the governments and the private sector and also he has been involved into the regional cybersecurity assistance, by helping different developing countries to enhance their cybersecurity capabilities.
Marwan received a Master and Engineer degrees in Computer Science from the University of Sousse and also he holds various IT Certifications such as CISSP ,ISO 27001 LEAD AUDITOR, CEA, ECSP, CEH, CSAD, CLA, LPI, and CCNA.

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Mr. Johan Bloemberg
After a study in electrical engineering Johan Bloemberg started his career as Unix consultant following his passion for computers and programming. After years of system administration he set his focus on software development. By combining this with his administrator knowledge he was able to form a bridge between the two disciplines and bringing both sides together using Continuous Deployment principles. During this time he also got acquainted with Open Source and Security and incorporated these into responsibilities for his role what nowadays would be called DevSecOps. Through contacts in the Dutch Hacker scene and Hackerspace Hack42 he got involved in projects leading up to what is now Web Security Map and the Internet Clean up Foundation. Here he currently volunteers as DevOps engineer besides his job as Software Engineer. His responsibilities are ensuring the projects applications can be developed efficiently in the Open Source ecosystem and to open standards while maintaining security.

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​​Mr. Egons Bušs has 25 years of experience in the field of information security, cyber security and information technology. Egons started his career back in 1980s on mainframe computers. His further work experience continued at the Bank of Latvia, first, as a Network and Systems Administrator, and the first bank’s Webmaster, up to the Deputy Head of Information Systems Department. Egons was assigned Project Manager for two security projects at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. From 2008 to 2016 Egons worked as an IT Director at ELKO Group, which is a large IT distributor in 10 Eastern and Central European countries. In 2016 Egons joined Latvian Mobile Telephone as a Security Director and is involved in development of new generation 5G mobile network and in charge of secure and privacy by design use of IoT in Latvia as well as cybersecurity. Latvian Mobile Telephone is working also on public security R&D projects offering also solutions for defence industry. Egons holds CGEIT (Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT) Certificate. Egons serves on ISACA Latvia Chapter Board as Immediate Past President and Executive Vice President.

​​Pr. Dr. Nathalie Deviller is Research Professor of Digital Law at Grenoble Ecole de Management and created the specialization course “Managers, Digital and the Law”. She is Scientific Advisor for the “GDPR Training” SPOC (Small Private Online Course) funded by the European Union Knowledge Innovation Community of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology for Health. Member of the European Commission Expert Group on Liability and New Technologies (Rapporteur on cyber security issues), Pr DEVILLIER has earned the ANSI-accredited Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E) credential through the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Her research activity focuses on technologies and the law. Pr Dr DEVILLIER published books on eHealth Law and is involved in international cooperation at the ITU as speaker at ITU World (2019), workshop organizer on “Cybersecurity and Managers: Opportunities and Challenges” (WSIS Forum 2017), and as reviewer for the ITU Journal. Pr Dr DEVILLIER participates to UNESCO’s works via the diplomatic cooperation with the Southern Cone, in partnership with the International Association for Law, Ethics and Science. She is the author of the « Chronique Juri-Geek » on The Conversation where she questions the impact of AI, robots, blockchains... on privacy, data protection and health.

​​​​Mr. Jörn Erbguth is a consultant on blockchain and data protection (GDPR). With majors in computer science and law, he takes a multidisciplinary approach to new technology. He is an enabler of privacy by design where legal and technological aspects need to be tightly integrated. Jörn previously worked as a software developer and a product manager, and was head of ICT and CTO for legal information systems in Germany and Switzerland. Looking at the disruptive force of digitalization and being aware of the difficulties that society has had to cope with, he wanted to help shape a better future digital society. So he quit his position as CTO, started a PhD on blockchain governance and became certified as a data protection officer (DPO, udis). He regularly speaks and publishes about blockchain and legal aspects like GDPR. Jörn lectures at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and the University of Geneva. He is a co-editor of the recent report of the Focus Group on Distributed Ledger Technology at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is a member of DIN SPEC 4997 Privacy by Blockchain Design. Jörn organizes workshops on topics like Blockchain, Sustainable Development Goals and Privacy at the UN, EuroDig, the Internet Governance Forum, EDV-Gerichtstag and other organizations and events. He works with Geneva Macro Labs as Head of Technology Insights and serves as a board member for EDV-Gerichtstag and entscheidsuche.ch.

​​Mr. Sharifjon Rakhimovich Gafurov, Head of Cybersecurity Department of State Unitary Enterprise «Cybersecurity Center» of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Mr Gafurov graduated Tashkent Electrotechnical Institute of Communications with a degree in Automatic Telecommunications Engineer in 1998. From 1998 to 2014, he worked in various areas of communications, information and telecommunication technologies, starting with the engineer of the regional telecommunications center, right up to the head of the regional inspectorate for supervision in the field of communications, information and telecommunication technologies. Since 2014, he has been working in the field of information security. He took part in various projects in the field of information and cybersecurity.

​​Dr. Vassiliki Gogou is the Co-Chair of the BEREC ad hoc 5G Cybersecurity Working Group as well as the Head of Telecommunications Directorate in EETT- the Greek National Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications. She is an Electrical Engineer with research interests in the cybersecurity and cryptography areas –holding a PhD in crypto-processor smart cards- and more than twenty years of related professional experience in the industry and the regulatory authority. She has extensive experience in electronic communications regulation, supervision as well market monitoring tasks and finally she is intensively involved for the last six years in the BEREC work and European Digital Policy activities and initiatives.

​​Mr. Goran Gotev is Senior Manager, Policy – EMEA at BSA | The Software Alliance in Brussels, Belgium. In this role, he works closely with the BSA team to help develop strategies and implement plans to advance BSA’s advocacy agenda in Europe on behalf of BSA members, with a focus on cybersecurity, privacy, and market access barriers.  Prior to joining BSA, Goran was Senior Manager, EU Government Affairs at Symantec Corporation, where he covered a variety of regulatory and policy issues related to cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data protection and privacy. Before joining Symantec, Goran worked as a public policy consultant in Brussels, servicing leading European and Fortune 500 companies in sectors like software and hardware manufacturing, creative content, financial services, telecommunications and publishing. Goran’s public-sector background includes a short-term assignment as an advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Policy of Bulgaria (2016), and as a staffer to Bulgarian Members of European Parliament, most notably as policy adviser to MEP Ivailo Kalfin (2009 – 2014). Goran holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Lille 2 in France. He speaks English, French, Bulgarian, Spanish and Italian. 

​​Mr. Vasil Grancharov has been Director of the Network and Information Security Directorate at the State e-Government Agency since 2016 and is the acting Head of the Bulgarian Computer Security Incidents Response team (CERT- BG). He has extensive experience in network and information security. He participated in the creation of the first permanent network and information security structures in the country, including the National Computer Security Incident Response Center (CERTbg). He represents Bulgaria in the Cooperation Group of the European Commission, in the Network of National CERTs of EU Member States, and is an alternative representative of the country on the Governing Board of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). Mr. Grancharov currently leads the projects „Building Elements of the National Cybersecurity System“, funded by the Internal Security Fund; „CERTbg Capacity Development“, funded by the Connecting Europe Facility and „Improving the Cybersecurity Training Simulation Platform“, funded by H-2020.

​​​Mr. ​Andreas Iacovou joined the National Computer Security Incident Response Team as an analyst in October 2017. He holds a Bachelors degree in Information Technology, and a Masters degree in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London. During his career, Andreas worked as an engineer for Apple Inc. and as a security engineer for Gemalto. As a security analyst for the National CSIRT-CY, he, among others, is responsible for incident handling, incident analysis, incident resolution, reporting and threat intelligence.

​​Ms. Rūta Jašinskienė, training coordinator at NRD Cyber Security, is an intelligence analysis expert and trainer with an extensive background in international police cooperation and investigations, intelligence monitoring, tactical and strategic analysis. She is member of IALEIA (International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts) and ACFE (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners). Prior to joining NRD CS team, Mrs. Rūta Jašinskienė had been working 20 years at the police units responsible for drug control and organized crime investigations. Last ten years she led a unit in charge of national competence and coordination role among police units as well as law enforcement agencies in drug control area. Mrs. Jašinskienė was a member of various international initiatives including the Horizontal Working Party on Drugs of EU Council and EMPACT group on Synthetic Drugs and NPS. For the past 3 years, Mrs. Jašinskienė has been consulting customers from public and private sectors on the analysis process and the best tools to use for it. She has been providing training courses on intelligence, analysis, IBM i2 Analyst’s Notebook and hosting other courses provided by NRD Cyber Security.

​​Mr. Ventsislav Karadjov – Deputy Chair of the European Data Protection Board

​​Mr. Yuri Kargapolov is a developer and architect of the IdM administration systems aimed at issues solution of the IoT governance, numbers and services portability, personalization issues based on DNS/ENUM technologies. His professional interest refers to the electronic communication's convergence and application of the newest DNS-technologies. He is working on updating the model for ubiquitous sensor networks applications and services in the context of Recommendation Y.2026.
He held executive positions in the National Regulatory Authority and the State Communications Administration, took part in upgrade of the national version of SS7 and national numbering plan in preparation for EURO 2012, implementation and launch of new convergence services, nomadic numbers, MNP and IMEI administration systems. Yuri took an active part and held the position of Chairman of Technical Group UANIC in the processes of application and delegation both .УКР IDN ccTLD and .0.8.3.e164.arpa ENUM domain. He created ISPs, built and launched 30+ technical platforms, 50+ bank and corporate networks, was a pioneer of the migration process of the SWIFT to the IP-protocol (SWIFTNet), he attended as a speaker 120+ conferences, forums, and workshops.He graduated from the Odessa Polytechnic Institute, Radio-engineering faculty, in 1980 received diploma Dipl. Eng. Radio Designer and Technologist.

​​Eng. Stiepan A. Kovac, MSc ICT Security, 31, director of QRC Americas, administrator of QRCrypto and group CEO of itk.swiss, a cryptography-focused group offering unique, symmetric post-quantum cryptography, for encrypted and integrity-protected IPTV, 5G, mobile payments and beyond. Mr. Kovac started working in the field of standardization in 2017 as he joined an ITU-T / ETSI joint event on 5G safety and energy efficiency considerations. Since then, with his companies, ITK and QRCrypto SA, he amended ITU-T X.1197 guidelines on IPTV cryptography and launched a study period on the inclusion of eAes in ISO/IEC standards a month later. eAes is now set to become the quantum-safe 5G standard, after a successful interim meeting in Kuala Lumpur of the relevant SG-17 question. The next step will be to inform 3GPP formally, getting them to integrate the standard. In the meantime, the group, through its new branch office of QRC AAA in Malaysia, will start trialing prototypes using its technology in a 5G context.

 

​​​Ms. Solza Kovachevska is State Advisor for Information Systems and Technologies – Ministry of Information of North Macedonia. Previously worked in ICT, personal data protection, risk management, business continuity and information security in the private insurance sector. She specializes in drafting horizontal law and policy that focuses on electronic identification, trust services, and network and information security. Part of the core team that created the first National Cybersecurity Strategy and Action Plan of the Republic of North Macedonia in 2018, she is now engaged in its implementation. With her main interests being privacy, freedom of information, and information security, she is working to build up the security of government and citizen data systems, with a particular emphasis on Critical Information Infrastructure protection.

​​Mr. Alexander Metz
During his last year of college studying small business management, Alexander Metz started his career in the IT industry by rolling into Bitcoin. Since then, he spent most of his time researching the developments of decentralized ledger technology and cryptocurrencies. He has built a large network of blockchain pioneers, developers, lawyers and financial experts which he still works with today. Most of his knowledge was gained by doing fundamental research and attending events all over Europe. His strong network and knowledge of blockchain made him participate in several IT and Fintech start-ups that he helped with their establishment and operations. Today he works together with several companies like Blanco services, The Internet Clean up foundation, Wasabi Technologies, 7io B.V. and Tribeca S.A. which he helps with partnerships, operations and sales. Alex also has a charity in Tanzania that focusses on improving the lives of the Tanzanian people and the protection of our environment.

​​Ms. Cosmina Moghior, Public Policy Expert, Romanian National Computer Security Incident Response Team (CERT-RO). Cosmina Moghior, Public Policy Expert at the Romanian National Computer Security Incident Response Team (CERT-RO) is a cybersecurity enthusiast and an advocator for a safe and inclusive cyberspace. Cosmina’s professional experience includes responsibilities in reviewing and developing policies and programs in the field of cyberspace as well as providing expertise on various dimensions of security, including cyber, economic and military security through drafting studies and analyses. Cosmina acquired a Master’s degree in Security and Diplomacy at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and European Studies at the University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”. She discovered her passion for cybersecurity during her Master’s studies, time when she published a study on the impact of political culture in the cyberspace and further developed this topic in her dissertation. 

​​​​​​​​​Mr. Farid Nakhli received his Master of technical sciences degree in the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics in 2009. From 2008 to 2015 Farid worked in the system of the Ministry of Communication and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus managing projects on nation-wide ICT strategy and policy analysis, monitoring of ICT infrastructure and e-government development, regulation and standardisation, and development of relevant software. In 2015 he joined the Corporate Strategy Division of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as Planning and Management Consultant. Since 2016 Farid works as Programme Officer at the ITU Regional Office for CIS based in Moscow, where his responsibilities include ICT strategy and policy advise, management of projects on ICT development and organization of regional events. Recognized profession credentials include: • CCNP (Cisco certified network professional) – 2012, • PMP (Project management professional) – 2014. Speaks Russian, English, French and Belarusian.

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​​Mr. Rossen Naydenov is a Network and Information security expert, focusing on cyber security in Critical Sectors, mainly in Finance and Transport. Areas of expertise include Cloud Computing, Big Data and emerging technologies like IoT, Blockchain. He works within the ENISA Secure Infrastructure & Services unit, conducting research on topics like security measures, incident reporting and policy implementation. He has more than 15 years of experience in information security collected from various positions in his career.

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​​Mr. Radovan Nikčević
After his studies of electrical engineering he also graduated at faculty of economics and completed master studies in international marketing. His professional career and development started in 1998. He spent 10 years working in oil sector as CEO or covering higher managerial positions in few big private or public oil companies. As of 2008 his professional work is focused on clean and sustainable energy, sustainable transport and solutions for mitigation of negative impact on climate change. He worked as senior expert and team leader in several international organizations and projects, while core activities were concentrated on improving situation in the Western Balkan region. As of September 2016 he is working for Regional Cooperation Council as Expert on Connectivity in charge of energy, environmental protection and digital transformation of Western Balkans. As part of the digital portfolio, his main responsibilities include enhancing cybersecurity capacities, providing support in addressing cybersecurity challenges and improving regional cooperation in the Western Balkans. This includes cooperation with relevant national authorities, electronic communications agencies, national computer incidents response teams (CIRTs) as well as other relevant partners active in this domain in Western Balkans.

​​Mr. ​Kristo Põllu has over 16 years of professional experience in Brussels and EU affairs. After graduation from Tartu University (political science) he had a career in the diplomatic service and European affairs. He joined the Estonian Permanent Representation in Brussels in 2003 and served as home affairs counsellor for over 9 years. His field of responsibility covered borders, police cooperation, cybercrime, organised crime, counter-terrorism, data exchange and crisis management. He worked on the Schengen enlargement, Passenger Name Record, Data Retention, raising awareness of cyber security, regulation of the European Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) and establishing its headquarters in Tallinn. 2013-2015 he was dealing with preparing the representation for the Estonian Presidency. 2015-2017 he worked in the Government Office of Estonia as Deputy Director for EU Affairs, supporting and providing advice to the Prime Minister and Government on EU affairs, with focus on internal market files, including Digital Single Market and cyber issues. In addition, he was preparing policy program for the Estonian Presidency of the Council (2017) and Trio program together with Bulgarian and Austrian counterparts. In 2017 he returned to the Permanent Representation in Brussels to serve as Brexit delegate, representing Estonia in the Article 50 process of the withdrawal of the UK. As of September 2019, he is working with the EU external cyber capacity building network as deputy head of the project.

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Mr. ​Jaroslaw K. Ponder, Head of the Office for Europe at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (Geneva, Switzerland), representing ITU in Europe and directing actions, projects, initiatives and experts groups targeting 46 countries of the Europe Region. His portfolio includes set of Regional Initiatives for Europe, designed by the European Member States and focusing on the ICT Infrastructure, Digitization, Digital Inclusion, Accessibility, Innovation and Cybersecurity. Along the professional career, Mr. Ponder held official positions in the public sector and was a contributor to the legislative projects having the impact on the public policy. Since 2014 Mr. Ponder has been working for ITU holding diverse positions in the General Secretariat, Telecommunication Development Bureau, and Regional Presence, addressing complexity of information society development and digital transformation at national, regional, international level, including United Nations level. For several years he has managed ITU’s work on the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process, leading towards the establishment of the annual WSIS Forum, WSIS Prizes, WSIS Stocktaking, others.

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​​Ms. Visiola Pula works as an analyst in cybersecurity regulation at Cullen International, an independent regulatory intelligence provider covering telecoms, digital economy, media, postal regulation and competition law across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and North Africa. As an analyst at Cullen, Visiola follows cybersecurity regulatory developments at EU level such as 5G security, or the EU cybersecurity certification framework, as well as other security related initiatives more broadly. She is also in charge of cybersecurity related matters in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Visiola joined Cullen International in 2015 covering first telecoms regulation in Europe, with a focus on Ireland, the CEE region and consumer protection regulation in Germany. Before joining Cullen, she worked briefly for intersoft consulting AG Hamburg on data protection legislation and compliance, and at the Senate Chancellery of Hamburg in European and International Affairs. Visiola holds an LLM in European Law and Studies from the University of Hamburg, Germany.

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​​Dr. Plamen Russev is a Bulgarian serial entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist with over 25 years experience in tech and innovation and founder of one of world's largest and impactful communities of innovators, digerati and world leaders - Webit. Currently he is executive chairman of Webit.Foundation - the organization behind the fastest growing tech events - Webit.Festivals and the Webit global community. With the power of Webit and his personal global network Dr. Russev is changing the narratives about cities and entire countries building one of the most powerful marketing and rebranding campaigns. Such example is Bulgaria. While in the past international media called Sofia "the capital of the poorest country in EU", today the same media (The Economist, Forbes, etc) attribute the new image of Sofia as "Digital Capital" to the role of Webit as catalyzer in establishing the city and the country "as a credible location for technology talent and investment". Prime Ministers, Ministers, CEOs and Presidents of the world's largest and/or most innovative companies, scientists and investors are part of the global Webit community. Dr. Russev has been appointed a GW Ambassador for Digital Affairs of Republic of Bulgaria, becoming the third such ambassador in the world. Plamen Russev is featured in hundreds of international and local media and blogs including The Economist, Entrepreneur.com, Bloomberg, CNBCe, Forbes, Venture Beat, CNN to name a few.

​​​​​Dr. George Sharkov, Director, European Software Institute – Center Eastern Europe, Adviser to the Minister of Defense, Head, Cybersecurity Lab at Sofia Tech Park, EU AI HLEG (expert), ETSI TC CYBER member. Dr George Sharkov is an Adviser to the Minister of Defense and served as a National Cyber Security Coordinator for the Bulgarian Government 2014-2017, also Adviser to the Prime Minister in 2017. He was leading the development of the National Cyber Security Strategy “Cyber Resilient Bulgaria 2020”, adopted in 2016. He has PhD in Artificial Intelligence (AI), applications in biophysics, thermography and genetics. Since 1994 he was managing software development for advanced financial systems (portfolio management, big data, stock exchange) and e-markets. Since 2003 he leads the European Software Institute (Center Eastern Europe) and after 2016 - the Cybersecurity Lab at Sofia Tech Park. Trainer and appraiser for software quality management, cybersecurity and resilience, lecturing at 3 leading universities. He leads research in applied AI for monitoring cyber threats (Cyber threat map, and Monitor), simulation of complex systems-of-systems, cyber ranges and cyber/hybrid exercises. George has conducted numerous assessments (EC, USAID) in the region of Eastern Europe and Caucasus on ICT industry competitiveness, ICT/cyber skills and competences, EU pre-accession, as well as contributing with new threats to national security (for BG National Security Strategy, update 2018: ICT and cyber, social networks and facilitated migration). Member of ETSI Technical Committee CYBER (representing SBS and European Digital SME Alliance) and ETSI ISG SAI (Industry Specifications Group “Securing AI”), member of EU High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (working on trustworthy and robust AI, since June 2018). ​

 

 

​​Dr. Krasimir Simonski is the Deputy Chair of the State eGovernment Agency of Bulgaria and prior to that - Executive Director of the Bulgarian ICT Agency, a.k.a ESMIS.  His area of supervision includes the ICT infrastructure of the State Administration and national security-related establishments, such as data centers, communication facilities and the National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). Prior to this position, Dr. Simonski was Chair of the Bulgarian Research and Education Network (BREN), the Bulgarian partner in the pan-European Research Network, a.k.a GEANT.  He has developed and managed successfully large scale IT projects, such as the UNDP Project Telecentres - a project, which received high international recognition for becoming a major national asset in the Government strategy for e-Inclusion, e-Skills, e-Government, and e-Business.  He has also a solid business background in online travel as COO and international market analyst. After he got his Ph.D. in Computer Networks in 1991, he served 12 years (until 2003) as a Director of Communications and Computing, and Adjunct Faculty in Computer Sciences at the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) – the first American university in Eastern Europe.  Being one of the first Internet missionaries in the region since 1991, he has hundreds of keynote presentations in wide spectrum of information society topics but dominantly on social entrepreneurship, Cybersecurity, IPv6, e-Skills, e-Learning, online travel and others. Under the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, he chaired the Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, the Cooperation Group, the Network of CSIRTs, and ECSO's NAPAC working group. Contact Information: Dr. Krasimir Simonski, Deputy Chair, State eGovernment Agency, 6 Gurko St., Sofia 1000, BULGARIA, Tel: +359 2949 2424,

e-mail: ksimonski@e-gov.bg 

​​Dr. Kamen Spassov is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics Business Administrations of Sofia University. He is Head of Master's Degree Program "Business Information Systems". Dr. Spassov is Head of the e-Governance Laboratory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. His research interests are in the areas of e-Governance, Open Data and Open Government, Information and Network Security, Customer (Citizens) Relationship Management. Kamen Spassov has an extensive managerial and e-Governance experience. He served as Deputy Minister at Caretaker government Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Aug-Nov 2014, responsible for e-Governance and ICT. In 2013 he was advisor to the Minister for e-Government Development of the Caretaker government. Dr. Spassov has hands-on experience in implementation of e-Governance projects. He used to work in Bulgaria and USA for international and multinational companies. He also gained experience in IT and Web consulting and research projects at local and international level. Dr. Spassov is Deputy Chairman of Bulgarian Union of Automatics and Informatics. He is member of The International Federation for Information Processing, Working Group 8.5 which conducts research on Information Systems in Public Administration. Dr. Spassov is member of the EMEA Advisory Council of Microsoft Business Applications Academic Community.

​​Mr. Sergey Stefanovich is Head of Cybersecurity Department, Security Service, Beltelecom Republican Unitary Enterprise (RUE) (appointed in 2011). He graduated from Physics Department of Vladimir Lenin Belarusian State University majoring in physics in 1995. From 1995 to 2000 he served as Chief Inspector for Analytics in a Regional Department of Internal Affairs. Mr. Stefanovich has been working for Beltelecom RUE since 2000.
 

​​Mr. Arnaud Taddei is Technical Director, Standards and Architectures reporting directly to the CTO of Symantec, a Division of Broadcom Inc.  M. Taddei is an industry specialist covering the Digital Service Providers. As such he is as well chairman for the Working Party 3 (Application Security) in the Study Group 17 (Security) at the International Telecom Union (ITU) and has now other leadership roles at the ITU-T level at TSAG. M. Taddei is an active member of IETF where he develops Internet Drafts.
Prior to joining Symantec in 2007, he started his career in 1993 at the famous CERN IT Division in Geneva where he lead the team responsible for Communication, Authentication and Authorization. In 2000, he joined Sun Microsystems where he finally became one of the 100 elected global principle architects. Graduated as Telecom Engineer from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Télécommunication de Bretagne, France, M. Taddei owns a DEA with INRIA, which lead him to the Institute of Control Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow in 1992. 

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​​Ms. Vilma Tomco has completed studies at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Tirana during 1984-89. She holds the "Doctor" degree in information systems with the topic "Assessment and implementation of e-Governance in developing countries. Albania Case: Model of Public Services for Citizens". She has worked around 24 years in in the telecommunications sector while holding several positions in designing and developing projects at Department of Development and IT, specializing in leading and implementing projects on internet implementation in the country; in the IT sector; and since 2000 until 2010 as Director of IT department, further as Director of Systems for Albtelecom and Eaglemobile companies. From 2013 to 2017 she has been Director of the European ICT Agenda Department, recalled after Innovation and Good Governance, at Prime Minister's Office. This department has given a contribution to the development of digital and innovation policies, public administration reform, realization of digitalization objectives of the country and improvement of public services for citizens. From 2017 on, she is the general director of National Authority for Electronic Certification and Cyber Security that supervise the law on Cyber Security and government policies on cyber security. Since 1998 she is a part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and at several non-public universities.

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​​​Ms. Natalija Veljanoska  is  head  of  Information  Security  Sector in the Ministry   of Internal Affairs of  North  Macedonia.  Since 2015 she specializes in the  area of information assurance and compliance with national  laws for ICT security, personal data protection, and protection of classified information. For more than 20 years, Veljanoska has worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the area of information assurance for classified information, with focus on cryptographic protection. She participated in drafting the National Cyber  Security  Strategy  2018-2022  and Action Plan of the R. of North Macedonia as well as being engaged  in  its implementation. She has interests  in the field of cryptographic and ICT security, especially in terms  of understanding  the  current  threats  in cyber security, enhance resilience of ICT systems in governmental institutions, and strengthen the overall national cyber security.

​​Mr. Eric Vetillard is Lead Certification Expert at ENISA, the European cybersecurity agency, currently focusing on the certification of cloud services. Before that, Eric held various positions in the private sector, at NXP, Oracle, Gemalto and more, working on different activities related to security and certification. Over the years, he has worked in particular on certification topics, Java Card technology, mobile payment, automotive security and IoT. Eric holds a Ph.D. from the University of Aix-Marseille.

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​​Mr. Danijel Vlahovic is Head of Spectrum Monitoring Department at Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries.  He has almost 18 years of professional experience as an employer in national regulatory authority in the field of broadcasting, spectrum monitoring and in area of international cooperation. Lately he is engaged as part of cybersecurity team in national regulatory authority and has participated in national risk assessments and review of national measures for 5G cybersecurity.  After publication of EU Toolbox for 5G cybersecurity he is participating in implementation of mitigation measures on national level as a part of expert group.