Speakers

H.E. Mr. Boštjan Koritnik, Minister of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia.
Boštjan Koritnik, born on 15 June 1979, graduated from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana in 2005, obtaining a university degree in law. Before and after graduating, he worked part-time for the economy section of the Delo newspaper. From 2006 to 2010, he did a variety of work for the GV Založba publishing company, where he first excelled as a journalist and editor of the magazine Pravna praksa as well as an in-house lawyer and then, from 2010 to 2013, as the director and editor in chief. After the company’s merger with Ius Software d. o. o., he was a (co-)director and editor in chief until the beginning of 2015. Mr Koritnik has been employed at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana as a teaching assistant and secretary since 2015. Since 2016, he has also worked as the director of the Faculty of Law Publishing House and the managing director and member of the Založba Audiobook d.o.o. start-up company. He worked with three crypto companies as a lawyer and co-founder, and was the director of the GLEDOS (Global Education System) project. He participated in numerous studies – including for the European Commission and different ministries –, authored or co-authored legal opinions and other scholarly texts (242 entries in the Cobiss system) and lectured about blockchain technology and entrepreneurship in both Slovenia and abroad. Mr Koritnik has performed different roles in societies since 2008: he is the Secretary-General of the Association of Slovenian Lawyers Societies (ZDPS), treasurer of the Association of Slovenian Corporate Law Societies (ZDGPS) and president of the Sports Law Association. He is also the vice-president of the Tivoli Ljubljana Lions Club and president of the ABA Basketball League Appeals Board. In 2019, he received a special recognition from the Rector of the University of Ljubljana for professionals and – with two other colleagues – the 2019 Lawyer of the Year title awarded by the Association of Slovenian Lawyers Societies (ZDPS).

Stephen Bereaux is the Deputy to the Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau since 7 March 2020. Mr. Bereaux is an experienced regulator, with more than 20 years of executive and senior management experience in regulatory bodies in the Caribbean region. Prior to joining ITU, Mr Bereaux was Chief Executive Officer of the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), Bahamas which regulates the ICT and Electricity sectors, advises the Government on policies relating to those sectors, and represents The Bahamas at international sector related organisations such as the ITU. Prior to joining URCA in 2010, Mr. Bereaux served in senior management roles at the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) from 2004. Before becoming a Regulator, Mr. Bereaux, an Attorney by profession since 1996, practiced law at multinational firms based in London and Hong Kong, specialising in Information Technology and Telecommunications Law.

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Ms. Majlinda Bregu took office as the Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council on 1 January 2019. From March 2007 to September 2013, she served as Minister of European Integration. Majlinda Bregu is the longest-serving Minister of European Integration in Albania. Mrs. Bregu has been elected as Member of Parliament of Albania, as a Democratic Party member (Centre Right), for three consecutive legislatures (2005-2017). During 2013– 2017 Mrs. Bregu initiated several legal initiatives against gender-based and domestic violence, which are currently in force. Majlinda Bregu was born in Tirana on 19 May 1974. Married and mother of two.

Mr. Joe Barrett has been on the board or GSA since 2001 and the President of GSA since 2015. Joe has held senior executive positions at Qualcomm Europe, where he launched the Qualcomm Halo™ Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging brand, at Nokia Networks where he was part of the 3G-business team and at Flarion Technologies helping drive the adoption of its OFDMA 4G technology. Joe has been involved in numerous telecommunications marketing campaigns and initiatives and has been a regular speaker at industry events and investor/analyst meetings where he has promoted wireless technologies into industry. Joe Barrett holds an MSc. in Marketing from the University of Glamorgan and an Advanced Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Mr Istvan Bozsoki joined the ITU in 1997 to work at the Space Department of the Radiocommunication Bureau and he was dealing with coordination and notification of satellite systems. In 2007 he moved to the Telecommunication Development Bureau and was responsible for spectrum management and broadcasting issues. In April 2013 he became Head of Spectrum Management and Broadcasting Division and since November 2016 he is Head, Telecommunications Network and Spectrum Management Division. After obtaining his degree in telecommunication engineering at the Technical University Budapest in 1980 he spent 17 years at the Hungarian Communication Authority and he was dealing with technical and regulatory aspects of the spectrum management. Among others, he was responsible for the development of a computerized spectrum management system. Later, he was appointed as director of international affairs. He has master degrees in radiocommunications and broadcasting. 

Mr. Jan Buis, Vice President Business Development, LANCOM Systems,​ draws on a wealth of experience in the Wi-Fi and networking industry. He started his professional career as Product Manager Optical Networking at Lucent Technologies in the Netherlands in the late 1990s. A few years later, he joined the original WLAN development organization WaveLAN. Jan held various positions in product management, marketing and sales before he joined German network manufacturer LANCOM Systems in 2006, where he soon became Director of International Sales. Within LANCOM, which has been an independent subsidiary of the Munich-based technology group Rohde & Schwarz since 2018, Jan temporarily managed the WLAN and switching product lines before taking over as head of the company's business development unit, where education is one of the key vertical areas of focus. He holds an international MBA from Purdue University, and a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Science from Eindhoven University of Technology.

Mr. Genaro Cruz works at the GSMA where he leads the infrastructure and policy work on Digital Inclusion. Leveraging innovations in technology, policy, and business models, he supports the efforts of the mobile industry to connect underserved populations in emerging markets. Genaro holds a Telecommunications Engineering degree from the National University of Mexico and a Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics.​

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Mr. Milan Dobrijevic was born in Belgrade on 22nd of June 1977. Graduated as Master of Science at Computer Science Department of Electrical Engineering Faculty of University of Belgrade. Working in the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications since 2012. Currently on position of acting assistant Minister in Sector for Electronic Communications and Postal Traffic in Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Government of Republic of Serbia. He is also in charge of Digital Agenda development department which is Ministry's PIU and coordinate and manage all key information and communication technology related projects in the Ministry. Milan also helps with development of innovative project ideas and promote wide scale digitalization of Serbian administration and society. He successfully managed a number of projects in the field of e-government, broadband networks, education ICT infrastructure, e-business and e-commerce etc. Milan also participated in different technology and electronic business-related legislation preparation and has thorough experience in public administration reform processes.

Mag. Tomi Dolenc. Ever since leaving Jožef Stefan institute and joining ARNES - Academic and Research Network of Slovenia - in 1994, Tomi Dolenc (M.Sc. Computer Science) has focused on his engagement with the community - users of ARNES services in the areas of research, education and culture. Recently he mainly devotes himself to challenges of using ICT in education. Listening to user's needs and frustrations, he has learned the value of helping and educating the user community, to which he dedicates the most effort.  Since 1999 he has been involved in EU awareness programmes on safer use of internet, privacy protection etc., particularly in the area of education. He is leading ARNES collaboration team in Safer internet Centre Slovenia: SAFE.SI and is also actively involved in the preparation of a national strategic document "Digital Education Action Plan" which is coordinated by Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.  As a member of the GÉANT TF-EDU (Task Force - Education) Steering Committee, he takes part in is fostering collaboration and defining the role of National Education and Research Networks (NREN) in supporting digital in education. He also acts as a Data Protection Officer at ARNES.

 

Ms. Aminata Amadou Garba is Technology Coordinator at the Telecommunications Network & Spectrum Management Division (TND) in the ITU Development Bureau (BDT). She is a telecommunications engineer with background in telecommunications technologies, policies and infrastructure. She held several positions in telecommunications including Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Africa and Director General of the Multi-Sector Regulatory Authority of Niger. She received the masters and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from McGill University, Canada

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Mr. Peter Grum. Since October 2020, Mr. Peter Grum has been the Acting Director-General of the Information Society and Informatics Directorate within the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia. In this capacity, he manages the Directorate, coordinates the work of heads of units within the Directorate, leads the development of digitalization of public administration through the formation of vision, strategic planning and development of competencies in the field of digitalization of public administration, manages the government ICT infrastructure for the public administration, including the Government Cloud Infrastructure, manages the public administration's cyber security, and oversees the governance of development of IT solutions in the public sector. Prior to his role as Acting Director-General, he was the Deputy Director-General of the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia. Since 2012, he has also been the project manager for the 21 million EUR Renovation of the IT system of the Tax administration of the Republic of Slovenia. He received his Bachelor of Law from the University of Ljubljana. 

Mr. Dominic Hayes works at the European Commission as the frequency manager for the EU Space Programme. He joined the Commission in 2007 to work for the EU’s satellite navigation programme, Galileo, but now also covers: Copernicus, the EU’s Earth-observation system; EGNOS, the EU’s safety augmentation for GPS; and more recently the EU’s new flagship programme on space-based secure connectivity.  Prior to joining the Commission he worked for the UK regulator Ofcom, where he worked on satellite navigation, mobile satellite and mobile broadband topics, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to use his burger flipping skills learned at McDonalds.  He has been involved in ITU-R activities for many years after gaining his masters in satellite communications in 1999 from University College London, and has attended all the WRCs since WRC-03.

Mr. Marcin Krasuski, Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager at Google. He is based in Warsaw, where he works on various public policy issues including competition of digital markets, regulation of digital services and copyright. He is well experienced in the digital policy world as he has worked in the telecom sector and has held various positions in the Polish public administration and international fora including European Union's institutions and International Telecommunication Union.​

Ms. Eka Kubusidze is a Head of Communications, Information and Modern Technologies Department of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. Before, she has been working in the Telecommunication's Administration of Georgia and in the Ministry of Communications and Post of Georgia on different leading positions. She was one of the initiators of the project "Georgian Governmental Network", first biggist regional ICT Conference "Georgian IT Innovation Conference" and etc. As a head of the department, she is committed to develop strategies, projects and legislative framework of ICT to promote the field as a major driving force for socio-economic development, bringing the unprecedented benefits of broadband networks and services to remote and rural regions of Georgia and support formation of digital economy and society in the country. She is the country coordinator for project of Harmonization of Digital Market of EaP with the EU, which is established under the EU4Digital program.

Mr. Marcin Łukasiewicz is a Senior Specialist in the Telecommunication Investments Unit of the Telecommunications Department, The Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. Since the beginning of his professional career (2015) he has been an employee of the Telecommunications Department, working in a team responsible for coordination of Poland’s activities aiming at providing high-speed connectivity for all, in line with the assumptions of the National Broadband Plan. His work encompasses shaping the legal environment for telecommunications investments in Poland, designing public interventions under different state resources (notably Operational Programme Digital Poland for 2014-2020 and so-called Broadband Fund) and co-supervision of implementation of the Nationwide Education Network (Ogólnopolska Sieć Edukacyjna) programme. Recently he has been participating in designing broadband development policies which are to be implemented in the forthcoming years under EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility and Cohesion Policy. 

Ms. Gulsanna Mamediieva is the Director General of Directorate for Eurointegration at Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. She is In charge of eurointegration into Digital Single Market and online safety and protection. Gulsanna and her team have launched development and implementation of the Strategy of integration of Ukraine into European Digital Single Market. It consists of many components: electronic communications, trust and identification services, e-commerce, open data, digital skills, privacy, innovation, etc. Before working in the Ukrainian government, Gulsanna had been a lawyer in private IT sector. She holds a master’s degree in information technology law, University of Tartu, Estonia and currently pursuing PhD at Kyiv Institute of International Relations. Gulsanna speaks Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar, Russian, English. Learning French.

Ms. AnaMaria Meshkurti is the programme officer in the ITU Office for Europe, in charge of digital inclusion, skills, gender, youth, accessibility and innovation matters. Previously she conceptualized and managed the ITU Smart Incubator programme for emerging tech start-ups in developing countries as well as was in charge of ITU-T's non-statutory events including workshops, seminars and forums. She also led trainings for the Bridging the Standardization Gap programme, supporting ITU delegates in the standardization process. She is a communications professional with a strong background in public relation, tech start-ups, innovation and events management. Prior to joining ITU she worked for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as in various UK based NGOs. She holds diplomas in Business Administration (MBA), Marketing and Communications (MA) as well as International Relations and Global Governance (Bs).

Mehmet Özcan was born on 5 October 1982 in Batman, Turkey. Mr Özcan received his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University in 2007. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Management from Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University. He started his career in 2008 as an Assistant ICT Expert at International Relations Department of Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA), national regulatory authority for electronic communications and postal sectors.  He pursues his career as a Senior ICT Expert at Access and Tariffs Department of ICTA. Mr Özcan took part in several studies in ICTA including relations with international and regional organisations, bilateral cooperation, EU affairs, consumer rights, authorization, and access and interconnection. Mr. Özcan has served as a member of Turkish Delegation in meetings and conferences of international organizations such as International Telecommunication Union-ITU, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development-OECD, and European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations-CEPT. He took part on behalf of ICTA in accession negotiations with the EU, and Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) negotiations. He speaks English. Özcan is married and has two sons.  

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.

Ms. Eleanor Sarpong is A4AI’s Deputy Director and Policy Lead. She leads policy and advocacy efforts with particular oversight on all A4AI’s country engagement work in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. She is a versatile ICT and public policy professional with a 19-year multidisciplinary experience in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. 15 years of that experience was focused on ICT regulation, taxation, access, connectivity, universal service and data protection. She has worked in various ICT roles in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East in advocacy, consulting, ICT policy/regulations development and stakeholder management. Her previous roles include working with the European Investment Bank (EIB), where she provided guidance to the bank on policy options to improve ICT lending to developing countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Prior to that she was with the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) where she worked on various consulting projects. She was the head of Government, Regulatory and Public Policy at Telecoms Operator MTN Ghana and also served on two public boards involved with the ICT sector, notably the USF-Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) and the Data Protection Commission. Eleanor is an alum of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education program (Implementing Public Policy). She also holds a certificate in Public Policy Analysis from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the Warwick Business School (UK) where she was a British Chevening scholar. She’s passionate about inclusive digital access, gender and development and strongly advocates for universal broadband access and digital content particularly aimed at advancing women in developing regions.​​

Mr. Ihar Shchetko is the Giga Project Coordinator in Central Asia. He received his Master of Science in Methods and Systems of Information Security from the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, and his Bachelor of Science in Telecommunication Networks, also from the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics. His professional area of expertise include: Telecommunications, Analysis and research in ICT infrastructure development, and ICT statistics.

Mr. Dan Sjöblom. Appointed by the Swedish Government, Dan Sjöblom is the Director-General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) since February 1, 2017.  He was during 2020 the Chair of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and serves as a vice Chair in 2021 responsible for international cooperation. In 2020 he also chaired the ITU GSR. Mr. Sjöblom is also during 2021 the vice Chair of EU and EaP electronic communications regulatory platform (EaPeReg). Prior to taking up his position at PTS, Mr. Sjöblom was the Director General of the Swedish Competition Authority from 2009 to 2017. He is also board member of the Swedish Broadband Council. Mr. Sjöblom performed various functions as a civil servant at the European Commission between 1996-2009. He holds a Master of Laws from Stockholm University.

Mr. Christoph Steck is Director Public Policy & Internet for Telefonica. In this role he oversees the strategy and development of Telefonica´s global Public Policy work and defines its positions on Digital Policies, Internet and issues related to the Digital Economy. He is Vice-chair of the Business at OECD (BIAC) Committee on Digital Economic Policy, Vice-President of the Commission on Digital Economy of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) as well as of Alastria (Spanish National Blockchain Consortium) and also chairs the International Affairs and Internet Governance workgroup of ETNO (European Network Operators Association). He is a regular speaker at international conferences and represents Telefonica at international policy organisations like ITU, ICANN and G20/B20. He has also overseen the publications of the influential Digital Manifesto and Digital Deal of Telefonica. Christoph Steck studied Law and Human Rights at the Universities of Cologne, Munich and London (UCL) and is a qualified German lawyer. He also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from IE Business School. He is Associate Professor at the School of Human Science and Technology of IE University in Madrid as well as Fellow of Aspen Institute Spain and Council Member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

Sophie Treinen is working at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Regional office for Europe and Central Asia, where she provides assistance to the countries of the region addressing the role of information, communication and knowledge sharing. Her major responsibility is to develop approaches for developing institutional and individual capacities. She supports the development of national digital agriculture strategy, and pays particular attention to systems, which make the most of digital and more conventional technologies to address stakeholders’ needs. She is also applying participatory approaches and examining gender issues linked to the introduction of new digital Information and Communication Technologies. With 30 years of experience, Sophie possesses a varied experience in raising awareness for sustainability issues within the UN, governments, private sector and civil society. She was the FAO Focal Point for the World Summit on the Information Society Action Line on e-agriculture and served as the Organization’s Communication Lead for the UN Global Information Society Group.

Ms. Lidia Stępińska-Ustasiak Ph.D. Deputy director, Department of Foreign Affairs in Office of Electronic Communications, Republic of Poland, chairwoman of Group on Capacity Building Initiatives ITU. In charge of the International Organizations Unit as well as the Social and Economic Cooperation Unit, responsible for NRA’s relations with entrepreneurs including Polish and international SMEs and startups, chambers of commerce, units of public administration, academic institutions. In 2019 Chairwoman of Steering Committee of International Telecommunication Union Centres of Excellence network of partners specializing in telecommunications and ICT training. Since 2018 member of the Group on Capacity Building Initiatives, advising the Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau and appointed to a position of chairwoman in 2019.  Member of IGF 2021 Program Committee. Sociologist (PhD in sociology, 2017) focused on social impact of technology, digital skills and implications of ICT for human and institutional capacity building. Received her MA in Social Science from University of Warsaw and a British MA degree in Social Sciences awarded by the University of Lancaster. CSR, public affairs and communications expert with more than 15 years of experience in telecommunication and ICT sector. Co-author of reports, author of publications, lecturer and public speaker.