Olga Algayerova
Executive Secretary, UNECE
On 13 April 2017, the Secretary-General appointed Ms Olga Algayerova of Slovakia as the next Executive Secretary of the UNECE. She took office on 1 June 2017. Ms. Algayerova brings to the position a combination of leadership and diplomatic skills with deep knowledge of the region with its challenges and opportunities and a strong focus on building and nurturing partnerships among key stakeholders with the United Nations. Prior to her appointment, she served as Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the International Organizations in Vienna, Austria (since 2012). She was previously President, Slovak Millennium Development Goals (2010-2012); State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2010) and Corporate Export Manager, Zentiva International, a.s. (2004-2006). Born in 1959, Ms. Algayerova holds a Master in Contemporary Diplomacy from Malta University, a Master in Business Administration from The Open University Business School, United Kingdom and a Dipl. in Engineer of Economy from the University of Economics Business Faculty, Bratislava. On 12 July 2017, Ms. Olga Algayerova was sworn-in by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres. |
Meera Alshaikh
Project Manager, Smart Dubai
Meera AlShaikh is a project manager at the Smart Dubai Office, the government entity entrusted with Dubai's city-wide smart transformation by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. She holds a Master's Degree in Project Management from The British University in Dubai and a BSc in Information Systems and Technology Management from Zayed University, Dubai. She has recently been appointed as a member and secretariat of the SDG11 Global Council, part of the Global Councils on Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to her role in the Strategy and Emerging Technology Department, Meera is also Smart Dubai's team lead for the Dubai 10X initiative, which aims to take Dubai 10 years ahead of other global cities by disrupting how traditional government services are delivered to the city's stakeholders. Meera also leads Smart Dubai's future team at the Dubai Future Accelerators program, which taps into the global start-up ecosystem to find transformational solutions using emerging technologies, and connects the startups to relevant government and private sector entities in Dubai. |
Alexandre Barbosa
Head of the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br), Brazil
Responsible for managing research projects for the production of ICT-related statistics on the access to and use of ICTs in different segments of society, including indicators on digital economy, e-commerce and e-government. Coordinates capacity building programs in survey methodologies in Latin America and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. Mr. Barbosa was the Chair of the Expert Group on ICT Households indicators (EGH) from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) from 2012 to 2017 and currently is member of the International Advisory Group of Experts on the Global Kids Online project (UNICEF and LSE) and member of the Council Board of The Innovation Center for Brazilian Education (CIEB). Mr Barbosa holds a PhD degree in Business Administration from Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil), a Master Degree in Business Administration from Bradford University (UK), a MSc Degree in Computer Science from Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and a BSc Degree in Electrical Engineering from Catholic University (Brazil). He has also conducted postdoctoral research at HEC Montreal (Canada) in the area of electronic government. |
Guilherme Canela
Counsellor of Information and Communication for MERCOSUR, UNESCO
Guilherme Canela holds the position of UNESCO Montevideo Communication and Information Adviser for Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and Chile. Currently, he is the Regional Coordinator of the UNESCO Initiative for the Promotion of Democracy and Freedom of Expression in judicial systems in Latin America. He has a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Brasília (UnB) and a Master's Degree on Political Science from the University of São Paulo (USP). He was research consultant for the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders and for the Ayrton Senna Journalism Award. Jointly with Solano Nascimento he published the book Access to information and public policies social control. He actively participated in the process of discussion and implementation of Access laws in Brazil, Paraguay and acted as an international observer in the Uruguay Open Government process. Photo: Alessandro Currarino. El Comercio, Perú |
Kari Eik
Secretary General, Organization for International Economic Relations (OiER)
Kari Aina Eik, Secretary General of the OiER – Organization for International Economic Relations, , an international NGO and multi-stakeholder platform based in Vienna, Austria. Ms. Eik is the Executive Director of the the USC United Smart Cities Program (lead by UNECE and OiER) and currently the leader of the finance guideline of the U4SSC United for Smart Sustainable Cities initiative, focus on the finance guideline deliverables. Currently she is also working to develop together with UNGSII, the SDG Cities Leadership Platform, a new initiative with the aim to SDG align 25+5 cities by 2025. |
Dr Chaesub Lee
Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU
Dr Chaesub LEE worked at KT from 1986 until 2003 as a researching member. He joined a national research institute, ETRI, during the period 2004 ~ 2012 and moved into an academia, KAIST until 2014. He has been working in the telecoms standardisation field for over 30 years. He has been involved in ITU-T standards developments since 1987, within the networks areas (e.g., ISDN, NGN and IPTV.) He served ITU-T activity as a Vice-chairman of SG13 from 2001 till 2008. He shared his role as a Vice-chairman of ITU-T IPTV Focus Group and as a Chairman of NGN Focus Group. He has been a Chairman of ITU-T SG13 leading group of standard development on future networks, cloud computing and SDN for the period 2009-2014. He was elected Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standard Bureau at the Plenipotentiary 2014 for the term 2015-2018. |
Sophia Papathanasopoulou
Head of National Broadband Planning Dep’t, General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Post, Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media, Greece
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 20 years of experience as a Senior Engineer at the biggest telecommunications industry in Greece INTRACOM, 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 in European Standardization Organizations) and the creation of institutional framework through Ministerial Decrees and Regulations for the development of broadband, sharing of infrastructures and ICT products. |
Bruno Peters
Director, Smart Cities, Deputy Regional Director, IBI Group
Mr. Peters has extensive experience in strategic planning, design, implementation and maintenance of Smart City and technology, projects for a wide variety of urban communities around the world. He has over 25 years of experience specializing in the areas of Smart City and Intelligent Transportations Systems planning and implementation, working to enhance city operations and the experience people have in public and private spaces. Specific domain knowledge includes strategic planning and standards development for communities in the areas of mobility, citizen engagement and Smart City strategy. |
H.E. Mrs Maria Theofili
Permanent Representative of Greece to the UN
Education
• 1981 Diploma, School of Law, University of Athens
• 1982 Advanced Studies Diploma (DEA) European Political and Administrative Studies, College of Europe, Bruges
Languages: English, French
Civil status: Married, mother of a son
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