Agenda

Tomas Lamanauskas took office as Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 1 January 2023. 

Prior to his election by ITU Member States in September 2022, Mr Lamanauskas held senior executive positions with national regulatory authorities in Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, and as a senior government advisor on telecommunications issues in the Pacific region. He previously led corporate strategy at ITU and public policy for multinational technology and communications company VEON. Mr Lamanauskas holds a Sloan Master's Degree in Leadership and Strategy from the London Business School (UK), a Master's in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School (US), a Master's in Telecommunications Regulation and Policy from the University of the West Indies (Trinidad and Tobago), and a Master of Laws from Vilnius University (Lithuania). 

He began his career as a computer science teacher at Vilnius Lyceum in his native Lithuania. ​

A distinguished engineer, leader, and diplomat; multilingual standardization expert and holder of 22 patents, Tunisian born Dr. Bilel Jamoussi has been Chief of the Study Groups Department of ITU Standardization Bureau (TSB) in Geneva Switzerland since 2010.

Prior to 2010, he worked in the private sector for 15 years and held senior executive positions such as Director of Standards for Nortel. In this role he participated in over 90 standards making bodies worldwide. In the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), he authored a number of Internet standards.As an IEEE Senior Member, he was elected to the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Board of Governors and the IEEE-SA Corporate Advisory Group. He holds a BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Bilel has lived in Tunisia, Canada, USA, and Switzerland, giving him a unique global viewpoint. He is fluent in Arabic, French, and English and speaks some Spanish and German

Since January 2016, Peggy Hicks has served as director of the Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division of the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR). She provides strategic direction to the UN Human Rights Office’s work on a broad range of pressing human rights issues, including human rights in the digital age and expanding civic space. From 2005 to 2015, she was global advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, where she was responsible for managing Human Rights Watch’s advocacy team and providing direction to its advocacy worldwide. Ms. Hicks previously served as the director of the Office of Returns and Communities in the UN mission in Kosovo and as Deputy High Representative for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has also worked as the Director of Programs for the International Human Rights Law Group, and as clinical professor of human rights and refugee law at the University of Minnesota Law School. Ms. Hicks is a graduate of Columbia Law School and the University of Michigan.

Amb. Prof. Muhammadou M.O. Kah is the Ambassador of The Republic of the Gambia to the Swiss confederation & Permanent Representative to the UN Office at Geneva, World Trade Organisation (WTO), and other international organizations at Geneva, Switzerland. Amb. Prof Kah served as the past Chairman of the Africa Group of Ambassadors at Geneva (April 2021- to September 2021) and currently the Vice President (Africa) for the United Nations Human Rights Council; Vice Chairman for UNCTAD’s Commission on Science and Technology Development’s 25th session and a member of the Advisory Board of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Bureau (TDB) Advisory Body (June 2021-July 2023).

Prior to his appointment in Geneva, Amb. Prof. Kah served as the Founding Chairman of Zenith Bank, The Gambia, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Africa Consulting & Trading Group (ACT), Dakar, Senegal; Board membership: Malabo Montpelier Panel; African Agriculture Technology Foundation; Africa Europe Foundation and ReEnergy Africa. He also served as Board Member for over 10 years of the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, Nigeria; served as a Board member of the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) Digital Bridge Institute, Abuja, Nigeria.

Completing his BSc, MSc. and Ph.D. at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey. In 2016, Amb. Prof. Kah was awarded an Honorary Doctoral DegreeDoctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the University of The Gambia a year after he completed his tenure as Vice Chancellor/Rector of The University. He also holds a Master of Science in Finance (Financial Engineering) from George Washington University, Washington, DC and a Postgraduate Diploma (Dip SI) in Strategy and Innovation from the Said Business School, University of Oxford, UK.

Gilles Thonet joined the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 2015 and is the Deputy Secretary-General, Director of the Secretary-General’s Office, and Secretary of the Standardization Management Board (SMB). In his current role, Gilles oversees the IEC technical boards, the IEC strategy, legal and compliance matters, as well as external relationships with partner organizations. A technology executive with international experience in high tech industrial companies (including ABB, Eaton and Schneider Electric), Gilles has a PhD in Communication Technologies from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), an MSc in Electrical Engineering from Louvain School of Engineering, Belgium, and an MBA from Grenoble Graduate School of Business, France.

Mr José-Ignacio ALCORTA is Head of Standards Development at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) with over 25 years’ experience in standards development.

He joined ISO in October 2011 where the leads experienced teams of Technical Programme Managers that provide oversight for the 300+ Technical Committees in various sectors, such as Healthcare, Services, Quality, Energy, Environment, ITC, etc.

He is also responsible for the coordination of technical work in the areas of Climate Change, Management Systems and other groups under the Technical Management Board. He convened the group responsible for the mapping of ISO standards to the UN SDGs, its dedicated website and the initiatives in support of the SDGs, such as development of ISO Guides on sustainability and climate change and London Declaration.

Prior to ISO, José worked at the British Standards Institution (BSI) in the United Kingdom from 2001 to 2011 where he held the role of Team Leader in the Governance and Resilience Department as well as holding the Secretariat of high-profile ISO committees.

Vidushi Marda is an Indian lawyer and researcher who investigates the societal impact of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. She currently works as a Senior Programme Officer at ARTICLE 19, a global human rights organisation, where she leads research and engagement on the human rights implications of machine learning. She is a member of the Expert Group on Governance of Data and AI at United Nations Global Pulse.

Marda’s work engages with technical, policy, academic and advocacy communities. She has produced pioneering research on machine learning particularly in non-Western jurisdictions. 

Marda’s work has been cited by the Supreme Court of India in a historic ruling on the Right to Privacy, the United Kingdom House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, among others.