Agenda

Helen Harris leads Amazon’s public policy engagement on AI, privacy and internet governance with multilaterals and global civil society. Prior to joining Amazon, Helen worked at a strategic advisory firm, where she crafted and implemented proactive external strategic engagements for a variety of multinational clients. She has worked at several international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Helen earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and studied for her PhD in political science at George Washington University.

H.E. Mr. Hiroshi Yoshida is the Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination (International Affairs) at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan.

1987.  Joined Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

2007.　Director, Terrestrial Broadcasting Division, Information and Communications Policy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC)

2008.　Director, Terrestrial Broadcasting Division, Information and Communications Bureau, MIC

2012.　Director, Telecommunications Policy Division, Telecommunications Business Department, MIC

2015.  Counselor, Minister’s Secretariat, MIC

2016. Counselor, Global ICT Strategy Bureau, MIC

2017.　Deputy Director-General for IT Strategy, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) 

2019.  Deputy Director-General, Information and Communications Bureau, MIC 

2020.  Director-General for Policy Coordination

2021.　Director-General of the Information and Communications Policy Bureau

2022.  Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination (International Affairs)

Irina Soeffky is Director for National, European and International Digital Policy at the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. She has more than 15 years of experience in the public service and has worked extensively on international issues. She holds degrees in law and economics.

Eng. Gloria Cravalho, President of the Foundation Institute of Advanced Studies, is a renowned technologist and academic. With a Ph.D. in Optoelectronics Devices from Denmark Technical University (DTU) and a Master's in Telecommunications Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, for over two decades, Gloria has held pivotal roles in academia, research, and government. She was also previously appointed Vice-Minister of Ministry of Popular Power for Science and Technology, Venezuela, and President of the Presidential Commission Polo Científico Tecnológico Venezolano.

Gloria has also served as President and General Director of Development and Research at the Centro Nacional de Desarrollo e Investigación en Telecomunicaciones. She has taught at Universidad Central de Venezuela, and has acquired research experience at institutions like PhotonLab Istituto Mario Boella and Denmark Technical University.

Tripti Sinha is Assistant Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the Division of Information Technology. She leads Advanced Cyber Infrastructure and Internet Global Services (ACIGS) and the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX). She has over three decades of progressive experience in Internet and Cyber-Infrastructure technologies. Her wide-ranging experience includes leadership positions in engineering, operations, finance, governance, advocacy and policy. In her current role, she is the chief executive of the MAX, which operates a high-performance regional research and education (R&E) 100G network for advanced cyber-infrastructure services and research. She is also responsible for UMD's High Performance Computing service and strategy. Tripti is active internationally as the executive and operational head of UMD's global operation of DNS root services. She previously served as Co-Chair of ICANN's Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) from 2015-2018.

In the United States, she is very involved in the Internet2 community on activities related to the US national R&E Internet backbone. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors of The Quilt whose mission is to provide advocacy for research and education networking on the US national agenda. She has served on many other non-profit and private sector technology advisory boards.

Tripti has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and did graduate work in Computer Science at the University of Maryland. She is proficient in English and Hindi, and has an understanding of Punjabi, Urdu and the ancient Sanskrit language. Tripti was nominated to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors by the Nominating Committee in 2018.

A UN Broadband Commissioner, Chair of ITU’s CRO/IAGDI, Board Member in the ITU’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development, and as CEO of SAMENA Telecommunications Council, Bocar BA is a renowned industry advocacy specialist within the SA-ME-NA region’s ICT industry.

BA's close collaboration and proactive engagement with policy-makers, government representatives, investors, as well as leaders from various investment groups in addressing digital development issues and industry-wide challenges, have been instrumental in building new private-to-private and to government-to-government relationships across Africa and the Middle East.

In 2020, Bocar BA served as a member of the G20 Summit Advisory Board’s Digital Economy Task Force in Saudi Arabia, where he is also active in collaborating with the Global Cyber Security Forum (GCF) on securing Cyberspace and addressing numerous cybersecurity challenges. He has chaired consensus-building and contributed to the development of recommendations for leaders worldwide on 21st century funding and financing models, to help accelerate digital infrastructure development and digitalization. BA is also advising the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) on a space-sustainability industry segment and on matters relating to digital economy and space economy.