Agenda

Karen McCabe is a Senior Director of Public Affairs and Technology Policy at IEEE, where she leads efforts to build and connect communities working in the technology policy ecosystem and where her focus is on the development and promotion of collaborative strategies that produce impactful outcomes to help advance technology for the benefit of society. Karen works at the nexus of mission-driven organizations, industry, NGO and government bodies to raise awareness, to educate and build capacity among stakeholders in the technology sphere.

Through her career, Karen has focused on projects and initiatives to expand global footprint, build communities, develop and execute integrated communications and global outreach programs and build and nurture relationships. Karen has held various leadership and senior management positions in the technology sector, with a specific focus in the global standards and technology development domain that is rooted in openness, transparency and inclusiveness. Today, Karen is engaged in technology policy initiatives in digital transformation, ethics and technology, sustainability, and global standards in trade and policy. She leads the organization’s engagement with the UN and other international bodies. Karen is a member of the OECD Internet Technical Advisory and works with many organizations and bodies to connect technologists, industry leaders and policy makers where she develops partnerships and builds alliances across stakeholder communities.

I am an Associate Professor and Vice-Dean for Studies at the University of Geneva’s School of Economics and Management, GSEM. In 2009, I established Citizen Cyberlab, a first-of-kind citizen science lab in Europe, based on a partnership with CERN and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). As director of this lab, I manage the development of solutions for crowdsourced research and promote public participation in science through hands-on events such as hackathons. In 2017 I founded the SDG Solution Space, an open innovation hub in the heart of International Geneva, which hosts the world’s first comprehensive education program for the SDGs. This is in collaboration with a range of International Organizations in Geneva including ITU. In 2024, the SDG Solution Space is organizing the SDG Olympiad, a global youth competition for developing practical solutions to planetary health challenges, which will be formally launched at WSIS.

Lori S. Schulman is Senior Director for Internet Policy for the International Trademark Association (INTA) where she is responsible for managing the association’s Internet policy and advocacy initiatives and serving as liaison to INTA’s Internet and Data Protection Committees.  She is INTA’s representative to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and other Internet policy bodies.  Lori has a varied background in general corporate and intellectual property law and has managed the trademark portfolios of Fortune 100 companies and major nonprofit organizations.   She started her career as an Attorney/Advisor for the U.S. Trademark Office.  Prior to joining INTA as a staff member, she served as General Counsel for a U.S. based, nonprofit, educational organization.  Ms. Schulman is a former INTA board member and former advisor to the Public Interest Registry (PIR), the operator of the .org top level domain.  Lori holds a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law where she was a member of the George Mason Inn of Court.

Konstantinos Komaitis is a senior resident fellow with the Democracy + Tech Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. He is leading the Council’s work on Internet governance.

Komaitis has spent ten years in active policy development and strategy as a senior director at the Internet Society, where he led a series of projects, including the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition. Before joining the Internet Society, he spent seven years as a senior lecturer at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow where he was researching and teaching internet policy, with particular focus on internet governance, intellectual property, trade, and cybersecurity.

Komaitis has worked for the New York Times and provided strategic advice to a variety of companies and international organizations on internet governance and public-policy issues. Komaitis is a public speaker having spoken at several events worldwide, including TedX, and has written for various outlets and organizations including Politico, the Atlantic Council, Brookings, Slate, TechDirt, EuroActiv. He holds two master’s degrees and a doctorate, and he is the author of a book on domain name regulation. He sits on the board of IP Justice, a San Francisco-based nongovernmental organization, and he also co-hosts the Internet of Humans podcast.

Moira Whelan is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab). Moira is a founding partner of BlueDot Strategies and specializes in international engagement and technology. Moira has more than 15 years in senior positions at the forefront of building and executing communications strategies in the nonprofit and national security community.

Moira served as the U.S. State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Digital Strategy under President Obama, where she oversaw the flagship social media platforms to engage U.S. and international audiences and led multiple teams to guide the communications approach on major U.S. initiatives.

Before joining USAID, Moira worked at the Department of Homeland Security where she directed the National Joint Information Center and also served as Chief of Staff in the Office of Gulf Coast Rebuilding. She was a founding member of the National Security Network, a nonprofit advocacy organization. She has held the position of communications director both at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and, prior to that, on the House Committee on Homeland Security Democratic Staff. Moira started her career in editorial and legislative outreach roles at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

As part of the Digital Economy policy team at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Timea Suto works with global business experts to bring private sector views into activities and decisions of ICC’s Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) initiative. Among her different responsibilities, she leads policy input and project work on the Internet governance forum and enhanced cooperation, having served on the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation (2016-2018).

ICC is the largest, most-representative global business organization and only private sector body to have official Observer status to the United Nations General Assembly. During the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), ICC convened and facilitated business input and through ICC BASIS, it has continued to bring input and support engagement from business into the post-WSIS activities, whether at the UN and its various agencies or via multistakeholder activities such as the Internet governance forum (IGF).

Ms Suto has a degree in International Relations and masters degrees in Minority Policy and European Public Policy. She speaks fluent Hungarian, Romanian, English and French.

Shaharyar Jawaid is a Global Technology for Development Expert and has over 15 years of professional experience and learning in International Development, IT/Telco industry, Investment Advisory, International Public Speaking and successfully leading, developing, and managing development programs in over 20 countries across 5 continents.

Shaharyar is an experienced international development professional and currently looks after the IsDB’s ICT policy and strategy for its engagement in the ICT sector in the Bank’s 57 Member Countries. With over a decade of experience from around the world, Shaharyar is recognized as a Public Speaker and regularly organizes, and hosts webinars and events related to Digital & Financial Inclusion particularly with focus on emerging technologies and digital transformation.

Shaharyar started his professional career at Vodafone Group Services in Newbury, UK at Vodafone HQ in 2008 where he served as a Data Analyst. He has also served at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Jeddah, KSA at various positions with the current being Senior ICT Specialist. He has been responsible for managing numerous infrastructure projects relating to telecommunication systems, fibre optic cables, submarine cables, e-government.

Mei Lin Fung, Co-Chair of People Centered Internet which she co-founded with Vint Cerf. An early pioneer of CRM, working with Tom Siebel and Marc Benioff at Oracle, she also worked at  Shell and  Intel. Mei Lin studied Finance at MIT under two future Nobel Economics winners. She served as Socio Technical lead for the US government Federal Health Futures, and was finalist in the GSA Citizen Engagement GEAR challenge and chairs the IEEE Technical Committee on Sustainability. She organized “Program for the Future” 2008 with Douglas Engelbart and “40th Anniversary of the Internet” (www.tcpip40.com) in 2014 with Vint Cerf. Fellow of Hasso-Plattner-Institute. Mei Lin curates the People Centered Internet’s Digital Cooperation and Diplomacy network and co-authored G7 policy contributions. She initiated and chaired the 3-day series of 60 speakers, including ITU Secretary General Doreen Bogdan Martin, Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf the fathers of the Internet as part of 10 panels on Digital Cooperation, Governance and Regulations at the UN Science Summit in Sept 2023. She is currently organizing with the IEEE History and David Gonzalez, IEEE Ambassador, the 50th Anniversary of the Internet.

Tim Unwin (born 1955) is a British academic and public figure, specialising in the uses of digital technology by the world’s poorest and most marginalised peoples. Trained as a geographer, he believes in crossing boundaries between disciplines and sectors, as well as in the importance of international understanding between peoples and governments.  He was Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation from 2011-2015, was Chair of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission from 2009-2014, and over the last decade has worked closely with UN agencies, and particularly the ITU, UNESCO and UNICEF. He has written or edited 17 books and more than 250 other publications, with his influential edited book Information and Communication Technologies for Development, being published by CUP in 2009, and his latest single authored book Reclaiming ICT4D being published by OUP in 2017.

Dana is a Middle East and North Africa (MENA) expert focusing on public policy and technology. She supports various campaigns in the region, reporting on policy trends and regulatory roadblocks for disruptive technologies.

Dana previously worked at an international NGO, a risk consultancy, and in human rights and policy research institutes in Beirut, Geneva and London.

Dana holds an MSc in International Social and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, with a focus on development, and a BA in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut, which included a year at Sciences Po Paris. She speaks Arabic and French.

The Rev. Dr. Liberato C. Bautista is a civil society leader whose professional life has been dedicated to working with faith-based, ecumenical, and non-governmental organizations worldwide, spanning the last four decades. Dr. Bautista serves as President of CoNGO—The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations—an international non-governmental organization with general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Bautista is an ordained minister of The United Methodist Church and, since 1996, served as the Assistant General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs for the church’s General Board of Church and Society. Bautista serves as an NGO representative to the United Nations worldwide for both CoNGO and UMC-GBCS. He was previously the Chair of the Council of Organizations of the United Nations Association of the USA (COO UNA-USA) and the Committee of Religious NGOs at the UN (CRNGO).

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.

Daniella is visionary leader from Ghana using artificial intelligence (AI) to empower individuals and bridge the digital divide. As co-founder of Copianto AI, she's democratizing access to this powerful technology by developing a cutting-edge platform that leverages AI and large language models (LLMs) to unlock organizational knowledge, create intelligent virtual assistants, and make information accessible to all. She is also one of the twelve distinguished members of the ITU Secretary-General's Youth Advisory Board. Daniella is a passionate advocate for responsible technology development. She champions this cause as an Affiliate at All Tech Is Human and contributes her expertise as a research group member and AI policy expert at the Center for AI and Digital Policy, shaping the future of responsible AI practices and fostering inclusive technology solutions for all. She advocates for inclusive AI development and bridging the digital divide through youth participation. Her dedication to solving critical world problems has been recognized through prestigious fellowships like Sigma Squared Society and #10FacesChangingAfrica by StArfrica - Startup Germany-Africa

Jennifer Chung is the Director of Corporate Knowledge for DotAsia Organisation. She represents .Asia Registry at ICANN and is a GNSO councilor for the RySG. She headed the ICG Secretariat that oversaw the IANA stewardship transfer from the US government to the global multistakeholder community.

Ms. Chung was appointed to the IGF MAG (2018-2020), and the 2022 Expert Working Group that developed recommendations on strengthening the IGF. She heads the IGFSA Secretariat which provides support to the IGF and grants seed funding to National, Regional and Youth Initiatives. She serves in the Asia Pacific Regional IGF Secretariat and works towards amplifying Asia Pacific contributions on Internet governance.

Ms. Chung is on the ISIF .asia Selection Committee that awards grants for research and technical solutions supporting Internet development in Asia Pacific. She works on Internationalized Domain Names policies and supports efforts to achieve Universal Acceptance, a foundational requirement for a multilingual Internet