Agenda

Dr Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava took office as Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 1 January 2023.

 
With more than 30 years in telecommunications, including over 20 years in ITU's Development Sector, Dr Zavazava has promoted and implemented impactful information and communication technology projects around the world. 

Prior to his election as BDT Director, he served as ITU's Chief of Partnerships for Digital Development, overseeing development-related projects, strategic partnerships, and resource mobilization between 2019 and 2022, while launching new initiatives that have boosted the engagement of industry, private-sector and academia members in ITU's work. 

Dr. Walid Mathlouthi received a PhD in Optics, Photonics and Lasers. He spent his early career at Optical Research Laboratories in France, Italy, Canada and the US with Intel Corp where he worked, among other things, on the first Raman silicon laser. In 2010, he joined AT&T Labs in California as a Senior Member of Technical Staff. 

In 2014, Dr. Walid joined Google Headquarters in Mountain View managing Global Network Architecture. He worked on building high quality networks to provide broadband connectivity in emergent markets and connect the under-connected. He also led Google Global Data Centre design to support cloud services deployments (compute, storage, ML Pods and AI infrastructure). 

Since 2022 he joined ITU as the head of the Future Networks and Spectrum Management Division leading various projects to leverage technologies such as satellite and AI to support economic growth in developing countries and help bridge the digital gap. 

Renata Santoyo works at Anatel's International Affairs Office, specialized in Telecommunications Regulation and International Law, being a government employee since 2005. At Anatel, Ms. Santoyo has worked with satellite regulation, spectrum management, and as advisor in the area of ICT ​​product type approval and numbering. She also served as Chairperson of the Anatel's Ethics Commission.

Gonzalo is a Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Program Manager at Ericsson, specializing in digital inclusion and digital education. Through the "Connect To Learn" initiative, he has supported Giga by leading coverage and connectivity mapping efforts. He currently collaborates with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on the development of the Transformational Connectivity Playbook and the Connectivity Planning Platform (CPP), tools designed to help stakeholders better understand connectivity options and improve infrastructure planning through data-driven insights. 
  
Holding an M.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering and with over 18 years of experience in the ICT sector, Gonzalo brings deep expertise in mobile networks (2G to 5G), cloud technologies, and OSS/BSS systems, having worked in over 40 countries. He has also led connectivity projects in humanitarian missions, focusing on satellite communications and Wi-Fi. In addition to his telecom background, Gonzalo has completed several AI courses and is dedicated to exploring the ethical implications of artificial intelligence.

Sandor is a GIS expert with 25+ years of experience in making system designs, studies about system requirements, expected functionality, data specification, extensive analysis and mapping. Sandor has M.Sc. in Civil Engineering and an MBA degree in Management and Finance. 

At the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Sandor works on development of new data structures for GIS data, acquires new open-source datasets and develops workflow automations. 

Sandor is passionate about researching new technologies and open-source solutions, that can help infrastructure planning and analysis for better decision making. He is currently working on utilizing AI object detection in GIS. 

Aleksandra Jastrzębska is passionate about geospatial data and works at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), where she contributes to the Giga initiative – a joint effort by UNICEF and ITU to connect every school to the internet. Her work focuses on analyzing school connectivity, particularly in underserved and remote areas. 

She holds an Erasmus Mundus Master in Geospatial Technologies, a program that combines technical expertise with a global perspective on spatial data and development. Her recent research explores the use of Generative AI, especially for the creation and analysis of map data. 

Joshua is a digital wizard at GitHub, where he moonlights as a security solutions architect, conjuring up solutions to complex challenges and guiding organizations to master the art of DevSecOps. When he’s not weaving his tech magic to keep code secure, Joshua volunteers as a mentor with ProgramEarth to teach the next generation of developers and GitHub’s Tech for Social Good program, where he assists nonprofit organizations in learning to adopt and leverage open source technologies. Outside the digital realm, you will find him looking for the next new and exciting place to eat at, spiking a volleyball on sandy shores, and carving up the slopes on his skis.