Speakers

As European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Ms Jutta Urpilainen oversees the European Commission’s work on international cooperation and sustainable development.

Before joining the Commission, Ms Urpilainen served as a Member of the Finnish Parliament from 2003 to 2019. In 2008, she became the first woman leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland. From 2011 to 2014, she served as Finland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. During that time, she became closely involved in development issues, joining the Development Committee of the World Bank Group and IMF and chairing the Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development. She served as the Foreign Minister’s Special Representative on Mediation (2017-19) and chaired the Finnish National Commission for UNESCO (2015-18).

Hirai was born in Takamatsu City, Kagawa in 1958. After graduating from Takamatsu Daiichi High School, he studied in the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Sophia University. Upon graduation, he joined Dentsu Inc. After serving as President of Nishinippon Broadcasting Co., Ltd. and Director of Takamatsu Chuo High School in his earlier career, he was first elected to the House of Representatives in the 42nd general election in 2000.

Ever since, he has been elected for 7 consecutive terms and has held such positions as Director, of Economy, Trade and Industry Division and Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Division of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP); Deputy Chairperson of Policy Research Council, LDP; Parliamentary Vice‐Minister of Cabinet Office; Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; Chairperson of Committee on Cabinet; Director‐General of Information Research Bureau, LDP; Chairperson of Public Relations Headquarters, LDP; and Director of Internet Media Division, LDP.

As the Chairperson of Special Mission Committee on IT Strategy, he compiled Digital Nippon (policy proposal) and leads other aspects of the IT policies of LDP. In October 2018, he was appointed Minister in charge of Information Technology Policy, Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, Intellectual Property Strategy, “Cool Japan” Strategy and for Space Policy for the 4th Abe Cabinet. In October 2019, he was appointed Chairperson of Digital Nation Special Committee, LDP. In September 2020, he was appointed Minister for Digital Transformation, Minister in charge of Information Technology Policy and Minister of State for the Social Security and Tax Number System.

Joseph Mucheru, EGH, is the current Kenyan Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology. He is a former Google Sub-Sahara Africa Lead based in the Google Nairobi office. He was Google’s first Sub-Saharan Africa employee and was key to setting up of Google’s presence in Africa from 2007. Before joining Google, he worked at Wananchi Online, a company he co-founded in 1999, to provide affordable Internet connectivity for the rapidly growing middle class in East Africa. He held various roles at the company including Chief Technology Officer and Chief Executive Officer.
He attended the Stanford Executive Programme from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2008. He holds a (B Sc. (Joint Hons)) in Economics & Computer Science from City University London. In recognition of his distinguished services rendered to the Nation, he was awarded the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) in December 2010 by the former President of the Republic of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki. He was later awarded the Elder of the Golden Heart (EGH) in December 2016 by the current President of Kenya His Excellency, Uhuru Kenyatta.
He is a member of Africa Leadership Network, The National Prayer Breakfast, and the East African Business Summit. He is also the current Chairman on the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) and a Global Board Member and Executive Committee Member of Generation Unlimited.

Mykhailo Fedorov was appointed the Minister of Digital Transformation on August 29, 2019.  Prior to that, he served as general manager  of his own digital agency SMMSTUDIO and operating officer of the educational project Superludi.

During the 2019 presidential election, Mykhailo Fedorov headed “the digital sphere” of the campaign of Volodymyr Zelensky, the current President of Ukraine. His crew became the first absolute champion in the number of victories per country in the history of the  EAPC Polaris Awards, a global competition for election campaigns and political communications.  They won 6 gold and 1 silver statuettes in seven categories including digital campaigns and creative use of data/metrics/analytics.

Heading the newly created Ministry of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov has taken digital transformation in Ukraine to a decisive new level. Fedorov’s team launched the Diia mobile app, that provides access to digital documents. Ukraine has become the 10th country in the world where citizens can use digital driver’s licenses, and one of 3 countries in the world where digital passport is implemented. Another important project of the Ministry of digital transformation is the web portal Diia, aimed to unite 100% of public services online and turn Ukraine into a convenient service for citizens.

Senator the Honourable Kay McConney is the Minister of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology (MIST) of the Government of Barbados. This Ministry’s mandate is to lead the modernization of the public sector through transformational and technological change; and to create a sustainable, enabling environment for a vibrant, knowledge-based, digital economy and a digitally intelligent society.
In addition, the Ministry’s remit includes telecommunications oversight and policy development which aims to facilitate a competitive, fully liberalized sector fit for purpose in the 21st century.
Described by She Caribbean magazine as a “dynamo moving the region forward”, Minister McConney has championed the interests of Barbados, the Caribbean and small vulnerable economies internationally. In 2017, the University of the West Indies honoured her with the Vice Chancellor’s award for outstanding contribution to the international advancement of the Caribbean region.
Minister McConney is a former high-level diplomat at the United Nations (UN); a former negotiator at the World Trade Organisation (WTO); and a former Consul-General in Canada. Before taking up her role as a Senator and a Cabinet Minister in June 2018, she headed a company that specialised in leading strategic change in 21st century environments. In addition, Minister McConney has, for more than a decade, been an expert resource for various international development initiatives.

Mr Andres Sutt is the minister of entrepreneurship and information technology since 26 January 2021. He was elected to Riigikogu on March 3, 2019 as a member of the liberal Reform Party. He served as a member of the Finance Committee and Anti-Corruption Select Committee of Riigikogu and as the chairman of Estonia-France and Estonia-USA parliamentary groups.

Prior to his role in public office, Mr Sutt worked for 17 years in the Bank of Estonia, for the last 8 years as a Deputy Governor responsible for financial stability (2001-2009). He has extensive experience in bank restructuring and crisis management. Mr Sutt has also served as a member of the supervisory board of the Estonian Financial Supervisory Authority. He was also a member of the Banking Supervision Committee of the ECB. Mr Sutt was a Member of the Executive Board at Eesti Energia (the largest energy utility in Estonia) in charge of client services, IT and government affairs (2017-2018). Mr Sutt has also worked for the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in Luxembourg as Head of Banking (2013-2016). He joined ESM’s predecessor European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) as Senior Advisor to the CEO of the EFSF in June 2012. Before joining the ESM, Mr Sutt was Senior Advisor to Executive Director and member of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C.

Mr Sutt serves as a board member of non-profit organizations SOS Children Village Estonia, Estonian Maternity Hospitals Foundation and University of Tartu Foundation. He has master’s degree in economics and finance (cum laude) from Tartu University, Estonia and has studied management in INSEAD, France.

Trond Arne Undheim is a futurist, podcaster, investor, author, speaker, entrepreneur and former director of MIT Startup Exchange, based outside of Boston. He has helped launch over 50 startups.

Trond is currently a venture partner at Antler, the global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in the defining technology companies of tomorrow. He also serves as the industry ecosystem evangelist at Tulip, the industrial operations growth startup. He is the CEO and co-founder of Yegii, a search engine for industry professionals, providing collective intelligence. Lastly, he is a nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council with a portfolio in artificial intelligence, future of work, data ethics, emerging technologies, and entrepreneurship.

Trond hosts the podcasts Futurized, thought leadership on our emerging future, and Augmented, the industry 4.0 podcast.

Trained as a social scientist with a career in technology and innovation, he is a former MIT Sloan School of Management Senior Lecturer, WPP and Oracle Executive and EU National Expert, he writes for Fortune and Cognoscenti, and has been featured in print media and television.

Trond Arne Undheim is the author of Pandemic Aftermath (2020), Disruption Games (2020), and Leadership From Below (2008). His next book, Future Tech (2021) comes out on March 3 in the UK and March 30 in the USA and rest of the world.

Trond Arne Undheim holds a PhD on the future of work and artificial intelligence and cognition from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and was a visiting research associate at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Goodwin-Groen leads the Better Than Cash Alliance’s efforts to accelerate the global movement from cash to digital payments by governments, companies and international organizations. Her work at the Alliance continues her career on poverty reduction, as digital payments help increase transparency, efficiency, financial inclusion, particularly for women, and drive inclusive growth. Dr. Goodwin-Groen represents the Better Than Cash Alliance at the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, is a member of the World Economic Forum Financial Inclusion Steering Committee and a member of the Reference Group of the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.

Prior to joining the Alliance, Dr. Goodwin-Groen was the Australian Co-Chair of the G20’s Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion and the Financial Services for the Poor Adviser at the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). Dr. Goodwin-Groen has also advised leading organizations in the field of financial inclusion including the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, the World Bank Group, the Soros Foundation, the UK Department for International Development, the FinMark Trust (South Africa), the German Technical Cooperation, Women’s World Banking, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as well as Cambridge University in over 15 different countries including in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

Dr. Goodwin-Groen holds a Ph.D. from the University of Bath, UK, an M.B.A. (Distinction) from Harvard Business School, USA, and a B.Sc. Hons. (1st) from the University of Western Australia.

Eli serves on the executive board of the CyberPeace Institute and is Content Director at the Oversight Board Administration. The Oversight Board is ensuring respect for free expression and human rights on Facebook and Instagram through binding decisions on content. Eli Sugarman was Director of the Cyber Initiative at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. He led a ten-year, $130 million grant-making effort that aims to build a more robust cybersecurity field and improve policy-making.
Previously, he was a consultant and strategist to private sector and nonprofit leaders. From 2009 to 2014, Eli was senior director at an emerging markets advisory firm based in Washington, D.C., where he provided strategic counsel on international policy, regulatory, and business matters to clients globally. He has served as a foreign affairs officer at the U.S. Department of State, where he focused on international security issues.
Eli also serves on the executive board of the Independent Advisory Committee of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism. He writes regularly about cybersecurity, government surveillance, data privacy and internet governance in leading outlets. A San Diego native and graduate of Middlebury College, he holds a J.D. from Stanford University Law School.

Sir Geoff Mulgan CBE is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation (an endowment which grew in worth to around £450m) between 2011 and the end of 2019. Between 1997 and 2004 Geoff had roles in the UK government including director of the Government’s Strategy Unit and the Performance and Innovation Unit, and head of policy in the Prime Minister’s office. From 2004 to 2011 he was the first Chief Executive of The Young Foundation. He was the first director of the think-tank Demos; and has been a reporter on BBC TV and radio.

He has a PhD in telecommunications and has been a visiting professor at London School of Economics, University College London and Melbourne University, a senior visiting scholar at Harvard University and President of the Innovation Design Department at the Italian University for Design in Turin. He has also been a regular lecturer at the China Executive Leadership Academy.

He has advised many governments, foundations and companies, chaired an international advisory committee for the Mayor of Seoul and has sat on advisory committees for the Prime Minister’s office in the United Arab Emirates, the Scottish Government and SITRA, the Finnish innovation agency. He will be a World Economic Forum Schwab Fellow from 2019-22.
Geoff’ has written several books, his latest is ‘Social innovation: how societies find the power to change’ – was published in late 2019 by Policy Press.

Geoff has given TED talks on the future economy, happiness and education ( He was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2020
More information at www.geoffmulgan.com

Anthony Whelan currently works as digital policy adviser in the cabinet (private office) of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. He was previously the Director for Electronic Communications Networks & Services at the European Commission since 2013, designing and negotiating EU initiatives on topics such as open internet, roaming reform, the revision of the telecoms regulatory framework, and the financing of advanced broadband networks. A barrister, he has lectured and researched in public law at Trinity College Dublin and has worked as a lawyer at the European Court of Justice and in the Legal Service of the European Commission. Between 2008 and 2013, he was head of the cabinet of EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes in the competition and digital agenda portfolios.

Randall Brugeaud was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the DTA on 1 July 2018. Randall has spent more than 30 years working in a range of public and private sector roles, with a focus on transformation. His public sector experience has spanned large, medium and small organisations. Randall’s private sector experience includes more than a decade working with the Boston Consulting Group and a private IT consulting firm, which he founded and operated.
Before joining the DTA, Randall was Deputy Australian Statistician and Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Before that he was Chief Information Officer at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
Randall holds a Master of Business Administration, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Computing and a Bachelor of Education. He is also a Senior Executive Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School.

Valeriya Ionan is in charge of digital literacy national programm, development and growth of SME, new digital professions, online children protection and eurointegration. Valeria and her team have launched Diia. Digital Education as a national project, which consists of two components. The first one is an online component. It’s the national platform for digital education https://osvita.diia.gov.ua. The educational process is presented in the form of educational serials. More than 495 000 Ukrainians have already started to get digital skills on the platform. The second one is an offline component represented by digital education hubs all over Ukraine. There are places where every citizen could come to and get free access to the online platform. Valeria’s team has already built a network of more than 1500 such digital education hubs.      

Also, Valeria’s team has launched «Diia.Business» as a national project, aimed at helping entrepreneurs, offering free online consultations for entrepreneurs on different aspects (taxes, sales, marketing, HR), free online courses for entrepreneurs, columns from the market leaders, and a lot of other useful services.  They’ve also opened their first entrepreneurship support center in Kharkiv city. 

Before working in the Ukrainian government, Valeriya had been an entrepreneur. She launched Quadrate 28 specializing in teams on outsourcing for SME, which has 250+ clients worldwide. Also, she launched MC Today, the first online magazine for entrepreneurs. 

She’s got certificates from the MBA program at Edinburgh Business School Eastern Europe in Marketing, Organizational Behavior, Negotiations.

Elsie Attafuah is the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Resident Representative for Uganda. In this position, she represents, leads, and is accountable for, harnessing and directing the full potential of UNDP’s capabilities and associated partnerships, in support of national development goals and strategies in Uganda. Prior to this, she led, managed and coordinated UNDP’s Climate and Forests team and office in Africa and provides overall strategic direction, policy and technical guidance to 28 countries in the Africa portfolio. Elsie has led multi-disciplinary teams in several countries across Africa and globally and has also led high level policy dialogue, brokered strategic partnerships and mobilized resources and investments.
She has over twenty years of global experience in programme development, management and implementation, organizational and strategic management, partnerships brokering, resource mobilization, external relations and diplomacy, applied research and policy analysis, youth and gender and civil society issues. She has worked nationally and internationally in key sectors such as social development, environment and climate change, agriculture, rural development, education, and health.
Elsie has liaised with Governments, bilateral and multilateral organizations, civil society, private sector and research institutions at the highest levels across many countries. She has contributed significantly to the establishment of partnership and financing platforms, networks and alliances and has led the design and implementation of major country and regional programmes. She has extensive understanding of and knowledge in international financing mechanisms, instruments and modalities.Her professional experience spans years of working with UNDP, the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Government Ministries, private sector, and civil society. Elsie holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from the University of Ghana, a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma in Education from the University of Cape-Coast. She has participated in a number of leadership and management courses during her career.

Ms. Bolor-Erdene Battsengel is a Chairwoman at Communications and Information Technology Authority, the Government agency of Mongolia, responsible for ICT policy development and implementation. As a chairperson of the ICT-related organization, she aims to bring better changes to the both public and government through the digital governance program, named E-Mongolia, enabling all public services accessible, transparent and prompt.

She obtained a Master’s degree with focus on Public Policy from the University of Oxford, the United Kingdom in 2017. After graduation, she implemented a project, “Nomads in the Digital Age”, with Pathways for Prosperity Commission, which is funded by the Gates Foundation, co-chaired by Melinda Gates, aimed to accelerate inclusive development through technological development and digital readiness. She started her career journey from international organizations such as ADB, The World Bank, Millennium Challenge Corporation, International Institute for Sustainable Development, Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, European Bank for Reconstruction Development from 2011-2019.

Mohamed M. Jalloh has worked in the Civil Service of the Government Sierra Leone in various capacities for the past thirteen years. Currently, he is the acting Director of Communications at the Ministry of Information and Communications, where he has focused in leading the Government effort of digitalization and transforming the country towards a digital economy. He has over 20 years of working experience in the ICT/Telecom sector managing e-Governance systems development, policy, legal and regulatory, managing and coordinating software and other IT/IS systems development process, providing work direction to all staff within the ICT Directorate in the Ministry plus external contractors, Supervise the fundamental operations of IT/IS systems within the Government Civil Service. His current achievement includes developing the National Digital transformation ecosystem as well as Cyber Security Landscape for the Government leading to drafting of the country’s first national Cybercrime Bill.
Prior to joining the Government Civil Service, Mr. Jalloh has worked for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programs with responsibilities to manage IT/IS Unit operations, Help Desk and Workshop, act as the focal point; responsible for IT support such as maintenance services, LAN administration support services, Health Management Information System development (HMIS), layered data and network security through the installation, configuration, maintenance and management of security systems and perform related risk assessment.
He holds Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng) Hons, from Fourah Bay College (USL) Plus an Master of Engineering (M.Eng) in Computer Application technology from the Central South University in the People’s Republic of China.

Dr. Ralph Oyini Mbouna earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Temple University, Philadelphia, USA, where he was an assistant Professor in the College of Engineering. His research focus was in computer vision and machine learning leaning towards use cases in defense, security and national interests. Dr. Ralph Oyini Mbouna has several publications in peer-reviewed journals such as IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems and IEEE Transactions on Image Processing. In 2016, Dr. Ralph Oyini Mbouna returned to Africa where he was appointed Director of the Universal Service Fund at the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et des Postes (ARCEP), the Gabon’s telecom/ICT regulator. In 2019, he joins the Smart Africa’s team where he is presently Head of Digital Transformation, Innovation and Services. Current continental flagship projects under his umbrella are Digital Identity, Smart Cities, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, ICT Startups ecosystems, e-Government, e-Agriculture, e-Payment and other e-Services related initiatives.

Ville Sirviö is the CEO of the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS), a non-profit association with the mission to ensure the development and strategic management of X-Road® and other cross-border components for e-government infrastructure. Having international experience in leading digital business in organizations ranging from start-ups to Nasdaq listed companies, he is also a board professional and advisor, and keynote speaker on cross-border digital cooperation

Carina Paju is the Executive Director of Transparency International Estonia, the only non-governmental organization explicitly working on anti-corruption in Estonia.

In TI Estonia, Carina leads their advocacy efforts and a wide array of projects. The organization focuses on corruption prevention by designing learning materials, toolkits and conducting trainings on anti-corruption, whistleblowing mechanisms, business integrity, and ethics, to name a few. TI Estonia works with policymakers to improve legislation as well as soft measures to increase transparency across the board.

The NGO focuses on innovative technological solutions to detect and prevent fraud and corruption. In 2020, under Carina’s leadership, TI Estonia alongside four other organizations from Estonia and Latvia was selected among the final 8 of the International Monetary Fund’s Anti-Corruption Challenge in order to develop the platform Opener which automatically detects potential conflicts of interest in public procurement.

Carina is also serving as an independent assessors of the Estonian Civil Society Foundation and is the national expert on Whistleblowing Polimeter, an initiative tracking the transposition of the whistleblowing directive in the EU.

Róbert is a successful entrepreneur that introduced the web to Iceland in 1993 and in 1995 to Denmark. Before co-founding the nonprofit Citizens Foundation in the year 2008 he worked in the video game industry where his teams received many awards. The Citizens Foundation specializes in citizen participation and digital democracy. We have recently seen technology undermine faith in debate in the public arena; the Citizens Foundation believes that innovations in technology can be used to restore faith in democratic debate and institutions instead.

Aldo Merkoci is currently holding the position of Executive Director at the MJAFT! Movement. Aldo has an extensive experience in the Albanian Civic Society sector, especially in the fields of youth activism, environmental activism, policymaking, advocacy, and leadership. Aldo has led many national and regional projects regarding transparency and accountability in the Western Balkans. He is also a board member of the Albanian National Agency for the Support of Civil Society. In the recent years the MJAFT works has been focused on government transparency issues such as the FOI act implementation, the law on public consultations and the OGP program for Albania. Currently Aldo is serving as the National Coordinator for ICEDA, a program focused on the issues of Digital Agenda in the Western Balkans.

Yasser Rasheed is the Global Director of Enterprise Client Sales at Intel. He leads commercial client sales in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and APJ (Asia Pacific and Japan) regions, focusing on products such as Intel^® vPro™ platforms. Yasser is the global lead for client security capabilities such as Intel^® Hardware Shield and Intel^® Transparent Supply Chain, and system responsiveness technologies such as Intel^® Optane. He’s is also the global lead for Intel’s competitive sales initiatives. Prior to this role, Yasser was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Intel’s Business Client Platform Division, responsible for technical strategy, product definition, architecture and execution of key ecosystem innovation programs for Intel’s business client platforms. Dr. Rasheed has been with Intel since 2000, where he led various R&D projects and played an instrumental role in establishing Intel’s early vision for Digital and Connected Home. Yasser holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto, and an Executive MBA from the University of Oregon.

Cigdem Ertem is Global Director for Education and Public Sector Sales in Intel’s Client Computing Group. She leads sales strategy building and execution globally, working closely with partners worldwide to drive digital transformation in public sector and education verticals. In recent months, she and her team have been concentrating their efforts on helping Intel’s public sector customers meet the challenges of the moment by building more resilient and scalable IT infrastructures.

Prior to assuming her current role, Ertem spent two years in Intel’s Oregon headquarters focusing on partner enablement through go-to-market (GTM) programs and enabling partners for scaling thru infrastructures such as Intel Partner Alliance and Intel Solutions Marketplace. For 12 years before that, she served as General Manager for Intel’s Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region. As GM, she developed and implemented sales strategies to grow Intel’s revenue in 67 countries, while providing key support for many country- and continent-wide initiatives and projects designed to transform education and government on a large scale.

In her pre-Intel life, Ertem managed turnkey solutions development and sales for independent software vendors and systems integrators serving public sector entities, healthcare companies, and other enterprise customers. A native of Turkey, she graduated from the Middle East Technical University with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and received an MBA from Bilkent University. She holds the distinction of being a member of the Turkish National Basketball team, two-time champions of the Turkish Women’s Basketball League, and a silver medal winner in the Mediterranean Games.

Kristo has worked as a senior engineer, tech team lead, consultant and technology architect in the fields of banking, government and internet media, creating multiple applications and designing numerous infosystems for business and private use for almost twenty years. He is most known for being an outside-the-box-thinking evangelist for event driven microservice architecture and Domain Driven Design. He works as a Chief Technology Officer for Estonian government and spearheads the long term architecture and technology vision with his team.

Peter joined OGP’s Country Support Team in July 2016. He provides guidance and assistance to civil society organisations and governments across Europe (primarily in the North Sea/Baltic Sea region), supporting the development and implementation of open government reforms. Prior to OGP, he worked with Transparency International supporting 15 national chapters across the Nordic, Baltic and Central European regions, as well as devising the movement’s global internal communications policy. Earlier, Peter had developed social enterprises and consulted on non-profit sustainability in emerging markets, also piloting the world’s first LGBT venture philanthropy fund. He also gained private sector experience working for a global marketing agency. Peter was Fulbright Visiting Practitioner at Stanford University in 2011-2012, holds an MA in International Relations and European Studies from Central European University, and a BA in Political Science from Yale University. Currently based in Berlin, he is an avid reader of history books and a blessed cheesemaker.

Nicolas Ruiz is currently a Senior Economist and the Head of the Estonia/Poland Desk at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Prior to this, he held several positions at the OECD, where he managed OECD flagship publications and contributions to the G20 and G7, and conducted analytical works on structural policies, inequality and poverty. Prior to joining the OECD, he worked as an Economic Advisor at the French Ministry of Finance and the French Prime Minister Strategic Council.

Nicolas Ruiz holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cergy-Pontoise (France, 2006) and a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Mathematics of Security from the University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona (Spain, 2018). Beyond Economics, his research interests are in cryptography and data privacy,  fields in which he has authored several publications in computer science journals. Since 2020, he is also an Associate Researcher at the University of Tarragona, in the Criptografia i Secret Estadístic (CRISES) Research Group.

Aki Enkenberg is Senior Adviser for Innovation and Digital Cooperation at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, with a focus on multilateral cooperation and partnerships. Previous to this, he worked as Senior Digital Development Specialist at the World Bank, leading work on the digital economy in Africa. He has an extensive background in working with emerging technologies, innovation policy and practice in both developed and developing country contexts, including Finland and South Africa.

Üllar Jaaksoo is the Founder and CEO of Greenergy Data Centers, having previously led banking, media, telecom, IT, start-up and companies.

Greenergy Data Centers with the investment from Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund is building the largest and most modern green data center in the region.

Last five years he has been the member of the Supervisory Board of the Port of Tallinn, a company that recently made a really successful IPO at NASDAQ.

Üllar is also the Founder of the DIGITAL NATION Ltd., a business development and project management company for digital society solutions. Üllar also leads the Digital Society Sandbox Project, a project started by the presidents of the Estonia and Ukraine to boost bilateral partnership for digital society agile development.

Over the past 25 years he has built considerable experience successfully leading the strategy, technology and innovation activities in multiple industries across the Baltics, but also in Europe and the US.

Üllar has served in multiple positions in different Estonian public institutions like a Advisor to the Office of the President of Estonia, a Chairman in Enterprise Estonia, member of Estonian Film Foundation Supervisory board and other.

His competency spectrum includes strategy, digital society fundamentals, ID solutions, business model design, digital common sense and consumer insights.

Nele Leosk is the Ambassador at Large for Digital Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonia. Over the past fifteen years, she has advised government leaders and politicians in more than forty countries in Central and Eastern Europe, South-Eastern Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa in public sector modernisation and digilatisation. Previously, she acted as the Executive Director of IGL, a research and consulting company specializing in digital governance, and served as the Programme Director at e-Governance Academy in Estonia. She has experienced the life of international and inter-governmental organisations such as the UNDP, OECD, UNESCO, but also academia.

She holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute (EUI), Italy: Master of Research from the same university and an MA in public communication from Tallinn University. She is a former Fulbright-Schuman grantee at the National Centre for Digital Government at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and at the Governance Lab at New York University, USA. She is a lecturer in the Institute of Digital Technologies at Tallinn University.

Lembit Loo is managing different EU digital development cooperation projects at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, most notably the Europe-Africa Digital 4 Development Hub. In past, he has held executive management, business development and sales positions in IT and gaming industries, having worked at Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Net Group, Olympic Entertainment Group and other companies. Regionally he has worked in Estonia, US, Ukraine, Poland and Sub-Saharan Africa.

He is a strong advocate and frequent speaker on topics of e-governance, digital society and conscious leadership,  and has been an active member of Estonian startup and venture capital eco-systems.

Joram is a management consultant, coach, and Public Speaker, who is passionate about Africa and seeing its people achieve the greatness that is inherent in them while enabling them to have global influence in business, education & life. He has top skills in organisation structuring, strategy development, coaching, workshop facilitation, leadership training and Entrepreneurship. At SNDBX International, Joram, aside from being the company CEO and Co-Founder, is a leading strategy and entrepreneurship consultant across Africa, with experience in carrying out organisation change programs from the design stage to implementation. He is also the brainchild behind the SNDBX(pronounced Sandbox), an innovative one-stop shop for supporting SMEs and the only one of its kind globally. He co-founded, grew, and eventually exited Wylde International and remains a board member, leaving it in the hands of a capable successor.

Joram has been involved in various organisation & strategy development projects with large and small organisations in 9 countries across Africa and Asia in both the private, social and public sectors, giving him unique insights into the workings of organisations and the success and sustainability principles across the board. Notable clients include Afrilabs, PSI, Facebook , NCBA Bank, International Trade Centre ITC, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), DAI, AMREF Kenya, AMANI Institute, HIVOS East Africa, Open Society, and Parapet Group and He is a regular contributor and interviewee for Kenyan media and conference panels on matters Entrepreneurship, SMEs and policy Joram is actively involved in mentoring startups and is a global mentor for the ENPACT startup program in Berlin Germany. He sits on the board of Amnesty International Kenya

Wanjiru Gikonyo is an advocate for participatory decentralised governance and is committed to the promotion of citizen led accountability. Wanjiru is also committed to the promotion of constitutionalism in Kenya as the basis for inclusive and sustainable development. She serves as founding Trustee and National Coordinator of The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), which has been instrumental in advocating for effective devolution and meaningful public participation in Kenya. TISA also convenes the Okoa Uchumi Coalition a civil society platform which is pushing for political accountability as the solution to Kenya’s debt crisis.

Kristel is the frontrunner of e-education. She has led the digital focus of education strategies in terms of upskilling for digital transformation as well as making digital transformation happen in educational services and system in general. Kristel has always looked for ways and made it possible for building synergies from public and private sector cooperation. Design of the path for growth of IT professionals and initiating and empowering the network of educational technology startup ecosystem for sustainable innovation are only some examples of her footprints on the education field and economy.

Ms Nuria Kutnaeva graduated from the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University. She also studied at the Hartwick College and later she obtained her Master’s degrees at the Eichstätt-Ingolstadt University in Germany and OSCE Academy in Bishke. In 2013 she received her Ph.D. Degree in Political Science at the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, Kyrgyzstan. She is the holder of the Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) Security Leadership certificate in the sphere of cybersecurity.
In 2014-2018, Ms Nuria Kutnaeva served as an officer and then the head of the Anticorruption division at the Secretariat of the Security Council of the Kyrgyz Republic. In 2018-2021 Ms. Nuria Kutnaeva was the director of the newly established state enterprise “Electronic Interoperability Center “Tunduk” under the Information Technologies and Communications Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic. The state enterprise was responsible for implementation of an information sharing platform “Tunduk”, which is used by state bodies, local governments and commercial organizations.

The team of the Electronic Interoperability Centre “Tunduk” developed such nation-wide software platforms as the State e-Portal for public services (portal.tunduk.kg) and Digital Identification System (esi.tunduk.kg) and more than 10 other IT-products.

In May 2019, the Electronic Interoperability Centre “Tunduk” of Kyrgyzstan received the Estonian e-Governance Academy’s award “Partner of the Year 2019” for the most persistent implementation of the data exchange solution “Tunduk” at the government level and promotion of e-governance.

Since May 2021 Ms Kutnaeva is the founder and head of a private software company and a non-commercial organization.

Mr. Riho Kurg joined Cybernetica in 2016. As Head of Data Exchange Technologies, he manages the eGovernment solutions portfolio, including Unified eXchange Platform (UXP), a secure interoperability platform based and improved upon the Estonian X-Road. Most recent projects where UXP is implemented as the foundation of digital public services include Benin Republic, Bahamas and Aruba.

Mr. Kurg has over two decades of experience in the design and implementation of data interoperability layers connecting multiple government agencies and activities. He started his career building Estonia’s first national data network, which enabled data sharing between different government institutions.

As the Chief Executive Officer of Gofore Estonia, Tuuli is responsible for international business development that aims at building an ethical digital world. Tuuli holds a PhD in Economics and have been active in promoting and consulting on corporate social responsibility and related topics. At the same time she has led the successful digital transformations in private and public sector and on international scale. She is recognised as one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Software of Europe for 2021. Her special skill is designing and implementing cooperation models that promote co-creation and stakeholder engagement. Most of the successful transformations are nowadays as much about changing the behaviors of people and organizations, as they are about technology. Together, we turn challenges into opportunities.

Georg works as Business Development Executive at SK ID Solutions. He focuses on international sales and business development promoting e-identity. His 15 years of experience in the telecom industry with different vendors speaks for itself and endorses his success in the e-identity business. Over the years he participated in various projects and has learned how to identify and implement strategies to increase revenue, establish and strengthen relationships with organization, delivering solutions within budgets and timelines. Georg has been a public speaker in several events promoting e-identity.

Hannes Astok is the Executive Director and Chairman of the Management Board at the e-Governance Academy. Hannes is responsible for Cyber Security Programme, Smart Governance Programme, Project Development, Communication, and Associates and Subsidiaries.

He is an enthusiastic speaker for the information society, especially promoting the role of local governments and challenges of mobile governance and new technologies in government.

As a senior expert, he provides consultancy for governments in Central Asia, Caucasus, South-East Europe, Middle East, Africa and other transition regions. During the last years, he has been working closely with the governments of Ukraine, Namibia, Moldova, Palestine, Georgia, and Mauritius, among others.

Hannes served as Member of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) in 2007-2011, where he mainly dealt with the development of information society and issues related to regulation of intellectual property and electronic communication. Prior to that, in 1997-2005 Hannes worked for the City of Tartu as Deputy Mayor. Today Tartu is one of the world’s leading cities in e-governance, providing its citizens and businesses with a wide variety of Internet and mobile services.

In 2012-13, Hannes was Adviser to the President of Estonia on Information Society development.

Hannes holds a journalism and public relations degree from Tartu University.

Hannes speaks Estonian, English, Russian and Finnish.

When traversing the European tech scene of the last 20 years, you’ll likely run into Linnar. He’s a former executive at Skype and Fortumo, advisor at the Nordic Investment Bank, and Board Member of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology. Linnar lectures innovation management in Estonian IT College and Tartu University and has been advising Estonian and many other governments on ICT and innovation policy. Linnar is co-founder and member of the board of Pocopay – all European everyday banking app and Mobi Solutions – active investment and holding partnership in European startup scenery. Not surprisingly at all – Linnar is one of the founders and early phase leaders of Estonian e-Governance Academy as well.

Kristina Reinsalu is the Programme Director of e-Democracy at the e-Governance Academy. She has been involved in several local, national and international research and implementation projects related to open governance and the use of ICT in implementing its principles, particularly focusing on e-participation and its implementation at local level. She was also a researcher and lecturer on social communication at the Institute of Media and Communication at the University of Tartu.

Kristina’s latest projects include promoting open governance and e-tools for democracy in EaP countries such as Georgia, Moldova, etc; consulting municipalities in Estonia, Latvia and elsewhere on open governance and Participatory Budgeting. She is an internationally acknowledged public speaker on e-democracy and has been involved as an expert in various EU Interreg, H2020, Urbact etc projects.

In addition, she has contributed to several publications, e.g. the “Situation Review on e-Democracy and Cyber Security in Eastern Partnership Countries”.

Kristina holds an MA in Public Relations and a PhD in Media and Communications. Her articles have been published in various international scientific journals and newspapers.

Kristina speaks Estonian, English, Spanish, German and Russian.

Annela Kiirats has been the Programme Director of e-Governance Training at the e-Governance Academy since 2004, sharing her expertise on e-governance and e-democracy with senior specialists, decision-makers and politicians from various countries, as well as with NGOs.

She is responsible of assessment of the training needs of different beneficiaries from various countries, based on which develops and conducts tailor-made training programmes. She also organises e-governance seminars in beneficiary countries, being the e-government expert, and leads different international cooperation projects.

In 2002-2003, Annela worked for the Estonian Newspaper Association.

Annela obtained her Master’s degree from the Department of Informatics at Tallinn University of Technology in 2005.

She speaks Estonian, English and some Russian.

Merle Maigre works as the Senior Cyber Security Expert at e-Governance Academy. Previously, she worked at CybExer Technologies, an Estonian enterprise providing cyber training.

In 2017 to 2018, Merle served as the Director of NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn, which is a multinational hub of cyber defense expertise for NATO.

Between 2012 and 2017, Merle Maigre worked as the Security Policy Adviser to Estonian Presidents Kersti Kaljulaid and Toomas Hendrik Ilves, being the President’s chief advisor on domestic and international security issues, including cyber defence.

From 2010-2012 Merle Maigre was at NATO HQ in the Policy Planning Unit of the Private Office of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Merle has also worked as a researcher at the International Centre for Defense and Security (ICDS) in Tallinn (2007-2010). She has also served as the Deputy Head of the NATO Liaison Office in Kyiv (2005-2007) and at the NATO Department in Estonia’s Ministry of Defense, in support of the country’s NATO accession (2000-2005).

Merle received an MA degree in war studies from King’s College London, a BA in international relations from Middlebury College (US) and a BA in history from Tartu University. She has also studied at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center and at Sciences-Po Paris.

Merle has been decorated with the Estonian Defence Forces distinguished service medal (2018) and the Order of Merit of the Estonian Ministry of Defence (2018), the Dutch Commander of the Order of Oragne-Nassau (2018), the Order of Merit of Poland (2014), and the Commander of the Order of Lion of Finland (2014).

Merle speaks Estonian, English, Russian, French, some Italian and some Ukrainian.

Marit Lani develops and manages international cooperation projects on smart governance at the e-Governance Academy. She has been involved in creating national digital governance roadmaps and implementing interoperability frameworks.

In addition, she is responsible for the coordination of the quality management system (ISO 9001:2015) and the implementation of the document management system at eGA.

In her previous jobs, she gained a comprehensive understanding of European cooperation programmes. Working at the Ministry of the Interior, she was involved in preparing various European territorial cooperation programmes at the national level and was in charge of the related communication activities. Afterwards, she moved to Germany to work for the INTERREG IVC programme as an information point coordinator, providing advice to applicants on project development, assessing applications and monitoring approved projects. She also coordinated the e-government services project cluster and implemented the programme’s communication strategy.

Marit holds a Master‘s degree in Public Management from the University of Tartu.

Marit speaks Estonian, English and Finnish as well as some German and French.

Kristina Mänd is the Senior Expert on e-Democracy at the e-Governance Academy, helping leaders and organisations to understand the value of participation and use various tools to facilitate engagement for good governance.

Kristina’s passion is rooted in the role of civil society making and access to the quality of life. They grew out of Kristina’s experience from working with the public sector in Estonia and with various civil society organisations (CSOs) around the world, e.g. Civicus in South Africa, LIFEbeat in New York, Network of Estonian Non-profit Organisations and Policy Studies Center Praxis in Estonia, to name a few.

Kristina has been responsible for coordinating hundreds of volunteers, doing outreach, social mobilisation, advocacy and policymaking, managing projects, programmes and organisations, and their human and financial resources.

In the past 25 years, Kristina has managed CSOs and projects internationally. She has trained and consulted many others in management and governance: strategic planning, impact assessment, financial planning and management, organisational analysis and development, stakeholder engagement, social marketing, fund development and working with funders, board development, legitimacy and accountability, and public engagement and advocacy.

Since 2015, Kristina has been the promoter of responsible consumption and fair trade in Mondo, Estonian development cooperation and global education CSO. Also, she coordinates an EU-funded international project “I Am European”: Migration Stories & Facts for the 21st Century with a positive impact on achieving a more open, inclusive, and peaceful culture towards migrants and refugees in Europe.

Kristina has published several books and a lot of articles on the same issues. Her portfolio also includes tens of travel articles.

She has MSc in Management and Marketing from the New York University (NYU) in US and MA in English from Tartu University in Estonia.

Kristina speaks English, Russian, Finnish, Spanish and Estonian.

Heiko has worked in the Estonian public sector for 14 years by contributing to the digital revolution of organisations and the development of e-services. In 2013-2017, Heiko led the strategic management of the national data exchange layer in the Estonian State Information System Authority, being responsible for the implementation of X-Road principles and the international development of X-Road. Previously he worked at the Estonian Health Insurance Fund as an integration expert and service architect.

Heiko has contributed to the emergence of digital prescriptions and electronic certificates of incapacity to work, and has implemented other e-services for citizens. The biggest and most unique achievement of the cross-border co-operation under his leadership so far is the unification of the Estonian and Finnish national data exchange layers, and the creation of an ecosystem of cross-border services.

Heiko has extensive experience in managing international e-government development projects in Canada, Colombia, the Cayman Islands, and Germany, where he has helped to identify as well as overcome bottlenecks in building broad-based interoperability.

Heiko graduated from the Tallinn University of Technology with a master’s degree in engineering.

Heiko speaks Estonian and English.

Mr. Kevin Tammearu is an Estonian tech industry professional who works as Head of Business Development at Cybernetica, an R&D focused company that develops and implements mission-critical solutions in e-governance. Cybernetica is considered one of the companies that had a critical role in the success of e-Estonia. Kevin works with political and business leaders across the world, assisting them in developing e-governance capabilities and strategies to address public sector challenges with digital transformation initiatives and secure technology solutions. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer of the British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Tammearu holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Communication from Tallinn University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and Political Science from Tallinn University of Technology. Kevin is also a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, where he is conducting research to advise the US policy community with recommendations and action plans on how to improve digital public services and how to develop a smart and secure information society.

Mrs. Doris Põld has been the CEO of Estonian ICT Cluster for more than 10 years. She leads the collaboration and knowledge sharing between ICT companies in Estonia, supports companies’ internationalization and cooperation with other economic sectors. Doris is an experienced collaboration architect and firm believer of digital transformation. Through Estonian ICT Cluster she unites the brightest stars of e-Estonia and aims to help other countries and organisations to achieve world class digital societies.    

Radu Serrano develops and manages projects at the e-Governance Academy. His responsibilities include managing and updating the National Cyber Security Index database, and maintaining communications with its various stakeholders. He has also contributed to the establishment of an anti-corruption web platform in Moldova, and to the analysis of Moldovan governmental e-services for the private sector. In addition, he is responsible for providing translation and language localisation to various project documents and publications.

Previously, Radu served at the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, where he contributed to the content of international trade treaties, and assisted with the establishment of businesses in the Republic of Panama, respectively. He also worked as a Trade Specialist at the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AmCham), authoring multiple ‘Doing Business’ reports, and advising the private sector on all matters pertaining to Panama, the U.S. and their commercial relations.

Over the past years, he has researched e-government topics such as Internet voting and the use of artificial intelligence in the government. Radu holds a joint Master‘s degree in Public Sector Innovation and eGovernance from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, University of Münster and Tallinn University of Technology.

Radu speaks English, Spanish, French, Romanian and Italian.

Mr. Eskandar is the Digital Services Senior Coordinator at the Digital Society Division of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of ITU. Mr. Eskandar is currently involved in providing assistance to several developing countries by advising on digital applications and services strategies and policies, assisting in implementing technical co-operation projects in areas of digital health, agriculture, governance and education. He has led the development of several guidelines and best practices reports on digital applications particularly on digital Health, digital Agriculture and digital Government. Mr Eskandar is currently leading major joint programmes on digital health, digital agriculture, digital government, smart learning and smart villages in collaboration with several governments, UN agencies and other stakeholders. 

Mr. Eskandar has more than 25 years of extensive on-the-ground experience in the field of ICT for Development where he, through working with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent in Switzerland and, UNDP, Ministry of ICT and other NGOs in Egypt, was involved in several development projects in the fields of Health, Education, Illiteracy Eradication, Community Development, SME development and Micro Credits.  

Mr. Eskandar has an educational background in Electrical Engineering (Telecommunications) and has completed an MBA from McGill University, Canada and a Master Degree in Social and Economic Development Studies from University of Paris I, France.

Maurits Tichelman is Vice President in the Sales and Marketing Group and General Manager of the SMG EMEA Territory group that sits within the Global Market and Partner division at Intel Corporation. He is responsible for leading the EMEA Territory representing Intel business groups, products and services across all customer and marketing segments. His role encompasses working within traditional business models as well as innovative solutions that help drive transformation for a wide variety of customers and partners within the region. Before assuming his current position in 2017, Tichelman spent 4 years in Oregon working as VP and GM of the Distribution and Platform Sales group where he was responsible for Intel’s product platform and distribution strategy, which encompasses more than 150,000 Intel partners and 850 distributor locations around the globe. In 2013 Tichelman was appointed the WW GM for Reseller Channel Operations. 

Maurits previously spent 8 years as head of Intel’s reseller and distribution channel for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. From 2001 to 2004, he was country manager for Intel Benelux B.V., with responsibility for all aspects of Intel’s business in the countries of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, including functions such as sales, channel development, business development, strategic initiatives and marketing. Earlier in his Intel career, he served as EMEA Sales Manager for Intel’s reseller product division and as distribution Channel Marketing Manager, based at Intel’s European headquarters in England. He joined Intel in 1990 as a Technical Sales Engineer.

Martin Männil is ​the Chief Digital Officer of the City of Tallinn since July 2018. As a Head of Digital Service, Martin is responsible for e-services, digital transformation, big data, workplace services, technical platform services, GIS/3D and ICT security. Martin holds a​n IT systems development and business administration degrees from Tallinn University of Technology. He has more than 15 years of experience with software systems and has acted as project manager, analyst and developer in tens of digital transformation and process automation projects.
Martin is a member of the Council of Global City CIOs EU.

Mr. Michailas Traubas has an extensive experience in digital transformation, process analysis, data analysis while working with both business and governent institutions. He is an expert in developing and implementing digital transformation roadmaps through the use of inhouse products of NRD Companies, as well as augmenting these with other components to address the specific needs of our customers.

Peter Martis is responsible for Global Sales, Channel Management and for one of the Innovatrics’ flagship products called SmartFace. With an ever growing product portfolio, the go-to-market strategy for different verticals rests on Peter’s shoulders. With a consistent revenue growth being a priority, Peter and his team maintain the momentum of Innovatrics in all major regions by hiring local talents and opening up new offices.

Prior to Innovatics, Peter worked for Nuance, Genesys and Siemens, focusing on sales engineering and business development of voice biometrics and contact centers solution. While working at Nuance, Peter was instrumental in deploying 12 large-scale voice biometrics project in the Central European region.

Peter holds a degree in Computer Science from the Slovak Technical University.