Margaritis Schinas took office as Vice-President of the European Commission under President Ursula Von Der Leyen in December 2019. He is entrusted with the portfolio for Promoting our European Way of Life. In this capacity, he oversees the EU’s policies for Security Union, migration, skills, education and integration.

As Vice-President in charge of the Security Union, he oversees and coordinates all strands of the European Commission’s work under the Security Union, including tackling terrorism and radicalisation, disrupting organised crime, fighting cybercrime, stepping up cybersecurity, protecting critical infrastructures or addressing hybrid threats.

Mr Schinas has also served as a Member of the European Parliament. Upon the completion of his parliamentary term of office, he returned to the European Commission and held various senior positions. In particular, in 2010, President Barroso appointed Mr Schinas as Deputy Head of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers. Later he served as Resident Director and Head of the Athens Office of the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN). In 2014, President Juncker appointed Mr Schinas as the Chief European Commission Spokesperson. Mr Schinas has been working for the European Commission in various positions of responsibility since 1990.

Margaritis Schinas holds an MSc on Public Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics, a Diploma of Advanced European Studies on European Administrative Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges and a Degree in Law from the Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki.

Mr. Lepassaar took up his functions on 16 October 2019. He has more than 15 years of experience in working with and within the European Union. Prior to joining ENISA, he worked for six years in the European Commission, including as Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip responsible for the Digital Single Market. In this capacity he also led and coordinated the preparations and negotiations of the Cybersecurity Act.

Mr Lepassaar started his career in the EU affairs with the Estonian Government Office, leading for five years the national EU coordination system as the Director for EU affairs and EU adviser of the Prime Minister.

Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe and founder and editor of Encompass, an online magazine dedicated to covering the European Union and Europe’s place in the world.

Paul is a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board and Rand Europe’s Council of Advisors. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to promoting understanding of the European Union” and in 2016 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite by the French government.

Nina Hyvärinen works as a Chief Policy Advisor in cyber security at the Ministry of Transport and Communication in Finland. Before joining the Finnish Government, she worked at F-Secure get-ting a deep-dive into cyber security and technology. Even if having spent past seven years in the private sector, her background is very much in the public sector. Nina has a long career in EU-affairs in the Cabinet of European Commissioner in Brussels, and at the Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Ministry in Finland. Nina is passionate about international affairs and technology and security policy. Nina is natural in navigating international and European organizations and policy-making.

Javier has over 25 years’ experience in Europe’s telecommunications sector, having held commercial, management and external affairs positions across three different tech comms companies in four Member States of the European Union (Spain, pre-Brexit UK, Luxembourg and Belgium). He joined Vodafone Group in 2001. Currently Deputy Head of Vodafone’s permanent representative office to the EU, he moved to Brussels in 2015 and has since focused on the digital transformation of Europe’s economic sectors; media, technology and industrial policy; and (not least) cybersecurity and protection of critical national infrastructure. A convinced pro-European and Spanish national, he lives in Brussels and loves to swim, hike, cycle and to change his passwords often (while imagining combinations of alphanumeric and special characters that even a quantum computer won’t break).

Iva Tasheva is a co-founder of CyEn, family owned consultancy where she leads the cybersecurity practice. Her expertise includes the EU cybersecurity policy analysis, and the implementation of applicable cybersecurity rules and laws (EU NIS Directive, EU MDR) and standards (ISO27K, NIST, PCI). She specialises in the public, digital, transport, financial, medical devices and non-profit sectors.

In addition, Iva is a Member of ENISA’s Ad-Hoc Working Group on Enterprise Security, Board Member of the DPO Circle (community of GDPR and data security professionals) and adviser to SANA, the South African Norwegian Association.

Iva holds an MBA and Master in Cybersecurity degrees and is a Certified ISO 27001 Lead Implementer and Certified ISO 27799 Lead Manager.

She is a published author, incl. the author of the Bulgarian SMEs Cybersecurity Guide, and an experienced cybersecurity policy speaker.

Alejandro Cainzos is member of cabinet to European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, whom he advises on the international aspects of her portfolio, 5G, cybersecurity and defence. He has previously advised the Commission’s Deputy and Acting Secretary-General and held other posts in the Secretariat-General and the Directorate-General for Internal Market and Services. Prior to joining the Commission he worked on public affairs in the financial sector. He holds a MA from the College of Europe and a BS from Georgetown University on international relations and economics.

Katja is a lawyer with 20 years of experience in electronic communications from the National Regulatory Authority perspective. Prior to her position as a Head of the Supervision Department for operators, she worked as an inspector for electronic communications. She has extensive experience in electronic communications, mainly in ex ante market regulation, network/cyber security of electronic communications networks, Data Protection, Open internet and QoS. She has been an active member in national Inter-Ministerial expert working groups for electronic communication legislation, critical infrastructure, ePrivacy, cybersecurity and Network and Information Systems (NIS) for some years now. Katja has been a member of the ECASEC (former Article 13a) expert group of NRAs supported by ENISA for 11 years. As a Co-Chair of the BEREC’s 5G Cybersecurity WG, she also participates in NIS 5G Cooperation Group meetings. Furthermore, she has been appointed as a BEREC member in the ENISA Advisory Group in February 2021.

Bio to appear here soon

Dr. Dennis Kügler is the head of the branch “Standardization, Certification Policy, and Supervision” at the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). This branch is acting as overseeing part of the national cybersecurity certification authority and in addition responsible for the standardization strategy with respect to cybersecurity. Prior to this position, since joining BSI in 2002, Dr. Kügler was in charge of hardware related security aspects. His teams were advising in various digitization projects with expertise in the area of secure elements, Two-Factor-Authentication, electronic identities, and certification aspects. He has been actively involved in and contributing to European and international standardization as government representative aiming at improving sustainability and resilience of cybersecurity.

Miguel Ángel Recio joined Accenture’s European Industry X security team last December as Associate Director to lead the growth of smart product and platform security, which not only includes IoT/IIoT security, but is also expanding into the 5G arena in brownfield and greenfield infrastructures with private and dedicated networks to develop use cases that require low-latency, massive and high-bandwidth local connectivity.

Prior to Accenture, he worked for Telefónica group, as Global IoT Security Category Leader, initiating the creation of an IoT security portfolio to position the telco operator as a reference partner in cybersecurity for industrial environments. During his time at Telefónica, he was an active member of the GSMA IoT Security Program contributing to the IoT SAFE (IoT SIM Applet For Secure End-2-End Communication) Implementation Guide. He was granted with the GSMA IoT Security Champion Award (2019) for the use and promotion of the GSMA IoT Security Guidelines and Assessment Scheme.

Before that, he had an extensive career at Ericsson working on pioneering technologies such as Internet of Things, IP Multimedia System and 3G holding different positions at global, regional or market unit levels.

He loves to work at the cutting edge of technology enjoying the new challenges it brings to customer business. The combination of IoT/OT and Cybersecurity is such an attractive subject for him because both, together with 5G, Edge/Cloud and AI technologies, are underpinning the digital transformation in any and every business sector of society. Miguel holds a MSc in Telecomm. Engineering and an Executive MBA.

In his spare time, Miguel is a Spanish Red Cross volunteer in Communications & Coordination for Immediate Emergency Response Team. He is a nature lover and, during holidays, he enjoys hiking through Northern Spanish Mountains with his family and, after the hiking, savoring fantastic Asturian and cantabrian cooking.

Dr. Andreas Mitrakas is Head of Unit “Market, Certification & Standardisation” in the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). In this capacity he co-chairs the Stakeholders Cybersecurity Certification Group (SCCG). Prior to joining ENISA, Andreas served as General Counsel in Globalsign and as a Senior Counsel in Verizon (Ubizen). Andreas is a qualified lawyer and holds a doctorate degree in Law from Erasmus University of Rotterdam.

Visiola follows cybersecurity regulation at EU level and national cybersecurity developments in the UK. She leads the benchmarking analysis reports under the cybersecurity practice, and actively reports on topics such as 5G security, high risk vendors in the cybersecurity supply chain, the EU cybersecurity act and the EU Network and Information Security Directive (NIS Directive).

Visiola joined Cullen International in July 2015, after graduating from the University of Hamburg, Germany in EU Law and Affairs.

Mr. Rebuffi graduated in Nuclear Engineering at the Politecnico in Milan (1984) before obtaining a PhD in Electronics at Paris – Orsay University (1987).

He worked on the development of high power microwave systems for the future thermonuclear fusion reactor (ITER) in Garching, Germany (1988-1991). Afterwards, he was employed by Thomson CSF to take responsibility for European Affairs (R&D) in different sectors: telecom, industrial, medical, scientific etc (1992-1999). He worked for Thales Microwave, in the position of the Head of Unit for Sales of Telecom Products (2000-2002) and later became promoted for a position of the Thales Director for European Affairs (2003-2007). In this capacity, he was responsible for the development of business and research activities with European Institutions for the civilian activities in Thales.

In 2003, he initiated and from 2007 to 2017 he has been the CEO of the European Organisation for Security (EOS) that gathers the most important European private security stakeholders and public NGOs from supply and demand side to develop and implement European security solutions and services in a comprehensive approach. In 2016, he took over the role of Secretary General of the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO). He contributed to establish in June 2016 an Association with more than 250 members in charge of implementing the Public-Private Partnership contract on European cybersecurity with the European Commission and supporting the development of the full European Cybersecurity Ecosystem.

Julie Ruff is currently Deputy Head of Unit for Cybersecurity technologies and Capacity building in the European Commission (Directorate-General Communications Networks, Content & Technology).

She joined the Commission in 2010 and has worked on digital issues in several Commission DGs, notably in DG Migration and Home Affairs where she dealt with cybersecurity and the fight against cybercrime. As part of the Commission’s Secretariat-General, she was involved in coordinating Digital Single Market initiatives. She was also a Member of the Cabinet of Sir Julian King, the EU Commissioner responsible for the Security Union.

Leif Nixon is a cybersecurity expert at Sectra with more than 20 years of experience in IT security in all its aspects. He has deep technical knowledge and a broad understanding of various types of cyber threats, including the geopolitical threat landscape. He has worked 13 years for the Swedish National Supercomputer Centre and among other things he has worked with incident management, intrusion detection, digital forensics and penetration testing. He has also supported police authorities in multiple countries with investigations regarding cyber-related crimes.

Ilias Chantzos is the Global Privacy Officer and the Head of Government Affairs programmes for Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) of Broadcom. Chantzos leads the global privacy program of Broadcom across the company’s multiple business units and regions. He also represents Broadcom before government bodies, national authorities and international organisations in EMEA advising on public policy issues.

Before joining Broadcom Chantzos spent almost 16 years in various government affairs and legal roles in Symantec. During his last post with the Symantec he was in charge of the Government Affairs for the EMEA and the Asia Pacific Japan regions and the Global Advisor for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Privacy.

Before joining Symantec in 2004, Chantzos worked as legal and policy officer in the Directorate General Information Society of the European Commission focusing on information security policy. He covered the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention and the Framework Decision on Attacks against Information Systems. In addition, he worked on a number of EU legislative initiatives relevant to information society and security, including directives on Privacy on Electronic Communications, the Data Retention Directive and the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA). He also represented the European Commission in various international debates and conferences.

Chantzos holds a law degree from the Aristotle University, a Master degree in Computers and Communication Law from Queen Mary College, University of London and a Master in Business Administration from Solvay Business School. He has also completed executive education at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and at the JFK School of Government in Harvard. Chantzos is member of the Athens Bar Association. He served as Chairman of the Executive Board of TechAmerica Europe. He also served for four terms as Chairman of the European Policy Council of Business Software Alliance (BSA). He has represented Symantec at the NATO Industry Cooperation Platform and he has been a member of the Advisory Board of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) from 2006 until 2020. He is also a member of Europol’s European Cybercrime Center (EC3) Advisory Board. Chantzos is a member of the Young Global Leaders 2014 class of the World Economic Forum. He speaks English, Greek, Dutch and German.

Jorge Blanco is currently Global Head of Security Solutions at BBVA Group, leading the development, acquisition, and deployment of cybersecurity and fraud technologies.

Prior to his current role, Jorge was Head of Forensics and Threat Intelligence at the Bank.  Before joining BBVA he was the Chief Information Security Officer for Equifax Spain and Portugal, implementing key security programs to protect the business and its customers. He has also a wide variety of experience of more than 20 years in cybersecurity, having worked at companies such as S21Sec and Incibe (Spanish National CERT) performing different security-related roles. He is graduated in Computer Science Engineering from Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, and holds several recognized industry certifications.

Mr. Rebuffi graduated in Nuclear Engineering at the Politecnico in Milan (1984) before obtaining a PhD in Electronics at Paris – Orsay University (1987).

He worked on the development of high power microwave systems for the future thermonuclear fusion reactor (ITER) in Garching, Germany (1988-1991). Afterwards, he was employed by Thomson CSF to take responsibility for European Affairs (R&D) in different sectors: telecom, industrial, medical, scientific etc (1992-1999). He worked for Thales Microwave, in the position of the Head of Unit for Sales of Telecom Products (2000-2002) and later became promoted for a position of the Thales Director for European Affairs (2003-2007). In this capacity, he was responsible for the development of business and research activities with European Institutions for the civilian activities in Thales.

In 2003, he initiated and from 2007 to 2017 he has been the CEO of the European Organisation for Security (EOS) that gathers the most important European private security stakeholders and public NGOs from supply and demand side to develop and implement European security solutions and services in a comprehensive approach. In 2016, he took over the role of Secretary General of the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO). He contributed to establish in June 2016 an Association with more than 250 members in charge of implementing the Public-Private Partnership contract on European cybersecurity with the European Commission and supporting the development of the full European Cybersecurity Ecosystem.

Ms. Neuberger is the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technologies on the National Security Council. Previously, she served as the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Director of Cybersecurity, where she led NSA’s cybersecurity mission, including emerging technology areas like quantum-resistant cryptography. Prior to this role, Ms. Neuberger co-led NSA and USCC’s election security effort and served as Assistant Deputy Director of NSA’s Operations Directorate, overseeing foreign intelligence and cybersecurity operations. She also served as NSA’s first Chief Risk Officer, Director of NSA’s Commercial Solutions Center, the Department of the Navy’s Deputy Chief Management Officer and a White House Fellow. In 2020, Ms. Neuberger was awarded DoD’s and NSA’s highest civilian awards, the DoD Distinguished Civilian Service Award, and NSA’s Distinguished Service Medal. In 2017, Ms. Neuberger was awarded a Presidential Rank Award. Before her Government service, Ms. Neuberger was Senior Vice President of Operations at American Stock Transfer and Trust Company, where she directed technology and operations. Ms. Neuberger is a graduate of Columbia University, where she earned an MBA and Masters of International Affairs.

David van Weel is NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges. He is the Secretary General’s primary advisor on emerging security challenges and their implications for the security of the Alliance and a member of the Secretary General’s senior management team.

The Emerging Security Challenges Division, which he directs and manages, aims to provide a coordinated approach by the Alliance to all new and emerging challenges. These include cyber and hybrid threats, terrorism, as well as emerging and disruptive technologies (such as AI and quantum computing), energy security challenges, including those posed by environmental changes, and data policy. The division also runs the Science for Peace and Security Programme, which promotes dialogue and practical cooperation between NATO
and partner nations through scientific research, technological innovation and knowledge exchange.

The Division aims to provide innovative policy solutions for countering and defending the Alliance and Allies against these challenges and to maintain the innovative and technological advantage of the Alliance in conjunction with partners, industry and other multilateral organisations.

Prior to joining NATO, David van Weel was the Foreign Policy and Defense Advisor for the Prime Minister of The Netherlands (2016-2020). This position followed a long career in The Netherlands Ministry of Defence, where he ended as Director for International Affairs and Operations/ Policy Director (2014-2016) after serving as the Chief of Cabinet for the Minister of Defence and the Permanent Secretary (2012-2014) and as the senior policy officer for amongst others operations in Afghanistan and Libya, NATO, nuclear policy and disarmament, special operations and the preparation
of the Defence Budget.

David started his career in the Royal Netherlands Navy, where, upon completion of the Naval Academy (1994-1999), he served on different frigates, served in the British Royal Navy as an exchange officer, worked as a Staff Officer for Middle and Eastern European countries in the Defence Staff and ended as a Primary Warfare officer and Navigation Officer.

David is married to Iris and has two daughters, Felice and Alix.

Ms Urb joined the Information System Authority (RIA) in 2018 after having served her country as a career-diplomat for 16 years. In RIA, the government institution that forms the heart of digital Estonia, Ms Urb manages the foreign relations with the main partners and all world while also ensuring the coherence of the foreign and the defense policy priorities of the Government with the Authority.

RIA develops and manages the core infrastructure elements of the e-government of Estonia and is responsible for the cyber security of the country, including the tasks of national CERT (CERT-EE). RIA also leads the EU projects EU CyberNet and the Cyber Resilience for Development.

Prior, as part of her country’s foreign service, Ms Urb has worked on different subjects and countries. She gained a solid multilateral diplomacy experience from working with the EU, the UN Human Rights Council and the ITU. She led the Estonia’s chairmanship of the Freedom Online Coalition in 2013-2014 and served as a member of the Supervisory Board of Estonian National Commission for UNESCO.

Dr Raluca Csernatoni is Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, where she leads the research workstreams on European security and defence, as well as emerging disruptive technologies. As part of her contribution at Carnegie Europe, she is also Team Leader on New Technologies and Project Expert for the EU Cyber Diplomacy Initiative – EU Cyber Direct project. Csernatoni is currently Guest Professor on European Security with the Brussels School of Governance and its Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy, at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium.

Her published work appeared in academic journals such as European Foreign Affairs Review, European Security, Critical Military Studies, Global Affairs, and European View. She has authored numerous book chapters, policy analysis articles, reports, and commentary pieces on the governance of EU-led defence technological and industrial initiatives, European technological sovereignty and strategiC autonomy, and the impact of emerging disruptive technologies such as drones and Artificial Intelligence on international and European security. Her latest co-edited book, Emerging Security Technologies and EU Governance: Actors, Practices and Processes, was published with Routledge Studies in Conflict, Security and Technology Series in 2020.

Prior to joining Carnegie, Csernatoni was a Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the Charles University’s Institute of Political Studies in Prague, where she focused on the impact of new military capabilities and emerging dual-use technologies such as drones on the EU’s security and defence architecture.

Previously, Csernatoni conducted research on European defence and technological policy at the Faculté des Sciences Sociales et Politiques, Université libre de Bruxelles, the Royal Higher Institute for Defence’s Centre for Security and Defence Studies, and at the International Security Information Service Europe in Brussels. She was also a Research Fellow in the Study Program on European Security at the Institute for European Politics in Berlin.

Csernatoni holds a PhD and master’s degree in international relations from the Central European University in Budapest.