Speakers | eu2020 Medienkonferenz

Professor Monika Grütters, Member of the German Bundestag

Minister of State for Culture and the Media

Prof. Grütters was born in Münster and studied German, history of art and political science at the universities of Münster and Bonn. She gained professional experience working at the opera, in publishing and in museums before managing art and cultural programmes in large companies.

From 1998 to 2013 she was a member of the governing board of the Foundation “Brandenburger Tor” (Brandenburg Gate). Since 1999 she has been honorary professor for cultural management at the Freie Universität Berlin.

Monika Grütters led the Berlin branch of the CDU from 2016 to 2019. Since December 2016 she has been a member of the presidency of CDU Germany. From 1995 to 2005 Monika Grütters was a member of the Berlin parliament where she was the spokesperson for science and cultural policy of the CDU parliamentary group. Since 2005 she has been a member of the German Bundestag where she was the chair of the committee on cultural and media affairs from 2009 to 2013. Since December 2013 she has been Minister of State and Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

Valerie Mocker

Tech-for-Good Investor

Valerie Mocker’s mission is enabling more people to shape the future. She is a tech-for-good investor and international speaker. As Director at Nesta, Europe’s largest innovation fund, Valerie has funded and supported many organisations who use the digital transformation as a force for good and tackle society’s biggest challenges: digital education for everyone, strong democracies or innovation in news and journalism. She also built the UK’s Future News Fund. Valerie has lived in Germany, Spain, Peru and the UK, has been named a “40 under 40” leader by Capital and holds two degrees (both first class) from the University of Oxford. She is a trustee on the board of Wikipedia.

Professor Mark Cole Photo © Michel Brumat & University of Luxembourg

Prof. Dr Mark D. Cole

Professor for Media and Telecommunication Law at the University of Luxembourg

Professor Dr iur. Mark D. Cole (born in 1972) is Professor for Media and Telecommunication Law at the University of Luxembourg (since 2007) and Director for Academic Affairs at the Institute for European Media Law in Saarbrücken, Germany (since 2014).

At the University of Luxembourg, he is also Course Director for the Master in Space, Communication and Media Law (LL.M.) and a faculty member of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT). He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Luxembourg Independent Media Authority (Autorité luxembourgeoise indépendante de l’audiovisuel, ALIA), one of the first arbitrators appointed to the German media arbitral tribunal DMS (Deutsches Medienschiedsgericht), Co-Director of the Institute for Legal Informatics at Saarland University and a member of the Advisory Council of the European Audiovisual Observatory of the Council of Europe. For 2020-21, the Council of Europe has appointed him to the Committee of Experts on Media Environment and Reform (MSI-REF)

His work focuses on European and comparative media law across the whole spectrum from the legal framework for traditional media to internet regulation issues to data protection and copyright law.

Prof. Dr Stephan Ory

Attorney at Law

Prof. Dr Stephan Ory has been a practising attorney since 1988, first at the Regional Court in Bonn and since 1990 at the Saarbrücken Regional Court. He is a founding member of the Institute of European Media Law (EMR) and has been its Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2011. Ory has been a lecturer at Saarland University since 2001 and Honorary Professor there since 2009. He is General Manager of the APR association of private broadcasters, Chairman of the Media Council of the Saarland supervisory authority for private broadcasters, Chairman of the German Data Processing Court Day and a member of the Study Council for Freedom of the Press and Press Law. From 1978 to 1983, Ory studied law at Saarland University, where he completed his doctorate in law and economics in 1986 with a dissertation on freedom of mass communication.

Monika Jones

Journalist

Monika Jones is one of the leading bilingual journalists and presenters in Germany. As an English speaking news anchor at Germany’s global TV broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, she is familiar to a wide international audience, especially in North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Monika is also one of Germany’s leading bilingual presenters of international conferences and business events. Her regular clients include top multinational companies, government ministries, European institutions and NGOs. Monika’s specialist areas are economics, corporate relations, human resources, and transport & logistics.

Monika presented one of the largest Livestream events ever as the official presenter of the European Space Agency’s historic Rosetta mission, which successfully landed the Philae space probe on a comet!

Grégoire Polad

Director General, Association of Commercial Television in Europe

Grégoire Polad, a French national living in Belgium for more than 20 years, is head of the ACT since 2015. He has been involved in European affairs for more than a decade working in several global and niche consultancies. Prior to working for ACT, he was Managing Partner of True Political Communications where he coordinated the Wider Spectrum Group, a group bringing together eleven pan-European associations including trade unions, employers and viewer organisations. Greg has also been active on the tech front, representing application developers as Head of European policy for The App Association. He is a former Associate of McKinsey & Co and holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business as well as an MSc and BSc from the London School of Economics.

Dr. Mathias Döpfner

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Axel Springer SE

Dr. Mathias Döpfner is Chief Executive Officer of the Axel Springer SE. He studied musicology, German and theatrical arts in Frankfurt and Boston. In 1998 he joined Axel Springer SE as editor-in-chief of “Die Welt”. In July 2000 Dr. Mathias Döpfner became member of the Executive Board and two years later CEO of the Axel Springer SE. Since then he has transformed the Axel Springer SE into a digital company. More than 73 percent of revenues now come from the digital business. Holding a stake of about 3 percent, Mr. Döpfner is also one of the company’s largest shareholders.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of Warner Music Group, holds honorary offices at, among others, the American Academy, the American Jewish Committee and the European Publishers Council (EPC). Since 2016 he is also President of the “German Newspaper Publishers Association” (BDZV), the leading organization of newspaper publishers in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Alan N. Shapiro

Author and media theorist

Alan N. Shapiro is a thinker and essayist known for his work in media theory, transdisciplinary and future design, French postmodern philosophy, and science fiction studies. He has published the books Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance (2004), The Technological Herbarium (2010), Software of the Future (2014), and Transdisciplinary Design (2017). He has recently been visiting professor of design at the Folkwang University of the Arts, and currently teaches media theory at the University of the Arts, Bremen and “future design research” at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne. Since 2011, Shapiro has been keynote speaker at 20 academic or business conferences and art festivals. He has also worked many years in industry as a software developer. At present, he is writing a book on how digital media technologies and “moral algorithms” could be designed for a more decentralized and post-scarcity economy. In this “posthuman” future, humans can live in partnership with animals, the planet, and technological beings such as robots and androids.

Věra Jourová

Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency

Věra Jourová is currently Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency and deals with democracy, rule of law, disinformation and media pluralism. From 2014 to 2019, she served as EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. In 2014, before arriving to the European Commission, Ms Jourová held the position of Minister for Regional Development in the Czech Republic. Previous to this, from 2006 to 2013, she worked in her own company as an international consultant on European Union funding, and was also involved in consultancy activities in the Western Balkans relating to the European Union Accession. She holds a Degree in Law (Mgr.) and a Master’s degree (Mgr.) in the Theory of Culture from the Charles University, Prague.

Noel Curran

Director General of the EBU

Noel took up the role of Director General of the EBU in September 2017.

He was formerly the Director General, Managing Director of Television and Editor of Current Affairs of RTÉ, Ireland’s national television and radio broadcaster.

A strong and long-time advocate of public service media, Curran is an award-winning investigative journalist and Producer. He was also Executive Producer on a range of live television events and live music events such as the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997.

Noel originally graduated from Dublin City University with a degree in Communication Studies, specialising in national and international broadcasting policy and wrote a thesis on the role of Public Service Broadcasting. He attended a postgraduate course at Trinity College Dublin in European Studies, where he did specific research on European Broadcasting Policy.

He is currently Adjunct Professor of Journalism at Dublin City University.

Richard Burnley

Director of Legal and Policy at EBU

Dr Richard Burnley is based in Geneva as Director of Legal and Policy at the European Broadcasting Union, where he has been working since 2010. Prior to that, he was as a senior legal associate at Ofcom, the UK media and telecoms regulator, as well as having spent time as a competition lawyer working for a global law firm in London and Brussels. He holds a PhD in European competition law from the European University Institute, Florence and an LLM in European law from the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Guillaume de Posch

President of ACT

Guillaume de Posch, born in 1958, started his career at the international energy and services company Tractebel (1985 to 1990) and then joined the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company (1990 to 1993).

Guillaume de Posch began his career in the media industry at the Luxembourg-based Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), as assistant to the Managing Director (1993 to 1994) and then became Head of CLT’s TV operations in French-speaking countries (1995 to 1997). From 1997 to 2003, he was Deputy General Manager and Programming Director of the French pay-TV company TPS, before joining the publicly listed ProSiebenSat1 Media AG in August 2003, first as Chief Operating Officer and then as Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO (2004 to 2008).

Guillaume de Posch was appointed Chief Operating Officer and new member of the RTL Group Executive Committee on 1 January 2012. Few months later, in April 2012, Guillaume de Posch was appointed Co-CEO of RTL Group. Under his leadership, RTL Group was transformed into the most digital European broadcasting company via strategic investments in the field of multi-platform networks and ad-tech. He also re-invigorated FremantleMedia’s creative drive.

In January 2018, at his own request, Guillaume de Posch stepped down as Co-CEO of RTL Group and since then he serves as a non-executive member of RTL Group’s Board of Directors.

Since May 2017 President of the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT).

Peter Limbourg

Director General of Deutsche Welle

Peter Limbourg was appointed director general of DW (Deutsche Welle) in 2013 and in September 2018 was re-confirmed by the network’s Broadcasting Board to head the media organization for another six-year term.

Limbourg studied law in Bonn and later chose a career in journalism. He worked as a correspondent in the former East Germany, London, Bonn and Brussels before he was appointed editor-in-chief of N24 (now WELT). Later, Limbourg became senior VP News & Political Information for ProSieben Sat.1 TV Germany. He was also anchorman of SAT.1’s main newscast for several years.

Carine Léa Chardon

Head of Media Policy / Media Law, ZVEI (German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association)
from 1.9.2020 Managing Director of the ZVEI Consumer Electronics Division

Carine Léa Chardon studied law in Germany and France with a focus on media law and media management.

She joined Kirchgruppe in 2001 as a media policy officer, worked for EM.TV AG as Contract Manager responsible for television licensing and merchandising, and since September 2004 has worked as Senior Counsel Regulatory Affairs at Premiere AG (now Sky Deutschland). She helped building Premiere’s media policy network at the European Union and in Austria.

Since July 2008, Carine Chardon has been Head of Media Policy / Media Law at ZVEI – Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie e.V. (German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association). In this role, she represents the interests of the consumer electronics industry vis-à-vis legislative and supervisory authorities at national and European Union level. She also represents the managing director of the ZVEI consumer electronics division as head of the consumer electronics team.

Since August 2008, Carine Chardon has been Managing Director of Deutsche TV-Plattform e.V. The non-profit association advocates for the overarching interests of digital broadcasting companies, particularly the introduction of new technologies based on industry standards, such as interactive television with the HbbTV or Ultra HD standard.

As of 1 September 2020, Carine Chardon will also take over the management of the ZVEI Consumer Electronics Division and the ZVEI Satellite & Cable Division.

Michael Neuber

Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager, Google

Michael Neuber is Google’s Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager. In this capacity, he is responsible for competition and antitrust law as well as for culture and media policy issues. Before that, he worked for the German Association for the Digital Economy (Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft e.V., BVDW) as legal advisor/lawyer and head of the policy and legal department, giving legal advice to its members in matters related mainly to data protection, IT, copyright and media law. As a lawyer, he also worked for a Berlin-based law firm specialising in IT and media law. Michael Neuber sat on the Committee on Legal Affairs of the German Bundestag as an expert for the right of associations to take legal action in data protection matters. Since 2009, he has been lecturer at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. Michael Neuber also was an advisory member of the executive committee of the German Association for Voluntary Self-Regulation of Digital Media Service Providers (FSM e. V.).

Dr. Daniel Knapp

Chief Economist at Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe

Dr. Daniel Knapp is Chief Economist at Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe. He is an advertising and media analyst with 15+ years of international experience. He has served in leadership roles spanning market analysis, strategy, and business intelligence. Daniel spent 11 years at IHS Markit, latterly as Executive Director for Technology, Media and Telecoms. He was also associated expert on media and AI at the European Commission. Daniel received his PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE). In addition to his IAB role, he is CSO at Twins Digital, a marketing services firm, and partner at Ecuiti, a data science company.

Prof. Charlie Beckett

Director, Polis at the London School of Economics

Prof. Charlie Beckett is the founding director of Polis, the journalism think-tank in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is the author of “SuperMedia: Saving Journalism So It Can Save The World” (Blackwell, 2008) and “WikiLeaks: News In The Networked Era” (Polity, 2012). With 20 years of experience as a senior journalist at the BBC, LWT and ITN, he has written and taught on media issues such as the role of journalism in civil society, ethical journalistic issues, international journalism, reporting war and terror, reporting politics and news values.

Sabine Verheyen

Member of the European Parliament

Sabine Verheyen has been a Member of the European Parliament for the German Christian Democrats (CDU) since 2009. In 2019 she was elected as Chairwoman of the Committee for Culture and Education, after having served as coordinator for the European People`s Party in this committee for five years. She focuses in particular on education and media policy as well as digital agenda issues. As former mayor of Aachen (1999 to 2009) she focuses additionally on issues that are of relevance to the local authorities.
She has been co-rapporteur for the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive and has been a Member of the European Parliament’s annual delegation to the Internet Governance Forum since 2009.
Sabine Verheyen studied architecture at FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences.

Bernd Reichart

CEO of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland

Bernd Reichart, born in Scheidegg (southern Germany) in 1974, was appointed CEO of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland in January 2019.

After graduating from university, he started his career in sports rights advertising sales at UFA Sports in Hamburg in 2001. In 2003, he became Marketing Manager for Sportfive, a sports rights agency in Madrid. A year later, he changed career and became Head of Investor Relations at Antena 3 (now ATRES Media) in Spain – an RTL Group affiliate. From 2007 to 2013, he was Managing Director Multichannel at the Spanish broadcaster, responsible for up to five free-to-air TV channels. In February 2013, he returned to Germany as Managing Director of VOX and was as well a member of the Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland Management Board.

Being CEO of the Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, he also has been assigned to the Operating Management Committees of RTL Group and Bertelsmann as of 2019.

Prof Dr Wolfang Schulz

Director of the Leibniz Institute for Media Research

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz is Director of the Leibniz Institute for Media Research │ Hans Bredow Institute (HBI) and holds the chair “Media Law and Public Law including its Theoretical Foundations” at the Faculty of Law at the University of Hamburg. In February 2012, he was also appointed Director of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin. His work focuses on the area of communication freedoms, on regulatory problems with regard to media content, questions of the law of new media and the legal foundations of journalistic work, but also on the legal-philosophical foundations of communication freedoms and the effects of changing public spheres on the law. In addition, he has worked on forms of state actions, for example within the framework of concepts such as “regulated self-regulation” or “informational regulation”. Many of his works are internationally comparative.

Anthony Whelan

Digital policy adviser in the cabinet of the European Commission President

Anthony Whelan currently works as digital policy adviser in the cabinet (private office) of European Commission President von der Leyen. Since 2013 he was Director for Electronic Communications Networks & Services at the European Commission, designing and negotiating EU initiatives on topics such as net neutrality, 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.

Friederike und Thorsten Grothe

Grothe Medienberatung

As an owner-managed agency, Grothe Medienberatung works at the interface of politics, media, digital economy and science and is intensively engaged in digitalization and media convergence. Founded in 2005, the agency has reliable contacts in politics, business and science, many years of experience in strategic communication and public affairs as well as comprehensive expertise in managing complex projects. Grothe Medienberatung works in the dynamic field of media and creative industries as well as the digital economy. Topics include the economic development of these areas as well as the design of the media legal framework, including discussions on platform economics and internet governance. Grothe Medienberatung consists of the partners Dr. Friederike Grothe and Dr. Thorsten Grothe. Clients include well-known private and public media providers from Germany and abroad, infrastructure operators and companies in the digital economy.

Dr Sarah Broughton Micova

Lecturer in communication policy and politics

Sarah („Sally“) Broughton Micova is a lecturer in communication policy and politics at the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies at the University of East Anglia (UEA). She teaches courses on politics, media and political communication. Prior to joining UEA, she was an LSE Fellow in Media Governance and Policy and Deputy Director of the LSE Media Policy Project in the Department of Media and Communication, where she received her PhD in December 2013. She remains a Visiting Fellow at the LSE and has also been a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Communications in Skopje, Macedonia, since 2012. Her research focuses on media and communications policy in Europe. She is currently looking into new forms for potential control in communications, with the progression of convergence in technology and services and the rise of competitive authoritarianism. She is also interested in the consequences of convergence and globalization in creative and communications industries, especially in small linguistic media markets and in relation to the cultural and communication rights of national minorities.

Dr Corinne Schweizer

Senior research and teaching associate

Dr. Corinne Schweizer is a senior research and teaching associate at the Media and Internet Governance Division of the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ) at the University of Zurich. She conducts research on media and communication policy and governance in the Swiss context and beyond. Between 2013 and 2015, she co-authored four research reports for the Federal Office of Communications in Switzerland on media regulation in western countries. Between 2015 and 2017, she worked as an LSE Fellow at the Department of Media and Communications of the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2016, she successfully defended her doctoral dissertation on public service media organizations as media commons and received her Ph.D. from University of Zurich in 2019 when publishing her dissertation with Nomos.

Dr Roberto Viola

Director General of DG CONNECT (Directorate General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology) at the European Commission

He was the Deputy Director-General of DG CONNECT, European Commission from 2012 to 2015.

Roberto Viola served as Chairman of the European Radio Spectrum Policy group (RSPG) from 2012 to 2013, as Deputy Chairman in 2011 and Chairman in 2010. He was a member of the BEREC Board (Body of European Telecom Regulators), and Chairman of the European Regulatory Group (ERG).

He held the position of Secretary General in charge of managing Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (AGCOM), from 2005 to 2012. Prior to this, he served as Director of the Regulation Department and Technical Director in AGCOM from 1999 to 2004.

From 1985-1999 he served in various positions including Head of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Satellite Services at the European Space Agency (ESA).

Roberto Viola holds a Doctorate in Electronic Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).

Dr Tobias Schmid

Director of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LFM NRW)

As Director of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LFM NRW), Tobias Schmid is also the European Affairs Commissioner of the Conference of Directors of the Media Authorities (DLM). Moreover, since January 2020 he is the elected Chairman of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA).

Prior to this, from 2005 until 2016, Mr. Schmid, who holds a doctorate in law, was Head of Media Policy at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland and from September 2010 until December 2016 he was Executive Vice President of Governmental Affairs at RTL Group. In addition, from November 2012 until September 2016 Mr. Schmid was chairman of the board at the German Association of Private Broadcasters and Telemedia (VAUNET).

Roch-Olivier Maistre

President of the French National Audiovisual Regulatory Authority (CSA), appointed by the President of the Republic

Mr Roch-Olivier Maistre, Chamber President of the French Court of Audit and general rapporteur of the Court’s Committee on Public Reports and Programmes, has been President of the French Broadcasting Authority (CSA) since 4 February 2019. His term of office there ends in January 2025.A graduate from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and an alumnus of the National School of Administration (ENA) (1982), Roch-Olivier Maistre worked as an Administrator for the City of Paris from 1982 to 1986. He then joined the staff of François Léotard, Minister of Culture and Communications, as an advisor (1986-1988).

Between 1988 and 1991, Roch-Olivier Maistre worked as Deputy Director of Economic Affairs at the City of Paris Directorate of Finance and Economic Affairs and then as Chief of Staff to the General Secretary. Following that, he became Managing Director of the Comédie-Française (1993-1995) before being appointed to the position of General Secretary of Paris City Council (1995-2000).

Between 2000 and 2005, he joined the office of the President of the Republic as Advisor for Education, Culture and Communications. In 2005, he moved to the Cour des comptes (Court of Audit) where he has occupied the following roles in succession: Master Auditor at the 4^th Chamber, Head of the Foreign Affairs Sector, First Assistant Public Prosecutor reporting to the General Prosecutor, Chamber President and General Rapporteur.

Roch-Olivier Maistre has been awarded the titles of Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, Officer of the National Order of Merit and Commander of Arts and Letters.

Susanne Nikoltchev

Executive Director of the European Audiovisual Observatory

Dr Susanne Nikoltchev took office as Executive Director of the European Audiovisual Observatory in July 2013.

Prior thereto she was the Observatory’s Head of Department for Legal Information and editor in chief of all its legal publications (since 1998).

She has been a media, telecoms, international trade and EU competition lawyer associated with the American law firm of Covington & Burling (1995-1998).

As a member of the bars of Germany and Washington D.C., she has worked in private practice in Germany, the United States and Belgium with particular exposure to audiovisual issues on the international and European level as well as on the national level.

Maja Cappello

Head of the Department for Legal Information

Maja Cappello PhD joined the European Audiovisual Observatory as Head of the Department for Legal Information in 2014. Since June 2020 she is also member of the Advisory Board of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO).

Before joining the Observatory, Maja Cappello worked for the Italian regulator AGCOM from 1998 and was Head of AGCOM’s Digital Rights Unit of the Media Services Directorate. She was also Vice President of EPRA (European Platform of Regulatory Authorities) from 2011 to 2014.

Italian-Norwegian national, she is author of articles and speeches in the areas of audiovisual media services, media pluralism, copyright and consumer protection and holds an LLM in EU law and a PhD in European social law after graduating in Law in 1994.

Jean-François Furnémont

Founder and CEO of Wagner-Hatfield

Jean-François Furnémont is the Founder and CEO of Wagner-Hatfield, a research and consulting company that works globally with international organisations, Ministries and independent regulatory bodies. Wagner-Hatfield is particularly active in the media sector and the digital economy, with a specific interest for issues related to freedom of expression and media freedom & pluralism.
He holds a BA in Journalism and Communication Studies, a MA in International Relations and European policy and a MA in Public Finances. Former freelance journalist and former spokesman of a political party, he is the author of several books of political science and a number of publications on media policy and regulation.
He held the position of Director General (2003-1014) of the audiovisual media regulatory authority (CSA) of the French speaking Community in Belgium. He has also been actively involved in the Board of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) as vice-Chairman (2008-2011) and as Chairman (2011-2014).

Anna Herold

European Commission

Dr Anna Herold is currently Head of the Audiovisual and Media Policy Unit at the European Commission. She was previously Member of Cabinet of Günther H. Oettinger, European Commissioner responsible for Digital Economy and Society. Prior to that, she was Assistant to Deputy Director-General of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology of the European Commission, Roberto Viola. She has worked for the European Commission since 2003, dealing with media, audiovisual and telecoms policy as well as competition law.
Anna holds a PhD in Law from the European University Institute in Florence and has written on media law and policy, international trade and competition law.

Ľuboš Kukliš

Chief executive at the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission of Slovakia

Luboš Kukliš PhD is a chief executive at the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission of Slovakia.
He is the Council’s representative in European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA), where he currently serves as Board member responsible for external relations and also leads ERGA’s work on disinformation.
He frequently speaks at public events and cooperates with various international institutions on possible solutions to problems such as the spread of disinformation, protection of minors in the online space or the regulation of the new media environment.
He holds a PhD in administrative law.

Ania Helseth

Public Policy Manager – EU Affairs, Facebook

Ania Helseth is an IP lawyer graduated from the University of Oxford and specialized in the EU law at the University van Amsterdam. She has a long public policy experience in Brussels; she worked for the European Parliament at the beginning of her career and was a telecom attaché at the Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU.
She held various positions at the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU and headed public policy for the Association of Satellite Operators (including companies like Airbus, Telenor or SES).
She joined Facebook in May 2016 and focused on issues around content regulation, copyright, AVMS and intermediary liability.

Marco Pancini

Director Public Policy EMEA, YouTube

Marco Pancini was appointed Director Public Policy EMEA for YouTube in 2018.
Prior to this role, he led Google’s EU Commission and Council team in Brussels, as Director for public policy and Government relations. Formerly European policy counsel in charge of government relations for Google in Italy, he represented Google in important international meetings as the Internet Governance Forum of the United Nations.
Before Google, Marco was Head of legal and Trust and Safety at eBay.it, the Italian subsidiary of the world’s biggest online marketplace from 2002 to 2007. After his studies in law, Marco started his professional career as part of the start-up project of iBazar, the first online auction web site in Europe, and then joined eBay, when iBazar was acquired.

Alexandra Evans

Head of Child Safety Public Policy, Europe Tik Tok

Alexandra Evans is Head of Child Safety Public Policy, Europe at TikTok, the world’s largest video sharing platform. Her mission is to protect and empower children and young people so they can thrive online.
Before joining TikTok, Alexandra was Chief of Strategy at the 5Rights Foundation where she played a leading role in the successful campaign to enshrine enhanced data rights for children in UK law. As Policy Director of the British Board of Film Classification, she was responsible for UK classification standards in cinemas, on DVD and online.
Issues Alexandra works on include online child sexual abuse and exploitation, bullying/harassment, harmful and inappropriate content, data protection and privacy, access to information, evolving developmental capacities of children, design of services, digital wellbeing and digital rights.
Before specialising in digital policy, she practiced law at a leading London firm, advising clients on discrimination, free speech, privacy and reputation protection.

Alexandra Laffitte

Policy Officer, French Telecommunications Federation

Policy Officer at the French Telecommunications Federation and in charge of content regulation and audio-visual matters, Alexandra Laffitte is also the Vice-Chairwoman of EuroISPA, the European association representing internet service providers. Within the association, she also chairs the Market & Services Committee since April 2018. In addition, she serves as an expert for the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) with a focus on the cooperation between technical intermediaries and rightsholders.

Former fellow of the German Parliament, she is an alumna of the master’s program in Telecommunications and Space Law of the University Paris-Saclay, as well as of the Franco-German dual Law program of La Sorbonne and the University of Cologne.

Prof Meredith Broussard

Professor and Data Journalist

Prof Meredith Broussard is an associate professor at the Arthur L Carter Journalism Institute of the New York University and the author of “Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World”. Her academic research focuses on artificial intelligence in investigative reporting with a particular interest in using data analysis for social good. She is an affiliate faculty member at the Moore Sloan Data Science Environment at the NYU Center for Data Science and a 2019 Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow. Her work has been supported by the Institute of Museum & Library Services as well as the Tow Center at Columbia Journalism School.

Kenza Ait Si Abbou Lyadini

Senior Manager Robotics and AI at Deutsche Telekom

Kenza At Si Abbou is an expert in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Born in Morocco, she studied in Spain, Germany and China, and besides being a senior Manager, she is leading the Deutsche Telekom Women Network in Germany. In December 2018, she was honored with the Digital Female Leader Award. As a speaker, Author and Intrapreneur she encourages process automation in Europe through robotics and artificial intelligence solutions.

Wilfried Runde

Head of Research and Cooperation Projects

Wilfried Runde has worked as a freelance music writer, information specialist, researcher, online editor and TV journalist for several media outlets. In 2010 he was appointed Head of Innovation Projects for Germany’s international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Since then Wilfried has been leading “a skilled mix of open minds” working on R&D and Innovation management related projects, publications and events dealing with “technologies to tell big stories better.”

Laura Blaževičiūtė

CEO of TV3 Lithuania

Laura Blazeviciute is Member of the Board and CEO of TV3 Lithuania, the largest media group in Lithuania that operates 3 commercial TV channels, Radio, the online infotainment portal tv3.lt and the AVoD platform TV3 Play.
Laura has 20 years of experience in the industry at Modern Times Group (previous owner of All Media Lithuania) within different European markets – Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary and the United Kingdom. Laura has served in various positions such as President of Lithuanian Radio & TV Association and Vice-President of Lithuanian Business Confederation/ICC Lithuania as well as Board Member at Enterprise Lithuania.
Laura holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.

Prof Dr Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Nielsen is also Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford. He was previously Director of Research at the Reuters Institute and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Press/Politics.

His work focuses on changes in the news media, on political communication, and the role of digital technologies in both. He has done extensive research on journalism, American politics, and various forms of activism, and a significant amount of comparative work in Western Europe and beyond.

He gives frequent presentations at both academic conferences and industry events. His work has been covered by a range of news media including the BBC, the Economist, the Financial Times, the Guardian, and various other international media.

Marianna Evenstein

Journalist

Marianna Evenstein is an American journalist and moderator who has been based in Germany for more than 20 years. She is a news editor and television anchor at Germany’s international broadcaster, DW (Deutsche Welle). Prior to her work in television, she was also a radio host and reporter for DW’s current affairs program, Newslink.
In addition to her journalistic work, Marianna Evenstein is an experienced moderator and host for conferences, corporate events, galas, and trade shows. Her clients include multinational corporations, start-ups, and non-profit organizations.
Marianna Evenstein also works for a number of media training companies coaching business leaders looking to sharpen their communication and interview skills.

Maria Donde

Head of International Content Policy, Ofcom

Maria Donde works for the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) as the Head of International Content Policy, covering media, content and broadcasting issues. She leads on Ofcom’s engagement with other European media regulators, most particularly through EPRA (where is currently a Vice-Chair) as well as international bodies, and represents Ofcom on the full range of media policy questions. She oversaw Ofcom’s input into the recently concluded negotiations on the AVMS Directive and manages its relationship with the European Commission on matters relating to the Directive. She was recently elected as Chair of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Media Environment and Reform.

Her regulatory background is in advertising, having spent four years at the Advertising Standards Authority before joining Ofcom’s Broadcasting Standards department. Prior to that, she worked in media analysis, and before that as a radio producer for the BBC World Service. She has a Modern Languages degree from Cambridge University and a Masters degree in Literary Translation.

Tom Buhrow

Chairman of the ARD

Tom Buhrow is Chairman of the ARD and since 2013 Director General of Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). As a trained journalist, he became known as the presenter of the nationwide ARD television news program “Tagesthemen” (2006-2013). From 1994 to 2002, he was ARD correspondent in Washington and from 2002 to 2006 he was also office manager of the ARD studio there. He also worked as ARD correspondent in Paris. He began his WDR career after completing his traineeship in the mid-1980s as editor, reporter and later as presenter of the regional program “Aktuelle Stunde”. Buhrow holds a master’s degree in history and political science from the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn.

Heike Raab

State Secretary, State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate

Heike Raab, born 1965, initially worked as a member of the scientific staff in the German Bundestag following studies in politics and law, before assuming duties as a consultant in the office of the Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, and subsequently in the SPD faction of the Bundestag. From 2001 to 2011, she was a member of the Landtag, and State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior, for sports and infrastructure, as well as CIO of the state government from until 2015. Since July 2015, Heike Raab has been State Secretary in the State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate and plenipotentiary for Federal and European Affairs, for Media and Digital Affairs of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Giuseppe Abbamonte

Director – Media Policy, European Commission – DG for Communications Networks, Content and Technology

Giuseppe Abbamonte has been the Director for Media Policy at the European Commission since 2016.

Before then he was in charge of the Directorate responsible for the elaboration of the European Data Strategy.

In his former positions at the European Commission, he supervised and directed the elaboration of the European Cybersecurity Strategy and a European law on network and information security.

He worked many years in the Antitrust and Consumer Protection departments of the European Commission. As a result, he has acquired extensive proven experience in handling complex merger as well as State aid cases and has deep knowledge of consumer law.

Before joining the Commission, Giuseppe Abbamonte was an associate in an international law firm in Milan for four years (1989/1992), where he dealt mainly with commercial law and competition law.

He is the author of several publications mainly in English law magazines. He teaches media law to master students at the Bocconi University in Milan and gives lectures and presentations on European law at several European universities.

Aura Salla

Public Policy Director, Head of EU Affairs at Facebook Brussels

Aura Salla is Head of EU Affairs for Facebook, based in Brussels, Belgium. In her role she oversees Facebook’s engagement on EU policies with the European Institutions and Member States. Before joining Facebook, Aura was working in the European Commission as a Foreign Policy and Communications Adviser in the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), in-house think tank to President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Previously she served as a Member of Cabinet of Jyrki Katainen, European Commission Vice President responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness. Before joining the Commission, she worked for the consultancy company Recommended Finland as a Project Manager specialising in Public Affairs and EU Communications and before that as a speechwriter and political adviser in the Finnish Parliament. From 2018-2020, she also served as a Chairwoman of the Party Council of the Coalition Party Finland / the EPP.

Aura Salla holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Turku, Finland.

Michael Seemann

Author and Journalist

Michael Seemann, born in 1977, has been active in various internet projects since 2005. In early 2010, he launched the blog CTRL-Verlust (Loss of CTRL) with the daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, writing about the loss of control over data on the internet; he has published it independently since September 2010. He produces the podcast Planet B – Ideen für den Neuanfang (Planet B: Ideas for the new beginning) with the podcast label Viertausendhertz. He also blogs at mspr0.de, produces podcasts at wir.muessenrede.de and writes for various media.

Seemann teaches at the University of Cologne and the Berlin University of the Arts. In 2016, he spoke before the German Bundestag as an expert on the issue of platform regulation. He lectures on whistleblowing, data protection, copyright, internet culture, platforms, and the crisis of institutions in an era of loss of digital control. Since 2017, he has been a member of the supervisory board of the Grimme Forschungskolleg. Together with like-minded persons, he founded the Otherwise Network in 2018 and has since served on its board.

Seemann majored in applied cultural studies in Lüneburg.