Biographies

​
Andrea Saks
Chairman of the ITU JCA-AHF, Coordinator of the IGF DCAD, Permanent G3ict Representative to the ITU and other organizations dealing with access for Persons with Disabilities

Ms Andrea Saks is a known advocate for ICTs for persons with disabilities. She grew in a family of two deaf parents and assisted them from an early age as their interface with the hearing world: She was responsible for making doctors' appointments, arranging guests' visits and other appointments by using the telephone which was then inaccessible to her family without her. Her father, the late Andrew Saks, the late Robert Weitbrecht and the late James C. Marsters deaf themselves, were the first pioneers to create a telephone system that the deaf could use independently. The created a modem called the "Phonetype" coupled to the normal telephone and using surplus teletypewriters as the printing device they had a deaf telephone system that spread throughout the world. These devices were the precursors of textphones and today's real-time text messaging.  She took her role as an interface to the next level when she relocated from the US to the UK in 1972 to promote the use of textphones internationally. She worked with the British Government Post Office, OFTEL, and Deaf organizations and was granted a license in 1976 for the  connection of those early text telephones on the regular British telephone network which created the first international deaf telephone system as it was interoperable with the US system. She was able to successfully lobby the US FCC to allow the first transatlantic text phone conversation over the voice telephone network (1975) proving that international telecommunications was viable and necessary for persons who were deaf.  Her first involvement with ITU standardization activity started in 1991 because unwisely, the British deaf were badly advised to "upgrade" to a non-compatible system thus destroying interoperability between the two English speaking countries. The ITU was the place to make international standards and she hope to rectify this problem. V.18 a standard for making all protocols of text phones interoperable... Sadly industry refused to implement V.18 into the modems of the day. Since then she has ever increased her scope of involvement internationally to make it possible for all Persons with Disabilities and specific needs to have international access to all communication technology. Self-funded, she currently attends many ITU-T, study groups promoting the inclusion of accessibility functionality in systems being standardized by ITU, such as multimedia conferencing, cable, IPTV and NGN...  After the creation of ITU-D Question 20/1 on accessibility matters in WTDC-06, she also started attending that group. She now performs as a bridge between all sectors on the subject of accessibility for persons with disabilities. She now is working with ITU-R working parties re broadcasting for accessible television and spectrum allocation to prevent interference to ADLs, Assistive Listening Devices. She also was largely responsible for the first ITU wide Accessibility Resolution created in 2010 at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference and is currently advising several countries on its update for the nest ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in 2014 to continue to bring the ITU accessibility policies in line with UNCRPD.  She advises many US delegations to the ITU on the subject of Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and persons with specific needs. She has been a key person in the creation of all accessibility events in ITU, and currently is the Chairman of the ITU JCA-AHF, the Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human factors, as well as the coordinator of the IGF DCAD, the Internet Governance Forum's Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability.  She is the permanent representative to the ITU for G3ict, the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs.  In 2008 she was given the ITU World Telecommunication and Information Society Award and made a Laureate for her lifelong work in accessibility to telecommunications and ICTs for persons with Disabilities.

​
Francesca Cesa Bianchi
Vice President, Institutional Relations, G3ict, Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs

Francesca Cesa Bianchi has worked for G3ict since its inception.  She has an in-depth experience of digital inclusion issues for persons with disabilities, the CRPD, and is a frequent speaker for G3ict internationally.  She oversees G3ict's relations with international organizations, governments and academia, as well as G3ict's "CRPD Progress Report on ICT Accessibility" which measures the level of ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities around the world.  She speaks fluent English, Spanish, Italian and French.  Prior to her current position, Ms. Cesa Bianchi served as Director of Public Relations for the Georgia Council for International Visitors, freelance writer for CNN Italia, and as a Carter Center-accredited election observer in Venezuela in 2003 and 2004. She is a Fellow of CIFAL Atlanta, the North American affiliate of the Decentralized Program of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) where she served as Director of its Gender Equality Program (2006-2009). A native of Milan, Italy, Ms. Cesa Bianchi graduated with a degree in political science from the Universitá degli Studi of Milan, holds a M.A. degree in communication from Georgia State University.



Susan Schorr
Head, Special Initiatives Division, Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), ITU

Susan Schorr, Head ITU Special Initiatives Division, leads the digital inclusion work of ITU to promote ICT accessibility and use among women and girls, youth and children, persons with disabilities and Indigenous Peoples. She directed development of the ITU report, "Digital opportunities: Innovative ICT Solutions for Youth Employment" and leads the ITU International Girls in ICT Day campaign, raising awareness about ICT career opportunities among young women and girls. Ms. Schorr is the architect of the ITU Girls in ICT Portal, which includes a host of resources for women pursuing tech careers, and leads the joint ITU-Telecentre.org Foundation Women's Digital Literacy Campaign that has trained over 1 million women at the bottom of the development pyramid to become digitally literate. Her latest project is a model policy report to promote ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities. Prior to joining ITU she practiced antitrust law in Washington, D.C. and was graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center. 



Özgür Fatih Akpinar
Head of Department for Consumer Rights, Information and Communications Technologies Authority, Turkey 

Özgür Fatih Akpınar studied Labour Economics and Industrial Relationship at Ankara University and graduated in 2000. He holds a Master of Law degree from University of Essex (2008) and a Master of Science degree from Middle East Technical University (2009). Mr. Akpınar has been working at Information and Communications Technologies Authority of Turkey (ICTA) since 2001. He was promoted to the position of telecommunications expert in 2004, after working as assistant telecommunications expert between 2001 and 2004. He held this position for the next 6 years. In 2010, he was appointed as the Head of Consumer Rights Department of ICTA where he spent most of his expertise period. Mr. Akpınar is married and speaks English.







Mehmet Emin Demirci
Vice-President, Confederation of the Disabled in Turkey; former President, Turkish Federation of the Blind; Board Member, EBU (European Blind Union)

Born in 1957 in Konya, Turkey; blind from childhood onwards; boarding school experience at the Gaziantep School for the Blind for primary and secondary education; integrated education at Beyşehir High School in Konya; B.A. in Sociology at Bogazici University, Istanbul, M.A. in Adult education at the same university (graduation in 1987); various duties at the echelons of the organizations of the blind, including the Presidency of the Turkish Federation of the Blind; author of "Homeros'tan Aşık Veysel'e Tarihte ve Toplum Yaşamında Körler" (The Blind in History And Society From Homer to Aşık Veysel), published in 2005 by Bogazici University (in Turkish); author of various articles on blindness in English, Turkish and German; a key person in providing and advising technologies for the blind in Turkey. Currently, member of the Board of the European Blind Union; Vice-President of the Confederation of the Disabled in Turkey.







Nasser Kettani
Chief Technology Officer, Middle East and Africa, Microsoft

Nasser Kettani is graduated from French Orsay University, in Computer Engineering and Cognitive Science. He has over than 25 years of experience in the IT and software industry working for leading IT companies including Rational Software, IBM and Microsoft. He spent most of his career in Europe. His background includes Software Design and Development, Project Management, Consulting, International Standardization, Sales and Marketing, and Technology Leadership. In 2005, Nasser Kettani joined Microsoft as the General Manager for North Africa. He was subsequently appointed Director of Interoperability and Standards for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region and more recently as the Director and CTO for Middle East and Africa (MEA). As the MEA Chief Technology Officer, Nasser Kettani is the Microsoft Ambassador in the region; he supports and advises Governments, Customers and Partners, as they assess the impact of major technology shifts and as they build national ICT policies, strategies, frameworks and regulations that allow them to make the best out of these major ICT developments. His areas of expertise spans, amongst other things, Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Data Privacy, Interoperability, e-Government, e-Education, Internet Governance, Innovation, etc. Nasser has an extensive experience on the development of International Standards; he has authored many articles and a best-selling book on Software Design and Modeling "De Merise à UML". He was lecturer on Software development best practices at Dauphine University, Paris France and delivered hundreds of lectures at ICT conferences around the globe.



Gerard Ellis
ITU representative at the Joint Technical Advisory Group (JTAG) for the revision of the ISO/IEC Guide 71

I am blind and an Accessibility and Usability consultant under the name Feel The BenefIT. I have worked for over 30 years as a Software Engineer with a bank in Dublin. I am a Fellow of the Irish Computer Society, which is the primary Irish organisation "serving ICT professionals and specialists in Ireland" (www.ics.ie). I hold a BA Degree in Economics from University College Dublin. I have been active for 30 years with national and international organisations that are concerned with the social inclusion of people with disabilities. I am a former Chairperson of the Irish Council of People with Disabilities, which was the largest organisation in Ireland representing people with disabilities, their parents and carers. I was a founder member and first Chairperson of the Visually Impaired Computer Society. I, with former UCD Registrar Professor John Kelly, initiated the Association for Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) (www.ahead.ie). I have been active on the National Boards and subcommittees of various mainstream organisations in Ireland which relate to ICT issues. This includes the Information Society Commission which was set up by Government to advance Ireland's readiness to take advantage of the Information Age. I am a member of the European Disability Forum's ICT Expert Group and have frequently represented them at conferences and meetings.  EDF promotes the interests of over 80 million people with disabilities in Europe (www.edf-feph.org). I have spoken at conferences in around 30 countries on 5 continents on various disability-related issues. These include USA, Australia, Thailand, Kenya, Egypt, Tunisia and widely throughout Europe. I spoke at both phases of the First World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva and Tunis. I am part of the group that produced a CEN Agreement on a curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design (www.cen.eu). I was part of the JTAG group that reviewed and updated the ISO/IEC Guide 71 and CEN/CENELEC Guide 6. These are guides to support developers of standards in including the needs of people with disabilities in standards. I am part of the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies. I have represented DCAD and ITU at various events including 3 Internet Governance Fora.



Peter Major
Special Advisor to the Permanent Mission of Hungary to the UN in Geneva

Peter was working at the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for 23 years. He was the focal point of the BR for internet governance and cyber security. He is co-coordinator of the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DCAD) and has been involved as panelist in workshops organized by the Coalition jointly with the ITU in Internet Governance Forums (IGF) in Hyderabad, Sharm el Sheik, Vilnius, Nairobi, Baku and Bali. He actively participated in the preparation of these events attending the Open Consultations and working with members of the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) in shaping the programs of the IGFs.

Peter represented Hungary in the Working Group on the improvements to the IGF of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD). Subsequently he was nominated as Chairman of the Working Group. Under his chairmanship the multi-stakeholder Working Group successfully completed its work in 2012 and its recommendations were endorsed by CSTD, ECOSOC and UNGA. He was nominated as chairman of the CSTD Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation. The multi-stakeholder working group after 4 meetings could not achieve its objectives in the allotted time-frame..

Peter is vice-chairman of the CSTD, vice-chairman, Radiocommunication Advisory Group (RAG) at ITU and Chairman of the RAG Correspondence Group on BR Information Systems at ITU. He is member of the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of the IGF and represents Hungary at the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) of ICANN. Peter gives presentations on internet governance related topics. He is a faculty member of the European Summer School on Internet Governance, Meissen and an invited lecturer at the Higher School of Economics of National Research University, Moscow.