Biography of Mr. Jean Réveillon

Jean Réveillon was elected Secretary General of the EBU by the Administrative Council on 8 December 2003.

Prior to this, Jean Réveillon was Deputy Director-General and Director of broadcasting at France 3 as of December 1999.

From 1992 to 1998, Jean Réveillon was Director of sport at France 2 and France 3. From 1990 to 1992, he was Director of France 3 Nord/Pas-de-Calais/Picardie and from 1984 to 1990 Director of development at La Voix du Nord. From 1967 to 1984, Jean Réveillon worked as a sports journalist, deputy head and then head of sports services at La Voix du Nord (regional daily) and editor-in-chief of La Voix des Sports.

He is the author of two books: "Le Dakar, une aventure, un rêve" (1984 - Presse de la Cité) and "Le désert au coeur" (1989 - Olivier Orban). Jean Réveillon is a knight of the Légion d'Honneur (2005) and of the Ordre National du Mérite, winner of the Prix Henri Desgranges awarded by the Académie des Sports (1998), holder of the Medal of Honour of the Senate (1997) and the Trophée Lumière du Communiquant Nord/Pas-de-Calais (1999).

Biography of Mr. Houlin Zhao

Houlin Zhao was elected Deputy Secretary-General at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, in November 2006 and took office on 1 January 2007.

Born on 7 March 1950 in Jiangsu (China), Houlin Zhao graduated from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 1975. Between 1979 and 1980, he studied as a visiting scholar in Switzerland. He joined the University of Essex (United Kingdom) in 1984, where he obtained a Master of Science degree in Telematics in 1985.

From 1999 to 2006, Houlin Zhao served as Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB). In his two terms as Director of TSB, he introduced effective and efficient measures to improve ITU’s standards environment and strengthened its promotion. He also enhanced the strategic partnership between Member States and Sector Members, while initiating and maintaining good relationships with industry members. Under his leadership, ITU-T facilitated international cooperation with other standards development organizations and forums and helped bridge the standardization gap between the developing and developed countries.

From 1975 to 1986, Houlin Zhao worked as an engineer in the Designing Institute of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of China. He took an active part in his country’s experts meetings on national telecommunication standards as well as in various national projects. He received a prize in 1985 for his science and technology achievements in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Between 1982 and 1983, he participated in CCITT Study Group meetings as a Chinese delegate. He published a number of technical articles in several Chinese magazines.

Houlin Zhao joined the CCITT Secretariat (now TSB) in 1986. He was Engineer/Counsellor between 1986 and 1998. He was designated as CCITT Coordinator for the cooperation with ISO, IEC and ISO/IEC JTC 1 in 1989.

Currently, he is a “visiting Professor” at a number of well-known universities in China

Biography of Dr. Peter Knight

Peter Knight (M.A., Ph.D. Stanford University) is coordinator of the e-Brasil Project (www.e-brasil.org.br), President of Telemática e Desenvolvimento Ltda.(www.tedbr.com), and partner of Telematics for Education and Development (www.knight-moore.com). Before joining the private sector, he led the World Bank’s Electronic Media Center (1994-1997), and before that was Chief of the National Economic Management Division in the Bank's Economic Development Institute (EDI) and Lead Economist for Brazil. Dr. Knight’s World Bank career spanned over 20 years, with more than eight devoted exclusively to work on Brazil. Earlier he held positions at Cornell University, the Ford Foundation, the Brookings Institution and the Centro de Treinamento para o Desenvolvimento Econômico (CENDEC). He received his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Economics from Stanford University and holds degrees in Government from Dartmouth College (US) and Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University (UK). Dr. Knight has published over a hundred books, monographs, chapters, and articles in various languages: his latest books are (co-edited and co-authored) e-gov.br – a próxima revolução brasileira (São Paulo: Financial Times Prentice Hall/Pearson Education do Brasil, 2004); Rumo ao e-Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Garamond, 2006) and (co-co-edited and co-authored) e-Brasil – Um programa para acelerar o desenvolvimento socioeconômico aproveitando a convergência digital (São Caetano do Sul, SP: Yendis, 2006). He is a member of the Board of the Journal of E-Government and speaks French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish in addition to his native English.

Biography of Mr. Sami Al-Basheer Al Morshid

Mr Sami S. Al-Basheer was elected Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau by the Plenipotentiary Conference on 14 November 2006 in Antalya, Turkey. He took office on 1 January 2007.

Mr Al-Basheer has more than twenty-three years experience in telecommunications in Saudi Arabia and abroad, including two years at the ITU Regional Office in Cairo.

Throughout the major part of his career he was responsible in the Saudi Arabian Government for the development of economic and financial policy and regulatory aspects of telecommunications as well as international coordination and cooperation.

As head of the department responsible for telecommunication policy and investment matters at the national, regional and international levels, he has extensive experience in telecommunications management and development as well as in negotiating and formulating international agreements on commercial, operational, maintenance and investment issues.

As Adviser to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information, Saudi Arabia he was responsible for international relations and regulatory issues. He was also a Board Member of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).

As Director, Middle East & North Africa Affairs, at ICO Teledesic GL, Seattle, USA, he coordinated the introduction of the interests of ICO in Middle Eastern and North African countries.

During his tenure as Chief of the Regional Office for the Arab States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Cairo, Egypt, he was responsible for planning, organizing and directing the work of the Regional Office and contributed to the development of telecommunications in the countries of the region in both public and private sectors.

In addition to his role at the national level Mr Al-Basheer played a leading role within regional organizations, acting as Chairman and participating in many conferences in ITU and at other regional and international organizations in the telecommunications sector

Biography of Mr. Don Whiteside

Donald M. Whiteside is vice president of the Corporate Technology Group and director of Technical Policy and Standards for Intel Corporation. Whiteside is responsible for coordinating Intel's efforts in development and management of technical policy and standards in support of Intel's global technology leadership objectives. The TPS organization influences global technical policy through facilitating Intel participation in global standards setting processes, industry alliances, public policy organizations, and legislative & regulatory agencies.

Prior to Whiteside's appointment as director, Technical Policy & Standards, he was director, Strategic Programs Office where he coordinated Intel's efforts in accelerating broadband and rich content deployment.

Whiteside received a bachelor's degree in Mathematics & Computer Science from Tulane University in 1981.

Biography of Mr. Stephen Collins

Biography of Mr. Laszlo Toth

László Tóth started his professional career in telecom at Matáv (now called T-Com) in 1999. He joined Vivendi Telecom Hungary in 2001 (now called Invitel) where he was the head of the Market Research and Analysis Department. One of the projects he worked on was Vivendi’s country-wide voice-service launch after liberalisation, and he also participated in the selling-off process of the company.

In 2003 he was appointed as a Director General responsible for market analysis at the Hungarian Ministry of IT and Communications, where he worked on communication policy issues during the preparation of the new (EU harmonised) act on electronic communications and was responsible for preparing the National Broadband Strategy of Hungary.

Since June 2004 he has been the Director of Strategic Affairs at the National Communications Authority of Hungary. His unit is in charge of formulating and evaluating long-term policy options and developing the Authority’s approach and practice for better regulation.

He has a MSc. in economics, and also holds a degree in computer sciences.

Biography of Mr. Mark de Jong

Dr. Mark W. De Jong, non-executive Member
(1955) has a Ph D in Economics. Since October 1st, 2005 he is Managing Director at the Telematica Institute in Enschede. From 1993 till 2005, De Jong was employed by KPN, his last position being the Executive Vice-President at the KPN Mobile Division. Before that, he was the Executive Director Corporate Strategy and Regulatory Affairs. De Jong worked from 1993 till 2005 at KPN, as an Executive Vice- President at KPN Mobile Division, and before that as Executive Director Corporate Strategy and Regulatory Affairs.
From 1990 till 2005 he was a part-time professor Service Management at the Department of Economics, University of Amsterdam.
He worked as a consultant to the OECD in Paris and later as senior consultant at TNO Policy Studies in Delft. From March 1st 2006 he is part-time non-executive Member of the Commission of the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority. Since June 2007 Mark de Jong has a special chair as professor Service Economy at the Department of Economics at the University of Amsterdam.

Albhy Galuten is Vice President of Digital Media Technology Strategy for Sony Corporation of America (SCA). In addition to his technological achievements, Mr. Galuten is a Grammy award-winning record producer, songwriter and arranger.

Mr. Galuten joined SCA in March 2005, and is responsible for the Media Technology Group.  The Media Technology Group assists with technology strategy and due diligence, research & development, relationships with the content industry and the development of standards.

Before coming to Sony, Mr. Galuten was Senior Vice President, Advanced Technology, Universal Music Group. Under Mr. Galuten, eLabs and Universal’s Advanced Technology group provided: strategic advice to senior management in the technology space, performed technical due diligence of software, hardware and business systems, invented technology and filed patents. Under Mr. Galuten, the group also managed standards participation, negotiated technology licenses and provided technical support for lobbying efforts and trade organizations.

Before working at Universal, Mr. Galuten was a Vice President at ION where he created and developed the Enhanced CD.

Prior to working in technology Mr. Galuten was a musician and record producer. In 1978 he won two Grammy awards including Producer of the Year. His original compositions and orchestrations for Film, Theatre and on record have won him a Dramalogue Award and two BMI Awards. During his music career which spanned more than 20 years, Mr. Galuten worked with numerous multi-platinum artists, produced eighteen No. 1 singles, and generated sales of more than 100 million records.

Sony Corporation of America, based in New York City, is the U.S. subsidiary of Sony Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo. Sony is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, communications, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its music, motion picture, television, computer entertainment, and online businesses make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal U.S. businesses include Sony Electronics Inc., Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., and a 50% interest in SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, one of the largest recorded music companies in the world.

Andreas Weiss is ARD’s Head of International Relations for more than 10 years. Until 1997 he has worked as a TV journalist and foreign correspondent at ARD/Bayerischer Rundfunk. In his actual function he represents ARD at the EBU, where he is active in numerous working groups.

Weiss’ particular professional interest focuses on the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. 1995/1996 he chaired ARD’s digital strategy group which shaped the structure of the network’s digital activities until today. The development of the “ARD.de” website, the first Internet chat related to a current affairs live broadcast programme, the creation of ARD’s digital TV bouquet, its EPG and its interactive “bookmark” application, interactive TV shows and more emanated from the group’s work according its credo “networking instead of fragmentation”.

From 1997 on Weiss became involved in many EBU activities. He chaired the „EPG Group“, the “Digital Strategy Group II” and the “New Media Forum”. Recently he has assumed the chair of the EBU’s interdisciplinary working group on Mobile Broad­casting.

After a career of twenty years with KT as a senior researching engineer, he has been an invited researching staff of ETRI.

He received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.

Biography of Mr. Roberto Blois

Mr Roberto Blois  has worked for more than thirty years in the field of telecommunications, gaining a wide and diversified range of experience in both technical and management areas.

After obtaining his Engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from the University of Brasilia in 1974, Mr Blois joined the  Ministry of Communications in Brazil.

During the period 1979-1994, Mr Blois served at the Ministry of Communications in Brazil as Director of Broadcasting of the National Telecommunication Department, Director of the National Telecommunication Department and Director of the Department of Private Telecommunications Services.

After having held the position of Executive Secretary of the Inter- American Telecommunication Commission - CITEL from 1994-1999, Mr Blois assumed the position of Deputy Secretary-General of ITU in February 1999 following his election at the 1998 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference held in Minneapolis. He was re-elected for a second term as Deputy Secretary-General on 1 October 2002 at the Marrakesh Plenipotentiary Conference.

From April 2007 Mr. Blois is the Director of Institutional Relations of Brasil Telecom. Brasil Telecom is an important Brazilian telecom operator in the areas of fixed local telephony, national and international long distance, mobile telephony, data transmission, data center and internet.

Mark Jeffrey is Microsoft’s technical lead in the DVB Project, and an active participant in the ITU. He has 25 years experience in telecommunications and broadcast engineering, the last 18 of which have been focussed on broadband and converged services. In 1995 he joined Microsoft to work on Interactive television, and has worked in a number of roles since, in the USA, the UK and Switzerland. He has a number of patents to his name relating to broadband switching and services, and is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET, UK), and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). Mark is married with two small boys, and lives near Geneva.

Cristina Bueti graduated from the Faculty of Political Science and International Cooperation and Development at the University of Florence, where she took postgraduate studies in International cooperation. In 2003, Ms. Bueti completed a project for the Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, before joining the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva, in January 2004. Working in the ITU's Strategy and Policy Unit, as a policy analyst she has been involved in the organization of a wide range of activities from technical workshops to international conferences. Ms. Bueti participated in the Tunis Phase of WSIS.

Mr. Marco Obiso graduated in Computer Science from the University of Rome. He went on to complete further studies at the IBM Networking Laboratories in Rome. Mr. Obiso joined Unisys Corporation as Technology Consultant developing solutions and implementing system integration projects. He subsequently worked for Ernst & Young consulting, coordinating IT strategy projects. In 2000 Mr. Obiso moved to Geneva to start work at the ITU as associate expert, in the area of Network Engineering. Within the Information Systems Department he participated in several areas including: network infrastructure, system integration and application cooperation, becoming IT Service Management coordinator.

He subsequently moved to the Strategy and Policy Unit of ITU, providing advice concerning technical developments and trends in the ICT sector, including technical standards work and emerging ICT technologies. He is currently the Programme Manager of Shaping Tomorrow's Networks initiative

Monique Morrow is currently Distinguished Consulting Engineer at Cisco Systems, Inc. She has over 20 years experience in IP internetworking that includes design, implementation of complex customer projects and service development for service providers. Monique has been involved in developing managed Network Services like Remote Access and LAN Switching in a Service Provider environment.  Monique has worked for both enterprise and service provider companies in the United States and in Europe. Monique led the Engineering Project team for one of the first European MPLS-VPN deployments in 1999 for a European service provider.

Monique has presented in various conferences on the topic of MPLS, Additionally, Monique is co-author of the book Designing IP-Based Services: Solutions for Vendors and Service Providers. Monique is co-author of the book, MPLS VPN Security and co-author of the book, MPLS and Next-Generation Networks: Foundations for NGN and Enterprise Virtualization. Monique is currently working on a book one that presents enterprise drivers and concerns for IP-based service delivery. She was co-guest editor of a special issue of the IEEE Communications Magazine on the subject of “OAM in MPLS-based Networks”, published in October 2004 ; co-guest editor of a special issue of the IEEE Communications Magazine on the subject of “Challenges in Enabling Inter-Provider Service Quality on the Internet” published in June, 2005 as well as co-guest editor of a special issue of the IEEE Communications Magazine on the subject of, “GMPLS: The Promise of the Next Generation Optical Control Plane,” published in July 2005.  

Monique is active in both the IETF and ITU-T SG 13 with a focus on OAM.

Monique was editor for ITU-T Recommendation y.1714 [MPLS Management Framework].

Additionally, Monique is the Vice-Chair of the IPsphere Forum.

She is also working on NGN for service providers and Grid technology.

Monique has an M.S in Telecommunications Management and an MBA.

She speaks French, German and is learning Mandarin.

Patrick has over 15 years of experience in the wireless and interactive media industries in over 20 markets worldwide. He has held management roles at Alcatel, PacketVideo, Diveo Broadband Networks, Skytel, Teleworx and TVAnswer (Eon Corporation), and had profit & loss responsibility for Alcatel’s growing Mobile Video & Music business unit. In particular, Parodi was responsible for Alcatel’s commercial successes with the likes of T-Mobile, Orange, DoCoMo and Sony Network Services. 

As General Manager for Europe and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer of Amobee Media Systems, Patrick is responsible for Amobee’s business in EMEA, as well as the company’s overall marketing activities.  Amobee is ad-funding the mobile business by delivering personalized, dynamic and targeted advertising impressions to mobile users.

A staunch activist in the world of mobile entertainment, in 2004 Parodi was elected Chairman of the Mobile Entertainment Forum, the leading global trade association representing both the mobile and entertainment industries.

Biography of Mr. Greg Lowe

Dr. Gregory Ferrell Lowe works with the executive management team in the Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE, as Senior Advisor in Strategy and Development.  He also serves as Docent in the department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Tampere.  Lowe is the 'father' of the RIPE initiative, a bi-annual conference and publication form since 2002 that is focused on cultivating mutually fruitful relations between strategic managers in public service media companies and university scholars committed to the public interest in media today.  Lowe earned a Master's Degree from the Ohio State University (1987) and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin (1992).

Bettina Geysen (1969) spent her youth in the media-world. Only 14, she already made articles for the youth-magazine “Imago” at VRT-Radio 1. She studied Communications and started her professional career in 1989 at the VRT. The first eight years, she worked as a reporter and later as editor-in-chief for VRT-Radio 2.

From 1997 until 1998, she worked for the Strategic Department at VRT-Television. She learned how to analyze and evaluate different television shows and program concepts. She got some practice as a presenter and interviewer in the show “Familiezaken”. 

In June 2000, Bettina Geysen became programme advisor at Canvas/Ketnet and already in August 2000 she became vice-netmanager. Two years later she was appointed netmanager for both Canvas and Ketnet.

In February 2003, after a request from the VRT-management, she became manager for Eén, where she realized the change from TV1 to Eén.

In July 2005, Bettina Geysen became netmanager for Ketnet as well. As from February 2006, Bettina Geysen is General Manager New Media and until March 2006, she combined this with the realisation of the innovation of Ketnet.

In February 2007, with the new organization structures, Bettina Geysen became Manager Market  Development / New Media.

Current post: Principal Administrator, Information, Computer and Communications Policy Division, OECD, Paris.

Current and recent responsibilities: Head of the Information Economy Group and programme director for OECD information technology, e business and industry programmes covering: E-business, information economy, intangibles and intellectual capital, new technologies, industrial performance, manufacturing flexibility, work organisation, industry globalisation.  Most recent policy programmes on: electronic business, information economy, intangibles, firm organisation and employment, new growth industries, strategic business services and the environment supply industry.

 Publications:   Author of numerous OECD publications and articles.  Presented papers at many international conferences on the information economy, technology strategies, sector developments and government policies.  Books on information technology, business services, environment industry, globalisation, advanced manufacturing technology, diffusion of microelectronics, technology and investment, modernising manufacturing, high‑tech industries and work organisation.  Extensively analysed electronics and automobile industries.

Education:  ‑ Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Adelaide, Australia (1972)‑ B.A. Economics (Honours), University of Melbourne, Australia (1982).

Now based in Paris, he is the newspaper's correspondent on technology and media.

Born on November 8th 1947 in Bonn (Beuel), married to Dr.-Ing. Albert Hieronymi with two childern: Tonia (1971), Philipp (1981).

1977                        M.A. History and Sociology

1978 – 1981              Head of department of the CDU-Headquarter Bonn

1975 – 1990              Member of the Council of the City of Bonn

1985 - 1999              Member of the State Parliament North Rhine Westphalia

since 1991                Member of the WDR broadcasting Council

since 1999                Member of the European Parliament

Committees on: Culture, Youth, Education, Media and Sport (Member) and Employment and Social Affairs (deputy Member) Spokeswoman for Media Policy for the group of the EPP-ED. President of the Intergroup on Audiovisual Policy of the European Parliament. Rapporteur of the European Parliament on the EU-programme MEDIA Plus/ MEDIA 2007-2013. Rapporteur of the European Parliament on the revision of the "TV without Frontiers" directive

Mr. Alan Bryden became Secretary-General of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on 1 March 2003. He is the Chief Executive Officer of the Organization which has its headquarters in Geneva. Before joining ISO, Mr. Bryden was Director General of the French national standards body, AFNOR; and between 1981 and 1999, he was Director General of the French national testing laboratory (LNE). During that period, he founded Eurolab (European Federation of Measurement, Testing and Analytical Laboratories) and served as its first President from 1990 to 1996. He also chaired the Laboratories Committee of ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation); and was Vice-President of the first Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade in GATT (now WTO). 

He began his career in metrology, notably with the USA's National Bureau of Standards (today the National Institute of Standards and Technology).

Mr. Bryden, who has also a strong background in the fields of quality and the rational use of energy, graduated in Paris from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1964 and the Ecole des Mines in 1969, and has a diploma in nuclear physics from the University of Orsay, France.

Mr. Akossi Akossi is the secretary General of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) since january 2004.  He is a national of Cote d’Ivoire. He is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications of Paris (France).

He is former Director General of Cote d’Ivoire Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ATCI) from 1995 - 1997.

In his 26 years as a telecommunications professional, he has acquired solid experience in management and in telecommunications network and services development strategy. He successfully steered the liberalization process of Cote d’Ivoire telecommunications sector and has contributed to the implementation of sectoral policies and innovative investment projects in several African countries. He is very knowledgeable on issues of African integration and the public-private partnership needed for the development of information and communication technologies in Africa.

Mr. Akossi’s agenda is to make the African Telecommunications Union a credible organization institutionally strong, financially sound and capable of meeting the needs and expectations of African people and winning the trust of all stakeholders and development partners of the information and communication technologies sector. His ambition is to carry out reforms within the African Telecommunications Union and reposition it on the basis of its Strategic Plan and to give fresher impetus to the organization by enabling it to achieve its goals and  be instrumental in the current social and economic progress by transforming itself into a PERFORMANCE-BOUND ORGANIZATION.

Since December 1, 2001, Philippe Petit is Deputy Director General of WIPO.

Previously, Philippe Petit was, from 1998 to 2001, Ambassador Permanent Representative of France to  United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva.

With degrees in law and political sciences, and studies at the National School of Administration (ENA), Philippe Petit had started his career in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Legal Affairs Department, where he was in charge of Economic and European Law.

First Secretary at the French Embassy in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, from 1971 to 1973, he then became Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of France to the European Communities in Brussels, in charge of development aid.

In Paris from 1978, he has been successively the Counsellor for International Affairs of the Ministry of Industry, the Deputy Head of the Policy Planning Staff in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then the Special Assistant of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, following particularly legal and international organizations matters.

Appointed Ambassador to Mauritius in 1985, he became in 1988 the Diplomatic Adviser to the French Prime Minister and participated until 1991 into all significant international meetings and negotiations.

Appointed Ambassador of France to India in 1991, he held this position, at the time of the economic opening of the country, until 1996.  He was next Ambassador of France to Sweden, then a new member country of the European Union, until his arrival to Geneva as Ambassador, Permanent Representative in 1998.

David Wood is Head of New Media for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Geneva, Switzerland. 

The EBU is the collective organisation for Europe’s 65 national broadcasters, and has a further 60 Associate Members from the rest of the world.  It acts in matters of common interest to its members in television, radio, and multimedia, in sports coverage, news coverage, music, drama, and documentary, and in legal and technical matters.

David has chaired new media coordination activities for the EU IST programme for many years, and chaired several Working Groups in the ITU.  He is particularly interested in the future success of radio as a media form in the new media environment, and in the evolution of audio components of television.

David was educated at Southampton University in the UK, the UNIIRT in Odessa, and the Harvard Business School, in the United States.   He worked for the BBC and the IBA in the UK before joining the EBU. 

Diana Korsakaite was awarded the Master degree in Business management and administration by the Vilnius University in 1999. Now she continues her studies as a doctoral student at the Kaunas University of Technology. Till 2004, Ms. Korsakaite worked as a professor’s assistant in Vilnius University, lecturing courses on business management and strategy management.  

In June 2002 Ms. Korsakaite joined the newly established Communications Regulatory Authority as a Chief Specialist of Telecommunications Regulation Division. For five years she has been working within the telecommunications regulation domain and dealing with different issues of market regulation and regulatory policy from economic point of view. Along to the scope of activities and responsibilities constantly increasing, her position within the Authority has been changing gradually. Since February 2007, Ms. Korsakaite is the deputy director of the Communications Regulatory Authority, coordinating the strategy, law and international activities within the authority.

Ms. Korsakaite has participated in all the major international events related to ICT over the last three years, including the WSIS Tunis process, ITU conferences, IGF, etc.  

Ms. Korsakaite is the author and co-author of 25 publications on ICT market regulation and development in national and international

Biography of Mr. Michael Bartholomew

Information is not currently available. 

Joanna Wrona – since April 2007 works as a Seconded National Expert – Policy Officer in the European Commission Directorate General for Information Society and Media, where she deals with the issue of digital switchover and the review of the AVMS Directive. Before, since 2002 she was the Head of Consumer Policy Department in the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection in Warsaw (Poland). She obtained a Master in Law degree from the University of Marie Curie Sklodowska in Lublin, Poland (1998) and Master of European Studies degree from the College of Europe, Natolin (1999). For the last years involved in a Phd research on surreptitious advertising (Lancaster University - UK).

Dr. Tracy Cohen is a Councillor on the Council of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). She began her 4 year term in July 2004. She has held various research and academic  posts at the LINK Centre, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, Wits University; Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI), Columbia University; the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy, the University of Toronto and the Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has also worked as a regulatory consultant for domestic and international organizations, including the International Telecommunication Union and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization. Dr. Cohen has an honorary adjunct appointment at the LINK Centre and the Wits Law School and sits on the editorial board for the South African Journal of Information and Communication.

Danyel Molenaar (age 35) is the head of the internet safety team of the indepent post and telecom autority (OPTA) in the Netherlands. He has set up this team 3 years ago, when the new legislation on internet safety came into force in the Telecommunications act in the Netherlands. Before this, Danyel was a senior legal adviser for OPTA, specialised in law enforcement and dispute resolution between operators, since 2001. After graduating from University in 1994, Danyel worked as a teacher at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and as a legal adviser for the Council of State in the Netherlands until 2001.  

Antonio Schuh is Director of Content Strategy, Planning and Analysis at Telefónica’s corporate content group. In that capacity, he oversees business planning, alliances and content profitability analysis for the content-related initiatives in Internet, TV and mobile of Telefónica’s 28 markets. Before his current position, he was director of business development for TV at Telefónica’s Latin American operations. Prior to joining Telefónica, Antonio was a management consultant, working at DiamondCluster (Principal) and Arthur D. Little (Manager) in strategy assessments, turnarounds and new product launches for telecom and media companies, with emphasis in supporting start-up operations. As a consultant, he worked in more than 10 countries. He began his career as an executive in finance and operations a leading diversified media conglomerate. He holds a BSc in Computer Science, a BA in Communications, a MA (with distinction) in Management of Communication Firms from the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Southern California and a PhD (ABD) in Innovation Management from the University of Manchester.

Lorenzo Maria Pupillo is  an Executive Director in the Public Affairs, Public Strategies, Unit of Telecom Italia  and Affiliated Researcher at Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. He designs and manages, at corporate level, regulatory and policy strategies for the Italian and European markets on issues such as  NGN development, network functional separation and new media policy. He is an economist by training and has worked in many areas of telecommunications demand and regulatory analysis, publishing papers in applied econometrics and industrial organization. He has also been Advisor to the Global Information and Communication Technologies Department of the World Bank in Washington. Before joining Telecom Italia in 1992, he was member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey.  He earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. from University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from Instituto Adriano Olivetti in Ancona Italy and a MS in Mathematics from Universita La Sapienza  in Rome

Tomas Lamanauskas is the Deputy General Director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the Kingdom of Bahrain (TRA).

Tomas Lamanauskas was awarded the Master of Laws degree by the University of Vilnius (Lithuania). Since 2002 he continues his studies as a PhD student at the same University.

Between 1999 and 2001 Tomas Lamanauskas worked as a legal adviser for UAB “Lietuvos telekomo verslo sprendimai” (Lithuanian Telecom’s Business Solutions – subsidiary of the Lithuanian incumbent operator). In 2001 he joined the newly created Lithuanian Communications Regulatory Authority (RRT) as the head of the Legal Division. Between 2004 and February, 2007 Mr. Lamanauskas was a deputy director of the RRT. From November, 2005 to February, 2007 Tomas Lamanauskas was also a member of the Council of the RRT, appointed by the President of the Republic on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania. In February, 2007 Mr. Lamanauskas was appointed to the post of the Deputy General Director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Tomas Lamanauskas made 56 presentations in various conferences as well as published 16 articles in the field of ICT. He is also the co-author of the books “Information technology law”, “Electronic communications law“, and “Information Society Law”. From 2002 to January, 2007 Tomas Lamanauskas lectured courses related to information technology and telecommunications law in various subsidiaries of Vilnius University.

Md Shahid Uddin Akbar, born on August 4, 1970 at Chittagong, Bangladesh completed his Masters in Finance and Banking, Mr. Akbar joined a private commercial bank and served as Credit Officer for 8 eight years.

During working in Bank, Mr. Akbar volunteered in various ICT4D initiatives. In 2000, Mr. Akbar established a voluntary organization titled ICT for Development Program Bangladesh (ICTDPB) to bring the benefits of ICT in the rural areas. He contributed in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) at national and international level.

Mr. Akbar is now working as ICT Consultant in SwissContact/KATALYST, Bangladesh. KATALYST is a multi donor funded project promoting competitiveness of small and medium enterprises and addressing the ‘information failure’ of rural areas. KATALYST is implementing ICT4D projects to bridge the gap with special focus to farmer, rural business and livelihood as a whole. Under this project, new business model for establishing Telecenter (Rural ICT Center) in rural areas has been developed to serve the rural communities in a sustainable and commercially viable model.

Mr. Akbar is also serving as the Coordinator for SEBA (Society for Economic and Basic Advancement), a local NGO working as Partner of GrameenPhone, the leading mobile operator of Bangladesh and rolling out Community Information Center (CIC) in rural areas to serve the poor communities of the society through business.

Mr. Akbar also involved with Junior Chamber International, Internet Society and Diplo Foundation activities.

Viviana Munoz (BA International Relations, MSc Development Management - London School of Economics) is a Programme Officer at the South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing countries based in Geneva, Switzerland. Viviana undertakes research and assists the policy analysis, policy advice, capacity building and training activities of the Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme of the Centre to support the development, coordinated use, and or improvement of the capacities of developing countries and their institutions to integrate the development dimension into their policies on innovation, access to knowledge, and intellectual property. Previously, Viviana worked at Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, University of London, as an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) research assistant. Viviana has also worked as an independent consultant.

Her recent works include A Development Analysis of the Proposed WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting and Cablecasting Organisations, Research Paper 9, South Centre, January 2007, (with Waitara C).  

Huw Williams is Head of Innovation & Research for the BBC - ensuring the research function delivers the technological innovation required by the BBC as it moves forward. Previously, he has been Head of Technology for both BBC Television and News concentrating on technological innovation. As Head of New Media Development for BBC Radio & Music, he set up the Technical and Design teams that developed the BBC Radio web sites. Before the BBC, Huw founded a number of New Media companies developing web based solutions, interactive TV software and consultancy for a range of media clients.

Graduated from Dept of Electronic Engineering 92, Reading University, UK.

Worked at "Symbol Technologies" European Repair Center 92, UK.

Dbase Management at Population Unit – Arab league, 93 Cairo

Training At ITU, 94 Geneva

Technical Support of Minisis Systems Dbases, Information Documentation Center, Arab league/IDRC 96-2000, Cairo

Official Arab League Web site content management, Information sector including design and management and instantaneous upload of  Arab Summit events (2001-2005).

Structure of Arab Women Org. Dbase and official web site content management.

Member of the Arab preparation team for WSIS  Tunis phase

Participation in  all Org. technical projects presented for the WSIS.

Presented a session at the WSIS Parallel events tunis2005 about Arab women survey studies.

Completed the projects proposed by the Org. for WSIS Action Line C3, Access to Information and Knowledge.