Speakers

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Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU

Dr Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava took office as Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 1 January 2023.

With more than 30 years in telecommunications, including over 20 years in ITU's Development Sector, Dr Zavazava has promoted and implemented impactful information and communication technology projects around the world.

Prior to his election as BDT Director, he served as ITU's Chief of Partnerships for Digital Development, overseeing development-related projects, strategic partnerships, and resource mobilization between 2019 and 2022, while launching new initiatives that have boosted the engagement of industry, private-sector and academia members in ITU's work.​

Vanessa Gray is the Head of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau's (BDT) Division on Climate Change and Emergency Telecommunications. She is responsible for developing and overseeing projects and technical assistance on disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. This includes the development of national emergency telecommunication plans (NETPs) and the organization of regional and national workshops and capacity building exercises for disaster management. In the area of disaster response, Ms Gray leads the work on the Disaster Connectivity Maps (DCM) and the deployment of emergency telecommunication equipment to countries hit by disasters. Ms Gray is the ITU focal point for the UN's Early Warning for All (EW4all) initiative and coordinates the initiative's pillar on Warning Dissemination and Communication, to ensure that alerts reach people at risk. She is also responsible for the organization of the Global Forum on Emergency Telecommunication (GET) and specific ICT for disaster management tools and publications, for example in the area of disruptive technologies, gender, and ICT drills.

In the area of the environment, Ms Gray coordinates the BDT's work on the circular economy and green digital transformation, which includes monitoring industry emissions, energy use and climate commitments from tech companies, and supporting countries in tracking ICT sector GHG emissions. In the area of circular economy, Ms Gray manages the work on e-waste policies and data, which includes the publication of the Global and Regional E-waste Monitors. Her role is to build public-private partnerships, develop projects and strengthen the role of the BDT in terms of e-waste coordination, for example with the E-waste Coalition, the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership, and with the private sector. 

Prior to this position, Ms Gray was part of the ITU's Data and Statistics Division and contributed to the design and preparation of the Division's analytical publications, including the Measuring the Information Society Report (MISR). She also contributed to and coordinated the analysis of information society developments, organized ICT-related meetings, and delivered national and regional trainings and workshops on ICT statistics to ITU member states. Ms Gray holds a Master's degree in Political Science and Economics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

 


Mr. Michael Minges, Research Lead, SDG2000, World Benchmarking Alliance

Michael is the SDG200 Research Lead, guiding the methodology, evaluation and ranking of digital companies. His experience includes consultancy assignments with international intergovernmental organizations, benchmarking countries in areas such as digital development, e-government and e-commerce. He previously worked at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) heading the market research unit. He also worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a computer analyst. He has authored numerous reports on digital development and has an MBA in Information Systems Technology from George Washington University in Washington DC.

 

Mr. Anthony (Tony) Darcy, Director of ESG Stakeholder Engagement and Enablement, Nokia
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Tony is passionate about sustainability, and the critical role of digitalization in helping resolve many challenges faced by humanity and the planet. Collaboration is a key to recognizing opportunity and dealing with risk. Tony has worked in the current global role for 7 years overseeing ESG reporting, stakeholder engagement and enablement, and social impact programs. He has worked at Nokia for 27 years in different roles.

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Mr. George Kamiya, Senior Manager, Climate Action, GSMA

George Kamiya is the Senior Manager of Climate Action at the GSMA, providing strategic advice and analysis on energy, climate, and circular economy to support the mobile industry's transition to net zero by 2050. Prior to joining the GSMA in 2023, he worked for the International Energy Agency (IEA/OECD) for eight years, leading the agency's analysis on digitalisation, critical minerals demand, new mobility, and tracking clean energy progress. He has also worked on environmental management and policy at Health Canada, Environment Canada, and the Vancouver Airport Authority.

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Ms. Lucía Monforte Guillot, Environmental Lead, Telefónica

Lucía Monforte is a senior environmental specialist, with over 15 years of experience in environmental sustainability. She has worked on issues related to environmental management systems, environmental legislation, environmental training, environmental and sustainability reporting and calculation of the organisation's carbon footprint and has participated in external environmental and sustainability working groups.

She currently works in the Global Sustainability Office (ESG) of Telefónica, helping to define corporate environmental strategies, such as the Climate Action Plan, the carbon offsetting plan, the biodiversity strategy or the definition of an internal carbon price; she also participates in the ESG reporting of Telefónica and in the responses to investors and analysts.

She holds a degree in agricultural engineering and her educational background includes a Master’s degree in Business Environmental Management and a Diploma in Sustainable Transformation.​

Ms. Sandrine Elmi Hersi, Sustainability Working Group Co-Chair, BEREC

Sandrine Elmi Hersi is co-chairing the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications’ (BEREC) Sustainability Working Group since September 2021. She currently works as Head of the Open Internet Unit at the French National Authority (Arcep) leading activities regarding net neutrality regulation, data interconnection as well as related to the environmental sustainability of digital players. She previously worked as a European affairs officer in ARCEP and at the French National Assembly, mainly on digital and sustainability regulations. She has a Master in Public Administration from Sciences Po, the Institute of Political Studies in Paris.

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Ms. Pernilla Bergmark, Research Lead, Financial System Benchmark, World Benchmarking Alliance

Pernilla Bergmark is the Research Lead for the Financial System Benchmark at World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA). In this role, she is responsible for the development of high-quality benchmarks and insights focused on the sustainability impacts of the finance sector. Besides her role in WBA, Pernilla Bergmark is a research fellow at Exponential Roadmap Initiative and a board member of research programs.

Before joining WBA, Pernilla Bergmark worked as the principal researcher for ICT sustainability impacts at Ericsson, where she conducted peer-reviewed research and led standardization of methodologies for assessing environmental impacts of products and organizations. Her ITU background spans over more than a decade as active in ITU-T SG5, for several years active as co-rapporteur for Q9 and Q18 focusing on assessment methods for climate, materials efficiency and biodiversity impacts. As a standardiser she has also contributed to such as SBTi´s ICT sectoral decarbonization approach and ISO Net Zero guidelines.

 

Ms. Lourdes Montenegro, Research and Digitalisation Director, World Benchmarking Alliance

Lourdes O. Montenegro is Director of Research and Digitisation at the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA). In this role, she leads on the research and digitisation strategy for the organisation, to deliver globally inclusive frameworks, quality data, and impactful insights across all benchmarks from climate to finance. Previously, Lourdes led the strategy for WBA's digital sector transformation work since inception, including the development of a framework for the Digital Inclusion Benchmark which now assesses 200 of the world's most influential digital technology companies. Before joining WBA, she worked as an economist at the Statistics Division of the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Lourdes was trained and working as an academic environmental economist before shifting focus towards technology and telecommunications policy. She has almost two decades of experience delivering data-driven and policy-oriented projects for industry clients, UN agencies and governments. Lourdes hails from the island of Cebu in the Philippines.

 


Dr. Rosie McDonald, Climate Change Officer, BDT, ITU

Rosie McDonald is a Climate Change Officer within the ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau. She supports ITU's efforts in green digital transformation by providing research, tools and capacity building to address environmental challenges related to climate change and e-waste. Her work focuses on monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and climate commitments of the ICT industry, and e-waste data and statistics capacity building under the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP). Prior to ITU, she worked in the science and technical branch of the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions, and was also a modeller for the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector of the UK national greenhouse gas inventory. Within a higher education setting, she has experience of working in STEM outreach and teaching environmental statistics and GIS. She holds a PhD in Environment Sciences from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and an MSc in Environmental Protection and Management from The University of Edinburgh (UK).

 
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Mr. Seth Ayers, Senior Digital Development Specialist, The World Bank

Seth is the Global Lead for the Green Digital Business Line in the Digital Transformation Vice-Presidency at the World Bank.  The Business Line aims to reduce the environmental footprint and strengthen the resilience of digital infrastructure, as well as leverage digital technologies for climate action. Previously, Seth worked on digital identification and civil registration systems with the World Bank's ID4D Initiative, which supports over 50 countries and informs more than $2 billion in financing.  Before joining the World Bank, Seth was the Standards Program Manager for IDEMA, a trade organization representing the $35 billion disk drive industry. 

 

 

Dr. Hinrich Thölken, Executive Vice President, Sustainability Lead Northern and Central Europe, Capgemini

Ambassador Dr. Hinrich Thölken is Executive Vice President at Capgemini and Sustainability Lead for Northern and Central Europe. He also leads Capgemini’s cooperation with the United Nations.

Hinrich joined Capgemini as Vice President Global Public Sector in October 2022. Previously he served as Special Advisor and Director for International Climate and Energy Policy holding the rank of Ambassador. Previously he served from 2018 to 2020 as Germany’s first Digital Ambassador.
In his diplomatic career he also served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Organizations in Rome. His other foreign postings include Paris, Washington D.C., Windhoek and Kinshasa.  From 2010 to 2015 he led Germany’s initiatives on the implications of Climate Change and enhanced competition for natural resources on Foreign and Security Policy. He also served as head of communication and media relations for the Helmholtz Association, Germany’s largest research organization.

Hinrich Thoelken studied medicine in Heidelberg/Germany and in London/United Kingdom and holds a Medical Degree (M.D.) of the University of Heidelberg. He is a member of the WFP Innovation accelerator Advisory Board and a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader. 

 
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Ms. Anne-Laure Durand, Head of Market Observatories Unit, ARCEP

Ms Anne-Laure Durand is the head of the Market Observatory Unit at France's Electronic Communications, Postal and Print media distribution Regulatory Authority. She has an extensive experience in the production and publication of statistics on the electronic communications market. Since 2020, she has been responsible for the collection and publication of environmental indicators in the digital sector.

 

Ms. Isabel O'Brien, Freelance Journalist

Isabel is a freelance journalist currently serving as the editor of Value Add. She also contributes to outlets such as The Guardian, France Today, and more. 

She served as a reporter at PEI Group, covering the Americas beat for Infrastructure Investor, with her work regularly appearing in sister publications such as New Private Markets and Secondaries Investor.

She is also the co-founder of the Association of Women in Business Journalism and a graduate of the Dual BA Program between Columbia University and Sciences Po Paris.​