ITU Session on “Digital Partnerships for a Sustainable and Resilient Recovery from COVID-19” @ UN HLPF on Sustainable Development 2021. Speakers

Ms. Carla Montesi is currently Director at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA – former DG DEVCO). She is responsible for the Directorate “Green Deal and Digital Agenda”, which covers policy areas such as climate change, environment, sustainable energy, agri-food systems and transport, technology and digitalisation. In the former DG DEVCO, Carla was Director for Directorate “Planet and Prosperity” from September 2018 to mid-January 2021. Before that (2014-2018) she was Director for Western and Central Africa. Prior to 2014, she was Director at the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. Initially responsible for fisheries conservation, control and structural actions for the Mediterranean and Black Sea, she has piloted maritime policy as well as fisheries and funding for the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Landlocked Member States. Mrs Montesi's earlier career encompassed diverse responsibilities in the field of EU external policy for development and cooperation both at Headquarters and in EU Delegations in Africa, as well as experience in the Cabinet of EU Commissioner Emma Bonino for External Policy and Humanitarian Affairs. Formerly a lawyer in Italy who specialised in European affairs at the College of Europe in Bruges.

 

H. E. Dr. Ahmedin Mohammed is a State Minister at the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Innovation and Technology since June 2019. He obtained leadership and professional diploma from Florida International University, Miami, USA in 2018. Dr. Ahmedin has PhD Degree in Computer Science from Dalian University of Technology in 2015. His research area includes Mobile Social Computing, Data Management Algorithm, Big-data Analytics, Cloud Computing and IoT. He authored/co-authored 20+ articles in International reputable journals and conference proceedings. He is a certified project manager, IT service specialist, logistics & supplies chain manager, digital identity professional and higher education leader, public manager. He was previously working as an Assistant Professor at Kombolcha Institute of Technology - Wollo University. Dr. Ahmedin is a member of IEEE and PMI since 2012 and 2017, respectively. Currently, he is interested in digital economy, innovation, and future technologies such as AI, blockchain, cyber security, deep learning, etc.

Ms. Nele Leosk is the Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonia. She is responsible for the development and coordination of digital diplomacy. Previously, she acted as the Executive Director of IGL, a research and consulting company specializing in digital governance and as the Programme Director at e-Governance Academy. In these capacities, she has advised and promoted the use of digital technologies in central, regional, and national governments in more than forty countries. She has experienced the life of international and inter-governmental organisations such as the UNDP, UNU-eGOV, and OECD but also academia. Nele holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute (EUI), Italy. She is a former Fulbright-Schuman grantee at the National Centre for Digital Government at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and at the Governance Lab at New York University, USA. She lecturers in the Institute of Digital Technologies at Tallinn University. 

Ms. Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven was born in 1960 in Setterich, Germany. She studied economics and political science at Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany, and Paris IX Dauphine University in France. After graduating, she worked as a research assistant at the Chair for Development Economics. She then went on to complete postgraduate studies at the German Development Institute in Berlin. From 1986 to 1990, she was responsible for bilateral development cooperation with Zambia, Mozambique and Swaziland as a desk officer at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Between 1990 and 1995, she worked for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, initially as a government advisor to the National Planning Secretariat and the Finance Ministry in Guatemala and later as a planning officer at the Economic and Social Policy, Legal Affairs and Public Administration Division at GTZ Head Office in Eschborn, Germany. She then returned to BMZ, where she held a number of different positions. In 1999, she was appointed Head of the Environment Division and became a board member of the Global Environment Facility. From 2003 onwards, as head of the ‘Planning and principles of cooperation with countries and regions’ directorate, she addressed central reform processes in bilateral development cooperation and the repositioning of the development cooperation portfolios in emerging economies. She was also commissioner for Latin America during this time. Three years later, she was appointed Director-General for ‘Bilateral development cooperation with Asia and Latin America, United Nations, peace-building, human rights, good governance’. Between 2010 and 2014 she represented the German Government as Executive Director in the World Bank Group. In this role she helped to embed climate action and sustainability goals within the new World Bank reform process. She then rejoined BMZ, initially as commissioner for climate policy and finance and later as Director-General for Global Issues, focusing in particular on displacement and migration, governance, climate change mitigation and sustainability. In this position she represented BMZ on the management bodies of the Global Fund (GFATM), the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), the Green Climate Fund and the Global Center on Adaptation. Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven is a member of the advisory boards of the Development and Peace Foundation (sef:) and the Insurance Development Forum. Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven is married with one son and lives with her family in Bonn.​

Ms. Buddy​ Buruku as a Senior Financial Sector Specialist to the Financial Inclusion and Consumer Protection Team. Prior to this assignment, Buddy led CGAP's work driving the development of digital financial services in Ghana. She also led an initiative at the World Cocoa Foundation supporting their member companies to shift cocoa payments from cash to digital form. Finally, she has experience in public financial management reform and big data analytics in financial services. Buddy has a Master’s degree in Business Management from the Wharton School (UPenn), a Master's certificate from the Johns Hopkins Nanjing Center, and a Bachelor’s in East Asian studies from Haverford College. Apart from English, she also speaks Mandarin, French, Spanish, Swahili and Portuguese.

Mr. Lucas Gallitto. As Public Policy Director for Latin America, Lucas is responsible for developing, adapting and executing GSMA´s advocacy activities in the Region, including securing critical spectrum resources for mobile, promoting best practice in areas such as regulation, taxation, security and privacy, as well as fostering digital empowerment for citizens. He represents GSMA in international forums, meetings and events, engaging with Governments, International Organizations, Operators and different other players in the ecosystem. With over 15 years of experience in the telecoms industry, before joining the GSMA, Lucas held different management positions in High Tech companies such as Ericsson, Nokia and the Satellite Industry. He holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Universidad Torcuato di Tella (UTDT), an Specialization in Telecommunications Management from Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires (ITBA) and has a degree in Telecommunications Engineering.