Houlin Zhao, Deputy Secretary-General, ITU
Houlin Zhao was elected ITU Deputy Secretary-General at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2006 (PP-2006) and re-elected for a second four-year term at PP-2010. Prior to the position of Deputy Secretary-General, he served as Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) from 1999-2006, first elected at PP-98 and re-elected at PP-2002. From 1986 to 1992, Mr Zhao was a senior staff member in the then CCITT, and from 1993-1998 in TSB. Prior to joining ITU, Mr Zhao served as an engineer in the Designing Institute of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of China. He contributed important articles to a number of prestigious Chinese technical publications, and in 1985 was awarded a prize for his achievements in science and technology within the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Born in 1950 in Jiangsu, China, Mr Zhao graduated from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China, and holds an MSc in Telematics from the University of Essex in the UK.
Brahima Sanou, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU
Mr Brahima Sanou has been Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) since 2011. In October 2014 he was elected to a second four-year term. As BDT Director, he has led key initiatives, like for instance the m-Powering Development Initiative, to deliver improved services such as healthcare, education and business over mobile platforms; and the Smart Sustainable Development Model initiative, focused on optimizing resources for sustainable development and disaster management. Mr Sanou draws on over thirty years of experience in the ICT sector at national and international level. As Head of ITU Regional Office for Africa and Liaison Officer to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) from 2000 - 2010, he worked to foster the growth of mobile telecommunications across the continent. From 1997 to 2000, he worked as coordinator of the African regional project on telecommunications reform and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). He began his professional career in his native Burkina Faso, where he held several high-level positions in the Posts and Telecommunications services. Mr Sanou holds a degree in Engineering from the
Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST) in Paris, and a post-graduate diploma from the Centre for Financial, Economic and Banking Studies in Paris.
Vakhtang Abashidze, Chairperson of the Commission, Georgian Communications Commission
Mr Vakhtang Abashidze, Chairman of Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC), has been re-elected for the second three-year term in May 2014. Mr Abashidze was the first Chairman of GNCC, from 2000 to 2004, and led the process of creation of the regulatory commission, establishment of regulatory environment and various reforms implemented in the info-communication sector of Georgia. With active involvement of local experts and assistance of international institutions, such as the World Bank, EBRD and USAID, the basement for the rules of the game was laid. The legal framework, including, but not limited to the interconnection charter, licensing rules and the Law on Electronic Communications, was adopted. Reforms and market liberalization measures implemented by the Regulatory Commission have facilitated dynamic growth of the sector in Georgia, securing the country’s leading role in the region. Mr Abashidze also has an extensive experience both in public and private sectors, as chief editor at various newspapers and director of news agency from 1983 to 1995, Head of Press Service of the President of Georgia, from 1995 to 2000, and Head of Tendering Board and Carriers’ Department at Silknet (leading Internet, IPTV and telephony provider in Georgia) from 2010-2014, where he led major international partnership development projects, as well as the establishment of essential procurement procedures and processes.
Dimitry Kumsishvili, First Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Georgia and Chair of WTIS
Mr Dimitry Kumsishvili is the First Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia since October 2012. During this period, he laid the ground for many important projects. From 1995 to 2012, before his appointment as First Deputy Minister, he worked as chairman of the Supervisory Board in Rational Solutions Ltd, Director in Startup and Innovative Business Investment Fund, Business Development Director in Palitra Media Holding, First Deputy General Director in Cartu Bank, Member of the Supervisory Board in the Tbilisi Interbank Currency Exchange, Member of the Supervisory Board in Global Contact Consulting Ltd, Head of Treasury Department in Cartu Bank, etc. He received a Master of Business Administration from Cerma Management School and graduated from the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Faculty of Economics.
Cosmas Zavazava, Chief of Department, Project Support and Knowledge Management, ITU/BDT
Cosmas Zavazava works in the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the ITU. Since 2001, Cosmas Zavazava has been passionately designing and implementing projects in favor of countries emerging out of war situations and disasters. He has a track record in resource mobilization and has been involved and participated in many disaster-affected countries deploying and restoring telecommunication networks with the most recent ones being in Haiti, Japan, Uganda, and Philippines. He has also designed National Emergency Telecommunication Plans integrating climate change impacts, and early warning systems:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o1N2bS5JnQ. He is currently focusing on how to effectively address the threat of the ebola disease with information and communication technologies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhZ8mrqzbLQ. He has spoken at many international conferences with the most recent being the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries that was held in Istanbul, Turkey in May 2011, and the Third United Nations Conference on Small Island Developing States held in Apia, Samoa in August 2014. Cosmas Zavazava played a leading role at the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference that was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in March –April 2014:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRXiUIVQ_BU. Cosmas Zavazava is committed to help integrate all countries into the world economy using ICTs. Dr. Cosmas Zavazava: PhD, LLM in Telecommunication and Information Technology, MA (summa cum laude), MBA, BBA, Dipl. Telecommunications and Systems Engineering.
Richard Heeks, Director, Centre for Development Informatics, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Richard Heeks is Chair in Development Informatics at the Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester; and Director of the Centre for Development Informatics. He has been consulting and researching on ICTs and development for more than 30 years. His book publications include India's Software Industry (1996), Reinventing Government in the Information Age (1999), Implementing and Managing eGovernment (2006), and ICTs, Climate Change and Development (2012). His research interests are “development 2.0”, informatics and innovation, e-resilience and e-sustainability, the development of the data revolution, and digital enterprise. He has a PhD in Indian IT industry development, directs the MSc programme in ICTs for Development, and runs the ICT for Development blog.
Azzam Sleit, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Jordan
Mr Azzam Sleit is the Minister of ICT in Jordan since 2013. Dr Sleit is also professor of computer science at the University of Jordan, where he worked as the Assistant President and Director of the Computer Center from 2007 through 2009. Before joining the University of Jordan in 2005, Dr. Sleit was the Chief Information Officer at Hamad Medical/Ministry of Public Health. Dr. Sleit has over twenty years of experience and leadership in the information technology field. In the private sector, he worked as Vice President of Strategic Group & Director of Professional Services of Triada, USA; served as the Regional Manager of Professional Services at Information Builders, USA; and was in charge of MetSource, a strategic unit of Metlife. Dr. Sleit has participated in research activities related to cloud computing, imaging databases, data mining, health and management information systems and software engineering. He has authored and published more than sixty-five refereed research papers. Since 1987, Dr. Sleit has taught computer science at various universities in the United States and Middle East. Dr. Sleit holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science. He received his Ph.D., also in Computer Science, from Wayne State University, USA.
Stanley Simataa, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Namibia
Mr Stanley Simataa is the Deputy Minister of ICT in Namibia since 2010. He began his career in the education field, where he served as a Teacher, Head of Department, Principal and Subject Advisory Teacher from 1980 to 1990. He later joined the Ministry of Home Affairs where he served as a Personal Assistant to the Minister from 1990 to 1996. In 1996, he joined the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and was soon appointed Deputy Director for Administration and Craft. He served in this position until 1998, when he was promoted to the position of Director in the office of the Speaker of the National Assembly. He later worked as Director for General Services in the same office, where he served until 2001. In May 2001, Mr Simataa was appointed Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and served there until 2007, when he was designated Executive Director at the National Council for Higher Education.
Nagwa Ebrahim Elshenawy, Undersecretary for Information and Strategic Planning, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Egypt
Dr ElShenawi is currently working as Undersecretary for Information and Strategic Planning at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT). She is also chairing the e-commerce committee formulated by MCIT’s Minister. She has extensive experience in formulating statistics, studies, policies and strategies related to the ICT sector. She contributed in formulating Egypt’s ICT Strategy 2013-2017. She is member in different expert groups and committees formed by International organizations that are concerned with ICT policies and measurements i.e. ITU, OECD, UNCTAD and ESCWA. Dr ElShenawi holds a Doctorate of Business Administration from Maastricht School of Management in Netherlands. She also graduated from Harvard Business School.
Eusébio Saíde, Deputy Minister for Transport and Communications, Mozambique
Since May 2010, HE Eusébio Saíde is the Deputy Minister for Transport and Communications of the Republic of Mozambique. Before, His Excellency was the National Director of State Patrimony. From 1994 to 2004, His Excellency Saíde served as Provincial Director for Planning and Finance in Zambézia Province, where he acted also as Provincial Coordinator of FUNUAP’s Pilot Program of Population; President of the 2nd General Census of Population and Housing and Delegate of National Institute of Social Affairs in Zambézia Province. His Excellency Eusébio Saíde begun his studies on his local village in Mocuba. In 1981 he joined the public sector, and his professional carrier started in 1984, at the former Provincial Planning Commission, as Planning Officer. His Excellency holds a Master’s Degree in economy from the University of Havana, Cuba. His Excellency Eusébio Saíde was born in 1964, in the Mocuba district, Zambézia province, in the Republic of Mozambique.
Juma Stephen Lugga Lemi, Undersecretary, Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services, South Sudan
Mr Juma Stephen Lugga Lemi holds the position of Undersecretary in the Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services of the Republic of South Sudan. Before his appointment as Undersecretary, he worked for Sudatel Company, in Sudan, as Manager for Access Network Project Unit and Planning. He participated and attended a number of workshops, seminars and symposiums in the related field of Telecommunication and ICT. Before the independence of South Sudan, Mr Lemi was a member of the Board of Directors of the Sudan National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC, the Sudanese regulator). Mr Lemi holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Electronic from the Sudan University for Science and Technology.
Pali Lehohla, Statistician General, South Africa
Pali Lehohla is the Statistician General of South Africa since 2000. He is the Chair of Africa Symposium for Statistical Development, the Chair for the Sub-Group on Harmonization of Statistics in Africa and he is a member of the UN Secretary General Independent Expert Advisory Group on Data Revolution. From 2005 to 2013, he served in a variety of international functions: Chair of the United Nations Statistics Commission, Chair of Statistics Commission Africa and Chair of PARIS21 as well as Vice President of the ISI. He has extensive experience as an advisor to in-conflict, post-conflict and fragile political environments. He was Chief Advisor to the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee of the 2008 Population and Housing Census of Sudan, which was part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005. In addition, he undertook a Population Census readiness mission in Afghanistan in 2008 and another in Iraq in 2009, and served as a UN envoy to the Census of Cambodia in 1998. Mr Lehohla holds a double major in Statistics and Economics from the National University of Lesotho. He holds a postgraduate degree in demography from the United Nations Regional Institute for Population Studies at the University of Ghana, and a Senior Executive Programme jointly awarded by Wits and Harvard University.
Special Advisor on Post 2015 Development Agenda, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
Aida Opoku-Mensah is Special Adviser on the Post-2015 Development Agenda at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Her duties include working with the African Union on the Common Africa Position on Post-2015. She was previously the Director of the ICT, Science and Technology Division of UNECA. In that capacity, she led initiatives such as UNECA's African Information Society Initiative to support African countries to develop and implement national ICT4D policies and strategies; and the Technology in Government in Africa Awards to encourage African Governments’ use of technology for development. She was one of the co-architects of the Innovation Prize for Africa Award. She has written extensively on ICT and innovation for development in Africa and has 20+ years of experience in the field. Aida holds a PhD from the University of Leeds, a Master’s Degree on Communication Policy from the City University in London, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Ghana. She received the Geospatial World Leadership Award in 2012, and the ‘2012 Africa Female Diplomat of the Year’ Award.
Nisha Pillai, Journalist and Facilitator
Nisha Pillai is an accomplished former news presenter with BBC World News who now specialises in moderating Panel Discussions and High Level Dialogues. She has worked closely with several UN agencies, with scientific institutes such as CERN, and with industry events and conferences in the Finance, IT and Energy sectors. Nisha’s 25 year career at the BBC culminated as one of the main news anchors at BBC World News, where she reported extensively during the 9/11 attacks and the Iraq war. She was also one of the first regular interviewers on Hard Talk. As an award-winning investigative journalist at
Panorama, the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, Nisha had notable investigations to her name. She was awarded the Royal Television Society’s Award for her investigation into the late Robert Maxwell, which was broadcast a month before his death. Nisha cut her teeth as a financial journalist at the Investors Chronicle and on the BBC’s Money Programme. She read economics at the London School of Economics and was a graduate trainee at Schroders.
Reg Brennenraedts, Partner and Senior Consultant, Dialogic
Reg Brennenraedts is an experienced researcher and consultant in the field of telecommunications and information strategy at the Dutch research consultancy Dialogic Innovation & Interaction. Specific topics of his interest include NGA networks, Wi-Fi, Internet policy, Big Data and innovative ways of data collection. Within these topics, he mainly performs analyses in the areas of strategy, policy, forecasting, partnering and finance. In addition to these activities, Reg is interested and active in the field of innovation policy. In the past decade Reg has successfully completed over 100 projects. Especially the Dutch public sector makes great use of his knowledge and expertise. Reg also worked for international organizations such as the World Bank, OECD, the European Commission and the Conference Board.
Ronald Jansen, Chief, Trade Statistics Branch, United Nations Statistics Division
Ronald Jansen is part of the senior management team of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) since 2010, as Chief of the Trade Statistics Branch. He is leading the thematic area of measurement of international trade and economic globalization, including tourism statistics, and his branch maintains the UN Comtrade database. He represents UNSD in a number of intergovernmental bodies dealing with topics such as international trade and economic globalization, integrated business and international statistics, the classification of broad economic categories, statistical business registers and tourism statistics. Recently he took co-responsibility for leading the Division’s work on the use of Big Data for official statistics, which is one of the pillars in the Data Revolution for the post-2015 development agenda. Ronald joined UNSD in 1990 and worked mostly in the field of international trade statistics, serving a few years as chief of the capacity development section. He holds a PhD in mathematical modelling of human information processing from the University of Nijmegen, and he previously graduated in Statistics and Psychology at the University of Groningen.
Gerrit Wassink, Team manager , Culture, Tourism and Technology, Statistics Netherlands
Gerrit Wassink started his career at Statistics Netherlands in 1989 as a software engineer after graduating in political science and anthropology at Nijmegen University. Between 1991 and 2000 he was involved as a project manager and researcher initially with statistics on welfare and later on agriculture. As a manager of a team of researchers he was involved in process innovation between 2000 and 2004. In 2004, Gerrit became team manager responsible for ICT, R&D and innovation statistics. As an author and editor he also contributed to annual publications on ICT like ‘The digital economy’ and on publications on investment climate. Since 2012, Gerrit is responsible as a team manager for the ICT statistics and the statistics on tourism, culture and sports. Gerrit and researchers from his team like Nico Heerschap and Andries Kuipers have been involved in big data and Internet research now for many years. While operating in steering groups, Gerrit witnessed and discussed the results of the research. Momentarily, Gerrit is involved in contacts with telecom operators in order to use data from telecom providers as big data for research on tourism.
Mark Graham, Associate Professior and Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
Mark Graham is an Associate Professor at the Oxford Internet Institute, a Research Fellow at Green Templeton College, and an Associate in the University of Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment. He has published articles in major scientific journals, and his work has been covered widely in the international press. He is an editorial board member of
Information, Communication, and Society, Geo:Geography, Environment and Planning A, and
Big Data & Society. He is also a member of DFID’s Digital Advisory Panel and the ESRC’s Peer Review College. In 2014, he was awarded a European Research Council Starting Grant to lead a team to study 'knowledge economies' in Sub-Saharan Africa over five years. This will entail looking at the geographies of information production, low-end (virtual labour and microwork) knowledge work, and high-end (innovation hubs and bespoke information services) knowledge work in fifteen African cities.
Nuria Oliver, Scientific Director, Telefonica Research
Nuria Oliver is the Scientific Director and founder of the User, Data and Media Intelligence research team in Telefonica Research (Spain), which she created in 2007. She received her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. From 2000 until 2007, she was a researcher at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington. Nuria has written over 80 scientific papers and her work has been widely recognized by the scientific community with over 7500 citations. According to Google Scholar, Nuria is the most cited female computer scientist in Spain. She has over 30 patent applications and granted patents. Nuria has received a number of awards, including a Rising Talent Award by the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society (2009), MIT’s ‘TR100 Young Innovators Award’ (2004) and the First Spanish Award of EECS graduates (1994), two best paper awards and four best paper award nominations. Her research interests include mobile computing, personal and big data analysis, context awareness, statistical machine learning and data mining, artificial intelligence, health monitoring, computational social sciences, and human computer interaction.
Pat Wu, Internet.org Strategy & Planning Leader, Facebook
Pat Wu is Internet.org Strategy & Planning Lead at Facebook. Before joining Facebook, Pat was a Director at PayPal who led Consumer Growth Strategy, Marketing Product Management, Strategic Business Analytics, Global Market Research, and Customer Experience. Prior to PayPal, he was a Senior Manager at The Bridgespan Group (nonprofit consulting firm incubated at Bain & Company), General Manager at Google, and Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. Pat has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance/Management Information System from the University of Illinois.
Aaron Boyd, Chief Strategy Officer, ABI Research
As Chief Strategy Officer, Aaron Boyd provides direction in developing ABI’s worldwide operations and product offerings, including recognizing and pursuing new business relationships, areas of growth opportunity and strategic alliances. Aaron brings significant experience in international markets and brand development, based on over 18 years of management with some of the world’s most recognized technology companies. Aaron’s work has been recognized by the Public Relations Society of America and the American Advertising Federation, as well as by marketing and tech industry publications. ABI Research is a technology market intelligence company with a 24 year proven track record that is focused on putting information into the hands of executives in order to enable them to make the right decisions on technology and market investment at the right time. ABI Research quantifies the important markets of today, defines the strategic technologies of tomorrow, and provides insight on how technology is adopted into vertical markets.
Tommaso Valletti, Professor, Imperial College London
Tommaso Valletti has a magna cum laude degree in engineering from Politecnico di Torino and holds a Master’s Degree and a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics (LSE). He is Professor of Economics at Imperial College London, and also Professor of Economics at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata". He has previously taught at the LSE, Telecom ParisTech/Ecole Polytechnique, and Politecnico di Torino. Tommaso has held several editorial positions and is widely published. Tommaso is Academic Director of Centre on Regulation in Europe in Brussels, and a Fellow of Centre for Economic Policy Research. He is a member of the panel of academic advisors to Ofcom, the UK communications regulator. He was also a member of the panel of academic advisors of the UK Competition Commission, and a board director of Consip, the Italian Public Procurement Agency. He has advised numerous bodies, including the European Commission, OECD, and the World Bank on topics such as network interconnection, mobile telephony markets, and spectrum auctions.
Sonia Jorge, Executive Director, Alliance for Affordable Internet
Sonia N. Jorge is the Executive Director of the Alliance for the Affordable Internet. Ms Jorge is an expert in the confluence of development and communications policy, and she has over 20 years of diverse international experience in a career spanning both the private and not-for-profit sectors. Her work has included ICT policy and regulatory advice and analysis, strategic industry planning, national ICT/broadband policy development, creating new legal and regulatory frameworks (to address issues including competition, interconnection, cost-based pricing, spectrum allocation and management, infrastructure sharing and convergence), understanding universal access and digital inclusion in the context of development, and promoting gender analysis and awareness in the ICT planning process. Sonia has worked in over 20 countries around the globe, including many in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy (Tufts University) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Business Finance (University of Massachusetts). Ms Jorge assumed her current role in July 2013, having previously been Director of Research & Consulting at Pyramid Research, a UBM company.
Agnieszka Gładysz, Head, Wholesale Analysis Unit, Office of Electronic Communications, Poland
Agnieszka Gładysz holds the position of Head of the Wholesale Analyses Unit at Department of Strategy and Telecommunications Market Analysis in the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE). Her duties and responsibilities cover the analyses of the wholesale market for electronic communications, including but not limited to the analysis of broadband access. Ms Gładysz has successfully managed two priority projects for UKE: the inventory of telecommunications infrastructure within the framework of the Information System on Broadband Infrastructure and the analysis of non-discrimination of alternative operators by Orange Polska (the fixed incumbent) according to the KPI system under the Agreement concluded between UKE and incumbent in 2009. Together with a team of five subordinate analysts, Ms Gładysz has also been involved in the process of implementing the regulations governing the telecommunications market by means of preparing analytical inputs to administrative decisions, including but not limited to the wholesale broadband access market. Ms Gładysz is responsible for a number of other projects, including the studies of substitutability of fixed and mobile services as well as pricing analysis.
Juan M. Roldan, Senior Technical and Economic Advisor, Telecommunications Management Group
Juan M. Roldan, senior technical and economic advisor for Telecommunications Management Group, Inc., is an engineer with extensive experience working in the ICT sector. Mr. Roldan has advised private clients and government entities in several countries on strategic issues for the development, regulation and promotion of the ICT sector, including market competition, spectrum planning, assignment processes and licensing, digital inclusion programs, and ICT/Telecom indicators. Before joining TMG, Mr. Roldan worked at Intel as Corporate Affairs Manager for the Central America, Caribbean and Andean Countries, responsible for government relations, promoting the alignment of the technology ecosystem as well as programs to reduce the digital divide. In addition, he has held senior positions at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies and the Communications Regulatory Commission, both in Colombia. Mr. Roldan has represented the Colombian government at ITU and CITEL, where he was President of the Permanent Consultative Committee II on Radio-communications including Broadcasting. Mr. Roldan has a Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering and a Master’s Degree in economics, both from Los Andes University in Bogota, Colombia.
Elidier Moya, Manager, Networks in Telecommunications, Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications, Costa Rica
Elidier Moya is Information Systems Engineer and holds a Master’s Degree in Networks and Telematics. He has worked on issues related to technology for over 18 years, and specifically for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications of Costa Rica since the opening of the telecommunications market, in 2008. He has been responsible for coordinating telecommunication projects in his country, such as the development of the National Broadband Strategy of Costa Rica, as well as leading open processes to establish the country's position on issues related to telecommunications. He has represented Costa Rica as a delegate or head of delegation in international organizations such as Co
misión Tecnica Regional de Telecomunicaciones (COMTELCA), the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) and ITU, regarding issues related to fixed networks, new technologies and broadband.
Iñigo Herguera, EGTI Chair and Deputy Director, Statistic Division, National Markets and Competition Commission, Spain
Iñigo Herguera is the Deputy Director of the Statistics Division at the telecommunication regulator in Spain, the National Markets and Competition Commission. He is also an associate professor at the Universidad Complutense and has a number of publications in international refereed journals. His research field is industrial organization, anti-trust and regulation. He has been consultant in relevant cases on regulation of the telecommunications industry and has been involved in several anti-trust cases. He has worked in consultancy for big electricity and telecommunication firms, as well as for the European Commission. He holds a degree in Economics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, a Diploma in European Studies from the Universitaet des Saarlandes and a PhD in Economics from the European University Institute.
Bogdan Vasilescu, Head, Statistical Data Unit, National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications, Romania
Mr Vasilescu has been working with the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications of Romania (ANCOM) since 2006. He is involved in various areas, such as statistical reporting, market research surveys, data analysis and reports, market analyses for regulatory purposes, international roaming, as well as related international activities. He coordinates the online data collection system used by ANCOM for information reporting by operators. Before joining ANCOM, he worked in the social statistics area of the Romanian National Institute of Statistics. He holds a Master’s Degree in Statistical Analysis from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.
Wilfred Ojok, Market Industry Analyst, Uganda Communications Commission, Uganda
Wilfred Ojok is Market and Industry Analyst at the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). He holds a Master’s Degree in Statistics from the Makerere University in Uganda. Mr Ojok has over 12 years of experience in the collection, management and analysis of data. Currently his analytical endeavors are focused on the communications industry in Uganda. In his current capacity at UCC, Mr Ojok takes part in the revision, update and enforcement of the framework for the operational reporting of all licensed service providers, including voice, data, post, currier, broadcast and multimedia service providers. In addition, he partcipates in the compilation of quarterly and annual market performance reports covering all subsectors within UCC’s jurisdiction, and maintains the appropriate statistical models for regulatory analysis, projections and macroeconomic planning in line with the objectives of UCC.
Erki Saluveer, Chief Technology Officer, Positium
Erki Saluveer is partner and CTO at Positium LBS. Mr Saluveer has been developing methodologies and systems for turning a telecom operator’s anonymised raw location data into new insights on crowd mobility. This processed and aggregated location information is used in Estonia in various areas, e.g. calculating the balance of payments (BoP); generating tourism statistics for tourism management and event analysis; generating population statistics for urban and regional planning or safety and security; and generating traffic and transportation statistics for transportation management. There is no comparable data source in terms of representativeness, coverage and timeliness of crowd location information. Erki Saluveer has been contributing to academic discussions in this field and has participated in a number of international projects as a field expert.
Alison Gillwald, Executive Director, Research ICT Africa
Alison Gillwald (PhD) is Executive Director of Research ICT Africa and holds an adjunct professorship at the Management of Infrastructure Reform and Regulation Programme at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business where she convenes an ICT policy and regulatory executive training programme for regulators, policy-makers and parliamentarians, and supervises doctoral students. Alison was appointed by then President Mandela on the advice of Parliament to serve on the founding Council of the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA). Prior to that she set up the policy department at the first Independent Broadcasting Authority. She also served on the first South African national digital advisory body which reported on digital migration in 2001; the board of the public broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, and is currently deputy chairperson of the SA National Broadband Advisory Council. In 2013 she assisted the Ministry of Communication with South Africa’s Broadband Plan (SA Connect) and earlier this year she served on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) President’s Strategy Panel on Multistakeholder Innovation.
EGH Chair and Head, Center of Studies for Information and Communication Technologies, Brazil
Head of the Center of Studies for Information and Communications Technologies (CETIC.br), an Unesco Category II Center for the development of information society based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Mr Barbosa is in charge of nationwide ICT survey projects in Brazil aimed at the production of ICT-related statistics and indicators. Mr Barbosa holds a PhD degree in Business Administration from Getulio Vargas Foundation and postdoctoral research at HEC Montreal in Canada, a Master Degree in Business Administration from Bradford University, a Master Degree in Computer Science from Federal University of Minas Gerais, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Catholic University.
Esperanza Magpantay, Senior Statistician, ICT Data and Statistics Division, ITU/BDT
Ms Esperanza Magpantay is the Senior Statistician of the ICT Data and Statistics division (IDS) of the ITU, where she has been working since December 2000. She is responsible for the collection and dissemination of ICT statistics particularly through the Yearbook of Statistics, World Telecom/ICT Indicators Database and the ICT Eye. Ms Magpantay coordinates the work of the ITU Expert Group on ICT Household Indicators (EGH) and the ITU’s representative at the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development and its Steering Committee. Before joining ITU she worked for 7 years at the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva as a statistical officer. She has a degree in Statistics from the University of the Philippines.
Joss Gillet, Senior Manager, GSMA Intelligence
Joss Gillet is the Senior Manager of GSMA Intelligence where he manages the analyst team and is responsible for the quality and planning of the research. He is also a senior analyst and looks after mobile network technology migration and overall forecast accuracy. Before joining GSMA Intelligence, Joss worked at Ovum Ltd and for Motorola’s Mobile Devices Division in the UK. He joined Motorola as a product analyst before managing its market intelligence activities in Europe. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Business from Portsmouth Business School and a certificate in International Political Theory from the University of London.
Alvina Kwan, Senior Statistician, Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong, China
Ms Alvina Kwan is Senior Statistician at the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. She is responsible for the development of statistics on innovation, ICT, cultural and creative industries, as well as the statistics on the construction and the real estate sectors. She also provides professional advice on various research studies related to these sectors within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. She has more than 20 years of experience in the field and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences and Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Hong Kong.
Carmelo Javier Muñoz Ruiz, Director, National Observatory for Telecommunications and the Information Society, Spain
Carmelo Javier Muñoz Ruiz holds an Industrial Engineering Degree from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Since 2013, he is junior advisor in the Cabinet of the Ministry and Industry, Energy and Tourism dealing with telecoms and information society issues. He is also Director of the National Observatory for Telecommunications and Information Society (ONTSI, 2013) and Chairman of the executive board at Red.es – Spanish public-owned company to foster the Information Society in Spain. He is the Chairman of the board of CENATIC (National Center of Open Source) and the coordinator in the taskforce group “Childhood and Internet” in the area of Research, KPI’s and Technological Surveillance.
Michael Colledge, Consultant to ITU
Following three years as a university lecturer in statistics, Michael Colledge worked for almost 20 years at Statistics Canada, specializing in economic statistics, survey methodology, business registers, use of administrative data, and quality management. He subsequently joined the Australian Bureau of Statistics where he focused on data and metadata management, also designing and implementing the Australian Government Statistical Clearing House, which reviews all government surveys for quality and respondent burden. For three and a half years, Michael was on assignment at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris where he was responsible for technical assistance to countries in transition, production of short term economic indicators, measurement of the non-observed economy, and development of the OECD quality framework. Michael is now a self-employed statistical consultant and over the past ten years has worked in over 20 developing and transition countries all over the world on a variety of projects funded by the European Commission, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and by the countries themselves.
Kiyoshi Mori, Director General for International Affairs, Global ICT Strategy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan
Kiyoshi Mori is Director-General for International Affairs, Global ICT Strategy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) since 2014. In his current position, he promotes international cooperation and international dialogue on both a bi-lateral and multi-lateral basis in the ICT field. After joining the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI, current abbreviation is METI) in 1986, he mainly dealt with trade issues and energy issues for over twenty years and his previous position was Deputy DG, Bureau of Trade and Economic Cooperation, METI. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Laws from the Department of Law, University of Tokyo.
Kaoru Kimura, ICT Policy Specialist, Transport and ICT, World Bank
Ms Kaoru Kimura is an ICT Policy Specialist at the World Bank, Transport and ICT Global Practice. She has been working for operational projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia since 2004. In addition, she has been actively involved in analytical work, where she takes the lead on Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) processes and methodologies on ICT interventions as well as ICT indicators. She manages the annual ITU and World Bank joint publication series “Little Data Book on Information and Communication Technology”. Before joining the World Bank, Kaoru worked at Nippon Telegraph and Telecommunication (NTT) in Japan. Kaoru holds a Master’s Degree in Development Economics from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan.
Livia Turcanu, e-Government Center, Moldova
Livia Turcanu works at the E-Government Center of Moldova and is responsible for the coordination of the Open Government Data Initiative in Moldova. She graduated from the University of Maastricht in The Netherlands with a Master’s degree in Science, Technology and Society Studies. As part of her studies, Livia conducted a research within the Laboratory for Ethical Governance of Information Technology at the Namur University, in Belgium, dealing with the Responsible Research and Innovation governance framework. Her research focused on the challenges and opportunities in the implementation of this concept, taking into consideration the state of art in the European Research and Innovation sectors and their compatibility with Responsible Research and Innovation principles such as: multi-stakeholder involvement in the innovation process, open access, ethical aspects in innovation, etc. Before obtaining her Master’s degree, Livia was actively involved in promoting social innovation and the use of ICTs in generating innovative solutions to social issues.
David Souter, Managing Director, ict Development Associates
David Souter founded ICT Development Associates, which provides expertise at the interface between ICTs and public policy issues including development, environment and governance, and he has been its Managing Director since 2003. He is also President of the Global Connectivity Group for Sustainable Development, and Visiting Senior Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has worked extensively as an expert consultant for a number of UN agencies including ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD and the Commission on Science and Technology for Development. From 1995 to 2003, he was Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Telecommunications, and from 2003 to 2013 he was Visiting Professor in Communications Management at the University of Strathclyde. He was educated at Cambridge and Oxford Universities.
Susan Teltscher, Head, ICT Data and Statistics Division, ITU/BDT
Dr Susan Teltscher is Head of the ICT Data and Statistics Division of the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecommunication Development Bureau. Her Division is responsible for the collection, harmonization, analysis and dissemination of information and communication technology (ICT) statistics worldwide, and for the production of analytical reports on global and regional trends in ICT. Before joining the ITU in July 2008, she was Chief of the ICT Policy and Analysis Unit, ICT and E-Business Branch, of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva. Dr Teltscher received her Ph.D. in Economic Geography in 1992 from the University of Washington (Seattle, United States).
Scarlett Fondeur Gil, Economic Affairs Officer, ICT Analysis Section, UNCTAD
Ms Scarlett Fondeur Gil is an Economics graduate from the Santo Domingo Institute of Technology in the Dominican Republic, with a Masters in International Relations from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. She has been working for the last nine years as an Economic Affairs Officer for the ICT Analysis Section of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, based in Geneva, Switzerland. She and her colleagues produce the annual Information Economy Report, which analyzes trends on ICT and the information economy in developing countries and makes policy recommendations to UNCTAD member states. She is also involved in the development of internationally comparable ICT statistics in the context of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, which is composed by 13 international organizations. In this context, UNCTAD co-chairs with ITU the Partnership's Task Group on measuring ICT and gender. In addition, UNCTAD currently collects data on the use of ICT by businesses, on the ICT sector, and on international trade in ICT goods, and aims to continue developing statistical work on measuring trade in ICT services.
José Luis Cervera, Director, DevStat, Spain
José L. Cervera is director of DevStat and has more than 20 years of experience in official statistics, in particular in Science, Technology & Innovation, and Information Society statistics. After working in the Spanish National Statistical Institute in R&D statistics, managing training activities and leading the international cooperation unit, he was charged with the design of the first national surveys on the use of ICT by businesses and households in 2000-2001. As consultant to the
Partnership for Measuring the Information Society since 2004, he contributed to the identification of the core list of ICT indicators. He prepared the stocktaking exercise on ICT indicators for the World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis, 2005), is the main author of UNCTAD’s
Manual for the Production of statistics on the Information Economy, and contributed to the last revision of ITU’s
Manual for the Measurement of Access and Use of ICT by Households and Individuals. He has provided technical assistance on ICT indicators in Latin American, Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, Arab and African countries. José L. holds a Master’s Degree in Mathematics.
Vladimir Minkin, Chairman, WSIS+10 Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform and ITU Council Working Group on WSIS
Prof. Dr V.Minkin is the Chairman of the ITU Telecommunication Development Advisory Group and the ITU Council Working Group on the World Summit on the Information Society (CWG WSIS), Vice-Chairman of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group and the Chairman of the Working Group for ITU under the RCC Commission for International Cooperation Coordination. As the CWG WSIS Chairman, he chairs the MPP WSIS+10 meetings. Being the Chief researcher of international telecommunications/ICT activities at the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Radio R&D Institute” (FSUE NIIR) he represents the administration of the Russian Federation at the meetings of ITU, WSIS, RCC, CEPT, CITEL and other regional organizations related to communication and information. Prof. Minkin has been participating in the activities of ITU since 1975and he has been working at FSUE NIIR since 1972 as a researcher, head of laboratory and the department of radio-relay communication systems. From 2000 to 2012, he held the position of FSUE NIIR Deputy Director General for Science responsible for international collaboration. Prof. Minkin holds a Ph.D. from the Radio Engineering Faculty of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute and is an Academician of the International Academy of Communications and the International Academy of Informatization, as well as an Honored Worker of Communications of the Russian Federation.
Gerardo Lopez, Gerardo Lopez, Director, Statistics on Science and Technology, INEGI, Mexico
Gerardo López Sánchez works since 1986 in Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) of Mexico, where he has served in such tasks as economic modelling, development of research projects related to economics and statistics, and dissemination of short-term economic statistics. Since 2004, Mr Lopez is the Director of Science and Technology Statistics in INEGI. In this capacity, he has coordinated INEGI’s Survey on Science and Technological Development, the module on innovation and the Survey on Public Perception about Science and Technology, as well as the module on Access and Use of ICTs in Households, and the Survey on ICTs in Businesses in Mexico. Since 2004, Mr Lopez participates in the work of the Observatory for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (OSILAC) in the tasks related to the measurement of the ICT Core Indicators identified in the World Summit on the Information Society. Before joining INEGI, Mr Lopez held several positions in the public Federal Administration, working with estimates based on econometric models. Mr Lopez holds a Bachelor’s Degree in economics from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco and a Master’s Degree in economics from Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica.
Ivan Vallejo, Market Analyst, ICT Data and Statistics Division, ITU/BDT
Ivan Vallejo Vall is Market Analyst at the ICT Data and Statistics division (IDS) of the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecommunication Development Bureau. He participates as market analyst in the drafting of the analytical reports produced by the ITU IDS division – such as the Measuring the Information Society report – and in the methodological publications on administrative sources – such as the ITU Handbook for the Collection of Administrative Data on Telecommunications/ICT. He takes part in the organization of the ITU Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators (EGTI) and in its discussions. Before joining ITU he worked in the Spanish telecommunication regulator, the National Markets and Competition Commission. He holds Engineering degrees in Telecommunications from the
Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST) in Paris and from the
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona.
Vanessa Gray, Senior Analyst, ICT Data and Statistics Division, ITU/BDT
Vanessa Gray is a Senior ICT Analyst in the ICT Data and Statistics Division of the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecommunication Development Bureau. She helps to design and coordinate the Division’s analytical publications, including the
Measuring the Information Society (MIS) report, and contributes to and coordinates the analysis of information society developments, including in the context of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Ms Gray is the ITU focal point for the Inter-agency and Expert Group (IAEG) on MDG Indicators and provides advice on the work on monitoring the MDGs in the area of ICTs. Ms Gray holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and Economics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
Kim Seung Keon, Director General, Korea Association for ICT Promotion, Republic of Korea
Dr. Kim Seung Keon is the Director General of the Korea Association for ICT Promotion (KAIT). The KAIT manages ICT policies in Korea, produces ICT statistics, and is affiliated to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP). Dr. Kim holds a Ph.D. and M.P.A. in Public Policy from the University of Southern California. Before joining the KAIT, Dr. Kim was a Professor of Public Administration at Yonsei University. He also served as a Chief Administrative Assistant for the Korea National Assembly (‘92~’95) and a Member of Seoul Metropolitan Council (‘95~’98).
