Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe and founder and editor of Encompass, an online magazine dedicated to covering the European Union and Europe’s place in the world.

Paul is a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board and Rand Europe’s Council of Advisors. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to promoting understanding of the European Union” and in 2016 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite by the French government.

Bio to follow.

Bio to follow.

Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe and founder and editor of Encompass, an online magazine dedicated to covering the European Union and Europe’s place in the world.

Paul is a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board and Rand Europe’s Council of Advisors. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to promoting understanding of the European Union” and in 2016 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite by the French government.

Aura Salla is a Member of the European Parliament. Prior to that, she was Head of EU Affairs and oversaw Facebook’s engagement on EU policies with the European Institutions and Member States. Before joining Facebook, Aura worked in the EC as a Foreign Policy and Communications Adviser in the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), in-house think tank to President Jean-Claude Juncker. Previously she served as a Member of Cabinet of Jyrki Katainen, European Commission Vice President responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness.

Casper Klynge is Zscaler’s Vice President, Head of Government Partnerships and Public Policy across EMEA. Casper leads political work and strategic relationships with governments, international & regional organizations across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, helping countries, organizations and critical infrastructure operators mitigate cybersecurity issues as well as ensuring data protection and digital sovereignty requirements. Prior to joining Zscaler Casper spent the last 5 years in the technology sector including being responsible for government affairs in Europe for Microsoft. 

Casper previously had a career in foreign affairs spanning several roles in the EU, NATO, and in government with geographical and operational experience from Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. He is a three time-ambassador and his background includes serving as Denmark’s (& the world’s first) Ambassador to the global tech industry, heading a diplomatic representation with a global mandate based in Silicon Valley, Europe, and Asia.

Victoria de Posson is Secretary General of the European Tech Alliance (EUTA), where she represents European-born digital companies in EU policymaking. She leads the Alliance’s policy and advocacy strategy, with a focus on platform regulation, data governance and AI.

Her work centres on making EU digital regulation effective in practice, promoting simplification, legal certainty and enforcement frameworks that deliver real-world outcomes while safeguarding innovation and competitiveness. 

She also lectures on EU policymaking and digital regulation, contributing to policy literacy and capacity-building. Alongside her professional activities, she remains engaged in initiatives advancing gender equality and women’s leadership.

Her core interest lies in how Europe can regulate technology in a way that protects fundamental rights without undermining its own competitiveness.

Radu Antohe is the Head of EU Public Sector at Tremend–Publicis Sapient, with extensive experience delivering and scaling complex digital programs for public institutions across Europe.
He has worked on high‑impact programs with multiple organizations in the Public and Financial sectors, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), and Raiffeisen Bank supporting mission‑critical platforms in multi‑stakeholder environments. 

In his current role, he is responsible for the growth, governance, and delivery of all of Tremend’s European Public Sector engagements, with a strong focus on sustainable transformation, resilience, and public value creation.

Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe and founder and editor of Encompass, an online magazine dedicated to covering the European Union and Europe’s place in the world.

Paul is a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board and Rand Europe’s Council of Advisors. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to promoting understanding of the European Union” and in 2016 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite by the French government.

Mr. Takashi Hamada is a senior Japanese diplomat currently serving as Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Mission of Japan to the European Union, where he also acts as Ambassador to the EU’s Political and Security Committee. With over three decades of experience in international diplomacy since joining Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1991, he has held a range of high-level positions across Asia and in Tokyo.

Mr. Hamada has extensive expertise in East Asian affairs, having served as Director of the Second China and Mongolia Division and held multiple senior roles in China and Taiwan, including Minister at the Embassy of Japan in China and Deputy Chief Representative of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in Taipei. He has also contributed to strategic policy at the national level as Cabinet Counsellor in Japan’s Cabinet Office, including work on ocean policy.

He holds a Master’s degree in Regional Studies (East Asia) from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree in International Law from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe and founder and editor of Encompass, an online magazine dedicated to covering the European Union and Europe’s place in the world.

Paul is a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board and Rand Europe’s Council of Advisors. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to promoting understanding of the European Union” and in 2016 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite by the French government.

Fabrizia Benini is Head of the Future Internet Unit within the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology at the European Commission. She leads the unit dedicated to advancing cutting-edge technologies such as Blockchain, open-source digital commons and Internet Governance, positioning the EU as a leading voice in key international forums.

OpenForum Europe (OFE) is pleased to announce the appointment of Laszlo Igneczi as its new Executive Director. The announcement marks the start of a new chapter for the organisation as it enters its twenty-fourth year of championing the transformative power of open technologies.

Laszlo brings three decades of experience spanning EU institutions, national ministries and the private sector to OFE. His career has combined in-depth policy work, liaising with EU institutions and private actors, organisational leadership, and operational execution, always focusing on the next step in technology and crafting a regulatory response to harness the opportunities ahead.

Most recently, he served for ten years as Director of the BEREC Office, the EU Agency supporting the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications. In that role, he led the agency through a period of significant change, enabling BEREC to extend its focus from traditional telecoms regulation toward emerging challenges in the data economy, artificial intelligence, and the shift to from hardware-centric networks to cloud-based and software-defined systems.

Felix Reda (he/they) is the Director of Developer Policy at GitHub. He has been shaping digital policy for over ten years, including serving as a Member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019 and working with the strategic litigation NGO Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF). His areas of interest encompass copyright reform, freedom of expression, and the sustainability of the open-source ecosystem. Felix is an affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard and serves on the board of the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany. He holds an M.A. in Political Science and Communications Science from the University of Mainz, Germany.

Zach Meyers is Director of Research at the Centre on Regulation in Europe. Previously the Assistant Director of the Centre on European Reform, Zach has a recognised expertise in economic regulation and network industries such as telecoms, energy, payments, financial services and airports. In addition to advising in the private sector, with more than ten years’ experience as a competition and regulatory lawyer, he has consulted to several governments, regulators and multilateral institutions on competition reforms in regulated sectors. He is also a regular contributor to media.

Richard van Wageningen is President Europe at Orange Business, the enterprise division of Orange, where he works with governments, European institutions, and multinational organizations on Secure Connectivity and Digital Infrastructure. Prior to this role, he served as President IMEA and earlier as Managing Director of Orange Business Services Russia-CIS, joining the company in 2013 and successfully transforming the organization into a profitable entity.

With decades of international experience across the telecommunications sector, working with both service providers and network vendors, he focuses on enabling resilient networks and trusted digital ecosystems that support Europe’s digital transformation and strategic autonomy. Richard holds bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Electronics from the Hanze University of Applied Sciences and earned a certificate from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in 2000.

Philippe Van Damme is Deputy Director-General “Digital Services”​at the European Commission. The Directorate-General for Digital Services (DG DIGIT) is the Commission department responsible for digital services that support all Commission departments and other EU institutions in their daily work and that help public administrations in EU member countries. In his previous function as Director Digital Workplace and Infrastructure he was in charge of the Commission’s ICT infrastructure services such as data centres, cloud, network and telecommunications facilities and the engineering and support of the institution’s digital workplace.

He holds a MSc degree in electronics engineering and in industrial management, resp. from the University of Ghent and Vlerick Business School. He has also completed an executive leadership program at Harvard Business School.

Andrei Niculae has been serving as Vice President of the Authority for the Digitalization of Romania since December 30, 2022. A graduate of Political Science at the University of Bucharest, he is an advocate for the digital transformation of society and for a more efficient relationship between the state and its citizens—goals he pursues in his role at ADR.

Richard van Wageningen is President Europe at Orange Business, the enterprise division of Orange, where he works with governments, European institutions, and multinational organizations on Secure Connectivity and Digital Infrastructure. Prior to this role, he served as President IMEA and earlier as Managing Director of Orange Business Services Russia-CIS, joining the company in 2013 and successfully transforming the organization into a profitable entity.

With decades of international experience across the telecommunications sector, working with both service providers and network vendors, he focuses on enabling resilient networks and trusted digital ecosystems that support Europe’s digital transformation and strategic autonomy. Richard holds bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Electronics from the Hanze University of Applied Sciences and earned a certificate from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in 2000.

Born in Montreal, Canada, Christian has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the IT industry. He joined NTT Data in 2024 to lead the cloud transformation journey of Public Sector customers, with a particular focus on secure and sovereign cloud strategies in highly regulated environments.

Previously, he was Head of International Government Organizations for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector, where he managed a team of Sales Executives responsible for Amazon’s cloud computing business for governments, educational institutions, and nonprofits across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

His experience spans large-scale business transformation programs at the intersection of technology, operating model redesign, and regulatory constraints. He has led complex cloud adoption initiatives for public sector organizations, aligning executive stakeholders, modernizing legacy environments, and driving measurable outcomes in efficiency, resilience, and strategic autonomy. Prior to joining AWS, Christian worked at Microsoft and previously at Dell.

Ruben is Chief Operating Officer at De Cronos Groep, a privately owned Belgian technology and innovation group, bringing nearly two decades of hands-on experience across diverse roles in European managed service operations.

He believes digital sovereignty is not a single decision but a layered discipline, spanning data, operations, technology and capability, and that most organisations are further from control than they realise.

At Cronos, he leads the design of multi-level sovereign architectures that give customers genuine portability. The freedom to move, not just the promise of it.

Representing Cronos Europa, he brings this perspective to the European stage. His conviction is simple: European businesses deserve infrastructure built on European terms.

Miljana is a digital analyst at Cullen International, where she focuses on EU-wide data and platform regulation, as well as UK policy and regulatory developments shaping the digital economy. Before joining Cullen International, Miljana worked as a university researcher and lecturer. Miljana holds a Ph.D. from the University of Belgrade, and an LL.M. in International Business Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Cristina Caffarra is an antitrust expert economist who was Head of European Competition at major economic consultancies for over 20 years – leading large teams and giving expert testimony in Europe and across the world on some of the most high-profile cases of the past two decades. Moving on from consulting, she co-founded the Competition Research Policy Network at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, where she curates and hosts policy discussions. She has been a vocal contributor – speaking and writing extensively – to the global debate on antitrust and regulation of digital markets. She has shaped the European conversation around the role of antitrust as a tool of broader economic policy, by advocating the integration of antitrust and data protection, and encouraging new thinking around how antitrust can contribute to equitable economic growth. She hosts and curates a celebrated annual conference in Brussels on antitrust and the political economy. She is co-founder of the EuroStack movement and Chair of the EuroStack Initiative Foundation in Europe. She is an Honorary Professor at UCL in London.

Francisco Mingorance is the Secretary General of @CISPE.cloud, the voice of Europe’s leading cloud infrastructure providers. In this role, he works with CEOs and founders of prominent European cloud companies to defend fair competition in the cloud market and protect customer interests.

Since 2019, he has spearheaded industry efforts to challenge discriminatory software licensing practices, leading to the filing of the AZURE antitrust complaint against unfair licensing in the cloud ecosystem, a sector-wide antitrust case addressing persistent abuses in Europe.

Francisco also played a key role in developing the first GDPR-compliant European Cloud Infrastructure Code of Conduct, enabling customers to store and process data exclusively within Europe. This initiative was built in collaboration with cloud providers such as @OVHcloud (France), @Aruba.it (Italy), Ikoula (France), @Hetzner_Online (Germany), and @AWScloud (US).

A founding board member of @Gaia-X, Francisco served two terms helping to shape the European vision for open, sovereign cloud and data infrastructure. He is also a founding member and board member of the @Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, an initiative representing over 90% of all data centre operators in Europe, committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2030.

Earlier in his career, Francisco worked for the European Commission to expand global access to patented HIV/AIDS treatments. He later launched and led the European operations of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), where he helped built public affairs strategies for global tech firms and orchestrated landmark campaigns. Notably, he led a continent-wide mobilisation of software patent holders, contributing to the 2006 rejection of the Directive on Computer-Implemented Inventions (CII)—a pivotal moment for innovation policy in Europe.

With over 25 years of experience in European public affairs and tech policy, Francisco is a seasoned leader in driving regulatory and industry alignment across cloud, data, software, and sustainability sectors. He is of Hispano-Swiss origin and divides his time between Brussels, Geneva, and Málaga.

Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby is the Ambassador and Head of the UK Mission to the European Union, appointed in January 2021.

Before his current role, Lindsay was Deputy Sherpa and Deputy Chief Negotiator in Taskforce Europe (10 Downing Street) throughout 2020. He was a Director General in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) from 2017 to 2020, working on the EU and other issues.

In the UK, Lindsay was the FCO Director for Europe (2015 to 2017), Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary (2010 to 2012), and Assistant Director for Recruitment and Development (2008 to 2010). He was Desk Officer in the Afghanistan Emergency Unit (2001 to 2002) and Desk Officer for Nigeria (1996 to 1997).

He has worked overseas as the British Ambassador to Colombia (2013 to 2015), First Secretary at the UK Permanent Representation to the EU (2002 to 2008) and Second Secretary at the British Embassy in Venezuela (1997 to 2001). Lindsay joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1996.

EU correspondent covering Brexit, trade, health and European politics, including the European parliament. Andy is also Netherlands correspondent and a frequent contributor to the agenda-setting Europe Express newsletter.

Andy has worked for the Financial Times since 1997. He covered the Brexit vote in the UK as Northern correspondent and was previously posted in Brussels from 2004-08.

Dr. Keegan McBride is the Director for Science and Technology Policy at the Tony Blair Institute. He also serves as an Adjunct Senior Fellow in National Security and Technology at the Centre for a New American Security, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, and a Fellow at the Hertie School’s Centre for Digital Governance. Prior to joining TBI, he was a lecturer in AI, Government, and Policy at the University of Oxford.

Bio to follow.

Nicole Lemke is a Senior Policy Researcher working at the intersection of AI systems, markets, and governance. At interface, she leads research on how technical capabilities, market dynamics, and policy frameworks shape AI development and European competitiveness. Her current work analyzes AI startup and investment landscapes across Europe and the United States, examining emerging technological niches, market concentration, and competitive positioning. She combines quantitative methods with policy expertise to produce actionable insights for evidence-based AI governance. Nicole is based in Paris and has also lived and worked in Switzerland, Germany, and the United States. She holds a PhD in political science from the University of Lausanne and was a visiting researcher at UC Berkeley.

Sebastiano Toffaletti has been heading the secretariat of the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, Europe’s largest association for digital small and medium-sized enterprises, since 2008. He serves as an expert in working groups and task forces, where he brings forward the interests of SMEs, while contributing to setting EU and global policies on digital subjects, such as tech sovereignty, cybersecurity, AI, data protection, and standards.

He is a member of the EU High-Level Forum on ICT standardisation and of the D4SME steering committee at the OECD. He is currently Vice Chair (SME) at the European Cybersecurity Organisation and since 2020, Sebastiano has also been a Board Member of the European Internet Forum.

Matthew King has been in the European Commission for over 27 years after joining from the UK Treasury. He spent most of that time in Directorate-General (DG) Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (FISMA), working on banking and insurance regulation. In the early 2000s, he was posted to the Commission’s office in Washington DC where he was active in pursuing better relations between US securities and banking regulators and the Commission. Since then, he has been in a number of different DGs, including DG MARE, DG RTD (working on the creation of the new European Innovation Council) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC).  

He leads the Digital and Data Sovereignty unit’s work on data and digital sovereignty, positioning it at the core of Europe’s strategic autonomy agenda. He drives collaboration across academia, policymakers and industry, ensuring that multidisciplinary scientific evidence informs policy development and supports secure data sharing, technological independence and innovation within the EU.

Laura Eiro is Director-General of the Data, Safety and Security Department at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The Department is responsible for promoting the data economy and the availability of data, and for legislation and strategy work concerning information security in communications networks and services. The department’s responsibilities include also regulation and policy measures concerning road traffic and logistics chains. Eiro serves as Secretary-General of the Ministerial Working Group on reforming society as well as one of the chairs of the interministerial Digital Office. She is a member of several other cooperation groups on digitalisation, the data economy and cyber security and is involved in a number of legislative and development projects in this field. Eiro has also served as the chair of the Advisory Board of Statistics Finland since the beginning of 2023.

Previously Eiro has worked at the Ministry of Transport and Communications in expert and managerial positions. She has also worked at Finland’s Permanent Representation to the EU, at Intelligent Transportation Society of Finland and at the Ministry of Finance as secretary general of the Finnish Technology Advisory Board.

Chris Gow is Senior Director for EU Public Policy and Head of the Brussels Office for Cisco’s Government Affairs team, responsible for engagements with the EU institutions. 

Having joined Cisco in 2008, he oversees all of Cisco’s EU public policy positions and advocacy. He is currently deeply engaged in security, digital sovereignty, cloud, AI and data issues in region and globally. Chris has held multiple industry leadership roles. He is currently a Member of the Board of the European Internet Forum (EIF) and has previously served on the Executive Board of DIGITALEUROPE and as the Chair of DIGITALEUROPE’s Privacy and Security Group.   

Prior to Cisco, he was responsible for campaign strategies and digital economy policy work at EICTA (now DIGITALEUROPE). He has been in Brussels since 2003, initially as an Assistant to a Member of the European Parliament, working on internal market and legal affairs issues. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University.

Charles Van Overmeire is an Executive Director at Orange Business, where he leads the European digital services portfolio across cloud, data, and AI. With more than 16 years of international leadership experience, he has guided major global organizations through large‑scale, multimillion‑euro transformations—driving accelerated AI adoption, enhanced data intelligence, and measurable cloud efficiency.

In his current role, Charles oversees a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including sovereign cloud, data platforms, workplace collaboration, and next‑generation digital solutions. Known for his entrepreneurial mindset, he consistently turns emerging technologies into scalable products and high‑value growth models.

Charles is also a university lecturer and a sought‑after speaker on digital strategy, cloud transformation, and innovation, frequently engaging with executive audiences across Europe.

Anne Duboscq is Public Affairs Director at OVHcloud. She started her career at the French Ministry of Defense and the French Permanent Representation to the United Nations in New York.

She then spent a dozen years as a public affairs and communications consultant with a number of Paris-based consultancies. Since 2020, she is in charge of OVHcloud’s public affairs strategy in France, Brussels and all the countries where the Group operates. Her mission is to raise awareness of OVHcloud’s activities and present its vision of the key issues facing the cloud sector, particularly in terms of data protection, competition, environmental impact and innovation.

Martin Hullin is the Director, Network for Technological Resilience & Sovereignty at the Europe’s Future Program at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, having previously directed the foundation’s “Digitalization and the Common Good” program from 2023 to 2025. His areas of expertise include international digital and data policy, AI and sustainability policy. 

Prior to joining Bertelsmann Stiftung, Hullin was co-founder and Deputy Executive Director of the Datasphere Initiative and the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network in Paris. He has held professional positions in Washington DC, Geneva, and Berlin, including roles at the United Nations, GIZ and in global multistakeholder policy networks. Before building thematic expert networks in the field of international digital and data policy, he was responsible for formalizing a leading global renewable energy network and worked as a consultant for the United Nations Environment Programme. Over the course of this path, he has led impact-oriented cooperation projects across Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and North America.

Hullin was honored with the Future of Data Award in 2023 and is a strategic supporter behind the EuroStack Initiative, a comprehensive European digital infrastructure framework aimed at increasing technological resilience and boosting Europe’s digital agency. His work and views have been presented at forums and in outlets such as Der Spiegel, Financial Times, Le Monde, France24, the European Parliament, UN World Data Forum and COP conferences.