Siim Sikkut is Managing Partner at Digital Nation, a digital change advisory network originating from Estonia to build future-ready digital societies around the world.

Siim led the digital government and digital policy area in the Republic of Estonia for 10 years, most recently as the Government CIO from 2017 to 2022.

He has been recognized as one of the world’s TOP20 most influential people in digital government by Apolitical, and was co-founder of Estonia’s groundbreaking e-Residency program.

Siim is the author of “Digital Government Excellence: Lessons from Effective Digital Leaders”, a book published globally in 2022.

Kyriakos Pierrakakis is the Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Member of the Hellenic Parliament since 2023. He is a computer and political scientist.

In 2007 he earned a Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and in 2009 a Master of Science in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Athens University of Economics and Business. Currently, he is a Doctoral Candidate in Political Science at Heidelberg University.

From 2019 to 2023 he served as Minister of Digital Governance. During his tenure, he digitized and simplified government services through the development of citizen-centric digitals platforms such as gov.gr, Greece’s single point of access to government services, digital IDs and driving licenses (Gov.gr Wallet app), and electronic healthcare and prescription records (MyHealth app). As Minister of Education, he aims to build a modern and more inclusive educational system designed to help students unlock their potential.

Kyriakos Pierrakakis was born in 1983 in Athens. He is married and has three children. He speaks English and French.

Valeriya Ionan is the Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at the Ministry of Digital
Transformation of Ukraine. The Ministry, established in 2019, aims to implement the “State in a Smartphone” vision, an essential part of President Zelenskyy’s Election Program. Valeriya, at the age of 28, joined the Ministry from its beginning, making her one of the youngest Deputy Ministers in the Ukrainian government. Her responsibilities within the Ministry include supervising the national program for the development of digital literacy, advocating for digital transformation among small and medium enterprises (SMEs), enabling regional digital transformation, and leading both the Eurointegration and international relations teams.

Former minister of digital transformation of Slovenia. Member of the governing board, European Institute of Technology (EIT), UK

Francis Maude has nearly four decades of high-level international experience in business and government.

As Minister for the UK Cabinet Office, Lord Francis Maude created the world-leading UK Government Digital Service (GDS) to lead whole-of-government digital transformation from the centre of government. With Francis’s oversight from 2011-2016, GDS saved over 1.8 billion GBP through spend controls alone with a total saving of 4 billion GBP across all government IT contracts; created GOV.UK, the award-winning, single government online portal; transformed the most-used public services to fully meet the needs of users; and reformed procurement for digital products and services, stimulating the UK tech sector. As a result, the UK was ranked number 1 in the UN e-Government Development Index in 2016. He was also responsible for the creation of the world’s first social investment bank, Big Society Capital.

Since leaving government in 2016, Francis has chaired FMA, a practitionerled venture that supports governments to implement reform; to save money, improve public services and build lasting capability. He recently completed a review of the governance and accountability of the British government civil service.

Diego Molano Vega is the former Minister of Information Technologies and Communications of Colombia (2010-2015). Molano created the “Plan Vive Digital“, a national technology plan that transformed the Country and led Colombia to obtain in 2012 the GSMA Government Leadership Award. Recognized for his expertise in public management and digital transformation, Molano has been actively involved in harnessing technology to drive socio-economic progress. As Minister of ICT, he has played a pivotal role in advancing Colombia’s digital agenda, promoting access to technology, and fostering innovation across the country. Under his leadership, the Ministry has undertaken initiatives to expand internet connectivity, improve digital infrastructure, leapfrog digital government and services, and enhance cybersecurity measures.
He has been a Senior Advisor to McKinsey and Company, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Wilson Center in Washington DC. He was the Chair and is the Ambassador for its Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) initiative at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. Molano is also Board Member of Multinational Companies and has been the President of Area Andina, a 60 thousand student university for low-income segments in Colombia, focusing in creating the talent for the digital economy. He also advices startups in Latina America and Europe.
Molano worked in Telefonica (Spain), BellSouth (now AT&T) in the US, and Ascom in Switzerland. He is an electronic engineer and economist from the Javeriana University in Colombia and has an MBA from IMD in Switzerland.

Since April 2022, Pedro Tavares is the Portuguese Secretary of State for Justice, heading the digital policies, both for courts and the registry systems. Previously, he worked as General Coordinator at eBUPi – Simplified Land Digital Registry Mission Unit, the Portuguese public agency responsible for the expansion of a new cadaster and registry initiative using a digital approach. BUPi won several projects, namely Cities and Territories of the Future by APDC; Best Digital Transformation APDSI; Apolitical Global Public Service Team of the Year – Runner-Up; and OECD innovation best practice mention.

From 2015 to 2020 he was a Senior Advisor at the cabinets of the Minister of Justice and of the Secretary of State for Justice, where he managed different innovation and transformative projects and policies, including a Justice Innovation Lab, transparency and participation projects, or new digital Citizen-centric services. He acted as the Ministry’s contact point for the OECD digital policies and for several international projects with the European Commission.

In the public sector, Pedro worked on innovation projects such as the new concept for the citizens’ one-stop shops (Lojas de Cidadão), or the Citizens’ Portal. He has had different positions focused on digital transformation and innovation, including roles managing digital services, communication, transparency and participation initiatives.

Pedro also worked in the private sector as marketing & innovation director at different IT companies, including PHC Software and Inetum.

Moreover, he was a digital marketing & communications trainer at INA and Lisbon Digital School, and a guest lecturer at Universidade Católica Portuguesa and Instituto Politécnico de Santarém.

Pedro holds a master’s degree in Digital by Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a post-graduation in Business Administration by ISEG – Lisbon School of Economics & Management, a BA in Communication Studies by Universidade Nova de Lisboa and an advanced course in Digital Innovation by The University of Chicago.

Born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.

• Graduate in Law from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM).
• Master’s Degree in Law and International Relations at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD).
• Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM).
• Recognized as Outstanding Graduate in the Private Sector 2020 from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM).

Besides her private practice focused on Family Law, she has held different positions in public administration:

• Minister Counselor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2001-2005);
• Acting judge of the Children’s and Adolescents’ Court of the National District (2003);
• Coordinator of UN Women Programs for the Mayor’s Office of the National District (2016-2020);
• Vice Minister of Innovation, Transparency and Citizen Attention of the Administrative Ministry of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic. (Since 2020)

She is recognized as a social and political activist in different movements, especially related to issues of women, children, adolescents, and vulnerable groups.

Carlos Santiso has devoted his career to improving lives through better governance and digital innovation, with extensive experience in public governance and development finance. He has worked in over 40+ countries in the Americas, Africa, and Europe. Carlos currently heads the Division on Digital, Innovative and Open Government at the OECD. He also is member of the advisory committee on public governance of the United Nations and the World Economic Forum on digital transformation and anticorruption. He previously managed the governance practices of the Development Bank of Latin America, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the African Development Bank, recasting and resetting their strategic directions and operational focus. He also worked in government in Britain’s international development ministry and the office of the French Prime Minister. He holds a PhD in political economy from Johns Hopkins University and master’s degrees in public policy from Columbia University and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Paris.

Yolanda Martínez serves as the Overall Lead for the GovStack Initiative at the International Telecommunications Union, collaborating with governments in accelerating the digital transformation of their services using standard-based, reusable digital public infrastructure/building blocks. Within the public domain, Yolanda spearheaded Mexico’s National Digital Strategy, oversaw the Digital Government Unit at the Federal Level, and directed the Zapopan Digital City Program at the municipal level. In the private sector, while at Deloitte Consulting, she championed numerous digital transformation projects. On the international front, Yolanda headed the Office of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Chile. She partnered with United Nations agencies and the OECD to peer review the digital government strategies across various Latin American countries. @political has recognized Yolanda as one of the top twenty most influential people in digital government. She earned her Ph.D. in information and knowledge society from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and her Master’s from Carnegie Mellon University.

Keyzom is a former refugee now working as Head of Digital Programmes at the United Nations’ lead digital development agency UNDP. As part of the Executive Office delivering on UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner’s digital transformation agenda, Keyzom works with governments and digital ecosystems to shape the future of development and the role of multilaterals in digital transformation. She leads digital programmes across UNDP’s network of 171 countries, catalyzing new models of collaboration to create a community of ingenious people working collectively to solve complex challenges. She collaborates on frontier areas that member states face to foster new models of global digital cooperation across the UN and the multilateral system.

Gerardo Una is the Head of the FAD Capacity Development Strategy Support Team at the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF. As a Senior Economist he provides technical assistance to IMF’s member countries on treasury management, public investment management, and digital solutions to improve fiscal management. Currently he is leading digital innovations and public financial management initiatives at the Fiscal Affairs Department with the support of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Prior to joining the IMF, he worked at the Ministry of Finance of Chile, the Ministry of Finance of Argentina, and the Ministry of Finance of Paraguay. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Executive Program Certification in Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Barbara leads the work on the digital transformation of governments, which includes any initiative leveraging digital technologies and data (including AI) to enhance openness, efficiency and innovation in governments. She is responsible for country reviews, for monitoring the implementation of the OECD Recommendations on Digital Government Strategies, on Enhancing Access to and Sharing of Data, and on Digital Identity, as well as  for the OECD OURdata Index and Digital Government Index.

Barbara served for eight years as Programme Officer within the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. She gathered extensive experience working on  ICT, data and knowledge management for development. A Fulbright Scholar, Barbara holds a M.S. on Public Administration from Northeastern University in Boston. Apolitical listed Barbara among the 2018 and 2019 TOP 20 most influential figures on Digital Government worldwide.

Daniel Ortega Nieto Is a Lead Governance Specialist and Program Manager of the World Bank’s GovTech and Public Sector Innovation Program. The Program provides direct support to operations and convenes key stakeholders to promote the use of foundational and frontier tools and technologies with the goal of transforming the way governments operate, deliver services, and interact with citizens. Before this responsibility, Daniel was based in Jakarta, where he managed Indonesia’s Public Financial Management Multi-Donor Trust Fund, the Bank’s largest single-country governance trust fund and in-country governance team. In this capacity, he supported reforms in budgeting, treasury, civil service, Govtech and data analytics, and accountability. Previously, he led the ​​public sector management operations in Brazil. During his tenur in Brasilia, he designed and led the Pro-Gestão Program, a US$1 billion credit line to improve fiscal and public financial management across Brazilian states. Daniel led the development of DeCODE, an evidence-based system that uses machine learning to leverage data to help anticipate and solve delivery challenges, and the Governance Risk Assessment System which uses artificial intelligence for extracting 200+ firm-level and agency-level corruption risk red-flags. He has worked across regions and Governance issues, supporting projects and analytical work in Argentina, Bangladesh, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, and Uruguay, among others. Before joining the World Bank, he was an advisor to the Mexican Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, a consultant to the Inter-American Bank, and the United States Ministry of Labor and the Agency for International Development. He has conducted research at Harvard and Sciences-Po universities. Daniel graduated from El Colegio de México, holds a Master’s degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics (Chevening fellow), and holds a PhD in Public Policy and Government from Georgetown University (Fulbright fellow).

Giulio Quaggiotto was until recently the Head of Strategic Innovation for UNDP. Giulio’s career includes stints at Climate KIC, Nesta, WWF and the World Bank, among others. He was also the manager of the Jakarta Lab of the UN Global Pulse, a flagship innovation initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General on big data for public policy.

Giulio’s most recent work has focused on portfolio approaches to system transformation. He is an MIT Research Fellow with a focus on lead user innovation and a Policy Fellow with UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). He tweets @gquaggiotto

https://rsdsymposium.org/giulio-quaggiotto/

Natalia works on bringing startup innovation to the public sector. She is currently in charge of the GovTech agenda and co-leads Source of Innovation, an alliance that promotes innovation in the water and sanitation sector. She has considerable experience working with governments, NGOs, and the private sector to plan and carry out initiatives across Latin America and the Caribbean.
In her prior positions, Natalia concentrated on cluster and value chain development, as well as small business development through public-private partnerships.
She has been establishing cross-sector alliances and creating new strategies to effectively accomplish development goals for more than 15 years.
Natalia completed postgraduate studies in economics and urbanism in Argentina and Spain after earning a degree in economics from the University of Buenos Aires.

Senior public sector specialist and senior member of the World Bank’s Global GovTech Unit. More than 28 years of experience in business process improvement, information and communication technologies (ICT), public sector modernization and digital transformation (DT). Master in Business Administration, Bachelor in Informatics and Computer Science, Specialist in Tax Administration, Public Management and Change Management.

Core member of the GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI) and the Global Solutions Group for Domestic Resource Mobilization and Public Administration of the World Bank.

Co-author of ICT methodologies and interactive tools for the assessment of Infrastructure Needs, Automation, Information Security and Core Government Systems.

Former international consultant for different international organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations, United Nations and National Director of Tax Modernization in Bolivia.

Leader in successful projects of digitalization, transformation and technological modernization in public administration for several regions/countries (Panama, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Poland, Uganda, Ghana, Vietnam, Cameroon and Georgia among others).

Enrique Zapata, Coordinator for Govtech and Artificial Intelligence at the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), is one of the main drivers of govtech development in Latin America and the world. He is the author of various publications and articles related to the ecosystem, public policy, govtech contracts, and investment.

He had a 10-year career in the Government of Mexico, where he served as Head of the National Digital Platform Unit at the National Anticorruption System and Director General of Open Data at the Presidency, launching the country’s first AI public policy.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Open Data Charter, recognized as one of the 100 global leaders in public policy by Apolitical magazine, and a Govtech Groundbreaker by GLASS. Currently, he is a doctoral candidate in public administration at INAP in Mexico, holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Oxford, a master’s degree in data science from the University of Ávila, and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the Universidad Iberoamericana.

Javier Madariaga is a researcher and Consultant specializing in Public Policy and Digitalization. He focuses on identifying opportunities and innovative trends to strengthen the public sphere. Currently, he serves as a Member of the Board of GovTech LATAM de BID Lab Program and is a founding member of the Multisectoral GovTech Iberoamerica Network. Passionate about co-creating cutting-edge solutions, he provides guidance on public innovation programs and the development of GovTech ecosystems. With over 17 years of experience, he has led the design and implementation of cooperation and development projects in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. As a researcher, Javier analyzes the impact of new technologies in key areas such as urban economy, the environment, and social organization. He holds a degree in Economics from the Universidad Católica de Argentina (UCA) and has completed postgraduate studies in Public Policies and Social Programs at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (UTDT) and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC).

Bruno Monteiro is Policy Analyst at the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation, where he is the Cluster Lead on “Innovation in Public Services”. He is managing the project “Improving civic participation with emerging technologies” led by Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands and implemented by the OECD – OCDE with support from DG REFORM (European Commission).

Previously, he was the coordinator of LabX – Experimentation Lab for Public Administration, an unit of the AMA – Administrative Modernisation Agency (Portugal).

He holds a PhD in Sociology (University of Porto), having been a doctoral and post-doctoral fellow with the support of the National Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal).

Santiago “Santi” Garces, driven by early experiences in his native Bogotá, Colombia, has dedicated his career to optimizing government efficiency and effectiveness. As the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City of Boston, he leads the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT), striving to make it an engine of transformation by employing data science and human-centered design. With a robust history in civic tech roles, including pivotal CIO positions in South Bend and Pittsburgh, Santi has won the Bloomberg’s Mayor Innovation project for the Commuter’s Trust and has played an instrumental role in citywide technological advancements. A multilingual and a tech-savvy innovator, Santi has also co-founded a nonprofit, enFocus, aimed at creating innovative solutions for government and industry. His leadership, spanning planning, sustainability, and technological infrastructure, continues to shape the cities he serves towards a more efficient, inclusive, and technologically advanced future.

Daphnée Nostrome is a seasoned change leader with 20 years of experience dedicated to driving the promotion of innovative digital practices. Her expertise spans government, not-for-profit sectors, and community projects.

In her current role as Director, Channel Strategy, Office of Chief Client Experience Officer, Service Canada, she is focused on developing organizational models, growing service design and delivery capabilities and cultivating cultures that facilitate accessible, future-focused service delivery.

Previously, she served as the Director, Digital Talent Strategy, Benefit Delivery Modernization Programme, Service Canada. She also worked at the Ontario Digital Service, where she was Sr Manager, and Founder of a digital training team that launched record-breaking initiatives.

Previous speaking engagements include FW50, Policy Ignite, GovConnect, NYC[x] Innovation Fellows program (Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer), Haiti Tech Summit, and Diversity in Digital Services.

Ambassador Sorin Dumitru Ducaru is the Director of the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen) since June 2019. He has previously held the position of NATO Assistant Secretary General and Head of the NATO Emerging Security Challenges Division, as well as the positions of Romania’s ambassador to NATO, USA and to the UN in New York. He also assumed various positions in the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) such as: spokesperson of the MFA, director of the Minister’s Office and head of the Directorate for Strategic Affairs. Ambassador Ducaru’s professional background reflects a quite rare blend of technical and political studies. He is holding degrees in Applied Electronics & Computer Studies (BS, Bucharest Polytechnic University), Political Science & International Relations (M.Phil, University of Amsterdam) and International Economic Relations (Ph.D, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest). He has been intensely engaged intellectually and professionally bridging the technology-policy gap and addressing the impact of technology upon security. Ambassador Ducaru has been also engaged in academic and scientific activity, as associate or guest lecturer at the National University for Political Studies (Bucharest, Romania), NATO Defence College (Rome, Italy), Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (Cambridge, USA), Leiden University (The Netherlands). He is the Honorary Chairman of the Scientific Board of the New Strategy Center (Bucharest), European Council of Foreign Relations Member, Advisory Board  Member of Digital Society Institute (Berlin), the NATO Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (Tallin), and former Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute (Washington DC). In 2002, Ambassador Ducaru was awarded the title of “Ambassador of the Year” by the Romanian MFA and, in 2008, the rank of Knight of the National Order “The Star of Romania” by the president of Romania. He is married and has two teenage children.

Hebert Paguas is the Executive Director of AGESIC and is also a member of its Honorary Board of Directors, which is responsible for designing AGESIC’s strategic lines and supervising their execution, proposing and advising the Executive Branch in the formulation of policies regarding the Information Society and the State’s information technology development. It evaluates the performance and results obtained in the management.

He is also a member of the Digital Health Advisory Council, whose main task is to incorporate the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the field of health, to improve the quality and continuity of care for all people living in the country.

He is a member of the Executive Board of the State Procurement Regulatory Agency (ARCE), whose purpose is to promote and propose actions aimed at improving the management and transparency of procurement and, in general, of public sector contracting.

He is part of the Executive Council of the Electronic Certification Unit (UCE), which is the regulatory body of the advanced electronic signature and digital identification ecosystem. The UCE has powers of accreditation, control, instruction, regulation and sanction.

He is also a member of the Executive Boards of the Public Information Access Unit (UAIP) and the Regulatory, Control and Personal Data Unit (URCDP).

Mr. Paguas is also currently the General Director of the Presidency of Uruguay. He’s responsible for coordinating and managing the different services provided by such office. During the last period, he was the Secretary of the Chambers of Senators at the Uruguayan Parliament. Coordination of the agenda of the Chamber sessions, preparation, and distribution of documents, interacting with the different members of the Chamber, directing meetings, are some of the tasks involved in this position. He is a member of the Human Rights Council of the Presidency of the Republic.

Denise Linn Riedl is the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) for the City of South Bend, Indiana and head of the City’s Department of Innovation & Technology where she manages innovation, IT, digital services, data, and CX. Before joining the City of South Bend in 2019, Riedl held a variety of civic technology positions at the local and federal level. Riedl was the Ecosystem Development Manager for the Chicago-based City Tech Collaborative (formerly the Smart Chicago Collaborative) where she led the Connect Chicago Fund, the Chicago Data Collaborative, and the Array of Things Civic Engagement Project. Riedl also worked in the Spectrum Auctions Division of the US Federal Communications Commission and was a Fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. Writings include Inclusion of Underserved Residents in City Technology Planning (2018), The Next Generation Network Connectivity Handbook (2016), The Chicago School of Data (2018), and Toward Inclusive Urban Technology (2020). Riedl received her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her M.P.P from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

As the Chief Innovation & Data Officer for the City of Syracuse, NY, Nicolas leads a team of innovators, data-analytics experts, and change makers to improve internal processes and deliver better services to citizens. He is also in charge of building and implementing a long-term data strategy and digital transformation at Syracuse.

João Carabetta serves as the Chief Data Officer for the city of Rio de Janeiro. He holds a degree in Physics and a Master’s in Mathematical Modeling from FGV. Carabetta is known for establishing the NGO Base dos Dados in 2020, which oversees a public datalake and facilitates data accessibility in Brazil. His professional journey includes roles as a consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank and as a fellow in the Data Science for Social Good program. Additionally, he has made significant contributions to the Center for Technology and Society at FGV, merging technology with social advancement.

PhD in Political Science from the University of Brasília and Specialist in Public Policy and Government Management since 2006, Luanna has been working in the innovation and digital technologies sectorsince 2013. In 2020, she won the Public Spirit Award in the Digital Government category. Currently, Mrs. Roncaratti is the Digital Government Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Management.

Janusz Cieszynski was responsible for the biggest digital government projects that happened in Poland between 2018 and 2023.

As the deputy minister of health he implemented e-prescriptions, e-referrals and the e-patient service which still holds the record for the most users in Polish e-government history. As Secretary of State and Minister of Digital Affairs he delivered mObywatel – an app which made Poland the largest EU Member State with a fully functional e-id in July 2023. His user-oriented approach was instrumental to implementing a temporary means of identification for Ukrainian refugees which was launched within 3 weeks of the full-scale invasion. Janusz led the MoDA team that successfully negotiated terms with Intel which led to announcement of the first-ever chip manufacturing investment in Central Eastern Europe.

Kamila Gasinska is a professional in the field of strategic partnerships and innovation, currently working as the Strategic Partnerships Lead at The GovTech Lab Lithuania (Innovation Agency Lithuania). The GovTech Lab team works in the public sector and helps governmental institutions to work together with innovative startups and companies in solving the most pressing social and public sector challenges. She joined the team in early 2020, after implementing few successful projects in the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of Lithuania, focusing on tech solutions to fight bullying at Lithuanian schools. Since then, Kamila has been at the forefront of different national and international GovTech initiatives, working closely with government officials and other stakeholders in both the public and private sectors. Her passion for public sector transformation is driven by her deep interest in improving the quality of services offered to citizens, and as a trained psychologist, she is committed to changing the mindset of public servants to achieve this goal.

Dr. Cintia Smith is the Secretary of Innovation and Open Government at the Government of Monterrey, in Mexico. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy with a focus on Political Science from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Mexico; a master’s degree in Science with a specialization in Communication from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico; and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Catholic University of Córdoba, Argentina.

She is the author and co-author of publications on political communication and public policy in specialized journals in Mexico, Spain, and Argentina. In 2016, she was awarded the UANL 2016 Research Prize (Social Sciences).

Currently, in her role as Secretary of Innovation and Open Government for the Government of Monterrey, she leads the implementation of open and digital government practices at the local level. Key projects under her leadership include end-to-end digitization of processes and services, the management and exchange system of big data and geospatial data, the open data system, participatory budgeting, and the construction of the Local Open Government Action Plan in partnership with the Government of the State of Nuevo León. She is also a member of the Government Advisory Council of the Open Wallet Foundation.

In the academic sphere, over the course of the current year, she has completed high-level programs such as the “Executive Program on Implementing Public Policy” at the Harvard Kennedy School and the “Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.” These achievements underscore her commitment to excellence and continuous learning to lead innovative initiatives in the public sector.

Luciano is the Founder and CEO of the Govtech Innovation Laboratory of Córdoba (Argentina), CorLab. CorLab has been a driver of the city’s govtech policy, contributing to the transformation of the local public sector and placing the city at the forefront of govtech programs. In CorLab, Luciano successfully led the design and execution of the pioneering Córdoba Smart City Fund, recognised by OECD, CAF and IADB Lab as the first govtech fund in Latin America.

Luciano is an Economist (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba). He holds a Master in Economic Development (Universidad Internacional de Andalucía) and a Master in Political Management (Universidad Católica de Córdoba). He is an undergraduate and postgraduate Professor in Universities of Argentina, Perú and El Salvador, specialising in Economics and Innovation. Also, he is an internationally recognised influencer, sharing insights on topics within public innovation and govtech.

In the private sector, Luciano worked in Alaya Capital, a Latam venture capital firm, and he led open innovation processes for medium and big companies.

Mr. Faisal Shahzad is a development professional having extensive experience of working with public sector organization i.e. Central Govt. Sub-National Govt., World Bank, USAID in Pakistan. He has been engaged on steering critical public sector innovation and GovTech programs with the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan with respect to integration, processes harmonization, business process review mapping, implementation of digital governance transformation for paperless govt. key processes, rolling out of digital literacy program for govt. officials and preparation Enterprise Architecture Framework and Roadmap.

Laura Halenius is the Project Director of the Roadmap for a Fair Data Economy project. She and her team believe that Finland is well placed to seize the opportunities of the data economy by making fair and sustainable use of data a significant competitive advantage.

Laura has over 15 years of experience in creating social change and communications management. She holds a Master’s degree in economics and business administration.

Previously Laura worked as the Senior Lead for social marketing and public relations for Sitra’s IHAN® – Human-driven data economy project. As the lead of the IHAN project, Laura among other things, developed the concept of fair data economy and policy recommendations in collaboration with stakeholders. She also headed Finland’s national Gaia-X strategy work.

Feel free to contact Laura if you want to know more about the road map work, fair data economy and its potential as well as sustainable technologies as a future competitive advantage.

Born in Segovia, he is a Telecommunications Engineer, member of the Senior Corps of Systems and Information Technologies of the State Administration, Master in Systems Management and Information and Communications Technologies, Executive Master of Business Management by the School of Industrial Organization and Leadership Program for Public Management. Diploma of Advanced Studies in PhD in Applied Economics.
He has worked for more than a decade in the private sector in the areas of telecommunications (TELETTRA) and centres for urban traffic control and environmental pollution (SICE).
Since 1993 he has been a member of the Public Administration, where he worked in the Department of Tax Computing (1993-2005), in the Central Delegation of Large Taxpayers (2006-2009) and in the Department of Planning and Institutional Relations, in the State Agency of Tax Administration. General Director on Impulse of the Electronic Administration (2009-2011), responsible for the implementation of Law 11/2007 on electronic access of citizens to public services and he has been part of the Office for the Implementation of the Reform of the Public Administration (CORA), created to fight against the economic crisis, as responsible for promoting technological measures (2013-2016).
Between 2018 and 2020 he was Secretary General of Digital Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, responsible for the Digital Transformation initiatives of the General State Administration and the common infrastructures that have supported the administration during the time of confinement caused by COVID-19.
He is currently General Director of the Madrid Digital Office in charge of promoting the digital transformation process in the city, digital administration and data strategy.

Raquel Poncela is the Digital Services and Innovation Director at the Spanish Royal Mint, providing, among others, digital identity and artificial intelligence services. She is an expert in digital transformation, due to over 25 years of experience working for the public and private IT sector. She has a master degree in Computer Science from the University of Malaga and a postgraduate diploma in Leadership Program for Public Management from IESE Business School.

Ángeles Marín is a Telecommunications Engineer and a Civil Servant in the Spanish State Administration.

In 2007-2012 she held various positions in the Ministry of Housing. In 2012-2024 she worked at the former Ministry of Public Works, now the Ministry of Transport. She headed the Mobility Strategy Office, was responsible for drafting of the Law on Sustainable Mobility and coordinated the investments of the Spanish Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (Next Generation Funds) within the scope of the General Secretariat of Transport and Mobility.

Since January 2024 she is General Director for Policies against Depopulation, in the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.

Born in 1974 in Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña).

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Physics, specializing in Electronics (1997, University of Santiago de Compostela).

Work Experience

• 1998 – 2022: Private sector, information systems consulting.
  • 1998 – 2007: Soluziona (now Indra)
    • Systems analyst and later project director for the Galician Health Service as a senior consultant. Involved in the design and implementation of the electronic health record system (IANUS).
  • 2007 – 2020: Founder of Queres
    • Held roles as CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer), leading projects for public and private clients as a senior consultant. The company was sold to Izertis in 2020.
  • 2020 – 2022: Izertis
    • Head of the Content Management Systems department. Also served as a senior consultant for the Infrastructure and Security Area of Amtega.

He holds a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Seville, as well as an Executive MBA from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas and various master’s degrees in Marketing and Commercial Management, Stock Exchange and Financial Markets and Sales Management.

In the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, from July 2019 to July 2023 he was General Director of Digital Administration, since July 2023 he is Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of the Ministry of Finance, Public Administrations and Digital Transformation.

Previously he held management positions at Fujifilm Europe, Ernst & Young, Coritel-Accenture or Roche Diagnostics, professor at ESIC Business & Marketing School and director of the Healthcare Trends Lab at CEU IAM.

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Lázaro Tuñón is Deputy Director for Open Government in the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Civil Service. I am a lawyer and economist and I have previously worked in the European Social Fund management authority and the Communication Office of Spain Prime Minister.  We are currently co-creating the 5^th National Action Plan on Open Government and we will be focusing closely on the role of new technologies as a tool for better and more open Governments.

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José Manuel García Duarte holds a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the School of Telecommunications Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, along with additional studies in Industrial Engineering.

Since 2012, he has served on the governing board of the Illustrious College of Telecommunications Engineers of the “Comunidad Valenciana”.

As an ICT expert in technologies applied to Public Administrations, for over a decade, he has worked in multinational companies such as NextiraOne and Dimension Data, now integrated into Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT). In these roles, he has managed projects for the administrations of the Balearic Islands, Valencia, and Murcia.

In 2017, he was appointed Director of Operations and Engineering at À Punt Mèdia, where he played a key role in its launch and the initiation of new broadcasts.

In 2019, he assumed the role of Managing Director of Information and Communication Technologies (DGTIC) for the Generalitat Valenciana. In this position, he has navigated the challenges posed by the pandemic, particularly in the educational sector and in overall strategic planning.

He is currently finalizing the Strategic Plan for Digital Transformation of the Generalitat Administration, GEN Digital 2025, and preparing for the upcoming period of 2025-2030. This plan emphasizes administrative simplification, generative artificial intelligence, hyper-automation, digital identity, and other emerging technologies. Additionally, he is continuing ongoing projects from the current plan such as Cloud First (evolution towards a hybrid cloud) and Anima (Data Governance and Data Lake).

Núria Espuny currently serves as the General Director of Digital Administration of the Government of Catalonia, driving the digital transformation of the Catalonia Public Administration (Generalitat de Catalunya) since June 2020. Among her responsibilities are enhancing and reengineering corporate digital services, promoting interoperability and the exchange of public information, establishing a corporate data governance model, and implementing advanced analytics and artificial intelligence services to enhance public services.

With a background in Telecommunications Engineering and in Electronics Engineering, she complemented her training with a Postgraduate Degree in Digital Government.

After a brief stint in the private sector, she has developed her entire professional career in the public sector, holding various management and directorial positions. From 2016 to 2020, she held the position of General Director of Transparency and Open Data of the Government of Catalonia.

Over her 30-year career, her expertise includes areas such as computer networks, telecommunications, information systems, e-government, open government, digital transformation, and data governance.

Mr. Antonio Ibáñez Pascual is a Senior Telecommunications Engineer with a Master’s Degree in Leadership and Public Management. He has worked for Telefónica Research & Development and for Red Eléctrica Telecomunicaciones, joining Castilla y León regional government in 2004.

For 17 years, Ibáñez Pascual has been responsible for the Internet presence of Junta de Castilla y León. He has launched and coordinated the Open Government strategy, promoting initiatives such as transparency, open data, participation and social networks, obtaining different awards.

He has also been a professor of different training courses at the School of Public Administration of Castilla y León.

Since 2022, he has been General Director of Telecommunications and Digital Administration in the Regional Government of Castilla y León, and President of the Somos Digital Association.

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Born in Madrid in 1982, Isabel holds a degree in Law and International Relations from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas de Madrid (ICADE).
She spent her early professional career in Washington, DC, where she worked at the World Bank, implementing transparency and accountability programs for local governments in Latin America.
In 2011, after spending a year in the international relations department of FAES Foundation, she decided to undertake her first business project in the tourism sector, Greatness, which she managed until 2017. In 2018, she joined the strategic consulting firm IANUS Group as a partner. Moreover, she teaches the entrepreneurship degree at the Francisco Marroquín University in Madrid.
As a member of the Partido Popular, Isabel has been an MEP since July 2019. In this IX legislature, she is vice-chair of the Committee on Regional Development, a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and vice-coordinator of the EPP in the subcommittee on taxation.
Isabel is responsible for European recovery funds “Next Generation EU” of the Spanish delegation of the EPP, being a member of the Working Group of the European Parliament in charge of monitoring and auditing these funds. She is also the national secretary for European funds of the Spanish People’s Party.
As part of her work in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, she has been responsible for the European Parliament’s report on the Capital Markets Union. In her commitment to improving the competitiveness of European markets and increasing investment options for European citizens, she is responsible for the Directives on Alternative Investment Fund Managers and Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (AIFMD/UCTIS).
Isabel Benjumea is co-founder of the Floridablanca Network, a Spanish liberal think tank, from which she has made numerous collaborations and articles in the national and international media.

Alejandra Lagunes Soto Ruiz is a communication graduate from the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). She was appointed National Coordinator of Digital Strategy in 2012, where she was responsible for creating and disseminating the National Digital Strategy of the Presidency of Mexico. She has over 13 years of experience in technology companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, and Televisa. And she is an expert in digital public political communication, after developing and implementing the digital campaign for the governorship of the State of Mexico in 2011, the presidential campaign of 2012, and the presidential campaign of 2018.

Currently, she serves as a Senator in the Republic for the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico. In the Senate of the Republic, she holds the position of Secretary of the Directing Board and the Commission of Science and Technology, and is a member of six other commissions. Lagunes is also the founder of the National Alliance of Artificial Intelligence (ANIA), a multi-stakeholder mechanism with the mission to recognize and strengthen the artificial intelligence ecosystem in Mexico with a comprehensive, plural, and multidisciplinary perspective.

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Tara McGuinness is the Executive Director of the New Practice Lab, a policy and product team focused on getting 3 million low-income families access to benefits. She led the domestic policy team for the Biden Transition and was part of planning for the first 100 days of the Biden presidency.  She is obsessed with implementation and making government work, since her days working as a senior advisor to President Obama where she was responsible for leading the effort to sign up millions of Americans for free and low-cost health insurance through Obamacare.  In 2021, Tara wrote: Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology, described by President Obama as, “worth a read for anyone who cares about making change happen.”

David Eaves is Associate Professor of Digital Government and Co-Deputy Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London. David’s research focuses on the governance of digital public infrastructure and the minimum viable knowledge public administrators need on technology to be effective in a digital era. He is a co-founder of Teaching Public Service in a Digital Age, which seeks to increase the number of public servants receiving digital era public administration skills. He also sits on the investment committee of Co-Develop, a philanthropic fund that supports inclusive, equitable digital infrastructure projects.

Arancha González is the third Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po and the first woman to lead the world’s third school for Politics and International Studies.

Prior to joining PSIA, Ms González served as Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (2020-2021). She previously was Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (2013-2020). Between 2005 and 2013 she served as Chief of Staff to the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy. Before that she held senior positions at the European Commission in the areas of international trade and development. Ms González started her career as a lawyer in the private sector.

Ms González has been a member of PSIA’s Strategic Committee since 2017.

A Spanish national, Ms González holds a degree in law from the University of Navarra and a Postgraduate Degree in European Law from the University Carlos III of Madrid.

Manuel Muñiz is the Provost of IE University in Madrid and a Professor of Practice of International Relations, with a range of experience in academia. He is also the Dean of IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs, responsible for research and teaching in public policy and global affairs. His academic work has focused on the fields of innovation and disruption, political economy, and regional and global governance.

From January of 2020 to July of 2021, Muñiz served as State Secretary at the Spanish Foreign Ministry. In this role, he was responsible for leading the ministry’s Strategy and Foresight Unit, the Economic Diplomacy Team, and the Communications Department, including the Office for Diplomatic Information. He coordinated Spain’s 2021–2024 Foreign Policy Strategy, and led the work on the National Strategy on Technology and Global Order. During this time, he coordinated Spain’s OECD Ministerial Presidency of 2020 and was a member of the Prime Minister’s COVID-19 task force.

For over 25 years Ben Cerveny has worked as an executive, strategist, and designer in the context of operating systems, media applications, web services, products, the built environment, and digital games.

Before founding the Foundation for Public Code, he was a Design Fellow at Samsung, leading a project on room-scale programmable environments. Previously, he helped design the massively multiplayer game that became Flickr [and also named it], founded the Experience Design Lab at Frogdesign, and was CEO of Bloom Studios, whose data visualization iPad app Planetary was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution.

Wietse Van Ransbeeck is the co-founder and CEO of CitizenLab, a digital community engagement platform that enables governments for more inclusive, participatory, and data-driven decision-making. Today, the platform is used by more than 500 local governments in more than 20 countries around the world, from national governments and large cities to the smallest towns. Wietse was previously named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe and Meaningful Business 100 lists for his work on bringing local democracies into the digital age.

Pau Alonso is the Executive Director of the Provost’s Office at IE University, devising strategic initiatives and creating and managing partnerships with governments, multilateral organisations, NGO’s and institutional bodies. Before joining IE University, Pau researched policies related to science and technology, space, defence and security, nuclear strategy, deterrence, and nonproliferation at RAND Corporation and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He has extensive experience in the aerospace and defence industry, starting his career as a systems engineer for Earth observation missions at Deimos Space and the European Space Agency before moving to managerial positions within Airbus, working in business development, product policy, corporate strategy, and communications strategy. He holds a M.Phil. in policy analysis from Pardee RAND, an M.P.A. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; a M.S. in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science; a dual M.B.A. from ESADE Business School in Barcelona and the University of Texas at Austin (McCombs); and a M.S. and B.S. in computer engineering from Universidad de Oviedo and Universidad de León in Spain.

Calum Inverarity is a Senior Researcher at the Open Data Institute (ODI). His interests lie in the interplay between science, technology, and society, and the questions this asks of contemporary governance.

His work at the ODI focuses primarily on privacy-enhancing technologies and how these can be used responsibly to help address societal challenges. He has previously worked with think tanks and research institutes in the UK and Belgium focusing on cyber security, economic policy, and conflict resolution.

Calum received his MSc from the University of Amsterdam and completed his BA at the University of Leeds, having spent periods studying at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Ghana.

Dan Abadie is a leading Digital Transformation consultant who has dedicated his career to helping public and private organizations navigate and thrive in the digital age. With a strong background in developing digital strategies and delivering innovative technology solutions, Dan has played key roles in digital transformation at the government level and in the private sector.

In 2024, he expanded his impact by joining the Center for Digital Public Infrastructure (CDPI) as Sr. Technical Advisor, contributing to the design and implementation of Digital Public Infrastructures (DPI) for public organizations.

Previously, from 2020 to 2023, he led LATAM for Public Digital Ltd., a UK-based digital transformation consultancy. During his stay, he supervised data and digital transformation projects for organizations such as the IDB, CAF, UNDP, World Bank and private entities, focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean.

His career in the Argentine government as Undersecretary of Digital Government (2015-2019) marked a milestone in his career. In this period, Dan advised the President on digital economy and digital transformation issues, led crucial discussions at the 2018 G20, and was in charge of Argentina’s Digital Government service. Under his leadership, innovative initiatives were launched such as the Mi Argentina platform, the first digital driver’s license, and the citizen’s digital wallet, the single domain website Argentina.gob.ar, the virtual assistant Chat Crecer and the Plan National Digital Inclusion.

Before, between 2007 and 2015, he was the head of digital in the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, where he played a fundamental role in the development of the single domain BuenosAires.gob.ar, the “How I Get There” mobile application, the citizen service and the call center telephone line 147.

Internationally recognized for his influence and contribution to digital government, Dan was selected by Apolitical in 2019 as one of the 20 most influential people worldwide in this field. That same year, he won a Webby Award in the health category for the virtual assistant Chat Crecer and stood out as a TEDx speaker, sharing his knowledge and experience in digital transformation and e-government.

Simon manages strategic government partnerships globally at Mastercard as well a number of related innovation projects.

Formerly global head of public sector innovation at Cisco for many years, Simon has also worked at several GovTech start-ups and twice run UK voluntary sector organisations.

The first half of his career was spent working for the UK Government on digital transformation and social security reform at DWP and at Her Majesty’s
Treasury where he worked for Jeremy Heywood as head of financial crime.

He is a widely acknowledged expert on managing complex innovation ecosystems for the public good and has published on the subject as well as addressing the UN, TEDX and many others.

Solveig has served as the Senior Vice President and lead for Mastercard’s Public Sector team in Europe since January 2022. In this role, she is responsible for developing the overall vision and driving the execution of European Public
Sector strategy through public-private partnerships in more than twenty European markets in the areas of digitalization of the public sector and small business,
sustainable and inclusive tourism development and cybersecurity.

Previously, Solveig was the General Manager for Mastercard in France, responsible for the deployment of the strategy and the growth in this country. She worked on a partnership basis with private and public entities, increased Mastercard services footprint and market share while focusing on driving innovation and accelerating digitization of all means of payment in the market.

Solveig has held several positions for Mastercard in France including Head of Business Development and Head of Mastercard Advisors. Before joining Mastercard in 2012, she worked in consulting for banking and financial institutions in both London and Paris.

Daniel Nieto is, since 2020, responsible for relations with the Government
and the public sector for Spain and Portugal. Previously, and since 2014,
he served as Expert in Digital Inclusion and Policies Issues at the United
Nations. During his fifteen years of experience in the technology sector, he
has worked facilitating collaboration between companies and institutions
where the use of innovation to contributes for a better society and the
advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030).

An expert in digital inclusion and polices, he is the author of international
flagship publications related to the digital economy, e-commerce and
public-private partnerships published by the United Nations.

Daniel is an economist from the University of Salamanca and postgraduate
training at the London Business School, University of Bern and The World
Bank.

Javier González Sánchez is a Senior Telecommunications Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, with more than 32 years of experience in the IT sector in companies such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM. He has held positions of responsibility both in the areas of Hardware and Software infrastructure, as well as in the area of Industrial Solutions. Among other commercial responsibilities, he has led the Unix servers business unit of IBM Spain, the “ Analytics ” products business unit, and the creation in Spain of the “Watson” business unit that brings together all the portfolio of cognitive and AI IBM capabilities for Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel.

Since 2018, he has been leading IBM’s business for the Public Sector in Spain.

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Idoia is a recognized expert on govtech, advises local and national governments on public innovation ecosystems and public policies. Currently, she is CEO of Gobe, the first govtech studio in Spain. Previously, she was Director and founder of the Publictech Lab at IE University and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Inter American Development Bank.

Idoia holds an MBA from MIT, a MA in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and in 2019 was recognized by Apolitical as one of the world´s 100 most influential people in digital government. Before returning to Spain, Idoia was for seven years the principal advisor to the Secretary of the IDB Group (Inter-American Development Bank, IDB Invest and IDB Lab) in Washington DC. She also worked in countries such as Uruguay, Guatemala and Bolivia on government and citizen participation projects.

Ben Supple is an experienced technology. Ben most recently led Global Public and Nonprofit Partnerships for Meta’s business messaging group, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. As the second public policy hire at WhatsApp, Ben helped establish a foundation for its policy function and served as the first-ever global WhatsApp election lead, building the playbook that is still in use today for every major election. Ben helped launch the WhatsApp Business App in 2018 and then the WhatsApp Business API in 2019. In 2020, Ben built a dedicated government and nonprofit partnerships program and global civic engagement team, resulting in thousands of governments and nonprofit organizations onboarded to the API, hundreds of developers supporting government clients and the creation of key programs like WhatsApp’s COVID crisis response, global fact checking and Chat for Impact. These partnerships yielded a large proportion of overall API messaging volume, generated substantial revenue, improved WhatsApp’s brand and reputation, and most importantly, helped tens of millions of real people in times of need.

Prior to WhatsApp, Ben served for nearly a decade as a leader in the global strategic consulting firm, the Cohen Group, led by the former US Senator and Secretary of Defense, Bill Cohen. He managed numerous Fortune 100 clients across tech, energy, aerospace, consumer products, and textiles, among other areas, and also led the firm’s Americas practice.

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Melissa Cohen, JD, MPA, is a founding partner of Coral Health Advisors, a national health policy, strategy and operations consulting firm. She has spent the last 15 years as a senior leader in both government and the private sector leading teams responsible for the design and implementation of alternative payment models to improve patient care. She started her career as an attorney for hospitals and health systems and learned early on how fragmented care and lack of access leads to poor patient outcomes. This led her to pursue a career in health care policy, strategy and operations and she has not looked back.
From 2018-2021, Melissa was the Staff Vice President of Payment Innovation and Strategy at Elevance where she led value-based contracting with a focus on provider enablement and alignment to product and benefit design. Melissa was one of the original staff of the CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), joining at its inception in 2011. While there, she drove the design and implementation of payment models across the care continuum. In her last year at CMMI, Melissa was responsible for management of the Center’s 10-billion-dollar budget and investment portfolio. Melissa has a JD from Fordham University School of Law, an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Cofounder and CEO of BrazilLAB, 1st govtech innovation hub in Brazil and Latin America to connect startups with the Public Sector. Founder and professor at the Institute for Studies in Leadership, Law and Development (ILDD). Lawyer with a masters degree in Administrative Law (PUC/SP). Speaker in Govtech, Digital Government, Public Sector Innovation and Public Procurement for Innovation.

Lawyer, professor, speaker and entrepreneur. Cofounder and CEO of BrazilLAB, an innovation govtech hub focused on connecting the public sector with B2G startups through its acceleration program and many other activities dedicated to foster the brazilian govtech ecosystem. Graduated in Law at PUC / SP (2001), institution in which he also obtained the titles of Specialist (2004) and a Master (2010) in Administrative Law. He has more than 20 years of experience in legal business practice, specially with startups, as well as in consulting activities in the public sector, being a speaker on government innovation, public procurement for innovation, digital government and GovTech. He is also the founder of the Institute for Studies in Leadership, Law and Development (ILDD) and professor of law.

Giovanna Galasso, Partner and EU Account Lead at Intellera Consulting, is an expert in digital policy and public sector innovation, with significant contributions to digital strategy and policy at national and European levels. Giovanna has worked extensively with the European Commission, particularly DG CNECT, leading projects that foster the adoption of AI and emerging technologies in public administrations. She is currently leading the delivery of GovTech Connect, the European Commission’s initiative to boost public sector digitization and the green transition through a European GovTech platform. bringing together SMEs, public and private GovTech gamechangers, investors, civil society, academia and NGOs. She is also involved in SPINEIC (EIC Flagship initiative on Innovation Procurement) supporting the matching of  EIC beneficiaries with public buyers’ needs in the field of digital solutions.  Moreover, Giovanna is involved in several projects under the European Commission’s Digital Europe Program, such as the procurement and co- design of  the Local Digital Twins (LDT) toolbox and is leading the project aimed at monitoring, evaluation and quality review of its development. She graduated in Political Science and holds a master’s in public management from Federico II University in Naples (Italy) as well as a Master in Artificial intelligence for the Public sector (AI4GOV) jointly delivered by Politecnico di Milano and Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.

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Alexa Moeller is the Chief Operating Officer & Managing Director of Polyteia. She holds an MPP degree from the Hertie School and an MPA degree from the London School of Economics. With its products Polyteia enables the Public Sector to process data and digitalize processes for any kind of use case. The company supports already more then 100 public administrations in Germany.

Paola Santana is a lawyer, public procurement expert and serial tech entrepreneur, creating the next breakthrough in government systems. She’s the founder and CEO of GLASS, a Silicon Valley startup revolutionizing how governments buy with pioneering G-Commerce.

Previously, she co-founded Matternet, a Silicon Valley company pioneering drone logistics networks. Under her leadership, Matternet engaged with The White House, the U.S. Congress, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and NASA to enact the first drone regulation in the United States in 2016, and became the world’s first drone delivery platform authorized for permanent operations over a populated city in 2017.

She co-established the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court, and worked at the National Elections Court coordinating the Elections Litigation Chamber. She has also collaborated with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the OECD, developing striking public infrastructure projects and strategic partnerships integrating exponential technologies.

She’s best known for her ability to create things from scratch at the intersection of the public, private and regulatory domains, and for her track record introducing cutting-edge technologies into highly-regulated markets. Her most recent experience includes co-drafting the public-private partnership enabling the first multi-state Hyperloop system in the United States.

A Fulbright scholar and graduate from George Washington, Georgetown and Singularity University, she’s been featured as CNET Top 20 Latin in Tech, Forbes Next 1000, LinkedIn Top Professionals Under 35 in Enterprise Tech, and served as Lead of the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Unmanned Aircraft Systems Advisory Group and appointed member of the first FAA Drone Advisory Committee.

Joseph Tenzin Oliver is a social entrepreneur and sustainability leader with over fifteen years of experience. His career to date has involved advising private companies, governments, social enterprises and non-profits on how to innovate and scale using cutting-edge future technologies and ethical practices for economic and societal growth.

His previous work has consisted of multi-project endeavours to explore, understand and create world-class cutting-edge examples of how society can be influenced and shaped to become a more conscious, abundant and positive place for us all to live, work and thrive.

He has worked within a wide range of industries and within three continents (Europe, Asia, and North America) and has represented regional councils and the National Government of the UK in various capacities nationally and internationally.

During his career he has managed and grown multiple companies, creating and directing global change programmes. This has been instrumental in securing hundreds of millions of dollars in technology investment for a range of projects that have seen a significant ROI.

His work in emerging technologies has led him to design, develop, and manage the rollout of high-specification innovation technology departments for some of the top Fortune 500 companies. He is now a recognised advisor in the innovation and sustainability sectors specialising in the management of complex and uncertain innovation growth which results in long-term change and industry leadership.

Oleguer Sagarra, co-CEO and co-founder, more than 7 years ago, of Dribia, a data science innovation studio in Barcelona. He has a research background with a PhD in theoretical physics from UB, with a research stay at MIT, which evolved into entrepreneurship. Dribia offers ideation services and creation of custom artificial intelligence tools for companies of all types. In addition to AI projects, he also has experience in data governance, with participation in public projects around data sovereignty, regulation and support to public administrations such as Barcelona or Hamburg for the implementation of data-driven public services.

Bryan Sivak is the co-founder and managing partner at Evidenced Capital, a private market investment firm focused on early-stage healthcare companies benefitting from tailwinds generated by policy and regulatory changes. He currently sits on the Vesta Healthcare and Osso VR boards.
Most recently, Bryan served on the executive leadership team at Centene as Senior Vice President, Technology, Innovation, and Modernization. During this time, he was responsible for enterprise-wide technology strategy and execution, focusing on next-generation products and services.
Previously, he held a dual role at Kaiser Permanente as Vice President of Medicaid Transformation as well as Managing Director of Kaiser Permanente Ventures. As Vice President of Medicaid Transformation, Bryan was responsible for working across the organization to help lead the transformation of the provision of care and services to its large and growing Medicaid population. As a Managing Director of the KP Venture Fund, he invested in and built venture-backed companies that are
developing the next generation of technologies and services to meet the needs of KP members and the broader healthcare ecosystem.
Prior to Kaiser Permanente, Bryan was the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. His position was to bring new ideas and perspectives to the work of the Foundation and challenge existing processes and assumptions to help more effectively build a “Culture of Health.” He also served as a Senior Fellow at Civic Hall, a New York City-based “community center” for technologists, government innovators, researchers, and others focused on leveraging technology to solve the problems of the many versus the issues of the few.
Before Kaiser, starting in 2012, Bryan served as the Chief Technology Officer at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Obama administration. During his three years in this role, Sivak was responsible for helping HHS harness the power of data, technology, and innovation to improve the
health and welfare of the nation. Prior to HHS, he served as the Chief Innovation Officer for Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, where he led Maryland’s efforts to embed innovation concepts into the DNA of state government.
In 2009, preceding his time with Governor O’Malley, Bryan was Chief Information/Technology Officer for
the District of Columbia. He led a large and diverse team that created a technology infrastructure known for enhancing communication between the district’s residents and their government and implemented organizational reforms that improved efficiency, program controls, and customer service. Prior to his public service, Bryan was a private sector entrepreneur, founding InQuira, Inc. in 1997, a multinational
enterprise software company focusing on natural language processing based knowledge management (acquired by Oracle).

Chuy Cepeda is a visionary leader navigating the crossroads of technology and humanity, passionately driving innovation for the betterment of society. With excellence honors as a Mechatronics Engineer, a distinguished PhD in Artificial Intelligence, and a Harvard Alumni in Global Leadership for Public Policy; he embodies a unique fusion of expertise, consistently addressing the most pressing public problems through the most promising emergent technologies.

In this era of privacy-invasive economies and heightened governmental control, he delved into decentralization and digital freedom. His company, OS City, spearheads decentralized identity and verifiable credentials implementations in Latin American governments, representing a unique convergence of industries. This distinctive approach has earned him numerous recognitions, such as being a Young Global Leader, one of the 50 most influential people in government disruption, and an Ethereum Foundation Fellow for his instrumental role in onboarding the next billion people into the web3.

María Izquierdo cares about contributing to a better future that distributes power and puts people’s needs first. Her work as a service designer focuses on bringing teams and organisations together, advocating for businesses that create value for society.
Over the last 10 years, she’s worked in the private and public sectors on subjects such as data infrastructure for public services, AI in healthcare and practical ethics in emerging technologies. Recent work includes Genomics England and the UK Government.

Carlos Romero is co-founder of Fractal Strategy, he has accompanied digitalisation projects, strategic design and customer experience consultancies with administrations and companies at national and international level. He is responsible for service design in the Aragon Digital Services team, winners of a mention in the “Professionals” category in the National Design and Innovation Awards 2022.

He holds a degree in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineer and Master’s degree in User Experience Design. Since 2010 he has been involved in the academic development of the design profession and is currently an associate professor of design methodologies for the Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Design at the University of Zaragoza, pioneers in bringing Design Thinking teaching to the university context in Spain. He gives training courses for organisations and companies, training other professionals in design thinking. He collaborates in the organisation of events to promote the transformation of public administrations.