Cecilia leads the world’s largest industry association for the digitalising industries DIGITALEUROPE. The association represents over 56,000 digital companies in Europe with 41 National Association across 35 countries in EU plus Ukraine, Moldova, United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey and an office in Washington, D.C. (US).

DIGITALEUROPE represents companies from the following sectors each headed by an Executive Council: ICT, Defence, Health, Energy, Finance, Mobility and Public sector, and the association has quadrupled the size of the organization since 2017.

The organisation strives to create open markets that are attractive for innovation, business investments and growth. The team works in the following services areas: Industry representation towards the EU, members states, US and other international policy leaders like G7, NATO and EDA; public-private partnerships, that creates security and competitiveness; boosting business opportunities and investment for the benefit of society and security.

Cecilia is a member of the European Commission’s Industrial Forum and High-Level Forum on European Standardisation. She is also a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity).

In March 2023, Cecilia received the Ukraine Peace Prize on behalf of DIGITALEUROPE in recognition of her work supporting Ukraine during the war. In June 2025, she was further honoured with an award from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence for her continued support of Ukraine through DIGITALEUROPE, including initiatives such as supporting dual-use innovation, building EU–Ukraine digital partnerships, advocating for ICT in emergency mechanisms, and donating equipment to schools and hospitals.

Formerly, Cecilia has served as advisor to the Danish Foreign Ministry on digital diplomacy and the Danish Defence Ministry on digital security and defence. In 2020 she was appointed as a member of the Advisory Group to the Secretary General of NATO on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies and has profound understanding of digital defence and security and hybrid threats.

She also held a seat in the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, in the B20 Digital Transformation Taskforce, and in the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition.

Cecilia leads the world’s largest industry association for the digitalising industries DIGITALEUROPE. The association represents over 56,000 digital companies in Europe with 41 National Association across 35 countries in EU plus Ukraine, Moldova, United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey and an office in Washington, D.C. (US).

DIGITALEUROPE represents companies from the following sectors each headed by an Executive Council: ICT, Defence, Health, Energy, Finance, Mobility and Public sector, and the association has quadrupled the size of the organization since 2017.

The organisation strives to create open markets that are attractive for innovation, business investments and growth. The team works in the following services areas: Industry representation towards the EU, members states, US and other international policy leaders like G7, NATO and EDA; public-private partnerships, that creates security and competitiveness; boosting business opportunities and investment for the benefit of society and security.

Cecilia is a member of the European Commission’s Industrial Forum and High-Level Forum on European Standardisation. She is also a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity).

In March 2023, Cecilia received the Ukraine Peace Prize on behalf of DIGITALEUROPE in recognition of her work supporting Ukraine during the war. In June 2025, she was further honoured with an award from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence for her continued support of Ukraine through DIGITALEUROPE, including initiatives such as supporting dual-use innovation, building EU–Ukraine digital partnerships, advocating for ICT in emergency mechanisms, and donating equipment to schools and hospitals.

Formerly, Cecilia has served as advisor to the Danish Foreign Ministry on digital diplomacy and the Danish Defence Ministry on digital security and defence. In 2020 she was appointed as a member of the Advisory Group to the Secretary General of NATO on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies and has profound understanding of digital defence and security and hybrid threats.

She also held a seat in the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, in the B20 Digital Transformation Taskforce, and in the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition.

Born in 1962
•   1984: Traineeship at the European Commission (General Secretariat, in charge of monitoring the work of the European Parliament)
•   1985-86: Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
•  1986-88: Department of the European Communities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for E.C-Turkey and E.C- Cyprus relations
• 1988-89: for the needs of the Greek Presidency (2nd semester 1988), Permanent Representation of Greece in Brussels, as national representative of the Mediterranean working group
•  1989-91: Diplomatic Office of the Minister
• 1992-96: Permanent Representation of Greece to the United Nations, responsible, among other things, for monitoring the work of the Security Council (as well as for the coordination of the local Greek Presidency during the first semester of 1994)
•  1996-99: Embassy Advisor at the Greek Embassy in Tehran
• 1999-2003: European Correspondent at the A11 PESC Directorate at the time, responsible, among other things, for questions related to the participation of Greece in the Troika (2nd semester 2002) and of the Greek Presidency of the first semester 2003
•  2004-09: Permanent Representations of Greece to WEU and the EU, first as Deputy Representative to the Political and Security Committee, then as Coordinator for External Relations at the Permanent Representation of Greece to the EU
•   2009-11: Minister-Counselor at the Embassy of Greece in Washington
•  2011-16: appointed by the European External Action Service (EEAS) to the position of Deputy Permanent Representative of the European Union in New York
•  2016-17: seconded by the EEAS to the post of Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the UN General Assembly
•  2017-2019: Permanent Representative of the European Union to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
•    10.01.2020: Permanent Representative of Greece to the European Union

He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Athens and a Postgraduate Diploma in European Studies from the Free University of Brussels. Married, three children.

As Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, Mr. Taurimas Valys is a member of the National Economic Diplomacy Council and Chairman of the MFA-led Economic Diplomacy Council Task Force. He oversees economic diplomacy, including the promotion of exports and foreign investment, as well as economic security policy. His portfolio also includes Lithuania’s foreign trade policy, participation in international economic organizations, and defense industry development initiatives. In addition, he is responsible for implementing Lithuania’s diaspora policy, with a focus on encouraging return to Lithuania and strengthening ties with the diaspora. He also serves as Governor on the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Mr. T. Valys is an international team leader and C-level executive with more than 15 years of experience in Big4-level business advisory and licensed asset management. From 2019 to 2023, he was an elected City Council Member of Vilnius, the capital of an OECD member state, where he served on the Economy and Finance and Control Committees, as well as the Strategic Planning and Privatization Commission.

As an Associate Professor and/or Visiting Professor, T. Valys has delivered lectures at more than 10 European universities.

Doctor of economics, lawyer. Lecturer at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. In 2015-2023 lead economist and member of the Management Board of the Kalecki Foundation. In 2019-2023, Director of Legislation at the Left Parliamentary Club. Author of more than 200 projects acts of law, including economic and social affairs. Co-author of the programme “Digital State. Strategy for Poland”, which includes the state of digital technologies in Poland, the European Union and the international arena, as well as specific tasks and objectives facing Poland in the digital area. Member of the Poznań branch of the Polish Economic Society. Member of the National Board of the New Left party.

Kaljurand serves as the 1st Vice-Chair of the LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) committee in the European Parliament. In LIBE committee she has focused on digital policy, and there she has been appointed Rapporteur of the Digital Omnibus Regulation. This is Kaljurand’s second mandate in the Parliament. She is the Chair of the Steering Committee of the European Internet Forum (EIF), from October 2024.

Kaljurand was a member of the UN Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (2020 – 2023).

Kaljurand was a member of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation (2018-2019). She chaired the Global Commission of the Stability of Cyberspace (2017-2019).

Kaljurand started in the Estonian Foreign Service in 1991 and held several prominent positions, including Estonian Ambassador to the State of Israel, the Russian Federation, United States of America, Canada, Mexico and Kazakhstan.

Kaljurand has served twice as the Estonian National Expert at the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security (GGE), in 2014-2015 and in 2016-2017.

Marina Kaljurand graduated cum laude from the Tartu University (1986, LLM). She has a professional diploma from the Estonian School of Diplomacy (1992) and MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (F95).

As a member of the Group Function Technology Leadership Team, he oversees business priorities and strategies for partnerships, customers, with focus on Europe and the APAC region. He also leads the company’s activities in The World Economic Forum in the areas of 4G and 5G.​​

Prior to his current role, Mr Bäck served as Vice President Global Strategy and Portfolio Development for Ericsson.​​

Mr Bäck joined Ericsson in 1990 and has since worked in multiple managerial positions in sales, product management, business development and strategy. He has also worked out of Ericsson’s Japan office and for several years led the company’s 3G business.

The first ten years of his career in the Commission were spent in the area of competition policy (merger, antitrust and State aid). He was notably member of the cabinet of Neelie Kroes, Commissioner for Competition, in 2007-2010 and head of unit for State aid coordination in DG Competition. In September 2011, he moved to the digital policy area, as advisor of Vice-President Neelie Kroes, in charge of the Digital Agenda, and supervised Internet policies at large (Internet Governance, cybersecurity, cloud, data). From January 2014 to June 2016, he was head of unit in charge of network technologies (5G and Internet of Things) in DG Connect. From June 2016 to December 2019 he was the deputy head of cabinet of Commissioner Oettinger, in charge of Budget and Human Resources and he then came back to DG Connect to head the unit in charge of Research Strategy and Coordination. An economist by training, Thibaut holds a Master from HEC Paris and a PhD from the London School of Economics.

Hans Roth is senior vice president and general manager for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) at Red Hat where is he focused on developing and executing the company’s business strategy across EMEA including commercial, enterprise and channel sales, professional service, telecommunications, media and entertainment, consulting and training services, marketing, legal and people team functions.

Britta Behrendt has been a German senior civil servant with over two decades of experience in federal administration and law making. After completing her legal training, which included an LLM at the University of Cape Town, she joined the Bundestag as a parliamentary research and lawmaking assistant (2004–2008) before moving into senior roles at the Federal Ministries of the Interior and Defence (2008–2023). These included Liaison Officer to the Italian Ministry of the Interior in Rome, personal adviser to Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen and Head of Cabinet to Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière. In April 2023, she was appointed State Secretary for Climate Protection and Environment in the Berlin state government. Starting in September 2025, Behrendt took over as Director General (Digitalisation and State Modernisation, Home Affairs and Legal Policy) at the Federal Chancellery.

Michel Lorgere is Executive Director of the Group Strategic Client Office & European Institutions at Sopra Steria, and a member of the Group Management Committee. He leads the company’s engagement with EU institutions and major public-sector clients. Previously, he served as CEO of Sopra Steria Benelux, where he drove significant regional growth through both organic expansion and acquisitions.

A native of Paris, Michel trained as a computer engineer in Lyon.

Cecilia leads the world’s largest industry association for the digitalising industries DIGITALEUROPE. The association represents over 56,000 digital companies in Europe with 41 National Association across 35 countries in EU plus Ukraine, Moldova, United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey and an office in Washington, D.C. (US).

DIGITALEUROPE represents companies from the following sectors each headed by an Executive Council: ICT, Defence, Health, Energy, Finance, Mobility and Public sector, and the association has quadrupled the size of the organization since 2017.

The organisation strives to create open markets that are attractive for innovation, business investments and growth. The team works in the following services areas: Industry representation towards the EU, members states, US and other international policy leaders like G7, NATO and EDA; public-private partnerships, that creates security and competitiveness; boosting business opportunities and investment for the benefit of society and security.

Cecilia is a member of the European Commission’s Industrial Forum and High-Level Forum on European Standardisation. She is also a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity).

In March 2023, Cecilia received the Ukraine Peace Prize on behalf of DIGITALEUROPE in recognition of her work supporting Ukraine during the war. In June 2025, she was further honoured with an award from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence for her continued support of Ukraine through DIGITALEUROPE, including initiatives such as supporting dual-use innovation, building EU–Ukraine digital partnerships, advocating for ICT in emergency mechanisms, and donating equipment to schools and hospitals.

Formerly, Cecilia has served as advisor to the Danish Foreign Ministry on digital diplomacy and the Danish Defence Ministry on digital security and defence. In 2020 she was appointed as a member of the Advisory Group to the Secretary General of NATO on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies and has profound understanding of digital defence and security and hybrid threats.

She also held a seat in the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, in the B20 Digital Transformation Taskforce, and in the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition.

Enrico Letta served as Prime Minister of Italy from 2013 to 2014. Currently, he is the Dean of the IE School of Politics, Economics, and Global Affairs at IE University, President of the Jacques Delors Institute and President of AREL. In September 2023 the European institutions tasked him with the elaboration of a Report on the Future of the Single Market.  From March 2021 to February 2023, he was the National Secretary of the Democratic Party in Italy. Prior to that, from 2015 to 2021, he was Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po Paris. In 2019, he was appointed President of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA) for a two-year term. Earlier in his career, Letta served as Minister for EU Affairs (1998–1999), Minister for Industry, Trade and Crafts (2000), Minister for Industry and Foreign Trade (2000–2001), and Undersecretary of State to Prime Minister Romano Prodi (2006–2008).

Cecilia leads the world’s largest industry association for the digitalising industries DIGITALEUROPE. The association represents over 56,000 digital companies in Europe with 41 National Association across 35 countries in EU plus Ukraine, Moldova, United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey and an office in Washington, D.C. (US).

DIGITALEUROPE represents companies from the following sectors each headed by an Executive Council: ICT, Defence, Health, Energy, Finance, Mobility and Public sector, and the association has quadrupled the size of the organization since 2017.

The organisation strives to create open markets that are attractive for innovation, business investments and growth. The team works in the following services areas: Industry representation towards the EU, members states, US and other international policy leaders like G7, NATO and EDA; public-private partnerships, that creates security and competitiveness; boosting business opportunities and investment for the benefit of society and security.

Cecilia is a member of the European Commission’s Industrial Forum and High-Level Forum on European Standardisation. She is also a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity).

In March 2023, Cecilia received the Ukraine Peace Prize on behalf of DIGITALEUROPE in recognition of her work supporting Ukraine during the war. In June 2025, she was further honoured with an award from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence for her continued support of Ukraine through DIGITALEUROPE, including initiatives such as supporting dual-use innovation, building EU–Ukraine digital partnerships, advocating for ICT in emergency mechanisms, and donating equipment to schools and hospitals.

Formerly, Cecilia has served as advisor to the Danish Foreign Ministry on digital diplomacy and the Danish Defence Ministry on digital security and defence. In 2020 she was appointed as a member of the Advisory Group to the Secretary General of NATO on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies and has profound understanding of digital defence and security and hybrid threats.

She also held a seat in the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, in the B20 Digital Transformation Taskforce, and in the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition.

• Lawyer since 1990.
• During the period from July 2000 to December 2002, he worked as Director-Head of Communications for newspapers in Thessaloniki.
• From January 1995 to April 2000 he served as the Organization and Communication Advisor of PAOK Thessaloniki. He participated in national sports conferences, seminars and workshops as a speaker.
• He taught the science of sports management in private vocational schools.

Benjamin Sokolowski is Qualcomm’s Vice-President Government Affairs EMEA and Managing Director for Germany since July 2022. In this role, he oversees the company’s government relations in Germany and Austria and supports Qualcomm’s growth in the digital transformation of new industries such as automotive and industrial IoT.Before joining Qualcomm, Mr. Sokolowski was Head of Government Relations for the enlarged Europe at Stellantis since 2020. Additionally, he was in charge of developing Stellantis’ carbon neutrality agenda and worked on the company’s digital transformation and electrification projects. Mr. Sokolowski was also Head of Government Relations at Groupe PSA for Germany and Europe (2017-2020), Head of the Berlin Office for General Motors/Opel (2015-2017) and Vice-President Public Policy at FleishmanHillard (2010-2015). He has an MBA from the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, a Diploma in Public Policy and Management from the University of Potsdam and participated in a Leadership Program at the London Business School.