Communication Summit 2017

Prior to her appointment at Quadriga University of Applied Sciences, Ana Adi worked as an academic in England and Bahrain, as a visiting lecturer in Belgium, Thailand and Romania and as a consultant in public relations and social media strategy in Scotland and Belgium. Prof Adi’s research and consultancy focuses on digital media strategy, storytelling and measurement. Find her online: Twitter @ana_adi and www.anaadi.net.

Nick has been a communications consultant for over twenty-five years. He has worked for FleishmanHillard for the last ten years, recently moving back to FH’s London office after twenty years in Brussels.
Nick is a corporate communicator, specializing in messaging, positioning, thought leadership, issues campaigns and crisis management. He is the EMEA Reputation Management lead and, in this capacity, manages pan-European and global accounts, mobilizing the FH network to serve client needs. He is a generalist and has worked with clients from, inter alia, airlines, chemicals, financial services, food & beverage, healthcare, insurance, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, and transport.
Nick was a scholar at Worcester College at Oxford University from where he has an MA in Modern History, is a Fellow of the RSA, and is a lead singer in a rock band, where he also plays the guitar if it is not too hard.

As Global Head of Communications at Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), based in Geneva, Switzerland, Eleni Androulaki leads communications teams across the company’s five regions, with specific responsibility for global media engagement at C-suite level as well as issues management. She also oversees online and internal communications, social media, corporate publications and branding.
Between 2007-2012, as global corporate communications lead at the international secretariat of environmental organization WWF in Switzerland, Eleni developed and coordinated external and internal communications campaigns to mobilize stakeholders and build engagement in sustainability efforts, working with WWF corporate partners such as Nokia, Lafarge, Nokia Siemens Networks and Sony Europe. Prior to this she coordinated the PR launch of three flagship Microsoft products (MS Office, MS Windows and Exchange Server) in 15 markets in Central and Eastern Europe, working with a team of country communications managers and PR agencies. In her previous role with the company, she led PR efforts for Microsoft in Greece, and was recognized with a Microsoft EMEA award for excellence in communications.

Tom was appointed Regional CGA Director in January 2016 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland. He is responsible for a team of 50 people across 40+ countries in the European region, including European Union member states, Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia and Turkey. The team has responsibility for the internal and external communications agendas as well as for public affairs and community involvement across the European region. Tom sits on the Global Corporate Affairs Leadership Team.
Tom joined the company in Zurich in 2012 and previously held roles at Mondelez International as Communications Director, MEU; Area CGA Director for Central Europe (DACH & CEE); and Global Communications Director. Prior to joining Mondelez International, Tom worked at Swiss Re in Zurich, where he was responsible for international media relations and issues management. Before working in corporate communications, Tom was a journalist at Reuters.
Tom was born in the UK and has lived and worked in the UK, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and France.

Luis Arroyo has been consulting to top political, corporate and social leaders in Latin America and Europe for more than 20 years. President of Asesores de Comunicación Pública, consultant for the World Bank, University profesor, author and speaker, he has been behind dozens of effective speeches. His company, Prompter-in-a-box, has created the first portable speech teleprompter and is now presenting and marketing it worldwide.

With 16 years in communications, Lisa leads PR, Employee Communications and Analyst Relations across EMEAR, and has held a number of roles within communications during her 10 years at Cisco. She started her career at a technology PR agency, and before that she was the co-founder of a Manchester (UK) city lifestyle and culture magazine. Outside her career, Lisa is a dressage fanatic and trains her horse to compete through the ranks – fulfilling but much patience is required!

Jeroen De Backer is currently working as CEO and Founder of Pridiktiv,
Before Pridiktiv, Jeroen held various business development and management positions at various national and international Telecom and ICT companies.
Jeroen is a Belgian and holds a degree in Business Administration and Marketing from HONIM, member of the Leuven University, campus Brussels - ODISEE. (BE).
If you're into MBTI: he’s a true ESTJ-A.

Ivan Bager is a Senior Digital Analyst with almost 20 years of experience from large multinationals. His work is always focused on helping organizations adopt digital analytics and implement a data-driven approach to business activities.

Ivan is an experienced public speaker and is known for delivering driven and engaging talks and workshops, where analytics concepts and business requirements are broken down into easy-to-understand data deliveries and findings. At Siteimprove, Ivan is their Director of Innovation and Senior Product Owner of the Siteimprove Analytics Suite.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanbager/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivanbager

Neil Barnett is Senior Digital Communications Manager at Heathrow. At Heathrow, Neil is leading the employee communication for a large Digital Workplace change programme. Previously working in digital communications at Canon, where he began working in partnership with MSLGROUP, he has worked on numerous projects which redefine how employees work and interact across digital and physical worlds to create more business opportunities.

Rajiv V. Basaiawmoit is a global speaker, award-winning entrepreneurship educator, a gamification expert, and a citizen scientist. He has a multi-disciplinary background spanning science, business and humanities. With innovative interventions, such as the prize-winning board game “ESHIP: Navigating Uncertainty” in which players collaborate in a simulated competitive landscape, he actively studies teams and collaboration.

Bertrand Blaise holds a post-graduate degree in communications.
He graduated from Centre d’Etudes Littéraires et Scientifiques Appliquées (CELSA)-Université Paris 4 and holds a degree in political science and international relations from Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) in Strasbourg. He held a variety of positions in communications at Renault and within the Renault-Nissan alliance, including four years in the Asia-Pacific region (1999-2003) and four years as Vice President, Product and Brand Communication (2003-2007).
He joined Alstom in 2007 and became Vice President, International Communications.
In November 2014 he was appointed Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications of PSA Group, reporting to Carlos Tavares, Chairman of the Board of PSA Group.

Gerben is responsible for commercial activity at GLIMMA, the brand management specialists. Working with blue chip clients around the globe, Gerben ensures that their branding programs are delivered to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and in the most cost efficient way. He was responsible for delivering the Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent rebrand, the subject of his presentation with Christine Diamante, Nokia’s Head of Brand Strategy.

He career started in Accountancy, working at Ernst & Young before moving on to specialise in the European graphics industry. Here he gained more than 10 years brand experience, working with communications, brand and design professionals.

Gerben has two children and lives in The Netherlands. He has recently been awarded a Post Doctorate in Business Administration from Nyenrode Business University.

Lukasz is Managing Director of Leidar Switzerland. He develops effective engagement strategies, processes and measurement frameworks for multi-national companies, NGOs and SMEs. In addition he leads Leidar’s Netnograph project – a joint venture with Tree Intelligence which uncovers networks of influence between stakeholders and influencers.

Published author and speaker at international conferences, he is a Co-Director of the Executive Certificate Advocacy in International Affairs, delivered in partnership with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Lukasz is also a Global Shaper from the Geneva Hub, which is a part of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum.

Lukasz holds PhD in management studies from the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, with highest distinction “summa cum laude”. His research focused on the role of organisational learning and Corporate Social Responsibility in corporate communication strategic management. He holds also M.A. in communication from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Within his role as Vice President Group Brand Management, Lars Bolle is responsible for the brandportfolio of Germanys second biggest Tourismcompany, DER Touristik, part of REWE group.

Prior to taking up this position beginning 2013, as Head of Brand Transformation, Lars was the central counterpart for the adaptation and Implementation of the CI/CD within Deutsche Telekom globally.

After his studies at the University Muenster, he started his profesional career in 1997 as communications and marketingmanager at T-Mobile Germany. As part of his over 15 years at Deutsche Telekom, Lars worked within many communication disciplines first focusing within Germany and in last 9 years internationally.

Aside from this he is also a visiting lecturer for corporate and product branding at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences.

James is a senior director at Addison Group, with over 25 years’ experience in a variety of marketing, branding and communication roles.

A graduate of Edinburgh University James started his career in the music industry with EMI Records before moving agency-side, firstly with The Brand Union and for the last 10 years with Addison Group.

He has been key in both building Addison Group’s extensive roster of clients and developing and broadening the agency’s offer, particularly in research, insight and advisory services.

Georgina Bromwich is a senior trainer and consultant at business language consultancy, The Writer. She’s lent leaders at Barclays, Cisco and PwC a hand with their language to shake off corporate speak and bring out their personality at work. In between, she makes the case for clearer language with clients like the BBC, Emirates and Hogan Lovells. And if doing her job involves travel and speaking Spanish, well, all the better.

In his current role as Head of Digital Communications Operations Jeff is responsible for the planning, production (including audio visual) and animation of topics across external platforms. He is also closely involved in the Digital Transformation of the Communications team. Prior to that he was Head of Brand, Online and Employee Comms for the Group, and has held various Comms positions in different divisions and locations over his 25 years with the company.

Mark Byatt is Director of External Affairs for the IFRS Foundation, the global accounting standard-setter. In this role, Mark leads the international affairs and communications activities of the organisation. Prior to joining the Foundation, Mark was Group Marketing Director of Morse plc, a pan-European technology and services company. Mark has a Master’s Degree in International Strategy from the London School of Economics.

Marc heads up VIM Group, the leading international brand implementation consultancy. The group has founded the brand implementation discipline in 1991, and in Europe they have offices in London and Amsterdam.

His passion is to advise, write and speak in the area of (re)branding and brand efficiency improvement, across touchpoints and across channels. Marc is a regular speaker on these topics and has written several articles.
Marc's ambition is to create global recognition for 'brand implementation’ as one of the core process disciplines within the brand management domain.

Research from VIM Group’s Impact Valuator™, shows that for every Euro 1 spent on strategy and creation, one spends on average Euro 20 on brand implementation & management.
Marc founded the working group Brand Leadership of the EACD. Clients include JuliusBaer Bank, SkyTeam, Airbus Group, ING, bpost, Danfoss, DHL, RBS, AkzoNobel, IKEA, Mediclinic, Randstad and Deutsche Telekom.

Virginie Coulloudon is a global communicator focusing on dialogue between business and society through community building and simulations. She is group director for external relations at Transparency International; spokesperson, head of press and public information at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); and head of communications, Europe, at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). A former investigative journalist and permanent correspondent in Moscow, she then was research director at the Harvard Davis Centre for Russian Studies.

Rowena joined Addison Group after spending two years managing Westminster Council’s website and three years in Google working in online marketing and communications. She has also worked as a freelance journalist and completed a postgraduate diploma in journalism.

Åsa holds the position as Head of Communications at the corporate function Strategy & Technology. Åsa is responsible for the communication of Ericsson’s R&D capabilities, innovation and technology leadership. Åsa is very creative and just recently she was the main driver in developing a digital platform for communication to leaders spread across the world.

Dirk Denoyelle is one of 15 LEGO® Certified Professionals in the world, and a multilingual comedian for the corporate and conference environment.

Christine Diamente is Head of Brand Strategy at Nokia, a role she has held since January 2016, leading the Nokia brand on a global level including brand design, experience and operations. Previously, prior to its acquisition by Nokia, she was Head of Brand and Corporate Sustainability at Alcatel-Lucent (2011-15). During this period, the company was the recipient of numerous industry awards for both its brand and particularly its sustainability performance.

With over 20 years’ experience in the high tech sector, Christine has held a number of other roles focused on global reputation building including Head of European Affairs for Alcatel and Alcatel-Lucent and Head of Corporate Relations managing activities with the World Economic Forum. She has also served on industry boards including founding member and Chair of the Telecoms Industry Dialogue for Human Rights (now GNI), Board Member of European Internet Foundation (EIF), ex-officio member of the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation and today she is an advisory board member of Ethical Corporation in the UK.

A passionate global traveler, Christine currently resides in the UK with her husband and their 10 year old daughter.

Richard has worked in brand, communications and marketing consultancy for ten years. His experience stretches from developing consumer brands to assessing communications capability in central government.

Marcus East is a dynamic business executive with over 20 years of experience of working with major brands around the world, helping them to harness the power of consumer-facing technology. His extensive experience includes time in both startups and corporations, including six years at IBM and four years at Apple, much of which was spent in Silicon Valley. At Apple he led eCommerce solutions delivery for their worldwide online business, and also drove the adoption of Agile. He returned to the UK at the start of 2016 to work for major retailer Marks and Spencer as Global Digital Director, and is responsible for running the M&S.com online business, and also for driving the company’s digital transformation. He joined National Geographic in 2017.

As Head of Employee Communications and Engagement at Tieto, the leading software and services company in the Nordics, Nina drives strategy engagement, communicative leadership and an open, collaborative corporate culture. Nina is an energetic communications professional based in Helsinki, with a passion for challenge, change and co-creation. Find out more via #tietocomms and connect @eklundnina.

Yasemin Erdemir Guzeloglu has held her current position at Turkish Airlines since June 2009. She is responsible for the global communications activities of the Turkish Airlines, which operates in more than 100 countries. Prior to this position, she held various key positions in corporate communications in different sectors such as tourism, leisure, hospitality and consultancy. Guzeloglu has studied Advertising and marketing, and holds an MBA.

As Head of Communications and Chief Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Melissa Fleming leads all communications efforts around the globe. Operating in 120 countries, UNHCR provides shelter and help for over 30 million people who have fled wars and persecution.

In her role, Ms Fleming has introduced strategic communication planning designed to have more impact on the varied audiences, which include media, donors, governments and refugees themselves. She is also leading a rebranding project for UNHCR, and is launching a new digital platform for interactive engagement and individual giving. She joined UNHCR from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), where she served for eight years as Spokesperson and Head of Public Information during the period the organisation made headlines for its inspection work in Iraq, Iran and North Korea and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

Prior to IAEA, she headed the Press and Information team at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and as a Public Affairs Specialist at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Jill Forde is Head of Communications at the Central Bank of Ireland. Prior to this role, she worked at the European Central Bank where she was Adviser to the Director General Communications. At the ECB, she also held the position of Communications Project Manager for the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism role at the ECB, leading a team of experts and managing all communication issues for banking supervision during the set up phase. Before joining the ECB, Jill spent 9 years working in communication roles at the Central Bank of Ireland, and held a number of positions including Internal Communications Manager and Media Relations Manager. She was also seconded to the European Banking Authority where she led the communication project for the 2011 banking stress tests.

Jens is Head of Business Development at jovoto, an open innovation platform, connecting global brands with the best creative talent worldwide. Jens thus empowers large brands and NGOs to solve their design and innovation challenges together with external talent. He is responsible for both creating value for clients based on jovoto's products and using their feedback to constantly finetune jovoto's business model. During his former roles in consulting and the Food & Beverage industry, he has gathered an in-depth understanding of building strategies and structuring processes. Jens plays a key role in establishing jovoto as the go-to global talent pool, as well as a workplace of the future for creative professionals.

A member of the EACD since 2015, Alexandrine Gauvin is Communications Manager at CENTR, the association of European country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registries, such as .de for Germany or .be for Belgium. Before joining CENTR, Alexandrine was Communications Officer at the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU). She has been a communication professional for close to ten years, both in B2B and European association environments.

Franco Giacomozzi is currently Communications Director at Edmund Mach Foundation, a big agri-food scientific institute which promotes and carries out research, scientific experiments, education and training activities as well as providing technical assistance and extensions services to companies. Located in Italy, trentino area, with 800 employees/350 Researchers/8000 farms supported, is one of the most important institutes in italian agri-food sector, with strong international relationships.
In Edmund Mach Foundation Franco is head of internal and external communications, press & media relations, Web, Intranet & Social Media
Before joining the Foundation, Franco was Head of Digital Communications in a top 10 italian Communication Marketing & PR Agency, based in Bologna, in which he has worked on more than 120 Projects in many different market sectors.

James Gibb is Communications Director at Dell EMC for Europe, Middle East & Africa. He is responsible for helping devise and execute strategic communication programmes to the company’s 28,000 team members in the region. James has over ten years’ experience at Dell in a number of strategic roles. He previously ran his own U.K. small business and sat on the board of an award-winning international arts not-for-profit. He is currently based in Dubai.

Toby leads the OECD’s publishing and impact evaluation and monitoring programmes. His career in scholarly and public policy communications began with Academic Press in the early 1980s and then, after stints with Pergamon Press and Elsevier, joined the OECD in 1998 with the brief to modernise its publishing operation. He is an innovative digital publisher having pioneered the use of email to create one of the first alerting services in 1994 and created OECD’s knowledge platform, OECD iLibrary, comprising books, journals and datasets, in 2000. In 2004, he launched OECD’s StatLink service, and, in 2012, shifted OECD Publishing’s business model to Freemium Open Access. In 2014, he created the iLibrary Partnership programme which now has five members including the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. In 2017, he took over responsibility for the OECD’s media monitoring and impact evaluation work. A regular speaker at industry events, he is a past Chair of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) and is currently a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Publishing Board.

Eight years ago, Sander Haas started as the first Communications Manager ever at Asito, a large cleaning company in The Netherlands. He initiated social programs around the environment and cultural diversity, looking for additional value for the company. Now, Asito has moved away from being a supplier of a commodity service, to a partner for big corporates and national government on topics as diversity, inclusion and sustainability. www.twitter.com/sander_haas

As GLIMMA's Creative Services Director, Ross is responsible for delivering GLIMMA’s brand proposition to global clients who require innovative brand solutions, from strategy and design, right through to implementation and brand compliance services.

Having spent his early design years at Landor, Ross went on to develop specialist skills in Retail and Real Estate before becoming Managing Director at SCG International in London. A strategic thinker, having gained many years first hand experience in the design world, Ross is equally confident in putting forward practical, yet innovative, ideas that really bring brands to life and drive them forward.

Ross has a first class BA (Hons) in Interior Design Furniture from Edinburgh College of Art and he now lives in London.

Since the beginning of June 2010, Herbert Heitmann is the Executive Vice President of External Communications for Royal Dutch Shell. Prior to taking up this position, he was the Chief Communications Officer at SAP from 1999 until May of 2010. In this role, he was responsible for all of the communication activities for SAP stakeholders around the globe, including investors, customers, partners, employees and the general public.

He has more than 15 years in corporate communications and public relations. He has a wide range of past experience in the public and private sectors, from research and development at leading corporations including Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Henkel to a political advisory role in Germany’s parliament. Herbert serves as Chairman of ICC’s Commission for E-Business, IT und Telecommunication and as Committee Member at Quadriga Hochschule Berlin and the communicate! Programme at TU München. He is also a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, a Committee Member of The Seminar and since 2006 the founding president of the EACD.

Oliver Herrgesell is in charge of international communications for Turner, a global leader in media and entertainment. Until 2012 he was responsible for communications, public affairs & marketing for the broadcaster and content producer RTL Group; before joining the group in Luxembourg in February 2006, he served for six years as deputy head of corporate communications at Europe's leading media company Bertelsmann. Prior to that, he worked in Austria and Germany as a journalist for TV broadcasters (ORF, Premiere/Sky Deutschland), magazines (Wiener, Tempo, Stern) and newspapers (Die Woche, Berliner Zeitung). In addition to his paid job, Herrgesell coordinates the working group “Future of Media” for the European Association of Communications Directors, and is a member of the board, Save the Children in Germany since January 2010.

Since 2002, Laurens Hoekstra is CCO of VIM Group, specialising in brand implementation and management.

VIM Group is the founder of the ‘Brand Implementation’ business category and world leader in this area. Its activities cover both global rebrands as well as local single-site rebrands, covering all - or part - of the client’s brand touchpoints, including signage and interiors, online, print, IT-system output, corporate wear and fleet livery. Over the years, VIM Group has completed over 1,300 brand implementation projects. VIM Group operates worldwide, with specialist member companies operating out of 11 offices with over 200 people.

Clients include TNT, SKODA, Emirates NBD, SkyTeam, Caterpillar, ING, bpost, Rentokil-Initial, DHL, British Gas, AkzoNobel, Mediclinic, Randstad and Belfius.

Kate Kahle leads the writing, web and social media teams at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). She joined CERN in 2006 to communicate EU projects after 5 years as an editor within Pearson Publishing. In 2012, she became CERN's social media manager and was promoted to head of editorial content development in 2016. Last year she received a Best Practice award for Digital Leadership.

Matthew Karnitschnig is POLITICO’s chief Europe correspondent, based in Berlin. He joined the publication in 2015 from the Wall Street Journal, where he spent 15 years in a variety of positions as a reporter and editor in the U.S. and Europe. In a career spanning two decades, Karnitschnig has been on the front lines of some of the defining political and economic stories of our time. He spearheaded the WSJ’s coverage of the eurozone debt crisis as the paper’s Germany bureau chief and European economics editor. He led the team that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting in 2011 and won an Overseas Press Club award in 2012.

Emma Klever is Head of Policy at the European Movement International, working on citizens’ participation and European integration. She is also closely involved in the collaborative On Our Watch project, offering a platform for civil society to reflect on the progress made since the 2014 elections relative to politicians’ promises and citizens’ demands. Other collaborative projects she is involved with include Citizens for Europe and ALL for democracy.

Heather Knox is Vice President of Communications at Groupe Renault, based in Paris, and leads a global team responsible for influencers and reputation. Her team is comprised of all corporate and product PR as well as digital, social media and content. Her experience spans global headquarters as well international roles, and she has a wealth of experience with multi-cultural and pan-regional communications, across industries, and in both large multi-national companies and startups. Prior to Groupe Renault, Knox spent 10 years at Microsoft leading corporate communications, product communications, and the regional communications team in EMEA. She started her career in journalism, then progressed through PR agencies, and was a chapter head of communications and spokesperson for the American Red Cross before taking the head of communications roles at three technology startups. She double majored with BA degrees in International Relations and French from the University of Southern California, followed by post-graduate certificate programs in marketing communications and PR at the University of Washington.

Cyriel Kortleven is a sought-after speaker at conferences, events and internal leadership development meetings. His mission in life: delivering an inspiring boost the creative & entrepreneurial mindset of professionals in change. Through his playful and enthusiastic attitude to life, he creates an open and informal atmosphere - ideal for bigger events and conferences. Cyriel stimulates people to break their fixed-thinking patterns and inspires you unleash your full potential.

Cyriel is already working more than 15 years in the domain of creativity and innovation. He delivers keynotes all over the world and is on average around 100 days a year on the 'road' (or in a plane) - he presented already in 23 different countries in 5 different continents. He is also author of 4 books. And one of the 700 Certified Professional Speakers (CSP) in the world.

Taavi Kotka, Former Estonian Government CIO. European CIO of the Year 2014, Computerworld 2016 Premiere 100 technology leaders. Taavi has a strong background working in private sector. He started his career as a programmer, rising to be a Managing Director of the largest software development company in the region – Webmedia (now Nortal). As an engineer, he has been the brainpower behind many Estonian e-government innovative initiatives like e-residency (digital citizenship), data embassies, country in the cloud, no-legacy policy, VAT fraud detection etc. Taavi is also a special advisor to European Commission vice-president Andrus Ansip on European Digital Single Market. Currently finishes his PhD studies and helps Estonian start-ups to conquer the World.

Priscilla is an accomplished brand engagement consultant with over 11 years’ experience of advising clients on change management, internal and corporate communications, and stakeholder engagement. She leads our Engagement practice in delivering experiences that empower employees, ignite brands, and ultimately lead to impactful business change.

She has a wealth of international experience working in 10 countries in retail, manufacturing, financial services, mining, telecommunications, leisure & hospitality, and FMCG. Her clients have included eBay, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, AB InBev, De Beers, Morrisons, and Lafarge.

Bernard Kuiten is Head of External Relations at the World Trade Organization since 2009 where he oversees the organization's dealings with the private sector, civil society, parliamentarians and other intergovernmental organizations. He joined the WTO at the end of 1999, taking responsibility for civil society relations.
Bernard is a former diplomat and trade negotiator and a highly seasoned speaker on trade and WTO matters. From 1990 to 1999, he represented both the Netherlands and the European Union on a number of trade files, including shipbuilding, steel and services trade in general. He specialized in financial, telecommunication and audio‐visual services when working for the European Commission. The year before joining WTO, Bernard was the chair of the WTO Working Party for State Trading Enterprises. He is a member and former chair of the International Geneva Committee of the Swiss Network of International Studies, as well as an Advisory Board Member of the Model WTO at the University of St. Gallen.

Kerstin joined ReputationInc in 2011 as a Director in London. A German national, Kerstin has over 12 years’ experience in advising international public, private and third sector clients in the areas of brand and reputation insights, strategy, governance and stakeholder engagement. Prior to joining ReputationInc, she was instrumental in establishing the reputation practice of Hering Schuppener Consulting, a leading strategic and financial communications consultancy in Germany after initially starting her career in the business of Mergers and Acquisitions.
Kerstin studied business administration at the University of Muenster, earned her PhD on EU lobbying in Brussels and is a frequent speaker and member of multi-stakeholder task forces promoting Value Creation through Reputation.

Steffen Maier is an expert in the field of HR tech & performance management, a recognized thought leader in HR innovation & a regular contributor to many publications, including CMS Wire & Entrepreneur. As the CMO of the New York based HR tech company Impraise, he helps companies with the transition to a feedback culture by providing them with a real-time feedback tool that improves the communication between co-workers at work.

Sharon McKoy is a communications professional with extensive experience in delivering corporate communications and marketing strategies for complex, international organisations in both the public and private sectors.

Sharon has worked across diverse industries including manufacturing, media, entertainment and most latterly defence. Sharon is currently Head of Corporate Communications for Defence, Equipment & Support, the procurement arm of the UK Ministry of Defence where she is responsible for internal communications and engagement, as well as the external PR and media strategy for the organisation.

Sharon’s previous positions include Head of Internal Communications for the UK Government’s, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, and Head of Corporate Communications for the Tata Steel Long Products division. Sharon’s particular interest and experience is in employee and leadership engagement, storytelling and campaign strategy.

Peter Müller is SPIEGEL's Brussels correspondent. He joined the newsmagazine in 2010 from the Handelsblatt, where he worked as Senior Political Correspondent. He worked for the Welt am Sonntag in the past as well.

Mazen Nahawi is the CEO of CARMA, a global media intelligence provider which serves over 1,200 clients in 41 countries. Mazen began his career as a journalist before moving into PR and then management consultancy before setting up Media Watch (the predecessor to the new CARMA) in 2002.

Dr. Rainer Ohler is Head of Group Communications and Chief Communications Officer for Airbus since 2012. Prior to this, he was in charge of corporate communications, governmental affairs, and the company’s security and environmental departments. A lawyer by training, he served in the German Chancellery and held positions as CEO executive assistant and Head of Media Relations at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) and EADS – now Airbus Group – prior to his current assignment.

At Reputation Squad, Frédéric Paillet directs the strategic communications consulting and crisis management teams. He also advises notable individuals in the business world and politics. He has spent the past 15 years assisting leaders and organizations, previously at Tilder and Havas Paris. He graduated from Sciences-Po Paris.

Matt has spent 15 years advising senior communicators from some of the world’s most respected brands on how to measure and manage their corporate reputations, and engage more effectively with the people who matter most to their businesses. He is a member of Ipsos’ Public Affairs Management Board.

Yussi Pick is a Managing Partner at Pick & Barth (Europe/US). He supports organizations and companies in digital communications, public affairs and campaign management. His expertise has been referenced by ORF, New York Times and many more. He was honoured with the German Politikaward as well as the Rising Star Award of the US magazine Campaigns & Elections.

Dominic Redfearn is the Global Brand and Communications Director for Diageo plc and is responsible for corporate brand strategy, global communications, employee engagement, issues and reputation management. Dominic began his career in news with Dow Jones and CNBC television, before moving into the agency world with Medialink, a US media and PR group. During his nine years at the agency he ran creative, corporate and consultancy teams, advising clients on media, PR and content strategy and delivering numerous international corporate and consumer campaigns. In 2007 he went in-house with Diageo taking on roles in both Corporate Relations and Global Marketing, including as Global Media and Content Director, leading the company’s approach to content and communications across corporate and consumer brands. In 2014, as Global Brand Diageo Director, he developed an integrated corporate brand and reputation strategy for the company and since 2015 has led the combined Global Brand and Communications group.

Phil leads Leidar’s brand and reputation practice. His team applies opinion research, digital analytics and campaign methodologies to help clients understand and manage brand and reputation. His work spans corporate reputation, business critical relationships / stakeholder engagement, message development and issues management for businesses, associations and not-for-profit organisations.

Phil has more than 25 years’ global experience using insight techniques to help clients better understand the concerns and expectations of the audiences that matter to them in order to create more effective engagement campaigns. He has created or co-created a variety of approaches to successful stakeholder engagement and reputation management. He regularly publishes and speaks about corporate reputation, corporate communications and brand management.

Prior to joining Leidar, Phil was a partner at Brunswick for nearly six years advising clients on reputation, brand and issues management; he also co-led Brunswick’s Insight practice. Previously he led similar efforts at APCO and Weber Shandwick. Phil started his career at the United States Information Agency, now part of the US Department of State, where he helped policy makers understand and manage one of the world’s most complicated brands (the United States of America). Phil is based in London and advises clients across Europe and globally.

Kate Russell is an internationally renowned journalist, reporter and author, who has been writing about technology and the Internet since 1995. A regular commentator on the BBC’s technology programme “Click” for over a decade, Kate also has monthly technology focused columns in National Geographic Traveller magazine and BBC Focus magazine. She won the 2015 UK Blog Awards for best individual digital and technology blog, and in June 2015 she was voted the 25th most influential woman in UK IT by Computer Weekly magazine. Her first book “Working the Cloud” (2013) delivered a collection of online tips, tricks and resources for small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs. Her second published book,”Elite: Mostly Harmless” (2014), is a crowd funded science fiction novel based on a remake of the computer game that first inspired her love of technology.

Matthew is Senior Communications Officer, MENA for UNHCR. He was previously Lebanon Spokesman. Earlier, he founded own communications agency to provide editorial, PR and media training services. He also created a Brussels-focused news and intelligence website. Matthew was a Director at StockWell (now Teneo Blue Rubicon) in London and Staff Correspondent in Paris/London at the IHT/NYT (2004-2011).

Caroline Sapriel is the founder and Managing Director of CS&A a specialist risk and crisis and business continuity management consulting firm with offices in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Singapore, and the United States. Ms Sapriel has over 20 years’ experience in risk and crisis management, corporate and public affairs. She is regularly invited to speak at international conferences and seminars on risk and crisis management. She is a guest lecturer at the graduate school of public administration of Leiden University. She has been a member of IABC since 1987, and is a faculty member of the Management Center Europe in Brussels. Prior to establishing her own consulting firm, Ms Sapriel held various senior management
positions with international PR firms including the Rowland Company and Hill & Knowlton. She has also worked for the Press Office of the Government of Israel.

Dynamic Signal’s mobile first communications platform helps businesses keep their employees informed and engaged, increases productivity and empowers brand advocacy from within. Founded by a seasoned team off entrepreneurs and backed by a number of top tier investors including Time Warner and Microsoft Ventures, the company today works with 400 of the worlds largest companies, including over 20% of the Fortune 500. Over his career, Chris has helped build successful global enterprises at Stardoll, BBDO, Time Out and the New York Times. Chris is passionate about brand creation and the impact this has on the strength and value of an enterprise.

Caroline Sinders is a machine learning designer/user researcher, artist. For the past few years, she has been focusing on the intersections of natural language processing, artificial intelligence, abuse, online harassment and politics in digital, conversational spaces.Caroline is a designer and researcher at Wikimedia, and a BuzzFeed/Eyebeam Open Lab Fellow. She holds a masters from New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program from New York University.

Tony Snyder was appointed Vice President Communications at Philip Morris International in November 2016 following over 20 years with the company in product development and operations roles.

Roger Strandahl has worked within the field of Communication since 2003, mainly in the energy sector, but also in the medical implant area. He has studied industrial Engineering and Management, a Masters in Civil Engineering at Linköping Institute of Technology. He lived and worked for four years in Germany. He also has in total three years of military experience in the Swedish Airforce and from Bosnia and Kosovo.

Ralph Tench is Professor of Communication and Director of PhD programmes in the Faculty of Business and Law, Leeds Beckett University, UK. He currently leads an EU-funded project on deliberative engagement and has previously led the ECOPSI project, the largest public relations research programme funded by the European Union. He is President Elect for the European Public Relations Research and Education Association.

Steffen Thejll-Moller has for the past decade advised organisations and individuals in London, Brussels, and beyond on how best to use digital and social media in corporate, internal, and political communications, public affairs, and campaigning. At agencies large and small, he has worked across an array of industries, including pharma, tech, food, transport and energy, and has advised and trained international organisations, politicians and government officials.

Steffen appreciates that the internet is a game-changer, but he remembers the analogue age, is allergic to shiny new toy syndrome, and loathes being termed a guru (or ninja). He advocates a sensible use of digital and social media to help communicators understand, reach, and influence target audiences, built on solid (non-digital) foundations, like genuine audience understanding, and integrated and measurable communications strategies.

Steffen’s musings on digital, communications, and public affairs may be found at www.steffenmoller.com. A dual Danish and Italian citizen, he is a graduate of Oxford University.

Bastian started his first company at the age of 16. In 2007, he founded the open innovation platform jovoto to empower creative talent and shape the future of work. Bastian is the author of “Crowdstorm: The Future of Innovation, Ideas and Problem Solving” and his work has been featured in various press outlets, such as The New York Times, Fast Company, Huffington Post, Die Zeit, and Der Spiegel. He discusses mass collaboration and digital innovation as an active speaker at international conferences.

Alan VanderMolen is a public relations leader and accomplished executive.

He serves as President, International and WE+, for global communications agency, WE Communications. In his current role he is responsible for the intellectual capital (Brands in Motion), global expansion and fortifying WE’s partner network. In under a year Alan has secured speaking slots at Cannes Lions Young Marketers, Global Summit in Miami, Indie Summit in London and Praxis in India.

Before joining WE, Alan most recently served as Vice Chairman for DJE Holdings, Edelman's parent. VanderMolen was responsible for leadership of five businesses: Research firm, Edelman Berland; Edelman sister agency, Zeno; Edelman Digital; and, Edelman Canada and Latin America.

VanderMolen served nine years as Edelman Asia-Pacific President, taking it from the region's number 7 firm to a top 3 firm and recognition as PRWeek's Network of the Year. Alan drove Edelman entries into India, Japan and Indonesia, as well as Australia expansion.

Before Edelman, Alan spent 13 years at Burson-Marsteller. After three years in New York, Alan ran Burson in Taiwan and Malaysia before running the firm's Southeast Asia operations.

Alan has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, the BBC and in countless print media. He has spoken on roundtables at the UN Global Compact Leaders Conference, the Clinton Global Initiative and The World Economic Forum's Anti-Corruption Conference.

A graduate of The Ohio State University, Alan serves on its Board of Trustees. He has served on the boards of the Goodman Theater, the Planet Water Foundation and the Plank Center.

In his current role, Matija Varga is responsible for defining and executing the HR Communication & Employer Branding strategy at ING Belgium. Prior to this role, Matija was a Communication Manager driving communications for multiple strategic transformation projects. Matija has over 10 years of experience in communications, branding and international business development in various companies including Thomson Reuters.

As the EU correspondent for the Greek TV station “SKAI” and the newspaper “KATHIMERINI” and a contributor to major international publications such as the New York Times I have been covering Greece’s negotiations with its Eurozone partners, the immigration crisis, Russia - Ukraine crisis, Brexit and all major EU stories daily for the past two years. Before arriving in Brussels I have covered the US presidential elections (2008, 2012), the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, but also the fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt where I was reporting for weeks from Tahrir Square in Cairo. I have interviewed various personalities of the international political scene such as the head of the European Council Donald Tusk, his predecessor Heman Van Rompoy, and the Vice President of the EU Commission Valdis Dobrovskis among others. One of my most acclaimed reports has been in Argentina, where my rare interview with the finance minister at the time Hernan Lorenzino, who rarely created national outcry due to his inability to answer my questions, ultimately leading to his resignation.

Vermeulen is a true contemporary polymath. He holds a PhD in biology, is active in the fields of systems engineering, architecture and design, is a photographer, a visual artist, wrote a book with a philosopher, and works with space agencies such as NASA and ESA. He is a TED Senior Fellow, and is currently pursuing a second PhD at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands working on the topic of interstellar travel.

David Watson is Head of Marketing at Public Health England on loan from his role as Head of Campaigns at the Prime Minister’s Office, where he worked on issues as diverse as recruitment to the Armed Forces, superfast broadband, energy switching, home ownership and more. He was also campaign director for the Northern Powerhouse and worked as a communications advisor to the Governments of Georgia and Ukraine.
As author of the Government Communication Service Guide to Behaviour Change, David is passionate about the application of behavioural principles to public communication. He holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Lancaster and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Prof Dr Ansgar Zerfass is Professor and Chair in Strategic Communication at the University of Leipzig, Germany, and Professor in Communication and Leadership at BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway. He is lead researcher for the European Communication Monitor, the largest annual study in strategic communication worldwide, now in its 11th year, and has published 35 books and more than 300 articles on corporate communications, strategic communication and online communication.