Anu Talus has served as the Finnish Information Commissioner since autumn 2020. She is the head of the Office of the Information Commissioner (TSV) and the Chair of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB). Before holding her current position, she worked as Deputy Information Commissioner.

Prior to her work at the national data protection autho-rity, Talus served as Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Justice for over ten years. While working at the Ministry of Justice she was responsible for leading the national implementation of the GDPR in Finland and acted as representative of the Finnish government in the GDPR negotiations in Brussels. Talus has also worked at the European Commission, International Data Flows and Protection Unit (DG Justice and Consumers) as Seconded National Expert (SNE).

Talus holds a Doctor of Laws degree and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Helsinki and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Vaasa. 

Talus specializes in the rights of data subjects in the digital environment, cross-border data processing, and balancing the protection of personal data and the principle of openness. Her doctoral dissertation dealt with reconciling the right of public access to documents with the protection of personal data in the European legal framework.

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

Prof Dr Hielke Hijmans is Chairman of the Litigation Chamber at the Belgian Data Protection Authority and member of the Executive Committee.

He works on part time basis as professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB, Institute for European Studies). In addition, he is a member of the Meijers Committee (an NGO on fundamental rights in the EU), and lecturer at Luxembourg University.   

He is author of The European Union as Guardian of Internet Privacy: The Story of Art 16 TFEU (Springer 2016), based on his doctorate thesis. Before his appointment at the BE DPA, he worked as a consultant on EU law and data protection at the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (a think tank in Washington, London and Brussels) and Considerati (a consultancy in Amsterdam) among others. He also worked at the European Data Protection Supervisor for over a decade, foremost as head of the Policy and Consultation department. He also worked at the Court of Justice of the European Union (Cabinet of Advocate General Geelhoed) and at the ministries of Agriculture, Environment and Justice in The Hague, mostly dealing with legislation and EU law. He holds a law degree at Leiden University and a doctorate in law at the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit Brussels.

Olivier Micol is since 2016 the head of the Data protection unit within the Directorate General for Justice and Consumers of the European Commission. His tasks include monitoring the implementation of the EU data protection rules (in particular the GDPR and the data protection Law Enforcement Directive) and the respect of these rules in all EU policies.

He joined the European Commission in 1996 where he notably followed the bilateral trade relations between the EU and Asia for 12 years, first in the Directorate General for Trade, then in the EU Delegation in China. He then worked for 7 years in the field of consumer policy, as deputy head of the Consumer strategy unit, and subsequently as head of the Financial services and redress unit in the Directorate General for Justice and Consumers.

Olivier Micol graduated as statistician-economist from ENSAE Paris (National School for Statistics and Economic Administration) and from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po Paris).

Markéta Gregorová is a Czech politician and MEP for the Pirate Party. In the European Parliament, she is part of the Greens/European Free Alliance and cooperates with the Volt Europa movement. She is Vice-Chair of two parliamentary delegations: the Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China (D-CN) and the Delegation for the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (DEPA). She is also a full member of the International Trade Committee (INTA) and serves on the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committees. 

In addition, she is a substitute member of the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation (D-RU), Relations with Belarus, and EU-Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia Partnership (DSCA) Committees and recently se became also a member of the Special committee on the European Democracy Shield. Her parliamentary work focuses mainly on human rights, countering disinformation, cyber threats and surveillance technologies, but also on security within the EU.

Ilias Chantzos is Broadcom’s Global Privacy Officer and the Head of Government Affairs programmes for Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA). Chantzos leads the global privacy programme of Broadcom across the company’s multiple business units and regions. He also represents Broadcom before government bodies, national authorities and international organisations in EMEA advising on public policy issues.

Before joining Broadcom, Chantzos spent almost 16 years in various government affairs and legal roles in Symantec. During his last post with Symantec, he was in charge of the Government Affairs for the EMEA and the Asia Pacific Japan regions and the Global Advisor for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Privacy.

Before joining Symantec in 2004, Chantzos worked as legal and policy officer in the Directorate General Information Society of the European Commission focusing on information security policy. He covered the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention and the Framework Decision on Attacks against Information Systems. In addition, he worked on a number of EU legislative initiatives relevant to information society and security, including directives on Privacy of Electronic Communications, the Data Retention Directive and the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA). He also represented the European Commission in various international debates and conferences.

Chantzos holds a law degree from Aristotle University, a Master degree in Computers and Communication Law from Queen Mary College, University of London and a Master in Business Administration from Solvay Business School. He has also completed executive education at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and at the JFK School of Government in Harvard. Chantzos is a member of the Athens Bar Association. He served as Chairman of the Executive Board of TechAmerica Europe. He also served for four terms as Chairman of the European Policy Council of the Business Software Alliance (BSA). He has represented Symantec at the NATO Industry Cooperation Platform and he has been a member of the Advisory Board of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) from 2006 until 2020. He is also a member of Europol’s European Cybercrime Center (EC3) Advisory Board. Chantzos is a member of the Young Global Leaders 2014 class of the World Economic Forum. He speaks English, Greek, Dutch and German.

Maryant is a lawyer and Head of Digital Policy at BEUC – The European Consumer Organisation, where she represents 44 consumer associations from 31 countries on digital rights. She coordinates and manages BEUC’s work in the fields of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, platform regulation, privacy, data protection, telecommunications, cybersecurity and digital health. She is a Board member of Women AT Privacy and a member of the European Commission’s expert group on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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

Ignacio GÓMEZ NAVARRO is Team Leader in the Security in the Digital Age unit of the European Commission Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME). Before joining the Commission, Ignacio worked as Legal Officer in the Secretariat of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) where he covered files on security, law enforcement, international data transfers, and GDPR consistency procedures. Ignacio was also Senior Counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs of the INTERPOL General Secretariat. 

Chloé Berthélémy is Senior Policy Advisor at European Digital Rights (EDRi) where she leads the advocacy work on state surveillance, law enforcement and data protection issues. EDRi is a network of 50+ NGOs and experts across Europe that promote and defend human rights in the digital age.

Lorelien Hoet is Director of EU Government Affairs at Microsoft. In this role, she deals notably with European data protection, law enforcement and content moderation policies and regulations. Before joining Microsoft in 2018, she worked as a legal executive at Proximus, holding different positions including Head of Legal Consumer business, and at Orange where she was active as Director of Regulatory Affairs. She holds an LL.M from KU Leuven and was also active as attorney at the bars of Brussels and Stockholm.

Catherine Van de Heyning, dr LLM is a professor at the University of Antwerp where she teaches fundamental rights. Her current research focuses on cyberviolence and cybercrime in a fundamental rights and international criminal law perspective.  In addition, she is a deputy-public prosecutor at the cybercrime division of the public ministry on Antwerp. Catherine also functions as independent expert on the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

José L. Diego is an expert-evaluator for the European Commission within different initiatives:

• • Horizon Europe – Security

• • EUROPOL Platform for experts

• • DG JUSTICE Research Programmes

• • DG HOME Research Programmes

• •  Radicalisation Awareness Network

He began his career as a consultant at Deloitte, and nowadays is a Police Inspector, Head of Innovation & Project Management in the Valencia Local Police, as well as International Lecturer, OSCE Hate crimes trainer & Liaison officer and also Professor for a Master on Human Resources, for two Masters in Criminology and for the Chiefs´ Police Academy as well.

He has managed +35 EU projects in matters like R&D, domestic violence, police mediation and training, community policing, forensics, youth offending, crime fighting, road traffic, police management, diversity, emergencies, environmental police, cybercrime, Police ICTs, hybrid threats, AI, AR, smart cities & security, etc.

He holds Degrees in Law and in Criminology and a Master in Human Resources Management as well.

Júlia is a data privacy and security reporter at MLex. Before this, she worked at Euractiv, where she was the first Lénaïc Fellow, supported by the Lénaïc Fund for young female journalists in EU affairs, and later joined as a full-time technology reporter. Júlia also participated in the Bakala Foundation’s Journalism Bootcamp in Prague. She studied Journalism at the University of Groningen and holds a Bachelor’s in English and American Studies from Eötvös Loránd University.

Gary Davis joined Apple in February 2013 where he leads Apple’s regulatory legal work. Previously he served as Ireland’s Deputy Data Protection Commissioner for seven years and as a civil servant worked in the Irish Prime Minister’s Office for ten years.

Bianca-Ioana Marcu is Deputy Director for Global Privacy at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), where she advances thought leadership on data protection, privacy, and AI regulation from a global perspective, working across the EU, Asia Pacific and Africa teams. Prior to joining FPF, Bianca was the Managing Director of the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) Conference, and Researcher in Law at the Law, Science and Technology (LSTS) Research Group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Bianca also held roles in advocacy and gender justice and supported the work of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She holds an LLM in International Law, Globalisation and Human Rights from Maastricht University, and a Data Protection Officer certification from the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity.

Michael McGrath’s task is to uphold and strengthen our core values and principles that underpin our Union, our societies and our economies. He works to ensure that citizens can have confidence in state power being exercised fairly and objectively.

He is responsible for:

• putting in place a new European Democracy Shield, including the fight against disinformation, foreign information manipulation and interference 
• working to preserve the fairness and integrity of elections, and protect the safety of political candidates
• implementing and putting forward proposals to further support and protect independent media and journalists
• building a Civil Society Platform to strengthen regular civil dialogue and protect civil society, activists and human rights defenders
• leading the work on the Rule of Law Report, adding a single market dimension and including further enlargement countries
• ensuring effective enforcement where appropriate and support a reinforced application of the Article 7 Mechanism
• ensuring that EU budget instruments are always implemented in a way that is fully consistent with the respect of the rule of law and fundamental rights
• developing a clear EU approach to anti-corruption, ensuring that EU funding can support national measures to fight corruption
• reporting annually on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights 

Justice and consumer protection

Michael McGrath is also in charge of justice and consumer protection. His task is to ensure that rights are defended, corruption is punished, and contracts are enforced.

He is responsible for: 

• leading the work to build an EU-wide legal status, taking the form of a 28th regime, to allow companies to benefit from a simpler and harmonised set of rules
• preparing the next Consumer Agenda 2025-2030, proposing actions to protect consumers in the single market when buying goods or services and implementing product safety policies
• developing a Digital Fairness Act to tackle unethical techniques and commercial practices, especially when consumer vulnerabilities are exploited for commercial purposes
• ensuring full enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation while checking it stays up to date, and promoting trusted data flows with international partners
• working on strengthening the European Arrest Warrant to allow judicial authorities to work more closely and to step cooperation between Europol and Eurojust

Bojana is the President of Hunton’s Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL), a preeminent global privacy and data policy think tank in London, Washington, DC, and Brussels. Bojana works with global business and technology leaders, regulators, policy and law makers to shape global data policy and practice and develop thought leadership and best practices for privacy and responsible data use. Politico nominated Bojana in its inaugural 2021 Tech28 list of top people influencing digital policy in Europe and beyond.

In 2019 Bojana received the IAPP Vanguard Award, which recognizes privacy professionals for outstanding leadership, knowledge and creativity. In 2024, Bojana was awarded the Award for Achievement by the PICCASO Awards Europe for playing a crucial role in shaping global data policy, advising governments, and contributing thought leadership at high-profile events globally. With over 25 years of experience in privacy and data policy and compliance, including former global privacy head at Accenture for 12 years, she sits on several industry and regulatory advisory boards and panels, including Mercedes-Benz Advisory Board for Integrity and Sustainability and the UK Government’s Expert Council for International Data Flows.

Yordanka Ivanova is a Head of Sector ‘Legal oversight of the AI Act implementation’ in EU AI Office in the unit responsible for AI Regulation and Compliance in the EU AI Office/DG CNECT, European Commission. She is one of the core members of the legal team who drafted the Commission proposal for a Regulation on AI and has followed the negotiations with the European Parliament and the Council. In her current role as a head of sector, she is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the legal oversight of the implementation of the AI Act, including the development of guidelines, templates and other supporting materials to support compliance with the AI Act and the cooperation with the Member States and other stakeholders. Yordanka also follows relevant international work on AI, in particular in the context of Council of Europe, UN and OECD and the cooperation with the Network of the AI Safety Institutes.

Michael McNamara was elected to the European Parliament to represent the Ireland South constituency in June 2024.

He is Co-Chair of the European Parliament’s Working Group on the Implementation and Enforcement of the AI Act.

Michael is a Member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and the Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia. He is also a Substitute member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the Delegation to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly.

Michael represented the Clare constituency as a member of the Irish parliament from 2011 until 2016, and again from 2020 until 2024.

He was appointed Chair of the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Response in 2020 and was also appointed Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Drug Use in 2024.

He is a barrister and a farmer.

Juraj Čorba, acting Co-Chair of The Global Partnership on AI and acting Chair of OECD Working Party on Governance of AI (AIGO OECD). Juraj is responsible for digital regulation and governance at the Ministry of Informatisation, Slovakia (expert position). Juraj has led negotiations on expert level on behalf of Slovakia on the EU´s AI Act at the Council of the EU, on the international Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law at the Committee on AI at the Council of Europe and on the 2024 UN Digital Compact. Member of OECD AI expert groups on risk and accountability and on AI Futures. Chair of the Reflection Group of European policy makers on general purpose AI/foundation models, operationally supported by The Future Society. Former agent of Slovakia before the Court of Justice of the EU and former practising private legal counsel specialising in EU economic regulatory affairs. Studied law and political science (Comenius University, Bratislava; Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London).

Nicolas de Bouville has a background in international and European law. He studied at the University of Amsterdam, from which he holds a Master’s degree in international and European Law and at Nanterre University, from which he holds a Master’s degree in technology and information society law.

Nicolas started his career at the French data protection authority, the CNIL, in the international and European affairs department. In this role, he dealt with a variety of topics related to data protection, including international data transfers and the negotiations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In 2017, Nicolas joined Meta, where he is currently in the Privacy Policy team. He is actively following the developments of the EU AI Act.

Rigo Van den Broeck holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Economics from KULeuven and started his career at Banksys and KBC. In 2006 he switched to Mastercard, where he now assumes three different roles. He is Executive Vice President for Security Product Innovation, he’s the operational CEO at RiskRecon, a wholly owned Mastercard subsidiary that develops software for risk assessments, and he represents Mastercard at the FinSec Innovation Lab, an Israeli startup accelerator for fintech and cybersecurity companies.

Bojana is the President of Hunton’s Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL), a preeminent global privacy and data policy think tank in London, Washington, DC, and Brussels. Bojana works with global business and technology leaders, regulators, policy and law makers to shape global data policy and practice and develop thought leadership and best practices for privacy and responsible data use. Politico nominated Bojana in its inaugural 2021 Tech28 list of top people influencing digital policy in Europe and beyond.

In 2019 Bojana received the IAPP Vanguard Award, which recognizes privacy professionals for outstanding leadership, knowledge and creativity. In 2024, Bojana was awarded the Award for Achievement by the PICCASO Awards Europe for playing a crucial role in shaping global data policy, advising governments, and contributing thought leadership at high-profile events globally. With over 25 years of experience in privacy and data policy and compliance, including former global privacy head at Accenture for 12 years, she sits on several industry and regulatory advisory boards and panels, including Mercedes-Benz Advisory Board for Integrity and Sustainability and the UK Government’s Expert Council for International Data Flows.

Ms Maria Rautavirta has from February 2025 acted as the Head of data Policy at the Ministry of Transport and Communications Finland. Appointed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Maria now serves whole Ministry in digital, data and AI related policies especially in regards to EU and international cooperation. Maria also acts between different networks and coordinating bodies of government to ensure continuity in action taken. In addition Maria supports the implementation work for  data economy initiatives and regulative framework and ensures that Finnish participation in different Eu-level boards and working groups is coordinated and unified. Maria has been a strong advocate for human centric data policies and believes that empowering people as well as advancing use of data through interoperable and trusted infrastructure for data are the means towards data driven societies. Liberating and balancing rights to data is also the key towards competition, innovation and advancing technologies such as automation and AI.

A graduate of École Polytechnique and Télécom Paris, Michel COMBOT has more than 26 years of experience in the fields of the digital economy, telecoms and media.

As the Head of Technology, Innovation and Artificial Intelligence at CNIL, the French Data Protection Authority Michel is in charge in leading the technical expertise of CNIL and developing CNIL’s policies on AI.

Before joining CNIL, Michel was general delegate of Numeum, an organization representing the digital ecosystem in France and was as well a member of the Board of Directors of Digital Europe, Numeum’s counterpart at the European level.

For 7 years, he also held the position of general director of the French Federation of Telecoms and was the permanent delegate of the French Strategic Committee for the “digital infrastructure” sector. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of EuroISPA, the European Association of Internet Service Providers.

Michel COMBOT has also devoted more than 18 years of his career to the government sector, developing an extensive expertise and knowledge of inter-regulation. He worked within independent administrative authorities, notably as deputy director general of ARCEP, the French Telecom Regulatory Authority, then of ARCOM, the French Media Regulatory Authority, and in several ministerial offices. He has thus contributed to defining and implementing numerous public policies linked to the digital economy, the telecoms industry, the media and digital services.

Monica is a lawyer and a regulatory counsel at ING Belgium, where she advises all segments of the bank on data governance, data protection and artificial intelligence. With over 10 years of experience in regulatory compliance, Monica has been helping companies in the telecommunications and financial sectors in Spain and Belgium. She is also a Board member of Women AT Privacy in Brussels.

Experienced in the pharmaceuticals industry. Skilled in Management, Scientific communication, Data Management and Data Protection. Strong media and communication professional holding a PhD from the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Sara is a tech journalist with a specialization in data privacy and security, reporting from Brussels for MLex. She covers topics such as content moderation, child safety online and data protection. Before joining MLex, she gained extensive experience working as a freelance journalist for several Austrian news outlets, covering politics and social issues. She was named one of Austria’s best 30 under 30 journalists in 2024. Sara holds a degree in Communication Science from the University of Vienna and an international master’s degree in Journalism, Media and Globalisation. 

Ms Irena Moozová is Deputy Director-General at the European Commission‘s Directorate General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST). She is responsible for the International Dimension of Justice Policies, Rule of Law and Equality. Previously, she held the position of Director for Equality and Non Discrimination in DG JUST. She is a Czech national and joined the Commission in 2006 as Head of EU Representation in Prague. Prior to that, she worked for the diplomatic service of the Czech Republic in various positions.

Chris Taylor is an experienced multi-skilled senior manager with a history of delivering at pace in the public, third and not-for-profit sectors.

Monika Tomczak-Górlikowska is the Global Head of Privacy, Digital & Regulatory for the Prosus Group – a multinational consumer internet group with headquarters in Europe and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Monika also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). 

Monika began her career at the Legal Service of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU in Brussels. She is now based in Amsterdam and previously was the Senior Data Privacy Legal Counsel at Shell International Limited in London. Monika is a licensed attorney (adwokat) with over 25-years in practice. Prior to her in-house tenures she was in private practice, including at the offices of Miller, Canfield in Poland. She holds a Master of European Law degree (LLM cum laude) from the Law Department of the College of Europe in Brugge (Belgium). 

Monika has also served as Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of the Forum on International Privacy Law and a member of the IAPP European Advisory Board. Monika is also hexalingual: she speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Portuguese fluently.

Marco Moragón is senior public policy manager at Workday. In his role, Marco leads Workday’s EU policy efforts on data protection, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. Marco collaborates with policymakers, industry associations and civil society to ensure privacy laws provide meaningful and workable guardrails that account for the nature of enterprise software and AI, and to support the free flow of data across borders through mechanisms that safeguard privacy and underpin global innovation.

Based in Brussels, Marco brings over 12 years of experience shaping digital policy in Europe. Prior to joining Workday in 2022, Marco held roles at other global technology leaders including Verizon and Samsung, EU tech association DigitalEurope, and at the European Commission.

Marco holds degrees in European Union Government from the University of Valencia and in Political Science & Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and is IAPP CIPP/E certified (2024). 

Bianca-Ioana Marcu is Deputy Director for Global Privacy at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), where she advances thought leadership on data protection, privacy, and AI regulation from a global perspective, working across the EU, Asia Pacific and Africa teams. Prior to joining FPF, Bianca was the Managing Director of the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) Conference, and Researcher in Law at the Law, Science and Technology (LSTS) Research Group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Bianca also held roles in advocacy and gender justice and supported the work of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She holds an LLM in International Law, Globalisation and Human Rights from Maastricht University, and a Data Protection Officer certification from the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity.