Jennifer Yokoyama is Deputy General Counsel, IP Group and Chief IP Counsel at Microsoft. Yokoyama was previously Microsoft’s head of IP litigation, but has only been with the software giant since June 2018. Before that, she was principal counsel for patent litigation at Apple. In her four years there, her focus was on the management of complex multijurisdictional patent, competition and FRAND-based disputes, with a special emphasis on Asia, where she was responsible for the APAC litigation docket. Between 2010 and 2013 Yokoyama was assistant general counsel of IP litigation and licensing strategy at Nike. She was also a partner at McDermott Will & Emery for seven years.

Jeremy Rollison is Director of EU Government Affairs within Microsoft’s Corporate, External, & Legal Affairs (CELA) group. Based in Brussels, his work focuses on policy related to the EU Digital Single Market (DSM), with a particular emphasis on data issues and corresponding public policy covering privacy, cybersecurity, cloud policy, and the cross-border provision of online services. Prior to joining Microsoft, he worked in the Government Relations team at Nokia in the company’s EU representative office, and was previously Director of the European Digital Media Association (EDiMA) in Brussels. He has over a decade of experience in Brussels at the company, association, and consultancy levels, focusing and engaging with EU stakeholders on issues related to the development and delivery of online services in the Internal Market and corresponding EU regulatory policy.

Eva Maydell (Paunova) is a second-term Member of the European Parliament within the European People’s Party (EPP) Group, representing the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB). She is a Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee. She is also a Vice-Chair of the Delegation for relations with Japan and substitute member in the Delegation for relations with the US. Until her election, she was Executive Coordinator of the GERB-EPP Delegation and Senior Policy Advisor in the European Parliament. MEP Maydell’s key interests include innovation & digitalisation, investments, SMEs & entrepreneurship and education.

Catherine is the Chief Executive Officer of the Open Knowledge Foundation. She represented Scotland in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2019. As Vice-Chair of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, Catherine worked on digital policy, prioritising the digital single market, digital skills, better accessibility of digital products for the disabled, as well as citizen online data protection and privacy. She wrote a number of influential reports and opinions leading on EU copyright reform. Over the years, Catherine has been recognised as an ambassador for accessibility, consumer and citizen rights.

She holds a MA (Hons) in Geography and International Relations (1996), an MLitt in International Security Studies (1998) from the University of St Andrews, and a Master of Business Administration from the Open University. In 2018 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews and in 2019 received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Catherine was recently elected to serve as the Senior Lay Member of the governing body of the University of St Andrews, a role which begins this summer. She previously served as the 52nd Rector, only the second woman to hold the position. Catherine is a Trustee of the Brink Literacy project and the National Prayer Breakfast of Scotland and serves on a number of international bodies and advisory groups. Catherine lives with her husband David and sons, Alex and Andrew, in Dunfermline, Fife.

Carsten Hess is a German lawyer and Government Affairs Professional. He spent over 25 years in Government Affairs both in Brussels, Berlin and Hong Kong, Asia. He has joined Banco Santander as Head of Digital Policy in January 2019 and is looking after the regulatory and policy issues of the bank’s digital transformation journey involving in policies around competition, digital payments, data privacy, Fintech and BigTech, Artificial Intelligence, cyber-security and other.

Previously he was Head of Asia Pacific & EEMEA Corporate Public Policy for the Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL) Group in Hong Kong, China, involved in cross-border trade, customs policies as well as eCommerce and data privacy regulation (2013 – 2018). Before that Mr Hess was Vice President, Head of the Corporate Representation of DPDHL in Brussels (2004 – 2013). Mr Hess held further positions as Head of MCI Worldcom’s EU Representation Office (1999- 2004), as Counsel European Affairs, GE International European Affairs Office (1996 – 1999).

Mr Hess is also an appointed Expert in the APEC 2nd Expert Committee of E-Commerce Business Alliance in Beijing. He was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Alliance for European Logistics (AEL) based in Brussels (2009 – 2013) and served as Treasurer/Executive Member of the Board of the EU-ASEAN Business Council in Singapore (2013 – 2018). Board member of the Brussels based Yehudi Menuhin Foundation (2006 – 2012).

Dr. Malte Beyer-Katzenberger studied law & political sciences at Trier and Aix-en-Provence universities and at the College of Europe, Bruges. He holds a Dr. jur. degree from Trier University with a doctoral thesis on the Convention on the Future of Europe.

After having worked at the Academy of European Law in Trier from 2007-2011, he joined the European Commission, DG CONNECT, in November 2011. He is desk officer working on policies relating to data-driven innovation, including open data policy and aspects of data protection. Currently, he is involved in the Free Flow of Data Initiative.

Joost Vantomme is the Smart Mobility Director of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which represents the 16 major Europe-based car, van, truck and bus manufacturers. Joost serves also as a member of the Supervisory Board of ERTICO (advocating intelligent mobility solutions) and of the Board of the Mobility as a Service Alliance (MaaS).  He is a member of various Commission Expert Groups, including the Expert Group on B2G data sharing.

Joost has over 25 years’ experience in legal, regulatory and public affairs. He served as Legal and Regulatory Affairs Director in the telecommunications, postal, logistics and automotive sector. He had leading policy making roles in European associations such as PostEurop and FEDMA, as well as at the UN level (UPU). Joost has also been a member of the cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Economy and director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, an EU consultancy firm.

As a frequent speaker at conferences and author of papers, he engages with stakeholders on European and international policy issues in a digital agenda context. Joost holds a Master’s in Economic Business Law, a Master’s in law and a Diploma in Teaching Law (Universities of Leuven, Poitiers and Louvain). He is fluent in Dutch, French, English and German.

Helena is Mastercard’s EEA Data Protection Officer (DPO) and has been with the company since June 2017.

Helena is responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable data related laws in Europe – including the EU General Data Protection Regulation, Payment Services Directive2 and ePrivacy Directive, as well as data localization and outsourcing requirements.
Prior to joining Mastercard, Helena worked as Senior Privacy Officer at Standard Chartered and at ADP in Singapore, where she led their Privacy Compliance Program and outreach activities for the Asia Pacific Region.  Prior to that, Helena worked as General Counsel at the Dutch Data Protection Authority in the Netherlands, where she managed the legal department responsible for enforcement, litigation and compliance.  Helena started her career as an international attorney working in Allen & Overy’s Amsterdam and New York offices assisting clients with competition law and finance matters.

Helena graduated from Leiden University in business and international law and was admitted to the Amsterdam bar. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/A and CIPM) and was a member of the IAPP Asia Advisory Board.

Eline Chivot is a senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation. Based in Brussels, Eline focuses on European technology policy issues and on how policymakers can promote digital innovation in the EU. Prior to joining the Center for Data Innovation, Eline Chivot worked for several years in the Netherlands as policy analyst in a leading think tank, where her work included research projects on defence, security and economic policy issues. More recently, Eline worked at one of Brussels’ largest trade associations and managed its relations with representatives of the digital tech industry in Europe and beyond. Eline received Masters degrees including from Sciences Po in France, in political science, economics, strategic management, and business administration.

Virginie Fossoul is a policy and legal officer in the EC Intellectual Property Unit (DG GROW). Before joining DG GROW, Virginie worked at the EC Copyright unit (DG CONNECT) where she took part in the work on the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. Previously, Virginie worked as an IP lawyer in a Brussels-based law firm and as a researcher at the Brussels University (ULB).

As Vice-President in charge of EU Government Affairs at Schneider Electric, Bertrand Deprez is heading the Group’s liaison office to the EU institutions. Bertrand is working in the strategy division of Schneider Electric where he is in charge of developing public affairs strategy for the group at EU level. He is currently holding responsibilities in several associations and groups related to the EU.
Prior to that, Bertrand worked several years at Edelman/The Centre a well-known PR/PA agency specialised in EU affairs. Bertrand graduated at University Lyon 3 (France) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK). He lives in Brussels.