Speakers - Masters of Digital 2022 - Hybrid Event

MoD2025 Speakers

Find out more about our speaker line up below.

Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General, DIGITALEUROPE

Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl is Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, the leading digital technology industry association representing over 35,000 digital companies in Europe.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of Gaia-X, of the European Commission’s Industrial Forum, and of the B20 Digital Transformation Taskforce. She is also a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) and of NATO’s high-level Advisory Group for Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, as well as a board member of the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and the European Parliament-led European Internet Forum, and a member of the supervisory board of EIT Digital.

Formerly, Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl was a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, and of the High-level Strategy Group on Industrial Technologies in charge of identifying Key Enabling Technologies.

She was an Executive Board Member of the Royal Danish Export Council and Chair of the Export Grant Committee under the Danish Foreign Ministry. She also served as Executive Board member in DIGITALEUROPE, and as a member of the association’s high level Digital Advisory Council.

Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has served as Board Member of the Danish Chamber of Commerce and was President of the Board of the Danish ICT association (ITB), where she led the development of policy positions on issues such as business digitalisation, ICT security, disruptive business models, telecoms and education.

Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has more than 25 years of experience in the ICT industry. She previously held international positions at IBM and Oracle as well as with SMEs, building businesses across Europe and China and founding the cloud provider GlobeIT. She has deep insights into the digitalisation of business and society and the data-driven economy, and is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches on these issues at high-level events across the world.

Cecilia
Bonefeld-Dahl

Director General,
DIGITALEUROPE

Vytenis Andriukaitis, Member, European Parliament

Vytenis Andriukaitis

Member,
European Parliament

János Bóka, Minister for European Affairs, Hungary

He received his law degree from the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the University of Szeged in 2001. Between 2005 and 2006, he studied in a Master’s programme at the Vrije Universiteiten in Brussels. In 2013, he received his PhD degree from the University of Szeged. Between 2001 and 2003, he worked as an assistant professor at the Department of International and European Law at the Faculty of Law and Political Science. Between 2003 and 2004, he worked in the Hungarian Information Office. From 2009, he worked as an assistant professor, and between 2011 and 2016 as an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the University of Szeged. Between 2014 and 2015, he worked as a senior adviser at the Civil Chamber of the Curia. Between 2015 and 2019, he was associate professor at the Ludovika University of Public Service, and between 2016 and 2017, Deputy Dean. Between 2017 and 2018, he was Director of the Hungarian Academy of Justice at the National Office for the Judiciary. Between 2018 and 2020, he was State Secretary for European Union and International Justice Cooperation at the Ministry of Justice. Since 2019, he has been an associate professor at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church. Between 2021 and 2022, he was State Secretary to the Prime Minister for European Union Affairs at the Government Office of the Prime Minister. Between 2022 and 2023, he was Secretary of State for European Union Affairs at the Ministry of Justice. Since 2022, he has been the Prime Minister’s Commissioner and the Prime Minister’s EU Sherpa. Since 1 August 2023, he has been Minister for European Union Affairs.

János Bóka

Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Hungary

Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification

Valdis Dombrovskis is European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification. Previous to this, he served as the Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People.

Prior he has served three consecutive terms as Prime Minister of Latvia, becoming the longest serving elected head of government in Latvia’s history.

Before becoming Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis was elected for the second time as a Member of the European Parliament (first, 2004-2009) and Head of Latvian Delegation in the EPP Group.
He served as a Member of the Saeima (Parliament) of Latvia (03.2004-06.2004; 01.2014-06.2014) and was Latvia’s Minister of Finance from 2002 to 2004.

Valdis Dombrovskis was born on 5 August 1971 in Riga, Latvia. He graduated with a degree in physics from the University of Latvia (1993) and economics from Riga University of Technology (1995). He received his master’s degree in physics in 1995 from the University of Latvia. In 1995 -1998 he worked as a research assistant at the Mainz University, Germany, the Institute of Solid-State Physics, Latvia and the University of Maryland (USA).

Prior to joining politics, he worked as a senior economist and chief economist at the Bank of Latvia (1998-2002). He is a co-author of book with Anders Aslund „How Latvia came through the financial crisis” which was published in 2011.

In November 2014 Valdis Dombrovskis was awarded by the Order of the Three Stars (Triju Zvaigžņu ordenis), the highest State Decoration of the Republic of Latvia.

Valdis Dombrovskis

European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification

Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director General, DG ENV, European Commission

Florika Fink-Hooijer has been the director general of the environment department of the European Commission since 2020. In her current role, she is responsible for implementing the European Green Deal objectives, particularly in the areas of circular economy, biodiversity and zero pollution. She joined the European Commission in 1990 and has held various high level and medio level management positions in the fields of external and security policy, humanitarian aid, disaster risk reduction and environmental protection, in (DG) RELEX (the predecessor of the European External Action Service) and DG for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, among others. Prior to joining the European Commission, she worked at the law firms such as Nordemann, Vinck & Hertin in Berlin, and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in The Hague. Fink-Hooijer studied law at the Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms Universität Bonn, and the Université de Lausanne before completing a master’s degree in International and Comparative Law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Later, she completed a PhD in copyright at the Free University of Berlin with a dissertation about the immediate termination in copyright contract law.

Florika
Fink-Hooijer

Director General, DG ENV
European Commission

Sandra Gallina, Director General, DG SANTE, European Commission

Sandra Gallina joined the European Commission in 1988. She is today Director General for Health and Food Safety. Before joining DG SANTE, between 2018 and 2020 she was Deputy Director General for DG TRADE. Between 2014 and 2018 she was Director for DG TRADE Directorate D “Sustainable Development; Economic Partnership Agreements – African, Caribbean and Pacific; Agri-food and Fisheries”. Sandra Gallina was also the EU chief negotiator for the EU-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement. Between 2001 and 2009 she was the EU Lead Negotiator for Non-Agricultural Market Access in the WTO Doha Round and in that capacity, she defined and presented EU policy for the Doha Development Agenda on non-agricultural market access negotiations. Before joining DG TRADE, she worked in the Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) at the end of the 1990s.

Sandra Gallina

Director General, DG SANTE, European Commission

Prof. Alexandra Goncalves, Vice President, IT Digital Health, Bristol Myers Squibb

Dr. Alexandra Goncalves is an internationally recognized academic cardiologist with a business acumen and serves as VP and Head of Digital Health at Bristol Meyers Squibb, leading DH business strategy and execution across all company portfolio, from clinical development to commercialization. Prior to joining BMS, Dr. Goncalves was Philips’ Chief Medical Officer for Precision Diagnosis, leading the clinical, medical and market access teams across several lines of business including MRI, CT, Informatics and Ultrasound. Dr. Goncalves completed Medical School in Portugal where she became a non-invasive cardiologist and Professor of Medicine, before relocating to the US where she did her postdoctoral work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Goncalves spend more than 15 years in clinical practice, has authored more than 60 peer-review articles, including reports in high impact journals such as Eur Heart J, has co-authored international management recommendations and written book chapters, including in the leading book Harrison’s Cardiovascular Medicine. Dr. Goncalves has obtained multiple awards for her research and serves as advisor for biotech start-ups, has registered various patents in medical imaging and thrives in bringing innovation to improve patient’s lives.

Alexandra
Goncalves

Vice President, IT Digital Health,
Bristol Myers Squibb

Uwe Heckert, Chairman of the Board & Head of Enterprise Informatics Europe, Philips

After studying business administration in Berlin, Göttingen and at the State University of New York, Uwe Heckert started at McKinsey & Company Inc. in 1997, where he worked as a consultant and senior project manager. During this time, he did his doctorate in business informatics on the topic “knowledge management”. In 2005, he moved to T-Systems International, where he managed various areas, most recently as Senior Vice President for ERP/SAP Systems Integration. From 2013, Heckert continued his career at the international IT service company Unisys. After successfully managing the EMEA business in the public sector as Vice President & General Manager, he assumed a global role in the area of business applications and solutions.

Since June 2021, Uwe Heckert has been CEO of Philips GmbH and since May 2023, he has assumed the additional function as Head of Enterprise Informatics Europe.

Uwe
Heckert

Chairman of the Board & Head of Enterprise Informatics Europe, Philips

Mauro Macchi, EMEA CEO, Accenture

Mauro Macchi is Chief Executive Officer for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) at Accenture and the Chairman of Accenture in Italy. He is also a member of Accenture’s Global Management Committee.

Prior to his current role, he was Market Unit Lead of the ICEG Region, which includes Italy, Central Europe and Greece and CEO of Accenture Italy. During this period, Mauro played a central role in the ICEG region’s double-digit growth, which has excelled in implementing reinvention programs for leading companies in the public and private sectors.

Along his nearly 30-year career at Accenture, he has gained in-depth knowledge of major international markets, leading several Merger & Acquisition and Sales & Distribution projects, mainly for the banking sector. He has also held cross industry management responsibility roles at European level.

Previously, Macchi was Head of Financial Services for Europe and ICEG, responsible for the delivery and quality of services provided by Accenture to all banking and insurance clients in the Region, and Senior Managing Director of Accenture Strategy for Banking globally, responsible for improving the competitive advantages of major companies within the industry.

He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Fondazione Italiana Accenture for the past eight years.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California Irvine Graduate School of Management.

Mauro
Macchi

EMEA CEO
Accenture

Eva Maydell, Member, European Parliament

Eva Maydell is a Member of the European Parliament and one of the lead negotiators on the EU’s Chips Act and Artificial Intelligence Act. Maydell is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. Her policy priorities include innovation and the use of new technologies to support European competitiveness and fostering cooperation among global likeminded partners in the tech and democracy space.

Eva Maydell has also worked on the updated EU cybersecurity legislation the Network Information Security Directive, and the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act.

In the European Parliament, Maydell is Vice-Chair of the Delegation for Relations with Japan as well as part of the Delegation for relations with the US. Maydell is also President of the European Movement International, the largest organisation of associations and civil societies in Europe. She is a Board Member for World Economic Forum’s Digital Europe program and a member of the WEF Global Future Council of Europe.

Eva has been awarded the European Parliament’s MEP of the Year Award twice. She has also been included in FT’s own ‘New Europe 100′ ranking of CEE’s emerging change-makers, European Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and others. She has also been featured in POLITICO’s 40 most influential MEPs and “POLITICO 28” list of people who shape Europe and POLITICO’s 2018 Women who shape Brussels.

Eva
Maydell

Member,
European
Parliament

Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director General, DG CNECT, European Commission

Renate Nikolay is the current Deputy Director-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, within the European Commission, having transitioned into the role in December 2022. Prior to this, she was the Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Jourova, covering both the Values and Transparency, and the Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality portfolios between 2019 and 2022. She holds a Master’s degree in Law from Washington College of Law, and completed her Legal State Examinations at the Free University in Berlin.

Renate
Nikolay

Deputy Director General,
DG CNECT,
European Commission

Amira Romani, Senior Vice President global innovation & technology, Siemens Healthineers

Amira ROMANI, Senior Vice President at Siemens Healthineers, is dedicated to pioneering breakthroughs in healthcare. With a focus on stroke care and liver cancer, she leads cross-functional events and innovation talks to raise awareness and advance treatment options. Her commitment to collaboration, innovation, and expertise shines through in her work, aiming to improve patient outcomes and revolutionize healthcare.

Amira
Romani

Senior Vice President Global Innovation & Technology, Siemens Healthineers

Sandra Sarav, Deputy Secretary General for Economy and Innovation, Estonia

Sandra Särav is the Deputy Secretary General for Economy and Innovation the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Commucations. She is a seasoned digital policy expert with a robust background in government and private sector roles. Leveraging experience from the Estonian Government and EU-level decision-making, she has served in public policy at Meta (Facebook) and led regulatory and sustainability efforts at Bolt, an Estonian tech unicorn. What brought her back to government was the sense of mission of building solutions for your own country. She’s also a lecturer at TalTech, teaching legal framework of digital government and EU law.

Sandra
Sarav

Deputy Secretary General for Economics and Innovation, Estonia

Rolf Schumann, CDO, Schwarz Group and Co-CEO, Schwarz Digits

Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, the IT und digital division of Schwarz Group with a passion
for people, innovation, data, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, new business models, e-mobility, sustainability and smart connected things, ready to take the next step in retail as part of a group of incredible people to evolve digital sovereignty in Europe. Experience

-More than 30 years of experience in management, operations, business development, sales and consulting
– Industry expertise in information technology, software, automotive, manufacturing, public sector, retail, clean tech and cybersecurity
– Promotion of cutting-edge technologies, business model innovations, market launches and digital transformation

Rolf
Schumann

CDO, Schwarz Group and Co-CEO, Schwarz Digits

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Lucilla Sioli, Director EU AI Office, European Commission

Lucilla Sioli is the head of the EU AI Office at the European Commission.

Previously, Ms Lucilla Sioli was the Director for “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry” within Directorate-General CONNECT at the European Commission. She was responsible for the coordination of the European digitisation of industry strategy and for policy development in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors, including regulatory approaches such as the AI Act and the Chips Act. The directorate also supports R&D&I in key digital industrial technologies including microelectronics, photonics, robotics and AI. Lucilla holds a PhD in economics from the University of Southampton (UK) and one from the Catholic University of Milan (Italy) and has been a civil servant with the European Commission since 1997.

Lucilla
Sioli

Director, EU AI Office
European Commission

Julie Linn Teigland, EMEIA Area Managing Partner, EY

Julie is a member of the EY Global Executive and Area Managing Partner for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA). As EY EMEIA Area Managing Partner, Julie leads a geographic area comprising member firms with more than 150,000 people across 95 countries and representing combined revenues of over US$20b.

In this role she is responsible for all four business units, including assurance, tax, consulting, as well as strategy and transactions. Julie joined EY in 2001, has served as lead partner for several Fortune 500 clients and previously held a number of leadership roles within the international practice. Julie continues to serve clients as a senior advisor, contributing to large-scale transformation and change programs. Julie was recently named one of Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women International.

With three decades of experience in professional services for international clients, she believes that business has a responsibility in tackling global challenges and that growth must be sustainable and deliver value that will benefit all stakeholders. Julie is an active champion of women and the Global Leader for the EY Women. Fast forward initiative.

Julie also serves on several boards across Europe and the US, such as JA Europe, the largest non-profit in Europe dedicated to preparing young people for employment and entrepreneurship, Atlantik Brücke and the American Council on Germany, both committed to building relationships between Germany, Europe and the US.

Born in the US, Julie has accumulated over 30 years of international experience with terms in the Netherlands, Germany and now the UK. She studied business in Heidelberg, Frankfurt and Paris and qualified as a US Certified Public Accountant.

Julie
Teigland

EMEIA Area Managing Partner,
EY

Marianne Vikkula, COO, Wolt

Since Vikkula Marianne joined food delivery company Wolt in 2018 to lead its expansion efforts, the company has tripled the number of countries it operates in to 20 and grown from a 100-person company to a team with 700+ employees. Before joining Wolt, Marianne spent five years building Slush, one of the leading technology conferences in Europe.

Marianne Vikkula

COO,
Wolt

Andrea Voigt, Head of Global Public Affairs and Communication, Danfoss

Andrea is Head of Global Public Affairs & Communication and Member of the Leadership Team at Danfoss Climate Solutions. She joined Danfoss in 2021, her experience in the heating and cooling industry spans over two decades.

Prior to Danfoss, for 12 years, she was leading the European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE), a major Brussels based industry association advocating for sustainable heating and cooling technologies in buildings, industry and the cold chain at EU and at global level. Previous assignments included senior roles in sales, marketing and communication.

Andrea is a member of the RTOC and TEAP Energy Efficiency Task Force under the Montreal Protocol.

She is a Board member of the UN hosted alliances The Cool Coalition and The Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, as well as of the Global Food Cold Chain Council, the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) and the European Alliance for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EuroACE).

Andrea
Voigt

Head of Global Public Affairs and Communication, Danfoss

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Peter Weckesser, President, DIGITALEUROPE and Chief Digital Officer, Schneider Electric

Peter Weckesser is the Chief Digital Officer of Schneider Electric and a member of the Executive Committee since June 2020, when he joined the company.

Prior to working at Schneider, Peter served as the Digital Transformation Officer of Airbus’ Defence & Space division since 2017. Before joining Airbus, Peter had extensive experience as a Senior Executive at Siemens, most recently as the Chief Operating Officer of Siemens’ Product Lifecycle Management, leading the IoT and Digital Enterprise business and activities. He also held other executive-level positions with Siemens such as the CEO of Industry Services and CEO of Value Services.

Peter’s career began at Siemens where he worked in various roles in product management and development, including Director of Business Development in the United States. He holds a degree in physics as well as a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. He currently resides in Germany.

Peter
Weckesser

President, DIGITALEUROPE and Chief Digital Officer, Schneider Electric

Richard Marko, CEO, ESET

Richard Marko joined ESET in the early 1990s as a software developer during his undergraduate studies, and he was one of the first employees of the company. Gradually, he became one of the co-authors of ESET’s antivirus system and its scanning engine. He went on to become the company’s chief software architect in 1998 and CTO in 2008. In 2011, ESET’s co-founders left the active management of the company and Richard Marko became the first global CEO. He is also one of ESET’s co-owners and a member of its Board of Directors. He has been named the most respected CEO of the year three times in an independent poll by PwC and Forbes magazine.

Richard
Marko

CEO,
ESET

MoD2025 Speakers

CeciliaBonefeld-Dahl

Vytenis Andriukaitis

János Bóka

Valdis Dombrovskis

Florika Fink-Hooijer

Sandra Gallina

Alexandra Goncalves

Uwe Heckert

Mauro Macchi

Eva Maydell

Renate Nikolay

Amira Romani

Sandra Sarav

Rolf Schumann

Lucilla Sioli

Julie Teigland