Leonhard Birnbaum

CEO, E.ON SE and Vice President, Eurelectric

Max Lemke

Head of Unit IoT, DG CNECT

Dr. Max Lemke is the Head of Internet of Things (IoT) unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. He is responsible for Horizon 2020 programmes on the digital transformation of key industrial sectors, including in particular in agri-food, smart energy and mobility. In the new Horizon Europe and DIGITAL programmes, he coordinates the developments on the next generation IoT and Edge computing as well as on data spaces and digital industrial platforms for the above sectors.

In his previous roles at the Commission, Max Lemke had a leading role in developing and coordinating the Digitising European Industry strategy, and was involved in the development of the European Strategy for Artificial Intelligence. He was responsible for embedded and cyber-physical systems, advanced computing, and ICT for manufacturing (Industry 4.0). He was co-responsible for the joint technology initiative ECSEL (Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership) and the public-private partnership Factories of the Future. In the latter context, he has gradually built the I4MS (ICT Innovation for Manufacturing SMEs) initiative.

Max has a scientific background in numerical mathematics, high-performance computing, and software engineering. He holds diploma in Mathematics and Computer Science, as well as a Doctorate in Natural Sciences. In 2020, he conducted a study on “The digital industrial ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest” and taught a course on “Geopolitics of innovation: The US, the EU and China” as a guest professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Fatih Balyeli

CEO & Co-Founder, Exaion

Fatih BALYELI is the CEO & Co-founder of Exaion, a startup providing Cloud Computing of HPC/AI, BaaS and Datacenter hosting services in an eco-responsible way.

Prior to that, Fatih was a Corporate Venture Capitalist for EDF group, expert in the Digital industry, and sat on the Boards of Metroscope and Hoppy startups.

Fatih is graduated in Engineering from both Mines ParisTech & Tsinghua University and in Finance from Paris Dauphine University PSL.

He also holds a Certification in Blockchain from the University of Oxford.

www.exaion.edf.fr

Frances Robinson

Journalist

Frances Robinson is a freelance journalist based in London covering subjects from Brexit to cybersecurity. She previously spent four years at the Wall Street Journal in Brussels  covering the EU institutions, tech and telecoms regulation, and Belgium; prior to that the she covered the European Central Bank for Bloomberg in Frankfurt. She has written about everything from the future of Belgian fries to ECOFIN meetings.  Her radio and TV appearances include Sky News, RTBF, CNBC,and the BBC World Service, and she has a wide experience of moderating panels for clients including the OECD, Google and Microsoft. She is a contributor to Politico, The Spectator, Property Investor Europe and the Evening Standard Londoner's Diary.

Rémy Garaude-Verdier

Head of European Affairs, Enedis

Rémy Garaude-Verdier is the Head of European Affairs at Enedis, the French main electric DSO managing the largest distribution network in Europe. From the time he joined the company in 2011, he coordinated and participated in several smart grid projects, developing a sound expertise of the energy sector. In his current role, Rémy Garaude-Verdier cooperates with a wide range of European stakeholders towards the EU green and digital transition. He was recently elected as a board member of the EU DSO Entity – a new association dedicated to DSOs’ enhanced roles and responsibilities in Europe. Prior to this, Rémy Garaude-Verdier worked for VINCI Group as well as for EDF, especially in its subsidiaries in the UK and the USA. He holds a degree in civil engineering and an MBA from IMD Lausanne.

Larry Cochrane

Director Global Energy Solutions, Google Cloud

As the Global Director for Google Energy Industry Solutions, Larry Cochrane works  closely with Power & Utilities, Oil & Gas, and Renewable Natives to accelerate their transition to the safe and reliable production and delivery of Carbon Free Energy (CFE). Google is leading the industry with solutions, tools, and techniques to enable the transition to 24x7 CFE. He is pioneering approaches to apply AI-ML to some of the most challenging problems in the energy industry necessary for next generation operation of the power system. Mr Cochrane is focused on the adoption of GCP by Energy companies. He also is helping shape X Moonshot projects in the Energy sector. He has held roles such as MD/CTO for the Power and Utilities ve  ical at Microsoft including authoring of the Smart Energy Reference Architecture and leading NERC CIP compliance for Azure. Mr Cochrane was a member of the Executive Committee and VP of R&D and Product Development for the Network Controls business of AREVA where he was responsible for products ranging from  Protection and Control relays to Distribution Management Systems to Energy Management Systems and Markets. While at the Boeing Company, Mr Cochrane developed the operating system for the MOD-2, the first 2.5MW wind turbine for a DOE research program. He also managed Flight Test for the NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He brings with him over three decades of Energy and Utilities information technology and operations systems R&D, product development and support experience. Cochrane holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration, all from  the University of Washington.

Tone Thingbø

Vice President Cyber Security, Statkraft

Powerful and enthusiastic cyber expert with more than 20 years operational and strategic experience and search for excellence. Tone is now Vice President for Cyber Security in Statkraft AS and has operational responsibility for Statkrafts cyber security operations and preventive cyber security. Tone has a proven track record within cyber security and particularly cyber / information security management systems. Tone has a background from political science and Russian language studies, and has held positions as CISO in large companies in the Nordics, both public such as Norges Bank and commercial companies such as TDC Group AS. She has also worked with governmental security agencies as well as wider security organisations such as the OSCE.  In her daily work she often presents cyber security topics to various managements teams, including the Top Management Leadership Team and Owners.

Ole Tom Seierstad

National Security Officer, Microsoft Norway

Antonio Hidalgo

Vice President of Digital Solutions, Landis+Gyr

Antonio Hidalgo is Vice President of Digital Solutions at Landis+Gyr, a global industry leader in energy management solutions. Since he joined in early 2021, he has been driving a new cloud analytics initiative which aims to help utilities unlock the value of meter data in combination with other data sources using the artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities on Google Cloud.

Prior to that, Antonio has served in a variety of Smart Grid IT -related positions for companies like Schneider Electric, Accenture and EDMI, providing program and product management for Smart Metering and Smart Grid solutions from concept through design, development and implementation.

He holds a degree in Telecommunications engineering from the University of Madrid.

Justin Lowe

Cyber security lead for the energy and utilities sector, PA Consulting

Justin is PA Consulting’s cyber security lead for the energy and utilities sector where he has helped electricity, water, oil, gas and nuclear operators protect both their IT and their operational technology estates. As well as significant energy and utilities and wider CNI cyber security experience Justin has helped governments understand cyber risk and how to manage these risks across nations, industries and operators. He recently helped the UK Government assess the changing risk in the evolving smart energy system and identify changes to policy, regulation and security initiatives required to address the emerging risks. Justin is a thought leader and regular speaker on security issues facing the energy and utilities sector and wider critical infrastructures.

Mary O'Connor

Chief Information Officer, ESB

As CIO for ESB, Mary is responsible for driving digital transformation for the entire organisation as well as overseeing cyber strategy and risk management, IT strategy and Enterprise Architecture.  She is also responsible for the portfolio management of IT, digital and analytics work and is a champion of driving business transformation through data, technology and digital ways of working.  Mary has a wealth of experience from over 30 years working in a wide range of disciplines and functions at all levels within ESB.  She has a strong track record of developing and implementing strategies in a variety of businesses across ESB, of motivating teams and driving business performance through people, innovation and technology.  She has  led teams at all levels of the organisation in successful implementation of change working closely with internal and external partners to do so.

Mary  is an  IT  graduate  of  Trinity  College  and is an ACCA  post-graduate  in  Accounting  and Finance.   She  is a  coach  and  mentor and  is  passionate  about  developing  people to enable them reach their full potential.

Felipe Castro

Policy officer in cybersecurity, DG ENER

Felipe Castro is a policy officer in the European Commission in the area of Energy Security and Safety, domain of cybersecurity. He holds a master degree in telecommunication engineering from the University of Valladolid (Spain) and a second Master in Business Administration by the University UNED (Spain). He worked 17 years in telecommunications in the private sector in Germany, France and Belgium. He is also affiliated professor in the Business School SKEMA in France. He joined the European Commission in 2015, first in the Internal Audit Services and then the Directorate-General of Energy, dealing with technology and cybersecurity topics. 

Henning Häder

Policy Director Eurelectric

Henning Häder is the Policy Director Issues at Eurelectric, the sector association representing the European electricity industry. Previously he has been Head of Unit in charge of Energy Policy, Climate and Sustainability and Eurelectric Advisor in charge of energy efficiency, electrification and climate issues. Before joining the association in 2011 he worked on European and security policy topics at the German Institute for International & Security Affairs and the United States Department of State at the US Embassy in Berlin. He holds a bachelor in European studies from Maastricht University and a master in international security studies from Kings College London.

Carole Davies-Filleur

Associate Director - Sustainability & Technology, Accenture

•Offering Lead for Responsible Technology : how digital can support sustainability transformation. •Engineering degree with specialization in Environment, Climate Collage facilitator, certified for carbon footprint assessment and Digital service ecodesign.
•Account Lead, Opportunity Lead and Delivery Lead for clients in the Transportation, Travel Services and Industrial Equipment Industries
•Passionate about serving clients for large transformation projects (business & IT) in an international context, in particular for digital transformation and for sustainability roadmap implementation
•Experienced in complex deal shaping and program delivery for airlines, rail, public transport, lodging and industrial equipment (size of deal up to 50m$), including application outsourcing and business process outsourcing
•Engaged in people development and Inclusion & Diversity programs, certified Gallup coach.
•I love learning, teaching, workshop facilitation and sharing knowledge in conferences.
•Active on sustainability / climate change actions within my community