European Space Forum 2023

Hermann Ludwig Moeller is the Director of European Space Policy Institute since September 2022. Prior to joining ESPI, he held leading positions at ESA in the creation of EU Copernicus and in the preparation of the EU Secure Connectivity initiative as Head of Telecommunications Strategy, Programme and Transformation Office and as Head of Copernicus Space Segment Office. In these functions, Mr. Moeller has been operating with high level leadership in a complex multi-stakeholder policy environment in public-private partnerships with industry, at EU level, with EUMETSAT and with national space agencies and delegations. Prior to that he held the ESA Douglas Marsh Fellow at NASA and contributed to the creation of the European Internet backbone. He acquired early professional experience at the European Patent Office and with Siemens.

Timo Pesonen is the current Director-General of DG DEFIS (Defence Industry and Space).

After graduating in 1989 in International Politics from the University of Tampere, he stayed in his home country to serve as an attaché at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He then left for Brussels and the Embassy of Finland, where he worked with Foreign and Security policy including accreditation to NATO and WEU for four years.

The year 1995 marked his appointment as national expert for DG RELEX (External Relations) and then he worked as the spokesman for Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, 1996-1997.

From 1997 to 2002, he served as Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister of Finland, Paavo Lipponen. He also undertook an advisory mission during the Kosovo peace negotiations for the President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari.

After working at the European Commission Representation in Helsinki as Acting Head between 2003-2004, he acted as Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Olli Rehn for 10 years. He became Deputy Director-General of DG COMM (Communication) in 2014 and was appointed as Director-General the following year. Taking the helm of DG GROW (Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs) in March 2019, he accompanied the creation of DG DEFIS in 2020 as the head of the new Directorate-General.

In addition to his native Finnish, Timo Pesonen speaks English, Swedish and French.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 26 June 2023 the appointment of Aarti Holla-Maini of the United Kingdom as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in Vienna.

She will succeed Simonetta Di Pippo of Italy, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.  The Secretary-General also wishes to extend his appreciation to the Chief, Committee, Policy and Legal Affairs Section, Niklas Hedman, who will continue to serve as Acting Director of UNOOSA until Ms. Holla-Maini assumes this position.

UNOOSA works to promote international cooperation in the peaceful use and exploration of space, and in the utilisation of space science and technology for sustainable economic and social development.

Ms. Holla-Maini brings to this position over 25 years of professional experience in the space sector including in managerial and advocacy functions.  Most recently, she has held the role of Executive Vice-President Sustainability, Policy & Impact at NorthStar Earth & Space; prior to which she spent over 18 years as Secretary-General of the Global Satellite Operators Association.

Ms. Holla-Maini’s experience includes service as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Space; member of the Advisory Group of the Space Sustainability Rating managed by eSpace at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Space Center; member of the Advisory Board of the Satellite Industry Association of India; Senior Space Policy Adviser to Forum Europe and as Expert Adviser on Space Traffic Management for European Union studies 2021-2023.  She was also one of the chief architects of the Crisis Connectivity Charter established in 2015 for emergency telecommunications via satellite with the UN World Food Program’s Emergency Telecommunications Cluster.

Ms. Holla-Maini holds a bachelor’s degree in law with German law from Kings College London, UK, a master’s degree in business administration from HEC Paris, France, and she is also an alumna of the International Space University. She is fluent in English, French, German and Punjabi and has moderate knowledge of Dutch.

Thomas Dermine, born on 1 May 1986 in Charleroi, is a French-speaking Belgian economist and politician who is a member of the Socialist Party. Since 1 October 2020, he has been a member of the Belgian government, deputy to the Minister for the Economy and Labour, as State Secretary for Economic Recovery and Strategic Investment with responsibility for Science Policy, in Alexander De Croo’s federal government.

Dr Orsolya Ferencz serves as a Ministerial Commissioner for Space Research, and as the Head of the Hungarian Delegation to the European Space Agency since 2018. Her career as a researcher began at Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Geophysics and Space Science, Budapest in 1996, and in 2000 she obtained her PhD degree. After over 15 years of research on electromagnetic wave propagation, transient phenomena, remote sensing, plasmasphere, onboard electronic instruments, in 2013 she became a research fellow in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Geodetic and Geophysical Institute. She began her public service in 2010 as an Elected Member of the Municipal Government of Józsefváros, Budapest. In 2023 she was elected as a Member of the National Assembly. 

On 16 October 2020, Rodrigo da Costa took up his duties as Executive Director of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), formerly the European GNSS Agency (GSA). Prior to this, he was the Galileo Services Programme Manager from March 2017. 

EUSPA is an Agency of dedicated EU professionals working for a stronger, more competitive and united European Space Programme, creating synergies between satellite navigation (EGNOS & Galileo), Earth Observation (Copernicus) and secure telecommunications (GOVSATCOM). EUSPA designs and delivers user-centered services working together with the European Commission and a wide range of national, European and international stakeholders, industries and user communities. The EU Space Programme is both a resource and a springboard for the European economy, competitiveness and sustainability. 

Before joining EUSPA, Rodrigo da Costa held several senior project management, business development, and institutional key account management positions in the space industry, in the areas of human space flight, exploration, launchers and R&D. 

Rodrigo da Costa holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the “Instituto Superior Tecnico” in Lisbon, a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Delft, and an MBA from the EuroMBA consortium of Business Schools.

Josef Aschbacher, of Austrian nationality, is a geophysicist by education. He joined ESA in 1990. Throughout his career he held various positions in different locations. He also worked for the European Union. In 2016 he became ESA’s Director of Earth Observation, and in 2021 he took office as ESA’s Director General.

Eva Berneke is Vice Chair, Global Satellite Operator’s Association (GSOA) and Chief Executive Officer of Eutelsat Group. Eva sits on the Boards of international groups Lego and Vestas Wind Systems as well as France’s Ecole Polytechnique. She is a graduate of Denmark’s Technical University, where she gained a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and holds an MBA from INSEAD. 

Hermann Ludwig Moeller is the Director of European Space Policy Institute since September 2022. Prior to joining ESPI, he held leading positions at ESA in the creation of EU Copernicus and in the preparation of the EU Secure Connectivity initiative as Head of Telecommunications Strategy, Programme and Transformation Office and as Head of Copernicus Space Segment Office. In these functions, Mr. Moeller has been operating with high level leadership in a complex multi-stakeholder policy environment in public-private partnerships with industry, at EU level, with EUMETSAT and with national space agencies and delegations. Prior to that he held the ESA Douglas Marsh Fellow at NASA and contributed to the creation of the European Internet backbone. He acquired early professional experience at the European Patent Office and with Siemens.

Guillaume de La Brosse is currently Head of Unit in charge of space innovation, start-ups and economics in the Commission (Direction-General for Defence Industry and Space). Previously, Guillaume was assistant to the Director-General.

Guillaume joined the Commission in 2016, as member of the Commission’s think-tank and member of the UK Task Force, where he dealt with security, defence and space.

Before joining the Commission, Guillaume worked in the European Defence Agency as assistant to the Executive Director (2011-2016) and as pol-mil adviser in the French Permanent representation to the EU (2006-2011).

Dr Gisela Süss has since 2022 been Legal Counsel and Head of the Legal Services Department of the European Space Agency.

She is a licensed lawyer, having been admitted to the Munich Bar in 1991 and to the Paris Bar in 1994. After more than ten years of private practice in business law firms in Paris, she joined ESA in 2001. She exercised various functions within ESA’s Human Resources and Legal Services Departments before being appointed as ESA Legal Counsel in 2022.

She has participated in a number of multilateral discussions and negotiations and has covered the legal and policy issues of various ESA activities and programmes, advising the organisation and its member states on the institutional solutions for carrying out space programmes.

She was for six years legal advisor to ESA’s Earth observation programmes. In this capacity, she contributed to the legal framework for the Copernicus Programme and participated in the negotiations of the relevant agreements with the European Union. She was the chief legal negotiator for ESA of the Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (FFPA) concluded in 2021. 

She leads a team of twenty lawyers covering the full range of legal advice and support to ESA spanning from questions relevant to space programmes, public international law and space law, to institutional matters, e.g. privileges and immunities, litigation and arbitration, financial regulations, procurement regulations and intellectual property issues. 

She has represented ESA at numerous international conferences and at the Legal Sub-Committee of UNCOPUOS. She is regularly invited as a guest lecturer for university courses on the international law of space activities and on the same areas of interest.

She has completed the full cycle of legal studies in Germany and passed the First and Second State Examination in Law  (1. und 2. Juristisches Staatsexamen). She is specialised in international and European law, and obtained a doctorate in European Law. Thereafter, she pursued postgraduate studies at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in Paris. 

Eva Berneke is Chief Executive Officer of Eutelsat Group, the world’s first GEO-LEO integrated satellite operator formed through the merger of Eutelsat Communications, a global leader in geostationary (GEO) satellite operations, and OneWeb, a world-class low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications network.

Eva Berneke joined Eutelsat on 1st January 2022 from KMD, Denmark’s leading IT and software company, specialising in IT solutions and services for the public and private sector, and now part of the NEC Group. During her tenure she oversaw the transformation of KMD from a mainly government service provider to a modern, digital company competing in both the public and private sectors.

Prior to that Eva held several senior positions at TDC, formerly TeleDanmark, the largest telecommunications company in Denmark, notably as Head of Strategy and Head of the company’s Wholesale Business division. Eva began her career at McKinsey where she developed a specialization in the TMT sectors and where she was based for 10 years at the group’s Paris offices.

Eva sits on the Boards of international groups Lego and Vestas Wind Systems as well as France’s Ecole Polytechnique. She is a graduate of Denmark’s Technical University, where she gained a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and holds an MBA from INSEAD. 

Chiara Manfletti is the CEO at Neuraspace and the Professor of Space Propulsion and Mobility at the Technical University of Munich. At the early stage of her career, she worked for the German Aerospace Center, DLR, as a research engineer in the field of liquid rocket propulsion and later joined the European Space Agency (ESA) where she was the Head of Policy and Programmes Coordination department Programme and Advisor to the Director General at the agency’s headquarters in Paris. 

Chiara was nominated as the first President of the then-founded Portuguese national space agency, Portugal Space, and within one-and-half years set up the space agency from scratch as a modern space agency and established a new space implementation strategy for Portugal working with partners within and outside of the country.

She is bestowed with the title of the “Mother of the Space Safety and Security Programmatic Pillar of ESA” and the “Creator of EuRoC”. Chiara has a Doctorate (Dr. -Ing) degree in Engineering from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, a Master’s Degree in Space Studies (MSS) from International Space University (ISU), Strasbourg, France and holds a Master of Engineering (MEng) in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine, London, UK. She also holds a master’s in history from the UK Open University (2013).

Chiara Manfletti has dual Italian and German nationality and loves hiking high mountains, photography, beekeeping, ornithology and constructing IoT devices. 

Currently Head of Telecoms and Space for Amazon’s EU Public Policy team, Jordi Casanova has over a decade of experience in competition and regulatory economics across a wide range of fields. Before joining Amazon in 2023, he was a senior economist at the EFTA Surveillance Authority, following on from roles focusing on telecoms and competition at the European Commission, Ofcom and the Spanish Market and Competition Authority. Jordi holds degrees in economics from the University of Valencia and Université Libre de Bruxelles, as well as an LLM from the College of Europe in Bruges. In addition to his interest in all things competition, regulation and policy, Jordi enjoys identifying promising startups to invest in and took his interest in viticulture to the next level as a co-owner of a start-up winery in his native Valencia.

Sara Dalledonne is a Research Fellow with the Lead on Regulatory Affairs at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), and she is the ESPI representative in Brussels. She is the Space Law expert reference at the University of Bologna in Italy, and a Member of the Support Committee for the Aviation & Space Journal (ASJ). She is also the Lead for Networking & Events at Women in Aerospace Europe (WIA-E) in Austria.  Prior to joining ESPI, she worked as Research Assistant at the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University. She holds an L.L.M. in Air and Space Law from the McGill University, an L.L.M. in International Trade Law from ITCILO (University of Turin) and a 5-year Law degree from the University of Bologna. She also completed an ITU Training Course in Satellite Coordination Procedures and Filings.

Mark obtained a PhD in High Energy Astrophysics from the University of Durham, before joining Inmarsat in 2000. Between 2009 and 2017 Mark was the Head of Satellite Operations, responsible for Inmarsat’s fleet of geostationary telecommunications satellites. In 2018 he became responsible for the design, procurement and launch of Inmarsat’s future space segment assets. With the acquisition by Viasat in 2023, Mark now performs this role for the combined organisation. From March 2017 to September 2019, Mark was appointed as the Chairman of the Space Data Association (SDA), an international not-for-profit organization, that brings together commercial, civil and government satellite operators to support the controlled, reliable and efficient sharing of data critical to the safety and integrity of the space environment. 

Christine Klein, 48 years old, born in Bonn, Germany, with three children, graduated in Political Sciences and International / European Law at the University Bonn in 2002.

Started working in the space domain as a project team member in the area of ISS Commercialization at Kesberg, Buetfering & Partner, German SME.

Joined the German Space Agency at DLR in 2012, responsible for financial planning and controlling of German contributions to ESA programmes. Member of the German Delegation to the Administrative and Finance Committee (AFC) of ESA. Vice-Chairperson of AFC from 2016, chairing working groups on the reform of ESA (i.e. reform of ESA Financial Regulations in 2017). 2017-2020 Chairwoman of AFC. From 2019 Head of the German Delegation to the Industrial Policy Committee (IPC) of ESA, representing German industrial interests towards ESA. 2019 received the Fritz-Rudorf-Preis, award for outstanding achievements in performing the complex sovereign tasks of space management in cooperation with the European Space Agency.

Joined ESA as Head of Workforce Management in 2020, responsible for the overall workforce sizing and implementation at the Agency. Since July 2022, Head of Industrial Policy and Audits Department in the Directorate of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness.

Marc Serres is the Chief Executive Officer of the Luxembourg Space Agency. He heads the Luxembourg Delegation at the European Space Agency (ESA) and represents Luxembourg in the Council of ESA. He is Member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

He has been Director of Space Affairs at the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg since January 2014. Before joining the Ministry of the Economy, Marc Serres managed Luxembourg’s relations with ESA at the Ministry of Higher Education and Research as an industrial policy officer for 8 years. Prior to becoming a civil servant, he spent 5 years in the satellite communications antenna manufacturing industry within the company HITEC Luxembourg S.A., first as a Project Engineer and finally as Chief Engineer for satcom products development.

Marc Serres holds a PhD in optoelectronics and a Master in electrical engineering with specialty in microwave frequencies, both from the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium.

In 2016, Alexander founded the company ENPULSION, which quickly established itself as an industry standard in the field of electric propulsion systems for SmallSats. He started his career in the space business with Beyond Gravity, formerly known as RUAG Space, working in Thermal Hardware and later in Mechanical Engineering on projects like Sentinel or Bepi Colombo. He then joined the Austrian Institute of Technology and became the Team Leader for Electric Propulsion Systems. In 2013, he became Department Head shortly after it was moved to FOTEC, the research subsidiary of the Wiener Neustadt University of Applied Sciences and doubled its size. His personal expertise covers hydrogen-based energy systems, as well as electric propulsion technologies. After graduating from the Technical University of Vienna with a Dpl.Ing. (MSc) in Physics, he started a PhD programme at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), then followed his supervisor to the Technical University of Dresden to complete the programme.

Olivier has a long-standing experience and a strong network in the European space policy sector, at the crossroads of the private and the public sector.

He has been part of the Belgian delegation to the ESA Council and also advising the Belgian Permanent Representation on space matters, under the authority of E. Beka, High representative of Belgium for space policy. Olivier then moved to Eurospace, as Head of the Brussels Office until 2014, when he has been hired by Thales Alenia Space as director for EU affairs.

Isabelle Mauro is Director General of the Global Satellite Operators Association (GSOA) that represents the interests of 29 global and regional satellite operators. She reports directly to their Chief Executives.

Under Isabelle’s leadership, GSOA and its member CEOs lead the effort to showcase the benefits of satellite communications for a more inclusive and secure society – vital to bridging the world’s digital divide, achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and realizing the 5G ecosystem.

Isabelle has 25 years experience in the Telecoms and Technology sector, starting at the GSMA, where she was responsible for government and international Affairs. In 2015 she moved to New York to join the World Economic Forum as Head of  Information, Communications and Technology Industries, managing the portfolio for 60+ Tech companies globally and leading initiatives on inclusive and sustainable digital transformation.

Isabelle is passionate about inclusion and sustainability. She is Chair of the High-Level Advisory Board of the DigitalGoesGreen Foundation. She also sits on the Advisory Board of Women in Tech and is a member of the UNESCO Advisory Group for the Declaration on Connectivity for Education.

Isabelle holds an MSc in European Politics and Policy from the London School of Economics. She is fluent in French, English, Italian and Spanish.

Isabella Poldrugo is Acting Head of Unit the European Commission – Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS), responsible for EU Space Policy.  Objective of the unit is to design and ensure a coherent and overarching EU Space policy, including regulatory aspects and to foster an innovative and globally competitive EU Space ecosystem.

Isabella joined the Commission in 2019, where she worked as policy officer in the Unit dealing with space policy in the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS).

Before, she spent ten years in the European Parliament as policy advisor to Members of the European Parliament, dealing with dossiers on energy, industry and trade. She served also as policy advisor to the Italian Minister of Defence and to the Undersecretary of State for Defence.

A Danish national and mechanical engineer, Toni Tolker-Nielsen began his career with APV ANHYDRO in Copenhagen in 1983 before taking a role at CERN in Geneva.

He joined ESA in 1987 – initially working on pointing and tracking systems for laser communication systems – and in 2003 moved to what was then known as the Launchers Directorate, with responsibility for the return-to-flight programme for Ariane 5 ECA (Evolution Cryotechnique type A) after its launch failure in December 2002.

Mr Tolker-Nielsen went on to oversee significant changes to the organisation of the European launcher industry initiated in the wake of the ECA failure – changes which helped deliver the very successful Ariane 5 programme which ended in July 2023.

He was then appointed ESA Inspector General – an Executive Board position with the duty to guarantee technical and managerial excellence across ESA. Mr Tolker-Nielsen later headed Earth Observation projects and acted as Director of Earth Observation Programmes from 2021, when Josef Aschbacher took up duty as ESA Director General.

Raúl Verdú is Co-founder and Chief Business Development of PLD SPACE with training in Industrial Engineering and more than 10 years of experience in the space industry.

PLD Space is a pioneering Spanish company in the aerospace sector and a leading reference within Europe in the development of reusable rockets, with a recognized prestige in the sector and a solid project that has become a reality through its launch vehicles: the technological demonstrator MIURA 1 and MIURA 5 orbital rockets. 

His capabilities range from team management to the execution of high-end investor relations, business development and strategic industrial R&D projects from their concept, design, legalization and execution.

Raúl has obtained, together with his partner Raúl Torres, more than €65M in financing for the development and scale up of PLD Space. 

He has been awarded with the Plaque of Honor by Spanish Scientific Association and recognized by the American association KAIROS SOCIETY as one of the 100 most influential entrepreneurs in the world. Recently, he has also been recognized by Forbes among the 100 most creative people in Business. 

Olivier has a long-standing experience and a strong network in the European space policy sector, at the crossroads of the private and the public sector.

He has been part of the Belgian delegation to the ESA Council and also advising the Belgian Permanent Representation on space matters, under the authority of E. Beka, High representative of Belgium for space policy. Olivier then moved to Eurospace, as Head of the Brussels Office until 2014, when he has been hired by Thales Alenia Space as director for EU affairs.

Phil Evans became EUMETSAT’s fifth Director-General on 1 January 2021. Phil took over leadership of the organisation at an exciting and challenging time. Exciting, because the organisation will deploy the first of its next-generation geostationary and polar-orbiting satellite systems from 2022. Challenging, due to the complexity of these systems and the global coronavirus pandemic’s impact on working conditions.

Phil brings to the role the experience gained from his long career in senior management positions at the UK Met Office and a background in remote sensing and satellite instrumentation. He also has a strong commitment to collaboration with partners around the globe.

He brought to the position a deep understanding of EUMETSAT’s culture and values, having led the UK’s delegation on the organisation’s Council from 2018 to 2020.

Starting at the Met Office in 1988, Phil rose to become Chief Operating Officer from 2017 to 2020. In this role, he was responsible for the organisation’s operational forecasting, observation development and infrastructure and international relations, as well as organisation-wide operational delivery, resilience and security.

Other positions Phil held at the Met Office included Director of Government Business, Chief Advisor to Government, Head of Secretariat and Managing Director of Commercial Business. As Director Government Business, he was responsible for Met Office services to Government and industry related to climate research, weather forecasting, defence, international aid and UK warnings.

Phil started at the Met Office in scientific and technical roles related to remote sensing. This work involved satellite data retrieval, instrument specification and design.

After leaving the Met Office and before joining EUMETSAT, Phil was Director of Physics Programmes at the Institute of Physics, in 2020. There, he was a member of the Executive Board and Board of Trustees. He was responsible for education improvement and physics innovation programmes, equality, inclusion and diversity programmes for the physics community and the Enterprise Programme Office.

He has an Honours degree in Physics from Birmingham University.

Mr Mauro Facchini is Head of the Unit for Earth Observation in the European Commission – Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS).

Mauro Facchini is Italian and has an engineering background with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering.

Before joining the European Commission he has worked in Italy, UK and Switzerland, mostly in the academic and research environment.

He joined the European Commission in 2002, initially as supervisor of research projects. Then he has been involved in Space aspects and participated to the definition of the European Space Policy from its early days in concluding agreements with ESA and in drafting and including article 189 (EU Space Competence) in the Lisbon Treaty.

He has been Head of the Space Research Unit for the EU financing of space activities and then Head for the development and implementation of the European Earth observation programme initially known as GMES and later Copernicus. He is currently the Head of Unit in charge for Earth Observation at the European Commission.

Nicolaus Hanowski holds a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences. He started as a researcher in the US and then transferred to Mission Operations at the German Space Operations Centre. In 2009 he joined ESA and became responsible for the development of Science Ground Segments for missions, such Rosetta, Gaia, JWST, Solar Orbiter and Euclid in the Science Directorate. Since 2014 he is responsible for the Operations and Ground Segments of the ESA Earth Observation Missions and the Copernicus Sentinel satellites and the corresponding data management aspects at ESA. He is coordinating the Copernicus Long Term Scenario of Copernicus and the Destination Earth activities within ESA.

Pascale Ultré-Guérard has been appointed Deputy Director for Programs at the Strategy Directorate of CNES in January 2022. She manages 50 experts working in 5 departments covering all domains of activity at CNES: access to space, Earth observation and sciences, universe science and exploration, safety and defence, telecommunication, navigation, facilities plus 2 transverse departments for programming and science coordination.

Before that she spent more than one year at the Ministry of higher education, research and innovation as Head of Space and Defence Department.

From 2017 to 2020, she was deputy Director for Programming, International affairs and Quality.

Before that, she spent 11 years as Head of Earth Observation Program and team at the Strategy and Programs Directorate of CNES and was CEOS (Committee of Earth Observation Satellites) SIT (Strategic Implementation Team) chair from 2014 to 2015. 

She joined Cnes in 1999 as Program manager in Solid Earth Sciences. 

Pascale Ultré-Guérard has a PhD in geomagnetic field modeling delivered by IPGP (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris). 

Steven Krekels is heading VITO’s Remote Sensing activities since November 2014. VITO Remote Sensing develops and operates space- and airborne-based earth observation systems that translate raw data into consumable information about environment, agriculture & vegetation, marine and maritime, (critical) infrastructure, energy and security. After receiving his master’s degree in Applied Engineering, Steven joined the Bell Labs of Lucent Technologies for research and development in optical networks. In 2001 he switched to the space industry and started working in earth observation and satellite communication at Thales Alenia Space. Later he moved on to Newtec – a leading Belgian satellite communication equipment provider – where he had different managerial roles in the R&D department until he became Managing Director of Newtec’s subsidiary in Berlin. Since January 1st, 2024, Steven is Valorisation Director of the Environmental Intelligence Unit at VITO.

Steven likes to be at the sweet spot where cutting-edge technology, creative people and viable
business meet. He firmly believes that technology can accelerate our transition to a sustainable world.

In May 2017 Steven was selected as one of the top 50 Belgian Tech-Pioneers, all experts in various applications working hard to create a better future.

Jeremy Wilks reports on science and technology for Euronews. ​

Jeremy covers everything from climate change and the environment, to the energy transition and healthcare innovation. He presents the award-winning Climate Now series and hosts the Ocean Calls podcast. ​

He moderates at major events such as COP27, European Space Conference, and WebSummit. He has interviewed hundreds of leading scientists, and well-known figures such as Bill Gates, Ursula von der Leyen and Thomas Pesquet.​

Jeremy joined Euronews in September 2001, acting first as news reporter and later as business editor.​

Prior to Euronews, Jeremy worked for several media outlets in the United Kingdom, including ITN, Essex Radio, and Millennium Radio.​

Jeremy holds a B.A. in History and Literature and an M.A. in International Political Economy from the University of Warwick, UK. Jeremy is a native English speaker with fluent French.​

Stela’s expertise is in the commercialization of space technologies. Previously she worked as a commercialization and project manager in the European space industry, managing a number of projects in the telecommunications (e.g. ESA ARTES INDIGO public private partnership, GOVSATCOM, O3B) and Earth observation (e.g. Copernicus Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 3) domains. Her expertise also includes managing and reviewing R&I exploratory projects in the aviation industry for the European Commission. As a commercialization manager, she co-founded a company and helped several SMEs and start-ups grow in the Newspace industry. Earlier in her career, she worked at ESA’s European Space and Technology Centre (ESTEC) on the EU Galileo and the International Space Station (ISS) programs.

She was awarded a PhD by the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of TU-Delft, The Netherlands and a Master of Space Studies from the International Space University (ISU), Strasbourg, France.

She has written numerous articles, books, produced webinars and podcasts on problems related to the commercialization of space technology, the Newspace economy, space debris mitigation, on-orbit servicing, active debris removal and cis-lunar exploration.

Dr Andrew Williams is responsible for external relations at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) – an intergovernmental organisation of 16 Member States that constructs and operates world-leading astronomical facilities and fosters international cooperation in science. Dr Williams supports strategic relationships with current and future Member States, the EU, UN COPUOS, and international organisations such as ESA and CERN. Additionally, Dr Williams is co-lead of the Policy Hub of the International Astronomical Union’s Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Skies from Satellite Constellation Interference (IAU CPS), where he works to raise awareness of dark and quiet skies with space policymakers and coordinate policy studies and advocacy with the global astronomy community.

Kristina Nikolaus is the CEO and Co-Founder of OKAPI:Orbits, with work experience within Daimler AG and Siemens AG, passionate about business model design, strategic marketing & sales and all kind of data analysis.

Kristina was selected as one of FORBES’ 30 under 30 leading professionals and is one of the 50 most influential women in Business by Handelsblatt.

Michael is a former engineer, product manager and Head of Open Source at Facebook. Michael currently serves as Chief Product Officer at Aalyria Technologies. Aalyria is a Google spin-out that helps orchestrate satellite constellations and develops ground to space optical communication technologies.

Michael has deep expertise in technology leadership having served as a board director at the Linux Foundation, Zephyr Foundation, Magma Foundation, Open Infra Foundation, Presto and GraphQL.

Michael also founded the Major League Hacking Fellowship to support early-career developers and open-source maintainers Over the past five years, the Fellowship has launched hundreds of software development careers.

Mariella Graziano is an Aerospace Engineer from the Sapienza University of Rome (Sapienza-Università di Roma). She joined GMV in 1999 and since 2022 she has held the position of Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development for Science, Exploration and Transportation – GMV Space Systems.

She started his career working at TER SRL, a small Italian technological company. She has been in ESA as YGT working in systems engineering and space simulation.

Since joining GMV, she has assumed various technical and management responsibilities. In 2007 she is appointed Executive Director of the Space Segment and Robotics business unit, a position she will hold until 2020, the year in which she is nominated Head of Strategy and International Coordination for the same domains. In 2022, and because of a new organization by GMV, she is appointed Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development of Science, Exploration and Transportation – GMV Space Systems. She is member of the GMV-Alén Space Executive committee.

Graziano is Academician of the IAA, The International Academy of Astronautics, Engineering Science. She is an active member of numerous international associations, including the IAA Planetary Defence Committee, the IAF Committees for Space Exploration, Planetary Defence and NEO, and Industrial Relations, as well as the Global Exploration Conference. She has been part of the Board of Directors for Women In Aerospace Europe for STEAM and Education Outreach. She is member of Advisory Council of the Journal of Field Robotics and has more than 50 articles and publications in the space field.

Likewise, Mariella actively participates in different programs to promote youth and female talents towards training in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) and in the dissemination of space culture among young generations.

Loïs has carried out research on space sustainability, conducted life cycle analyses on space launchers at CNES for ArianeWorks, and worked at MaiaSpace as an environmental and cost engineer while providing expertise in this field as an independent consultant.

Having developed a keen interest in energy transition issues, he recently joined the CEA as a research engineer in low-carbon energy and critical resources.

To disseminate his work on space sustainability, he is actively involved with the associations Aéro Décarbo and The Shift Project.

Gerasimos Sofianatos is the newly appointed Head of Unit of Connect B5, Radio Spectrum Policy Unit. Previously, he was Deputy Head of DG Connect Unit Connect B5, “Investment in high-capacity networks”. He has been working for the Commission since 2011, in different positions in DG Connect, in Directorate B, dealing with the policy and implementation of the EU Regulatory Framework for Electronic Communications. Gerasimos led the team monitoring and implementing EU law and in particular the European Electronic Communications Code, a piece of legislation in the drafting and negotiation of which he was actively involved. Prior to joining the Commission, Gerasimos worked as legal officer at the Cypriot National Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications (OCECPR). Before joining the Commission, he was a Member of the Athens Bar Association and practiced competition law. He holds a Masters degree in Business Law and a PhD in competition law at the Paris 1- Sorbonne University. He holds a law degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a post-graduate degree in Economics for Competition law from the King’s College London. Gerasimos is of Greek nationality and speaks Greek, English, and French.

Julie Kearney is the first Chief of the Space Bureau at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Launched in April 2023, the Space Bureau plays a key role in advancing the Commission’s Space Innovation Agenda to meet the needs of the next generation Space Age. As a globally-recognized leader/lawyer/board member in the technology and telecommunications field, Julie has been working for more than 25 years with governments, industry, and the public sector around the world to promote legal and regulatory frameworks and policies that enable life-changing technologies. Prior to the FCC, she held senior roles at Loon (an Alphabet company), Twilio Inc., the Consumer Technology Association, National Public Radio, MCI, and private legal practice. She earned her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and a J.D. from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law.

Luciana Camargos is the GSMA’s Head of Spectrum. She directs the GSMA’s range of advocacy issues on public policy relating to spectrum with national governments and multilateral organisations.

Luciana’s career began with Brazilian regulator Anatel where she worked as part of the board advisory team. She joined the GSMA in 2012, where she has continued to be active in shaping the future of mobile services at international fora such as the ITU, CITEL and other multilateral organisations.

She has chaired regulatory groups charged with developing communications regulation at the ITU and in regional organisations. She is an active supporter of the role of women in technology and is a former chair of the ITU’s Network of Women.

Luciana earned an MBA in telecommunications from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Brasilia.

Viasat is a global communications company that brings satellite connectivity to land, air, sea and beyond. As part of Viasat, Yasrine leads the Advanced Concepts and Technologies department, an engineering division where she pilots and launches several innovative products and mission concepts across space, mobility and enterprise applications. She is also responsible for building large scale public-private partnerships with governments and space agencies worldwide from UK Space Agency to ESA or NASA. Her academic accolades include an Executive MBA from University of Cambridge, UK and two Masters of Science in telecommunications and signal processing fields from respectively Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications, France and University of Bristol, UK. As an ambassador for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Yasrine is a regular advocate for STEM education.

Natalia Vicente is the VP of Public Affairs at GSOA where she works closely with the Secretary General and the CEOs of ESOA Member companies to drive forward high-level advocacy for the satellite communications sector. Specifically, Natalia focuses on the Development Agenda working with international organisations to ensure nation states understand the value of leveraging available satellite communications services to bridge digital, education and health divides in their countries.

Natalia is also a Board Member of the European Internet Forum where she represents ESOA in front of Members of the European Parliament. Natalia has over a decade of experience in the digital sector, focusing on public policy, government relations and building international partnerships.

Before joining ESOA, Natalia worked for the European Telecommunications Network Operator’s (ETNO) working on public and regulatory affairs. Prior to that, she worked for Telefonica, Telecom Italia and TagTagCity, where she was one of the first employees involved in establishing a start-up venture providing mobile solutions to municipalities and local businesses in Belgium.

Natalia is a qualified lawyer with an LLM from the University Autonoma of Madrid and holds a Master of Business Administration specialised in Marketing. She is a Spanish national, lives in Brussels and speaks 4 languages.

Christophe Grudler is a French Member of the European Parliament (MEP),member of the Renew Europe group.

Historian and journalist by training, his political commitment started at an early stage of his career. He is particularly involved at the local level in his hometown, Belfort, where he has been elected as a local representative several times.

Within the European Parliament, he is Vice-Coordinator of the ITRE Committee (Industry, research and energy) for the Renew Europe group. He is also a member of the Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Security and Defence (SEDE) committees. Furthermore, he is Vice President of the Sky & Space Intergroup of the European Parliament.

MEP Grudler is particularly involved on energy and industry related topics, as well as on space and defence policies. He has been appointed as rapporteur for the European Parliament on the Initiative report on Energy System Integration and recently on the future European secure connectivity. He is also shadow rapporteur for his group on the European Industrial Strategy, the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and on the European Space Programme.

Jeremie Godet joined the European Commission in 2003, after an initial career at CNES, the French Space Agency and the European Space Agency. He was involved for 20 years in the Galileo Programme at various positions. He was leading the technical negotiation on the GPS Galileo agreement in 2004. He was also Head of the security department at the European GNSS Agency in Prague. Then he was in charge of overseeing the Galileo infrastructure deployment and deputy to the Head of Unit in charge of EU GNSS programme in DG DEFIS. He is now acting Head of Unit in charge of implementing IRIS², Govsatcom and Space Surveillance and Tracking programmes.  He has both an engineering degree from National Superior School for Telecommunications in France and a Master’s degree from the International Space University

Koen Willems is the Vice President European Union Programs and Government Relations at ST Engineering iDirect, where he defines and develops the global strategy for the government and defense market. 

Before joining ST Engineering iDirect in 2008, he was Product Marketing Manager for Europe at the electronics giant TOSHIBA.

Willems has more than 25 years’ experience working in the technology industry. His expertise in the government and defense satellite market has grown through his involvement in different large (EU) programs, as well as frequent interactions with the end-user community and a range of topic-related degrees such as the ‘High Studies in Security and Defence’ degree at the Belgian Royal Higher Institute for Defence; the ‘European Session for Armament Officials’ degree at the French National Institute of Higher Defense; and the ‘European Advanced Strategy Course on Security and Defense’ degree at the Egmont Institute, IHEDN and BAKS.

Willems has a master’s in English and Scandinavian Languages from Ghent University and a master’s in Marketing Strategy and Management from Vlekho Business School. 

Enrique Fraga holds a degree in Mathematical Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid and has completed a Business Management program at IESE Business School.

He began his professional career in 1997 at the Unión Fenosa group, where he performed software development work and process consulting in its Cash Management area. During 2001 and 2002 he worked in the telecommunications industry, performing analytical and software architecture work on projects for the companies Amena and Madritel.

He joined GMV in 2002, initially working as a project engineer in the control centers area, then later as a project manager. In 2006, he was appointed as head of the Eutelsat division within the control centers unit, and two years later the entire control centers area for commercial satellite operators became part of the division he supervised. This is an area where GMV has become the world’s leading provider of ground control systems for commercial telecommunications satellite operators.

In 2011, he was appointed as manager of GMV’s control centers and satellite mission planning unit, and in 2022 he was appointed as general manager of its new Earth Observation, Exploration, Science, Space Security, Telecommunications and Space Transport Systems sector, reporting directly to the group’s general manager. In this position, he leads a team of more than 900 engineers, who work at all of GMV’s international subsidiaries where space-related activities are performed.

Bio to follow shortly

Jeremy Wilks reports on science and technology for Euronews. ​

Jeremy covers everything from climate change and the environment, to the energy transition and healthcare innovation. He presents the award-winning Climate Now series and hosts the Ocean Calls podcast. ​

He moderates at major events such as COP27, European Space Conference, and WebSummit. He has interviewed hundreds of leading scientists, and well-known figures such as Bill Gates, Ursula von der Leyen and Thomas Pesquet.​

Jeremy joined Euronews in September 2001, acting first as news reporter and later as business editor.​

Prior to Euronews, Jeremy worked for several media outlets in the United Kingdom, including ITN, Essex Radio, and Millennium Radio.​

Jeremy holds a B.A. in History and Literature and an M.A. in International Political Economy from the University of Warwick, UK. Jeremy is a native English speaker with fluent French.​

Benedikta von Seherr-Thoß is Managing Director for peace, security and defense at the European External Action Service (EEAS). Her responsibilities include space security, defence and diplomacy, the strategic planning of EU’s civilian and military missions and operations, cyber defence and diplomacy, maritime security, disarmament and non-proliferation, and counterterrorism, among others. Until October 2022, she served as Security Policy Director of the German Federal Ministry of Defence (MoD), dealing inter alia with bilateral relations, NATO, EU, nuclear policy as well as coordinating the MoD’s work on a new German National Security Strategy. From 2017, she was EU Representative of the German Ministry of Defence and Head of the EU Division in the Department for Security Policy for four years. She also had the ministerial lead on Germany’s EU Council Presidency in 2020. 

Prior to that, she worked as Political Advisor to Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen for two years. From 2013-15, she was the first defence civilian to participate in the National General/Admiral Staff Officer Course of the Bundeswehr. 

Before that, she spent more than two years working as Senior Political Advisor and then Deputy Director to the NATO Senior Civilian Representative at ISAF Headquarters in Kabul/Afghanistan. From 2007-11 she functioned as Deputy Head of the NATO Division in the Policy Planning & Advisory Staff to the Minister of Defence, focusing on the Alliance, transatlantic issues and nuclear policy. She started her career at NATO Headquarters in 2004, where she worked as Desk Officer in the Political Affairs & Security Policy Division. Benedikta studied Modern History at the University of Oxford, from where she graduated with a Masters and a PhD. 

Ms Dinka Dinkova has worked for the European Commission since 2010 in different functions covering various topics of EU space policy, including the EU space strategy, the uptake of space data for tackling societal challenges and growth, the evolution of Copernicus, EU-ESA cooperation, outreach and international relations. Before joining the Commission she worked with various organisations in Bulgaria and the region of Southeast Europe to promote knowledge economy and innovation policies, regional development and multilateral donor assistance coordination. Ms Dinkova holds a Master’s degree in business administration.