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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

Hamza Hameed is a Pakistani lawyer who works as a Senior Practice Manager for Access Partnership in Singapore. He is a member of the ITU Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Board and served as the Chair of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) from 2022-2024. He supports governments and the private sector with policy, regulatory, and compliance-related matters in the space, satellite, and telecommunications industries. Prior to this, Hamza worked as part of the Secretariat of UNIDROIT in Rome. He led the effort towards establishing an international system of secured transactions law for the space sector, as well as advising governments on issues related to blockchain law and crypto law.

Hamza holds an LLM from the International Institute for Air and Space Law at Leiden University. He teaches spacecraft financing at various universities and is a member of the International Institute for Space Law (IISL).

Jordi Casanova Tormo has more than ten years experience in competition and regulatory economics. He has worked in private practice and government organisations at national and European level. Jordi’s areas of expertise span from industrial organisation, regulatory economics, corporate finance, statistical analysis and international relations. He has experience in a wide range of sectors, including technology, telecommunications and media, airports and aviation, energy, financial and retail sectors.

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.

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.

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.

Lea advises firms on strategy, policy, and regulatory affairs in the space, spectrum, and defence ecosystems. She is also Vice Chair for the Security, Defence and Space Committee at AmCham EU. She founded and led the APCO Worldwide Space and Defence Practice, and prior was a space consultant at PwC, working on projects for EU institutions, ESA, and private aerospace and defence companies. Lea has experience in strategic advisory, management consulting, and market analyses, including a socio-economic impact assessment of European launchers and internal strategy on the European defence industry and space militarisation. She holds degrees from the University of Kent and Sciences Po Paris, speaks multiple languages, and has lived in nine countries.

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.

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.

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). 

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.

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.

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.​

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.

Loïs Miraux is a Space Engineering / General Engineering dual-degree graduate that converted to Environmental Science.

In addition to scientific space missions expanding our knowledge of the Universe, the insights from Earth observation satellites are critical to better understanding, mitigating, and adapting to global environmental change. The long-term sustainability of space activities is therefore of great importance and must be guaranteed.

However, the space industry is increasingly contributing to fueling environmental crises:

• – Through its own impacts (that are growing exponentially).
• – Through some of its applications (that are growing exponentially).
• – By diffusing imaginaries of the future that are incompatible with our current ecological predicament.

As an independent researcher, Loïs Miraux has addressed different angles of the topic, by evaluating the environmental impacts of present and future space activities, questioning the role of space applications in addressing environmental issues, exploring their vulnerabilities to global change and systemic risks, and challenging common narratives of the future of humanity in space. In the process, he has developed expertise in Life Cycle Assessment & Eco-design of space systems, and participated in these types of analyses at CNES and in the industry.

• Paper “Environmental sustainability of future proposed space activities“, Acta Astronautica
• Paper “Environmental limits to the space sector’s growth”, Science of the Total Environment 
• Conference paper “Soutenabilité environnementale et structurelle des activités spatiales dans l’Anthropocène” 
• Opinion article “Why addressing the environmental crisis should be the space industry’s top priority”
• Interview France Inter on space debris
• Popularization on rocket atmospheric impacts in Aerospatium
• Effect of emission in stratosphere

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.

Dr Kamila Kloc joined the European Commission in December 2004. In 2019, she held a position of a Head of Unit Markets in Directorate B Electronic Communications Networks and Services of Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology.

Previously, she served as Deputy Head of Cabinet for Vice President Ansip responsible for Digital Single Market (DSM). Prior to joining the Cabinet, she worked at Directorate General for Energy, coordinating exemptions from regulatory access rules for gas pipelines.

During the Polish Presidency in 2011 she was seconded by the Commission to the President’s office of the Polish Energy Regulatory Authority. Earlier, she worked for 5 years at the Directorate General for Competition dealing with merger and antitrust cases. Prior to joining the Commission, she was emloyed at the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection in Poland as Adviser to the President.

Kamila Kloc started her professional career in academia and taught at Warsaw School of Economics as Assistant Professor. She has written her PhD on the role of competition policy in the public utilities sector with a special emphasis on telecommunications. She was a Fulbright scholar at the University of California in Berkeley and a Chevening fellow at Oxford 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.

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. 

Maj. Gen. Cont was appointed Capability, Armament and Planning Director at the European Defence Agency on 1st April 2022. Born in Trento – Italy, on 3 Sept. 1963, he was commissioned in Sept. 1984 after graduating from the Italian Air Force Academy. His operational assignments include both Italy and the U.S., where he led different Commands in Fighter and Fighter Training Squadrons. He was appointed as the 61st FTW’S Commander and Lecce AFB Commander from 2006 to 2008. Maj. Gen. CONT is a command pilot with more than 3,400 flying hours; a distinguished graduate of pilot training, and he has served as an instructor pilot and check pilot at the Italian Weapon Instructor School.

Prior to his current assignment and since August 2018, he served as Defense and Defense Cooperation Attaché in Washington (D.C.) As the highest-ranking representative of the Italian Defense accredited to the United States, Mexico, and Canada, his primary duties were to promote bilateral military relations and initiatives and enhance cooperation in research and development of security and defense programs. He was also responsible for overseeing the procurement process in the United States and supporting joint venture defense partnerships.

Between 2013 and 2018, he served as Head of the Political Military Office in the Cabinet of the Minister of Defense. As a MoD advisor, he supported the decision making process, on a political level, for defense industrial policy, international relations and long-term defense strategic evolution. Between 2000 and 2011, he served in the Defense General Staff as the Chief of the Strategic Planning and Capability Development Office and later as the Chief of the Strategic Affairs Office. His main duties included the development and supervision of the national “Long Term Capabilities Planning,” the national contribution to NATO and EU’s Force and Capabilities Planning, the implementation of the National Security and Defense Policy, and formulating strategic assessments and directives in crisis management. From 2012 to 2013, he was Deputy Chief o f t h e Airspace Programs Division of the Italian Air Force Staff.

Gen. CONT holds “Aeronautical Sciences” and “Political and Military Sciences” Degrees from Federico II University in Naples, and Midwestern State University (USA). He has a Masters in “International and Military’s Strategic Studies (Rome), “Public Management” (MSU-USA) and “National Security Strategy” (National Defense University-USA). He achieved the title of “doctor” in “International and Diplomatic Sciences” from the University of Trieste.

In addition to the required pilot and instructor’s professional training and education, Maj. Gen. CONT has attended several post- graduate courses. These courses include the “Total Quality Program Leader,” the “Civ-Mil Cooperation Course,” and the “Complex Organizations Reengineering Course.” He also specialized in “Defense Resources Management” (Naval Post Graduate School – Monterrey) and in Middle East Studies at the “Near East and South Asia Center for Strategic Studies” (Washington).

From 2015 to 2018 he taught “military politics and strategy” at the CASD and the LUISS university in Rome. He is the author of several publications related to Geopolitics, Geostrategy and Strategic Planning. His latest publication is “Gé-Politiké,” a manual for geopolitical scholars.

He is married to Laura Fabrizi and has a daughter named Giulia Diane.

Marjolijn van Deelen assumed the position of EU Special Envoy for Space in February 2024 following 3,5 years of executing the function of EU Special Envoy for Non-proliferation and Disarmament. 

Her primary mission is to represent the EU in multilateral fora dedicated to space with a focus on promoting responsible behaviour in space. To that end, she engages with third States through dialogue and consultations. The Special Envoy also has operational responsibilities as to the response to possible threats to or through the systems and services deriving from the EU Space Programme as well as concerning the EU Satellite Centre. She cooperates with European Commission services and contributes to the development of the security aspects of the EU Space Programme as well as all other related matters.

Marjolijn van Deelen is a career diplomat of the Netherlands. Before joining the EU External Action Service (EEAS), she headed the Non-proliferation, Disarmament and Nuclear Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands with the title of Ambassador. She held several posts abroad (to the international organisations in Vienna, at the Dutch Embassies in Bucharest and San Jose), as well as positions in The Hague (Europe Division, Middle East Division, UN Division, Development Assistance).

Ms. Van Deelen holds a Masters in Geophysics from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, as well as a BA in Economics from the American University in Washington DC. 

Dr. Rolf Kozlowski is the CEO of DLR GfR mbH, a leading company specializing in satellite navigation and operating the Galileo Control Center in Oberpfaffenhofen on behalf of the European Commission.

Since 2020, Dr. Rolf Kozlowski has significantly enriched DLR GfR mbH with his dedication and extensive experience in the aerospace industry, highly contributing to the success story of the company.

Yohann Bénard is Amazon’s Public Policy Director EU, digital. He started his career in blue chip French governmental bodies, serving as judge with the Council of State, then advisor to the Prime Minister and deputy chief of staff to Economy & Finance Minister Christine Lagarde. Before joining Amazon, Yohann held senior business and corporate roles in the telecom industry (Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia).