Jyrki Katainen, Vice President, European Commission
Born in 1971, Katainen was Prime Minister of Finland from June 2011 to 2014; he was also the Chairman of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). He had previously been Finance Minister from 2007 to 2011 and 'best finance minister in Europe’ in 2008, according to the Financial Times. He took over as European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro in the outgoing Commission on 16 July 2014. He is now Vice President in the new Juncker Commission and will steer and coordinatethe work of the Commissioners for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs; Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility; Regional Policy; Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs; Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union; Digital Economy and Society; Climate Action and Energy; and Transport and Space. As Commissioner with portfolio on "Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness", he is responsible for delivering the new jobs, growth and investment programme, which will mobilise up to €300 billion in additional public and private investment in the real economy over the next three years.He is also in charge of coordinating the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 strategy, Europe's economic growth strategy.

John F.Sammis, Deputy Chief of Mission, United States Mission to the European Union
A career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, John F. Sammis has been the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the European Union since August 2014. U.S.-European relations have been a major focus during his three-decade diplomatic career. Mr. Sammis served previously at USEU as the Minister-Counselor for Economic Affairs in 2003-2007 and was Economic-Counselor in Berlin from 1998-2001. His second tour in the Foreign Service was in East Germany a few years before the fall of the Wall, and he later worked on the economic aspects of German unification in Washington. For the past two years, Mr. Sammis served as Minister-Counselor for Economic Affairs Mexico City, where he began his Foreign Service career in 1983. He later was involved in the initial preparations for the Brady Plan and NAFTA and with Mexico’s recovery from the peso crisis of 1994-1995. As the National Security Council Director for Western Hemisphere Regional Economic Affairs in 2001-2003, he focused extensively on North American trade and economic affairs. Mr. Sammis won the State Department's 2013 Cordell Hull award for achievement by a senior officer in economic diplomacy for his contributions to strengthening U.S.-Mexican economic relations. Prior to his tour in Mexico City, John spent three years as the Deputy U.S. Representative to the UN Economic and Social Affairs Council in New York. His other overseas tours have included Beijing and Taipei. In Washington, he has been a member of the Policy Planning Staff and taught economics at the National Defense University. John received his BA from UC Berkeley and did graduate work in history and international economics at US Berkeley and the Fletcher School.

Walter van Kuijen, Senior Vice President for Global Government & Public Affairs, Royal Philips
Mr. van Kuijen started his career at Philips in 1992 as a Marketing Specialist at Philips Industrial Electronics in the Netherlands and was appointed Senior Vice President of Global Government & Public Affairs in October 2014. From September 2013 he served as Senior Vice President for Royal Philips and headed the European Affairs Office in Brussels and was responsible for the Strategy and Business Development for the Markets. In 2001, van Kuijen became Director Sales and Services District Netherlands and in 2003 his responsibilities were expanded to include the Benelux countries. In 2005 he assumed responsibility for the activities of Philips Healthcare in Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Africa. Mr. van Kuijen was appointed Senior Vice President in 2006. From 2011 until September 2014 van Kuijen headed the Strategy and New Business Development function for Philips’ Markets and in 2013 he also assumed responsibility for the European Affairs Office in Brussels. Mr. van Kuijen was a member of the Global Think Tank on Active Ageing and the ‘Zorg Binnen Bereik’ (Care Within Reach) foundation in the Netherlands, and served on the board of The Netherland-America Foundation, Inc. Van Kuijen attended the Technical University of Eindhoven, where he graduated with a degree in Applied Nuclear Physics. Afterward, he obtained a Master of Business Administration from the TSM Business School in Enschede, the Netherlands, with a specialization in High-Technology Marketing.

Dame DeAnne Julius, Chair, Council of the University College London & Non-Executive Director of Roche Holdings SA
As a dual US/UK citizen, Dame DeAnne earned her PhD in economics at the University of California where she also taught for three years, before joining the World Bank to work on projects in Africa and Asia. She is a distinguished economist and has held a variety of influential executive and non-executive positions in the public and private sectors. She has recently been appointed Chair of University College London Council and is Vice President of the Society of Business Economists in the UK. In 2001, she commenced her Non-Executive career on the boards of BP, Lloyds TSB, Roche and Deloitte UK. Currently, she is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Roche Holdings SA (Switzerland) and Jones Lang LaSalle (USA). 
Prior to these appointments, she was Chief Economist for Royal Dutch Shell and for British Airways and had successfully led Chatham House as Chairman from 2003 to 2012.
From 1997-2001, Dame DeAnne was a founder member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England and from 2001-04 she served on the Court of the Bank. Dame DeAnne is also commentator for the Financial Times and has published five books and numerous papers throughout her career. In 2012, DeAnne was made a Dame for her services to international relations.

Philippe Lamberts, Member of the European Parliament, Co-Chair Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Philippe Lamberts was born in 1963 in Brussels. He studied Engineering in applied mathematics, at the Catholic University of Louvain. From 1987 to 2009, he worked at IBM in various business positions. He was elected in June 2009 for a first term in the European Parliament. His political career within the Belgian green party (Ecolo) started in 1991, where he served both at the local and federal levels. As of 1999, he became more and more involved with European politics, and more specifically through the European Green Party (former European Federation of Green Parties), of which he has been the co-president since 2006. As Member of the European Parliament, he focuses on economic and financial questions, and has become a specialist on fiscal, banking and macroeconomic issues. He also deals with industrial, research and innovation matters, and has a great interest for relations with China.

Markus Beyrer, Director-General, BUSINESSEUROPE
Markus J. Beyrer has been Director General of BUSINESSEUROPE since late 2012. Prior to this he held the positions of CEO of the Austrian Industry Holding ÖIAG, Director General of the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) and Director for Economic Affairs of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.
Before this Mr Beyrer served as Chief Economic Advisor to the Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel.
Mr Beyrer read Law and Commercial Sciences in Vienna, graduating in law at the University of Vienna. Later he completed postgraduate studies in European Law at the Danube University in Krems (Austria) and the Stanford Executive Program at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

Klaus Dieter Rennert, CEO of Hitachi Europe Ltd. 
In July 2013, Mr Klaus Dieter Rennert has been appointed as Chief Executive for Europe and Corporate Officer of Hitachi, Ltd. and also became Chairman of the Board of Hitachi Europe Ltd. Mr Rennert served before as Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi Power Europe GmbH.
Mr Rennert has more than 30 years’ experience, with a strong understanding of the thermal power business. He has led Hitachi Power Europe since the company became part of the Hitachi Group in 2003. Within his 10 year tenure in his executive management positions at Hitachi Power Europe, Mr Rennert has led a number of key projects, not only in Europe but also in South Africa and India. 

Arnaldo Abruzzini, Secretary-General, Eurochambres
Arnaldo Abruzzini is Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES, the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, representing over 20 million enterprises in Europe – 93% of which are small and medium enterprises – through members in 45 countries and a European network of 2000 regional and local Chambers.
Main activities of EUROCHAMBRES include lobby at European level on socio-economic issues like enterprise and employment policies, as well as delivery of services – to Chambers of Commerce as well as directly to businesses at international level – related to market access, capacity building and trade and investment promotion.
A national of Italy, Arnaldo Abruzzini has worked in EUROCHAMBRES since the date of his election as Secretary General in 1999. Prior to that, he worked as Managing Director of several companies active in the strategic development, marketing, communication and business advices. He’s a graduate of the Rome University “La Sapienza”.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Jörg Monar, Rector of the College of Europe
Professor Jörg Monar is Rector of the College of Europe (Bruges/Natolin, Warsaw) since 1 September 2013. His previous positions include Director of the Department of Political and Administrative Studies of the College of Europe (2008-2013), Professor of Contemporary European Studies and Co-Director of the Sussex European Institute, University of Sussex (Brighton, UK), Director of the SECURINT Research project on EU internal security governance and Professor at the Robert-Schuman-University (Strasbourg, France) and Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for European Politics and Institutions Professor of Politics (Leicester, UK). Professor Monar has done advisory/consultancy work for the European Parliament, the European Commission and several European governments (UK,DE, FR, NL).
Professor Monar holds a Doctorate in Modern History from the University of Munich and a Doctorate in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute, Florence. His over 200 publications relate mainly to European Union justice and home affairs and external relations as well as the institutional development of the Union.

Prof. Phedon Nicolaides, Jan Tinbergen Chair for European Economics & Director of the European Economic Studies Department at the College of Europe
Phedon A. Nicolaides holds the Jan Tinbergen Chair and is Director of the Department of European Economic Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges. He is also Senior Fellow at Maastricht University. He served as Minister Plenipotentiary in the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the private sector as Secretary General of the Cyprus Shipping Council. He was also Advisor to the Cyprus Chief Negotiator during the negotiations of Cyprus for accession to the EU. He has acted as consultant to a number of public authorities in various EU Member States and to international institutions and organisations such as the European Commission, the European Investment Fund, the European Economic and Social Committee, the OECD and the UN. Prof. Nicolaides held academic positions at the London Business School, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (London) and the European Institute of Public Administration (Maastricht) and he holds a PhD in economics and in law.

Alastair Macdonald, Brussels Bureau Chief, Reuters
Alastair Macdonald is Bureau Chief for Reuters in Brussels, covering European affairs. He was previously Bureau Chief for Israel and the Palestinian Territories from 2007 to 2010, and Bureau Chief for Iraq from 2005 to 2007. From Jerusalem and Baghdad he wrote on politics and general news. For Reuters, he has also been Chief Political Correspondent for Germany and Chief Economics Correspondent for France. He has also served as correspondent in Moscow and as editor for EMEA in London. Prior to joining Reuters, Mr Macdonald has also worked at Euromoney, as Editor for Corporate Finance and as risk analyst at BNP Paribas.

Energy Policy - Pathway to achieving European energy integration

Joost van Roost, President of ExxonMobil Benelux
Joost Van Roost graduated with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1977 at the Catholic University of Leuven and holds a Master of Business Administration from the same University, as well as a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan. He worked as a researcher at the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research before joining Esso Belgium in 1979. Mr. Van Roost progressed through engineering, planning and marketing positions in the Esso Benelux organization before transferring to the USA in 1993. Whilst in the US he worked in the Baton Rouge refinery Operations Department and later he assumed management responsibility for Esso Caribbean and Central America before he moved to the International Natural Gas department. Mr. Van Roost returned to The Hague in 1999 as Upstream Director Esso Benelux. Following the merger with Mobil, Mr. Van Roost also became President of ExxonMobil Benelux in 2000 (offices in Breda).

Christian Egenhofer, Head of the Energy and Climate programme, CEPS
Christian Egenhofer has more than 20 years' experience working with EU institutions on numerous policy areas. Over the last decade he has been specialising in EU energy and climate change policy, with a particular focus on the EU energy, climate and transport policies. He is currently Senior Fellow and Head of the Energy, Climate and Environment Programme at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels-based think tank. Christian is also Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium) and Natolin (Poland), SciencesPo (Paris/France) and LUISS University in Rome/Italy. From 1997 to 2010 he was Senior Research Fellow and Jean-Monnet Lecturer at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee in Scotland/UK (part-time).Christian Egenhofer holds a Master's degree in Administration from the University of Konstanz as well as a Public Law degree.

Vera Brenzel, Head of EU Representative Office, E.ON
Vera Brenzel is the Head of EU-Representative Office Brussels of E-ON SE since July 2013. She holds degrees in Business Administration (Munich) and a “Diplôme d’études approfondies en économie Européenne” from College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium). She previously took an internship in the European Commission and expert contract with the DG External Relations in the trade policy department (textiles division) afterwards. From 1991 to 1992, Vera Brenzel was responsible for internal market division in Euroelectric. Between 1992 and 2007 she served VEBA-Konzern working on corporate development, economic and public affairs. Being collaborating with E.ON SE since 2007 she was first appointed as Vice-President for Political Affairs and Corporate Communications till 2013.

Veronique Laurent, Partner and European Power Leader, Deloitte
Sami Andoura is Professor and Chairholder of the European Energy Policy Chair at the College of Europe in Bruges; he is also Senior Research Fellow at Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Institute, where he heads research projects on“EU Energy policy” and on “EU External Actions”. He is the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Studia Diplomatica - The Brussels Journal for International Relations, edited by EGMONT - Royal Institute for International Relations, where he is Senior Associate Fellow dealing with energy policy issues. He is also a Guest Lecturer in several universities across Europe, and contributes in several training programmes for diplomats and journalists. His recent publications include a policy proposal for a “European Energy Community”, as well as a number of academic articles, policy briefs and commentaries on the European Union, European Energy Policy.
Andoura previously held positions at EGMONT Institute as Senior Research Fellow in charge of the European Affairs programme, at the British Law firm Lovells, and at the Paris II Panthéon-Assas University. Andoura completed his degree in Law at Paris II Panthéon-Assas University and holds LLMs in European Business Law at Paris II Panthéon-Assas University, in International Economic Law at Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and in European Legal Studies from the College of Europe.

Veronique Laurent, Partner and European Power Leader, Deloitte
Veronique Laurent is a Partner of Deloitte France. She has been the French Energy & Resources Industry Leader since February 2012, and was appointed European Power Leader in 2013. Veronique Laurent’s experience covers the power, gas, water, energy trading and energy services sectors. She participates in regular discussions on emerging issues that impact the energy sector and is additionally a member of the HEC Energy & Finance Chair advisory board.

Digital Economy - Can a connected digital internal market unleash Europe's potential?

Juhan Lepassaar, Head of Cabinet, Cabinet of Vice President Ansip, Digital Single Market 
Mr Lepassaar is Head of Cabinet for the Vice President Ansip and has specific responsibilities on the strategic planning and general policy coordination for the Digital Single Market portfolio.
Prior to that, he was Member of Cabinet of Vice-President Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for Transport since 2013, where he was responsible for coordinating policy in the fields of rail and road transport and also covered non-portfolio issues such as energy policy, internal affairs, Economic and Monetary Union and the Eastern Partnership. Before he was Director for EU Affairs at the Government Office in Estonia. In this capacity he acted as the Prime Minister's chief adviser for EU affairs and head of Estonia's inter-ministerial coordination system of EU policy. He conducted the high-level negotiations for the 2014-2020 MFF, and participated in the EU's response to the international financial crisis and subsequent reform of the EMU. Juhan holds an MA in Contemporary European Policy from the University of Sussex and a degree in Comparative Politics from University of Tartu. He has also studied interior design at the Estonian Art Academy. 

Stephen Collins, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Microsoft EMEA  
Stephen Collins is Vice President, Corporate Affairs for Microsoft Corporation for Europe, the Middle East and Africa countries. He previously worked at Skype and Yahoo!, and, still earlier, in the not-for-profit sector, academia, government and as a freelance political consultant and writer. He is the current President of the European Digital Media Association and a board member of Digital Europe. He holds three degrees in International Relations and Political Science, including a PhD from the University of Birmingham.

Markus Reinisch, Group Public Policy Director, Global, Vodafone  
Since 2012, Mr Reinisch is Group Public Policy Director, Global at Vodafone and is responsible for leading the development and practice of public policies for Vodafone Group across all markets. Prior to that, he was Head of Convergence & Regulation at Vodafone Germany where he oversaw the developments of new regulatory concepts and investment models to support Vodafone’s commercial strategy. For Vodafone, Mr Reinisch was also heading the Regulatory Affaris Office from 2007 to 2010 and was responsible for defining Vodafone’s overall fixed regulatory strategy and the regulatory environment for next generation access. Prior to working at Vodafone, Markus was the Director, Regulatory Development at COLT Group and before that he had roles at Orange Group and Deloitte Consulting. Markus holds an LL.M. from Warwick University and a Master of Law from Vienna University. 

Simon Hampton, Director, Technology Policy Advocates 
Simon Hampton has extensive advocacy experience across the Internet, communications and media value chain. Currently, he is Managind Director at Technology Policy Advocates, which provides policy and regulatory consultancy to technology-powered companies that are rewriting the business models of traditional markets but face policy and regulatory issues. Prior to that, Mr Hampton was Director of Public Policy at Google amd led the European government relations team from 2008 to 2013. Before joining Google he was also Director of Public Policy for Time Warner, from 2002 to 2008, and for AOL Europe, from 1998 to 2002. He gained experience with EU affaris at the European Commission, Unit for Relations with the USA and as an Economist at the Foreign Office, London, where he followed EU regional policy and EU budget trade issues. He has a broad academic background covering both legal and economic aspects; he holds a diploma in Competition Law from the Kings College London and a Mphil in Economics from Oxford University. You can reach him at @simonh1000.

Mark Williams, Partner, Corporate Finance, Economic Consulting, Deloitte  
Mark Williams is a Partner in the Economic Consulting group of Deloitte in the UK where he leads the Telecoms and Media Economics and Regulation practice. He has advised clients on regulatory and policy issues, detailed cost-modelling for price controls and interconnection, universal service modelling, spectrum valuation, anti-trust and PPP design, litigation and disputes. He has worked for both regulators and operators throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Prior to joining Deloitte, Mark spent 6 years at the World Bank where he worked on telecommunications sector policy, regulation and broadband investment. Before that, he was in the telecoms teams at NERA and Frontier Economics in London. Mark has published numerous articles and books on the subject of policy and regulation in the TMT sector.

Transatlantic Trade - What to expect from EU/US regulatory convergence?

Denis Redonnet, Head of the Trade Strategy Unit, DG TRADE, European Commission
Denis Redonnet heads the Strategy division in the Directorate General for Trade in the European Commission, after heading up its WTO division. Before that, he served as Deputy chief of staff to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and advisor to EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy. He is a career European Commission official, having held positions in the monetary, international economic affairs and internal market directorate generals of the EU Executive. He is an economist by training, and started his career as a corporate banker for a French bank in the city of London.

Jacques Pelkmans, Senior Research Fellow, CEPS & Visiting Professor, College of Europe
Jacques Pelkmans is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). He is Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges and from 2001 to 2012 he was Director of the Department of European Economic Studies in the same institute. Between 2001 and 2007, he was Council Member of the WRR, the independent think-tank attached to the Dutch Prime Minister. He is former Research Director at the European Institute for Asian Studies in Brussels, after setting up the institute. He has worked for and published with the Council on Foreign Relations (New York) and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (London) and served as consultant to the OECD, UNIDO, UNDP, UNCTAD, ASEAN, the World Bank and the European Commission. His current research interests include liberalisation and regulation of network industries in the EU single market and more efficient and goal-driven EU regulation. For a study commissioned by the European Parliament, he carried out an assessment of TTIP economic impact. He leads the research projects on TTIP at CEPS.

Hylke Vandenbussche, KU Leuven and Advisor at DG ECFIN, European Commission 
Hylke Vandenbussche is a Professor in International Economics in the Economics Department of the University of Leuven (KULeuven) in Belgium. Previously, she was the holder of the Chair Jacquemin at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) where she was affiliated to the CORE and IRES research centre.
She started her career as an assistant professor at Cambridge University and held visiting professorships at Dartmouth College. She also held research positions in Tilburg, Warwick and the London School of Economics (LSE). Her research interests lie in international trade, trade policy antidumping measures and firm performance. She makes regular contributions in the top journals, such as the Journal of International Economics and ithe European Economic Review.
She is a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and a member of the Scientific Committee of the Midwest International Meetings and European Trade Study Group. Her academic career is central to her professional life, but she is also involved in policy. She acted as an advisor to the EU Commission (2014-2015) and contributed to several policy reports; since 2014, she is advisor at DG ECFIN, European Commission.

Alain Berger, Senior Vice President for European Affaris, ALSTOM 
Alain F. Berger is Head of Brussels office and Vice President for European Affairs since 2008. He joined Alstom in 1999 and over the years he has occupied the following positions: President of ALSTOM China, based in Beijing (2003–2007), Senior Vice President, Commercial & Sales of Hydro Power Business of ALSTOM worldwide (2001–2003), Senior Vice President, International Operations, Latin America (1999). Prior to Alstom, Alain F. Berger was International Business Development Director of Campenon Bernard SGE, dedicated to the civil engineering & construction of major infrastructure projects. he was also Deputy Director and then International Commercial Director of CEGELEC (Alcatel Alsthom Group and Marketing Vice President of CEGELEC’s subsidiaries in the USA. Mr Berger graduated from HEC and received his MBAs from McGill University (Canada) and ESADE (Spain). 

Christiane Cunningham, EMEA Public Policy Partner, Deloitte Brussels
Christiane Cunningham is European Regulatory Affairs Director at Deloitte. Her areas of focus are audit, corporate/financial reporting and governance and data security issues, as well as broader economic policy issues. Prior to this role, Christiane was partner at the law firm Laga in Brussels, working in the fields of corporate and commercial law and regulatory affairs. She studied at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) and qualified at the Brussels Bar.