Jörg Monar, Rector, College of Europe

Jörg Monar is Rector of the College of Europe Bruges/Natolin, Warsaw) since 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). Jörg 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..

Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission

Pierre Moscovici was born on the 16th September 1957 in Paris. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and a Master’s Degree in Philosophy and is a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). Between 1994 and 1997 he was Member of the European Parliament and between 2004 and 2007 Vice-President of the European Parliament. Between 1997 and 2002 he was Minister for European Affairs under Lionel Jospin. In 2012, he was the campaign director of the French Socialist candidate François Hollande. In May 2012 he was appointed Minister of the Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade. On the 1st of November 2014 he was appointed Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Union under Juncker’s Commission.

Prof. Phedon Nicolaides, Jan Tinbergen Chair for European Economics & Director of the European Economic Studies Department, 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.

Fabiola Annacondia, Principal VAT Specialist, International Bureau for Fiscal Documentation

Fabiola Annacondia is the Editor of IBFD’s International VAT Monitor journal and the EU VAT Compass book, as well as the Cluster Manager for the VAT courses offered by IBFD International Tax Training. Ms Annacondia worked as a fiscal auditor (tax inspector) for 11 years with the Argentine tax authorities and taught Indirect Taxation at Buenos Aires University, Argentina. She joined IBFD as a country specialist for Latin America in 2000 and has worked for IBFD’s VAT Knowledge Group since 2001. Ms Annacondia also lectures and publishes regularly on a wide variety of VAT-related topics. In recent years, she has presented at OECD workshops in China, South Korea and Mexico and speaks regularly at VAT Conferences around the world. Ms Annacondia holds a postgraduate degree in International Tax Law from Barcelona University, a postgraduate degree in Tax Law from the Argentine Social Museum University and studied Comparative Tax Policy and Administration at Harvard Kennedy School.

Stephen Brunner, Partner, Deloitte

Stephen Brunner (46), graduated in tax law and economics from the university of Groningen in 1995. He joined Arthur Andersen in January 1996. In 1999 he was seconded to our London office. Stephen became partner of Deloitte in The Netherlands per June 1, 2007. He works in the global business tax group of Deloitte in Amsterdam. Stephen is Tax Industry leader of the TMT (Technology Media Telecom) tax group with over 50 dedicated Tax & Legal professionals. His clients include Dutch and foreign multinationals in the TMT Industry. Next to his role as client partner Stephen has a role in Tax policy for the Dutch member firm and he is EMEA Tax Leader for TMT. Stephen is also a board member of the Dutch Tax Advisors association (NOB).

Luc De Broe, Head of the Institute for Tax Law KU Leuven

Luc De Broe is professor of tax law and Chair of the Institute of Tax Law at KU LEUVEN (Belgium). He is a partner with the law firm of Laga (Brussels). Professor De Broe’s research is situated in the field of (i) the application and interpretation of tax treaties and Belgian international tax law, (ii) the prevention of abuse of tax law in a domestic and cross-border context and (iii) European direct taxation and State Aid. He was Chairman of the International Fiscal Association Congress in Rome 2010 on the topic of “Tax Treaties & Tax Avoidance”. At the 2015 IFA-Congress in Basel, he chaired the Seminar “State Aid Review as a means to combat Aggressive Tax Planning” and at the 2008 IFA Congress in Brussels he chaired the Seminar “Taxation of Cross-Border pensions”. He was general reporter at the 2002 IFA Congress in Oslo on the Subject “the tax treatment of transfer of residence by individuals”. Since 1993 he has repeatedly been national reporter, general reporter, panellist or chairman of one of the International Fiscal Association Congresses (Cancun 1993, New Delhi 1997, Oslo 2002, Amsterdam 2006, Brussels 2008, Vancouver 2009, Rome 2010, Basel 2015 and Rio de Janeiro 2017).

William Echikson, Head of the Digital Forum, Centre for European Policy Studies

William Echikson is Associate Senior Fellow and Director of the Digital Forum at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. Before joining CEPS, Mr. Echikson worked for six and a half years at Google. He ran corporate communications for Europe Middle East and Africa¨ launched the company’s Europe blog and led its efforts around data center government affairs and Internet freedom Issues. Mr. Echikson began his career as a foreign correspondent in Europe for a series of US publications including the Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Fortune and BusinessWeek. From 2001 until 2007, he served as Brussels Bureau Chief for Dow Jones. Mr. Echikson also has written, directed and produced for television documentaries for BBC and America’s Public Broadcasting Service. He is the author of four books, including works on the collapse of communism in Central Europe and the history of the Bordeaux wine region. An American and Belgian citizen, Mr. Echikson graduated from Yale College with a Magna Cum Laude degree in history.

Eduard Folch-Sogas, Task-Force on Digital Innovation, DG TAXUD, European Commission

Eduard Folch-Sogas works as a policy officer of the European Commission (DG TAXUD) in the field of indirect taxation, and he is also member of the Commission's task force on digital taxation. He is a lawyer holding degrees in Business management and Law by the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona).

Marcel Gérard, Visiting Professor, College of Europe

Marcel Gérard studied economics at the University of Namur, Belgium, the University of Manchester, and Harvard University. He holds a PhD in economics. All is career has been, and still is, dedicated to teaching and research, in schools of higher education in management and at university. He is now an Emeritus Professor of Economics and Taxation at the University of Louvain and at the University Saint-Louis in Brussels, and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. He is also a Fellow of the CESifo, a research network primarily devoted to Public Finance and Taxation Economics, his main research field. In the early 2000’s Marcel Gérard has expanded his field to Higher Education, especially mobility of students and graduates. He has written numerous articles, books, book chapters and other research papers and participated to several studies for public authorities, including for the EU

Valeska Gronert, Head of Sector, European Commission

Valeska Gronert is an economic analyst and Head of Sector ('Analysis of efficiency aspects of taxation') in the European Commission's Directorate General for Taxation and Customs. She has worked on the preparation of the re-launch of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base. She has previously worked in the European Commission (DG ECFIN) on the economic adjustment programme for Cyprus. Prior to joining the European Commission she has worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She holds a PhD from Vanderbilt University and has published in peer-reviewed academic journals.

Henk Koller, CEO, Dutch Association of Tax Advisers

Henk Koller (1956), started his career in tax with the Dutch Revenue Service in 1982. In 1987 he joined Deloitte in The Netherlands. In 1992 he became a tax partner in the Amsterdam office where he worked in the international corporate tax practice. In the course of his professional career Henk was more and more involved in management and policy roles within Deloitte and outside. Between 1998 and 2016 Henk was active within the Dutch and European professional bodies of tax advisers (The Dutch Association of Tax advisers, NOB, and CFE, Tax advisers Europe). In both organizations he was a member of several committees and was President (NOB 2009-2012, CFE 2014-2016). Before retiring from Deloitte in 2017 he was seconded to the Deloitte EU policy centre in Brussels where he represented Deloitte Europe in policy matters with respect to taxation at EU institutions and European organizations. In 2017 Henk was appointed as CEO of the Dutch Association of tax advisers, the professional body of university trained tax advisers with 5.200 members.

Gianmarco Monsellato, EU Tax Policy Leader, Deloitte

Gianmarco Monsellato is Deloitte Global Tax & Legal Leader for Clients & Industries and EU Tax Public Policy Lead. He was the CEO of Deloitte’s French Tax & Legal practice from 2004 to 2016. He is considered as a thought leader on tax governance and as such has been consulted several times by the French government. He published books and articles with global reach. He received in 2013 the United Nations’ Women Empowerment Principles Award. He is an HEC graduate in management and a French attorney.

Donato Raponi, Senior Advisor - Taj

After working for 38 years at the European Commission where he held various management positions in the fields of VAT, the fight against tax fraud, energy, environment and transport taxation, Donato Raponi has joined Taj law firm, a Deloitte network entity. Donato Raponi, an Italian citizen, is an honorary professor in European Tax Law at the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Fiscales in Brussels, of which he is also a graduate in International tax law. Since 2014, he is ranked among the 50 most influential personalities in the world in tax by the International Tax Review. He is also co-author of a book on the euro (Arriva l’euro, Carmenta, Alessandro Butticè and Donato Raponi, 1998) and has written numerous articles on tax matters.

Andrea Renda, Google Chair in Digital Innovation, College of Europe

Andrea Renda is a Visiting Professor since 2007 and since September 2017, he holds the Digital Innovation Chair in the European Economic Studies Department at the College of Europe . He is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Regulatory Policy unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies, a leading research-based think tank based in Brussels (Belgium). His current research interests include the regulation and policy evaluation, regulatory governance, private regulation, digital innovation and competition policies, Internet policy, and the alignment of policies for long-term impacts such as sustainability and decarbonisation. He also specializes in EU law and policymaking, and in international regulatory cooperation.

Andreas Strub, head of Unit, General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union

Dr. Andreas Strub works for the General Secretariat of the Council, where he heads a department dealing with cohesion policy, export credits and tax policy since 2010. The GSC supports decision taking and policy making by the Council of Ministers (Ecofin Council, General Affairs Council) and the European Council (presided by President Donald Tusk). Until 2010 he has dealt with various Common Foreign and Security Policy an Trade issues, with a particular focus on Russia, Ukraine, other former Soviet Union countries, Western Balkans (after the Dayton Agreements), Middle East Peace Process, Iranian nuclear issue, Africa. He worked as Adviser on CFSP issues in the Private Office and Policy Unit of Dr. Javier Solana, the first EU High Representative for CFSP. Between 2004 and 2010 he served as Deputy/Personal Representative for non-proliferation and disarmament issues. By training he is a banker and lawyer (Barrister, PhD in European Banking Law). He holds a European Baccalaureate and speaks five languages.

Paul Tang, MEP, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats European Parliament

Dr Paul Tang is a Dutch MEP for the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament since 2014. He is member a member of the parliamentary committee on economy and monetary affairs. As MP for the Dutch Labour Party Paul Tang served from 2006 for four years as a spokesperson on financial and fiscal affairs. In the European Parliament, Mr. Tang battles for more jobs for Europe, a healthy financial sector at the service of society and more legitimacy for Europe. In 2016 he has been appointed as rapporteur on the STS securitisation file and in 2017 on the CCTB file. As shadow-rapporteur he works on the Sustainable Finance Report.

Johan Van Der Paal, Partner, Deloitte

Johan is an indirect tax Partner with Deloitte Belgium, based in Brussels. Johan has more than 20 years of experience as an advisor in indirect taxes, with a focus on VAT. He developed a focus on tax matters affecting the financial services industry early in his career. He assists banks and insurance companies on a variety of Belgian and international indirect tax matters, both in the framework of the expansion or optimization of business operations and in a M&A context. Johan is Professor at the Ghent University, teaching VAT, since 2015. He is a regular speaker at internal and external seminars and is regularly consulted in his expertise domain by professional federations in Belgium on legislative initiatives. Johan is a member of the Belgian Institute for Accountants and Tax Consultants (IAB) and of the VAT Expert Group set up by the European Commission.

Jefferson VanderWolk, Head of Division, Center for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD

Jefferson VanderWolk has been the head of the Tax Treaty, Transfer Pricing, and Financial Transactions Division at the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration since July 2016. He is a lawyer who has been engaged in international tax practice, policy development, and scholarship since 1985. He has been a partner at Baker & McKenzie and Deloitte in both London and Hong Kong, a corporate tax director at Merrill Lynch, a Special Counsel at the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, a law professor in Hong Kong, London, and Washington DC, and International Tax Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. Before joining the OECD, he was with Washington Council EY in Washington DC. He has published extensively on tax law subjects and participates in numerous professional organizations. He became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation in 2004, serves on the Academic Committee for the CIOT’s Advanced Diploma in International Taxation and IFA’s Permanent Scientific Committee, and is a Distinguished Fellow of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law. He is admitted to practice in both the U.S. and the U.K. and is a citizen of both countries.

Bernardus Zuijdendorp, Head of Unit, Company Taxation Initiatives, European Commission, DG TAXUD

Bert Zuijdendorp heads the 'Company Taxation Initiatives' unit in the European Commission's Taxation and Customs Union Directorate-General. He is in charge of EU directives and policy initiatives the area of corporate taxation. Recent initiatives include the June 2015 Action Plan on fairer corporation, the January 2016 Anti-Tax Avoidance Package and the October 2016 relaunch of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, as well the forthcoming proposals in the area of digital taxation. Before joining the Commission, Bert Zuijdendorp held various positions in the Dutch Ministry of Finance in both national and international tax policy.