Ivo A. Ivanov is Chief Operating Officer of the DE-CIX Group AG and also – as Chief Executive Officer of DE-CIX International – responsible for the global business activities of the Internet Exchange Operator. Ivo has more than 15 years’ of experience in the regulatory, legal and commercial Internet environment.

Ivo joined DE-CIX in January 2007. In recent years, Ivo has been deeply involved in the establishment DE-CIX sites in Istanbul, Palermo, Madrid, Marseille, New York, Dallas, Dubai (UAE-IX powered by DE-CIX) as well as Mumbai (Mumbai IX powered by DE-CIX), and several DE-CIX consultancy projects in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Ivo has an educational background focused on Law and Business. Fluent in German, English, Russian and Bulgarian, he graduated from a German business school in 1995 and holds two Law degrees, from the Universities of Sofia (Bulgaria) and Bonn (Germany). After graduation, he worked as a lawyer, with a focus on e-commerce law, IP law, telecommunications law and data protection law.

Former U.S. Intelligence cyber executive Laura Galante delivers unparalleled insight into nation-state
hackers, AI-driven threats, and digital warfare. With two decades of frontline experience, she equips
boards and leaders with the strategic foresight and intelligence tools needed to navigate today's high-
stakes cyber landscape.

Laura Galante is internationally recognized for her unmatched expertise in cyber threat intelligence,
digital warfare, and geopolitical risk. With over two decades of experience operating at the highest levels
of the U.S. Intelligence Community, Laura has led groundbreaking efforts to expose some of the world’s
most sophisticated hacking operations and disinformation campaigns.

As the former principal cyber advisor to the Director of National Intelligence, she played a central role in
coordinating national responses to major cyberattacks, including ransomware on healthcare systems
and Chinese breaches of critical infrastructure. She has also guided Ukraine’s cyber defense during
wartime and led pioneering work at Mandiant in attributing nation-state cyber operations.

Zaid Kahn is CEO and Co-Founder at Neuron Factory. Zaid was formerly Vice President in Microsoft’s Azure division where he led a team focusing on advanced architecture and engineering efforts for Microsoft’s AI infrastructure, as well as designing and building AI training systems for key strategic partners like OpenAI.

Zaid was part of the technical leadership team across Microsoft that set AI hardware strategy for training and inference. Prior to Microsoft, Zaid was head of the infrastructure at LinkedIn where he was responsible for all aspects of architecture and engineering for datacenters, networking, hardware design and software development for managing infrastructure as code.

Prior to LinkedIn Zaid was involved in a few early stage start ups including the founding engineering team at WebEx that was later acquired by Cisco.

Zaid contributed to major efforts in Open Hardware through Open Compute Platform (OCP) where he served as Chair of the board.

Zaid holds several patents in networking and is currently an external advisory board member for UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department.

Zaid has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Physics from the University of the South Pacific. He lives in San Francisco bay area with his wife and two sons.

Ismael Clemente has experience as a real estate professional since 1998.

Prior to founding MERLIN, he worked at Garrigues, Bankers Trust REIB, DB Real Estate and RREEF, as Managing Director, having participated in transactions with a total volume of approximately 5,000 million euros in all types of real estate assets. These include the sale and leaseback of the Tree portfolio, the largest real estate transaction in Europe in 2009.

Ismael has been CEO of MERLIN since its foundation.

He holds superior degrees in Law and in Economics & Business Administration, with a specialisation in Finance, from ICADE (E-3) and is member of the Spanish Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI)

Keyzom is a former refugee now working as Head of Digital & AI Programmes at the United Nations’ lead digital development agency UNDP. As part of the Executive Office delivering on UNDP’ digital transformation agenda, Keyzom works with governments and digital ecosystems to shape the future of development and the role of multilaterals in digital and AI transformation. She leads digital and AI programmes across UNDP’s network of 171 countries, catalyzing new models of collaboration to create a community of ingenious people working collectively to solve complex challenges.

She led the Digital Public Infrastructure consensus in the G20 India Presidency 2023, and the design of the AI Hub for Sustainable Development in the G7 Italy Presidency 2024. She has co-founded a number of high impact public goods such as the global advocacy initiative the Better Than Cash Alliance, the Universal DPI Safeguards Framework with the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Technology, and digital public good OpenG2P.

She collaborates on frontier areas that countries face to foster new models of global digital cooperation across the UN to interrogate, operationalize, and implement new technologies through careful and ongoing engagement with people and decision makers in countries.

Octavio Camarena is the CEO of KIO, where he leads one of Latin America’ most critical digital infrastructure IT services platforms, serving hyperscalers, enterprises, and content providers with advanced data center, cloud, and connectivity solutions. With over two decades of experience in IT and digital innovation, Octavio is recognized for scaling technology ventures and driving operational excellence. Since joining KIO in 2013, he has led the company’s transformation in delivering enterprise-grade cloud solutions, carrier-neutral data centers, and high-performance connectivity that powers the digital backbone of Latin American businesses.

A serial entrepreneur, Octavio co-founded Mexico Analytica, a real-time online financial information company, in the 1990s and, later, in 2000, founded Masnegocio, one of the first global SaaS ERP platforms reshaping how companies access business applications. His work has earned him honors, including Ernst & Young’ Entrepreneur of the Year.

Octavio holds a BA in Economics from Lawrence University and a Master’ in Public Policy from Harvard University. He serves on nonprofit and corporate boards and is an active mentor and investor in the venture capital ecosystem.

Ana Figueiredo is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Altice Portugal, and Chairman of Altice Dominicana. From 2018 to March 2022, she was the CEO of Altice Dominicana.

Additionally, she also chaired the Association of Foreign Investment Companies in the Dominican Republic.

Between 2016 and 2018, she was appointed as Chief Audit Executive of the Altice Group in Switzerland, overseeing operations in France, the United States, Israel, Portugal and the Dominican Republic.

Ana Figueiredo has nearly 20 years of professional experience in the telecommunications sector since joining the PT Group in 2003, where she worked in the Auditing, Operational consulting, and Organizational transformation areas; and led teams and projects in Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Morocco, Namibia, São Tome and Príncipe, Mozambique, Kenya and East Timor.

She holds a degree in Business Administration and Management from Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG) and an MBA from Universidade Católica and Nova Business School (Lisbon MBA).

John Harrington is the Executive Vice President and Head of the Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia
Pacific region, where he manages and oversees Nokia’s sales organization and overall business for
the region. He is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

John has over 25 years of technical sales, customer relationship management, and business
development experience in the telecommunications industry across Asia, Europe, and North
America.

John was previously the Head of the Asia Pacific region for Network Infrastructure and the Customer
Experience organization based in Singapore between 2021 and 2024. He was also the General
Manager and head of Nokia Japan, based in Tokyo between 2018 and 2020.

Prior to his assignments in Asia, he was the Vice President of US Major Accounts, where he led sales
for a diverse set of wireless, wireline, cable, and regional customers. And he spent several years as
the Head of the AT&T account for Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent.

As an industry veteran, John started his career at Motorola in the UK before moving to the USA with
Lucent Technologies.

Born in England, John holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering.

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Philippe Dumont is a member of ‘2020 Capacity Power 100’ an elite group of the most influential people of the wholesale carrier community. He is a CEO with over 25 years of international experience in the Telecoms industry. His strong leadership style is supplemented with an entrepreneurial attitude and long term vision.

Philippe was President & CEO of ASN (Alcatel Lucent Submarine Networks),  a worldwide leader for turnkey telecoms submarine cable systems, for 6 years and has also served for 5 years as President of the Wireless Transmission activities at Alcatel Lucent.

He is currently the CEO of EllaLink, a €180m project that has been designed to satisfy the growing traffic demand  between Europe and Latin America. The system will offer the first ever large scale, direct fibre route between the two continents, bypassing the congested routes of the North Atlantic.

Mrs Judith Yah Sunday ACHIDI is the CEO of Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL) since 14 December 2018 and has 30 years of experience in governance and development of public enterprises. She is holder of a degree in Economics from the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada in 1991 and a master’s in international Banking and Finance from the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, IRIC.

As Chief Executive Officer, Tesh sets the strategy for the company and leads the talented team creating Europe’s leading data centre platform. Tesh is a digital infrastructure and data centre industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience in development, finance, sales, marketing, and real estate. Before joining AtlasEdge, he served as CEO of Africa Data Centres, where he led the company’s hyperscale expansion, making it one of the continent’s largest operators. Prior to this, Tesh held various executive roles at CyrusOne, eventually becoming the company’s CEO. During his tenure at CyrusOne, annual revenue grew from $221 million in 2012 to over $1 billion by 2020. His previous roles also include Chief Marketing and Business Officer for Telx, founder of NYC-Connect, and various management positions at Abovenet, Sprint, and Metromedia Fiber Networks.

Mohamad H. Ibrahim is a visionary leader in the field of network and satellite communication. With over 15 years of experience in the Internet Service Provider (ISP) business, he has played a pivotal role in connecting countries across Africa. His passion for providing reliable, secure, and affordable connectivity has driven the success of Interfiber Networks.

Mohamad holds a strong background in ICT (Information and Communication Technology). He founded several Internet service providers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.Congo), contributing significantly to bridging the digital divide in the region. His expertise lies in leveraging leased circuits on the West African submarine cable to connect African countries.

As the CEO of Interfiber Networks, Mohamad leads a dedicated team focused on expanding connectivity throughout Africa with services such as IP Transit, Internet Connectivity, and Active Circuits.

Experienced leader in innovation, business development, and European funds management. Currently
Director of Innovation at Barcelona Supercomputing Center and responsible to manage AI Factory
Services at BSC. Former Director General of European Funds for the Government of Catalonia and
Founder of Girbau LAB at Girbau Group (manufacturing industry). Expertise in strategic marketing, R&D,
and startup ecosystems. Holds degree in Economics, with further specialization with a License in
European Economics from the Institute of European Studies, and qualifications from ESADE and IESE.

Angelo Gama has recently been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Angola Cables.

Prior to his appointment he was the Chief Technology Officer for the company,
playing a critical role in developing and reengineering the global subsea network and related infrastructure to improve both the efficiencies and performance of the network.

Angelo has a Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal and has also earned several certifications in business and project management – as well as ICT administration and process engineering.

As an Executive Director for the technical portfolio of Angola Cables, Angelo had
responsibility for the management of all structuring projects and the development and implementation of the company’s technological innovation strategy.

Under his curatorship, the company has successfully expanded its Points of Presence (PoPs) globally, bringing this number to 32 across 20 countries and on three continents. Angelo also played a leading role in the successful trial of
the first direct fibre optical link between Africa and the USA, a project that was undertaken in partnership with Nokia.

His knowledge and technical foresight have set the company on a new path in terms of optimising processes through innovative engineering that will provide the flexibility to meet the rising demands of the rapidly evolving data and digital
economy.

Prior to joining Angola Cables in 2019, Angelo was the General Manager of Net One – one of the first wireless internet providers in Angola. Within this role he was responsible for repositioning the business to take advantage of new
technological developments and the changing market dynamics within an evolving and highly competitive market.

Between the period 2013 and 2018 he was the Business Development Director for MS Telcom, Angola’s second largest fixed telecommunications operator with the largest national backbone of satellite stations.

Angelo’s professional career to date has exposed him to a wide range of developments and skills within the global IT & telecoms sector, providing him with insights and knowledge across the industry spectrum. This ranges from
operations and mission critical project management to the development and rollout of innovative products and services and corporate strategic business planning.

Following his academic studies, Angelo successfully completed several specialised projects and assignments with companies such as Three Mobile and Hewlett-Packard in the United Kingdom and Belgium as well as providing
consulting services to Atos Origin based in the Netherlands.

Luís Manuel Brás Bernardino is a Portuguese Army Colonel (Reserve) with more than 37 years of experience in UN, NATO and EU missions graduated with the Staff Course and the National Defence Course. He holds a master’s degree in Strategy and a PhD in International Relations from the Lisbon
University. Professor at the Military University Institute with extensive international experience on teaching, training, and advising. Luis Bernardino is the author and co-author of 15 books and has published more than 100 articles in national and international scientific and non-scientific journals on
topics of Security and Defence. Regularly participates in conferences, evaluation boards, and other academic or institutional events related with submarine cables and global interconnectivity. He is currently Professor at the Department of International Relations at the Autonomous University of
Lisbon.

Francisca Rubio is the general manager of Gaia X Spain Association, from this position promotes the
data economy and specially the data spaces in Spain.

Francisca is electronics engineer from University of Granada, with phD studies in Photovoltaic Energy
(PV), Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) and a Master’s in Big Data and Data Engineering.

She has worked as R&D director for several public and private companies in different sectors in Spain,
France and Germany.

Dr. Daniel S. Hamilton is President of the Transatlantic Leadership Network and directs its Atlantic Basin Initiative of African, European, South, Central and North American Eminent Persons, research institutes and private sector leaders that explores the changing dynamics among the four continents of the Atlantic Basin with regard to digital connectivity, energy, economic growth, human development, and human security.

He is Senior non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Recent publications include The Transatlantic Digital Economy 2024 and The promise of a free and open Atlantic. He has held a variety of senior positions in the U.S. Department of State, and serves on several international advisory boards.

Scott K. Brown is President of the Pixel Factory Data Center, which resides in a regional Tier 2 market where growth is acceleraAng rapidly, just outside of Richmond, Virginia. The facility hosts new connecAvity and data center builds with subsea cable connecAvity passing through the region. Scott was one of the founders of RVA-IX, which served as the foundaAon of DE-CIX Richmond.

The Pixel Factory Data Center’s niche market works with companies of all sizes and business sectors. Brown’s goal is to conAnue growing this unique facility with excepAonal, personalized on-site customer service. Pixel Factory Data Center is a technology service provider offering its internaAonal client base essenAal business capabiliAes, including network redundancy, colocaAon for enabling data management from within their secure data center, and cloud connecAvity.

Scott Brown is also involved in the broader technology and business community. He has collaborated with local schools to offer internship opportuniAes at Pixel Factory, where students have contributed to the company’s network monitoring soTware. According to a 2018 arAcle from theinternetengineers.com, he has hired interns from Deep Run Center for InformaAon Technology.

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As EVP of Business Development, Eric Hall drives strategic growth by identifying new business opportunities, building partnerships, and expanding revenue. HIs 21+ years in telecom have given him the foundation needed to foster key relationships with customers, partners, stakeholders, and industry influencers while negotiating and executing high-value contracts.

Eric’s deep specialties in network planning, engineering, and sales engineering were honed over time in leadership roles at Sidera, Intellifiber/Paetec/Windstream, CityNet (acquired by Zayo), OnFiber, McLeod, and WorldCom. He holds a B.S.E.E. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Tulsa.

Eric excels in designing large-scale network solutions, financial modeling for new routes, and aligning technology initiatives with business goals. A resourceful leader, he navigates complex sales cycles, oversees RFx responses, and manages technical sales support, pricing, and contract negotiations.

Vlad joins EllaLink after several years as Sales Director Global Cloud and Strategic Sales at Colt. Previously Vlad has worked for Lumen, Arelion, Vodafone and Huawei BC. Vlad is at the helm of a dynamic sales team cultivating new business opportunities whilst growing existing client relationships worldwide.

​​A teambuilder and leader, Vlad brings to EllaLink a strong experience in complex hyperscaler Sales, wholesale solutions, global business consulting, e-gaming infrastructures and global IP product management along with development and execution of sales strategies. Vlad has and MBA and DIC by the Imperial College Business School, London and a bachelor’s in marketing from the Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest.

He is fluent in Romanian, English, French and Italian.

Mariana Barbosa is a communications and public relations professional with a strong background in storytelling, event management, and media engagement. She is the founder and CEO of MAR Studio, where she leads creative projects that blend strategic communication with impactful narratives. Her work emphasizes empowering voices and fostering meaningful connections through media and events. Working as a journalist for 16 years, she partnered with newsrooms and publications around Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, US and the UK. She is also a host from Start Now. Cry later” podcast and “O livro dos fazedores” author, the first book about the history of the Portuguese Startup Ecosystem.

Rui is the General Manager of REN TELECOM the wholesale telecoms and IT provider of REN, the Portuguese energy group.

He entered Marconi (Portuguese telecoms carrier, now Altice) in 1989 having different responsibilities namely as Regional Director in charge for the European market. In 1998, he joined the founding team of Oni being the General Manager of the Wholesale Business Unit. From 2008 to 2010, he was Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for T-Systems (Deutsche Telekom) in Portugal. From 2010 to 2011 he was the Partner in charge for the launch of nae
(Spain based ICT consultancy) in the Portuguese market.

Paul Rendek is currently a Director at Dstream Group, a strategic management consulting group specialised in the IT industry. He has 30+ years of experience in a global capacity in the Internet industry and a solid understanding of the Internet’s technical aspects, business development, and public policy.

He was part of RIPE NCC’s Senior Management Team, responsible for developing organisational strategies and maintaining the RIPE NCC’s external relations and public affairs activities, overseeing outreach to RIPE NCC & RIPE members, industry partners, governments, law enforcement and regulators.

Paul was one of the founders of the Middle East Network Operators Group (MENOG) and the Eurasia Network Operators Group (ENOG). He was also appointed to the Consolidated RIR IANA Stewardship Proposal (CRISP) team to produce the Internet Number Community response to the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group’s RFP.

As an Internet governance expert passionate about Internet development, he was an appointed representative of the Internet technical community in the global Internet governance arena.

Before his employment at the RIPE NCC, his position at EUnet, the first commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Europe, and GEANT, the pan-European network for research and education have ensured that he has been a known face in the Internet community since 1993.

A freelance journalist and author specializing in technology and cybersecurity.

Esther has been recognised as one of the best science writers in Europe and has received numerous awards in science, technology and innovation journalism. In 2023 she received the Inspire Award for her work on Artificial Intelligence and its impact on society.

Esther is one of the ‘Forbes 100 Most Creative People in Business’ and one of the ‘Top 100 Women Leaders in Spain’, as well as a sought-after speaker, presenter and presenter on topics related to artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, technology ethics and digitalization.

University lecturer and advisor to several think tanks (Salesforce, Fundación Innovación Bankinter and Santa Lucía).

She participates as a jury member in numerous prestigious national and international awards and competitions.

Jorge is passionate about digital infrastructure and of ways to interconnect it. He has worked for the telecommunications industry for the past 15 years having been appointed as Head of Altice’s International Wholesale unit 5 years ago.

With responsibilities ranging from Strategy and Network Development to Sales and Product Management, to Wholesale Roaming, Jorge leads an experienced team dedicated to the development of the Portuguese telecommunications and digital infra ecosystem leveraging on Altice’s network, infrastructures, and know-how.

Altice is one of the founders of the newly created Portuguese data center association-PortugalDC, through its company MEO, and Jorge is now a member of the association’s Board, hoping to boost the country’s capabilities to enhance the data center industry.

John W. Martin is a futurist, award-winning author, and leader of America’s 12th largest U.S. megaregion – the I-64 Innovation Corridor that connects the Richmond and Hampton Roads regions of central Virginia. This 800-square mile, three-million-person area is an innovation hot spot that’s located just south of Ashburn a.k.a. Data Center Alley. John is also the CEO of S.I.R., a 60-year-old marketing consultancy that supports some of America’s largest brands and communities.

John is recognized as one of the foremost thinkers and marketing practitioners on advancing large-scale infrastructure projects using an equitable economic development approach.

In his role advancing the I-64 Innovation Corridor, John is spearheading the bold vision of making this U.S. megaregion a global gateway as a worldclass international space port, maritime port, and digital port.

Last year, John organized an unprecedented, corridor-wide strategic planning effort funded through a public-private partnership. This year-long, research-based initiative included 68 top leaders from Richmond-Hampton Roads’ Fortune 500 companies; city, county, and state governments; chambers of commerce; economic development agencies; institutions of higher education; workforce training organizations; four branches of military; and digital infrastructure owners (subsea cables, data centers, terrestrial networks, Internet exchanges, etc.). During the planning effort, international project consultants, InterGlobix Group and TeleGeography, said they had never seen anything like this multi-stakeholder, community-wide strategic planning effort.

What resulted was the world’s first, community-inspired, strategic digital infrastructure growth plan that is now making an entire U.S. megaregion, not a city, one of the world’s next global internet hubs.

This planning work is showcased on the I-64 Innovation Corridor’s Global Internet Hub website, where intentional knowledge-building and collaboration drive community-wide support for growing investment in and the growth of local digital infrastructure.

John holds an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a B.A. in Economics and Studio Art from Washington & Lee University.

Vinay Nagpal has been leading the development of digital infrastructure solutions on a global scale for over 29 years. As the CEO of InterGlobix, a global consultancy, advisory and media firm advancing digital infrastructure and leading economic growth, he has been leading global initiatives focused on the convergence of data centers, subsea fiber, and terrestrial fiber.

Nagpal is a former executive with Digital Realty, DuPont Fabros Technology, TATA Communications, Verizon Business, UUNET, CanWest Global Communications, and Intrinsyc Software. He is currently part of leadership and advisory teams for the Internet Ecosystem Innovation Committee (IEIC), Loudoun County Economic Development, Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), Total Telecom Submarine Networks EMEA, DE-CIX, RTI Cables, SMU M.S. in Datacenter Systems Engineering, SubOptic, PTC and
previously GPX India, LINX NoVA, the QTS Richmond NAP and the Open-IX Association.

Nagpal has an MBA in Information Systems, a bachelor’s in computer science, and a Higher Diploma in Software Engineering. He has authored white papers, blogs, and industry publications on data centers and connectivity services. He has been a keynote speaker, panelist, and moderator at several renowned digital infrastructure conferences worldwide.