Neville Smith is a maritime media consultant with shipping industry clients across communications, navigation, IT and marine products and services. A maritime journalist for 16 years and a former deputy editor of daily maritime newspaper Lloyd's List, he works for clients on messaging, positioning and campaign delivery across print and electronic media as well as blogging at www. maritimeinsight.com on current and future trends in communications and technology.

Christof Schwaner is Spokesman and Director Communications & Digitalisation with the German Shipowners’ Association (VDR) based in Hamburg. Within his role, he organises workshops on digitalisation for shipping companies, e. g. on blockchain and maritime connectivity, hosts pitching events for start-ups, and establishes networks between industry stakeholders to enhance digital transformation. Christof is also responsible for public relations and internal communications at VDR, and he is editor-in-chief of the association's quarterly „Deutsche Seeschifffahrt“. Christof holds a Master's degree in Political Sciences and European Law. In February, he finished his Diploma in Global Business at Oxford University where he wrote his final thesis on the impact of 3D printing on global supply chains and maritime shipping.

Born in Würzburg (Germany/North of Bavaria) in 1985, Stephan Vetter went to University of Wuerzburg, University of Bayreuth (both Germany), University of Westminster London (UK), National University of Singapore.  He holds a Diplom Kaufmann degree (German equivalent to Master Degree) from University of Bayreuth - final thesis: Alternatives in ship finance.

Stephan started to work as graduate/trainee/analyst at Deutsche Bank in 2010, and from 2012 to 2016 at Deutsche Bank's ship finance department: co-covering Germany and Americas.  He started as Vice President for KfW IPEX in January 2017, structuring & origination in maritime industries the German and Asian markets, also taking care of digital maritime subjects.

Stefan Meyer is Senior Sales Manager for Marlink in Germany and is responsible for strengthening sales and customer relationships in the region.

Prior to joining Marlink, Stefan worked as Sales Manager for Telemar in Hamburg and DH-INTERCOM in Rastede. With over 25 years’ experience in Sales and Servicing roles, and 8 years’ experience in the maritime industry particularly in the satellite communications sector, Stefan holds an in-depth knowledge of the wide product and service-portfolio. He applies this knowledge into providing valuable advice and support on satellite communications and digital solutions for Marlink customers.

Gert-Jan started his career at Inmarsat as Vice President of Maritime Applications before being appointed Vice President of Sales for the EMEA region based out of The Hague office.

Gert-Jan has a proven track record in sales, business development and service management within the satcom, telco and broadcast industry. He has extensive experience with applications, application security and content delivery. Gert-Jan has almost 10 years of working knowledge across the satellite industry, from maritime to land-mobile and with a range of satellite constellations.

Gert-Jan holds an MsC degree from Rotterdam University.

Wouter Deknopper brings 20 years of experience in the Satellite Industry to his position as Iridium's Vice-President and General Manager Maritime Business. He is responsible for bringing new services and products to the maritime market in alignment with Iridium's initiatives while attuned to the needs of the end-users in these industries.

Wouter began his career in the satellite market with SAIT Communications and then joined Marlink, previously part of Telenor, before coming to Iridium in 2005 as Director EMEA & Russia. Wouter has extensive knowledge and experience in business development, consulting, project and partner management in IoT applications, land-mobile, aviation and maritime.

Wouter holds a Master's degree in Social and Political Sciences from KU Leuven in Belgium and an Advanced Master's degree in European Law from the University Jean-Moulin III Lyon in France.

Brian Aziz is the Director of Satcom Solutions at Thales, where he leads the sales distribution and business strategy for this newly created business unit which looks to expand into the commercial and military L-band market with the introduction of VesseLINK and MissionLINK.

The majority of Brian’s career has been focused on the satcom mobility market specializing in the commercial distribution strategy of both hardware, services, and value added applications. Over the last 12 years Brian has been fortunate enough to work in several different facets of the industry and most recently in the evolution of the L-band market with the upcoming launch of Iridium Certus and Thales LINK family of products.

Florent Rizzo is a Senior Consultant at Euroconsult based in Paris, France. Florent supports the development of the firm’s research reports as well as consulting activities in satellite communications markets, focusing on mobility markets. He is the lead contributor to several Euroconsult reports including Prospects for In-Flight Entertainment & Connectivity and Prospects for Maritime Satellite Communications.

Florent began his career as a Telecommunications and Computer Networks engineer and graduated from Telecom Saint-Etienne (France) with a one-year exchange as a graduate student in the US. He worked as a subcontractor for the main European aircraft manufacturer to specify and design network architecture of critical avionic software embedded on the A350 aircraft. He was involved in project and operations management and expatriated to Bangalore, India, for one year to manage and train his team members to avionic standards. Florent has also been involved in missions for the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) to provide project management and guidance to deploy ATM network architecture for the French Air Network Service Provider (i.e. DSNA).

Florent has completed an MBA degree at Toulouse Business School and is able to provide comprehensive and balanced expertise through his business, managerial, technical and international experience.

Rob O'Dwyer, Editor of Digital Ship, has been a maritime IT journalist since 2005. He has a Master's degree in business and law from University College Dublin and was previously a commercial writing consultant in Seoul, South Korea.

Rob was also previously Editor of Port Finance International.

Barbara Bersani has more than 12 years of experience in the maritime satellite communications sector. She joined Marlink as a Sales Manager for the sales regions in France, Monaco, and Switzerland in 2005. In 2008 she took responsibility for Maritime Sales for Europe West and Europe East. In 2012 Barbara was appointed as Head of Sales Maritime for Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa. Earlier in her career, she held Business Development and Marketing positions within the Defence Industry. Barbara holds a BA from The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva and a DBA from the LSE – London School of Economics.

Michael joined Telenor Satellite in 2005 and is currently Director of Sales for their Network and Data services division, which is responsible for providing high quality data communication services over satellite to customers on land and sea.

He has over 16 years International Telecom experience, working for companies such as Tandberg (Now CISCO) and BaneTele. Michael has an MBA from Griffith University in Queensland, Australia and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Fonty's University in Eindhoven, Holland.

Joe Apa is Vice President for Maritime, Central, Northern Europe, and the US for Speedcast, based in the United Kingdom.

Qualifying as a Radio Officer from Wray Castle College of Marine Electronics and Communications Engineering, Mr Apa has over 25 years’ experience in the Satellite communications industry, including senior positions at TrustComm, Inmarsat and Stratos.

While at Inmarsat, Mr Apa held the position of Vice President of Maritime Sales Asia, and contributed in a successful period of year on year growth in the region. Before that, Mr Apa spent 15 successful years at Stratos, covering roles as Director, Enterprise and Government for UK and Americas, and ultimately as Vice President of the Global Maritime Business, before the successful acquisition of Stratos by Inmarsat in 2009.

Since joining Speedcast, Mr Apa has focused on improving the regional reach, and Speedcast experience to the customer base, while actively engaging with the team to increase the awareness of the new Speedcast network plans and Value Added service offering to the market.

Florent Rizzo is a Senior Consultant at Euroconsult based in Paris, France. Florent supports the development of the firm’s research reports as well as consulting activities in satellite communications markets, focusing on mobility markets. He is the lead contributor to several Euroconsult reports including Prospects for In-Flight Entertainment & Connectivity and Prospects for Maritime Satellite Communications.

Florent began his career as a Telecommunications and Computer Networks engineer and graduated from Telecom Saint-Etienne (France) with a one-year exchange as a graduate student in the US. He worked as a subcontractor for the main European aircraft manufacturer to specify and design network architecture of critical avionic software embedded on the A350 aircraft. He was involved in project and operations management and expatriated to Bangalore, India, for one year to manage and train his team members to avionic standards. Florent has also been involved in missions for the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) to provide project management and guidance to deploy ATM network architecture for the French Air Network Service Provider (i.e. DSNA).

Florent has completed an MBA degree at Toulouse Business School and is able to provide comprehensive and balanced expertise through his business, managerial, technical and international experience.

Mr. Kasaboski joined Northern Sky Research (NSR), as a market Analyst, in 2016. Focusing on mobility within the satellite industry, he has since worked on projects involving maritime and land-mobile satcom, Earth Observation markets, government/military satcom, flat panel antennas, and, most recently, Big Data via satellite.

Prior to joining NSR, Mr. Kasaboski obtained a M.Sc. degree in Space Studies from the International Space University, France. During his studies, he worked on satellite mission design, contract negotiation, and was project manager of a team of young professionals investigating unaddressed challenges in one-way human missions to Mars. His team's final work was presented at the International Astronautical Congress in Toronto, 2014.

During the summer of 2014, Mr. Kasaboski interned at NASA's Johnson Space Center. His work involved designing a spacecraft’s thermal control system, the mission launch procedure, integration, and operation, as well as evaluating the status of the market of technologies necessary for the mission.

Mr. Kasaboski graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Sciences from York University, Canada. His studies have provided him with a rigorous technological background which he combines with the interdisciplinary and international perspective his more recent experience has afforded him.

Alexander is a highly reputed lawyer within the IT, digital transformation and privacy sphere, with a clear international vision to develop his clients' businesses.

Alexander Duisberg is a partner of Bird & Bird in Munich, handling commercial, digital transformation and data protection issues. He is a member of our International Tech & Comms Sector Steering Group and leads our Software & Services industry initiative.

Alexander is considered a leading expert in matters of digital transformation, data protection and data security.

Alexander is an appointed and practicing panellist to the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre and is a member of the Federal Government’s legal work groups in the think-tanks projects "Trusted Cloud", "Smart Data" and "Platform Industry 4.0", and a legal advisor to the "Industrial Data Space". He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and contributes regularly to publications on technology-related topics. Alexander speaks German, English, Italian, Spanish and French.

Ken Munro is Partner and Founder of Pen Test Partners, a firm of ethical hackers. He regularly blogs on everything from maritime security to hacking cars and the Internet of Things. This has gained him notoriety among the national press, leading to regular appearances on TV and News online as well as the broadsheet press.

He also writes for various newspapers and has contributed to maritime industry magazines in an effort to get beyond the unhelpful scaremongering put about by many security vendors. Ken has also become a voice for reform and legislative change in the largely unregulated IoT, briefing UK and US government departments as well as being involved with various EU consumer councils.

Walter Hannemann have professionally participated in the development of IT since the 80’s, from his education in Electronics and Information Systems. His responsibilities have involved software development to solution architecture, infrastructure design and management, IT service delivery and even “.com” entrepreneurship. With a passion for “making things work”, shipping applications and all digital equipment onboard became his interest from 2008. Having headed IT departments in Maersk Tankers and Torm, has recently become Product Manager for Dualog. Based in Copenhagen, Walter enjoys finding solutions for big (and small) business problems using IT, while keeping the overview and a forward-looking approach, with deep dives in technical subjects when necessary – or possible.

After her apprenticeship as a railway technician in her motherland Latvia, Oksana began her studies as information manager at the University for Applied Sciences in Hamburg.

After graduating, Oksana began an almost ten-year tenure at the world-famous ship classification society "Germanischer Lloyd" (today DNV GL SE) in the area of business process analysis, process improvement, software development and merger activities.

Oksana joined Rickmers in 2016, and has managed the business unit “Maritime Business Solutions” within the Group IT since March 2017.

After six years in the British Army with the Royal Hussars (PWO), Mark Sutcliffe spent two years working on the docks of Hartlepool and Bristol starting off as a tally clerk. He then spent 22 years evenly spread between blue chip companies, Gearbulk, GAC and Wilh Wilhelmsen where he was invited to join the board of Wilhelmsen Lines Car Carries in Southampton.

CSO Alliance was formed to support Company Security Officers facing the dynamic and global threats from piracy and maritime crime. Airbus supported the development of the Maritime Cyber Alliance designed to support Maritime Company Information Security Officers deal with rapidly evolving cyber threats. Our industry has to learn to report all crime and work as one, in short - Security though Community.

Mr. Kasaboski joined Northern Sky Research (NSR), as a market Analyst, in 2016. Focusing on mobility within the satellite industry, he has since worked on projects involving maritime and land-mobile satcom, Earth Observation markets, government/military satcom, flat panel antennas, and, most recently, Big Data via satellite.

Prior to joining NSR, Mr. Kasaboski obtained a M.Sc. degree in Space Studies from the International Space University, France. During his studies, he worked on satellite mission design, contract negotiation, and was project manager of a team of young professionals investigating unaddressed challenges in one-way human missions to Mars. His team's final work was presented at the International Astronautical Congress in Toronto, 2014.

During the summer of 2014, Mr. Kasaboski interned at NASA's Johnson Space Center. His work involved designing a spacecraft’s thermal control system, the mission launch procedure, integration, and operation, as well as evaluating the status of the market of technologies necessary for the mission.

Mr. Kasaboski graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Sciences from York University, Canada. His studies have provided him with a rigorous technological background which he combines with the interdisciplinary and international perspective his more recent experience has afforded him.

Capt. Marek Lipiec is a Dip Industrial Engineer and holds a Master Mariners License. Captain Lipiec started his seagoing career in 1984 followed by 23 years’ experience at sea (11 years as Master), including more than 10 years on board crude oil and product tankers.

Capt. Marek Lipiec has held the position of Managing Director of DS Tankers GmbH & CO. KG since 2009.

Sue is the Chairman of the Ports, Maritime and Waterways Forum of the Chartered Institute of Transport (CILT), a fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing, President of WISTA UK (Women in Shipping and Trade) and a member of Women in Logistics. She is regularly quoted in the business press as an expert source on a wide range of issues affecting the PR, marketing and advertising industries. Sue has been featured in the Financial Times, on BBC News, BBC Radio, ITN and in the Daily Telegraph.

Sue started her own company, the leading specialist logistics and supply chain PR, Marketing and Visual Events Agency Image Line Communications over 28 years ago.

Sue regularly chairs sessions for CILT including ones on SOLAS, CTU Code and port trends.

Sue Terpilowski was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2014 for her work and lobbying on behalf of micro and small businesses in London. She has a diploma in Business Coaching.

Bridget Cosgrave has executive and board experience in publicly listed, private equity owned and venture funded start-ups across all communication technologies. She was founding Chairman and CEO of BICS; also founding shareholder in Every European Digital sp zoo, Ukkoverkot oy & Blockshipping a/s.

Ms Cosgrave started her career in corporate finance with Banque Indosuez. Ms Cosgrave is currently Advisor to VISMA Consulting a/s promoting their Maritime Solutions while completing an M.Sc. in Maritime Studies at the World Maritime University in Malmo. Her former NED roles include SES, EUSKALTEL, STERIA, ESSILOR, EUTELSAT.

Ms Cosgrave holds an MBA from London Business School, BA Hons from Queen’s University Canada and corporate governance credentials.

Martin Jarrold has worked for GVF for more than 15 years, having been appointed GVF Chief of International Programme Development in June 2001. His particular responsibilities include outreach to the member organisations of the GVF and for the further development of the profile of the Forum within the satellite communications industry, and across the global telecommunications policy and regulatory community. This extends to the development and delivery of programmes focused on extending the understanding of, and promoting the use of, satellite-based communications in various key end-user vertical markets.

Mr. Jarrold is Chairman of the GVF Oil & Gas Communications Conference Series, the GVF Broadband Maritime Conference Series, as well as of GVF's Connectivity, HTS (London), and AeroConnect events. He is also contributing to the development of new events in the GVF-EMP Conference Partnership portfolio.

Mr. Jarrold is also Co-Chairman of the GVF Maritime Satcom Forum. Additionally, he is a frequent contributor to various telecommunications and other industry publications, online and in print. He regularly chairs and contributes to a wide variety of telecommunications conferences, symposia, and workshops around the world. Previously, Mr. Jarrold was Commissioning Editor and Head of Research for Space Business International magazine.

Frank Rau is responsible for developing the business in the local market of Germany for Telemar / Marlink.

Frank is well known within the local maritime IT and Satcom industry with more than 22 years of experience in the satellite communications sector.

He started his career in the satcom industry with Deutsche Telekom and since then served a lot of shipping companies in the German market under different brands like T-Mobile, DeTeSat, France Telecom and Vizada.

Being one of the co-founders of Telemar GmbH in 2009 he built up the business of the company since then.

Blaz Anusic is Senior Sales Manager responsible for the development of business in Germany and Eastern Europe, Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania for Marlink, the world’s leading maritime communications, digital solutions and servicing group.

Blaz has more than 15 years of experience in the maritime SatCom industry and strong knowledge in IT and data communications. As part of the EMEA Sales team, Blaz is able to offer valuable advice and support, and helps ship owners to optimise vessel operations and enable the digital vessels of tomorrow.

Prior to joining Marlink in 2002, Blaz started his career at DEBEG and SAM Electronics (Wärtsilä Group) and occupied various positions in Business administration and Sales.

Blaz has a degree in business administration and holds several other certifications on both SatCom and sales.

Wouter Deknopper brings 20 years of experience in the Satellite Industry to his position as Iridium's Vice-President and General Manager Maritime Business. He is responsible for bringing new services and products to the maritime market in alignment with Iridium's initiatives while attuned to the needs of the end-users in these industries.

Wouter began his career in the satellite market with SAIT Communications and then joined Marlink, previously part of Telenor, before coming to Iridium in 2005 as Director EMEA & Russia. Wouter has extensive knowledge and experience in business development, consulting, project and partner management in IoT applications, land-mobile, aviation and maritime.

Wouter holds a Master's degree in Social and Political Sciences from KU Leuven in Belgium and an Advanced Master's degree in European Law from the University Jean-Moulin III Lyon in France.

Dimitrios Chatzitzanos has an in-depth knowledge of the Maritime market and has more than 15 years’ experience in Maritime Satcoms and Shipping IT. He is currently Managing Director of Navarino Germany, being responsible for Navarino’s operations in Germany and EMEA.

Dimitrios started his career in Greece back in 2001, working for the operations team of Otesat-Maritel. In 2006, he joined Globecomm’s subsidiary Telaurus in London and in 2012 moved to Hamburg as Key account manager for Globecomm Maritime. He joined Navarino in mid-2017 to strengthen the increasing requirements in Germany and EMEA regions.

Dimitrios has a wide technical background having had extensive experience in Shipboard installations of L-Band, Ku & Ka systems in conjunction to several connectivity management solutions and maritime applications. Over the years he has been involved in project and product management and his experience has been proven valuable for business development.

Holger Ritter is Managing Partner and founder of DRYNET GmbH.

Mr Ritter worked in the satellite, telecommunications and IT industry for over 25 years. He has held management positions in IBM, Boeing and MTN.

DRYNET was founded 2002 in Hamburg and provides technology and business consulting as well as professional services for IT Security, wireless, fixed and satellite communication networks to their clients. Currently 10 DRYNET consultants are located in Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, USA and Korea and support clients in the cruise, ferry, commercial shipping and wind offshore industry to digitalize the way they work@sea.

Alexander is a highly reputed lawyer within the IT, digital transformation and privacy sphere, with a clear international vision to develop his clients' businesses.

Alexander Duisberg is a partner of Bird & Bird in Munich, handling commercial, digital transformation and data protection issues. He is a member of our International Tech & Comms Sector Steering Group and leads our Software & Services industry initiative.

Alexander is considered a leading expert in matters of digital transformation, data protection and data security.

Alexander is an appointed and practicing panellist to the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre and is a member of the Federal Government’s legal work groups in the think-tanks projects "Trusted Cloud", "Smart Data" and "Platform Industry 4.0", and a legal advisor to the "Industrial Data Space". He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and contributes regularly to publications on technology-related topics. Alexander speaks German, English, Italian, Spanish and French.

Dr. Stefan Wiech is partner and IT strategy consultant at HPC Hamburg Port Consulting GmbH, an independent subsidiary of HHLA Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (Hamburg Port and Logistics Corporation), the largest and most diversified port operating company in Hamburg.

He has been involved in many automation and digitisation projects in the port and transport sector all over the world for more than ten years. Amongst other involvements, he is project manager of the European project 'Pilot Implementation of an Upper Rhine Traffic Management Platform’ in which the RheinPorts Information System (RPIS) is being developed and implemented along the Upper RhinePorts as a digital integration platform.

Dr. Wiech is responsible for IT consulting and digitisation at HPC and is specialised in complex integration and change management challenges.