Industry Keynotes and panel debate

Neelie Kroes

Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe.

CV: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/en/content/curriculum-vitae

Scott Charney

Corporate Vice President, Trustworthy Computing

Scott Charney is Corporate Vice President for Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group. Mr. Charney is responsible for a range of corporate programs that influence the security, privacy, and reliability of Microsoft’s products, services, and internal networks. He also manages the Engineering Excellence Team, a group focused on promoting best-of-breed engineering practices and ensuring compliance with Microsoft’s mandatory engineering policies.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Charney served as a Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he led the firm’s Digital Risk Management and Forensics Practice. Before that, Mr. Charney served as

Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) where he was responsible implementing the Justice Department's computer crime and intellectual property initiatives. Under his direction, CCIPS investigated and prosecuted national and international hacker cases, economic espionage cases, and violations of the federal criminal copyright and trademark laws. His section also proposed and commented on legislation; represented the United States internationally; and supported the development and implementation of U.S. information technology policy. Prior to leading CCIPS, Mr. Charney served an Assistant United States Attorney responsible for the investigation and prosecution of complex cases involving organized crime and as an Assistant District Attorney in Bronx County, New York, where he was responsible for prosecuting persistent violent felony offenders and then served as Deputy Chief of the Investigations Bureau.

Mr. Charney has received numerous awards during his career, including the Justice Department’s John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement and the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service. He currently serves on the President’s National Security and Telecommunications Advisory Committee; was a co-chair of the CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency; and served three years as Chair of the G8 Subgroup on High-Tech Crime.

Mr. Charney graduated from the Syracuse University College of Law with honors, and received his undergraduate degrees from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Matt Ellard

Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa

As Symantec’s Senior Vice President for EMEA, Matt Ellard is responsible for driving Symantec sales, operations and business development across the region. He brings to Symantec more than 13 years’ experience in the IT industry.

Matt joined Symantec in March 2003, through the acquisition of VERITAS. Since this time, he has held a number of sales and sales leadership positions, including global account manager, director of the UK telecommunications practice, senior director of Symantec’s UK and Ireland public sector business and has also led Symantec’s UK enterprise business. Most recently, he held the position of Regional Vice President of Northern Europe, giving him extensive experience of the company’s products and sales operations and a deep understanding of the challenges that Symantec’s customers face.

Prior to joining Symantec, Matt held a number of sales positions for large technology enterprises including Sun Microsystems, where he served as International Account Director. His experience in the IT industry began in 1998 when he joined Computacenter, making the step change from financial services where he worked for JPMorgan Chase.

He is actively involved with Action for Children and sits on the London board of Byte Night. He is a keen and long suffering Arsenal fan and is married with two sons. Matt holds a BA degree in business studies from Swansea University.

Marc DARMON

Marc Darmon, born in 1964, is a graduate of France’s Ecole Polytechnique engineering school and the Ecole Nationale des Télécommunications, Paris and "ancien auditeur à l’IHEDN". Marc Darmon started his career in the Alcatel group, occupying various posts, including military networks director from 1996 to 1998. In 1998, he joined Thomson-CSF (from now on Thales) as director of military infrastructure networks. In 2000, he became general manager of the Strategic Business Line “Networks”. Since February 2002, he was Vice-President, Strategic and Advanced Systems of the Communications Systems Business Group. Since 2004, he was Managing Director of Joint Systems Business Line (Communication Infrastructures, Space Communications, Command & Control, Electronic Warfare, Intelligence and Security Systems) of Thales. Since November 2006, he was Chief Executive Officer of Thales Communications. In 2009, he was Thales Senior Vice President, General Manager of the Naval Division. In 2010, he becomes Senior Vice-President, Corporate Audit and Internal Control.

In September 2012, he is appointed Group Executive Vice-President and Managing Director of the Secure Communications and Information Systems Global Business Unit.

Dr. Thomas Kremer

Dr. Thomas Kremer, born 1958, has been a Management Board member responsible for Data Privacy, Legal Affairs and Compliance at Deutsche Telekom AG since June 2012. He has been the interim Chief Human Resources Officer since January 2014.

Previously, he worked for ThyssenKrupp AG. He joined the legal department of Krupp in 1994 and as of 2003 became General Counsel of the holdings’s legal department of ThyssenKrupp AG, which was subsequently responsible for developing the compliance program. Additionally, he was appointed Chief Compliance Officer of the ThyssenKrupp Group in 2007. In 2009, Thomas Kremer assumed leadership of the newly formed Corporate Center Legal & Compliance. He was appointed Executive Vice President (Generalbevollmächtigter) in 2011.

He also spent a period of time working as an attorney at Sozietät Schäfer, Wipprecht, Schickert (now CMS Hasche Sigle) in Düsseldorf. After studying law, Thomas Kremer worked as a research assistant at the University of Bonn (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn). His areas of research included laws governing limited liability companies, stock corporations and corporate groups. He gained a doctorate in law in 1994.

In September 2013 Thomas Kremer was appointed to the governmental commission German Corporate Governance Codex (Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex DCGK).

Reinhard Ploss joined Siemens/Infineon in 1986, working in Munich as a process engineer with focus on chip manufacturing.

In 1992, he moved on to Villach, Austria, where he started in chip manufacturing and took over the position as Head of Technology in 1993. He returned to Munich in 1996 and took charge of the Power Semiconductor Business Unit, focusing on development and manufacturing. In 1999, Reinhard Ploss was appointed Head of the Industrial Power Business Unit as well as President of eupec GmbH Co. KG, a subsidiary of Infineon.

In 2000, Reinhard Ploss took over as President of the Automotive & Industrial Business Group of Infineon. From 2005 on, he held responsibility for manufacturing, development and operational management in the Automotive, Industrial & Multimarket Business Group.

In June 2007, Reinhard Ploss was appointed to the Management Board of Infineon, with responsibilities for manufacturing activities. In addition, he became Labor Director and Head of Research & Development. He remains responsible for these three areas to the present day.

Since October 1, 2012, Dr. Reinhard Ploss is Chief Executive Officer of Infineon Technologies AG.