Focus on Fish 2022 - Practical refinements for fishes in research and testing

Laurent is leading the VMware efforts in EMEA on Sovereign Cloud. He is member of the EMEA Leadership team.  

Laurent is also the leading force behind VMware’s involvement in Gaia-X, a European project focused on co-creating the next generation of data infrastructure for Europe, its states, its companies, and its citizens. 

Digital Sovereignty is set to define Europe’s next decade. It is attracting significant investment, with nations and enterprises seeking to ensure data privacy, compliance and digital capabilities while developing innovation.

Laurent is a 30+ year IT Executive veteran. He has enjoyed a long history with VMware as both partner and client since 2001, in his capacity as Group CTO at AXA Tech, WW Head of Technology at CGI Services, and CEO and Vice Chairman at OVHCloud. Laurent brought this significant experience to VMware when he joined us in 2020 to support strategic business development in SEMEA as Field Commerce Executive.

Outside of work, Laurent plays bass in a rock band. He lives in France and is married with 4 children and 5 grandchildren.

Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence in the Government of Spain.

Executive, Entrepreneur and Expert in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.

Co-founder and former CEO of Synergic Partners (now Telefónica).

WiDS Madrid Ambassador (Stanford University) 2017-2019.

Member of the Think-Tank «Data Innovation Network» — Columbia University NYC (Data Science Institute).

@carmeartigas

Carme Artigas is a Spanish executive and entrepreneur, as well as a recognized expert in Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Technological Innovation. In 2006, she co-founded and was CEO of Synergic Partners, a pioneering European Big Data company, which in 2015 was recognized as one of the 15 leading international Big Data companies by analyst firm 451 Research.

In 2016, Carme was recognized by the US magazine Insight Success as one of the 30 most influential executives with international projection. Likewise, the specialized technology publisher O’Reilly Media places her among the best women in the world in the data business (Women in Data 2015). In Spain, she has appeared in several rankings among the 25 best women in technology in Spain.

In addition to her work as an executive, Carme is a member of the Data Innovation Network and a member of the Industry Partners Council of the Data Science Institute at Columbia University in New York since 2013.

In January 2020, she was approved as a member of the Board of Directors in two Spanish companies listed on IBEX35, but she resigned to accept the appointment as the first Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence in the Government of Spain.

In his current role, he is responsible for designing and implementing Spain’s Digital Agenda, in particular the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, the Modernization Plan for Electronic Administration, the National Cybersecurity Plan, the Digitization Plan for SMEs, the National Plan of Digital Capabilities, the Data Economy Strategy, the Spanish Charter of Digital Rights, among other responsibilities that include the management of the Main Data Office, representing Spain in the OECD, D9, G20 and in Telecom ministerial meetings of the European Commission. She is responsible for managing and executing an annual direct public budget of 3,000 million euros and coordinating the execution of 25,000 million euros of the European Recovery Funds for the period 2020-2025.

She also has additional responsibilities in different public bodies:

• President of the Public Entity RED.ES (red.es)
• President of INCIBE (National Institute of Cybersecurity – incibe.es)
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Barcelona Mobile World Capital Foundation (http://www.mobileworldcapital.com/)
• Member of the Board of the former Spanish Cultural and Research Institution RESIDENCIA DE ESTUDIANTES (residencia.csic.es/en)
• Member of the Royal Board of the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SPAIN (National Library of Spain – bne.es)
• Member of the Board of ESCUELA SUPERIOR DE MUSICA REINA SOFIA (Reina Sofía School of Music – escuelasuperiordemusicareinasofia.es)

Carme has a degree in Chemical Engineering from IQS, (Sarriá Chemical Institute). Postgraduate in Industrial Business Management from IQS, MSc in Chemical Sciences from Ramón Llull University. She also holds an executive degree in Venture Capital from Berkeley University-Haas School in California.

Within her associative activity, she is a member of the Spanish chapter of the International Women’s Forum (IWF).

Carme is a defender of ethics in the field of artificial intelligence and future technologies and her interests revolve around how to guarantee the rights of citizens in the digital world with a special focus on artificial intelligence and neurotechnologies, as well as on impact investing as a new form of capitalism.

Sylvain Rouri is Chief Sales Officer at OVHcloud, responsible for successfully driving the company’s growth since he joined in December, 2017.  Focusing on meeting the needs of OVHcloud’s target audiences, Sylvain leads both direct and indirect sales forces to implement global sales strategy. Before joining OVHcloud, Sylvain worked for 22 years in sales at both small-to-medium and large companies, including Survey Sampling International where he held the position of SVP of Global Sales Operations.

Alfredo Nulli is Head of the Portfolio and Center of Excellence of Noovle S.p.A., Cloud Company of the TIM Group.

In his career he has worked for some of the main international companies in the ICT sector.

He began his career at Sun Microsystems, holding various roles at an international level both in the field of professional services and in the construction of solutions (in the Java field); he continued with Cisco, where he oversaw the introduction of the Californian company’s Data Center solutions for the Service Provider vertical. After this experience he moved to EMC and then to Pure Storage where he worked in the EMEA CTO office with responsibility for Cloud solutions for over 5 years, helping to grow the company reality until obtaining a leadership position in the management data sector. Over the past 15 years, he has always worked in teams that have offered solutions and products on a global or European scale, having the opportunity to act and live in different contexts. He knows the international markets and the dynamics underlying the adoption process of the cloud and connected services in the markets. He defines himself as an “architect of the ICT world” and has the ambition to combine advanced technological skills with the ability to disseminate them and make them digestible by decision-makers.

Martin is VMware’s Chief Technologist for Cloud in EMEA. His role is focused on a set of cross company programs that drive outbound communication of VMware’s technology vision and multi-cloud strategy across all customer market segments and the partner ecosystem. 

He is part of the VMware Office of the CTO, a double VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX Number 117) and is a recognized thought leader within the industry. He is a regular speaker at industry events and the author of four books, dozens of papers, blogs, and articles based on VMware and other technologies.

Martin also sits on the advisory board for the Centre for Data Ethics & Innovation (CDEI), part of the newly formed Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Set up by the UK government in 2018, the CDEI has a unique remit: to help the Government on the various dimensions presented by data-driven technology and AI.

Since July 2021 Alexander Wallner is the CEO of the plusserver Group. In addition to overseeing the operational business strategy, he is responsible for the go-to-market of products and solutions, as well as expanding the strong partner ecosystem of the plusserver Group.

Wallner brings over 20 years of experience in the German and European IT market, along with expertise in building and leading sales teams. Prior to joining plusserver, he served as Senior Vice President in an international role at NetApp.

At plusserver, Wallner’s focus is driving the digital transformation of the public sector and the German mid-market. He specifically aims to align plusserver’s offering as a Gaia-X founding member with the current customer requirements in the field of data sovereignty. Additionally, he aims to meet the market demand for cloud computing with Infrastructure as a Service and Managed Cloud Services by leveraging plusserver’s extensive product portfolio and services.

A major provider of telecommunications services, Orange’s B2B brand Orange Business provides global IT services to companies and public authorities. From connectivity, Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud, to Artificial Intelligence (AI), application development and cybersecurity, Orange Business supports organizations at every stage of their data transformation.

As Chief Trust Officer of OBS since January 2023, Nassima Auvray has been responsible for structuring and steering Orange Business’ strategy, marketing and various actions in the field of digital sovereignty and trust. She represents Orange on the board of Gaia-X, of which Orange is one of the founding members. Before her nomination as OBS Chief Trust Officer, Nassima Auvray was Director of Strategy and Marketing for Trusted Cloud Solutions at Orange Business since January 2022. Before joining Orange Business, she held several technical, operational and strategic positions in various French ministries (Defense, Budget).

Thanks to her experience and expertise, Nassima Auvray masters all the issues relating to cybersecurity, data sovereignty, and around the trusted Cloud strategy.

Larik-Jan Verschuren-Parchomov is CTO at Fundaments. With a great passion for Cloud Infrastructure and digital transformation, he assists organizations with issues related to Cloud infrastructure, continuity and data protection.

Darren spent 18 years working in the UK banking sector, before moving into the Managed Services Providers sector in 2006.  During his time in the banking sector, Darren was responsible for ensuring that the infrastructure and data solutions supported compliance with numerous regulations such as PCI, Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II, as well as the UK Data Protection Act.  Whilst working in the MSP sector, Darren has been product manager for multiple as-a-Service offerings, including both Public, Private, and Sovereign Clouds.

Miguel Gómez Rodríguez is Technical Product Manager for the Virtual Data Center service at Telefónica Cybersecurity and Cloud Tech. He joined the Telefónica group in 2007 and since then has held different roles in cloud computing innovation, architecture and product design. Miguel has authored multiple articles and conference papers on next-generation computing infrastructure and services and is co-author of the book Creating the Infrastructure for Cloud Computing. He holds PhD and MS degrees in Telecommunications Engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

Based in Brussels, Eline Chivot is a senior adviser on digital policy and economic affairs at the European People’s Party (EPP), the centre-right, pro-European political party which gathers over 81 national parties from 43 countries. Her role includes consolidating and fostering the party’s knowledge, visibility and positions regarding the public policies that impact the technology sector, its actors, and the data economy, as well as society and the economy. This is also about bridging the Brussels conversation over those policies and the one happening in European countries. Throughout this experience and her previous positions, Eline covers European technology policies as diverse as those relating to online content liability and moderation, disinformation, data protection and privacy, emerging technologies like AI, quantum, crypto – but also competition policy on digital markets.

Eline also works as an Expert for the European Commission’s Innovation Friendly Regulations Advisory Board (IFRAG).

Prior to joining the EPP, Eline was a senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation, a D.C. and Brussels-based research institute affiliated with the Innovation and Technology Information Foundation (ITIF) Innovation and Technology Information Foundation (ITIF), consistently ranked as one of the world’s leading science and technology think tanks. Eline also worked at DIGITALEUROPE, one of Brussels’ largest trade associations where she managed relations with representatives of the tech industry, and as policy analyst at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS) in the Netherlands, developing research projects on defence, security, and economic policy issues.

Pierre Chastanet is Head of the Unit for Cloud and Software in the European Commission and oversees the development and implementation of the European policies on Cloud and Free Flow of Data.

Mr. Chastanet has been working for 16 years at the European Commission in various management and policy development assignments, in the areas of cybersecurity, digital privacy, ICT for societal challenges, green ICT, and telecom innovation.

Prior to that, Mr. Chastanet gained more than 11 years of ICT experience, mostly in various IT management positions in a large multinational company.

He holds an MSc in Telecommunication Engineering from Telecom ParisTech, an M.A. in International Politics from the Free University of Brussels (ULB), and a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Andreas Schwab has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2004. As coordinator of the EPP group in the influential Internal Market Committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament, Mr Schwab has successfully pushed important legislative projects through the Parliament, such as the Consumer Rights Directive (2011), the Network and Information Security Directive (2013), the Antitrust Damages Actions Directive (2014) and the European Competition Network Directive (2018). He authored key European Parliament resolutions on Single Market Governance (2012), Supporting Consumer Rights in the Digital Single Market (2014), as well as the Digital Taxation Report (2021) and the Digital Markets Act (2022). Mr Schwab is currently the Parliament’s rapporteur for the Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI)

Robert Condon is Head of Government Relations & Public Policy in EMEA for VMware, founding the function in 2018. He leads VMware engagement, manages relationships with government, regulators, and policy stakeholders across EMEA, whilst acting as a trusted advisor to senior international business leaders. Robert is an elected Vice Chair of the Digital Trade Policy Group at DIGITALEUROPE and was previously Managing Director at an international corporate affairs consultancy, where he founded the UK government & corporate relations practice.

A graduate in modern languages and economics from the University of Reims, holder of a diploma in public administration, Pascal Rogard has led the ORANGE Group office in Brussels since April 2020.

He was previously Digital Advisor at the Representation of France in Brussels and also carried out various management activities as office manager and then director at the Ministry of Economy.

He has worked on economic regulation and merger control issues at the Ministry of Economy and Finance in close collaboration with the services of the European Commission.

He also spent part of his career in the services of the European Commission at DG Trade in charge of bilateral and multilateral negotiations and thus has an excellent knowledge of Community procedures and networks.

Finally, he worked in various ministerial cabinets (foreign trade and consumption) and sat on the High Council of Merchant Aviation, Ubifrance, Cofres and the International Investment Agency. He also served as “SME Envoy” for France, rapporteur for the Economic Medicines Committee and Vice-Chairman of the OECD SME Committee. He represented France at the Bureau International des Expositions.

Languages: English, German, Spanish

Publication of articles and various activities: La Revue de la Concurrence: “The liberalisation of air transport in France and in Europe”, “The functioning of the Bundeskartelamt”, “Innovation and exports of SMEs.” Chairman of CLENAD ( END Liaison Committee), Vice-champion of France in high jump, Knight of the National Order of Merit, Auditor of the Cycle of Advanced Studies for Economic Development and of the Advanced Cycle of the ENA.

Derek Rodenberg is strategic alliance manager at KPN responsible for several partnerships amongst other with VMware. He develops strategic alliances to support and develop portfolio and strengthen KPN’s go-to-market strategies.

Derek has a strong commercial and technical background with a track record of over 20 years in ICT at KPN and system integrators. He has worked in different roles such as sales manager, business development, program manager and innovation manager. In the past he has launched a number of innovative services which still remain very successful in the market.

Ilias Iakovidis PhD, Adviser, Digital aspect of green transition, European Commission, DG CONNECT.

Ilias works on the nexus of digital transformation and green transition, trying to maximise their synergies. In particular, he is focusing on quantifying the real impact of digitalisation on the environment & climate, and, on supporting transition to circular economy with digital solutions, such as Digital Product Passport, where cloud services play important role. Ilias overlooks the work of the   European Green Digital Coalition and the EU project CIRPASS.

Before 2017 Ilias has contributed to the EU Agenda of eHealth and ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing for over 20 years. Areas he pioneered include digitally supported Integrated Care, ‘Virtual Physiological Human’ (Patient Digital Twin)’, Personal Health Systems and Electronic Health Records.

Laurent is leading the VMware efforts in EMEA on Sovereign Cloud. He is member of the EMEA Leadership team.  

Laurent is also the leading force behind VMware’s involvement in Gaia-X, a European project focused on co-creating the next generation of data infrastructure for Europe, its states, its companies, and its citizens. 

Digital Sovereignty is set to define Europe’s next decade. It is attracting significant investment, with nations and enterprises seeking to ensure data privacy, compliance and digital capabilities while developing innovation.

Laurent is a 30+ year IT Executive veteran. He has enjoyed a long history with VMware as both partner and client since 2001, in his capacity as Group CTO at AXA Tech, WW Head of Technology at CGI Services, and CEO and Vice Chairman at OVHCloud. Laurent brought this significant experience to VMware when he joined us in 2020 to support strategic business development in SEMEA as Field Commerce Executive.

Outside of work, Laurent plays bass in a rock band. He lives in France and is married with 4 children and 5 grandchildren.