Speakers

Professor Celeste Saulo was appointed as the first female and South American Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) by the Nineteenth World Meteorological Congress (Cg-19). Her four-year term began on 1 January 2024. Prior to this, she served as the Director of the National Meteorological Service of Argentina since 2014 and was the First Vice-President of the WMO. Professor Celeste Saulo has been the Director of the Argentinean National Meteorological Service (SMN) and Permanent Representative of Argentina at WMO since July 2014. She was elected to the WMO Executive Council in June 2015. She has been a member of the WMO World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) Scientific Steering Committee since 2011 and has served on various WMO panels related to her field of knowledge. She is full professor at the University of Buenos Aires and research scientist at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research. As the Director of the Argentinean National Meteorological Service, she has pursued its modernization based of the three axes:  enhancement of monitoring, of quality of forecasts and of communications with society. Thus, she has given rise to interinstitutional and interdisciplinary effort and dedication to contribute to the commitments made by the country with regards to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework. Under her direction, the Argentinean National Meteorological Service has been a venue for various capacity development activities for Meteorological and Hydrological Services of developing countries, with a specific focus on training in accordance with the country’s role of Regional Training Centre. Her intervention in regional and international activities is extensive, mainly oriented towards capacity building at the regional level and to the inclusion and integration of the younger generations of scientists in all relevant areas. A proof of that is the creation of the WMO YESS (Young Earth System Scientists) Office at the Argentinean National Meteorological Service. <a href="https://wmo.int/profile/celeste-saulo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="link" data-id="https://wmo.int/profile/celeste-saulo">Full biography</a>

With over three decades of leadership experience in global telecommunications policy, Ms. Bogdan-Martin has emphasized the need for digital transformation to achieve economic prosperity, job creation, skills development, gender equality, and socio-economic inclusion, as well as to build circular economies, reduce climate impact, and save lives. Her historic election by ITU Member States in S​eptember 2022 made her the first woman ever to head the nearly 160-year-old organization. Known for mobilizing innovative partnerships, she aims to promote meaningful connectivity, intensify cooperation to connect the unconnected, and strengthen the alignment of digital technologies with inclusive sustainable development.​​ <a href="https://www.itu.int/en/osg/Pages/biography-itu-sg-doreen.aspx" target="_blank">​​​Full biography</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtHJvm_2RPU" target="_blank">​Video i​nterview</a>

<strong>Mr. Philippe Aubineau</strong> is Counsellor at the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). He is responsible since June 2006 for ITU-R Study Group 1 on Spectrum Management and the Conference Preparatory Meeting for the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). Previous to taking up his current duties, he worked as radiocommunication engineer at the France Telecom research centre where he was in charge of international frequency planning, coordination and registration for satellite networks. He then joined the Space Services Department of the BR. Since 1995, he participated with increasing level of responsibility in all the WRCs which review and revise the Radio Regulations – the international treaty governing the use of the radio frequency spectrum and the satellite orbit. Philippe Aubineau graduated from the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis.

<strong>Paolo Avner</strong> is a Senior Economist with the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), where he co-leads the Disaster Risk Analytics and Resilient Infrastructure thematic areas. His current work focuses on the economics of resilience and disaster risk management in developing countries. He has worked on a number of analytical products including World Bank flagship reports and is the author of several policy-oriented research papers. Paolo has graduated from La Sorbonne University and from University Paris X – Nanterre as an economist and holds a doctorate from EHESS – École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.

Matteo Emanuelli works as a manager in the Strategic Development & New Markets team at Airbus Defence and Space / Connected Intelligence. In this role, he defines strategies for next-generation Earth observation (EO) services and sovereign multi-sensor EO systems. He follows World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) Agenda Items impacting the commercial Earth observation and has contributed to initiating a global EO industry coordination efforts on WRC topics. Additionally, he chairs the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Space Systems Technical Committee and formerly chaired Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC).