Speakers

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.​​

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Mr. Mario Maniewicz was elected Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He took office on 1 January 2019. 

Mario Maniewicz is an electronic engineer specialized in telecommunications. He has been with the ITU for over 30 years, where he has served in high-level management positions in the Radiocommunication and Development Sectors as well as in ITU Regional Offices. 

As Director, Mr. Maniewicz is responsible for the management of the Radiocommunication Bureau, which organizes and co-ordinates the work of the Radiocommunication Sector whose aim is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits.​

Alexandre Vallet is the current Chief of the Space Services Department in the Radiocommunication Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), since November 2017. As such, he leads the team responsible for the maintenance of the international registry of satellite radio frequencies, which allows all countries around the world to coordinate their use in order to avoid radio interference in outer space.
 
Alexandre Vallet began to work in 2000 in the R&D center of Orange dealing with communications satellites. In 2006, he joined the satellite operator Eutelsat where he was in charge of regulatory matters. From 2007 to 2017, he was the Head of the Regulatory affairs and Spectrum/Orbit Resources Department at the French Agency in charge of radio spectrum management (Agence Nationale des Fréquences – ANFR).

With over 25 years of experience in satellite communications and regulations at international level, Mr Ciccorossi has taken the following responsibilities:

Acting Head of the Satellite Systems Coordination Division at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Chairman of the 22nd. International Space Radio Monitoring Meeting (ISRMM), September 2021.
 Spokesperson on satellites issues representing the Radiocommunications Bureau at the World Radiocommunications Conference 2023 and at the Radio Regulations Board 
Counsellor of DG-Plenary at the CPM-2023 and WG-6C at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012.
Represented the ITU Radiocommunications Bureau at WRCs since 2003, as well as at several regional and international fora, including Space Debris Conference, CITEL, ICAO, International Astronautical Congress, Eurocontrol, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, Forum Europe, US Small Satellite Symposium, the Regulatory Expert Group of the ISRMM, IEEE and ITU Study Groups.
Advises ITU Member States and Sectors Members on technical regulatory matters of space services.
Responsible for the analysis of GSO and NGSO satellite systems submitted to ITU and the treatment of cases of harmful interference.

Mr. Ciccorossi has conceived the first (and unique) Intergovernmental Online Platform to Report RFI cases affecting Satellite System (SIRRS), assisting 193 ITU Member States in its resolution.
He holds the degree of engineer in electronics from the National University of Technology (UTN) in Buenos Aires, an Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, and has studied satellite communications and spacecraft design at the University of Surrey in the UK.

Patricia Cooper is a leading expert on satellite communications, regulation and space policy, and is the founder of the space consultancy, Constellation Advisory, LLC, where she advises smart space and satellite ventures and international projects.

For six years, Cooper led Government Affairs for the Starlink satellite broadband constellation project at Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), where she secured Federal Communications Commission authorization for a record 12,000 satellites, and market access in more than 30 countries. She advocated for updates to spectrum, telecom competition and space safety regulations in the US and around the globe to support the coming generation of satellite networks. Today, Starlink serves over 2 million users worldwide with a constellation of over 6,000 satellites in over 70 countries.  

Prior to SpaceX, Patricia was an executive at geostationary satellite fleet operator Intelsat and as for nearly 7 years, President of the Satellite Industry Association (SIA), the leading trade organization representing U.S. satellite operators, manufacturers and service providers. At SIA, Patricia advocated in regulatory and national security arenas, for fair trade and competition rules internationally, and spearheaded a successful bipartisan, bi-cameral legislative initiative to reform satellite export control legislation. Previously, Patricia had served in both the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Commerce, and led international outreach at two start-ups, CoreExpress, an Internet fiber infrastructure play and PanAmSat Corporation, a disruptor in the early satellite services market.  

Patricia holds a Master’s Degree with Distinction in International Economics from the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor’s Degrees in Political Science and German from Kansas State University (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa). 

Clémence Poirier is a Senior Cyberdefense Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Prior to joining CSS, she was a Research Fellow seconded by CNES (the French Space Agency) at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna, Austria where she conducted multidisciplinary research on space affairs. She also worked as a Researcher for Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia where she carried out policy and legal research on the cybersecurity of the Australian space infrastructure.

She is a guest lecturer at the NATO Defense College, the University of Oxford, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and ETH Zurich. She is also a Board Member of the CyberSat Summit and Women4Cyber Switzerland.

Her research interests focus on space cybersecurity, cyber conflict in outer space, and electronic warfare on space systems.

Clémence holds a Master’s degree in International Relations, International Security and Defense as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Applied Languages from University Jean Moulin Lyon III, France.

Emmanuelle David is the executive director of EPFL Space Center at the Swiss Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne. The center launched in 2023 the sustainable space hub to foster an interdisciplinary research to measure, understand and act toward space sustainability.

Before joining EPFL in 2020, Emmanuelle has gathered more than 10 years’ experience in space transportation in academia, agency and industry from pre-development projects up to launch operations. She holds aerospace Engineering degrees both from the University of Technology of Compiegne, France, and the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany.