Speakers

Dr Milena Angelova has been serving as Secretary-General of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association since 2002 and as SGI Europe Vice-President since 2011. She has been a member of the European Economic and Social Committee since 2007, a member of the Bulgarian Economic and Social Committee since 2006 and is well known as an active participant in policy-making processes in Bulgaria. In June 2022, Dr Angelova was appointed Bulgarian SME Envoy.

She has a 25-year successful track record in representing the interests of the business community at EU and national level regarding important topics such as sustainable development and CSR, promoting SMEs, innovation and knowledge transfer, skills and the future of work. She is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Sustainable Development at the Economic Research Institute at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. 

Javier Arguedas is a Costa Rican journalist, moderator, and media trainer. He is a news anchor and talk show host at Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), in both English and Spanish. He has worked as DW’s Latin America correspondent, based in Bogotá, Colombia, and as a financial correspondent at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. He currently lives and works in Berlin.

Jennifer Baker has been a print, radio and television journalist for more than 20 years, of which the last 10+ she has specialised in EU policy and live event presentation. One of the top influencers in the EU bubble, Jennifer was declared the #1 Tech Influencer 2019 by ZN, listed by Politico as one of the Top 20 Women Shaping Brussels 2017, and named by Onalytica as one of the world’s Top 100 Influencers on Data Security 2016. She regularly features as an EU expert on BBC radio, Euronews, SkyNews and Euractiv.

For more information please see: www.brusselsgeek.com or wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Baker_(journalist)

Séamus Boland has been the President of the EESC's Civil Society Organisations' Group since October 2020. His policy and political interests include the eradication of poverty, social exclusion and inequality. In addition to the Group presidency, he holds several other roles outside the EESC. He has been CEO of Irish Rural Link since 2001, a Board Member of Inland Fisheries Ireland since 2018 and Chair of Peatlands Council since 2012. Mr Boland is a farmer and has worked in civil society for over 40 years, including with young people, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and people living in rural isolation. From 2007 to 2013, he was a member of the first Press Council of Ireland. He is a trained Speech and Drama Educator.

Alexandra Borchardt is a senior journalist, media researcher, university teacher and independent advisor with more than 25 years of newsroom experience, 15 of which are in leadership roles. In the past five years she has supported 26 European publishers in digital transformation as a coach for the World Association of News Publishers’ (WAN-IFRA) Table Stakes Europe Programme. Alexandra works as a honorary Professorfor Leadership and Digital Transformation at TU Munich’sTUM School of Management and is affiliated with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford as a Senior Research Associate, having served as their Director of Leadership Programmes until 2019. Prior to this she was managing editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), Germany’s leading quality daily. She is the lead author of the three most recent EBU News Reports, the latest one being “Trusted Journalism in the Age of Generative AI”, published in June2024.

Alexandra is a member of the Committee for Editorial Independence at Czech publisher Economia, a board member of the Constructive Foundation in Aarhus, a member of the advisory boards of Wiener Zeitung and Klimafakten, and engaged in the evaluation of media start-ups on various juries. At the Council of Europe, Alexandra served as a rapporteur on the Committee of Experts on Freedom of Expression and Digital Technologies until September 2021 and prior to that as vice chair on the Committee of Expertson Quality Journalism in the DigitalAge.

You can see some of Alexandra’s work at www.alexandraborchardt.com, and connect with her on X (Twitter) at @AlexaBorchardt, Bluesky at @alexandraborchardt.bsky.social, or LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/alexandraborchardt

With a background in Communication and Journalism, Ana Costa Martins  has been working as Adviser to the Director for Media of DG COMM, in the European Parliament, since 2020. Ana deals with a wide range of support schemes for the media managed by the Directorate. More particularly, she has coordinated the implementation various initiatives in the field of press freedom and media pluralism, such as the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism and the Media Freedom Station.

Lukáš Diko is the editor-in-chief and chairman at the Investigative Centre of Ján Kuciak (ICJK). Lukas is an investigative journalist and media leader with more than 20 years' experience. He worked as a director of news, sports and public affairs of Slovak public broadcaster RTVS. Lukas is also co-author of Code of Ethics of Slovak journalists adopted in 2011.

Clothilde Goujard is a French and Canadian freelance journalist. She was most recently a senior technology reporter for POLITICO Europe where she covered European politics and legislation related to online content moderation and privacy.

In recent years, she also worked as a journalist in Canada, France and the United Kingdom reporting on politics, energy, migration and technology for a variety of media outlets including the Washington Post, the Guardian, Le Monde, BBC, Agence France-Presse and CBC.

Ricardo Gutiérrez is the General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, representing 300 000 journalists across 45 countries.

A former journalist for the Belgian daily newspaper “Le Soir”, he is a senior lecturer at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He is a member of the Belgian Press Council (CDJ) and of the Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). He has conducted training for journalists on hate speech, ethical journalism and reporting on ethnicity and religion. He is also a member of the board of experts of the Justice For Journalists Foundation, and a member of the jury of the Fetisov Journalism Awards. You can learn more about his interests (i.e. journalism and media freedom) by following him on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Molenews1) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/RicardoGutierrezVe).

Gretel Kahn is a journalist for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Previously, she worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Montreal, covering daily news for radio and web. She holds degrees from both McGill University and the University of Oxford.

Katarzyna Kowalewska is a leading social media expert and community builder with a proven track record in shaping digital strategies for some of the most prominent institutions in the EU. She developed her expertise while working with the flagship digital teams of the European Parliament and the European Commission, and she is currently the social media manager at the European External Action Service. Katarzyna is passionate about fostering authentic connections between people and the EU through intentional social media presence. Outside of work, she is a content creator and the author of the popular newsletter (https://notesfromkasia.beehiiv.com). 

Andreas Lamm is part of the management team at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF). As the interim managing director, he oversees the development and implementation of the organisation’s long-term strategy. He is dedicated to promoting media freedom and safeguarding media professionals across Europe.

Before joining the ECPMF in 2015, Andreas worked as a freelance media professional, specialising in reportage photography and magazine layout. He also spent eight years teaching visual journalism at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies (IfKMW) at the University of Leipzig.

Aurel Laurenţiu Plosceanu is the EESC Vice-President for Communication. Previously, he was President of the EESC’s Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship. He has been a member of the EESC and its Employers’ Group since 2007, and over the years has been involved in activities across all EESC sections. In 2016, Mr Plosceanu became Vice-President of UGIR – the General Union of Romanian Industrialists. Since 2007, he has been President of ARACO – the Romanian Association of Building Contractors, and since 2024, the Vice-President of FIEC – the European Federation of Construction Industries. Mr Plosceanu has technical, economic, law and defence qualifications.

Isabelle Le Galo Flores is the Secretary-General of the European Economic and Social Committee. She comes from Civil Society as an expert in sustainability, arts and social transformation. Her approach offers a strong focus on empowerment strategies both within and outside the organisations she leads, making it possible to develop trust, purpose and impact-focused organisations. With a background in mathematical engineering and political sciences gained at Science Po Paris, Ms Le Galo spearheaded Spain's Carasso Foundation from 2014 to 2023, focusing on sustainable food systems, civic arts and advancing philanthropy. Under her guidance, the foundation pioneered grants promoting cultural and food democracies, impact investing and collaborative transitions. Ms Le Galo is one of the Top 100 Women Leaders in Spain, an Aspen Institute Fellow, an Acumen Fellow, and a BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Fellow.

Hanna Liubakova is a journalist and analyst from Belarus. She is a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and has written about the latest developments in Belarus for international outlets such as The Washington Post, The Economist and others. She won the 2023 One Young World Journalist of the Year Award and was a finalist for the 2021 European Press Prize. Liubakova began her career at the only independent Belarusian channel, Belsat TV, which was banned by the regime in Minsk. She later joined RFE/RL and worked in Prague, Czechia.  She is currently working on a book about Belarus.

Jean-Paul Marthoz is a columnist at the Brussels daily Le Soir and the editorial coordinator of the annual report of the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform. He is the author, or co-author, of some 20 books and reports on journalism and press freedom (The Media and Terrorism, UNESCO, 2017; En Première Ligne. Le journalisme au coeur des conflits, GRIP, 2018; Fragile Progress: The Struggle for Press Freedom in the EU, Committee to Protect Journalists, New York, 2023…).

He sits on the Editorial Board of Index on Censorship magazine, the Advisory Board of the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN, London) and the ethics committee of RTBF (Francophone Belgium’s public broadcaster).

Tomas Miglierina (Varese, Italy, 1971) graduated in Political Sciences from the University of Milan. He covered the wars in the former Yugoslavia and worked as press officer for the OSCE mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina that supervised the first post-war elections. Since 1998 he has been a staff journalist with the Swiss broadcasting corporation. He was EU and NATO correspondent from 2003 to 2022, with an intermezzo as US correspondent from 2011 to 2013. He is now back in Switzerland and Italy but continues to follow EU affairs and the Balkans.

Christian Moos has been the honorary secretary-general of Europa-Union Deutschland since 2011 and a board member of the European Movement Germany since 2012. He studied history, political science, and languages in France and Germany. From 1995 to 2001, he worked for a Bundestag member, before joining the dbb civil servants’ union, including in a post in their Brussels office. Since 2012, he has headed the Europe and International Affairs Division at the dbb. A member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) since 2015, he became European Commissioner of the Federal Network for Civic Engagement in 2022. Moos is an expert on European policy and communication and serves as vice-president of both the EESC’s Follow-up Committee on Transatlantic Relations and its Ad Hoc Group on Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law.

Tom Moylan is a communication strategist with many years' experience advising politicians, public institutions and various other organisations. He teaches and researches at the meeting point of crises, communication and digital communication at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Gill Phillips was the Guardian's Director of Editorial Legal Services between 2009 and 2023, advising on phone hacking, Wikileaks, the Leveson Inquiry, the NSA leaks from Edward Snowden as well as big data leak projects such as the Panama and Paradise Papers and the Uber files. She is now a freelance editorial legal consultant and advises on all aspects of pre-and post-publication matters, including defamation, privacy and data protection, contempt, confidentiality and copyright, from a legal and ethical perspective.

Jerzy Pomianowski has worked in international affairs for almost 30 years as Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland, Director of OECD-UNDP’s Partnership for Democratic Governance, and as Poland’s Ambassador to Japan. In 2013, he led the establishment of the European Endowment for Democracy organisation and has since served as its Executive Director. Pomianowski began his career as a civil servant in 1990, just after the fall of communism, first in the Ministry of Education, and then in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He oversaw the launch of Poland Aid (2006-2008) and served as Director-General of the Polish Foreign Service (2005-2006). Before 1989, Pomianowski was an active member of the democratic opposition in Poland. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Independent Publishing House at Warsaw University, his alma mater. In his free time, he serves as President of the European and Polish Aikido Federations.

Oliver Röpke was elected President of the EESC in April 2023. Member of the EESC since2009, Mr Röpke was president of the EESC's Workers' Group, member of the EESC Bureau, and rapporteur of many EESC resolutions and opinions on employment and social policy, the single market and innovation. Mr Röpke headed the Brussels office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and took on several senior positions, including representative of ÖGB to the EU institutions and to the executive committee of the ETUC, and advisorymember of the ÖGB federal executive board. Mr Röpke has a legal background and holds a law degree from the University of Vienna.

Nina Skočak is a political scientist and communications expert working for the European Commission's Scientific Advice Mechanism. In tandem with her official duties, she is also a content creator, curating a personal Instagram and TikTok blog that commands a following of nearly 300,000, where she discusses topics such as sustainable fashion and EU politics. Her influential online presence led her to run in this year's European elections, leading the youngest independent candidate list in the EU (Gen Z list in Croatia). She came close to winning a seat in the European Parliament, managing to convert every 8th TikTok follow into a vote.

Rieke Smit is the editor on duty at Social News Daily and specialises in reaching young audiences. She has been on board at the new literacy initiative #UseTheNews in various roles since 2021 and is now responsible for planning, coordinating, and approving SND contributions. After completing her bachelor’s and master’s degrees with a focus on journalism and humanitarian aid, she completed a traineeship at the FUNKE Zentralredaktion.

Lucie Studničná is the president of the EESC Workers' Group since 2023, having been group vice president since 2020 and member of the EESC since 2010. She has broad experience in European politics and international relations from a trade union perspective, having served as the International Secretary of ČMKOS for the last 9 years. Before that, she was the International Secretary of OS KOVO from 1999 to 2014 and the head of the international department of the same trade union from 1992 to 1996. She studied International Relations at the School of Economics in Prague and, in addition to Czech, speaks fluent English, German and Russian.