Didier Reynders is European Commissioner for justice responsible for rule of law, data protection and other fundamental rights, as well as consumer protection, a position he has held since December 2019. Previously, he held several high-level political positions in Belgium including minister of defense, minister of foreign affairs, foreign trade and European affairs, minister of finance and deputy prime minister. From 2004 to 2011, he served as chairman of the Mouvement Réformateur (liberal party alliance). He was elected member of the Belgian Parliament in 1992. Prior to this, he was president of the National Railway Company of Belgium and the National Society of Airways. Reynders has been a guest lecturer at the universities of Liège, Brussels and Louvain until he became European Commissioner. He holds a degree in law from the University of Liège.

Biography will be included shortly.

Blanca Rodriguez is currently Deputy Director-Head of Unit responsible for
Consumer and Marketing Law in the Directorate General (DG) for Justice and
Consumers (JUST) of the European Commission.
Blanca started her professional career in the Directorate General for
Competition as an antitrust enforcer and prior to her current job, worked in
other departments of the European Commission. She was a member of its
Legal Service and represented the European Commission in litigation cases
before the European Court of Justice. She was also advisor on Competition and Legal matters to President Jacques Santer and to Commissioner Mario Monti on State Aid matters. Back in DG Competition, Blanca was in charge of
International Cooperation.
Blanca graduated in Law for the University of Barcelona and has a Diploma of
Advanced European Studies (Law) by the College of Europe, Bruges. She was
Emil Noel Fellow at Harvard Law School Harvard University (2001-2002).

Ms. Pachl is the Deputy Director General of BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, representing 46 independent national consumer associations from 32 European countries.

Before this, she has held different positions at BEUC, starting as Legal Advisor, then working as Senior Policy and Institutional Affairs Advisor.

In her current role Ms. Pachl leads BEUC’s work on digital policies, consumer rights, redress and enforcement. She leads BEUC’s coordinated enforcement activities with its member

organisations as well as the horizontal policy work on EU governance and Better Regulation.

She represents BEUC in High Level Expert Groups, for example in the European Commission’s “Fit 4 Future” platform, the stakeholder group of the EU’s Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and previously in the European Commission’s High Level Group for Artificial Intelligence.

James Waterworth is Director of EU Public Policy at Amazon where he is responsible for the company’s interactions with the European Union institutions.

James has been active in policy for more than twenty years in London and Brussels, initially in the telecoms sector for Cable & Wireless, Telefonica and Nokia before joining Amazon.

Luca Cassetti is the Secretary General of Ecommerce Europe, the European digital commerce association. He is responsible for leading and coordinating the public affairs team and activities of the association. Luca Cassetti advises the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee with respect to policy challenges and ensures that the association acts accordingly at EU level. He is also responsible for maintaining and developing relations with EU official bodies and policymakers, in close cooperation with the team. Before becoming Secretary General in July 2020, Luca Cassetti was Ecommerce Europe’s Director of EU Public Affairs. Luca graduated at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve in 2013. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, with a focus on European Policies and Management. Luca speaks Italian, French and English fluently.

About Ecommerce Europe: Ecommerce Europe is the sole voice of the European Digital Commerce sector. It represents, via its national associations, more than 150,000 companies selling goods and services online to consumers in Europe. Ecommerce Europe acts at European level to help legislators create a better framework for online merchants, so that their sales can grow further.

Amaryllis Verhoeven is Head of Unit for Digital Transformation of Industry – Ecosystems II: Tourism & Proximity – in the Directorate General (DG) for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) at the European Commission (EU Commission). Before her current position, Dr. Verhoeven held different functions in the EU Commission related to Intellectual Property, Single Market and Energy files. She has also worked as an attorney with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Dr. Verhoeven holds a Ph.D. in law and political philosophy from the University of Leuven, where she is also lecturing on a regular basis.

Stefan Moritz has a long years’ experience in EU-funded economic development projects with international partner networks all over the continent.

A son of a craftsman and small entrepreneur in the construction sector, he used to work each school and university holidays on the constructions sites and in the workshop of his father’s company. After his civil service at an old people’s home, he studied Sociology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt (Main)/Germany, graduating with Prof. Ullrich Oevermann, a former Habermas Fellow Researcher that founded the Institute for Objective Hermeneutics. After his studies in Germany, already enriched by a year as visiting student in 1989-90 at the University of Bologna/Italy, Faculty of Political Sciences, he moved in 1995 definitely to live in Bologna.

There he started immediately to work with EU-project planning and management as a free-lance consultant, and founded in 1999 together with other 4 partners the Consulting Firm AREA EUROPA scarl. He lead this company as the CEO for 15 years until 2014, and represents it since then in Bruxelles.

He has a vast experience as Project Manager for regional economic development, European Network Promoter and Manager, as Workshop Facilitator (GOPP, OST, World Café), Trainer for Project Management and as Strategic Business Development Advisor.

Since October 2013 he started to cooperate with European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME and has been nominated the Head of the Brussels Liaison Office of Der Mittelstand.BVMW e.V. from Germany in August 2014, as well as Managing Director of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME in September 2014.

In July 2022 the Executive Board of the Confederation nominated him Secretary General of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME, following up on his mentor Walter G. Grupp. Mr. Moritz represents the confederation in several European institutional working groups, advisory boards and international networks.

Stefan Moritz is mother-tongue German and speaks fluently Italian, English, Spanish and French, plus some Portuguese and Dutch.

Stephan Tromp is Managing Director of IFS Management GmbH (IFS) and Deputy Chief Executive of the German Retail Association (HDE).

IFS (www.ifs-certification.com) has been developing globally recognised supplier assessment standards for the retail and industrial sectors since 2002. Stephan Tromp has developed the company’s business from the very beginning and the focus has always been on the high quality and trustworthiness of the standards as well as on international networking and digitalisation. IFS is a subsidiary of HDE and the French trade association FCD.

His responsibilities at HDE revolve around the association’s organisation and finances as well as the topic of digitalisation in retail.

Stephan Tromp holds a diploma in business administration from the Berlin School of Economics and Law. He was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives from 2003 to 2006 and is well versed in political processes and business management. He is a native speaker of German and fluent in English and Dutch.

Biography will be included shortly.

Karen Ghysels is responsible for the European Consumer Centre in Belgium. ECC Belgium is part of a European network with colleagues in all the member states, Norway, Iceland and the UK. These centres work closely together on a day to day basis to help consumers find a solution for their cross border
consumer query. ECC’s are therefore the face of Europe for consumers. Their service is free of charge.

The ECC Belgium team, that she is leading, consists of 4 lawyers, 1 communication officer and 1 case handler.

She obtained a law degree at the university of Namur, Antwerp and Hull. She became director of the center after working for 5 years as legal adviser at ECC Belgium and working for 6 years at the Belgian Embassy in Spain. She speaks Dutch, French, English and Spanish.

Dr Pierre Hausemer is the Managing Director of VVA. He has a wide experience advising the European institutions on a range of topics including, consumer protection, digital platforms, the single market, industrial policy and the green transition. Pierre’s speciality lies in impact assessment and evaluation of public policy and, in particular, the importance of taking into account market impacts in such assessments. He recently completed a study for the European Parliament on e-commerce and the Green Deal.

Before moving to London and Brussels, Pierre worked as an economic consultant in Washington, DC on issues surrounding the liberalisation of telecoms markets, copyright and international trade. He has published papers and spoken at conferences in the UK and abroad. In addition to English, he is fluent in French and German, and he speaks basic Spanish and Italian. At the London School of Economics, he has taught quantitative research methods for postgraduate students, and he has lectured on European Politics and Policy. Pierre holds a PhD from the London School of Economics as well as a BSc in Economics from Miami University in the United States and a Master of Science in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics.

Mr. Leendert Jan de Olde is Director EcoDesign & Sustainability for Philips. He joined Philips in April 2008, and currently is ecodesign lead and business partner for the consumer product portfolio. On sustainability this includes topics like circular economy, ecodesign and life cycle assessments. In addition Leendert Jan represents Philips in Brussels, and is chair of the working group Circular Economy in industry organization APPLiA, and vice chair for Digital Sustainability Policy Group in industry organization Digital Europe. Before joining Philips, Leendert Jan studied Land- & Watermanagement and Environmental Management, and worked as sustainability lead for a major Amsterdam based international retailer.

Juliette Beaulaton is Public Affairs Advisor for Ecommerce Europe. She joined Ecommerce Europe in October 2017, and leads the work of the Sustainability Working Committee and the Payments Working Committee of the association. As a representative of the digital commerce sector, her work entails advocating for the best regulatory framework possible for retailers. On sustainability, this covers topics such as packaging and packaging waste, sustainable products, sustainable consumption, green claims, right to repair, due diligence… Before joining Ecommerce Europe, Juliette studied political science and European politics in France before starting her career in European public affairs consultancies working on digital and sustainability policy.

Dustin Wisotzky is a Partner with top management consulting firm Oliver Wyman. He advises leading retail (both eCom as well as brick & mortar businesses) and consumer goods companies on a broad range of strategic questions, incl. large scale transformations, business model redesign and efficiency step change programs. Outside his retail industry focus, his functional expertise spans across operations, mainly concentrated on supply chain and sourcing – often linked to carbon footprint optimization.