 Rim Belhassine-Cherif
Chair, Network of Women in ITU-T (NoW in ITU-T), Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer, Tunisie Télécom, Tunisia
Dr. Rim Belhassine Cherif is a general engineer. She is currently the Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer and responsible of the digital transformation department at the incumbent telecom operator in Tunisia “Tunisie Télécom”. Dr. Belhassine Cherif has participated in several ITU conferences, seminars and workshops and she holds many positions at ITU-T such as the positions of chairperson of the Network of Women in ITU-T, vice-chairperson of ITU-T Study Group 13 since 2013, vice-chairperson of WP3/13 and Vocabulary Rapporteur for the ITU Standardization Committee for Vocabulary. She is also the chairperson of the SG13 Regional Group for Africa. Moreover, she has been a vice-chairperson of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group and Co-Rapporteur on Standardization Strategy from 2017 to 2022 and also a vice-chairperson of the ITU-T Focus Group on Bridging the Gap: from Innovation to Standards between 2013 and 2015. Dr. Belhassine Cherif graduated from the Higher School of Posts and Telecommunications of Tunis. She obtained her Master degree then her Ph.D. degree from the National Engineering School of Tunis and obtained an Executive MBA from Paris-Dauphine University and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. In the academic field, she performed several research activities in the domain of telecommunications and electrical engineering, and she is the author of many papers published in international and national conferences and scientific journals. |
 Susan Ferguson
Country Representative for UN Women India
Susan Ferguson is the Country Representative for UN Women India. Ms. Ferguson has had a distinguished career in international development spanned by themes of gender equality and social justice. She joined UN Women in 2017. Having lived and worked for twelve years in South Africa, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, she was responsible for regional development initiatives. She has extensive experience working in grass root development agencies, establishing, and managing social services, working within Local, State and Federal Government in Australia on social policy and social programmes. Prior to joining UN Women India, Ms. Ferguson was the Country Representative in Papua New Guinea. Susan is a development practitioner and is proud to have been part of UN Women, working to achieve the mandate of equality for women and girls in different countries. Susan, a national of Australia, has a Master’s degree of International and Community Development and has 4 girls. She wants them to grow up in a just world where their contributions are valued and respected.
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 Hyoung Jun Kim
Vice-Chair of NoW in ITU-T, Chair of ITU-T Study Group 20, Research Fellow, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), South Korea
Dr. Hyoung Jun Kim began his career in 1988 at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) where he currently holds the position of Research Fellow. Previously, he served as Senior Vice-President and led the Intelligent Convergence Research Lab at ETRI. Over the course of 35 years, Dr. Kim has gained research experience in a range of ETRI divisions, such as the Info-Communications Technology Division, IT Strategy Research Division, Information & Telecommunications Technology Division, and Protocol Engineering Centre. Presently , he also serves as the Chairman of both ITU-T SG20 and the APT Standardization Program (ASTAP) within the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, and Vice Chairman of Network of Women in ITU-T. In the past, he has held roles as Vice-chair of SG20 and SG13, Rapporteur of Q25/16 since 2004, Vice-Chairman of the Focus Group on M2M Service Layers, Chairman of WP2 of the same Focus Group in ITU-T SG11, and Vice-Chairman of the Focus Group on Future Networks in ITU-T SG13. Dr. Kim's research and academic achievements are extensive, with over 450 standard proposals, more than 150 academic journal and conference papers, over 100 patents, and 20 official technology transfers to domestic companies under his belt. He has received three National President's citations in 2003, 2009 and 2023, in addition to numerous Certificates of Appreciation from international standard-related organizations, including ITU-T. Notably, Dr. Kim earned his second and third National President's Award at the "World Standards Day 2009 in Korea and 2023 in Korea” in recognition of his dedication to international standardization.
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 Sandra Maximiano
Chairwoman, Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), Portugal
Sandra Maximiano, Chairwoman of ANACOM’s Board of Directors since 15 December 2023, holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Amsterdam. She is an Associate Professor of Economics at ISEG – School of Economics & Management, University of Lisbon, where she is co-coordinator of XLAB – Behavioral Research Lab and of the Master’s Degree in Economics program. She is also a Visiting Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra. She was previously an Assistant Professor at Purdue University and a Research Fellow at the University of Chicago in the United States. She has also taught at the Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics and the Nova School of Business and Economics. Her academic research spans several areas: experimental and behavioral economics, organizational and labor economics, public policy, and information management. Her research explores issues related to social and moral preferences in individual decision making and in strategic and competitive environments, gender differences in economic decisions and the dynamics of information in competitive and co-operative situations. Maximiano primarily uses laboratory and field experiments to study human economic behavior and to collect data. Her work has been published in journals such as Review of Economic Studies, Economic Journal, Experimental Economics and Games and Economic Behavior. He is currently the Associate Editor of the Portuguese Economic Journal. Maximiano is a member of the Supervisory Board, a member of the Advisory Board and a member of SEDES observatories and working groups. Between 2020 and 2024, she was Vice-President of the Data Science Portuguese Association and a member of the ASF Forum for Market Conduct. From 2006 to 2023, she was the author of opinion columns in the Portuguese press, most notably the column “A Economia somos nós” (The Economy is Us) in the Expresso newspaper.
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 Vishnu Ram
AI Expert, Vice Chair of ITU Focus Group on Autonomous Networks, Independent consultant.
Vishnu has hands-on experience in the field of Telecom industry for more than 25 years, developing and implementing standards, and holds many international granted patents. Vishnu currently works as an independent consultant, is a Vice Chair of ITU Focus Group on Autonomous Networks and the co-convener of ITU Correspondence Group on datasets. Previously, he was a co-editor of ITU-T Focus Group specifications on Machine learning in 5G. His current passion includes coordinating standards initiatives, industry bodies, open source and academia, mentoring student projects and coordinating the ITU “AI/ML in 5G“ Challenge across the globe. He also curates and moderates webinars under the ITU Machine learning 5G webinar series and AI for Good. Vishnu was nominated as Scientific Advisory Board Associate (SABA) member of Motorola Networks and is a senior member of IEEE. He holds a Masters degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
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Alessandra Sala
Sr. Director of AI and Data Science, Shutterstock.
Alessandra is the Sr. Director of AI and Data Science at Shutterstock. Alessandra has over 10 years’ experience in research and innovation gained whilst working in academic and commercial environments. Alessandra is passionate in advanced analytics, machine learning, and computational models with the focus of transferring innovation from research to products. As Global President of Women in AI (a nonprofit do-tank working towards gender-inclusive AI that benefits global society), Alessandra is working with a strong community of women to foster diversity, inclusion and equality for women and minorities while encouraging a global ethical approach in AI. In her previous appointment Alessandra was Head of Analytics Research at Nokia Bell Labs where she was leading research teams in several locations and developing a successful strategy for the Data Analytics division while driving changes across different activities like her contributions to the Nokia AI Ethics Advisory Board. Alessandra is a judging committee member for international conferences, journals and internal innovation competitions. Winner of several technical awards and selected in 3 leadership and innovation programs.
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 Neha Satak
Founder and CEO of Astrome
Neha is the co-founder and CEO of Astrome, an Indian deep-tech startup that is accelerating the deployment of 5G and rural telecom infrastructure through its patented millimeter wave telecom radios and satellite communication products. mShe holds a PhD from Texas A&M University and a Master’s from Indian Institute of Science(IISc) in Aerospace Engineering. She was awarded the Amelia Earhart Fellowship by Zonta Foundation during her PhD. Her Masters thesis received the Gold Medal. After her PhD, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Florida in association with the Air Force Research Lab, USA. She is also a WEQ fellow, an award jointly given by AnitaB.org, USISTEF and Government of India. In 2019, she was selected for ITU's EQUALS program.
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