AGENDA - The Impact of AI on Data Protection: Ensuring Privacy in the Era of Innovation

Mr. Leonardo Cervera-Navas, Secretary General of the EDPS

Leonardo Cervera-Navas is the Secretary General of the EDPS, in charge of the EDPS Secretariat.

Law graduate of the University of Málaga. Master’s degree in European Law from the University of Granada. Fellow at Duke University in North Carolina as part of the EU Fellowship Programme of the European Commission. Post-graduate diploma in HR management by Kingston University. Member of the Málaga Academy of Sciences (correspondent in Brussels).

Previously he was working in Data Protection in the EU institutions since 1999, in the European Commission and in 2010 he joined the EDPS as Head of HR, Budget and Administration. In 2018 he was appointed Director responsible for coordination and implementation of the strategies and policies of the institution.

Mr. Brando Benifei, Member of the European Parliament, S&D

Brando Benifei is an Italian MEP serving his second term and is the Head of Delegation of Partito Democratico in the European Parliament. He is Rapporteur for the Artificial Intelligence Act, as a Member of the Committee for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He also works on Employment, Legal and Constitutional Affairs. He was also shadow Rapporteur of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age. In 2016 he was included by Forbes in its 30 under 30 to watch list

Mr. Vincenzo Tiani, Partner of PANETTA Law Firm; Brussels Privacy Hub

Vincenzo Tiani focuses on privacy and personal data protection, intellectual property, and media law.

Since 2018, he has been an Adjunct Professor at IULM University in Milan where he teaches copyright and data protection. Since October 2020, he is Resident Partner of PANETTA Law Firm in Brussels, where he represents the Firm.

He also hosts the podcast Panetta Tech News, in which he delves into issues related to new technology law.

Since 2022, he is a Ph.D candidate at the VUB University of Brussels and Programme & Dissemination Coordinator of the Brussels Privacy Hub for which he researches the topics of artificial intelligence and personal data protection.  Since 2022, he has also been External Advisor on AI and Digital issues for the office of MEP Brando Benifei, co-rapporteur of the AI Act.

Mr. Vagelis Papakonstantinou, Professor at VUB

Vagelis Papakonstantinou is a Professor on Personal Data Protection Law at the Faculty of Law & Criminology of the Free University of Brussels (VUB, Vrije Universiteit Brussel), focusing also on Cybersecurity, Intellectual Property, and the broader topic of technology regulation. He works though the Cyber and Data Security Lab (CDSL), where he is its scientific coordinator, as well as through VUB’s Research Group on Law Science Technology & Society (LSTS) and the Brussels Privacy Hub.

Since the early 2000s Vagelis Papakonstantinou has participated in the law-making committees for the release of all major EU, Council of Europe and Greek laws and regulations on personal data protection (the Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA, the EU PNR Directive, Convention 108+, the GDPR the Police and Criminal Justice Data Protection Directive, Greek law n.4624/2019).

Mr. Stefano Leucci, legal and technological officer at EDPS

Stefano Leucci is a legal and technological expert at the European Data Protection Supervisor. His main responsibilities concern strategic foresight, financial matters and artificial intelligence.

Stefano has a diversified experience as a data protection officer, both in public and in private organizations.

Mrs. Isabelle Vereecken, Head of the EDPB Secretariat

Isabelle Vereecken is a seasoned privacy and regulatory professional with vast experience in both the private and the public sector.

She has been working in the field of data protection since 2002. She spent 10 years working as a legal adviser for the Belgian DPA, where she helped negotiate the GDPR as well as many BCRs or contractual policies with multinationals and law firms.

After that she moved on to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), where she oversaw the establishment of the European Data Protection Board. Becoming head of the EDPB secretariat was a logical next step in her career: not only did she help negotiate the GDPR, she also spearheaded the implementation efforts at the EDPS to get the EDPB up and running; coordinating the consultative exercise with member state regulatory bodies and institutional stakeholders up until the inauguration on May 25.