assilis Skiadopoulos is a Director of ΕΜΕΑ Government Industry Team at Microsoft, based in Athens, Greece, with more than 20 years of experience advising governments and regulated sectors across Europe on large‑scale digital transformation. In his current role, he works closely with public sector and defense stakeholders, supporting modernization initiatives spanning secure cloud infrastructure, data platforms, artificial intelligence, and mission‑critical systems. Vassilis has extensive experience engaging with defense, security, and national authorities, helping organizations modernize legacy environments while addressing requirements around sovereignty, resilience, interoperability, and compliance. His work focuses on enabling trusted adoption of cloud and AI technologies in highly regulated and sensitive environments, including defense and public safety ecosystems. Prior to Microsoft, he held senior leadership roles at Oracle and other technology companies, leading regional go‑to‑market and transformation programs across Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe. His career spans cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, and data‑driven platforms supporting complex, multi‑country programs. Vassilis holds a degree in Business Administration and International Business Management from the University of North Carolina and regularly participates in executive forums and panel discussions on defense digital transformation, AI in government, digital sovereignty, and secure innovation.

Damir Dizdarević is a long-time and highly rated lecturer on almost all Microsoft and community conferences in the Eastern Europe region having over 25 years of IT experience, mainly with Microsoft platforms. Damir specializes in Identity Management, MDM, Security, and Server platforms. He is the author of numerous MOC courses in the field of server and cloud platforms, as well as professional articles in domestic and foreign magazines. He has been holding an MVP title for 17 years and since 2017. Damir is awarded as Microsoft Regional Director. Currently, he is working as the CEO of Logosoft d.o.o. Sarajevo is one of the largest IT companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He occasionally writes blog articles at dizdarevic.ba/ddamirblog.

Aleš Pestotnik, MBA, is a Senior Technology Strategist at Microsoft for South-East Europe, responsible for the public sector in the Adriatic region. He brings more than 20 years of experience in leadership, sales, consulting and customer success management across the Adriatic region and Central and Eastern Europe. His mission is to support organisations in accelerating digital transformation and achieving sustainable growth. He began his career as an IT specialist at Hermes SoftLab, continued at Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and ArisGlobal, and rejoined Microsoft earlier this year, drawn by the opportunity to lead engagement on strategic topics with public administrations in the region on behalf of one of the global companies best prepared for the challenges of today’s business environment. Aleš is a graduate of IEDC – Bled School of Management (MBA) and holds a master’s degree in management, complemented by numerous certifications in cloud, sales and leadership from institutions including INSEAD, London Business School and FranklinCovey. His work is characterized by a focus on creating value for customers, strategic partnerships and fostering team excellence. Digital sovereignty and sovereign AI are a central focus of his current work. He works with governments across the region to help them envision and architect national platforms that meet their sovereignty requirements without limiting their innovation potential, guided by the principle that sovereignty is not isolation, but the ability to decide under your own rules.

Jan Bervar je glavni arhitekt digitalne varnosti v evropski multinacionalki Conscia, katere del je tudi podjetje NIL. Z več kot 25-letnimi izkušnjami na področju digitalne varnosti Jan svetuje organizacijam vseh velikosti, kako najbolj optimalno investirati v zmanjševanje digitalnega tveganja, pri tem pa še vedno ostati dovolj agilen. V prostem času vodi eno največjih šol salse v Sloveniji, zelo rad kuha eksperimentalne jedi in žganje, ter se rad odpravi na dolge raziskovalne počitnice.

Andraž Logar, ustanovitelj podjetja 3fs, ki že 22 let razvija najnaprednejše digitalne rešitve za visoko regulirano industrijo. Investitor v nekaj startupov in zrelih podjetij. Predsednik in so-pobudnik Slovenskega tehnološkega foruma, gospodarsko interesnega združenja, ki združuje visoko tehnološka in izvozna podjetja v Sloveniji.

Mag. Vesna Prodnik je univerzitetna diplomirana inženirka elektrotehnike in magistrica komunikoloških znanosti. Kot strokovnjakinja za nove tehnologije in regulativo elektronskih komunikacij je v Telekomu Slovenijeod leta 2022 kot članica uprave odgovorna za področja kibernetske varnosti, upravljanje omrežja in infrastrukture, IT ter prodajo IKT. Od leta 2006 je kot direktorica in vodilna svetovalka delovala v več svetovalnih podjetjih v telekomunikacijskem sektorju, kjer je vodila različne strateške in investicijske telekomunikacijske projekte v regiji JV Evrope. V obdobju od leta 2003 do 2006 je bila zaposlena v družbah Mobitel in Telekom Slovenije, kjer je vodila področja medomrežnega povezovanja in regulative.

With over 20 years of experience as a technology journalist, editor and analyst, Dragan specializes in telecommunications, mobile devices, consumer electronics, software development and startups. He is Executive Editor at Bug, Croatia’s leading technology magazine, and Mobile Devices Expert Group Manager at EISA. He is also the founder of .debug, Croatia’s largest developers conference, Bug Future Show and Idea Knockout, the Adriatic region’s leading startup competition. A regular attendee and speaker at major global technology events including CES, Mobile World Congress and IFA, he is among the first in Europe to review the latest flagship devices.

Dr. Marko Bajec is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, and Head of the Laboratory for Data Technologies. His research and applied work focus on language and speech technologies, IT governance, and the application of the Internet of Things in smart cities, smart homes, telemedicine, and other digital environments. He is involved in numerous research and development projects that bridge academic expertise with the digital transformation of businesses and the public sector.

Joško is a renowned expert in marketing and digital transformation. Until recently, he served as Regional Director at Google, overseeing the Adriatics region, where he was responsible for business development, agency partnerships, and supporting the digital transformation of local companies. Before joining Google, Joško built his career in the media and advertising industries and is considered one of the pioneers who helped educate the local market about the importance of online advertising and analytics. In his youth, he was also a talented footballer, playing for Hajduk Split and representing the former Yugoslavia at youth level.

Milos Djurkovic is Managing Partner at Amrop Serbia, the leading Executive Search and Leadership Development company in the region. Milos is helping companies to strengthen leadership, business and become more digital-ready. Through his ecosystem, he can offer to the companies’ complete transformation journey. Milos is a Member of the Management Board of Intereuropa Serbia and Member of the Advisory Board of Serbian Artificial Intelligence Society.