Mr. Houlin Zhao is ITU Secretary-General, he was re-elected to this position at the 20th Plenipotentiary Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in November 2018.

Prior to first being elected as ITU Secretary-General in 2014, Mr. Zhao served 8 years as ITU Deputy Secretary-General. In that role, he was responsible for implementing important innovations.

Mr. Zhao also served two elected terms as Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau which develops technical standards to ensure worldwide ICT interoperability. Before that, he was a Senior Counsellor at Telecommunication Standardization Bureau for 12 years.

Before joining ITU, Mr. Zhao served as an engineer in the Designing Institute of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of China.

Mr. Zhao was born in 1950 in Jiangsu, China, graduated from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications. He holds an MSc in Telematics from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Ramin Guluzade is the Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan since February 13, 2017. Previously, he served as the Minister of Communications and High Technologies in 2016-2017.

Prior to this, Mr. Guluzade held managerial positions at the Heydar Aliyev Foundation from 2005 to 2015. In 2014, he was awarded the Taraggi Medal (Progress Medal) by the Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for his active participation in preserving and popularizing the nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev’s heritage.

Mr. Guluzade holds Bachelor`s and Master`s degrees in Economics from the Azerbaijan State Institute of Economics (currently UNEC).

Mr. Mehmet Cahit Turhan is the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey since July 09, 2018.

He was born in Trabzon, Turkey in 1960. He graduated from Black Sea Technical University in 1981.

Mr. Turhan held various positions at the General Directorate of Highways of the Republic of Turkey from 1985 to 2005. In 2005-2015, he served as the Director-General of the General Directorate of Highways. Mr. Turhan worked as a Chief Advisor at the Presidential Office of the Republic of Turkey in 2016.

Mr. Konstantin Shulgan is the Minister of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus since August 18, 2018.

He was born on July 11, 1965 in the city of Bereza, Brest region.

In 1989, he graduated from the Minsk Higher Air Defense Engineering School.

Mr. Shulgan held various positions at the State Information Security Center from 1991 to 2008.

In 2008-2018, he served at the military service as the Officer in the Operational Analytical Center (OAC) under the President of the Republic of Belarus.

Mr. Shulgan was appointed as the Deputy Head of the OAC in 2016.

Mr. Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi is the Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of the Islamic Republic of Iran since August 20, 2017. He is the youngest minister in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He was born on October 13, 1982 in Jahrom city, Iran. He is an Electrical Engineering graduate from the University of Water and Power Industry.

Mr. Jahromi held managerial positions in the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 2002 to 2009. In 2009-2014, he served as the Director General of the Security Systems Department at the Communication Regulatory Authority of Iran.

In 2016, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Chairman of Board of the Telecommunication Infrastructure Company.

Mr. Bernard Gršić is the State Secretary in charge of the development of the Croatian digital society, focusing on digitising public administration, economy, enhancing digital skills of citizens and promoting cybersecurity.

Mr. Gršić is a member of the Council of State on Information Infrastructure and National Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs. He participates in the work of National Council for the Digital Economy, and he chairs the Working Group for the Digital Society, one of the groups preparing the national development strategy until 2030.

He was also Assistant Minister (2016-2017) for public administration. He was responsible for e-government.

Mr. Elmir Velizadeh is Deputy Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies since February 02, 2018.

He began his early career as a specialist at the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 1991. In 1998, he was appointed as the Chief of the Center of Information Resources and Technologies of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He worked as the Head of Information Resources and Technologies Department of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2005-2007.

On December 26, 2007, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

He was awarded the Taraggi Medal (Progress Medal) by the Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2015.

Mr. Velizadeh holds a Bachelor`s degree in Automated Control Systems from the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute (currently Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University).

Mr. Omer Abdullah Karagozoglu is the Chairman of Board of the Information and Communication Technology Authority (ICTA) of the Republic of Turkey since August 13, 2018.

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1972. He is an Electrical and Electronical Engineering graduate from the Eastern Mediterranean University.

Mr. Karagozoglu worked as the software engineer at the Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration from 2002 to 2004. In 2002-2016, he held various managerial positions at the BELBIM Company. He served as the Adviser to Chairman and Board Member of the ICTA from 2016 to August 13, 2018.

Mr. Nikolay Pomoshchnikov is OIC of the ESCAP Subregional Office for North and Central Asia since April 2019.

He was Head of the ESCAP Subregional Office for North and Central Asia from 2011 till 2015.

From 2005 till 2011, Mr. Pomoshchnikov was Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the ESCAP.

He has the diplomatic rank of Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Envoy (second class).

He holds a PhD in Political Science.

Enrico Albertin is the Director of Global Operations for Cisco Country Digitization Acceleration Program and specialized in the field of Digital Transformations.

Enrico is working with countries across the globe collaborating with government leaders, industry and academia to define the Digital Transformation strategies and executable practical plans with clear deadlines to accelerate specific Country’s Digitization programs with the objectives to maintain global competitiveness, increase GDP growth, deliver new digital services to citizens, foster innovation and create new jobs.

Prior to Cisco, Enrico worked for more than 20 years at HP, Digital Equipment Corporation and Compaq Computers, with several level of responsibilities at EMEA region and worldwide level.

Dr. Siddharth Saxena is Chairperson of the Cambridge Central Asia Forum, Director of Cambridge Kazakhstan Centre and Honorary Secretary of the Committee for Central Asia.

He trained as an anthropologist, historian and a physicist. His research interests are religion and identity, knowledge systems, social and political development and institutional history in Central Asia and the Middle East.

He was born in Lucknow, India in 1971. From Lucknow, he went on to New Orleans to complete High School and proceeded to the University of New Orleans, where he studied physics and history of Islam. He then studied Historical Anthropology of Islam in Khorasan. From the United States, he came to Trinity College, Cambridge to study for a Ph.D. in Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory.

Mr. Anatoly Iliyaich holds the Vice President Networks and Managed Services position in Customer Unit Eastern Europe and Central Asia responsible for promotion of Radio Access networks, transport portfolio, and professional services. Anatoly is heading up the presales team driving the development of solutions and services offerings across 12 countries.

Prior to this role, Mr. Iliyaich had several leadership positions in Ericsson Business Units in Stockholm, Sweden Headquarters governing telecom business with regional exposure to Middle East, Central Europe, Scandinavia and Baltics.

He has two master’s degrees in Engineering and Business Administration and attended multiple educational programs across the world such as Boston University, Kellogg Business School, Thunderbird University, and London Business School.

Mr. Aad is the head of IoT vertical product development at Nokia global services leading specifically the IoT vertical development in Nokia WING – Worldwide Internet of Things Network Grid.

Prior to joining Nokia, Mr. Aad served as Director of partnerships for MEA region at Sigfox and as Group Director for M2M and IoT at Etisalat Group in charge of developing M2M/IoT strategies across the group footprint which spans across 19 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Mr. Aad has an extensive experience in the telecommunication field and holds master’s degrees in Management of New Technologies and Telecom Strategies.

Dr. Itay Miyara is an entrepreneur and PhD in Plant Pathology & Microbiology with extensive experience in technology and digital solutions for the agricultural sector, with an emphasis on IoT sensors.

He is Co-Founder & CEO of Grofit Agtech, helping greenhouses farmers optimize growth and maximize profits through innovative technologies.

Dr. Itay Miyara worked as R&D manager at Syngenta HQ, Switzerland from 2014 to 2017 and contributed to the digital solution projects using big data to optimize farmers’ agricultural products.

He holds a Ph.D. degree in Plant Pathology & Microbiology from the Hebrew University.

Mr. Gökhan Özyiğitoğlu is the Head of IoT Sales Development in Turkcell, the leading digital operator of Turkey, and in charge of developing IoT projects for helping digital transformation of various areas including smart cities, agriculture and industrial applications.

Within his 13 years of experience in telecommunication industry, he took diversified roles and created strategies for Smart Cities, Business Applications, Farmers Segment, Mobile Internet.

Mr. Özyiğitoğlu holds a Bachelor`s degree in Electrical Engineering from İstanbul Technical University and MBA degree in Sabancı University.

Ali Mohsin is a senior Telecommunications professional from the UK with over 15 years of experience in Unified Communications and Mobile Networks.

As a board member of UK Smart City Alliance, Mr. Mohsin’s involvement in conducting research on futuristic technology initiatives such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain technologies, the internet of things, M2M technologies, Robotics & Autonomous Vehicles.

Mr. Mohsin has recently been involved in a successful UK Government bid for the rollout of 5G Trial under the Digital Board of West Midlands Combined Authority. As a senior ICT professional, Mr. Mohsin is involved in largescale infrastructure rollouts and digital transformation projects across various continents.

Mr. Mohsin holds a Bachelor`s degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Westminster and Executive MBA in Strategy and International Business from the University of Birmingham.

Mr. Robert Farish heads IDC’s research and consulting businesses in Russia and other CIS countries.

Since 1992, Robert Farish has analyzed the IT markets of the former Soviet Union countries. Having spent most of his professional life in Moscow, he joined IDC in 1995. Mr. Farish has personally authored studies on most of the technology areas addressed by IDC. His leadership has resulted in a major expansion of IDC's business in the Eurasian region.

Robert Farish is widely regarded as one of the foremost specialists on IT markets in the CIS region and is regularly cited by the business and IT press.

Prior to joining IDC, Mr. Farish was the director of Russia Data Services, an independent Moscow-based IT research firm.

Mr. Farish has an Honors BA in history from Birmingham University of the United Kingdom and was a postgraduate student in communications at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Mr. Adil Mammadov is the Vice President at Idrak Technolgy Transfer, leading innovative technology solutions provider in Azerbaijan.

Mr. Mammadov is a technology strategy and management expert with 20 years of extensive international experience in ICT sector.

Prior to joining Idrak Technology Transfer, Mr. Mammadov held a number of senior management positions at TELUS Communications, Suncor Energy and Cenovus Energy in Canada.

He holds Bachelor`s and Master`s degrees in Economics from the Azerbaijan State Institute of Economics (currently UNEC).

Ms. Aida Karazhanova is Economic Affairs Officer of the ICT and Development Section at the ESCAP.

Aida is assisting development of the subregional broadband networks and corridors in Central Asia as part of the implementation of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS). She is also facilitating implementation of a DA-RECI project in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia and developing Implementation of AP-IS and subregional implementation plans as per the AP-IS Business Plan 2019-2020.

Ms. Karazhanova Aida has worked for a number of years at UNDP, UNEP RRC.AP, taking principle positions, raising the grants portfolio on sustainable development, including climate change.

Giorgos Chatzis is the Director of Enterprise Business Segment at Azercell, the leading mobile operator in Azerbaijan, specializing in delivering innovative corporate telecommunication solutions and supporting businesses throughout their digital transformation journey in the 5G era.

Mr. Chatzis is a professional with over 17 years of extensive international experience in marketing, sales and business development of a wide range of telecommunication services.

Prior to joining Azercell, Mr. Chatzis held a number of senior executive positions at Vodafone Italy, Orascom Telecom in Egypt and Wind Hellas Telecommunications in Greece.

Mr. Chatzis holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA from the University of Glasgow.

Mr. Krasimir Genov is the Board member of IoT Net Ltd. and IoT Solutions Ltd., as well as Head of Consumer Business Unit at Azercell LLC. 

He has 14 years` experience in the telecom sector in Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.

Mr. Genov was heavily involved in the Internet of Things in 2015-2018.

Graduated from Moscow State Institute for International Relations (MGIMO).

Mr. Gachay Mirzayev is General Manager of Microsoft Azerbaijan. He joined to the Microsoft in 2012.

Mr. Mirzayev is Microsoft certified Cloud solutions architect and Microsoft certified trainer. His main focus areas are Cloud Platform, Modern Workplace and Productivity solutions.

Gachay graduated from Baku State University, Apply Math and Cybernetics with Honor Diploma, has 20+ years' experience in ICT sector.