Uudistus. Luottamus. Vaikutus.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves served as president of Estonia from 2006–2016. Ilves is renowned for helping make Estonia one of the most digitally advanced nations through innovative policies that invested heavily in the future.

Ilves was born to Estonian refugees and raised in the United States. He holds a BA from Columbia University and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. He moved to Munich in 1984 to work as an analyst and researcher for Radio Free Europe, eventually becoming Director of the radio’s Estonian Service.

From 1993–1996, he served as Estonia’s ambassador to the United States. In 1996, he was appointed the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post he held until 1998, and again from 1999 to 2002. During this period, he played a key role in steering Estonia toward membership in the EU and NATO, which it achieved in 2004.

He ran for the presidency of Estonia as a joint candidate of the Social Democratic, Conservative, and Liberal parties and was elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2011.

Ilves used his office to further the country’s leadership in digital governance as well as in cybersecurity. Since leaving office, Ilves spent three and a half years as a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, while lecturing around the world on the digitization of governance and public services.

Over the past five years, Toomas Hendrik Ilves has remained an influential voice in international policy, technology, and European affairs, speaking and writing extensively on digital governance, cybersecurity, trans-Atlantic relations, and Europe’s technological competitiveness. He has held fellowships and advisory roles at institutions such as Stanford University and the Hoover Institution, while serving on several international councils and boards focused on technology and security. He has also been teaching courses on foreign policy and digitalisation at the University of Tartu in Estonia.

James Stewart is a Partner and the Chief Technology Officer at Public Digital, helping global organisations thrive in the Internet-era by advising on all aspects of digital change, from strategy to delivery. Drawing on 25 years of experience in leading technology teams and developing and operating digital services, James focuses on enabling wholesale digital transformation across the public and private sectors.

A recognised leader in Digital Public Infrastructure, in recent years James’ work has focused on work with global institutions driving and funding digital change. He works with global funders to develop strategies that equip governments to achieve development outcomes digitally and has worked with the World Bank, IMF, and the Gates Foundation, as well as various UN agencies and regional development banks.

Prior to joining Public Digital, James was a co-founder of the groundbreaking UK Government Digital Service (GDS), where they played a key role in the creation of GOV.UK, the single website for the UK government. GOV.UK has been widely celebrated, winning multiple design awards and saving billions of pounds for taxpayers. During this foundational period, James led the government’s cloud, hosting, and networking policy, and contributed to the formation of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The work led by the GDS team was described by O’Reilly Radar as “the default for how government should approach their online efforts in the 21st century.”

James is passionate about embedding essential internet-era practices, such as agile delivery, user-centric design, and open source development, in organisations of all sizes and shapes. He frequently share their insights and expertise as a public speaker and holds positions as a non-executive director.

Per Overgaard is the General Manager of Lenovo’s Infrastructure Solutions Group
(ISG) in Europe and META . He is responsible for Lenovo’s Data Center product
portfolio and is the sales leader for HPC (High Performance Computing), AI and
next wave hyperscale Data Centers. In this role, Per leads sales engagement and
has consistently grown Lenovo’s ‘premium to market’ growth for the past years.
Per leads, plans and launches ISG hardware and software offerings that put Lenovo
at the forefront of innovation. He is also focused on forging strong relationships
between the channel and customers, and works closely with core alliance partners
to build next generation solutions and develop key platforms for organisations on
their digital transformation journey.

He joined Lenovo in 2015 as part of the System X acquisition from IBM, bringing
with him a deep understanding of the company’s ISG offerings. During his time at
IBM, Per developed an extensive knowledge of large, complex solutions in a multi
OS environment which continues today.

He has a strong background in sales, having worked for several vendors within the
IT industry. He previously held the role of General Manager for Lenovo’s Data
Center Group in the Nordics, a complex multi-country, multi-language selling
environment. Per was critical in selling solutions, launching new technology
platforms and leading Lenovo’s customer-first strategy in these markets.

Per takes a bottom-up approach when collaborating with his extended teams,
understanding that everyone brings something vital to the table. As such, Per works
closely with them to offer technical support to customers and business partners.

Per strongly believes that leveraging emerging and key technologies – Cloud,
Security, 5G, Edge computing, AI, analytics, blockchain, open source, and more –
can help solve business problems, but a data-centric and customer-centric
approach remains critical in supporting IT becoming a business enabler
Per considers himself fortunate to have witnessed firsthand the enormous business
impact Lenovo’s transformative technologies have made; by forever striving to push
technology further, complexities can be removed, agility can be increased and costs
can be decreased.

Kirsi Karlamaa toimii tällä hetkellä Traficomin teknologia- ja strategiajohtajana. Tässä roolissa hän johtaa myös viraston kyberturvallisuuden tulevaisuustyötä ja strategista ennakointia. Hän on rakentanut digitaalista yhteiskuntaa liikenne- ja viestintäministeriön hallinnonalalla jo yli kahdenkymmenen vuoden ajan, josta kahden toista vuoden ajan hän on johtanut kyberturvallisuutta. Karlamaan osaamisensa kattaa muun muassa viestintäverkko- ja avaruusteknologian, kyberturvallisuuden ja liikenteen strategisen kehityksen.

Kaikki nämä ovat kriittisiä ihmisten, datan ja tavaran liikkumisen sujuville, turvallisille ja kestäville ratkaisuille. Aiemmin Karlamaa on työskennellyt Traficomin ja Viestintäviraston pääjohtajana sekä Kyberturvallisuuskeskuksen johtajana. Lisäksi Karlamaa toimii Digipaneelin puheenjohtajana.

Digi- ja väestötietovirastossa Mattisen vastuulla on kansainväliset asiat ja tavoitteena on tukea rajat ylittäviä digitaalisia palveluita sekä Pohjoismaissa että Euroopassa.

Mikko Mattisella on kokemusta yksityiseltä sektorilta ja julkishallinnon toiminnasta. Hänellä on vahva kokemus Verohallinnon asiakaslähtöisyydestä, Elisan palvelukehityksestä ja Veikkauksen digitaalisesta liiketoiminnasta.

Saku Airosmaa vetää Verohallinnon Tuotehallintayksikköä. Hän vastaa automatisoiduista verotusprosesseista, verovarojen maksuliikenteestä, sekä ICT-kehittämisestä ja operoinnista Verohallinnossa.

Atte Jääskeläinen toimii Sitran yliasiamiehenä aloitettuaan tehtävässä elokuussa 2023. Hän nauttii Sitran tehtävän mukaisesti ratkaisujen etsimisestä myös vaativiin ongelmiin. Häntä motivoivat suurten haasteiden pohtiminen sekä inspiroivat sitralaiset.

Kuva: copyright Topias Dean, Sitra

• Jaakko Korhonen vastaa Secure Infra & Platform -tiimin palvelukehityksestä ja arkkitehtuureista. Hänellä on vahva kokemus julkishallinnon ja elinkeinoelämän digitaalisten toimintaympäristöjen nykyaikaistamisesta, pilvisiirtymistä sekä tietoturvallisten työympäristöjen rakentamisesta. Jaakko keskittyy työssään siihen, miten teknologia valjastetaan palvelemaan toimintatapamuutosta, käyttäjiä ja päätöksentekoa turvallisesti, skaalautuvasti ja kustannustehokkaasti. Harrastuksena: Puutarhanhoito, purjehdus ja kaikki teknologia.

Nina Rahkola on dokumentaristi ja toimittaja, joka on juontanut useita ajankohtaisohjelmia suomalaisessa televisiossa. Hän on saanut palkintoja dokumenttiprojekteistaan, joissa hän tapaa ihmisiä ympäri maailmaa, mukaan lukien Irakissa ja Yhdysvalloissa. Rahkolaa tunnetaan intensiivisistä, mutta inhimillisistä haastatteluistaan poliitikkojen ja suomalaisten julkkisten kanssa eri elämänaloilta