Outi Slotboom
Director for Strategy and Economic Analysis in the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission
Outi's Directorate is in charge of the strategy for EU industry policy and the Single Market, small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship, the international aspects of industry policy, as well as economic analysis underpinning these policies. She previously worked on policy coordination and country analysis in the DG for Economic and Financial Affairs and on competitiveness analysis in the DG for Enterprise and Industry. Prior to joining the European Commission, she worked on economic forecasts and policy in the Finnish Ministry of Finance. She studied economics in Turku and in Bruges.
David Caro
President of the European Small Business Alliance
For the last eight years, David has been the President of the European Small Business Alliance which represents approx. 1million small and micro businesses from across Europe and is based in Brussels. He previously sat on the UK Federation of Small Businesses English and National Policy Committees chairing the Environment and Energy Policy Unit and then the EU and International Affairs Policy Unit, he also has been a member of the Executive Board of the Flock Association of Europe since 2005. David is a member of West Midlands Business Forum, a group representing all the major business organisations in central England.
Eva Merloni
WEgate Project Manager
Eva Merloni is the President and chief project officer of Area Europa, with 10 years of experience in the management of European projects. With a background in Applied Ecology (Biological Sciences), an international master's degree in Sustainable Local Development and a PhD in Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences and Technologies, she’s a senior expert in coordinating projects (LIFE, Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, Interreg) at international level. She is currently the Project manager of WEgate on behalf of ESBA.
Gabriela Kostovska Bogoeska
Executive Director of the Foundation for Management and Industrial Research, North Macedonia
Gabriela has more than 16 years of experience in business and innovation support activities for increased competitiveness of the business sectors and overall sustainable development. With background in mechanical engineering, managing an IT business incubator, and acting as the president of the Macedonian national council for women entrepreneurship. Vice-chair of the Women entrepreneurship group within the largest European business support network, the EnterpriseEuropeNetwork, and WEgate community coordinator.
Thomas Cooney
Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Technological University Dublin
Tom is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Technological University Dublin, Academic Director of the Institute for Minority Entrepreneurship and Adjunct Professor at the University of Turku (Finland). He is a former President of the International Council for Small Business (2012-13) and of the European Council for Small Business (2009-11), and was Chair of the ICSB 2014 World Entrepreneurship Conference. He is a policy advisor to Governments, European Commission, OECD and other international organisations. He is a Director of four enterprises and works in various capacities with a range of businesses. He has published 9 books and presented widely on the topic, particularly in the area of minority entrepreneurship.
Helle Neergaard
Professor of Entrepreneurship and Head of Section, Department of Management, Aarhus University
Helle currently works at the Department of Management, Aarhus University where she is currently Head of Section. Helle does research in Entrepreneurship with a special focus on female entrepreneurs, Higher Education (in entrepreneurship) with a focus on transformational learning and Qualitative Social Research. She is widely published also in some of the top-tier journals in entrepreneurship and was the PI of the 'PACE - Promoting A Culture of Entrepreneurship' project from 2012-2016.
Alice Martin
Co-founder & COO of Dermanostic
Alice is a resident dermatologist and co-founder of the start-up "Dermanostic GmbH" (dermatologist by app) and "medi-login GmbH" (certified international online courses for medical professionals). Since 2021 she works as a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences (FOM Hochschule) in Germany.
Ann Hiatt
Founder of Hypergiant
Ann is an executive consultant, speaker, author and investor. She is Silicon Valley veteran with 15 years experience as the right hand to Jeff Bezos (Former CEO and Founder of Amazon), Marissa Mayer (former CEO, Yahoo!) and Eric Schmidt (Former CEO and Executive Chairman at Google/Alphabet). Ann relocated from Silicon Valley to Europe where she brings with her a unique perspective on what it takes to succeed in business today to CEOs and companies across the globe. Her first book, Bet On Yourself, which will be published by HarperCollins in 2021.
Eva Diaz
CEO of Appogeo Digital
Eva is a woman with a wide professional career, trained in Mechanical Engineering and with more than 20 years of experience in senior management; committed to society and its environment on issues as relevant as gender equality, diversity, and the impact of technology on society and business. Born in 1962, she completed her gender identity transition process in 2015, being able to maintain her professional and personal activity during this process and becoming a reference for a transitioned and managerial woman.
Maria Kottari
Founder of The Energy Matrix
Maria is a Research Associate at the School of Transnational Governance of the European University Institute (Climate cluster). She holds a Ph.D. in International, European & Regional Studies with a focus on Energy Politics and has a wide range of expertise and network in subjects related to the EU and international politics and governance, energy, climate and environmental policies, sustainability, and social challenges. Maria worked for three years at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, focusing on the energy transition and innovation.She is, also, a guest lecturer at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Luxembourg. She is involved in various initiatives related to the policy and societal aspects of the energy transition and climate change mitigation/adaptation, in particular the just transition principles, gender mainstreaming and women empowerment, sustainable cities, and citizen-driven innovation.
Hubert Gambs
Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the European Commission
Hubert is Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the European Commission since July 2020. Before he was Director for services in the internal market in the same Directorate-General. From 2010 to 2014, he was Chief of Staff for the European Commissioner for regional policy. He also worked in the European Commission in the areas of competition policy, maritime affairs and fisheries as well as external relations, and in the Austrian Department of Economic Affairs in the area of public procurement control. Hubert is Austrian and studied law in Innsbruck, Paris and Madrid.
The WEgate Summit 2021 is moderated by:
Helene Banner
Founder of “Let’s Just Be Imperfect, Ladies”
Helene is a women mentor and speaker with 10 years work experience in senior communication roles at the European Commission in Brussels and Berlin. She was the German speechwriter of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and worked in Ursula von der Leyen’s team to prepare her candidate’s speech which made her the first female President of the European Commission in July 2019. That was also the moment when Helene took the leap towards entrepreneurship to inspire even more women to step into their authentic power. In her online workshops and mentorings, she today supports hundreds of women to use their female superpowers in male-dominated work environments and to overcome confidence blocks and career doubts. Since 2020, Helene is also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges.
