Helen Popp serves as the Ambassador-at-Large for Cyber Diplomacy at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she leads Estonia’s international engagement on cyber diplomacy, digital security, and global cyber policy. With extensive experience across European institutions, diplomatic missions, and government, she has established herself as a respected voice in international cybersecurity and digital governance.

Prior to her current role, Helen served as a Cyber Policy expert at the European External Action Service (EEAS), contributing to the European Union’s external cyber policy and international cooperation initiatives. She also headed an office within the European Parliament, gaining valuable insight into European policymaking and institutional affairs.

Her diplomatic experience includes serving as Digital Policy and Economic Counsellor at the Estonian Embassy in Washington, D.C., where she strengthened transatlantic collaboration on digital innovation, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies. Earlier in her career, she worked as Cyber Coordinator at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, helping shape Estonia’s international cyber engagement and advancing cooperation with global partners.

Throughout her career, Helen has played an active role in promoting secure digital transformation, international cyber resilience, and multilateral collaboration. Her expertise spans cyber diplomacy, international cybersecurity policy, digital governance, EU external relations, and strategic partnerships, making her a distinguished contributor to discussions on the future of cybersecurity and international digital cooperation.

Dr. Fabio Ruini is the Global Plants Cybersecurity Manager at Barilla Group, where he leads the cybersecurity transformation programme for the company’s global manufacturing operations across 30 production sites spanning three continents. He is responsible for defining and governing the cybersecurity strategy for industrial environments, ensuring alignment between cyber risk, operational resilience, business continuity, and regulatory requirements.

With extensive experience across both IT and OT cybersecurity, Dr. Ruini has led strategic initiatives in cyber risk governance, industrial security architecture, OT threat detection, secure remote access, endpoint protection, and the implementation of scalable security frameworks for complex multinational manufacturing environments. His work focuses on strengthening the resilience of critical industrial operations while enabling secure digital transformation.

In addition to his corporate leadership role, Dr. Ruini serves as an Independent Cybersecurity Expert for the European Commission, contributing to the evaluation and review of projects under the Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe. Through this work, he supports initiatives that enhance Europe’s cybersecurity capabilities, resilience, and technological sovereignty.

Dr. Ruini holds a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence and is a commissioned officer in the Italian Army Selected Reserve, holding the rank of Captain. His areas of expertise include industrial cybersecurity, OT security governance, cyber risk management, operational resilience, critical infrastructure protection, NIS2 compliance, and enterprise cybersecurity strategy, making him a respected voice in the field of global cybersecurity leadership.

Dr. Leila Taghizadeh is a globally recognized cybersecurity executive with extensive experience in cyber risk management, information security, and technology governance. She currently serves as CISO IberoLatAm at Allianz, where she leads cybersecurity strategy and risk initiatives across the region, helping organizations strengthen resilience against evolving digital threats.

With more than a decade of experience, Dr. Taghizadeh has advised executive leadership and boards on enterprise cyber risk, while leading large-scale security programmes and technology risk initiatives. Her expertise spans cyber risk strategy, security governance, operational resilience, and the implementation of enterprise cybersecurity frameworks for global organizations.

A recognized authority in post-quantum cryptography (PQC), she is currently completing her second PhD in this field and actively contributes to shaping the future of quantum-safe cybersecurity. She chairs PQC working groups within the Charter of Trust and the European Financial Roundtable, and serves as a Committee Member of the Quantum Safe Financial Forum, collaborating with industry leaders to advance quantum-resilient security strategies for the financial sector.

Dr. Taghizadeh is a frequent speaker at international conferences, where she shares insights on cyber resilience, emerging technologies, quantum-safe security, and the evolving role of cybersecurity leadership in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

Enrico Verzegnassi is a cybersecurity leader and offensive security specialist currently serving as Head of Offensive Cyber Security at Nexi, one of Europe’s leading payment technology companies.

With a strong academic and professional foundation in cybersecurity, Enrico holds a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome, where he specialized in cybersecurity, enterprise security, network security, machine learning, cloud computing, big data, and advanced computing systems. As part of his academic research, he conducted his Master’s thesis at Florida Atlantic University, focusing on cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (IoT). His research led to the publication and presentation of a scientific paper at an IEEE IoT conference in Ireland, exploring attack detection in IoT environments through network data conformity analysis.

Throughout his career, Enrico has developed extensive expertise in offensive security, threat-led testing, enterprise security, network defense, and cyber resilience. His professional interests span network and enterprise security, IoT security, forensic data analysis, Linux systems, machine learning, and the application of big data techniques to cybersecurity challenges.

Combining deep technical knowledge with practical industry experience, he is passionate about helping organizations strengthen their security posture and prepare for an increasingly complex threat landscape. Enrico is recognized for his ability to bridge advanced security research with real-world cybersecurity operations and business resilience.

Julie B is a cybersecurity leader, AI Security Architect, and Offensive Security specialist with more than 14 years of experience securing, testing, and architecting enterprise, cloud, and artificial intelligence systems.

Currently serving as Cybersecurity Expert, Team Lead, and AI Champion at Vidéotron, she is recognized for her expertise at the intersection of AI security, adversarial machine learning, offensive security, and enterprise architecture. Julie specializes in securing Generative AI and Large Language Model (LLM) environments, with deep knowledge of prompt injection, jailbreak techniques, model exploitation, adversarial AI, and AI red teaming. Her work focuses on helping organizations design resilient AI systems through secure architecture, threat modeling, governance frameworks, and responsible AI practices aligned with standards such as the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.

Throughout her career, she has led red and purple team operations, developed AI-powered threat intelligence capabilities, and designed security architectures for complex enterprise environments. Combining offensive and defensive security expertise, she brings a comprehensive understanding of emerging AI risks and mitigation strategies. Julie is also an internationally recognized speaker, having presented at leading conferences including HackMiami, GoSec, and InCyber Forum, where she shares insights on AI security, Shadow AI risks, LLM vulnerabilities, and adversarial AI systems. Her thought leadership continues to shape industry discussions on trustworthy AI, cyber resilience, and the future of secure artificial intelligence adoption.

Marco Pacchiardo is a seasoned cybersecurity leader, security architect, and internationally recognized security consultant with more than 20 years of experience in information security, cybersecurity, security management, business security consulting, and project management.

Currently serving as Lead Security Architect Worldwide at Zscaler, Marco has built an impressive career helping organizations strengthen their security posture, align security strategy with business objectives, and navigate complex cyber risk landscapes. Throughout his career, he has delivered security consulting and advisory services across a diverse range of international markets, including the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland, Finland, the Benelux region, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, India, Japan, Chile, Argentina, and Malta.

His expertise spans cybersecurity strategy, IT governance, security management, business development, and large-scale project delivery. Marco is also a respected author, having written two books along with numerous guides and articles focused on security, governance, and risk management. Known for his practical and business-oriented approach, he combines deep technical knowledge with strategic leadership to help organizations address evolving cyber threats while enabling innovation and growth. His extensive international experience and thought leadership make him a valued voice in the global cybersecurity community.