Speakers
Stephanie Fougou
SVP, General Counsel & Board Secretary, HBX Group
President, ECLA
Stéphanie Fougou is the General Counsel at HBX Group, with over twenty years’ experience in major companies. She began her career in the Media sector with France Animation, then joined France Télécom/Orange, holding various senior legal roles. She later became Group General Counsel at Club Mediterranée and Vallourec, also serving on Vallourec’s Executive Committee. Since 2024, Stéphanie has been President of ECLA.
Marcus M. Schmitt
Director General, European Company Lawyers Association
Managing Director, dfv European Corporate Counsel Group SRL
Mario Draghi
Former Prime Minister, Italian Republic
President (2011-2019), European Central Bank
Stefanie Thuiner
General Counsel, myflexbox
Brian Connolly
Director of Responsible AI, Regulatory & Compliance Europe Lead, Accenture
Speaking Topic: From Pilot to Policy: Governing AI Use Across the Enterprise
Martina Weimert
CEO, European Payments Initiative
Speaking Topic: European Payment Systems: Keys to Success?
Philippe Coen
Vice President - A. Regional Counsel - Directeur Juridique - Legal & Public Affairs, The Walt Disney Company
Honorary President, ECLA
Sebastian Chames
Executive Vice President & General Counsel, International, Paramount
Marjorie Colas
General Counsel & Compliance Officer Iberia, Essendi
Nicolas Dufourcq
Directeur Général, Bpifrance
Speaking Topic: Fighting European Defeatism – How to Invest in Europe Tomorrow
Marko Denadic
General Counsel | Chief Compliance Officer | Corporate Secretary, Burckhardt Compression
Speaking Topic: Between Global Sanctions and Regulatory Countermeasures: Governance Across Jurisdictions
Marko Denadic is General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Burckhardt Compression. He leads the global Legal & Compliance function, advises Executive Management and the Board on governance and risk matters, and serves as Corporate Secretary.
With over 20 years of international experience across the construction, energy, and industrial sectors, he is an experienced business lawyer with a strong focus on cross-border transactions, sanctions, and the design of practical compliance frameworks in multi-jurisdictional environments.
Cécile Haye Kioussis
Directrice juridique, Groupe BPCE
Speaking Topic: European Payment Systems: Keys to Success?
Nicolas Istas
Head of Legal - Belgium & Luxembourg, Novartis
President, IBJ/IJE
Speaking Topic: Company lawyers influencing the Board and Management
Peter Carlstedt
Chief Legal Officer, Scrive
James Darbyshire
Chief Counsel, Financial Services Compensation Scheme
James is the Chief Counsel and member of the Executive Team at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the UK’s compensation scheme for customers of authorised financial services firms. James is responsible for the provision of all legal services at FSCS. James was involved in the UK’s response to the financial crisis of 2008/9. He has extensive experience of retail financial services regulation, public law and dispute resolution, and regularly engages with government departments and financial regulators. Prior to his role at FSCS, James worked in private practice, specialising in fraud and insolvency litigation, at the law firms Hogan Lovells LLP and, subsequently, Eversheds Sutherland LLP.
Alexandre Verrien
Experienced General Counsel, Independent
Caroline Falconer
Secretary General, SCC Arbitration Institute
General Counsel, Stockholms Handelskammare
Speaking Topic: Strategic Commercial Dispute Resolution: From Negotiation to Arbitration
Caroline Falconer is the Secretary General of the SCC Arbitration Institute and the General Counsel of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. She holds an LL.M. from Stockholm University and an LL.M. from King’s College, London. With over 10 years of experience in Swedish law firms specializing in dispute resolution, she also spent seven years as Senior Legal Counsel at a leading European energy company. Caroline has chaired the board of the Swedish Company Lawyers Association. She is a council member of IFCAI and a board member of the International Law Association, Sweden, as well as a frequent speaker.
Natacha Podymski Ribeiro
Group Senior Legal Counsel, Interparking Group
Natacha Podymski Ribeiro is Group Senior Legal Counsel at Interparking Group, based in Brussels, a European leader in the urban mobility sector. With 15 years of international experience, she specializes in cross-border affairs, corporate governance, compliance, M&A, and legal strategy. She previously served as Head of Legal for Portugal & International Corporate Liaison for Saba Group in Porto, later expanding her role to support the Group’s international operations from its Barcelona headquarters.
Her career has covered different industry sectors, from mobility, automotive, renewable energy, to construction, and her team’s work has earned recognition in the GC Powerlist: Iberia Teams and has been shortlisted for multiple legal awards.
Fabio Bertoni
General Counsel, The New Yorker
Fabio is the General Counsel of The New Yorker, where he hasserved since 2014. In this role, he oversees all legal matters related to the magazine’s acclaimed journalism, including pre-publication review of articles, videos, podcasts, and other multimedia content.
Fabio’s work has been integral to The New Yorker’s most high-profile and impactful journalism of the last decade, including Ronan Farrow’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigations into Harvey Weinstein, Patrick Radden-Keefe’s reporting on the opioid epidemic and Purdue Pharma, and Jane Mayer’s investigations into dark money in politics. He’s also served as counsel on Oscar-nominated documentaries and fiction films, and numerous National Magazine award-winning stories and series.
Anne Bouverot
Chairperson of the Board, Ecole normale supérieure
Speaking Topic: Creating a Responsible and Human AI: Ensuring EU Sovereignty
Blanche Savary de Beauregard
General Counsel and Board Secretary, Mistral AI
Speaking Topic: Creating a Responsible and Human AI: Ensuring EU Sovereignty
Stefano De Vita
General Counsel South-West Europe, Middle East & Africa, Siemens Mobility
Speaking Topic: Claims Management In Industrial Projects: Anticipate, Negotiate Or Arbitrate
Stefano De Vita is an international legal executive with more than 20 years of experience leading legal, compliance, contract management, and dispute resolution functions across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He currently serves as General Counsel for Siemens Mobility South-West Europe, Middle East & Africa, overseeing legal affairs across 14 countries and leading multinational teams supporting major rail infrastructure, rolling stock, digital mobility, and turnkey projects.
Throughout his career, Stefano has successfully negotiated and delivered complex infrastructure, energy, aviation, and renewable energy projects, managed major international disputes and arbitrations, and led strategic corporate transactions and reorganizations. His achievements include contributing to the award of the largest contract in Siemens’ history, successfully concluding numerous settlements and international arbitrations, and supporting landmark projects such as the Riyadh Metro and Qatar Education City.
A qualified Italian lawyer, Stefano holds a Law Degree with honours from the University of Naples Federico II. Cross-cultural mindset shaped by living in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and working for major US and European Companies. He is recognized for his leadership, business acumen, and commitment to legal excellence, having served as a judge at The Lawyer European Awards and being part of the award-winning Siemens Mobility legal team recognized by the Association of Corporate Counsel MENA.
Jessica Meloni
Vice President Europe Legal Counsel, CEVA Logistics
Jessica Meloni is Vice President Europe Legal Counsel at CEVA Logistics, leading the Group’s European legal strategy across all countries, based in Paris.
She is an experienced lawyer with strong expertise in commercial contracts’ negotiation, as well as labour matters and corporate/M&A, with a particular focus on supply chain operations and related compliance matters.
She is also a member of the board of directors of C&M Book Logistics, a key player in Italy’s publishing logistics sector, and is a well‑established European speaker, frequently invited across Europe to share insights on the evolving legal and strategic landscape of logistics and supply chains, including compliance, the impact of artificial intelligence, and leadership‑driven soft skills.
Gabriella Porcelli
General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Board Secretary, Iveco Group
Gabriella Porcelli has over 30 years of experience as a corporate lawyer. After qualifying as a lawyer and spending several years with leading law firms in Milan, she joined ENI in 1994 as in-house counsel, then at Pfizer and, in 2009, joined Philip Morris International, where she remained until 2018. After serving as Global General Counsel at Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG in Switzerland, she has worked for several years at LVMH as General Counsel, Compliance and Institutional Affairs Director for FENDI, before joining Iveco Group as Chief Legal & Compliance Officer and Head of Corporate Governance.
She is an expert in corporate governance and has also been an independent director in the boards of major Italian listed companies, including Terna, OpenjobMetis, and Tinexta.
Anne Marchesi
Head of legal department / Lead counsel, Siemens
Speaking Topic: Claims Management In Industrial Projects: Anticipate, Negotiate Or Arbitrate
Pēteris Zilgalvis
Judge, General Court (GCEU)
Pēteris Zilgalvis is a Judge on the General Court of the European Union. He is a Member of the Artificial Intelligence Management Board of the Court of Justice of the EU. Previously, he was the Head of Unit for Digital Innovation and Blockchain in the Digital Single Market Directorate in the European Commission and was the Co-Chair of the European Commission FinTech Task Force. He was the Visiting EU Fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford and was an Associate of Political Economy of Financial Markets there. Prior to that he was Deputy Head of the Bioethics Department in DG Legal Affairs at the Council of Europe. Earlier, he was Senior Environmental Law Advisor to the World Bank/Russian Federation Environmental Management Project and was a Regional Environmental Specialist at the World Bank. His career started in the Latvian ministries of environment and of foreign affairs.
Marc van der Woude
President, General Court (GCEU)
Marc van der Woude is the president of the General Court of the European Union. He started his career as a tutor at the College of Europe in Bruges (1984-1986) and as a lecturer at Leiden University (1986-1987). He then joined the European institutions where he worked for DG Competition (1987-1989, 1992-1993), the European Court of Justice as a legal secretary (1989-1992) and the Commission’s legal Service (1993-1995). He resigned from the European civil service to become a member of the Brussels bar, where he practiced European and competition law for fifteen years (1995-2010). Marc van der Woude became a professor in competition law at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (since 2000) and acted as an advisor on energy policy for the Dutch government (2002-2006). Marc van der Woude is an author of numerous publications on European and competition law and still teaches at Rotterdam University.
Yann Dietrich
Group Head of AI, Data & IP, Atos Group
Speaking Topic: From Pilot to Policy: Governing AI Use Across the Enterprise
Kostas Argyropoulos
General Counsel, SPACE HELLAS Group
Cybersecurity in Practice: A General Counsel Workshop on Risk, Response and Resilience
Anastasia Petsinari
Senior Legal Executive, General Counsel, Head of Legal & Corporate Governance, Optima Bank
Cybersecurity in Practice: A General Counsel Workshop on Risk, Response and Resilience
Jean-Marie Bonnet
Consultant, French Ministry of Justice
Speaking Topic: The Legal Architecture of American Economic Power: What Europe Can Learn from 1789 to Today
Jean-Marie Bonnet is a scholar of American legal, constitutional and political history, with extensive work on the United States Supreme Court, federalism, presidential power, and the evolution of American public institutions. He has served as a consultant to the French Ministry of Justice on the rule of law in the United States and has published widely on American studies, US constitutional history, and comparative legal themes. His lectures and research have addressed topics ranging from the American Revolution and the founding of the republic to the Supreme Court, executive authority, federalism, and the legal foundations of American economic and political power.
Giuseppe Catalano
Head of Corporate Affairs & Company Secretary, Generali
Speaking Topic: The General Counsel Across Different Organisations: Companies, Law Firms, Foundations and Non-Corporate Structures
Giuseppe Catalano is secretary of the Board of Directors of Assicurazioni Generali since 15 January 2015, with responsibility for coordinating management of corporate governance-related activities, including as the secretary of the Board of Directors and Board Committees.
He has been an expert witness for the state in a criminal prosecution relating to analysis of the investigated companies’ organisational and control models under Italian legislative decree 231/2001. He is the author of numerous academic articles in various areas of civil and commercial law. He is president of AIGI (Associazione Italiana Giuristi d’Impresa), is a member of the Policy Committee of EuropeanIssuers, of the Advisory Board of the General Counsel Leadership Circle Europe and of the Evaluation Unit of the LIUC-Carlo Cattaneo University.
Andréas Vidmar
General Counsel, AF Gruppen
Vice Chairman, Sveriges Bolagsjurister(Swedish Company Lawyers Association)