Governance

The driving forces behind our Forum

Our governing and operating bodies include our Steering Committee (SC) and Board as well as our Programming Committee (PC), ad-hoc event Organising Committees (OC), and our General Assembly (GA). An overview is available here.

Our programme of activities is regularly discussed at Programming Committee meetings, which are open to all members, and then reviewed for approval at Steering Committee meetings.

The Programming Committee is co-chaired by an MEP and by a Business and/or Associate member from the Steering Committee. All members can freely suggest or support activities at any time by contacting our Secretariat. All our activities are led by an MEP.

The agenda of each event is shaped by members who volunteer to work together in an Organising Committee (OC), an ad-hoc taskforce led by the MEP chairing the event and coordinated by a member from the Business or Associate membership. Members can join OCs for scheduled events at any time via their Member Area.

As in all non-profit associations, we also hold a General Assembly (GA) meeting at least once a year, where all members gather to review past and future activities, approve budget and financial accounts, and any other business. You can consult our Statutes and Bylaws here.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee (SC) is the major driving force behind our Forum. It sets the strategy, approves the programme of activities based on our membership’s input, decides on new members and makes recommendations to the Board.

Chaired by an MEP, it includes up to 15 Political members (MEPs), 1 external personality and all Board members.

MEPs

Currently chaired by Pilar del Castillo MEP, our Steering Committee includes MEPs from different political groups who are engaged in digital policy and are actively involved in our Forum as Political members.

Marina Kaljurand Steering Committee Chair MEP | S&D | Estonia
Axel Voss Vice Chair MEP | EPP | Germany
Pilar del Castillo MEP | EPP | Spain
Brando Benifei MEP | S&D | Italy
Victor Negrescu EP VP | S&D | Romania
Angelika Niebler MEP | EPP | Germany
Sabine Verheyen EP VP | EPP | Germany

External personality

Former MEP (1984-2014) James Elles is a member of our Steering Committee. In the year 2000, he co-founded EIF together with MEPs Erika Mann and Elly Plooij-van Gorsel. He is also the founder and Chairman of the Transatlantic Policy Network and the Honorary President of the European Strategic and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS).

James Elles EIF Co-founder, Former MEP

Board

Currently chaired by Audrey Scozzaro Ferrazzini from Qualcomm, our Board manages administrative matters and financial and human resources. It includes up to 8 representatives from our Business Membership and up to 6 representatives from our Associate Membership, who are elected by the General Assembly with a 3-year mandate. Board members are also ex officio members of the Steering Committee.

Audrey Scozzaro Ferrazzini Board Chair Senior Director Government Affairs, Qualcomm
Aurelie Doutriaux Deputy Director EU office, Orange Programming Committee Co-chair
Darren Ennis Group Head of EU Affairs & Director, Vodafone Belgium
Chris Gow Senior Director, EU Public Policy, Government Affairs, Cisco
Paolo Grassia Senior Director of Public Policy, Connect Europe
Christopher Mondini ‎Managing Director and VP Stakeholder Engagement, Europe, ICANN
Gregoire Polad Director General, Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe
Simona Popa Senior Director, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs, Europe, InterDigital
Fabrizio Porrino Head of Government Relations - EMEA, Global Public Sector, ServiceNow
Jeremy Rollison Senior Director, EU Government Affairs, Microsoft
Sebastiano Toffaletti Secretary General, European DIGITAL SME Alliance
Vivien Witt Adviser International Stakeholder Management and Strategic Partnerships, eco Association of the Internet Industry
Brigitte Vézina Director of Policy and Open Culture, Creative Commons