Michael O’CONNELL is the Director for Operational Police Support Directorate, based at INTERPOL, Lyon, France. He commands a diverse directorate that includes police forensics, police information management, fugitives and 24/7 operational and crisis / major incident support capabilities. He also leads on the INTERPOL Integrated Border Management Task Force, delivering innovative operational response to border security threats, built out of capacity building programmes that lead into successful field operations tackling human smuggling, counter terrorism, narcotics, firearms trafficking and major international event security.

Michael started his policing career in the Metropolitan Police Service in 1988 and served until 2006, rising through the Detective ranks to Detective Chief Inspector. He specialised in major crime and covert policing operations against serious organise crime, with a wealth of diverse expertise having worked in most continents of the world.

He has since gone on to serve terms with the National Crime Squad of England and Wales, The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and is now a serving officer with the National Crime Agency (NCA, UK). His work has included tackling the international threat from organised crime, human trafficking, criminal finance, corruption, and as the Head of the UK’s INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) - multilateral investigative support to law enforcement partners across the globe.

He is a graduate of the Metropolitan Police Training Academy and other UK national crime agencies in Detective, Covert Policing and Senior Investigating Officer programmes. He has successfully completed the Top European Senior Police Officers Course (TOPSPOC), has professional management qualification from the UK Open University, has written and published a variety of papers on International Policing topics, and a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program with the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM).

Gil Arias is the Deputy Executive Director of Frontex, which he joined in January 2006. He is a lawyer and also has a degree in Police Science, a degree in European Communities and a Master’s Degree in Tax Law.

For the past 35 years he has dealt with the management of strategies in the fight against the trafficking of human beings and illegal immigration and, in particular, the management of borders at the National and European level.

He joined the Spanish National Police in 1975. He continued working in units dealing with the management of border control related matters. He was also the Head of the Spanish Delegation in various Working Groups of the Council of the EU, becoming the Chairman of these Working Groups during the years when Spain took over the Schengen Presidency as well as the Presidency of the Council of the EU. He was also deeply involved in the Schengen evaluations.

Before joining Frontex he was working as the Senior Executive Advisor for international matters for the Cabinet of the Minister of Interior in Spain.

As an expert in illegal immigration, Community Law and Police Cooperation in the framework of the EU, he has been collaborating for years with various Universities, Cultural and Teaching Institutions and Research Centres, giving lectures and publishing a wide range of articles and reports in the field of illegal immigration and border management.

Having joined HM Customs and Excise in 1987, Robert progressed from uniformed anti- smuggling work at Gatwick Airport to the HM Customs Investigations Division. In 2006 he left HM Revenue and Customs to join the newly created Serious Organised Crime agency where he assumed responsibility for the implementation and management of a new intelligence capability  providing support to ACPO and SOCA covert operations.

In 2010 he became the senior manager responsible for a newly created SOCA anti- corruption unit leading a number of sensitive reviews and investigations into allegations of corruption involving links between organised crime groups SOCA, Police and Borders Agency staff.

In 2011 he completed The Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) Chief Investigators Command Course in Hong Kong and mainland China.

In 2013 he was appointed Head of Operations in the NCA Border Policing Command current responsibilities include: National responsibility for the investigation of detections of Cash , Drugs and Firearms at the UK Border and the creation of new multi-agency Joint Border Intelligence Units.

David Knight has been the Head of the Immigration and Border Management Division within the Department of Migration Management at Headquarters since 2007. His responsibilities include strategy, program formulation and guidance for IBM programs. The IOM Immigration and Border Management Division works with concerned governments, donors and other key partners to develop conceptual approaches and specific programmes focusing on capacity building, and to provide oversight and quality control to IOM technical cooperation projects worldwide.

Mr. Knight represents IOM at key inter-agency meetings where issues of Immigration and Border Management are discussed, and regularly presents at professional conferences and forums. He has forged a closer working relationships with Interpol, Frontex, the United Nations Counter Terrorism Committee and he is also a member of the ICAO Implementation Capacity Building Working Group.

Mr. Knight was previously the Regional Program Manager for Technical Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific working in both Bangkok and Phnom Penh between 2002 and 2007. Prior to joining IOM, Mr. Knight worked as a Director in the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs where his work covered asylum seeker processing, enforcement, capacity building and technical cooperation.

Shiju Thomas is working as Vice President – Information Services in Qatar Airways. Shiju has around twenty years of airline IT experience and prior to joining Qatar Airways, he has worked in IT advisory position and also worked for Emirates Airlines for almost thirteen years.  Shiju has strong subject matter and technology expertise and specializes in building large airline products and systems in passenger and cargo domain. Shiju has led many large product development and implementation of these products in airlines around the globe.

In line with Qatar Airways commitment to Global Safety and Security, Shiju brings to the panel his experience and expertise in the areas of technology, innovation and airline information systems and is looking forward for a great team work in achieving the objectives.

Shiju has done his education in India and holds Master’s degree in Computer Science and Application, Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Application and Bachelor’s degree in Science. 

Jon Webb joined IATA in 2007. Among his direct responsibilities is Timatic, the industry standard database of travel document compliance relied on throughout the airline and travel industry. Together with others across the IATA organization he is responsible for promoting international standards and industry best practices in areas such as passenger data and border control.

Jon has a career in professional publishing and information management covering international trade, legal, business and medical segments. He holds a degree in International Relations, Masters in Business Administration and is a Graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr Anselm Lopez serves as the Director of Strategic Relations Directorate at Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs. In this position, he oversees the Ministry’s strategic engagements to develop Singapore into a leading global hub for safety and security. He leads a dynamic team to seek out future solutions against emerging safety and security threats.

Jassim is National Security Manager for the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy - Qatar, he is responsible for the overall Security program and Security Committee
coordination.

Previously, he worked for Qatar General Electricity & Water Corp with responsibility for risk management and the security of all critical infrastructures of QGEWC.

Before that, he served in Qatar Police, and graduated from Saad AlAbdulla police Academy, which provided the base for his security experience, he went on to study for a Bachelor’s Degree in “Security Sciences” and thereafter a Masters in “Information Security and intelligence” from Edith Cowan University in Australia.

• Member of the Senior Management Team of Greater London Authority.
•  Authored the Mayor of London’s 2013 principle strategy document “2020 Vision - The Greatest City on Earth”.
• Sits on the internal advisory board for the London Infrastructure Plan.
• Oversees GLA’s European Social Fund delivering a wide portfolio of projects for young people, businesses and regeneration schemes.

Andrew’s job is to understand London. He directs a team of economists, social researchers, statisticians and demographers to deliver high quality analysis which adds to the understanding of the capital’s economy, its communities and its future in the context of a rapidly changing global environment. With an interest in open data and its application in solving city problems, he also runs the highly successful London Datastore.

Andrew has recently won the London competition to enter the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Mayor’s Challenge 2014-2015 making it through to the finals in Berlin. His bid is to establish a City Digital Health project aimed at the prevention of diabetes in future generations.

Dr-Ing. Antonio Feraco is Assistant Director for Technology Transfer and Innovation at Fraunhofer IDM@NTU in Singapore. He also delivers Innovation Process Management and Technology Transfer for several international and well recognised universities. 

After completing his PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Psychology of Programming he actively participated in the management of various international projects related to ICT for energy efficiency, embedded systems in robotics and security. He is also appointed as expert evaluator for ICT proposal under the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission. His expertise also includes technical systems analysis and technology transfer strategies implementation. His work is also related to practical feasibility evaluation of innovative IT technologies.

Prof Müller-Wittig is the Director of Fraunhofer IDM@NTU and Adjunct Associate Professor at the NTU School of Computer Engineering since 2001. Prior to that, he worked as head of the “Visualisation Group” at Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research in Germany (Fraunhofer IGD).

He received his PhD from the Technische Universitaet Darmstadt. He is a successful researcher in the field of Computer Graphics for more than 20 years. He is responsible for the development of various industry-related applications using new visualization, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies. 

Prof Müller-Wittig serves as member of several Advisory Committees for government and academia.

Chief of Police, Frank Paauw, heads the Rotterdam Regional Unit of the National Police of the Netherlands. He is a highly experienced manager within the police organisation who has been active on a wide range of topics. Additional functions include national portfolios, which encompass football, public order, contingency-planning e.g. crisis management; security region, and bilateral strategic cooperation with the United Kingdom. Furthermore, he is Senior Security Officer at UEFA (Union of European Football Associations).

As Chief Constable of the Regional Police Service of Rotterdam in 2010 – following violent clashes amongst football fans at the Hoek of Holland the previous year, resulting in a great deal of media and political attention – Paauw faced many challenges. Heading the list were strengthening the relationship between citizens and the police, achieving operational objectives, and paying particular attention to the welfare and trust of staff. At the time, the Rotterdam division housed 2.2 million inhabitants and 7,000 police officers. The port of Rotterdam, the largest in Europe, is a vital hub for the transit of goods to the European hinterland and of great economic importance to the region. However, as a European infrastructural intersection it also attracts criminal activities such as smuggling of illegal goods.

From 2006 till 2010, Paauw was Deputy Chief Constable at Haaglanden Regional Police Service. He held responsibility for the provision of police services to The Hague and its reg on, which consists of nine municipalities and includes the residence of the royal family of the Netherlands. Additionally, he was tasked with area operations, neighbourhood policing, public order, the football portfolio, and security and protection services for foreign embassies and residences.

Earlier in his career, he managed the Heemstraat Police Station in The Hague. Frank Paauw dealt with a demanding and challenging workload in a multi-problematic work environment. And as Head of Narcotics, he collaborated intensively with international partners DEA and the United Kingdom. Valuable experience gained during this formative period honed his results-oriented, culture valuedriven leadership skills, and operational involvement.

In his roles as District Chief and Member of the Management Board in Dordrecht and Rotterdam, he has, along with the Public Administration and other partners, proved competent in addressing and finding appropriate solutions to complex security issues. An integrated approach to security issues with both public and private partners is a central theme in Paauw’s sharply focused approach.

Frank Paauw graduated with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the VU University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Aside from his native Dutch, he is fluent in English and German.

Janet is The Security Advisor to The Security Committee, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy Qatar. She is Chair of Operation stadia at Interpol and the President of a UK registered charity providing enhanced communications between public and private organizations. Previously, a Deputy Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard, Janet specialized in Intelligence, Counter terrorism, Organized crime, Personnel protection and Protective Security leading the latter command through a very successful period which included The Queens Diamond Jubilee, Royal Wedding and 2012 Olympics Games.

Janet was the UK National Law enforcement lead for Cyber security 2007-12 and she was awarded the Queen’s Policing medal in 2008.

Having previously served with the Metropolitan Police for 20 years based in London, as a Detective attached to Scotland Yard, Michael Ellis has been engaged in anti-counterfeit
enforcement for 15 years. 

He is currently the Head of the INTERPOL Traffic in Illicit Goods and Counterfeit Sub Crime Bureau.

His core responsibilities are to manage and coordinate the INTERPOL global strategy to fight against this criminal activity, and he leads the International efforts in this area.

He has also extensive experience working in the private sector, and prior to joining INTERPOL was the Global Head of Brand Protection for a leading skincare company, based in Germany.

He has also worked for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) where he was the European Regional Head of enforcement.

Michael has a Master’s degree in Social Science, where he researched the extensive links between of organized crime and illicit trade and counterfeiting.

Kingsley Ejiofor is a Deputy Director and Head of Legal Division of National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Lagos, Nigeria.

He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988, and prosecutes counterfeiters of pharmaceuticals, foods, cosmetics and medical devices.

He was involved in the preparation of the International Medical Product Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) legal framework in Brussels, Belgium in 2006 and the West African Legal Framework on Counterfeit Medical Products and the illicit trade in Medicines in 2012.

Furthermore, he represents NAFDAC at public hearings of the Nigerian Parliament on Food and Drugs and speaks at various International fora on Counterfeit Food and Drugs.

He audited the Food and Drug Law Winter Semester Course at the Harvard Law School in 2010. He has facilitated the training of Nigerian Judges on Counterfeit Food and Drug, while being instrumental to the promulgation of Regulations on Breast Milk Substitute amongst other products.

Adjunct Associate Professor Chan Cheng Leng has extensive working experience in the area of drug regulation and drug safety monitoring. As the Deputy Group Director of the Health Products Regulation Group, Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Singapore, she plays a leading role in developing national policies and directing operational activities for health products regulation and safeguarding public health through ensuring safe and quality health products for the nation.

As a passionate advocate for adverse drug reactions (ADR) reporting, she actively spearheads national efforts to improve ADR reporting. Under her stewardship, Singapore has consistently been ranked by the WHO as the top ADR reporting country in the world since 2010.

She has received several national awards in recognition of her service including the National Public Administration Medal (Bronze), the Minister for Health Awards for the investigation of adulterated sexual enhancement drugs, and the Bausch & Lomb ReNu MoistureLoc contact lens solution and its association with fungal keratitis in Singapore.

Born 1954, married, 2 children.

Christian works for over 20 years in the Healthcare industry. He played an important role in introducing the new narcotic control program in Switzerland in the early 1990, by leveraging international supply chain standards. He later helped industry partners to adopt and implement standards supporting supply chain processes (GS1 standards), with the exclusive focus on Healthcare products.

For nearly 10 years he liaises GS1 with the international healthcare standards in the areas of IT and transfusion/transplantation. 2012, Christian has been elected convenor of the ISO TC 215 (medical informatics) working group “pharmacy and medicines business”. Christian teaches Healthcare Logistics at the University of Applied Sciences in Bern.

Mr. Keogh is the president and principal advisor at Shantalla Inc. With over 30 years of industry experience, he has held global executive leadership positions in supply chain management, Information technology, management consulting and supply chain standards. He provides strategic advisory to clients in the public and private sectors including industry associations, governments and inter-governmental agencies. He has advised/liaised with the EU commission, OECD, ASEAN, APEC, WCO, UN and others. Mr. Keogh provides domain expertise in product & consumer safety, industry standards and supply chain management including transparency, traceability, recall and anti-counterfeit measures. Mr. Keogh served with the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in Lebanon in 1981 and 1983 as a member of the Irish Defence Forces. In Canada he served 5 years as an auxiliary Police Officer with York Regional Police.

Senior Operations Manager Luis Perez is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) IPR Center agency representative and the Program Manager for the newly formed Strategic Intelligence Unit (SIU) at FDA/OCI. 

Luis began his law enforcement career in 1992; first serving in the U.S. Army as a Military Police Officer, and later as an a Special Agent with the Army Criminal Investigative Command (CID) where he conducted numerous felony criminal investigations for the US Army. Luis began with OCI in October 2000 in the Miami Field Office. While assigned to the Miami Field Office Luis supervised and managed a task force who conducted counterfeit, adulterated and misbranded drugs, devices, as well as food and drug tampering investigations worldwide.

In 2007, Luis departed for a position with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) where he supervised and managed an undercover task force c which conducted Counter Proliferation investigations and served as the DCIS representative in the International Contract and Corruption Task Force Afghanistan, Bagram. In 2012, Luis returned to OCI at the Miami Field Office where he supervised and managed a Task Force of several undercover officers conducting Tobacco related investigations as well as traditional FDA investigations.

In 2014, Luis was promoted to Senior Operations Manager and currently working at FDA/OCI Headquarters in Rockville, MD. In 1991, Luis received a Bachelor’s of Arts in International Affairs from Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, FL. In 1999, Luis obtained the certification as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and has been a contributing member since that time.

Matteo is Senior Business Development Manager at NXP Semiconductors Singapore. He oversees partnerships with Governments and large industrial conglomerates across Asia in the fields of Security and Connectivity as well as Identification and Secure Mobile Transactions.  

Prior joining NXP, Matteo was Executive Director of the European Chamber of Commerce in Singapore where he contributed to the double digit growth of the organisation managing a business-to business project between the EU and Singapore and coordinating the work of the Committees. He also led the creation and regional coordination of the EU-ASEAN Business Council – a pan-ASEAN lobbying platform for European companies. Matteo currently sits on a number of Committees of the European Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, including the Intellectual Property Rights Committee.

Matteo holds a Master in International Studies from the National University of Singapore, where he specialized in trade and economies issues of Southeast Asia. He also holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Florence.

Adrian Whelan is a 45 year old British national, who currently resides in Singapore. He has a Bachelors degree from Kings College, University of London.

He joined The Royal Hong Kong Police Force in 1990 where he served for 8 years. He left the RHKP to work in the field of brand protection, covering the Asia Pacific Region for a coalition of companies.

In 2000, he was appointed as the VP Security for DHL Express Asia Pacific Region. He worked in both Hong Kong and Singapore before assuming the role of Head of Global Security, based in Bonn, Germany. He took on the additional portfolio of Customs in 2010 and became Senior Vice President and Head of Global Customs and Security.

In January 2013, Adrian was asked to return to Singapore in order to oversee security in Asia Pacific as well as his Global Customs and Security role.

Adrian is married with a 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter. His interests include soccer and travelling.