Speaker Biographies

Zdravko Jukić is an electrical engineer working at HAKOM, Croatian national regulator for electronic communications, postal and railways services markets. Zdravko holds a post-graduate degree in regulation from the University in Zagreb.

Before joining HAKOM, Zdravko worked for 18 years for a big telecom vendor in Croatia, Sweden and Germany. He was representing the vendor in the key standardization fora like 3GPP, OMA and TM Forum and held various positions form Software Developer and Tester to Senior Systems Manager.

From 2013 to 2018 Zdravko served at the position of the Council Member of HAKOM. Council members are appointed by the Croatian parliament to a five years term. From 2013 Zdravko has been member of the HLIG (High Level Internet Governance) group and in 2015 he initiated and organized the first Croatian national IGF. Zdravko is representing Croatia in the NIS Cooperation Group, 5G/Telecom Work Stream. From 1 January 2023 Zdravko is co-chairing the BEREC Cybersecurity Working Group.

Baiba Kaskina is the general manager of CERT.LV (Latvian National and governmental CSIRT) managing all activities including incident response, awareness raising and liaison with the constituencies. She has been leading CSIRT teams in Latvia since 2006 and used to work for TERENA (now GEANT) managing large scale projects, she also has been on the TF-CSIRT steering committee and chaired it for many years.

Dmitrijs Nikitins is a Member of the Management Board and Chief Technology Officer at Tet, with more than 15 years of experience in IT, telecommunications, and technology leadership. In his role, he oversees technology strategy, infrastructure development, cybersecurity, and the modernization of critical digital platforms.

His leadership combines deep technical understanding with a business-focused approach, helping organizations strengthen resilience, improve operational performance, and turn technology into a source of long-term competitive advantage.

Evijs Taube has been working at SJSC “Latvian State Radio and Television Center” (LVRTC) since 2019 and has been the Director of both the Infrastructure and Technology Departments. Mr Taube has more than 20 years of experience in the ICT sector in the field of cloud computing, implementation and management of databases and IS, as well as project and team management in the implementation of IT solutions for the largest Baltic companies.

He holds a Master's degree in Business and organization management, as well as a Master's degree in Telecommunications science. Evijs is one of the founders of the Latvian Open Technology Association, and is currently a member of the Board of the Latvian Internet Association.

Eric Andrei Băleanu has been an active member of the Internet and network operators’ community in Romania and Eastern Europe for more than 20 years. He is President of the Board of Directors of the Interlan Association and leads InterLAN-IX, Romania’s largest and most connected Internet Exchange.

In addition to his work with InterLAN-IX, Eric operates a regional ISP, providing first-hand experience with the challenges and opportunities faced by network operators in emerging and developing Internet markets.

He has been actively involved in the Romanian Network Operators Group (RONOG) since its early days, contributing to community growth and helping organize key industry events. Under his leadership, InterLAN-IX has expanded from a local exchange into a distributed national platform connecting operators, content providers, and networks across Romania and beyond.

As a strong advocate for regional Internet development, Eric promotes collaboration, interconnection, and knowledge sharing among network operators throughout Eastern Europe. His work focuses on strengthening Internet infrastructure, supporting local communities, and improving connectivity in underserved markets.

Expertise: IXP, Internet Governance, Industry Development Organisations, Public Policy

Vahan Hovsepyan is a Senior Community and Public Policy Advisor at the RIPE NCC. Vahan is in charge of developing cooperation and engaging stakeholders, including RIPE NCC members, governmental agencies, academic institutions and industry development organisations. Vahan graduated from the Armenian-Russian (Slavic) State University, obtained EMBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology, completed courses at the Maastricht School of Management and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Vahan has extensive experience working in and with industry development organisations, IXPs and international organisations. He is also leading the Central Asia Peering and Interconnection Forum (CAPIF) and Internet Measurement Day (IMD) at RIPE NCC.

Expertise: Community development, Data storytelling, Internet Peering and Interconnection, IPv6, Capacity building, Public Policy and Internet Governance.

Hisham Ibrahim is the Chief Community Officer at the RIPE NCC.

He leads the RIPE NCC's engagement efforts to foster a dynamic, inclusive RIPE community. He is responsible for the engagement with the RIPE NCC members, the RIPE community, Internet governance and training services.

Both from a technical and policy background, Hisham has 20 years of experience in the field of Internet technology and its governance.

He has a strong vision of the market, a broad understanding of technologies used on the Internet and a deep knowledge of the European, African and Middle Eastern markets.

Hisham is active on several committees in various Network Operator Groups (NOGs), peering forums, IPv6 task forces and forums across three continents.

Email: Hisham Ibrahim

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Alex ("Oleksiy") is an External Relations Officer for the RIPE NCC (Eastern Europe and Central Asia).

As part of the External Relations team, he helps lead the RIPE NCC's engagement with membership, the RIPE community, technical bodies, academia, law enforcement and other Internet stakeholders. As Technical Advisor, Alex also follows Internet industry and government developments related to ICT, particularly in the former Soviet countries, monitors and attends industry conferences and meetings, representing the RIPE NCC, and works with internal stakeholders to enhance the RIPE NCC's training activities.

Expertise: Internet measurements, IPv6, RIPE Labs, RPKI , data science, statistics, data storytelling, data visualisations

Emile Aben is a Senior Research Engineer for the Research and Development department. Prior to that role, he worked in the RIPE NCC Science Group as a research engineer since 2009. In the 10 years before that he worked as a web developer, sysadmin, security consultant and researcher. He is interested in Internet measurement and technology changes like the transition to IPv6. He frequently posts on RIPE Labs.

Emile has a MSc. degree in Chemistry from the University of Nijmegen, NL.

Expertise: the RIPE NCC, the RIR system and Internet governance

The Community Development team is responsible for outreach and support to technical and non-technical communities such as NOGs, national IGFs, IXPs, industry associations, research and academia and civil society across the RIPE NCC service region. We also support the development of the Internet measurement ecosystem globally in partnership with other RIRs. I took over as the Manager of the Community Development team in 2026.

I started working at the RIPE NCC in 2018 as part of the Communications and Marketing team. Over the past years, I have been involved in the development of RIPE NCC Certified Professionals, the redesign of RIPE Labs and ripe.net and in supporting the RIPE Chair team and RIPE NCC-organised events, particularly RIPE Meetings. I also work closely with the NRO NC and the currently ongoing global process to review the governance of the RIR system, being held in conjunction with ICANN. I hold a Research Master in Literary Studies from the University of Amsterdam and an Executive MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

Ties is a software engineer with a master's degree in computer science focusing on the development of RIPE NCC measurement services (RIS and RIPEstat). Before this, Ties worked on RPKI. Working at a regional internet registry, he was involved in the operational aspect of running the RPKI certificate authority and the standardisation of RPKI.

Expertise: community engagement, measurements and tools, Internet governance, RIPE and the RIPE NCC

Anastasiya Pak is a Senior Marketing and Communications Officer at the RIPE NCC. Her work focuses on external communications, including media relations, content development, and stakeholder engagement. She also collaborates with the research team on data pipeline and data storytelling projects.

Before joining the RIPE NCC, Anastasiya led the Communications Department at an international education NGO. She began her career as a TV journalist in Uzbekistan, covering international politics and diplomacy, UN discussions, and other topics related to international political and economic affairs. Anastasiya holds a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy and a Joint Master's in Journalism, Media, and Globalisation from the University of Amsterdam and Aarhus University.

Expertise: Internet Governance, Cyber Diplomacy, European Union, Digital Policy

Romain Bosc is a Senior Public Policy and Governance Advisor at the RIPE NCC.

Based in Brussels, Romain engages with a wide range of partners and stakeholders including the European Union institutions, national authorities, civil society organisations, and academia. Romain's expertise and interests span global Internet governance, digital policy development, and cyber diplomacy.

Before joining the RIPE NCC in 2023, he held various positions in EU public affairs and policy research, notably at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS) and the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). He graduated with a degree in Political Science and International Relations and speaks French, Spanish and English.