Speaker Profiles

Deputy Commander, Cyber and Specialist Operations Command

Tom spent his early career with The Rifles on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and in operational and strategy posts at the Permanent Joint Headquarters and Ministry of Defence.  

For the past ten years he has focused on how the Army and Defence can make better use of data and information, whether in a supporting role or as a weapon in its own right. This has included command at Brigade and Divisional level and his last role as Director Strategy & Military Digitisation in Defence Digital.  

In May 2022 he became Deputy Commander Cyber and Specialist Operations Command, responsible for overseeing Defence’s Multi Domain Integration programme, and many other projects across campaigning, integration and cyber. He oversees the Integration Design Authority, which drives integration across Defence concepts, capability and support to campaigns, and the Integrated Global Defence Network, which coordinates and coheres Defence’s overseas footprint to enable the delivery of UK campaigns.  

Tom is also Colonel Commandant of The Rifles and Honorary Colonel of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. 

Managing Director, Global Head of Climate Advisory
J.P. Morgan 

Dr. Sarah B. Kapnick is the Global Head of Climate Advisory in the Commercial and Investment Bank at J.P. Morgan. Responsible for overseeing the firm’s climate thought-leadership strategy, Dr Kapnick drives content strategy and advises clients at the intersection of finance, climate science and national security. 

Dr Kapnick was formerly Chief Scientist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She spent a decade at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), leading research and development on seasonal to decadal variability and prediction. 

Dr Kapnick earned a PhD in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and a Leaders in Sustainability Certificate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as an A.B. in Mathematics with a certificate in Finance from Princeton University. She serves on the non-profit boards of Climate Central and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and on the scientific advisory panels for the World Meteorological Organization and Food Security Leadership Council. 

Former Commandant
Air and Space Warfare Centre

Blythe Crawford served in the RAF for over 30 years, retiring as Commandant of the Air & Space Warfare Centre, which led UK efforts to support Ukraine and revolutionized our approach to rapid innovation in support of the Warfighter. Crawford spent much of his career flying fast jets, but with a strong academic background, had a significant focus on innovation and technology, where he led work on Warfare in the Information Age, Multi-Domain C2 and Innovation Strategy over tours in STRATCOM and the Pentagon. 

He has degrees from Edinburgh, Kings, Cambridge and Durham, where he is now a Professor in Practice and completing a Doctorate focused on scaling innovation in Defence. He was awarded an OBE in 2015 and CBE in 2021. He is currently Director of Grail, a Defence as a Service platform, bringing together hundreds of SMEs in a collaborative cooperative to rapidly deliver new and innovative capabilities for Defence across NATO and wider allies.
 

Former Minister of the Armed Forces, France
Chair of the Board of Directors, Air France-KLM Group
Trustee of the IISS and Member of the Advisory Council, IISS

Florence Parly served as Minister for the Armed Forces of France from 2017 to 2022.  She has served in the French government for 20 years at the highest level and has extensive experience in the private sector, having spent 15 years working among the senior ranks of France’s largest industrial and transport corporations.

After graduating from Sciences Po and the National School of Administration, she joined the civilian administrative corps of the Budget Directorate. From 1991 to 1993, she was a junior advisor in the Ministry of Public Service, then in the Ministry of Housing and Equipment, and finally in the Ministry of the Interior. In 1993, she returned to the administrative sector where she was appointed as Head, Protection and Social Security Office in the Budget Directorate, then for housing, equipment, city and urban planning (1994-1995), and finally for culture and audiovisual matters (1995-1997). In 1997, she served as Advisor for budget affairs in Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Office. She was then appointed Secretary of State for Budget in 2000, a post she vacated in 2002.

After her Government career, Mrs Parly took on the responsibilities of Mission Head in the France Trésor Agency (2003-2004), before becoming Chairwoman of the board, Regional Development Agency of Ile-de-France, until 2006. She then chose to work with national companies, joined Air France and took up the position of Director for Investment Strategy (2006-2008), then Deputy Director General in charge of Cargo (2008-2012), before becoming Deputy Director General in charge of short-haul activities in 2013. She joined SNCF in 2014, first as Assistant Director General, then as Director General of SNCF Voyageurs in 2016, before being appointed Minister for the Armed Forces by President Emmanuel Macron in 2017.
 

Managing Partner
Polarion

Thomas Falck is the Managing Partner of Polarion – a fund under establishment aimed at investing in and supporting private-growth companies in the defence sector. Falck was Chairman of Investinor AS, the Norwegian state-owned VC and fund-of-fund investor, as well as Managing Partner for Verdane Capital IV. He has also been the CEO of Visma Marine and the OSX-listed Q-Free ASA. He recently served as CFO of Cognite AS – a Norwegian unicorn in the DataOps and machine-learning domain. Falck has been appointed to board roles by government, private-equity, family and VC-owned companies – as well as to several listed companies. He currently serves on the boards of Norwegian, French and Swedish tech and life-science companies. 
 
He holds an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, is a graduate of the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy and has attended the Commanding Officers course at the Defence University College. Falck has served as the Executive Officer of a submarine and as an Exchange Officer with the US 6th Fleet. He also undertook advanced submarine-warfare training in the UK.
 

Chief Executive Officer
Speer Group

Max Buechner is the Founder and Managing Partner of Speer Group, Europe’s first venture-capital fund dedicated exclusively to security, defence and resilience. Max leads a multinational team bridging the gap between business, diplomacy and defence in Europe by working closely with institutional partners, private investors and public-sector leaders to shape forward-looking investment strategies that contribute to a more secure, prosperous and democratic future for Europe.
 

Partner
Taylor Wessing

Dr Niclas von Woedtke is a lawyer specialising in corporate law/M&A and advising international clients on M&A, venture capital and private-equity transactions. Niclas holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management/WHU University. He has a particular industry focus on life sciences and biotech transactions.
 

Supervisory Board Member and Investor
Volkswagen Group

Susanne Wiegand is a leader with more than 20 years of experience in senior positions in the defence and mechanical and plant engineering (shipbuilding) industries. After studying at Goethe University, she worked as a management consultant for large industrial companies before joining Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, Hamburg, in 2005 as Senior Vice President with responsibility for strategy, business development, and M&A. In 2007, she joined the management board of Nobiskrug Werft, Rendsburg, after which she took over the management of German Naval Yards Kiel GmbH and Lindenau Werft GmbH, Kiel. In 2018–21 she was a member of the Executive Board Defence of Rheinmetall AG and CEO of its Electronic Solutions division. In 2021–25 she was CEO of RENK Group AG, which she successfully floated on the stock exchange in 2024. Since stepping down from that role she has taken on various security- and defence-related roles as an investor in several defence start-ups, as a supervisory board member of Volkswagen AG (DAX), Brenntag SE (DAX) and BWI GmbH (IT for the German Armed Forces), and as a board member of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP e.V.). 
 

Director of Government Security and Regulation
Vodafone Group

As Director for Government Security and Regulation at Vodafone Group, Paula oversees Vodafone’s contribution to national and EU security and resilience goals, as well as compliance with relevant legislation such as NIS2.
 
Prior to joining Vodafone, Paula held various leadership roles in the UK government focused on national security, defence and international relations. Her most recent government role was as Director of IT Security for the UK Civil Service. She has worked as a senior policy adviser for security and defence in the UK Cabinet Office and contributed to successive UK National Security Strategies and Strategic Defence Reviews. She is passionate about the role of technology and digital inclusion in enabling a more secure and prosperous society.
 

Global Co-Head of the Corporate Bank
Deutsche Bank

Dr Michael Diederich is the Global Co-Head of Corporate Banking and Member of the Group Management Committee at Deutsche Bank. He studied economics, earned an MBA and spent more than 20 years in financial services. He was formerly the CEO of Unicredit Bank AG and the deputy CEO of FC Bayern Munich.
 

Head of Critical Infrastructure Protection
Hamburg Port Authority

Markus Horschig is a specialist in the protection of critical infrastructure, including both cyber and physical security. Since April 2023, he has served as Head of Critical Infrastructure Protection at Hamburg Port Authority, where he ensures compliance with legal and regulatory requirements for the Port of Hamburg, particularly in KRITIS and information security.

Previously, Markus was part of the DACH and German senior leadership teams at Insight, holding roles such as Head of LCS DACH and Head of LCS for Germany and Austria. His background also includes experience in IT and license management at GlaxoSmithKline, Fairpro GmbH, and as a JAVA developer at MATHEMA AG.

He has deep expertise in ISO 27001, business continuity management, data protection (GDPR/DSGVO), process optimization, and license management for Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, and SAP. Markus holds an LL.M. in Compliance and Corporate Security (RH Cologne), a degree in Business Administration (AKAD University Stuttgart), as well as studies in Law and Computer Science (University of Hamburg). He is currently pursuing a DBA at iaelyon School of Management. Whenever time allows, he also serves as an auditor for the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). Markus is fluent in both German and English.
 

Chief Executive Officer
secunet Security Networks AG

Marc-Julian Siewert has joined secunet Security Networks AG in July 2025 in the capacity of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Management Board. He brings with him many years of international experience in various areas of the high-security industry.  

Marc-Julian completed his studies of business and management in the UK, Canada, USA and Spain. Following his Master’s degree, he worked in technology consulting for two years, before joining Papierfabrik Louisenthal GmbH in 2013 as Vice President Key Accounts.  

From 2015, he held various roles in Sales & Marketing in the Currency Technology division of Giesecke + Devrient GmbH, where he spent many years abroad. He was appointed Group Vice President and Head of Value Added Solutions and Services at the same company in autumn 2018. Before joining secunet, he was a member of the management board of Veridos GmbH for six years, including more than three years as CEO.
 

Managing Director, Perseus Strategies
Counsel, Neurorights Foundation

Jared Genser has been an international lawyer for more than two decades. He is Managing Director of Perseus Strategies and Counsel to the Neurorights Foundation.

He was previously a partner at the global law firm DLA Piper LLP and a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. He was also previously a Senior Tech Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights. Genser has taught courses on the UN Security Council as adjunct faculty at Stanford Law School, Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Referred to by the New York Times as ‘The Extractor’ for his work freeing political prisoners, he has represented five Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, including three who won the Prize while imprisoned. Genser holds a B.S. from Cornell University, an M.P.P. from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. His forthcoming book is a co-edited volume with former UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein entitled The Oxford Handbook on the UN Human Rights System (Oxford University Press, 2026).

: https://x.com/jaredgenser
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredgenser/ 
 

Senior Fellow
European Initiative for Energy Security

Peter Handley is a Senior Fellow with the European Initiative for Energy Security. He advises on sustainability and resilience and is founder of consultancy PHASE32. He is an External Senior Advisor with McKinsey & Company, Strategic Advisor with the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and a Senior Associate with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. He also acts as Special Advisor to the Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals.

Handley was a former European Commission official, where he acted as Deputy Director and Head of Unit responsible for energy-intensive industries and raw materials in DG GROW. 
 

Chairman
Global Rare Earth Industry Association

Vasileios Tsianos is Vice President of Corporate Development at Neo Performance Materials (TSX: NEO), the global producer of rare-earth magnetics and critical materials central to fast-forwarding energy and digital transformation technologies. He is Chairman of the Global Rare Earth Industry Association, Executive Committee and Board Director of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Canada, a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, and a member of the critical minerals advisors committee of the International Energy Agency. He has extensive previous experience in management consulting, investment banking, a private railway venture, and politics.
 

Senior Executive Managing Officer and Global Head of Energy and Natural Resources Finance Group
Japan Bank for International Cooperation

Amano Tatsushi oversees financing operations at JBIC in the oil and gas, mining, and hydrogen/ammonia sectors, supporting both global energy development and sustainability. Prior to this role, he served as Director-General of JBICʼs Strategic Research Department, where he provided strategic insights and policy analysis to the Board of Directors on international finance and geopolitical trends.

Since joining JBIC in 1995, Amano has held key roles in the legal department, corporate finance, policy planning, and energy finance. From 1999 to 2001, he was seconded to Japanʼs Ministry of Finance, contributing to international financial policy. He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2002 and practiced law in London from 2012 to 2014.

Amano holds a BA in Law from the University of Tokyo and an LLM from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
 

Strategic Advisor, Research Innovations Incorporated
Chief Executive Officer, Charthouse Strategic Advisory

Doug Greenlaw is an entrepreneur, investor, advisor and executive with extensive expertise in the global defence and aerospace market. With over four decades of experience from start-up companies to market leaders, his focus is on delivering advanced technologies to meet critical national security needs. He has broad international experience, having done business in over 40 countries, as well as considerable commercial experience in emerging technology sectors. He has been an owner and principal in several businesses and currently runs a specialised investment and advisory firm, Charthouse Strategic Advisory, focusing on early phase investment in exciting technology companies, particularly with national and global security applications. He also participates on a number of boards. He has extensive strategic development expertise, having led Lockheed Martin’s International Strategy development organisation and serving as its corporate Chief Executive for Asia.
 

Chief Executive Officer
BWI

Lieutenant General Frank Leidenberger is CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of BWI GmbH. He is responsible for the strategic and technological positioning of the company.
 
Lt-Gen Leidenberger, who studied economics and organisational science, draws on over 40 years’ experience from various command and staff assignments in the Bundeswehr. Examples include commander of various units, Head of the Planning Office, Chief of Staff for the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, and Head of the Special Operations Division. As head of unit, he has also supported the Armed Forces Command Staff in the Ministry of Defence.
 

Deputy Chief Executive (Information)
Defence Science and Technology Agency, Singapore

Gayle Chan has many years of experience in the Public Service, across domains such as engineering and strategic planning. In 2021, she took up the role of Deputy Chief Executive (Information) in Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), where she drives DSTA's digital transformation efforts and guides the development of technological capabilities in information, electronic warfare and cyber domains against emerging threats.
 
She was appointed Deputy Director (Strategic Planning Office) in Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) in 2015, where she developed strategies and technology roadmaps at the Defence Technology Community level.
 
Chan is also Director of the DSTA’s Digital Hub and combines diverse expertise across DSTA with promising digital technologies to ideate, experiment, and rapidly prototype new capabilities for MINDEF and the Singapore Armed Forces.
 

Director General for Cyber/Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
Federal Ministry of Defence, Germany

Lieutenant General Michael Vetter has been Director-General for Cyber/Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at the Federal Ministry of Defence in Berlin since April 2019. After joining the Bundeswehr in 1982 and completing his officer’s training, he studied Economics and Management.
 
After several troop and staff assignments, he was commander of 2 Air Force Maintenance Regiment in Diepholz from 2005 to 2007 and headed the Bundeswehr Logistics Centre in Wilhelmshaven from 2012 to 2017. In this position, he was responsible for worldwide logistic support of the Bundeswehr. During this time, he was also ISAF Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics at Regional Command North in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan in 2013.
 
In 2017, he became the first Chief of Staff of the newly established Bundeswehr Cyber and Information Domain Service Headquarters. From 2017 to 2018, he also performed the duties of Vice Chief of the Cyber and Information Domain Service.
 

Founder and Chairman
Ivanhoe Capital

Robert Friedland is a renowned financier and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the global financial and mineral resources industries. Under his leadership, executives within the Ivanhoe Group and associated companies have raised more than US$35 billion, through a diverse range of financing vehicles on world capital markets, since 1993. This capital has been invested in more than 30 countries across six continents. Today, Friedland is Executive Co-Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, which is expanding the high-grade Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), restarting the ultra-high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the DRC, and building the tier-one Platreef palladium-platinum-nickel- copper- gold discovery in South Africa. He is Chairman and co-founder of I-Pulse, a private company that is commercialising proprietary, pulsed-power technologies aiming to achieve disruptive outcomes across numerous industries. He is also Executive Chairman of United States-based Ivanhoe Electric, which is using proprietary technology to explore for mineral deposits, principally across the US to support American supply-chain independence.
 

Director, Directorate for Science,
Technology and Innovation, OECD

Jerry Sheehan joined the OECD in 2023, bringing 30 years of experience in US policy development across innovation, scientific data and information technology. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Director for Policy and External Affairs at the US National Library of Medicine (NIH), where he led national efforts to advance open science and public access to research outputs. 

He held two appointments at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, focusing on open science, scientific integrity and medical imaging. He chaired the OECD Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy, co-chaired the US National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Open Science, and represented the US in the G7 Open Science Working Group. 

From 2000–06, Sheehan was a Senior Economist at the OECD, coordinating the Science, Technology, and Industry Outlook and conducting research on research and development, patent licensing and innovation policy. Earlier roles include directing expert assessments at the US National Academy of Sciences and the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment. 

Jerry holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Technology and Policy from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

President and Chief Executive Officer
Special Competitive Studies Project

Ylli Bajraktari is CEO of the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP). Prior to launching SCSP, Bajraktari served as the Executive Director of the US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI). Prior to joining NSCAI, he served as Chief of Staff to the US National Security Advisor Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, held a variety of leadership roles for former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work and served as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin E. Dempsey. Originally joining the US Department of Defense in 2010, he served in the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy as a country director for Afghanistan, and later India. Bajraktari is the recipient of the US Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal – the highest award given to civilian employees.
 

Member of the European Parliament
European Union

Dr Sergey Lagodinsky is a German lawyer, author and a Member of the European Parliament, serving as Vice-Chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance Groupe (Greens/EFA). He is Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation to the EuroNest Parliamentary Assembly, Member of the Committees on Legal Affairs and on Foreign Affairs, as well as Substitute Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. He is also the Greens/EFA Spokesperson for Russia and the United States.

Lagodinsky studied Law in Goettingen and Public Administration at Harvard. From 2003–2008, he served as Program Director, and later as consultant to the Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee. He then worked as a lawyer at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. From 2012 until joining the European Parliament in 2019, he was Director of the Department EU/North America/Turkiye of the Heinrich Boell Foundation. In the 10th legislative period he served as Chair of the EU–Turkey Delegation and as Deputy Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee. 
 

Senior Leader, Defence
Security and Resilience Bank Development Group 
Chief Executive Officer
Encompass, UK

Robbie Boyd is a Senior Leader at Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Development Group, and CEO of Encompass BV. His 40 years of experience in defence, industry and security includes over a decade on combat operations at every level and experience as a practitioner at the strategic and grand-strategic level. Before establishing Encompass, he led Gartner’s consulting across NATO and EU defence as a Managing Partner. Prior to that he was a Brigadier General in the British Army, serving as the principal political/military adviser to the Chair of NATO’s Military Committee, NATO’s most senior military appointee. 

A soldier, innovation industry senior leader, non-executive director and strategic advisory board member for several European defence and innovation companies, he is a regular contributor to the UK’s Defence Academy, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI–where he holds a Fellowship) and the IISS. He is a Senior Fellow at OPEWI–Europe’s War Institute. 

Chairman of the Board of Directors
Airbus, Germany

René Obermann has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Airbus SE since 2020. He also works as Chairman of Warburg Pincus Europe, a leading global private equity firm, and as Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board at IONOS SE, a publicly listed web productivity and cloud company. 

He previously served on various company boards including E.ON, Spotify, Allianz Deutschland and Telenor, and as CEO of Ziggo BV in the Netherlands in 2014. 

René worked at Deutsche Telekom Group (DT) from 1998 and was appointed CEO in November 2006, where he remained until December 2013. 

René founded his own business in 1986: ABC Telekom, a distribution and services company in the telecoms sector. After Hutchison Whampoa acquired ABC Telekom in 1991, René was appointed Managing Partner of the resulting entity, Hutchison Mobilfunk GmbH and was CEO in 1993–98, during which time the company became one of the first virtual mobile network operators in Germany. 

From 2007 to 2013, René served as Vice President of the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM). 

In 2013 he was awarded the rank of Officer of the French Legion of Honour. 

Executive Director
National Centre for Engineering Biology, Singapore

Professor Matthew Chang is Executive Director of the National Centre for Engineering Biology and Provost’s Chair Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). He also directs the Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology (SINERGY), the NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI) and the Wilmar–NUS Corporate Laboratory.

He co-chairs the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Generative Biology. He has helped establish key initiatives in the field, including the Asian Synthetic Biology Association and the Global Biofoundry Alliance, and advises international programmes such as Australia’s CSIRO Synthetic Biology initiative, SynBio Africa, and the EU’s Horizon Europe Programme.

His research focuses on reprogramming microbial cells for biomedical and biomanufacturing applications, with over 140 scientific publications. His awards including the NRF Investigatorship Award, the NUHS-Mochtar Riady Pinnacle Research Excellence Award, and the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Scientific and Technological Achievement Award.  

General Manager
Worldwide Defense and Intelligence, Microsoft, Germany

Angus (Gus) MacGregor-Millar currently serves as General Manager for Defense and Intelligence within Microsoft’s Worldwide Sales & Solutions organisation. 

He began his career in 1986 as an officer in the British Army. Gus was entrusted with training and managing soldiers and their families, later supporting military operations and training across Africa, the Balkans, Canada, the Far East, the Falkland Islands, Germany, the Mediterranean, Norway and the UK. His military tenure culminated as Staff Officer (J2) for the 4th Armoured Brigade during NATO spearhead operations in Macedonia and Kosovo. 

After retiring from the Army in 1999, Gus transitioned to the IT sector in Frankfurt, becoming an SAP HCM Consultant in 2003. Joining SAP in 2004, he supported defence and public-security initiatives, eventually managing SAP’s public-services portfolio. Appointed Global Head of the Defense and Security industry business unit in 2010, he spent a decade driving strategic growth across the ecosystem. 

Gus is an alumnus of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and holds an MBA from ESSEC & Mannheim Business Schools. 

Former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (DSACT)
NATO

General Badia most recently served as Deputy Commander of NATO’s Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, making him the highest-ranking German officer in NATO. His four-decade career in the Bundeswehr spanned from jet pilot on F-4 Phantoms to senior strategic leadership roles in Berlin, Brussels, Kabul and Eindhoven, culminating in his promotion to four-star general in 2022. 

Throughout his career, General Badia held key commands and staff positions, including leadership of Fighter Wing 71 ‘Richthofen’, Head of Planning at the German Federal Ministry of Defence, and Commander of the European Air Transport Command. At NATO, he played a central role in shaping the transformation of the Alliance and developing strategies for future warfare. His expertise spans military strategy, defence planning and civil–military cooperation, with deep insight into the capabilities and technologies that will be decisive in future conflicts. 

Head of Applied AI Strategy and Global Security
Scale AI, US

Christopher Kirchhoff is Head of Applied AI Strategy and Global Security at Scale AI, a US$29 billion AI start-up founded by Alexandr Wang. Previously, he helped found the Pentagon’s Silicon Valley office, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which piloted flying cars and microsatellites in military missions and created a new acquisition pathway for start-ups now responsible for US$80bn dollars of technology acquisition by the US Department of Defense.

Kirchhoff chronicled the story of the DIU in Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are Transforming the Future of War (Simon & Schuster, 2024), shortlisted by the Financial Times as one of the six best business books of 2024. He previously worked for Anthropic and for former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and served across three presidential administrations, where he was the National Security Council’s Director for Strategic Planning and the senior civilian aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A graduate of Harvard College, Kirchhoff holds a doctorate in politics from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Scholar.

He has been awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service and the Civilian Service Medal for hazardous duty in Iraq. 

State Secretary to the Minister for Civil Defence
Ministry of Defence, Sweden

Johan Berggren is State Secretary to the Minister for Civil Defence, Carl-Oskar Bohlin.  

Mr Berggren has previously served in a variety of political and non-political roles in the Swedish Government Offices, including as Director of Planning to then Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and as Political Advisor to then Minister for Finance, Anders Borg. He has also been an advisor to Quartet Representative Tony Blair and Chief of Staff at the Office of the Quartet in Jerusalem, working on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.  

Johan is a published writer and has served as Deputy Director of the Parliamentary Office for The Moderate Party of Sweden and worked as Business Analyst at McKinsey in London. He has a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford, and Master’s degrees from the University of Uppsala and from the College of Europe in Bruges.