Mrs. Jana Krimpe is an accomplished visionary in e-Government as well as in digital identity and e-signature technology. Previously her professional experience included a role as an Advisor in the Office for two consecutive Presidents of the Republic of Estonia. With 20+ years' experience in implementing innovative ICT solutions, she has earned a strong reputation for success in international circles.

The Financial Times and Google listed Jana Krimpe among the top 100 change-makers. She was named in the U.S. based One World Identity's top 100 Digital Identity influencers global list. Jana is the winner in 'The Executive' category of the Mastercard Women SME Leaders Awards and selected among TOP 100 Women of the Future — the Top 100 women globally who are driving impact in the world through emerging technologies, recognized as one of the 30 most followed global LinkedIn Influencers. Since 2025, she is a member of the 100 Davos Women network. In addition to being the founder of B.EST Solutions, an award-winning leader in digital identity recognized by the likes of United Nations, OECD and NIST.

Mrs. Krimpe is the architect and operator of Azerbaijan's National Mobile ID ("Asan Imza") — a government-certified, legally binding digital signature system that has processed over 600 million secure transactions, integrated with 20+ banks and 2,000+ e-services. She led the deployment of X-Road national interoperability infrastructure, the Digital Trade Hub, and cross-border e-signature platforms as public-private partnerships.

She is the head of the Mobile-ID Consortium and Advisor at the Global Trust Foundation and Co-Chair of Post Quantum Cryptography Working Group. Additionally, the founder of the Supporting Women in TECH — "FEMMES DIGITALES" Public Association, chairwoman of the Estonian-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce. She is passionate about providing expertise based on the hands-on experience she and her colleagues gained successfully implementing and operating e-Governmental solutions.

Mrs. Krimpe's commitment to supporting the continuation of this success is reflected in her endorsement of the country's achievements through her involvement in various international forums (e.g. World Economic Forum, United Nations ESCAP). This work has expanded and re-defined how identity and signatures are managed digitally, and issued by governments fostering social, business, and political development, has supported the creation of a seamless business environment and a holistically connected society. Due to this, she is also a welcomed speaker and panellist having presented in major events around the world and has contributed to several global and national reports as an expert (UN Expert for Paperless Trade and Transport in Asia and Pacific).

Ms. Liisa Past has held more senior cybersecurity positions in the Republic of Estonia than perhaps any other single individual. Over the course of a career that has taken her from NATO headquarters to the Prime Minister’s Office to the frontlines of national eID crisis management, she has become one of Europe’s most accomplished practitioners in the field of cybersecurity governance, digital-identity resilience, and election technology security. She now serves as an independent consultant and trainer specializing in digital-ecosystem development, cybersecurity governance, and strategic communications for governments, international organizations, and private-sector technology companies worldwide.

From 2022 to 2024, Ms. Past served as the National Cyber Director of Estonia at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications — responsible for defining and coordinating the country’s entire cybersecurity policy, standards, and strategic implementation across government, critical infrastructure, and the private sector. She led the preparation of the revision of Estonia’s national cybersecurity strategy, oversaw cyber-resilience initiatives within ministries and key national systems including digital-identity and e-services infrastructure, and represented Estonia in international cybersecurity cooperation forums. Prior to this, she held the position of Chief National Cyber Risk Officer at the Government Office of the Republic of Estonia, where she provided regular advisory reporting directly to the Prime Minister on cyber-risk posture and resilience priorities, integrated cybersecurity into national security and long-term defence planning, and served as an alternate member of the National Elections Commission, providing expert input on election technology security.

Ms. Past also served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the IT and Development Centre of the Estonian Ministry of the Interior, where she was responsible for cybersecurity across all of Estonia’s homeland-security and emergency-response systems — including IT infrastructure for the police, border guard, emergency response, and rescue services. She led the organization through ISO 27001 certification, spearheaded the establishment of a centralized Security Operations Center (SOC) for real-time monitoring and threat response, embedded “security-by-design” principles into national-security platforms, and oversaw classified systems. Concurrently, she led cybersecurity business development at Cybernetica, one of Estonia’s most respected cybersecurity and e-governance technology companies, overseeing government-sector cybersecurity R&D projects and coordinating the integration of advanced security measures into e-government and national security systems.

Her expertise in digital identity was forged during her tenure as Chief Research Officer at the Estonian Information System Authority (RIA), where she led Estonia’s analytical response to the ROCA cryptographic vulnerability — a major threat event that impacted the nation’s electronic ID system and familiarized her with the requirements, standards, and best practices of digital ID, including the eIDAS regulation. It was also during this period that she developed a comprehensive electoral risk management methodology and served as lead editor and co-author of the EU Compendium on Cybersecurity for Election Technology, adopted as a reference across EU member states. Before joining RIA, Ms. Past spent three years as Head of Communications and member of the Directorate at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), where she achieved a thirty-fold increase in media coverage of NATO’s Locked Shields — the world’s largest real-time cyber-defence exercise — within a single year, and increased journalist engagement with the annual CyCon Conference by over 500 percent.

Ms. Past currently serves as an election technology analyst for the European Union (EU EOM Malawi 2025) and the OSCE (ODIHR missions to the United States 2024 and Albania 2025), evaluating digital systems, cybersecurity controls, and results-transmission mechanisms in democratic elections. She is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), a McCain Institute Next Generation Leader at Arizona State University, a former member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences Standing Committee on Cyber Security, a member of the Brookings High-Level Trans-Atlantic Working Group on Disinformation and Emerging Technology, and a former member of the Washington Post Cybersecurity 202 expert network. She holds a BA in Political Science from Columbia University in New York and an MA cum laude in Communication Management from the University of Tartu. A sought-after international voice, her work has been featured in BBC, Euronews, Wired, and Politico, and her publications span election security, cyber warfare, and the governance of digital trust.

Ms. Annika Uudelepp is an internationally recognized governance expert whose career spans the intersection of public administration reform, institutional capacity building, and policy research. Since 2017, she has served as a Senior Advisor at the OECD, advising the governments of the Western Balkan countries on the design and implementation of governance reforms — work that has given her hands-on experience in helping nations transform their institutional frameworks to meet the demands of modern digital governance.

Prior to her OECD role, Ms. Uudelepp led the Praxis Centre for Policy Studies as its CEO — Estonia's foremost independent policy think tank — where she directed research and advisory programs across governance, education, and social policy. She has also served as Secretary General of the Estonian Ministry of the Environment, managing a major government institution and overseeing cross-ministerial coordination and reform processes at the highest level of the Estonian civil service.

Ms. Uudelepp was appointed by the President of the Republic to the Foresight Council at the Estonian Parliament, where she focuses on long-term governance futures, digital society scenarios, and ensuring that Estonia's policy decisions account for transformative societal changes. She has stated that her priority is "to make sure that Estonia is smart about its foresight and adapts skillfully to the turbulent world."

A published researcher with experience at Oxford University, Ms. Uudelepp has co-authored studies on civil service development systems, central government coordination, and public service modernization commissioned by the Estonian Ministry of Finance. She holds an MSc cum laude in Public Management from Tallinn University and has lectured on governance, law, and society. Her expertise is critical for ensuring that DPI implementations are accompanied by the institutional reforms necessary for governments to adopt, govern, and sustain new digital systems independently.

Mr. Jon Shamah is, above all, a communicator — a rare professional with the key ability to translate complex technical issues in digital identity, trust services, and electronic governance into the language of stakeholders, policymakers, and decision-makers. A Chartered Information Technology Professional, Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, and Associate of the Royal Aeronautical Society, he has spent over twenty-five years at the intersection of technology, policy, and institutional transformation, shaping how European and global governments approach digital identity, electronic signatures, and trusted digital transactions. In 2017, he was listed in One World Identity’s Top 100 Leaders in Identity — a recognition he shares with Trusted Futures founder Jana Krimpe. He has spoken at EU Ministerials, the United Nations General Assembly, and the Canadian Senate.

In 2025, Mr. Shamah was contracted by the European Commission as the EU’s lead expert on EU approaches to regulating Digital Identity, producing a study and draft agreement in conjunction with the Government of Canada to determine the path for interoperability of identity systems and Digital Wallets and to draft a formal Mutual Recognition Agreement to be signed at ministerial level. This work led directly to the signing of the EU-Canada MOU at the G7 meeting in Montreal in December 2025 — a landmark moment in the history of cross-border digital identity interoperability. It is rare for any single individual to be able to trace a direct line from their advisory work to an agreement signed by governments at the G7.

Mr. Shamah is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Global Trust Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting digital awareness in identity, trust, and transformation, with a particular focus on Digital Identity Wallets, Self-Sovereign Identity, and the utilization of AI in digital trust systems. The Foundation is an Associate Partner in an EU Digital Identity Wallet Large-Scale Pilot, placing it at the centre of the European Union’s most ambitious digital identity initiative to date. Mr. Shamah writes a widely followed weekly blog on digital identity and transformation issues, making him one of the most consistently visible thought leaders in this space. From 2014 to 2022, he served as Chair of EEMA, the European Association for e-Identity and Security — an independent association established in 1987 whose conferences have hosted over 17,000 attendees. He is a recipient of the EEMA Fellowship Award for Services to European Identity.

His influence on European digital identity policy is direct and documented. In 2011, Mr. Shamah was contracted by the EU’s DG-CONNECT to facilitate the ministerial workshop on eID in Poznan, Poland, where he worked face-to-face with EU government ministers in a closed workshop — without advisors present — to agree key policy goals. The outcome was ministerial approval for the fundamental components of eIDAS Trust Services Regulation 910/2014, which was then accepted into the law of all EU member states and became the legal foundation for digital identity across the European Union. Few individuals alive can claim such a direct role in shaping a regulation that affects 450 million citizens. His advisory reach extends far beyond Europe: he has served as a contracted advisor to government offices on national eID strategy, providing ministerial-level briefings and cross-government seminars on digital identity governance. In 2023, he conducted a Smart Government Assessment of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority of Dubai (UAE TDRA), benchmarking their e-government maturity against international standards and producing strategic recommendations for the authority to reach top-five global positioning within the decade.

Mr. Shamah delivered a keynote address at the United Nations General Assembly for the ID2020 Alliance on “Identity as a Tool to Fight Child Slavery.” He has served as Co-Chair of the ITU-T Joint Coordination Activity on Identity Management at sessions in Geneva, and as a contracted expert to ENISA on cybersecurity standards and eIDAS Trust Services coordination. His portfolio of EU-funded programmes is formidable: FutureTrust, LIGHTest, STORK 2.0, FutureID, DE4A, GLASS, LOCARD, ECIM, SSEDIC, KONFIDO, and ARIES — spanning the full spectrum of Europe’s digital identity research and policy landscape over more than a decade.

Mr. Shamah’s commercial career spans senior roles at Thales, where he was head-hunted by Paris headquarters to establish the UK e-Services business unit; McDonnell Douglas, where he built the PKI and identity business; Hitachi Europe, where he led EMEA business development; CoreStreet, where he built the European national eID validation business across defence, government, and financial sectors; Intercede, where he managed global Credential Management Systems business including the Kuwaiti National eID; and Nets Norway, Scandinavia’s largest PKI organization, where he provided European insight and drove thought-leadership strategy. A graduate of the University of Southampton specialising in Aeronautics and Astronautics — specifically in missile and space vehicle guidance systems — and a British citizen with Estonian e-Residency, Mr. Shamah brings an engineer’s precision, a diplomat’s communication skills, and an unmatched network of European and Middle Eastern institutional relationships to every engagement.

Mrs. Selma El Karim is an international business executive and strategic advisor whose career has been defined by one mission: connecting the innovation ecosystems of Estonia and Europe with the vast, fast-growing markets of the Middle East and Africa. Holding an MBA in International Business, she is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SK Consultancy, an Estonia-based strategic advisory firm that has become a trusted bridge for technology companies and growth-oriented enterprises seeking to establish sustainable, competitive presences in some of the world's most complex and promising emerging markets.

What sets Mrs. El Karim apart is her structured, research-driven approach to cross-border expansion. Rather than relying on introductions alone, she builds market entry frameworks grounded in regulatory analysis, competitive positioning, strategic alliance structuring, and sustainable growth modelling. Her leadership has enabled multiple organizations to move beyond the exploration stage and establish operationally sound, long-term presences in MENA and Sub-Saharan African markets — regions where institutional navigation and relationship capital are as critical as strategy itself.

Mrs. El Karim serves as a Board Member of the African Estonian Institute, where she contributes to initiatives advancing bilateral trade, investment cooperation, and cross-cultural engagement between Estonia and African nations. This institutional role reflects her broader commitment to facilitating SME internationalization, promoting responsible long-term economic development, and building the kind of government-to-business and business-to-business partnerships that underpin successful Digital Public Infrastructure deployments in emerging economies.

A respected voice in the international digital governance community, Mrs. El Karim has spoken at the Tallinn Digital Summit, participated in COP29 in Azerbaijan, and attended the World Economic Forum in Davos 2026, where she contributed to discussions on digital nation-building, AI governance, and the role of cross-border partnerships in accelerating digital transformation in the Global South. She has shared Estonian e-governance experience with government delegations from across the MENA and African regions and actively contributes to the discourse on how small, digitally advanced nations can export their expertise to countries embarking on their own digital journeys.

Mrs. El Karim is recognized for her disciplined strategic perspective, institutional rigor, and her exceptional ability to cultivate high-value, enduring international partnerships. For Trusted Futures, her on-the-ground stakeholder engagement capability, deep understanding of MENA and African institutional dynamics, and her network of government and private sector relationships across these regions are essential assets — particularly for World Bank and donor-funded DPI implementations where building trust with national counterparts is as important as the technology itself.

Mr. Belal Al-Hafnawi is a transformational technology executive and digital trailblazer with a passion for using data and emerging technologies to unlock business value and drive government modernization. With deep expertise in telecommunications, RegTech, GovTech, and cybersecurity strategy, he has built a distinguished career leading cross-functional teams, managing multi-million-dollar digital transformation projects, and implementing cutting-edge technology solutions for both public and private sector clients across the MENA region.

Mr. Al-Hafnawi's education reflects his commitment to continuous learning at the highest levels. He holds a Master of Science in Telecommunications from the University of Jordan and has completed executive programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Management and Leadership, Platform Strategies, IoT Business Implications, and Artificial Intelligence Strategies. He holds a Cybersecurity Executive Leadership certification from Duke University and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in AI and Technology Management at UCAM University, Spain.

He is a sought-after speaker at prestigious international conferences, including ITU Global Symposium for Regulators, GSMA Ministerial Program in Barcelona, LEAP Technology Conference in Riyadh, and TEDx, where he shares his insights on 5G, IoT, AI governance, and the future of digital regulation. He serves on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and holds advisory board positions at four Jordanian universities, including the University of Jordan and Princess Sumayya University for Technology.

Mr. Al-Hafnawi is a member of the Internet of Things Community (USA) advisory board, an expert member of the Government Blockchain Association, and actively mentors aspiring innovators at MIT hackathons. His unwavering commitment to leveraging technology to create a better future, combined with his deep understanding of MENA regulatory landscapes and digital infrastructure requirements, makes him a critical asset for DPI implementations across the Arab world and beyond.

Mr. Rain Laane is a seasoned executive leader with nearly four decades of experience spanning technology, public sector governance, and large-scale digital transformation. From 2017 to 2025, he served as Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of the Estonian Health Insurance Fund (EHIF) — Estonia’s sole public health insurance provider, responsible for the healthcare coverage of the entire nation. Under his leadership, EHIF managed an annual budget of approximately 2.5 billion euros and a team of 204 professionals, operating one of Europe’s most digitally advanced and efficient healthcare financing systems.

Concurrently, Mr. Laane served as Chairman of the Supervisory Council of AS Eesti Loto (Estonian Lottery, 2017–2022), representing the sole owner — the Republic of Estonia — in setting the company’s strategic direction and overseeing its management, with an annual budget of 86 million euros. This dual appointment gave him rare insight into both the operational and supervisory dimensions of state-owned enterprise governance.

Prior to his public sector leadership, Mr. Laane built a distinguished career in the global technology industry. He spent 12 years as General Manager of Microsoft Estonia and subsequently General Manager of Microsoft Baltics (2005–2017), where he held full P&L responsibility for budgets of up to $100M and led teams of nearly 100 across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Before Microsoft, he served eight years at IBM Estonia (1997–2005) as Sales Department Manager, overseeing a $15M portfolio and 40 staff, and leading the deployment of some of the largest storage cluster systems in the Baltic region for major banking and media institutions.

Mr. Laane holds an engineering degree from Tallinn Technical University (today TalTech, 1994) and an MBA from the Estonian Business School (2003). His career began remarkably early — he wrote his first code as a high-school programmer in 1988, giving him 37 years of hands-on ICT experience. He is fluent in English (C2) and communicates in Russian and Finnish.

Since 2026, Mr. Laane serves as an independent Healthcare Business Consultant. Rain has two passions — people and technology. This combination, forged through decades of leading complex organizations at the intersection of government and innovation, makes him an invaluable asset for DPI engagements where healthcare digitalization, public sector IT modernization, and executive-level stakeholder management are mission-critical.