New ways of oversight for the digital economy

Alexandre de Streel is Academic Co-Director at CERRE and a professor of European law at the University of Namur and the Research Centre for Information, Law and Society (CRIDS/NADI). Since April 2021, he is also the Chair of the EU Observatory on Online Platform Economy.

He is a Hauser Global Fellow at New York University (NYU) Law School and visiting professor at the European University Institute, SciencesPo Paris and Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, and also assessor at the Belgian Competition Authority.

His main areas of research are regulation and competition policy in the digital economy as well as the legal issues raised by the developments of artificial intelligence. Recently, he advised the European Commission and the European Parliament on the regulation of online platforms.

Previously, Alexandre worked for the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, the Belgian Permanent Representation to the European Union and the European Commission (DG CONNECT). He holds a Ph.D. in Law from the European University Institute and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Louvain.

Pierre Dubreuil is head of the “Data-driven regulation” unit within the French Telecommunications and Post Regulatory Authority (Arcep). His main focus is using the power of information and data to amplify the regulator’s ability to act and to enable users to make informed choices.

Pierre Dubreuil graduated from Telecom Paris and from Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay where he specialized in data and IA. In 2019, he was also rapporteur for the “co-regulation initiative” launched by the French State in collaboration with Facebook.

Johanna Fell has been working for the Bavarian regulatory authority for commercial broadcasting (Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien – BLM) in Munich since 1988. She started her career working for various multilingual publications as a translator and editor. After two years as deputy head of the translation department of a major German energy supplier, she joined the BLM in Munich in 1998 as Assistant to the President and European Representative.

With regards to EPRA, she has been involved from the inception of the organisation. In May 2015, she was elected to the EPRA Board and currently holds the function of Senior Vice-Chair.

Marisa Jiménez Martín joined Facebook in February 2018 as Director of Public policy and Deputy Head of EU Affairs. She has over 20 years of public policy experience; she worked for the EU Commission at the beginning of her career and held various positions at Time Warner and Deutsche Post World Net Brussels Corporate public policy offices, dealing with a variety of public policy matters focusing on Privacy and Data Protection, Internet and RFID policy-related issues. Before joining Facebook, Marisa led Google’s privacy public policy strategy both in Brussels and Mountain View in California.

Spanish lawyer by the University of Zaragoza, Marisa Jiménez Martín is specialized in EU law by the Europa Institut of Saarbruecken, Germany.

Michèle Ledger is a researcher at the CRIDS research centre of the University of Namur where she also lectures on the regulatory aspects of online platforms at the postmaster degree course (DTIC). She has been working for more than 20 years at Cullen International and leads the company’s Media regulatory intelligence service.

Lara Natale* is CERRE’s Director for Tech, Media, Telecom and Mobility. She leads the think tank’s research and activities related to these sectors.

Most recently, Lara co-led the Tech, Media, Telecoms practice at FTI Consulting in Brussels, providing strategic EU public policy and regulatory counsel to global businesses.

Prior to that, Lara was attachée at the (then-named) UK Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, negotiating digital, culture, skills and other legislation. She also led the Brussels secretariat of a migrants’ rights NGO network, worked in two Westminster-based think tanks on UK social policies and in UK management consulting, and spent time teaching English in several countries, including Japan.

*Representing Kanso SRL

Dr. Thibault Schrepel, LL.M., is an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University School of Law, and a Faculty Affiliate at Stanford University CodeX Center where he has created the “Computational Antitrust” project that brings together over 45 antitrust agencies.

These last couple of years, Thibault has been focusing most of his research on blockchain antitrust. In 2018, Thibault was granted the “Academic Excellence” Global Competition Review Award, which recognizes “an academic competition specialist who has made an outstanding contribution to competition policy.” He has published a book (Bruylant ed.) on the subject of “predatory innovation in antitrust law” and articles at Harvard University, Stanford, MIT, Oxford, NYU, Berkeley, and Georgetown, among others.

Thibault also holds research and teaching positions at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Sciences Po Paris. He is a Harvard University Berkman Center alumnus.