During his university studies, Joris Ignoul discovered his passion for computer systems. He became fascinated with how things work “under the hood” and realized that, by deeply studying and understanding these mechanisms, it’s possible to uncover vulnerabilities and take control of computers and applications. He first came into contact with Easi through a Hack The Box meetup they organized, which motivated him to apply for a position on their penetration testing team. Since then, he has grown alongside my colleagues, continuously learning and evolving as a penetration tester. He enjoys putting newly gained knowledge into practice during projects, turning fresh insights into concrete results. Beyond building his own expertise, he supports teammates in solving technical challenges, mentor junior members, and even became a Hack The Box Meetup Ambassador—allowing him to inspire new students in the same way he was once inspired.

Charlotte Monbailleu is a cyber attaché at Belgium’s Permanent Representation to the EU. She focuses on European cyber diplomacy, digital diplomacy, and EU cybersecurity policy, and co-chaired the Council’s Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues (HWPCI) during Belgium’s Presidency of the Council of the EU. She holds master’s degrees in International Politics and European Studies from Ghent University and an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from the College of Europe in Bruges.

As the coordinator of the Diversity Charter Belgium and an experienced consultant and trainer, Saloua El Boustani delivers freelance workshops on inclusion, bias reduction, and equitable processes. She is actively involved in civil society organisations and public speaking engagements on workplace intersectionality and evidence-based DEI practices.

David Durvaux works at the European Commission in DG DIGIT, where he leads the team responsible for developing the incident response capabilities within the Commission. He has been active in the fields of incident response and digital forensics since 2009. Previously, David worked at CERT.be (Belnet) and the European External Action Service (EEAS). Throughout his career, he has remained an engaged contributor to organisations such as TF-CSIRT and FIRST.org, regularly sharing his expertise at various conferences.

Veerle Peeters is a cybersecurity awareness expert with over a decade of experience bridging complex technical topics to non-technical audiences. A former Director at Deloitte’s Cybersecurity Practice, she has led high-impact initiatives on workforce development, digital risk, and human-centric security. Veerle is known as “the human firewall” for her work in making cybersecurity accessible to families, educators, and businesses. She has collaborated with governments, law enforcement, and industry to build safer online ecosystems for children and teens. Most recently, she worked with The Hacking Games, an award-winning UK initiative using gaming and esports communities to identify and mentor unconventional cybersecurity talent, transforming curiosity into careers.

Kameliya Stoeva is a Manager in Cybersecurity at EY and leads the Identity and Access Management (IAM) stream within EY’s Financial Services Organization (FSO) practice. Kameliya is also the pioneering chair of Belgium’s first-ever IAM-focused working group under the Cyber Security Coalition, driving forward national collaboration and best practices in digital identity security. She is a versatile cybersecurity professional with extensive project management experience and a specialised focus on IAM. Her expertise spans IAM governance, access recertifications, segregation of duties, role-based access control, and IAM awareness initiatives.

Sarah Ampe is a Senior Consultant in Digital Risk at EY, based in Diegem, Belgium. With expertise in cryptography and public key infrastructure (PKI), Sarah has done numerous projects focused on secure digital identity, certificate lifecycle management, and cryptographic modernization across both public and private sectors. She is actively involved in post-quantum cryptography (PQC) readiness initiatives. Sarah also leads the Quantum Circle newsletter, a key communication channel that keeps stakeholders informed on the latest developments in quantum risk and cryptographic strategy.

Hans specialises in matters that require a thorough knowledge of both technical aspects and legal issues. He supported the creation of the current legislation on electronic identification and trust services (including electronic signatures, electronic stamps and time stamps), and advises both governments and private companies on the correct application of the law, and on the necessary contractual framework. He supported multiple projects relating to the issuance and management of smart cards and PKI infrastructure, and around mobile identification. Hans also provides legal assistance in software development and data exploitation initiatives, including open source software development and open data applications. He has extensive experience in the re-use of public sector information, and is familiar with all common open source licenses. In addition, he has carried out projects on setting up data warehouses, data lakes, and big data analytics, as well as on AI services based on such data sources. He is a frequently consulted expert for both national and international governments and companies on cloud computing, information security and certification services, and has worked on e-government projects on digital archiving, electronic identification and electronic signatures, privacy protection, free flow of data, electronic communication via e-boxes, and data exchange via the only-once principle. For over 15 years he has been involved in pioneering research projects, including studies for the European Commission and for various European agencies, and in Horizon2020 initiatives. With regard to data protection and privacy protection, Hans supports companies in all their compliance activities, including audits, data transfers/data sharing, impact assessments, settlement of data breaches, and assists companies in specialized sectors, including health tech, fintech, data analytics, and the public sector. Hans is a guest lecturer on ICT and privacy protection law at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT) and at the AP Hogeschool Antwerpen. He was also a researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and ICT (ICRI) (today the Centre for IT & IP Law) of the Faculty of Law of the KU Leuven. He is President of the Flemish Supervisory Committee, and he is a member of the ICT Committees of the Order of Flemish Bars, and of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE).

Passionate about social innovation, Ali Chari has multiple years of experience in facilitating innovation with a societal impact. Since December 2023, he puts his experience into practice as Community Lead at DigitAll by connecting an ecosystem of more than 150 organisations to collaborate and work on solutions towards a more digitally inclusive Belgium.

With a deep fascination for the human mind, Stefan explores how we think, make decisions, and fall into patterns of behavior. His work delves into the subtle art of influence and prediction, using a variety of mentalism techniques rooted in psychology and neuroscience. While his performances are designed to entertain and amaze, Stefan also brings his expertise to the corporate world. Through lectures and interactive sessions, he offers audiences a deeper understanding of mentalism as a tool for insight into human behavior and decision-making. Whether on stage or in the boardroom, Stefan Paridaen delivers experiences that are not only memorable but also thought-provoking—perfect for anyone looking to add a unique and impactful touch to their event.

Stijn Boussemaere is co-founder of Spinae, a vendor-independent advice and services company specialized in OT cybersecurity. He has extensive experience helping industrial organizations secure their operational environments, with a strong focus on IEC 62443 and the practical implementation of OT security controls. Stijn is known for bridging the gap between technical measures and real-world industrial processes, making him a trusted advisor in industrial infrastructure protection.

Philip Struyf is a seasoned programme manager with a robust background in domaining and internet technology. Since the start of this year, he has been leading EURid’s initiatives to protect the .eu top-level domain from online domain name abuse. Over the past fifteen years, he has accumulated extensive experience in the domain name industry, working at both registry and registrar levels, including in brand protection services and rights protection mechanisms. In the increasingly crucial realm of online safety, he is spearheading EURid’s abuse prevention strategy through intelligence analysis, identity validation processes, and effective stakeholder relationship management. His clear mission is to foster a safer online environment under the .eu TLD.

Robin Bruynseels is 26 years old and has studied Applied Computer Science at Thomas More Geel. His day-to-day role is in our Security Operations Center (SOC), where he coordinates part of the team, assists in decision-making, and supports deeper analysis of alerts and investigations. He also focuses on optimizing processes and procedures to ensure that the SOC runs efficiently. In addition to his SOC responsibilities, he works closely with the sales team as a technical pre-sales. Together, they design and deliver tailored cybersecurity solutions that meet our customers’ needs. As co-chairman of the Cyber Security Coalition’s CIDR (Cyber Incident Detection and Response) focus group in Belgium, he helps facilitate meetings and fosters collaboration within the community. His goal is to contribute to shared knowledge and advance cybersecurity practices.

Anthony Belpaire is heading the AI team and AI transformation of BNP Paribas Fortis. The AI team is a central organisation that covers business analysts, data scientists, ML engineers and MLOps to develop and run applications for the retail, private, and corporate banking segments. Prior to joining BNP Paribas Fortis, Anthony was CEO of various scaled ups in the field of eCommerce and Digital Media (Certipost, GlobalSign…) and a business leader in larger corporates such as Google and Alcatel-Lucent. The red pattern was always to be at the front of introducing new transformative technologies such as AI, Cloud, Mobile and the Internet. Anthony has a master’s in engineering in AI (Valencia/Ghent) and followed special courses at MIT. 

Information Security professional with over 11 years’ experience. A former CISO at Selligent Marketing Cloud, he is currently a consultant, through his company Easiance, to medium-sized organizations seeking ISO 27001 certification or CyFun® recognition. He specializes in the design and implementation of tailored cybersecurity strategies to protect digital assets and ensure regulatory compliance. His expertise covers security governance, incident response and the integration of emerging technologies. He has successfully guided organizations in improving their security posture and achieving certification in a world of constantly evolving threats. Known for his strategic insight and ability to engage stakeholders at all levels.

Philippe Massonet is scientific coordinator at CETIC, a Belgian ICT applied research center. His research interest covers the areas of software, service and security engineering, as well as distributed systems such as Grids and service-oriented infrastructures. He was recently coordinator of the GridTrust IST European project (Strep) dealing with trust and security in next generation grids and is responsible for dissemination and security in the RESERVOIR IST European project (Integrated project) led by IBM research. He is currently the coordinator of the PONTE eHealth project that is looking into using semantic web technologies to build decision support systems for the design clinical trials. He is active in the NESSI ETP working groups, and the ERCIM working groups. At CETIC he also works as a consultant for industry and government in his areas of research. He has experience in the prototyping and commercial development of advanced requirements engineering tools. Previously he was manager of the requirements engineering team at CETIC. He has experience in the management of international R&D projects (Eurescom MESSAGE, IST FP6 GridTrust, and FP7 PONTE) and is or has been involved in several IST FP6/FP7 research projects (RESERVOIR, HPC4U, AssessGrid, CoreGrid, GridTrust and Oldes).

Mark Brown is the driving force behind Psybersafe. With more than 25 years’ experience in designing new initiatives and a strong background in complex areas of financial services, risk management, technology initiatives, management and leadership development, Mark’s skill is in using technology creatively to transform businesses and organisations. He is fascinated by the way we behave, so he has studied psychology and worked with interesting people like the behavioural scientists at University College London’s Centre for Behaviour Change. He understands how we tick, and that has helped him to develop technology solutions like Psybersafe that use what we know about people to help protect them and the places they work.

Benoit Watteyne is a Director at KPMG Advisory with over 18 years of experience in Information Security and Data Protection. Benoit is the competence lead of the Cyber Security Services Team of KPMG in Belgium and also serves as Digital Risk Lead for Financial Services. Since joining KPMG in 2007, Benoit has specialised in cyber security, supporting clients in strengthening their cyber resilience, increasing cyber maturity, and improving compliance with regulatory requirements.

Jan De Blauwe is chair of the Cyber Security Coalition. As COO and Managing Director of NVISO, Jan focuses on the international development of this Belgian provider of cybersecurity solutions. Until September 2021, Jan was head of global security at the bank BNP Paribas Fortis. In that role, he was responsible for cybersecurity, business continuity, data protection and privacy, and IT risk management of this major bank. He was also known as chair of Secursys, the Febelfin committee responsible for cyber security. Between 1998 and 2007, Jan held management positions in the US, first at Lucent Technologies / Bell Labs, and then as vice-president corporate accounts at Ubizen/Cybertrust (now part of Verizon Business). Jan holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Leuven, a postgraduate degree in Data Analytics from the University of Leuven and an MBA from New York University.  

Suyin Aerts, a former professional ballet dancer and actress, transitioned to an unconventional path by joining her partner’s company, X-Treme Creations. This company specializes in designing, producing, and implementing visual marketing materials for various projects. Suyin’s accolades include the Talent Award of Women in Marketing and Communication (2012) and the Networker of the Year Award in Belgium (2016). As a female entrepreneur, she balances her professional life with a freelance career as a multilingual presenter and journalist for television (Kanaal Z/Canal Z) and event moderator. In 2019, she received the Wintrade Award for Women in the Media (sponsored by Microsoft). With a master’s degree in industrial business policy, diverse marketing courses, and an International Trade degree from the International Chamber of Commerce, Suyin remains committed to expanding her vision, knowledge, and creativity. She also earned a digital transformation degree from Vlerick Business School in 2020. In April 2022, Suyin published her first book, “Time for the Creative Generalist” (NL) through LannooCampus. This same publishing house launched her second book called 10 Quintessential Questions, released in English on the importance of asking the right questions and the flow of an interview.