Karine Goris is Chief Security Officer at Belfius. Her approach to security is clearly business-oriented, away from the classic "just throw another security product at it". Goris' credo is "make cybersecurity a business risk", confronting the risks with the working of the company, to make security an integral part of the daily processes of a company, requiring a new understanding whereby the CSO becomes a digital risk manager. For Karine Goris, this is a task, which is in line with her career that started as an IT lecturer at the Thomas More University College, through several "architecture-oriented" positions in order to go deeper into security issues as an information security consultant to finally win her spurs as Chief Security Officer at Belfius. As chair of the security advisory board within the Belgian financial sector (Febelfin) and other advisory boards, but also as a guest-lecturer on information security topics she aims for more cyber safety.

Benny Bogaerts started his career at KPMG in 2001 within the IT Advisory practice, where he was involved in a wide range of external and internal IT audits. Over the years, he has developed deep expertise in security governance (including ISO/IEC 27001/27002, NIST and related frameworks), IT GRC, data privacy, security transformation and cyber defence services. He has led and contributed to numerous national and international IT security projects across various sectors, supporting organisations in defining their security strategy, designing architectures and frameworks, and overseeing their implementation. In addition, Benny has extensive experience in managing complex (international) security transformation programmes. Today, he leads the Cyber Security & Privacy practice in Belgium and is an active member of the EMEA KPMG Cyber Competence Centre.

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.

Océane Dieu graduated summa cum laude from Ghent University with a master's degree in law in 2021. Her thesis on cybercrime and terrorism earned the award for best thesis from the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (OCAD), and she went on to deepen her expertise in both fields with a second master's degree in the United Kingdom. Océane began her legal career as a trainee lawyer at Stibbe in Brussels, where she joined the corporate criminal law team. In June 2024, she moved to VS Advocaten to further develop her practice in criminal law alongside her interests in cybercrime and human rights. Driven by her interest in the cyber domain, she graduated in 2024 with the Executive Master's in Cybersecurity Management at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management. She is currently completing a further programme at the Université Libre de Bruxelles devoted to the ethical study of AI and emerging technologies.

Laurène Kaya is a Senior Consultant in cybersecurity at Wavestone Belgium. She specialises in cybersecurity governance, with expertise in cyber maturity assessments and cyber awareness initiatives, and a strong recent focus on NIS2 compliance. Laurène supports organisations in structuring and steering their cybersecurity efforts within regulatory and operational contexts. Building on this experience, she is currently leading a study on cloud governance and sovereign cloud, exploring Belgian organisations’ expectations and needs in this area.

Sander Noels is Co-founder and CTO of Enoki, a company building a next-generation defence system for AI applications. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Ghent University, where he conducted research at the intersection of machine learning and real-world applications. During his doctoral work, he gained hands-on industry experience as a data scientist at Silverfin, bridging academic research and practical AI deployment. Today, he focuses on advancing the security and robustness of AI systems, helping organisations safely deploy AI in production environments.

Babette De Decker is co-founder of Persistent Security Industries, the Belgium-headquartered cybersecurity company behind Nemesis, an AI-driven Breach and Attack Simulation platform. She leads operations, partnerships and investor relations, and has built the company's MSSP partner network across DACH, BeNeLux and the Nordics. With an academic background in international relations and diplomacy, Babette brings a distinctive perspective to security: bridging the gap between deep technical security operations and the non-technical domain, and thinking beyond conventional boundaries to navigate the organisational, political and technical layers that shape how cybersecurity gets adopted.

Karine Goris is Chief Security Officer at Belfius. Her approach to security is clearly business-oriented, away from the classic "just throw another security product at it". Goris' credo is "make cybersecurity a business risk", confronting the risks with the working of the company, to make security an integral part of the daily processes of a company, requiring a new understanding whereby the CSO becomes a digital risk manager. For Karine Goris, this is a task, which is in line with her career that started as an IT lecturer at the Thomas More University College, through several "architecture-oriented" positions in order to go deeper into security issues as an information security consultant to finally win her spurs as Chief Security Officer at Belfius. As chair of the security advisory board within the Belgian financial sector (Febelfin) and other advisory boards, but also as a guest-lecturer on information security topics she aims for more cyber safety.

Janssen studied graphic design at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem from 2012 to 2016, where her work was strongly rooted in social and political engagement. Combining research, mathematics and design, she developed an early interest in the relationship between people and technology, focusing on topics such as digital identity, online terms and conditions and internet standards. Her graduation project, Bank of Online Humanity (2016), critically examined Big Tech business models and demonstrated the economic value of personal data — long before data scandals and public awareness became mainstream. The project gained international recognition, earning her the Crypto Design Award and subsequent Talent Development and Pioneer Grants, marking a decisive turning point in her practice. What began as an artistic project evolved into a long term mission. Janssen deepened her expertise through extensive research into internet infrastructure, regulation and legislation, developing a distinctive research based methodology that connects technology, power structures and society. Over the years, she has presented her work at leading venues such as the Architecture Biennale in Venice, Dutch Design Week, Lowlands Festival and the Dutch Data Protection Authority. Today, Janssen operates at the intersection of art, data protection and digital rights: creating installations, giving lectures, participating in public debates and engaging policymakers, professionals and the wider public. Through her work, she advocates for data sovereignty, digital civic rights and a more fair, transparent and human centred digital future.