Enter the world of Citiverse and explore our exciting line-up of speakers. Keep an eye out for the upcoming schedule, coming soon.
Speakers
Richard Irvin
Mayor of Aurora, Illinois (USA)
Richard C. Irvin is the 59th mayor of Aurora, Illinois, and the first African-American to lead the city. Elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021, he has led significant progress in Aurora. As mayor, he has improved public safety, education, technology and economic development, among other areas. Irvin has received numerous awards for his contributions to the community.
Michael Peques
CIO, City of Aurora, Illinois (USA)
As CIO, Michael has led the IT Department with expertise, strategically driving Smart Cities initiatives, cybersecurity, STEM education, services for residents and businesses and economic growth. His work and leadership have fortified Aurora’s resilience and earned global recognition. He also serves as Chair & CEO of OnLight Aurora, Chair of the Quad County African American Chamber, and a global CxO Advisor.
Alfredo Viglienzoni
ICT and Innovation Expert for the City of Genova (Italy)
Alfredo Viglienzoni is the ICT and Innovation Expert for the City of Genova. He has held various leadership roles, including COO at Genova Municipality and SVP at Skorpios Technologies. Alfredo has extensive experience in technology, innovation, and business development, holding 21 patents and publishing over 80 papers.
Erdem Samut
CTO, Isbak Istanbul It and Smart City Technologies Inc. (Turkey)
Erdem Samut, CTO, Isbak Istanbul It and Smart City Technologies Inc, has worked at various multinational High-Tech companies. He established his own startup at 2009 and did an exit at 2019. He also invested to various startups as an angel investor. His journey started at IMM as a consultant and coordinator about smart city technologies area at 2022. And now he works as the CTO of İsbak which is an ICT subsidiary of IMM.
Dr. Naim Erol Özgüner
Head of Technology Group, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (Turkey)
Dr. Naim Erol Özgüner, born in Istanbul in 1971, graduated from Yıldız Technical University in Electronics and Communications Engineering and earned his doctorate in the same field. He co-founded CF Telekom in 2016, focusing on big data and AI. Since November 2024, he has been Head of the Technology Group at IMM.
José de la Uz
Mayor of Las Rozas de Madrid (Spain)
José de la Uz has been the Mayor of Las Rozas since 2015. Since 2020, he has chaired Las Rozas Innova, the Public Innovation Company of the City Council, and since 2023, the Spanish Network of Smart Cities (RECI). Between 2006 and 2015, he worked for the Government of the Madrid Region.
He holds a Law degree from the Complutense University of Madrid, a Master’s in Business Legal Advice from ICADE, and an MBA, also from ICADE. He further expanded his education with a Leadership Program in Public Management at IESE.
Dr. Anniina Autero
Development Manager at the City of Tampere(Finland)
Dr. Anniina Autero is a smart city expert who integrates resilience, sustainability, and digital innovation through technological tools. She leads the Horizon WeGenerate project developing digital twins for urban environments and engages citizens and businesses in co-creating safer and more sustainable cities. Previously, she spearheaded the Smart Urban Security and Event Resilience project, introducing cutting-edge situational intelligence tools for the 2024 Ice Hockey World Championship at Nokia Arena. In 2024, Silicon Leaders Magazine recognized her as one of the most influential leaders shaping the future of smart cities.
Vesa-Matti Ruottinen
Development Manager at the City of Tampere (Finland)
Vesa-Matti Ruottinen, M.Sc., is a creative and ambitious innovator dedicated to integrating technology with human-centered development. As a Development Manager at the City of Tampere, he drives forward-thinking solutions that support the growth of the city. With a strong background in startups and the startup ecosystem, he believes the best results come from teamwork, where people thrive together.
Martin Whiteley
CEO for the London's Thames Freeport (UK)
Martin is an accomplished leader with a rich background spanning both public and private sectors. As CEO for the Thames Freeport, he drives initiatives that will generate thousands of new jobs and attract billions of pounds of private investment. Previous roles include Growth Programme Director for the Association of South Essex Local Authorities, enabling over £100m of new investment and established strategic place partnerships with Homes England. In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Martin attracted over £1.2bn of new investment into the area establishing a new Combined Authority.
Arturo Castelló
Deputy Technical Director of Valencia Innovation Capital (Spain)
Arturo Castelló is the Deputy Technical Director of Valencia Innovation Capital, leading strategic projects in urban innovation, digital transformation, and citizen engagement. With extensive experience in fostering public-private partnerships, he is driving initiatives that shape Valencia’s future as a smart, inclusive, and sustainable city.
Teppo Rantanen
Executive Director at the City of Tampere (Finland)
Teppo Rantanen, Executive Director of Economic Policy, Competitiveness and Innovation at the City of Tampere, is focusing on industries such as semiconductors, defense, energy and experience economy, which shape the strategic economic policy of the city. He leads Tampere through collaboration in extensive international networks towards a human-centric citiverse. His approach to leading the Citiverse involves leveraging new technologies such as digital twins, XR technologies, data, AI, and connectivity to create a seamless digital layer over the physical city environment, benefiting both people and businesses. He is also a co-chair of the UN Virtual Worlds Initiative on the Citiverse. From 2002 to 2014, Teppo served as Deloitte Finland’s Chief Executive Officer and from 2014 to 2016 in London as a member of Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Leadership Team. He currently serves on the board of Business Finland, which helps Finnish companies grow and succeed globally.
Michael Hammet
Director, Office of Innovation and Performance at the City of Phoenix (USA)
Michael Hammet is the City of Phoenix’s first Chief Innovation Officer and director of the Office of Innovation and Performance, the City’s central hub for innovation, Smart Cities, the strategic use of data and performance management. An Emmy-winning former journalist, Hammet holds a B.A. Broadcasting from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and an M.S. Global Technology and Development from the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University. He is a founding member of the alumni board for the College of Global Futures and serves on the executive leadership council of the Connective Phoenix, a Smart Cities consortium of cities and towns, and the Arizona Governor’s Commission for Service and Volunteerism.
Ingmar Kasser
CEO at Random Forest and Angel Investor (Estonia)
Ingmar is radically honest, a highly experienced, hands-on CEO with a foundation in coding, team building, and realizing personal and professional creative visions.
When thinking about bleeding-edge tech, one of the latest questions is: Agent as a Service (AaaS) — is it ridiculous hype or the next big business opportunity? And can it be implemented into the smart city?
Sanna Laitinen
Event Host
Sanna is an event and TV host with over 10 years of experience. She has hosted hundreds of events, both corporate and consumer-oriented, moderating seminar programs, hosting evening events, and creating just the right atmosphere for each occasion.