- Presentation of the speakers -
CELMS Harolds (Chairperson)
Director of the Production of Publications at the Publications Office
Harolds Celms is Chairperson of the IDPC. Prior to his arrival at the Publications Office he was responsible for trade and investment promotion at the Latvian Embassy in Paris as Economic Affairs Attaché, representing the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia.
RUGGIU Patricia (Moderator)
Head of the Content and Demand Management Unit at the Publications Office
Patricia Ruggiu is responsible for Content and Demand Management. Her current responsibilities include the Publications Office’s strategic objective on ‘Optimised publishing services’, including the development of tools, and the European Commission’s ‘Publications’ domain leadership. Originally from France, she worked at the European Court of Auditors before joining the Office 8 years ago.
MATTILA Tuuli-Maria (Moderator)
Head of the Multimedia and Publications Unit at the Publications Office
Tuuli-Maria Mattila is responsible for the production of digital, printed and multimedia publications, including mobile apps. Accessibility is an increasingly important area for the unit.
LAURIN Susanna
Chair of the Global Leadership Council of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals
Susanna Laurin has more than 20 years’ experience in working strategically with accessibility at senior management level, and is CPACC certified. As an internationally acknowledged expert in EU accessibility policy, standards and regulations, she is often assigned at strategic policy level to perform studies and investigations all over the world. She was assigned as an expert to the European Commission during the transposition of the Web Accessibility Directive, chairing the group focusing on monitoring methodology in the WADex subgroup. With long experience in national and international standardisation work, she was an ETSI technical expert on Special Task Force 536, working on assignment from the European Commission to develop EN 301 549 into a harmonised European standard to cover the minimum requirements of the Web Accessibility Directive. Susanna is a joint representative to the EU for the UN G3ict initiative and IAAP.
KLEUT Tanja
ICT accessibility specialist at the European Parliament
Tanja Kleut is an ICT accessibility specialist at the European Parliament, working to make digital content more accessible to all users. Her focus is on user experience and accessibility, to create an inclusive environment for everyone’
LOWERY-KINGSTON June
Head of Unit at the European Commission
June Lowery-Kingston is Head of Unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Her current responsibilities include policy and programme management for web accessibility, multilingualism/language technology and online safety for children. Originally from the North-East of England, she has worked for the EU in Luxembourg for nearly 25 years.
POSEL-CZESCIK Edyta
Deputy Head of the Content and Demand Management Unit at the Publications Office
Accessibility has been a focus for Edyta Posel-Czescik since she moved to her former job in the production branch of the Publications Office. She is currently Deputy Head of the Content and Demand Management Unit, dealing with innovative services under the Office’s domain leadership. Prior to joining the EU institutions 14 years ago, she was part of the Research Office at the Polish Institute of International Affairs.
JEREZ Maria
Accessibility and multimedia specialist at the Publications Office
Maria Jerez is a professional with extensive scientific and publishing experience, currently working for the Publications Office as an accessibility and multimedia specialist. She has a degree in chemistry from Complutense University of Madrid and Greenwich University (UK), and a European PhD in biochemistry. Before joining the European Commission she worked for several research centres and scientific journals, including the Nature Publishing Group, where she was the editorial director for South Europe and Latin America.
MAXWELL Mare
Manager of prepress and graphic design at the Publications Office
Mare Maxwell has always had design close to her heart. She studied visual communication design at the University of Alberta, Canada, and got a master’s in information management from Tallinn University, Estonia. She joined the Publications Office in 2006, and today manages the prepress and graphic design team. Her next focus is to help accessibility become a natural element in design and prepress processes.
ANCA Gunta
Chair of the Latvian Umbrella Body for Disability Organisations
Gunta Anča has been a proactive disability rights activist throughout her career. She has been the Chair of the Latvian Umbrella Body for Disability Organisations (Sustento) since 2002. In 2005 she became a board member of the European Disability Forum. She is also very active in promoting gender equality, not only in her capacity as a member of the EDF Women’s Committee, but also as a former board member of the European Women’s Lobby (the largest umbrella organisation of women’s associations in the European Union).