Meet the team
The digital transformation of a country requires teamwork at the highest level. Solve with eGA team your digital transformation challenges and benefit from the extensive international experience of digital transformation practitioners.
Your future team will consist of the creators of the world´s most advanced digital society e-Estonia and the brains behind digital Ukraine.
View our digital transformation success stories
Let’s move forward on the path to more effective and transparent governance! Together. Contact an eGA expert for an initial discussion about your challenges and options.
Management Board
Hannes Astok is the Executive Director and Chairman of the Management Board at the e-Governance Academy. He is an enthusiastic speaker for the information society, especially promoting the role of local governments and challenges of mobile governance and new technologies in government.
During the last years, he has been working closely with the governments of Ukraine, Dominica, Mongolia, Namibia, Barbados, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, Uzbekistan, Samoa, Georgia, Jamaica, Moldova, and Sri Lanka, among others.
Hannes served as Member of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) in 2007-2011, where he mainly dealt with the development of information society and issues related to regulation of intellectual property and electronic communication. Prior to that, in 1997-2005 Hannes worked for the City of Tartu as Deputy Mayor. Today Tartu is one of the world’s leading cities in e-governance, providing its citizens and businesses with a wide variety of Internet and mobile services.
In 2012-13, Hannes was Adviser to the President of Estonia on Information Society development.
He started his political career in Tartu, working for the decade for the City of Tartu as Deputy Mayor. Today Tartu is one of the world’s leading cities in e-governance, providing for citizens and businesses wide variety of Internet and mobile phone based services.
Hannes holds a journalism and public relations degree from Tartu University.
Hannes speaks Estonian, English, Russian and Finnish.
+372 509 1366
hannes.astok@ega.ee
Arvo Ott is the Member of the Management Board. He joined the e-Governance Academy in November 2005. He is responsible for technology programme, e-democracy programme and training programme.
Prior to joining the academy, Arvo served as the Head of Department of State Information Systems (head of e-government office) at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications for more than 12 years. He was responsible for the Estonian information society and e-government strategy planning and implementation.
For the last several years Arvo has taken part in many international projects and programmes on e-governance – information society policy and e-participation advice, e-government interoperability aspects and more.
Arvo has been awarded the Estonian Order of Merit of the White Star IV Class (2014).
Arvo speaks Estonian, English, Finnish and Russian.
+372 508 8901
arvo.ott@ega.ee
Aile Kullerkupp is the Member of the Management Board and Director of Finance and Administration at e-Governance Academy. She is responsible for financial, accounting and administrative management.
Aile has many years of experience in the financial management and accounting of non-profit organisations. She has worked as Finance Manager of the e-Governance Academy since 2007.
Previously she spent eight years as the Finance Manager of the Estonian Institute for Sustainable Development (the Tallinn-based centre of the Stockholm Environment Institute) and as an accountant with the Estonian Association for Environmental Management. In the e-Governance Academy she is responsible for everyday accounting and deals with financial management, budgeting, project reporting and financial supervision. She also drafts offers, manages projects and talks to financiers, auditors and other project parties.
Aile has worked with various financiers, including the European Commission, the Office of Development Cooperation of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Information System Authority of Estonia, Enterprise Estonia, the Open Estonia Foundation and the UNDP.
Aile is a graduate of the Estonian Business School and Tallinn Secondary School of Commerce. She is fluent in Estonian, English and Finnish and speaks conversational Russian.
Governance and Engagement
Marit works as the Head of Governance and Engagement Competence Center at the e-Governance Academy. She leads the work on the Digital Maturity Assessment methodology and has developed maturity assessments and digital transformation roadmaps for many countries across the globe. She has also contributed to the development of the UNDP’s Digital Landscape Assessment tool and its application.
In addition, Marit leads and contributes to projects on different aspects of e-government and interoperability. Examples of such projects include developing national interoperability framework and setting up an e-services portal in the Republic of Benin as well as upgrading the civil registration and national ID system in the Kingdom of Tonga. She has also contributed to the development and management of eGA’s National Cyber Security Index.
In her previous jobs, she gained a comprehensive understanding of European cooperation programmes and international cooperation. Working at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior, she was involved in preparing various European territorial cooperation programmes at the national level and was in charge of the related communication activities. Afterwards, she moved to Germany to work for the INTERREG IVC programme as an information point coordinator, providing advice to applicants on project development, assessing applications and monitoring approved projects. She also coordinated the e-government services project cluster.
Marit holds a Master‘s degree in Public Management from the University of Tartu.
Marit speaks Estonian, English, Finnish, German, and French.
Priit Vinkel is a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy. His main tasks include the assessment of countries digital maturity, development of digital transformation implementation plans for government organisations, and consulting on using ICT tools in democratic processes.
Priit worked in various positions in Estonian electoral management for more than 15 years. In his last assignment before joining eGA, Priit worked for more than 6 years as the Head of the Estonian State Electoral Office.
In addition, he has worked for the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committees at the Chancellery of Riigikogu (the Estonian Parliament) and in various academic positions. He has been involved in the development and implementation of the Estonian Internet Voting system since its early years.
His engagement in various international commitments ranges from topics like digitalisation and e-governance to election integrity and e-democracy.
He holds a BA in political science, a MA in public administration and a PhD in political and administrative science. His research has focused on voting technologies, (election) administration issues and parliamentary studies.
Priit speaks Estonian, English and German.
Mari Pedak works as Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy since 2012. As a Senior Expert she is charged with the tasks of planning and implementing e-government and e-identity programme activities, participating in related international projects and consulting in the fields of e-government and e-identity in many countries and on many international programmes.
Previously, she was a leading civil servant in the Estonian government for 22 years, also working as Director General of the Citizenship and Migration Board for many years. Under her leadership and participation, Estonia’s identity and authentication policies were developed and a digital identity card was introduced in 2002. In 2007, the consolidation of the ICT services of the Ministry of the Interior was carried out and the largest ICT authority in the Estonian public sector – the ICT and Development Centre of the Ministry of the Interior – was created under her leadership.
Mari speaks Estonian, English and Russian.
Kristi Kivilo is an Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy.
Kristi worked for more than 15 years in planning, building and executing basic and expert level digital skills programs and projects that help to develop young people and adult learners. She believes that we will only benefit from digital solutions when people have the digital skills needed to use these resources. And we will have better digital solutions and services when we know better how to build them.
From 2019 to 2022 as Digital Skills Coordination Director at the Estonian GCIO Office at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications she was responsible for opening Digital Academy digiriigiakadeemia.ee – an e-learning environment for the public sector.
Kristi worked in Vaata Maailma SA/Look@World Foundation from 2007 to 2019. Foundation focused on increasing digital skills and had a strong and proven competence in organising large-scale ICT training and awareness-raising projects. In 2009-2011 (also in 2002-2004) the Foundation provided training for more than 100,000 people (10% of the adult population) through the “Come Along!” project, which aimed to teach the participants digital skills – how to use computers, internet, e-services and ID-card. Also, over 400 000 people started using Estonian electronic ID-card for authentication and digital signature – in 2006 only 20 000 Estonians used ID-card electronically. Foundation also ran a charity program to donate used computers to those in need.From 2009 approximately 3000 used computers were refurbished and given out to charity organisations all over Estonia.
Since 2012 the Foundation also started and run a network of afterschool ICT hobby groups, NutiLabor/SmartLabs, and by 2019 more than 5000 kids participated in those activities.
Kristi was a co-founder and Executive Director of the Estonian STEM Education Union from 2016 to 2019, an umbrella organisation for everyone contributing to in non-formal STEM education in Estonia. She was also responsible for developing huviring.ee – website for STEM and IT-related after school activities for kids all over Estonia.
She obtained her MBA from Tallinn University of Technology.
Kristi speaks Estonian and English.
Kristina Mänd is the Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy, helping leaders and organisations to understand the value of participation and use various tools to facilitate engagement for good governance.
Kristina is deeply interested in how civil society can improve the quality of life and broaden access to those improvements. Her interest grew out of Kristina’s experience working with the public sector in Estonia and with various civil society organisations (CSOs) around the world in the past 25 years, e.g Civicus in South Africa, LIFEbeat in New York, Network of Estonian Non-profit Organisations, NGO Mondo and Policy Studies Center Praxis in Estonia, to name a few.
Kristina has been responsible for coordinating hundreds of volunteers, doing outreach, social mobilisation, advocacy and policymaking, managing projects, programmes and organisations, and their human and financial resources.
In the past 25 years, Kristina has managed CSOs and projects internationally. She has trained and consulted many others in management and governance: strategic planning, impact assessment, financial planning and management, organisational analysis and development, stakeholder engagement, social marketing, fund development and working with funders, board development, legitimacy and accountability, and public engagement and advocacy.
Kristina has published several books and a lot of articles on the same issues. Her portfolio also includes tens of travel articles.
She has MSc in Management and Marketing from the New York University (NYU) in US and MA in English from Tartu University in Estonia.
Kristina speaks English, Russian, Finnish, Spanish and Estonian.
Kristina Reinsalu is a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy. She deals with the initiation, planning, implementation, and monitoring of local, national, and international projects on digital engagement and open governance and on how ICTs can support these processes. Kristina helps central and local governments and civil society organisations to understand:
- how ICT influences the everyday political and societal practices of citizens and society as a whole
- how governments should respond to the expectations and demands of citizens to act as partners
- how to make decision-making processes transparent and participative and what added value it brings
Local democracy is Kristina’s passion, as she sees it as a testbed for democracy innovations. She has led projects promoting open governance and e-tools for democracy in EaP countries such as Georgia, Moldova, etc., and consulted municipalities in Estonia, Latvia and elsewhere on open governance and participatory budgeting. Her most recent projects measure the impact of e-participation initiatives and how citizens’ engagement helps cities to become more resilient in facing green deal challenges.
She is an internationally acknowledged public speaker on digital engagement. Her articles have been published in various international scientific journals and newspapers.
Kristina holds an MA in Public Relations and a PhD in Media and Communications.
She speaks Estonian, English, Spanish, Russian, and some German.
Randel Länts is a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy. He has long-term experience in politics at the municipality, national and EU levels. Randel has been the secretary general of the Estonian Social Democratic Party, the chairman of the Viljandi town council and an alternate member of the European Committee of the Regions.
He is passionate about good governance at the local level and projects involving citizen participation and decision-making at the municipality level. While working at the Viljandi town council, he was one of the pioneers to embrace and implement participative budgeting practices in 2013 and Viljandi became the second municipality in Estonia to do so.
At eGA, Randel is working on projects involving local authorities.
Randel has a Master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Tartu.
He speaks Estonian and English.
Liia works at the e-Governance Academy as a Senior Expert. In 2005-2015, she managed the e-democracy domain at eGA, which aims to improve and update the functional mechanisms of democracy in society and state governance with the help of ICT. Liia is actively involved in the Estonian civic society.
Liia has a PhD in Physics from Tartu University. She worked for 20 years as an astrophysicist at Tartu Observatory before transitioning from a scientific career to politics in 1990, when she was elected to both the Supreme Council and Congress of Estonia. She worked closely on issues related to the restoration of Estonian statehood as a member of working groups and was the chair of the editing committee of the Constitutional Assembly. She was elected as an Member of Parliament in the 7th, 8th and 9th parliament of Estonia. From 1992 to 1995, she was the minister responsible for the implementation of ownership reforms.
Liia speaks Estonian, English and Russian.
Rozha Ahmed works as an Expert at the e-Governance Academy. She is involved in developing digital transformation roadmaps as a consultant.
Rozha has worked for more than 12 years as an IT expert. She has significant experience in digital transformation and business process reengineering, system analysis, design and implementation of different information systems, and change management. She has contributed to the e-Court system project implementation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq as a Client-Side Project Manager by Aktors.
In addition to the private sector, she has the academic experience and worked at different universities, including lecturing, supervising bachelor’s and master’s thesis, reviewing different journal articles, leading many academic committees, and authoring several publications. Also, she worked as an assistant lecturer at the Sulaimani Polytechnic University in Iraq from 2012 to 2018.
Rozha holds a BSc in Statistics & Computer from the University of Sulaimani in Iraq, an MSc in Computing Science from the Newcastle University in the UK, and PhD in the digital transformation of justice systems from the Tallinn University of Technology.
Rozha speaks English, Arabic, and Kurdish.
Dmytro Khutkyy is an Expert at the e-Governance Academy. He also works as a Research Fellow in Digital Governance at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies at the University of Tartu.
Dmytro has a versatile background in global academia, international consultancy, and Ukrainian civil society. He pursued scientific research of democracy in Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Also, Dmytro consulted UNDP, OECD, CoE, OGP IRM, and other organizations on civic technology and innovative governance. In Ukraine, he evaluated and advised on Ukraine’s reforms in access to information, public accountability, and civic participation. Moreover, he participated in grassroots civic activism at Transparency International and is engaged in the RISE Ukraine–Coalition for Reconstruction.
He performs research, training, and communication in digital democracy and open governance. In these areas, he conducted over 40 research projects that resulted in 125 publications and 350 citations and taught many courses.
Dmytro holds a PhD on Sociology from the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
He speaks English, Russian, and Ukrainian.
Carlos Ivan Vargas Alvarez del Castillo works as an Expert at e-Governance Academy.
Data and Services
Piret Saartee works at the e-Governance Academy as a Head of the Data and Services Competence Center. Piret has a legal background and more than 12 years of experience as an e-government expert. She has an excellent knowledge of transforming paper-based services and registers into digital together with business process optimisation (e.g. implementation of electronic Land Register and related e-services, digitalisation of Marital Property Register, Succession Register and Ship Register).
Piret has significant experience in legal analysis and drafting, creating strategies and roadmaps, conducting training courses, and supporting change management. She has participated in different projects within the European Union such as STORK2.0, implementation of eIDAS and the Land Registers Interconnection (LRI) platform.
She has gained a good knowledge of intercultural communication and business etiquette by working in various international projects in the Sultanate of Oman, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine etc.
She holds a master’s degree in law from the Institute of Law, Estonia.
Piret speaks Estonian, English and Russian.
Anne works at the e-Governance Academy as a Senior Expert. Anne’s main tasks include the preparation of projects and coordination of their implementation. Anne has extensive experience in the development of service systems and organizational management systems in both the public and private sectors. She has led cross-organisational projects for the transition to services- and process-based management, and for the digitalisation of public services.
She was responsible for designing e-services for drivers and owners of vehicles, in the Estonian Road Administration in 2014 – 2020. Between 2002 and 2007, she headed the implementation of electronic data management, and the transition of health insurance registers over to the SAP CRM platform, in the Health Insurance Fund.
Anne holds an MBA degree from the Estonian Business School in social sciences, an MBA degree from the University of Tartu, Pärnu College in business management, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Estonian Business School in financial analysis.
Anne speaks Estonian, English and Russian.
Piret Hirv serves as a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy (eGA). Prior to her current role, she worked well over five years at the Science and Business Park Tehnopol, where she held the positions of Manager of the Connected Health Cluster and leader of the health-tech division. Her primary areas of expertise revolved around facilitating the development of healthcare services through the implementation of connected health solutions. Piret adeptly supported companies in finding suitable development partners and played a pivotal role in scaling up innovative solutions, including cross-border collaborations.
Before her tenure at Tehnopol, Piret acted as an Advisor for E-Services and Innovation at the Ministry of Social Affairs in Estonia. In this position, she provided valuable support for digital transformation processes in healthcare and innovation. Piret also played an active role in implementing the Estonian EU Presidency eHealth policy program, in addition to serving as a liaison officer for international organizations and networks. Her responsibilities encompassed coordinating cross-border healthcare service activities.
Piret holds esteemed membership in various international health technology networks, where she contributes actively and is highly regarded.
Furthermore, her experience as the CEO of an organization specializing in development cooperation has endowed her with substantial lobbying expertise.
Piret has a medical background as a trained nurse and has also worked in the pharmaceutical industry. Moreover, she holds a master’s degree in healthcare technology and further enhancing her qualifications in the field at the University of Tartu.
Andrii Piskun works as a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy since 2016. Currently he leads the Component “E-services” of the EU4DigitalUA project.
Prior to that, he was responsible for the establishment, development and implementation of the Vulyk Information System in Ukraine within the EGOV4UKRAINE project. Additionally, he was one of the organisers of the Forum of IT Directors of the Ukrainian Public Sector.
Previously, he was an advisor to the Head of the State Agency for E-Governance of Ukraine for more than 3 years.
Andrii has more than 15 years of experience in designing the development, implementation and support of information systems of various complexity tiers and aggregation of authority.
Andrii is also experienced in company management, for both governmental (previously, he headed the Ukrainian E-Health Centre and the Ukrainian National Centre for E-Governance Support) and private companies specialized in information technologies.
Andrii graduated from the Military Institute of Telecommunications and Information of the National Technical University of Ukraine (Kyiv Polytechnic Institute) with the Master’s Degree as an Engineer Mathematician and Military Tactician Officer, under the “Software Support to Automated Systems” specialty.
He speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Roman Matviichuk works at the e-Governance Academy as a Senior Expert on e-services since 2021. He is responsible for preparing the methodology for the e-services of Ukraine.
Previously, Roman worked in various positions related to IT development in the public sector and local government, and in several international technical assistance projects in Ukraine, including the U-LEAD with Europe program and EGAP.
He has more than 10 years of experience in organising design, management, implementation of information systems in various levels of complexity.
Roman also has participated in the creation of several administrative service centres in Western Ukraine and participated in the development of Ukrainian legislation in the field of administrative services.
He is the author of several articles and tutorials on administrative services and e-government.
Roman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics obtained in Lviv National University (Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Informatics), and in Finance obtained in Lutsk National Technical University. Has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration obtained in Lviv Regional Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.
He speaks Ukrainian and Russian.
Mykola Kozlov joined the e-Governance Academy in 2023 and leads the DT4UA project’s activities on the digitalisation of the criminal justice system.
Over the past two years, Mykola Kozlov has been leading the development of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System as the Head of the State Enterprise “Information Court Systems”. Among his responsibilities were the architecture, data model, project implementation plan and overall strategy for developing the judiciary’s IT infrastructure. Before that, Mykola was involved in developing and implementing e-Government and e-Democracy services for Ukrainian cities and communities. His achievements include projects for a smart city build-up in the capital of Ukraine. He also facilitated the implementation of cloud solutions for Ukrainian communities to manage various sectors of their economy effectively.
Mykola has over 20 years of experience designing, developing, implementing and maintaining information systems of various levels in public administration and industry. Throughout his career, he has worked his way up from a software developer to senior positions in IT institutions and organisations. Mykola has experience managing both state-owned enterprises and private companies, specialising in implementing information technology.
Mykola Kozlov graduated from the National Technical University of Ukraine Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and holds a Master’s degree in Process Automation from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering.
He is fluent in Ukrainian and English.
Dmytro Bulyka works at the e-Governance Academy as an Senior Expert. Dmytro has more than 10 years of experience as an IT project manager in various Ukrainian State authorities. He has experience in managing nationwide IT projects and the development of public e-services in Ukraine.
He was responsible for the Ukrainian Databank of People with disabilities (successfully implemented in 2008) and participated in the development of National Environmental Information system concept.
Dmytro holds a Master’s degree in Economic Cybernetics from the Kyiv National Economic University and also a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.
Dmytro speaks Ukrainian, English and Russian.
Serhii Karelin has been working with the e-Governance Academy since 2022. Now, he works as a Senior Expert on Diia services in the DT4UA project.
Prior to joining the Academy, Serhii had worked for more than five years in the Swiss-Ukrainian program of international technical assistance EGAP, which is carried out in Ukraine by the Eastern Europe Foundation, as E-Democracy Component coordinator. He was involved in the development of e-governance and e-democracy legislation. He is the architect of the E-dem platform, which is used in Ukraine by an approximate number of 2 million citizens, as well as by 500 local governments. He managed the project E-grants – a platform of state grants for non-governmental organizations. Prior to that, he worked as an expert in the field of public finance at the NGO Center for Political Studies and Analytics “Eidos”. He was involved in the development and implementation of the Law of Ukraine On the Openness of the Use of Public Finance and in the creation of e-platforms Spending and OpenBudget. Serhii is an active member of the Open Government Partnership community in Ukraine.
Serhii Karelin has a master’s degree in Management (Donbass National Academy of Construction and Architecture). He completed his postgraduate studies at the Institute of Economic and Legal Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and is working on his dissertation on the topic Development of territories with the help of ICT. He has written a number of scientific articles.
Serhii speaks Ukrainian, English and Russian.
Olga Pasichnyk has been working at the e-Governance Academy since 2020. Currently, she works as Senior Expert on Registers for EU4DigitalUA project.
Previously, she worked as IT Analyst for the EGOV4UKRAINE project. Olga was responsible for communicating with officials of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, coordinating functional requirements and concepts of the visual web tool used to analyse the current broadband Internet coverage in Ukraine. She also prepared technical specifications for procurement of the web tool development services, managed the statistics of the project’s status and consulted the development of Trembita e-services.
Olga has a PhD in Engineering Science from the Scientific and Research Institute of Kyiv. She is the author of several articles in a number of information technology journals.
Olga speaks Russian, Ukrainian and English.
Sergii Plias works as a Senior Expert at the e-Governace Academy.
Yuliia Khavikova works as a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy since 2020. She is currently working as an e-Services Expert for the EU4DigitalUA project.
She worked as an IT expert for the EGOV4UKRAINE project and participated in the modernisation of the integrated information security system of Vulyk, as well as in business analysis of public services.
Previously, Yuliia was engaged in creation of integrated information security for information systems, organisation of state examinations in the field of technical protection of information, implementation and administration of information systems, as well as writing technical documentation.
Yulia has a Master’s degree in protection of information with limited access from the Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the Kyiv National Economic University.
Yuliia speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Mykola Samar has collaborated with the e-Governance Academy since 2015. Now he is an Expert on e-services at EU4DigitalUA. Prior to that, he was an IT Expert on the implementation and development of the Vulyk Information System within the EGOV4UKRAINE project, with the aim to improve the quality of administrative service provision.
Before the e-Governance Academy, Mykola worked at various offices within the governmental IT sector, at both national and local levels. For five years, he had worked as an advisor to the Head of the State Agency for E-Governance of Ukraine and was also responsible for e-governance development in Ukraine and theimplementation of automation systems for business processes at local and central authorities. He took part in the drafting of Ukraine’s legislation on informatisation.
Mykola has a Master’s degree in public administration of the National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine, as well as a Master’s degree in System Programming of the Khmelnytskyi National University.
Mykola speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Iryna Hromova is the Expert of EU4DigitalUA project. She has worked for the e-Governance Academy since 2019, initially as an expert on the implementation of the Vulyk information system.
Previously, she worked at different offices at both private and governmental institutions, in the fields of sales, marketing, lending and healthcare. She implemented various cooperation projects and dealt with related organisational issues.
Iryna has a Master’s Degree in Finance and Loans from the Vinnytsia National Agrarian University. Iryna speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Andrii Zhelieznii has been working at the e-Governance Academy (eGA) since 2022. He provides expert support for constructing information systems for pre-trial investigation management.
Before joining eGA, Andrii had worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs IT sector for more than 25 years. He has experience in designing, developing, implementing, and maintaining Information systems. Andrii headed the development team, was a member of the team for the transformation of law enforcement systems, provided consultations to developers and participated in the development of the regulatory framework for informatization.
Andriy Zhelieznii graduated from Lesya Ukrainka Volyn State University with a degree in mathematics.
He speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Kateryna Trubnykova works as an Expert at the e-Governance Academy within the DT4UA project. She provides expert support for developing an e-case management system for pre-trial investigation of criminal proceedings.
Kateryna has 20 years of experience in information and analytical support of law enforcement activities in Ukraine, which includes the development and implementation of information systems and analytical tools, user training, preparing drafts of regulatory and legal acts. For the last five years, she participated in developing a unified information system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
Kateryna has a Master’s degrees in Jurisprudence, Information Management Systems and Technologies from the National University of Internal Affairs.
Kateryna speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Andrii Shapovalov works as an Expert at e-Governance Academy since 2020. He provides expert support for the construction, filling and widespread use of information systems of basic state registers.
Previously, he worked for 24 years in the IT Sector of the State Tax Service of Ukraine. He established its integration with the State Treasury of Ukraine. Andriy also worked for three years at the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine under the team dealing with the development of the Information and Analytical Electronic Verification and Monitoring Platform, where he was responsible for building interactions with external registries.
Andriy speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Cybersecurity
Merle Maigre works as the Head of Cybersecurity Competence Center at the e-Governance Academy. Previously, she worked at CybExer Technologies, an Estonian enterprise providing cybersecurity training.
In 2017 to 2018, Merle served as the Director of NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn, which is a multinational hub of cyber defense expertise for NATO.
Between 2012 and 2017, Merle Maigre worked as the National Security Policy Adviser to Estonian Presidents Kersti Kaljulaid and Toomas Hendrik Ilves, being the President’s chief advisor on domestic and international security issues, including cyber defence.
From 2010-2012 Merle Maigre was at NATO HQ in the Policy Planning Unit of the Private Office of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Merle has also worked as a researcher at the International Centre for Defense and Security (ICDS) in Tallinn (2007-2010). She has also served as the Deputy Head of the NATO Liaison Office in Kyiv (2005-2007) and at the NATO Department in Estonia’s Ministry of Defense, in support of the country’s NATO accession (2000-2005).
Merle Maigre contributes to the activity of several organisations. She is the Chairman of the Executive Board of CyberPeace Institute, a Member of the Management Board of the Estonian Council on Foreign Relations, and a Board Member of Estonian Information Security Association.
Merle received an MA degree in war studies from King’s College London, a BA in international relations from Middlebury College (US) and a BA in history from Tartu University. She has also studied at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center and at Sciences-Po Paris.
Merle has been decorated with the French National Order of Merit (2021), the Estonian Defence Forces distinguished service medal (2018) and the Order of Merit of the Estonian Ministry of Defence (2018), the Dutch Commander of the Order of Oragne-Nassau (2018), the Order of Merit of Poland (2014), and the Commander of the Order of Lion of Finland (2014).
Merle speaks Estonian, English, Russian, French, some Italian and some Ukrainian.
Epp Maaten is Team Leader of the Moldova Cybersecurity Rapid Assistance Project at the e-Goverance Academy.
Epp Maaten has 20 years of experience from Estonian public sector institutions. She worked as Advisor and Deputy Head of the Electronic Voting Committee.
She has advised the President of Estonia and the Chancellor of Justice on information society related matters. Previously Epp served at Estonian Information System Authority and managed governmental policy and projects concerning critical infrastructure protection and IT risk management. Epp has been also auditor at Eesti Energia and National Audit Office. Until 2007, she coordinated the IT projects of the National Electoral Committee, including Internet voting.
She is a certified IT auditor (CISA) and graduated from the IT College of Tallinn University of Technology as an IT systems administrator and reached a master degree in public administration.
Epp speaks Estonian, English and German.
Elsa Neeme works as Senior Cybersecurity Expert at the e-Governance Academy (eGA). Before joining eGA, she worked for four years at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn as a Legal Advisor.
Between 2020-2021 she also served as the Board Member and First Chief Executive of the Foundation CR14, which was established in November 2020 by the Ministry of Defence. The CR14 operates a variety of sophisticated cyber ranges and focuses on cybersecurity-related research, development, and technical training for both domestic and international partners.
Elsa has also long-lasting working experience from the Estonian Information System Authority. In the years 2016 – 2018, her focus was on developing a national cybersecurity legal system, designing information security and risk management frameworks and supporting CERT-EE and supervision in legal matters.
She is one of the co-authors of Estonia’s Cybersecurity Act.
Elsa speaks Estonian, English, Russian and Finnish.
Kadri Kaska is a Senior Cybersecurity Expert at the e-Governance Academy (eGA). Prior to joining the eGA in spring 2022, she worked for well over a decade at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) as the Head of the Law Branch and a cybersecurity legal and policy researcher. Her main areas of expertise were national cybersecurity strategy and governance frameworks, and law applicable to state cyber activities.
Between 2017–18, Kadri was seconded to the Estonian Information System Authority, where she was the lead author and editor of annual Estonian Cybersecurity Assessments and contributed to the agency’s activities in cyber threat assessment, policy analysis and legal drafting. She was one of the authors of Estonia’s Cybersecurity Act and the 2018 Cybersecurity Strategy.
Kadri’s early career was in the telecommunications sector where she provided legal support in issues ranging from spectrum management and standardisation to telecommunications market regulation and legal drafting at the national communications and competition regulators.
She has worked with several international and regional organisations in cybersecurity capacity building.
Kadri holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Tartu.
She speaks Estonian, English, and Swedish.
Milan Sekuloski works as Senior Cybersecurity Expert at the e-Governance Academy. Milan has 20 years of experience in project management, community building, research, and advisory in various fields of cybersecurity. He is an established leader and facilitator of regional, national and public-private sector dialogues on cybersecurity governance and capacity building.
Before joining eGA, Milan worked as Senior Technical Adviser on USAID Critical Infrastructure Digitalization and Resilience program (CIDR) with DAI, supporting activities implemented in the Western Balkans, Black Sea, and South Caucuses regions. For more than a decade, Milan worked with DCAF, where he helped establish a cybersecurity program in the Western Balkans.
Highlights of Milan’s work on cybersecurity included managing projects supporting the development of several governmental and national CSIRTs and serving as a key expert in various multi-national cybersecurity capacity building and national policy development projects, ranging from comprehensive national cybersecurity governance study to supporting cybersecurity governance reforms in several European regions.
He is a founding member of the first cybersecurity public-private cooperation platform in Serbia, the Cybersecurity Network Foundation (formerly known as ‘Petnica Group’). In 2020, Milan became the first Liaison Member of FIRST (global Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams) from the Western Balkans.
Milan’s work experience also includes working for the OSCE Mission to Serbia, a Brussels-based security policy think tank, the Serbian Parliament and the Navy of Serbia and Montenegro.
He was a Western Balkans Chevening Cybersecurity Fellow in 2020 and holds MA in European Parliamentary Studies from the University of Leeds, UK.
Milan speaks English and Serbian.
Dmytro Savranchuk works as Senior Expert at e-Governance Academy since 2018. Dmytro is involved in the cybersecurity development of Ukraine within the EU4DigitalUA project. He organises cyber exercises, develops recommendations on how to exchange information about cyber threats between national institutions and international organisations, creates a personal data monitoring module and an intrusion detection concept for the Trembita system and consults IT experts of Ukrainian authorities on information protection issues.
Prior to that, he was involved in the development of a comprehensive information protection system for data exchange platform Trembita and information system Vulyk in Ukraine as well as other information security issues. Specifically, he consulted Ukrainian governmental IT experts on information security. Dmytro was also engaged in interoperability trainings for Kyrgyzstan IT experts.
Previously, Dmytro was dealing with development of comprehensive information protection systems for various information systems as well as information technical protection issues at both governmental and private organizations.
He graduated from the Odessa National Polytechnic University and has a Master’s Degree in Information Security.
Dmytro speaks English, Russian and Ukrainian.
Radu Antonio Serrano Iova works as an Expert at the e-Governance Academy. His responsibilities include managing and updating the National Cyber Security Index database, and maintaining communications with its various stakeholders. He has also contributed to the establishment of an anti-corruption web platform in Moldova, and to the analysis of Moldovan governmental e-services for the private sector. In addition, he is responsible for providing translation and language localisation to various project documents and publications.
Previously, Radu served at the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, where he contributed to the content of international trade treaties, and assisted with the establishment of businesses in the Republic of Panama, respectively. He also worked as a Trade Specialist at the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AmCham), authoring multiple ‘Doing Business’ reports, and advising the private sector on all matters pertaining to Panama, the U.S. and their commercial relations.
Over the past years, he has researched e-government topics such as Internet voting and the use of artificial intelligence in the government. Radu holds a joint Master‘s degree in Public Sector Innovation and eGovernance from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, University of Münster and Tallinn University of Technology.
Radu speaks English, Spanish, French, Romanian and Italian.
Hennadii Smahliuk has been working as an Expert at e-Governance Academy since 2022. Currently, he provides assistance on cybersecurity issues within the EU4DigitalUA project.
Previously, Hennadii worked as a teacher at the Odessa State Academy of Technical Regulation and Quality of the Department of Electronics and Microsystem Engineering.
He graduated in 2011 from the O.S. Popov Odessa National Academy of Telecommunications and has a Master’s degree in Information Security.
Hennadii speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Hauke Schulz works as a Junior Expert at the e-Governance Academy. He supports the implementation of cybersecurity projects. Hauke previously worked for the financial service provider Wise (formerly known as TransferWise) where he led the German team.
Hauke has a BA from Tallinn University in the field of Politics and Governance. He is currently enrolled in the Technology Governance and Digital Transformation Master’s programme at the Tallinn University of Technology.
Hauke speaks German, Estonian and English.
Infrastructure and Solutions
Heiko Vainsalu is the Head of the Infrastructure and Solutions Competence Center at the e-Governance Academy. He has worked in the Estonian public sector for 14 years by contributing to the digital revolution of organisations and the development of e-services. In 2013-2017, Heiko led the strategic management of the national data exchange layer in the Estonian State Information System Authority, being responsible for the implementation of X-Road principles and the international development of X-Road. Previously he worked at the Estonian Health Insurance Fund as an integration expert and service architect.
Heiko has contributed to the emergence of digital prescriptions and electronic certificates of incapacity to work, and has implemented other e-services for citizens. The biggest and most unique achievement of the cross-border co-operation under his leadership so far is the unification of the Estonian and Finnish national data exchange layers, and the creation of an ecosystem of cross-border services.
Heiko has extensive experience in managing international e-government development projects in Canada, Colombia, the Cayman Islands, and Germany, where he has helped to identify as well as overcome bottlenecks in building broad-based interoperability.
Heiko graduated from the Tallinn University of Technology with a master’s degree in engineering.
Heiko speaks Estonian and English.
Mark Erlich is a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy. He has more than 15 years of experience with electronic identity, whereas he has been helping the Estonian Government to build a sustainable and secure eID solution for more than ten years. Since 2010, Mark has been the key person in eID management at the Estonian Information System Authority. Among many duties, Mark has been contributing as PKI Area Manager, Head of eID Department and lately, as eID Business Architect.
Mark’s strengths are knowledge of technology, building interoperability solutions and governing the big picture. For the past eight years, he has been strongly involved in eIDAS (EU interoperability regulation in eID and trust service area) workgroups at the EU level and also in the implementation of the regulation at the national level.
Mark has taken part in many international projects as a consultant and external expert on eID. His knowledge has helped many countries like Mongolia, Cabo Verde, Tunisia and Ukraine to find their path to eID development and implementation.
Mark graduated from Dalarna University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science.
Mark speaks Estonian, English, Swedish, and Russian.
Toomas Mölder works as a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy. He focuses on cross-border, national and organisational secure data exchange solutions. Previously Toomas worked at Estonian Information System Authority (RIA) where his tasks were related to one of Estonia’s e-government cornerstones, X-Road (X-tee) development and management. He specialised in the development of supervisory and monitoring solutions as well as publishing its statistics as open data.
Toomas has more than 35 years of experience in IT development, management, and lead. He has led the development of Tallinn City / municipality IT systems, Baltic Stock Exchanges, various private and public information systems, and registries.
Toomas has a master’s degree in informatics from the University of Tartu (cum laude in applied mathematics, 1986). He speaks Estonian, English and Russian as well as some basic Finnish, Swedish, Latvian and Spanish.
Oleksandr Kozlov works at the e-Governance Academy as a senior Expert on eID within the EU4DigitalUA project.
He provides support to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and other interested parties on further development of the digital identification system and trust services. He is responsible for delivering respective recommendations on electronic trust services with a view to a possible agreement based on an approximation to the EU legislation and standards.
Oleksandr has over three years of experience in governmental bodies of Ukraine, working on the implementation of complex digitisation projects, European integration, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation. He coordinated a cross-border eSignature pilot between Ukraine and Estonia, creating technological opportunities for e-signing between EU member states and a third country.
Oleksandr holds a Master’s degree in International Business Law obtained from the University of Ghent. He also has a Master’s Degree in Law obtained from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
Oleksandr speaks Ukrainian, English and Russian.
Since 2022, Serhii Isaienko has been working with the e-Governance Academy as an e-ID expert within the EU4DigitalUA and DT4UA projects.
Serhii supports the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and other interested parties regarding the further development of the digital identification system and electronic trust services. He is responsible for providing appropriate recommendations on electronic trust services with a view to concluding a possible agreement based on an approximation to EU legislation and standards.
Serhii has more than ten years of experience working in the state bodies of Ukraine. He devoted eight years to the improvement of Ukrainian electronic trust services legislation. He participated in the approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU legislation, in particular the implementation of the provisions of the eIDAS Regulation, in particular in the preparation of the Law of Ukraine On Electronic Trust Services, amendments to it and other legislative acts in the fields of electronic identification and electronic trust services.
Serhii holds a Master’s Degree in Law from the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics.
Serhii speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Kyrylo Shypachov works as an Expert at e-Governance Academy since 2019. Currently, he provides assistance on cyber security issues within the EU4DigitalUA project.
Previously, he worked as IT Expert of the data exchange platform Trembita (Trembita System) implementation and was responsible for consulting public administrations and assisting with the introduction and implementation of the Trembita System.
Before joining the e-Governance Academy, he worked the NOC Team Lead at Provectus IT Company and as the Administration Unit Director at CE “Oblast Information and Analytical Centre”.
In 2018, Kyrylo graduated from the O.S. Popov Odessa National Academy of Telecommunications’ Master’s Programme in Cyber Security. Since 2018, he has been studying as a PhD student in Quantum Cryptography.
Kyrylo speaks Russian and English.
IT Architecture
Yurii Kopytin is Head of the Architecture Competence Center at the e-Governance Academy and the Deputy Team Leader in Ukraine. He works at the e-Governance Academy since 2015.
He has ten years of experience in building information protection systems and five years of experience in designing and implementing interoperability systems.
He was responsible for the design, development, introduction and implementation of the Trembita data exchange platform in Ukraine, conducting cyber exercises, development recommendations on cyber threat exchange. Moreover, he has conducted training courses on the interoperability of governmental information systems in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia.
Yurii has also expertise in software lifecycle management, which commonly includes the drafting of regulatory and legal acts for nation-wide information systems, of e-services, of web services for state registries, the integration of Ukrainian cryptography, development of information security management systems.
Yurii was actively involved in teaching, in addition to scientific and research activities in the fields of information protection and cybersecurity, at the O.S. Popov Odessa National Academy of Telecommunications. He is the author of more than 20 research publications.
Yurii graduated from the O.S. Popov Odessa National Academy of Telecommunications with a Master’s Degree in the Unauthorized Access System Protection and Information Security Engineer speciality.
Yurii is fluent in English, Ukrainian and Russian.
Uuno Vallner works as a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy. He has been the initiator of several key e-government projects for Estonia, including the X-Road, the eesti.ee state portal, internet elections and the open data portal. Several information policy documents have been drafted under his aegis, including interoperability frameworks and the green book on open data. He has represented Estonia in the e-government working group of the European Commission, in the working groups of the ISA European interoperability programme and in European working groups on open data. Uuno is TOGAF certified architect, member of Association of Enterprise Architects.
Uuno graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Tartu and received a degree in technical sciences from the Soviet Academy of Science in Moscow. He has worked in the Institute of Information, the Government Office and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.
In 2017, the President of Estonia awarded Uuno Vallner the Order of the White Star for outstanding achievements in advancing Information Technology and e-government in Estonia.
He speaks Estonian, Russian and English.
Denys Pryharin has worked at the e-Governance Academy of Estonia since 2016. Currently, he works as a Senior Expert on Interoperability of the EU4DigitalUA project. He supports the development of digital infrastructure, digital ecosystem and electronic governance tools in Ukraine, including the connection of state registers to the interoperability system, improvement of data quality in state registers and implementation of electronic services.
Prior to that, Denys was involved in the introduction and development of the secure data exchange platform Trembita in Ukraine and consulting assistance for IT experts on technical issues of digitalisation and e-service development. He has also taken part in the implementation of interoperability trainings for IT experts of public administrations from Ukraine and other countries (e.g. Kyrgyzstan) and cybersecurity pen-testing project in Ukraine.
He has been involved in introducing and developing the secure data exchange platform Trembita in Ukraine and consulting assistance for IT experts on technical issues of digitalisation and e-service development. He has also taken part in the implementation of interoperability trainings for IT experts of public administrations from Ukraine and other countries (e.g. Kyrgyzstan).
Previously, Denys dealt with the deployment and administration of IT systems at governmental and private organizations, the development of solution architecture development and software (including web services used for interactions through the interoperability system), as well as the drafting of technical documentation.
He graduated from the O.S. Popov Odessa National Academy of Telecommunications and has a Master’s Degree in Information Security and Radio Equipment.
Denys speaks English, Russian and Ukrainian.
Tõnis Mäe works at the e-Governance Academy as the Resident Twinning Advisor in Kyrgyzstan. Tõnis has more than 15 years of experience as a project and business development manager in different IT companies. He has an excellent track record in managing complicated information exchange and interoperability projects and development of e-products in Estonia and in the Middle East region.
He was responsible for the Estonian National Health Information Exchange (HIE) implementation project (successfully implemented in 2008) and participated in the national e-health strategy development. Moreover, Tõnis managed the development of new e-health products based on the Estonian National HIE and the e-Ambulance solution.
Tõnis has significant experience in managing international IT projects. In 2014 – 2016 he led the Court Information System implementation in Iraq. The project was a turnkey solution, which comprised mapping business requirements and system analysis as well as infrastructure and software development.
He holds a Master’s degree in physics from the University of Tartu and complemented his management skills at Henley Management College (UK).
Tõnis speaks Estonian, English, Finnish and Russian.
Oleh Burba works as a Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy since 2018. Currently, Oleh works as the Component Leader of the EU4DigitalUA project. He is responsible for the development of public registries, interoperability and eID. Also, he leads the visualisation of the broadband coverage in Ukraine and other tasks of the Component “Interoperability and digital government infrastructure”.
Before that, he worked as an Expert on e-Services of the EGOV4UKRAINE project. He provided business analysis and reengineering plans of Ukrainian public services.
Before the e-Governance Academy, Oleh worked at different offices of the governmental IT sector. He was responsible for the arrangement and implementation of appraisals, applied to projects under the Ukrainian National Informatization Program. He also took an active part in drafting Ukrainian laws on digitalisation as well as establishing sectorial and regional informatisation programs, strategies and concepts.
Oleh has a PhD in Technical Sciences and has a certificate of Senior Research Officer in Information Technologies. He is an acclaimed author of several case studies and articles in various scientific magazines in the field of information technologies and public administration.
Oleh speaks Ukrainian, English and Russian.
Nataliia Matiash works at the e-Governance Academy since September 2020. Currently, Nataliia works as a Senior Cybersecurity Expert within EU4DigitalUA project.
Prior to that, she worked within EGOV4Ukraine project and made analysis of the information system’s operational conditions, which specifically involved interoperability systems, the support to web service and web client development processes, as well as the development of ICT service and software procurements and technical documentation.
Nataliia was previously engaged in support of e-governance initiatives, introducing the intergovernmental electronic document management system for Ukrainian public administrations, and automating business processes for judicial case management in Ukraine.
She has a Master’s Degree in Software Engineering from the National Aviation University.
Nataliia speaks English, Russian and Ukrainian.
Iryna Rudenko works at the e-Governance Academy within the DT4UA project. She is responsible for the further development of the interoperability system, the implementation of web services, web clients and interaction between registers.
Iryna has more than eight years of working experience in government bodies at both central and local levels. For the last five years, she has been engaged in the development of interaction between registers, drafting legal acts, other organizational, technical and methodical documents regarding information interactions, including using the Trembita system. She also participated in the examination and evaluation of projects of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine informatization system sectoral program.
Iryna has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine and a Master’s degree in Finance from the Chernihiv State Technological University.
Iryna speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Training
Annela Kiirats is the Head of Trainings at the e-Governance Academy since 2004, sharing her expertise on e-governance and e-democracy with senior specialists, decision-makers and politicians from various countries, as well as with NGOs.
She is responsible of assessment of the training needs of different beneficiaries from various countries, based on which develops and conducts tailor-made training programmes. She also organises e-governance seminars in beneficiary countries, being the e-government expert, and leads different international cooperation projects.
In 2002-2003, Annela worked for the Estonian Newspaper Association.
Annela obtained her Master’s degree from the Department of Informatics at Tallinn University of Technology in 2005.
She speaks Estonian, English and some Russian.
+372 525 8623
annela.kiirats@ega.ee
Triinu Raigna helps arrange e-Governance Academy training programs and organises e-Governance Conference. Moreover, she provides support for the implementation of e-Governance Academy’s international cooperation projects.
Previously she worked for over 10 years in the ICT sector as sales manager and project manager in the field of training and conferences, where she mediated different topics for ICT specialists and government officials.
Triinu has a diploma in psychology from the University of Tartu and has furthered her knowledge in the field of accounting and project management.
She speaks Estonian, English and Russian.
+372 514 4724
triinu.raigna@ega.ee
Meeli Semjonov is a training expert at the e-Governance Academy (eGA). Before joining eGA in 2023, she worked as a project manager for development cooperation programs at the Estonian School of Diplomacy. In 2017–2021, Meeli worked at Tallinn University of Technology, where she hosted international delegations at the Innovation Center Mektory and organised international scientific conferences. Meeli’s professional activity began at the Estonian Student Union, where she worked as a social policy advisor on education.
Meeli has experience in organising international trainings, seminars, visits and conferences in the fields of innovation, technology and diplomacy. Meeli has project management experience since 2019 and has cooperated with several international organisations in training government officials and diplomats.
Meeli has a master’s degree in social sciences with a specialisation in comparative politics from the University of Tartu. Moreover, she has studied modern sociology for one year in Paris. In addition, she has furthered her education in international relations and e-governance at the Estonian School of Diplomacy and Tallinn University of Technology.
She speaks Estonian, English and a little French.
+372 501 1124
meeli.semjonov@ega.ee
Client Relations
Tiina Viiderfeld is responsible for managing eGA’s client relations and developing cooperation projects. She has also been involved as an expert in digital transformation projects, helping clients to find the best solutions for their e-governance roadmaps.
Previously, she has worked in different roles in both the private and the public sector – for sales and marketing activities, carrying out different cooperation projects and being responsible for event management.
Tiina has a BA degree in public administration from Tallinn University and an MBA in European economics and politics from University College Dublin. She speaks Estonian, English and Russian.
Ants Urvak works at the e-Governance Academy as a Client Relations Expert. Ants has decades of experience in the IT sector. All these years Ants has been directly or indirectly involved with different projects and programmes with public and private sector customers. His role and experience managing partners for teaming with global vendors has been important for the successful lifecycle of many projects in various countries.
He is also a co-founder and a former Managing Director of the Estonian IT company Baltic Computer Systems. The company had a significant role in introducing and implementing the personal identification code in Estonia – a basis for the future success of the digital transformation of Estonia.
Previously, he worked for more than 20 years in the international software company Oracle. He started as the Managing Director for the Oracle Corporation in the Baltic States. From 2006 onwards, he occupied several regional roles as the director of top customer relations management, managing a support group of Oracle partners in Eastern Europe and the CIS countries.
In addition, Ants has worked at IBM as the Country Manager for Estonia, at the Institute of Cybernetics of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and was the Head of the IT Department at the State Planning Committee.
He has a Master’s degree in Managing Data Processing from Tallinn University of Technology.
Ants Urvak speaks Estonian, English, Russian, and Finnish.
Project Development
Margareta works as the Head of Project Development at the e-Governance Academy. She has 20 years of business development, sales, training and partner management experience in the IT industry. In addition, she has worked as a freelance translator and localized software.
Margareta has studied at the Estonian Institute of Humanities, where her major was British studies. She has also participated in many extensive sales and management training programmes.
Margareta speaks Estonian, English, Finnish, Swedish and Russian.
Liina Sieberk works as a Project Development Expert at the e-Governance Academy. Previously, Liina has worked in education, teaching children, university students and adults. She is a certified adult educator. She has worked in the private and public sector in several educational institutions, including the University of Tartu, the Academy of Security Sciences, and the Competence Center for Adult Education. Liina has a diverse experience with international projects – she has written projects, contributed as an expert and led the process.
Liina has a decade-long experience in the science of semiotics. Hence, meaning-making and modelling systems are an integral part of her daily reflections. With a deep respect for knowledge and development, she actively pursues her competence via training programmes.
Liina holds a master’s degree in semiotics and culture studies from the University of Tartu.
She speaks English and Estonian.
Communication
Anu Vahtra-Hellat is the Head of Communication at the e-Governance Academy. She is responsible for media relations, external and internal communication and brand communication.
Anu has more than ten years of experience in communication and PR, mainly from the field of telecommunications and finance, and more than six years of experience and practice in internal communication.
Previously, she was a senior consultant at the Tallinn office of Hill and Knowlton, advising clients on corporate communication. For four years, Anu managed the communication activities of the insurance company ERGO Kindlustus, where she consulted the management, coordinated the company’s pan-Baltic internal communication projects and media activities and managed internal communication.
In 1999-2007 Anu worked at the Estonia’s leading telecommunications company Eesti Telefon (later Elion Ettevõtted). During her time there, she worked first as spokesperson, then as editor of the customer journal, and later, for four years, as the Internal Communication Manager.
She holds a Master’s degree in Communication Management from the University of Tartu.
Anu speaks Estonian, English, Finnish, Russian and basic German.
Birgit Podelsky works as a Digital Media Expert at the e-Governance Academy. She is responsible for digital media communication and audiovisual production at eGA. Previously she worked at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a regional desk officer covering Africa and Latin America. Before that, she worked in community management and media production. She is a curious traveller and story collector.
Birgit has an MA degree in International Relations from Tallinn University of Technology and a BA degree in Film and Television production from Aberystwyth University.
Birgit speaks Estonian, English, French and Finnish.
Riina Kallas works as a Communication Expert at the e-Governance Academy. She has extensive working experience in various media houses. Over the past few years, Riina has served as a Communication Expert in state institutions such as the Chancellery of the Riigikogu, the Agriculture and Food Board, and the Estonian Transport Administration.
Among her various activities, she has spearheaded several digital projects aimed at merging and modernizing government agency websites. The primary focus of these initiatives has been to ensure that the services provided by government agencies are easily comprehensible and accessible to the public.
Riina holds an educational background equivalent to a master’s degree in journalism from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Tartu. In the summer of 2023, she completed the Software Academy web development course.
In terms of language proficiency, Riina is fluent in Estonian, English, and Russian.
Anton Yermakov is the Communication Expert at the e-Governance Academy. He started to work with e-Governance Academy in 2023 and is responsible for the projects’ communications and visibility. Currently he manages the communication of the projects Eu4DigitalUA and DT4UA in Ukraine.
Before joining the e-Governance Academy, Anton worked as Media and Communications Specialist with the EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine. He also worked in the communication team of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and online magazine Opinionua. Anton possesses comprehensive experience in PR, development of promotional materials, preparation of communication events and social media management.
He holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Odesa National I.I. Mechnikov University.
Anton speaks fluently English, Ukrainian and Russian, he also speaks basic Spanish.
People and Culture
Riini Saluri works as the Head of People and Culture at the e-Governance Academy. Riini has been active in personnel management for over 20 years. She is very passionate about all topics related to personnel development. Before joining the e-Governance Academy, Riini worked as an HR manager at the National Health Foundation and was also responsible for organizing internal communications and events. Previously, she was an HR manager at the Ministry of Defense and Omniva, and led the development of the Estonian public service and its personnel management at the State Chancellery and the Ministry of Finance.
In addition to her daily work activities, she is a member of PARE (Estonian Personnel Management Association) and has contributed as a volunteer to various working groups of PARE. She also contributes from time to time as an expert to various personnel development projects (e.g., development of human resources management in the Georgian public service, renewal of the competence model of middle-level managers in the Estonian public service, etc.) and as a lecturer in human resources management and psychology.
Riini studied psychology at the Tallinn University and then obtained a master’s degree in public administration at the Tallinn University of Technology. In addition, she has improved herself in various courses on internal communication, visual technologies, VBA in MS Excel and Lean management, where she has a bronze level.
Riini speaks Estonian, English and Russian.
Evelin Sõluste works as an Expert of People and Culture at the the e-Governance Academy and is dealing with HR tasks.
Veronika Pikk works as an Office Specialist at the e-Governance Academy. She takes care of the colleagues and guests.
Previously she was Sales Manager in a private company taking care of budgets, clients and people. As a sport enthusiast she sometimes volunteers in organising larger and smaller sports events.
Veronika has higher education in entrepreneurship and business management.
She speaks Estonian, English and some Russian.
Anna Gladun works as an Office Assistant in e-Governance Academy’s Kyiv office. She is responsible for the analysis and the reports required for the project’s performance. She is also actively involved in arranging IT workshops and conferences and preparing procurements under the project activities. Anna supports the Project Manager, Team Leader, and experts of the Kyiv office.
She joined the e-Governance Academy in the autumn of 2014. Previously, she worked in the field of sports medicine.
Anna graduated from the National University of Physical Education and Sport of Ukraine.
Anna is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian.
Legal and Compliance
Britt Marie Jürman is the Head of Legal and Compliance at the e-Governance Academy. She ensures that the organisation’s activities and operations comply with relevant laws, regulations and internal procedures. She is also responsible for conducting internal quality reviews and coordinating audits to ensure conformity with compliance procedures.
Britt Marie has 14 years of experience in the field of auditing, in both public and private sectors. For the past ten years she worked in Deloitte in the position of financial auditor and manager of Internal Audits and Risk Advisory.
Britt Marie obtained her Bachelor’s degree in financial accounting from the Tallinn College of the Tallinn University of Technology and is a Certified Government Auditing Professional (CGAP) and a certified internal quality assessor (IIA Certificate of Accreditation in Internal Quality Assessment/Validation).
She is fluent in both Estonian and English.
Kristel Tõnisson works as a Projects Administrator at the e-Governance Academy and supports our project teams with administrative tasks.
She has worked in the private and public sector and holds a master’s degree in social sciences.
Kristel speaks Estonian, English, Swedish and Russian.
Kateryna Rudenko works at the e-Governance Academy since 2020 as the Projects Administrator of the EU4DigitalUA project. She is responsible for communication with project partners, document management, project lifecycle events, monitoring and reporting.
Previously, she has worked as an office and event manager in large German companies in Kyiv, such as REHAU and GIZ. She has versatile experience in organising of conferences, delegation trips and corporate events, written and oral translations, communication and business correspondence with international organisations, embassies and public authorities.
She studied foreign languages, German and English, at the Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University and has been working as a teacher of German language. In 2016, she started to work in the administrative field and completed several courses on administrative skills at the European Business Association in Kyiv.
Kateryna speaks fluently English, German, Ukrainian and Russian.
Anneli Piirat works as a Senior Projects Administrator at the e-Governance Academy. She helps to arrange e-Governance Academy’s trainings and organise the e-Governance Conference.
She has worked in different roles in both the private and the public sector, helping to establish business contacts between Estonia and Germany and organising various events.
Anneli has a BA degree in German language from Tallinn University. In addition, she has studied business administration and accounting.
Anneli speaks Estonian, German and English.
Epp Paalma works as a Projects Administrator at the e-Governance Academy (eGA). Prior to joining the eGA in March 2023, Epp worked for over a decade at International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) as the Office Manager. She has worked in several different international organisations in Office Manager capacity.
Epp has studied in Leinster Business Institute in Dublin.
Her native language is Estonian. She also speaks English, Finnish and Russian languages.
Ihor Podolskyi is an Administrative Assistant of EU4DigitalUA and DT4UA projects. He has been working at e-Governance Academy since 2022. Among his responsibilities are document management, meetings and events organization, procurements conducting, and reporting.
He had previously worked in Gymnasium Consul #86 as the English teacher and supervisor for eight years, cooperated with various German, American and Ukrainian companies and foundations as a freelance translator. Ihor has experience in oral and written translation, audio and video materials transcription, text proofreading, and events organization.
He graduated from Kyiv National Linguistic University with a speciality in English philology.
Ihor speaks fluently English, Ukrainian and Russian.
Mukhabbat Beknazarova works at the e-Governance Academy as a Project Assistant for the Twinning Project ‘Support to Digitalisation Agenda in Kyrgyzstan’. She is responsible for document management, communication with project partners and managing day-to-day administrative and operational tasks.
She has over five years of administrative experience in international organisations and contributed to the successful implementation of multiple development projects throughout Kyrgyzstan.
Mukhabbat holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Tsukuba University, Japan.
She is fluent in Russian, Kyrgyz, and English.
Anastasia Deli works as an Assistant in Moldova at the e-Governance Academy.
Financial Management
Liis Saat works as a Financial Manager at the e-Governance Academy. She is responsible for the management of the financial unit. Her tasks include preparation of financial reports, project budgeting and supervision. Liis has prior work experience in accounting in the real estate sector.
Liis has a BA in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Tartu and has improved her professional skills by attending several accounting and financial courses.
Liis is speaks Estonian and English.
Maarja Rünkaru works as a Project Financial Manager at e-Governance Academy. Her tasks include preparation of financial reports, project budgeting and supervision.
Maarja obtained her Bachelor’s degree in accounting and business management at the Tallinn College of Tallinn University of Technology. She has also studied biology at Tartu University and cultural management at Tallinn University, and is a certified professional secretary.
Maarja speaks Estonian and English.
Kairi Rada is responsible for projects financial management at the e-Governance Academy. Her tasks include preparation of financial reports, project budgeting and supervision.
Kairi has long-term experience in the public sector as an accountant, including financial accounting related to foreign projects.
Kairi speaks Estonian and English.
Hanna-Pia Martinson works as a Project Financial Manager at the e-Governance Academy. Her tasks include the preparation of financial reports, project budgeting and supervision. She has previous work experience as a project financial controller and project manager in the energy sector.
Hanna-Pia has a diploma in accounting from the Tallinn School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Tallinn University of Technology. She speaks Estonian and English.
Stina Karits-Pihtje works as an accountant at the e-Governance Academy. Stina has several years of accountancy experience from an accounting service company.
Previously, she worked at various positions in the banking sector for more than ten years and participated in the e-Invoicing Transition Committee of the Estonian Banking Association.
Stina has BA degree in international financial management from Audentes University (since 2008 Tallinn University of Technology) and has completed in-service training at Tallinn University of Technology as an accountant-financier.
Stina speaks Estonian, English and Finnish as well as some Russian.
Helen Uus is an accountant at the e-Governance Academy (eGA). Prior to joining the eGA, she worked over 10 years at an accounting service company, mainly in the field of construction.
Previously, she worked in the financial audit team at Deloitte.
Helen has a higher education in accounting from Business School of Tallinn.
Helen speaks Estonian and English.
Kateryna Slyniuk works at e-Governance Academy as a Financial Assistant of the project EU4DigitalUA since 2020.
Previously she worked for various international training and HR organisations/projects in Ukraine for more than ten years. She was responsible for team building and team members skills development.
Kateryna has a diploma in English and German Philology from the Zhytomyr State University and has expanded her knowledge in training, HR, administration and finance management.
She speaks Ukrainian, English, German and Russian.
Supervisory Board
Paul Timmers is the Chairman of eGA’s Supervisory Board since 2022. He is visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford, visiting professor at Rijeka University, Senior Advisor to the European Policy Centre and Chief Adviser to the European Institute of Technology and Health.
Until 2017, he was director at the European Commission for e‑government, digital health & ageing, smart cities/mobility/energy, cybersecurity and digital privacy. He was interim member of the EC’s impact assessment board and cabinet member of European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen.
In 2003, he led the work on the first European e-Government strategy.
Paul was manager in a large ICT company and co-founded an ICT start-up.
Paul holds a PhD in physics from Nijmegen University, NL (1985); an MBA from Warwick University, UK (1998); an EU fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill (2009); with executive cybersecurity education at Harvard, USA (2014).
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves is a Member of eGA’s Supervisory Board since 2020. Toomas Hendrik Ilves is the fourth President of Estonia from 2006 until 2016. During his presidency Toomas Hendrik Ilves has been appointed to serve in several high positions in the field of ICT in the European Union. He served as a Chairman of the EU Task Force on eHealth from 2011 to 2012.
From 2012 to 2014, at the invitation of the European Commission, he was Chairman of the European Cloud Partnership Steering Board. From 2014 to 2015 president Ilves was the co-chair of the advisory panel of World Bank’s World Development Report 2016 “Digital Dividends” and from June 2014-to May 2016, the chair of World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Cyber Security.
In the 1990s, he was one of the initiators of the Tiger Leap initiative to computerise and connect all Estonian schools online.
During recent years, president Ilves has spoken and written extensively at integration, trans-atlantic relations, e-government, cyber security and other related topics.
Ilves worked as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2006. He served in the government as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2002. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party in the 1990s. Previously, he worked as a diplomat and journalist.
In 2016 he received the Digital Freedom Award in recognition for fostering the digital freedom and raising awareness of opportunities and challenges the digital revolution can bring.
In 2017 Ilves was awarded Reinhard Mohn Prize for his pioneering work in promoting digitalization in government, education and public services.
He acquired his education in the United States – he graduated from Columbia University in New York City in 1976 and received his Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978.
Margus Kolga is a Member of eGA’s Supervisory Board since 2019. He is an Estonian diplomat, Estonian Ambassador to Sweden. Before starting as an Ambassador to Sweden in 2019 Margus Kolga run Estonian campaign for the non-permanent membership to UN Security Council as a Head of the Task Force established by MFA.
From 2010 to 2015 he served as the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations. From 2007 to 2010 Margus worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia as the Director General of the 1st Political Department (Security Policy and International Organisations). From 2003 to 2007 he worked as a senior research fellow in the Baltic Defence College and was responsible for organising and supporting the newly established Higher Command Studies Course (HCSC). From 1992 to 2003 Margus worked in Ministry of Defence of Estonia in different positions and was actively involved in Estonia’s NATO integration process and headed the Governmental Interagency Task Force for NATO membership.
From 2006 to 2011 and from 2016 to present date he holds the post of Academic Director for the Estonian State Defence Course.
He graduated from Tartu University’s Faculty of History in 1992.
Margus Kolga is decorated with the Order of the White Star Fourth Class and the Service Cross of the Ministry of Defence First Class.
Barbara Ubaldi is a Member of eGA’s Supervisory Board since 2022. She works as the Head of Digital Government and Data Unit at the OECD. Barbara has extensive experience on digital government, ICT and knowledge management acquired working in international contexts and with governments around the world. Prior to the OECD she served for over seven years as Programme Officer for E-Government and Knowledge Management at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York.
Dr. Ines Mergel is a Member of eGA’s Supervisory Board since 2022. She is full professor of public administration at the University of Konstanz in Germany and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). Her research focuses on digital innovations in the public sector, especially new organizational practices and adaptability to new technologies.
Anna-Greta Tsahkna is a Member of eGA’s Supervisory Board since 2022. She is the founder and CEO of Timbeter and Vice-President on Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Timbeter is an innovative, global AI-based solution that enables quick, accurate and transparent digital measurement of timber and data management. Before founding Timbeter, Anna-Greta worked in the field of IT, communications and politics.
