Meet the team
The digital transformation of a country requires teamwork at the highest level.
At eGA you have access to expert professionals from government, academia and the private sector. Work with eGA on your digital transformation challenges and you will discover a support team with extensive international experience of the issues you face today: planning, implementing and managing various digital transformation initiatives.
Your team will include former senior Estonian government decision-makers: people with significant expertise in digital transformation, gained since the creation of e-Estonia. You will be working with hands-on digital transformation practitioners with a remarkable track record.
View our digital transformation success stories
In addition to our in-house team, eGA engages experts from a range of fields including the modernisation and automation of public sector fiscal administration; land administration, public tenders, mobile ID implementation, cybersecurity, e-government services and solutions implementation, and so on.
If you are ready to move forward on the path to more effective and transparent governance, then we are ready to share our expertise and best practice in digital transformation with you.
Let’s talk. Contact an eGA expert for an initial discussion about your challenges!
Management Board
Hannes Astok is the Executive Director and Chairman of the Management Board at the e-Governance Academy. Hannes is responsible for Cybersecurity Programme, Smart Governance Programme, Project Development, Communication, and Associates and Subsidiaries.
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.
As a senior expert, he provides consultancy for governments in Central Asia, Caucasus, South-East Europe, Middle East, Africa and other transition regions. 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.
Arvo Ott is the Member of the Management Board and Director of e-Government Technologies. 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.
Aile Kullerkupp is the Member of 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.
Programme Directors
Marit works as Programme Director of Smart Governance 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.
Kristina Reinsalu is Programme Director of e-Democracy at the e-Governance Academy. She leads 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.
Heiko Vainsalu is Programme Manager of Technology at 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.
Epp Maaten is Programme Director of Cybersecurity at the e-Governance 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.
Annela Kiirats has been the Programme Director of e-Governance Training 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.
Monika Lekić has been with the e-Governance Academy since 2004. Her main responsibilities regard the development of projects. She is the co-author of several handbooks in the field of e-government which provide guidelines and advice to government institutions, at both the central and local levels, on how to accomplish reform agendas through the use of ICT.
Monika has extensive skills and knowledge in the field of training needs assessment and the development of e-government training curricula for senior government officials.
In addition, Monika has been on several shorter and longer-term assignments as an e-government and capacity-building expert on foreign cooperation projects funded by various donors (the EU, World Bank, USAID, UNDP, SIDA, etc.). She obtained her MBA from Tallinn University of Technology.
Monika speaks Estonian, English and Serbian as well as basic German and Russian.
Smart Governance
Marit works as Programme Director of Smart Governance 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 of Smart Governance at 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.
Katrin Nyman-Metcalf works as Senior Expert of Legal Framework at the Estonian e-Governance Academy and is a Adjunct Professor of Communications Law at the Department of Law, School of Business and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology.
She is also involved in international consultancy, primarily in the area of information and communication technology law, including e-governance. Her projects include regular legal analysis of media and communications legislation for e.g. the OSCE and the European Commission; work on setting up regulatory systems and professional training, especially for post-conflict societies; and support for e-governance.
Katrin’s PhD in Public International Law (the law of outer space) (1999) and her Master’s degree (1986) are both from the University of Uppsala in Sweden. Her research interests include how law and technology meet, with a special emphasis on IT and communications, as well as outer space; international (global and regional) decision-making and the changing structure of governance; the implementation of human rights; and the rule of law. She has published widely on these and related topics.
Katrin speaks Estonian, English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish and some Bosnian.
Tiina 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.
Piret Saartee works at the e-Governance Academy as a Senior Expert on Smart Governance. 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.
Kristi Kivilo is an Senior Expert on Smart Governance 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.
Technology
Heiko Vainsalu is Programme Manager of Technology at 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.
Uuno Vallner 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.
Anne works at the e-Governance Academy as a Technology Project Manager. 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.
Ants Urvak works at the e-Governance Academy as Senior Expert on Technology. 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.
e-Democracy
Kristina Reinsalu is Programme Director of e-Democracy at the e-Governance Academy. She leads 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.
Liia works at the e-Governance Academy as a Senior Expert on e-democracy. 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.
Kristina Mänd is the Senior Expert on e-Democracy 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’s passion is rooted in the role of civil society making and access to the quality of life. They grew out of Kristina’s experience from working with the public sector in Estonia and with various civil society organisations (CSOs) around the world, e.g. Civicus in South Africa, LIFEbeat in New York, Network of Estonian Non-profit Organisations 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.
Since 2015, Kristina has been the promoter of responsible consumption and fair trade in Mondo, Estonian development cooperation and global education CSO. Also, she coordinates an EU-funded international project “I Am European”: Migration Stories & Facts for the 21st Century with a positive impact on achieving a more open, inclusive, and peaceful culture towards migrants and refugees in Europe.
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.
Jelizaveta Krenjova-Cepilova is e-democracy expert and project manager at the e-Governance Academy since 2009. In 2012-2016, she coordinated a large-scale local government project in Ukraine, which focused on strategic support to e-governance development and on the implementation of technical e-government solutions in four cities and one regional administration in the Western part of Ukraine.
She is one of the main authors of the Situation Review of e-democracy developments in six EU Eastern Partnership countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
In addition, she contributed to the development of the anti-corruption platform for the third sector in Moldova. Most recently, she was the work package leader and the main expert in the project aimed at finding the ways to encourage more active democratic engagement and participation of young mobile EU citizens in their host countries.
Jelizaveta holds a PhD degree from Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance at Tallinn University of Technology. Her research interests comprise participatory instruments at the local level, with a special focus on participatory budgeting.
She has published articles on the applicability of the different models of participatory budgeting, and on the implementation of this participatory tool in Estonia. Her PhD thesis “Participatory Budgeting: Theoretical Models and Applicability in Estonia and Beyond” is available here.
Jelizaveta is a native Russian speaker, she is fluent in English and Estonian, and knows basic French and German.
Cybersecurity
Epp Maaten is Programme Director of Cybersecurity at the e-Governance 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.
Merle Maigre works as the Senior Cybersecurity Expert at 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.
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.
Radu Serrano develops and manages projects 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.
Hauke Schulz works as a Project Manager at the e-Governance Academy. He supports the implementation of various cybersecurity and e-democracy 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.
e-Governance Trainings
Annela Kiirats has been the Programme Director of e-Governance Training 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.
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.
Anneli Piirat works as Project Manager of e-Governance Trainings 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.
Project Development
Monika Lekić has been with the e-Governance Academy since 2004. Her main responsibilities regard the development of projects. She is the co-author of several handbooks in the field of e-government which provide guidelines and advice to government institutions, at both the central and local levels, on how to accomplish reform agendas through the use of ICT.
Monika has extensive skills and knowledge in the field of training needs assessment and the development of e-government training curricula for senior government officials.
In addition, Monika has been on several shorter and longer-term assignments as an e-government and capacity-building expert on foreign cooperation projects funded by various donors (the EU, World Bank, USAID, UNDP, SIDA, etc.). She obtained her MBA from Tallinn University of Technology.
Monika speaks Estonian, English and Serbian as well as basic German and Russian.
Margareta works as a Project Development Expert at eGA. 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.
Communication
Anu Vahtra-Hellat is the Communication Manager 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.
Helen Aasa is responsible for everything related to multimedia: creating videos, photos and graphics, producing live broadcasts, and podcasts; developing and managing our communication channels. Helen’s previous experience is diverse — she’s been a news reporter and programme producer in a radio station, done direct sales in th United States of America, managed creative projects in AIESEC and an ad agency and been involved in organising larger and smaller culture events in Estonia.
Helen has a BA degree in Journalism and Communication from the University of Tartu.
She speaks Estonian and English.
Finance and Administration
Aile Kullerkupp is the Member of 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.
Maarja Rünkaru works as 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.
Liis Saat is responsible for projects financial management at the e-Governance Academy. 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.
Kristiina Laanest is Legal Advisor at the e-Governance Academy. Kristiina has over 10 years of working experience in Estonian public sector authorities in the field of information technology law and data protection. She has worked as a Head of Legal Department in Information System Authority and she has been involved in numerous legislative drafting projects regarding the state information services and cybersecurity.
While working in Information System Authority, Kristiina was inter alia specialized to electronic identity and trust services, electronic voting and data exchange layer X-Road legal matters.
She has previously worked in Data Protection Inspectorate as a Legal Advisor and Supervisory Expert.
Kristiina has a master’s degree from University of Tartu in information technology law.
Kristiina speaks Estonian and English.
Stina Karits-Pihtje works as an accountant at 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.
Britt Marie Jürman is the Quality Assurance Manager at e-Governance Academy. She is responsible for the coordination, renewal, implementation and development of the quality management system, as well as for providing advice and support to the Management Board in the development of the organization. Her responsibilities also include the coordination of the quality assessment system and various audits.
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.
Evelin Sõluste is responsible for HR and the day-to-day management of the e-Governance Academy’s office.
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.
Yuliia Kravchenko works as a Project Assistant at e-Governance Academy since 2022. She supports the e-Governance Conference team and contributes to the National Cyber Security Index project, researching, and analyzing the data.
Previously she had received broad experience in various private sector companies as well as working with some NGOs in Ukraine.
She holds a BA degree in International Relations and Area studies as well as LLB. Currently, she is in her last year of joint MSc in Public Sector Innovation and eGovernance from KU Leuven, WWU Münster and TalTech. She is interested in the topics of interoperability, enterprise architecture and cybersecurity. She is the co-author of the publication on the eID path dependency.
Yuliia is also finishing her LLM at Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv with her final research focused on mediation.
She speaks Ukrainian, English, Russian, Polish and French.
Ukrainian Team
Mari Pedak joined the e-Governance Academy in September 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.
Yurii Kopytin works as a Senior IT Expert on Interoperability and Information Security at the e-Governance Academy since 2015. Since October 2020 Yurii is leading the cybersecurity component of the EU4DigitalUA project.
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 an author of more than 20 research publications.
Yurii graduated from the O.S. Popov Odessa National Academy of Telecommunications with a Master’s Degree under the “Unauthorized Access System Protection” and “Information Security Engineer” specialty.
Yurii is fluent in English, Ukrainian and Russian.
Andrii Piskun works for 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.
Dmytro Savranchuk works as Senior Cybersecurity 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.
Oleh Burba works at the e-Governance Academy since 2018. Currently, Oleh works as the Component Leader of Interoperability 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.
Denys Pryharin has worked in 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 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 in 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 cyber security pen-testing project in Ukraine.
He has been involved in the introduction and development of the secure data exchange platform Trembita in Ukraine, and in 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.
Oleksandr Kozlov works at the e-Governance Academy as an 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 approximation to the EU legislation and standards.
Oleksandr has over 3 years of experience in governmental bodies of Ukraine working on the implementation of complex digitisation projects, European integration, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation. He was coordinating cross-border eSignature pilot between Ukraine-Estonia creating technological opportunities for e-signing between EU member states and a third country.
Oleksandr holds an Master’s degree in International Business Law obtained in the University of Ghent. He also has a Master Degree in Law obtained in Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
Oleksandr speaks Ukrainian, English and Russian.
Kirill Shypachov works as an Cybersecurity 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, Kirill 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.
Kirill speaks Russian and English.
Dmytro Bulyka works at the e-Governance Academy as an IT 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.
Andrey Shapovalov works at e-Governance Academy since 2020. Currently, he is an expert on interoperability. 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 3 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.
Olga Pasichnyk has been working at the e-Governance Academy since 2020. Currently, she works as Senior Expert on Base Infrastructure for EU4DigitalUA project.
Previously, she worked as IT Analyst of the EGOV4UKRAINE project. Olga was responsible for communication with officials of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the coordination of 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 Ph.D. in Engineering Science from the Scientific and Research Institute of Kyiv. She is an author of several articles in a number of information technology journals.
Olga speaks Russian, Ukrainian and English.
Nataliia Matiash works at the e-Governance Academy since September 2020. Currently, Nataliia works as a 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 the support of e-governance initiatives, the introduction of the intergovernmental electronic document management system for Ukrainian public administrations, and the automation of 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.
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.
Yuliia Khavikova works 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.
Iryna Hromova is the Junior 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.
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.
Anatoliy Martsynovski is responsible for the communications of e-Governance Academy’s Kyiv Office. He deals with PR, development of promotional materials, preparation of communication events and social media activities, among others.
He joined the e-Governance Academy’s team in 2019 as a communication expert of the EGOV4UKRAINE Project. Previously, as a communication expert of more than 10 years, he was cooperating with the European Union’s Delegation to Ukraine in preparing its information and communication materials. Anatoliy has a long experience as a journalist and he has conducted trainings for journalists.
He graduated from the Institute of Journalism at the Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv.
Anatoliy speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Jurijs Svirko is the Communication Manager of the project EU4DigitalUA. He is responsible for project visibility and media relations, external and internal communications.
Jurijs has 30 years of experience in international journalism, communications and PR. He started as a journalist in 1991, working as the accredited Minsk Correspondent of Diena, the biggest daily of Latvia. Later he worked for Reuters, the BBC World Service and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Belarus.
In Ukraine, Jurijs was the Head of Information Centre at Kommersant-Ukraine and the Editor-in-Chief of two Kyiv dailies, Ekonomicheskiye Izvestia and Obzor. Then he worked for a number of international technical assistance projects in Ukraine, including the U-LEAD with Europe programme and the USAID Financial Sector Transformation project.
He graduated from the Belarusian State University with a diploma with distinction in journalism.
Jurijs speaks English, Latvian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, Polish and German.
Anna Gladun works as an Office Manager 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 the arrangement of IT workshops and conferences, and in the preparation of procurements under the project activities. Anna provides support to the Project Manager and Team Leader, as well as experts of the Kyiv office.
She joined the e-Governance Academy in autumn 2014. Previously, she was working 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.
Kateryna Rudenko works at the e-Governance Academy since 2020 as the Administrative Assistant 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.
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.
Team in Kyrgyzstan
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.
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.
Erkin Kojekov works as Translation Assistant of Resident Twinning Advisor for Kyrgyzstan twinning project. He provides translations and interpretations during the meetings (consecutive and simultaneous interpretations online and offline) from Russian, Kyrgyz into English and vice versa.
Erkin has 25 years of professional experience on provision of oral and written translations. He has concluded direct contracts with President and Prime Minister’s Offices of Kyrgyz Republic, Parliament of Kyrgyz Republic and almost with all UN agencies and international organizations active in Kyrgyzstan.
Erkin has diploma certificates in the field of Agricultural Irrigation, Intellectual Property and Patenting, first class Diploma in Management and the most recent certificate of the University of McGill Business School, Montreal, Canada.
He speaks fluent Kyrgyz, English, Russian and some French.
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 the 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 the 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.
