Our Experts

Nataša Prah Head of Unit, Ministry of Finance, Slovenia

Nataša Prah was a Director of the Budget Supervision Office of the Republic of Slovenia, responsible for auditing EU funds, public internal financial control and budgetary inspection for 11 years. Now she works as a Head of Unit, responsible for auditing European Funds. Working for eight years in accountancy and statutory auditing and fifteen years in public sector auditing, she has accumulated an impressive experience in auditing. She has been awarded the title Verified Statutory Auditor (chartered accountant) by the Slovenian Institute of Auditors as well as she has been given the title of a Verified State Internal Auditor (issued by CIPFA) and a Verified State Auditor (issued by the Slovenian Supreme Audit Institution). As a lecturer in the process of acquiring the qualification of Certified Public Accountant and Verified State Internal Auditor, performed under the supervision of CIPFA, she is responsible for two modules: Cost Accounting and Auditing Management Performance.

Despina Pachnou Competition expert, OECD

Despina Pachnou is a competition expert at the OECD, where she manages the work of the OECD Competition Committee Working Party on International Co-operation and Enforcement. Despina conducts reviews and capacity building in competition and procurement. The reviews cover legal, institutional and operational procurement reforms and mechanisms for the professionalization of procurement and competition authorities’ workforce. Before joining the OECD, she worked as a lawyer in public procurement and corporate transactions, advising companies and public sector bodies in structuring and implementing large scale projects in Greece. Despina has advised the Greek Chapter of Transparency International on transparency and compliance in public contracts.

Francesco Perlini Head of Financial Reporting, Financial Management Service, World Trade Organization

Francesco Perlini is Head of Financial Reporting Unit in the World Trade Organization in Geneva, and is responsible for the relations with External Auditors, role currently played by the Supreme Audit Institution of Germany "Bundesrechnungshof". He was previously a Finance Associate Controller at the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) in Budapest, being responsible for West African Countries undertaking mission on various field duty stations in Africa. He also worked as Auditor for a specialised body of the EU Commission, the European Institute for Information and Technology (EIT) in Budapest. Before joining the International Organisation sector, Francesco was working in Italy as a tax consultant in M&A boutique based in Rome, Italy.

Pratheep Ponraj Senior IT Officer, World Bank Group

At the World Bank Innovation Lab, Pratheep Ponraj works on several disruptive technologies including AI, Machine Learning, Geospatial, Augmented Reality among other things. He is also actively involved in several World Bank Group projects in client countries in Health, Education, Water, Justice Sector Modernization, Agriculture and Disaster Recovery in applying emerging technologies to solve sector challenges. He has also published a paper on applying technologies to monitoring public sector service delivery to citizens and address Governance challenges.

George Paraskevaidis Administrator, Council of the European Union, General Secretariat, Belgium

George Paraskevaidis is Administrator in the Procurement Coordination Unit of the Finance Directorate within DG Administration of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU. In this capacity he is responsible for the supervision and follow-up of high value procurement procedures, including the improvement of the planning and optimisation of the procurement process, with a strong focus on the legal framework, tendering criteria and optimal evaluation. In his most recent prior positions, George Paraskevaidis was the Head of Finance and Procurement Unit at the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) and the Head of Finance Division at the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR).

Mattia Pellegrini Head of Unit for Waste Management and Secondary Materials, European Commision, Directorate-General for Environment

Mattia Pellegrini is currently Head of Unit for Waste Management & Secondary Materials at DG Environment, European Commission. Previously he was Head of Unit for Raw Materials, Metals, Minerals and Forest-based Industries at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Previously, he worked as Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Nelli Feroci and as a Member of the Cabinet of the Vice President of the European Commission, in charge of Enterprise and Industry. Mr Pellegrini has a Master’s Degree in European Legal Studies obtained at the College of Europe, Bruges, and a postgraduate diploma in EC Law obtained at L.U.I.S.S. “Guido Carli”, University of Rome.

Maija Pohjakallio Sustainability Director, Sulapac Ltd

Maija Pohjakallio works as a sustainability director at Sulapac. The focus of her current work is in bio-based microplastic-free materials. During her career at VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland, prior to Sulapac she was involved in the development of the Finnish plastics roadmap acting as a member of the secretariat assisting the Ministry of the Environment. Maija has work experience in several fields including team leading, sustainability advocacy, chemical industry and research & teaching. She received her doctoral degree in 1996 from Helsinki University of Technology (currently Aalto-university) in physical chemistry and is particularly excited about combining chemistry with sustainable development.

Iris Plöger Member of the Executive Board Executive Board, Federation of German Industries (BDI)

Since April 2017 Iris Plöger has been a member of the BDI Executive Board. She joined the Federation of German Industries (BDI) in 2004 and worked initially in the legal department. In 2015 became head of the BDI department Digitalization and Industrial Value Chains. Since 2016 she has been head of the BDI department Digitalization, Innovation, and Healthcare. Iris studied law in Kiel and in the United Kingdom. She then worked as an academic assistant at the Institute for Economic and Tax Law at Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany. After passing the Second State Examination in Law Iris Plöger worked as a lawyer specializing in competition and IT law at the international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer from 2000.