Speaker Bio

Since November 2025, Despina Spanou is the Deputy Director-General in charge of the Directorate for Cybersecurity and Trust in the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) of the European Commission. She was previously the Head of the Cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas (2019-2024). In this capacity she coordinated the Vice-President’s work on security, migration and asylum, health, skills, education, culture and sports. She also coordinated the Vice-President’s EU Security Union work, ranging from counterterrorism, organised crime and cybersecurity to hybrid threats. Prior to that, she was Director for Digital Society, Trust and Cybersecurity at the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Communications Network, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) of the European Commission. Ms. Spanou was responsible for the European Union’s cybersecurity policy and law, served as a member of the management board of ENISA, and of the Steering Board of the Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU Institutions (CERT-EU). She is a founding member of the Women4Cyber initiative and advocate for the need for more cybersecurity experts in Europe. She also teaches EU Cybersecurity policy at Harvard Kennedy School. In her 20 years in the European Commission, Ms Spanou has held a number of senior management positions in the areas of Health and Consumer Policy and served as Deputy Head of Cabinet for Commissioners Kyprianou and Vassiliou. Before joining the European Commission, she practised EU competition and trade law with a US law firm for a number of years. Despina Spanou is a member of the Athens Bar Association and holds a Ph.D. in European law from the University of Cambridge.