Lidija Brković is the Director General of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, a position she has held since 2019. In this role, she leads and coordinates Croatia’s national statistical system and serves as its representative before European and international statistical bodies. Before her appointment as Director General, Lidija held several expert and advisory positions at the Croatian National Bank, where she gained extensive experience in financial, monetary, and general statistics, as well as accounting operations. She also worked at the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia. Lidija Brković is a distinguished leader in official statistics, known for her strategic vision, commitment to modernization, and dedication to aligning Croatia’s statistical system with European and international standards. Through her active participation in numerous conferences and professional initiatives, she continues to promote innovation, collaboration, and transparency in statistical practices, advancing the role of data-driven decision-making in Croatia and beyond.

Mariana Kotzeva was appointed Director General of Eurostat by the European Commission on 1 March 2018. She is the first woman at the helm of Eurostat. Ms Kotzeva joined Eurostat as an Adviser Hors Classe to the Director General in 2012. Two years later, in 2014, she was appointed Deputy Director-General. Prior to joining the European Commission, Ms Kotzeva was the Head of Bulgaria’s National Statistical Institute. She also held a number of high-level consulting posts in the Bulgarian and foreign administrations, and led international projects for the United Nations and the World Bank. Ms Kotzeva has a Master's degree in economics and a PhD in statistics and econometrics. She also has an Executive Education training at Harvard Kennedy School. Ms Kotzeva is an Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Ms Mann has been appointed Director General of Statistics at the European Central Bank in February 2024. In this role, she also serves as Chair of the Statistics Committee of the European System of Central Banks/Single Supervisory Mechanism and Co-Chair of the Joint Bank Reporting Committee (JBRC) of the ECB and the European Banking Authority. Previously, she served as Deputy Director General Finance from 2016 and as Director of Internal Audit from 2018. Before joining the ECB in 2016, Ms Mann held managerial roles at Deutsche Bank and KPMG. She holds an MBA from the University of Tübingen and a degree in banking from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Alfred Camilleri holds academic qualifications in Public Administration and Economics. He has been lecturing in official statistics and public policy at the University of Malta for the past 38 years. After joining Malta’s Central Office of Statistics in 1996, he undertook the organisational and the methodological revamp of the national statistics service in anticipation of the country’s membership of the European Union. In 2001, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Malta Statistics Authority and the National Statistics Office, of which he became the first Director General in March 2001. In 2006, he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Finance; a position he held until his retirement from the public service in 2022. During his tenure at the Ministry for Finance, he was Malta’s representative on the Economic and Financial Committee and its Director on the EFSF/ESM. Apart from being the longest-serving member of that committee, Mr Camilleri chaired its sub-committee on statistics. He also chaired the ESM’s Compensation Committee until his retirement. Between 2006 and 2022, Mr Camilleri attended almost all Eurogroup and Ecofin meetings and was part of Malta’s delegation to the European Council regularly. Today, Mr Camilleri serves as the Chairperson of ESGAB. Mr Camilleri works in the private sector and is also a Director of the International Hotels Investment (IHI) plc and of the Mediterranean Investment Holdings (MIH) plc.

Roxane Silberman background is quantitative sociology with publications in the domain of labor market, migrations and discrimination. She is Emeritus senior researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France and Honorary Professor at GENES (Groupe des Écoles Nationales d’Économie et de Statistique). Since the 90ies, she has played a major role in France in opening access to official and sensitive microdata. As the representative of researchers in economics and social sciences from 2009 to 2019 and since 2020 as qualified expert nominated by the Ministry of Economy, she sits at the board of the National Council for Statistical Information (CNIS, Conseil National de l’Information Statistique). Since 2015 Roxane Silberman is Scientific Advisor for international affairs at CASD (French Secure Data Hub) providing remote access to confidential data particularly in the domain of official and administrative data. For her merits in scientific work, Ms Silberman was awarded by Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2000. Roxane Silberman is the Chair of European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC).

Holding two bachelor’s degrees – in Economics (Bucharest University of Economic Studies), with a specialization in the application of quantitative methods to the study of economic phenomena, and in Mathematics (University of Bucharest), with a specialization in econometrics – PhD in Economics in 1996 at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. He also graduated advanced studies in econometrics and mathematical economics at the University of Social Sciences in Toulouse, France. Since 2013, he has been president of the National Institute of Statistics of Romania. He served as Vice-President of the United Nations Statistical Commission in the 2018 and Rapporteur in 2019 Plenary Sessions and is an ex-officio member of the International Statistical Institute, as well as in other important Romanian and international scientific institutions. Author of more than ten books and numerous articles published in prestigious scientific journals, Professor Tudorel Andrei remains devoted to his profession as a professor, shaper of young destinies, consistent with his belief that the Romanian society of tomorrow needs, true characters, real professionals for whom the deep knowledge of the field to which they have dedicated themselves is complemented by a high moral standing, as the famous Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga once said.

Joost Huurman is Deputy Director-General of Statistics Netherlands (CBS) since 1 July 2024, a role he occupies in addition to his position as Senior Director of Dataservices, Research and Innovation and Head of the CBS Heerlen office. He studied physics at Leiden University. After graduating, he joined CBS in 2002 moving through various research and management positions. Among his notable positions in his career are his role as Chief Methodologist and as Program Manager of the major IT program Phoenix, designed to streamline CBS’ data collection operations and ensure business continuity across all statistical surveys. Since 1 September 2023 he is serving CBS as Senior Director of Dataservices, Research & Innovation. In his current leadership roles he is committed to implementing the CBS data strategy, increasing data accessibility ensuring data quality and addressing societal challenges such as poverty, housing, the transition to a green economy and the impact of AI on society.

Dr habil. Áron Kincses has been President of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO) since June 2023. He graduated in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Debrecen, earned a PhD in Earth Sciences from Eötvös Loránd University, and was awarded the title of Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2023. He completed his habilitation at the University of Miskolc in 2025. Regarding his academic career, he is an associate professor at the Institute for World and Regional Economics at the University of Miskolc and holds honorary professorships and teaching roles at several other Hungarian universities. His research interests include international migration, migration networks, and spatial statistical methods with applications to labour market and demographic processes. Prior to his presidency, he served as Deputy President of the HCSO and held several senior roles at the HCSO in areas such as living conditions, the labour market and agricultural statistics.

Dr. Jūratė Petrauskienė is the Director General of the State data Agency (Statistics Lithuania) since November 2019. She graduated from Vilnius University with a Master’s degree in Statistics and in 2011 obtained her PhD in Mathematics. She has been working in Statistics Lithuania since 2004, was responsible for different domains of statistics: prices, quality management, development of new methods and technologies for production of official and experimental statistics, new data sources, implementation of GSBPM and successive reorganization of processes and the Organizational structure in the office. Being the Director General of Statistics Lithuania, Dr. Jūratė Petrauskienė initiated the state data reform, which included fundamental changes in the legal basis of data management, as well as massive technological changes in the institution and the state itself. Currently Dr. Jūratė Petrauskienė is a deputy President of the Lithuanian Union of Statistics, a member of the Advisory Council of Vilnius University Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics and since 2024 – a member of the Council of Vilnius University. Dr. Jūratė Petrauskienė is an active member of the ESS and international statistical community. For the period of 2021–2023 was a member of the Partnership Group of the ESSC, since 2023 a member of ESAC; also, a member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) and its IAOS association, and President-Elect of IAOS for 2025-2027.

Mr Marek Rojíček has been with the Czech Statistical Office since 2001, when he graduated with a master's degree from the Prague University of Economics and Business. His professional focus has been on macroeconomic statistics, particularly national accounts. He contributed to the implementation of European national accounting standards at the Czech Statistical Office ahead of the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union. His scientific work focuses on examining the role of economic structures in the transition process from cost-oriented to quality-oriented competitive advantage, as well as analysing the macroeconomic and structural impacts of globalization of economic flows. This was also the subject of his doctoral thesis. As part of his pedagogical activities, he participates in teaching macroeconomic analysis at the Faculty of Economics of the Prague University of Economics and Business. He is the author and co-author of several dozen scientific articles, textbooks, and research studies. He has been the President of the Czech Statistical Office since March 2018.

Athanasios C. Thanopoulos is the Deputy Director-General of Eurostat, appointed to the position in 2025. Previously, he had been serving as President of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) since 2016. He also chaired the Partnership Group of the European Statistical System from 2022 to 2024. His former professional experience spans economic policy-advising, research and university teaching. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh, postgraduate degrees in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics from the Toulouse School of Economics, and a BSc in Economics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Mr Jean-Pierre Poncelet has a long experience in European statistics, having held various positions in Eurostat over the last 16 years. He was assistant to Eurostat’s Director General for about 5 years before being appointed Head of Unit in charge of Government Finance Statistics and Quality. Jean-Pierre was then Head of Unit in charge of statistics for administrative purposes in Eurostat, providing the Commission services with key figures relating to GNI and VAT Own Resources, as well as to Pensions and Remuneration of EU Staff. He is Director of the Standards; Dissemination; Enlargement.

Prof. Saša Drezgić, PhD, is the Dean and Full Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, where he has been actively involved for many years in the Faculty's teaching, scientific, and professional activities. He earned his PhD in 2008 at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana. Throughout his career, he has held a number of responsible positions in the academic community and the public sector. In 2016, he served as Deputy Minister of Finance under Minister Zdravko Marić, and he was a member of the Economic Council of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Zoran Milanović. Prof. Drezgić is the author of a substantial number of scientific and professional publications and an active participant in numerous international conferences. He is the founder of the international scientific conference Economics of Digital Transformation (EDT Conference), head of the postgraduate specialist programme Public Sector Management, and for many years served as editor of the Proceedings of the Faculty of Economics in Rijeka. He also led the Centre for Local Economic Development (CLER), the first company established by an academic institution in the Republic of Croatia. Through CLER’s activities, he fostered successful cooperation among associations, businesses, the public sector, and the academic community, contributing to the advancement of local and regional development. Currently he is heading a Center for Support to Smart and Sustainable Cities of the University of Rijeka.

Mato Njavro, PhD, is the dean of the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, where he teaches financial courses. Mato Njavro is also a lecturer at the Luxembourg School of Business and a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen and Singapore Management University where he teaches the Chinese Economy course. From 2016 to 2020, Mato resided in Singapore where he worked at the Institute of Management of the University of St. Gallen in Asia (SGI-HSG) and Singapore Management University. Before moving to Singapore, Mato spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. His research interests are focused on financial markets, public policy and economic development. He is the author and co-author of several scientific papers and studies, including the Harvard Business School case: “Atlantic Group” on one of the largest M&A transactions in the CEE region.

Andrea Galić Nagyszombaty has been the Director of the Statistical Methodologies, Quality and Customer Relations Directorate at the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS) since October 2019. She graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, after which she completed a master’s degree in macroeconomics. In 2016, she earned her PhD in economics, with a dissertation titled: 'Impacts of the Modern Systems of Tax Payment on Trends and Estimation of the Unofficial Economy'. She is the author and co-author of several papers in the field of economics, particularly focusing on the unofficial economy. She has over 20 years of experience in official statistics. During that time, she has worked in various areas within the CBS, including ten years in national accounts and several years as Head of the Department for Strategic Development of the Statistical System of the Republic of Croatia. She was appointed project manager for the 'Improving the Coverage of National Accounts of the Republic of Croatia – Non-Observed Economy’ project and has participated in a variety of working groups. In 2015, she completed an internship with the Scottish Government, in the Office of the Chief Statistician and Strategic Analysis, focusing on strategic development. Since 2019, she has been especially dedicated to enhancing the dissemination and communication of official statistics and has represented the CBS at numerous meetings and conferences. She invests particular effort and enthusiasm in the promotion of official statistics and the improvement of statistical literacy.

Ms Avis Beneš has a longstanding career in international and EU institutions (European Commission, EEAS, EU Delegations, Office of the High Representative in BiH, international crime court, EU electoral monitoring missions), in particular in political, economic, statistical and communication domains, including significant experience in EU enlargement and accession process. In the period 2018-2023 she was heading the Eurostat unit dealing with statistical cooperation, in particular with enlargement and neighbourhood countries as well as cooperation with Africa. In all areas of cooperation quality in statistics had continuously a prominent place. From 2024 she is Head of Unit of Eurostat unit managing quality (former task force peer review), strategy and programming, European Statistical System (ESS) governance as well as ESGAB and ESAC Secretariat. She holds MA degrees in economics and international relations & European studies.

As the Head of the Quality, Statistical Standards, and Geoinformation System Development Department, Žaklina Čizmović works on improving statistical standards and geoinformation systems. She has a master's degree in economics and is an expert in statistics and quality management. Žaklina has led important projects to align Croatian statistical practices with EU standards. She played a key role in setting up the Quality System in the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and led the development of a system to improve the quality and management of statistical surveys. Her work ensured that statistical processes are efficient and reliable. At the European level, Žaklina contributed to updating the Code of Practice for European Statistics and helped improve the NACE Rev. 2.1 classification, making economic data more accurate and useful. She also focuses on geoinformation systems and subnational statistics, recognizing the importance of location-based data in modern analysis. Her efforts have improved the quality and accuracy of statistical data, making it more useful for decision-making.

Ivana Levačić is head of Sampling, Statistical Methods and Analyses Department in the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS). She holds a master degree in Economics. Since 2015 her main task is dealing with survey sampling, seasonal adjustment and statistical disclosure control and actively implementing and promoting use of R within CBS in daily work. Also, she is member of the Statistical Confidentiality Committee within CBS. She represents CBS in the Working group on methodology, ESS Task Force on Mobile Network Operators Data and ESS Task Force on the Publication Thresholds. She is involved in the project for the implementation of the EU Data Governance Act, which seeks to increase trust in data sharing, strengthen mechanisms to increase data availability and overcome technical obstacles to the reuse of protected data. Her experience includes a work on projects in the field of agriculture, transport, labour force statistics, poverty, etc.

Mateusz Kaleta – Member of the Eurostat Quality team, working in Eurostat on quality issues since mid-2023. Engaged in reporting, summarising and finalisation of the ESS 3rd Peer Review round implemented as well as other quality related work in Eurostat such as guidelines on Quality Policies, Quality Working Group, workshops, Q Conferences. Participant of the Eurostat Quality Working Group Subgroup on elaborating the Peer Review methodology and ESS TF on Peer Reviews. Previously employed in Statistics Poland (since 2009) heading the unit dealing with international cooperation of Polish NSI, focusing on collaboration with ESS but also with statistical systems of UN, UNECE and OECD. Engaged as a deputy peer review National Coordinator in the third round of ESS peer review. Part of Polish team preparing the second peer review round in Polish NSS. Holding the function of the ESS PG secretariat during Polish chairmanship in the group and member of the first Polish EU Council Presidency team. BA an MA of European Studies at Warsaw University.

Monika Wozowczyk is deputy head of the unit for methodology and innovation in official statistics at Eurostat. The unit provides methodological support for official statisticians across the EU, manages the European Master in Official Statistics and the European Statistical Training Programme, and organises access to confidential data for researchers. The unit also leads Eurostat’s workstrand on statistical innovation. It coordinates Eurostat’s work on Trusted Smart Statistics, experimental statistics and on the ESS Innovation agenda and it runs a number of innovative projects for development and enhancement of official statistics, such as the Web Intelligence Hub. Before joining the unit, Monika contributed to Eurostat’s work on data quality improvements and methodological developments in a range of statistical fields, including environmental economic accounting, government finance statistics and labour market statistics.

She holds a Master’s degree in Economics and is a consultant in the Programming and Coordination of Statistical Surveys and Registers Department at Statistics Poland, focusing on strategic issues in survey development and improvement. She began her career in 1996 with classifications and nomenclatures. From 2008 to 2024, as deputy director, she coordinated methodological work, quality assurance, and survey reviews. She supported implementation of the European Statistics Code of Practice, led a quality team developing standards, procedures, and a quality culture, and oversaw statistical disclosure control. She contributed significantly to ESS peer reviews, serving as national coordinator during the 3rd round. From 2010 to 2024, she was a member of the Directors of Methodology Group (DIME). She co-chaired the Q2018 Conference in Poland and later joined the Programme Committees for Q2022 in Lithuania and Q2024 in Portugal. Throughout her professional career, she has promoted the improvement of methodologies and the quality of official statistics.

Susana Portillo has worked in official statistics in the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland since 2007. From 2015 she has been involved in the design and delivery of the CSO quality strategy through the implementation of a solid Quality Management Framework. She currently leads the unit on Metadata and Quality Training, ensuring the harmonisation of questionnaire design and quality reporting across the CSO and their documentation conforming to international standards. She also provides support on metadata and quality techniques to the wider Irish National Statistical System. Prior to her work in quality, Susana led the unit responsible for the data collection of short-term enterprise statistics, using continuous improvement techniques to migrate statistical production to a process approach, achieving efficiencies in timeliness, response burden and cost while maintaining the quality of the production data. Susana is a graduate in Mathematics with a specialisation in Numerical Analysis, she holds a postgraduate diploma in Computer Science and is qualified in Lean Six Sigma techniques.

Remi Prual has been actively involved in advancing the quality of official statistics for several decades through numerous projects and initiatives. He served as Quality Manager and Head of the General Department at Statistics Estonia between 2004 and 2018 and has also been a Board Member of the Estonian Association for Quality for two consecutive terms. At the European level, Remi has contributed to the ESS Quality in Statistics Working Group, the ESS Steering Committee on Quality, and various task forces on metadata standards, quality reporting, fine-tuning of the QAF, as well as the EU CWPS presidency team. More recently, he has worked as an ESS peer reviewer, management consultant, strategic advisor, trainer, and expert with a dedicated focus on the valuation of data, metadata, statistics, information, and knowledge. Remi is certified as an expert in ISO 9001, EFQM, CAF, ITIL, LEAN, and several other quality management-related standards and approaches. He holds master’s degrees in both Information Sciences and Information Management.

Giorgia Simeoni works for Istat, Italian National Statistical Institute, since 2001, and has been appointed as Istat Quality manager in September 2020. She has always worked in the field of quality and reference metadata, has been responsible for implementing quality reporting at Istat. She is involved in European and international quality and standards related working groups, like the UN Expert Group on National Quality Assurance Framework and the UNECE Supporting Standards Group. She has also a relevant experience in cooperation projects related to quality topics and is also a trainer in ESTP courses. In recent years has worked on the development and implementation of quality frameworks for multisource statistics and for statistics based on new data sources. She has been a member of the Q2022 and Q2024 Conferences Programme Committee. She is graduated in statistics, demographic and social sciences and holds a master degree in sources, tools and methods for social research.

Silvan Zammit has served the National Statistics Office of Malta for over 23 years and currently holds the role of Director for Data Resources, IT, and Methodology. His responsibilities encompass a broad spectrum, including data collection, methodology, the Census of Population and Housing, IT and information security. Having graduated in Mathematics, Statistics, and Operations Research from the University of Malta in 2002, his passion for statistics motivated him to pursue postgraduate studies in Actuarial Techniques. Silvan’s portfolio spans census operations, data collection, methodological design, and information systems. Beyond Malta, Mr. Zammit has supported countries across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe on key statistical initiatives, including population and housing censuses, sampling strategies, and demography. For more than 13 years, Silvan Zammit has served as a Senior Visiting Lecturer at the University of Malta, where he teaches Official and Business Statistics across multiple faculties. His international engagements, training delivery, and participation in global technical forums reflect his commitment to advancing statistical literacy and bridging theory with real-world application.

Maria João Zilhão is member of the Management Board of Statistics Portugal (INE) since January 2018, after having served as the Director of the Planning, Control and Quality Unit at INE, since 2007. She has a Degree in Economics, a master’s degree in Statistics and Information Management, and has completed in 2025 a course in Organizational Leadership at Harvard Business School Online. She started working at INE as a statistician in economic agriculture statistics in 1990. She has been involved in Quality Management at the ESS since 1999, coordinating the implementation of INE’s Quality Management System, that got its certification process along the ISO norm 9001 in 2024. She has been member of several groups having participated in the LEG on Quality and on the Sponsorship on Quality and has also been involved in the preparation of European quality tools such as the ESS QAF, the revision of the European Statistics Code of Practice and in the methodology of the Peer Review exercises, chairing one of the teams of Peer Review Experts in the 3rd round. She has been a trainer in the field of quality in statistics at ESS level since 2001 and has also extensive experience in international cooperation in systematic quality management and as official representative in international organizations, such as the United Nations. She has chaired the Council Working Party on Statistics in 2021, during the Portuguese Presidency of the EU. She represents Statistics Portugal at the Portuguese National Statistics Council, being President of the Standing-Section on Statistics Coordination within the National Statistical System, since 2018. She has been a member of the Programme Committee for several editions of the European Quality Conference, being part of the organizer team and hosting Country of the Q2024.

Prof. Tomislav Baković, PhD is a Full Professor at the Department of Trade, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb. He holds a PhD in Economics and Business with a research focus on quality and innovation in business performance. He teaches courses in international business, quality management and commodity exchanges at undergraduate and graduate level and has also lectured in the postgraduate specialist program in Quality Management. He has completed professional development programs at the University of Leeds and IESE Business School and is a certified EOQ Quality Manager and ISO 9001 Lead Auditor. Prof. Baković is the author or co-author of more than sixty scientific and professional publications, including books and university textbooks. He is an active member of the Croatian Society of Quality Managers and the International Chamber of Commerce Croatia.

Vesna Buterin, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Vice Dean for Cooperation with Business and Affairs at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka. She teaches courses in macroeconomics, institutional development, economic demography, and the philosophy of economic science, and is actively involved in doctoral-level teaching. She has extensive academic, scientific, and project experience, with numerous research engagements and leadership roles. She is currently leading a scientific project on the macroeconomic effects of demographic changes, as well as the EU-funded project EkonInfoChecker under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and participates in several international projects funded through Horizon and other European programs. Throughout her career, she has held numerous positions in scientific, professional, and governance bodies. She has completed a wide range of professional training in higher education, statistics, leadership, international cooperation, and economic policy. She publishes scientific papers, serves as a reviewer for international journals, and participates in the organization of scientific and professional conferences.