Mr Rusdal holds a graduate degree from the University of Oslo (cand. real. (M. Sc.)). He has been active within the newspaper and media business for over 20 years, as co-owner and CEO of Nordsjø Media AS. He has also served as Chief Editor of the Group’s main title Jærbladet. He retired from the Group in 2019.

He was President of the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association (MBL)  2008-2010 (Board member from 1999) and subsequently President of the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) 2010-2015 (Board member from 2005).

Mr Rusdal was Chairman of the Board of Lyse AS – the regional hydroelectric and telecom company, owned by 16 municipalities in the Stavanger region – in the period 2008-2015 (Board member from 1998) Lyse AS was one of the founders of Nordic Edge AS.

Since 2015, Mr Rusdal has been Chairman of the Board of Nordic Edge AS, the organisers of Nordic Edge – Conference and Expo, and the hub of an ecosystem of activities: The Smart City cluster, Innoasis and international activities.

Miguel Gamiño is Executive Vice President, Global Cities – Enterprise Partnerships, Mastercard. In his role, Miguel leads Mastercard’s global activities with cities and the City Possible platform, forming public-private partnerships that drive civic efficiency, inclusivity, equality and ultimately better quality of life.

Prior to joining Mastercard, Miguel served as the Chief Technology Officer of New York City, leading the Mayor’s Office of The CTO. Miguel pioneered a new civic engagement and innovation platform for NYC and stood as a voice of leadership in tech policy — ensuring that technology helped NYC become the Fairest Big City in America, strengthening the City of 8.6M residents. He also served as an organizer of cities around the world to work together to improve people’s lives in urban centers everywhere.

Miguel’s leadership in New York translated to a broad and complex portfolio of public infrastructure, digital and visionary initiatives; including broadband for all New Yorkers, smart city and IoT programs, a comprehensive digital strategy that improved government service and NYCx – the world’s first-of-its-kind program to transform the relationship between government and disruptors of industry – to Make Tech Work for All People.

Prior to his role in New York, Miguel was the CIO for the City and County of San Francisco and the CIIO for the City of El Paso. Miguel founded the Council of Global City CIOs.

Prior to life in the public sector, Miguel was an entrepreneur, developing some of the earliest cloud-based services and launching two companies based in El Paso, TX and Silicon Valley, CA operating nationwide.   

 @CityPossible

Michael Müller, the Governing Mayor of Berlin, was born in Berlin in 1964. He finished secondary school in 1982, followed by a business apprenticeship and a specialized upper secondary school for business and administration. From 1986 to 2011, he worked as a self-employed printer.

Michael Müller joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1981. From 1991 to 2000, he was chair of his local SPD chapter, and from 1989 to 1996, he was a member of Berlin-Tempelhof borough assembly, finishing his time there as the head of the SPD party group. He was also a delegate to the district and state party conventions. From 2000 to 2004, he was chair of the Tempelhof-Schöneberg SPD. In 2004, Michael Müller became chair of the SPD in the federal state of Berlin, a post that he held until 2012 and to which he was re-elected in 2016.

Elected a Member of the Berlin House of Representatives in 1996, Michael Müller has served in this capacity ever since. From 2001 to 2011, he also chaired the SPD parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives.

In 2011, he was appointed Senator for Urban Development and the Environment and Mayor of Berlin. On 11 December 2014, Michael Müller became Governing Mayor of Berlin and has held this office ever since. From 2014 to 2016, he was also Senator for Culture; in 2016, he became Senator for Higher Education and Research. Michael Müller was President of the German Federal Council from 1 November 2017 to 31 October 2018 and has been President of the international city network Metropolis since August 2018.

Catharina Sikow-Magny joined the European Commission in 1997 and is currently the Director responsible for Internal Energy Market and the Acting Head of Unit in charge of retail markets, consumers and local initiatives in the Directorate General for Energy. Before that, she was the Head of Unit in charge of networks and regional initiatives. She has as well worked on international transport, trans-European network policy and financing, internalisation of external costs, and strategic policy research.

Before joining the Commission, Catharina Sikow-Magny was a team leader and chief economist in the private sector in Finland. She has also worked for the United Nations Development Programme in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She holds a Master of Economics degree from the Aalto University, Finland.

Linn is an oil and gas engineer by training who is triggered by enabling new technologies and creating new solutions in collaboration with business partners. In the Stavanger Smart City office Linn is responsible for sensor technology and data collection projects.

The transition from oil and gas engineering to entrepreneurship and innovation has inspired Linn to lower the barrier for change and sharing experiences. Linn has held several keynote speeches about entrepreneurship, challenging Norwegian industry leaders to rewire their innovation strategy.