Despina Spanou

Despina Spanou is Principal Adviser in the European Commission for Cybersecurity Coordination, including with security cross-cutting issues. She was previously the Head of the Cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas (2019-2024), overseeing the work on security, migration and asylum, health, skills, education, culture and sports. 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 Women4Cyber and advocates for the need for more cybersecurity experts in Europe.