Paul is founding Executive Director of the World Ocean Council. He works with the private sector and market forces to develop practical solutions for achieving sustainable development and addressing environmental concerns, especially for marine areas and resources. He has been involved in coastal and marine resource sustainable development and conservation work in over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific, Central America and Africa. As a consultant on sustainable development and environmental management, he has worked with companies, industry associations, UN agencies, international NGOs and foundations on sustainability, especially in the areas of oil/gas, fisheries, aquaculture, standards and certification.

Burak Inan was elected as Chair of IC-ENC in July 2023 and is currently the Deputy Director of the TN-ONHO. He served as the Head of Paper Charting, Head of Electronic Charting and Head of Charting at the Turkish Navy-Office of Navigation, Hydrography and Oceanography (TN-ONHO). During this period, he carried out the duties as Mediterranean and Black Sea Hydrographic Commission Capacity Building (MBSHC CB) Coordinator, Black and Azov Seas Working Group (BASWG) Secretary.

Helen Aavisto is the founder of Maritime X, a shipbuilding company in Estonia. She's a leader in maritime innovation, sustainability, and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry.

Hermen Westerbeeke is the Chief Commercial Officer at blueOASIS, overseeing business development, strategic partnerships, and market expansion, driving growth and innovation in sustainable water solutions and technology.

Mark Cygan has been working in GIS and mapping since 1984. Today, he is director of Esri's National Mapping & Statistics Solutions, having been in Esri's Industry Solutions Group since 2005. Before that, he worked for nearly a decade as a senior consultant and project manager in Esri's Professional Services. Prior to joining Esri, Cygan was on the management team at NAVTEQ (now HERE), a pioneer in digital mapping for in-vehicle, web and mobile uses. Cygan is actively participating in the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) as a UN-GGIM Geospatial Societies board member (and past chair), is the executive secretary of the User Community of Geospatial Authorities and is on the board of directors of the International Map Industry Association (IMIA).

Najat specializes in research and development in environmental management and planning focused on structural, institutional, and socioeconomic aspects with local stakeholders, government agencies, and other national and international partners. She has extensive knowledge of participatory development approach in support of coastal resilience, resources management, ecological and socioeconomic diagnosis, monitoring programs, and community development projects.

Dr. Gopika Suresh is an Earth Observation scientist with over 14 years of experience developing complex methods to extract information from EO data. She holds a PhD in Marine geosciences from the University of Bremen, Germany, MSc from the Technical University, Munich and a B.Tech from the University of Kerala, India. She is co-founder, CSO and head of the products team at Marble Imaging. She was a scientist at the German Federal agency for Cartography and Geodesy & German Aerospace Center, lectured at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and did her postdoc at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

Telmo Geraldes Dias is the Coordinator of the Technical-Scientific Data Management Centre at the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute, overseeing data management and technical operations for hydrographic research and maritime studies.

Hermen Westerbeeke is the Chief Commercial Officer at blueOASIS, overseeing business development, strategic partnerships, and market expansion, driving growth and innovation in sustainable water solutions and technology.

Emlyn Hagen is the Director of Defense and Intelligence for Europe at NV5 Geospatial in Germany, specializing in geospatial solutions, defense technologies, and intelligence-driven decision-making for strategic operations.

Michael Ashmore is the Vice President of Product Management at Precisely, overseeing product strategy and development. He has over 30 years of experience in geospatial and data management technologies.