Wojciech Kalociński is currently a policy officer in the European Commission, in the border management and Schengen unit of DG Migration and Home Affairs.
He is responsible for the coordination of the relations with Frontex Agency.
After graduating from the University of Wroclaw (international relations) in 2003 and the College of Europe (European public administration) in 2004, he joined the European Commission in 2005. Since then he was working in different units of DG HOME responsible for asylum policy and the management of EU funds in the area of return and border management.
Marta Ballestero is the UNHCR Senior Liaison Officer and Chair of the Frontex Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights.
Ms Ballestero has worked in the field of international protection for the last fifteen years. Before joining UNHCR’s Bureau for Europe, she worked for UNHCR in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, Malaysia, Israel and Sudan supporting the establishment and management of protection-sensitive border and refugee status determination systems. She also worked with the European Asylum Support Office as the focal point for cooperation with courts and tribunals; with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, managing capacity building programmes in the judicial and law enforcement sectors; and with the Spanish Commission for Refugees, providing legal advice to asylum seekers and contributing to the organisation’s EU policy development.
She holds a Law Degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a Master’s Degree from the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC).
Monica den Boer is the Director of SeQure Research and Consultancy and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism (PICT) at Macquarie University, Sydney.
Between 2003 and 2015, she held a variety of positions at the Police Academy of The Netherlands in conjunction with a Chair of Comparative Public Administration at the VU University Amsterdam. Since 2003 she has been a Member of the Committee on European Integration of the Advisory Council on International Affairs. She obtained a PhD in 1990 from the European University Institute and worked at Edinburgh University, the Netherlands Study Centre for Crime and Law Enforcement, the European Institute of Public Administration, Tilburg University, and the European Institute of Law Enforcement Co-operation. In 2009-2010, she was a member of the Dutch Iraq Investigation Committee, and in 2009-2010 she participated in the Defence Future Survey Group. She has published widely on European internal security co-operation and engages in research, teaching, coaching as well as supervision.
Hervé Yves Caniard is the Head of the Legal Affairs Unit, Corporate Governance at Frontex.
He holds an LL.M. in European Law from the College of Europe (Bruges), a post-graduate diploma in Law from the Université de Paris and a post-graduate diploma in management from the Université de Montréal, Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales.
He joined Frontex in September 2009. Prior to this he worked at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. He has also been engaged as a lawyer within the headquarters of large public and private companies including Aéroports de Paris and Vivendi Universal /GU UK, in London.
Finally, within Frontex, his tasks include heading an initiative bringing border-management lawyers and practitioners together on a bi-annual basis for working level discussions (LEGNET) and supporting Frontex operational units in advance of the coming into force of the proposed European Border and Coast Guard Regulation.
Robert Črepinko is the designated Head of the European Migrant Smuggling Centre within the Operations Department at Europol.
Prior to his appointment at Europol, Mr Črepinko held a post of an Assistant director of the National Bureau of Investigation in Slovenia. Mr Črepinko has 20 years of experience in criminal investigation, coordination and supervision. He has a strong expertise in threat/security assessment in perspective of crime prevention and suppression, strong expertise in strategies on fighting criminal phenomena, including organised crime and terrorism, expertise in criminal investigations, police management, crisis management, human rights, rule of law, criminal police, security, leadership, supervising and training.
Since his arrival to Europol, Mr Črepinko managed the Organised Crime Networks team, supporting the member states activities against organised crime in some key priorities including migrant smuggling, trafficking in human beings, organised property crime, drugs smuggling, mafia type organised crime and firearms trafficking.
In addition to his Diploma from the College for Police and Security Studies, Mr Črepinko holds a university degree in Law.
Marko Gašperlin is a law enforcement officer with over twenty years of professional experience.
Currently, he holds the position of the Assistant Director at the Ministry of Interior of Slovenia (for almost the past twenty years) he is responsible, among others, for the management of strategic and operational tasks at national level, coordination of Slovenian position in the field of border management presented in the EU Council bodies, coordination of EU Home affairs and implementation of EU projects. In his role of Assistant Director, he also acts as Head of Slovenian delegation in the Schengen Committee and Head of Slovenian Delegation in the Council Working Party on Schengen matters. His previous experiences covered positions of Advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Police Inspector in the Uniformed Police Directorate as well as Head of Border Police Division of the Police Directorate. His involvement in Frontex work included the position of Frontex Management Board member, then the Deputy Chair of the Management Board (since 2012, reelected in 2014), and most recently he has taken up the role of Chair of the Management Board.
Marco van Genderen born in 1971 started as Head of the Division Europe and Projects of the Dutch Repatriation and Departure Service on 1 November 2014.
In 2001 Marco graduated in Sociology at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. From 2009 until 2011 he also followed the Master study strategic leadership at the police Academy in the Netherlands.
Marco started his professional career in 1997 as projectleader and later as a manager for community organisations within the city of Rotterdam. In 2001 Marco joined the Ministry of Security and Justice and started as manager within the Child Protection Service. From 2007 he works for Repatriation and Departure Service where he has been responsible for the departments as administrative detention locations, the Unit Travel Documents and currently as Manager of the Unit Europe and Projects. This Unit is responsible for the implementation of European readmission agreements with Turkey, Russia, Azerbeidzjan, Armenia and the Western Balkan countries, the organisation of Charter flights, European cooperation, EU funded projects like EURINT and ERIN and AVR projects.
Guy S. Goodwin-Gill is Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and Emeritus Professor of International Refugee Law, University of Oxford.
He is also a Barrister at Blackstone Chambers, London, where he practises in public international law generally, and in human rights, citizenship, refugee and asylum law. He has worked with the United Nations, including twelve years with UNHCR, has advised the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Carter Center on elections and international law, was President of the Media Appeals Board of Kosovo from 2000–2003, and has acted as Specialist Adviser to Committees of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. He is an Honorary Associate of the Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford, a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales, and an Honorary Senior Fellow of Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. In the recent past, he has held the W. J. Ganshof van der Meersch Chair at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2010), and was a Visiting Professor at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights from 2008-11.
Maarten den Heijer is assistant professor of international law at the Amsterdam Center for International Law.
He is vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of Experts on International Immigration, Refugee and Criminal law (Meijers Committee), member of the editorial board of the caselaw journal European Human Rights Cases (EHRC) and member of the editorial board of the Netherlands Yearbook of International Law. He is also a member of the board of the Foundation for Refugee Students UAF.
Maarten den Heijer previously worked as policy officer for the Dutch Refugee Council and as legislative lawyer for the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. He holds degrees in Law and Political Science from the University of Leiden, where he also received his Ph.D (cum laude).
Berndt Körner, as of 4 January 2016 is Frontex’s Deputy Executive Director.
He graduated in Law at the University in Graz. He started his professional career in 1991 as a civil servant working in the Aliens Department in the government of the province of Burgenland. In 1994, Mr. Körner became a legal expert in Austria’s federal chancellery. Two years later, he joined the Ministry of Interior, where he was a member of a team preparing Austria’s accession to Schengen. At the ministry, Mr. Körner worked with Austria’s neighbours on improving border control, leading to the signing of bilateral agreements and opening of new border crossing points. He later headed the Ministry of Interior’s department responsible for general security matters and then the department responsible for migration, visa matters and legal aspects of border control.
During the Austrian EU Presidency in 2006, Mr. Körner chaired the Council Working Groups "Schengen evaluation" and "Frontiers”. In 2010, he joined the Council of the EU, where he worked as a seconded national expert for Schengen evaluation until 2013. For nearly two years before taking up his post at Frontex, Mr. Körner served in Albania as an expert on Integrated Border Management at PAMECA IV, an EU funded technical assistance project that assists key Albanian law enforcement agencies by offering expertise drawn from EU Member States.
Fabrice Leggeri, as of 16 January 2015 is Frontex’s Executive Director.
He joined the French Ministry of Interior as Deputy Head and later the Head of a unit dealing with cross border traffic, borders and visas. He has an extensive background in working with various levels of government on issues related to the Schengen agreement, migration and international law.
Following his first stint at the Ministry of Interior, he served as a national expert seconded to the European Commission in 2000-2003, where he contributed to drafting the Commission Communication COM(2002)233 “Towards an integrated management of the EU external borders”, which was endorsed in 2002 and recommended the creation of Frontex. Between 2003 and 2007, he represented the State in two French regions holding the office of Vice-Prefect. In 2007, Mr. Leggeri joined the French Ministry of Defence to head the division of International and European Law, a position he left in 2011 when he moved to Seoul to become the deputy head of the French Embassy in the Republic of South Korea. In August 2013, he returned to the French Ministry of Interior to run the Division on Irregular Migration, with key responsibilities arising from Schengen-related public policies and illegal immigration. He also managed annual budgets of domestic and EU source. He holds a Postgraduate Degree in Contemporary History from the University of Paris. He is also a Graduate of Ecole normale supérieure (ENS) and Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.
Ionuț Mihalache is currently the Policy Officer at the Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs in the European Commission.
After graduating in law and HR management from the University Al. Cuza in Romania he participated in a number of trainings including Schengen evaluators, screening experts and EU funds project management.
In 2005 he started his career in Iasi Border Police in Romania as Shift Leader and then as Police Officer Inspector. In 2012, he became the Head of Surveillance and Control of State Border Crossing Compartment at Iasi Border Police Unit.
Starting from 2009 he was also a guest officer at Focal Points offices in Bulgaria and Slovenia. In 2011 and 2013 he was working as Frontex Support Officer coordinating the activities of the screening team within Frontex Attica projects.
In 2015, he was performing his duties as a Frontex external trainer in the field of identification of nationality of undocumented irregular migrants and as a screening practitioner.
Miguel Nicolau is an Operational Officer in the Joint Operations Unit, Sea Borders Sector – Frontex since 1 September 2014.
His main duty is Coordinating Officer for Frontex activities in Italy being the link between the Agency and the Italian authorities in the planning, monitoring and evaluating of Frontex Joint operations. He has been assigned the head of the EU Regional Task Force in Catania.
Miguel Nicolau was Seconded National Expert to Frontex from 2011 to 2014 and he was operational manager for the joint maritime operations coordinated by Frontex in Italy, being responsible for its planning and implementation.
Miguel Nicolau started law enforcement service in 2000 in the Portuguese Immigration and Border Police. He served as Inspector in the Lisbon International Airport, Setubal Maritime Port and the Criminal Investigation Central Directorate. His main duties were related to border control, document checks and criminal investigation of people smuggling and trafficking in human beings.
He has completed a Management Degree in the Lusiada University of Lisbon and a post-graduation in Criminology by the same University.
Thomas Obruča is a professional with twenty seven years of law enforcement experience that includes, among others, nineteen years of practice in criminal investigations, eight years of work experience in international organization (United Nations, OSCE missions to Kosovo and Bosnia & Herzegovina) and five years of expertise in the anti-corruption area.
An important achievement of his was the project coordination for the establishment of an international organization – Interpol Anti-Corruption Academy. Currently he holds the position of Director of the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum of the Republic of Austria and his responsibilities include organization and management of national and international return operations, role of Direct Contact Point for Frontex in the area of return operations as well as representing the Federal Office in international expert groups on return issues. Holds diploma in public administration and police related law.
Jorrit Rijpma is associate professor at the Leiden University.
He studied law at the European Law School in Maastricht and the College of Europe in Bruges. He defended his PhD at the European University Institute in Florence on the regulatory framework for the management of the external borders of the European Union. He conducted part of his research at the European border agency (Frontex) in Warsaw.
Rijpma’s research focuses on the European cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs, the so-called Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. He looks in particular at the EU’s migration policy and institutional developments in this field.
Rijpma is a member of the standing committee of experts on international immigration, refugee and criminal law (Meijers Committee). He was a visiting professor at Koç University in Istanbul and Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.
Klaus Rösler, as of 1 September 2008, is Frontex’s Operation Division Director.
He has developed his career with the German Federal Police since 1974 with various managerial functions related to operations and training as well as a policy officer in the Ministry of Interior. He graduated to senior management level in 1989 and carried out several managerial functions for almost 25 years, dealing with border control issues both on national and European level.
Before joining Frontex he inter alia was Deputy Head of a Border Police Battalion and later of a Border Police District Authority, lecturer on operations and management at the Federal Police Academy, Head of the Federal Police Office at Munich airport, senior policy expert within the DG Federal Police in the Federal Ministry of Interior, Head of crime investigation Department with Federal Police Regional HQ Munich, Head of the Border Police Branch of the EUPOL Mission PROXIMA 2003/2004 in FYROM, and Head of the Federal Police District Authority Schwandorf/Bavaria, managing 11 subordinated local offices with total 1800 staff in charge for border surveillance at the border to Czech Republic, Railway Policing in Northern Bavaria, and investigation of related crime.
Adriano Silvestri is the Head of the Asylum, Migration and Borders Sector at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).
Adriano Silvestri’s areas of expertise with respect to FRA’s work include international human rights and refugee law as well as the EU acquis relating to asylum, borders and immigration.
Before joining FRA he was at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where he worked in the field for several years (Armenia, the Russian Federation and Austria) as well as at UNHCR headquarters. He worked on a wide range of activities, both legal as well as operational, relating to asylum, the protection of internally displaced persons and statelessness. He was involved in the development of UNHCR tools and guidelines, for example on the best interests of the child or on assessing protection gaps for internally displaced persons. He also worked for the World Wide Fund for Nature in the Altai-Sayan region.
He studied law in Italy and international law in Geneva.
Raoul Ueberecken is currently Director for Home Affairs (Migration and Security) at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.
After graduating in law from the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and in political studies from the College of Europe (Bruges), Raoul Ueberecken joined the Luxembourg Ministry of Justice where he was in charge of European affairs.
From June 2001 onwards, Raoul Ueberecken was posted as a Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) counsellor to the Luxembourg Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, where he was responsible for judicial cooperation in civil matters and for immigration issues. From 2005 to 2009 he also served as his country's representative on the Management Board of Frontex (EU Border management agency).
After a year at the Ministry of Justice in Luxembourg as adviser for International and European affairs to the Minister of Justice in 2005-2006, Raoul Ueberecken returned to the Permanent Representation in Brussels as JHA coordinator and counsellor responsible for judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
From July to October 2014, Raoul Ueberecken joined the European Commission as Deputy Head of Cabinet to Martine Reicherts, EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship.
From November 2014 to January 2016 Raoul Ueberecken returned to the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the EU as JHA coordinator where he oversaw the 2015 Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU in that policy area.