The General Secretariat

The ID4Africa General Secretariat

The IGS is the powerhouse of the Movement, fueled by a small and highly motivated team of passionate individuals based in Africa, Europe and Asia.

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

Dr. Joseph Atick is a recognized world renowned advocate and expert on identity matters. Having been one of the founders of the identity industry nearly 30 years ago, he led several companies in that domain and developed some of the foundational algorithms underlying secure digital identity today, including the first commercially viable face recognition algorithm.

Dr. Atick retired from the industry in 2010 to focus on promoting identity for social and economic development around the world. In that mission he partnered with the World Bank and other UN agencies, and was heavily involved in the development and field testing of the methodology and analytic tools that would guide the subsequent activities in that space, and would lead to the launch of the ID4D initiative at the World Bank.

In 2014, he co-founded ID4Africa as a pan-African Movement to promote responsible digital transformations through digital identity in Africa. He is a staunch defender of privacy, data protection and human rights and continues to provide counsel to governments and international organization on the use of identity for public good. Dr. Atick holds a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics from Stanford University.

Advisory Roles:

Chairman of the International Advisory Board for Trustworthy Digital Infrastructure for Identity Systems

Advisory Observer

International Advisory Group Member

Co-founder (1998-2019)

SENIOR MANAGEMENT

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Veronica Ribeiro is Vice President, Operations of ID4Africa where she is responsible for managing the end-to-end operations involved with each event, including invitations and communication, event sponsorships, logistics and marketing. Previously Veronica served as Director of the Asia Pacific Smart Card Association (APSCA). With APSCA, she successfully managed over 180 smart card technology forums, workshops and conferences for segments covering national identity cards and documents, EMV, NFC, transport ticketing, e-Health and e-Payments. Through these events Veronica established strong relationships with government agencies in Asia, Europe and Africa, particularly those with responsibilities in electronic identity management and border control. With ID4Africa Veronica represents the organization as Vice President of Operations since its launch in 2014. Prior to APSCA, Veronica has 10 years’ experience in private banking, where she recruited and managed accounts for individual high net worth customers at international firms such as CitiBank, Chase Manhattan Bank and BNP. Following her private banking career she joined International SOS Hong Kong where she led the sales and marketing team in recruiting and working with institutional clients including insurance companies and banks.

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Greg Pote is Chairman of the Asia Pacific Smart Card Association (APSCA), the only regional industry association for secure smart chip technology applications in Asia, which he co-founded in 1997. Based in Shanghai, Greg travels throughout the region to promote smart card, contactless and NFC business and work with APSCA members to assist in developing their smart card businesses, initiatives and schemes. Greg has spoken at more than 160 industry conferences, forums and seminars covering smart card business and technology across 14 countries in Asia, the Gulf and Europe. Greg chaired the majority of these industry events, including moderating business and technology discussions with leading experts from governments, banks, transport operators, telecoms operators and technology companies. Greg was one of several subject matter experts requested to speak in the Hong Kong Legislative Council session to support the request for funding by the Hong Kong Immigration Department for the implementation of the first generation Hong Kong Smart Identity Card. He has also served as a jury member for both the Cartes Paris and Cartes in Asia SESAMES awards, as well as the NFC Forum & WIMA Global Competition and the PKI Innovation Awards. He has provided consultancy to APSCA members and advised both end-user organisations and suppliers on the technology roadmap and business strategies for identity and payments. Greg has written industry reports and articles and is a well-known industry figure. In addition to his role at APSCA, Greg also serves as Chief Information Officer of ID4Africa which he co-founded in 2014.