Board of Directors
President
Michela Magas
Industry Commons Foundation
Michela Magas bridges research and industry with a track record of over 25 years of innovation. She is innovation advisor to the European Commission and the G7 leaders, Member of President von der Leyen’s High Level Round Table for the New European Bauhaus, and member of the Advisory Board of CERN IdeaSquare (ISAB-G). She created the Industry Commons concept in 2015 whilst co-chairing the Innovation Ecosystems WG for the Alliance of Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI). In 2017 she was awarded European Woman Innovator of the Year and in 2016 she was presented with an Innovation Luminary Award for Creative Innovation by the European Commission and Intel Labs Europe. She is Innovation and Sustainability Manager for the first of the Industry Commons EU-funded projects OntoCommons – a CSA which is creating an ontology ecosystem with reference data documentation for cross-domain interoperability. She is the Founder and CEO of Stockholm-based MTF Labs, a global community platform of around 8000 creative innovators and scientific researchers. The platform provides a test case for innovation in areas as diverse as neuroscience, forestry and microcomputing, and has been hosted worldwide by partners including Microsoft Research New England, Centre Pompidou in Paris and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Over 20 years she ran Stromatolite Design Lab in London with global clients such as Apple, Nike and Nokia.
Vice President
Frédéric Verhelst
TotalEnergies
With over 30 years of experience in the energy sector, Frédéric Verhelst has consistently leveraged technology and data to deliver tangible business value. His expertise lies at the intersection of data and digital transformation. At TotalEnergies EP Danmark (TEPDK), he leads data-driven initiatives, focusing on enhancing data quality, empowering data stewards, and fostering data-informed decision-making.
He holds an MSc in Mining Engineering from KU Leuven and a PhD in Applied Physics/Geophysics from Delft University of Technology. His experience spans contract research, consultancy, technology and services providers, and owner/operators. He has held various roles, including Head of Data Management at TotalEnergies EP Denmark and Vice-President Real-Time Decision Support at a Norwegian startup. He has also been an external member of the board for Bergen University College, appointed by the Norwegian Ministry of Education.
This diverse experience has equipped him with unique insights into the challenges and opportunities within the energy sector, particularly in the domains of data and digital transformation.
Vice President
Jim Wilson
OAGi
Jim Wilson earned his Bachelor of Science from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and his Master of Business Administration from Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business. Throughout his distinguished career, Wilson has served as an officer in the US Navy, a United States delegate to the United Nations Centre for Trade Fasilitation and Electronic Business, and President & CEO of AgGateway Global Network. Additionally, he led the project to set global chemical industry process and data standards with CIDX, as well as grain-handling process and data standards with AgXML.
- Email:jim.wilson@oagi.org
Rebeca Arista
Airbus
Rebeca Arista joined Airbus in 2010 and received her Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Seville in 2023. She is a specialist in Industrial Modelling & Simulations in the Industrial System Design department of Airbus commercial aircraft. She conducts to this day several international and European R&T projects on Industry 4.0 enabler technologies (Complex Assembly Simulations, Robotics, AR/VR, Planning-Scheduling, and Semantic Integration), testing and validating their maturity to secure the technology transition to operations. She has several publications in international journals and conferences of PLM and the intelligent manufacturing engineering domain. She is a Governance Board member of the Industrial Ontologies Foundry (IOF) and member of international scientific and professional organizations like OMG and INCOSE. Her current research interests involve ontology-based engineering systems, generative design and multi-domain multi-objective simulations.
- Email:rebeca.arista@airbus.com
Pierre Kiener
Michelin
Pierre Kiener is a seasoned professional in the chemical industry, currently serving as a Senior Fellow for Michelin Synthetic Elastomers since 2013. With over three decades of experience, Kiener has honed his expertise in the field of rubbery polymers and chemical engineering.
Kiener’s journey with Michelin began in 1986 as a Process Engineering Engineer. Throughout his tenure, he has assumed various roles, demonstrating his versatility and adaptability. His experience spans across industrialization and troubleshooting of chemical processes, as well as leading technical teams in R&D. Kiener has also been responsible for overseeing investment, licensing, and purchasing projects.
As a Senior Fellow, Kiener plays a pivotal role in strategic planning, leveraging his extensive knowledge and expertise to guide the company’s direction. He is also involved in global expertise, transmission of knowledge and know-how, and consultancy assignments. Furthermore, Kiener serves as a representative for Michelin in external institutions and networks, solidifying the company’s presence and influence in the industry.
Farhad Ameri
Arizona State University
Farhad Ameri is an Associate Professor in the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks and the Director of Semantic Computing lab. His research interests include Knowledge-based Engineering (KBE) in design and manufacturing applications, Ontology Engineering, Digital Supply Chains, and Design Theory and Methodology. Dr. Ameri received his doctorate degree in Manufacturing Engineering in 2006 from the University of Michigan. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering.
He is one of the founding members of the Industrial Ontology Foundry (IOF) and a member of ASME and IFIP WG 5.7 Advances in Production Management systems (APMS). His research team has published research articles in high-impact journals such as ASME Journal of Computing and Information Systems in Engineering , ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, International Journal of Production Research, ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, and many others. Dr. Ameri’s research has been funded by federal agencies such as NSF, NIST, Digital Manufacturing Institute (MxD), and multiple industrial sponsors.
- Email:farhad.ameri@asu.edu
Dimitrios Kyritsis
Professor Emeritus at EPFL
Dr. Dimitrios Kyritsis is a highly accomplished academic and researcher in the field of ICT for Sustainable Manufacturing. Currently, he holds the position of Professor Emeritus at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), where he also serves as the Academic Director of the EPFL Extension School program on Sustainable Resilient Value Chains.
In addition to his roles at EPFL, Dr. Kyritsis is a Senior Adviser at the Department of Informatics of the University of Oslo, Norway, and at the Swiss Smart Factory in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. His research interests are focused on Closed Loop Lifecycle Management, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Industrial Ontologies, Knowledge Graphs, and Cognitive Digital Twins for industrial applications.
Dr. Kyritsis has a rich history of leadership roles in academia. He served as the Director of the Doctoral Program on Robotics, Control and Intelligent Systems of EPFL from 2019 to 2021. Prior to that, he was the Chair of IFIP WG5.7-Advances in Production Management Systems from 2013 to 2019.
He is also a founding member of the International Society for Engineering Asset Management and a co-founder of the Industrial Ontologies Foundry (IOF) in 2016 and the Knowledge Graph Alliance in 2023. His expertise has been sought after by the European Commission, where he served as a Member of the Advisory Group LEIT-NMBP from 2013 to 2017, and by the World Economic Forum, where he was a Member of the Global Future Council on Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains from 2019 to 2022.
Since 2022, Dr. Kyritsis has been serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Open Access journal Frontiers in Manufacturing Technology. In 2023, he became a Member of the WEF Impact Circle: Digital Transformation of Industries. His contributions to the field of sustainable manufacturing and digital transformation have been significant and continue to shape the future of these disciplines.
Chirine Ghedira Guegan
iaelyon – University of Lyon 3
Chirine GHEDIRA GUEGAN is a Full Professor of Computer Science at iaelyon school of Management at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University (UJML3). She focused her work on the large-scale integration of heterogeneous data sources in different settings with an attention on servitisation on sources, data privacy and security. Her recent didactic and research activities cover the digital strategy, smart services for emergent diseases’ detection, data lakes and integration of structured and unstructured data in health decision process. Previously, her research interests included service-oriented architectures and computing; interoperability; complex, autonomic, and adaptive systems; context-aware computing; data services; privacy; and cloud computing.
She is member of the board of directors and responsible of the Research development at iaelyon, and is the co-head of the Service Oriented Computing research team of LIRIS laboratory since 2016. She is also the President of the college of experts on Mathematic and computing at Lyon 3 University since 2011. For the term 2011 – 2015, she was the head of the Information System research group of MAGELLAN – laboratory of Management – at Lyon 3 University.
She is since 2012 the director of the University Master «Management of Information Systems ». In addition to her role, her career also includes 100+ research papers published in international conferences, and journals, participation to National research group on Cloud Computing, and the National research Group MaDICS (Masses de Données, Informations et Connaissances en Sciences – Big Data & Data science).
Moreover, she was external reviewer for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, and member of more than 30 International conference Program Committee. She supervised 17 doctoral theses since 2007 and 35 Master internships. She leads and has led many local, regional, national and Bilateral International projects. She is since 2016 member of the steering committee of IEEE AICCSA Int. Conference, and served and organized several international scientific events
John Beverley
State University of New York at Buffalo
Dr. John Beverly is an Assistant Professor at the University of Buffalo and Co-Director of the National Center for Ontological Research. His work lies at the intersection of ontology and knowledge graph engineering, formal logic, and machine learning, with applications in infectious disease representations, top-level ontology modeling, and healthcare ethics.
Dr. Beverly obtained his PhD in philosophy from Northwestern University and previously worked at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory as a senior ontologist. He has leveraged his knowledge representation skillset to support traditional machine learning workflows and has worked with numerous groups to curate, create, and apply knowledge representation artifacts to semantic interoperability challenges.
His research contributions include supporting efforts to identify vaccine and drug treatment options for COVID-19, updating the widely-used Infectious Disease Ontology, developing the Virus Disease Ontology extension, and developing the Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology. He has also worked extensively on Basic Formal Ontology (ISO/IEC 21838-2), used in the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies, Industrial Ontologies Foundry, and Common Core Ontologies suite.
Dr. Beverly’s ontology research informs and has been informed by his work in natural language semantics, analyses of epistemic injustices that arise in healthcare settings, and narrative themes for meaning-making near end of life. His work is a testament to the power of interdisciplinary research and its potential to drive meaningful change in healthcare and beyond.
- Email:johnbeve@buffalo.edu
Elhadj Benkhelifa
Staffordshire University
Elhadj Benkhelifa is passionate academic and researcher with almost 20 years of experience and demonstrable leadership skills at an international level. His research focuses on the development of solutions to support the next generation digital transformation’s technologies and paradigms.
Elhadj is currently a full Professor of Computer Science and Digital Innovations at Staffordshire University, where he is also the Head of Professoriate leading a large body of all Associate and Full Professors across the whole University with the mission to contribute, influence, shape and enable the collective advancement of the University’s strategies and develop excellence in T&L, research and enterprise. He is also a member of the University Research Ethics Committee. Elhadj is the Founding Director of the Smart Systems, AI and Cybersecurity Research Centre (SSAICS), responsible for growing the research portfolio in the Digital, Technologies and Art (DTA); leading 15 Staff and 23 PhD students the SSAICS research centre is established to be the hub for interdisciplinary research in ‘digital’ across the University. Between 2014 and 2016, he was the Director of the Mobile Fusion Applied Research Centre (MF-ARC), leading more than 18 Staff and 45 PhD students.
Prior to Joining Staffordshire University in 2010, he was lead researcher on an EPSRC project at Cranfield University, which was on biomimetic design optimisation of MEMS. Prior to that Elhadj was a lecturer at University of the West of Enlgland, UWE and University of Bristol. Under the supervision of Prof. Antony Pipe, Elhadj obtained his PhD from UWE, Bristol Robotics Lab, in Artificial-Life (Bio Inspired Evolvable and Self-Healing Systems). Between 2003 and 2004, he was a Software developer at ATE communications Ltd in Nottinghamshire, where he developed a Linux based DVR (digital video recorder)
Elhadj’s research interests cover Cloud computing in its centralised and decentralised forms (Fog/Edge computing, Cloudlet, Blockchain etc), Data (Governance, Semantics, analytics, Social Networks), Artificial Intelligence & Artificial Life (bio-inspired computing), Digital Transformation and Emerging Technologies, IoT and Cybersecurity. Elhadj has a led a number of successful consortia on a number of national and transnational projects. Interdisciplinary research is Elhadj’s current focus, applying innovative advanced computing and digital solution in areas of high impact. Elhadj supervised many PhD projects and published extensively in journals and conferences (150+). He has co-edited around 20 conference proceedings and journal special issues. Elhadj is a co-founder of some pioneering international conferences, including FMEC, SDS, IOTSMS and SNAMS, and has delivered close to 40 keynote talks around the world.
Elhadj is a reviewer of national (EPSRC) and international grant proposals. He is often invited by international institutions as an external assessor for promotions to Associate and Full Professor Ranks. Elhadj has been an external examiner of a number of PhD Vivas in the UK and outside and is currently an external examiner for computer science courses for both Under & Post Graduate levels and had acted as an external moderators of new courses from international institutions. Elhadj is a Visiting Professor to the Universities of Suffolk, UK; Lyon3, France; and Paris 8, France.
Since early days, Elhadj has been a strong advocate for open access to research, that in 2005 he co-founded IBScientific Publishing group, to enable scientists mainly from low-income countries to publish their research through open access and peer-review process.
Elhadj is a Director at Yotta Laboratories Ltd, and a co-founder of www.emergingtechnetwork.org. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the West Midland Cyber Resilience Centre, and member of the Staffordshire Police Evidence Based Practice Board. In April 2022, He was elected/appointed as the Chair of the IEEE UK&I Section’s Education & STEM office. Elhadj is a Senior Member of IEEE, A Member of ACM, Fellow of UK HEA and a Prince2 Practitioner
Executive Board
Chief Executive Officer
Hedi Karray
Université de Technologie Tarbes Occitanie Pyrénées
Hedi KARRAY is full professor at Université de Technologie de Tarbes. He received his Ph.D. degree (with the highest honor) in the area of applied informatics from the University of Franche-Comté, France, in 2012. Since then, he has been an Assistant Professor at Haute Alsace University for one year. Since September 2013 he holds an Associate Professor at the National Engineering School of Tarbes of the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse, Part of the Federal University of Toulouse, and a member of the Production Engineering Laboratory. He is IEEE senior member. In 2016, he had a visiting researcher position at the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB). Since his stay at UB, Dr. Karray became a senior scientist at the National Center for Ontological Research. He obtained In 2019 the Habilitation degree from Toulouse INP. Hedi Karray is also an active member of a few research groups as InteropVlab, IFAC, IOF, ISCRAM, and IEEE SMC. He has served as a reviewer for several international journals as well as a member of several TPC in international and national conferences. He served as General Chair of several international conferences and workshops. The research topics of Dr. Karray center on Ontology-Based Engineering, semantic interoperability, and decision support systems
- Email:ceo@kg-alliance.org
Treasurer
Elhadj Benkhelifa
Staffordshire University
Elhadj Benkhelifa is passionate academic and researcher with almost 20 years of experience and demonstrable leadership skills at an international level. His research focuses on the development of solutions to support the next generation digital transformation’s technologies and paradigms.
Elhadj is currently a full Professor of Computer Science and Digital Innovations at Staffordshire University, where he is also the Head of Professoriate leading a large body of all Associate and Full Professors across the whole University with the mission to contribute, influence, shape and enable the collective advancement of the University’s strategies and develop excellence in T&L, research and enterprise. He is also a member of the University Research Ethics Committee. Elhadj is the Founding Director of the Smart Systems, AI and Cybersecurity Research Centre (SSAICS), responsible for growing the research portfolio in the Digital, Technologies and Art (DTA); leading 15 Staff and 23 PhD students the SSAICS research centre is established to be the hub for interdisciplinary research in ‘digital’ across the University. Between 2014 and 2016, he was the Director of the Mobile Fusion Applied Research Centre (MF-ARC), leading more than 18 Staff and 45 PhD students.
Prior to Joining Staffordshire University in 2010, he was lead researcher on an EPSRC project at Cranfield University, which was on biomimetic design optimisation of MEMS. Prior to that Elhadj was a lecturer at University of the West of Enlgland, UWE and University of Bristol. Under the supervision of Prof. Antony Pipe, Elhadj obtained his PhD from UWE, Bristol Robotics Lab, in Artificial-Life (Bio Inspired Evolvable and Self-Healing Systems). Between 2003 and 2004, he was a Software developer at ATE communications Ltd in Nottinghamshire, where he developed a Linux based DVR (digital video recorder)
Elhadj’s research interests cover Cloud computing in its centralised and decentralised forms (Fog/Edge computing, Cloudlet, Blockchain etc), Data (Governance, Semantics, analytics, Social Networks), Artificial Intelligence & Artificial Life (bio-inspired computing), Digital Transformation and Emerging Technologies, IoT and Cybersecurity. Elhadj has a led a number of successful consortia on a number of national and transnational projects. Interdisciplinary research is Elhadj’s current focus, applying innovative advanced computing and digital solution in areas of high impact. Elhadj supervised many PhD projects and published extensively in journals and conferences (150+). He has co-edited around 20 conference proceedings and journal special issues. Elhadj is a co-founder of some pioneering international conferences, including FMEC, SDS, IOTSMS and SNAMS, and has delivered close to 40 keynote talks around the world.
Elhadj is a reviewer of national (EPSRC) and international grant proposals. He is often invited by international institutions as an external assessor for promotions to Associate and Full Professor Ranks. Elhadj has been an external examiner of a number of PhD Vivas in the UK and outside and is currently an external examiner for computer science courses for both Under & Post Graduate levels and had acted as an external moderators of new courses from international institutions. Elhadj is a Visiting Professor to the Universities of Suffolk, UK; Lyon3, France; and Paris 8, France.
Since early days, Elhadj has been a strong advocate for open access to research, that in 2005 he co-founded IBScientific Publishing group, to enable scientists mainly from low-income countries to publish their research through open access and peer-review process.
Elhadj is a Director at Yotta Laboratories Ltd, and a co-founder of www.emergingtechnetwork.org. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the West Midland Cyber Resilience Centre, and member of the Staffordshire Police Evidence Based Practice Board. In April 2022, He was elected/appointed as the Chair of the IEEE UK&I Section’s Education & STEM office. Elhadj is a Senior Member of IEEE, A Member of ACM, Fellow of UK HEA and a Prince2 Practitioner