Team

Sachiko Muto is the Chief Executive Officer and Chair (as of 16 November 2021) of OFE with the overall responsibility for developing and communicating OFE’s external strategies and policies in partnership with its members and partners. She originally joined OFE in 2007 and served for several years as Director with responsibility for government relations. She returned with her family to Brussels after spending five years in California to take on the role of CEO when Graham Taylor retired in 2016. Prior to OFE, Sachiko worked for several years in public affairs, first in London and then in Brussels. With degrees in Political Science from the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics, she has been a guest researcher at UC Berkeley and is currently continuing her research at TU Delft where she takes an interest in the social and political implications of technological change. She is a regular speaker at international conferences and has published on the topic of ICT standards and the environment.

Astor Nummelin Carlberg is OFE’s Executive Director, responsible for the overall vision and activities of the organisation and policy development. Before joining the team, he was an Accredited Parliamentary Assistant at the European Parliament. He has extensive experience of European policy making processes, communications and network-building, and a keen interest in Europe’s digital challenges and potential. Astor has a degree in Political Science and German literature from Middlebury College in Vermont, USA, and has also studied at the Free University in Berlin. He speaks English, Swedish and German.

Sivan Pätsch is the Research Director at OFE. Before he joined OFE, he gained experience in EU policy making at the Council of the European Union. He also worked as an Information Security Officer and Data Protection Officer for arvato Bertelsmann and before as a Quality Coordinator, among other responsibilities. He has a master’s degree in European Affairs from Lund University, Sweden with a thesis on the global expansion of the European data protection standard, a topic he is also personally interested in. In addition, he holds a bachelor’s degree in European Public Administration from the University of Twente, Enschede and from the University of Münster. Sivan is a native German speaker, is fluent in English and is learning Swedish.

Paula Grzegorzewska is a Strategic Partnerships Director at OFE. She is engaged in topics such as open source, ethical and trustworthy AI and most recently, Open Source Hardware and blockchain. Before, she supported women in closing the gender gap in ICT and entrepreneurship with an NGO in Luxembourg. She has a keen interest in ways that technology can be open, sustainable and beneficial for the society. She has a master’s degree in Communication Studies: New Media and Society in Europe at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel where she learnt more about policymaking and digital media. She co-authored the study on the impact of open source for the European Commission. She speaks Polish, English and French.

Giulia Guadagnoli is the Senior Policy Advisor at OFE. She has a strong background in project management and policy analysis. Before joining OFE, she worked for several organisations in the field of public affairs, such as Europol and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Italy, amongst others. She graduated from Bocconi University with a Master of Science in Economics and Management of Government and International Organisations. During her work and academic experiences, she developed a genuine interest in tech-related issues, with specific reference to the relation between innovation and geopolitics. She is a native Italian speaker, is fluent in English and is learning French and Spanish.

Graham Taylor co founded OpenForum Europe in 2002 and is now its Chairman, having retired as CEO. As Chairman of the Board of OFE Ltd he continues to have legal and fiscal responsibility for the organisation, continues to work on specific OFE projects, and acts in an ambassadorial role for OFE.  He has some 40 years of experience in the ICT industry, and prior to OFE was a Director at ICL (now Fujitsu). He is married, with two grown up daughters, lives mainly in the UK, just outside London, but with a ‘maison secondaire’ in South West France, from which he regularly commutes to Brussels. In the dim and distant past he gained a Bsc Honours degree from the University of Sussex in Mathematics and Computer Engineering. Not a linguist, other than English he gets by in French.

Tony joined us in March 2015 as a Legal Consultant. He studied law for 4 years at Cambridge University, qualified as a solicitor in 1979, and has practised law in the IT industry ever since. Before creating Fordlaw Ltd. and providing consultancy services, Tony held a dedicated global legal role with TCS, aligned specifically with a new software group. Before TCS, Tony acquired his professional experience as an IBM UK lawyer for nearly 35 years. As well as his ‘pro-bono’ support for OFE and FAST (another UK not-for profit, of which he is also a non-Executive Director), Tony also consults for a global IT manufacturer.

Tony is married (to another solicitor), with three adult daughters. His recreational interests include scuba diving (warm water!), underwater photography, downhill skiing, genealogy, theatre, opera and wine appreciation. Tony was born in France, holds a French passort (and also speaks French), and aims to improve his rather rusty German.

Dr Richard Archer is the owner and managing director of Bramble Hub that provides SMEs with routes to public sector contracts through framework agreements. Originally a mathematician and a programmer, he has been an IT and business consultant, and run consultancy and recruitment businesses. He has a particular interest in public procurement policy and practices, and making sure it advances Open Standards and is a level playing field for small companies and for Open Source solutions. He advises OFE with his knowledge of running companies over many years.

An expert in communication methods and business development.

He is best known for building bridges between commercial and non-commercial stakeholders in the technology sector. His professional accomplishments include establishing a legal department for the main NGO promoting Free Software in Europe, building a professional network of over 270 legal counsel and technical  experts across 4 continents, and aligning corporate and community interests to launch the first law review dedicated to Free/Open Source Software. Shane has extensive knowledge of Internet technologies, management best practice, community building and Free/Open Source Software. His experience includes engagement with the server, desktop, embedded and mobile telecommunication industries. He does business in Europe, Asia and the Americas, and maintains a broad network of contacts.

Karel De Vriendt worked twenty five years (1987-2012) as an IT expert for the European Commission. From 2005 to 2011, he was leading the team responsible for the implementation of the IDABC programme and for the definition and implementation of the ISA programme. He was actively involved in initiatives such as the transeuropean network TESTA, the Open Source Observatory and Repository (OSOR) and the Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe (SEMIC) now both merged into Joinup and in the elaboration of the European Interoperability Strategy and the European Interoperability Framework. During his career, he also acquired a good practical experience in the public procurement of IT goods and services. Karel De Vriendt is now retired but has kept his interest in improving (computer based) public services via the collaboration between public and private partners and via the sharing and re-use of software based service components.

Basil started with IT in 1968, leading the development of basic applications and to his appointment as Data Processing Manager for the Costain Group. In 2002 Graham Taylor and Basil co-founded OpenForum Europe, initially to promote Linux and Open Source Software in the European Commission and across Europe, particularly UK. Emphasis quickly changed to an overall focus on Open Standards. Basil retired as Executive Director of OFE in October 2013 and now acts in an advisory role as a Non-Executive Director with a special interest in the UK. Basil is married, with 6 children (eldest sadly deceased), 15 grandchildren and 3 grandchildren – so far!