6th speaker announcement
Sixth time's the charm, and this announcement is pure gold!
Edda H. Geirsdóttir
VP of Corporate Communications at Össur
With over 25 years of experience in the medical device industry, Edda has led diverse global teams on both sides of the Atlantic in roles overseeing global marketing, brand strategy and stakeholder communications.
Having begun her career with the early international expansion of leading global prosthetic brand Össur, she now heads the Corporate Communications function for Össur’s parent company, Embla Medical, a leading global provider of innovative mobility solutions.
Þórey V. Proppe
CEO & Founder at Alda
Þórey V. Proppe is the CEO and founder of Alda, an Icelandic tech company which developed a DEI software for workplaces globally. Alda is the next generation of DEI software with all in one: The Inclusion Index and Pulse, gamified micro-learning content, assessments, goals & KPI´s - focusing on a sustainable DEI journey.
Þórey is a member of the board of the Icelandic Export Council. Before founding Alda, she was a DEI partner at Capacent, a leading consulting firm in Iceland and led DEI projects for years with leading private and public organisations in Iceland such as The Icelandic Parliament and The Icelandic National Police Force. Þórey is a former main political advisor to the Minister of the Interior, Iceland. As well as a member of the board of the Icelandic Export Council.
She was the chairperson of the Icelandic Tourism Council and a deputy board member for The Icelandic Gender Equality fund run by the Parliament. Þórey was a board member for the UN Women national committee and is the founder and chairperson of board for the Icelandic Committee of the V-day organisation, fighting violence against women.
Lucie Samcová - Hall Allen
Ambassador of the European Union to Iceland
Lucie Samcová – Hall Allen has served as Ambassador of the European Union to Iceland since 2020. She is a career diplomat with nearly two decades of experience in foreign and security policy.
Recognising the ever-changing nature of the EU as a forward-looking project shaped by 21st century challenges, she has a keen interest in promoting innovation, R&D, and a strong, knowledge-based economy on the continent and beyond.
Halla Tómasdóttir
CEO of B-Team & Presidential Candidate
Halla Tómasdóttir is an entrepreneur at heart. She started her career in corporate America working for M&M/Mars and Pepsi Cola. Shortly after she returned to Iceland she joined Reykjavik University where she founded and led what is now known as Open University and Auður í krafti kvenna (Wealth through the power of women), a three year initiative focused on unlocking women’s entrepreneurship.
Inspired by this effort, she later co-founded Audur Capital, to bring profit with principles to the world of finance. Audur Capital survived Iceland’s financial meltdown in tact and Halla increasingly dedicated her time to catalyzing systemic change towards a social contract where the wellbeing of people and planet is at the heart of how we do business and run our economy.
She was a founding member of the Anthill that organized a National Assembly with a random sample of Icelanders to discuss Iceland’s vision and values in the wake of the financial crisis and ran for president in 2016 to promote the shared values chosen. She came in second with 28% of the vote. She is now the CEO of The B Team (on leave), where she works to catalyze change together with prominent and progressive global leaders in business and beyond.
Björn Skúlason
Founder & CEO at just björn
Björn was awarded a soccer scholarship and studied business administration at Auburn University at Montgomery Alabama. He then did his MA in Management Psychology from Essex university in England.
He is a healthy chef from the Natural Gourmet Institute of Culinary health in New York City. Björn was a semi professional soccer player in Iceland and played most of his career with Grindavik. He worked for TM insurance company in Iceland in corporate accounts. Ran and owned Birta, an online advertising company in Iceland. Worked in asset management in two financial service companies in Iceland, Islandsbanki and Auður Capital.
As a healthy chef from the Natural Gourmet Institute of Culinary health he created and taught a successful program in Iceland called “men who cook” a healthy cooking seminar for men. He also founded and ran a catering company in Copenhagen Denmark called Happy Healthies.
He was the manager of a supermarket retail store in Iceland, Nóatún, focusing on retail food products as well as hot meals and food production.
N.Valenttina Griffin
Co-founder at Women Tech Iceland
Valenttina Griffin is an entrepreneur at heart, Polyglot, Business owner, Co-founder of WomenTechICeland and current host of the Nordic Women in Tech Awards.
With 14 years of experience in the Tech Industry, always on the look-out to make the tech world a place where everyone can beautifully thrive.
Gordon Synn
Tiny Desk
Gordon Synn is an insightful thought leader and expert technology, media and entertainment executive with substantial experience and business judgment in digitalmedia, film, television, audio, technology and content and IP creation and monetization globally.
He is currently leading NPR to new opportunities of growth in both creative and business partnerships both domestically and internationally.
Gordon has led the team to successfully launch the new tv series Tiny Desk Korea with LG and Tiny Desk Japan with NHK for example. His background and skill sets include leadership, strategy, global and domestic partnerships, business development, sales, joint ventures, deal making, creative content and curation, entrepreneurship, team collaboration and new business initiatives.
Íris Baldursdóttir
CEO & Co-founder at Snerpa Power
Driven by a passion for the sustainable and intelligent use of energy resources, Íris Baldursdóttir has worked for over 20 years in the power sector. She founded Snerpa Power with an equally passionate and knowledgeable partner, Eyrún Linnet, to transform the way power intensive industries use electricity, activate their flexibility potential and accelerate the energy transition. She has held various leading positions at ENTSO-E, the European association for the cooperation of Operators for electricity, and at Landsnet, the Transmission System Operator for electricity in Iceland, where she served as Executive vice president of System Operations and ICT.
Íris started her career in Sweden, working for ABB on global, high voltage projects. Íris holds a Master's degree in electrical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. In 2020-2021 she finished an AMP (executive education) at IESE in Barcelona.
Kathryn Gunnarsson
Founder & CEO at Geko
Kathryn Gunnarsson is the founder of Geko, a talent agency focused on the Tech and Innovation sectors. She moved from London to Iceland in 2016, bringing over 20 years of experience in international HR, people strategy, and recruitment.
Through Geko, she promotes diverse and inclusive workplace cultures, supporting companies to develop human-centric environments that contribute significantly to organisational success.