ABOUT THE AWARDS

Dr Ian Gauci is the Managing Partner of GTG Advocates. He advises multiple government bodies and operators on various laws and issues, ranging from consumer, competition, data protection, telecommunications, fintech, cryptos and blockchain laws. He was also the legal expert of Malta’s National Blockchain Taskforce and one of the co-authors of the Laws in Malta.
Dr Gauci was recognized by Lexology as the foremost Technology Lawyer in 2018 and has been ranked as Band 1 lawyer in the Chambers and Partners Fintech Rankings 2020.
Dr Gauci also lectures Legal Futures & Technology Law, Communications Law and the Masters in Blockchain at the University of Malta. He is also an examiner on Masters and Doctoral dissertations in FinTech, RegTech, Data Protection and ICT.

Joseph Borg heads both the Blockchain Advisory and the Gaming and Gambling Advisory practices of WH Partners. Joe is ranked in the prestigious Chambers FinTech 2020 guide in the FinTech Legal practice area in Malta. He is also ranked as a "Leading Individual" in the FinTech practice area in Malta by Legal 500 EMEA 2020 guide. Joe also practices in the areas of Esports, Corporate, IT, Telecoms and Intellectual Property Law.
Joe is a Co-Founder and currently the Vice-President of Bitmalta, which is a non-profit organisation with a mission to promoting and stimulating discussion about blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in Malta. Before joining WH Partners he occupied the post of Chief Regulatory Officer of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority - Malta.
Joe graduated with an LL.M. with Distinction in Information Technology and Telecommunications Law from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow) and has successfully completed the Oxford FinTech Program with the Said Business School, University of Oxford. He holds a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Malta.

JP Fabri is a co-Founding Partner of Seed Consultancy, a purpose-driven boutique business advisory firm. An economist by profession, JP has amassed local and international experience both in the private and public sector. He has served as a director of a number of companies and formed part of the executive team of a London-listed company. JP formed part of the private office of the former Prime Minister of Malta and Governor of the Central Bank of Malta. He also has international policy advisory experience after having advised nine governments on economic development. JP followed post-graduate studies in economics and political economy at the University of Malta and the London School of Economics. Research interests include blockchain, governance and economic resilience and he has published internationally. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta. He is also Director of Development of The Blockchain & Climate Institute, a global think-tank on the use of blockchain in climate change mitigation.

Prof. Carl James Debono obtained his B.Eng. (Hons.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Malta, Malta in 1997 and Ph.D. degree in Electronics and Computer Engineering from the University of Pavia, Italy in 2001.
In 1997 he was employed as a Research Engineer with the Department of Microelectronics at the University of Malta. His research work included development of high frequency building blocks using CMOS technology. In 2000 he spent four months as a Research Associate at the Texas A&M University, USA. In 2001 he was appointed Lecturer in Communications and Computer Engineering and is now a Professor. Prof. Debono is currently the Dean of the Faculty of ICT.
Prof. Debono has served as National Contact Point and Programme Committee Member for a number of thematic areas during the EU 6th and 7th Framework Programmes. He was a Member of the Management Committee of the COST Action IC1105 - 3D Content Creation, Coding and Transmission over Future Media Networks (3D-ConTourNet), where he chaired the 3D Media Coding Working Group. Prof. Debono has worked towards the formation of the IEEE Malta Section and managed to gather the required support in 2006. He was the first IEEE Malta Section Chair between 2007 and 2010. He further served and is still serving on a number of IEEE committees mainly related to technical conferences. He has participated in a number of local and European research projects in the area of communication systems. His research interests are in Resilient Multimedia Transmission, Multi-view Video Coding, and Computer Vision.

With over 10 years of experience in commercial data analysis, Lara has been offering winning insights for strong business growth. Highly experienced in insight-led marketing, pricing launches and new business planning. Respected for deep knowledge of numerical analysis and insight-led decision making which are exemplified with contributions within Telecoms, Global Retail & Wholesale and Online Gaming. A key influencer through commercial analytics, complex data analysis, KPI visualization and transforming big data into actionable insights, decisions and strategies for improved customer focus, cost control and market agility. Commercial strategy, numerical analysis and data insights are her passion. Interpreting data to improve business performance is at the fulcrum of her success and is further exemplified in the creation of her mobile application, Timbroo which is a plug and play rewards app for businesses to grow their revenues and customer loyalty while also offering rewards.