Assoc. Prof. Dr Velizar ShalamanovBoard MemberAssoc. Prof. Dr Velizar Shalamanov is a deputy director of the Institute of Information and Communications Technologies (since 2018), focusing on the consolidation of the academic cyber capacity in Bulgaria and the EU and the study of best practices for effectiveness, efficiency and cyber resilience of IT organizations. He is also the Director of Defense Capabilities and Innovation at the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria. After19 years in the military, followed by an academic career in the Academy of Sciences Dr Shalamanov has several tours of public service: Deputy Minister of Defense (1998-2001), Minister of Defense (2014), Director of Demand Management in the NATO’s IT and Cyber Agency (2009-2017), member of the 45th and 46th Parliaments of Bulgaria (Vice Chair of the Defense Committee, head of the Bulgarian delegation at the NATO Parliamentarian Assembly). In 2019 he was elected as a Chair of the NATO Communications and Information Agency Supervisory Board facilitating the consensus among 30 nations.