COMPOSITION AS OF JUNE 2024

Further to the EPRA Statutes, the Executive Board acts as the strategic body steering the EPRA. Inter alia, it represents the EPRA in external events, proposes a 3-year strategy, devises the yearly work programmes and the related activities, and takes decisions relating to the operation of the EPRA.
 

EPRA Chairperson 

Mari Velsand

Director General at at the Norwegian Media Authority (Medietilsynet), Norway

After two mandates as EPRA Vice-Chairperson, Mari Velsand was elected as EPRA Chairperson at the 57th EPRA Meeting on 1st June 2023. Mari Velsand is Director General at the Norwegian Media Authority, a position she has held since 2017.

When she entered the authority, she came from the media business, where she for more than 20 years held different management positions. She has been a part of the top management team at NRK (the Norwegian public broadcasting company), Chief Editor of the national newspaper Nationen and Executive Vice President at Amedia, the second largest media company in Norway.

Mari has studied journalism and has a master of management from the Norwegian school of management, BI.

She has also over the years held a number of board positions within the Norwegian media industry, and she has been Norway’s representative in the board of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN IFRA).

Further to the EPRA Statutes, the Chairperson chairs the meetings and represents the EPRA in its external relations.

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EPRA Vice-Chairpersons

In alphabetical order

Stephanie Comey - (Senior Vice Chair)

Director of Media Development at the Coimisiún na Meán (CNaM), Ireland

Stephanie Comey was re-elected as EPRA Vice-Chairperson at the 57th EPRA Meeting on 1st June 2023. From 2021 to March 2024 Stephanie was in charge of the EPRA "AI and Regulators Roundtables". From March 2024, she has been leading EMIL, EPRA's Media and Information Taskforce.

Stephanie joined the Authority (formerly the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland) in 2003 and has since worked across a number of broadcasting policy development and regulatory areas. Currently, she has responsibility for Media Literacy, Gender and Diversity and Sectoral Development.

She led the development of the BAI Media Literacy Policy which set out a number of key media literacy competencies and led to the development of an Irish media literacy network. She is now a co-chair of the Media Literacy Ireland network. She was also a co-chair for the ERGA Action Group on Media Literacy, and a member of the EPRA media literacy taskforce since its inception.

She contributed to the drafting of the Council of Europe Recommendation on Gender Equality in the Audiovisual sector in 2017, and has led the work of the BAI to increase women representation and participation in media. She has worked with key stakeholders to increase the availability and quality of learning and development initiatives in the media sector, supporting the establishment of industry bodies and representative networks.

She holds degrees in Law and English from the University of Le Havre in France, an MA with the University of Westminster and an MSocSci with the University of Leicester in the UK. She is currently reading for a PhD in media studies with the Technological University of Dublin.
 

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Valentin-Alexandru Jucan

Vice President, National Audiovisual Council, Romania

Valentin-Alexandru was elected as EPRA Vice-Chairperson at the 57th EPRA Meeting on 1st June 2023 and joins the EPRA Board for the first time. He is currently serving as the Vice President of the National Audiovisual Council of Romania, holding the rank of State Secretary. He has been appointed to his second term in this authority and has a long experience in public administration.

He received his education at the "Gheorghe Dima" National Music Academy, and subsequently pursued specializations in law, European Affairs and journalism.

He is a graduate of the renowned international leadership and journalism "Edward R. Murrow" programme, which is sponsored by the United States Department of State and held in both Washington and New York. Moreover, Valentin-Alexandru has completed post-graduate coursework in Strategic Communications and Operations in the Information Environment at the US Navy.

A considerable portion of Mr. Jucan's preparation was carried out within the framework of the Directorate for European Affairs, situated in the Romanian Parliament's upper house, the Senate.

Stanislav Matějka

Head of the Analytical Department, Council for Media Services, Slovakia

 

Stanislav Matějka was elected as EPRA Vice-Chairperson at the 57th EPRA Meeting on 1st June 2023 and joins the EPRA Board for the first time. He is the Head of the Analytical Department at the Council for Media Services (CMS), the national regulatory authority for audiovisual media services in Slovakia.

Within EPRA, he is in charge of the series of workshops on "video-sharing platforms and regulation".

In 2024, he also serves as a Chair of Subgroup 3 of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) dedicated to countering disinformation and strengthening democracy in the digital environment.

Before joining the Slovak media regulator, he previously served as a Hybrid Threats and Strategic Communication expert at the Slovak Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and as an analyst focusing on trends in terrorism studies within GLOBSEC Policy Institute, a Slovak think-tank.