Taavi Kotka (36), currently the Estonian Government CIO, has a strong background working in private sector. He started his career as a programmer, rapidly rising to be a Managing Director of the most successful software development company in the region – Nortal. He is an angel investor or founder of many innovative start-up companies.

Education: Master of Science of Engineering (focus: ICT), PhD Studies in Tallinn Technical University

Honours: He is the European CIO of the Year 2014 (by ICT Spring), he was the president of the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications (ITL), and he was elected as an Entrepreneur of the year 2011 in Estonia (by Earnst&Young).

Taavi is a board member in many ICT initiatives in Estonia and has been the brainpower behind many Estonian e-government innovative initiatives like e-residency, data embassy, no-legacy policy etc.