Technical Advisory Council

Stavros Kounis, an accomplished Software Engineer, boasts extensive experience in J2EE, Javascript, web, and mobile technologies, underpinned by a profound interest in digital identity and security. His notable contributions to the tech landscape include pivotal roles in developing the EU Digital Covid Certificates, where he played a vital part in enhancing global safety during unprecedented times. Stavros extends his dedication to global health by supporting the uptake of the EUDCC technology by the World Health Organization and implementing the Global Digital Health Certification Network.

Within the digital identity realm, Stavros actively participates in the EU Digital Identity Wallet initiative, working tirelessly to promote secure and accessible digital identities. His technical understanding shines through in his contributions to the EUDI Wallet Architectural Reference Framework, ensuring robust and interoperable digital solutions.

Moreover, Stavros holds the esteemed position of Vice Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee at the Open Wallet Foundation, where he collaborates on cutting-edge innovations in digital wallet technology.

Stavros remains wholeheartedly committed to shaping a safer, more connected digital world through his work in software engineering and digital security.

David Zeuthen is a Software Engineer at Google with more than 20 years of experience designing and writing software. Originally from Denmark, David works on Google’s Android Platform Security Team in Cambridge, MA. David works on Real-World Identity and is the author and maintainer of an open-source implementation of the ISO 18013-5 standard for Android which is used in several applications supporting Mobile Driving License (mDL), including Google Wallet. David is also a member of several standards groups related to Real-World Identity, including the ISO working group which wrote ISO/IEC 18013-5:2021 for the Mobile Driving License.

Stefan is a director for digital identity at Visa. He has 20 years’ experience in financial services and technology, having worked for both corporates and startups. He enjoys developing solutions at the intersection of product, technology, commercial viability and regulation, mostly in the fields of payments, identity and authentication. A firm believer in open standards and interoperability, he also represents Visa in other forums like the OpenID Foundation’s DCP WG and as Advisory Committee Representative at W3C. Stefan is based in Hamburg, Germany.

Jaehoon Shim is the co-founder and CEO of Hopae. In 2021 Jaehoon and the team built COOV, the official blockchain-based COVID-19 vaccination credential system for South Korea. The system managed over 43M users daily and around 4 billion verifications with 86M edge agents nation-wide while using W3C DID and VCDM. COOV also successfully established international interoperability for mutual recognition with EU and Singapore. For his contributions, Jaehoon received commendation from the minister.

Jaehoon Shim, with a Computer Science BS from UIUC, brings experience from his time as a blockchain researcher at LG. As a founder and principal organizer of SSIMeetup Korea, he champions self-sovereign identity technologies. His work includes translating W3C’s DID and VC specifications into Korean as an official version, reflecting his commitment and advocacy for a digital future.