A lawyer by training, Marie Barsacq worked for ten years for the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF), devoting her energies to employment, training and qualification in the sporting movement. She then joined the French Football Federation (FFF), where she set up the Institute of Football Coaching (IFF) before becoming the FFF’s assistant general manager for amateur football. Marie Barsacq is also a member since 2018 of the Executive Committee of the French Football Federation.  

Marie Barsacq then took up position as the Director of Impact and Legacy for the Paris 2024 Bid Committee, and then Executive Director within the Organising Committee.  

Mindaugas Bilius is the President of the Lithuanian Paralympic Committee, a member of the Executive Board of the European Paralympic Committee, and a Paralympic champion.

M. Bilius was born in 1982 in Šiauliai, Lithuania. After finishing school, he enrolled in Šiauliai University, where he studied Physical Education and Sports Pedagogy.

In 2001, M. Bilius moved to the United States, where he spent 10 years. There, he was involved in a car accident, barely surviving and becoming disabled.

M. Bilius returned to Lithuania and turned to Paralympic sports. He became European and world champion, in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games, he won gold and silver medals.

In 2017, M. Bilius was elected President of the Lithuanian Paralympic Committee and ended his career as a professional athlete.

M. Bilius has completed master's studies in the field of political science, as well as sports management and tourism.

Violeta Birzniece works as a policy officer in the sport unit of the Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission. Her main responsibilities are gender equality in sport, Erasmus+ mobility action for sport staff and the European Week of Sport.

Before joining the sport unit in 2021, Violeta worked for 13 years in the field of youth policy and programmes in the European Commission.

She has a bachelor’s degree in international business and a master’s degree in European public administration.