Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Day 2026: Compliance in a new geopolitical reality

David O’Sullivan was appointed as the EU’s Sanctions Envoy in December 2022 and formally took up his role in the second half of January 2023. 

Prior to his appointment as Sanctions Envoy, he was a Director General of the Institute for International and European Affairs, a leading Irish think tank. Prior to that, he joined the Brussels office of the law firm of Steptoe and Johnson LLP as a Senior Counsellor (2019-2022). 

David O’Sullivan served as Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to the United States from November 2014 until February 2019. 

Prior to his appointment as Ambassador, he was the Chief Operating Officer of the EU's new diplomatic service, the ‘European External Action Service’. He had previously held a number of senior positions within the European Commission including Director General for Trade (2005-2010); Secretary General of the European Commission (2000-2005); and Chief of Staff to Commission President Romano Prodi (1999-2000). Before joining the Commission, he started his career with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs (1977-1979). 

He is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and the College of Europe (Bruges), and holds Honorary Doctorates from the Dublin Institute of Technology and Trinity College Dublin. He was awarded the EU Transatlantic Business Award by the American Chamber of Commerce in 2014. In 2019, he was awarded the Légion D’Honneur by France and made a Grand Officier de l’Orde de Léopold by Belgium. He is Member of the Governing Board of the European Policy Centre and of the Governing Board of the King Baudouin Foundation. 

Apolinar Gutiérrez took up the position of Head of the Target Group EU Sanctions at Europol in March 2025, where he serves as a senior specialist focusing on the coordination and support of investigations related to European Union sanctions. 

From December 2020 to December 2023, he was seconded as a National Expert to Europol within the AP Asset Recovery team. During this period, he played an active role in asset tracing and recovery activities and participated in the launch of Operation OSCAR in February 2022, established to support investigations into sanctions enforcement following the invasion of Ukraine. 

Mr Gutiérrez joined the Spanish National Police in 2007, where he specialised in financial crime investigations. His work focused on complex cases involving money laundering, corruption, fraud, and the recovery of criminal assets, contributing to both national and international investigations. 

From 2004, he worked as a lawyer at Cuatrecasas Abogados firm specialised in Commercial and Civil law. 

Apolinar Gutiérrez holds a Law degree and a Master’s degree in Public Security. 

Ingvild Høgenes Nilsen is EVP, Corporate Legal and Chief Legal Officer at Gard Group. She leads the Group Legal department, overseeing the sanctions and KYC functions, and also serves as the Group’s designated Money Laundering Reporting Officer. Ingvild is Chair of the Cefor Sanctions Forum and a member of the sanctions committee of the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG). 

Prior to joining Gard in 2015, she worked in private practice, specialising in tax and corporate law. 

Photo: Jarle Nyttingnes

Even Tvedt is the Group Chief Security Officer & Head of Crisis Management at Kongsberg Gruppen and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. Prior to joining KONGSBERG, he has held the position as Chief Security Officer & Crisis Management at Statkraft, International Security Advisor at Statoil and Head of Emergency Preparedness at Yara International. 

Even is a former intelligence officer from the Royal Norwegian Navy Special Forces Command and has been trained in Russian and Arabic languages at the Norwegian Defence Intelligence & Security School. He holds a Bachelor Degree with focus on Arabic from the University of Inland Norway. 

Heidi Augestad Opsahl is assistant professor at the Norwegian Police University College and a member of the Government’s working group assessing the implementation of the EU's anti‑money laundering package in Norway. She has previous experience working as a lawyer and as Head of Responsibility for Regulations, International and National Cooperation, and supervision at the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority in the field of anti‑money laundering and counter‑terrorist financing. 

Knut Egel Hessevik is a Senior Adviser at DEKSA (Norwegian Agency for Export Control and Sanctions). He previously worked for 13 years at PST (Norwegian Police Security Service) as a police superintendent and Senior Adviser. He has a background as Nordic Liaison Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Embassy in Moscow, and he has been a mentor in the Gender and Human Rights Department for the Ministry of Interior in Kabul (on behalf of EUPOL/NORAF). 

Knut Egel has taken various courses in human rights and democracy at the Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, and has worked in the Østfold and Oslo Police Districts. 

Photo: DEKSA/Ellen J. Jarli

Norway’s former Ambassador to the United States, Israel and Afghanistan, Kåre R. Aas serves as Special Adviser at Kruse Larsen, focusing on defence, security and foreign policy. 

Kåre R. Aas is a highly experienced diplomat. In addition to his ambassadorial postings, he has served as Political Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Head of the Ministry’s Security Policy Department, Minister Counsellor at Norway’s Permanent Delegation to NATO, and has been posted to both Chile and Geneva.