Management

Joonas Heiter

Director General

Joonas Heiter has been managing the Information System Authority since 1 March 2024. He has worked in RIA since the summer of 2018: first as the head of the State Data Exchange Department and as of 1 January 2022, as the Director of the State Information System Branch.

Joonas Heiter has graduated from the Tallinn University of Technology with a master’s degree in telecommunications and from the University of Tartu in business management. Before joining RIA, he was employed at Elisa Eesti AS, where he led several different teams, including the work of the infrastructure field and radio network planning.

Gert Auväärt

Director of Cyber Security

Gert Auväärt is the head of the Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-EE) as of 15 July 2021. He has worked at RIA before: as the Head of International Relations from 2017 to 2018.

For many years, Auväärt held various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the position of cyber coordinator, but most of the time as a representative abroad – in the Netherlands and the USA. In August 2018, he became the Deputy Head of the Estonian Permanent Mission to the UN, where his task was to bring Estonia’s first candidacy to the UN Security Council to a successful conclusion.

Gert Auväärt holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Helsinki and has broadened his knowledge in the field of cyber security at the Marshall Centre and the European Security and Defence College.

Taavi Ploompuu

Director of the State Information System

Taavi Ploompuu will head the State Information System Branch of RIA from 1 April 2024. He has been working at RIA since May 2022: first as product manager in the State Data Exchange Department and since October 2023 as Head of the Personal Services Department.

Before joining RIA, Ploompuu worked for the Defence Resources Agency as a head of department. Taavi Ploompuu has graduated from the Tallinn University of Technology with a master’s degree in human resource management and from Tallinn University in political science.

The director of State Information System of the Information System Authority manages the State Information System Branch, which includes data exchange (including X-tee and RIHA), electronic identity, personal services (the state portal, the state mobile app, proactive government services, and machine learning and language technologies), the state network, technology, and the development of election information systems.