participants
Omar Al-Madhi
Senior Managing Director & Member of the Board
Abdul Latif Jameel Investments
Omar Al-Madhi is the Senior Managing Director & Member of the Board at Abdul Latif Jameel Investments. He leads Abdul Latif Jameel’s diversification efforts, building and investing in businesses that support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s economy and associated job creation potential at an exciting time. These efforts include energy- related investments where Omar also leads the Saudi-based activities of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and Environmental Services in exploring opportunities and forming strategic partnerships in Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy and water sectors.
Omar joined Abdul Latif Jameel’s leadership after nearly three years within Volkswagen Group’s leadership as the Chief Executive Officer of Volkswagen Group Saudi Arabia, the establishment of which he led.
Prior to that, Omar was a member of SAGIA’s executive team. During this period, Omar was assigned as Executive Director & CEO of the National Labor Competitiveness Council and worked as an Advisor to His Excellency the Minister of Labor in Saudi Arabia and as a member of the Public Private Partnerships steering committee at the Ministry. Prior to SAGIA, Omar worked in a multitude of positions within Saudi Aramco including participating in developing the company’s long-term strategy in the technology area. He was also an Associate at McKinsey & Company in Dubai, UAE.
Omar obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. He also received an MBA degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2007.
Omar was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, joining the class of 2017. In naming Omar, the Forum characterized him as “a recognized corporate executive who has emerged a champion of job creation, employment and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia”.
He was appointed by Royal Decree to the Board of the Saudi Job Creation & Employment Commission and was later selected to also sit on the Board’s Executive Committee. He sits on the Board of Abdul Latif Jameel Real Estate Finance Company as well as Abdul Latif Jameel Transportation Company and was a member of the Board of Directors of Endeavor Saudi Arabia between April 2015 and April 2017. He was elected as a Young Arab Leader in October 2010. He is also an Eisenhower Fellow having been selected as the Fellow from Saudi Arabia for Eisenhower Fellowships’ 2011 Multi Nation Program. As an Eisenhower Fellow, Omar was awarded the Ward Wheelock Distinguished Middle East Fellow honor. He is also the recipient of the 2007 MIT Sloan Martin Trust Fellowship, which recognizes excellence in members of the graduating class.
Omar is married with three children and is fluent in English, Arabic and Greek.
Terry Beech
Member of Parliament
Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard of Canada
Terry Beech is the MP for the new riding of Burnaby North-Seymour, and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. He is an accomplished small business owner, educator, and community advocate who has built his reputation by acting on his strong commitment to innovation, fiscal leadership, and integrity.
Raised in a working class family, Terry grew up believing that dedication and hard work would let him achieve any goal he set because he lived in a country that valued hard work and fairness.
Putting those beliefs into action, Terry was only 18 when he was elected as a city councillor in Nanaimo, BC. After a successful 3-year term, he left public office to further his education, putting himself through the business programs at Capilano University and Simon Fraser University. A few years later, Terry earned his MBA from Oxford University.
With a focus on innovation, Terry has built successful companies, including HiretheWorld, which he co-founded in 2009. He has also served as an adjunct professor at both Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia. Recognizing his outstanding abilities, he was chosen as one of BC’s “Top 40 Under 40” by Business in Vancouver and by Maclean’s magazine as one of Canada’s Top 10 leaders under 30.
Recalling his own path, Terry is committed to giving back to his community. In 2006, he co-founded Twinbro Local Leaders, a charitable organization that has helped more than 35,000 young people gain post-secondary education by guiding them to scholarships and financial aid. Terry is also a former Director of Lift Philanthropy Partners.
Terry and his wife, Ravi, currently make their home in Burnaby North. With an MBA from Duke University, Ravi contributes to the success of a manufacturing business her family built from the ground-up, and in her spare time publishes a website dedicated to healthy-living.
As a newly-elected MP, Terry wants to work to ensure that all Canadians have the opportunity to strive for, and achieve their dreams. He is passionate about the changes that must be made if our country is to increase its competitiveness, grow a greener economy, and provide sustainable opportunities for future generations.
Caroline Bérubé
Managing Partner, HJM Asia Law Co. LLC
Caroline Bérubé is the Managing Partner of HJM Asia Law (with offices in China and Singapore). She is admitted to practice in New York and Singapore and holds a BCL (civil law) and an LL.B. (common law) from McGill University (Montreal, Canada). She studied at the National University of Singapore with a focus on Chinese laws in 1998/1999. She has worked in Singapore, Bangkok and China for a British and Chinese firms. Caroline is also a serial entrepreneur with four successful start-ups with her brother in various foreign Asian countries in technology/engineering and manufacturing fields. Caroline has been representing international corporate clients and family-owned companies in M&A cross-border manufacturing and technology transactions and IP in the Asia Pacific region for 20 years. She teaches at Sorbonne Assas Law School – Asia Campus (Asia legal structures and IP) and Bocconi University. Caroline was elected Secretary General of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association in April 2017. Further to her co-chair of the Asia Pacific Forum of the International Bar Association in 2016/2017, she was appointed as Co-Chair of the China Working Group of the IBA and is an officer of the Intellectual Property Committee of the IBA. A firm believer in entrepreneurship DNA, she started her own international foundation to work with young entrepreneur between 16 and 25 years old.
Katharina Beumelburg
Executive Vice President, Siemens AG
Global head for Strategy and Business Development of Power and Gas, Siemens AG
Professional experience
- Since 11/2016 Siemens AG Executive Vice President / Global head for Strategy and Business Development of Power and Gas, Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany
- 1,5 years Siemens AG, Head of Business Segment Siemens Hydrogen Solutions (Large scale energy storage solutions), Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany
- 3 years at Siemens AG, Corporate Technology: Global Head of Business Excellence, Siemens AG, Munich, Germany incl. buildup & Leadership of Process and Production Consulting
- 7,5 years at Siemens Management Consulting: Consultant, Project Manager, Vice President
- 4,5 years at the Scientific Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation in Stuttgart, Germany: expert-consulting for the optimization of assembly lines and the design and the implementation of production systems
Education
- Industrial Engineering at University of Siegen, Germany, and University of Tulsa, OK, USA,
- Mechanical Engineering and PhD at University of Stuttgart, Germany
- University of Stanford, Executive Education: Transformative Leadership for Sustainability & Resilience
Additional Information
- Married, 1 wonderful daughter
- Hobbies: Hiking in „Münchens Hausbergen“, Tennis, Scuba Diving, Skiing
- New York City and the North Sea
Jane Burston
Managing Director, Clean Air Fund
Jane runs a think tank and philanthropic foundation on air quality and climate change. Previously she worked as Head of Science for climate change and energy in UK central government, and as Head of Energy and Environment at the National Physical Laboratory, where her team of ~150 scientists delivered £18m of research and commercial work pa. Her awards include being named one of the ‘40 under 40 European Young Leaders’ by Friends of Europe and one of the ‘Ten Outstanding Young People of the Year’ by the Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Sofana Dahlan
Tashkeil, CEO & Founder
An accomplished lawyer, social entrepreneur, and WEF Young Global Leader, Sofana Dahlan is an exemplary individual whose core competency lies in identifying gaps and developing programs as creative solutions that have a socio-economic impact. Sofana has served as the Vice Governor for Entrepreneurship Advancement at the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority of Saudi Arabia from 2016 to 2017, making her the first Saudi female senior economic policy-maker. She also holds the prized distinction of being among the first three female lawyers to have been granted the permit to practice law in Saudi Arabia and has served as a legal consultant in different parts of the Arab world including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Kuwait. She is the founder of many social enterprises and initiatives that focus on developing the creative industries in Saudi Arabia such as Tashkeil, Kayanspace and the Saudi National Creative Initiative (SNCI).
She has completed an undergraduate degree in Law and a postgraduate degree in Islamic Law from Cairo University and holds an MBA degree from the American University of Technology. She has also obtained an Executive Degree in Global Leadership and Public Policy from Harvard University.
Nishan Degnarain
Member, Monetary Policy Committee, Central Bank of Mauritius, Mauritius
Nishan Degnarain is passionate about African development. He took a sabbatical from McKinsey & Company to return to Mauritius and work with the government on a country transformation programme. He is currently Senior Economic Adviser to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Mauritius and to the Vice-Prime Minister of Mauritius. Since his return in 2011, he has been involved in several aspects of public sector and economic reform, including the country’s Africa Strategy. Prior to McKinsey, Degnarain worked in the Strategy Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under Tony Blair, as well as at World Bank and for the Government of Dubai. He began his career as a journalist with the BBC. Degnarain holds an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in International Development and a degree in Economics and Geography from the University of Cambridge.
Valerie Feldmann
CEO, Palestrina Group
Valerie is a senior technology executive with over 17 years of experience in digital, mobile, and B2B technologies. In 2017, she led energy technology start-up Ogin backed by Kleiner Perkins and Goldman Sachs among others, to an M&A exit as board-appointed acting President and COO. Key M&A rationale included Ogin’s proprietary control, predictive analytics, and cloud-based mobile service software. Previously, Valerie held executive leadership roles in sales, product, and operations.
Valerie joined Ogin from McKinsey & Company where she was an Associate Partner in the High Tech practice in New York and Beijing. She led growth strategy, cross-border M&A, private equity commercial due diligence, and global performance transformation engagements for Fortune 500 technology leaders in B2B hardware and software.
Prior to McKinsey, Valerie served as Policy Advisor to the United Nations ITU and as an Adjunct Faculty member of Free University Berlin. Valerie has published 6 books and numerous articles in the area of digital and mobile strategy and the use of data science and algorithms in social sciences. A former Fulbright PhD Scholar she is an Affiliated Researcher at Columbia Business School.
Valerie holds a M.Sc. in Business Management (Dipl.-Kffr.) and a M.A. from the University of Muenster, Germany, a Ph.D. from Free University Berlin, and an Executive Certificate in Technology & Operations Management from MIT. In 2014, she was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
John Harthorne
Founder & CEO, MassChallenge
John Harthorne is the Founder and CEO of MassChallenge, the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet. No equity and not-for-profit, MassChallenge is obsessed with helping entrepreneurs across any industry. They also reward the highest-impact startups through a competition to win a portion of several million dollars in equity-free cash awards. Through MassChallenge’s global network of accelerators in Boston, Israel, Mexico, Switzerland, Texas and the UK, and unrivalled access to corporate partners, entrepreneurs can have a massive impact – driving growth and creating value the world over. To date, 1,500 MassChallenge alumni have raised over $3 billion in funding, generated over $2 billion in revenue, and created over 80,000 total jobs.
John earned his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2007. While at school, John won Grand Prize in the 2007 MIT $100K Business Plan Competition and received the 2007 Patrick J. McGovern Award for impact on quality and visibility of entrepreneurship at MIT. He also led the 10th annual MIT Global Startup Workshop (GSW) held in Trondheim, Norway. The Boston Business Journal has identified John as one of Boston’s 50 Most Influential Business Leaders alongside the CEOs of Akamai Technologies, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Boston Celtics. The World Economic Forum also elected John as one of the 2013 Young Global Leaders alongside Chelsea Clinton and Tony Hsieh, and Ernst & Young voted John as Social Entrepreneur of the Year in New England for 2013.
John is a life-long Massachusetts resident and an avid Red Sox and Patriots fan. He currently lives in Newton with his wife, Natalia, their 12-year old son Max and their 6-year old girl Yulia.
Christian Hernandez Gallardo
Managing Partner, White Star Capital
United Kingdom
Degree in Economics, Duke University; MBA, The Wharton School. Held leadership roles, Google and Microsoft, US and Europe. Worked at Facebook and led the international expansion of the company’s Business Development and Platform groups. Co-Founder and Managing Partner, White Star Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund that supports exceptional entrepreneurs across North America and Europe.
Roberto Herrera
Chief Executive Officer, CESPM
Roberto Herrera is the CEO of La Compañía de Electricidad de San Pedro de Macorís (CESPM) a 300 MW CCGT in the Dominican Republic and its operator Basic de la República Dominicana, and Executive Director and Vicepresident to the Board of the Consorcio Energético Punta Cana-Macao (CEPM). He is also the the Country Manager for the Dominican Republic and Director of the Board of Interenergy Holdings He is the President of the Dominican Electrical Industry Association (ADIE), of the Santo Domingo Water Fund and the local DR board of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH). Also a member of the Energy Steering Commitee of the Institute of the Americas.
Roberto has an economics degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in Santo Domingo and an MBA (based on the University of North Carolina program), Magna Cum Laude from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 1997 he was awarded a British Chevening Scholarship to study a Master of Science in Business Economics at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.
Aroon Hirdaramani
Director/Owner, Hirdaramani Group
Aroon Hirdaramani is a director/owner of the Hirdaramani Group. He has helped to drive the Group’s rapid growth and made it a model for operational excellence and environmental sustainability. He has played a key leadership role in the Group’s diversification into renewables and technology as well as establishing factories in the war-affected regions of Sri Lanka. He also serves as Chairman of the Future Leaders Committee of the Sri Lanka JAAF and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.
Aroon earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from Brown University in 2001. From 2001 to 2003, Aroon worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at Credit Suisse in New York.
Akira Kirton
Managing Director – Europe & Asia, BP Ventures
Akira Kirton is Managing Director BP Ventures. BP Ventures makes strategic investments in companies with distinctive technology that aligns with BP core businesses, with a portfolio of over 40 investments, with >$400m capital invested.
His professional experience includes a variety of business & technology roles across refining, chemicals, marketing, and alternative energy in BP.
Akira sits on the boards of Fulcum Bioenergy (biojet), Alyssum Holdings (digital aviation), Tricoya Technologies (low-carbon products), CarbonFree Solutions (low-carbon products), Solidia Technologies (low-carbon products) and the Oil & Gas Climate Investments Fund (~$1bn fund partnering with a number of O/G majors).
Akira is a recipient of the 2008 IChemE Award for Innovation; a 2012 Fellow of the Marshall Memorial Foundation; and 2015 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
On a pro-bono basis, Akira sits on the Educational Advisory Board of the European Climate-KIC, the Leadership Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum YGL Group, and a number of small charities in the UK.
Akira holds a first class MChem Eng from Imperial College London and a BSc in Law.
Rina Kupferschmid-Rojas
Head of Sustainable Finance, UBS and Society
Rina is responsible for the Client strategy of UBS and Society Group worldwide, previously Global Head of Sustainable Investing at UBS Wealth Management. She was previously Managing Partner and CEO of ESG Analytics, an environmental, social and governance-oriented investment consultancy, and later Social Impact Director at MasterCard. She is also an adjunct Professor at Columbia University on Sustainable and Impact Investing and since 2013 has been one of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Young Global Leaders and is member of the WEF expert network.
Rina was named in 2014 by Newsweek as one of the leading Women in Tech in NYC. Rina is founding member of the New Innovators Council at the World Resources Institute and is Board Member at IamtheCode, a global movement to teach girls and young women to code as a way to build their creative capacity and help them realize their own potential. Rina founded in 2015 the Impact Lab for the WEF, a boot camp to identify ideas to tackle global social challenges, having launched successfully more than 20 Global Initiatives. She is an Advisor to the Sustainable Finance Professionals Network at Columbia University and a member of the B-20 Germany Climate Change Taskforce in 2016- 2017 and B-20 Argentina Energy and Climate Change Taskforce 2018. Rina holds a MA from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland and Certificates on Innovating for Sustainability and Corporate Performance from Harvard Business School and Certificates on Public Policy for the 21st Century from the Harvard Kennedy School and Public Policy and Leadership from Yale. Rina is also member of the Women Leadership Board at the Harvard Kennedy School. She started her Banking Career 27 years ago with an apprenticeship.
Michael Lefenfeld
President and Chief Executive Officer, SiGNa Chemistry Inc.
Michael Lefenfeld is a serial entrepreneur and technology thought leader who specializes in commercializing disruptive technologies. A scientist at heart and an entrepreneur by nature, he embraced his ability for commercializing new technologies at an early age and launched and sold three companies by the time he was 30. He has dedicated his career to cutting-edge scientific research that has led to safer industrial environments, better medical technologies, and more effective energy solutions.
Today, Michael works with technology-based companies to develop strategies that advance their R&D, product commercialization and turnaround initiatives. His work allows clients to make critical business decisions that transition them to new levels of success. His clients are in the elds of energy and alternative energy, medical devices, immuno-oncology, and chemicals. He also consults with numerous private equity and venture capital funds to assist with opportunity assessment, turnaround strategies and opportunities for growth through acquisition.
Michael has a Masters of Philosophy and a MS in Chemistry from Columbia University and a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. He is a lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and an adjunct faculty scholar at Michigan State University. He holds more than 100 patents (or patents pending) in areas including medical devices, controlled release, electronics, chemical reactivity, and information technology.
Nguyen Hoang Long
Director-General, Department of Foreign Affairs of Provinces, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam
Nguyen Hoang Long is a diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam. Since June 2012, he has been his country’s ambassador to Italy and non-resident ambassador to Malta, Cyprus and San Marino as well as Vietnam’s permanent representative to FAO, IFAD and WFP; at the age of 36, he is Vietnam’s youngest serving ambassador. Prior to his appointment, Nguyen served as Deputy Director-General of Europe in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Between 1999 and 2008, he served in Vietnam’s Embassy in Rome. He also worked as an officer at the Vietnam National Committee for APEC and was actively involved in the ASEM Summit (2004), APEC Summit (2006) and ASEAN Summit (2010) in Hanoi, Vietnam. Nguyen graduated from the Milan Bocconi University, with a degree in economics of public administration and international organizations. He received a PhD in Economics from the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
Jonathan Nathusius
Chief Executive Officer, CEMACO
Guatemala
Jonathan is the CEO of Grupo Cemaco, the leading home improvement and home furnishings retailer in Guatemala. Jonathan is also the Co-founder of Makbi, one of the prominent players in the commercial rooftop solar energy markets in Guatemala. Jonathan also participates in the boards of several social impact organizations and is an active member of YPO. Prior to joining Grupo Cemaco, Jonathan was a Senior Associate at Violy&Company, a New York-based boutique investment bank focused on Latin America. Jonathan holds a BS from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.
Bruno Sánchez-Andrade Nuño
VP for Impact, Satellogic
Bruno Sánchez-Andrade Nuño, Ph.D. is a strategic scientific advisor, with professional experience in research, private sector, public sector and NGOs. Bruno is committed to bringing the value of “Impact Science” by promoting and practicing the skill-based value of scientists, versus the knowledge-based value.
At Satellogic, as VP for Impact, their team designs, implements and promotes the use of high-resolution high-cadence satellites images to contribute progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. From measuring poverty proxies, improve agricultural yields, or track environmental degradation or climate change impact.
Previously at the Innovations Lab (and the President’s Office) of the World Bank, their team led the technical work of Big Data across operations globally. Before, Bruno was Chief Scientist for the mapping company Mapbox during 10-fold early growth; where he worked building and leading the scientific, technical support across the company, and in particular on the Satellite team.
He is Ph.D. Magna cum Laude in astrophysics from the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and postdoc in satellite and rocket science with NRL/JAXA/NASA. Bruno has published peer-reviewed scientific journals, as well as featured on NASA high-profile Picture of the Day and other science outreach mediums. After leaving academia, he was director of Science and Technology at the NGO Gain.org on climate change adaptation.
He is a member of the Global Future Council on Space. He serves on strategic boards for several companies, government bodies, and NGOs, like Inmarsat, the UAE Statistical Authority, and IamtheCode. He was awarded Mirzayan Science Policy Fellow of the US National Academies of Science and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Bruno is native from Asturias (Spain) and currently travels and works remotely as a digital nomad.
Katarzyna Pisarska
Founder and Director, European Academy of Diplomacy, Poland
Dr. Katarzyna Pisarska is the Founder and Director of the European Academy of Diplomacy in Warsaw, Poland and the Visegrad School of Political Studies run in cooperation with the Council of Europe. She is also the Program Director of the Warsaw Security Forum and a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In the past, she has served as adviser to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Polish Parliament, to the Office of National Security at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland; and continues to work as regular foreign affairs broadcaster in Polish and international media.
In addition to her leadership and management experience Dr. Pisarska pursues a career in academia. She is an Assistant Professor at the Warsaw School of Economics and a Visiting Professor at ADA University in Baku, Azerbaijan. Previously, Dr. Pisarska was a Fulbright Visiting Fellow at Harvard University (2007), a Visiting Scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (2010) at the University of Oslo (2012) and at the Australian National University in Canberra (2015). She is the author of the book “The Domestic Dimension of Public Diplomacy – Evaluating Success through Civil Engagement (Palgrave 2016).
Recent Distinctions: Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum in Davos (2014); “99 under 33” most influential world foreign policy leaders, Diplomatic Courier (2013); Outstanding Young Scholars Award (2013-2016), Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education (2013).
Sandro Salsano
Chairman and President, Salsano Group, Panama
Sandro Salsano is an Italian billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the President and Chairman of Salsano Group and Chairman of Salsano Family Office. The group has investments in global real estate, luxury, private equity, venture capital, financials and technology. He is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Salsano Shahani Foundation. He sits on the boards of a number of companies. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Salsano graduated from Bocconi University with full honors with an MBA program from the University of San Diego, California. He also studied at Harvard Business School and at INCAE Business School.
Daniel Shin
Head of Corporate Development, MCM
Partner, KingsBay Capital
Adjunct Professor, Korea University
Daniel leads corporate and business development at MCM, a SUNGJOO GROUP company. MCM (est. 1976) is a luxury brand from München, Germany. MCM now operates in 40 countries with 500+ stores. Daniel has worked at various positions of multi-national companies and high-tech ventures. Daniel is a founding member and managing director of KingsBay Capital, a cross-border venture capital firm. While running his own firm, Daniel jointly worked with DreamPlus, a startup accelerator of Hanwha Group, a leading industrial conglomerate in Korea, embracing entrepreneurial talents across Asia, founding and running its signature Global Seed Investment Program. Prior to that, Daniel managed global venture capital and private equity portfolio (AUM $350M) on behalf of Korea Telecom. Prior to that, Daniel was an executive director and led U.S. office for BiNEXT, a publicly-traded int’l venture capital firm of Daesung Group, a leading energy and utility conglomerate based in Korea, where he looked at various alternative energy opportunities under the chairman’s mandate (who is now the chairman of World Energy Council.) Daniel has published several books and is a frequent speaker on subjects related to innovation, tech entrepreneurship, and reputational risk. Daniel is YGL ‘16 and also honored to become a Yale World Fellow in 2013 and a recipient of national grant on energy trading and alternative energy from UNIST. Daniel received his B.S. from Indiana University at Bloomington, M.S. from Stern School of Business, New York University. Daniel currently matriculates at L’Université Paris XI-Dauphine, PSL (“Paris Sciences et Lettres”) for his doctoral degree.
Anthony Smaré
Chairman, Nambawan Super
Papua New Guinea
Lawyer, geologist, company director, entrepreneur, investor, and social entrepreneur from Papua New Guinea. Holds or has held company directorships and investments in energy (including solar), mining, insurance, telecommunications, water, food, retail, microfinance, banking and pharmaceutical industries and has founded and led non-profits that address areas as diverse as disaster relief, off-grid solar, and leadership development.
Presently Chairman of the board of Pacific island’s superannuation investment fund Nambawan Super and food conglomerate Paradise Company Limited. Founder and board chairman of non-profit The Kumul Foundation Inc that is building a startup ecosystem in the Pacific islands region through incubation programme Kumul GameChangers and school microstartup programme ASPIRE. Startups in the Kumul GameChangers, drawn from entrepreneurs from 14 countries, are addressing SDGs critical to the Pacific islands region’s communities.
Gunhild Stordalen
Founder & Executive Chair, EAT
Gunhild A. Stordalen is the founder and executive chair of EAT. She is a driving force in linking climate, health and sustainability issues across sectors to transform the global food system.
Together with her husband Petter A. Stordalen, Gunhild established the Stordalen Foundation in 2011, under which she later founded the EAT Initiative together with Professor Johan Rockström and the Stockholm Resilience Center (SRC). In 2014, they gathered 400 leaders from 28 countries for the inaugural EAT Stockholm Food Forum. In 2016, the Wellcome Trust joined the SRC and the Stordalen Foundation as core partner of EAT and helped grow the initiative to become a global multi- stakeholder platform for transforming the world’s food system.
Gunhild sits on several boards and councils including the United Nation ́s Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Lead Group, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Stewardship Board on Food Systems and the WEF Global Future Council on Food Security and Agriculture, the British Telecom Group ́s Committee for Sustainable and Responsible Business, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Partnership Council, and the international advisory board of the SRC.
Gunhild is a published scientist and a renowned public speaker with a distinct, personal voice and a passionate commitment to her work. WWF Sweden named her Environmental Hero of the Year in 2014 and in 2015 she was appointed a Young Global Leader by WEF. She has been ranked among the 150 most influential business communicators in Sweden by the news magazine Resumé and among the 100 most powerful women in Norway by the financial magazine Kapital.
Gunhild is a medical doctor from the University of Oslo and holds a PhD in pathology/orthopedic surgery. She is a Norwegian national.
Dune Thorne
Partner, Brown Advisory, USA
Dune is head of client experience, head of the Boston office, and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Dune works closely with family offices and institutions as a long-term thinking partner. Prior to joining Brown Advisory, Dune worked as a portfolio manager at Silver Bridge Advisors. Dune has an MBA from Harvard Business School and has been recognized as one of the top 40 Women in Wealth and as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Matthew Tilleard
Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner, CrossBoundary
The CrossBoundary Group is an innovative investment firm that unlocks private capital for sustainable development. It employs over 50 investment professionals across offices in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Lagos, Bamako, Washington DC and New York City. CrossBoundary Advisory provides investment and economic advisory services across a range of developing countries and has also developed innovative mechanisms to attract investment in fragile states affected by conflict. CrossBoundary Energy is the first dedicated investment fund for commercial and industrial solar in Africa. It is now the largest distributed solar utility in Africa with over 6.5MW of projects under construction or operation in Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana. In 2018, CrossBoundary announced the formation of CrossBoundary Energy Access. A blended finance facility backed by the Rockefeller Foundation and private investors to bring project finance to distributed solar-storage mini-grids for rural electrification.
Matthew began his career at The Boston Consulting Group where he focused on projects at the intersection of the private and public sector. While at BCG he co-founded ripple.org, a nonprofit website that has reached over 1.25 million people. In 2008 Matthew left BCG to become a policy advisor to Noel Pearson, a respected indigenous leader in Australia. In 2009, he moved to Kabul, Afghanistan to help establish the Afghan Investment Climate Facility (Harakat) – an innovative Afghan led $50M USD facility with a mandate to remove barriers to private sector development in Afghanistan. Matthew holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne, a Masters of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he attended as a Fulbright Scholar.
Ken Tun
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Parami Energy Group of Companies, Myanmar
Ken Tun is Chairman and CEO of Parami Energy with interest in O&G Exploration, LPG, Mini-Grid and Renewables. The group was honored as Global Growth Company by World Economic Forum in 2015.
Ken Tun received MBA from National University of Singapore and Bachelor of Engineering from Yangon Institute of Technology. He founded Parami Round Table think tank which received ASEAN People Award in 2015. He established Pyin Nyaw DaYa Foundation to support 1,500 monastic community schools that educate around 300, 000 kids in the rural area. Ken Tun was recognized as the philanthropist Hero by Forbes in 2017.
Earl Valencia
Founding Adviser, QBO, the National Innovation Center of the Philippines, Philippines
Earl is a venture advisor for start-ups and corporate innovation teams where he focuses on growing companies or emerging business units from seed to scale. Based in New York, he is currently part of the Advanced Engineering team for Dell EMC and previously was the Program Manager for Corporate Data at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund leading the Partnership Management, Strategy and Project Management functions of the team. Prior for moving to the NY-area, in his aim to support emerging market innovation, Earl spent 4 years in Southeast Asia. Earl co-founded QBO, the National Innovation Center of the Philippines and IdeaSpace Foundation, an incubator and accelerator based in Manila with $12M in funding and 50+ impact-focused portfolio companies. He was also VP of Corporate Development and Innovation at Smart Communications, the Philippine’s largest mobile provider with 70 Million subscribers and one of the youngest corporate executives in the top 10 corporations of the country during his time.
Martina Viarengo
Professor, International Economics, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Martina Viarengo is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva. She also serves as faculty associate at the Harvard University, Center for International Development, and is a research affiliate at the Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance. Prior to joining the Graduate Institute’s faculty, Prof. Viarengo was an economist at the Centre for Economic Performance of the London School of Economics and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. Her research focuses on public policy, economic development and international migration. In 2018 she was awarded with the Eisenhower Fellowship. In 2013, she was selected to be a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She also is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was named Newton International Fellow by the British Academy, Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering. She has served as advisor to several international organizations and governments, and is currently a senior expert in the European Expert Network sponsored by the European Commission. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and a Master’s Degree from Northwestern University.
Farzana Yaqoob
Former Minister of Social Welfare & Women’s Development in Kashmir
President, Asia Institute of Public Policy
Farzana Yaqoob represents the next generation leadership of South Asia. Being a youth leader, social activist & entrepreneur from Azad Jammu & Kashmir, she believes in humanity and striving for justice. She is the Founding Member of the Asia Institute of Public Policy and is a Policy Advisor for AGAHI. Yaqoob is also a Member of the Policy Network of the Foresight Lab. Yaqoob is Eisenhower fellow 2016. Yaqoob is Young Global Leader 2017 of World Economic Forum.
In 2011, she was elected by the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir from Rawalakot. She served as a Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development in the Pakistan People’s Party-led Government. Farzana Yaqoob transformed the Department of Social Welfare and Women Development, after assuming the office. Yaqoob developed the office of Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development by integrating a citizen-centric model incorporating access for women as one of the core value for departmental procedures. As a Minister she chalked an all-inclusive policy bringing women in to the decision-making processes. In her tenure she worked closely with all the political parties, representatives of civil society, government officials and the media bridging the urban-rural gaps. She established a separate directorate of Women Development in 2014, created a framework ensuring equal employment opportunities to the female population in the formal and informal sector. This led to her having the AJ&K Assembly unanimously approve the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Harassment Against Women at Work Place Act along with the Acid Crime against Women Amendment and the Domestic Violence Act. Farzana Yaqoob has also established the first ever Drug Addicts Rehabilitation Center at Muzaffarabad, the center continues to serve hundreds of patients from AJ&K and Pakistan. In collaboration with the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Yaqoob launched a special finance scheme for women entrepreneurs encouraging them to start their own businesses.
Yaqoob is an alumni of the National Defence University, Islamabad. During the intensive programme she examined the water management challenges of the region.
In 2015, she launched a global campaign pursing the rights of the people of Kashmir. The International Friends of Kashmir was announced at the European Union Parliament in collaboration with the Member Parliament Raja Afzal.
Fazrana Yaqoob is an Eisenhower Fellow 2016, her focus during the fellowship was on conflict resolution and climate change mitigation strategies.
At the John F. Kennedy School of Government of the Harvard University, Farzana Yaqoob laid the foundation of the Benazir Bhutto Leadership Programme in November 2016 with the class of 1973.
Farzana Yaqoob is an Oxford alumna. During the intensive programme at Said Business School, Oxford she examined different strategies of transformational leadership.
Farzana Yaqoob is a Harvard alumna. During the intensive programme she examined different strategies of Global leadership and public Policy in the 21st century. She is considered to be one of the most thought-provoking leaders in the region on issues of conflict, women empowerment and social security networks. She speaks at national and international forums.
Jennifer Zhu Scott
Principal, Radian Partners, Hong Kong SAR
Jennifer Zhu Scott is the founding principal of Radian Partners, a private investment advisory firm for large families and UHNWIs focusing on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and renewable energy. Prior, she was head of business development and strategy in APAC for Thomson Reuters and led its speech-to-text, video deep indexing project. She co-founded one of the first education companies in China and exited before moving to the UK as a senior advisor to the education subsidiary of Daily Mail & General Trust.
In 2014, Jennifer was appointed as one of the 18 council members of China Council convened by the Global Agenda Council, the World Economic Forum’s think tank. In 2016, WEF re-appointed her to be one of 20 members of the inaugural Council of The Future of Blockchain. Jennifer was majored in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at Sichuan University and holds an MBA in Finance with Manchester Business School, where she earned distinction with her research on PE/VC in China and was awarded as a Distinguished Alumni. Jennifer is a China Fellow of Aspen Institute and a permanent member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Jennifer is a frequent public speaker and author on AI, the blockchain, cryptocurrency, and data ownership. In 2017, Jennifer debated against the notion of Universal Basic Income at The Oxford Union and at the Davos 2018, she debated against Nobel Prize winner Prof. Robert Shiller and Swedish Central Bank Deputy Governor Cecilia Skingsley on Crypto Assets which was televised by Yi Cai in China. She is also a consultant to the Season 5 of the HBO show Silicon Valley. She sits on numerous boards and advisory boards of deep tech startups including RNDR (rendertoken.com) of OTOY along with Ari Emanuel of WME IMG, Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript, and JJ Abrams, a director of Star Wars.
Jennifer is a 2013 YGL and has been on the Advisory Board of YGL since 2015.