Invited guests
Managing Director & CEO of Canal Sugar, a UAE-Egyptian multibillion dollar agricultural industrial group in Egypt that aims to ensure Egypt self-sufficiency in sugar. Dr. Kamel Abdallah is a national food security expert, specializing in turnaround management and leadership of large agricultural industrial groups in the region. For over twenty years, he has led large regional companies with emphasis on Agri-Food companies in the Middle East with turnaround mandates. He has served in Board Director/Managing Director/CEO positions in Agri/Food based companies, including Baladna QPSC, Aujan Industries/Rani Investments, and Exeed Industries/National Holding. Dr. Abdallah remains integrated with the industry and with academia, where he has served as Asst Vice President of the American University of Beirut; and Professor of Strategy and Finance as well as being a tenured Prof and department chair at accredited business schools in the USA. Dr. Abdallah holds a Ph.D in Strategic Management & Finance (OSU), and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Agri Business management program.
Participation
2023 2024
Medical doctor, director of companies. First Vice President of the Robert Schuman Institute for Europe, former auditor of the Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence (IHEDN) and of the Center of Diplomatic and Strategic Studies (CEDS).
Participation
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2015 2021 2022 2023 2024
Vice President International Public Affairs at TotalEnergies. Prior to joining TotalEnergies in 2019, he held several positions at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He notably was Consul General in Dubai, Political Advisor for the French Delegation to NATO and n°2 at the Embassy of France to Qatar.
Participation
2024
President of GIIGNL (International Group of LNG Importers), non-executive Director of Tellurian Inc. (AMEX: TELL). Jean Abiteboul is the former President of Cheniere Supply and Marketing, a 100% subsidiary of Cheniere Energy Inc. (AMEX: LNG), a Houston based company specializing in liquefied natural gas importation and exportation, and senior consultant in the energy field. He joined Cheniere in 2006, after having held various positions within Gaz de France (now Engie), among which Executive Vice President for Supply, Trading & Marketing, President of Gaselys, International Executive Vice President as well as Advisor to the Chairman & CEO and Secretary of the Board of Directors. He graduated from the Ecole Centrale de Lyon.
Participation
2009 2010 2012 2013 2015 2018 2019 2023 2024
Elder Metropolitan of Chalcedon. He received his academic education in France, attending the Sorbonne in Paris, before continuing his studies at the Catholic Institute and the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute. He was ordained a priest in 1985, he continued his doctoral studies at the Holy Cross Institute of Theology in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. In 1995, he was appointed director of the Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. After being elected Metropolitan of France, he served as Vice President and President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) as well as Co-President of the Council of Christian Churches in France. In February 2021 he was unanimously elected Elder Metropolitan of Chalcedon. He is Co-Moderator of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP) as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors of KAICIID.
Participation
2017 2018 2021 2022 2023 2024
Commentator of Nikkei. He regularly writes commentaries and columns, analysis mainly on foreign & international security affairs. He joined Nikkei in 1987 and worked at the Political News Dept. where he covered Japanese foreign & security policies and domestic politics. He was Senior & Editorial Staff Writer, and he also worked at “Leader Writing Team” of the Financial Times in London (Oct.-Dec. 17). Previously, he was Beijing Correspondent and Washington Chief Correspondent. In Beijing, he reported major news events such as the death of Deng Xiaoping and Hong Kong handover to China. In Washington DC, he covered the White House & Pentagon, State Department during the Bush administration.
Participation
2021 2022 2023 2024
Minister Plenipotentiary Head of the Media and Communication Center at the Foreign Ministry of Oman. Mr. Al Balushi previously held several positions at the Ministry of Information, the latest being Media Attaché at the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in the United States of America. With a Master’s degree in International Communications (Political and Crisis Management) he earned in the United Kingdom, Mr. Al Balushi specializes in crisis and emergency management and reputation management. He also worked at the Public Authority for Electricity and Water and the Ministry of Housing.
Participation
2024
Minister of State at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Previously, Her Excellency Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi served as Minister of Culture and Youth, Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, and President of Zayed University, where she established the College of Interdisciplinary Studies to prepare students for dynamic and future-focused careers. As a champion of the UAE’s cultural and creative industries, Her Excellency has advanced initiatives such as the National Creative Relief Program and the National Strategy for Cultural and Creative Industries, positioning the sector as a cornerstone of economic growth. On the international stage, she spearheaded the UAE’s successful bid to join UNESCO’s Executive Board and led efforts to restore Mosul’s heritage through the “Revive the Spirit of Mosul” initiative, exemplifying the UAE’s commitment to cultural preservation and global collaboration. Her Excellency holds key leadership roles, including Secretary-General of the Board of Trustees at the Kalimat Foundation and Board Member at Alef Education. She has also chaired twofour54, Abu Dhabi Media, and the UAE National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science. For her contributions to global cultural and diplomatic engagement, she has been awarded prestigious honors such as the French Legion of Honor and South Korea’s Gwanghwa Medal.
Participation
2024
Social entrepreneur and executive with extensive experience in economic development, innovation, and nonprofit leadership. Over the past decade, Faisal has driven large-scale change and fostered growth in the Middle East and beyond. As the founder of Ideas Beyond Borders, he has built the organization into a leading platform for advancing free market thought, innovation, and policy reform in the Arab world, particularly in Iraq. Al Mutar has collaborated with governments, intergovernmental organizations, and private-sector stakeholders to promote growth and entrepreneurship. His work focuses on identifying transformative opportunities in diverse societies and implementing actionable policies to create jobs, reduce bureaucracy, and empower businesses with the tools necessary to grow. A sought-after speaker and thought leader, Faisal has delivered talks on global platforms, including TED, and engaged with audiences across the U.S. and the Middle East. His expertise spans innovation, counter-extremism, and geopolitical stability. He also supports startups and aspiring leaders, helping empower the next generation of changemakers.
Participation
2024
Permanent Representative of the UAE to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Dr Nawal Al-Hosany also holds the position of Deputy Director General of the Emirates Diplomatic Academy (EDA), since October 2017, where she contributes to the realisation of the Academy’s mandate; to equip the UAE’s current and future diplomats with the relevant knowledge and multi-disciplinary skills to effectively serve their nation. Prior to this, she was Director of Sustainability at Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, and Director of Zayed Future Energy Prize, the UAE’s annual global awards for renewable energy and sustainability. Believing that women can play a leading role in responding to global sustainability and climate change challenges, she has been Programme Director of the UAE-led Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER) initiative since its formation in 2015. Prior to assuming her current roles, Dr Al-Hosany held senior leadership positions with the General Headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Police, including Head of Design and Studies in the Engineering Department. In 2007, she became the first-ever female Deputy Director in the Abu Dhabi Police.
Participation
2024
Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar since August 2022. Amb. Al Mansour started her diplomatic career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2004. Previously she held various positions at Embassies of the Republic of Slovenia in Tehran, Prague and Cairo, as well as at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Slovenia to the EU in Brussels. Between 2019 and 2022 she was Head of Department for Africa and the Middle East at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, and held an additional (honorary) role as Coordinator for Equal Opportunities at the Ministry.
Participation
2024
Seasoned AI expert, serial entrepreneur, and CEO and founder of Wand AI, with a strong record as a co-founder of several other successful ventures. As an early pioneer in artificial intelligence, he has spearheaded the development of large-scale systems across diverse sectors, including defense, intelligence, finance, and technology.
Rotem is also a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley and serves on the advisory boards of global companies.
Participation
2024
CEO of Al Zarooni Emirates Investments and Al Bidayer Holding. Dr. Adil Alzarooni is an Emirati leader of entrepreneurial teams and educator, committed to lifelong learning. With over two decades of experience in executive management, investments, sales, logistics, IT security and economic zone development, he has served in various leadership positions within UAE government entities as well as family-owned businesses. He has bolstered his portfolio with directorship positions in diverse sectors including healthcare, education, financial services, logistics, media, technology, food and beverage, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and real estate. Currently, he operates two family offices and a venture studio. Dr. Adil holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Etisalat College of Engineering, a master’s in business administration from American University of Sharjah and a PhD in family businesses and business systems from the British University in Dubai. He is a passionate educator and an inspiring public speaker in the fields of economic zone development and sustainability of family businesses. He is the co-author of Economic Zones: The Essentials and the author of Sustaining Family Businesses: The Essentials and The Red Island: The Gatekeeper.
Participation
2024
Professor Emeritus at Sorbonne Université and a member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques. He began his academic career as a mathematician, specializing in logic and teaching at Paris 7 and other universities. He then was appointed as professor of philosophy of science at the universities of Lille, Nanterre and finally Paris IV. He is chiefly interested in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, and in their impacts on education, collective decision and public policy. He was the founder and first director of the department of cognitive studies at the Ecole normale superieure in Paris. His latest books are La Silhouette de l’humain, quelle place pour le naturalisme aujourd’hui ?, La Cognition, du neurone à la société (co-authored) and Intelligence artificielle, intelligence humaine: la double énigme.
Participation
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Author and journalist, specialising in geopolitics as a contributing editor to The Economist and Project Syndicate. A graduate in Arabic from Cambridge University and in education from London University, he taught at the University of Libya and then at the American University of Beirut before embracing journalism in time for the Lebanese civil war. His subsequent career with The Economist included positions in London as industry editor and Asia editor, along with foreign postings that ranged from Hong Kong and Singapore to Brussels, Paris, Los Angeles and Washington DC. More recently he has worked with the UN Environment Programme, with the Rockefeller Foundation on fragile states and with BBVA’s OpenMind on world conflicts. In July 2021 he became head tutor for The Economist‘s first online course on global trends in geopolitics, with a particular focus on China and the USA.
Participation
2011 2016 2017 2018 2021 2022 2023 2024
Director of the Ifri Sub-Saharan Africa Center. He works on Mauritania and security issues in the Sahel. He teaches at the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) of Lille and Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University. He holds a PhD in political geography from the University of Rouen.
Participation
2008 2012 2014 2016 2018 2021 2022 2024
Director of Strategy of CNES, the French Space Agency. Jean-Marc ASTORG is an expert in space issues, with an almost 40-year experience at CNES, giving him in-depth knowledge of the space sector in France and worldwide in all areas: launchers, satellites and ground segments. As Director of Strategy at CNES, he is actively involved in adapting CNES and the French space ecosystem to the new environment created by New Space.
Participation
2024
Associate researcher at Ifri since June 2010. He holds a doctorate in geography from the Institut Français de Géopolitique (Université Paris 8), and is also head of investigations at Africa Intelligence. He teaches the geopolitics of oil and gas in Africa, the comparative African policies of the P5 members and relations between Africa and the Gulf at the Executive Masters programs of HEC and Sciences Po Paris. He also lectures at the Diplomatic Academy of the Netherlands (Clingendael).
Participation
2024
Senior Director of AEye Strategic Solutions. Entrepreneur, venture capitalist and philanthropist who has realized great success in real estate, parking, biotech and other areas thanks to the strong values and principles acquired through his long military career. The tenets and cornerstones of his business philosophy are creativity, flexibility, persistence and an infallible moral code. In his current role, he crafts innovative strategies to navigate complex security landscapes, empowering clients to achieve their strategic objectives. He serves on the board of directors of several companies and is actively involved in charity and political organizations.
Participation
2009 2010 2011 2013 2014 2024
Managing Partner and Founder, Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital. Former Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank Group. He chairs the advisory board of Project Syndicate and he is a member of the board of CGDev and IDDRI. He is also a trustee of the IFRS Fondation. Previously, he served as the Group Chief Financial Officer at Société Générale, and before that as the Group Chief Financial Officer of Crédit Agricole (2007-2011). He was Managing Director of Lazard in Paris responsible for the Financial Institutions Group (2004-2007). In 2003, he was invited to join President Chirac’s diplomatic team and was closely involved in the preparation of the G8 summit in Evian. He graduated from the Ecole nationale d’administration (ENA), the Institut d’études politiques de Paris, Sorbonne Paris IV University and from HEC.
Participation
2015 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Director of the Dubai Public Policy Research Center (b’huth) which he co-founded in 2002. Before that, he worked as Editor for Gulf Defense Magazine and a number of media outlets. He focuses on the interplay between geostrategy and policymaking in governance, stability, capacity building, and future-proofing. Mohammed Baharoon has also worked as Deputy Director of Watani (UAE’s first initiative on National Identity) and was also a founding member of the board of “Bussola Institute” a think tank in Brussels that focuses on the changing and emerging aspects of the partnership between the EU and the GCC member states. As part of his interest in the emerging geostrategic space of the Arabian Peninsula, Mohammed looks at the interconnected world order and the Global Connectivity Agenda UAE is developing across the region through arteries of trade, money, people, and data and the impact this had on its regional and global partnerships including regional and trans-regional initiatives like the Abrahamic Accords & I2U2.
Participation
2023 2024
Assistant Minister for Health and Life Sciences in the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and also serves as the Director General of the Frontline Heroes Office in the UAE. Professor Maha Barakat is the former Chair of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, has held the post of Director General of the Health Authority Abu Dhabi 2013-2018, and was Co-Founder, Medical & Research Director and Consultant Endocrinologist at the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre (ICLDC) in Abu Dhabi. She has served as a member of the Social Development Committee of the Executive Council of the Government of Abu Dhabi, and Board member of several Government of Abu Dhabi-related entities including the Board of Trustees of Khalifa University, the Family Development Foundation, the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council, and the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi. As part of her role within the Health Authority, in addition to the fight against lifestyle-related disease, Professor Barakat has supported several public health eradication campaigns against communicable disease both within the UAE and internationally, including Africa and the Indian subcontinent.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
President of the Global Commerce Institute of Lee&Ko, a leading global law firm in Korea, President of Seoul Forum for International Affairs (SFIA), Professor Emeritus (former professor and Dean) of the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Seoul National University and Chairman of the Korean Committee of the Trilateral Commission and the Co-Chair of Korea-Canada Forum. Professor Bark served as Non-Resident Senior Visiting Scholar at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of the Harvard Kennedy School. He has participated in the Task Force on Global Capitalism in Transition of the Trilateral Commission as an Asia-Pacific member. He served as Minister for Trade of the Korean government (from December 2011 until March 2013). In spring 2013, Dr. Bark was in the race for the Director-General position of the WTO as the Korean candidate. He also served as Chairman of the International Trade Commission of the Korean Government. He taught at Sciences Po, Stanford University and the University of Washington as a visiting professor. In addition, he was a visiting scholar at the IMF and consulted for the World Bank and the ADB.
Participation
2014 2015 2016 2017 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Chairman and Founder of FDB Partners SPRL, an investment and advisory firm in TMT and publishing. In 2011, he was appointed Chairman of IDATE DigiWorld, the leading European think tank and consultancy organisation dedicated to Internet, Telecommunications and Media. He has had unique and diversified entrepreneurial and corporate experiences in the technology sector and founded 7 companies. He started his career as a researcher in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence with IBM Corporation. He served as President and CEO of Lucent EMEA and then as International CEO and corporate officer. He was also CEO of BT Global Services and a BT Group PLC board member. He sits in various boards and he is a frequent speaker in worldwide conferences on digital technologies.
Participation
2010 2011 2012 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch since 1991. His personal experience and theological formation gives him a unique perspective within ecumenical and inter-religious relations and environmental issues. Therefore, His All-Holiness Bartholomew I plays a vital role in the reconciliation within Christendom. Ordained to the Diaconate in 1961 and to the Priesthood in 1969, he served as assistant Dean at the Patriarchal Theological School of Halki and then as Director of the Private Patriarchal Office of Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios (d. 1991). He studied at the Patriarchal Theological School of Halki, the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Gregorian University) in Rome, the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey (Switzerland) and at the University of Munich.
Participation
2011 2012 2013 2017 2021 2022 2023 2024
Chief Executive Officer of Institut Louis Bachelier, Associate Professor of Finance at Université Paris-Dauphine. Jean-Michel Beacco graduated from Ecole nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (engineer program) and Stanford Graduate School of Business (executive MBA program). He started his career in 1989 at Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations as an Asset and Liability Manager involved in the first French securitization program for social housing refinancing. From 1992 onwards, he headed the capital market’s Credit Trading, structuring and securitization department at Société Générale (1992-2000), CACIB (-2005) and Natixis (-2009). Since 2009, Jean-Michel Beacco has been Chief Executive Officer of Institut Louis Bachelier, a public-private Paris-based research center in economy and finance unique in Europe. Jean-Michel Beacco is Associate Professor of Finance at Université Paris-Dauphine and President of the Department of Economics at Ecole nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.
Participation
2023 2024
Chairman and co-founder of World Network of Security and Defence Professionals for preventing and combating terrorism. Former Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States). In this position, General Francis A. Béhanzin notably managed with great efficiency and discernment political affairs, promotion of democratic governance, regional security and peace in the West African region. He conducted during his mandate from 2018 to 2022 the presidential electoral in the fifteen members states of ECOWAS. He also methodically and rationally led the development of the 2020-2024 regional action plan to combat terrorism. With several specialized military and police trainings in Europe, the United States, Canada and Africa, particularly on organized crime and peace operations, he also graduated from National Defence College of Abuja and auditor of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Defense Nationale de Paris (IHEDN). He became Lecturer at the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale in Paris and at the National Defence College of Abuja. Founder member of the Benin Human Rights Commission of Benin, he holds a Master’s Degree in Law and Political Sciences from the National University of Benin since 1981.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
CEO of the African Union Development Agency/NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD), she is the first woman to hold the position. Nardos Bekele-Thomas spearheads Africa’s strategic agenda for growth and sustainability, leading the continent’s charge toward Agenda 2063—a blueprint for a united, prosperous, and self-reliant Africa. Her leadership is defined by a commitment to unlocking Africa’s potential through high-impact initiatives that span infrastructure, energy, health, and gender empowerment. Before joining AUDA-NEPAD, Mrs. Bekele-Thomas was Resident Coordinator for the United Nations (UN) and Head of the UN System in South Africa where she led successful efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. From 2008 to 2013, she served as UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya and Benin, where her leadership was instrumental in peacebuilding, constitutional reform, and fostering public-private partnerships. Mrs. Bekele-Thomas holds a Master’s Degree from New York University (NYU) and is a respected author on development issues. Fluent in Amharic, French, and English, she leverages her multilingual abilities to engage effectively with diverse stakeholders across the continent and globally.
Participation
2019 2021 2024
Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the United Arab Emirates. At the Federal Chancellery in Vienna, H.E. Dr. Etienne Berchtold previously worked as Foreign and European policy spokesperson for three Austrian Chancellors. Before that, Etienne Berchtold, who studied law, worked for several years as spokesperson for the Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz, respectively before among others as an employee at the Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels and for Shell Austria GmbH in Austria.
Participation
2023 2024
Honorary President of the French Judaism Foundation. He served as President of the European Jewish Congress (ECJ) (2005-2007) and of the French Unified Jewish Social Fund (FSJU) (2006-2014). He also co-chaired the Unified Jewish Appeal of France (AUJF) (2006-2014). In January 2010, he took over from David de Rothschild as President of the French Judaism Foundation, a position he held until 2014. He started his career first as an entrepreneur in household appliances and then in internet with LibertySurf (internet service provider). He is also a member of the Board of Governors at the Shimon Peres Center for Peace and of the Weisman Institute France.
Participation
2016 2017 2022 2024
Member of the German Bundestag where he serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He is the spokesperson for the Committee of Inquiry on Afghanistan. From 2018 to 2022, Mr. Beyer held the position of Federal Government Coordinator for Transatlantic Cooperation in the chancellery of Angela Merkel. Mr. Beyer studied law at the universities of Düsseldorf and Bonn, graduating in 1999. He began his legal career as an associate attorney for the US-headquartered firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt (now Mayer Brown), followed by professional roles at Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione in Chicago, and Murchison & Cumming in Los Angeles. In 2000, he enrolled in a postgraduate legal studies program at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville where he received a Master of Laws degree. Mr. Beyer started his political career in 2009 and has been directly elected to the German Bundestag in every general election since then (2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021). As a politician, he has been known as a steadfast advocate for a strong transatlantic relationship, fostering ties between Germany, the United States, and Canada. Additionally, Beyer has been the Foreign Affairs Committee’s main rapporteur on the Western Balkans for twelve years. He is an engaged member of various organizations, such as Atlantik-Brücke, and holds the position of Executive Vice-President at the German American Association, Vice President of the Southeast Europe Association and as President of the Federal Assembly of Silesia in Germany.
Participation
2022 2024
Chief Executive Director of The Africa International Media Group and its branch MRB Productions. She is also Media Consultant and Adviser on African Affairs with Africa International, an umbrella entity including the “Club Millennium” and MRB-Networks.com, an issues- and solutions-oriented TV channel focussing on Africa’s development, in partnership with 10 major West-African TV. Born in Cameroon, educated in Cote d’Ivoire, France and Austria, Marie-Roger Biloa graduated from the universities of Abidjan, La Sorbonne in Paris and Vienna (German Studies, Political Science and History). Ms. Biloa is also an alumni of the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, where her name is on the Hall of Fame, and of the Harvard Kennedy School of Governance. She is a frequent TV guest (TV5Monde, France24, Aljazeera, RFI, i-Télé, ARD, ZDF) to comment current news and African politics.
Participation
2012 2013 2014 2015 2017 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024
Board-member and advisor to companies in the field of digital transformation and artificial intelligence. Jacques N. Biot has international professional experience in higher education and research (First executive President of Ecole polytechnique, 2013-2018), life sciences (Roussel-Uclaf, Pasteur-Mérieux Serums and Vaccines, now parts of Sanofi; JNBD, strategic consulting firm in health technology, divested to ICON; and Guerbet, GBT, Euronext), industry and technology financing, and public administration (Prime Minister’s office). The motto of his career has been about how to turn scientific innovation into societal and economic value. He currently serves as a Trustee to several scientific academic institutions and teaches entrepreneurship as an invited Professor at the Tianjin University in China. He currently chairs the Board of Directors of Huawei Technologies France and independently advises several projects in the field of AI in healthcare. Jacques is a graduate of Ecole polytechnique (year group X71) and a member of the Corps des Mines. He is an Officer of the Legion of Honor and of the French Orders of Merite, a member of the Lion’s Order of Senegal and a Commander in the Order of National Education in the Ivory Coast.
Participation
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Minister of Interior of the Republic of Rwanda since 12 June 2024. He previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation from 4 November 2019. Prior to that, Dr. Biruta held several cabinet positions in the Government of Rwanda including Environment from August 2017 to November 2019, Natural Resources from 2014 to 2017, Education from 2011 to 2014, Public Works, Transport and Communication from 1999 to 2000, and Health from 1997 to 1999. Beside his cabinet appointments, he was the President of the Senate in the Parliament of the Republic of Rwanda from 2003 to 2011 and President of the National Transition Assembly from 2000 to 2003. Dr. Biruta is a qualified physician. He has furthered his studies in Public Health and Nutrition at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium as well as in Planning and Management of Health Services in Developing Countries at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Participation
2024
Independent researcher specialized in the geopolitics and international markets of hydrogen. After creating the world’s first postgraduate course dedicated to the geopolitics of hydrogen back in 2019, he is currently an adjunct lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), IFP School, and part of the faculty of S&P Global Commodity Insights’ World Hydrogen Leaders network. Concurrently, Mikaa also coordinates the Hydrogen Task Force of MEDEF International (France’s leading private international business network), serves as special advisor to Hy24 (the world’s leading pure-player hydrogen investment fund), senior advisor to Hyvolution (the world’s largest hydrogen B2B/B2C trade show and exhibition), and chairs the Steering Committee of CertifHy (Europe’s first RFNBO certification mechanism). Formerly a political risk analyst, chamber of commerce administrator, expert-evaluator to the European Commission, and secretary-general of a university chair, Mikaa has spent over a decade working on hydrogen-energy-climate challenges, at the intersection of economic diplomacy, space, security, regulation, innovation, industrial policy, electoral discourse, and critical gender studies, with a neo-institutionalist and comparative approach. Named “Green Hydrogen Ambassador” by the International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE) and lead researcher of the “Hydrogen Policy Radar” program, Mikaa has conducted nearly 80 fieldtrips since 2021 across five continents to evaluate the implementation and promotion of national hydrogen strategies. In 2024, he has launched a new educational hydrogen awareness workshop called « The Hydrogen Mosaic » already deployed in France, Belgium, Morocco and Canada. His forthcoming book, « Quo Vadis, Clean Hydrogen? », is set for release in 12 languages starting January 30, 2025.
Participation
2024
Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Previously, Ana Brnabić was Prime Minister for almost eight years and as Minister of Public Administration and Autonomous Administration. She was Director of Continental Wind Serbia (CWS). She has more than ten years of experience in working with international organizations, foreign investors, local self-governments and the public sector in Serbia. She graduated in marketing from Hull University, UK.
Participation
2017 2024
Co-founder and Co-director of EcoPeace Middle East, unique regional environmental peacebuilding organization founded in 1994 and nominated in 2024 for the Nobel Peace Prize. Gidon has served as its co-Director for three decades. An attorney by profession, Gidon is an alumnus of Monash University in Australia, Washington College of Law at American University, and Yale University’s World Fellows program. Mr. Bromberg has been immersed in the environmental peacebuilding world for over 30 years and has written extensively on the relationship between water issues and Middle East peace. He has presented on these issues before the UN Security Council, UN Climate Summit, US Congress, European Parliament, and in other local and international forums. Gidon is a member of the jury of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Award.
Participation
2024
Senior Researcher Emeritus at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique), attached to the French Research Institute on East Asia (IFRAE) of the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations (INALCO). He is also Professor Emeritus at Hong Kong Baptist University. Prior to September 2021, he was Chair Professor of Political Science, Department of Government and International Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. He was Head of the Department from 2007 to 2018. He is also Associate Researcher at the Asia Centre, Paris and at the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China in Hong Kong. Named Officer of the Palmes Académiques in 2018 and Knight of the Order of Merit in 2022, he has been a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences d’outre-mer (ASOM) since 2019. His main research topics include political, institutional and legal reforms in People’s China, Chinese foreign and security policy, China-Taiwan relations, the Taiwanese political system and China-Africa relations. His most recent publications include China Tomorrow : Democracy or Dictatorship? (translated by N. Jayaram; Lanham, MD, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), and Facing China: The Prospect for War and Peace (translated by N. Jayaram; Lanham, MD; Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).
Participation
2018 2022 2023 2024
Head of International Public Affairs at Ardian since 2022. In this role, he also leads Ardian’s efforts in building relationships with development finance institutions and multilateral organizations. In addition, he contributes to the sourcing of joint ventures and partnerships for the international development of our portfolio companies. Previously, he worked as a diplomat for the French Foreign Office for over 15 years, specializing in the Middle East and multilateral organizations. Thierry has held various Embassy postings across the Middle East and served as the Chief of Staff and Spokesperson of the Ambassador of the French Mission to the United Nations in New York. He is based in Paris.
Participation
2023 2024
Geopolitical Risk Manager, Senior Director at CDPQ, a global leading public pension fund manager. He is a political scientist and risk manager specializing in international relations, democratization process and geopolitical risk. He leads the team responsible for cross-sectoral and geopolitical risk. His team identifies, assesses and monitors the main financial and geopolitical risks for global portfolio and specific investments. The team is also responsible for producing qualitative risk measures, developping tools and fundamental portfolio analysis supporting discussions with portfolio managers and board members. In recent years, his responsibilities led him to work on improving the risk management processes, implementing a geopolitical strategy, and coaching global companies to better understand and manage geopolitical risks. Mr. Callonico also teaches political and geopolitical risk management at the University of Montreal and is also the author of the Geopolitical Awakening of Finance (2023).
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Founder of Cercle Cyclope, Professor emeritus at Paris-Dauphine University, Consultant for various International Organisations (OECD, EEC, UNCTAD). He was a member of the Council of Economic Advisors in the Office of the French Prime Minister. He published around forty books including the latest Une brève histoire économique du XXème siècle, published in 2019, and Journal de la dissolution in 2024. From 2010 to 2023, he was the President of the French Observatory on fixing food products prices and margins. A graduate from HEC, he is “agrégé” in History and holds a Doctorate in Humanities.
Participation
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024
Executive Chairman at Al Makeen, a specialized advisory strategy firm with a focus on monetary policy, financial institutions, digital economy, industrial policy, and national food security. Mr. Charafeddine is a seasoned Central and Commercial Banker, and the former First Vice Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, with extensive experience in both the public and private sectors across the Middle East and Africa (MEA). He is also an international strategist with profound expertise in central banking, regulation and supervision, and financial markets, complemented by hands-on experience in commercial banking. Mr. Charafeddine served as a board member for various international and regional monetary and financial organizations. As a social and economic reform advocate, his work centers on economic inclusion, poverty alleviation, and the empowerment of women and communities. He is also a writer and speaker, sharing insights on strategy, leadership, monetary policy, finance, economics, and personal and organizational development.
His intellectual contribution is featured on his website.
Participation
2012 2016 2017 2021 2022 2023 2024
Partner in the Sovereign Advisory department of Rothschild & Co. He advises a number of governments, sovereign wealth funds and state-owned companies on economic development, financial policy and debt management, across Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Central and Latin America. He is an active member of various think tanks and research initiatives related to economic and social inequality, and progressive reforms. He graduated from Harvard University, Sciences Po Paris, ESCP and holds Law and Economics degrees from Paris University.
Participation
2019 2021 2022 2024
Regional Head of French Treasury’s units in the Arabian peninsula and economic counsellor at the French Embassy in Abu Dhabi since 2022. He was previously member of the office of the French Minister in charge of Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Mr. Franck Riester (2020-2022). Mr. Chauvel was deputy head of the French macroeconomic policies unit (2016-2017), then portfolio manager at the Agence des Participations de l’Etat (APE) in charge of shareholdings in the energy and mining sectors (2017-2018), before joining the Kepler Cheuvreux Group as Group General Secretary, member of the Executive Committee.He is a former board member of Orano Mining, Orano Cycle and the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône. Mr. Chauvel started his career in equity derivatives trading, in Paris and Luxembourg. Jean-Baptiste Chauvel is a gradute from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC, Paris) and an alumnus of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA).
Participation
2024
CEO of LIG Corp., a South Korean conglomerate. At LIG Nex1, an aerospace and arms manufacturer, he held various leadership positions, including Director of Strategic Planning and Director of Network Divisions. Prior to joining LIG Group, he worked in management consulting. Mr. Choi holds an MS in Business Administration from Seoul National University.
Participation
2024
Seán Cleary is Chairman of Strategic Concepts (Pty) Ltd., Founder and Executive Vice Chair of the FutureWorld Foundation, Diplomacy Moderator of the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator, a member of the Advisory Boards of EIT-Climate-KIC, World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, and the Institute of Advanced Studies, Kőszeg, a Special Advisor to the Global Solutions Initiative, and a Senior Advisor and Senior Fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar and co-author, with Thierry Malleret, of Resilience to Risk, and Global Risks, as well as numerous articles and chapters . He studied social sciences and law at the University of South Africa, the University of Cape Town and Pahlavi University in Iran, and holds an MBA from Henley Management College.
Participation
2010 2011 2012 2013 2015 2017 2018 2019 2024
Economist and entrepreneur, co-founder of GlassView, the inventors of Neuro-Powered MediaTM,and member of the board of the Paris School of Economics. President of Club Praxis and French Foreign Trade Advisor in New York. He is the co-author of Le Capitalisme contre les inégalités (Capitalism against Inequalities) (PUF, 2022), and recipient of the “Prix Turgot” and the “Prix Louis Marin”. In 2018, he received, from the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, the Special Prize of the Political Economy, Statistics and Finance section for his book Le Gouvernement des citoyens (The Government of Citizens) (PUF, 2017), as well as for the work he has done at Club Praxis, a think tank that promotes the use of Big Data in policy making, in particular in revamping the tax and welfare system. In 2024, Yann Coatanlem made several contributions to the debate on disruptive innovation and the cost of failure in Europe, including in the Draghi report. He graduated from ENSIMAG and HEC Paris. He is a recipient of the French National Order of Merit, of the Gold Medal of La Renaissance Française and of the Médaille d’honneur des Conseillers du commerce extérieur.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Executive Vice President of Capgemini. He has been Managing director in charge of global industry sectors within Capgemini (consumer products, retail, utilities, tax and welfare, public security, telecommunications, financial services and manufacturing). The transformation of corporations and governments is at the heart of this role. He started his career at the ‘Inspection Generale des Finances’ (French Treasury) and joined Capgemini in 1989. He holds a diploma of the ‘Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and of the ‘Ecole Nationale d’Administration’.
Participation
2013 2017 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024
Dean of the College of Computing and Mathematical Sciences and Director of the Center for Cyber-Physical System at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, Full Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Università degli Studi di Milano, where he leads the SESAR research lab, and President of the National Interuniversity Consortium for Computer Science. His research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cyber-physical systems, secure service-oriented architectures, privacy-preserving big data analytics and cyber-physical systems security. He has held visiting positions at several international institutions, including Universities in the US, Japan, Australia and France. He is a Fellow of the Japanese Society for the Progress of Science. He has been Principal Investigator in several Next Generation Europe research projects funded by the European Commission, the Italian Ministry of Research and by private companies. He serves in the editorial board of several international journals. Ernesto Damiani is an ACM Distinguished Scientist and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He received the IEEE IES Chester-Sall Award in 2007, the IEEE ICWS/Service Society Stephen S. Yau Award and the IEEE TCHS Research and Innovation Award.
Participation
2023 2024
First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia since June 2021. His responsibilities include to deal with the issues concerning the Russian-Georgian conflict, as well as neighboring countries and International Organizations. Mr. Darsalia is chief negotiator from Georgia to the Russian Federation in the Geneva International Discussions (GID). Prior to his assignment Lasha Darsalia was First Deputy Minister at the State Ministry for Reconciliation and Civic Equity. His main responsibilities included to work on the issues of the engagement policy with the communities on the Russian Occupied territories.
Participation
2022 2024
Advisor to the Executive Chairman, Ifri, Editor of Politique étrangère and co-director of the annual report Ramses. He is also President of the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe and of le Club des Vingt . Former Executive Vice-President of Ifri. Previously, he was in charge of the Security Studies department at Ifri. Before joining Ifri, he was Deputy Director of the Institut français de polémologie (French Institute of Polemology), and then Secretary General of the FEDN (Fondation pour les études de défense nationale). He also taught at the Military School of Saint-Cyr, at the Paris I University and at the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (IEP). His studies and publications deal with strategic issues, particularly with French strategy and European issues.
Participation
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2019 2022 2023 2024
Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Ramūnas Davidonis is a career diplomat. He also serves the Republic of Lithuania as Ambassador to Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, and is Ambassador-Designate to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Before taking up his current position, he was Deputy Ambassador at the Lithuanian Embassy in the UK from 2021 to 2022, and Deputy Director for Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania from 2019 to 2021. Graduated from the Philology Department of Vilnius University and holder of an M.A. in International Relations and European Studies from the Central European University (Prague/Budapest), he started his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania in 1991.
Participation
2024
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the United Arab Emirates, since August 2022. Previously, he has been Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium to the People’s Republic of China, and to Mongolia (2019 – 2022). From 2016 to 2019, he worked at the Directorate General for European Affairs (Brussels, Belgium); Horizontal EU external policy coordination, focal point for Belgium (European Correspondent 2017-2019); Coordinator for the Middle East and Northern Africa Regions (2016-2017); Belgian Senior Official for the Union for the Mediterranean, Belgian Coordinator for the relations between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council, and between the EU and the League of Arab States. From 2012 to 2016, he was Head of the Economic Department, Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium to the Republic of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and The Maldives. From 2009 to 2012, he worked as Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium to Lebanon. Previously, he was Attorney at Law in Belgium (1999 – 2008).
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Honorary lecturer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, expert-consultant to international organisations and member of the strategic council of IFRI. Through her research, relationships in the field and various positions held in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), she has become a specialist in democratisation, crisis and conflict resolution, transition and peace-building processes, especially in Africa. In the OIF, her positions have included chief of staff, delegate for peace, democracy and human rights and special advisor for political and diplomatic affairs to the Secretary-General from 1988 to 2010. She holds a Ph.D. in political science and is a member of the Académie des Sciences d’Outre Mer, and a member of Ifri’s Strategic Advisory Board, founder member of the journal “Nouvelle Afrique Contemporaine”, and an Officer of the Legion of Honour.
Participation
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Lawyer at the Paris Bar and currently practicing at the Bar of Benin, President of the African Association of International Law. He is also a member of the Curatorium of the African Academy for Regional Cooperation and a member of the honorary committee of the Fondation René Cassin (France). Former Chairman of the Bar, Robert DOSSOU was a member of Parliament, Minister of Planning and then Minister for Foreign Affairs. Former President of the Constitutional Court of Bénin, expert consultant, he has carried out and still carries out various missions for various international organizations: UN, AU, ECOWAS, OIF… etc. He is an arbitrator of international trade. President of the National Preparatory Committee of the National Conference of Benin, he is the author of several publications on democracy, human rights and the democratic transition. A former professor at the University of Paris I and then at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC BENIN), and honorary dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the UAC, he is also associate member of the French Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, Grand Officer of the National Order of Benin and Commander of the Academic Palms (France).
Participation
2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
President of ETI FINANCE (SMEs and Midcaps financing, Asset based lending). Former chairman of the Board for the Autoroutes et Tunnel du Mont Blanc and of Société Française du Tunnel Routier du Fréjus, former Vice President of the French Public Investment Bank (BPI). Former CEO of OSEO (the French Agency for Innovation and SMEs financing). Former Engineer at the Directorate of Navigation of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region, Managing Director of the Caisse des Dépôts (French public financial institution) for the Normandie Region and later on for the Bourgogne Region, Chairman of the Board of the Société régionale de financement (Sorefi) for the Caisses d’Epargne (French savings banks) in the Midi-Pyrenées, of the Caisse d’Epargne in the Midi-Pyrénées and of the Crédit Foncier de France (National mortgage bank of France). He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique and from the ENPC (corps des Ponts) and holds a degree in Economic sciences (Paris X).
Participation
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Executive Director of the Global Gas Centre based in Geneva, Switzerland (GGC). The GGC is an association bringing together leading stakeholders of the gas industry and was founded by major gas companies in December 2014. The GGC program consists mainly of meetings and roundtables organized by the GGC, sometimes in collaboration with one of their members or partners. Among the latter are the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS), and the Energy Policy Research Foundation Inc. (EPRINC). From 2009 to 2014, Valérie Ducrot was the Manager of the UNECE (the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) Gas Centre. Previously, she occupied several positions in the French energy company named today ENGIE. Over the last 27 years she has gained extensive experience in the energy sector, particularly the gas sector, at a global level. She holds an MBA from the Grande Ecole EMLYON and graduated in Business Administration in 1995. She also received a Master’s Degree in Political Sciences from the University of Lyon, France, in 2004. Additionally, Valérie has finished the Executive Diploma Program in International Relations and Business offered by the Ambassador Partnership, an international consultancy of former Ambassadors from 15 countries.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Managing Director of UAE-based Big Picture Strategy LLC, a consultancy that specializes in communication and marketing services for clients in the energy, climate and natural resources sectors. Arash Duero is also Senior Advisor at Berlin Global Advisors, a leading German public and government affairs consultancy, where he provides strategic counsel to a wide range of clients across multiple industries and functions. Mr. Duero regularly serves as Senior Expert at Roland Berger, Senior Consultant at Berlin-based Clean Hydrogen Advisors (CH2A), Advisor to the Global Gas Centre and the Clean Energy Forum, and member of the German Economic Council. Moreover, Mr. Duero is Head of Strategic Programs at the European Cluster for Climate, Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) at the Centre for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS), University of Bonn. He previously worked at the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) – Institute for Energy, as a researcher at the Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU) of the Free University in Berlin, as a research associate at the Berlin Centre for Caspian Region Studies, was part of the Resilien-tech Working Group of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (ACATECH) and was a Senior Fellow at the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) at King’s College London. He has also served as an advisor and peer-reviewed various International Energy Agency (IEA) publications. As a researcher, he has published on a number of energy-related topics in scholarly journals and other publications, including for Energy Policy, the Bosch Foundation and the German Foreign Office. A native of Savannah, Georgia, USA, Mr. Duero studied economics at Georgia Southern University and holds an advanced degree in Political Science with a focus on Macroeconomics and International Energy Policy from the Free University in Berlin, Germany. He is based in Dubai and, in addition to his native tongue of English, speaks German, Farsi and Armenian fluently.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Senior Counsel at Covington & Burling LLP’s international practice. His work at Covington focuses on resolving international trade problems and business disputes with the US and foreign governments, and international business transactions and regulations on behalf of US companies and others around the world. He has held key senior positions, including Chief White House Domestic Policy Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, US Ambassador to the European Union, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton Administration. He has played a major role in providing justice to Holocaust Survivors in the Clinton, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. His articles appear in The New York Times, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs magazine. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and from Harvard Law School. He has received eight honorary doctorate degrees, and high civilian awards from the governments of France (two Legions of Honor), Germany, Belgium, Israel, The United States, and Austria. He has written four books and his newest book The Art of Diplomacy, published in May 2024.
Participation
2010 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2024
Economist. Chairman of BIC (The investment subsidiary of BNP Paribas in Saudi Arabia). First deputy of the Governing Board of Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, an independent entity of Oxford University. He is a board member of a number of philanthropic, academic and business institutions as well as an advisor to a number of private and public regional and international entities, and a member of the Editorial Boards of a number of academic economic journals. He served as Saudi Ambassador to one of the Gulf States, headed a number of major regional financial institutions and served in the board of others, including AMF, AFSED, IDB, and GIB. He contributed extensively to the GCC economic integration when he served as an Associate Secretary General for Economic Affairs since its inception in 1981 to 1995, where he played a leading role in formulating the steps for economic integration, policies and drafted all economic resolutions for GCC Heads of States. He was awarded the Medal of Merit in 1989 by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques on behalf of all the GCC Heads of States. He also received the Annual Life Accomplishment Award from the Arab Bankers Association of North America in 2001 for his contribution to Arab banking, Arab economic integration and promoting economic and financial cooperation between the USA and Arab countries. He holds a MA, MBA and PhD.
Participation
2024
Attorney at Law, CEO of Echo for Peace Foundation and of Rased Lebanon (coalition of several NPO’s), member of Beirut Bar Association and International election Observer. She is a Founder and member of many NGOs and nonprofit associations. She is a Legal Consultant to many associations and civic organizations. She is also a journalist for Tele Lumiere and Noursat International TV, presenting social, political, and religious issues through talk shows. She conducted live interviews of well-known personalities in order to find solutions to national issues. She was delegated as “Lawyer and Journalist” to attend hearings in the Special Tribunal of Lebanon in The Hague, Netherlands (STL). She participated in several conferences and seminars in Lebanon and abroad, treating: Politic-Justice-Peace-Religion-Interfaith Dialogue-Globalization-Civil State, etc. She is a legal and social writer in many newspapers and reviews. She has a JD in Criminal Law from Lebanese University.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Founder and Owner of Kreab Worldwide(1970), a global advisory firm with consultants of 40 nationalities in 25 countries, and Kunskapsskolan Education (2000) – personalized education for 30.000 students in 6 countries. He is a Board member of the Nobel Prize Outreach since 2011 and is a Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, IVA. He was Chef de Cabinet of ICC, the world business organization (1973-1981) and Chairman of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (2010–2014). Recipient of the King of Sweden’s Medal of the Twelfth Dimension in Blue Ribbon for achievements as business leader and entrepreneur. He has a BA from the University of Stockholm and is a graduate of the Owner/President Management Program from Harvard Business School.
Participation
2019 2023 2024
Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, Europe, for The New York Times, based in Berlin. Former London, Paris and Berlin Bureau Chief of The New York Times. He has served in numerous postings for The Times in Brussels, Jerusalem, Prague, Washington, Moscow, Bangkok and New York where he served as Culture Editor for two years. Previously, he worked for The Boston Globe as European Correspondent, based in London. He also reported from Eastern Europe, Moscow and revolutionary Iran. He was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. He shared in a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for a series on Al Qaeda and global terrorism in 2002 and for International Reporting on Russia in 2017. He received an A.B. degree from Harvard College and studied Russian at St. Antony’s College in Oxford.
Participation
2009 2010 2011 2013 2016 2017 2018 2019 2022 2024
Ambassador of France since June 2019, Philippe Étienne is also a professor of public and international affairs at Columbia University. He has additionally joined the “Geopolitical Practice” chair within the Democratic Studies program at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS-PSL). From 2019 to 2023, Philippe Étienne served as France’s ambassador to the United States, marking a significant milestone in his diplomatic career. In May 2017, he joined the French Presidency as diplomatic advisor to President Emmanuel Macron, also acting as G7 and G20 sherpa. Throughout his diplomatic career, he has held several prominent positions, including Ambassador of France to Germany and Romania, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of France to the European Union, and Director-General for International Cooperation and Development at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since July 2023, he has been leading the prefiguration of the GIP Mission Libération, while also advising economic actors on their international activities. In 2023, he was promoted to the rank of Commander of the Legion of Honor.
Participation
2024
Swiss public health expert and researcher known for his work on tobacco control and smoking cessation. He earned a master’s degrees in political science and in public health in 1995 and a doctorate in political science in 1996. An honorary professor at the University of Geneva, he has conducted research for over 30 years on smoking prevention and cessation, nicotine addiction, and the impact of various public health policies on smoking behavior. His studies often focus on harm reduction strategies, particularly in relation to e-cigarettes and other nicotine and tobacco products. His work is widely cited and has contributed significantly to the understanding of smoking behavior and to the development of effective tobacco control policies. It has made him a prominent figure in tobacco research and policy debate.
Participation
2024
Director of the Center for Energy & Climate of Ifri since 2017. Prior to joining Ifri, he spent six years at the International Energy Agency (IEA), notably as Russia & Sub-Saharan Africa Programme Manager where he conducted oil and gas market analyses and was responsible for institutional relations with these countries and regions. He also held various other positions, such as at the Robert Schuman Foundation, where he was in charge of a Ukraine observatory. A French and German national, he holds a Ph.D. from Sciences Po Paris in International Relations. He represents Ifri at the French observatory of raw materials for industrial value chains (Ofremi).
Participation
2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Diplomatic Advisor to the French President Special Envoy for IMEC. Prior to her diplomatic career, Ambre Eyoum worked in the energy industry for 10 years at TotalEnergies in Paris, at various positions related to energy diplomacy, strategy and sustainability. She became a senior civil servant after passing by the ENA (Ecole nationale d’administration) in 2022-2023 (promotion Guillaume Apollinaire). During her curriculum she was posted at the Embassy of France in the U.S.A in Washington, where she was acting as energy advisor at the chancery. In November 2023, as a diplomat, she integrated the G7-G20 summits Taskforce at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign affairs in Paris. Her scope covers climate, energy and economic diplomacy. Since early 2024 she has been in charge of coordinating the inception phase of the French IMEEC-project team (India-Middle East-Economic corridor) in support of the French President Special Envoy, Mr. Gérard Mestrallet, before becoming his Special and Diplomatic Advisor. Ambre Eyoum is a graduate from Sciences Po Bordeaux, she holds a Master’s degree in Geo-economics. She was a Young Leader of the World petroleum Council and of the “Global Governance Futures 2030” project led by the German think tank GPPi.
Participation
2024
CEO of the Capgemini Group since May 20, 2020. Since assuming the role, Mr. Ezzat has directed the integration of Altran and reinforced Capgemini’s position as a leading responsible organization, notably committing to becoming a net zero business by 2040. With more than 25 years’ experience at Capgemini, he has developed a deep knowledge of the Group’s main businesses and has worked in many countries, notably the UK and the US, where he lived for more than 15 years. During his tenure as COO (from 2018 to 2020) and prior to this as CFO, from 2012 to 2018, Mr. Ezzat reinforced both the Group’s position as a global leader as well as its financial resilience. Mr. Ezzat has a dual background in chemical engineering and management. He holds a MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. Mr. Ezzat is also on the Air Liquide Board of Directors and is a member of the Business Council and the European Round Table for Industry.
Participation
2024
Dean Emeritus at The American University in Cairo. He founded the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy in 2009 but he is also a career Diplomat. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt from July 2013 to June 2014. During his distinguished diplomatic career over three decades, he served as Ambassador to the United States between 1999 and 2008 and Japan between 1997 and 1999, as well as in numerous government and international positions. His work focused on international and regional security, disarmament and non-proliferation, conflict resolution and Arab-Israeli diplomacy. He was also the Chairman of the United Nations Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, and the Vice Chairman of the United Nations General Assembly’s first committee dealing with disarmament and international security. Currently Chairman of LYNX Strategic Advisors which supports international and domestic firms in pursuing best business practices, he also publishes weekly articles on Global, International and Middle East Affairs.
Participation
2021 2023 2024
CEO of BWI. A graduate of HEC Paris, Mr. Fain’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2007 when he co-founded Verteego, a pioneering force in the artificial intelligence and impact startup realms, known for its early entry into the software-as-a-service sustainability market. In 2018, he assumed the role of CEO at Welcomr, a prominent building access control SaaS vendor. Driven by a passion for technology-driven impact, he joined BWI as CEO in 2022. BWI, or Blue Water Intelligence, leverages satellite data and machine learning to deliver advanced hydrological forecasts, with the vision of empowering basin digitization through the deployment of virtual stations, offering critical continental freshwater data and insights anytime, anywhere. Mr. Fain’s journey embodies a commitment to leveraging technology for sustainable, impactful solutions, shaping the software industry’s future and driving global change.
Participation
2023 2024
Director of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) and Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business since October 2021. After working as an Associate Consultant with McKinsey & Co, Vienna from 2004 to 2005, he held various teaching positions from 2005 to 2009 at the University of Tübingen and at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. From 2010 to 2019, he led the ifo Center for International Economics at the University of Munich. From 2019 to September 2021 he was President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. His research and advisory activities focus on questions of economic global governance, European economic integration, and German economic policy. He has published a large number of papers in international scientific journals, in policy briefs, and newspapers. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.
Participation
2019 2022 2023 2024
Partner and Associate Director, EU & Global Trade and Investment at Boston Consulting Group, London. Tim is a senior expert in geopolitics and trade working within Boston Consulting Group’s Global Advantage practice. He advises public and private sector clients globally on geopolitical and business strategy, with a particular focus on the future of Europe and the intersection between climate action and trade. He has published widely on a range of related topics including geopolitics and private equity, geopolitics and climate, and carbon border adjustments. Before joining BCG, Tim had a long career as a policymaker with the UK Government and the European Commission, spending over a decade in Brussels focussing on EU single market and trade issues. More recently he was a policy advisor on EU and trade issues for the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2017-2019) and Policy Director for the UK’s leading manufacturing trade association.
Participation
2022 2024
Director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva. Professor of Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva. In 2019, he was elected as Co-Director of the Swiss School of Public Health in Zürich. He previously served as Founding Director of the French School of Public Health, Co-Director of the European Academic Global Health Alliance, and President of the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation. He has conducted his research in mathematical modelling of communicable diseases and he has chaired the WHO collaborative centre for electronic disease surveillance. He is member of the Académie suisse des sciences médicales and corresponding member at the Académie nationale de médecine in Paris. MD, and Ph.D. in Biomathematics. In March 2024, he published the book Prévenez-moi! Une meilleure santé à tout âge, with Editions Robert Laffont.
Participation
2020 2022 2023 2024
Member of the Center for Higher European Studies (National Institute for Public Service, former ENA) and senior counsel on studies at MEDEF (Network of French entrepreneurs). He was French Ambassador to Latvia (2002-2006), after having served as an Advisor on politico-strategic affairs to the French Foreign Minister (1997-2002), Special Envoy to the Balkans and the Caucasus (1999) and Ambassador at large on European affairs (2006-2007). He also served as Director of the Policy planning staff of the French Foreign Ministry (1999-2002). From 2010 to 2013, he was Director of Studies and Research of the Institute of Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN). He is a regular contributor to Ramses Report and the quarterly Politique Etrangère (IFRI).
Participation
2008 2014 2015 2016 2017 2019 2022 2023 2024
Chief of Staff to the Capgemini Group CEO since 2022. Formerly an advisor on industrial policy at the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, he has previously held various senior positions at the Government Shareholding Agency and the Budget Directorate. Thibaud graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, Mines Paris and Sciences Po. He is a lecturer in industrial policy at Sciences Po and is also a board member of the French-Asia Foundation and a member of the editorial board of the Terra Nova think tank.
Participation
2024
Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates. He joined the Federal Government in 2006 as Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, and was later appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. He was Chairman of the National Elections Committee, Chairman of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Al Owais Cultural Foundation and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy (AGDA). He received his Ph.D. from King’s College, Cambridge and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Political Science from George Washington University.
Participation
2021 2022 2023 2024
Vice Chairman of the WPC. He manages the organisation of the annual conference since its first edition in 2008. He is also chairman and founder of Alandia, a restructuring advisory firm which helped various States or Sovereign funds to regain control over their industrial investments (Middle East, Africa and West Asia). Former Vice chairman of the Franco Indian chamber of commerce, he was more especially in charge of agricultural investments. He seats, or seated, at several Advisory Boards such as British Telecom or PWC. He published a book on globalization in June 2010: Mondialisation, un autre regard and one on restructuring issues in France (2015).
Participation
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2022 2023 2024
Senior Reporter and International Columnist at Le Figaro. He has covered major worldwide political crises and armed conflicts for the past 40 years. Expert on geopolitics, he publishes every Tuesday his international column in Le Figaro. He wrote several books on the Middle East and the major diplomatic issues of the West. He regularly takes part in international conferences. He is also a Professor at the Institut d’études politiques de Paris and a member of the Editorial Board of the Revue des Deux Mondes. In 2014, he was awarded the Grand Prix de la presse internationale by the foreign correspondents in Paris. He graduated from the École normale supérieure and the École nationale d’administration.
Participation
2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Chairman of Pro Oriente Conseil, Vice-Chairman for Public Diplomacy of The Global Diwan, Advisor to the Chairman of Diot-Siaci. François Gouyette has served as Ambassador of France from 2001 to 2023 in five Arab countries: UAE, Libya, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. He was previously DCM in Syria and Turkey. He has also been Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister of Interior and Ambassador in charge of the EUROMed process in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He graduated in Law from the Paris University and in Arabic from the Oriental School in Paris.
Participation
2023 2024
Governor of the American Hospital in Paris, Vice Chairman of the American Hospital of Paris Foundation. He also serves on the Board of Atlas Network, a free market think tank in Arlington, Virginia and is a member of the Leadership Council of United Way Worldwide. He joined the investment banking firm of Weild Capital LLC, after 5 years with the New York based Galileo Group. From 1998 to 2014, he held various positions with Citigroup, Country Corporate Officer for France, Global Relationship Bank Market Manager for France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and Director of Citibank International PLC. From 2011 till 2014, in charge of global relationships with European Multinationals at Citigroup HQ. Member of the Board of United Way Worldwide between 2014 and 2020, he chaired its Development Committee from 2017 to 2020. He has a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Lyon, France, and a Master in Political Science from the same institution. He completed the Executive Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Participation
2009 2012 2013 2015 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Managing Director of Bordier & Cie in Geneva. Former Managing Partner of EFG Bank in Geneva, his area of expertise is private asset management. He is a member of the Board and Treasurer of the WPC Foundation. He previously worked as a money market dealer at the Al Saudi bank in Paris, then as Treasurer for Europe at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi in Paris. He received a degree in Economics from the University of Neuchâtel and an Advanced Management Degree from the École des cadres de Lausanne.
Participation
2009 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Executive President of Exim Banca Romaneasca – a new commercial bank, ranking top 8 on the Romanian market, established after the merger of EximBank SA and Banca Romaneasca SA, at the end of 2022. Mr. Halalai acted as Executive President of EximBank SA since November 2012 and he successfully managed the first Romanian merger of a state-owned bank and a commercial-private one, establishing a significant benchmark for the local financial market. He also has extensive experience in top management positions in the Romanian banking sector, being part of the team that founded ING Securities in Romania in 1998. Over the years, Mr. Halalai proved vision and determination in establishing successful formats that supported the effective role of the banks in fostering the dialogue with the local business community, promoting the national economy both in the country and abroad. Mr. Halalai holds a MBA degree from the Doctoral School of Finance and Banking (DOFIN) in Bucharest and completed a specialized fellow training at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Mr. Halalai also developed a teaching career as Associated Professor of Promotion tools and export programs under the Foreign Trade Master Program of the Faculty of International Economic Relations within the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.
Participation
2012 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2021 2022 2023 2024
Strategic advisor, lecturer, and board member particularly focused on the healthcare sector, with additional experience in agriculture and energy. She is a co-founder of a healthcare startup focused on global systemic threats and opportunities, lectures at ESCP on NGOs and civil society in the International Business & Diplomacy Masters program, and serves as President of the American Club of Paris. Her work spans public, private, and nonprofit sectors in Europe and the Americas, where she specializes in strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, and resource development, as well as bridging cultural divides. Both as a consultant and as a Board member, she advises international companies and NGOs. She is a member of the board of the World Anti-Extremism Network, the Institute for Economic Studies Europe, and Young Voices. She holds a BA in German Studies and an MS in Management.
Participation
2015 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Chief Investment Officer of the Othaim Family Office. Jamil Hallak is a distinguished leader in global capital markets, with over 20 years of experience driving financial innovation and strategy at top institutions in Paris and London. His career began in Global Rates and Credit trading and portfolio management, where he quickly became known for his expertise in High Yield and Emerging Markets. Jamil’s ability to devise financing solutions during critical financial crises solidified his reputation in the industry. In 2009, Jamil led the Middle East and Africa trading business during the early stages of MENA’s debt capital markets growth. His leadership played a crucial role in navigating challenges such as the Arab Spring, the Dubai financial crisis, and various high-profile restructurings. Throughout his career, Jamil has held senior roles at prestigious financial institutions, including Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, and Credit Suisse. His strategic insights and leadership have significantly influenced the financial landscape at these organizations. In 2017, Jamil took on the role of Head of Investments at Riyad Bank during its transformation journey, aligned with the government’s ambition. He was key in recruiting talent, managing risk, developing new areas of expertise, and collaborating on strategic initiatives, earning him a prominent reputation within the Kingdom. Since 2020, Jamil has served as the Chief Investment Officer of the Othaim Family Office, where he continues to apply his deep expertise in capital markets to drive financial success and innovation. His career reflects a blend of leadership, financial acumen, and a commitment to navigating complex market environments.
Participation
2024
Deputy Director of Ifri and Editor-in-Chief of Politique étrangère. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and taught for many years a course on Terrorism at Sciences Po. He published several books including La Guerre de vingt ans (Robert Laffont, 2021 with Elie Tenenbaum), Intifada française ? (Ellipses, 2012) and War 2.0: Irregular Warfare in the Information Age (Praeger, 2009 with Thomas Rid; translated in Chinese in 2011). His articles appeared in major journals (Policy Review, Internationale Politik, Commentaire, Études, etc.).
Participation
2008 2016 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Professor of International Politics at Keio University, Tokyo. He is Director of Research at the Asia-Pacific Initiative, Tokyo. He is also Senior Researcher at the Nakasone Peace Institute, Senior Fellow at The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, and Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. His research interests include postwar international history, British diplomatic history, Japanese foreign and security policy, and contemporary East Asian international politics. He was a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Panel on Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security from 2013 to 2014, and the Prime Minister’s Advisory Panel on National Security and Defense Capabilities in 2013. He was a Visiting Professor and Japan Chair at Sciences Po in Paris between 2009 and 2010, a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University between 2008 and 2009 and Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge between 2021 and 2022. Professor Hosoya studied International Politics at Rikkyo (BA), Birmingham (MIS), and Keio (Ph.D.).
Participation
2016 2017 2018 2021 2022 2023 2024
Co-Founder and Board member of MFEX Mutual Funds Exchange, a global B2B fund distribution platform present in 63 countries, now a fully-owned subsidiary of the Euroclear group. Following his diplomatic service in Eastern Europe, Olivier worked with the Paribas group in Asset Management, then at AXA. He was educated at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées in Paris and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is actively involved as an investor and advisor with startups and growth companies in the areas of engineering, finance and logistics. He is a member of the French and Russian Geographic Societies, as well as the Royal Geographical Society. He is also actively contributing to the organization of cultural events, in particular for classical music and ballet and the sponsoring of young artists in Europe and in Russia.
Participation
2023 2024
Chairman of Seoul Financial Forum, Chairman of the Board of the Korea Center for International Finance. He is also a Board member of Doosan Shareholding company. He served as Ambassador of Korea to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. He also held the position of Vice Minister for the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Secretary to the President for National Agenda, Senior Economist for the International Monetary Fund. He holds a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and graduated from the Department of Business Administration at Seoul National University.
Participation
2011 2012 2014 2016 2019 2022 2024
Director of the Center for Post-Industrial Studies in Moscow, Special Advisor to MEMRI’s Russia Media Studies Project in Washington, DC. Dr. Inozemtsev is a Russian economist and political scientist, focusing on global economic issues, development of the knowledge economy in the West and modernization of the Third World nations, with special reference to Russia’s history and current policies. He founded the Center for Post-Industrial Studies in Moscow and has been its Director ever since, combining this activity with teaching at Moscow State University and the Higher School of Economics and numerous fellowships held in the US (Johns Hopkins University and CSIS) and Europe (DGAP in Berlin, Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna and Warsaw Institute of Advanced Studies, among many others). Dr. Inozemtsev served as an Advisor to the Commission on Modernization of the Russian Economy under President Dmitry Medvedev in 2009-2011, as the Chief Aide to Mikhail Prokhorov’s presidential bid in 2012, and as a member of Russia’s ‘Open Government’ in 2013-2014. He left Russia after the start of the war with Ukraine in 2014 and lives in Washington. Dr. Inozemtsev has authored more than 20 books and is a Columnist for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, NRC Han-delsblad, The Independent, Gazeta Wyborcza and La Razon.
Participation
2023 2024
Professor of international economics at the Ecole nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC, France) and member of the French Cercle des Économistes. Between 2012 and 2022, he was President of the Global Development Network (GDN), a public international organization headquartered in New Delhi (India), which strengthens research capacity in developing countries in order to promote development policies informed by sound analysis and evidence. He is the former Chief Economist (2002-2012) and Executive Director of Strategy (2002-2010) of the French Development Agency (AFD) and a former Deputy Director of Ifri. He chaired ENPC’s Department of Economic and Social Sciences between 1994 and 2012. He is President of the Scientific Council of the FARM Foundation (Foundation for Agriculture and Rural Development in the World), member of the Scientific Committee of Crédit Agricole S.A., and Non-Resident Fellow of the Center for Global Development (CGD, Washington D.C.).
Participation
2021 2022 2023 2024
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the Republic of Türkiye, with accreditation to the Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Republic of Sudan. Former Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman, the Republic of Yemen, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Arabic Republic of Egypt. He was also accredited to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and to the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as Representative of Georgia to the Organization of Islamic Corporation (OIC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Prior to that, he was Head of State Protocol to the President of Georgia and State Advisor on Foreign Relations to the State Council of Georgia. He is a member of the International Oriental Numismatic Society (ONS) and The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Fluent in English, Russian, Turkish, and Persian, he has authored two books and over 30 publications. He holds a Diploma with Honors in Economic and Social Geography from Tbilisi State University and studied at Cairo University.
Participation
2024
Professor of International Relations at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers in Paris and Research Fellow at the Laboratoire interdisciplinaire de recherches en sciences de l’action, Sabine Jansen is Vice President of the Committee for Parliamentary and Political History and Delegated President of the Society for the History of the 5th Republic. She founded and was the Editor of Histoire@Politique from 2007 to 2014 at Sciences Po Paris. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of Questions internationales, Secretary General of Revue historique and member of the Editorial Board of Parlements, four peer-reviewed journals. She is currently working on think tanks, decision-making and expertise in the field of international relations, with special attention to the history and role of the think tanks in diplomatic affairs. She graduated and received her Ph.D. in Modern History from Sciences Po. She holds the Agrégation in History.
Participation
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2017 2018 2019 2021 2024
Business strategist with extensive expertise in international market expansion, cross-cultural partnerships, and strategic business development. Serving as the Deputy Secretary General of the Malaysian Business Council UAE, she actively fosters collaborations between ASEAN and Middle Eastern enterprises to drive regional growth. As co-founder of IACS International, Faten leads high-impact consultancy projects across diverse industries, including telecommunications, finance, healthcare, and renewable energy. Currently pursuing an MBA in Energy Management at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS and a graduate of Harvard University’s Energy Within Environmental Constraints course, she combines rigorous academic training with hands-on expertise in sustainable business practices. Faten is dedicated to promoting leadership development and diversity, particularly within male-dominated sectors, through impactful empowerment initiatives.
Participation
2024
Associate Director of Ifri’s Geoeconomics and Geofinance initiative, Professor of Economics at Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Paris), where he holds the chair Jean-Baptiste Say of industrial economics. He is also a member of France’s Council of Economic Advisers (Conseil d’analyse économique) and National Productivity Council (CNP), a Research Associate with CEPII, a Policy Associate with GEP (University of Nottingham, UK), and a fellow of CESifo Research Network (Munich, Germany). He has previously been Director of CEPII, the French leading centre for research and expertise in international economics, from 2012 to 2021, after holding positions at INRAE and OECD. His research and policy works mainly deal with the applied economic analysis of globalization, with special emphasis on international trade, trade policies, and international economic policy. He has taught in various institutions. He graduated from the École centrale de Paris and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Paris-1.
Participation
2023 2024
Professor at the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po. President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development, a global public policy think-tank based in Belgrade, Vuk Jeremić is also Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly magazine Horizons – Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development. In 2016, he participated in the official election for UN Secretary-General and finished in second place. In 2012, he was elected President of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly. During his term in office he played a leading role in steering the UN towards the establishment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He served as Serbia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2007 to 2012. Mr. Jeremić is a member of the Leadership Council of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN) and a trustee of the Cambridge China Development Trust in UK.
Participation
2014 2015 2016 2018 2024
Minister of Economy, Planning, and Development of Côte d’Ivoire. She is a first-class economist and the first woman to serve as Minister of Economy and Finance of the country. She played a pivotal role in shaping Côte d’Ivoire’s economic policies, leading significant reforms that boosted economic growth to 9% annually during her tenure as Minister of Economy and Finance (2012-2016). Under her leadership, Côte d’Ivoire achieved financial ratings by renowned agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, and began accessing international financial markets. She has served as Minister of Planning and Development since 2016, overseeing the National Development Plans (NDPs) and international cooperation efforts. She chaired the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) Board of Governors (2019-2020), contributing to the institution’s historic capital increase. She has represented Côte d’Ivoire globally, participating in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals discussions and overseeing the 2021 Population Census. She is a Member of the Executive Board of the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) and Member of Parliament for Bouna since March 2021. She holds a MA in Economics from the University of Abidjan-Cocody, a Statistical Engineer and Economist degree from the National School of Statistics and Economic Administration (ENSAE) in Paris, a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA) in International Economics and Development Economics from the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, and a diploma in Economic Policy Management from the Institute of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Participation
2024
CTO and co-founder of poolside AI. Eiso is an engineer who has been building early stage companies in the AI and developer tools space for over a decade. Prior to founding poolside, Eiso was the founder and CEO of Athenian, a data-enabled engineering platform. Before that, he built source{d}, the world’s first company dedicated to applying AI to code and software, where he lived first hand through the challenges poolside faces which seeded the thinking for poolside’s early technical and applied research decisions. As CEO of his previous 3 companies, Eiso raised from prominent European and US investors, many of which have followed him consistently across companies. Eiso also currently sits on the Board of a private GPU cloud provider.
Participation
2024
Research Fellow and Director of Russia/NIS Center of Ifri since January 2014. Before joining Ifri in 2005, she taught International Relations for the French-Russian Master at MGIMO University (Moscow State Institute of International Relations). At the beginning of her work at Ifri, she developed a rich expertise on issues linked to youth, higher education and innovation in Russia: she is the author of the book Les universités russes sont-elles compétitives ?, CNRS Editions, 2013. She currently heads the trilingual electronic collection Russie.Nei.Visions. She holds a degree from the State University of Ekaterinbourg, a Franco-Russian Master in International Relations from the University of Sciences Po and MGIMO University, and from the University of Marne-la-Vallée in France. In 2020, she published La Russie de Poutine en 100 questions (Paris, Tallandier).
Participation
2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Special Advisor to the Regional Office of WHO for Europe, Professor Kazatchkine has over 35 years of experience in global health as a leading physician, researcher, administrator, advocate, policymaker, and diplomat. He is Emeritus Professor of Immunology at Paris Descartes University, Senior Fellow with the Global Health Centre of the Geneva Graduate Institute, and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. He has been Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Director of the French Agency for Research on AIDS, French ambassador on HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases, and UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In 2021, he was a member of the Independent panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response convened by the World Health Assembly to evaluate the global response to Covid-19.
Participation
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
President of “Servir en Entreprise” since September 2024, the ENA alumni community in the corporate sector, previously President of Servir (former ENA Alumni Association) from 2017 to 2023 and former member of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of France as a qualified person (2015-2021), Daniel Keller is Chief Officer in charge of transversal projects of the Division of complementary pension and social action at Malakoff-Humanis. Graduate of the École normale supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud, holder of an Agrégation in Literature and former student of the École nationale d’administration (ENA), he began his career at the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance as a Civil Administrator in the General Tax Directorate and then in the Tax Legislation Department. He joined the Renault Group where he held various responsibilities in the sales department, in the distribution network, in France and in Europe, as well as in central functions, as Head of Worldwide Sales Quality for the Group. He then managed a group of Renault-Dacia car dealerships in the Paris region. President of the Grand Orient de France from 2013 to 2016, he was then Director of Transformation and Digital at Humanis, in charge of organization, project management and operational efficiency, before becoming Deputy Director for the supplementary pension businesses from 2019 to 2022.
Participation
2018 2021 2022 2024
Professor Emeritus of the Chair of Economics and Management of Health Services at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM) and Founder of the Pasteur/CNAM School of Public Health. He is a member of the National Academy of Technologies of France and a member of the steering committee of the Médecins du monde Foundation. Former Consultant to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, he served as Visiting Professor at Yale University, Under Secretary at the French Ministry of Health in charge of hospitals and Advisor to the Prime Minister. He is a Columnist for Le Point.fr. He holds a Master in Agronomy from the Institut national agronomique Paris-Grignon, a MBA and a Ph.D. in Socio Economics from Cornell University.
Participation
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024
Country Studies Division Chief in the OECD Economics Department, having supervised work on around 50 member and non-member countries. He has authored or co-authored reports on a wide range of countries, including China, India, Russia, Japan, the two Koreas, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, the euro area, France, the UK, Turkey, Poland and the Nordics. He has also served as the Department’s Economic Counsellor, as the main author of the OECD Economic Outlook and as OECD G10 Secretary. Earlier on, he was an Economist at the International Monetary Fund, in the Research and European departments. He started his career at the Bank of France. He holds an Economics Ph.D. from MIT, has published two textbooks as well as numerous articles and papers. He has taught at ENA, HEC and Paris-Dauphine University.
Participation
2022 2024
Vice President of Côte d’Ivoire. Prior to this, he served as the Governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), following his appointment by the Heads of State of the West African Monetary Union. As BCEAO Governor, he chaired several important entities, including the BCEAO’s Board of Directors, the Monetary Policy Committee, and the Financial Stability Committee of the West African Monetary Union. He was at the same time an active member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI). Prior to that, he held various positions in the Ivorian public administration, including Director of the Prime Minister’s Office (2007-2010) and Minister of Construction, Urbanism, and Housing. He was also Special Advisor to the President for Economic and Monetary Affairs.
Participation
2024
Chief Rabbi of France since June 22nd, 2014. On December 15th, 2014 he was elected as a member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques. He worked closely with the Chief Rabbis of France, Joseph Sitruk and Gilles Bernheim. He was a member of the National Consultative Ethics Committee (2005-2009), General Jewish Chaplain of the Army and the Polytechnic School and Director of the General Chaplain of the Air Force. He also served as General Secretary of the Association of French Rabbis (1999-2010). He graduated from the Jewish Seminary of France (SIF), and obtained an MBA from the Reims Management School, a DEA from the École pratique des hautes études (Sorbonne) and a Ph.D. in Contemporary History of the University of Poitiers, as well as a Ph.D. in Management Science from the University Paris-Saclay. He is the author of several books. The last one being, Réinventer les aurores, un plaidoyer pour la République, published in February 2020 by Fayard.
Credit of the photo: David Morganti
Participation
2015 2017 2022 2023 2024
Head of the regional economic service for Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in France and economic advisor for the Regional Prefect, Mr. Kotti’s primary focus lies in supporting companies’ economic development and carbon transition. Prior to this, he was a consultant for the World Bank on financial inclusion and banking sector stability matters in the Middle East. He also worked for Neoen in Australia, an independent renewable energy developer. Mr. Kotti holds a Ph.D. in economics from the École polytechnique. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and the Corps des mines program in France.
Participation
2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is a political scientist, historian, columnist, expert on Eastern policy, Co-Founder of the Warsaw Rising Museum, lecturer at the University of Warsaw and Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Research Station of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kyiv. Member of the Lower House of the Polish Parliament – Sejm, where he serves as Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He served as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2007), and was a member of the National Security Council. From 2009 to 2014, he was a member of the European Parliament, working in the Foreign Affairs and Security and Defence Committees, and Chairman of the EU delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Committee. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the New Eastern Europe bi-monthly magazine and the Supervisory Board of Alwernia SA. He authored numerous publications on transformation processes in Central and Eastern Europe.
Participation
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Professor in Agribusiness Policy. President Director of BULOG (2023-2024), the only Indonesia SOE for export and import as well as distributing major staple food commodities in Indonesia, and President Commissioner of RNI-IDFood (2021-2023), the biggest SOE food holding company in Indonesia. Founder and Chairman of the Inclusive and Sustainable Agribusiness Initiatives. Chairs IPB University SDGs Network (2019-2021). Chair of the Association of Agribusiness Indonesia (2019-2023). He has held various strategic positions in the Indonesian government for nearly two decades, including Deputy Coordinating Minister for Economic Affair (2005-2010), Vice Minister of Agriculture between 2009 and 2011, and Vice Minister of Trade from 2011 to 2014. He also served as CEO of Indonesia Estate Crop Fund, Ministry of Finance, Republic of Indonesia between 2015 and 2017. Chairman of Indonesian Society of Agricultural Economics from 2011 to 2017, he also chaired the Board of Yayasan Danamon Peduli (Danamon Peduli Foundation) from 2015 to 2019. He was Senior Expert Panel of Indonesia’s Chamber of Commerce between 2018 and 2020. He has been a Board member of Yayasan Bina Swadaya (Self-Reliance Development Foundation) since 1999 and Executive Chair since 2018, as well as Board member of the Andgreen Fund, Netherland (2017-2023). Dr. Krisnamurthi got his Ph.D. in Agriculture Economics from the distinguished Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia in 1998.
Participation
2018 2022 2024
Medical Doctor and Psychiatrist, member of the Supervisory Board of Edeis as well as member of Surveillance Board of Edeis.com and active member of Bealy.io. He is specialized in the management of conflict situations, and in particular in the management of post-traumatic syndromes. He participates in work on sleep, biological rhythms, and physiological and psychological adaptation factors. He has been practicing in Paris for 40 years, with an involvement in corporate work. He has carried out numerous consulting missions including with Progress, Danone, Rians, Laboratoires Debat, Spie Batignolles, L’Oréal, EDF, Normédic, La Poste, and with the government of Senegal. He also collaborated with IMS Health and the General Management of Manpower.
Participation
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2024
Former Personal Advisor to the High Representative and Vice President of the Commission EEAS. He has been a Professor at Sciences Po for over 20 years. He previously served as Special Advisor to Pascal Lamy, European Commissioner for Trade, and later as Strategic Advisor to the French Prime Minister from 2014 to 2017. Founder of the think tank Telos, he was Executive Director of the French think tank En Temps Réel. His fields of research are Europe as a global actor, trade and politics, and global politics. He is a prolific writer: he is the author of numerous books, academic papers, articles, comments in the press, etc. He was awarded the Légion d’honneur. He has a Ph.D. in International Relations from Sciences Po Paris.
Participation
2021 2022 2023 2024
Argentine transactional and regulatory lawyer with more than 20 years of experience in oil and gas, conventional and renewable energy, mining, and natural resources-related litigation and arbitration. He completed a Masters Degree in Energy Law and Policy in the United Kingdom (University of Dundee) as a Chevening Scholar. He founded the first and only Argentine Journal on Energy Law (RADEHM). He is a founding Partner of Martínez de Hoz & Rueda, the only Argentine law firm ranked number one at Chambers & Partners (Energy: Oil & Gas). Tomas has worked in the main energy projects of the past 15 years in Argentina (Vaca Muerta gas pipeline, Loma Campana shale oil upstream project, Trasandino oil pipeline, Pacifico gas pipeline, Cerros Colorados hydro project).
Participation
2024
Managing Director and Senior Partner in BCG’s Munich office. He has been working for the firm since 1998. Nikolaus is the global leader of the BCG Henderson Institute, BCG’s think tank, global vice chair of BCG’s Global Advantage practice, and chair of the Center of Geopolitics, supporting clients on an array of globalization-related topics: geopolitics, global trade, supply chain resilience, international joint ventures, and digital ecosystems. He lived in Asia for ten years and has worked in most of the world’s emerging markets. His work has been featured in leading publications including the World Economic Forum (WEF) Agenda and Harvard Business Review. He is a regular speaker at global events including WEF Davos, Semafor World Economy Summit, and World Policy Conference. He has authored a number of publications, including Beyond Great: Nine Strategies for Thriving in an Era of Social Tension, Economic Nationalism, and Technological Revolution (PublicAffairs, 2020), and holds a Ph.D. and a Master in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, where he is now Honorary Professor at the Institutes for Business Administration and Mobility.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Senior Advisor of KIM & CHANG and Visiting Professor of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. He joined the Korean Foreign Service in 1980. He became Minister-Counsellor of the Korean Permanent Delegation to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris in 2004. From 2006 to 2008, he served as Director General and Deputy Chief Negotiator for the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement. Then, from 2008 to 2010, he was Deputy Minister for Trade and Chief Negotiator for the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement. Former Ambassador to the Philippines, he was Ambassador to France from 2012 to 2015. He held the position of G20 Sherpa as well as Ambassador for International Economic Affairs of the Republic of Korea from 2015 to 2017. Ambassador Lee graduated from Seoul National University and received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.
Participation
2012 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Managing Partner and co-founder of ALVEN, one of the largest and most active venture capital funds in digital technologies in Europe (software, artificial intelligence, fintech). The fund manages 1,8bn€ of capital, and has invested in 170 companies. ALVEN principally invests in Europe and the United States. Charles Letourneur started his career in M&A with LAZARD in New York, and then Paris. He was appointed Executive Director in 2019 and became member of the Executive Committee of EURAZEO. He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, ENSAE and Science Po.
Participation
2024
Founder and President of the Louis Bachelier Institute. Member of the Board of Ifri, affiliate Emeritus Professor in Finance at Paris-Dauphine University, Non-Executive Chairman of Les Échos, Chairman and Founder of the Fondation du Risque and Institut Louis Bachelier. He held various positions in the Schlumberger Group and he was CEO of Banque Paribas until the merger creating BNPParibas. He started as a Research Physicist at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). He graduated from the École Polytechnique and holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University.
Participation
2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024
Partner and member of the Executive Committee of the international law firm of Cleary Gottlieb, with over 35 years of experience in Latin America. His practice focuses on the energy and natural resources sectors, in which he has led a number of groundbreaking transactions. Mr. Lewis has been cited as “one of the best lawyers for corporate matters” in the region by Chambers, and named a Market Leader by IFLR and a Hall of Fame lawyer by The Legal 500. Mr. Lewis received a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.A. from the Williams College.
Participation
2024
Founder and Managing Director of Susan Liautaud & Associates Limited, a firm advising on complex ethics matters for leaders in the corporate, non-profit and governmental sectors internationally. She is Chair of Council (trustees) of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Chair of the Stanford University Freeman Spogli Institute for International Affairs Advisory Council. She teaches cutting-edge ethics courses at Stanford University and is the author of The Power of Ethics and of The Little Book of Big Ethical Questions. She also founded a non-profit platform for innovative ethics called The Ethics Incubator. She serves on the Stanford HAI and SAP’s AI Ethics Advisory Panel. She also serves on a number of other boards and advisory boards, including: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Yale Divinity School Advisory Council; the French Ambassador’s Foreign Trade Advisory Council in the UK; the American Hospital of Paris Board of Governors and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières US Advisory Board (former Chair). She recently completed her term as Vice Chair of the Global Partnership for Education. She is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations. Susan holds a Ph.D. in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a JD from Columbia University Law School, as well as two BAs and a MA from Stanford and a MA in Chinese Studies from the University of London SOAS.
Participation
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2019 2024
Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Institute, at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Previously, he served as First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 2006 to 2011, and was Acting Managing Director during May-July 2011. Formerly Vice Chairman of the JPMorgan Investment Bank and JPMorgan’s Chief Economist, he also was Chief Economist of Salomon Brothers, Inc. from 1992 to 1997. He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Aspen Institute’s Program on the World Economy, and is the Vice Chair of the Bretton Woods Committee. He is the immediate past Chair of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Mr. Lipsky is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and of the Rock Creek Group, a Director of the American Council on Germany and a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.
Participation
2012 2013 2015 2016 2017 2019 2022 2023 2024
Senior vice president of Global Initiatives at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is responsible for the Chamber’s policy advocacy for the economic reform agenda of the G20, G7, and international institutions. He leads the Chamber’s participation in a range of global business coalitions and related business summits focused on sustainable economic policies. Further, he oversees the policy development of the Chamber’s Global Resource Sustainability Task Force, the International Policy Coalition for Sustainable Growth, the Global Business for Health Partnership, and dialogues with the IMF, the World Bank Group, OECD, and U.N. agencies, among other institutions. Previously, Litman served as the Chamber’s vice president for Europe and Eurasia. His public speaking experience includes testifying on behalf of the U.S. Chamber before the U.S. Congress, delivering keynotes and serving on panels at the United Nations, and participating in various international fora and major U.S. and international conferences. He has published papers on transatlantic policy, export controls, privatization, the oil and gas industry, and intellectual property.
Participation
2013 2015 2024
Global Head of Commodities Markets at Natixis, a company he joined in 2018. He has over twenty years of experience in the oil and energy derivative trading markets. He started his career in 1996 at Elf Trading (now Totalfina Elf) in Geneva as a junior oil trader. In 1998, he joined TFS in London, then moved to Crown Commodities the following year. In 2000, he joined BP, spending seven years with the firm in London and Chicago, establishing and running their worldwide oil options proprietary trading business and serving as Global Head of the oil derivatives trading and marketing teams. In 2007, he joined Morgan Stanley as a senior options trader in the oil derivatives trading desk. In 2009, he joined the Trafigura Group in Geneva, establishing and managing its energy trading fund. In 2013, he moved to Gunvor, also in Geneva, developing the firm’s proprietary options trading activity.
Participation
2023 2024
Professor of Geopolitics and International Relations and Senior Fellow at ESSEC Business School. He was elected Dean of the Faculté des sciences sociales et économiques, before being the President of the Catholic University of Paris. He was Director of the Direction de la Prospective (Policy Planning Staff) at the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. He graduated as valedictorian from the Institut d’études politiques of Paris. He also graduated in Law, Political Science and Philosophy and he holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Sociology. He is a member of the Ifri Strategic board and a member of the Editorial board of Études.
Participation
2011 2019 2022 2024
Acclaimed South African economist and entrepreneur. Between 2018 and 2023, she served the Presidency as full-time economic advisor to President Cyril Ramaphosa, driving the administration’s investment and reform agenda. Trudi also served as South Africa’s G20 sherpa, representing the President in the negotiations ahead of Leaders’ summits and meetings. Trudi currently serves as a board member of JSE-listed Spar Group and chairs the Social, Ethics and Sustainability committee. Trudi’s previous roles include being Deputy Commissioner of the Competition Commission of South Africa, and management consulting and corporate roles at Deloitte, Genesis Analytics and AngloGold Ashanti. Trudi holds an MBA and an MSc in Development Economics from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. From the University of Witwatersrand, she holds an MCom in Economics, an honours degree in economics and a BCom in Law and Economics. A former league debater, Trudi represented Wits at two World Universities Debating Championships (Manila 1999, Sydney 2000).
Participation
2024
Chief Economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Dr. Monica Malik has over 30 years of experience as an Economist specializing in the MENA region. Monica holds the position of Chief Economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, where she established the Economic research team. Previously, Monica was the Chief Economist at EFG Hermes and was the lead person in the Economics team. Before EFG Hermes, she was the Senior Economist for the MENA region at Standard Chartered, Dubai and at Dun & Bradstreet, London. Monica has authored a number of academic books and articles on Economic Development in the GCC. She has presented at a number of high profile conferences and participated in policy round table discussions, as well as appearing regularly in the international media. Monica holds a Ph.D. in Economic Development in the Middle East focusing on Private Sector Development in Saudi Arabia from the University of Durham in the UK.
Participation
2024
Social entrepreneur working in the fields of International Relations and Real Estate Development. His current projects include a film series, for which as filmmaker he has documented his interactions with economists, activists, politicians, diplomats, academics, and spiritual leaders amongst others, with the aim of exploring potential paths to a peaceful, just and sustainable world. The first film titled Birth of a Poet was an official selection at the Global Nonviolent Film Festival, 2019. Furthermore, Manu has penned a book that is slated for publication soon, in which he shares his findings about and reflections on what he describes as “an ever-elusive Global Harmony”. Having been in the real estate industry over the past several years, he has had extensive private sector experience previously as well in the fields of Information & Communication Technology, Finance, and Outsourcing. Manu is an Electronics and Communication engineer (R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore) and holds three Master’s degrees: MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University (School of Advanced International Studies, Washington D.C. and Bologna), Global Master in Real Estate Development from IE University (School of Architecture and Design, Madrid), and Master in Creative Writing from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona School of Management). He is fluent in English, Spanish, Hindi and Telugu.
Participation
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Chairman of the Federation of French Overseas companies (Fedom), President of the Franco-British Council. A member of parliament from 1993 to 2017, he was spokesman for the Republican group on the Finance Committee, special rapporteur for the budget for ecology and energy, transport, agriculture, Chairman of the friendship group with Russia, Vice-Chairman of the friendship group with the United Kingdom. He was Secretary for Overseas Territories in 2007. He is an associate member of the Conseil général de l’économie, a member of the editorial boards of « Commentaire » and « Annales des Mines ». He is a general engineer in the Corps des Mines, and he graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.
Participation
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2015 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Journalist and TV news anchor. Terry Martin is a Berlin-based broadcaster with decades of experience in international news. Formerly an anchor with CNN International, he is now Senior Anchor with DW News, Germany’s global service. He is also the Founder and Director of the research communications agency SPIA. As a television correspondent, he has provided live coverage from G7 summits, UN climate conferences, and multiple national elections. He has hosted scores of tv discussion programs and interviewed countless political and business leaders, scientists, and activists around the world. Frequently in demand as an event moderator, he has moderated major conferences for public and private-sector clients in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He is a regular host at GLOBSEC’s Bratislava Forum, The Warsaw Security Forum, and the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul. For several years, he served as Contributing Editor and Germany Correspondent for Europe Magazine and wrote a bimonthly newsletter on foreign investment. In 2010, he wrote the European Commission’s widely used guidebook “Communicating research for evidence-based policymaking”. Born in Canada, he studied English and philosophy at universities in the US (B.A. Elon College, Masters studies Wake Forest University) before moving to Germany shortly after the fall of The Berlin Wall.
Participation
2023 2024
Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Arthur Mattli graduated with a degree in law from the University of Fribourg. After assignments as Delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jerusalem, Damascus, Riyadh and Dubrovnik, an assistantship at the University of Fribourg and a research residency in New York, he joined the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. After an internship with the Political Affairs Division I in Bern and the Swiss Mission to the European Community in Brussels, he was leading the Economic and Trade Section of the Swiss Embassy in Beijing. He was later appointed Head of the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Section of the Directorate of International Law in Berne. He served as Deputy Head of mission of the Swiss Embassy in Nairobi and in New Delhi, and as Head of Mission of the Swiss Embassy in Bucharest until July 2023. Ambassador Mattli was Head of Division for Europe, Central Asia, Council of Europe and OSCE at the Directorate of Political Affairs in Bern. He was Head of Mission in Dar es Salaam, where he represented Switzerland at the East African Community and in Zambia. Ambassador Mattli is now serving as Head of Mission of the Swiss Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Participation
2023 2024
55th Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Kevin McCarthy is described as a man exuding “true American grit.” Prior to his election to Congress, McCarthy served as the fastest rising Minority Leader in the California State Legislature. In Congress, he held nearly every elected leadership position in the House Republican conference and served under four Presidents, during two economic crises, and through consistent political upheaval while always maintaining his approach to governing as a Happy Warrior. After his election to Speaker, McCarthy went on to secure $2T in deficit reduction. McCarthy’s decade and a half at the pinnacle of U.S. government has imbued him with powerful insights into politics, leadership, and values. Throughout his career, McCarthy fought for a more effective, efficient, and accountable federal government. McCarthy’s invaluable perspective as a Washington insider, as well as his sharp insights and analysis, make him the ideal voice on the future of the U.S.
Participation
2024
Special Envoy of the French President for IMEC, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. He has been appointed by Emmanuel Macron in late November 2023. Previously, M. Mestrallet served as Executive Chairman of the French Agency for AlUla (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) cultural, heritage and tourism development in cooperation with the Kingdom from 2018 to 2023. Gérard Mestrallet is a prominent figure of the French private sector after acting more than 21 years as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GDF SUEZ (now ENGIE; CAC 40 index) after the merger between SUEZ and Gaz de France on July 2008. In 2015, he was appointed by the government Chairman of the Business dialogue of the COP 21 which has contributed to the final agreement of the climate conference. He has held various positions at the Treasury Department and at the Cabinet office of the Minister of Economy and Finance (J. Delors) at the beginning of his career, before joining Compagnie Financière de SUEZ in 1984.
Participation
2024
Vice Chairman International of Rothschild & Cie. Before joining Rothschild in 1989 as General Partner, he was Managing Director of Lazard Frères & Cie from 1976 to 1988. Previously, from 1973 to 1976, he was Advisor to DATAR (Délégation à l’aménagement du territoire et à l’action régionale), an office of the French Prime Minister. He is a member of the Board of Ifri. He is a Commander of the Légion d’honneur. Graduate of the Institut d’études politiques de Paris, he holds a M.A. in Law and has attended the Ph.D. Management Program of Paris Dauphine University.
Participation
2011 2012 2013 2015 2017 2018 2021 2022 2023 2024
Managing Director of JMS Advisory – Directorship and Financial Services Advisory. Until mid 2022, he has held various senior management positions across BNP Paribas international network. His last position was CEO/Chairman of BNP Paribas Middle East and Africa for Corporate and Institutional Banking from 2015 to 2022. Between 2009 and 2015, he was CEO of BNP Paribas in India. Before joining BNP Paribas, he was Deputy CEO/Chief Risk Officer Asia-Pacific for Crédit Lyonnais, Calyon and Fortis Bank (1999-2009). Between 1995 – 1999, he was Country Manager of Crédit Lyonnais in Thailand and, between 1990 – 1995, Regional Manager of BFCE for South-East Asia based in Singapore. He has always been an active member of the Foreign Trade Advisors of France (CCEF, an official representative of the French business community overseas). He was Chairman of the Hong Kong Committee and is now President of the Bahrain Committee. He is Honorary Chairman of the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and also a member of the Advisory Board of the French-Bahraini Chamber of Commerce. He graduated from ESSEC.
Participation
2018 2021 2022 2023 2024
President Gas, Renewables & Power and member of the Executive Committee of TotalEnergies since 2021. In 2011, he became TotalEnergies E&P Qatar Managing Director and on April 1, 2014, the E&P Senior Vice President Middle East/North Africa and a Member of the Management Committee of the Exploration and Production segment. In 2008, Stéphane Michel was appointed TotalEnergies E&P Qatar JV Business Development Manager and in 2010 Managing Director of TotalEnergies E&P Libya. After serving as Energy Advisor to the French Finance Minister (2002-2004), Stéphane Michel joined the Group in 2005, working as Business Development Manager for TotalEnergies Downstream Asia, based in Singapore. A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique (1994) and the Ecole des Mines in Paris (1997).
Participation
2024
Director General a.i. of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy. In this role, he oversees the projects in the department, which contribute to domestic and international debates on issues relevant to the UAE’s foreign policy and diplomacy, and act as an impactful source of analysis for the UAE government. With a career spanning over 20 years in Middle East and European politics, H.E. served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Envoy to the Middle East Quartet between 2015 and 2020. In 2013 H.E. was appointed as United Nations Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). H.E. Mladenov was active in Bulgarian politics, both in government and opposition. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2013 and as the Minister of Defense from 2009 to 2010. H.E. was also a Member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2009. He also led the EU Election Observation Mission to Ghana for the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2008. In February 2021, he was awarded the Grand Star of the Order of Jerusalem by President Mahmoud Abbas. H.E. Mladenov was educated at King’s College London, where he obtained an MA in War Studies and prior to that he graduated from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, where he majored in International Relations.
Participation
2022 2024
Thierry de Montbrial is Executive Chairman of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), which he founded in 1979. He is Professor Emeritus at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers. In 2008, he launched the World Policy Conference. He has been a member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques of the Institut de France since 1992, and is a member of a number of foreign academies. He serves on the Board or Advisory Board of a number of international institutions. Thierry de Montbrial chaired the Department of Economics at the École polytechnique from 1974 to 1992. He was the first Chairman of the Foundation for Strategic Research (1993-2001). Entrusted with the creation of the Policy Planning Staff (Centre d’analyse et de prévision) at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was its first Director (1973-1979). He has authored more than twenty books, several of them translated in various languages, including Action and Reaction in the World System – The Dynamics of Economic and Political Power (UBC Press, Vancouver, Toronto, 2013) and Living in Troubled Times, A New Political Era (World Scientific, 2018). He is a Grand Officer of the Légion d’honneur, Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite. He has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun – Gold and Silver Star, Japan (2009), Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2016) and other state honors by the French and several foreign governments. Thierry de Montbrial is a graduate of the École polytechnique and the École des mines, and received a Ph.D. in Mathematical Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Participation
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Secretary-General of the University Leadership Council of the UAE. She was one of the dozen pioneer faculty members present at the creation of the American University of Sharjah, where she was subsequently elected by her peers as President of the University Faculty Senate, served as the Chairperson of the Department of International Studies, and was named as the founding Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs of the American University of Sharjah, serving as pillar of institutional advancement of the university and senior faculty in international law, until she assumed the Secretariat General of the ULC. She has held visiting professorships at leading universities and research institutions in the US and Europe, including the University of California, the University of Michigan, the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies of American University, and the Congressional Research Service of the US Congress. Her books include Globalization and the Gulf (UK: Routledge) and The Supreme Court of the United States Political Doctrine (UC Berkeley Press). She has been invited as a member of the board of Amideast, a member of the board of Catholic University of Saint Benedict’s, and a member of the Commission for the Safeguard of the National Monuments of France, amongst other prestigious boards.
Participation
2021 2022 2023 2024
Former Governor of the State of West Bengal, former Special Advisor and National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. Led India in institutionalized security and strategic dialogues with several countries including Brazil, France, Japan, Sri Lanka, Germany, Russia, UK and the USA. Prior to this, was Director of the Intelligence Bureau for two terms and Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. He also headed the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Developing an Integrated Capability to address Internal Security Challenges. He has dealt extensively with a whole range of issues concerning internal, national and global security, including aspects such as Counter-Terrorism, Counter-Intelligence and Strategic Analysis. He was awarded the Padma Shri, a National Order in 1992. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Madras.
Participation
2011 2013 2015 2016 2017 2021 2022 2023 2024
COO of Liquid.AI. Felix Naser is an experienced leader in the fields of technology and automotive software, currently serving as COO at Liquid AI. He has led international teams in academia, startups, and corporations, co-creating intelligent software and mobility solutions. Felix is the co-founder of Venti Technologies, an autonomous vehicle startup. He has also worked as a Global Software Project Lead at BMW Group. In addition to his role at Liquid AI, Felix has been an Angel Investor at Games of Tomorrow GmbH, a Product & Leadership Team member at Pallon, and Founder & Managing Director at SEN GmbH. Forbes 30 Under 30 lister, He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT.
Participation
2024
President of ECE Consultants SAL since 1982. Chairman of Phoenician Funds Holding (Lebanon), and Executive Director of the Mouflon Fund (Cyprus). He was a consultant at the OECD and Professor of Economics. He has been Chairman at the National Investment Guarantee Corporation (1993-2018) and economic and financial advisor at various GCC countries. He received a Master’s Degree in Economics from the American University of Beirut and a PhD in Economics from Paris.
Participation
2012 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2024
Associate Director at the Boston Consulting Group. Sanjay Nawandhar leads the BCG Center for Public Economics (CPE) and has over a decade of experience advising government ministries, investment agencies, and leading public and private sector organizations on economic transformation, policy design, and strategic planning. His expertise spans across the design of strategies to drive economic diversification and sustainable growth, economic modeling, and impact assessment. An expert on economic policy and localization, Sanjay has led multiple national-level initiatives, including the development of comprehensive trade strategies, investment frameworks, and government spending prioritization programs. He specializes in translating complex economic data into actionable insights, fostering alignment with long-term developmental goals. Sanjay is a gold medalist Chartered Accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance. He was honored as one of the “40 Under 40 Indian CA Business Leaders” by his alma mater, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, in partnership with CNBC.
Participation
2024
B20 Sherpa. As B20 Sherpa, Constanza Negri leads the strategic coordination of the B20 Brasil, ensuring the effective preparation, delivery, and advocacy of policy recommendations to advance global economic priorities. Her role encompasses fostering collaboration among global business leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders to address critical challenges such as sustainable growth, digital transformation, and inclusive trade. An experienced senior professional, Constanza has a proven track record of representing private sector interests and driving impactful international engagement with deep expertise in EU, Brazil, US, and Latin America and BRICS relations. Prior to her current position, Constanza served as Head of Trade and International Integration and Senior Advisor to the VP on International Economic Relations and Trade at CNI, where she joined in 2012. She also held the position of Deputy Director and Head of Policy for the Department of International Affairs at EUROCHAMBRES, where she led strategic work on EU Trade and Investment Policy, and EU-Brazil and EU-USA relations. Constanza’s academic background reinforces her expertise, with a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Bologna, an Advanced Diploma in European Studies from the European College of Parma, and a postgraduate degree in International Economic Relations and Regional Integration from the University of Barcelona.
Participation
2024
French Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates since December 2022. Mr. Nicolas Niemtchinow studied at École Nationale d’Administration (ENA), École Normale Supérieure (ENS), and Sciences Po Paris (IEP, Paris), BA and MA in History. He joined the Foreign Service in 1995. He holds the rank of Minister plenipotentiary. He was first desk officer for NATO and European Defense in the Strategic Affairs Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1995-1998). He was posted to the French Embassy in Moscow, as first Secretary, then to the French Embassy in Amman, as Deputy Head of Mission. He was subsequently appointed as Deputy Director of Strategic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2005-2009). He then served as the diplomatic adviser to the Minister of Defense (2010-2011) and Deputy Director of the State Minister’s private office at the Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs (2011-2012). He was appointed Ambassador, permanent representative of France to the United Nations’ Office in Geneva and to the international organizations in Switzerland (2012-2015) then Deputy General Director to the International Labour Organization (ILO, UN-Geneva) from 2015 to 2017. From October 2017 to November 2022, he served as Strategy Director at Ministry of Defense.
Participation
2023 2024
Former Ambassador of Switzerland to France (2002-2007). He joined the Foreign Service in 1971. He held several positions such as Ambassador to Guatemala and to other States of Central America, Head of the Swiss Delegation to UNESCO, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the international organizations in Geneva and chairman of FN Conseil. He contributes regularly to the Swiss newspaper Le Temps. He studied law and international relations at the University of Fribourg and the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva.
Participation
2013 2014 2015 2017 2018 2024
Founder and Chairwoman of Swift Property Holdings (Dubai-based REIT and prop tech), Founder and CEO of Blue Bridge (expert in generative AI adoption at scale and digital agents). Sylvie Ouziel is a board member of Covivio (REIT managing €25+bn assets) and Technion University. She has a track record of building and growing successful global technology-centric businesses. As CEO of Shared Platform for Publicis, the advertising global leader, she was notably in charge of AI and relationships with technology partners. Previously, based in Singapore, Sylvie was International President (for the world except China) of Envision, the “Net Zero thanks to technology” champion (AIoT, wind turbine and EV batteries). She was for eight years global CEO of Allianz Assistance (based in Singapore), the B2B2C travel, automotive, home and digital service leader and chairwoman of Allianz Managed Operations and Services (based in Munich). She has been global COO of Accenture Management Consulting where she spent twenty years helping clients transform and grow in the pharmaceutical, automotive and construction industries, and served in the board of M6 / RTL (TV and radio broadcasting) and Aperam, during IPO time. Sylvie graduated from Ecole Centrale Paris and holds an Accenture-sponsored Kellogg’s Northwestern Executive MBA.
Participation
2024
Distinguished Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He previously served as Vice Chairman of JPMorgan Chase International (2006-2008) and was an unofficial US representative to Taiwan as Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (2002-2006). He was on the National Security Council staff of Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush between 1986 and 1993, as Director of Asian Affairs and then as Senior Director and Special Assistant to the President. Paal held positions in the policy planning staff at the State Department, as a Senior Analyst for the CIA, and at US embassies in Singapore and Beijing. He has spoken and published frequently on Asian affairs and national security issues.
Participation
2016 2017 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024
Managing Director of Pure Harvest & PlanTFarm JV Operations, Joint venture business between a leading CEA company in UAE and a leading indoor vertical farm company in Korea. He has 30+ years of experiences in brand strategies, global marketing management, and product innovation, with sector-specific expertise in both IT and food industries. Previously, he served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Coway, and before that as the Vice President of Global Marketing at Samsung Electronics. As the Head of Product Planning and Management, he led the global refrigerator business at Samsung Electronics. He also served as the Head of Product Strategy & Innovations at Bowers&Wilkins and the Vice President at General Mills. Other prior experiences in food sector, incl. Kellogg’s, and IT sector, incl. Motorola. Mr. Park received a M.A. in Marketing from University of Alabama and BBA from Korea University.
Participation
2023 2024
Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva since 2021. Before this, Mr. Jean-Marie Paugam was the Permanent Representative of France to the WTO. He has held various Senior Management responsibilities on Trade, Development and International Finance, with the French Treasury and with the UN system (International Trade Center). He also was Senior Research Fellow with the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), France’s leading think tank on international affairs. Mr. Paugam graduated in 1993 from the French National Administration School (ENA) and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Law as well as a Diploma of Political Sciences from the University of Aix-Marseille.
Participation
2022 2024
Senior Distinguished Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). He is a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (January 2021 to March 2024), serving as Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Sudan and Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) from 2021 to 2023. Prior to this, from October 2005 to September 2020, Volker Perthes was Executive Chairman and Director of SWP (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik), the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. In 2015-2016, he also served as UN Assistant Secretary-General and Senior Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria; from 2016 to 2018 he chaired the Ceasefire Task Force (CTF) for Syria on behalf of the UN. Volker Perthes earned his doctoral degree in 1990 from the University of Duisburg. He was an assistant professor at the American University of Beirut from 1991 to 1993 and has been teaching International Relations at Humboldt University Berlin and other schools.
Participation
2008 2011 2019 2021 2023 2024
Managing Partner of the Clean Energy Forum (CEF) and Managing Director of Pflüger International GmbH. He is Senior Advisor at Berlin Global Advisors (BGA) and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Zukunft Gas (The Voice of the Gas and Hydrogen Economy). He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Climate, Energy and Mobility (IKEM) and Senior Fellow at the Global Energy Centre of the Atlantic Council, Washington D.C. He has previously served as press secretary to former German President Richard von Weizsäcker. He was also a member of the Bundestag (1990-2006), Chairman of the Bundestag Committee on the Affairs of the European Union (1998-2004) and Deputy Minister of Defense in the first Merkel Government (2005-2006).
Participation
2011 2017 2022 2023 2024
Co-founder and CEO of TiLT Capital Partners, an asset management company dedicated to energy transition. Its first fund focused on growth capital for European SMEs in the sector has reached €320m in subscriptions. To date, TiLT has invested in 9 companies in France, Germany, Spain and Norway. Up until 2018, Nicolas was SVP in charge of M&A and Corporate Development for Engie, a Paris based energy company employing then over 150 000 people across 70 countries. He’s been working in the field of energy and project development / M&A for the last 18 years, after 5 years in HR working on social sustainability. He is also a First Mover Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Currently based in Paris, Nicolas lived in Brussels and Rome and spent a lot of time on transactions in the US, China, Russia, South-East Asia and South America. Sustainability and ethics have been at the core of his motivation, fueled by his graduation in Philosophy and Political Sciences and translated into a PhD in Economics on this topic, earned magna cum laude from Paris-Dauphine university.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Deputy Director General and Scientific Director of the French Geological Survey BRGM. He is in charge of defining and implementing the overall scientific strategy of BRGM in the field of water and global warming, critical raw materials and circular economy, natural and technological risks, the development of geological knowledge and associated numerical data and services. He is also for 2023 and 2024 the Elected president of EuroGeoSurveys, association of the European National Geological Surveys. Before joining BRGM, Christophe Poinssot worked for 25 years in the French Atomic and Alternative Energy Commission (CEA) where he held several management positions in the field of R&D. From 2008 to 2018, he directed the CEA research department in charge of developing the recycling technologies of nuclear fuels, before being from 2018 to 2020, the Nuclear Counsellor at the French Embassy in China (Beijing) and the CEA Representative in this country. At CEA, he developed a recognized expertise in environmental and nuclear chemistry. He authored over 60 papers in international journals (impact factor >28), over 120 oral presentations in international conferences, and has been teaching in many universities and engineering school. His work in the 2010’s on the environmental footprint and the sustainability of nuclear energy, was awarded in 2017 by the Roger Van Geen Prize from the Foundation for Scientific Research (Belgium). He is decorated as Officer of the Palmes Académiques since 2017. Christophe Poinssot is a former student from the École Normale Supérieure of Paris where he graduated in Earth Sciences and Materials Science. He got his Ph.D in Materials Science in 1997 from the Paris University, an HDR (Habilitation to Manage Research) in 2007 in Chemistry from the Saclay University, and was awarded from the Institute of National Defense Studies (IHEDN) in 2023.
Participation
2023 2024
Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of Shanghai Development Research Foundation (SDRF) which is a non-profit institution with the purpose of promoting research on the issues of development. Outside Expert for International Finance and Economy at the Ministry of Finance. Mr. Qiao was enrolled into Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 1985. After graduation, he entered Harvard Institute for International Development and did research work. In 1995, he returned to China as Chief Representative and Managing Director of New York Life until May, 2003. Then he entered Shanghai Development Research Foundation, as responsible for the daily work, a position he still holds today. Prior to studying in the United States, he conducted research at the Institute of World Economy, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, as an Assistant Director. He is the author of Great Changes in Global Finance (2021) and China’s Integration into Global Financial System and its Impact on the Rest of the World (2019).
Participation
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University, President Emeritus and Counselor of the Israel Institute (Washington and Tel Aviv), and a Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is also the Vice Chairman of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv. He served as Ambassador of Israel to the United States and Chief Negotiator with Syria in the mid-1990s, and as the President of Tel Aviv University (1999-2007). Prof. Rabinovich has been a member of Tel Aviv University’s faculty since 1971. He co-authored a book with Itai Brun, Israel Facing a New Middle East: In Search of a National Security Strategy (Hoover Institution Press, 2017). The same year, he published the biography of Yitzhak Rabin (Yale University Press). In 2023, he published Middle Eastern Maze: Israel, the Arabs, and the Region, 1948 – 2022 (Brookings Institution Press).
Participation
2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2021 2022 2023 2024
Partner in Dentons’ Paris Sovereign Advisory group. Ramu focuses his practice on supporting governments and government-related entities on the development and financing of resources and energy-related projects. Ramu is also an expert in non-contentious infrastructure law and has spent most of his career advising on the development of large-scale energy (including oil and gas) and infrastructure projects all around the world (notably South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India). His expertise, both as an in-house and a private-practice lawyer, stems from many years of drafting and negotiating projects and associated commercial agreements making him one of the most sought-after international commercial lawyers in his areas of expertise. Currently a lot of his work is in Africa and South America. Ramu’s diverse experience gives him a very unique skill set and ability to quickly identify his clients’ needs and place them in a commercial context to get projects done.
Participation
2024
Foreign Desk Editor of Les Echos, the French business newspaper. Previously, she was the daily newspaper’s New York correspondent (2008-2012), where she covered the financial crisis and the two Obama presidential elections. Earlier in her career at Les Echos, she held various positions as an IT writer and created in 2000 a special section dedicated to the internet economy and to innovation. Her first job was as a business writer for 01 Informatique, the leading IT trade magazine in France. She is the author of a book L’irrésistible montée de l’économie sociale, Editions Autrement, published in March 2007. In 2021-2022, she was an auditor at the Collège des hautes études de l’institut diplomatique. Virginie is the vice President of the European-American Press Club in Paris and a member of the French Diplomatic Press Association. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Valparaiso University, IN. and a Master of Journalism from Medill School, Northwestern University, ILL.
Participation
2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2023 2024
Acceleration Manager within the Interministerial Digital Directorate, his role revolves around empowering state startups to increase their impact and scale their operations. Prior to joining the Prime Minister’s office, he had the opportunity to work for Jane Street, Google, the French railway group SNCF and the e-commerce giant Wayfair. He holds an engineering degree from corps des mines and Ecole polytechique, as well as a MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Participation
2021 2022 2023 2024
Head of direct investments at the UAE Sovereign Wealth Fund ($100 billion AuM), Global Tech and Digital Infrastructure Investor. With over three decades of transformative experience in private equity and corporate development, he has overseen 100 investments totaling $24 billion across major tech hubs worldwide, establishing himself as a leading figure in advanced technology investments. Championing the transformative power of technology to drive economic growth and social progress, he remains committed to innovative and sustainable solutions addressing global challenges. His career is distinguished by trailblazing contributions that have shaped our current digital ecosystem such as mobile networks as a co-founder of Bouygues Telecom (1995); telecoms, Internet, digital TV as a PE investor at Apax Partners (1998); mobile broadband as a founder of Qualcomm Ventures Europe (2006); cloud computing, virtualization and IoT as the leader of Cisco Investment International and its €3-billion European deep tech strategy (2012-2016). His investments in 5G, Cloud, AI, Cybersecurity, New Space and Quantum have significantly propelled the growth of numerous technology leaders. Graduated from Sorbonne University (MBA) and ECE Paris (Engineering), Mr. Rombaut has taught private-equity for two decades, exemplifying his commitment to knowledge-sharing.
Participation
2024
Managing Director of Eiffel Investment Group and SEO of Eiffel IME, established in Abu Dhabi. He led the development of the firm in France before setting up the office in Abu Dhabi in 2023. Eiffel is an independent asset manager focused on green and sustainable investments. With close to $10bn AUM, it operates globally and manages funds on behalf of major institutional investors. Alexis held previous positions in the insurance and asset management industry in Paris and London. He has been a Professor at HEC Paris and Université Paris Dauphine in philosophy and economy. He currently teaches in the philosophy department of Sorbonne Abu Dhabi. He is also the author of several books including La vocation de l’investisseur à la lumière de la Doctrine Sociale (collective work, 2022), and L’économie science barbare (2023). He graduated from HEC Paris and Sorbonne University.
Participation
2024
Member of the Deutscher Bundestag and member of the Foreign affairs committee. He served as Chairman of the Committee from 2014 until 2021. From 2009 to 2012, he was Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. He has been a Member of the German Parliament since 1994. During his mandate Dr. Röttgen has fulfilled key functions within the Christian Democratic Party (CDU). Dr. Röttgen, who is a lawyer by profession, holds a PhD in Law from Bonn University. He is the Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and Board Member of various institutions, such as the Atlantik-Brücke, Asia House, Club of Three, the Hertie School of Governance Berlin and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
Participation
2016 2023 2024
Professor at the RSCAS and adjunct professor at the School of Transnational Governance (European University Institute, Florence). Prof. Roy has been a Senior Researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (since 1985), professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (since 2003), and visiting professor at Berkeley University (2008/2009). He has a PhD in political sciences and a Master in Persian language and civilization (INALCO-1972). He is the author of, among other books, “The failure of political Islam” (Harvard University Press, 1994), “Globalized Islam” (Columbia University Press, 2004), “Holy Ignorance” (Hurst/ Oxford University Press, 2010), “Jihad and Death”, (Hurst/OUP 2017), “In search of the Lost Orient”, (Columbia UP, 2017), “The Crisis of Culture”, Hurst/ Oxford UP 2024.
Participation
2024
Economist and policy analyst in the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Emerging Technologies division of the OECD. Her work focuses on analysing national AI strategies, policies, and regulatory approaches, as well as coordinating AI country reviews. Lucia Russo also leads the development of a composite measurement framework for AI. Before joining the OECD, Lucia served as an economist in the Digital Economy and Skills Unit at the European Commission’s Directorate General CONNECT, where she designed digital skills policies and led the evaluation of EU digital research programmes. Lucia holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Roma Tre.
Participation
2024
Chairman and CEO of Poongsan Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of copper products and munitions. He is actively involved in numerous business organizations, most notably as Chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), Chairman of the Korea-U.S. Business Council, Chairman of the Seoul Forum for International Affairs (SFIA) and Chairman of the Korea-France Club. Additionally, he supports a number of philanthropic organizations worldwide. He serves on the Board of Governors of the PGA Tour’s First Tee Program, and is Board Chairman of the Pearl S. Buck Foundation Korea as well as Vice Chairman of the Korea Mecenat Association. He also serves his alma mater Seoul National University as a member of the Advisory Committee at the Institute for Future Strategy.
Participation
2011 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2024
Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics (IOG) and the Asia Pacific Initiative (API), based in the International House of Japan. He focuses on economic and health security, sanctions, international conflicts, and Japan’s foreign policy. From 2018 to 2020, Mr. Sagara served as Assistant Director of the Second Northeast Asia Division (North Korea desk) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. From 2015 to 2018, he served in the Guidance and Learning Unit within the Policy and Mediation Division of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs in New York, where he analyzed and disseminated best practices and lessons learned from UN preventive diplomacy and political engagements. From 2013 to 2015, he served in the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Sudan, based in Khartoum. He also worked at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Headquarters and at DeNA, a Japanese provider of mobile portal and e-commerce websites. Mr. Sagara has been widely published and spoke on public policy. He co-authored a report, “The Independent Investigation Commission on the Japanese Government’s Response to COVID-19: Report on Best Practices and Lessons Learned” (Discover 21, 2021).
Participation
2024
Senior Vice President of Raban Al-Safina (Group), a pioneering private sector entity driving energy transition in Iraq. In this capacity, Mr. Saihood has played a pivotal role to continuously spearhead strategic projects that not only bolster the nation’s economy but also contribute to its overall development. Through substantial investments with added-value propositions to clients, he has propelled the group to the forefront of Iraq’s energy revolution. In the sphere of energy generation, Mr. Saihood has overseen two of the country’s most significant infrastructure projects; the Maisan Combined Cycle Power Plant, and the Amara Combined Cycle Power Plant. His leadership in the oil and gas sector has included groundbreaking initiatives such as the execution of two complex projects in the gas sector: the Buzurgan Pipeline Project and the Bin Umar Development Project. These strategic endeavors not only reduce Iraq’s dependency on neighboring countries for the supply of gas fuel, but also yields sustainable and positive environmental outcomes.
Participation
2024
COO and Executive Vice President of Raban Al-Safina Group (RAS Group). Mr. Saihood’s strategic leadership has been pivotal in expanding the group into a conglomerate comprising 28 companies across diverse industries, including oil & gas, power production, education, banking and financial services, security services, construction and turn-key solutions, consultancies, IT infrastructure and AI solutions, real estate development, and industrial facilities. Guided by a deep understanding of Iraq’s developmental priorities, Mr. Saihood has steered RAS Group’s operations towards bolstering key sectors such as energy, infrastructure, and technology. Under his stewardship, RAS Group has emerged as a driving force behind Iraq’s industrial advancement, aligning its endeavors with the nation’s vision for economic growth and prosperity. As the COO, he has been guiding the operations of several industrial facilities of the group, including a leading manufacturing factory for power distribution substations and components under the license of Siemens Energy, a state-of-the-art heavy engineering fabrication workshop, and a gas turbine capital parts repair-shop in partnership with EthosEnergy.
Participation
2024
Attorney-at-law at Jones Day. His practice focuses on regulatory compliance and encompasses a broad range of government regulations, product safety, installment sales regulations, commercial transactions regulations, foreign direct investment regulation, energy and environment, and competition law. He represents various clients in civil disputes. He spent 35 years at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. During his tenure as Director-General of the Trade Policy Bureau and Vice Minister for International Affairs, he worked in the field of international trade policy. He served as Chief Executive Assistant to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (2009-2010).
Participation
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024
Head of the Turkey / Middle East program at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri). She joined Ifri in 2002 to work on the European policies in the Mediterranean region and in the Middle East, on the regional political and economic dynamics and on the Arab policy of France. She started the “Contemporary Turkey” research program in 2008, to follow the emergence of Turkey as a global power. Her present research focuses on Turkish diplomacy, new regional conflicts and their impact on Middle East economies. She directed the book entitled La Turquie au Moyen-Orient : une puissance régionale ? (Turkey in the Middle East: a regional power?), published by CNRS éditions in December 2011, and authored La Turquie en cent questions (A Hundred questions about Turkey, Tallandier, 2023). She graduated from Sciences Po Paris. She holds a postgraduate degree in applied economics and a PhD in political science.
Participation
2008 2012 2016 2019 2022 2023 2024
Chairman of Investisseurs et Partenaires (I&P), member of the Académie des technologies and French General Inspector of Finance. Since 2010, he has been committed to social investments in Africa. He served as Director in charge of international development at the Ministry of Cooperation and Development, Vice President of the World Bank for Eastern Asia, and CEO of France’s International Development Agency (AFD) from 2001 to 2010. He has been Director of the board of EIB and Orange, lead director of the Board of Danone, and chaired the Board of Ecobank International. He is a Board member and chairman of the governance committee of Michelin. He is a senior fellow of FERDI, the Fondation pour les études et la recherche sur le développement international, for which he published in 2024 several papers related to global governance, Africa’s economic issues and impact investment. His last book, co-written with Jérémy Hadjenberg, Entreprenante Afrique, dedicated to African entrepreneurship was published in 2017 by Odile Jacob.
Participation
2011 2012 2013 2017 2022 2023 2024
UAE Assistant Foreign Minister for Advanced Science and Technology. In this capacity, H.E. represents the Emirates on the global stage in the fields of advanced science, technology, and space. In June 2022, he was appointed chair of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Previously, Omran Sharaf served as the Project Director for the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai. He led the development, launch, and operation of the Hope probe, which successfully reached Mars’s orbit on February 9, 2021. Omran played a crucial role in transitioning MBRSC from focusing on Earth observation satellites to interplanetary exploration capabilities. An experienced electronics and systems engineer trained in the US and South Korea, Omran Sharaf previously developed the Command & Data Handling Subsystem (C&DH) for the DubaiSat-1 satellite and led the C&DH and payload electronics subsystems for DubaiSat-2. Prior to his work on the Emirates Mars Mission, Omran was the Director of the Programs Management Department at MBRSC, overseeing new strategic programs and ensuring the success of various space missions. Omran holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia (2005) and a Master’s in Science and Technology Policy from KAIST, South Korea (2013).
Participation
2024
Former member of the Israeli Knesset (member for 30 years). Born in Morocco, he emigrated to Israel in 1957 and served in a number of high-level cabinet positions, including Minister of the Interior, Minister of Housing and Construction, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of Intelligence Affairs and the Committee of Atomic Energy, Minister of Transportation and Minister of Education, Culture and Sports. He was first elected to the Knesset in 1981 and served as Mayor of the City of Yavne. He holds a BA and a MA from Bar-Ilan University. He is Head of leadership & public management in the MBA program at Ruppin Academic Center.
Participation
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2017 2019 2022 2024
Former Ambassador of Israel to France. During his 27-year long career in Israel’s diplomatic service, he also served as Director of European Affairs, Spokesman of the Foreign Ministry and Consul General in San Francisco. He has extensive experience in European Affairs and has participated in several chapters of Arab-Israeli negotiations, in particular while working with the late Shimon Peres. He has for many years taken part in devising media strategies for the Foreign Ministry and is considered an expert on public diplomacy. Since leaving the Foreign Service, he serves as a private consultant and teaches Diplomacy at Tel Aviv University. He is among the leaders of the “Track II Environmental Forum”, an Israeli-Palestinian NGO devoted to resolving cross-border environmental challenges through environmental diplomacy. Since October 7 2013, he has been directing the international operations of the Forum of Families of Hostages, a civil society-based NGO.
Participation
2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2024
Ambassador (retired), inaugural Director of AJC Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Center for Arab-Jewish Understanding. Ambassador Sievers was a U.S. diplomat for more than 30 years, serving across the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in Turkey, including postings in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman from 2016 to 2019, he joined AJC in 2021 after a stint as Non-resident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council. As Director of AJC Abu Dhabi, Ambassador Sievers is building on over 25 years of AJC engagement with governments and civil society in key Arab states. Heading the first office of a global Jewish organization in an Arab or Muslim-majority country, Ambassador Sievers is focused on deepening ties with the leadership and people of the Arabian Gulf, promoting the consolidation of the historic Abraham Accords, and serving as a bridge between the American Jewish community and the region. Ambassador Sievers received a BA from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in International Relations and Middle East Studies from Columbia University. His professional awards include the State Department’s Meritorious and Superior Honor awards, the Intelligence Community’s Agency Shield and Exceptional Collector awards, and the American Foreign Service Association’s Sinclaire Award for his study of Arabic language and culture.
Participation
2024
CEO of the American Hospital of Paris since 2017, a worldwide renowned, non-for-profit hospital. From 2014 to 2016, he has been President and Chief Commercial Officer of InSightec, the leading MedTech company for MR guided Focused Ultrasound. Previously he spent seven years at General Electric Healthcare, first in the Hospital and Healthcare Solutions business unit (2007-2009), then as General Manager and President of GE Healthcare France (2010-2013), a business unit in charge of commercializing medical equipment and service with an annual turnover of €400M. Prior to joining the industry, Robert Sigal had a seventeen-year career at Institut Gustave Roussy, the largest comprehensive cancer center in France. He was successively staff radiologist, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Radiology, and Executive Medical Director.
Participation
2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Founder and President of Synergia, a strategic affairs do tank that provides insights and advisory services to industry, government and research institutions in geopolitics, security, and economics. He was a Commissioner with the Global Commission for Internet Governance and a member of the Trilateral Commission. He served as an advisory board member for six years at The Centre for New American Security and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is University topper, a special invitee of the Prime Minister, holds a postgraduate degree in management, graduated from Harvard Business School, and is a Research Associate at MIT.
Participation
2013 2014 2015 2016 2018 2022 2023 2024
Ambassador of France. He was advisor to the French Foreign Minister and the Minister of Cooperation. He served in numerous embassies all over the world, notably as Counselor and Consul General before being appointed as French Ambassador to Central African Republic (1996-2001), to Nigeria (2001-2003), to Gabon (2003-2008), and to Côte d’Ivoire (2009-2012). He was also a Representative to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and to the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). . He was alternate MP of Oise from 2012 to 2022, and is currently Chairman of Eurafrique Stratégies SAS. He graduated from Paris II Assas University in Public Law.
Participation
2012 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2024
Executive Director of Capgemini Ventures, since January 2019, Ms. Lucia Sinapi graduated from ESSEC business school (1986) and started her career as a tax and business lawyer in 1986, was admitted to the Paris bar (1989), before joining Capgemini in 1992. She was successively Group Tax Advisor (1992), head of Corporate Finance, Treasury and Investors Relations (1999), taking over Risk Management and Insurance in 2005. She was appointed Deputy Chief Financial Officer in 2013, and from January 2016 Executive Director of Business Platforms Unit. Lucia Sinapi-Thomas is a member of the Board of Directors of Bureau Veritas since May 2013 and Dassault Aviation since May 2014, and has been a Board member of Capgemini from 2012 to 2024.
Participation
2021 2022 2023 2024
Head of research on Emerging countries and Global Geopolitics at Crédit Agricole Group’s Economic Research Department. She used to be head of the Master’s in finance and strategy, at Sciences Po Paris, where she is still teaching economics and country risk analysis. She was several times jury member for the National School of Administration. She has been expert for the European Commission and member of the London Club for the restructuring of Russian debt. She has conducted numerous research papers on geopolitical risk assessment in the financial sector. She is also an author and has published six novels.
Participation
2024
Member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques. Agrégé in Public Law, he is Emeritus Professor of Public Law, University of Paris Panthéon-Assas, where he set up the Master of International Relations (2000-2012). He was Deputy Director of the UNIDIR, Geneva (1986-1996) and ad hoc Judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (2009-2012). He is the founder and was Director (1999-2012) of the Thucydides Center-Analysis and Research in International Relations, and Director (2000-2020) of the French Yearbook of International Relations (AFRI). He is also Editor-in-chief of the bimonthly journal Questions internationales since 2003 (Documentation française). In 2008, he received the Edouard Bonnefous Award from the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, Institut de France.
Participation
2009 2010 2011 2012 2014 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2024
Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo, and Director of the Institute of Geoeconomics at International House of Japan. He graduated from the Department of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, and received a Ph.D. from the Sussex European Institute. He has worked in the Fondation pour la recherche stratégique in Paris as assistant researcher. He was also Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba from 2000 to 2008 and served as Professor of International Politics at Hokkaido University until 2020. He served as an expert in the Panel of Experts for the Iranian Sanction Committee under the United Nations Security Council from 2013 to 2015. He currently serves many advisory committees of the government of Japan, inter alia, the National Space Policy Committee of the Cabinet Office, the Government of Japan, and is the President of Japan Association of International Security and Trade. His research focuses on the conjunction of science/technology and international relations; subjects including economic security, space policy, sanctions, non-proliferation, and export control. His recent work includes Space and International Politics (2011), Policy Logics and Institutions of European Space Collaboration (2003), editing work includes Economic security and technological advantage (2023) in Japanese, and many others.
Participation
2021 2022 2023 2024
President of Berit International Holding SA, President of Batiliban-France, Franco-Arab Consortium for development, board member of the executive committee of the Franco-Arab Chamber of Commerce, Paris, board member and founding member of the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce, Beyrouth. He was Advisor to the Lebanese President for the French-speaking world (1986-1988) and Advisor to the Minister of Finance for the private sector (1999-2001). He is the author of numerous books and studies on economic development, environment and land-use planning. He graduated from the Institut d’Urbanisme, Paris-Sorbonne University.
Participation
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Managing Partner, in charge of the Investor Relations team at Eurazeo. With over 15 years of experience in alternative asset management, Mathieu joined Eurazeo in 2015 to accelerate the firm’s international expansion. With his team, Mathieu collaborates with institutional investors and wealth managers globally to understand their specific investment needs, offer first-class investment solutions, and deliver tailored client servicing. Prior to joining Eurazeo, Mathieu was a Senior Advisor to Everest Capital, a Miami and Singapore-based investment manager focusing on emerging markets. Before that, he oversaw the development of the European and Middle Eastern business of Protégé Partners, a New York-based fund of hedge funds specializing in seed money for hedge funds. More recently, Mathieu has overseen Rothschild & Co’s development in the Middle East as a Senior Advisor. Mathieu holds a Master’s degree in Law and Political Science from Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne University and has taught criminal justice at the Sorbonne in Abu Dhabi. He is admitted to the Paris Bar and is also an auditor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Diplomatic Institute.
Participation
2024
Senior AI Advisor for the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Lee Tiedrich is a widely recognized leader in artificial intelligence, data, and emerging technologies. She is also a member of both the OECD and Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) AI expert groups and co-chairs both the GPAI Responsible AI Strategy for the Environment (RAISE) committee and the GPAI Intellectual Property Advisory Committee. She’s also a member of the OECD Expert Group on AI, Data, and Privacy, and a Senior Adviser for the International Scientific Report on Advanced AI Safety, funded by the UK government following the Bletchley Park Summit and led by Yoshua Bengio. The European Union’s newly established AI Office has selected her to serve in the working group developing AI Codes of Practice.
With a degree in electrical engineering and over 30 years of legal experience, Lee has a long career helping organizations navigate uncertainty to achieve their objectives. She was a partner at the global law firm Covington & Burling LLP, where she led the firm’s global and multi-disciplinary AI Initiative and counselled organizations on a broad range of data and technology matters, including digital transformation, AI and data governance, policy, intellectual property, regulatory, transactions, and other corporate matters. Lee holds three appointments at Duke University, including Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Law and Responsible Technology, Executive in Residence, and Responsible Technology Scholar in AI Health.
Lee speaks frequently to government leaders and at leading institutions, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Federal Judicial Center, the National Judicial College, the OECD, COP-27, GPAI, WIPO, the UN AI High Level Advisory Board, UNESCO, and at leading universities. She has
held leadership positions with the American Bar Association and has served as a peer reviewer for Oxford University Press. She has been selected for Marquis’ Who’s Who, CIOLook’s 10 Best Leaders of the AI Age – Shaping a New Technological Era – 2024, and CIO Business World’s 10 Most Visionary Women Leaders in AI Creating Global Impact, 2024. She received a Duke Women Innovators Award in 2023.
Lee is a member of the CEIMIA Board of Directors and the Editorial Board of the Journal for AI Law and Regulation and has several publications. Lee served on the Biden Campaign Policy Committee and is registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office. She
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and earned a B.S.E. in electrical engineering from Duke University, with both Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi honors. Prior to joining the Duke faculty, she chaired the Strategy Committee of the Duke Engineering School Board of Visitors and was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Participation
2024
Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He joined the Organization in January 2019 as Assistant Director-General for the Economic and Social Development Department. Previously, he was the World Bank Group Executive Director for Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay since November 2016 and before joining the Bank, Mr. Torero led the Division of the Markets, Trade, and Institutions at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). His major research work lies mostly in analyzing poverty, inequality, importance of geography and assets (private or public) in explaining poverty, and in policies oriented towards poverty alleviation based on the role played by infrastructure, institutions, and on how technological breakthroughs (or discontinuities) can improve the welfare of households and small farmers. His experience encompasses Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Senior Managing Partner at Ardian (the leading investment firm, 170 Bn of AUM) and Global Head of International Affairs. He is also Vice President of the French GCC Business councils at MEDEF International, the French largest business organization as well as Head of the Sovereign Wealth Funds Council. Prior to joining Ardian, he had served in the French Foreign Office for 15 years, including as MENA advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is Board Member at Siaci Saint Honoré Group (Paris), a leading European insurance brokerage firm and at Dedalus, a world leader in IT software solutions for healthcare. François-Aïssa Touazi is Knight of the Legion of Honor.
Participation
2023 2024
Group Head of Investment Banking at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Group Head of International Banking, Chairman of FAB Private Bank Suisse, member of the Executive Committee. With a focus on regional expansion, Martin has led the development of the FAB product proposition and the client coverage model and is reinforcing FAB’s positioning as a regional leader in the Investment Banking space. Prior to joining FAB, Martin held several senior positions within HSBC group, including Deputy Chairman and CEO for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, and was Group General Manager at HSBC. He was also the CEO for HSBC Australia and for HSBC Korea and held senior leadership positions over two decades at HSBC Global Banking and Markets across the Middle East, the UK and Europe. In addition to leading FAB’s Investment Banking franchise, Martin is also a trustee of the University Paris II Assas, Sorbonne, and was appointed French Foreign Trade Advisor by French Prime Minister decree in 2001. Martin graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, holds a Master’s in Law from La Sorbonne University, Paris, and a bachelor’s degree in history from Paris Nanterre University.
Participation
2023 2024
Former President of the French “Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques”. He is honorary chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bruegel Institute (Brussels), honorary chairman of the Group of Thirty (Washington) and former European Chairman of the Trilateral Commission. Jean-Claude Trichet was President of the European Central Bank (2003-2011). He was Governor of Banque de France (1993-2003) and Undersecretary of the French Treasury (1987- 1993). He was President of the Paris Club (debt rescheduling) (1985-1993), President of the European Monetary Committee (1992-1993), President of the Group of 10 Central Banks Governors and President of the Global economy meeting in Basel (2002-2011). He was President of Sogepa (Société de Gestion des Participations Aéronautiques) (2012-2013) and Director of Airbus Group (2012-2018). He was named “Person of the Year” by the Financial Times in 2007 and n° 5 of the “World Most Powerful” in the Newsweek list (2008). Born in Lyon in 1942, Jean-Claude Trichet is an honorary inspecteur général des Finances and ingénieur civil des Mines. He is a graduate of the Institut d’études politiques de Paris, of the Université de Paris (in economics) and of the École Nationale d’Administration. Jean-Claude Trichet has been awarded honorary doctorates by several universities.
Participation
2008 2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Global Head of Official Institutions Coverage at Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank. Emmanuelle Trochu started her career in 1994 in Banque de France as a forex trader and then Foreign Exchange Reserves Portfolio Manager. She participated in several European working groups to prepare the ECB foreign exchange reserves set up. She joined Credit Agricole group in 2000 as a Central Banks Sales. She became Global Head of the central bank sales team in 2006 and has worked in Paris in London. In 2016 she was appointed Head of Sales for Financial Institutions in France and Belgium on top of her role as Head of the Central banks sales team. She joined Ca-cib coverage in 2020, as Head of the Official Institutions sector. In this capacity she oversees the activity of Crédit Agricole CIB with Sovereigns, Supranationals, State Agencies, Sovereign Wealth Funds and Central Banks, across geographies. Emmanuelle Trochu holds a master in French Litterature, she graduated from Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (Master in Finance). She is an Eisenhower Fellow (2015 global program).
Participation
2023 2024
CEO at TD International, a top global advisor on geopolitical strategy, market intelligence, and risk compliance. Prior to joining TDI, he served as CEO of Veracity Worldwide, the New-York based risk advisory firm. He previously was a leader at McKinsey & Company on strategy and risk management topics spanning five continents and multiple industries. As a career Foreign Service Officer, he had tours as Chief of Staff at the US Embassy in Pakistan and as Special Assistant to then-Deputy Secretaries of State William Burns and Antony Blinken, with additional diplomatic postings in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, and at the US Mission to the OSCE. Jay is a US Navy reserve Foreign Area Officer specialized in Europe and Africa. He is a former Fulbright Scholar, Boren Fellow, and Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. He holds degrees from Stanford, Harvard, and the Fletcher School at Tufts, and he speaks French, German, and Russian.
Participation
2023 2024
Mercy Ships International Diplomatic Ambassador for Africa since 2022. She facilitates partnerships with governments, diplomatic entities and communities, supporting Mercy Ships’ mission to deliver free medical and surgical care to those in need across the African continent. In May 2022, she played a key role in the christening of the Global Mercy™ – the organization’s flagship hospital ship, in Dakar, Senegal. A distinguished pediatrician and reproductive health specialist, Dr Tuakli was the first African woman clinical professor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Her work in there contributed to the creation of a special Community Medicine Department at Children’s Hospital of Boston. She was the Founder and Medical Director of CHILD Accra in Ghana, and her contributions to child health education in Africa and the USA have been internationally lauded. As the first female Rotary president in Ghana, she advanced child protection legislation for Africa’s children, earning recognition from the African Union. She also initiated a Rotary funded surgical rotation that has grown into an accredited WHO-supported Safe Surgery in Africa course onboard the Mercy Ships fleet. She has served on several international boards, including Mercy Ships, Zenith Bank, the Global Virus Network and CarePoint. In 2022 Dr. Tuakli retired as the first female and non-white Chair of United Way Worldwide’s international board of trustees. She is an acclaimed leader and contributor to global health, and the recipient of numerous awards, including a UN Global Citizens Award and several lifetime achievement honours.
Participation
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2024
Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to the United Arab Emirates. H.E. Anatol Vangheli has had a distinguished career in diplomacy, serving the Republic of Moldova in various capacities for almost three decades, holding the diplomatic rank of Ambassador. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he worked as Secretary General, Ambassador to the State of Israel, to the Hellenic Republic and to Cyprus, Director of the Policy Analysis, Monitoring, and Evaluation Division and Asia, Africa, Middle East, and Pacific Division. Ambassador Vangheli’s expertise extends to international security, economic diplomacy, and humanitarian missions. His previous roles include serving in the OSCE Missions to Georgia and Kosovo as Spokesperson, Counsellor for refugees and observer. He holds a Master’s degree in Cultures and Economies of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as studied law, political science and foreign philology at the Universities in Moldova and in the Institute of Political Studies in Grenoble, France.
Participation
2024
Senior Vice President and Head of Public Affairs and Business Development for Adani North America, part of India’s largest infrastructure and logistics conglomerate. In this capacity, Anurag Varma shapes the company’s partnerships and strategic growth in North America. He has been a driving force for over 25 years at the nexus of key public and private sector initiatives between India, the U.S., and increasingly, Canada. Before joining the Adani Group, Anurag was Vice President, Head of Global Government and Public Affairs at Infosys, a global leader in technology consulting. There, he led complex public policy strategies across major markets, from the U.S. and Canada to Europe, Australia, and India. Anurag has also served in senior counsel roles at top-tier law firms Patton Boggs and Akin Gump, where he represented international governments, including the Government of India, Indian corporations, and major Indian American trade associations before the U.S. Congress and Administration. Anurag was pivotal in advising multinational companies navigating India’s intricate market entry landscape, while simultaneously advancing U.S.-India trade relations. Based in Washington, D.C., Anurag has earned a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Comm) from the University of Alberta (Canada), and law degrees from the University of Denver (J.D.) and Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M.).
Participation
2024
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, since January 2022. Roman Vassilenko has been in Kazakhstan’s diplomatic service since 1996, first as Third Secretary and later as Second Secretary at the Embassy of Kazakhstan to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He worked as Assistant to the Head of the Prime Minister’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1999 – 2000), Chief Inspector of the Secretariat of the Secretary of State of Kazakhstan, Consultant of the President’s Chancery of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State of Kazakhstan (2007 – 2009). He served as Chairman of the Committee for International Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, overseeing the communications for the Ministry during such important periods as Kazakhstan’s chairmanships in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (2009 – 2012). He served as Deputy Director (2012 – 2013) of the Nazarbayev Center, a multifunctional scientific, analytical, humanitarian and educational public institution. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2016 – 2019). He served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Slovak Republic (2019 – 2022). He was appointed as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan again in January 2022.
Participation
2022 2023 2024
Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to the United Arab Emirates, based in Abu Dhabi. Born in 1970, Ambassador Vaswani graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Second Class Honours (Upper Division) from the National University of Singapore in 1995. He obtained a Masters in International Public Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University in 2003, on a Singapore Government Scholarship. Ambassador Vaswani joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July 1995. His first overseas assignment was as First Secretary at the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur from 1998 to 2002. Following his post-graduate studies, he served as an Assistant Director in the Policy, Planning & Analysis Directorate I (covering Southeast Asia). Ambassador Vaswani was posted as Counsellor at the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta from 2004 to 2008 and Deputy Permanent Representative at Singapore’s Permanent Mission to ASEAN from 2008 to 2009. He subsequently served as Deputy Director in the Southeast Asia Directorate from 2009 to 2012, and as Deputy Director-General for Southeast Asia from April 2012 to June 2015. Prior to his current appointment, Ambassador Vaswani was the Director-General for Europe from June 2015 to November 2019 anc concurrently Vice Dean (Academic)/Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore from July 2015 to November 2019. He was conferred the Commendation Medal in 2005 and Long Service Medal in 2018 as part of the Singapore National Day Awards.
Participation
2023 2024
Founder of Hubert Védrine Conseil, a public affairs consultancy specialized in international, economic and geopolitical issues. He was President of the Institut François Mitterrand until 2022. Prior to that, Hubert Védrine served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under the government of Lionel Jospin from June 1997 to May 2002. From 1996 to 1997, he was a partner in the law firm Jeantet et Associés. He was a member of the French Council of State as maître des requêtes in 1986-1988 and 1995-1996, and then in 2002-2003. From 2005 to 2021, he led a seminar at Sciences Po Paris on the perception of threats in international relations. From 1981 to 1995, he was diplomatic advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, spokesman and, from 1991 to 1995, Secretary-General. Before that, he was a civil administrator in the Ministry of Culture from 1974 to 1981. In 2020, he was appointed by France to participate in the group of personalities in charge of a reflection on the future of NATO in 2030. He is the author of numerous books. In June 2020, he published an essay on the pandemic, Et après ? (Fayard), in 2021, Dictionnaire amoureux de la géopolitique and in 2022, Une Vision du Monde (BOUQUINS) which brings together his main texts of the last 30 years. In 2024, he edited the collective work Les Grands diplomates (Perrin), published a new edition of his Atlas of Crises and Conflicts (with Pascal Boniface) and wrote a very personal text entitled Camus, notre rempart (Plon). In January 2025, he will publish Nouveau Dictionnaire amoureux de la géopolitique (Plon). Mr. Védrine also has a degree in history, and is an alumnus of ENA.
Participation
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2022 2024
COO & CFO for a prominent investment office in Dubai investing across all different asset classes. Previously, Mr Vijayakumar served as COO & CFO for Miras Investments, an intergenerational institutional size family office managing a multi asset portfolio for nearly five years. Mr Vijayakumar not only specialises in LP investing in both public & private markets but also specialises in building investment management infrastructure across legal, operations, finance, treasury, IT and Human capital. Mr Vijayakumar built his family office wealth management career with Northern Trust in the Global Family Office Group in London advising UHNW and family offices and with Royal Bank of Canada in the Channel Islands and London. Mr Vijayakumar is a Fellow member of CPA Australia, Qualified TEP from Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners and a Qualified Chartered Accountant. Mr Vijayakumar also obtained family office certifications from Harvard business school and Columbia business school. Mr Vijayakumar is a frequent speaker in Industry events and is often seen as the thought leader in the family office segment.
Participation
2024
Director of the Strategy and Planning Department, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). Mr. Villain is also a permanent invitee to ADIA’s Investment Committee. He began his career as an Assistant Professor of Finance at Paris University, before joining Banque Paribas in 1971 as a Portfolio Manager and later Head of Investments in the Asset Management Department. He joined ADIA in 1982, as Regional Manager for Europe before being appointed as a Senior Fund Manager for all financial assets. He returned to Paribas in 1987 to become the first Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of the newly created Paribas Asset Management Company. In 1992, he re-joined ADIA as Regional Manager for European Assets before being promoted in 1995 to the position of Advisor and then Senior Advisor for Investment Strategy. He then became Head of the Tactical Asset Allocation Unit and later Head of the Strategy Unit. Mr. Villain is a member of the Investment Committee of the Abu Dhabi Benefits and Retirement Fund, the pension fund of the citizens of Abu Dhabi. From 2004 to 2013 he was a Director of the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) and a Governor of the British Community School in Abu Dhabi (BSAK). In 2007, the President of the French Republic made him Chevalier de la Légion d’ Honneur. In 2014 he was made Officer of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen of England. In December 2020 the President of the French Republic promoted him to “ Officier de la Legion d’Honneur”. He was educated in Paris in Politics, Economics and Sciences (Applied Mathematics).
Participation
2021 2023 2024
Member of Total Professeurs Associés, and of the French Energy Council. He was Executive Vice President at Total in charge of Strategy and Risk Assessment (2000-2008). He was Chief Financial Officer of Elf Aquitaine (1994-2000). He began his career at the Ministry for Industry (1972-1978), then he joined the Prime Minister Raymond Barre’s cabinet (1978-1981). He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique, and the Ecole des mines in Paris. He holds a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Participation
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2019 2022 2023 2024
Chairman of the MENA Hydrogen Alliance. Frank Wouters has been leading renewable energy projects, transactions, and technology development for more than 30 years and played a leading role in the development of renewable energy projects all around the world. He served as Deputy Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) from 2012 to 2014. He has served on the board of energy companies in Europe, Asia, the US and Africa and currently serves as Chairman of the MENA Hydrogen Alliance and of the Dii Advisory Board (both based in Dubai), Director of the EU Med-GEM Network (Brussels), Fellow of the Payne Institute based in the Colorado School of Mines (Denver), Chairman of the Benelux Business Council Abu Dhabi and of the HyET Group Advisory Board (The Netherlands), Senior Advisor to the Chairman at Welspun New Energy Ltd (Mumbai), and Non-Executive Board Director of Gore Street Capital (London). Frank Wouters has authored several books on renewable energy and green hydrogen, and lives in Abu Dhabi. He has a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Delft University.
Participation
2024
Former Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to France and later to the United States. He was until recently Iraq’s Climate Envoy. He has worked and consulted for various UN agencies and think tanks. He served as Head of Policy Planning, Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Diplomatic Advisor to Deputy President Adil Abd al-Mahdi. He is a Member of the American Physical Society and of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He was educated in Iraq, Switzerland and the United States. He is a graduate of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently involved in Track-II diplomacy.
Participation
2012 2013 2021 2024
CEO of LIG System Co., Ltd., South Korean defense and IT solutions company. Mr. Yun served as CFO of Huseo Inc. and LG Electronics Australia Inc. At LG Electronics Inc., he held key positions including Director of Trade Defense & Anti-Dumping and Team Leader for Overseas Subsidiary Management. He has extensive experience in strategic planning and restructuring from his time at Zenith Electronics. Mr. Yun holds an MBA from Michigan State University and an BA in Business Administration from Yonsei University.
Participation
2024
Professor of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and Director of the MGIMO Centre for Sustainable Development and ESG Transformation, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Russian International Affairs Council. He is also Honorary Consul General of Monaco. He graduated in Economics from Moscow State University (MSU).
Participation
2011 2012 2013 2015 2017 2018 2021 2022 2023 2024
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer at Investment Corporation of Dubai – ICD. He is the Chief Operating Officer of ICD, Dubai’s sovereign wealth fund ($380 billion AUM). Leading the corporate functions, he supports the Managing Director in the corporate strategy development and is responsible for the efficient operational management of the organization with the aim of optimizing business performance. He is a member of several boards, including IHI – International Hotel Investments, Dangote Cement, and SmartStream. Prior to joining ICD, he was with Xerox for over 25 years during which he held several board, general management, leadership and transformation roles in Europe, North America and globally. His last position was Corporate Officer and President, Channel Partner Operations for Xerox based in New York. In this role, he led an end-to-end global business generating over $10 billion in revenue. On a social and humanitarian level, he has always been very active in the fields of education, innovation and health. He is a member of the board of directors of IPEMED (Institut de Prospective Economique du Monde Méditerranée). He studied at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, holds an engineering degree from the National School of State Public Works – ENTPE (France) and is also graduated in Business Administration – Strategy and Management – from ESSEC (Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales) in Paris. He has lived and worked in France, USA, Spain, Italy, UK and Dubai and speaks French, English, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.