For a reasonably open world
Vice President at JOKR, a rapid grocery delivery startup primarily operating in the US, Latin America and Europe. Previously he worked as a Vice President at SoftBank Group International. Benedict has experience in the mobility sector, the last-mile delivery sector, and the not-for-profit sector in various senior management roles across various successful startups. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies from King’s College London.
Vice President Africa for Airbus Group since 2016. He started his career at Nisho Iwai Corp in Tokyo and then Paris in 1994 until 1997 to work on energy projects. In 1997, he joined Thomson-CSF. In 2000, Thales Airborne Systems sent him to Abu Dhabi to promote defense and civil airborne systems and equipment in the Middle-East. He was then hired by EADS international in 2005 to become General Delegate in Libya. In 2009 he became President of EADS Japan. In 2011 he took responsibility as Vice-President for executive and private aviation activities of the group. He graduated in international affairs.
Ambassador of France to the State of Qatar since 2014. Previously, he served as French Ambassador for Syria at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after the closure of the French Embassy in Damascus. He was Ambassador to Syria (2009-2012). He was also Special Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spokesperson and Director of Communication and Information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2008-2009), Special Advisor for crises and conflicts to the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs (2007) and Director of International Missions at Médecins du Monde (2006). He was a Senior lecturer at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (IEP), the French National School of Public Administration (ENA) and the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He is a Medical Doctor from Paris V University and a graduate of Paris Institute of Political Studies.
CEO & Co-founder at Dataveyes. Ever since the completion of her studies, she has been nurturing a passion for how information can be expressed, shared and understood. In 2010, sensing that the rich data era will transform the way we work, learn and communicate, she co-founded Dataveyes, a studio specialized in Human-Data interactions. Within Dataveyes, she translates data into interactive experiences, in order to reveal new insightful stories, accompany new uses and understand our environment shaped by data and algorithms.
CEO and co-founder of OpenClassrooms, the leading e-learning platform in Europe with more than 2 million members and 40 partners. Launched in 2013, OpenClassrooms makes education accessible to all. The platform revolutionizes learning with a unique approach based on skills and mentoring. The vocational training and certifications, which are 100% online, promote employability for digital and tech jobs and help people to quickly integrate into the workforce and add value. In 2016, he was selected as “Forbes 30 under 30 Europe”. He graduated from the INSA Lyon.
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.
Chief Economist, Head of Strategy, Energy Economics & Sustainability, Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), Leila Benali is an international expert in energy, strategic planning, investments, finance and energy diplomacy. She joined APICORP from Saudi Aramco where she was in charge of the company’s energy policy and gas strategy. Previously, she was director for the Middle East and Africa at IHS, a global research and consultancy in security and energy, in addition to being a professor at Sciences Po, and industrial engineer at Schlumberger. She chairs the Arab Energy Club and published numerous papers and books on energy, reforms and sustainable wealth. She holds a MS in Industrial Engineering from Mohammadia Engineering School and the Ecole Centrale Paris, in addition to a MS in political science and PhD Summa Cum Laude in Energy Economics from Sciences Po.
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Central Africa and Head of UN Regional Office for Central Africa, Gabon (2014-2016). He also served as Special Deputy Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) (2013-2014), as Minister of State in the Office of the President, in charge of African Affairs, Senegal (2012-2013), and Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly (Committees on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security) Senegal (2001-2006). He was also a Tenured Professor of History at the University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal (1975-2013). He holds a PhD in Humanities from the University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, and a PhD in History from the University of Birmingham, UK.
Serial entrepreneur, he started the adventure in France where he launched several successful startups. He then went on to manage a technology incubator from 1995 to 1998. In 1998, he founded Entopia, a company specialized in semantic analysis and raised $40 million. He headed the company from the Silicon Valley until 2006. After France and the USA, he moved to China where he developed Xanadu, a key player of online travel services, with Nicolas Berbigier. In 2010 they co-founded FAMOCO of which he is the CEO.
President of Airbus Africa & Middle East. In 2011 he was appointed as General Delegate of the Group Airbus for the UAE. In 2005 he joined EADS (European Aeronautics Defence and Space Company) in Sao Paulo as VP Latin America for all the defence activity of the group. He also served as Vice President Sales and Marketing of Thales in Saudi Arabia. His career began in Madrid in 1988 within Alcatel. He graduated from the Paris Ecole Superieure des Sciences Commerciales Appliquées.
Senior policy advisor and head of Public Policy Analysis at the Kingdom Economic and Energy Analysis Department of Saudi Aramco (SA), the Saudi national oil company. Prior to his current position, he was a senior advisor at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPM), and lead negotiator on a number of issues on international energy and environmental policies at multiple UN organizations, as well as the G20. He also served as a board member at the Green Climate Fund. He graduated from the University of Hull, United Kingdom and the University of Westminster, United Kingdom.
Deputy Head of Airbus Group International since 2015. She began her career in 1984 as marketing analyst in an advertising Company, before she joined Matra in 1993 as Deputy within the General Coordination of the Matra Defence Export Department. In 2003 she joined EADS International as Chief of Staff of Group Chief Operating Officer responsible for Strategy, Marketing and Industrial Development. Then she took over the responsibility of the Global Coordination for International Marketing and Sales Activities at Group level and then was appointed Senior Vice President Latin America (2010-2014). She graduated from Sorbonne University (Paris) in Political Sciences and in Contemporary History. She is also a graduate of the Master’s degree in Law and Economics of media communication, Sorbonne University (Paris).
Regional Anti-Corruption and Economic Governance Advisor for UNDP Africa. He joined UNDP through the Leadership Development Programme (LEAD). He has served as Country Programme Specialist and Project Manager for the Peace Consolidation and Governance project in UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa, in New York. Before joining UNDP, he was a litigating attorney in Cameroon and New York. He is a World Fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University, USA. He graduated from Columbia University School of Law, New York, from the Central European University, Hungary, and from the University of Yaoundé II SOA, Cameroon.
President of the Nakasone Peace Institute (NPI), Japan. He is also President of the America-Japan Society Inc. He served as Ambassador of Japan to the United States (2008-2012), Ambassador of Japan to the UN and WTO in Geneva (2005-2008). He also held the position of Deputy Foreign Minister (2002-2005) and Director General for North American Affairs (1999-2002). He entered the Foreign Ministry in 1969. He served in Jakarta, Paris, London, and Washington DC. He studied at Keio University, Brown University and Stanford Graduate School.
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.
Professor at Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), Sciences Po Paris. President of the Advisory Board of EUBrasil association (Brussels). He is also a Senior Research Fellow at OCP Policy Center (Rabat) and Director of Latin America Research Chair at the Centre d’Etudes Sociales, Economiques et Managériales (CESEM – HEM Rabat). He is a Member of the Committee of Rencontres Internationales de Genève, a Member of the Advisory Council of Janus.net (journal of International Relations), Portugal. Journalist, columnist for Radio France Internationale (RFI – Brazilian Service), he has published extensively on geopolitics, global economics, regional integration and trade negotiations, Brazil and Latin America. He holds a PhD in Political Sciences from Sciences Po Paris.
Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South. He occupied several offices within the Directorate General of the Moroccan National Security where he was Borders’ Division Chief. He was the former Director of the Royal Institute of Police. He also served as the Chief of Regional Security and was Head of the Central General Intelligence. He contributed to the output of several international organizations endeavors including the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, where he represented the Directorate General of National Security several times. He holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science and International Studies from the Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences of Agdal in Rabat.
Former Minister Delegate for the Business Environment, Romania. Currently, he is Chairman of the Board of Cluj Innovation City Foundation. Until 2010, he was Chairman of the Board of EFG Securities Romania, Chairman of the Board of EFG Finance Romania and Senior Executive Director of Bancpost S.A. Before joining Bancpost, he was Deputy-Treasurer and Head of Trading with Citigroup Romania. He was also Chairman of the Board of CFR Infrastructura (Romanian Railways), Chairman of the Board of Transgaz (Romanian National Gas Grid Company), member of the Board of Transelectrica (Romanian National Electricity Company). He graduated from Chicago Booth School of Business, Harvard Business School and from St. Catherine’s College, Oxford.
Lord Kerr is a member of the UK House of Lords. Former member of the UK Diplomatic Service (1966-2002), serving abroad, in Moscow, Islamabad, Washington and Brussels, and in London, in the Foreign Office and Treasury, where he was Private Secretary to two Chancellors of the Exchequer. From 2004, he has been an independent member of the House of Lords, where he currently serves on its International Agreements Committee. He was Deputy Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell (2005-2012), Chairman of Imperial College London (2005-2011), and a Director of Rio Tinto (2002-2015) and now is Deputy Chairman of Scottish Power and Chairman of the Centre for European Reform. He was UK Permanent Representative to the European Union (1990-1995), British Ambassador to the United States (1995-1997) and Foreign Office Permanent Under-Secretary (1997-2C02). He also served the European Union as Secretary-General of the EU Convention (2002-2003) under President Giscard d’Estaing.
Founder and CEO of The Global Compass. He is also a senior Advisor, strategic development and partnerships, of Agence Publics. Prior to this, he served as Director of Democratic Citizenship and Participation at the Council of Europe. He served at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in New York as deputy Director, Strategic Development and Partnerships (2008-2014). He also served as the Head of Development Policy Dialogue at the World Bank (1999-2008). He was the first Executive Director of the Aspen Institute France (1994-1999) and is currently a member of the executive board of the Aspen Institute in France.
Head of division at the French Nuclear Safety Authority, she is in charge of the regulation of nuclear safety and radiation protection in South-Western France. She previously worked for Veolia Australia as a business developer (2015) and for EDF as a nuclear maintenance supervisor (2014). She is a graduate of Ecole normale supérieure and Paris Institute of Political Studies, and an engineer of the French Corps des Mines.
Co-founder and CEO of Joko. Before co-founding Joko, he worked at the Ministry of Finance in the Treasury Department. Prior to that, he was Managing Director for French-speaking Africa at Jumia Travel. He is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and an Engineer of the French Corps des Mines.
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.
Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the State of Qatar since 2015. Previously, he served as the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) Head of Iran department and non-resident Chargé d’affaires to Iran (2012-2015). He played a role in the recent Iran nuclear negotiations and was involved in the reopening of the British Embassy in Tehran in August 2015. He has had previous diplomatic postings in Paris, Ankara and Moscow.
Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the State of Qatar since 2012. He served as Head of non-European Bilateral Economic Relations Department (2009-2012), Head of Expatriate Network Management Dept/Sectn at the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2008-2009). He has been a Career Diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia since 1991. He graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Polish politician, Vice-President of the European Parliament responsible for Eastern Policy and the Eastern Partnership. He served as Minister of European Affairs, Minister without Portfolio and Deputy Minister of Culture and Arts. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 2004. He is Vice-President of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, as well as interparliamentary forum with national parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. He is also Coordinator in Committee on Budget Control (CONT), member of the Foreign Affairs (AFET) committee in the EP and the Delegation EU – Ukraine. He graduated from the University of Wroclaw.
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).
Executive Director of StarFinder Investment Fund, Board Member of the Institute of Economic Development Europe-Latin America (IDE EAL), owner/director of Nairne Ltd, a UK-based strategic economic development consultancy, and previously Director of Global Advisory Services at Geopolitical Intelligence Services AG, Liechtenstein. She has worked on United Nations assignments, co-ordinated cross border co-operation projects and supported businesses’ global expansion. She had a key role in reactivating Visegrad Group cooperation. She is a University of Warsaw International Relations graduate and she holds an Executive MBA from the University of Quebec in Montreal, Warsaw School of Economics and the China University of Mining and Technology.
As Provost of IE University and Dean of IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs, he is responsible for the university’s international expansion through strategic alliances and for research and teaching in Public Policy, Global Affairs and Economics. He is also the Chair of the Board of the IE New York College. In 2023 Dr. Muñiz was elected President of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), the preeminent organization bringing together the world’s top schools of global affairs and public policy. He is a Senior Fellow at Brookings’ Foreign Policy Program, a member of the Royal European Academy of Doctors, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Club of Madrid, and a council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. He served as State Secretary (Vice Minister) at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2020-2021). In this role, he was responsible for the ministry’s Strategy and Foresight Unit, the Economic Diplomacy Team, and the Communications Department. He coordinated Spain’s 2021–2024 Foreign Policy Strategy, and led the work on the National Strategy on Technology and Global Order. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Oxford, a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University, a Master in Financial Markets from the Instituto de Estudios Bursatiles in Madrid, and a Bachelor in Law from Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi, and is a Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington. He served as national security advisor to the Prime Minister of India (2010-2014), and previously as Foreign Secretary of India (2006-2009). He served as Ambassador or High Commissioner of India to Israel (1995-1997), Sri Lanka (1997-2000), China (2000-2003), and Pakistan (2003-2006). He studied at the Scindia School, Gwalior and at St. Stephens College, Delhi University, where he studied ancient Indian history and Chinese.