Category: Invited guests

Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India. He was a Parliamentarian for the State of Punjab for 14 years and served in the Union Government as Minister of State in the Departments of Industrial Policy & Planning, Parliamentary Affairs, Planning, Science, Technology and Earth Sciences (2006-2012). He later served as the Cabinet Minister for Law & Justice in the UPA II (2013). He represented India at the United Nations several times. He graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

Vice Chairman at the Institute for International Economic Studies, which is the research institute established by Toyota Motor Corporation. After joining the Japanese Ministry of Finance in 1973, he engaged mainly in the international issues. Afterwards, he joined The Bank of Japan as Executive Director. He studied Mathematics at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Business Administration at Saarland University in Germany.

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.).

Chairman of Organización Cultiba, Grupo Azucarero Mèxico (Sugar Mills) and of GEPP. He is also a board member of Caterpillar Inc., Santander Mexico and a member of the International Advisory Council of Bombardier and Rabobank. He has served as CEO of COECE, Mexico`s Trade Coalition for NAFTA and Free Trade agreements since 1992. He was also President of Industrial Minera Mexico (Mexico’s largest mining company). He graduated from the Escuela Libre de Derecho in Mexico City.

Founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of War on the Rocks, a digital outlet on strategy, defense, and foreign affairs. He has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, the CTC Sentinel of West Point. He deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan (2010-2011) as a civilian social scientist on a U.S. Army Human Terrain Team. He worked as assistant director at the Center for the National Interest, as a research fellow at the Center for National Policy, and for the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence in London. He has lectured, among others at the U.S. Army War College, American University, John Hopkins University. He received his MA from the King’s College London War Studies Department.

Senior Fellow at the OCP Policy Center in Rabat, Morocco and a non-resident scholar at Bruegel. He teaches graduate courses on globalization and on international trade policy at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and in the executive program of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC). He was previously Director of the International Trade, Economic Policy, and Development Prospects Departments at the World Bank. He was also President of the Economist Intelligence Unit, Group Vice President of Data Resources, Inc., and a consultant with McKinsey and Co.

Former Prime Ministerial Advisor of Thailand, Senior Fellow Harvard University and Chairman, Nation-Building Institute. President of the Institute of Future Studies for Development and Honorary Consul General in Thailand. He was also a Fellow at the University of Oxford. He was a Member of Parliament. He is also an Executive Chairman Adviser to CP ALL, the largest listed flagship of the largest Conglomerate in Thailand and a Director of Singapore’s listed company ASTI Holdings. He graduated from Monash University, Australia, Harvard University, Cambridge University and Oxford University, including a PhD in Economics and DPhil in Management.

Ambassador of the Republic of Paraguay to the State of Qatar since 2014. Prior to that, he served as a Member of the MERCOSUR Parliament (2008-2013) and was notably Vice President and then President of the Committee on the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat). He was also a Professor of International Public Law at the American University of Asuncion, Paraguay (2006) and a Member of the House of Representatives of Paraguay (1998-2003). He obtained a lawyer degree from the American University of Asuncion, Paraguay.

Adjunct Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Visiting Professor at the Global Studies Institute (GSI) of the University of Geneva since 2014. He has been a journalist for thirty years and worked for most of the Swiss written press. He served as chief editor of l’Hebdo in 1996 and then, in 1997, he founded the daily newspaper Le Temps and was its first chief editor and director. He was also editorial editor of the group Edipresse and then Tamedia (2005-2014).

Distinguished Professor, Dankook University since 2015. Former President of the Northeast Asian History Foundation (2012-2015). He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dankook University (2011-2013), Chairman of Donga-Ilbo (East Asian Daily Newspaper) (2001-2011) and President of the Korean Political Science Association (2000). He also served as President of The Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations (1999-2001) and Chancellor of University of Incheon (1996-2000). He graduated from Seoul National University and Kent State University. He holds a Ph. D. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Partner, Desfilis. He is the Senior Partner of the firm that he joined in 1986 and became its managing partner in 1990. He can handle complex operations involving finance and taxation. He has a strong expertise in governance issues as well as business succession. He holds a Master’s Degree in Corporate Law (Institut du Droit des Affaires, University of Paris II – Assas) and a Master’s Degree from the Institut d’Economie Appliquée in Paris.

Ambassador of Argentina to Switzerland since 2013. Previously, he served as Chief of Staff of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (2010-2013) and Director, North America Department (2008-2010). He also worked within the Ministry of Economy and Production (2006-2007). From 1999 to 2005, he was Head of the section for Economy and Trade at the Embassy of Argentina to the EU. He was also General Consul of Argentina in Zurich (1997-1999). Lawyer, he graduated from the University of Buenos Aires.

Ambassador of Poland to Switzerland since 2015. Previously, he served as Undersecretary of State for International relations at the Chancellery of the President of Poland (2010-2015). He was also Acting Director General of the Speaker of Sejm (Lower Chamber of the Parliament) (2007-2010). From 2005 to 2007, he was Advisor to the Deputy Speaker of Sejm. He was also a freelance journalist (2003-2007). He graduated from Warsaw University and the University of Hamburg.

Professor at VADS, Free University, Tbilisi since 2014. She is also a Senior Fellow at GISS Georgian Institute for Strategic Studies since 2013. Previously, she served as Ambassador of Georgia to Germany (2009-2013) and as Professor at the State Academy of Arts in Tbilisi (2001-2009). She studied Philosophy and Arts at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich and at the Academy of Arts in Munich.

Chief executive of AXA South West France. Before joining AXA France in 2013, he served the French government for over a decade in the areas of diplomacy and politics, European Union, agriculture policy reform and global food security. He was Chief of staff of the French Ministers of European Affairs and then of Food and Agriculture. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) and Sciences Po Paris. He is Yale World Fellow 2012 and Young Global Leader 2014.

Deputy Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore. He is the Secretary General (Southeast Asia) and Board member of the Africa-South East Asia Chambers of Commerce (ASEACC), based in Singapore.  Previously, he served as a Senior Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. Prior to IFC, he was Deputy Director of the Emerging Markets Division of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). Specific to Africa, he has visited over 10 countries in Sub Saharan Africa and played a key role in formulating Singapore’s economic strategies for Africa.

Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Switzerland since 2013. Previously, he served as Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Greece (2009-2013). He is also a Visiting professor at the Department for History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Banja Luka since 2009. He was also a Senior assistant professor at the Department for History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Banja Luka (2006-2009) and assistant professor at the Department for History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Banja Luka (2001-2006). He holds a PhD from the University of Banja Luka.

Ambassador, Head Middle East and North Africa Division, Swiss Foreign Ministry since 2012. Previously, he served as Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates (2008-2012), Head of Human Rights Policy Section and Head of the Task Force “Human Rights Council” at the Department of Foreign Affairs (2003-2007) and Cultural Counsellor at the Swiss Embassy in London (1992-2002). He was also a Counsellor at the Swiss Embassy in Sarajevo (1996-1998).

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.

Professor in entrepreneurship and innovation management at the University of Strasbourg. Member of BETA, research unit from CNRS. Associate researcher at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. Partner at JobZippers. Her research deals with the way identity and social norms affect behaviors and actions in the domains of entrepreneurship and innovation as well as with the motivations driving firms to undertake and succeed in collective actions. She is an alumni of Ecole normale supérieure de Cachan in France and holds a doctorate in economics from University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Editor in chief of SonntagsZeitung since December 2013. Previously he was member of the editorship of the Tages-Anzeiger, a daily newspaper from Zurich during four years. As a journalist, he covered UBS during the financial crisis and Swissair until the bankruptcy of the national airline. For this he was named investigative journalist of the year 2013 and got in 2002 the Zürcher Journalistenpreis. He holds a doctorate of economics from the university of Zurich.

Chief Economist, Corporate Strategy of Total. He is following the evolution of economic activity and the oil and gas markets in the short term and the long term, on the upstream and downstream sides and their impact on Total strategy. Before he joined Total in 1999, he worked at the French Ministry of Finance, in the Treasury Department, following economic activity. He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique, France and from the Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique. He also holds a Master in International Economics and Finance from Paris Dauphine University.

President of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) since 2015; Director in 2009-2015; Deputy Director in 1989-1994. He is Professor, Dr. of Science and Full Member of RAS. He has been serving as Editor-in-chief, Vostok (Oriens) journal since 1998; Professor and Chair of the Faculty of World Politics, Moscow State University since 2003; Professor, High School of Economics, Moscow. He was Member, High Level Group, UN Alliance of Civilizations project in 2005-2007, currently Goodwill Ambassador for the Alliance of Civilizations. He was Visiting Professor, American University in Cairo in 1991, and Visiting Professor, University of California in Berkeley in 2003. From 2016 until now he has been Senior Political Advisor to the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the UN for Syria. Member of the Advisory Council under the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia. Author of more than 500 publications in History, Political Science, International Relations, Conflict Management and Resolution, Islam, Middle East and Central Asian Studies.

Member of the Paris and New York Bars. Founder and managing partner, Laurent Cohen-Tanugi Avocats. He served as Chairman of the French governmental task force on Europe in the global economy (2007-2008). He was a Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (2005-2007), Senior Vice-President and General Counsel, Member of the Executive Committee of the Sanofi-Synthelabo pharmaceutical group (2004) and a Partner at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (1991-2003). He also served as FCPA Independent Corporate Monitor appointed by the United States Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission (2011-2014). He graduated from Harvard Law School, University Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne Law School, the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (1980) and the Ecole Normale Supérieure. He has authored many influential books on democracy and the rule of law, European integration, transatlantic relations, and globalization.

Teacher, University of Dschang and CEO ICAD – Cameroon. He has 11 years of experience, working as a senior youth worker and an international cooperation expert. He lectures youth leadership as a transversal course in the University of Dschang, Cameroon and he is a co-founder of the African Network of Youth Policy Experts. He is also the founder and CEO of a youth-led organization dubbed InterCultural Alliance for Development. He has diplomas from UNDP, UNICEF, UNWomen, and POTI, USA. His numerous professional publications focus on his research and clinical interests in youth development and international cooperation.

Desk Manager, President’s Delivery Unit, Senegal. She is in charge of coordinating and monitoring five of the country’s twenty-seven flagship development projects. She worked as an analyst for BearingPoint Consulting before joining the telecommunication giant, Orange, as a business consulting manager. In her current role with the government, she is tasked with leveraging Senegal’s advantageous geographical location to attract top investors and tourists from around the Atlantic Basin. She graduated from Telecom Paris.

Deputy Country Manager, General Electric, Côte d’Ivoire. Her primary role is to identify and translate commercial opportunities into bankable projects for all the different businesses of GE in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa. She co-led the new implantation of GE in Côte d’Ivoire and continues to be involved in the daily operations. Prior to this, she spent seven years with GE Capital France where she held several positions. Her professional experience includes finance work with American Express in France and operations handling with Air France – KLM in the United States. She graduated in marketing and business administration from Baruch College.