Category: Invited guests

Justice of The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He chairs the Executive Council of the International Law Association and the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law. He is a member of the Judicial Integrity Group and of the seven person panel set up under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (article 255) to give an opinion on candidates’ suitability to perform the duties of Judge and Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice and General Court. He represented the United Kingdom on the Council of Europe’s Consultative Council of European Judges (2000-2011).

CEO & Founding Partner of DynaGrow Fair Trade, DynaGrow (SL) and DynaCorp Investment, an agribusiness group specializing in fair trade and sustainable agriculture in countries with low development index and focused on producing and trading cocoa, coffee & rice in West Africa. Thanks to DynaGrow Fair Trade, based in the United Kingdom, the group has become the first institution dedicated to directly fund fair trade finance for cocoa & coffee operations. Dominique Flavio is a serial entrepreneur with a significant experience in business.

Founder of the publishing company Encre d’Or. In 2009, she set up the collection “Carnet d’inspiration”, which is about noteworthy regions and cities and which highlights simultaneously historical, artistic, literary, culinary, environmental and technological heritage. She served as Editor in chief at Le Figaro Mediterranée (1993-1998). She was a journalist at Hersant Group, correspondent for Le Figaro Magazine and Le Figaro (1989-1993). As a writer and a publisher, she has been working on the combination of paper books and digital technology, within the European program CCALPS: Creative Companies in Alpine Space.

Founding President of Europartenaires and former President of the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures. She was first appointed Administrator at the Ministry of Finance and later Secretary General of the Paris Club. In 1981, she served as Advisor to Jacques Delors, Minister of Finance, before becoming Chargé de mission to the President of the Republic from 1982 to 1990. Minister Delegate for European Affairs from 1990 to 1993, then member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1997, Elisabeth Guigou was Minister of Justice from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, she was appointed Minister of Employment and Solidarity. She was elected Deputy Seine-Saint-Denis between 2002 and 2017. Vice President of the French National Assembly from 2010 to 2011, she served as President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly from 2012 to 2017. She has written a number of publications over the years, including L’Europe. Les défis à venir de la première puissance mondiale (Le Cherche Midi, 2014) and Pour une Europe juste (Le Cherche Midi, 2011).

Editorial Advisor of the German weekly Die Zeit. He is also Professor of Practice/International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. From 1985 to 2000, he was a Columnist and editorial page Editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung. He co-founded American Purpose after the American Interest and is a regular contributor to the op-ed pages of the U.S. press like The Wall Street Journal. Since 2004, he has been a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Now teaching at SAIS, he taught at Harvard and Stanford. His most recent book is The Myth of America’s Decline, published by WW Norton, NY. He obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard.

Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since 1994. He was appointed as such by the former President Bill Clinton. He first served as a law clerk to Justice Arthur Goldberg in 1964, before becoming assistant special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal (1973), Justice for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1980-1994) and law professor at Harvard University (1967-1994). He graduated from Stanford University, Oxford Magdalen College and Harvard Law School.

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.

Managing director and founder of Sogeric, and Consul of Ecuador in Marseille. Henry Roux-Alezais is also the President of the Mediterranean Institute that he founded in 1993 and the President of the Santé Partners association. He held various positions within CMA-CGM group, the world’s third largest container shipping group, first as Vice-President (1999-2004), and as Adviser to the President (since 2004). He served as President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marseille-Provence (CCIMP) (1992-1997), and as Chairman of the board of the Port Autonome de Marseille (Autonomous Port of Marseille) (1995-1999). 

Founder of CSPH International, a public affairs & communications consultancy company with a focus on energy, environment, industry matters and creative industries and in particular a strong involvement in digital economy. He is a former publisher in social sciences and literature. He then held senior executive positions for more than 20 years in many French and American multinational companies – from Thomson to Alcatel, Digital Equipment (DEC), AlliedSignal, Honeywell, Vivendi and Lafarge – with operations in the five continents, most of them in the technology and media sectors.  He holds PhD in Economics.

Chairman & CEO of AXA since April 2010. He joined AXA’s Corporate Finance Division in 1989. In 1991 he was named Corporate Secretary. Two years later, he was appointed Senior Executive Vice President. He was Chairman of the AXA Management Board (May, 2000 – April, 2010). He started his career in the French Finance Ministry Inspection Office. He sits on the Board of the Association pour l’aide aux jeunes infirmes, and is Chairman of AXA Hearts in Action, AXA’s volunteer community outreach program. He graduated from the business school HEC and holds a bachelor degree in Law. He is a former student of ENA (Ecole Nationale d’Administration).

Honorary Consul of Burkina Faso in Nice (France) since 2003. He served as the President of the French Union of Honorary Consuls in 2012. He was a member of the editorial board of Afrique Contemporaine (La Documentation française) and he is now Advisor to the editorial board of Géopolitique Africaine (African Geopolitics). He was also journalist, correspondent for foreign English-speaking radios. He is the author of several books on Africa. He holds a PhD in public law and in Arts (Philosophy); he is a member of the French Academy of Overseas Sciences, and is an Auditor of the French Institut des hautes études de la Défense nationale.

General Consul of Poland in Lyon (France) since 2009. He served as Director of Polish Communities Abroad Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2009). He held the position of General Consul of Poland in Edinburgh (Great Britain) (2001-2005) and in Toronto (Canada) (1994-1999). He worked at the Polish Academy of Sciences. He graduated from the University of Warsaw in journalism and political sciences.

President of the Section of Biological Sciences of the RomanianAcademy. She is also Executive President of the National Science and Art Foundation (FNSA) and Head of the Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology “N. Simionescu” (ICBP) since 1995. She was Visiting Professor at YaleUniversity, McGillUniversity and ColumbiaUniversity. She was also a Research Associate at Rockefeller University, New York. She is PhD in Biological Sciences, at the University of Bucharest. She has important scientific achievements and is co-founder together with Prof. Nicolae Simionescu of the Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology, Bucharest, Romania.

President of the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies. He served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations (2008-2011), Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and International Organizations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Ambassador to Kuwait (2003-2005). He also served as Secretary to the President of the Republic of Korea for International Security (2002-2003). He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature and a Master’s Degree from the Graduate School of Law at Seoul National University.

Professor of Economy at the University of Aix-Marseille and Deputy Director of the School of Economy of Aix-Marseille. He is also a member of the scientific board of the IRD and a member of the scientific board of social and economic sciences (SAE) at INRA. He was Professor at the Universities of Cergy-Pontoise, Alicante, Addis Ababa and Laval. He graduated from the University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and the ENSAE. He holds a PhD from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS).

Prefect of the department of Alpes-Maritimes (France). Previously he served as Prefect of Savoie. He also served as Deputy Secretary General and Director of Modernization and Territorial Action at the Ministry of Interior, Overseas Territories and Territorial Collectivities (2008-2010). He also held the position of Prefect of Haute-Loire (2006-2008) and Secretary-General of the Prefecture of Haute-Garonne. He graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, and ENA (National School of Administration).

Executive President, MEDGRID. He is also President of the supervisory board of RTE, the company responsible for running the French electricity transmission system and of ERDF, which manages the public electricity distribution network in France, President of CIGRE (International Council on Large Electric Systems), and First President of the Executive Board and Founder of RTE. He was Special Advisor to the European Energy Commissioner. He was the founder and former President of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ETSO).

Research Director at the CNRS, Director of the Centre for International and European Studies and Research (CERIC) and co-director of the Master 2 of International and European Environmental Law at the University of Aix-Marseille. She published with Matthieu Wemaere La diplomatie climatique. Les enjeux d’un régime international du climat, Pedone, Paris, 2010, Prize of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, 2011. She graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Aix-en-Provence and the Law School of political sciences of Aix-Marseille.

Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia in Marseille (France) since 2011. She held the position of Deputy Director for South America and Caribbean Affairs at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2011). She was Minister Counsellor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of Indonesia in Ottawa (Canada). She also served as Deputy Director for Western Europe Affairs at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She graduated from the Faculty of Law, Hasanuddin University, Indonesia.

French Member of the European Parliament for the West of France. She is also member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) and member of the Special Financial, Economic and Social Crisis Committee (CRIS). She wrote De la Démocratie en Europe (ed. Flammarion, 2012) with Mario Monti. She graduated from the University of Aix-en-Provence in law, and also from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, and from the French National School of Administration.

Ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire to France. He served as Special Advisor to the Managing Director of SIFCA Group, Head of Office of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) in Ituri (2006-2007), Head of Political Affairs of MONUC (2002-2006), Minister for Foreign Affairs (2000), Ambassador to the United States, the Bahamas, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. He graduated from the University of California (UCLA) and John Hopkins University.

Rector and Honorary State Advisor, Head of the department of Education, Higher Education, Research and Health, Inter-ministerial Mission Union for Mediterranean. She was Rector of the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) (1999-2007), Associate Professor at Paris VIII University (1999-2009). She also served as Rector of the Academy of Paris, Chancellor of the Universités de Paris (1989-1998), Deputy Secretary General and spokesperson, Presidency of the Republic (1985-1988). She graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Sèvres, the Sorbonne University and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris.

Professor of politics at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Aix-en-Provence. He served as Head of the interdisciplinary program of the CNRS and the Ministry of Research “Urban sustainable development” (2003-2007), expert of the Scientific university mission (MSTP) of the Ministry of Research (2003-2006). He graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, from the Law School of the University Paris I Sorbonne, from the EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) and Paris I and the University Montpellier I.