Hannes Androsch

Former Austrian Federal Minister of Finance (1970-1981) and former Vice Chancellor of the Republic of Austria (1976-1981). He served as Director General of the banking institution CA Creditanstalt Bankverein (1981-1989) and Consultant at the World Bank (1988-1989). In 1989, he founded AIC Androsch International Management Consulting GmbH. Today he is an industrialist and he is dedicated to economic-political, socio-political, and scientific-political matters. He has received numerous distinctions and awards and is the author of a multitude of publications. He has a degree in Business Administration and a PhD in Economics.

Lourdes Aranda Bezaury

Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2003 and Mexican Sherpa for the G20 since 2008. She is also President of the Instituto Matías Romero and a member of the Mexican Council of Foreign Affairs (COMEXI). She was appointed Ambassador in 2002. She served as Director General for Global Affairs at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Deputy Representative at the Mexican Permanent Mission to the OAS. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from El Colegio de México. She graduated in History and Foreign Policy from the Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales of Geneva and from the Inter-American Defense College (IADC), Washington, D.C.

Robert Badinter

Former French Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals. He joined the Paris Bar in 1951 and practiced law until 1981. He acted as defense attorney in the most important death penalty causes. In 1966, he was appointed Professor of Law including at the University Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne. French Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals (1981-1986), he brought to the Parliament the law for the abolition of death penalty. He was President of the Constitutional Council (1986-1995). He is the main inspirer and promoter of the Stockholm Convention of 1992, creating the “Court of Conciliation and Arbitration in the O.S.C.E.”, of which he was president until September 2013. In 1995, he was elected to the French Senate and reelected in 2004. In 2003, he was appointed by the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to be part of the Panel in charge of working on a report of the UN entitled “A more secure world: our shared responsibility” (2005). He is the author of many books and writer of an opera libretto. He is member of the International commission against the death penalty.

Ehud Barak

Israel’s Defence Minister since June 2007. He is Chairman of the Haazma’ut faction 2011 and former Chairman of the Labour party. He previously served as Israel’s 10th Prime Minister and Minister of Defence from 1999 to 2001. He also served as Minister of the Interior and then as Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Rabin and Prime Minister Peres in the years 1995-1996. He received a B.Sc. degree in mathematics and physics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1968, and an M.Sc. in economic engineering systems at Stanford University in 1978.

His All Holiness Bartholomew Ist

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.

Scott Charney

Corporate Vice President for Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group. He is responsible for a range of corporate programs that influence the security, privacy and reliability of Microsoft’s products, services and internal networks. He serves on the President’s National Security and Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Prior to joining Microsoft, he served as a principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Before that, he served as chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS). He served as Chair of the G8 Subgroup on High-Tech Crime. He graduated from the Syracuse University College of Law and received his undergraduate degrees from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Jérôme Contamine

Executive Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer, and Member of the Executive Committee, Sanofi-Aventis. Former Senior Executive Vice President, Deputy General Manager and Chief Financial Officer of Veolia Environment. Prior to this, he was Vice President Europe and Central Asia, Upstream Division of Total, and Finance Director & Treasurer of Elf Group. He is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique (X), France’s most prestigious engineering school, ENSAE, the national statistics and economics engineering school, and Ecole Nationale d’Administration.

Georges Corm

Academic teacher at Saint Joseph University, former Minister of Finance of the Lebanese Republic (1998-2000). An economist by profession, he specialized in the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean region and is a well-known consultant to International Organizations (The World Bank, The European Union, FAO, etc.). He studied in Paris and graduated from The Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Economic and Financial Department) and from the Faculté de Droit et de Sciences Economiques (Ph.d. in Constitutional Law). He has published extensively on economic topics and the history of the Middle East.

Hasan Murat Mercan

Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey. He served as Chairman of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Turkish Grand National Assembly during the 23rd term of the Parliament (2007-2011). He held the positions of Chairman of the Turkish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the European Interparliamentary Defense and Security Assembly (IESDA) and Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2002-2007). He graduated from the Bogazici University and he holds a PhD from the University of Florida.

Edward P. Djerejian

Founding Director, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University. He previously was U.S. ambassador to Israel (1993-1994) and to the Syrian Arab Republic (1988-1991), and assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in both the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations (1991-1993). He also served in the U.S. Foreign Service for eight presidents, from John F. Kennedy to William J. Clinton (1962-1994). His book Danger and Opportunity: An American Ambassador’s Journey Through the Middle East was published in 2008. He has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award and numerous other honors.

Caspar Einem

President of the Austrian Institute for international Affairs (OIIP) in Vienna since 2011 and President of the supervisory board of Austrocontrol. He served as State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery (1994), Federal Minister of Interior (1995-1997) and as Federal Minister of Transport and Sciences, until 2000, member of the Austrian Parliament (2000-2007). He was also a member of the European Fundamental Rights Convention (2000) and of the European Constitutional Convention, President of the European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public services (CEEP) in Brussels. He finished his law degree (PhD) in Vienna in 1971.

Yury Viktorovich Fedotov

Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) since 2010. He holds the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. He served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Court of St. James’s in London and as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for International Organizations. As a member or head of Russian delegations, he took part in many international conferences and forums. He started his foreign service career in 1972 as a member of the USSR delegation to the United Nations Disarmament Committee in Geneva. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).

Heinz Fischer

President of the Republic of Austria (since 2002 and until 2016). He has been a member of the National Security Council and the Foreign Affairs Council of the Republic of Austria. Dr. Fischer was also Deputy Chairman of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Member of the National Council, Federal Minister of Science and Research and executive chairman of the Social Democratic Group in the Austrian Parliament. He is the author of numerous books and smaller publications in the fields of law and political sciences. He studied Law and Political Science at the University of Vienna from which he obtained a Doctor of Law degree.

Joschka Fischer

Former Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany (1998-2005). He led the Green Party in its first participation in government, both at state level (Hesse) and at federal level. From 2006 to 2007, He held a professorship at the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University (USA). He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group and of the Executive Board of the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is a founding partner of Joschka Fischer and Company.

Michael Fleischhacker

Former Editor-in-chief and managing director of the daily newspaper Die Presse. He has been working as a journalist from 1991. He joined Die Presse in 2002. Prior to this, he worked at Kleine Zeitung and Der Standard.

Tobby Simon

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.

Jacob Frenkel

Chairman of JPMorgan Chase International and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Group of Thirty (G-30). Former Governor of the Bank of Israel. He served as Vice Chairman of American International Group, Inc. (2004-2009) and as Chairman of Merrill Lynch International Inc. (2000-2004). Between 1991 and 2000 he served two terms as the Governor of the Bank of Israel. He is credited with reducing inflation in Israel and achieving price stability, liberalizing Israel’s financial markets, removing foreign exchange controls, and integrating the Israeli economy into the global financial system.  He was the Economic Counselor and Director of Research at the IMF (1987-1991). He is the author of numerous books and articles in the fields of International Economics and Macro-Economics.  He holds a B.A. in economics and political science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics, University of Chicago.

Helmut Freudenschuss

Diplomatic Advisor to the Federal President of Austria since February 2011. He served as Africa Director in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2008-2011), as Ambassador of Austria to South Africa (2004-2008) and as Ambassador of Austria to Lebanon (1999-2004). He also held various positions at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, including Director of the Office for Coordination in the Political Department. He studied law at the Universities of Innsbruk and Salzburg (Master and Doctor of Law) and at the Academy of International Law, The Hague. He holds a M.Sc.(Econ.) from the London School of Economics.

Paal Frisvold

Chairman of the Board, Bellona Europa ASBL. Since 2001, he has been part of the Bellona Energy Team whose main focus is to advocate policies, technological solutions and economic incentives to reverse and stabilise climate change and alleviating poverty. Previously, he worked at the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo, the OECD Secretariat in Paris. He was elected President of the European Movement of Norway in 2009. He holds a Master degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a Bachelor Degree in Political Science from The American University of Paris.

Heinz Gärtner

Professor at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, Laxenburg/Vienna. He often lectures at the Universities of Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Oxford and other American, European, and Asian universities and research institutes He is also a frequent commentator on European and Austrian television, radio, and print media, including CNN Europe and the BBC. He acts as a Special Adviser to the Austrian Ministry of Defense. In 2011, he published Obama and the Bomb: The Vision of a World free of Nuclear Weapons (Peter Lang publisher). He received the Bruno Kreisky Award for most outstanding Political Books: Models of European Security (1998). He holds a Ph.D. in political sciences and communication theory from the University of Salzburg

Gary Litman

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.

Nicolas de Germay

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).

Abdullah Gül

President of the Republic of Turkey from 2007 to 2014. He worked as an economist at the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah (1983-1991). He was elected as Member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (1991-2007). He also served as a member of the Turkish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.  Following the elections in 2002, he became the Prime Minister of the 58th Government of Turkey. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2003-2007). He graduated in Economics from the Istanbul University, where he received his doctoral degree in 1983, after his two year academic work in London and Exeter.

Michael Häupl

Mayor and Governor of Vienna from 1994 to 2018 and Chairman of SPÖ Vienna. He is member of the Social Democratic Party Committee for the 16th district of Vienna (Ottakring). He was Executive City Councillor for the Environment and Sports of the City of Vienna (1988-1994), Member of the Vienna Provincial Parliament and Vienna City Council (1983-1988), elected chairman of the JG Vienna and deputy chairman of the federal JG organisation, co-opted to the executive committee of SPÖ Vienna (1982). He was a research scientist at the Vienna Museum of Natural History (1975-1983). He holds a PhD in biology from the University of Vienna.

Nassif Hitti

Ambassador of The League of Arab States in France and Permanent Observer to Unesco since 2000. Before being appointed Ambassador he occupied several important positions in the League such as Special Assistant to the Secretary General (1991-1999); Political, Press & Information Officer in Ontario, Canada; and General Director of International Affairs, Department of Arab-American relations. He was also a Lecturer on Middle East Politics at the University of Southern California (USC) and at the Department of Political Science, American University of Beirut. He is the author of Theory in International Relations. He holds a PhD in International Relations from USC and has a M.A. in Political Science from the American University of Beirut.

Dalia Itzik

Member of Knesset, Kadima Party and Chairperson, Kadima Parliamentary Group. She was the first female Speaker of the Knesset (2006-2009). She was also the first woman to serve as the President of the State of Israel, holding this interim position for eight months in 2007. She has held a seat in the Knesset since 1992 and has held several ministerial positions: Minister of the Environment, Minister of Industry and Trade and Minister of Communications. She is a former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem. She received a B.A. in Literature and History from the Hebrew University and a Teacher’s Diploma from the Efrata Teachers Seminary in Jerusalem. She received a Law Degree from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.

Bertrand Jacquillat

Cofounder and Chairman of the Board of Associés en Finance, University Professor at Sciences Po Paris, Vice President of the Cercle des économistes and board member of Klépierre and Presses Universitaires de France. He was visiting Professor at UC Berkeley (1982), Stanford University Graduate School of Business (1976-1979) and the Hoover Institution (1983-1992). He was also Professor at HEC (1970-1983), Lille University (1979-1982) and Paris Dauphine University (1983-2001). He was a member of the French Council of Economic Advisors (2006-2010). He graduated from HEC and Sciences Po Paris. He holds a MBA, Harvard Business School and a PhD in Financial Economics, Paris Dauphine University.

Ibrahim Kalin

Senior advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey on foreign policy and public diplomacy since 2009, associate member at the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, and founding-director (2005-2009) of the SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research based in Ankara, Turkey. Dr. Kalin received his B.A. in history from the University of Istanbul and Ph.D. from the George Washington University, Washington DC.

Jak V. Kamhi

Chairman of Profilo Holding AS. As a leading industrialist in Turkey, he is Member of the Board of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry. He has performed duties as an adviser to the Prime Minister of Turkey for Turkey-EU, and Turkey-US relations, and acts as a Voluntary Ambassador for EU Affairs. Mr. Kamhi is a Founding Member of the Chairman’s Club of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Member of the Board of the World Business Council (USA). He was the first and only Turkish industrialist to be selected as a member of the European Round Table (ERT). He has a degree from Yıldız Technical University.

Oya Ünlü Kιzιl

Director of Corporate Communications & External Affairs, Koç Holding. She began her professional career in 1992 at the Turkish Prime Ministry Privatization Administration. She joined the World Bank and held the position of portfolio manager for the Middle East and North Africa region. Beginning in 2001, she served as chief advisor to the Ministry of Economy. In 2003, she joined Koç Holding as an advisor to the CEO. She serves notably on the Boards of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) and of the Corporate Volunteer Association (OSGD). She graduated from the Department of Business Administration at Middle East Technical University, and from George Washington University with an MBA in International Business.