Author: wpc_editor

Deputy Head of Mission at the Mexican embassy in Morocco. Prior to that, she served in France, in Rome for the Vatican and in Brussels for the EU where she was in charge of political and multilateral affairs and representing Mexico in various international meetings. In Mexico, she was an advisor in the office of the vice-minister of Foreign Affairs. Before joining Foreign Service, she worked as an expert in the European Commission in Brussels and a consultant in many European think tanks and Mexican firms. She has a degree in International Relations from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and Masters in European Studies, Diplomatic Studies and Foreign Trade.

Director of American Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. From 2014 to 2017, she was Director of Protocol, Head of the Division of Privileges and Immunities from December 2014 to December 2016, Head of Division in charge of the Directorate of Protocol from January 2017 to September 2017, and Head of the Divisions of Privileges and Immunities and Ceremonial from Sept 2017 to November 2017. From 2013 to 2014, she was Head of Department of the Community Institutions at the European Union Directorate. From 2009 to 2013, she held the position of Communications Advisor and Political Advisor at the Moroccan Embassy in Madrid.

State Engineer in Telecommunications from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and an MBA graduate from the National School of Ponts et Chaussées Paris, Yasmina Bemessaoud manages the Market Intelligence and Strategic Studies Department of Masen. She is in charge of the strategic planning of the company and the development of strategic and market studies necessary for the development of Masen’s activities. She spent the first part of her career in Spain as Chair of Regulation at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Telefónica, Ernst & Young, before joining the National Agency of Regulation Telecommunications in Morocco, then Masen, in 2013. 

Secretary General, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Morocco. She has accumulated more than 20 years of experience in many high level positions in both the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. After working at the General Inspection of Finances, Ms Benali moved to the Budget Department as Head of service of the productive sectors and Head of the division of the social sectors and National Director of the Center of Excellence for gender budgeting in which she was member of the Steering Committee of the National Strategy for Equality. Nadia Benali holds a Ph.D. in Economics and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from ISCAE.

Secretary General of the Ministry of General affairs and Governance. Former professor at INSEA and Director of the Center for Demographic Research and studies. He was director of Studies, Cooperation and legislation on Social Economy at the Ministry of Economic and General Affairs, and Head of Government in charge of General Affairs and Governance. He took charge of partnership projects with international organisations such as UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF, OCDE and World Bank. He is a member of numerous associations including the Maghreb Association for Population Studies. He graduated as a statistician at INSEA in Rabat and as a PhD in Demography from UCLouvain, Belgium.

Professor at Mohammed V University. His career combines Public Law, International Relations, Political Science and Finance. He taught in many other universities and institutions. He was the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law Rabat-Agdal from 2013 to 2018, where he was in charge of research, cooperation and partnership. He was also Acting Dean between 2018 and 2019. He is a research associate at the Royal Institute of Strategic Studies and an Expert-Evaluator at the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research. He has participated in many national and international seminars, has written several essays and books and is member of multiple research networks.

Mr. Karim Lotfi Senhadji is the CEO of OCP Africa (OCP subsidiary). Prior to holding this position, Mr. Senhadji spent more than 7 years at OCP in different leadership positions. Before joining OCP, Mr. Senhadji held different managerial positions at several Moroccan and multinational companies, including Holcim Group, Altadis Maroc and Méditelecom. Mr. Senhadji has degrees from MIT-Boston, HEC-Paris and holds an Executive MBA from ESSEC & Mannheim Business schools. He is also a graduate from the Royal Air Forces School in Marrakesh where he received his diploma in aeronautic engineering and a trained pilot.

President of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) since August 2010. He is a Civil Engineer graduated from the School of Engineering of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ – 1980), MSc in Mathematical Economics from the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics CNPq (1982), PhD in Economics from Princeton University, USA. Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal was also professor of Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Public Finance and Finance in the School of Graduate Studies in Economics (EPGE), General Director of EPGE, and vice president of FGV. Simonsen Leal is also Professor Emeritus of the School of Command of the Army Staff (ECEME).

Ambassador of Switzerland to Morocco. Former Ambassador to Ukraine and to Moldova (2015-2019). He entered the Swiss Foreign Ministry in 1992 and held numerous positions including Deputy Head of the Delegation to the Swiss Delegation to the OSCE, Deputy Head of the Swiss Embassy, Washington, D.C., Deputy Head of the political Division for Human Security, Peace Promotion and Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berne and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran. He received his Law degree from the University of Neuchâtel and did his postgraduate studies in International Security at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

Eric Li is founder and managing partner of Chengwei Capital. He is also chairman of Guancha.cn. Mr Li is a trustee of Fudan University’s China Institute and chairman of its advisory board.  He serves on the boards of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). He is a member of the council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

President of the Republic of Rwanda. In 2019, he was elected Chairperson of the East African Community, and has been leading the institutional reform of the African Union (AU) since 2016. He is currently Chairperson of the AU Development Agency New Partnership for Africa’s Development as well as African Union Leader for Domestic Health Financing. Beginning in 1990, as commander of the forces of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, he led the struggle to liberate Rwanda. The hallmarks of his administration are peace and reconciliation, women’s empowerment, promotion of investment and entrepreneurship, and access to information technology, a cause he also champions as Co-Chair of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.

CEO of the DigiWorld Institute, European think tank for digital innovation and the digital economy, since 2017. Jacques Moulin began his career at Thomson SA. He joined the France Telecom-Orange Group in 1991 and participated in the transformation of the Group’s B2B, B2C, and HR sectors, in France and abroad. He also held various managerial and operational positions: Director of Human Resources and Communications for the Ile-de-France Est Region, Director of Human Resources for Orange Business Services, Regional Director for Lorraine and Territorial Director for the East Region (Alsace-Lorraine, Bourgogne, Franche-Comté). He went on to manage Orange France’s 11 territorial divisions as well as Orange France’s Human Resources Department (+ 80,000 employees). From 2011 to 2017, he was Managing Director of Sofrecom, an Orange Group subsidiary specializing in consulting and engineering services for international operators. Jacques Moulin is a graduate of Sciences Politiques. He also has a background in law, a Master’s degree from the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) and completed ESSEC’s “Economics and Business School’s international development” program.

Professor of Economics at London Business School. Until 2007, she was at Princeton University as Professor of Economics and International Affairs. Her research focuses on the determinants and consequences of external trade and financial imbalances, the theory of financial crises and the organization of the international monetary system. She received a number of prizes such as the Yrjö Jahnsson Award (European economist under 45 years old) and the Maurice Allais Prize. She is also a member of the High Council for Financial Stability (French Macro Prudential Authority) and the French National Economic Commission. She writes a regular column for the French newspaper Les Echos. Hélène Rey received her undergraduate degree from ENSAE, a Master in Engineering Economic Systems from Stanford University and her PhDs from the London School of Economics and the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales.

VP Illicit Trade Prevention, Philip Morris international (PMI) since 2015. Prior to his current role, Mr. Giustiniani was Area Vice President in Philip Morris Asia, based in Hong Kong. In 2016, he launched PMI IMPACT, a first of its kind $100 million global initiative funding public, private and NGO projects aimed at tackling illegal trade and related crimes, such as corruption, money laundering, and organized crime. He holds an MBA from INSEAD in France and has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Padua, Italy.

Peter is Partner at Social Impact Capital, an early-stage impact venture capital firm based in New York and Silicon Valley. He is former Head of Business Development at RCI (acquired by Addepar), an investment technology and alt-lending startup. Prior to that, Peter created an early-stage AI venture capital firm, and a specialist strategy and management consultancy for institutional investors, Kalytix Partners. He has led research on impact finance and strategic investment at Stanford and Oxford University, collaborating with Planet Heritage and White Sand Investor Group. Outside of his work in venture capital, Peter is also an active angel investor in global startups. Peter has an MPhil in Business Administration and Finance from the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and a first-class honors BA from Queen Mary, University of London.

Liang Wu is Co-Founder and CIO of Green City Solutions, which has developed the CityTree, a biological filter based on moss, augmented by IoT technology to clean and cool the air in cities. This approach helps to create hyperlocal climatic conditions where the moss literally eats the pollution gathered on their surface and cools the ambient air. The integrated sensors create the optimal growth conditions for the plants and allow to track their performance by monitoring the air quality. He has gathered the necessary expertise studying Media Computer Sciences in Germany and with his work experience in China at the Shanghai Center for Scientific and Technological Exchange with foreign Countries and in the digital content department of the Shanghai Media Group. During his stay in China he recognized the need for improving the air quality in hotspot areas and thus cofounded Green City Solutions.

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.

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.

Founder, Chairman and CEO of WISeKey. Before founding his company in 1999, he served as United Nations Expert on cybersecurity during 17 years. He is recognized worldwide as an Internet pioneer and has a unique profile, which combines extensive high-level international diplomacy experience and emerging technologies expertise. He has received many international awards for his commitment to secure the Internet. He is very active in disruptive cryptotechnology, AI, blockchain, IoT and cybersecurity. He is also an expert in M&A, fundraising, IPOs, and listed companies. He is the coauthor of The transHuman Code bestseller book.

Member emeritus of the French Conseil d’État and senior lecturer at Sciences-Po Paris, Jean-Louis Gergorin is the owner of JLG Strategy, an aerospace and defense consultancy. He has held numerous executive positions such as Executive Vice President and member of the Executive Committee of Airbus, as well as Director of Policy Planning of the French Foreign Ministry. He is a former Trustee and member of the Council of the IISS. Co-founder and Steering Committee member of the French American Cybersecurity Conference, he is a co-author with Léo Isaac-Dognin of Cyber. La guerre permanente (2018). He graduated from the École polytechnique and École nationale d’administration, and is an alumnus of the Stanford Executive Program.

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.

CNN’s senior European correspondent in Paris since 1996. Previously he was an ABC Paris correspondent from 1990 to 1996 and the NBC Paris and Rome correspondents from 1978 to 1990. In his long tenure in France he has covered every Presidential campaign since 1981, and traveled widely throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa on major news stories. He covered Pope John Paul II for more than 25 years, has reported on famines in Sudan, the Iranian and Philippines Revolutions, the Gulf War, civil wars in Lebanon and Somalia, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2009, Bittermann was named a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. His many journalistic honors include television Emmys and a Royal Television Society award for team coverage of the Paris terrorist attacks. He is on the juries for the Overseas Press Club and Emmy  television news awards. He is a member of the board of governors of the American Hospital of Paris and is the co-president and co-founder of the European-American Press Club. Since 1998, Bittermann has taught communications at the American University of Paris where he is now a professor emeritus.

Director of UNESCO Cluster Office in Rabat and UNESCO Representative for the Maghreb depuis 2018, Golda El-Khoury joined UNESCO in 2009 as Chief of Section for Youth, Sport and Physical Education. In 2012, she was appointed Chief of section of social inclusion. From 2002 to 2008, she was UNICEF’s First Regional Advisor for Youth in the Middle East and North Africa region.  Prior to that, she was the Country Director for Save the Children in Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Indonesia. Ms El-Khoury holds a BA in philosophy from the Lebanese University as well as a Master’s degree in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

Chiyuki Aoi, Ph.D, is Professor of International Security at the Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo. She is also Visiting Professor at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.  She recently served as a member of the Shinzo Abe administration Council on Security and Defense Capabilities that advised the revision of National Defence Program Guidelines published in December 2019.  Her main research interest is the transformation of warfare, especially with regard to technology and information/strategic communications, as well as Japanese national defence and strategy. She was educated at Sophia University (BA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS), and Columbia University (PhD).

Prosecutor-General of the Court of Appeal of Rennes, France. He joined the UN International Drug Control Program in Vienna in early 1991 as Senior Legal Adviser, and later became Program Manager of the UN Global Program against Money Laundering. He joined the Legal Department of the IMF to serve as Assistant General Counsel and Head of the Financial Integrity Group that was created following the September 11 attacks. Former Chairman of the National Conference of Prosecutors-General, he is also the President of the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, Italy. He was awarded the distinction of Officer of the Legion of Honor.

Associate investor within the industrial ventures fund of Bpifrance, the French public investment bank. Prior to this, Jean worked in the merger & acquisition team of BNP Paribas based in Singapore and in the life sciences division of software editor Dassault Systèmes in France. A French civil servant, Jean graduated from École Normale Supérieure in Mathematics and is a Corps des Mines engineer.