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Antony J. Blinken

Secretary of State, United States

Antony J. Blinken is the 71st U.S. Secretary of State.

He was nominated by President Biden on November 23, 2020; confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 26, 2021; and sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris the following day.

Over three decades and three presidential administrations, Mr. Blinken has helped shape U.S. foreign policy to ensure it protects U.S. interests and delivers results for the American people. He served as deputy secretary of state for President Barack Obama from 2015 to 2017, and before that, as President Obama’s principal deputy national security advisor. In that role, Mr. Blinken chaired the interagency deputies committee, the main forum for hammering out the administration’s foreign policy.

During the first term of the Obama Administration, Mr. Blinken was national security advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden. This was the continuation of a long professional relationship that stretched back to 2002, when Mr. Blinken began his six-year stint as Democratic staff director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Then-Senator Biden was the chair of that committee from 2001 to 2003 and 2007 to 2009.

During the Clinton Administration, Mr. Blinken served as a member of the National Security Council staff, including two years as the senior director for European affairs, the president’s principal advisor on the countries of Europe, the European Union, and NATO. He also spent four years as President Clinton’s chief foreign policy speechwriter, and he led the NSC’s strategic planning team.

Mr. Blinken’s public service began at the State Department. From 1993 to 1994, he was a special assistant in what was then called the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs. Now he is proud to lead the department where he got his start in government nearly 30 years ago.

Outside of government, Mr. Blinken has worked in the private sector, civil society, and journalism. He was a founder of WestExec Advisors, an international strategic consulting firm focused on geopolitics and national security. He was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2001 and 2002. Before joining government, Mr. Blinken practiced law in New York and Paris. He was also a reporter for The New Republic magazine and is the author of Ally Versus Ally: America, Europe and the Siberian Pipeline Crisis (Praeger, 1987).

Mr. Blinken attended grade school and high school in Paris, where he received a French Baccalaureat degree with high honors. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School. He and his wife Evan Ryan have two children.

Jacinda Ardern

Prime Minister, New Zealand

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was born in the city of Hamilton, New Zealand, and grew up rurally. She attended high school before graduating from the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Communication Studies in Politics and Public Relations.

Post-university, she worked as an advisor in the office of then-Prime Minister Helen Clark, in London for the Government Cabinet Office and as an Assistant Director in the Department for Business and Enterprise, and on a review of Policing in England and Wales.

The Prime Minister joined the New Zealand Labour Party at age 18 and entered New Zealand’s Parliament in 2008. Over her twelve years as a representative she has been a strong advocate for children, women, and the right of every New Zealander to have meaningful work.

She became the MP for the Auckland electorate Mt Albert in early 2017, and the Leader of the Labour Party in August 2017. As well as Prime Minister, she holds the roles of Minister for National Security and Intelligence, and Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, an issue particularly close to her heart. She is also the Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services and Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage.

Janet L. Yellen

Secretary of the Treasury, United States

On January 26, 2021, Janet Yellen was sworn in as the 78th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. An economist by training, she took office after almost fifty years in academia and public service. She is the first person in American history to have led the White House Council of Economic Advisors, the Federal Reserve, and the Treasury Department.

Janet Louise Yellen was born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in 1946. Her mother, Anna Ruth, was an elementary school teacher while her father, Julius, worked as a family physician, treating patients out of the ground floor of the family’s brownstone.

In 1967, Secretary Yellen graduated from Brown University and went on to earn her PhD at Yale. She was an assistant professor at Harvard until 1976 when she began working at the Federal Reserve Board. There, in the Fed’s cafeteria, she met fellow economist, George Akerlof. Janet and George would marry later that year. They would go on to have a son, Robert, now also an economics professor.

In 1980, Secretary Yellen joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where she became the Eugene E. and Catherine M. Trefethen Professor of Business and Professor of Economics. She is Professor Emeritus at the university.

Secretary Yellen’s scholarship has focused on a range of issues pertaining to labor and macroeconomics. Her work on “efficiency wages” with her husband George Akerlof studied why firms often choose to pay more than the minimum needed to hire employees. These businesses, they found, are often making a wise decision. Firms that offer better pay and working conditions tend to be rewarded with higher morale, reduced turnover and greater productivity.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed then-Dr. Yellen to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Three years later, he named her Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

In 2004, Secretary Yellen began her third tenure at the Federal Reserve, this time as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. From that post, she spotted a worrying economic trend – a bubble in home values. When the housing bubble popped in 2008, Secretary Yellen helped manage the resulting financial crisis and recession. In 2010, President Barack Obama, appointed her Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, before nominating her to succeed Fed Chair Benjamin Bernanke as the nation’s top central banker. Secretary Yellen would serve as Chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 until 2018.

On December 1, 2020, then-President-elect Biden nominated Dr. Janet Yellen to the post of Treasury Secretary. “She has spent her career focused on unemployment and the dignity of work,” he said, “She understands what it means to people and their communities when they have good, decent jobs.”

Prior to serving at the Treasury Department, Secretary Yellen was a Distinguished Fellow in Residence with the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. During 2020-2021 she served as President of the American Economic Association. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. She was also a founding member of the Climate Leadership Council.

Secretary Yellen has served on the advisory boards of the Bloomberg New Economic Forum, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and Fix the Debt Coalition (CRFB), and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth Steering Committee. She was elected to the Yale Corporation as an alumni fellow in 2000, serving until 2006.

Dr. Yellen has received honorary doctorates from Bard College, Brown, the London School of Economics, NYU, the University of Baltimore, the University of Michigan, the University of Warwick and Yale from which she also received the Wilbur Cross Medal for distinguished achievements in scholarship, teaching, academic administration, and public service.

Mia Mottley

Prime Minister, Barbados

The Honourable Mia Mottley is the 8th Prime Minister of Barbados. She became the first woman to occupy the high office, following General Elections on May 24th 2018, in which she led the Barbados Labour Party to an emphatic victory, winning all 30 seats in the House of Assembly by the largest margin ever seen in the electoral history of the country.

An Attorney-at-Law and Queen’s Counsel, Prime Minister Mottley has been active in the political life of Barbados for almost three decades. First elected in 1994 she is presently serving her sixth term as Member of Parliament for the constituency of St. Michael North East.

Between 1994 and 2008 Miss Mottley served in the Cabinet of three successive Administrations, first as Minister of Education and Culture; then as Attorney-General and Minister of Home Affairs; and then as Minister of Economic Affairs. In 2003 she was appointed Deputy Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Mottley currently also holds the portfolios of Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment.

Since becoming Prime Minister, Miss Mottley has served as the Chair of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) between January 1st and June 30th, 2020. Notwithstanding that, Miss Mottley, as Prime Minister of Barbados, serves as the Lead Head of Government within CARICOM, bearing responsibility for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Prime Minister Mottley also serves as Co-Chair of the Americas Cruise Tourism Task Force for the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America markets.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis

Prime Minister, Greece

Prime Minister of Greece

Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been Prime Minister of Greece since July 2019, when a landslide general election victory swept his Nea Demokratia party to power. He is the leader of Greece's first majority government in more than a decade.

Campaigning on an unapologetically pro-business/anti-corruption platform, and an end to populism and the rhetoric of empty promises, as Prime Minister he has focused relentlessly on green and digital job creation, strong economic growth, sustainable tourism, and tax reform.

To date, he has prioritised foreign direct investment, enhanced Greece's credibility among the ratings agencies, provided a strong and respected voice at the centre of the European Union. He has also championed the role of experts and technocrats in his Cabinet, in senior positions in government and at the forefront of Greece's widely praised response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Political career

Kyriakos was Greece's Minister for Administrative reform and e-government between 2013 and 2015. He became President of Nea Demokratia in 2016, after winning an open election in which he was widely considered the outsider. 

He immediately set about radically reinventing the party in opposition; modernising and renewing its appeal; boosting membership; and revolutionising fund-raising, based on small annual donations by members. He also put in place a code of transparency and accountability in how the party operated.

A member of the Greek Parliament since 2004, Kyriakos previously sat on a number of prominent parliamentary Committees, including the Committee for Constitutional Amendment, the Committee for Trade, and the Committee for National Defence. He was also an active member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. As Chairman of the Environment Committee and shadow minister for the environment he fought to highlight the issue of climate change and advocated for environmentally sustainable growth.

Early career and education

Before entering politics, Kyriakos worked for a decade in the private sector as a financial analyst with Chase Investment Bank, a consultant with McKinsey and Company and as CEO of NBG Venture Capital at the National Bank of Greece. He has a bachelor ’s degree in Social Studies summa cum laude from Harvard, an MA in International Relations from Stanford, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. 

Family

Kyriakos is married to Mareva Grabowski, an investment banker. They have three children, Sofia, Konstantinos and Dafni, and live in Athens. In addition to Greek, the Prime Minister speaks English, French and German.

Jens Stoltenberg

Secretary General, NATO

Jens Stoltenberg became NATO Secretary General in October 2014, following a distinguished international and domestic career. As a former Prime Minister of Norway and UN Special Envoy, Mr. Stoltenberg has been a strong supporter of greater global and transatlantic cooperation. Mr. Stoltenberg’s mandate as NATO Secretary General has been extended until the end of September 2022.

Under Mr. Stoltenberg’s leadership, NATO has responded to a more challenging security environment by implementing the biggest reinforcement of its collective defence since the Cold War, increasing the readiness of its forces and deploying combat troops in the eastern part of the Alliance. He believes in credible deterrence and defence while maintaining dialogue with Russia. He has also advocated for increased defence spending and better burden sharing within the Alliance, and a greater focus on innovation. NATO has also stepped up its efforts in the fight against terrorism. He strongly supports a partnership approach, with cooperation between NATO and the European Union reaching unprecedented levels.

Before coming to NATO, he was the UN Special Envoy on Climate Change from 2013 to 2014. He has also chaired UN High-level Panels on climate financing and the coherence between development, humanitarian assistance and environmental policies.

As Prime Minister of Norway, Mr. Stoltenberg increased the defence spending and transformed the Norwegian armed forces with new high-end capabilities and investments. He also signed an agreement with Russia on establishing maritime borders in the Barents and Polar Sea, ending a 30-years dispute.

Mr. Stoltenberg was also Prime Minister during the deadly terrorist attacks, which killed 77 people in Oslo and Utøya on 22 July 2011, urging in response, “more democracy, more openness, and more humanity, but never naïvete”.

Mr Stoltenberg holds a postgraduate degree in Economics from the University of Oslo. After graduating in 1987, he held a research post at the National Statistical Institute of Norway, before embarking on a career in Norwegian politics.

2005-2013: Prime Minister of Norway
2002-2014: Leader of the Norwegian Labor Party
2000-2001: Prime Minister of Norway
1996-1997: Minister of Finance
1993-1996: Minister of Industry and Energy
1991-2014: Member of Parliament
1990-1991: State Secretary at the Ministry of the Environment
1985-1989: Leader of the Norwegian Labour Youth
Jens Stoltenberg was born in Oslo on 16 March 1959. He is married to Ingrid Schulerud. They have two grown-up children.

John Kerry

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, United States

Bio coming soon.

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Director General, World Trade Organization

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a global finance expert, an economist and international development professional with over 30 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. Dr Okonjo-Iweala was formerly Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Since its creation in 2000, Gavi has immunized 760 million children globally and saved thirteen million lives. She was previously on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. She was recently appointed as African Union (AU) Special Envoy to mobilise international financial support for the fight against COVID-19 and WHO Special Envoy for Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator. She is a skilled negotiator and has brokered numerous agreements which have produced win-win outcomes in negotiations. She is regarded as an effective consensus builder and an honest broker enjoying the trust and confidence of governments and other stakeholders.

Previously, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala twice served as Nigeria's Finance Minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and briefly acted as Foreign Minister in 2006, the first woman to hold both positions. She distinguished herself by carrying out major reforms which improved the effectiveness of these two Ministries and the functioning of the government machinery. She had a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to the No. 2 position of Managing Director, Operations. As a development economist and Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala steered her country through various reforms ranging from macroeconomic to trade, financial and real sector issues.

She is a firm believer in the power of trade to lift developing countries out of poverty and assist them to achieve robust economic growth and sustainable development. As Finance Minister, she was involved in trade negotiations with other West African countries and contributed to the overhaul of Nigeria's trade policy enabling it to enhance its competitiveness. She has closely followed developments at the WTO, as she believes that a strengthened multilateral trading system is in the interests of all countries, particularly least developed and African countries.

She is renowned as the first female and African candidate to contest for the presidency of the World Bank Group in 2012, backed by Africa and major developing countries in the first truly contestable race for the world's highest development finance post. As Managing Director of the World Bank, she had oversight responsibility for the World Bank's $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia. Dr Okonjo-Iweala spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008-2009 food crisis and later during the financial crisis. In 2010, she was Chair of the World Bank's successful drive to raise $49.3 billion in grants and low interest credit for the poorest countries in the world.

As Minister of Finance in Nigeria, she spearheaded negotiations with the Paris Club of Creditors that led to the wiping out of $30 billion of Nigeria's debt, including the outright cancellation of $18 billion. In her second term as Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was responsible for leading reform that enhanced transparency of government accounts and strengthened institutions against corruption, including the implementation of the GIFMS (Government Integrated Financial Management System), the IPPMS (Integrated Personnel and Payroll Management System), and the TSA (Treasury Single Accounts).

Dr Okonjo-Iweala has been listed as Minister of the Decade, People's Choice Award by Nigeria's This Day newspaper (2020), one of Transparency International's 8 Female Anti-Corruption Fighters Who Inspire (2019), one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (Fortune, 2015), the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (TIME, 2014), the Top 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy, 2011 and 2012), the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (Forbes, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), the Top 3 Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes, 2012), the Top 10 Most Influential Women in Africa (Forbes, 2011), the Top 100 Women in the World (The UK Guardian, 2011), the Top 150 Women in the World (Newsweek, 2011), and the Top 100 most inspiring people in the World Delivering for Girls and Women (Women Deliver, 2011). She has also been listed among 73 “brilliant” business influencers in the world by Condé Nast International.

In 2020, she became an Angelopoulos Global Public Leader at Harvard University Kennedy School. She was also appointed to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) for President of South Africa His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa. In 2019, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, she received the Madeleine K. Albright Global Development Award from the Aspen Institute, the Women's Economic Empowerment Award from WEConnect International, and the Vanguard Award from Howard University. In 2016, she received the Power with Purpose Award from the Devex Development Communications Network and the Global Fairness Award from the Global Fairness Initiative in recognition of her contribution to sustainable development. She was also conferred High National Honours from the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire and the Republic of Liberia. She is also the recipient of Nigeria's third highest National Honors Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR). In addition, Dr Okonjo-Iweala has been awarded the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award (2014), the President of the Italian Republic Gold Medal by the Pia Manzu Centre (2011), the Global Leadership Award by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (2011) the Global Leadership Award by the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (2010), and the Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award (2010). She is also the recipient of the TIME Magazine's European Heroes Award in 2004, named Finance Minister of the Year (Africa Investor Magazine, 2014), Finance Minister of the Year for Africa and the Middle East (THE BANKER, 2004), Global Finance Minister of the Year (EUROMONEY, 2005), Finance Minister of the Year for Africa and the Middle East (Emerging Markets Magazine, 2005), and Minister of the Year (THISDAY, Newspaper 2004 and 2005).

Dr Okonjo-Iweala is currently also Chair of the Board of the African Union's African Risk Capacity (ARC), an innovative weather-based insurance mechanism for African countries; and co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate with Lord Nicholas Stern and Mr Paul Polman. She is also Chair of the Board of the Nelson Mandela Institution, an umbrella body for the African Institutes of Science and Technology, and Chair of the Board of the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja. Dr Okonjo-Iweala is a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She presently serves on the following advisory boards or groups — the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Harvard University International Advisory Board, the Oxford University Martin School Advisory Council, Mercy Corps International Advisory Board, Women's World Banking Africa Advisory Board, the International Commission on Financing Global Education (Chaired by Gordon Brown), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Advisory Board, Tsinghua University Beijing — School of Public Policy and Management Global Advisory Board, the CARICOM (Caribbean) Commission on the Economy, the Bloomberg Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health, and Tax Inspectors Without Borders of the OECD among others. She is a member of the B Team of Business and Civic Leaders cofounded by Sir Richard Branson, a board member of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Foundation, and also co-chair and board member of Lumos, an Africa focused renewable energy company.

Previously, she was also a Senior Adviser at Lazard (2015-2019) and she served as the co-Chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation with UK Secretary Justine Greening, and Chair of the World Bank's Development Committee (2004). She was also a member of the International Monetary and Finance Committee of the IMF (2003-2006 and 2011-2015), the United Nations' Secretary General's High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the Danish Government-led Commission on Africa, the World Economic Forum Global Leadership Council on Transparency and Corruption, and the Commission on World Growth (led by Nobel Prize winner Professor Michael Spence). She served for a decade on the Rockefeller Foundation Board and the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders. Dr Okonjo-Iweala has also served on the advisory board of the ONE Campaign, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Global Development Network, and the University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala is the founder of Nigeria's first ever indigenous opinion-research organization, NOI-Polls. She also founded the Center for the Study of Economies of Africa (C-SEA), a development research think tank based in Abuja, Nigeria. She is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development, and also at the Brookings Institution, premier Washington D.C. think tanks.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in Economics from Harvard University (1976) and earned a Ph.D. in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 1981). She has received honorary degrees from 15 universities worldwide, including from: Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Trinity College (University of Dublin), Amherst College, Colby College, Tel Aviv University, and Northern Caribbean University, Jamaica. She also has honorary doctorate degrees from a host of Nigerian universities including Abia State University, Delta State University, Oduduwa University, Babcock University, and the Universities of Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Ife (Obafemi Awolowo). She is the author of numerous articles and several books, including Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons co-authored with Julia Gillard (Penguin Random House, July 2020), Finding A Vaccine is Only the First Step (Foreign Affairs, April 2020), Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines (MIT Press, 2018), Reforming the UnReformable: Lessons from Nigeria, (MIT Press, 2012), Mobilizing Finance for Education in the Commonwealth (Commonwealth Education Report 2019), Shine a Light on the Gaps — an essay on financial inclusion for African Small Holder Farmers (Foreign Affairs, 2015), Funding the SDGs: Licit and Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries (Horizons Magazine, 2016), and The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy (Africa World Press, 2003). She also co-authored with Tijan Sallah the book Chinua Achebe: Teacher of Light (Africa World Press, 2003).

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is married to neurosurgeon Dr. Ikemba Iweala. They have four children and three grandchildren.

Christine Lagarde

President, European Central Bank

Since November 2019, Christine Lagarde has been the President of the European Central Bank. Between 2011 and 2019, she served as the eleventh Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prior to that she served as French Economic Finance Minister from 2007 to 2011 after having been Trade Secretary from 2005 to 2007. A lawyer by background, she practiced for 20 years with the international law firm Baker McKenzie, of which she became global chairman in 1999. In all such positions, she was the first woman to serve.

Raphael Bostic

President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Dr. Raphael Bostic is the 15th president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He is responsible for all the Bank's activities, including monetary policy, bank supervision and regulation, and payment services. He is currently a voting member on the Federal Open Market Committee, the monetary policymaking body of the Federal Reserve System.

Before joining the Atlanta Fed, Bostic was the Judith and John Bedrosian Chair in Governance and the Public Enterprise at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC). He has also served as assistant secretary for policy development and research at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and spent several years as an economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Bostic earned a PhD in economics from Stanford University and his undergraduate degree from Harvard.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta serves the Sixth Federal Reserve District, which covers Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The Bank has branches in Birmingham, Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville, and New Orleans.

Piyush Gupta

Chief Executive Officer, DBS Group

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia, widely recognised for being at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking. The bank has been accorded accolades including “World’s Best Bank” and “World’s Best Digital Bank” by several global publications. In addition, in 2019, DBS was listed among the top ten most transformative organisations of the decade by Harvard Business Review.

Piyush is Vice-Chairman of the Institute of International Finance, Washington. In addition, he is a member of Singapore’s Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data, McKinsey Advisory Council, Bretton Woods Committee - Advisory Council, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development - Executive Committee. He sits on the boards of Enterprise Singapore, Singapore’s National Research Foundation, and the Singapore’s Council for Board Diversity. Previously, he has been a member of the Singapore Emerging Stronger Taskforce, aimed at defining Singapore’s future in a post-Covid world, and the UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Elvira Nabiullina

Central Bank Governor, Central Bank of Russia

Bio coming soon.

Kristalina Georgieva

Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

Kristalina Georgieva currently serves as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, a position she was selected for on September 25, 2019 and has served as since October 1, 2019.

Before joining the Fund, Ms. Georgieva was CEO of the World Bank from January 2017 to September 2019, during which time she also served as Interim President of the World Bank Group for three months.

Previously, Ms. Georgieva helped shape the agenda of the European Union while serving as European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources. In this capacity she oversaw the EU’s €161 billion (US $175bn) budget and 33,000 staff, as well as the EU’s response to the Euro Area debt crisis and the 2015 refugee crisis. Before that, she was Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, managing one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid budgets.

Ms. Georgieva began her career in public service at the World Bank as an environmental economist in 1993. After serving for 17 years, and in many senior positions, including Director for Sustainable Development, Director for the Russian Federation, Director for Environment, and Director for Environment and Social Development for the East Asia and Pacific Region, her career culminated in her appointment as Vice President and Corporate Secretary in 2008. In this role, she served as the interlocutor between the World Bank Group’s senior management, its Board of Directors, and its shareholder countries.

Ms. Georgieva serves on many international panels including as co-Chair of the Global Commission on Adaptation, and as co-chair of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing. She has authored and co-authored over 100 publications on environmental and economic policy, including textbooks on macro- and microeconomics.

Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1953, Ms. Georgieva holds a Ph.D in Economic Science and a M.A. in Political Economy and Sociology from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, where she was an Associate Professor between 1977 and 1993. During her academic career, she was visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2010, she was named “European of the Year” and “Commissioner of the Year” by European Voice in recognition for her leadership in the EU’s response to humanitarian crises. In October 2020, she received the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished International Leadership Award in acknowledgement of exceptional and distinctive contributions during her career of public service.

Joachim Wenning

Chairman of the Board of Management, Munich Re (Group)

Bio coming soon.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski

Chief Executive Officer, Klarna

Degree of Master of Science, M.Sc. (Economics and Business), Stockholm School of Economics, 2007.

Board member since 2005 and CEO since 2010.

Board assignments:

Board member and CEO of Klarna Holding AB
Board chair or board member of other Group companies
Board member in a number of small private holding companies without any operational activities.

Dan Schulman

President & CEO, PayPal

With extensive corporate experience and a lifelong commitment to social justice, Dan Schulman believes the private sector has a responsibility to serve multiple stakeholders and to improve the state of the world.

In 2021, Dan was ranked third on Fortune’s list of the World’s Greatest Leaders, an honor that recognized individuals for their leadership throughout the pandemic. The New York Urban League presented Dan with the 2021 Frederick Douglass Award, for his commitment, dedication, and influence to advance the rights of generations of underserved Black Americans. In 2020, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights honored Dan with the Ripple of Hope Award, for demonstrating a commitment to social change and a passion for equality, justice and basic human rights. He has frequently been recognized by Fortune as one of the top 20 Businesspersons of the Year, and has received "Visionary Awards" from the Financial Health Network in 2018 and the Council for Economic Education in 2017 for his promotion of economic and financial literacy. Dan received the 2017 Brennan Legacy Award, established to honor the late Supreme Court justice and his career-long commitment to social justice and “common human dignity”.

Dan is dedicated to building a world where everyone has access to economic opportunity, which he advances through his work as a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and co-chair of the World Economic Forum's Steering Committee to promote global financial inclusion. He is also an avid mixed martial arts practitioner.

Alexander Lacik

President & Chief Executive Officer, Pandora A/S

Alexander Lacik has 30 years of experience in international business, marketing and business management. Prior to joining Pandora, he was Chief Executive Officer of Brittax Ltd., a British manufacturer of childcare products. He has also held CEO & senior management positions at Kasthall Golv & Mattor, Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser, where he held a number of positions including head of Reckitt Benckiser North America. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Växjö, Sweden.

Carlos Tavares

Chief Executive Officer, Stellantis

Carlos Tavares was appointed Executive Director of Stellantis with effect from January 17, 2021 and Chief Executive Officer on January 17, 2021. Previously, he served as Chairman of the PSA Managing Board from March 31, 2014, having joined the PSA Managing Board on January 1, 2014. Born in Portugal in 1958, Carlos Tavares graduated from École Centrale de Paris.

He held various positions within the Renault Group between 1981 and 2004, before joining the Nissan Group. Carlos Tavares was appointed Executive Vice President, Chairman of the Management Committee Americas and President of Nissan North America in 2009, before being appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Renault, a position he held until 2013. Carlos Tavares also serves as a director of Airbus Holding S.A., and is a member of the board of directors of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA)

Falguni Nayar

Founder and CEO, Nykaa

Falguni Nayar is the founder, Executive Chairperson & Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of our Company. She holds a post-graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She has over 26 years of experience in e-commerce, investment banking and broking. Prior to founding our Company, she was associated with Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited for 18 years where she also served as a managing director. She has also served on the boards of various companies, including Tata Motors Limited and Aviva Life Insurance Company India Limited Presently, she serves as an independent on the boards of various companies including, Kotak Securities Limited, ACC Limited and Dabur India Limited. She has won many awards, including ‘EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 – Start-up’ by Ernst and Young and ‘Businesswoman of the Year’ at the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence, 2019. She was listed as one of Asia’s Power Businesswomen, 2019 by Forbes Asia and named as ‘Business Person of the Year’, 2019 by Vogue India.

Nandan Nilekani

Chairman and Co-founder, Infosys, and Founding Chairman, UIDAI (Aadhaar)

Nandan Nilekani is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited. He was the Founding Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank of a Cabinet Minister from 2009 - 2014. Most recently, Nandan has co-founded and is the Chairman of EkStep, a not-for- profit effort to create a learner-centric, technology-based platform to improve basic literacy and numeracy for millions of children.

Born in Bengaluru, Nilekani received his Bachelor’s degree from IIT, Bombay. Fortune Magazine conferred him with “Asia’s Businessman of the year 2003”. In 2005 he received the prestigious Joseph Schumpeter prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics. In 2006, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. He was also named Businessman of the year by Forbes Asia. Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 & 2009. Foreign Policy magazine listed him as one of the Top 100 Global thinkers in 2010. He won The Economist Social & Economic Innovation Award for his leadership of India’s Unique Identification initiative (Aadhaar). In 2017, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from E & Y. CNBC- TV 18 conferred India Business leader award for the outstanding contributor to the Indian Economy-2017 and he also received the 22nd Nikkei Asia Prize for Economic & Business Innovation 2017. He has been inducted as International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. Nandan Nilekani is the author of “Imagining India” and co-authored his second book with Viral Shah, “Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations”.

Tekedra Mawakana

Co-Chief Executive Officer, Waymo

Tekedra N. Mawakana is the co-Chief Executive Officer of Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they’re going.

As co-Chief Executive Officer, Tekedra is responsible for overall company strategy, with her primary focus on ensuring Waymo’s transformational technology — the Waymo Driver — is commercialized and widely adopted.

Tekedra has more than two decades of experience advising consumer technology companies on how to advance their business interests around the world and is an expert in navigating complex high-profile issues. She began her career working with regulated technology and telecom industries, and leading global technology transactions. She has served as a trusted advisor to Chief Executive Officers managing growth and risk-mitigation strategies.

Tekedra previously served as COO of Waymo. Prior to Waymo, Tekedra led global teams across five continents at eBay, Yahoo, AOL and Startec. She started her career at the DC-based law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

Tekedra is a social impact-focused angel investor, and an LP with Operator Collective. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Intuit, and on the Advisory Board for Lyte. She also sits on the Board of Directors for Saving Promise, a non-profit dedicated to the prevention of partner violence. As a tech industry veteran, Tekedra is on the Board of Industry Leaders for the Consumer Technology Association; and previously, she served as the Chairwoman of the Board of the Internet Association.

She has been recognized by Automotive News in 2020 as among the 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry, “Top 20 in 2020 Influential Women in Mobility” by Vulog, and as one of the most influential black leaders in corporate America by Savoy magazine in 2020 and 2019. She was named a Visionary Leader by ALM and InsideCounsel in 2016, and a Tech Titan by Washingtonian magazine in 2015.

Tekedra received her JD from Columbia Law School and her BA with honors from Trinity College.

Shari Redstone

Non-Executive Chair, ViacomCBS

Shari Redstone is a media executive with wide-ranging experience in the entertainment industry and related ventures. Through National Amusements, a world leader in the motion picture exhibition industry, Ms. Redstone and her family are the majority voting shareholders of ViacomCBS, which is home to brands such as CBS, Showtime, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, CBS as well as Paramount Pictures and streaming services Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Ms. Redstone is Chairperson, CEO and President of National Amusements and Non-Executive Chair of the Board of ViacomCBS.

Ms. Redstone also is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Advancit Capital, an investment firm launched in 2011 that focuses on early-stage companies at the intersection of media, entertainment and technology. Current investments include Masterclass, Headspace, Public, Thrive Global and The Athletic, to name a few.

Ms. Redstone serves on the Board of Trustees for the Paley Center for Media and is actively involved in charitable, civic and educational organizations. She is a member of the Board of Trustees at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Ms. Redstone earned a BS from Tufts University, and a JD and a Masters in Tax Law from Boston University. She practiced corporate law, estate planning and criminal law in the Boston area before joining National Amusements.

Eva Gouwens

Chief Executive Officer, Fairphone

With 18 years of experience in the consumer goods business, Eva Gouwens joined Fairphone at the end of 2017 and took over as Chief Executive Officer in 2018. Eva brings her natural ability to inspire and empower people, and transform Fairphone’s impact goals and strategy into actions. She hopes to make the world a bit more beautiful by supporting the growth of social enterprises within the Netherlands, and by inspiring an industry to make a positive change in how we care for people and the planet.

Anthony Tan

Group CEO & Co-Founder, Grab

Anthony Tan is Group CEO & Co-Founder of Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading mobile technology company. By focusing on a hyperlocal business strategy and building strategic partnerships, Mr Tan and his team transformed Grab from a taxi booking app to the leading superapp platform in Southeast Asia, providing everyday services that matter to consumers. Grab today offers a wide range of on-demand services in the region, including mobility, food, package and grocery delivery services, mobile payments, and financial services.

Anthony is at the forefront of the “Grab for Good” social impact programme - which include partnerships and initiatives to drive digital literacy, economic inclusion and the development of technology skills across Southeast Asia.

Anthony is passionate about servant leadership and serving others in his community. In his personal capacity, he supports a range of causes in the region, such as Transform Cambodia which rescues and protects street children and offers them healthcare, education and life skills.

His leadership and vision have earned him several accolades, including Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in 2018, The Bloomberg 50 in 2017 and Fortune’s 40 Under 40 in 2018 and 2016. Under Anthony’s leadership, Grab has also received global recognition for its innovation and impact in the region, including ranking second on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2019, being on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list for the last four years consecutively, and making Fortune’s Change the World list in 2020.

Anthony has a Bachelor of Arts (Economics and Public Policy) from the University of Chicago, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Merck Mercuriadis

Founder and CEO, Hipgnosis Songs Fund

Bio coming soon.

Nile Rodgers

Multiple Award Winning Composer, Producer, Arranger, Guitarist and Co-Founder of CHIC

Bio coming soon.

Stacey Abrams

Founder, Fair Fight Action

Bio coming soon.

Michael Holding

Former Cricketer, West Indies

Former West Indies cricketer who went into Broadcasting in 1988 on both Radio and Television, spending my last 22yrs working for SKY UK and sharing the last 8yrs working for Supersport in South Africa.

Gabriela Bucher

Executive Director, Oxfam International

Gabriela Bucher is Executive Director of Oxfam International, a global network which fights inequality to end poverty and injustice. Ms. Bucher is an experienced social justice leader and deeply committed to gender equality and human rights, and to tackling economic inequality.

Ms. Bucher, who grew up in Cali, Colombia, is a champion for feminist leadership and believes in the power of collaboration. She worked alongside children and communities affected by Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict and contributed to peace-building, youth active citizenship and influencing the country’s approach on restorative justice for children. Prior to Oxfam, Ms. Bucher was the Chief Operating Officer at Plan International, and led Fundación Plan Colombia.

Richard Browning

Founder and Chief Test Pilot, Gravity Industries Ltd.

Richard Browning is Founder and Chief Test Pilot of Gravity Industries which designs, builds and flies Jet Suits, pioneering a new era of human flight. The company was founded in March 2017 to challenge the perceived boundaries in human aviation and to inspire others to dare to ask “What if?”. It now scales towards an International Race Series.

Prior to founding Gravity, Richard was a Royal Marines reservist for six years and an Oil Trader with BP for 16 years where he discovered and implemented major new technologies winning the BP Group innovation Award.

When he is not flying around the world, Richard is in Salisbury with his wife Debbie and their two children, Oliver and Thomas, kayaking and camping amongst other things.

Roya Rahmani

Former Afghan Ambassador to US

Bio coming soon.

Andoni Luis Aduriz

Michelin Star Chef

Bio coming soon.

Dr Anthony Fauci

Director, NIAID

Dr Anthony Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, where he oversees an extensive research portfolio focused on infectious and immune-mediated diseases. He serves as one of the key advisors to the White House and Department of Health and Human Services on global HIV/AIDS issues, and on initiatives to bolster medical and public health preparedness against emerging infectious disease threats. He is the winner of numerous prestigious awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science and the Lasker Award for Public Service.

Dr Soumya Swaminathan

Chief Scientist, World Health Organisation

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan was appointed as WHO’s first Chief Scientist in March 2019. She heads the Science division that was created to strengthen the organisation’s core scientific work and ensure the quality and consistency of its norms and standards. The Division also promotes the use of digital tools and technologies to help achieve the SDGs and will work on governance frameworks to regulate new technologies like Artificial intelligence and genome editing. The division also will have a foresight function that enables WHO to stay ahead of the curve and will promote research and development that leads to products that meet unmet public health needs.

She was previously Deputy Director-General for Programmes (DDP). A paediatrician from India and a globally recognized researcher on tuberculosis and HIV, she brings with her 30 years of experience in clinical care and research and has worked throughout her career to translate research into impactful programmes. Most recently, Dr Swaminathan was Secretary of the Department of Health Research and Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research. From 2009 to 2011, she also served as Coordinator of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) in Geneva.

She has sat on several WHO and global advisory bodies and committees, including the WHO Expert Panel to Review Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property, the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of the Global TB Department at WHO, and as Co-Chair of the Lancet Commission on TB. She received her academic training in India, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America, and has published more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.

Özlem Türeci

Chief Medical Officer, BioNTech

Özlem Türeci, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of BioNTech, is a physician, immunologist, and cancer researcher with translational and clinical experience. Türeci has helped lead the discovery of cancer antigens, the development of mRNA-based individualized and off-the-shelf vaccine candidates and other types of immunotherapies which are currently in clinical development. Türeci leads the clinical development of BioNTech’s “Project Lightspeed,” the company’s successful effort to develop and distribute an mRNA-based vaccine against COVID-19, a historic achievement completed in less than one year. She currently serves as President of the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT) in Germany. She is a recent recipient of the German Sustainability Award, among other notable recognitions.

Ugur Sahin

Chief Executive Officer, BioNTech

Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BioNTech, is a physician, immunologist and leader in the development of novel approaches to fight cancer and infectious diseases. Sahin is one of the world’s foremost experts on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) medicines. He has pioneered several breakthroughs enabling the development of mRNA vaccines and other types of immunotherapies. Sahin initiated and oversees “Project Lightspeed,” the historic development of the first mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, moving from lab and clinical testing to conditional approval within an unprecedented 11-month period. He also leads BioNTech’s research and development of neoantigen specific mRNA cancer vaccines which are individually tailored and produced on demand according to the profile of non-synonymous mutations identified by next-generation sequencing in patients’ tumors. Based on his contributions to scientific discovery, Dr. Sahin has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the German Sustainability Award, the Mustafa Prize, and the German Cancer Award. He is married to Dr. Özlem Türeci.

Winnie Byanyima

UNAIDS Executive Director, UNAIDS

Winnie Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. A passionate and longstanding champion of social justice and gender equality, Ms Byanyima leads the United Nations’ efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Ms Byanyima believes that health care is a human right and was an early champion of a People’s Vaccine against the coronavirus that is available and free of charge to everyone, everywhere.

Before joining UNAIDS, Ms Byanyima served as the Executive Director of Oxfam International, a confederation of 20 civil society organizations working in more than 90 countries worldwide, empowering people to create a future that is secure, just and free from poverty.

Ms Byanyima was elected for three terms and served 11 years in the parliament of her country, Uganda. She led Uganda’s first parliamentary women’s caucus, championing ground-breaking gender equality provisions in the county’s 1995 post-conflict constitution.

Ms Byanyima led the establishment of the African Union Commission’s Directorate of Gender and Development and also served as Director of Gender and Development at the United Nations Development Programme. She founded the Forum for Women in Democracy, an influential Ugandan nongovernmental organization, and has been deeply involved in building global and African coalitions on social justice issues. A global leader on inequality, Ms Byanyima has co-chaired the World Economic Forum and served on the World Bank’s Advisory Council on Gender and Development, the International Labour Organization’s Global Commission on the Future of Work and the Global Commission on Adaptation.

Ms Byanyima is a recipient of several awards, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, an honorary doctorate from Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada, and the 2018 Human Rights and Solidarity among Peoples Prize, awarded by the Latin American Council of Social Sciences.

She holds a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Cranfield University and an undergraduate degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Manchester.

Ms Byanyima is married and has one son. She loves birds, gardening and hiking. Ms Byanyima has seven given names, one of which is Kyegiragire, which means “I can make myself whatever I want to be”. Ms Byanyima says this has shaped her attitude to life!

Kate Bingham

former Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce & Managing Partner, SV Health Investors

Kate Bingham is the former Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, where she led a team of world-class experts from across industry, science, academia and government with the shared purposed of finding and manufacturing COVID-19 vaccine/s. The Vaccine Taskforce helped place the UK at the leading edge of the international effort to fight the pandemic and the UK was the first Western country to start vaccination in December 2020.

Kate has worked in the biotech sector for 30 years and is Managing Partner at life sciences venture capital firm SV Health Investors, where she is responsible for SV’s biotech investments. Her investments have led to the launch of six drugs for the treatment of patients with inflammatory and autoimmune disease and cancer.

Kate is a board member of the Francis Crick Institute. She won the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the BioIndustry Association UK in January 2017 and has a first class degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).

Dr. Rachel Levine

Asst. Secretary for Health, United States

Dr. Rachel L. Levine serves as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where she fights every day to improve the health and well-being of all Americans. She’s working to help our nation overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and build a stronger foundation for a healthier future - one in which every American can attain their full health potential. Dr. Levine’s storied career, first in academic medicine, and as a physician then Pennsylvania’s Physician General and then as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health, has focused on the intersection between mental and physical health, often treating children, adolescents, and young adults.

Ong Ye Kung

Minister for Health, Singapore

Ong Ye Kung is the Minister for Health.

He had held the positions of Minister for Transport, Minister for Education, Second Minister for Defence and board member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He is also the Chairman of the Chinese Development Assistance Council.

Prior to joining politics, he held various positions in Government, including Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, and Deputy Chief Negotiator for the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. He served several years in the Labour Movement, as the Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress, and spent some time in the private sector, as the Director of Group Strategy at Keppel Corporation.

Mr Ong graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK) and the Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland.