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Tekedra Mawakana

co-Chief Executive Officer, Waymo

Tekedra N. Mawakana is the co-CEO 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-CEO, 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 CEOs 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.

Andrea Orcel

Chief Executive Officer, Unicredit

Andrea Orcel began his career in 1987 at Midland Montagu in Fixed Income. In 1988 he moved to Goldman Sachs and in 1990 he joined The Boston Consulting Group.

From 1992 to 2012, Andrea worked for Merrill Lynch (then Bank of America), with a number of senior positions: Executive Chairman of the Investment Bank and President of Emerging Markets ex Asia (2009), President of International Global Banking, Securities & Wealth Management; Head of International Corporate and Investment Banking (2009), Head of Global Origination, President of EMEA Global Markets & Investment Banking and member of Merrill Lynch Management Committee (2007), Head of Origination and Co-President of Global Markets and Investment Banking for Europe, Middle East & Africa (2004), Head of Global Financial Institutions Group (2003), Co-Head of Financial Institutions Group for Europe, Middle East & Africa (1999).

In 2012, Andrea joined UBS as a Member of the Group Executive Board and then President, Investment Bank; then CEO, UBS Limited and UBS AG London Branch (2014); Member of the Board of UBS Americas Holding LLC, senior contact for US industry regulators and Senior Officer Outside of Australia and senior contact for Australia industry regulators (2016). He was also a Member of the Board of UBS Optimus Foundation, Senior Sponsor and Leader for Diversity and Talent Development in the Investment Bank and the UK.

On 15th April 2021, Andrea Orcel was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer of UniCredit .

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.

Jacek Olczak

Chief Executive Officer, Philip Morris International

Mr. Olczak was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Philip Morris International (PMI) in May 2021. Prior to this appointment, he served as PMI’s Chief Operating Officer from January 2018, having formerly been Chief Financial Officer, beginning in August 2012. Mr. Olczak is committed to delivering PMI’s smoke-free future and expanding the company’s product portfolio beyond nicotine. He has been a key driver of the company’s commercial transformation, turning a primarily business-to-business company into an increasingly business-to-consumer company. Throughout his nearly three-decade career with PMI, Mr. Olczak has established deep institutional and industry knowledge and awareness of PMI’s products, systems, and values—as well as a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory environment in which PMI operates. Mr. Olczak began his career with PMI in 1993. He started in finance and general management positions across Europe, including as Managing Director of PMI’s markets in Poland and Germany and as President of the European Union Region, before being appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2012. Prior to joining PMI, Mr. Olczak worked for BDO Binder. Mr. Olczak holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Lodz, Poland.

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.

Roger Ver

Founder, Bitcoin.com

In 1999 Roger began his career by founding MemoryDealers.com at the age of nineteen while still attending college. Under his leadership the company quickly grew to become a market leader, employing dozens of people across the world and generating millions of dollars in revenue.

In 2005 Roger saw an opportunity in the market for fibre optic transceivers used in networking subsystems, so he founded Agilestar.com. Agilestar went on to become a world leader in optical transceivers used by fortune 100 companies around the world.

In 2011 Roger heard about Bitcoin for the first time. The price was still under one U.S. Dollar each, but he already knew that it was one of the most important inventions in the history of humankind.

His company Memorydealers became the first established business in the world to start accepting Bitcoin for payments. Roger then went on to become the first person in the world to start investing in Bitcoin startups. He nearly single handedly funded the entire first generation of Bitcoin and Blockchain businesses including Bitcoin.com, Blockchain.com, Bitpay.com, Kraken.com, purse.io, and many many more. Those businesses have gone on to raise hundreds of millions of additional funding, and serve tens of millions of customers around the world. Subsequent investors in the companies that Roger helped provide the seed funding for have been people such as Sir Richard Branson, Virgin, Google Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Founders Fund, and many more. Roger has devoted his full time attention to Bitcoin and blockchains ever since.

Nandan Nilekan

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

Nandan Nilekani is the Co-founder and 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. He was most recently the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank of a Cabinet Minister. Nandan Nilekani was previously the Co-chairman, Infosys Technologies Limited, which he co-founded in 1981.

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 and 2009. Foreign Policy magazine listed him as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2010. He won The Economist Social and 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 outstanding contribution to the Indian economy in 2017 and he also received the 22nd Nikkei Asia Prize for Economic and Business Innovation, 2017.

Nandan Nilekani is the author of “Imagining India” and co-authored his second book with Viral Shah, “Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations”.

Ugur Sahin

Chief Executive Officer of BioNTech

Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D., Co-Founder and CEO 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.

Özlem Türeci

Chief Medical Officer of 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.

Anthony Tan

Group CEO and Co-founder, Grab

Anthony Tan is Group CEO and 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.

Helena Lopes Caldeira

CFO & Investor Relations Officer, Inter

Helena Lopes Caldeira is the CFO and Investor Relations Officer for Inter. She joined the bank in 2016 and lead the Business Development team for a year, before moving to Investor Relations in 2017. In 2019, Helena became Inter's IRO and in early 2020 stepped in as the CFO. She was part of some of Inter's most important transactions such as its IPO at B3 in 2018, as well three follow-on offerings in the following years and key M&A deals. Formerly, Helena served as Fixed Income Portfolio Manager at Araújo Fontes (2009 - 2013) and as Business Development Advisor at Grupo Ferreira Lopes (2014). Helena holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Ibmec (2009), an MBA from London Business School (2016), and is certified by ANBIMA as Investment Manager (CGA).

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.

Frédéric Chesnais

CEO of Crypto Blockchain Industries, Atari

Frédéric Chesnais is an investor in blockchain, technology and videogame companies. A former Lazard investment banker, he became deputy CEO of Atari in 2001, bought Atari in 2013 and launched the Atari blockchain initiative in 2018. He is today the CEO of Atari Chain, Ltd, the entity of the Atari Group focusing on blockchain and crypto-currencies. His holding company, Crypto Blockchain Industries (CBI), is developing Alphaverse, a metaverse on the blockchain which includes many brands such as Atari. CBI also invests in blockchain and crypto-currency projects, as well as payment systems in Africa.

Chris James

Founder, Engine No1

Chris has a more than 30-year career investing in and building businesses across multiple industries in transition. He founded Engine No. 1 based on his vision that capitalism can be harnessed for positive change and companies that align the interests of their shareholders and stakeholders are better, stronger companies as a result.

Prior to the launch of Engine No. 1, Chris founded Partner Fund Management, where he served as Co-Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager. Previously, he co-founded Andor Capital Management, and before that, served as a member of the management committee of Pequot Capital Management. Early in his career, Chris was an analyst at Ethos Capital (later sold to Moore Capital) and started his career at JGM Management.

Chris received a BA in Economics from Tulane University, where he also formerly chaired the Investment Committee. Chris is the Chair of Tipping Point Community, an organization that fights poverty in the Bay Area, and he is actively involved in broader poverty relief as well as initiatives focusing on conservation and education.

Rob Kaplan

Founder & CEO, Circulate Capital

Rob is Founder and CEO of Circulate Capital, a Singapore-based impact investment management firm dedicated to financing companies, projects, and infrastructure that prevent the flow of plastic waste to the world’s ocean and advance the circular economy in South and Southeast Asia (SSEA).

With 60% of the plastic waste in the oceans originating from Asia, Rob moved to Singapore from the US to be closer to the core of the world’s plastic crisis in Asia.

In December 2019, the Singapore-based Circulate Capital Ocean Fund (US$106M) will be launched. Circulate Capital along with investors from several leading corporations; PepsiCo, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Danone, Dow, Procter & Gamble, The Coca-Cola Company, and Unilever aim to prevent the flow of plastic waste into the ocean through financing Asia’s waste ecosystem and incentivize private capital investment in the recycling value chain across the region.

Prior to founding Circulate Capital, Rob was the Co-Founder of and Senior Advisor to Closed Loop Partners, an innovative platform for impact investing, sustainability, and the circular economy focused in North America. He oversaw strategy and new business model development, as well as day-to-day operations. The Fund has deployed more than $40M into recycling and circular economy investment opportunities.

Prior to Closed Loop, Rob also served as the Director of Sustainability for Walmart Stores, Inc. where he was responsible for packaging, customer engagement and integration with the Consumables business, including personal care and household cleaning. Rob led Walmart’s cross-functional efforts to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas from the supply chain.

Before joining Walmart, Rob helped lead corporate responsibility and brand strategy for the Brown-Forman Corporation, which produces and markets spirit brands such as Jack Daniel’s. Rob developed marketing strategies to engage consumers, improve social and environmental performance and advance business objectives.

Eric Norris

Head of Lithium, Albemarle

Eric Norris joined Albemarle in January 2018 as Chief Strategy Officer. In this role, he managed the company’s strategic planning, M&A, and corporate business development programs as well as its investor relations efforts. In August 2018, he was appointed President of the Lithium global business unit.

Prior to joining Albemarle, Norris served as President of Health and Nutrition for FMC Corporation. Following FMC’s announcement to acquire DuPont Agricultural Chemical assets, he led the divestiture of FMC Health and Nutrition to DuPont. Previously, Norris served as Vice President and Global Business Director for FMC Health and Nutrition, and Vice President and Global Business Director for FMC Lithium. During his 16-year FMC career, he served in additional leadership roles including Investor Relations, Corporate Development and Director of FMC Healthcare Ventures.

Prior to FMC, Norris founded and led an internet-based firm offering formulation and design tools to the chemical industry. He started his career in a range of leadership roles with the Rohm and Haas Company. 

Norris earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and German from Colgate University.

Norris is a member of the board of directors of Communities in Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg and is a member of the board of advisors of The Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA). 

Kristen Siemen

Chief Sustainability Officer, General Motors

Kristen Siemen was appointed vice president of Sustainable Workplaces and Chief Sustainability Officer in February 2021. She will help lead General Motors to a future with zero emissions as the company continues to take bold actions against climate change, including GM’s commitment to become carbon neutral in its products and operations by 2040.

In her most recent role as executive director, Global Energy Strategy, Certification, Compliance and Test Labs, Siemen led a cross-functional leadership team responsible for setting corporate energy strategies, including the introduction of fuel economy improvement technologies as well as initiatives aligned with GM’s vision of a zero-emissions future. Siemen worked closely with the Sustainability Office to develop GM’s aspiration to eliminate all tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035 as well as the development of the company’s sciencebased targets. Siemen has been a member of the General Motors team for over 25 years, and for the past 10 years has held senior leadership positions in various engineering functions.

In addition to her accomplished technical career, Siemen is also passionate about promoting inclusion and gender equality. She was instrumental in creating GM’s career reentry program, “Take 2,” serves as GM’s key executive for the Society of Women Engineers and is the co-lead for the GM Women Ally Program. Her work to improve policies and practices effecting change for women earned her the National Association for Female Executives Women of Excellence Activist Award. Siemen also serves on the Board of Advisors for Catalyst and the Oakland University School of Engineering & Computer Science Advisory Board, where she received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering.

A native of Warren, Michigan, she grew up around the automotive industry with her father, grandfather and grandmother all working in the field.

Mark Cutifani

Chief Executive Officer, Anglo American

Skills and experience

Mark contributes to Anglo American over 40 years’ experience of the mining industry across a wide range of geographies and commodities.

Mark is Chair of the Group Management Committee (GMC), is a non-executive director of Anglo American Platinum, and chairman of De Beers.

Mark was previously CEO of AngloGold Ashanti Limited, a position he held from 2007-2013. Before joining AngloGold Ashanti, Mark was COO at Vale Inco where he was responsible for Vale’s global nickel business. Prior to this he held senior executive positions with the Normandy Group, Sons of Gwalia, Western Mining Corporation, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines and CRA (Rio Tinto).

Current external appointments

Independent director of Total S.A. and a member of the board of trustees of The Power of Nutrition, an independent charitable foundation.

Paul Graves

Chief Executive Officer, Livent

Paul Graves is the President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Livent Board of Directors. Before joining Livent, Paul was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of FMC.

Paul previously served as a Managing Director and Partner in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs Group in Hong Kong and was the co-head of Natural Resources for Asia. Paul also served as the Global Head of Agricultural Investment Banking and Global Head of Chemical Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Finance from Nottingham Trent University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA).

Joji Tagawa

Chief Sustainability Officer, Nissan Motor

Paul Graves is the President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Livent Board of Directors. Before joining Livent, Paul was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of FMC.

Paul previously served as a Managing Director and Partner in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs Group in Hong Kong and was the co-head of Natural Resources for Asia. Paul also served as the Global Head of Agricultural Investment Banking and Global Head of Chemical Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Finance from Nottingham Trent University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA).

Richard C. Adkerson

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

Richard C. Adkerson is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Freeport-McMoRan Inc., a leading international mining company with headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. Freeport is one of the world's largest publicly traded copper producers, with a portfolio of assets that includes the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia, one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits, and significant mining operations in North and South America.

He currently serves as Chair of the International Council on Mining and Metals, has been a member of ICMM since 2005 and previously served as Chair from 2008 - 2011. He is a member of The Business Council, the Business Roundtable, the Council on Foreign Relations and serves as Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. He also serves on Greater Phoenix Leadership and the Dean's Council of 100 for the Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business.

For 10 years, he was named The Best CEO in Metals and Mining by Institutional Investor magazine, was named Copper Man of the Year 2009 and is an inductee into the American Mining Hall of Fame. He is past Chairman and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the National WWII Museum and is on the Board of Visitors of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Mr. Adkerson graduated from Mississippi State University with a B.S. degree in Accounting with highest honors and an MBA degree. In 2010, he received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Mississippi State and was named National Alumnus of the Year in 2011. He also completed the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School in 1988.

Before joining Freeport-McMoRan in 1989, he was Partner and Managing Director in Arthur Andersen & Co. where he headed the firm’s Worldwide Oil and Gas Industry Practice. From 1976 to 1978, he was a Professional Accounting Fellow with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.

Namrata Thapar

Global Head, Mining, The International Finance Corporation

Namrata Thapar is Global Head of Mining at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), based in Washington, D.C. IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group— is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. In this role, Ms. Thapar leads the IFC mining sector investment team, promoting the growth of IFC’s mining business in emerging markets with a focus on sustainability and development impact. She oversees a portfolio of about $1 billion, including equity, mezzanine, and senior debt.

Since joining IFC in 1999, Ms. Thapar has managed mining transactions around the world, working with a range of clients and a variety of financing arrangements.

Von Hernandez

Global Coordinator, Break Free From Plastic (BFFP)

Von Hernandez is the Global Coordinator of the Break Free from Plastic movement, consisting of more than 2,500 organizations representing millions of supporters worldwide that have come together to push for systemic and lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis.

Prior to his current role, Von was Global Development Director of Greenpeace International where he oversaw the development and performance of Greenpeace’s national and regional offices worldwide. He also served as the Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia (GPSEA), where he led some of the group’s most successful campaigns and programs in the region. He co-founded and spearheaded various environmental coalitions and partnerships at the national, regional, and global levels including the Ecowaste Coalition in the Philippines, Waste Not Asia, and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).

In 2003, he was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for his work, which led to the first national ban on waste incineration. For his years of experience campaigning on waste and pollution issues, Von gained recognition from Time magazine as one of the Heroes for the Environment in 2007. He graduated from the University of the Philippines (BA English), and holds a master’s degree in Public Management from the National University of Singapore.

Kristalina Georgieva

Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

Joji Tagawa is Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) at Nissan, where he drives sustainability initiatives for the company aimed at creating long-term value for all stakeholders and at addressing environmental and social challenges. He also oversees external affairs, crisis management, and compliance for the company.

Tagawa joined Nissan in 1983, where he has held leadership roles across various functions, mainly in finance and investor relations. He was appointed CSO in 2019, having developed valuable and trusted insights on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues through his years of work with investor relations.

Tagawa holds a degree in economics from Keio University in Japan.

Valdis Dombrovskis

Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade, European Commission

• Chair the Commissioners’ Group on an Economy that Works for People
• Trade Commissioner and overall lead on building a future-ready economy,
• Support the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the European Semester
• Oversee the launch and the implementation of the InvestEU program
• Lead work on deepening the Economic and Monetary Union and strengthening the international role of the euro
• Coordinate the work on the European Pillar of Social Rights and strengthening the role of social dialogue at European level. [Help prepare the Tripartite Social Summit]
• Represent the Commission in the ‘Economic and Financial Affairs’ Council meetings, the Eurogroup, the economic dialogue with the European Parliament, the Macroeconomic Dialogue and the Governing Council of the European Central Bank
• Enhance the democratic accountability of European economic governance and EU trade policy by actively engaging with the European Parliament
• Lead the EU work on the reform of the World Trade Organization and provide further impetus to WTO negotiations on e-commerce
• Lead the work to strengthen Europe’s global leadership on trade and promoting sustainable trading partnerships with the United States, China, Africa and neighborhood and conclude ongoing negotiations. Where appropriate, open new bilateral or multilateral partnerships
• Oversee the implementation of climate, environmental and labour protections enshrined in our trade agreements and ensure that new trade agreements contain a chapter on sustainable development
• Lead the work on protecting Europe from unfair trade practices by seeking a level playing field in procurement and implementing the new system for screening Foreign Direct Investment
• Contribute to the design and introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
• Co-ordinate the work on the Sustainable Europe Investment Plan, which should unlock sustainable investment
• Manage relations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB)
• Co-lead the Commission's work on the implementation of Europe’s Industrial and SME strategies, together with the Executive Vice-President for Europe in a Digital Age

Fuxian Yi

Senior Scientist, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Fuxian Yi, senior scientist in the department of OB/GYN at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the leading advocate for abolishing one-child policy in China.  Since 2000, Dr. Yi has initiated a campaign against China’s one-child policy. At first public opinion was near-unanimously against him. Together his articles, books, and speeches have sparked a growing trend of anti-population control thought in China.

Dr. Yi’s book, “Big Country with an Empty Nest”, published in Hong Kong in 2017, was banned on the Chinese mainland. In 2013, a new edition of his book was released by a publisher under the Chinese State Council, and was picked as one of “the 10 Best Books of March 2013” by Xinhua News and as #1 of “the 100 Best Books of 2013 in China” by China Publishing Today.

Dr. Yi has given more than 100 speeches and distributed brochures to almost every member of the national parliament and provincial and ministerial officials in China. He has been interviewed by hundreds of media outlets including Reuters, AP, AFP, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and BBC. He has also published dozens of papers in academic journals and think-tanks, and one of which was selected in 2020 as one of 116 papers that have the greatest impact on China’s policy-making in 1979-2018. In 2016, he was invited as one of the distinguished panelists (including China’s Premier) to speak at the Boao Forum for Asia. In 2021, he was invited by the Canadian government to speak at the China Roundtable.

Dr. Yi has applied the knowledge and philosophy of medicine (especially reproductive medicine) to demographic research, and his estimates and projections of the China’s population have repeatedly proved to be more accurate than the official ones. He concluded that China's real population in 2020 was not the official figure of 1.41 billion, but only 1.28 billion, and was already declining. He has also applied his expertise in medicine and demography to assess and forecast China’s economy. He predicted that 2012 would be a turning point for the Chinese economy, that China’s economic center would shift to the south and west, that the one-child policy might trigger a Sino-US trade war, and that China's economy is unlikely to surpass that of the US.

Because Dr.Yi questioned China's official demographic and economic data, he was blocked from publishing his third and fourth books in 2015, his blogs and social media accounts hosted by companies in China were shut down in 2016, and most of his online articles in China in the past 20 years were deleted in 2019.

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.

Lenora Chu

Special Correspondent [Europe and Chinese Affairs], The Christian Science Monitor & Author, HarperCollins

Lenora Chu is a journalist and author of the award-winning Little Soldiers, a narrative account of China’s education system (HarperCollins, 2017). She is also a correspondent for the nonprofit news organization Christian Science Monitor, where she covers Europe and Chinese engagement abroad. With 15 years’ experience in the United States and China, her work illuminates the intersection of culture, education, and global competitiveness — a passion borne in part of growing up with Chinese parents in America. Ms. Chu has appeared on NPR, CBS, BBC, and the CBC, and her articles and op-eds have been published in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, among others, and in 2019 she was named a public intellectuals fellow of the National Committee on U.S.-China relations. She holds degrees in engineering and journalism from Stanford and Columbia universities.

Dave Carr

Communications Lead, Decentraland Foundation

Dave is the Communications Lead at the Decentraland Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports decentralization, reports on third-party activities and holds intellectual property for Decentraland – the world's first fully decentralized virtual social platform, owned and governed by its users. Dave has close to 20 years' experience in advertising, publishing and corporate communications, working with brands like Disney, Star Wars, LEGO, BBC, Warner Bros, Sony, ITV and Deezer in brand and product development, creative strategy, and managing global campaigns.

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.

Yat Siu

Chairman and Co-Founder, Animoca Brands

Yat Siu, Chairman and Co-Founder of Animoca Brands, has been involved in NFTs since 2018, when he invested in Dapper Labs, (creator of CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot). At Animoca Brands, Yat leads various in-house NFT projects including The Sandbox, the REVV token, REVV Racing, F1 Delta Time, MotoGP Ignition, and Formula E: High Voltage. Animoca Brands' various subsidiaries include BlowFish Studios, GAMEE, Quidd, Lympo, Pixowl, and nWay, all of which have their own crypto token projects. Yat’s vision is to enable digital ownership and Play-to-Earn for the world's 2.7 billion gamers. He is a supporter of various NGOs, a member of BAFTA, and serves on the board of directors of the Asian Youth Orchestra.

Robert Dingemanse

CEO and Founder, PAL-V International BV

Yat Siu, Chairman and Co-Founder of Animoca Brands, has been involved in NFTs since 2018, when he invested in Dapper Labs, (creator of CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot). At Animoca Brands, Yat leads various in-house NFT projects including The Sandbox, the REVV token, REVV Racing, F1 Delta Time, MotoGP Ignition, and Formula E: High Voltage. Animoca Brands' various subsidiaries include BlowFish Studios, GAMEE, Quidd, Lympo, Pixowl, and nWay, all of which have their own crypto token projects. Yat’s vision is to enable digital ownership and Play-to-Earn for the world's 2.7 billion gamers. He is a supporter of various NGOs, a member of BAFTA, and serves on the board of directors of the Asian Youth Orchestra.

Margrethe Vestager

Executive Vice President, European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age

Margrethe Vestager is the European Commissioner in the Von der Leyen Commission, currently serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age since December 2019 and European Commissioner for Competition since 2014. Vestager is a member of the Danish Social Liberal Party, and of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE) on the European level.

She previously served as Minister for Economic Affairs and the Interior (2011-14) and Minister for Education (1998-2001) of Denmark, and as President of the ECOFIN Council (2012). She was Political leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party (2007-14), and has worked for the Danish Ministry of Finance (1993-95). Ms. Vestager holds an MSc in Economics (University of Copenhagen).

Thomas Mew

Partner, Buckley Beal, LLP

Thomas "Tom" J. Mew’s practice covers a broad range of employment law matters including both individual and class action wage-and-hour, discrimination, and harassment litigation, as well as in arbitration and mediation. He is also an advisor on employment contracts, releases, and restrictive covenant issues. He has represented clients at all levels in state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court (Bostock v. Clayton County, GA, 140 S. Ct. 1731, 590 U.S. ___ (2020)). In October 2020, Tom was honored to receive the Stonewall Bar Association’s Conspicuous Service to the Stonewall Community Award for his role in the Bostock case.

Tom is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia, School of Law and was a member of the school’s national championship-winning moot court team. Following law school, Tom clerked for Judge Herschel Franks of the Tennessee Court of Appeals and for the Honorable Harold L. Murphy of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Before joining Buckley Beal, Tom practiced law for many years at Rogers & Hardin LLP.

Tom is the co-author of “Georgia Motion Practice,” a guide to civil motion practice in Georgia’s trial and appellate courts and co-author of “Georgia Employment Law.” He is also a Contributing Author to Employee Benefits Law (3d. Ed.) (Bloomberg BNA 2012) and was named one of the Georgia legal community's "Rising Stars" for 2006, 2007 and 2009.