Edward "Smitty" Smith has emerged as a rising star in the technology and telecommunications policy arenas.
A graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School, he translated his academic success into professional success as a corporate attorney at one of the world’s largest law firms, Hogan Lovells. While in private practice as a corporate lawyer, Smitty advised clients and helped close over $40 billion worth of merger transactions for publicly traded companies.
Smitty left his firm to join the 2008 Obama presidential campaign. After the campaign, Smitty served as Deputy General Counsel of the Presidential Inauguration Committee and joined the Obama Administration.
At the Department of Commerce, Smitty spearheaded national broadband programs that generated critical data about broadband availability and capability and leveraged technology to create new economic opportunities for millions of Americans. After an emergency detail to the Economic Development Administration, where he led teams developing economic response strategies in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Smitty joined the Federal Communications Commission where he served as Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel for a special technology taskforce
Smitty left the FCC to run in the first election for Attorney General of the District of Columbia. Though he lost in a hotly contested race, Smitty received over 35,000 votes citywide and gained the endorsements of nearly every major union and labor organization in the District.
Smitty entered local government and served in the Mayor’s Cabinet as the Director of the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants.He then returned to the FCC as Legal Advisor to the Chairman.
Smitty is now a Partner at the international law firm of DLA Piper, where he advises clients on a broad range of telecommunications and technology issues in countries around the globe.

Elaine Smith Genser is a senior financial executive with over 30 years of experience. In the last decade, she has worked on mobilizing resources from the private sector for institutions including the United Nations, World Bank, and World Economic Forum. Before that she was a trader and research sales manager for global investment banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan, where at the height of that career she oversaw daily trading of $75-$250 million of $2.5 billion in trading volume on the Brazilian Exchange.
Currently, Elaine directs partnerships for the UN Joint SDG Fund, which was created by the UN Secretary-General to blend $300 million annually from states with private sector investments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for the 2030 Agenda. She is also the Officer Investment Advisor of the Fund as of June 2022. Earlier, she held advising and community management roles with Global Future Council of Financial and Monetary Systems with top S&P100 institutions, as well as leading the agenda design of international gatherings of banking and exchange CEOs with public authorities.
Elaine’s career reflects her early vision of the need to incorporate social responsibility, sustainability, and environmental concerns into the strategy of public and private companies of all sizes. She also brings deep experience working with global financial markets most especially in developing strategy to create financial vehicles for the blending of public and private sector financing in developing countries.
Elaine holds a BBA from Mackenzie University, an MBA from University of São Paulo-FIA, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School's Owner/President Management Program (OPM). She has also completed executive programs in leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Yale School of Management, Stanford University and Saïd Business School at Oxford University. She is fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Italian.

Marie So is Co-Founder of Shokay and Ventures in Development, a non-profit that catalyses the creation of social enterprises in the greater China region. She previously worked for the United Nations Development Programme, Dubai Development and Investment Authority, Procter & Gamble and Merrill Lynch. So graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School with a Master's degree in Public Administration and International Development, and a Bachelor's degree in Economics, Engineering and Management Science from Northwestern University. She also attended the United World College of the Pacific (UWC). So sits on several government steering committees and foundation boards in Hong Kong. She is a recipient of the Echoing Green Fellow 2008 and an Asia 21 Young Leader 2008.

Nourishing families and communities is part of Liam's DNA. He is a value-driven leader with a passion to feed the world. He is Senior Vice-President of Merchandising, Sourcing & Liquor at Sobeys. Being an active member of his family business, Liam ascribes to its more than century-old tradition of giving back to the community. His motivation to support fairness and equality among communities led him to be the only non-aboriginal executive member of NaMeRes, a not-for-profit group that supports Aboriginal men fighting homelessness and addiction in Canada. Liam is a member of his family firm's governance and business committees. He has founded two investment groups that help next-generation family members learn about the financial markets and the positive impact of investing responsibly for a sustainable future. Liam's passion for family and community has also led him to attend multiple family business seminars, including the Scone Project and the WEF Family Business Conference in Gstaad. Liam is currently a board member of Urban Squash of Toronto and has an MBA from McGill University.

Zafar Sobhan is the Editor of Dhaka Tribune. As a long-time columnist, he also has to his name numerous articles, features, interviews, and essays in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, TIME, Vice, Himal, Economic & Political Weekly, Outlook, Seminar, and others. Previously, he served as editor of the monthly Forum magazine and opinions editor of The Daily Star, and before that as an associate at the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, among other positions. Zafar is also a licensed New York City public school teacher and a member of the New York State Bar. Zafar has a B.A. and M.A. in English literature and a J.D. in law. He is also a Yale World Fellow and was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2005.

Ahmed Sobhy is Chief Investment Officer of Banque Misr, Egypt's second-largest commercial bank. He oversees the bank’s principal investments in private equity, debt capital markets and third-party assets under management. With extensive experience in investing and investment banking, Sobhy has worked in the UK, US and Egypt, leading and participating in M&A transactions valued at over $31 billion. He has served as an Investment Principal at Ezdehar Fund Management and was Vice-President in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley. Sobhy's background includes work in the Financial Advisory and Principal Investments teams at Swicorp, a MENA-focused M&A and investment firm based in Geneva and Riyadh. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo and a Master's degree in Finance from the London Business School.

CEO of Eureka, an AI platform for mobile operators to partner with enterprises and government. Previously Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company, Indonesia and Managing Director, Standard Chartered Private Equity, Indonesia. Experience as an investor, board member or advisor to consumer (healthcare, retail, technology), agriculture and energy companies. WEF Young Global Leader 2010. Cofounder of Young Leaders for Indonesia foundation. Bachelor of Law and Political Economy (first class honours) Murdoch University, Western Australia.

Managing Partner, svtl.vc, Senior VP, BusDev, Svitla, YGL @WEForum, Harvard MBA, Deloitte'09 Tech Entrepreneur of the year, co-founder @TravelTipz & IPNet, IPNet, named Russia's fastest growing technology company by Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA (2009). Former President and Treasurer, Harvard Club of Russia. Named one of top young entrepreneurs in Russia, Finans magazine, 33 Perca (2009).

Founder & CEO of Elevate, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing continued education at world-leading universities to young women who have either been forced from their homes by conflict or climate change or are working in industries affected by climate change and looking to further education so that they can use every tool possible to stay in their country of origin

Created Project SHEro, as an extension of her nonprofit’s work offering scholarships to refugees – including climate refugees. Project SHEro is a global climate activism documentary series that raises awareness not only about challenges but also solutions. It explores issues such as climate adaptation, climate justice, reducing emissions, food and water security, gender equity, indigenous rights, migration, and access to finance. Each episode showcases a brave young woman whose business is being affected by climate change, putting her at risk of becoming a climate refugee unless she can find ways to adapt. Local and international experts offer advice –and use cutting-edge technology or respect the old ways, to co-create the solution with her. Each SHEro is given a grant to invest in her business or continue her education.

Previously, Lorna was Director for Latin America and Africa at Institutional Investor, focusing on increasing FDI for infrastructure projects. She also worked at IDEA on Wall Street, covering Latin America, and at Water & Air Research – an environmental consulting firm – on creating national parks in Honduras and Brazil.

Yale World Fellow 2017. Young Global Leader with the World Economic Forum since 2010; also, was a member of the Young Global Leaders Group advisory board, and Global Future Council on the Future of Humanitarian System (2016-2018), Women's Empowerment and Gender Parity (2011-2012). Advisory judge for Columbia University’s Dean Challenge at SIPA 2015-Present. Young Center Volunteer 2020-Present. Member of CFR (Council on Foreign Relations). Echoing Green Semi-Finalist in 2012. Former Organizational Partner of Global Dignity Day. Former UNHCR Innovation Council Board member. Former Advisory Board member of the Humanitarian Innovation Project at the University of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre. She finished undergraduate studies at the University of Florida, completed an Executive Leadership Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and coursed studies at Yale University and at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

Lorna is also a figurative sculptor whose work has been exhibited in NYC and has won numerous awards.

Professor of Physics, MIT. 2007, Founder, WiTricity Corporation; 2017, Founder, LuxLabs and Lightelligence. Main research interests are in nanophotonics and artificial intelligence. Co-Author of more than 200 scientific articles, more than 100 issued US patents. International Member, Croatian Academy of Engineering. Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum. Recipient of awards and honours, including: Adolph Lomb medal from the Optical Society of America (2005); TR35 award, Technology Review magazine (2006); MacArthur fellowship “genius” grant (2008); Blavatnik National Award (2014); Order of the Croatian Daystar, with the image of Ruđer Bošković, the Croatian President’s top medal for science (2017); Order of the Croatian Interlace medal, President of Croatia (2017).

Degree, Harvard University; degree in Law, Yale University. Formerly: Associate Dean, Yale Law School; Consultant, McKinsey & Company, New York; Acting Director, lending subsidiary for small businesses and entrepreneurs, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone; Senior Adviser to Secretary of US Treasury Department; 2005-08, Legislative Counsel to then US Senator Barack Obama. Formerly, Chairman, New Haven, Connecticut Port Authority. Co-Author.

Otto Sonnenholzner was elected to be the vice president of Ecuador in December 2018. For 12 years, he was a radio personality with his own talk show. Sonnenholzner also served as the president of the Ecuadorian Association of Broadcasters and is a champion for freedom of speech. He was part of the faculty at Universidad Católica de Guayaquil and is a successful entreprenuer in the broadcasting, telecommunications, construction, commerce and agriculture industries.