Head of Latin America and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum. Salvadoran lawyer and career Ambassador. Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador. She served as Director General of Foreign Policy and was a Diplomatic Officer at the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington DC and at the Salvadoran Diplomatic Representation to the United Nations in New York. She holds a degree in Law and a master’s degree in diplomacy from the University of Oxford, England. With specialized studies at the International Peace Academy, Harvard University and the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, USA. She has received awards and National Decorations from Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Italy and the USA. She is a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and a Central American Leadership Initiative Fellow by the Aspen Institute and has been recognized by various publications among the most distinguished regional women leaders. She has published articles on international affairs, regional integration, gender issues and sustainable development. She serves in various Advisory Boards.

BA in Physics, University of Chicago; PhD in Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology. Currently, Sr Director of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the Ellison Institute of Transformative Medicine and Irani Chair and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California. Research is focused on advanced functional materials for integrated photonics for telecommunications and cancer diagnostics/prognostics. Fellow: Optica, SPIE, AAAS. 2015 Northrop Grumman Faculty Fellow.

Riad is a serial entrepreneur that strives to empower the fight for health as a human right with a focus on Africa. He heads the Eva group which is one of the leading pharma and personal care organizations in the MENA region. Riad is an active member in the YPO (Young Presidents Association), Vice chairman of the Egyptian Industrial Chamber of Pharmaceuticals, founder and former president of the Association HBS alumni in Egypt. Moreover, Riad is the founder and a member in the "T20" foundation, a non-governmental organization that focuses on utilizing the knowledge of highly educated youth to develop people for social and economic improvement. Riad has a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Cairo University and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School.

Steve Arora is a highly accomplished executive in the global Reinsurance industry with a career spanning over two decades at key organizations such as AXIS Re and Swiss Re. Appointed CEO of AXIS Re in 2018 and later CEO of AXIS ILS in 2021, he executed a comprehensive transformation of the business, manifesting in an optimized portfolio following the implementation of various strategic measures. Under his leadership, client satisfaction improved significantly, coupled with a rise in employee engagement. Before joining AXIS, Steve had an 18-year tenure at Swiss Re, where he held prominent roles and contributed to robust commercial success. He has garnered global experience across six countries and earned recognition as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. A graduate of esteemed executive programs from universities such as Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge, Steve is renowned for his inspiring and engaging leadership and structured delivery and execution. Steve has lived in USA, Saudi Arabia, Germany, UK, Japan, and Switzerland.

Maoi Arroyo is a serial entrepreneur, impact investor, educator, and biologist. In 2018, she became the founder and principal of the Ignite Impact Fund, the first fund focused exclusively on eradicating income and access poverty in the Philippines.

Her entrepreneurship career began when she founded Hybridigm Consulting, the premier and pioneering innovation consulting and commercialization firm in the Philippines. In the last 14 years, the firm has developed policy for the Philippine government, facilitated over $3.5M in biotech investments, trained over 17,000 aspiring entrepreneurs, and created 3,500 jobs.

In addition, she has also co-founded a social enterprise that now supplies pasteurized eggs to 5 major hotels in the Philippines, a fashion brand that upcycles leather jackets into bags, a media company that promotes independent Filipino films, and a property development firm.

Over the last decade, Ms Arroyo has received several honors. She was hailed by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top 35 entrepreneurs under 35 in 2006, was the youngest PhilDev Foundation USA honoree for her contributions to national development through science and technology (2010). Ms Arroyo is also a 2011 Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee – and the only woman in that year. The TOYM is the most prestigious award given to Filipinos under 40 and is presented by the President of the Republic of the Philippines. In 2013 she was one of the DevEx 40 under 40 International Development Leaders, and selected one of the UK Foreign Commonwealth Office's International Leaders in 2014. She was named as one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders of 2015 and served on the forum's Global Future Council on SDG Investment from 2020-2022.

Ms. Arroyo is also an adjunct professor at the Asian Institute of Management; where she teaches Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She obtained an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge, and her first degree in Biology (BS) from the University of the Philippines.

Yara Asad is a Senior Private Sector Development Consultant with the World Bank Group’s (WBG) Private Sector for Refugees Project (PS4R). Yara has four years of experience working with the WBG, primarily on Private Sector Development - B2B and Matchmaking, focusing on vulnerable groups of refugees, migrants and women. Prior to that Yara served as the Project Manager and Research Lead at Building Markets-focusing on building the supply chain for Small and Medium size businesses (SMEs) in crisis affected countries. Between 2015-2017, Yara worked as a Lead Middle East and North Africa Researcher and Policy Analyst at Wolfensohn and Company under a project on the MENA 2050. Previously, she was the Director General for the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Palestine from January 2011- December 2014, a venture through which she focused on promoting regional and international trade relations. Parallel to that, Yara was the Chief Executive Officer of the Jerusalem Arbitration Centre. An initiative that aims to create a mechanism for Palestinian and Israeli businesses to resolve commercial disputes via arbitration.

Yara holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and is an Edward Mason Fellow of Public Policy. Her first publication at Ivey School was in January 2011, and focused on international marketing.

Tewodros Ashenafi is Founder and Chairman of SouthWest Holdings Ltd., a leading Ethiopian holding company, and Chairman of Ambo Mineral Water, one of the leading beverage brands in Ethiopia and part of Coca Cola Beverages Africa. Mr. Ashenafi is the local partner and did the largest privatization and private transaction in Ethiopian history, the $1.4 billion enterprise value privatization of (NTE), were he joined as board director, and JTI. He is also the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SouthWest Energy (HK), an African indigenous oil and gas exploration company, which is the top 10 acreage holder in East Africa. Ashenafi started his career at Merrill Lynch & Co. He serves on the Board of the EastWest Institute, a leading security think. He is also on the International Advisory Board of Atlantic Council, a non-partisan institution devoted to promoting transatlantic cooperation and international security, he is on the Advisory Board of Cepheus Growth Capital Partners a leading Ethiopian-focused private equity firm. Mr. Ashenafi is on the Advisory Board of the Columbia University Africa Centre. Mr. Ashenafi is a member of Young President's Organisation (YPO) Intercontinental Chapter. Ashenafi holds a degree in Economics from Columbia University and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School. He was nominated as a Young Global Leader (YGL) Davos 2009.

Iwao Aso is President of the Aso Corporation and Group Chairman of the Aso Group, with interests in the fields of infrastructure, environmental solutions, healthcare, education and lifestyle services. He is also a Director of Dwango Co. Aso started his career in the family business as auditor at Aso Cement. He also served in the Aso Group as a director, executive director, senior managing director and vice-president. Prior, Aso worked as a trainee in Hongkong Land, Colliers Jardine in Hong Kong and the financial instruments development division in Shinsei Bank. Aso completed his undergraduate studies at Keio University with a BA in Economics. He also majored in international relations at the University of Cambridge.

Martin Aspillaga is Managing Director and Founder of Salkantay Partners. He is a PE and VC professional investor. Prior, he worked at Enfoca Investments, Bain & Company, McKinsey & Company and as a Peruvian bank regulator. He is a teacher, mentor and instructor and has published poetry, short stories and articles. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Universidad del Pacifico.

Dr. Solomon Assefa is a Founder and Partner at C1 Ventures, focused on building and scaling ventures that tackle industry decarbonization through science and innovation. He leverages his vast R&D and management experience to foster innovation and direct investments into ventures that accelerate breakthrough science and technologies to market to enable environmental sustainability. He applies his deep expertise to identify and turbocharge startups at the cutting edge of science and technology, particularly those focused on decarbonizing industries. He works closely with scientist entrepreneurs from the development of innovations to successful market launches, demonstrating the firm’s dedication to combining technological progress with environmental responsibility.

Dr. Assefa holds a BS, MSc, and PhD from MIT, and two decades of scientific and executive leadership. As a Vice President at IBM Research, he was instrumental in leading global R&D efforts, commercialization of technologies, and management of hundreds of research scientists worldwide. Furthermore, he was responsible for spearheading IBM’s strategy on climate and sustainability, including the launch of products for enterprise clients, a global research agenda focused on innovations to tackle climate change, and partnerships spanning universities, companies, governments, multi-lateral agencies, and non-profits. Dr. Assefa’s achievements include authoring over 150 peer-reviewed articles and holding more than 70 patents. He has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and honored by the Africa America Institute for his notable contributions to science, technology, and innovation.

Rima Assi is a Senior Partner with the Middle East Office of McKinsey & Company and Managing Partner of McKinsey’s Abu Dhabi office. Rima advises leading governments in the Middle East on public finance to drive large-scale social and economic transformation, and is a major champion for women’s empowerment across the region. Rima is a key speaker on the power of gender parity at several fora including the Global Women’s Forum Dubai and GITEX Tech conference. She has authored several articles on the power of gender parity in Newsweek Middle East and more recently on more powerful approaches to ensuring value in public finances.

A renaissance artist for modern times, Auerbach allows her artistic impulse to guide the genre of expression; whatever the medium - art, literature, or music - all of her work is interconnected as part of a cohesive and comprehensive artistic worldview.
Auerbach's large-scale works have been produced in major theaters on every continent, including the Hamburg State Opera, Vienna's Theater an der Wien, New York's Lincoln Center, the National Ballet of Canada, the National Ballet of China, the Royal Danish Theater, the Nuremberg State Theater, the Finnish National Theater, Moscow's Stanislavsky Theater, the Nederlands Dans Theater, and the San Francisco Ballet.
Auerbach has been drawing and painting all her life as part of her creative process. 2009, after a devastating fire destroyed her studio in New York, she began sculpting prolifically. Her paintings and photographs have been included in several exhibitions, and in 2013, she had her first solo photography show in Norway. Her creations are in private collections, have sold at auctions, been reproduced in magazines, and used on the covers of CDs and books. She has published three books of poetry in Russian, and her first book in English, "Excess of Being," was published in 2015.
Auerbach was born in Chelyabinsk at the gateway of Siberia. She received parallel graduate and post-graduate degrees from the Juilliard School and the Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media. Her awards include the Hindemith Prize, two Golden Masks, the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship, the German Radio Prize, and the ECHO Classic Award.