Christophe Villemin has been Operating Partner of Apollo Global Management from 2015 to 2019. He served as the President of Constellium Aerospace & Transportation from 2011 to 2013. He joined Alcan in 1994 and held various leadership positions in different sectors in packaging and aluminum conversion in Europe and United States. In 2002, he was appointed as General Manager, Alcan Rolled Products in Switzerland (former-Alusuisse) and in 2005, President, Alcan Engineered Aluminum Products (EP), Packaging & Automotive Rolled Products. Prior to Constellium, Christophe Villemin served as President of Rio Tinto Alcan Rolled Products until 2010. In 2008, Mr. Villemin was distinguished as a “Young Global Leader” of the World Economic Forum.

Christophe Villemin is co-founder and Chairman of the ski brand Black Crows. He is Member of the board of Latécoère S.A., Jacques Marie Mage and Easymile

Maria Vircikova is the Co-Founder and CEO of MATSUKO, which aims to revolutionize everyday communications through a 3D hologram connection. The world’s first real-time app for holographic presence, MATSUKO, winner of the 2022 SXSW in Extended Reality and Immersive Technology, allows users to embark on a holographic experience through the use of smartphones and mixed reality glasses. Prior to embarking on this entrepreneurial endeavor, Vircikova performed research in the field of AI, human-robot interaction and service robotics, lectured at universities and conferences on all continents. In recognition of her expertise and accomplishments, she has also notably been awarded the European Tech Women Award and she is a 2023 European Young Leader.

Founder (2006), Active Philanthropy, a charitable platform supporting philanthropists and corporates who want to make a lasting difference in protecting the planet for future generations. PhD, Cambridge University. 1998-2006, Bertelsmann Foundation, Germany. Board Member of various foundations and NGO's.

Dr. David von Rosen-von Hoewel is an international investor, entrepreneur, and the Principal of the VONROSEN family office.

Through his family office, he invests in early-stage companies with a particular focus on the renewable energy, gaming, nutrition, defense, and mobility sectors.

He usually takes a majority share in his investments, leveraging his expertise, network, and capital to drive growth.

In 2024, he appeared on Bilanz’s annual list of the 300 richest Swiss as one of the youngest billionaires.

He has also founded several globally successful businesses, including the online gaming platform Lottoland, luxury property developer 25 Degrees, luxury fashion basics label VONROSEN, and Web3-powered Favrr, among others.

Currently based in Dubai and Switzerland, von Rosen was born and raised in Germany. He studied economics and business at the European Business School and later gained a PhD in Economics from the University of Economics in Prague in 2007. He speaks English, German, French, and Spanish.

Sustainability Operating Advisor for Advent International. Andy is one of the most experienced Chief Sustainability Officers in the world, having led strategies for growth, with sustainability and tech at their core, for global ESG leaders such as the telco BT, brewers SABMiller and ABInBev, water utility Severn Trent and textiles firm Interface Inc. Most recently he led Global Sustainability Solutions for Accenture as they scaled up their multi-billion dollar sustainability consulting practice. He also has experience in M&A, corporate affairs, corporate and consumer brand and reputation.

He brings 25 years of in-house experience across the entire range of sustainability challenges, from net zero transitions through to ESG reporting and investor engagement. He was one of the pioneers of corporate action on water security and its role in healthy energy and food systems. Andy has led major multi sector partnerships to tackle challenges such as the electric vehicle transition, redesigning agricultural supply chains and building citizen’s digital skills across multiple markets.

He has an MBA from Warwick Business School, an MProf in Sustainable Development from Middlesex University / Forum for the Future, and a BA from Sussex University. He has sat on advisory boards for WWF, Sainsburys, the Global Innovation Fund and the Mayor of London, and is a WEF Young Global Leader. He is a non exec director at Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor. He has written for HBR and Sloan and was lead author of ‘Big Business, Big Responsibilities’ published by MacMillan. He is also a tech for good seed angel investor.

Internet and technology entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, is founder of the online non-profit encyclopaedia Wikipedia and co-founder of the privately owned Fandom.com. Wales serves on the board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit charitable organisation he established to operate Wikipedia. In 2019, Jimmy launched WT Social - a news focused social network. In 2006 Jimmy was named in Time magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ for his role in creating Wikipedia.

Pooja Warier Hamilton is the Chief Partnerships Officer at Apolitical, a global network and learning platform used by nearly a quarter of a million public servants from 160 countries to find and share best practice and gain new skills on 21st century issues from climate to AI. Pooja has a wealth of experience in the public and private sectors, having co-founded her first mission driven organisation at 25. Prior to Apolitical, Pooja was the Founding Managing Partner of Conduit Connect, an impact investing platform and was also the co-founder and CEO of UnLtd India, an incubator for social entrepreneurs. She has been recognised for her work as a TED India Fellow, a
World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and an Aspen India fellow.

Entrepreneur, speaker and leadership consultant. Thought leadership at the intersection of the arts and education, China, migration and globalization, women’s empowerment, leadership, entrepreneurship and spirituality.

Entrepreneurship

As the founder and director of Hua Dan and Scheherazade Initiatives, two global enterprises that use participatory theatre to empower migrant and refugee populations to overcome the challenges of enforced displacement and both contribute to and benefit from their host communities. We use a combination of theatre games, exercises, role play and creative arts approaches that develop valuable life skills that enable individuals to take action to solve some of the challenges they are facing in their life.

I am also the founding member of the Global Arts Impact Agenda, an initiative to radically innovate in how the arts can be used to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Speaker

I am regularly invited to speak about my work in founding Hua Dan and Scheherazade and my experience running a global business. Some of the topics I address include:

• Leadership and entrepreneurship
• Living and working in China and the emerging world
• Globalization, migration and supply chain issues
• Diversity and inclusion
• Women’s empowerment
• The role of the arts for personal and social development
• Spirituality and transformative leadership

See more at my personal site at www.carolinewatson.org

Leadership consultant

I run inspirational corporate leadership programmes that use interactive and behavioural-change techniques to cascade transformation throughout an entire company, from senior management right down to front-line workers across all areas of the supply chain. I do this both as an independent consultant and also as part of my global social enterprise Scheherazade Consulting. All programmes can be delivered online and in-person, for large-scale team-building, group or 1:1 coaching for executives. Learn more at www.act-for-impact.com.

IMPACT

Driving through all of my work as an entrepreneur, speaker and thought-leader, and leadership consultant, is the importance of behaviour change and the IMPACT that innovative, participatory processes can bring to both individual and global change. We work with partners in the area of data analysis to leverage key performance indicators you would like to see in your company, and bring in knowledge-experts in key areas to complement our behaviour change work.

I am based in Europe and have team members all over the world. Email: caroline@carolinewatson.org

Scott M. Weber is President and CEO of Peaceinvest, a Swiss-based, investment firm that harnesses finance to build a more peaceful world. The company identifies and arranges partnerships and financial vehicles, including Peace Bonds, that mobilize capital to create value for all stakeholders concerned and that adhere to the Peace Finance Impact Framework Standards. Rooted in local communities, Peaceinvest is global in scope, the Management team of Peaceinvest has experience working across 100 countries. It seeks to address inequalities wherever they persist and is committed to building Peace at Scale.

President, CEPR, the leading European network of economists; Distinguished Fellow, Emerging Markets Institute, INSEAD; Professor of International Economics, Graduate Institute in Geneva (from Jan. 2019). Has held the Chair for International Macroeconomics at the University of Mainz in Germany and visiting positions at Harvard University, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations University in Tokyo and INSEAD in Singapore. Was a member of the German Council of Economic Experts for eight years and has provided high-level policy advice to European governments, the European Commission, international organizations and central banks. Has served as non-executive director on the boards of leading companies in banking, development finance, pharmaceuticals, technology and insurance globally. Member of the Board: Bombardier, Bosch and UBS.

Despite a life-threatening bicycle accident in 2000 that left him as a paraplegic, Christian Wenk went on to complete his medical studies and became a Senior Physician in the Emergency Ward of Clinic St Anna in Switzerland, specializing in internal and emergency medicine. He is also an accomplished triathlete and is the winner of Paralympic gold medals as the Swiss handcycling head coach. In addition, Wenk is a musician who plays the piano thanks to a sophisticated pedals system. He has recorded a number of CDs and performs regularly for charity. He also gives inspiration talks throughout Switzerland, acting as an ambassador for inclusion and dignity.

Silvia Wiesner is active in Egon Zehnder’s Consumer Practice, leveraging her many years of marketing, sales, and general management experience in the consumer goods industry across various European markets to develop bold ideas and identify ideal solutions for clients. She excels at shaping visions and inspiring others, aided by her multicultural background and command of several languages. Silvia is also passionate about driving diversity, equity and inclusion on executive and board teams. Before joining Egon Zehnder, Silvia spent 17 years in marketing, sales, and general management roles at Unilever, most recently in Brussels as the Managing Director for Belgium and Luxembourg. Prior to that she was based in Hamburg where she held the position of General Manager and Vice President for Marketing in the food category in German-speaking countries.
Silvia earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Graz in Austria while spending an exchange year in the USA. She furthered her education with courses at Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, INSEAD, and the Corporate Governance Institute. Outside work, Silvia drives gender equity in decision-making roles in Europe as a member of the executive committee of European Women on Boards and has been identified by BeyondGenderAgenda as “one of the top 100 women for diversity” in Germany and selected as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She also belongs to the LEAD Europe network, the Club of European Female Entrepreneurs, and the Corporate Governance Institute in addition to mentoring for the EMEA Fellowship Program of the Marketing Academy and nushu Female Business and providing strategic advice to IMAGINE (cofounded by Paul Polman).