Lisa Walker recently left BG Group (now part of Royal Dutch Shell) where she served as Vice President for Environment & Climate Change to become CEO of start-up Ecosphere+. Lisa worked in the oil and gas sector for >17 years, closely involved in all aspects of climate change strategy development & implementation, public policy formation, sector coalition building and low-carbon business development. She was a driving force behind the UK Emissions Trading Group, the CCAC Oil & Gas Methane Partnership (which she Co-Chaired), the Sustainable Gas Institute and the CEO-led Oil & Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI). Lisa helped BG Group secure multiple industry awards for sustainability. Before BG Group Lisa held various roles at BP including Director of the BP Carbon Ventures corporate-VC fund. Lisa successfully secured capital for many innovative investments in sustainable land-use and forestry, low-carbon technologies and b io-energy, including first-of-their-kind deals for the private sector such as the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). Lisa is a mother of four and originally from New Zealand.

Pooja is the Senior Advisor at Apolitical, a peer to peer and first of its kind learning platform for government. Apolitical helps government transform itself by connecting public servants to the latest and best ideas, skills, and partners they need to solve today’s complex challenges. She is also the Interim Executive Director of the Apolitical Academy that accelerates the transition of the next generation of transformational leaders to governments or elected offices.

Prior to that, she was the Founding and Managing Partner of Conduit Connect, an impact investing platform for The Conduit, a community of investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders. She also supported the formation of Conduit Capital to fund and scale high impact solutions with The Conduit community. Pooja was the co-founder and former CEO of UnLtd India, that finds, funds and supports early-stage social entrepreneurs in India. She also co-founded Bombay Connect, a co-working space for entrepreneurs and Journeys for Change that brings global leaders to learn from social entrepreneurs in India.

Pooja serves as an advisor for private family offices and sits on advisory councils of Educate Girls and Greenwood Place. She is a TED India Fellow since 2009, a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum since 2013 and an Aspen India fellow since 2016.

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 of Interpeace, the international organization for peacebuilding and a strategic partner of the United Nations. With over 300 peacebuilders in 20 conflict zones around the world, Interpeace is helping societies prevent violent conflict and civil war in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. As Director-General, he has provided strategic direction to the organization, expanding its operational presence, partnerships and budget. Prior to joining Interpeace, Weber worked in the UN, first in disaster reduction and then in political affairs. Weber holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, Economics and Russian from Georgetown University and conducted Executive Education Courses in Leadership at Harvard University's JFK School of Government and Saïd Business School at Oxford University.

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.

Lisa Witter is a serial political and policy entrepreneur. She’s the co-founder of Apolitical, a global peer-to-peer learning platform, used by 180k+ public servants in 170 countries and was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the World. She's the CEO of the Apolitical Foundation whose mission is to support the next generation of trusted and transformation politicians. They have recently released Better Leaders, Better Democracies: Mapping the Organizations Shaping 21st Century Politicians. She’s a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, co-chairs the Forum’s Council on Agile Governance. She is a former public servant with deep experience in gender and behavioral science and has founded numerous political leadership incubators over the last 25 years. She was awarded the 2020 Creative Bureaucracy Award and named a BMW Foundation Futurity Fellow in 2022. Lisa co-authored, with Lisa Chen, The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them. She loves wearing dresses, her childhood nickname was ‘Animal’ from the sports fields, and dreams of being a stand-up comedian (but might not be funny enough).

Peter Würtenberger is Executive Vice President at Axel Springer (Europe’s leading digital publisher).
Previously Peter held positions as CEO of UPDAY for SAMSUNG, CMO of Axel Springer SE, responsible for growing print and digital advertising revenues, as CEO of the WELT Newspaper Group and as CEO of BILD.T-Online. Before Axel Springer he served in various management positions at Yahoo! and Bertelsmann.

Peter holds a degree in Business Management from Cologne University and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. From 2008 to 2012 he was an active member of the Group of Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland. In 2013 he spent 10 months on a digital research project in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, in order to support Axel Springer’s digital transformation. In his free time he enjoys music, contemporary arts and sports.

Werner Wutscher is a Member of the Board of resPACT, the Austrian Business Council for Sustainable Development. He also works as consultant and business angel in the start-up area. Wutscher scouts interesting start-ups around the world and serves as a facilitator for start-up ventures. As an angel investor he focuses on e-commerce and retail. He also serves as director on different boards in Austria, Mumbai and Amman. Werner was COO and CFO of Rewe International. Prior, he worked as Secretary-General of the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management of Austria, and he served as a special adviser to the Minister for Agriculture and in a public company. Wutscher is Vice-President of the Ökosoziales Forum Europe and President of the National Park Hohe Tauern. He was awarded “Business Angel of 2012” and is Member of the Board of the Austrian Business Angel Association. Wutscher obtained a law degree from Karl-Franzens University in Graz and holds a Master's degree from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Mr. Yan Yanovskiy is a Co-Founder of FRIENDS Charitable Foundation, Founder and Managing Partner of First Nation Société Bancaire, a leading multi family office in Eastern Europe. Previously, Yanovskiy was Head of Corporate Finance Projects at Central Europe Trust, Managing Director, Head of Corporate Finance at Rosbank, and Managing Director, Head of Investment Strategy and Member of the Board at the United Industrial Corporation (OPK). He also served as a Member of the Board of OPK Mining and OPK Development as well as Hediard SA in France. Yanovskiy received a BA in Economics (summa cum laude) and an MBA in Finance and Management from Fordham University in NYC, and a Master's in International Management (with distinction) from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Founding Curator of WEF Global Shapers Community and member of WEF Expert network. Mr. Yanovskiy serves as an expert of the Russian Agency for Strategic Initiatives and was named on top 100 most influential people in Russia by GQ Magazine in 2019.

I joined the ICRC in 2005 and completed different field missions in Sudan, Chad, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. Between 2010 & 2013, I was the deputy head of operations for the Near and Middle East covering Yemen, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the GCC. Prior to my current assignment as Regional Director for Africa, I headed the Red Cross delegation in Iraq and was the Head of Operations for North and West Africa

In addition to my field experience, I worked on specific topics related to the respect of International Humanitarian Law such as the treatment and judicial guarantees of persons deprived of freedom, the recruitment of children in armed forces and Transitional Justice.

Born in 1978, I hold a degree in law and a master’s degree in diplomacy and strategic negotiations from Paris Sud XI and an LLM in International Law in armed conflicts from Geneva University.

Dual degrees in Business and MSc Engineering Physics/Computer Science, Uppsala University, Sweden; final year of university at the University of Michigan. Experienced entrepreneur. Co-founded and managed globally successful technology companies including Skype, Kazaa, Joost and Joltid. From inception until Sept. 2007, Chief Executive Officer, Skype, which was sold to eBay for $3.1bn in 2005, the largest European venture capital exit to date. Subsequently, Skype was bought back by a consortium that included Niklas and was sold to Microsoft for $8.5 billion cash in 2011. Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner, Atomico, created in 2006 to help entrepreneurs primarily outside Silicon Valley scale their businesses domestically and globally. It has so far invested in more than 50 companies on four continents. Works closely with a number of leaders of portfolio companies so that they benefit from own experience as an entrepreneur.