Speakers
All speakers
Biography
Dominic Barton is the Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company. In his 27 years with the firm, Dominic has advised clients in a range of industries including banking, consumer goods, high tech and industrial. Prior to his current role, Dominic was based in Shanghai as McKinsey’s Asia Chairman from 2004 to 2009 and led the Korea office from 2000 to 2004.
Dominic is an active participant in international fora including Davos, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Les Rencontres Économiques d’Aix-en-Provence, the Asia Business Council and the China Development Forum. He has authored more than 80 articles on the role of business in society, leadership, financial services, Asia, history and the issues and opportunities facing markets worldwide. Dominic is a co-author, with Roberto Newell and Greg Wilson, of Dangerous Markets: Managing in Financial Crises (Wiley & Sons, 2002), and his most recent book is China Vignettes: An Inside Look at China (Talisman, 2007).
Dominic leads McKinsey’s work on the future of capitalism, long-term value-creation and the role of business leadership in society. This is a set of research initiatives and projects to convene organisations and leaders for constructive action. One such project was a task force on Inclusive Capitalism, which Dominic co-led with Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild (sponsored by the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank). The task force – comprised of business and public leaders in the US and UK – developed approaches for engaging and scaling business actions to address issues that create both social and economic value.
He is a Trustee of the Brookings Institution, a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council, an advisor to the Asia Development Bank, a member of the Advisory Board for the China Development Bank Capital Group and a Board Member of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Dominic has received multiple awards for his business leadership and contributions to the communities in which he has lived – for example, in February 2013 Dominic received the Order of Civil Merit (Peony Medal) from former President Lee of South Korea. He is a Rhodes Trustee and an Honorary Fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford. Dominic is also an Adjunct Lecturer at Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Biography
Laurence Batlle is Chairwoman of the RATP Dev Executive Board, and has sat on the RATP Group Executive Board since 1st January 2017. She joined RATP Dev in 2007 as CFO, and since then has played a major role in defining its strategy and supervising its international growth. She became a member of the Executive Board in 2011, and was in charge of its Americas-Africa and Sightseeing Business Units from 2014 to 2016. She has also been an independent Board member of Elior Group since 2014.
Laurence Batlle has a proven executive management track record: prior to joining RATP Dev, she spent 14 years driving sales growth in major consulting firms, first for PricewaterhouseCoopers and then as VP Global Finance Support at Atos Origin for two years. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Institut Commercial de Nancy, and is a Knight of the French National Order of Merit.
Biography
Chris Boos has a mission: empowering human potential, freeing up time for creativity and innovative thinking through artificial intelligence (AI). To that end, Chris founded Arago in Germany in 1995, pushing existing boundaries in AI technology to build a general AI.
Since then, Chris has led Arago to become a key partner and driver for the established economy, positioning Arago’s AI HIRO™ as a platform for companies to reinvent their business models in the digital age. As CEO of Arago, Chris Boos vision is to transform traditional companies into future-proof, AI-enabled enterprises – regardless of their respective industry. Arago’s international client base includes IT service providers, banks and companies in the telecommunications, steel and metals industries.
But his ambitions go far beyond: a strong believer in integrating machine reasoning and machine learning, Chris is constantly challenging current thinking on AI. As a strategic corporate and political advisor, as well as angel investor, Chris’ multifaceted engagement for AI makes him a much respected public speaker and thought-leader on issues of global importance, such as the man-machine-relationship, the way societies deal with information and the future of labor.
Chris Boos studied computer science at ETH Zurich and the Technical University Darmstadt. His ongoing research focuses on graph theory, machine reasoning and machine learning.
Biography
Darrell Brown is executive vice president and president of Global Energy, which operates under the Nalco Champion name for Ecolab Inc., the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital resources.
Brown leads the global Nalco Champion business, with responsibility for day-to-day operations of more than 8,000 associates who provide on-site, technology-driven solutions to the global drilling, oil and gas production, refining and petrochemical industries.
Previously, Brown was executive vice president and general manager of Nalco Champion’s Global Downstream and WellChem businesses. He has held several leadership positions within Ecolab, including executive vice president and president of the Europe region, executive vice president of the Asia Pacific region and vice president for Australia and New Zealand. Brown has helped oversee several successful acquisitions and integrations during his time with Ecolab, notably Cleantec in 2010, Nalco in 2011 and Anios in 2016.
Brown began his career working in industrial chemical and engineering environments, and prior to joining Ecolab in 2002, held general manager and director roles with both local and multinational companies. He is a past member of the American Chamber of Commerce Chapter "Doing Business in Switzerland" and the American Chamber of Commerce Chapter to the European Union, where he was an active board member and contributor. He was also a past member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI).
Brown holds a bachelor's of science degree from the University of Technology in Sydney and a master's degree in business administration from Macquarie University in Sydney.
Ecolab is a trusted partner at more than one million customer locations. With 2016 sales of $13 billion and 48,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions and on-site service to promote safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world. www.ecolab.com.
Biography
John Carrington, CEO and Director, he has a distinguished track record with over 25 years of proven leadership in technology, energy and industrial companies. John comes to Stem from thin film solar company MiaSole, the world’s largest CIGS-based thin film solar company globally where he was Chief Executive Officer and Director. Prior to MiaSole, John was Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at First Solar where he grew the company revenue from $300 million to over $2 billion, opening markets in the US, Asia and Europe. John spent over 16 years at General Electric, most recently as General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer of the $7 billion GE Plastics global organization where he led global innovation, new technology efforts and product strategy for over 30,000 customers. John was part of a small executive team that executed on the $12 billion sale of GE Plastics to SABIC in 2007. He is an alumnus of the University of Colorado.
Biography
Morten Dyrholm is Group Senior Global Vice President for Vestas Wind Systems; He has been with Vestas for the last ten years and is an expert in wind energy. He is currently based in Vestas Headquarters in Denmark, where he is leading Vestas Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs activities. He has extensive experience from the wind industry around the World, but particularly in Asia, and has worked three years for Vestas in China where he was in charge of business development and government affairs. Morten Dyrholm holds a Master degree in Political Science and Chinese Politics. Morten is currently the Chairman of the Global Wind Energy Council, Vice-Chairman of the Danish Wind Association, Vice-Chairman of the Danish Chinese Business Forum and Board Member of WindEurope.
Biography
Al is Co-Founder & CEO of IntelinAir. He is a serial entrepreneur and tech industry executive who has founded and led four innovative companies in the last couple of decades with three successful exits. Al’s passion has always centered on transforming data into valuable insights.
Prior to IntelinAir he was Co-Foudner & CEO of IconApps, a contextual mobile data analytics company acquired by Science Inc. in 2014. Al was Co-Founder & CEO and later Executive Chairman of Integrien Corporation, a performance management analytics company that was acquired by VMWare in 2010 for $103 million. Prior to Integrien, Al was Co-Founder & CEO of CreationPoint Systems, a systems management company that was merged with Integrien Corporation. Al was also the SVP & GM of LowerMyBills which was acquired by Experian for $400M. Al also led a $150M+ global business unit of Minebea, a large Japanese conglomerate.
He holds a BSEE from Oklahoma State University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
Biography
Jeff Evenson joined Corning in 2011 and was named chief strategy officer in 2015. In this role, Evenson oversees corporate strategy, corporate communications, and advanced analytics.
Prior to his current position, Evenson served as senior vice president and operations chief of staff, and was responsible for leading the process to create Corning’s annual operating priorities and overseeing a variety of strategic programs and growth initiatives across the company’s diverse businesses. Previously, he spent seven years at Sanford C. Bernstein as a senior vice president and senior analyst focused on data networking companies. Earlier in his career, Evenson was a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led technology and market assessments for early-stage technologies.
Evenson has a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow, and a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is Chairman of the Corning Museum of Glass, a trustee of the Corning Foundation, and a member of the board of directors for View, Inc. and Fuzzy Logix Inc.
Biography
John Ferguson is President and Chief Executive Officer of Purolator Inc., Canada’s leading integrated freight, package and logistics solutions provider. In his role at the helm of this $1.6 billion organization, John is responsible for the development and implementation of Purolator’s long-term strategy, as well as running the day-to-day business of the company.
Leading a team of over 10,000 employees throughout North America, John works with his leadership team to ensure that Purolator continuously delivers on over 135,000 customers’ promises every day – within, from and to Canada.
In the course of his 30-year career, John’s experience in the transportation and logistics industries has spanned all transportation modes – road, truck, rail, ocean and air. His roles have encompassed oversight of global forwarding, customs and high-value supply chain solution businesses.
Prior to Purolator, John was President and CEO of SCI Logistics where he led significant expansion of the company into a leading supply chain solutions company across Canada. Prior to SCI, John was VP/GM of Schneider Logistics based in Georgia where he led the expansion of their Global supply chain and transportation business. This role was preceded by his position as VP/GM for Schneider National in Canada, a leading asset based truckload and intermodal company.
He currently serves on the board of directors of SCI Logistics, Innovapost and IWLA (International Warehouse Logistics Association). John is also an active member in YPO (Young Presidents Organization) and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). He has previously held board of director positions with the Ontario Trucking Association, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the national board for Boy Scouts of Canada and the Niagara College Foundation.
Biography
Jürgen Gerke serves as CEO and chairman of the board of management at Allianz Capital Partners since 2015. Jürgen oversees the Renewables investment business, Legal and Compliance as well as Communications.
Prior to becoming CEO he was CFO at Allianz Worldwide Partners from 2013 to 2014, and CFO of Allianz France from 2007 to 2013. Jürgen has among others held roles in Dresdner Bank, Euler Hermes and the European Commission.
Jürgen holds a degree in law from the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, and participated in executive programs at INSEAD, Harvard and IMD.
Biography
Rohit Ghai most recently served as president of Dell EMC’s Enterprise Content Division (ECD), where he was instrumental in setting a compelling vision, transforming go-to-market and revitalizing the portfolio for the digital era through strategic partnerships and acquisitions. Ghai was responsible for all aspects of the ECD business, including setting strategic vision, sales and services, channel strategy, product development, marketing, finance, support and customer success.
Previously, Ghai was chief operating officer of ECD, and responsible for the division's strategy, development and marketing of all products and solutions. He joined EMC in December 2009 to run product development.
He has more than 20 years of experience in IT in both startup and big company settings, with expertise in digital transformation in highly regulated markets, and knowledge across software, and systems and security. Ghai joined Dell EMC from Symantec, where he held a variety of senior engineering and general management roles. Previously, he was at Computer Associates in a number of senior management roles in the BrightStor and eTrust business units, and led the CA India operations as chief technology officer. Ghai joined CA through the acquisition of Cheyenne Software – a startup in the backup and data protection space.
Ghai holds a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee.
Biography
Shuman Ghosemajumder is Chief Technology Officer at Shape Security.
Shape’s artificial intelligence-based global defense platform protects the world's largest banks, airlines, retailers, and government agencies against cybercriminal fraud. Shape is one of the largest processors of login traffic and protects over 20% of all in-store mobile payments. It secures the online accounts of more than 500 million users and prevented over $1 billion in fraud last year. It was named by CNBC as one of the 50 most disruptive companies in the world.
Shuman previously led global product management for click fraud protection at Google, where his team protected and enabled the world’s largest advertising system ($23 billion in annual pay-per-click revenue). He joined Google in 2003 as one of the early product managers for AdSense, held key product management roles in growing that business to $2 billion in annual revenue, and helped launch Gmail.
Shuman is co-founder and chairman of TeachAIDS, an educational technology nonprofit spun out of Stanford, which creates research-based health software. Backed by Barclays, Microsoft, UNICEF, and others, it was named a technology that would “change the world” by MIT Technology Review , and its software is used in 82 countries.
Shuman is co-author CGI Programming Unleashed , a contributing author to Crimeware , and a regular guest lecturer at Stanford. He holds degrees from the University of Western Ontario and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was named by the Boston Globe to their MIT150 list of the top innovators in the history of MIT.
Biography
David A. Hunt is President and Chief Executive Officer of PGIM, the investment business of Prudential, Inc. PGIM is a leading global asset manager with more than $1 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2016. PGIM has 31 offices in 16 countries and provides a wide range of asset classes including public and private fixed income, fundamental and quantitative equities and real estate.
In addition to his PGIM role, David serves on the Operating Committee for Prudential’s U.S. businesses. Before joining Prudential, David was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company and co-leader of its North American Asset Management practice.
David earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Princeton University and an MBA in finance and multinational management from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. David is a member of the Board of Directors for the Toigo Foundation, an organization devoted to diversity in the investment management business.
Biography
Samir Ibrahim is the CEO and a Co-Founder of SunCulture, headquartered in Kenya. SunCulture sells affordable solar-powered irrigation solutions to smallholder farmers in East Africa. SunCulture was the first company to commercialize solar-powered irrigation in Africa and is the only in Africa that provides a turnkey solar irrigation solution to farmers; in addition to industry-leading solar-powered irrigation systems, SunCulture-trained technicians and agronomists provide on-farm training, soil analysis and agronomy support by mobile phone, and next-day delivery and installation anywhere in Kenya is included in the price of the system. SunCulture farmers have average annual revenues of $14,000/acre, compared to just $600/acre they receive growing maize using rain-fed agriculture.
Prior to SunCulture, Samir studied finance and international business at NYU’s Undergraduate Stern School of Business and joined PwC's Financial Services, Structured Products, and Real Estate Group. He has spoken about the private sector's role in development and on financing climate compatible development to a number of audiences such as the Vienna Energy Forum, International Parliamentary Conference, COP21, and the World Energy Congress. Samir is also recognized as a World Energy Council Future Energy Leader and a Forbes 30 Under 30.
Biography
Josu Jon Imaz San Miguel was born in Zumárraga (Gipuzkoa) on 6 September 1963. He is married and has three children.
Doctorate in Chemical Sciences from the University of the Basque Country. He graduated from the Faculty of Chemical Sciences in San Sebastián. He received the End of Degree Extraordinary Prize.
In 2008, Josu Jon Imaz joined the Repsol Group as Chairman of its Petronor unit, where he successfully managed the challenges surrounding modernization, sustainability and community relations.
In 2012 he joined Repsol’s Management Committee and, as General Director of the Industrial and New Energy unit, completed two of the company’s most important projects in recent years: The modernization of the Cartagena refinery--Spain’s largest-ever industrial investment at over 3.1 billion euros-- and the construction of a new fuel-oil coking plant at Petronor’s Muskiz refinery, with an investment of over 1 billion euros.
These two projects have had a significant effect on employment in the areas where they have been developed. The increases in production and efficiency resulting from these projects have placed both facilities amongst the most efficient in Europe and ensured their viability in an especially difficult European refining environment. These projects also generate significant resources to finance the expansion of the Group’s other businesses, especially oil and gas exploration.
Under his stewardship, Repsol has increased its activity in new types of energy and energy sustainability, identifying new business opportunities, developing projects and initiatives in advanced technology, including bioenergy, renewable power and sustainable mobility. These pioneering projects are key to meet challenges that the energy industry faces in the 21st century.
Before joining Repsol, Imaz San Miguel undertook an intense professional career from technological investigation- he was sent by the INASMET Technology Centre to the French CETIM Centre in Nantes-to the development of industrial projects (Grupo Mondragón) related to the energy industry. He was also a visiting fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School in the United States.
As well as his industrial activity, Josu Jon Imaz also held political posts, including Regional Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Regional Government of the Basque Country in 1999 and Chairman of the executive committee of EAJ-PNV party between 2004 and 2007.
His professional activities outside Repsol include his post as Chairman of the Spanish Association of Petroleum Products Operators (AOP) which he has held since 2011.
In 2014 he was named Chief Executive Officer of the company and member of the Delegate Committee.
Biography
Scott Kelly oversees the global daily operation of Hitachi Vantara. Kelly’s responsibility is to keep the company's strategy aligned to its goals and vision, and to ensure ongoing loyalty to its customers. He also leads the company’s enterprise-wide initiatives to drive its global growth strategy.
Earlier, as chief human resources officer, Kelly was responsible for all aspects of human resources at Hitachi Vantara, including HR information systems, workforce planning and staffing, total compensation, performance management, management development, leadership succession planning, diversity and advocacy, HR legal compliance, organization development and management support consulting. Before this role, he had a number of assignments with Hitachi Data Systems, which integrated with several other Hitachi companies to form Hitachi Vantara. Immediately prior, Kelly was senior vice president of client-facing operations, and before that, global head of talent management. He has also supported EMEA and APAC regions.
Kelly has worked for Nestlé, Scottish Power, Motorola and Dun & Bradstreet. He has been involved in change processes and in business partnering in the international environment for most of his career. As a result, he is very familiar with what is needed to make business relationships successful, including the challenges of working in a global model.
Kelly has degrees in human resource management and biology and biotechnology, and attended executive education with Tuck School of Business and IMD. Kelly is a native of Scotland and is a keen sports follower.
Biography
As Head of Latin America, Canada and Caribbean World Wide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Jeffrey Kratz is the executive responsible for government, education & non-profit business in these key regions. His experience building & managing complex international teams has accelerated the regional customer engagement, specifically in social media, Internet-of-Things, big data, workflow, security, storage/archiving & web hosting arenas. Given a strong sales, licensing, international development & cloud services background, Jeff has been frequently asked to speak on international technology trends, start-up channel sales dynamics & public sector growth strategies.
Prior to joining Amazon, Jeff had a long career at Microsoft since 1992 holding a variety of executive positions both within the Microsoft field sales & marketing organization as well as at the corporate headquarters. His last role at Microsoft was leading the world-wide Public Sector partner channel, driving channel migration efforts to cloud services. He came to Microsoft from Data Trek, Inc., a software start-up firm specializing in automation & information retrieval systems for corporate & public libraries.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science & Mathematics from Prinicipia College, located outside of St. Louis, Missouri with graduate work at the Pepperdine University Graziado School of Business & Management. A former elected official for the Seattle Queen Anne Community Council, Jeff represented his borough in the city’s community efforts. He is an active member of the Aircraft Owner’s & Pilot’s Association, as well as Seaplane Pilot’s Association. When not in an airplane exploring the Pacific Northwest backcountry as a FAA commercial pilot, Jeff can probably be found kayaking within the waters of the greater Seattle Washington area.
Biography
Dr. Tom Leighton co-founded Akamai Technologies in 1998 and served as Akamai’s Chief Scientist until he became CEO in 2013. Under Dr. Leighton’s leadership, Akamai has evolved from its origins as a Content Delivery Network (CDN) into one of the most essential and trusted cloud delivery and cybersecurity platforms, upon which many of the world’s best brands and enterprises build and secure their digital experiences. During his initial four years as CEO, Akamai’s revenue and profit grew by 70%, and annual revenue from Akamai’s security business grew 15-fold to more than $400 million per year.
As one of the world's preeminent authorities on algorithms for network applications and cybersecurity, Dr. Leighton discovered a solution to freeing up web congestion using applied mathematics and distributed computing. Akamai used this technology to create the world's largest distributed computing platform, which today delivers and secures tens of millions of requests per second to billions of users around the world.
Dr. Leighton holds more than 50 patents involving content delivery, Internet protocols, algorithms for networks, cryptography and digital rights management. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2017 for his inventions in content delivery.
Dr. Leighton has served on numerous government, industry and academic advisory panels. He is one of nine CEOs who make up the Technology CEO Council, the information technology industry's leading CEO advocacy organization. And he was one of 18 CEOs invited to the White House in 2017 for the launch of the American Technology Council to develop solutions to modernize and secure the U.S. government’s IT systems. From 2003 to 2005, he served on the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee and chaired its Subcommittee on Cybersecurity.
Dr. Leighton has been personally committed to increasing the pipeline of students pursuing STEM careers for over thirty years, first as a mathematics professor at MIT and now through his leadership at Akamai. He is a strong supporter of the Akamai Foundation, which promotes mathematics education, and he oversaw the creation of the Akamai Technical Academy, an innovative program developed in-house and aimed at training diverse non-technical professionals for technical careers. He also supports numerous charitable organizations dedicated to improving STEM education and opportunities for K-12 students, including The Center for Excellence in Education, the Society for Science and the Public (sponsor of the Intel Science Search), The Mathematical Association of America (sponsor of the Math Olympiad), the Math Competition for Girls, and Girls Who Code.
Dr. Leighton graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from MIT.
Biography
Dave McKay is President and CEO of RBC, Canada’s biggest bank, and one of the largest in the world based on market capitalization. Dave is credited with helping transform the bank’s retail division and introduce new technology that has enabled RBC to adapt and evolve to rapidly-changing consumer demands. Appointed President and CEO in 2014, the following year he led the acquisition of City National Corporation, creating a platform for growth with institutional, corporate and high net worth clients in the U.S. Dave started his career at RBC in 1988 as a computer programmer before moving to the organization’s retail banking arm. He then held progressively senior roles in Canada and Japan in retail and business banking, group risk management, and corporate banking, ultimately becoming Group Head, Personal & Commercial Banking in 2012. Dave was named ‘Retail Banker of the Year’ in 2012 and 2015 by Retail Banker International. An unwavering champion for Canada’s innovation ecosystem, Dave is leading RBC’s support for and partnerships with universities, start-ups and accelerators, particularly in transformational technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain. He is also a passionate advocate for youth, promoting the benefits of work-integrated learning and supporting the development of RBC Future Launch, a 10-year, $500 million commitment to help young people build the skills and capabilities required to succeed in a changing world. Dave holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Ryerson University. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) and is a member of the U.S. Financial Services Roundtable Board, the Business Higher Education Roundtable, the Business Council of Canada, and the Catalyst Canada Advisory Board. In 2016, Dave chaired the United Way Toronto and York Region’s record-breaking fundraising campaign.
Biography
As Chief Operating Officer and member of the board of directors, Mr. Mohamed is responsible for global oversight of strategic alliances, business strategy and field operations for Trend Micro. Mr. Mohamed joined Trend Micro in 2009 as a result of the acquisition of Third Brigade, a company he co-founded and for which he served as President and CEO. Prior to Third Brigade, Mr. Mohamed was VP of Global Sales and Distribution for ZixCorp. He also held senior management positions with Entrust, a leading Internet Security company, including VP of Global Service Solutions and VP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Entrust.net.
Mr. Mohamed has a Bachelor of Computer Science from Dalhousie University, holds the Information System Professional of Canada designation and has completed the Queen's Graduate School of Business Executive Program.
Biography
Jesse Moore is CEO and Co-Founder of M-KOPA Solar, the world leader of "pay-as-you-go" energy services for off-grid customers. M-KOPA Solar saves off-grid customers money by replacing kerosene with affordable renewable energy.
In under 5 years since launch, M-KOPA has connected a half a million East African homes to solar power and is adding over 500 more homes daily. Based on this growth M-KOPA was awarded the prestigious Zayed Future Energy Prize, made the coveted MIT Technology Review 50 Smartest Companies list, and was ranked by Fortune Magazine as one of the Top 50 Companies Changing the World. Investors in M-KOPA include Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson, AOL founder Steve Case, and Generation Investment Management – a global investment firm chaired by Al Gore. Jesse moved to Kenya in 2010 to start M-KOPA and has overseen the company’s growth to over 2500 employees and sales agents.
Prior to M-KOPA, he was the Director at the GSM Association in London, where he worked with mobile network operators in Africa and Asia to adopt new business models that drive business growth and benefit low-income consumers, such as mobile money. Early in his career Jesse worked with the international development charity CARE and as a strategy consultant for Monitor Group.
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Jesse holds an MBA from Oxford University (Skoll Scholar) and a BA from the University of North Carolina (Morehead Scholar). He was selected by the World Economic Forum as one of 100 Young Global Leaders in 2017.
Biography
Jean Raby is CEO of Natixis Global Asset Management and a member of the senior management committee of Natixis. Mr. Raby joined Natixis in 2017 and leads the firm's Asset Management, Private Banking and Private Equity businesses.
Before joining Natixis, Mr. Raby served as Chief Financial Officer of SFR (2016), an integrated media/telecom operator in France. Prior to that he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial and Legal Officer for Alcatel‐Lucent, the global telecom equipment manufacturer (2013‐ 2016). He previously worked in Goldman Sachs' investment banking division for 16 years (1996‐ 2012), where he rose to become a Partner of the firm in 2004 and co‐CEO of the division for France,
Belgium and Luxembourg and head of the firm's Paris office in 2006 before becoming co‐CEO of Goldman Sachs in Russia in 2011. He began his career in 1989 as a corporate lawyer with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and Paris.
Mr. Raby, a dual Canadian and French citizen, earned a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) from Université Laval in Canada, a master's degree in international relations (MPhil) from the University of Cambridge in the U.K., and a Master of Laws degree (LLM) from Harvard Law School in the U.S. He is a member of the New York Bar. He sits on the board of SNC Lavalin, the Canadian engineering group, and on the board of Université Laval (Canada).
Biography
Gil Rémillard holds degrees in Philosophy (1965), Politics and Economics (1968) and has a doctoral degree in Law (1972). He has worked in the fields of teaching, private law and politics.
Career
Upon returning from Europe in 1973, where he completed his Ph.D., Mr. Rémillard began teaching constitutional and administrative law at Laval University’s Faculty of Law and practiced law at the Chouinard, Rémillard, Bussière & Robinson law firm. During this time, he also acted as advisor to the Québec and Ottawa governments on reforming administrative bodies. In 1983, he became a special constitutional advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada and an advisor to the United Nations Canadian delegation in New York. He has appeared before all levels of the Canadian court system, including the Supreme Court of Canada. From 1981 to 1985, he chaired the Québec Constitutional Conferences, which numbered Prime Ministers Trudeau and Mulroney, as well as Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (former Secretary-General of the United Nations).
On December 2, 1985, Mr. Rémillard was elected as the member for the Québec City riding of Jean-Talon; 10 days later, he was sworn in as a Member of Premier Robert Bourassa’s Liberal government. Within that government, he held several positions, being successively Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister of International Relations, Minister of Public Security, and Minister of Justice. As Québec’s Minister of Justice for nearly six years, Mr. Rémillard was responsible for the implementation of the new Civil Code of Québec, which came into effect January 1, 1994. In 1990, he presided over the creation of the Human Rights Tribunal of Québec and, in 1992, convened a major Justice Summit, which resulted in the creation of the Prix de la justice Award that, each year, recognizes the outstanding achievements of individuals who have worked to ensure and promote the quality, universality and accessibility of justice.
As Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr. Rémillard headed the negotiations which led to the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords, in 1987 and 1992 respectively. While not officially part of the Canadian Constitution, these two agreements had a considerable impact on Canadian federalism, primarily because the Parliament of Canada recognized the “Quebec nation” and the Supreme Court of Canada acknowledged the principles of cooperative federalism.
In January 1994, Mr. Rémillard left the political arena. Starting on February 1, 1994 and for the next 22 years, he taught at the École Nationale d’Administration Publique (ÉNAP), where he lectured on administrative and international law and gave a course on the principles and issues involved in public administration (February 1994 – April 2016). He also served as counsel to the law firm Dentons Canada LLP. In 1995, along with his wife Marie DuPont and his son Nicholas Rémillard, he founded the International Economic Forum of the Americas which annually presents the Conference of Montreal in June, the Toronto Global Forum in September and the World Strategic Forum in April in Miami. These forums are intended to promote understanding of the major issues involved in economic globalization.
From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Rémillard was an advisor to the governments of the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria concerning the reform of their Civil Codes, as part of the preparation for their entry into the European Union.
From 2008 to 2012, he acted as a negotiator for the Québec Government and Secretary General of the Québec-France Mutual Recognition Agreement that establishes equivalency of professional qualifications for many trades and professions on both sides of the Atlantic.
Publications
Mr. Rémillard is the President and publisher of the economic magazine FORCES. He is also the author of several books and articles, among them Le fédéralisme canadien, Volumes I and II, and has edited a number of collections, including Global Economy: The Foundation for the Next Era of Growth, published in 2014.
Honours
In 1992, he was made Doctor Honoris Causa by the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Aix-Marseille University, France. In 1994, he was awarded the Mérite du Barreau by the Québec Bar for his assistance in creating the new Civil Code of Québec. In 2001, he was appointed to the Order of Canada and, in 2002, was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In 2004, he received the Ordre national du Québec and, that same year, was made a Knight of France’s Légion d’honneur by French President Jacques Chirac. In May 2007, he was granted the honorary title of Advocatus Emeritus by the Québec Bar. In 2013, he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and the France-Canada Institute’s Samuel de Champlain prize. That same year, Ottawa’s Saint Paul University named him Alumnus of the Year and established a fund in his name, and that of his wife, Marie DuPont, to help children with learning disabilities. In January 2014, Mr. Rémillard was elected President of the Légion d’honneur Members’ Association, Montréal chapter. In October 2016, he was made an Officer of France's Légion d'honneur by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
Social Involvement
A dyslexic himself, Mr. Rémillard devotes his philanthropic efforts to a variety of organizations that help children with learning disabilities. He serves on a number of Boards of Directors, among them that of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, co-chaired by Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada, and John Ralston Saul, that helps welcome new citizens and integrate them into Canadian life.
Biography
Nicholas Rémillard, President and Chief Executive Officer, International Economic Forum of the Americas (IEFA), is responsible for the direction and strategy of the IEFA’s four major economic events: the Conference of Montreal, the Toronto Global Forum, the World Strategic Forum and the Conference of Paris.
Since the organisation’s inception over 20 years ago, Nicholas Rémillard has held a variety of management roles, ultimately serving as President and CEO from 2010. His contribution led to the rapid expansion of the organization where he launched the Toronto Global Forum and the Palm Beach Strategic Forum in 2007 and 2011, respectively. The latter event is now held in Miami under its new appellation: the World Strategic Forum. In addition to these North American conferences, the IEFA has announced its shift towards Europe and will be hosting its first edition of the Conference of Paris in December 2017.
Beyond his role at the IEFA, Nicholas Rémillard also serves as Honorary Consul General of Iceland in Montreal and President of RDÉE Canada’s working group, the Economic Corridor of La Francophonie.
Nicholas Rémillard holds a law degree from the University of Ottawa.
Biography
Pete Santora joined SoftWear Automation in 2015 during the Research and Development phase. Today he helps support customers globally in home good manufacturing and has begun the commercialization of the SEWBOT® apparel automation, starting with the Digital T-Shirt Workline. Pete brings 10 years experience in growing high tech teams and commercializing IP. He was an Entrepreneur in Residence and research faculty member at the Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech, a Forbes "Top 10 Technology Incubator", where he mentored startup CEOs including SoftWear Automation. He is a former professional soccer player and serial entrepreneur.
Biography
Mr. Schroder became CEO, Bunge Limited, in June 2013, and serves on the company's board as a Director. From 2010 to 2013 he was CEO, Bunge North America, leading Bunge’s business operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Since joining Bunge in 2000, he has served in a variety of agribusiness leadership roles at the company in the United States and Europe. Prior to joining Bunge, he worked for more than 15 years at Continental Grain and Cargill. Mr. Schroder is a Member of Rabobank International’s North American Agribusiness Advisory Board. He received a B.A. in Economics from Connecticut College.
Biography
Gurjeet Singh is Ayasdi's Executive Chairman. In this role, he leads a technology movement that has pioneered the use of artificial intelligence to solve complex, enterprise-class challenges.
As the founding CEO of Ayasdi, he drove the development and productization of key mathematical and machine learning algorithms for Topological Data Analysis (TDA). His work on TDA originated during his time as a graduate student in Stanford’s Mathematics Department.
Dr. Singh is the author of numerous patents and has published in a variety of top mathematics and computer science journals. Before starting Ayasdi, he worked at Google and Texas Instruments.
Dr. Singh serves on the Technology Advisory Board at HSBC and was named to the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” list in 2015.
He holds a B.Tech. from Delhi University, and a Ph.D. in Computational Mathematics from Stanford University. He lives in Palo Alto with his wife and two children, and develops multi-legged robots in his spare time.
Biography
Michèle Small is the Director, Head of the EBRD North American Representative Office, based in Washington DC. Michèle is an experienced international banker; with over 20 years in the fields of development finance and emerging markets.
Michèle joined the EBRD in 1998 and has structured and led the underwriting and implementation of a wide range of transactions (debt, mezzanine and equity) across the EBRD region. She has also served on various supervisory boards of companies in the real estate sector.
Between 2012 and her return to EBRD in 2016, Michèle ran a successful advisory consultancy focused on Eastern Europe and East Africa. She specialised in the real estate sector and its role as a key part of the necessary infrastructure in emerging markets.
Prior to joining EBRD, Michele worked as a senior risk officer at Bank of Boston (now part of the Bank of America Group).
As part of her current responsibilities, Michèle manages the EBRD’s key relationships with its North American shareholders (relevant agencies of the US, Canadian and Mexican governments), the private sector, and other stakeholders. She is responsible for corporate business development as well as mobilisation of private finance and impact investing initiatives in North America.
A UK national, Michèle holds an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the Cass Business School in London.
Biography
Mark Thompson became president and chief executive officer of The New York Times Company on November 12, 2012. He is responsible for leading the Company's strategy, operations and business units, and working closely with the chairman to direct the vision of the company.
Mr. Thompson has been instrumental in accelerating the pace of The Times’s digital transformation. Under his leadership, The Times became the first news organization in the world to pass the one million digital-only subscription mark. The company has also introduced a new era of international growth, launched an industry leading branded content studio and invested in virtual reality, producing some of the most celebrated work in this emerging medium.
Before joining the Times Company, Mr. Thompson served as Director-General of the BBC from 2004, where he reshaped the organization to meet the challenge of the digital age, ensuring that it remained a leading innovator with the launch of services such as the BBC iPlayer. He also oversaw a transformation of the BBC itself, driving productivity and efficiency through the introduction of new technologies and bold organizational redesign.
Mr. Thompson joined the BBC in 1979 as a production trainee. He helped launch Watchdog and Breakfast Time, was an output editor on Newsnight, and was appointed editor of the Nine O'Clock News in 1988 and of Panorama in 1990. He became controller (programming and scheduling chief) for the TV network BBC2 and Director of Television for the BBC before leaving the BBC in 2002 to become CEO of Channel 4 Television Corporation in the United Kingdom.
In the autumn of 2012, he was a visiting professor of Rhetoric and the Art of Public Persuasion at the University of Oxford. His book “Enough Said: What’s Gone Wrong with the Language of Politics?” which is based on the lectures he gave at Oxford, was published in the UK and US in September 2016.
Mark Thompson was educated at Stonyhurst College and Merton College, Oxford.
Biography
Raviv Turner is the CEO & Co-Founder of CaliberMind, which helps business-to-business organizations derive strategic Insights from their data by using the latest AI technologies to accelerate business growth. A former military intelligence officer, C-level technology leader and entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience, Raviv has developed and led high-performing product teams for both global 2000 organizations and start-ups, specializing in building high growth software products. Since launching CaliberMind in 2016, Raviv has been a highly sought-after industry thought leader, selected as Inc Magazine's 'Top Tech Leaders to Watch' and quoted by Forbes, Inc., and Huffington Post.