2019 Speakers

Alex O. Awiti is the Vice Provost and Interim Dean of the Graduate School of Media and Communications at Aga Khan University. Awiti is an interdisciplinary scholar, whose research intersects agriculture, ecology, education, society, population health and the economy. Prior to joining the Aga Khan University, Awiti was a research fellow at the Earth Institute at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an Associate Professor and holds a PhD in Ecosystems Ecology from University of Nairobi.

Christophe Deloire became the Secretary General and Executive Director of the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in 2012. From 2008 to 2012, he was the director of the French leading journalism school CFJ. Before, he worked for the French weekly newsmagazine Le Point from 1998 to 2007, as an investigative reporter at the Society and Politics departments. He previously also worked for the TV channels ARTE and TF1.

Arancha González, an expert in international trade issues with 20 years of experience, has served as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the joint development agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation, since September 2013. Ms. González, a Spanish national, has extensive knowledge about international trade and economics, coupled with broad experience in trade and development matters in the public and private sectors, as well as in management at multilateral organizations. Before joining ITC, she served as Chief of Staff to World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy from 2005 to 2013. During her tenure at the WTO, she played an active role in launching the Aid for Trade initiative. Prior to working at the WTO, Ms. González held several positions at the European Commission, conducting negotiations of trade agreements and assisting developing countries in trade-development efforts. Between 2002 and 2004, she was the European Commission spokeswoman for trade and adviser to the European Union Trade Commissioner.

Edna Jaime Treviño has more than 25 years of applied investigation experience in diverse public policy disciplines and more than 10 years of experience directing think tanks in Mexico. Currently, she directs the think tanks, México Evalúa and CIDAC. Throughout her career, Edna Jaime has written and collaborated on more than 30 influential publications concerning anti-corruption, financial transparency, public finance, budgets, security and justice. She currently writes as a columnist for the national newspaper, El Financiero, and participates as an expert on the radio program “Primera Emisión,” transmitted by Enfoque Noticias and hosted by Leonardo Curzio. Jaime is a political scientist from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). Along with the México Evalúa team and other social actors, Edna Jaime has advocated for the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption System as well as participated in the legal revision process for transparency laws in Mexico. She has participated in important forums and decision-making spaces, generating public policies that reduce homicide and crime.

Eugene Kaspersky is a world-renowned cybersecurity expert and successful entrepreneur. He is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Kaspersky, the world’s largest privately-held vendor of endpoint protection and cybersecurity solutions. Eugene began his career in cybersecurity accidentally when his computer became infected with the ‘Cascade’ virus in 1989. Eugene’s specialized education in cryptography helped him analyze the encrypted virus, understand its behavior, and then develop a removal tool for it. After successfully removing the virus, Eugene’s curiosity and passion for computer technology drove him to start analyzing more malicious programs and developing disinfection modules for them. This exotic collection of antivirus modules would eventually become the foundation for Kaspersky’s antivirus database. In 1997 Kaspersky was founded, with Eugene heading the company’s antivirus research. In 2007 he was named Kaspersky’s CEO.

Ambassador Mohan Kumar is Chairman of Research and Information System for Developing Countries since June 2018. He had an outstanding career in the Indian Foreign Service lasting 36 years which culminated in his being India's Ambassador to France based in Paris. Under his watch, the Indo-French strategic partnership was strengthened and consolidated further in spheres such as defense, space, nuclear & solar energy, smart cities and investment. Earlier, he was India's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain where he witnessed and dealt with a strategically complex region characterized by events such as the "Arab Spring". He has enormous expertise in the area of international trade - he was India's lead negotiator first at the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and then at the WTO (World Trade Organization) in crucial areas such as Intellectual Property Rights, Services, Dispute Settlement, Rules and Technical Barriers to Trade. He was a leading member of India's delegation at the WTO Ministerial Conferences held in Marrakesh (1994), Seattle (1999) and Doha (2001). He has strategic understanding of India's ties with some of her key neighbours such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives. He oversaw India's ties with these countries as Joint Secretary and Head of the Division at the Ministry of External Affairs. His specialization thus includes: diplomatic practice & foreign policy, strategic partnerships with India’s neighbours, multilateral negotiations especially trade negotiations, climate change and globalization.

Robert Malley is the President and CEO of International Crisis Group. Prior to taking on this role in 2018, Malley served in senior Middle East-related roles in the U.S. administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Before joining the Obama administration, he was for more than a decade Program Director for Middle East and North Africa at Crisis Group, leading the independent conflict prevention organisation’s regional research, analysis, policy prescription and advocacy. He studied at Yale University, Harvard Law School and Oxford University.

Dr. Lu (Mabel) Miao is the Secretary-General of China Global Talent Society. She was awarded “International Young Leader” by the King of the Belgians H.M. Philippe Leopold Louis Marie in 2016, as the only north-east Asia recipient. She holds a Ph.D degree in Contemporary Chinese Studies from the Beijing Normal University and was a visiting fellow at New York University and Harvard University. Dr. Miao is also a member of Hupan University, an exclusive top elite program founded by Alibaba’s Jack Ma.

Gabriela Ramos is the OECD Chief of Staff and Sherpa to the G20. Besides supporting the Strategic Agenda of the Secretary General, she is responsible for the contributions of the Organisation to the global agenda, including the G20 and the G7. She leads the Inclusive Growth Initiative and the New Approaches to Economic Challenges and also oversees the work on Education, Employment and Social Affairs (including gender).
Previously, she served as Head of the OECD Office in Mexico and Latin America, co-ordinating several reports on Mexico to advance the health and education reform. She developed the OECD’s Mexico Forum and edited and launched the “Getting it Right” flagship publication series.
Prior to joining the OECD, Ms Ramos held several positions in the Mexican Government, including Director of Economic Affairs (and OECD issues) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Technical Secretary at the Office of the Minister for the Budget. She has also held several positions as Professor of International Economy at the Universidad Iberoamericana and at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. Ms Ramos holds an MA in Public Policy from Harvard University, and was a Fulbright and Ford MacArthur fellow. She was decorated with the Ordre du Merit by the President of France, François Hollande, in 2013.

Ms. Noëlla Richard, Youth Global Programme Manager, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Noëlla Richard leads United Nations Development Programme’s Youth team in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, in New York and manages UNDP’s first Youth Global Programme for Sustainable Development and Peace (Youth-GPS) -a response to both the 2030 Agenda and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. Noëlla is the co-chair of the Inter-Agency Working Group on Youth & the Sustainable Development Goals and she also represents UNDP in the Global Coalition on Youth, Peace and Security. She previously served in UNDP’s Democratic Governance Group, focusing on Public Administration, Local Governance, Women’s Leadership and Gender Equality and broader Governance issues. Prior to UNDP Headquarters, she worked for the French Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNESCO, the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Paris Economic Council for Sustainable Development and UNDP in Morocco. She was educated in France, Morocco, Spain and Argentina and is a graduate from of Sciences Po Paris and Sorbonne University.

Dennis J. Snower is President of the Global Solutions Initiative, which provides policy advice to the G20. He is Professor of Macroeconomics and Sustainability at the Hertie School, Berlin; Senior Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Governance, Oxford University and Non-resident Fellow of The Brookings Institution. He is President Emeritus of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and has published extensively on employment policy, the design of welfare systems, caring economics and monetary and fiscal policy.

Martin Tisné is Managing Director at Luminate. Alongside the Obama White House, he founded the Open Governement Partnership and help dit grow to a 70+ country initiative. He also initiated the international Open Data Charter, the G8 Open Data Charter and the G20’s commitment to open data principles. He is the co-founder of Publish What You Fund. He is a board member of the Open Data Institute as well as a Steering Committee member of the Transparency and Accountability Initiative which he founded.

Dr. Huiyao (Henry) Wang is the Founder and President of Center for China and Globalization (CCG), the largest Chinese independent think tank that makes into the world’s top 100 think tanks of the 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report. Chinese Premier also appointed Dr. Wang as a Counselor of China State Council, China’s cabinet.