Professor of Global Urban Politics, Melbourne School of Design
Melbourne
Michele Acuto is professor of global urban politics at the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne. He was previously director of the UCL City Leadership Laboratory at University College London, where he is now visiting professor. Acuto is also an adviser to the World Health Organization and a fellow of the Programme for the Future of Cities at the University of Oxford. He is the author of The Urban Link (Routledge); editor of Negotiating Relief (Hurst); and coeditor of Global City Challenges (Palgrave, with Wendy Steele), Reassembling International Theory (Palgrave, with Simon Curtis), and currently serves as cochair of the Nature Sustainability Expert Panel on science and the future of cities.
@Pacioz
Mayor, City of Austin
Austin
Steve Adler was sworn into office in January 2015 and has focused primarily on Austin’s growing affordability crisis and mobility issues. Adler practiced civil rights law for many years, and later founded a successful eminent domain law practice representing landowners. He also served nearly ten years as chief of staff and general counsel for Texas State Senator Eliot Shapleigh, working primarily on school finance, equity and access issues.Adler has been deeply involved with, and has chaired, many Austin civic and non-profit institutions over the past twenty years. He has received recognition for his innovative ideas and leadership. In June 2017, his fellow mayors elected Adler a Trustee of the United States Conference of Mayors. In August 2016, he was voted by mayors surveyed by POLITICO Magazine as the co-winner of the Rookie of the Year award. Adler has a BA from Princeton University and a JD from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.
@MayorAdler
Chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
New Delhi
Isher Judge Ahluwalia is chairperson of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), a leading think tank based in New Delhi engaged in policy oriented research. Ahluwalia’s research has focused on policy oriented challenges facing the Indian economy in the areas of urbanization, sustainable public service delivery, macroeconomic issues, and industrial growth and productivity. Ahluwalia has written a number of books, the latest being Transforming Our Cities: Postcards of Change (HarperCollins, 2014) and has served on the board of trustees of a number of national and international research institutions. Ahluwalia received her BA (Hons) from Presidency College, Calcutta University, MA from the Delhi School of Economics, and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Cofounder, Terreform ONE
New York
Maria Aiolova is the cofounder of Terreform ONE, where she created ONE Lab, an experimental school that combines design and science in a singular curriculum. She is an institutional adviser to New Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and visiting faculty member at Parsons New School for Design. Previously, she served as the academic director of Global Programs at the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) and as vice president and chief scientific officer of ETEX Corporation, a bio-tech company. Aiolova is also an inventor, who holds 18 technology patents. Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Biannale, New York’s MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the New Institute in Rotterdam. She received her MA in Urban Design from Harvard University, BA from Wentworth IT, and DI from the Technical University of Vienna, Austria and Sofia, Bulgaria.
Managing Partner, Messrs Olaniwun Ajayi LP
Lagos
Olukonyinsola Ajayi is the managing partner at the law firm Messrs Olaniwun Ajayi LP, a leading corporate and commercial law practice located in Lagos. Ajayi studied law at the University of Ife and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1980. He obtained an LLM from Harvard University and a PhD from Cambridge University.
He was admitted to the Middle Temple of the English Bar in 1989 and elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2000. He has worked on public sector reforms, white collar criminal prosecution, commercial dispute resolution, fiscal and regulatory compliance as well as capital markets and banking and finance matters. He has led some of the largest and most complex commercial transactions on the African continent.
Ajayi is a professor of law at Babcock University, a Notary Public of Selwyn College Cambridge and of the Middle Temple. He is also a fellow at the Society of Advanced Legal Studies. Ajayi has authored over 150 published articles and books, including Financial and Legal Implications of the Nigerian Capital Market and Legal Aspects of Finance in Emerging Markets (Volumes I and II).
Asia Editor, Financial Times
Hong Kong
Jamil Anderlini was appointed Asia editor of the Financial Times in January 2016 to oversee editorial operations in the region from Hong Kong. He previously served as Beijing bureau chief for the Financial Times, Beijing business correspondent at the South China Morning Post and chief editor of the China Economic Review. Anderlini has won numerous awards, including a UK Foreign Press Association Award, several individual SOPA awards, and the inaugural Jones-Mauthner Award in 2012. In 2013, Anderlini was named a young global leader by the World Economic Forum and short-listed for Foreign Reporter of the Year at The Press Awards in the UK. Anderlini received a BA in English from Victoria University of Wellington.
Program Director, European Security, SIPRI
Stockholm
Ian Anthony has been the program director for European Security at SIPRI since 2014. In addition to overall responsibility for research on European security issues, the recent work of the program has focused on some specific challenges facing Europe. The recent projects of the program have included New Foundations for Conventional Arms Control, SeCURE Cities, and Nuclear Security in the Black Sea Region. Anthony has authored numerous publications on arms control, disarmament, and export control, including Secure Cities: Inclusivity, resilience and safety (SIPRI, 2017) and Upstream of Future Crises: a comprehensive approach to European (external) action (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2015). Anthony was the executive editor of the SIPRI Yearbook between 2002–2014, responsible for the coordination of contributions to the SIPRI Yearbook, as well as scientific quality control. He has a doctorate in war studies from the University of London.
@SIPRIorg
Global Coordinator, Safer Cities Programme, UN-Habitat
Nairobi
Juma Assiago, an urbanist and social scientist, is the global coordinator of the Safer Cities Programme at UN-Habitat. He joined UN-Habitat in 1999 and has eighteen years of international working experience providing technical support to both national and local governments on the development and implementation of city crime prevention and urban safety strategies. One of his achievements was the development of the Global Network on Safer Cities. He has a BS from the United States International University and a MS in sustainable urban development from Oxford University, UK.
Urban Planner
Geneva
Elisabeth Belpaire has 25 years of experience in spatial planning, urban governance, sustainable development, strategic and program management, research and thought development, institution building, civic engagement and fostering global collaboration. Belpaire recently developed a foundation’s strategy to foster healthy early childhood development in cities through urban planning and management. She previously led programs with UN-Habitat and the Belgian development cooperation. Her early career was in the private and non-profit sectors working on housing, public space, regeneration of inner cities, urban planning and architecture competitions. She holds a MS in engineering architecture from Ghent University and an Advanced MS in urban and regional planning from KU Leuven.
President, 100 Resilient Cities
Michael Berkowitz joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 2013 to shape and oversee 100 Resilient Cities, a project pioneered by the foundation. Previously, he was the global head of Operational Risk Management at Deutsche Bank, where he oversaw the firm’s operational risk capital planning efforts. Earlier at Deutsche Bank he held operational risk management positions in New York, Mumbai, Singapore and London. Before joining Deutsche Bank, he was deputy commissioner at the Office of Emergency Management in New York City, where he worked on major planning initiatives, including coastal-storm, biological-terrorism, and transit-strike contingency plans. In this role, he was involved with the City’s responses to the 1999 outbreak of West Nile fever, Tropical Storm Floyd, major flooding in Southern Queens, the crashes of SwissAir 111 and American Airlines 587, the 2003 Northeast blackout, and the 2001 anthrax incidents and World Trade Center disaster.
Executive Director, City Tech Collaborative, UI Labs
Chicago
Brenna Berman serves as executive director of city tech at UI Labs. Prior to joining, Berman served in Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration, which she joined in 2011. She served as the chief information officer for the City and commissioner for the Department of Innovation & Technology (DoIT) from 2012 to spring of 2017. In that time, she focused on transforming the team at DoIT to provide the skills and expertise to implement the Mayor’s vision of data-driven resident services and of a more efficient, effective, and innovative City government. Prior to joining the Emanuel Administration, Berman built a career promoting government innovation over 10 years at IBM, where she worked closely with government agencies in cities and countries across the world to leverage technology and analytics to improve the services they provide to their residents. Berman earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago.
@brennaberman
Lord Mayor, City of London
London
Charles Bowman is the 690th Lord Mayor. He is a senior partner with PwC and alderman of the Lime Street Ward and served as Sheriff of the City of London from 2015- 2016. He joined Price Waterhouse in September 1983, qualified as a chartered accountant in 1986 and was admitted to partnership in 1995. His main area of specialism has been delivering audit and capital market transaction services to large listed and multi-national companies – acting as lead partner and global relationship partner for a number of PwC’s key clients. Bowman has served on the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England & Wales, is a former chairman of their Audit and Assurance Faculty and also their Assurance Panel. He is the current chairman of the Audit Quality Forum and sits on the Advisory Panel of The Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability Project. Bowman graduated from Bristol University with a degree in architecture.
@citylordmayor
Principal Engineer Director, Energy & Power Technologies, UL, LLC
Ken Boyce is principal engineer director, energy and power technologies at UL, LLC. Most recently he has served as UL’s technical director for the energy and power sectors, overseeing global standards development and technical operations for energy storage, advanced technology grid infrastructure, electric vehicle systems, power distribution, factory automation and robotics, hazardous locations, autonomous guided vehicles, and others. Boyce serves as the chairman of National Electrical Code Panel 1 and the Solar Energy Industries Association Codes & Standards Working Group. He represents UL in global energy initiatives such as the IEC Renewable Energy Scheme and the DuraMAT Photovoltaic Consortium Industry Advisory Board. Boyce also serves as the chairman of UL’s Energy Council. He works with the US Department of Energy, National Laboratories and academic institutions to advance scientific knowledge in the energy sector. Boyce is a corporate fellow in the William Henry Merrill Society at UL, and he holds a BS degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Illinois.
Executive Director, What Works Cities
Simone Brody is the executive director of What Works Cities, a Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative partnering with mayors and city leaders around the country to improve the effectiveness of local government. What Works Cities builds the capacity of city government staff, through technical assistance and a peer learning network, to advance the communities they serve. Brody’s career spans the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. She previously led evaluation and accountability for the New York City Department of Education and began her career in finance, first in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and then at Ascend Ventures, investing in early stage education and technology companies. Brody earned a BA, MA, and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Former Mayor, Montreal
Montreal
Denis Coderre is a special adviser for the digital media company, Stingray. Before this role, Coderre served as mayor to Montréal from 2013-2017. Prior to this, Coderre was a member of Parliament from 1997 until 2013, and was the immigration minister from 2002-2003. In June 2013, he resigned his seat in Parliament to run for mayor of Montréal. One of Coderre's first moves as mayor was to recruit Denis Gallant as the city’s inspector general, overseeing the tendering and execution of city contracts. During his four year tenure as Mayor, Coderre focused on the city's light rail train project, Montreal’s special Metropolis status, fighting corruption, as well as efforts at reconciliation and unity.
@DenisCoderre
Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director, Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, United Nations
Michèle Coninsx was appointed assistant secretary-general and executive director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate by United Nations secretary-general Guterres in 2017. Prior to her position at the United Nations, Coninsx was president of Eurojust, after having served as its vice president for five years. In addition, Coninsx was national member for Belgium at Eurojust and chair of Eurojust’s Counter-Terrorism Team. Previously, Coninsx was a federal prosecutor in Belgium dealing with terrorism and organized crime. She also served for nine years as an expert in aviation security for the International Civil Aviation Organization. She holds a Belgian noble title of Baroness and is a fellow of law and criminology at the University of Brussels and visiting professor in the School of Law at Queen Mary University of London and in the College of Europe. Coninsx has master’s degrees in law and criminology and is a specialist in air law and aviation security.
US Industry and Energy Editor, Financial Times
Ed Crooks was appointed US industry and energy editor of the Financial Times in August 2010. Previously, he was energy editor based in London, UK news editor, and economics editor at the Financial Times. Before joining the Financial Times, Crooks was economics correspondent for the BBC, reporting on both television and radio. He started at the BBC as a researcher and producer and worked across several news programs. He was also a reporter and editor for the Investors Chronicle as well as an economic analyst for the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Crooks regularly appears on national and international TV and radio. He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics.
President, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Ivo H. Daalder is president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He served as the US ambassador to NATO from 2009-2013. Prior to his appointment as ambassador to NATO by President Obama, Daalder was a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, specializing in American foreign policy, European security and transatlantic relations, and national security affairs. Before joining Brookings in 1998, he was an associate professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and director of research at its Center for International and Security Studies. He also served as director for European affairs on President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council staff from 1995-97. Ambassador Daalder is the author and editor of 10 books, including The Empty Throne: How America Abdicated Its Global Leadership (with James M. Lindsay) to be published in fall 2018.
@IvoHDaalder
Partner, Brunswick
Caroline Daniel is a partner at Brunswick and former editor of FT Weekend, consulting editor of FT Live/FT Conferences, and FT assistant editor. Previously, Daniel was the FT White House correspondent, a features writer and reporter for the New Statesman, a reporter for the Economist, and a political researcher for Gordon Brown. She was also research editor for Brown’s book, Values, Visions and Voices. She has won the Laurence Stern Fellowship in 1998, is a member of the prestigious Trilateral Commission, Trustee of the Institute for Public Policy Research, and has a FT/Pearson non-executive director diploma.
Industrial Advisor, Boston Consulting Group
Dag Detter is a specialist in unlocking wealth from public commercial assets to help fund the growth of cities. He is the former president of Stattum, the Swedish government holding company, and director at the Ministry of Industry, responsible for government-owned commercial assets. Detter has worked extensively as an adviser and investment banker, as well as served as non-executive director on a range of boards of private and public companies. He is the author of The Public Wealth of Cities and The Public Wealth of Nations – listed as best book of the year in 2015 by The Economist and The Financial Times
@DagDetter
CEO and Founder, Sidewalk Labs
Dan Doctoroff is the author of Greater than Ever: New York’s Big Comeback (PublicAffairs, 2017), as well as CEO and founder of Sidewalk Labs, an urban-innovation company founded by Google that develops technology designed to improve city life for residents, businesses, and governments. Doctoroff is the former chief executive of Bloomberg LP and served as deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding in New York from 2002 to 2007. He spent his early career working on Wall Street primarily in private equity. Doctoroff received his BA from Harvard University and his JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
US Business Editor, Financial Times
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson is the US business editor for the Financial Times. In his nineteen years at the Financial Times, he has served as US news editor, global media editor and deputy news editor, has edited its management features section, covered M&A and consumer industries in New York, and written for the Lex column. He began his career in journalism as a financial reporter for the Daily Telegraph. He has co-chaired Financial Times Live’s annual Digital Media Conference and Future of Marketing Summit. Edgecliffe-Johnson received an MA from Cambridge University in Italian and French.
Mayor, City of Chicago
Rahm Emanuel has served as the 55th mayor of the city of Chicago since 2011. During that time he has made the tough choices necessary to secure Chicago’s future as a global capital. He attracted numerous companies to Chicago and helped to build the next generation of start-ups, while investing in the infrastructure, public transportation, open space, and cultural attractions that make Chicago a great place to live, work, and play. He has worked to make the government more effective, deliver better services at a more competitive price, and open government to the public. Prior to becoming mayor, Emanuel served as the White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama and served three terms in the US House of Representatives representing Chicago’s 5th district. He previously served as a key member of the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1998, rising to serve as senior advisor to the president for policy and strategy.
@RahmEmanuel
Minister-Counsellor, Digital Economy Policies, Delegation of the European Union to the United States
Washington, DC
Peter Fatelnig is minister-counsellor for digital economy policies at the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. Fatelnig’s experience in the digital tech sector, notably in building industrial innovation strategies, helped the EU to drive forward internet innovation policies. A senior manager at the European Commission since 1998, he is committed to a positive European vision of the future internet society and economy. Prior to the EU he worked on international assignments for the strategy consulting firm, American Management Systems, and for the European Space Agency, in the Netherlands. Fatelnig holds an MS in communication engineering from the University of Technology in Graz, Austria, and is a senior member of the IEEE.
Mayor, Galway
Galway
Pearce Flannery was unanimously elected mayor of Galway in 2017 and was unanimously elected deputy mayor of Galway in 2016. A distinguished public advocate, he entered the political arena in 2014 when he secured a seat for Fine Gael on the Galway City Council. Flannery sits on the Transportation and Infrastructure Strategic Policy Committee and is also a member of the Planning Strategic Policy Committee. He has a keen interest in environmental matters and designated Galway a European Green Leaf City in 2017. Flannery also established the ‘Make Galway a Plastic Free City’ movement in 2017 which has grown to encompass all of Galway’s sister cities in its first year of operation. He is a member of the board of the Galway 2020, the University Governing Authority of NUI Galway, and the international automotive advisory group, Autopolis. A keen sportsman, Flannery lives in Galway with his family and is a passionate advocate for sports of all codes and for youth involvement in sports.
@PearceFlannery
Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities, Australia
Sydney
Paul Fletcher is the Australian Government’s minister for urban infrastructure and cities. He serves in the Australian Parliament’s House of Representatives, having been elected as the member for Bradfield in 2009. Fletcher was appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister for communications in 2013, minister for major projects, territories and local government in 2015, minister for urban infrastructure in 2016, and to his present role in 2017. Before entering Parliament, he was director, corporate and regulatory affairs, at Optus, established a consulting firm serving the communications sector, and authored Wired Brown Land (UNSW Press, 2009). He has dual first class honors degrees in law and economics from The University of Sydney and an MBA from Columbia University in New York where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
@PaulFletcherMP
Professor of Law and Public Policy, Georgetown University
Sheila Foster is a professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University. Prior to joining Georgetown, she was the Albert A. Walsh Professor of Real Estate, Land Use, and Property Law at Fordham University. She also codirected the Fordham Urban Law Center and was a founder of the Fordham University Urban Consortium. She currently is the chair of the advisory committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors, a member of the Aspen Institute's Urban Innovation Working Group, an advisory board member of the Marron Institute for Urban Management at NYU, and sits on the New York City Panel on Climate Change. As codirector of the Laboratory for the Governance of the Commons (LabGov), she is currently engaged in the "Co-Cities Project," an applied research project on public policies and local projects from over 100 cities around the world. Foster received her BA from the University of Michigan and JD from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mayor, Tijuana
Tijuana
Juan Manuel Gastélum was elected mayor of Tijuana in 2016. He was previously a federal congressman during the 62nd legislature of the Mexican Congress. Gastélum served as secretary of Tourism and Border Issues Commissions, and through this position he led the opposition to the Value Added Tax increase in the border area. He also held positions as director of Baja California’s Property and Commerce Public Registry, state congressman for Baja California, interim mayor of Tijuana, and public counsel for Mexico’s federal judiciary. Gastélum presented at the OECD on property public registry in Baja California. He has been a member of the Early Risers Group and Tijuana Rotary, and he served as president of the Parents Association of Instituto México in Tijuana. Gastélum received a master’s degree in civil law from Centro de Estudios de Posgrado de Derecho in Mexico City and a law degree from the University of Sonora.
@ALCDETI
President and CEO, The Chicago Community Trust
Helene Gayle is president and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust. Previously, Gayle was CEO of McKinsey Social Initiative and president and CEO of CARE USA. Gayle spent 20 years with the Centers for Disease Control and also worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She serves on public company and non-profit boards including The Coca-Cola Company, Colgate-Palmolive Company, the Rockefeller Foundation, Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, New America, and the ONE Campaign. Gayle has authored numerous articles on global and domestic public health issues, poverty alleviation, gender equality, and social justice, and was named one of Forbes magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women.” She earned a BA in psychology at Barnard College, an MD at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPH at Johns Hopkins University. She has received 13 honorary degrees and holds faculty appointments at the University of Washington and Emory University.
Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Labor Relations, United Airlines
Kate Gebo is executive vice president of human resources and labor relations for United Airlines. Kate is responsible for leading a global team of more than 500 professionals in the transformation of United’s culture. Kate previously served as senior vice president of customer service delivery and chief customer officer at United. Kate also previously served as United’s vice president for the office of the CEO, where she worked with United’s CEO Oscar Munoz and the executive team to coordinate strategic company initiatives. Kate joined United in 1998 and also held roles leading the corporate real estate organization and in procurement. Prior to joining United, Kate worked at Continental Airlines. Kate received her bachelor’s degree in finance from Chicago’s DePaul University. She earned a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Business at Loyola University of Chicago.
Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Cambridge
Edward Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1992. He regularly teaches microeconomics theory, and occasionally urban and public economics. He has served as director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. He has published dozens of papers on cities economic growth, law, and economics. In particular, his work has focused on the determinants of city growth and the role of cities as centers of idea transmission. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1992. His books include Cities, Agglomeration, and Spatial Equilibrium (Oxford University Press, 2008), Rethinking Federal Housing Policy (American Enterprise Institute Press, 2008), and Triumph of the City (Penguin Press, 2011).
Mayor, Warsaw
Warsaw
Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz is currently serving her third term as mayor of Warsaw. Prior to this, Mayor Gronkiewicz-Waltz held the position of president of the National Bank of Poland, vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, member of the Polish Parliament, and chairperson of the State Treasury Commission. In November 2012, she was elected for a two-year term as president of Eurocities, a network of major European cities. Since November 2016, she has been the treasurer of the network. She has participated in numerous international conferences and is the author of over 40 publications, including textbooks and monographic studies. She has supervised the dissertations of 16 Doctors of Laws and is currently a professor at Warsaw University, at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, at the Faculty of Law and Administration, as well as head of the chair of Administrative Law, Economic Law, and Banking Law.
Deputy Mayor of International Affairs, Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Nina Hachigian was appointed the first deputy mayor of International Affairs of Los Angeles in 2017. Previously, Hachigian served as the second US ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and she was awarded the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for her service. Earlier, Hachigian was a senior fellow and a senior vice president at the Center for American Progress focused on Asia policy and US-China relations. In 2012, she was the co-director of Asia policy for the Obama campaign. Hachigian was a founder of Women Ambassadors Serving America and director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy, and she served on the staff of the National Security Council in the Clinton White House. She is the editor of Debating China: The US – China Relationship in Ten Conversations (Oxford University Press, 2014) and co-author of The Next American Century: How the US Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise (Simon & Schuster, 2008). Hachigian was a founding member of the State Department’s International Security Advisory Board. She is a board member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She received her BS from Yale University and her JD from Stanford Law School.
@NinaHachigian
Executive Director, Black Chicago Tomorrow
Danielle Harbison is the executive director for Black Chicago Tomorrow and is responsible for leading the organization’s vision of creating a vibrant African American Community that benefits from and contributes to the region’s economy and society. Most recently, Harbison was an associate principal with Civic Consulting Alliance where she focused primarily on projects in the Economic Vitality program area. Prior to this, she served as the Chicago executive director for Peer Health Exchange, a non-profit focused on advancing health equity and improving health outcomes for young people. In addition, Harbison has worked for Chicago Public Schools and held roles of increasing responsibility within Whirlpool Corporation. Harbison is a graduate of The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Nonresident Fellow, Global Cities, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Alaina Harkness is a nonresident fellow, global cities, at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She is former fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Centennial Scholar Initiative, where she worked on the Project on 21st Century City Governance. She has published research and commentary for Brookings, CityLab, and the San Francisco Federal Reserve. She served as a senior program officer for cities at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and as program officer for two civic collaborations at the Chicago Community Trust. She has researched cultural policy, including a collaborative study of arts participation and audience engagement for the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center and independent research on an international network of community museums headquartered in Oaxaca, Mexico. Harkness serves on the advisory boards of the Global Parliament of Mayors, the CityTech Collaborative, Urban Initiatives, and Margaret’s Village. She has also served on the city of Chicago’s Community Development Advisory Committee and the boards of the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities and Chicago Women in Philanthropy. Harkness holds MS degrees in public policy and Latin American studies from the University of Chicago and a BS degree in political science and art history from the University of Rochester.
Corporate Fellow and Senior Scientist, UL
William Hoffman is a corporate fellow and senior scientist at UL who works on the technical basis for the development and guidance of standards regarding product environmental performance. Recent standards have focused on zero waste, circular economy, energy efficiency of plastics molding, medical equipment, and advanced power strips. Previously, Hoffman was the director of Sustainability Services for Chicago Manufacturing Center.He also managed the Chicago Waste to Profit Network which was responsible for the diversion of 40,000 tons of material from local landfills and 30,000 tons of CO2 saved as a result of those diversions.
While at Motorola, Hoffman worked on the development of several internal specifications, including standards governing the chemical content of products, and was heavily involved in external standardization efforts for environmental issues in electronics. Hoffman spent two years at Argonne National Laboratory as a post-doctoral appointee. In 2014, he was elected a member of the William Henry Merrill Society. Hoffman holds a BS in Chemistry from Southern Illinois University and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Cofounder, Stemettes
Anne-Marie Imafidon is head stemette and cofounder of Stemettes, an award-winning social enterprise inspiring the next generation of females into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) roles. One of the youngest ever to be awarded a masters’ degree in mathematics and computer science by the University of Oxford, Imafidon was named the UK IT Industry and British Computer Society’s Young IT Professional of the Year in 2013, Red magazine’s ‘Woman to Watch’ 2014, won a Points of Light award from the UK prime minister in October 2014, and was named the 8th most influential woman in IT in 2016. In recognition of her influence and achievements, Imafidon was awarded an MBE in 2017. She is an honorary fellow at Keble College, Oxford, commissioner on Tom Watson's Future of Work Commission, and sits on the boards of Durham University’s Computer Science Department, Urban Development Music Foundation, and Inspirational YOU.
Senior Advisor for Public-Private Partnerships, The World Bank
Abha Joshi-Ghani is the senior adviser for Public-Private Partnerships at The World Bank, cochair of the Global Future Council on the Future of Cities and Urbanization for the World Economic Forum, and coeditor of The Urban Imperative: Towards Competitive Cities, with Professor Edward Glaeser (Oxford University Press, 2014). She is the former head of Global Urban Development Practice at the World Bank and has worked primarily on infrastructure finance and urban development in South and East Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Before joining the World Bank, she worked for the Reserve Bank of India. Joshi-Ghani holds a MA in philosophy from Oxford University, a MA from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and a BA from Lady Sri Rama College, Delhi University.
Director, Global Cities and Immigration, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Juliana Kerr joined the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in 2002 and currently directs the Council's work on global cities and immigration. She manages the Council’s publications, research, and partnerships on issues related to global cities, urbanization, Global Chicago, and migration. She also helped launch the inaugural Chicago Forum on Global Cities. She sits on the board of the Women’s Global Education Project and was selected to participate in the Bucerius Stiftung Latin American Forum and Rotary Group Study Exchange in Paris. A dual-citizen of the United States and Brazil, she has a degree in political science and French from the University of Iowa and a certificate of political studies from Sciences Po in Lyon, France.
Vice President, Programs and Strategic Content, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Niamh King is the vice president for programs and strategic content at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, where she has worked since 2007. Under her direction, the Council’s Programs team develops over 200 events annually, and includes the signature annual events the Chicago Forum on Global Cities, the Global Health Symposium, and the Global Food Security Symposium. Prior to joining the Council, she held positions with Intel, the European Commission, FÁS, and the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. King earned a BA in international relations and history from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her MA in development studies from the Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University in the Netherlands.
@kingniamh
Co-Executive Chairman, Motivate
Steven Koch is the co-executive chairman of Motivate, a leading bike share company in North America. He served as the deputy mayor of Chicago from September 2012 to August 2017. As deputy mayor, he oversaw the Mayor’s Economic Council and focused on job creation and retention, budget issues, municipal finance and revenue, and economic development. Koch previously spent 27 years at Credit Suisse where he was chairman of global mergers and acquisitions. Koch received his BA from Hampshire College, his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and his JD, cum laude, from the University of Chicago Law School.
Fellow, Centre for Liveable Cities
Singapore
Michael Koh is a fellow with the Centre for Liveable Cities. He was previously the head of Projects and Design at SC Global, overseeing both overseas and Singapore development projects. Prior to that, he had 25 years of experience in public service. He served as CEO of the National Heritage Board and as concurrent CEO of the National Art Gallery. Koh was also the director of Urban Planning and Design and the director of Physical Planning at the Urban Redevelopment Authority. He has held appointments at Mapletree Holdings and Singbridge. Koh holds a bachelor’s of arts and a bachelor’s of architecture from the National University of Singapore and a master’s of design studies from Harvard University. He has attended key government leadership programs and has been awarded the “Officier de l’Ordre des Artes et des Lettres” by the French Government for his contribution to the arts and Singapore-France cultural relationship.
Senior Fellow, Global Economy, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Phil Levy is senior fellow on the global economy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Previously he was associate professor of business administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He was formerly a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and taught at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. From 2003 to 2006, he served first as senior economist for trade for President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers and then as a member of Secretary of State Rice’s Policy Planning Staff, covering international economic matters. Before working in government, he was a faculty member of Yale University’s Department of Economics for nine years and spent one of those as academic director of Yale’s Center for the Study of Globalization. He received his PhD in Economics from Stanford University and his AB in Economics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Vice President of Corporate Accounts, USG Corporation
John Lindsay is the vice president of corporate accounts at USG Corporation, where he focuses on delivering building solutions to high-level influencers in the construction business. He began his career with USG nearly 35 years ago and has held a variety of leadership positions in sales and marketing throughout his career. Most recently, Lindsay spent several years living and working in Asia as the senior vice president of marketing and business development for USG Boral. Prior to that, he was the vice president of business development and director of sales for L&W Supply.
@usgcorp
Researcher, Department of Government, Uppsala University
Uppsala
Kristin Ljungkvist is a researcher at the department of government, at Uppsala University, Sweden, where she currently holds a fellowship from The Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund. She is also a research associate at the Institute for Housing and Urban Research, Uppsala University. Her research focuses on global cities, urban security, and on urban dimensions of global challenges such as climate change and terrorism. She is the author of The Global City 2.0 – From Strategic Site to Global Actor (2016, Routledge). Ljungkvist has previously been a research fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. She has also been a visiting researcher at the Center on Terrorism at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Previous positions also include being an analyst at the Swedish National Defense University with a focus on European crisis management, as well as member of the European Policy Centre (EPC) Task Force on Managing Emergencies. Currently Ljungkvist also teaches international politics at Uppsala University.
Novelist & Professor of Architecture, Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Lesley Lokko is an architect, academic, and the author of 10 best-selling novels. She is currently head of school at the Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the editor of White Papers, Black Marks: Race, Culture, Architecture (University of Minnesota Press, 2000), and is currently editor-in-chief of FOLIO: Journal of Contemporary African Architecture. She is on the editorial board of Architecture Review Quarterly (Cambridge) and ARENA: Journal of Architectural Research. She has been an ongoing contributor to discourses around identity, race, African urbanism, and the speculative nature of African architectural space and practice for nearly 30 years. Lokko is a regular juror at international competitions and symposia, and is a longtime contributor to BBC World. She completed her architectural training at the Bartlett School of Architecture in 1994, and went on to complete her PhD from the University of London in 2007.
Washington Columnist and Commentator, Financial Times
Edward Luce is the Washington columnist and commentator for the Financial Times, where he writes a weekly column, leaders/editorials on American politics and the economy and other articles. Luce has worked for the Financial Times since 1995 as Philippines correspondent, capital markets editor, South Asia bureau chief in New Delhi and Washington bureau chief. Luce was previously the speechwriter for Lawrence H. Summers. He is the author of The Retreat of Western Liberalism (Grove Atlantic, 2017), Time to Start Thinking: America in the Age of Descent (Little, Brown, 2012), and In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India (Doubleday, 2007). Luce received a degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University and a post-graduate degree in journalism from City University, London.
Mayor, City of Zürich
Zürich
Corine Mauch is mayor of the City of Zürich. As mayor she is in charge of the cultural affairs, economic policy and foreign affairs of the City of Zürich. In her preceding political career, she was a member of the City of Zürich’s parliament from 1999 to 2009, vice president and president of the Social Democratic Party‘s City Parliament Group from 2002 to 2009 and president of the Parliament’s Audit Committee from 2006 to 2008. In her previous professional career, Mauch worked for the Town of Uster, as a scientific assistant and associate at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich and at the University of Lausanne. She became project manager for evaluation and impact control for the Parliamentary Services of the Swiss Federal Assembly in 2008. Mauch attended the University of Zürich as well as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich where she graduated in agricultural engineering. Additionally, she undertook postgraduate studies at the University of Lausanne and earned a MA in political and administrative sciences.
Founder and CEO, Architecture 2030
Santa Fe
Edward Mazria is an internationally recognized architect, author, researcher, and educator. He is the founder and CEO of Architecture 2030, a think tank developing real-world solutions for 21st century problems, and host of the AIA+2030 Professional Education Series, China Accord, the 2030 Districts movement in North American cities, the Zero Tool, and Achieving Zero – a framework of incremental building sector actions to ensure a carbon neutral built environment by the year 2050. In 2017, Mazria delivered the Roadmap to Zero Emissions report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a flexible approach to achieve zero CO2 emissions in the built environment by mid-century. He is a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council, fellow of the American Institute of Architects, honorary fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and received an honorary DArch from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Partner and Practice Leader, Government and Infrastructure Advisory, Grant Thornton
Will McWilliams is a partner and practice leader of the Government & Infrastructure Advisory team at Grant Thornton. He has over 20 years of experience working on public private partnerships advising both private and public-sector clients. McWilliams is currently working on a number of major transport projects advising both central and local government clients on the funding, structuring, and procurement options for the delivery of projects. He has also advised the American, Qatari, Norwegian, Irish and Indian governments on infrastructure and concession projects on how to structure, fund, and deliver projects through partnership with the private sector.
Former Mayor, City of Philadelphia
Philadelphia
Michael A. Nutter was elected Mayor of Philadelphia in 2007 and served two terms. Esquire magazine named him to its “Americans of the Year” list in 2011, and he was named a “Public Official of the Year” by Governing magazine in 2014. Nutter has accepted numerous appointments including political commentator for CNN, distinguished fellow for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, executive fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy and Practice, senior fellow and adviser to the Dean at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, nonresident senior executive fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy and Practice, and David N. Dinkins Professor of Professional Practice in Urban and Public Affairs at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. He also serves on President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Advisory Committee.
Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Human Genetics
Associate Dean for Global Health, University of Chicago Medical Center
Olufunmilayo Olopade is a practicing medical oncologist, the Walter L Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, and director of the Center for Global Health at The University of Chicago. Dr. Olopade’s work to change the way doctors screen and treat underserved women for breast cancer earned her a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom From Want Medal, the Gregory Mendel Medal, and Officer of the Order of the Niger award.
Dr. Olopade has received numerous honors and awards, including honorary degrees from Bowdoin, Princeton, North Central and Dominican universities. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. She served for six years as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board under the Obama Administration and currently serves on the board of directors for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, MacArthur Foundation, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Cancer IQ.
Former Governor, Metropolitan Region of Santiago
Santiago
Claudio Orrego was the governor of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago from March 2014 through March 2018. Prior to this, he was elected presidential candidate for the Christian Democrat party. He has served in the national government as minister of housing and urban development and public property, and as head of the State Modernization Commission. In the private sector he was vice president of Sonda, a position he left in 2004 to return to public service. Orrego became a national figure during his eight year period as mayor of the Municipality of Peñalolén when he was awarded twice as the Best Mayor in Chile. During the Pinochet Dictatorship he held an active role as a human rights activist and a national student leader. Orrego received a law degree from the Catholic University of Chile and holds a master's degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government.
@Orrego
First Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, the Netherlands
The Hague
Henk Ovink was appointed by the Dutch Cabinet as the first special envoy for International Water Affairs (2015). As the ambassador for water, he is responsible for advocating water awareness around the world, focusing on building institutional capacity and coalitions among governments, multilateral organizations, the private sector, and NGOs to address the world’s stressing needs on water and to help initiate transformative interventions. Ovink is also sherpa to the UN/World Bank High Level Panel on Water, focused on catalyzing change in water awareness and policy implementation. He is principal for Rebuild by Design, the resilience innovation competition he developed and led for President Obama's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task. He was director general for Planning and Water Affairs and director for National Spatial Planning in the Netherlands.
Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
Robert Pape is professor of political science at the University of Chicago, specializing in international security affairs, and he is director of the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism. His publications include Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It (Chicago, 2010), Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (Random House, 2005), and many others. Pape’s commentary has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, as well as on Nightline, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and National Public Radio. Previously he taught international relations at Dartmouth College and air power strategy for the USAF's School of Advanced Airpower Studies. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago.
General Director, Mexican Institute for Competitiveness
Mexico City
Juan Ernesto Pardinas Carpizo has been the general director at the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) since 2012. Under his leadership, IMCO has become an influential think tank in Mexico and Latin America because of its contributions to public policy and proposals to promote competitiveness, education, transparency and accountability. Previously, Pardinas was correspondent for CNN (Spanish) in India, Japan, and the Philippines and author of You and Your Vote Build Democracy and Taxes, a Necessary Evil? He is a regular commentator on broadcast media programs and writes a weekly OpEd in the national newspaper Reforma. He obtained his PhD in government and public policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science for his thesis on the deficient infrastructure for accountability in public spending. Pardinas holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Sophia in Tokyo, Japan and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Founder and Chairman, Paulson Institute
Henry M. Paulson, Jr. is a businessman, China expert, conservationist, and author. He is the founder and chairman of the Paulson Institute, and he served as the 74th Secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush. Prior to that, he had a 32-year career at Goldman Sachs, serving as chairman and CEO beginning in 1999. Earlier, he was a member of the White House Domestic Council as well as a staff assistant at the Pentagon. Paulson is cochair of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Strategy Group, along with former White House chief of staff, Erskine Bowles. Paulson was chairman of The Nature Conservancy board of directors and founded and cochaired the organization’s Asia-Pacific Council. In 2011, he founded the Latin American Conservation Council, comprised of global business and political leaders, which he cochaired until 2017. He also cochaired the Risky Business Project from 2013-2017. In his best-selling book, On the Brink (Business Plus, 2010), Paulson describes his experiences as Treasury Secretary fending off the near-collapse of the US economy during the Great Recession. His most recent best-seller, Dealing with China (Twelve, 2015), details his career working with scores of China’s top political and business leaders and witnessing the evolution of China’s state-controlled capitalism. Paulson graduated from Dartmouth College and received an MBA from Harvard University.
@PaulsonInst
Founder and Chairman, PSP Partners
38th US Secretary of Commerce
Penny Pritzker is an entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist with more than 30 years of experience in numerous industries. Pritzker is the founder and chairman of PSP Partners, a global private investment firm that takes a long-term, fundamental approach to investing in and building market-leading businesses in sectors such as professional services, real estate, technology, agriculture, industrial services, and consumer products. From June 2013 through January 2017, Pritzker served as US secretary of commerce in the Obama administration. Pritzker was a core member of President Obama’s economic team and served as the country’s chief commercial advocate, leading the administration’s trade and investment promotion efforts. She also served on President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and his Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
Currently, Pritzker is a member of the board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a member of the board of Microsoft, a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, a member of the board of the Obama Foundation, a member of the board of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and on the advisory council of The Hamilton Project.
Pritzker earned a BA in Economics from Harvard University and a JD and MBA from Stanford University.
@PennyPritzker
Mayor, Bristol
Bristol
Marvin Rees is the elected mayor of Bristol. He was elected in May 2016, becoming the first European city mayor of Black African-Caribbean descent, and he has prioritized housing, transportation, and early health and education intervention. After beginning his career in the voluntary sector, Rees worked in Washington, DC on the response of faith-based organizations to President Clinton's Welfare Reform Bill. He later worked in both public health and radio broadcasting, becoming a journalist at BBC Radio Bristol. Rees founded the City Leadership Programme in 2012, which invests in young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and he continues as its director. He developed the Bristol City Office, bringing together diverse organizations to work on the problems facing the city. Rees is a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors. He received a master’s degree in political theory and government from Swansea University and a master’s degree in global economic development from Eastern University. He also participated in the Yale World Fellows program.
Economist and Partner, McKinsey Global Institute
San Francisco
Jaana Remes is an economist and a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey & Company's business and economics research arm. Since 2003, Remes has led MGI's research on productivity, urbanization, competitiveness, and growth. She leads MGI’s Urban World research series that includes shifting economic power of cities, the rising urban consuming class, and mapping of the global company landscape. She has led MGI's research on energy, including global energy demand and reduction of energy consumption. Remes is a member of OECD’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Directorate’s advisory group, a nonresident senior fellow at the Metropolitan program of Brookings Institutions, as well as at the Strategic Foresight Initiative of the Atlantic Council. She also serves on the Board of directors of Girl Scouts Heart of Central California. Remes has a PhD in applied economies from Stanford University and an MSc degree in economics and philosophy from the University of Helsinki, Finland.
@JaanaRemes
Artist and Photographer
Amsterdam
Martin Roemers is a Dutch artist and photographer. His latest project is Metropolis, an exploration of the world's megacities. Roemers’ work has been exhibited throughout Europe, America, Asia, and Australia. His work is also represented in prominent public, corporate, and private collections, ¬among them the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Ford Foundation in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. He has published eight monographs and received two World Press Photo Awards along with a number of other prizes. Articles about Roemers' work have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, National Geographic Magazine, and many other publications. Roemers is represented by East Wing Gallery in Dubai, Torch Gallery in Amsterdam, Acte2 Galerie in Paris, and Anastasia Photo in New York. He studied at the AKI Academy of Visual Arts in Enschede, the Netherlands.
Undersecretary for North America, Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of Mexico
Carlos Sada was appointed undersecretary for North America at the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of Mexico in January 2017. He served as ambassador of Mexico to the United States from May 2016 to January 2017. Undersecretary Sada previously served as consul general of Mexico in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Antonio, and Toronto and as minister at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, DC. In addition, he was secretary of state programs for the government of Oaxaca, secretary of economic and social development of Oaxaca State and mayor of Oaxaca de Juárez. He has participated in the creation of several organizations and served on the boards of numerous civic, business, and educational organizations. Undersecretary Sada is an industrial engineer with a degree from the Ibero-American University of Mexico. He also did postgraduate studies in production systems development at the University of Newcastle in England; in economic development at the University of Delft in the Netherlands; and in industrial development at the Institute of Public Administration in The Hague.
President and CEO, USG Corporation
Jennifer F. Scanlon is president and chief executive officer, USG Corporation.
Scanlon’s previous roles with USG include president, International; president, L&W Supply Corporation; chief information officer and chairman of the board for USG Boral Building Products. She has led the company through some of its most significant strategic moves in recent history, including establishing the USG Boral Building Products joint venture and the divestiture of L&W Supply Corporation.
Scanlon joined USG in 2003 as director of strategy implementation for Supply Chain Management and Customer Relationship Management. She holds a bachelor’s degree in government and computer applications from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago.
Scanlon serves on the boards of Norfolk Southern Corporation, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chicago Council of Global Affairs and SHORE Community Services, Inc. She is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, The Chicago Network and the Executives’ Club of Chicago.
Director, Urban Development, City of Zurich
Zurich
Anna Schindler is the director of Urban Development for the city of Zurich. In addition to working as a culture and architecture editor, Schindler has worked in various management and executive positions at two universities and as a lecturer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, ZHAW. She has also worked at several architectural and urban projects at ETH Studio Basel and in Mendrisio. Since November 2011, she is responsible for the office for Urban Development which contains four subdivisions: Office for Cross-cultural Issues, City and Neighborhood Development, Economic Development, and the Office for Foreign Affairs. Schindler studied geography at the University of Bern, where she specialized in urban development issues.
CEO, Tel Aviv Global
Tel Aviv
Eytan Schwartz is the CEO of Tel Aviv Global – an initiative aimed at promoting Tel Aviv as an international center of innovation by leveraging its status as the city with the highest density of startups and technological accelerators in the world, and as a leading urban destination for visitors, conferences, and international students. Monocle Magazine named Eytan among its Dream Team of municipal officials. Eytan resides in Tel Aviv and has a BA in Anthropology summa cum laude from Columbia University and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from Tel Aviv University.
UNCHR High Profile Supporter
Aleppo
Mariela Shaker is an accomplished Syrian violinist and award-winning refugees’ advocate. A survivor of the war in Syria, Shaker fled to the US to study music at Monmouth College with a full tuition scholarship. Prior to this, she graduated from the University of Aleppo in 2013 with a degree in Business Administration. During her studies at the University of Aleppo, she was the youngest violin teacher at the Arabic Institute of Music. Since arriving in the US, Shaker has completed a BA at Monmouth College and an MA at DePaul University. Mariela was named a “Champion of Change” by President Barack Obama in 2015 and was appointed UNHCR High Profile Supporter in 2015. She has received numerous other awards, including the Anne Frank Honorary in 2018 and the Points of Light Award in 2017.
Principal Research Associate, USG Corporation
Paul Shipp is principal research associate at USG’s Corporate Innovation Center. A registered professional engineer, Shipp has over 30 years of experience in building science, fire performance, indoor environmental quality and architectural acoustics. Prior to joining USG, he was involved with building energy conservation and moisture control research at Owens Corning’s Technical Center before going to Oak Ridge National Laboratory to oversee the US Department of Energy’s Roof Research Center. Shipp holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Southern Methodist University and MS and PhD degrees from the University of Minnesota.
Chief Marketing Officer, The Linux Foundation
Jamie Smith is the chief marketing officer at The Linux Foundation and senior advisor at West Exec Advisory. Previously, Smith was global chief communications and marketing officer for The Bitfury Group. Smith served as special assistant to President Obama and deputy White House press secretary, executive vice president at Edelman Public Relations, and held other high-level government and private sector communications roles. She serves as the cochair of the World Economic Forum’s Future Council on Blockchain and is the creator and president of the Global Blockchain Business Council and the cocreator and president of the Blockchain Trust Accelerator and was recognized by Innovate Finance on the Women in FinTech 2016 Powerlist.
News Editor, Financial Times
Peter Spiegel was appointed news editor of the Financial Times in April 2016. Prior to this, he served as Brussels bureau chief and defense correspondent for the Financial Times, Pentagon correspondent of the Los Angeles Times, and senior national security correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. He closely covered many issues, including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the European economic crisis. Spiegel won a British Press Award in 2003 and awards from the Society of American Business Writers and Editors in 2012 and 2013. Spiegel received a BA in history from the University of Pennsylvania and a MSc in European politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Founder and President, Granito Group
Sao Paulo
Rodrigo Tavares is the founder and president of the Granito Group, a holding company with the mission to transform the global economy into an impact economy. Previously, Tavares worked for the State Government of Sao Paulo in Brazil as head of the Foreign Affairs Department, and at the United Nations, where he was co-responsible for Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s reports on Africa. His academic trajectory includes the universities of Harvard (Senior Research Fellow), Columbia (postdoc), Gothenburg (Ph.) and California-Berkeley (Research Fellow). He has written four books, including Paradiplomacy: Cities and States as Global Players (Oxford University Press, 2016). He was nominated Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (2017) and Young Leader by the Government of Quebec, in Canada (2011).
US Managing Editor, Financial Times
Gillian Tett serves as US managing editor for the Financial Times. She writes weekly columns for the Financial Times, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues. Tett’s past roles at the Financial Times have included US managing editor (2010-2012), assistant editor, capital markets editor, deputy editor of the Lex column, Tokyo bureau chief, and a reporter in Russia and Brussels. Tett has won numerous awards, including Columnist of the Year in the British Press Awards, the Royal Anthropological Institute Marsh Award, and others. Her books include Saving the Sun: How Wall Street Mavericks Shook Up Japan's Financial World and Made Billions (Harper Collins, 2003), Fool’s Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe (Simon & Schuster, 2009), and The Silo Effect: The Peril of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers (Simon & Schuster, 2015). Fool’s Gold won Financial Book of the Year at the Spear’s Book Awards. Tett received a PhD in social anthropology from Cambridge University.
@gilliantett
Global Water Fellow, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Michael Tiboris is global water fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and public fellow for the American Council of Learned Societies. His research concerns primary resource stability as a foreign policy objective, and is particularly focused on water resource policy, cooperative resource governance, and global justice. He holds a PhD in ethics and political philosophy from the University of California, San Diego, and has previously held fellowships supported by the Spencer Foundation, and San Diego State University’s Institute for Ethics and Public Affairs. His written work is published in a number of academic sources (including Social Theory and Practice, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, and The Journal of Applied Philosophy), popular media sources (including The National Interest, Foreign Policy, and Chicago Tribune), and has been recognized by the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go To Think Tank Index as among the best work produced in 2016.
Chief Commissioner, Greater Sydney Commission
Lucy Hughes Turnbull AO is an urbanist, businesswoman, and philanthropist with a longstanding interest in cities, and technological and social innovation. She chaired the Committee for Sydney from 2012 to 2015. In 2015 she was appointed chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission, tasked by the NSW state government to assist in delivering strong and effective strategic planning for the whole of metropolitan Sydney. Turnbull was the first female Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney from 2003-2004 and in 2011 she became an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the community, local government, and business. In 2012 Turnbull was awarded an honorary doctorate of business by the University of New South Wales, and in 2016 was appointed adjunct professor at the faculty of built environment, University of New South Wales. In 2017, Turnbull was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters from Western Sydney University which she received for her substantial and sustained service and contribution to the University and the Greater Western Sydney region.
Acting Mayor, Amsterdam
Jozias van Aartsen became the acting Mayor of Amsterdam in December 2017. Previously, he served as the Mayor of the Hague from 2008 – 2017. He has held positions with the European Commission and, as a member of parliament, served as the VVD party’s parliamentary group chairman from 2003 to 2006. Prior to this, van Aartsen was the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998-2002) and served as minister of Agriculture, Nature and Fisheries (1994-1998). He has also served in the ministry of the Interior as deputy secretary general and secretary general. He studied law at Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit.
Secretary General, Metropolis
Barcelona
Octavi de la Varga Mas was appointed secretary general of Metropolis in 2017. Previously, he was the executive director of Metropolis, head of the Europe and International Strategy Office of the Barcelona Provincial Council, the head of the Development Cooperation Office of the Barcelona Provincial Council, and executive director of the Orientation and Coordination Office of the URB-AL III Programme.
Varga Mas has also been the head of the European Cooperation Office of the Barcelona Provincial Council, coordinator of the permanent secretariat of the network Arco Latino, the head of the European Union unit of Intermón-Oxfam, programme information and communications coordinator of Oxfam International, and deputy to the European coordinator of Frères des Hommes Europe.
He has a degree in law, as well as an MA in European studies from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, a post-degree in international humanitarian aid from the Universidad de Deusto, and a post-degree in international relations from the Universitat de Barcelona.
Founder and President, Center for China and Globalization
Beijing
Huiyao Wang is the founder and president of Center for China and Globalization. In addition, he is the vice chairman of the China Association for International Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce and vice chairman of China Western Returned Scholars Association. In 2015, he was appointed counselor for the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. He serves on the migration advisory board of the International Organization of Migration of the United Nations. Previously, Wang worked with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade and served as chief economic representative of the Quebec Government in Hong Kong and the greater China region. Wang was senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, adjunct professor at Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, and Ivey School of Business at University of Western Ontario. He has published over fifty monographs and edited volumes and over one hundred articles and papers. His latest books include China Goes Global: How China’s Overseas Investment is Transforming its Business Enterprises (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), and Reverse Migration in Contemporary China (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). Wang has pursued doctoral studies at University of Western Ontario and University of Manchester and obtained his PhD in management.
Senior Fellow, Global Cities, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Karen Weigert served as chief sustainability officer for the City of Chicago. She was appointed in 2011. As chief sustainability officer Weigert worked to guide the city’s sustainability strategy and implementation, bringing innovative, practical solutions throughout the work of the city. Prior to her appointment she served as senior vice president of ShoreBank (later Urban Partnership Bank) where she built a national consumer group that generated deposits to support environmental sustainability and community development in low to moderate income urban neighborhoods. Before her work in community banking, Weigert was a strategy consultant at McKinsey where she served clients on topics including transportation, finance, energy, and land use. She began her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and later served as an appointee in the Clinton administration focused on global environmental issues and agriculture. Weigert is a producer and writer for the documentary film Carbon Nation which is focused on solutions to climate change. She is also a former board member of CNT, Foresight Design Initiative, and Earth School Educational Foundation. Weigert graduated from the University of Notre Dame (Phi Beta Kappa) and Harvard Business School.
CEO and Cofounder, Water.org and WaterEquity
Kansas City
Gary White is the CEO and cofounder of Water.org and WaterEquity, nonprofit organizations dedicated to empowering people in the developing world to gain access to safe water and sanitation. White developed Water.org’s WaterCredit Initiative and WaterEquity, which focus on improving financing options and deploying capital to water and sanitation businesses. White advises organizations such as the Skoll Foundation, Bank of America Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and the Caterpillar Foundation on responses to the global water crisis. He is a founding board member of the Millennium Water Alliance and Water Advocates. He was selected as a Skoll Foundation Social Entrepreneur in 2009, named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Timemagazine (2011), nominated a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur in 2012, and named to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water in 2014.
President and CEO, UL, LLC
Keith Williams is president and chief executive officer of Underwriters Laboratories. As CEO, Williams has led the transformation of UL from a not-for-profit company to a private, for-profit enterprise and oversaw the diversification of its business. He spent the first 23 years of his career at GE Healthcare in a variety of general management and commercial leadership positions. After GE he spent 8 years at Medtronic where he had roles as president – neurological and spinal business, president – Asia Pacific, and chief quality and regulatory officer. He also led strategic planning for Medtronic. Williams serves as chairman of the US-ASEAN Business Council, secretary treasurer of the US-China Business Council and on the Boards of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, World Business Chicago, and Opera Memphis. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland.
Author
Emily Jungmin Yoon is the author of Ordinary Misfortunes (Tupelo Press, 2017), winner of the Sunken Garden Chapbook Prize, and A Cruelty Special to Our Species (Ecco Books, 2018). She has received awards and fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, Ploughshares’ Emerging Writer’s Contest, AWP’s WC&C Scholarship Competition, The Home School in Miami, the Aspen Institute, New York University, the University of Chicago, and the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. She serves as the poetry editor for The Margins, the literary magazine of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and is a PhD student in Korean Literature at the University of Chicago.
Vice President and Managing Director, UL Ventures
Simin Zhou leads UL Ventures, where she focuses on developing and investing in new fields such as: digital manufacturing, autonomous systems, smart cities, and digital health. She has 20 years of experience in business management, technology and venture capital. Zhou holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and MS from the University of Minnesota.
President and CEO, World Business Chicago
Andrea Zopp is president and CEO of World Business Chicago, where she leads the organization’s mission of inclusive economic growth, supporting businesses, and promoting Chicago as a leading global city. Most recently, she served as deputy mayor, Chief Neighborhood Development Officer for the City of Chicago. Zopp served in the United States Attorney’s Office and was the first woman and African American to serve as the first assistant in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. She is also a successful businesswoman and has held executive leadership positions at several Fortune 500 companies, including Sara Lee, Sears Holdings, and Exelon. As the former president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League, she led the nationally recognized organization’s focus on expanding economic opportunity in underserved communities. Zopp was appointed to the Chicago Board of Education and to the Cook County Health and Hospital System Board, and currently serves on the board of the Urban Partnership Bank. Zopp is a graduate of Harvard College and Law School.