Dr. Joerg S. Hofstetter, an academic expert in circular economy, corporate sustainability, global value chains, and multinational multi-tier supply chains with over 20 years of experience, is Associate Professor in Supply Chain Management at KEDGE Business School Bordeaux, Head of its Lab “Sustainability in Supply Chains”, President of the International Forum on Sustainable Value Chains (ISVC), Lecturer at the University of St. Gallen, and Fellow of the Center for Organization Research & Design (CORD) at Arizona State University. He consulted various national government and intergovernmental organizations as well as over 200 private and public companies across different industries, and is non-executive board member in the private sector. He is a founding member of the GRONEN Foundation, a member of Future Earth’s Working Groups on Circular Economy and Global Value Chains, a member of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform’s Trade & Competitiveness Research Committee, involved in several UNIDO working groups, and acts as Ambassador of the Sustainable Procurement Pledge. Previously, he served at the University of St. Gallen as Vice Director of its Chair of Logistics Management and Assistant Professor of Management, at Lufthansa Cargo in Singapore and at ITT Automotive in Detroit.

Vicepresident at the Consejo Privado de Competitividad and Adjunct professor of public policy at Universidad de los Andes. Daniel Gómez was Deputy Director at the National Planning Department in Colombia. Previously he was a Senior Economist in the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation (FCI) LAC World Bank team. Based in Buenos Aires, he was the focal point for FCI work in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). Daniel has experience in competitiveness; productive development policy; science, technology, and innovation policies; trade policy; and competition policy. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics with specializations in international trade and industrial organization from the University of Chicago, an MBA from the Booth School of Business, and a degree in Economics and a Masters in Banking and Finance at HEC University of Lausanne. Before joining the World Bank, he was Head of Competitiveness Research at the World Economic Forum (WEF), where he led the production of the Global Competitiveness Report. He designed and led country engagement strategies including competitiveness labs and workshops in Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, El Salvador, and Guatemala. He also led research on technological diffusion and productive transformation. Prior to the WEF, Daniel was advisor to the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism of Colombia, where he led policy work on competitiveness and productive development policy; a researcher with Fedesarrollo, the main public policy think tank in Colombia; and an adjunct professor of economics at Universidad de los Andes and Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. Before completing his Ph.D., he was an antitrust consultant with NERA and LECG’s European Competition Policy Practices.

Dr Simon White is an independent policy advisor who helps national, regional and city governments, business organisations and development agencies formulate and implement strategies for economic growth, business development and job creation. He has provided these services in over 30 countries across Africa and Asia, as well as in Australia and parts of Europe and the Pacific. He has also undertaken a variety of academic teaching, curriculum design, training, and research assignments.