Valentina Ion

Director, Strategy Public Finance Industry, Microsoft Corporation
Carolina I. Sepúlveda & Jessica A. Ocampos

IP Public Policy Expert; Founder & CEO, Camnexus Ltd.

Dr Ocampos is a Director and Founder of Camnexus, a technology transfer platform for sustainable development based in Cambridge, associated to the Centre for Global Equality. She advises policy makers internationally, supporting economic development based on science, technology and innovation. Jessica has vast experience in management and commercialisation of R&D results from academia and industry, leading and supervising international engineering projects for multinational companies including Bayer Corporation in USA, Procter & Gamble Latin America, Air Liquide Germany and France.

Willemien Bax

Head, OECD Forum, OECD

Willemien Bax is Head of the OECD Forum, she has over 30 years of experience in  working with governments, as well as non-governmental organisations and the private sector. Prior to joining the OECD, Willemien worked with the European Consumers Organisation (BEUC) where she oversaw BEUC’s public affairs and media relations strategies in a number of public policy areas ranging from transparency and governance to food, environment, health, economic and legal affairs. She managed a training programme financed by the European Commission, for all consumer organisations in the EU, as well as potential EU-candidate countries. The training focused on giving consumer organisations the tools to develop effective public affairs and communication strategies. In  her capacity as European Chair of the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, she contributed to debates on major international public policy issues such as financial regulation, innovation and energy efficiency.

Richard Davies

Economist, Author, Bristol University, London School of Economics

Richard Davies is an economist and author based at Bristol University and the London School of Economics. Previously he was Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors at HM Treasury and Economics Editor of The Economist. His book, Extreme Economies, is published in paperback this September.
Pascal Saint-Amans

Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD

Pascal Saint-Amans took on his duties as Director of the Center for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD on 1 February 2012. Mr. Saint-Amans, a French national, joined the OECD in September 2007 as Head of the International Co-operation and Tax Competition Division in the CTPA. He played a key role in the advancement of the OECD tax transparency agenda in the context of the G20. In October 2009 he was appointed Head of the Global Forum Division, created to service the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, a programme with the participation of over 100 countries. Mr. Saint-Amans graduated from the National School of Administration (ENA) in 1996, and was an official in the French Ministry for Finance for nearly a decade. He held various positions within the Treasury, including heading the supervision of the EU work on direct taxes and overseeing legislation and policy on wealth tax and mergers and spin offs. He was also the head of tax treaty negotiations and mutual agreement procedures. In this capacity, he participated in the OECD Working Party No. 1 of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs as the delegate for France before being elected Chair of WP1 in 2005. He was also a member of the UN Group of Experts on International Co-operation in Tax Matters, becoming a “rapporteur” in 2006. Before leaving government service, he was Deputy Director in charge of litigation at the Direction Générale des Impôts. Mr. Saint-Amans also served as Financial Director of the Energy Regulation Committee between 1999 and 2002 and was responsible for the introduction of new electricity tariffs. Having earned a degree in history, Mr. Saint-Amans also received a degree from the Institut d’études politiques of Paris.
David A. Heiner

Strategic Policy Advisor, Microsoft

Served as a Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for many years with responsibility for a range of regulatory matters, including competition law, privacy, telecommunications, accessibility, online safety, human rights and technical standard setting. Working today on policy aspects of artificial intelligence and ways to deploy technology to promote access to justice for those who cannot afford a lawyer.
David Heiner and Carolyn Nguyen

Strategic Policy Advisor and Director of Techology Policy, Microsoft