Willemien Bax is currently Head of the OECD Forum, the Organisation's largest annual public event. Ms Bax, a Dutch national, has over 20 years of experience in public affairs, working with governments, as well as non-governmental organisations and the private sector. Prior to joining the OECD, from 2001 to beginning 2010, Ms Bax worked with the European Consumers Organisation (BEUC) as Deputy Director-General 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. In 2004, she initiated 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 2009, 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.

Andrea has a background in public policy and is currently Managing Partner for Plug and Play Italy. Andrea's IN & TW accounts.

Tommaso has a background in journalism and currently works as a Policy Officer at the European Commission. Tommaso's IN & TW accounts.

Andrea and Tommaso founded Poliferie in 2017, alongside others. Andrea has since been the NGO's director, while Tommaso has been overseeing the strategy and leading its communications.

The views expressed by them are personal and do not represent those of their organisations.

Professor Ngaire Woods is the founding Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government and Professor of Global Economic Governance at Oxford University. Her research focuses on how to enhance the governance of organizations, the challenges of globalization, global development, and the role of international institutions and global economic governance. She founded the Global Economic Governance Programme at Oxford University, and co-founded (with Robert O. Keohane) the Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Fellowship programme. She led the creation of the Blavatnik School of Government.

Caroline has been CEO of Sightsavers since April 2005, during which time it has grown substantially. Under her leadership it has increased its funding and influence within the eye health, neglected tropical diseases and disability arenas, which are of course all interlinked. She is incredibly proud of the team at Sightsavers especially of the way they have risen to the challenge in these difficult times. Prior to working at Sightsavers, Caroline worked in the oil and gas industry, and before that did a PhD in energy studies at Churchill College Cambridge.

Maria Manuel Leitão Marques is a full professor of the faculty of economics at the University of Coimbra and was elected MEP in the last European elections of 2019 for the Portuguese Socialist Party. She is currently vice-chair of the International Market and Consumer Protection committee and a member of the delegations to both the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. She is also a substitute MEP in the ITRE and FEMM committees, as well as in the delegation to EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee. She previously served as Minister of the presidency and administrative modernisation between 2015-2019 and as a secretary of state for administrative modernisation between 2007-2011.

Gabriela Ramos is Assistant Director General on Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO. Previously, she served as OECD Chief of Staff and Sherpa to the G20 and in this capacity supported the Secretary General’s strategic leadership and ensured that the Organisation delivered on its mandates. She was responsible for the contributions of the OECD to the global agenda, including to the G20, G7, and APEC. She also oversaw the Global Relations Secretariat, which works with over 100 countries around the world. Her work as Sherpa contributed to the Leaders’ commitment to the G20 Brisbane gender target in 2014 and the creation of the W20. She has been key in delivering major OECD contributions and international standards to this agenda, including on tax transparency, artificial intelligence and data, excess capacity, tracking trade and investment measures, climate and growth, among others. In 2019, she launched the Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG) platform, endorsed by the French G7 Presidency, bringing together 40 major multinational companies committed to reducing inequalities. She has championed the OECD’s work to put people at the centre of policy-making through the provision of targeted policy advice in partnership with the European Union, the Inclusive Growth Initiative, and New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC). She has advanced OECD work on gender equality, the well-being framework, and children. Most recently, she published a NAEC report entitled Systemic Thinking for Policy Making.

Kyoko Ozawa is 18 years old. Born in Japan, she lived in the US for two years and now makes her home in Tokyo, Japan. In 2019, she served as the first ever Chief Future Officer for Euglena, a sustainable bio venture company. She received the silver prize in the 2019 junior contest from the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology and Agrochemistry and has been a guest columnist for ATOMOΣ, journal of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan. At her school, she has been an active volunteer and has served as the director of its sports festival. Ms. Ozawa will be starting university in April 2021 and plans to study sustainability in economic fields.

The World We Want (WWW) is a purpose-driven global social impact enterprise launched to accelerate the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, through positive action, strategic communication, and global connections. WWW unite and galvanise change-makers, organisations, non-profits, governments, businesses, celebrities, philanthropists, and citizens to develop forward-thinking strategies to convert awareness of global issues into real, meaningful action by leveraging the power of empathy, unlocking the strength of multi-stakeholder collaborations, developing unique proprietary initiatives known as ‘Accelerators’ and applying creative storytelling, to shape policies and priorities.

In a bid to renew the momentum towards achieving the SDGs in less than a decade following the global Covid-19 pandemic, WWW launched its  Humanifesto: ABCD – ACT. BUILD. CHANGE. DO., a four-pillared blueprint to inspire shape-shifting strategies, daring innovations, and purpose-led dialogue to create ‘The World We Want’. ACT, BUILD, CHANGE, DO. reflects WWW’s belief that the key to creating systemic, purposeful change lies in the power of purpose, the power of the collective, and the power of solidarity to convert our awareness of issues into real meaningful action.

Dame Sally Davies was appointed as the UK Government’s Special Envoy on AMR in 2019. She is also the 40th Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University. Dame Sally was the Chief Medical Officer for England and Senior Medical Advisor to the UK Government from 2011-2019. She has become a leading figure in global health including serving as a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board 2014-2016 and as co-convener of the United Nations Inter-Agency Co-ordination Group (IACG) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) reporting in 2019. In the 2020 New Year Honours, Dame Sally became the second woman (and the first outside the Royal family) to be appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) for services to public health and research, having received her DBE in 2009.

Francesca Borgonovi is the Head of the Skills Analysis team in the OECD Centre for Skills where she leads work on the Skills Outlook biennial publication. She was previously responsible for analytical and developmental work in the OECD-led international assessments (PISA and PIAAC) and the Education for Inclusive Societies project. Francesca is an expert on policy relevant analyses on skills. She has written extensively on methodological aspects related to skills measurement and the measurement of attitudes and self-beliefs in a comparative perspective. She has also been responsible for analyses of gender and socio-economic disparities in academic achievement, student engagement and motivation and the role of skills among older population in promoting positive economic and social outcomes.

journalist, blogger, writer