Harvard, MIT and Cambridge-trained Computer Scientist and Engineer. Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) expert, Business Strategy consultant, Digital Financial Services (DFS) innovator and entrepreneur with over 12+ years experience. Built technology systems and launched new businesses impacting over 50 million people. Regularly consult for clients and entrepreneurs across the US, Africa and Europe. Received several international awards for business and technical expertise.
Innovative. Driven. Entrepreneurial. Relentless. Creative. Courageous. Forward-thinking. These are just some of Romi Haan’s attributes as the founder of a multi-national company that produces a wide array of household and beauty products. From a young Korean housewife and mother to being named one of The Wall Street Journal’s “Top 50 Women to Watch” after just one year in the U.S., this successful businesswoman continues to garner attention around the world. Her cutting-edge products have been featured on The Today Show and other national outlets, while Romi is frequently asked to appear on influential panels such as the APEC Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit moderated by Tina Brown and Forbes Asia’s Power Business Women Forum in Singapore. In 2012, Romi was named one of “150 Fearless Women” by The Daily Beast-Newsweek, and one of “Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen” by Forbes.
In a culture where for generations before her, women did not launch businesses on their own, Romi started the HAAN Corporation in Seoul, Korea, with the mission to free homemakers from the laborious chore of floor cleaning. Since creating the company’s first effective and easy-to-use steam cleaning products, she has grown HAAN Corporation to 300 employees and added new lines that include garment and travel steamers, home appliances, cookware, beauty and cosmetic products.
With offices in Korea, China and the United States, and distribution of its products to more than 10 countries worldwide, HAAN Corporation continues to look for new ways to make consumers lives easier, healthier and more sustainable while remaining synonymous with innovation.
Dr. Arisbe Mendoza is Director of Global Impact at Fairtrade International.
Hugues Defréville is a french engineer and entrepreneur specialist of renewable energy production. After participating in the creation and development of Neoen, which has become one of the main independent producers of renewable electricity in Europe (solar photovoltaic, wind power), he became interested in the heating sector dearbonanisation challenges, being the main source of energy consumption in the world and still dependent on fossil fuels for more than 80%. Aware of the need to provide new solutions, in 2015 he co-founded Newheat, of which he is currently Chairman, with the ambition of becoming the leader in solar heat supply as well as a bold and innovative player in the energy transition.
------
Hugues Defréville est ingénieur et entrepreneur spécialisé dans la production d’énergie renouvelable. Après avoir participé à la création et au développement de Neoen, devenu aujourd’hui l’un des principaux producteurs indépendants d’électricité renouvelable en Europe (solaire photovoltaïque, éolien), il s’intéresse aux enjeux de décarbonation du secteur de la chaleur, principal poste de consommation d’énergie dans le monde et dépendant toujours à plus de 80% des énergies fossiles. Conscient de la nécessité d’apporter de nouvelles solutions, il co-fonde en 2015 la société Newheat dont il est actuellement Président, avec l’ambition de devenir le leader de la fourniture de chaleur solaire et un acteur audacieux et innovant de la transition énergétique.
I work as an environmental economist in London. I hold a Master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in Development Studies. I am also an artist and spend my free time painting and dancing.
I believe an inclusive and green future will require reinvention of our societies’ resources to increase accessibility for young people.
Former Prime Minister, New Zealand; Former Administrator, United Nations Development Programme; Co-chair, Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Helen Clark is a respected global leader in sustainable development, gender equality and international co-operation. She served three successive terms as Prime Minister of New Zealand between 1999 and 2008. While in government, she led policy debate on a wide range of economic, social, environmental and cultural issues, including sustainability and climate change.
She then became the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator for two terms from 2009 to 2017, the first woman to lead the organisation. She was also the Chair of the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of the Heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments working on development issues.
In 2019 Helen Clark became patron of The Helen Clark Foundation. She is an active member of various international organisations.
Dr. Selçuk Yusuf Arslan is a computer science teacher at Ataturk Vocational and Technical High School in Ankara, Turkey. Due to his interest in STEM and SDGs, he has been carrying out outstanding projects on these issues. He was selected as finalists of Global Teacher Prize in 2021. In addition, thanks to his projects related with coding and environment, he was one of the winner of ETF Green Skills Award. Likewise, he was awarded the Global Teacher Award by AKS Education in 2018. In 2019, he was selected as the Most Outstanding Young Person of the World Top 20 honoree by JCI in the category of Humanitarian and Voluntary Leadership. In the same year, he participated in the CERN International High School Teacher Programme. He was selected as the winner of STEM Alliance - Dell PolicyHack™ Competition. Moreover he was one of the lead teachers of Aerospace in Class Project which was funded by the Airbus Foundation and coordinated by European Schoolnet.
Charlotte Valeur has over 40 years of experience in the finance industry. She has an extensive portfolio career serving on several public and private boards over the last 15 years – as well as delivering training and advising boards in corporate governance through her company Global Governance Group. She is also a visiting professor in governance at University of Strathclyde.
A lifelong human rights advocate, Charlotte is driven to play her part in creating an inclusive society. Putting action behind words she has launched the Institute of Neurodiversity and is also the Founder of Board Apprentice – a not for profit organisation set up to improve the pipeline and diversity of tomorrow’s Directors.
I enjoy doing research on a wide range of topics of my passion about self-education but also for professional interests around education and ideas festivals.
Jennifer Morris is The Nature Conservancy’s Chief Executive Officer. For the past 25 years, Morris has dedicated her life to protecting the environment for people and nature. She brings decades of global leadership, proven management skills, and a passion for conservation to the organization and its ambitious mission—conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. At The Nature Conservancy, Morris leads nearly 4,000 global staff who are dedicated to creating a world where people and nature thrive together. Her teams bring diverse groups together in a collaborative way to transform business practices, shape government policies, and leverage rigorous science to prove and scale on-the-ground conservation work.
Esther Benjamin is CEO and Executive Director of World Education Services (WES), a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to helping international students, immigrants, and refugees achieve their educational and career goals in the U.S. and Canada.
Aymeric Libeau, 51, founded Transition-One in 2018 after 25 years with the Pentalog group, an IT services company based in Orléans (France), of which he was co-founder.
In 2017, Nicolas Hulot, then Minister for Ecological Transition and Solidarity, announced the "end of the sale of diesel and petrol cars by 2040". Convinced that it was necessary to act more quickly in the face of the climate emergency, Aymeric Libeau launched Transition-One.
His ambition is to industrialize solutions to accelerate the ecological transition and electric mobility in Europe.
Aymeric Libeau is a founding member and co-chairman of the AIRe association, which brings together all the players in the retrofit sector in France.
With 25 years of entrepreneurial experience in technology and innovation, Aymeric leads change.
His motto: "Never stop learning", this is a lifestyle, a mindset for a high resilience".
About Transition-One
Transition-One offers a clean, virtuous and sustainable mobility solution, which makes it possible to fight against climate change and to contribute to the end of fossil energies. We convert internal-combustion vehicles into electric vehicles in an industrial process.
Many European governments have decided to end the sale of gas- & diesel-powered vehicles in the future. But, why wait for the future?
Transition-One develops a retrofit adapted to our aging vehicles. Retrofitting technology consists in extracting all the specific elements to the internal-combustion engine to replace it with a 100% electric powertrain. The electric retrofit responds to major challenges of sustainable development: inevitable ban of petrol for electrics, and the inclusion of the project in a dynamic circular economy so as to not destroy, but rather rehabilitate existing vehicles in perfect condition to drive and respond to the new regulations.
Senior Vice President, Global Policy & Government Affairs, Bristol Myers Squibb
Amadou leads an integrated organization focused on external policy environment dynamics, innovation and patient access, working with key stakeholders including policymakers, patient support organizations, health care professionals and industry associations.
Amadou joined BMS in 1991 holding positions of increasing responsibility. From 1999 to 2002 he led Secure the Future (landmark philanthropic program) before becoming General Manager in Indonesia (2002), Turkey (2005), Ireland & Nordics (2008), VP-Access Europe and then VP-General Manager-UK & Ireland (2010) with responsibilities including European Works Council Chair, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Board Member, also being Health Technology Assessment Task Force and Reputation Strategy Group Chair.
Amadou holds a Doctorate in Pharmacy, University of Tours (France), a MBA from École Supérieure de Commerce de Tours and completed the General Management Program (INSEAD).
Amadou represents Bristol Myers Squibb as an American Associate of the Science & Technology in Society Forum (STSF), Member and former 4 years-term Chair of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) International Section Executive Committee (ISEC), Council Chair of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) where he also chaired the Value & Access Committee. At Bristol Myers Squibb Amadou is a member of the Global Leadership Team as well as the Global Diversity & Inclusion Council and Sustainability Council. He is also Executive Sponsor for the Corporate Affairs Diversity & Inclusion Working Group.
Doug Lansky is a Stockholm-based tourism consultant and keynote speaker who spent 20 years as a travel journalist, editor and author contributing to such publications as The Guardian, Lonely Planet and Skift.
Doug has given acclaimed lectures at nearly 100 universities, given two TEDx Talks, presented at National Geographic Headquarters, for the United Nations World’s Tourism Organization, at Google Travel, Booking.com, Amadeus, ITB Berlin and for over 100 destinations around the world, from Singapore to South Dakota, Finland to Florida, introducing audiences to new insights and smart tourism concepts.
D. Lansky's LinkedIn profile.
Chandran Nair is the founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow and member of the Club of Rome. He is also the author of ‘Dismantling Global White Privilege: Equity for a Post-Western World’ and ‘The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy and Society’.
Ira Rheingold is Executive Director and General Counsel of the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA), an organization dedicated to protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive business practices. At NACA, Mr. Rheingold has testified before both Houses of Congress on various mortgage lending and consumer finance issues, offered commentary before federal agencies charged with regulating financial service industries and protecting consumers, and helped draft amicus briefs on issues of vital concern to consumers before the nation’s highest courts. While at NACA, Mr. Rheingold also managed the Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance, a joint project of NACA and the Center for Responsible Lending. Mr. Rheingold previously served as the co-chair of the Financial Services Committee of the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) and is currently the Chairman of the Board of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), and Board Member of the Montgomery County Maryland Consumer Protection Commission. He is also an active pro-bono attorney for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.