Dr. Jane Goodall

Founder - The Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace

Dr. Jane Goodall DBE is an ethologist and environmentalist, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

Ban Ki-Moon

8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens

Ban Ki-moon is a South Korean diplomat who was the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UNSG) from January 2007 to December 2016. Before becoming UNSG, Mr. Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. As the eighth UNSG, Ban Ki-moon's priorities were to mobilize world leaders around a set of new global challenges, from climate change and economic upheaval to pandemics and increasing pressures involving food, energy, and water. He led the efforts for the landmark Paris Climate Agreement and, under his leadership, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda were created. Ban Ki-moon currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens which seeks to empower youth and women to become active global citizens in creating a sustainable future for all. In addition, he currently holds over 20 positions, including the Presidency and the Chairmanship of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), and Chairmanships of the Global Commission on Adaptation, the Ethics Commission of the International Olympic Committee, and the BOAO Forum in Asia.

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu

Lawyer, Political & Women's Rights Activist

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu is a political & women’s rights activist, taught intersectional feminism to female refugees and asylum seekers; scrutinizes government policies from a gender and diversity inclusion perspective; and co-organises women's marches and social campaigns. She is also a New York Attorney and Solicitor of England & Wales with broad expertise in the financial services industry, writer, public speaker and political commentator featured in mainstream and online media. She founded the Women in Leadership publication as a platform to drive positive change on topical issues that impact women globally through inspiring personal leadership journeys; and established She@LawTalks to promote women & BAME leadership in the legal profession through universities and secondary schools. An academic enthusiast, she has an Executive MBA (Cambridge); PhD (Birkbeck); LLM (London School of Economics & Political Science); MA (Westminster) and LLB Hons (Buckingham University).

Dr. Márcia Balisciano

Global Head of Corporate Responsibility, RELX; Chair, UN Global Compact Network UK

Márcia is founding director of corporate responsibility (CR) at RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. She is Chair of the UN Global Compact Network UK; Chair of the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Council of the Conference Board; and a founding member of the Board of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens. She is founding director of London museum and educational facility Benjamin Franklin House and previously was special advisor to the American Chamber of Commerce (UK). A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, she holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago, and a PHD in Economic History from the London School of Economics. She is a Member of the British Empire (MBE), an honour awarded by the Queen, and lives in London with her husband and two boys.

Nick Luff

Chief Financial Officer, RELX

Nick joined RELX in 2014. Prior to joining the Nick was Group Finance Director of Centrica plc from 2007. Before that he was Chief Financial Officer at The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) and its affiliated companies. Nick began his career as an accountant with KPMG and is formerly a Non-Executive Director of QinetiQ Group plc and Lloyds Banking Group plc

Dr Lin Li

Senior Director, Global Policy and Advocacy, WWF

As Senior Director, Global Policy and Advocacy, WWF International, Dr. Lin Li coordinates and leads cross-cutting policy and advocacy, represents WWF in multilateral fora and other policy dialogues, leads WWF International policy and advocacy team. Her work focus on elevating nature agenda to the highest level attention and commitments, and landing these leader's commitments in multilateral fora decisions such as CBD GBF and SDGs.

David Fox

Chair, African Bird Club

David is Chair of the African Bird Club, a charity dedicated to conserving African birds and their habitats. He is also a trustee of the African Conservation Foundation. He is retired, having worked as a lawyer for the UK Government as well as in private practice.

Dr Esther Kanduma

Senior Lecturer & Animal Health Scientist, University of Nairobi, Kenya

Dr. Esther Kanduma a Senior Lecturer and animal health scientist based at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Nairobi, Kenya. She has 19 years of teaching, research and public engagement experience and has widely published in the area of tick-borne diseases of Veterinary and Public Health importance. Her previous research work has focused on epidemiology, control and management of animal diseases including development of rapid diagnostic and surveillance tests. She is currently leading a TWAS-ELSEVIER Gender Equity Climate Action project in Kenya focused on helping pastoral women and girls severely affected by the current drought and famine to adapt to climate change. Esther is a member of several international professional associations. She a passionate champion of gender equity and women empowerment. She co-chairs the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) sub-committee of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP). As a member of Kenyan Chapter of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (KeAWARD), she coordinates gender-responsive smallholder farmer capacity building and empowerment activities. As a member of the International Veterinary Vaccinology Network, she is actively involved in student mentorship to build capacity and strengthen scientific skills, influence attitudes, and change negative perceptions of girls towards science courses and careers with a goal of mentoring the next generation of African women in STEM.

Juliette Pugliesi

Nature Manager, BSR

Juliette is part of BSR’s Nature team, where she helps companies assess their impacts and risks to Nature and develop ambitious strategies to mitigate them across multiple industries.​ Juliette also helps BSR lead its work with SBTN (Science-Based Targets for Nature). Prior to joining BSR, Juliette worked at WWF, where she supported companies on their nature issues (biodiversity, forest, climate, fresh water). She also contributed to the Science Based Targets for Nature initiative, where she was lead coordinator for the working group on biodiversity metrics for companies. Prior to WWF, she worked for Mazars’ sustainability services as a senior CSR consultant. Juliette holds an MSc in Public Policies and Environmental Strategies from AgroParisTech, a master's degree in Sustainable Development and International Affairs from the University of Paris Dauphine, and a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from the same university. She also went on an academic exchange program at the University of Quebec in Montreal, where she studied environmental sciences and nature conservation. Juliette speaks French and English.

Andy Dewis

Founder & CEO, Pineapple Sustainable Partnerships

Andy founded Pineapple out of a passion to solve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by creating new business models that can positively transform markets. He develops Pineapple's impact, growth and partnership strategy by connecting up all things sustainable. With 20 years experience of launching, scaling, buying and selling sustainable businesses. Andy previously led part of the Sustainability Business Unit at Schneider Electric. He advises on a number of boards tackling sustainability issues, including The Responsible Business Council, European Emissions Trading Group, United Nations Global Compact, The Centre for Business Innovation and a number of innovative sustainability tech companies.

Cymie Payne

Chair of the Ocean Law Specialist Group, International Union for Conservation of Nature

Cymie Payne is Chair of the Ocean Law Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Associate Professor, Rutgers University. She advises the IUCN delegation to the UN intergovernmental conference on conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of the high seas ("BBNJ Agreement") and serves on the High Seas Alliance Steering Committee. As legal counsel before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on behalf of IUCN, Payne represented the interests of the international community in the marine environment and has provided expert advice before courts including the International Court of Justice. She practiced law with the U.S. Department of the Interior, the firm of Goodwin, Procter, and the UN Compensation Commission. She was Director of the Global Commons Project at University of California Berkeley Law School where she was lecturer in residence. Payne is a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers; served as Chair of the American Society for International Law’s Steering Committee for the Signature Topic “Beyond National Jurisdiction”; is a member of the International Law Association Committee on Sustainable Natural Resource Management and the International Council of Environmental Law. She holds a Master’s degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley.

Justin Webb

Journalist & Presenter, BBC

Justin was a roving foreign correspondent for the BBC for many years reporting from wars in the Gulf and Bosnia, the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of Apartheid in South Africa. He was Europe Correspondent when the Euro was introduced before moving the US where he became the first BBC North America Editor. He was based in Washington DC from 2002 to 2009 before returning to present the Today Programme on Radio Four. He is a regular writer on US affairs for The Times and the Unherd website. He was educated at the LSE, graduating with a BSc (Econ) in 1983.

Gaythri Raman

Managing Director, LexisNexis Southeast Asia

Gaythri Raman is the Managing Director of LexisNexis Southeast Asia, a leading legal technology company that provides information analytics together with premium legal content to law firms, corporations, government and academic institutions. Gaythri is responsible for leading the Southeast Asia business in the development and execution of strategies to deliver innovative information analytics solutions to customers in helping them increase productivity and improve decision-making outcomes. She is also driving growth in the ASEAN region, working with partners across the multiple jurisdictions to enable access to laws and analytical tools. She speaks frequently on the topics of rule of law, legal technologies, artificial intelligence, digital transformations, and technological innovation at various events and platforms across the region. Gaythri is extremely passionate about the rule of law. She is a believer in combining technology and the law to empower individuals for the betterment of society. Together with her team based in Malaysia and Singapore, LexisNexis’ work in the Southeast Asia region drives SDG 16, supporting institutions such as the courts, legislators, academia and the legal profession, thus ensuring rule of law. Throughout her career, Gaythri initiated and executed on projects to advance the rule of law in various jurisdictions. Noteworthy projects include the Consolidation of Laws and Judgments in the Maldives, the Constitutional Reform Workshop for lawyers in partnership with the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and various forms of training and capacity building in legal education across Southeast Asia.

Videsha Proothveerajh

CEO, LexisNexis South Africa

Videsha is an accomplished, pioneering corporate leader who stands at the forefront of the dynamic South African technology space. She is presently CEO and Chairperson of the Board of legal technology company, LexisNexis South Africa. Her comfort in the industry derives from her 20 years’ plus experience working in high-profile ICT companies such as EDS, Microsoft and Intel. She also successfully ran her own business focusing on strategy and value creation. She has many accolades, including being honoured and recognised as the most influential Woman in Business and Government for ICT in Africa. She was spotlighted by Forbes as a change maker in Africa. In 2017 Videsha was recognised as one of the 50 most inspiring women in South Africa as part of the global Inspiring Fifty initiative spearheaded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Africa. She was part of the 'Africa 50' - The 50 Leaders in Data Centers and Cloud, driving change in Africa and in 2022 scooped the coveted Top Woman in Tech award at the Africa Tech Awards. Videsha has always capitalised on opportunities to be an instrumental change-maker not only in the corporate world but also on issues close to her heart. At LexisNexis she gets to combine her passion for empowering women and girls, with the company’s purpose of Advancing the Rule of Law in order to create meaningful impact across the African continent. Videsha believes that one should never be defined by a title but rather embrace opportunities to learn new skill sets and be enriched by new experiences – this is evident in her approach to her career and life in general. Her leadership philosophy is a servant one and she believes that her role in the lives of the people around her is to help them achieve their full potential so that they and their organisation can thrive. Videsha has an MBA from the University of KwaZulu-Natal specialising in Advanced Strategic Management. She is also a certified SAP and ITIL consultant, an accredited NLP coach and has a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management and a Bachelor of Commerce from the then University of Durban-Westville (UDW). Blessed with a teenage son and daughter who are her greatest pride and joy, Videsha is an avid reader, a Reiki master and enjoys yoga, solitary walking and daily meditation.

Virginia Gardiner

CEO, Loowatt Ltd

Original Inventor of Loowatt toilet system, and sanitation expert since 2012. Prior to founding Loowatt in 2010, Virginia spent seven years in Director and Management roles in award-winning product and design companies focused on the environment and human health. Virginia has expertise in languages, the humanities, design, and engineering. She holds a Joint Masters in Innovation Design Engineering from Royal College of Art / Imperial College London, and a BA from Stanford University in Comparative Literature.

Steve Kenzie

Executive Director, UN Global Compact Network UK

Steve has managed the Secretariat of the UN Global Compact Network UK since 2008, connecting UK companies and other organisations in a global movement dedicated to driving corporate sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals. He also Chairs the UN Global Compact’s Global Network Council and sits on the UN Global Compact Board. He was previously a Programme Director at the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) leading projects across a wide range of responsible business issue areas. Prior to joining IBLF, Steve was the founder and Managing Director of a successful retail sports equipment business in Canada.

Michael Sheldrick

Chief Policy, Impact and Government Relations Officer, Global Citizen

Michael Sheldrick is a Co-Founder and Chief Policy, Impact and Government Relations Officer at Global Citizen. Over the past decade, Global Citizen’s campaigns have led to over $35 billion distributed to anti-poverty efforts around the world. Michael leads Global Citizen’s campaigns to rally support from governments, businesses and foundations to get the world on track to end extreme poverty. Michael has worked on campaigns globally with artists including Beyoncé, Coldplay, Idris and Sabrina Elba, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Priyanka Chopra, Rihanna, Usher, and world leaders including Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and former Australian Prime Ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. Michael was one of the four Co-Founders who spearheaded the first major Global Citizen advocacy campaign - The End the Polio - in 2011 which raised $118 million with the support of John Legend and then Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Most recently, Michael served as an Executive Producer of Vax Live, co-chaired by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan. The campaign focused on vaccine equity and acceptance, which resulted in 26 million vaccines committed for developing countries. Michael has written on development issues in Forbes, the Guardian, Huffington Post, The Diplomatic Courier, The Diplomat Magazine, The South China Morning Post, The West Australian, and Fairfax Media. He has been interviewed by ABC, BBC, The New Yorker, Forbes Magazine, VICE Impact and Sky News among others. Michael’s efforts, and those of the team he leads, was profiled in National Geographic’s Activate series aired in 2019. He was named by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth as a finalist for 2017 Young Commonwealth Person of the Year. He is also a board member for the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens and the Advisory Board of Parliamentarians for the Global Goals. Michael holds degrees in law and political science from the University of Western Australia, and was 2013 Young Western Australian of the Year.

Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka

Founder & CEO, Conservation Through Public Health

Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is Founder and CEO of Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), an award-winning NGO that protects endangered gorillas and other wildlife through One Health approaches. After graduating from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, in 1996, she established Uganda Wildlife Authority’s first veterinary department. In 2000, she did a Zoological Medicine Residency and Master in Specialized Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina Zoological Park and North Carolina State University, where masters research on disease at the human/wildlife/livestock interface led her to found CTPH in 2003. In 2015, she founded Gorilla Conservation Coffee to support farmers living around habitats where gorillas are found. Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is a National Geographic Explorer, an Ashoka Fellow and Mulago Foundation Henry Arnhold Fellow. She has won a number of awards through CTPH and Gorilla Conservation Coffee that improves the quality of life of people and wildlife to enable them to coexist in and around protected areas in Africa. These include the 2008 San Diego Zoo Conservation-in-Action Award, 2009 Whitley Gold Award; 2011 WINGS Women of Discovery and Exploration Humanity Award, 2017 President of Uganda’s Golden Jubilee Award for her contribution to the nation as a conservationist and veterinarian on Women’s Day, 2018 Sierra Club EarthCare Award, 2019 Finalist for the Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa and 2020 and 2021 Finalist for the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. She won the 2020 Uganda Veterinary Association World Veterinary Day Award focussed on One Health approaches and the 2020 Aldo Leopold Award for Mammalogists. In 2021 she was recognised by Avance Media among 100 most influential women in Africa and won the UNEP Champions of the Earth Award in the category of Science and Innovation. She is the winner of the 2022 Edinburgh Medal for her work in Planetary health and 2022 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. She is a finalist for the 2023 Indianapolis Prize. She is the author of “Walking With Gorillas”, a memoir about her life journey as a leader and conservationist. Dr. Gladys is on the leadership council of Women for the Environment in Africa, Chairperson of the Africa Chapter of the Explorers Club and Vice President of the African Primatological Society. She has sat on a number of Boards including Uganda Wildlife Authority, Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, Wildlife Clubs of Uganda, Bwindi and Mgahinga Conservation Trust, Buganda Heritage and Tourism Board, The Gorilla Organisation and was recently appointed to the Population Connection Board. Dr. Gladys is also a member of the World Health Organisation Special Advisory Group for the Origin of Novel Pathogens (WHO SAGO) and advisory committee member for the International Livestock Research Institute One Health Research, Education and Outreach Centre in Africa.

Kumsal Bayazit

CEO, Elsevier

As Chief Executive Officer, Elsevier, Kumsal Bayazit is a strong advocate of research and innovation and leads the organisation in its mission to help researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. Kumsal plays an active role in Elsevier’s partnerships to support a sustainable and equitable future. A lifelong champion of inclusion in science, health and the workplace, Kumsal co-chairs Elsevier’s Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board and serves on the Elsevier Foundation Board. She leads the company’s support for the UN Sustainable Development Goals, contributing to Elsevier’s 2020 report The Power of Data to Advance the SDGs. Kumsal joined Elsevier as CEO in February 2019 from Elsevier’s parent company, RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools. Since 2004, Kumsal held multiple management positions, in Exhibitions, Legal and Risk divisions, including as Chief Strategy Officer of RELX. Kumsal also chairs the Technology Forum at RELX, responsible for technology, risk management and cyber security strategy across the Group, and oversees the coordination of 9,000 technologists and data scientists.

Dr Lewis Collins

Editor in Chief, One Earth

Inspired by David Attenborough documentaries as a child, Lewis has been amazed by the natural world from an early age. While undergraduate and master’s degrees in Earth science (Cardiff University) and climate change (University of East Anglia) nurtured this interest, it was doctoral (British Antarctic Survey) and post-doctoral (Université Pierre et Marie Curie) research on Antarctica that centered his focus on environmental change. Prior to launching One Earth, Lewis spent over 5 years with Nature Communications, where he led the Earth editorial team and curated, commissioned, handled (and occasionally rejected …) research across the full spectrum of Earth and environmental science. Lewis is particularly interested in grand challenges associated with land use and the competing demands for this increasingly scarce resource.

Lara Douvartzidis

Environment, Climate and Human Rights Lawyer, International Bar Association

Prior to joining the LPRU team Lara Douvartzidis was a solicitor and Pro Bono coordinator at Johnson Winter & Slattery, and secondee at Australia’s Public Interest Advocacy Centre. During her time in private practice, she advised and acted for corporate and pro bono clients with expertise in environment and planning law, dispute resolution and class actions, ESG and modern slavery law obligations and transitional issues faced by clients in these emerging areas. She is passionate about strategic climate litigation trends, First Nations justice, just transitions, and ESG related risk management and compliance. She served as the Associate to the Honourable Chief Justice Kourakis of the Supreme Court of South Australia. She holds an Advanced Masters in European and International Human Rights Law (Ad. LLM) from Leiden University in The Netherlands and a double degree in Law (LLB) and Environmental Policy and Management (BEnvs) from the University of Adelaide, South Australia. She co-chairs the Business and Human Rights Subcommittee of the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and was listed as an Australasian Rising Star in 2021, a Finalist in the Australian Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards for Planning, Native Title and Environment Law in 2021, and a Finalist in the Women in Law Awards for Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in 2020 and 2021.

Ankur Patwardhan

Associate Professor and Entrepreneur, MES Abasaheb Garware College, Savitribai Phule Pune University, India

Ankur Patwardhan is an Associate Professor and Entrepreneur. Currently he is heading Annasaheb Kulkarni Department of Biodiversity at MES Abasaheb Garware College, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India . He holds a doctorate in Environmental Sciences. He coordinated the The Indian Urban Resource Millennium Assessment by Naturalists under the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Initiative. In the honorary capacities, he is associated with various State Level and National Level bodies working in the field of Environment. He also guides research activities at RANWA, an NGO active in the field of biodiversity research and conservation.

Dr Myriam Mujawamariya

Lecturer at College of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda (UR)

Myriam Mujawamariya is a Lecturer at the University of Rwanda in forest ecology and biodiversity science. She is an ATBC councilor and an OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awardee for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World 2022 Award in Climate Action and the Environment. She holds a PhD degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her research focuses on improving mechanistic understanding of tropical forests responses to climate change using Rwanda Tropical Elevation Experiment (Rwanda-TREE). She is currently exploring heat stress recovery and heat by drought interactions in a broad range of native tree species. In addition, she is investigating the suitability of multipurpose native tree species in agro-ecological zones, for research-based reforestation and conservation measures.

Kaddu Sebunya

CEO, African Wildlife Foundation

Mr. Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya is the Chief Executive Officer of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), where he is leading the vision of an Africa where human development includes thriving wildlife and extensive wild lands as a cultural and economic asset for Africa’s future generations. He has over 20 years’ experience in conservation at grassroots, national and regional levels in the USA, Africa, and Europe. Kaddu believes conserving Africa’s wildlife is too important and too urgent to be left to charity or the West alone. He is concerned that there are not many big African voices today leading the fight against the destruction of habitat and wildlife, arguing that it is time the African elite stepped forward. “We need their voices and networks to build a truly authentic African voice against the destruction of our natural wildlife heritage. It’s time to re-imagine the conservation narrative,” he says. Working with leaders in business, politics, civil society, policy, international development and education as well as the youth, Kaddu is building a global coalition for conservation to protect Africa’s natural capital for posterity. He sees conservation as a social, economic, security and health question requiring new partnerships and multi-sectoral strategies for the people and wildlife to benefit. Kaddu is a member of the China-Africa Wildlife Conservation Council, a group of civil society and business leaders convened by the African Wildlife Foundation and the Aspen Institute to serve as a people-to-people platform for supporting China-Africa cooperation on wildlife and wildlands conservation, sustainable economic development, and governance. He is also a member of the Club of Rome and contributes frequently to newspapers in Africa, Europe and the USA. Kaddu has worked with Oxfam UK, the World Conservation Union - IUCN, USA Peace Corps, Conservation International, and Solimar International. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences and two Master’s degrees: An MA in Law, Policy and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School, Tufts University, USA; and an MSc in Sustainable Resource Management and Policy from the Imperial - Wye College, University of London.

YS Chi

Director Corporate Affairs, RELX & Chair, Elsevier

Youngsuk ‘YS’ Chi is an international businessman and a global thought leader in the publishing, education and information solutions industries. As Chairman of Elsevier, he works directly with key stakeholders in government, academia and industry to support over 30 million scientists, students and health information professionals. In his role as Director of Corporate Affairs for RELX, Elsevier’s parent company, he is responsible for government affairs, corporate communications and corporate responsibility across all four of the group’s market segments. Based in London and New York, Chi travels extensively to engage with scientific research communities, deliver thought leadership on key trends and advise stakeholders, boards and groups across industries. Chi serves as Distinguished Visiting Professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Chi is also an independent director of Ingram Industries Inc. (Nashville, USA), CFI Education (Vancouver, Canada) and Educational Testing Service ETS (Princeton, NJ), and is involved in numerous educational, artistic and charitable organizations including Princeton University, the Ban Ki-Moon Foundation and the Korea Society.

Sanda Ojiambo

Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations Global Compact

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Sanda Ojiambo of Kenya as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Global Compact in April 2022. For the past two years, Sanda Ojiambo served as the CEO & Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. As the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, Sanda Ojiambo launched an ambitious new UN Global Compact Strategy to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. During her tenure, she has also promoted stronger business engagement with UN partners to deliver and finance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sanda Ojiambo brings to the UN Global Compact more than 20 years’ experience in the public, multilateral and private sectors including as Head of Sustainable Business and Social Impact, Safaricom Plc in Kenya; and capacity development work in CARE International and United Nations Development Programme Somalia. Throughout her career, she has cultivated and managed relationships with key business entities and civil society organizations and led the implementation of several public-private partnership initiatives. Sanda Ojiambo holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota, USA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Development from McGill University, Canada. As a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our ambition is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 15,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 69 Local Networks, the UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative — one Global Compact uniting business for a better world.

Irina Bokova

Former Director General, UNESCO

Irina Bokova is a Bulgarian politician and diplomat. She served as Director General of UNESCO from 2009 to 2017. She graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and has also studied at the University of Maryland and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She began her career at the United Nations Department of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1977. She was subsequently appointed to the Bulgarian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. Twice elected to the Bulgarian Parliament, she served as interim Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1996 and 1997. She has been Bulgaria’s ambassador to France, Monaco and UNESCO, in addition to representing the president of her country within the International Organization of La Francophonie. Bokova is particularly renowned for her commitment to the integration of Bulgaria within the European Union. Elected as Director General of UNESCO in 2009, she is the first woman and the first person from Eastern Europe to hold this position. During her two terms, she worked for the organization's major causes such as education for all, gender equality, scientific cooperation and cultural dialogue. She has received numerous honors from different countries, as well as several honorary doctorates from major universities.

Daniela Chiaretti

Environment Correspondent, Valor Economico, Brazil

Daniela Chiaretti has been an environmental journalist for 30 years. She has covered all the UN climate conferences from Poznan in 2008 to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt in 2022 and some on biodiversity. The first was RIO 92 when the climate, biodiversity and desertification conventions were created. She has been to the Amazon more than 40 times and it is always a different experience. She has been to the Arctic and Antarctic and to every continent reporting on the climate crisis. She pays for her carbon emissions by planting avocados and reporting as much as possible about what she sees and hears in the world. Daniela has a special interest in issues of development and inequality. She has been writing every day for 19 years for Valor Econômico, Brazil's leading economics newspaper.

Dr Michiel Kolman

Senior VP Strategic Networks, Elsevier

Dr. Michiel Kolman is Senior VP Strategic Networks at Elsevier and former President of the International Publishers Association, where he now chairs Inclusive Publishing and Literacy. At Elsevier and across the publishing industry Michiel supports the SDGs, promotes climate change and pushes for more diversity and inclusion. Michiel is co-chair of the Workplace Pride Foundation supporting LGBTI workplace inclusion. He is the executive sponsor of Elsevier Pride and was listed two years in a row in the FT’s Top100 ranking of most influential LGBT senior executives. Since joining Elsevier in 1995, he has held various core publishing roles in Amsterdam and Tokyo. He launched one of the first online journals in the industry in 1996: New Astronomy. Michiel was Managing Director in Frankfurt, Germany. For 10 years, he spearheaded academic relations for Elsevier, building up a global network of ambassadors engaged in strategic discussions with research leaders. Today he continues to engage with research and government leaders in his role as Academic Ambassador. Prior to Elsevier, he worked for Wolters Kluwer in a division that is now part of Springer Nature. He holds a degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands and a PhD in astrophysics from Columbia University in New York, where he studied with a Fulbright scholarship.

Josefine Gibson

Deputy Editor, The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health

I joined the editorial team of The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health in January, 2023, transferring from a Senior Editor role at The Lancet. I trained as a biochemist at Copenhagen University (Denmark) and completed my doctoral work at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (Germany), with a special focus on cardiovascular development and molecular cell biology. Among my post-doctoral experience prior to joining The Lancet, I managed grants at the Wellcome Trust (UK) and worked in editorial for The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (UK).

Sacha Dench

CEO, Conservation Without Borders & Ambassador for the UN's Convention on Migratory Species

Sacha Dench, aka the ‘human swan’, is a world record breaking biologist and conservationist. As Ambassador, UN’s Convention on Migratory Species and CEO and founder of Conservation Without Borders, Sacha wants to change the narrative of the climate crisis to one of ambition, energy and enthusiasm for solutions.

Jessica Wawoe

Founder, Tribal Wisdom Foundation

Jessica founded ‘Tribal Wisdom’ because she felt that local, traditional knowledge should be more accessible to those seeking a more nature-based life. The initiative has evolved from capturing to sharing knowledge by supporting wisdom keepers all over the world, respecting oral traditions. A simple way to join this movement is with 'Sharing Circles' with Elders and Young(er) people, which are a pathway to connection with your own truth and wisdom, with peers, other generations and with our living earth. Besides the dedicated time going into this calling, she works as a systemic team trainer and transition guide, advising on cross-cultural and team collaboration for international organisations. Jessica is passionate about making relevant connections between people and is convinced that by sharing and spreading indigenous wisdom, we gain a better understanding of the essence of humanity and the world that surrounds us. Born in Curaçao and having lived in eight countries across Europe, Asia and North America, her family currently reside in The Netherlands. Her motto is: “There is no such thing as coincidence .. only convenience”.

Helene Lindmark

Sapmi Wisdom Keeper & Scandinavian Water Commissioner

Helene Lindmark is a lineage holder Noaidi from northern Sweden Sápmi. She is a mentor, wisdom keeper, bridge builder, and global representative of her tradition and community. Born and raised in Liikavaara, Sweden, she carries the Shamanic tradition of her Sapmi, Sweden, Russia, and Finland heritage. She brings the voice of Mother Earth, the voice of the indigenous knowledge out in the world. Cocreating the bridge in between ancestral wisdom and science, modern society. Bring the voice of indigenous knowledge to corporate and government forums, sharing the wisdom of the land through dialogue, ceremonies, rituals, and prayers. She works with helping people through the insights these traditions bring to develop their contact with and understanding of nature, others, and ultimately, themselves and their own human nature. Helene is a spokesperson in different organizations, part of the People's Water Commision on Drought and Flood, grounded by the Water Man of India, Dr. Rajendra Singh. Helene is the Scandinavian Water Commissioner, Editor-in-chief for the journal "International Journal of Water Intelligence" set up by the International Association of Advanced Materials.

Keyvon Macedo

Sustainability Director, Natura & Co

Keyvan Macedo joined Natura in 2005 and five years later he shifted his career to Sustainability area to run Climate Change and Environmental Impact overseeing all the operation. He is currently the Sustainability Director for Natura&Co, the global beauty group comprising Avon, Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop, responsible for the implementation of 2030 Sustainability Vision – Commitment to Life. He is also responsible for Global Carbon program and has been leading the Biodiversity agenda at group level. In April of last year, he has been appointed as vice chair for ICC Global Environment and Energy Commission. He has a bachelor’s degree in food engineering and attended an executive education program on Management of Low Carbon Economy and on Marketing and Business Administration

Eva Zabey

CEO, Business for Nature

Eva leads Business for Nature, a global coalition aiming to unify the business voice to call for action to reverse nature loss and restore the planet’s vital natural systems on which economies, wellbeing and prosperity depend. Before joining Business for Nature in November 2019, Eva led work on measuring and valuing natural, social and human capital in business at WBCSD, including developing the Capitals Coalition’s Natural Capital Protocol.

Claire Melamed

CEO, Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data

Claire Melamed is the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. This growing network brings together over 300 members—governments, private sector, and civil society—to harness and leverage data and data technology towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Dr. Melamed was previously Managing Director of the Overseas Development Institute, and in 2014, she worked in the office of the United Nations Secretary General, writing the report of the Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution, “A World That Counts.” She is based in London and is an Affiliated Researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and serves on a number of Boards and advisory groups for institutions including the UK Office of National Statistics Data Science Campus, the Overseas Development Institute Human Mobility Initiative, and Mo Ibrahim Foundation Governance Index. Dr. Melamed earned her Ph.D. in Development Studies from the University of London.

James Vaccaro

CEO, RePattern

James is CEO of RePattern.org, supporting organisations and their stakeholders in effective ecosystem innovation for sustainability transformation. He is currently Executive Director of the Climate Safe Lending Network – a multistakeholder initiative to catalyse the decarbonisation of the banking sector. Through RePattern, James is a strategy advisor to a number of regenerative agriculture-tech companies and has led the development of a Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Accelerator for WWF. James was previously Group Director of Strategy for Triodos Bank – Europe’s leading international sustainable bank and investment manager). In his career at Triodos, James set up and managed the UK investment business comprising corporate finance and crowdfunding services, venture capital fund management and fund distribution. James served on the Global Steering Committee for the UNEP Finance Initiative and was one of the founding developers of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking launched in 2019. He is on the advisory panel for the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), the UK Government’s Transition Plan Taskforce and is an expert reviewer for the IPCC. James is a Senior Associate of the Cambridge Institute and senior fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab having previously served as the Chair of the Board of Trustees. James is a non-executive director of Regen and a Senior advisor for Club of Rome and Earth4All. He is also an advisor and investor in the Cambridge-based climate solutions venture-builder, Carbon-13. He is the author of several reports and papers on sustainable finance and impact investing (including the UN’s Global Environment Outlook on Sustainable Finance), a regular speaker at events and conferences on sustainable business and positive impact finance.

Christopher Perceval

Senior Marketing Engagement Director, S&P Global

Chris is Senior Market Engagement Director at S&P Global Sustainable1, working with colleagues to shape and accelerate the Net Zero, Nature Positive, Impact Economy agendas. He is Chair of the Nature & Biodiversity workstream of the Future of Sustainability Data Alliance (FoSDA), a member of the Value Commission, and a board member of Scope 3 Climate Capital CIC. Previously he was Head of Business Development for Europe & Developing Markets at S&P Global Sustainable1 and built a top performing team of sixteen specialists working across Market Intelligence, Index, Ratings and Commodity Insights. Prior to S&P Global, Chris was in senior positions at the World Resources Institute, IUCN, and South Pole. He has a BSc in Natural Sciences from Durham University, MSc in Management Research from Oxford University and a Business Leadership Certificate from Harvard Business School.

Fran Van Dijk

CEO, One Stone Advisors

Fran is CEO of One Stone Advisors Ltd, a global strategy and communications team which helps companies become more successful sustainability leaders. One Stone is a founding BCorp and a Best for the World honouree. Fran advises on managing opportunity and risk to build long-term value, working with corporates to ensure that their business strategy, sustainability values and communications align. She helps sustainability leaders future-proof their strategy and prioritise their sustainability goals for effective business planning. Clients include Aggreko, Carlsberg Group, Coutts, Danish Crown, Edrington, Electrolux, Ericsson, Tetra Pak, TUI Travel, SSE and private equity firms including CVC and Triton. Fran holds Masters degrees from the University of Cambridge and the European Association for Environmental Management Education. She is co-author of Creating a Culture of Integrity: Business Ethics for the 21st Century. Fran is Deputy Chair of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Chair of the Macaulay Development Trust and served on the advisory board of Montanaro Asset

Adrian Hudson

Principle Ecologist, Anthesis Group

Highly experienced principal ecologist and biodiversity specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the environmental services industry. Skilled in Ecology, Wetland Ecology, Biodiversity Sustainability, Nature-based Solutions, Environmental Issues, Natural Resources, and Biodiversity. Experience professional with a MSc focused in Zoology and Ecology from North-West University and more than 29 years experience in conservation and ecological consulting. Experience on more than 400 projects in over 40 countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, south Asia, South America and Australia.

Feraye Ozfescioglu

CEO, World Humanitarian Forum

Feraye Ozfescioglu is the Chief Executive Officer of the World Humanitarian Forum. She is the co-founder of the organisation and has been instrumental in the process of its establishment as an impactful initiative and platform with dedication and passion to shape a better future. She is a strategist with cross-sector knowledge, has designed and implemented various initiatives with the power of dialogue as a catalyst for action. Working alongside Ban-Ki Moon, Rt. Hon. Jack Straw and various heads of states, government and multilateral officials, she has contributed to the transition from aid to development built on “one humanity and shared responsibility”.Prior to her appointment as a CEO, she worked as the Events Director of the UN’s first ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, 2016; where she was not only responsible of the management of the Summit, but also advised a number of governments on the structuring and implementation of new models in humanitarian aid and international development. She has been involved in the management of G7 - G20 Summits, EXPO organisations all around the world. She has international expertise and has been a consultant for UN since 2010.

Soline Guerineau

Head of Commercial Strategy - Sustainability

Soline Guerineau is a sustainability specialist who has served various leadership roles in analytics, media, and events businesses. Currently Head of Commercial Strategy for Sustainability at I.C.I.S, Soline is responsible for leading the current and future direction of I.C.I.S’ data, analytics and insights strategy supporting customers on their transition to low emission, circular business models. During her last tenure, over the past twelve years at The Economist Group, she piloted business and digital transformation, sales enablement, and commercial strategies for pivotal revenue lines. Most recently, Soline implemented the go-to-market strategy for Economist Impact’s flagship Sustainability initiatives, including The Sustainability Project and the World Ocean Initiative, driving revenue growth, client centricity, communications, and product innovation. Throughout her career, Soline has been driven by the power of leveraging data and insights to help customers turn ideas and innovation into action. A globally-minded, curious, and passionate senior executive, Soline brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with a commercial drive at heart. In her own time, Soline is a horse aficionado, an avid reader with a particular taste for 19th and early 20th-century literature, and a travel enthusiast.

Elizabeth Corse

Stakeholder Engagement Lead - Pineapple Sustainable Partnerships

With a tech and climate background, Elizabeth brings extensive experience in supporting, championing, and connecting scaleup founders from Seed to Series B to Pineapple Sustainable Partnerships . Her contributions to the UK tech scene include working with Tech Nation, a non-profit organisation that served as the government's scaleup body, as well as collaborating with investors and the wider tech ecosystem. As London Chapter Director for Impact Hustlers, she fosters peer-to-peer support and inclusive network access through impactful events and content. She moderates, delivers executive talks, workshops, and trainings to inspire climate-curious leaders become climate courageous.She also hosts a local sustainability meetup, facilitates Climate Fresk sessions, and serves as an Enterprise Advisor for a girls' school, promoting diversity and inclusivity in tech.

Pascal Asselin

Co-Founder, Morfo

In 2021, Pascal founded his second company, MORFO, specializing in large-scale restoration of forest ecosystems. Having grown up in French Guiana, where he witnessed the daily decline of the Amazon rainforest, he teamed up with his brother Hugo and his best friend to create this startup, which is as promising as it is committed.

David Wood

Founder & CEO Waddapt

David Wood is the founder and CEO of biodiversity impact funding startup called Wadappt which is a marketplace that connects global capital markets directly to people and projects on the ground. By leveraging exciting and secure technology, together we create a positive impact for our people, planet and our most precious asset: nature. He holds an Honors Degree in Corporate Finance and a background in investment banking. He has worked at the intersection of IT and finances/derivatives for organisations such as Goldman Sachs, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC in South Africa and London. David is a steering committee member for The Blockchain for the UN charter values and the SDGs action plan 100+ (BC100+), a forum member of the Biodiversity Credits Alliance and a data catalyst contributor to the Taskforce for Nature Related Financial Disclosure (TNFD). He has founded a number of successful companies that combine Finance and Technology and has 20+ years of expertise in both government and private sector solutions. Having grown up on a farm in Africa he has increasingly turned his focus toward innovative ways of funding the critical conservation issues facing Africa and is excited about recent technological advances and believes that the skillful and innovative use of this technology can help face these issues. To this effect he has spoken at global conferences in Switzerland, Paris, Washington, New York, promoting innovative ideas which can bring power back to the people.

Adam Swash

Co-founder - Pineapple Sustainable Partnerships

Adam joined Pineapple to explore sustainable development and partnerships to create positive impact. He looks after the research and data analysis, strategic management and business development within Pineapple. Adam is a research and strategy specialist with extensive experience with innovation, growing strategic partnerships, business research, analytics and planning for SMEs and large corporations. Previously the Head of Strategy and Research at Experian, he is skilled in connecting and supporting local and national challenges with data, using this to advise and support policy strategy and making. An advocate for creating innovation, Adam leads the Corporate Venturing Leadership Forum at Centre for Business Innovation.

Katie Critchlow

CEO, NatureMetrics

Katie has over 20 years experience in building green businesses and products. A biologist by training, Katie's first role leading sustainable supply chains at Marks & Spencer took her all over the world sourcing sustainable wood, cotton, fish and palm oil to name a few. Katie spent time working with WWF in Jakarta at the other end of the supply chain, advocating for green economic strategies which would enable trees to be more valuable standing than cut down. Katie used her maternity leave to gain a masters in Environmental Economics and Climate Change from LSE and has since run green start-ups in the energy and biosciences industries. Katie's passion is to help the world understand and value nature and to enable progress on nature goals through accountability and insight.

Rupert Robinson

Chief Strategy Officer, Aspiration Partners

Rupert Robinson is the Chief Strategy Officer of Aspiration, a high-impact climate finance company working at scale to help enterprises, consumers and investors achieve ESG, “NET ZERO” and “NET POSITIVE” goals through carbon footprinting, sustainability advisory services, and procurement of bespoke, high-quality carbon removal projects that provide a broad array of environmental and societal benefits We originate, diligence, invest in and monitor carbon removal projects on a global scale to generate carbon credits. Rupert has over 20 years of experience within the global real asset sector, working in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. Before joining Aspiration he was the Managing Director of RSBGi, a German State Economic, Social, and Environmental Impact Fund. His career commenced at KPMG, followed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the Sovereign Wealth fund Manager of Norway. He has served as a board director for NBIM Europe as well as a Board Director of AXA, Prologis, Generali, and other well-known European funds with expertise in investment finance, fund structuring, and fund management and operations.

Walid al Saqqaf

Co-CEO & Co Founder, Rebalance Earth

I'm the CEO and co-founder of Rebalance Earth a global ecosystems services platform for valuing and funding a living nature to combat climate change, biodiversity loss and lifting communities out of poverty. I'm also the founder of Insureblocks the leading blockchain educational podcast and boutique consultancy firm that supports companies and industry metamorphose into digital natives. I started off in the corporate world at Barclays Corporate Banking in 1998. As a serial entrepreneur I've co-founded 5 start-ups of which one had a successful acquisition. I'm an industry associate at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies and a proud father of 2 little amazing daughters. They're the reason I'm working to fight climate change, protect biodiversity and lift communities out of poverty through Rebalance Earth to leave them with a better world than the one we are presently living in. Did you know that according to the IMF, a forest elephant is worth $40,000 dead for its ivory but $1.75m alive for the ecosystem services it performs within a forest, which includes carbon offsets. Our global economy’s failure to valuing a living nature and these ecosystem services fuels climate change, biodiversity loss and its consequential impact on global poverty. Rebalance Earth, “rebalances” these market failures by offering households, companies and capital markets the opportunity to purchase ecosystem services credits from keystone species, such as forest elephants, to fight climate change, protect nature and lift communities out of poverty. The proceeds from these credits funds keystone species protection through wildlife justice initiatives and poverty-reducing investments in local communities, thus tying the welfare of the forest elephants to the local communities’ economic growth. The Rebalance Earth proposition is grounded in peer-reviewed science and best-of-breed innovative technologies, including enterprise blockchain, artificial intelligence and internet of things sensors to provide traceability, transparency and trust in its platform.

Nick Wise

CEO, OceanMind

Nick Wise, CEO of OceanMind and founder of Shared Stewardship In the face of the climate emergency, global business needs to drastically reduce their emissions and impacts on nature within this decade to manage future risks to their operations. With climate-based financial disclosure regulation already taking effect and nature-based financial disclosure on the way, business needs to quantify their existing risks and publish strategies to reduce risk. Nick Wise is a sustainability expert and the CEO of OceanMind, one of the founding members of Climate TRACE. Climate TRACE is a global non-profit coalition created to make meaningful climate action faster and easier by independently tracking greenhouse gas emissions with unprecedented detail and speed using satellites and artificial intelligence. OceanMind monitors human activity on the ocean to ensure compliance with marine regulations and verifies supply chain adherence to responsible buying policies. Using satellites and AI, OceanMind calculates emissions from the shipping industry, detects illegal fishing, and can even identify potential labour abuse in the supply chain to inform ESG reporting. Nick is also the founder of Shared Stewardship, a network of sustainability experts that help enterprise boards understand climate, nature, and social risks in their supply chains and plan practical steps to manage these impacts to protect people, planet, and profits. Nick has been designing large-scale, highly secure software solutions for over 20 years. Before joining the ranks of social entrepreneurship, Nick’s journey saw him starting an Internet security business, as CTO of a mature SME, and managing product development in a billion-dollar multinational. As a DRK Entrepreneur, GLG Social Impact Fellow, and member of the Morgan Stanley Sustainable Solutions Collaborative, Nick now empowers people to solve global sustainability issues with technology.

Tracy Bain

Senior Director, Carbon Program Monitoring & Engagement, Aspiration Partners

Tracy Bain is the Senior Director of Carbon Monitoring and Engagement at Aspiration and oversees a team of technical experts in carbon measurement, biodiversity monitoring, agricultural systems, and GIS and remote sensing analysis. She brings over 15 years of experience in conservation, restoration and international development, starting her career as a wildlife biologist and moving into program design, monitoring and management in both the non-profit and private sectors. Her current focus is ensuring that Aspiration's carbon portfolio delivers the highest quality carbon credits for customers with the greatest climate, environmental and community impact.

Sean Owens

Programme Leader BA (Hons) International Tourism Management, Manchester Metropolitan University

Sean Owens enjoyed an international career in hospitality and tourism spanning three decades, including seven years in the USA and six years in Greece, where he was a hotel general manager. With an MSc in Responsible Tourism Management, he later worked for six years for TUI Group, the world’s largest tour operator, responsible for the development and delivery of sustainable tourism strategy. Before joining Manchester Met in 2018, he had his own consultancy business - Thinking Tourism - undertaking environmental and socio-economic impact studies around the world, for example in Jamaica, Croatia and Cabo Verde. As programme leader in International Tourism Management, he specialises mainly on environmental impacts in tourism supply chains, with an increasing focus on education for sustainable development (ESD).