Kalin Anev

Secretary General of the European Stability Mechanism and European Financial Stability Facility

Kalin Anev is Secretary General of the European Stability Mechanism. He is also Secretary General of the European Financial Stability Facility, a position he has held since 2011. He is responsible for the Corporate Governance (Board of Directors and shareholder relations), Corporate Finance and Accounting, Operations, Human Resources and Information Technology. Kalin Anev previously worked for the European Investment Bank where one of his tasks was to coordinate the set up of the EFSF. Prior to this, he worked as a Corporate Finance and Strategy Consultant for McKinsey & Company in the Netherlands. He has also worked in Investment Banking at JPMorgan (London) and in corporate governance and (project) finance for Honeywell Spain (Madrid).

Kalin Anev studied MSc. Business Administration in Strategic Management at the Rotterdam School of Management and Wharton School University of Pennsylvania. For his undergraduate degree, he studied Business Administration in Finance, Banking and Insurance at the Vrije University Amsterdam.

Tasso Argyros

Founder of Aster Data

Tasso Argyros is Co-President, Teradata Aster, leading product and market strategy for Teradata’s Big Data products. Before founding Aster Data, he was in the Ph.D. program at Stanford University. Tasso was recognized as a BusinessWeek Best Young Tech Entrepreneur for 2009 and as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer in 2010. He holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University and a Diploma in Computer Engineering from Technical University of Athens.

Ferdinando “Nani” Beccalli-Falco

President and CEO of GE Europe and CEO GE Germany

Mr. Beccalli-Falco is President and CEO of General Electric (GE) in Europe and in Germany. He is a Senior Vice President and a member of the Corporate Executive Council of the Company. Beccalli-Falco started his career with GE in 1975 in the U.S. Most recently, Beccalli-Falco served as President and CEO of GE International, where he successfully built GE’s global team over nine years. Prior to that, he held leadership positions in GE Capital and GE Plastics in the U.S., the Netherlands and Japan. Beccalli-Falco serves on several for-profit and non-profit Boards and commissions (e.g., INTER RAO, the Russian energy company; the Emmanuel Center Stiftung, Germany). Beccalli-Falco also serves as an International Advisor to Bocconi University in Milan. Previously, he was an International Advisor to Prime Minister Raffarin of France from 1994-95, and was International Advisor to the Polish Minister of Finance in 1995. In 2007, the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, appointed Mr. Beccalli-Falco “Cavaliere del Lavoro.” In 2009, the President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, awarded Mr. Beccalli-Falco La Legion d’Honneur. A native of Italy, Beccalli-Falco earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic of Torino in Italy.

Michail Bletsas

Research Scientist, Director of Computing at MIT’s Media Lab

Michail Bletsas is a Research Scientist and the Director of Computing at MIT’s Media Lab. He was a member of the core technical and design team for the “One Laptop Per Child” initiative which created OLPC’s pioneering, award-winning “XO” laptop. In 2000 he co-founded Velti S.A., a very successful global mobile advertising and marketing company. Over the years, he has consulted for many companies in many different capacities, has implemented broadband access networks using cutting-edge technologies including one of the earliest ADSL testbeds and various wireless technologies. In 2010 he joined the Board of Directors of Hellenic Telecom (OTE). Mr. Bletsas has been a frequent keynote speaker in international conferences and has been engaged in many civic activities. He holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and an MSc degree in Computer Engineering from Boston University.

Ian Bowles

Managing Director of WindSail Capital Group, Former Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs of Massachusetts

Ian Bowles is Managing Director of WindSail Capital Group where he provides growth capital to clean energy companies. Until early 2011, Bowles served as Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs of Massachusetts. He created the first state cabinet agency encompassing both energy regulation and environmental protection and overseeing six line agencies. Championing clean energy as an economic opportunity, Bowles overhauled utility regulation to make Massachusetts the national leader in energy efficiency investment and a key innovator in incentives for clean energy. Bowles also set the highest standards in the nation on greenhouse gas emissions and building codes. Massachusetts is now ranked as the #1 state on energy efficiency and has seen a 50 fold increase in solar installation since 2008. Bowles’s academic career includes posts as a Senior Research Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and as adjunct member of the teaching faculty at Oxford University.

Serge Brammertz

Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Mr. Brammertz was deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court from 2002 to 2007. He was a federal prosecutor in Belgium from 1997 to 2002 and assisted the Council of Europe as an expert He also served on the Justice and Internal Affairs committee of the European Commission. He is currently the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Benoît Coeuré

Member of the ECB Executive Board

Benoît Coeuré has been a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank since 1 January 2012. He is responsible for Market Operations, Research, Information Systems, and Payments and Market Infrastructure. Prior to joining the ECB, he served in various policy positions at the French Treasury. He was the Deputy Chief Executive, then Chief Executive, of the French debt management office, Agence France Trésor, between 2002 and 2007. From 2007 to 2009, he was France’s Assistant Secretary for Multilateral Affairs, Trade and Development, co-chair of the Paris Club and G8 and G20 Finance Sous-Sherpa for France. From 2009 to 2011, he was Deputy Director General and Chief Economist of the French Treasury.

Jérôme Contamine

CFO of Sanofi

Jérôme Contamine is a Graduate of Ecole Polytechnique, France’s most prestigious engineering school, and ENSAE, the national statistics and economics engineering school. He graduated from the elite ENA – Ecole Nationale d’Administration opting for the French Court of Audit “Cour des Comptes” in 1984. After 4 years at the “Cour des Comptes”, as a Senior State General Auditor, he joined Elf Aquitaine in 1988, as advisor to the Chief Financial Officer, and became Group Finance Director & Treasurer in 1991. He became the General Manager of Elf Petroleum Norway in 1995, after being named Deputy Vice President of Elf Upstream Division for Europe and the U.S. In 1999, he was appointed Head of the taskforce for integration with Total, in charge of the reorganization of the merged entity, TotalFinaElf, and became, in 2000, Vice President Europe and Central Asia, Upstream Division of Total. The same year, he joined Vivendi Environnement as CFO and Deputy General Manager. In 2003, he became Senior Executive Vice President, Deputy General Manager. He was appointed to his current position, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Sanofi in March 2009.

Karel De Gucht

European Commissioner for Trade

Mr. De Gucht is a Belgian politician who has been the European Commissioner for Trade since 2010. In this role, he is responsible for designing, implementing and communicating EU trade policies. Previously, he was Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minster from 2008-2009 and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs from 2004 to 2009 and then European Commissioner for Development & Humanitarian Aid from 2009 to 2010. He has been a Member of the Belgian House of Representatives between 2003-2009. Mr. De Gucht was also chairman of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) from 1999-2004. Mr. De Gucht was Professor in European Law at the University of Brussels from 1991-2009.

Rafael del Pino

Chairman of Ferrovial

Mr. del Pino studied an MS in Civil Engineering and holds an MBA by MIT Sloan (1986). He has been Chairman of Ferrovial since 2000 and CEO since 1992. He was also Chairman of Cintra from 1998 to 2009. Mr. del Pino is Member of MIT Corporation, Board of Zurich Insurance Group, International Advisory Boards of Blackstone, IESE and MIT Energy Initiative, and European Advisory Boards of Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management. Ferrovial is one of Spain’s largest construction conglomerates and one of the world’s leading infrastructure groups. Ferrovial manages airports in Australia, Chile and toll roads in Spain, Portugal, Canada, Chile and Ireland. In the United States Ferrovial manages the Indiana toll road, the Chicago Skyway and the Trans-Texas Corridor. Ferrovial also owns BAA, Britain’s largest airport owner. He is also a member of the Rafael del Pino Foundation, that promotes scientific knowledge among other activities.

Pierre Denis

CEO of Jimmy Choo Limited

Mr. Pierre Denis has been J. Choo Limited (Jimmy Choo)’s new CEO since July 2012. Formerly General Manager at John Galliano SA, Mr. Denis avails himself of a remarkable career within the international luxury sector including the position of Managing Director for Christian Dior Couture in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and India, prior to which he worked for French LVMH’s perfume and cosmetics division.

Fred Destin

Partner at Atlas Ventures

Fred Destin joined Atlas in 2004 and is a partner in the technology group where he focuses on technology enabled services and consumer facing innovation. In the 12 past years, he has partnered with startups both in Europe (Zoopla, Seatwave, DailyMotion, PriceMinister) and in the United States (Kinvey, Adsafe and others). He is also investor and board member of Seedcamp, the leading pan-European seed incubator. He was previously an executive director at Goldman Sachs and also worked at JP Morgan in hybrid derivatives, but has never looked back since deciding to jump into innovation and entrepreneurship. He holds a master of finance, magna cum laude, from Solvay Business School (University of Brussels) and has lived, studied, and worked in London, Hong Kong, New York, Geneva, Belgium, and now Boston.

Anna Diamantopoulou

Former European Commissioner and Minister of Education of Greece

Anna Diamantopoulou is a Civil Engineer by training with graduate studies in Regional Development and has been a member of the Greek Parliament for 11 years. In 1999 she was appointed as European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (1999-2004). In 2009 she served as Minister of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs until March of 2012, and consequently as the Minister of Development, Competitiveness and Shipping until the May 2012 elections. Anna Diamantopoulou is very active in European affairs. She is Praesidium Member of the “Friends of Europe”, the Brussels-based think tank exploring thinking on the future of the EU, and a Steering Committee Member, of “Notre Europe-Jaques Delors Institute” the Paris-based think tank dedicated to European integration and unity.

Dominique Dwor-Frecaut

Head of Research, Civic Capital

Ms. Dwor-Frecaut is head of research at Civic Capital, a New York-based macro hedge fund. Before joining Civic Capital she was a portfolio strategist with Bridgewater Associates, a Connecticut-based hedge fund and a FX strategist working at Barclays, Abn-Amro and RBS in Singapore. Prior to this, she was a senior economist at the IMF and the World Bank. Ms Dwor-Frecaut holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics.

David Folkerts-Landau

Chief Economist Deutsche Bank and Member of the Group Executive Committee

Mr. Folkerts-Landau is the Global Head of Research (Equities and Fixed Income) at Deutsche Bank, based in London and New York. He is also a member of the Global Markets Executive Committee. Before joining Deutsche Bank in 1997, he was the division head of International Capital Markets surveillance and financial markets research at the IMF from 1992. Prior to this, he was assistant professor of economics and finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Mr. Folkerts-Landau holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University.

Peter Fischer

Head of Economic Department, German Embassy to the US

Peter Fischer is Head of Economic Affairs (Minister) at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, DC. The department is responsible for a broad range of policy areas including economics, finance, industry, trade, investment, energy, environment, climate change, science & technology, labor, transport and agriculture. Peter is a career diplomat. He joined the Foreign Office in 1986. His professional path has focused on economic and global issues. He has worked at the Foreign Office in Berlin, the Office of the German President and at German missions in Tel Aviv, London, Shanghai and Singapore. He holds Master’s degrees in history and political science from the Free University of Berlin and in government from Georgetown University and also studied internal relations at “Sciences Po” in Paris.

Elsa Fornero

Italian Minister of Labour, Social Policies and Equal Opportunities

Ms. Fornero the current Italian Minister of Labor, Social Policies and Gender Equality since 16 November 2011 in the technocratic government led by Mario Monti. Prior to becoming Minister, Fornero was an Economics Professor at the University of Turin. She is an expert in welfare and pensions. From 2000 to 2010, she worked together with the Turin Centre on the Italian pension system. She served as the director of CeRP, the Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies. During her ministerial mandate, she enacted structural reforms in the pension system and in the labor market.

Daniel Gros

Director of the Centre of European Policy Studies

Daniel Gros is the Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), in Brussels. He is originally from Germany, however he attended University in Italy, where he obtained a Laurea in Economia e Commercio, as well as the United States, where he earned his M.A. and Ph.D (University of Chicago, 1984). Upon completion of his academic education, he worked at the International Monetary Fund, in the European and Research Departments, then as an Economic Advisor at the Directorate General II of the European Commission.

Connie Hedegaard

European Commissioner for Climate Action

Connie Hedegaard is the EU’s first ever Commissioner for Climate Action since February 2010. In August 2004 she was appointed as Danish Minister for the Environment and was later in charge of preparing the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.
Connie Hedegaard began her political career at the age of 23, when she was elected to the Danish Parliament as a member for the Conservative People’s Party. In 1989, Connie Hedegaard became first spokesperson for the Conservative People’s Party, but chose to leave politics for journalism in 1990. She began working as a journalist for the Danish national newspaper Berlingske Tidende and then for the news bulletin service Radioavisen, for the TV programme Deadline and also for the Danish national daily newspaper Politiken.
Besides working as a politician and journalist, Connie Hedegaard has sat on a number of committees and boards. Lastly, she has received various prizes for her involvement in and contributions to social debate, due in great part to her wide-ranging activities as a lecturer and author. Her publications include Da klimaet blev hot, [When the climate got hot] published in Denmark in 2008, as well as contributions to several anthologies and topical books.

Günter Hörmandinger

Environment and Climate change Counsellor at the EU Delegation in Washington

Günter Hörmandinger is the Environment Counselor at the EU Delegation to the United States in Washington. Prior to his appointment in April 2010 he was an official at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment where he was heading the team in charge of road vehicle emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases. In this position he was in charge of the EU legislation on CO2 emissions from passenger cars. Earlier appointments with the European Commission since 1997 included work on the environmental impacts of transport policy and on trans-European energy networks. Before joining the European Commission he was an independent consultant focusing on policies and technologies in the energy and transportation sectors. He obtained a Ph.D. in physics at the Technical University of Vienna and spent three years as a post-doctoral researcher at Imperial College, London, before moving into the environmental area by obtaining an M.Sc. in environmental technology, also at Imperial College.

Neil Holland

Head of the Europe Team at the British Embassy to the United States

Neil Holland has been Head of the Europe team at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, since 2008. His area of responsibility spans the European Union, NATO, the Russian Federation and the countries of the former Soviet Union. Prior to serving in Washington, DC, he covered German Foreign Policy at the British Embassy in Berlin for four years. His appointments in London included Head of NATO policy and a spell in Finance Directorate looking after the Foreign Office budget. Before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2001, Neil spent eight years in the private sector working in financial services, both in the UK and in Australia.

Danuta Hübner

Chair of the Committee of Regional Development in the European Parliament, Member of European Parliament

Since July 2009 Ms. Hübner has been a Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the Committee on Regional Development. In addition she is a substitute member of the Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, the Special Committee on the Policy Challenges and Budgetary Resources for a Sustainable European Union after 2013. In 2004 Professor Hübner was entrusted as Commissioner with the regional policy portfolio. She obtained an MSc (1971) and a PhD (1974) from the Warsaw School of Economics. In 1992 she was granted the title of Professor of Economics by the President of the Republic of Poland.

Lawrence Jones

Vice President Regulatory Affairs, Policy and Industry Relations for Alstom Grid North America

Dr. Lawrence E. Jones has over 20 years of experience in the energy industry, and currently serves as the North America Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, Policy and Industry Relations, for Alstom Grid. He serves on the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Federal Smart Grid Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors of the Center for Sustainable Development in Africa (CSDA), as well as the Advisory Boards of several industry conferences and smart research programs within the Americas and Europe. He holds patents for technologies that can enhance situational awareness in power system operations, and is the Editor for an upcoming book, “Renewable Energy Integration: Practical Management of Variability, Uncertainty and Flexibility in Power Grids.” He received his MSc, Licentiate and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Guillaume Klossa

Founding President of EuropaNova

Guillaume Klossa, a graduate of HEC Business School, Sciences Po Paris and London School of Economics, chairs EuropaNova, a European think-tank based in Paris dedicated to European integration and European general interest. Guillaume was special adviser to the minister in charge of the French presidency of the European Union before serving the reflection group on the Future of Europe, appointed by the European Council and chaired by Felipe Gonzalez.

Under his leadership, EuropaNova launched some ideas which contributed to key European achievements such the Lisbon treaty, the European stability mechanism or the “Erasmus for all” project. Guillaume is also the founder of the first European young leaders’ program “40under40″ and of “Etats Généraux de l’Europe”, one of the main European citizen forums. He is now working on an international project aiming to draw practical teachings for European integration from main federal experiences (Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, the USA) in order to prepare a new European convention.

Federica Marchionni

President of Dolce & Gabbana USA

Federica Marchionni is a President of Dolce & Gabbana USA Inc., Ms. Marchionni started her career in the technology arena, working for industry leaders such as Samsung, Phillips and Ericsson. In 2001 she brought her business experience into the world of high fashion. Over the course of her 10 year tenure with Dolce & Gabbana, Ms. Marchionni was instrumental in the development of the Company’s creative and operational strategies. As a key member of the executive team, she greatly contributed to the Company’s worldwide success by influencing and coordinating the entire value chain, from the phase of creation, all the way through the end-consumer sales. More recently Ms. Marchionni career also included a position of a Senior Vice President for Ferrari, the luxury car maker before moving to the USA. Ms. Marchionni holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration & Marketing from the La Sapienza University of Rome (cum laude). She also attended Master’s level classes at SDA Bocconi and she tthought two year of course on Brand Expansion and Extension (The licencing business) at Marangoni Fashion School (Milan).

Thomas Mayr-Harting

Head of the EU Delegation to the United Nations

Mr. Mayr-Harting is the Head of the EU Delegation to the United Nations in New York. Before assuming his appointment in 2011, he served as the Austrian Permanent Representative to the UN. During this time Austria was non-permanent member to the UN Security Council and Mr. Mayr-Harting was President of the Security Council in November 2009. Prior to moving to the US, he served Austria, inter alia, as Political Director of the Foreign Ministry, as Special Representative for the Western Balkans, as Ambassador to Belgium in Brussels, as Head of Mission to the NATO, and at the Embassy in Moscow. Mr. Mayr-Harting received Law degrees from the University of Vienna, the College of Europe in Bruges, and The Hague Academy of International Law.

Sergei Millian

President of the Russian American Chamber of Commerce in the USA

Sergei Millian has extensive experience working with foreign governments, bankers’ delegations, trade missions, oil and gas executives and private businesses trying to do business with the Commonwealth of Independent States. Mr. Millian has served as President of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce since May 2006. Under his leadership, Mr. Millian helped grow the organization’s membership and clout by strengthening community and intercultural ties between Russian and American businesses. The Russian-American Chamber of Commerce assists American and Russian business owners with international trade and commerce, investment, tourism and overall business development. Mr. Millian has also served as the Official Representative of the Belarus Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the United States – the oldest foreign economic structure for the Republic of Belarus. Mr. Millian attended the Academy of Business Administration by the President of the Republic of Belarus, where he studied international law. He graduated from Minsk State Linguistic University, where he also studied Foreign Languages and Diplomacy. Mr. Millian speaks five foreign languages fluently: English, Russian, Belarusian, Italian, and Spanish.

Frank Montag

Partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Dr. Frank Montag is a member of the Cologne and Brussels bars and a senior partner in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s antitrust, competition and trade (ACT) group, based in Brussels. Recently named ‘Global Competition Lawyer of the Year’ by The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers for the second consecutive year, Frank has over 25 years’ experience of guiding his international clients through some of Europe’s most complex merger transactions and investigations into anti-competitive practices, including abuse of dominance and cartels. His practice also spans European state aid law and international trade proceedings, and he is an experienced advocate before the European courts.

Kalypso Nicolaïdis

Director of Center for International Studies at the University of Oxford

Kalypso Nicolaïdis is Professor of International Relations and director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Oxford. She is a joint Emile Noel-Straus Senior Fellow at NYU Law School for the academic year 2012-2013. She was previously associate professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She is also chair of Southeastern European Studies at Oxford and Council member of the European Council of Foreign Relations. In 2008-2010, she was a member of the Gonzales reflection group on the future of Europe 2030. She also served as advisor on European affairs to George Papandreou in the 90s and early 2000s. She has published widely on international relations as well as the internal and external aspects of European integration in numerous journals including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Public Policy and International Organization. Her last book is European Stories: Intellectual Debates on Europe in National Context (OUP, 2010). She received her PhD from Harvard in 1993.

Athanasios Orphanides

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus and Member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank

Athanasios Orphanides is a Cypriot economist who served as Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus between 3 May 2007 to 2 May 2012 and a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank between 1 January 2008 and 2 May 2012. Prior to his appointment as Governor, he served as Senior Adviser at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in the USA, where he started his professional career as an economist in 1999. While at the Federal Reserve he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in macroeconomics and monetary economics at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University. He holds undergraduate degrees in mathematics and economics as well as Ph.D in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ernestos Panayiotou

Engagement Manager McKinsey Greece

Ernestos has been with McKinsey for 6 years, serving financial service institutions in several markets including Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, the UK, and the US, and on topics covering strategy, risk management, and post merger integration. He is an active member of the McKinsey EMEA risk practice and the Greek public sector practice. Ernestos has also served as an executive advisor at National Bank of Greece for 6 years, where he focused on international M&A and credit risk management. He holds a Bachelors in Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE) from the University of Oxford, and a Masters in Public Administration/ International Development (MPA/ID) from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Oliver Pennington

President and Owner of Bang & Olufsen Boston/Greenwich

Oliver Pennington has been President and Owner of the Danish high-end design brand’s Bang & Olufsen Boston/Greenwich for over 10 years. During his tenure, he has increased sales to become the highest grossing dealer in North America for 8 years running, and secured a position among the top 25 dealers in the world. Under his direction, he has transformed a limited cash and carry business model to a more robust customer service oriented model that includes a blend of customized design solutions in parallel to the traditional model. He identified key products and partners in the industry to help build this model — many of which the manufacturer has since adopted to promote to dealers worldwide. Prior to Bang & Olufsen, Mr. Pennington owned a specialty tea importing business, focusing on bringing premium teas to the US market. Mr. Pennington holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Boston University.

Mahmood Pradhan

Deputy-Director of the European Department at IMF

Mahmood Pradhan is a Deputy Director in the European Department at the International Monetary Fund and mission chief for the Euro Area,. He was earlier a Senior Advisor in the Asia Pacific Department and mission chief for Japan. Prior to joining the Fund in 2007, Mr. Pradhan was Chief Emerging Markets Strategist at Tudor Investment Corporation and subsequently an Emerging Markets Portfolio Manager at Wadhwani Asset Management, a macro hedge fund in London. In his early career, Mr. Pradhan was an economist at the Bank of England and at the IMF, as the senior desk economist on Indonesia during the Asian crisis in the late 1990s.

Rodrigo Rato

Former Managing Director of IMF, Economics Minister in Spain

Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo was the Vice-President and Minister of the Economy of Spain from 1996 to 2004 and a member of the conservative People’s Party (PP). He was also First Deputy Prime Minister from 2003 to 2004. During his tenure as Minister for the economy he was responsible among other things for the largest privatization effort in Spain, including the privatization of Telefonica, Endesa, Repsol and other state-owned companies. He also promoted general reforms in the tax code and was a great promoter of measures to enhance the competitiveness of Spanish Companies. Subsequently he was Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2004 to 2007. He left his post at the IMF on 31 October 2007, following the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings. He is a graduate from Haas School of Business where he received his MBA in 1974 and a lawyer by training from the Complutense University of Madrid, where he also obtained a Ph.D. in Economic policy.

Maive Rute

Former Director of Entrepreneurship and SME Policy at the European Commission

Maive Rute is Director for biotechnology and agriculture portfolio in the Research and Innovation department of the European Commission. In 2005 – 2009 she was European Commission Director for entrepreneurship and SME policy. The creation of the Small Business Act for Europe and the launch of the pan-European Enterprise Europe Network count as the two main highlights of her term. She is cur- rently on leave from her job for a year of Fellowship at the Weatherhead Center of Harvard University. Having graduated as an economist from the Estonian University of Life Sciences, Maive Rute holds an MBA from Danube University in Austria and a Masters in international politics from CERIS, Belgium.

Tim Sanders

Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Tim Sanders is an English-qualified partner and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation based in the London office of Skadden, where he heads the European tax practice. He works on a wide range of cross-border and domestic UK corporate and banking taxation matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, structured finance, corporate reorganisations, and structurings and international joint ventures. Mr. Sanders is ranked in the first tier of tax advisers in Chambers’ European, UK and Global guides to leading lawyers. He is recognised as a leading tax adviser in The Legal 500 and Debrett’s People of Today. Mr. Sanders is the author of Butterworths’ Tax Indemnities and Warranties, the chapter on directors’ benefits in Tolleys’ Company Law and many other legal texts. He is also editor of and contributor to Law Business Research’s The Inward Investment and International Taxation Review.

Klaus Scharioth

Professor of Practice at The Fletcher School, Former German Ambassador to the USA

Klaus Scharioth is Professor of Practice at the Fletcher School and Dean of the Mercator College for International Affairs in Germany. He served in the German Foreign Service for more than 35 years (1976-2011), most recently as German Ambassador to the US (2006-2011) and as State Secretary of the German Foreign Office (2002-2006). Prior he was, inter alia, Political Director and Director-General of the Political Department, Director of the North America and Security Policy Directorate, Head of the Office of the German Foreign Minister, Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General, and as Vice Chairman of the UN Legal and Charter Committees. He is senior Fellow of the Transatlantic Academy in Washington, DC, and member of the boards of Humanity in Action, the International Advisory Council of the Istanbul Policy Center and the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Jan-Patrick Schmitz

CEO of Montblanc North America

Mr. Jan-Patrick Schmitz was named President and CEO of Montblanc North America in 2003. Looking back on a career that started in 1994 at the company’s operations in Hamburg (Germany), Mr. Schmitz has been instrumental in positioning and shepherding Montblanc into the 21st century and elevating it from a household name—known for its dominance in the world of fine writing instruments—to a true luxury brand. Prior to heading the North American business, he was President and CEO of Montblanc Japan.

Daniela Schwarzer

Fritz Thyssen Fellow, Harvard Program on Transatlantic Relations

Dr. Daniela Schwarzer is currently Fritz Thyssen fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. She is on leave from her position as Head of the Division European Integration at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin. Her main field of expertise is European integration, in particular the financial, economic and sovereign debt crises in the Euro area. Since 2011, she has been scientific advisor to the Center for Strategic Analysis of the French Prime Minister. In 2010/2011 she was an advisor to the Polish EU Presidency. In 2007/2008 she was a member of the working group “Europe” of the Whitebook Commission on Foreign and European Policy in the French Foreign Ministry. From 1999 to 2004 she served as editorialist and France correspondent for the Financial Times Deutschland. Daniela Schwarzer holds a PhD from Freie Universitat Berlin.

Nikos Stathopoulos

Managing Partner BC Partners

Nikos is a Managing Partner at BC Partners (major European PE Fund, over $15bn AUM) and a leading investor in Europe and South Europe in particular. Some of his most recent investments include Migros (Turkey’s leading supermarket chain) and Comhem (leading cable television operator in Sweden). Prior to BC Partners, Nikos was a Partner at Apax, where he spent seven years. He represents BC Partners at the European Venture Capital Association (EVCA) and is a Member of the Harvard Business School European Leadership Council. Nikos speaks Greek, English, French, Spanish, and Italian. He graduated from Athens University of Economics, summa cum laude, in Business Administration and holds an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

Shahin Vallée

Economic Advisor to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy

Shahin Vallee is a French citizen and has been a Visiting Fellow at Bruegel from October 2010 until June 2012. His research interest is essentially focused on international macroeconomics but he is also particularly interested in the all research areas at the intersection of financial markets and public policy. In particular, at Bruegel he worked on the international monetary system, European economic governance and monetary and macroprudential policy. From 1 July 2012, Shahin has been appointed to the Cabinet of President Van Rompuy as an economic advisor.

Guy Verhofstadt

President of Liberal and Democratic Alliance in European Parliament, Former Prime Minister of Belgium

Mr. Verhofstadt is a Belgian politician, who served as the 47th Prime Minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008, heading three separate governments. Since 2009 he has serves as a Member of the European Parliament where he is the leader of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and founded the inter-parliamentarian federalist Spinelli Group. In addition to his duties as a politician, Mr. Verhofstadt has written a number of books including, The United States of Europe (2006), The New Age of Empires (2008) and Emerging from the Crisis: How Europe can Save the World (2009). Mr. Verhofstadt holds a degree in law from the University of Ghent.

Pierre Vimont

Secretary-General of the European External Action Service

Vimont holds a licence in law. He is a graduate of the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris and the École nationale d’administration. French President Nicolas Sarkozy appointed him to the position of Ambassador to the United States on 1 August 2007. On 25 October 2010, he was selected by the European Union’s (EU) High Representative to be the first Executive Secretary General of the European External Action Service, which began operation on 1 December 2010.

Max von Bismarck

Partner and CEO of Skybridge Capital Europe

Mr. von Bismarck is a Partner and CEO for Europe at Skybridge Capital, a leading alternative investments firm with US$ 7.9 billion in assets. He is also a senior adviser on global business at the Asia-Pacific Research Center of Stanford University and serves as a senior adviser to the World Economic Forum. Before, he was Director and Head of Investors at the World Economic Forum. He was a founding team member of the Oxford-based technology company Mondus Limited, and was a Co-Founder at Public One Strategy Consulting.

Florian Zinoecker

Head of Corporate Governance and Internal Policies at the European Stability Mechanism

Florian Zinoecker (MPA 2008) is Head of Corporate Governance and Internal Policies at the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). He is responsible for the preparation of the decisions and meetings of the ESM Board of Governors, Board of Directors and Board of Auditors, as well as for providing high-level corporate functions such as Operational Risk, Procurement, Internal Policies and Processes. Florian Zinoecker previously worked for a number of EU Institutions, including the European Investment Bank, European Central Bank and European Commission, as well as for the EU Departments of the Austrian Prime Minister’s Office and Austrian Central Bank. Florian Zinoecker graduated with an MPA from Harvard University. He also holds graduate degrees in European Studies and economics from the University of Vienna, where he focused on the Euro and the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in his final theses.

Joseph Aldy

Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, former special Assistant to President Obama for Energy and Environment at the White House

Joe Aldy is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a Nonresident Fellow at Resources for the Future, and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is also the Faculty Chair for the Regulatory Policy Program at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. His research focuses on climate change policy, energy policy, and mortality risk valuation. In 2009-2010, Aldy served as the Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Environment, reporting through both the National Economic Council and the Office of Energy and Climate Change at the White House.

Francois Brochet

Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

Francois Brochet is an assistant professor of business administration in the Accounting and Management Unit. He teaches the Business Analysis and Valuation Using Financial Statements course in the MBA elective curriculum and teaches in the Executive Education program Strategic Financial Analysis for Business Valuation. Professor Brochet’s primary research areas are insider trading, corporate governance, and the effect of top executives on firm policies, all of which contribute to the understanding of information dissemination in capital markets.

Henrik Enderlein

Visiting Professor, Harvard Kennedy School

Henrik Enderlein is Professor of Political Economy and Economics at the Hertie School of Governance. Until summer 2012 he held the positions as Associate Dean and Program Director Master of Public Policy. He obtained degrees in economics and political science from Sciences Po, Paris, and Columbia University, New York, and his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, Germany. From 2001-2003, he worked as an economist in the Directorate International and European Relations of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. In 2003, Henrik Enderlein was awarded the Max Planck Society’s Otto-Hahn Medal for outstand achievements by young scientists. During the academic year 2006-2007, Henrik Enderlein was Fulbright Distinguished Chair at Duke University’s Political Science Department.

Ronald Heifetz

King Hussein Bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership and founder of the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School

Ronald Heifetz is the King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership and founder of the Center for Public Leadership. Recognized for his seminal work on both the practice and teaching of leadership, his research focuses on building the adaptive capacity of societies and organizations. His first book, Leadership without Easy Answers, has been reprinted and translated many times. He cofounded Cambridge Leadership Associates and coauthored the best-selling Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading with Marty Linsky. His recent book, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing your Organization and the World, was coauthored with Linsky and Alexander Grashow. Heifetz speaks and consults extensively throughout the world with heads of governments, companies, and NGOs. He is the subject of many articles and the book by Sharon Daloz Parks, Leadership Can Be Taught.

Alan Henrikson

Lee E. Dirks Professor of Diplomatic History and the Director of Diplomatic Studies, The Fletcher School

Alan K. Henrikson is the Lee E. Dirks Professor of Diplomatic History and the Director of Diplomatic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, where he teaches American diplomatic history, contemporary U.S.-European relations, global political geography, and the history, theory, and practice of diplomacy. During the academic year 2010-2011 he was Fulbright Schuman Professor of US-EU Relations at the College of Europe in Bruges. Alan Henrikson received A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees in History from Harvard University where he was a Harvard National Scholar and a Danforth Graduate Fellow. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Oxford, where he read Philosophy-Politics-and-Economics (P.-P.-E.) at Balliol College as a Rhodes Scholar. He is a past President of the United Nations Association of Greater Boston (UNA-GB) and currently is a member of the National Council of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA). He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Committee on Foreign Relations and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Michele Lamont

Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies, Harvard University

Michele Lamont is Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and professor of sociology and African and African American studies at Harvard. She served as chair of the Council for European Studies from 2006–2009. Lamont co-directs (with Peter A. Hall) theSuccessful Societies Program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Their new book Social Resilience in the Neo-Liberal Age, will be available in spring 2013. A cultural sociologist, Lamont has published widely in the comparative analysis of racial and class boundaries in France and the United States.

Robert Lawrence

Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment, Harvard Kennedy School

Robert Z. Lawrence is Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment, a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He currently serves as Faculty Chair of The Practice of Trade Policy executive program at Harvard Kennedy School. He served as a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1998 to 2000. Lawrence has also been a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has taught at Yale University, where he received his PhD in economics. His research focuses on trade policy. He is the author of several books. Lawrence has served on the advisory boards of the Congressional Budget Office, the Overseas Development Council, and the Presidential Commission on United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy.

Tom Nicholas

William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

Tom Nicholas is a Professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Group of Harvard Business School. He holds a doctorate in Economic History from Oxford University. Prior to joining HBS, he taught Technology Strategy at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and technology and finance courses at the London School of Economics. He was also an economics consultant in San Francisco where he performed economic analysis for environmental and antitrust litigation including Sun Microsystems v. Microsoft.

Lucas Papademos

Visiting Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, former Governor of the Bank of Greece

Lucas Papademos is currently a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Previously, he was the Vice-President of the European Central Bank from 2002 to 2010 and the Governor of the Bank of Greece from 1994 to 2002. He taught economics at Columbia University from 1975 to 1984 and at the University of Athens from 1988 to 1993. He served as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 1980. He held the position of Economic Counsellor (Chief Economist) at the Bank of Greece from 1985 until 1993 when he was appointed Deputy Governor. He has been a member of various boards and committees including the Financial Stability Board and the EU Economic and Financial Committee. He is a member of the Academy of Athens. He has published numerous articles in the fields of macroeconomic theory, the structure and functioning of financial markets, monetary analysis and policy as well as on subjects concerning the economic performance, financial stability and economic policy in the European Union. Mr. Papademos earned a Bachelor of Science in physics, a Master of Science in electrical engineering, and a PhD in economics, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Elizabeth H. Prodromou

Affiliate Scholar, Co-Chair Southeastern Europe Study Group at the Center for European Studies at Harvard

Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou is the Co-Chair of the Southeastern Europe Study Group at the CES at Harvard University. She is a retired US diplomat, having served (2004-2012) as Vice Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. She has taught international relations and directed the M.A. Program in International Relations & Religion at Boston University. She has published widely on her research interests, which center on religion and security, democracy and human rights. She is currently expanding her research on “Orthodox constructions of the West,” while also completing a monograph on Church-State Relations in Greece.

Carmen Reinhart

Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System, Harvard Kennedy School

Carmen M. Reinhart is the Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System at Harvard Kennedy School. She was formerly Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute and Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. Earlier, she was chief economist and vice president at the investment bank Bear Stearns in the 1980s and spent several years at the International Monetary Fund. Reinhart’s work has helped to inform the understanding of financial crises for over a decade.Her best-selling book (with Kenneth S. Rogoff) entitled This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly documents the striking similarities of the recurring booms and busts that have characterized financial history.

Dante Roscini

Senior Lecturer, L. E. Simmons Faculty Fellow, Harvard Business School

Dante Roscini teaches the required course Business, Government and the International Economy as well as the elective course Managing International Trade and Investment. He joined the Harvard Business School faculty in 2008 and has published a number of cases and notes related to sovereign debt, monetary policy, central banking and international investment. He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard (1988) and a summa cum laude Laurea degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Rome, Italy (1981). Before coming back to HBS Mr. Roscini spent twenty years in investment banking with senior positions at three of the top US bulge bracket firms in New York and London.

Vivien Schmidt

Professor of International Relations, Boston University

Vivien Schmidt is Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Professor of International Relations and Political Science at Boston University, and Founding Director of BU’s Center for the Study of Europe. Recent honors, fellowships, and awards include an honorary doctorate from the FreeUniversity of Brussels (ULB), Senior Visiting Research Scholar at the Free University of Berlin, and the prestigious Belgian Franqui Interuniversity Chair held at the Free University of Brussels and Louvain. Prof. Schmidt has also been a visiting professor or scholar at Sciences-Po Paris, LUISS in Rome, Oxford, Cambridge, the Copenhagen Business School, and the European University Institute. She has published widely on European political economy, institutions, and democracy as well as lately on the Eurozone crisis. Recent books include the forthcoming Resilient Liberalism: European Political Economy through Boom and Bust (co-edited, Cambridge 2013), Debating Political Identity and Legitimacy in the European Union (co-edited, Routledge 2011), Democracy in Europe (Oxford 2006), and The Futures of European Capitalism (Oxford 2002). She received her MA and PhD from the University of Chicago, her BA from Bryn Mawr College, and also attended Sciences-Po Paris.

José Manuel Martínez Sierra

Director of the Real Colegio Complutense

José Manuel Martínez Sierra is Jean Monnet Professor for the Study of European Union Law and Director of the RCC, Director of the USA-Spain Scientific and Academic Network Research Group, and Faculty Associate of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.He has an M.A. in Law, M.A. in Political Science and Sociology, a J.D. and a Ph.D. in Law from Complutense University of Madrid. He received his LL.M. Eur. from Alcalá University and a Specialist Degree in International and Comparative Law from the University of Amsterdam. He was an advisor to several Spanish Ministers responsible for Education, Spanish representative to the UNESCO and a member of the US-Spain Fulbright Commission.

Holger Spamann

Assistant Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Holger Spamann is Assistant Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he teaches corporate law and corporate finance. His research focuses on the law and economics of corporate governance and financial markets, as well as comparative law. Before embarking on his academic career, he practiced with Debevoise & Plimpton in New York and clerked for two years in Europe. He holds a Ph.D. and an A.M. in economics from Harvard University, a B.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics, basic law degrees from the Sorbonne and the University of Hamburg, and an LL.M.(waived) and an S.J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Stefan Thomke

William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

Stefan Thomke, an authority on the management of innovation, is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He has worked with US, European and Asian firms on product, process, and technology development, organizational design and change, and strategy. Since joining the Harvard faculty in 1995, Professor Thomke has taught and chaired numerous MBA and executive courses on innovation management, R&D strategy, product & service development, and operations. He is chair of the Executive Education Program Leading Product Innovation, which helps business leaders in revamping their product development processes for greater competitive advantage.

Luis Viceira

George E. Bates Professor, Harvard Business School

Luis M. Viceira is the George E. Bates Professor at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the areas of investment management and capital markets to both graduate students and practitioners. He holds a bachelor degree from the Universidad Autonoma in Madrid, and a M.A. degree and a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University. Professor Viceira has been a member of the faculty of the Harvard Business School since 1998. Prof. Viceira’s research studies the design of asset allocation strategies for long-term investors, both individuals and institutions, and the management and organization of large institutional investors, including pension funds, endowments, and large asset managers such as mutual fund companies or wealth management groups.