Charles Alexander

Board Director, Genpact Global

Charles Alexander, 55, was until August 2008 President of GE Capital Europe and National Executive of GE in the UK as well as being a member of the Board of Directors of General Electric Capital Corporation and GE Capital Services, Inc.

Charles graduated from Oxford University in 1974 and began a 25-year career in investment banking at NM Rothschild where he specialised in equity capital markets, international privatisations, inward direct investment, project finance and mergers and acquisitions.

Charles joined General Electric in 1999 and in his role as President of GE Capital Europe is responsible for the origination and execution of acquisition opportunities as well as the strategic development of GE’s financial services businesses across Europe. In 2001, Charles was appointed GE’s UK National Executive, serving as a focal point for all of GE’s activities in the UK, from identifying growth opportunities and driving company initiatives to representing GE internally and externally.

In addition, Charles was a director of Garanti Bank, Turkey’s third-largest privately held bank. Charles also represented GE on the Boards of Genpact, a leading global provider of business and technology services and SES Global, the world’s leading satellite communications company, all companies in which GE has a significant equity interest or partnership.

Charles’s interests outside of work include theatre, golf, cricket and opera where he is the former Vice-Chairman of English National Opera based at London’s Coliseum. Charles is married with three children and is fluent speaker of Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.

Richard Aylard

Director and Special Advisor to the CEO, Thames Water

Richard Aylard is a Director and Special Advisor to the Chief Executive of Thames Water. He has worked for the company since 2002, spending two years as Corporate Responsibility Director and then four as External Affairs and Sustainability Director. His brief centres on the key issues affecting corporate reputation, including environmental and sustainability issues. In addition, he is the company’s lead spokesperson in public and with the media.  Much of his time is currently spent in briefing stakeholders on the company’s approach to the forthcoming price review and in building support for the London Tideway Tunnels and the proposed Upper Thames reservoir.

From 1985 to 1996 Richard worked in the office of HRH The Prince of Wales, latterly as Private Secretary and Chief of Staff.  Throughout this period he was the Prince's lead advisor and speechwriter on environmental issues, in which Richard has had a lifelong interest.  He previously served in the Royal Navy, retiring in 1988 in the rank of Commander.

Richard holds a degree in Applied Zoology from the University of Reading. He is a Senior Associate of the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management and an Ambassador for WWF (UK).

Sir Roger Bone

President, Boeing UK

Sir Roger has been President of Boeing UK Ltd since September 2005, and in that capacity is responsible for coordinating all Boeing’s business interests in UK. He leads Boeing’s strategy for company growth in UK and sustains Boeing’s relationships with UK customers and principal suppliers. He also has primary responsibility for advising the Boeing Company on UK political and economic developments, and oversees Boeing’s UK outreach activities, including research and university links.

Sir Roger is also a non-executive Director of F & C Investment Trust plc, the oldest and one of the biggest investment trusts in the city.

Sir Roger previously had a thirty eight year career in the British Diplomatic Service, culminating in two appointments as an Ambassador overseas, to Brazil and Sweden.

At earlier stages in his career, he served in Moscow, Brussels and Washington, and was also a Private Secretary to two Foreign Secretaries in the 1980’s, Francis Pym and Sir Geoffrey Howe.

Sir Roger is a graduate of Oxford University, 1962-66, and was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University, 1984 – 5.

Dr Simona Botti

Assistant Professor of Marketing at the London Business School

Kerry Capell

Senior Correspondent, London Bureau, BusinessWeek

John Clarke

Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Nokia

Prior to joining Nokia, he was the Group Technology Director for Tesco, the UK’s largest and world’s 4th largest retailer. John is a regular conference presenter, with an active interest in Information & Business Analytics, Mobility and Social Networking. He is an active participant in security and privacy forums and is a Non-Executive Director with the UK ePassports body. John was named “Finnish CIO of the Year 2009” by publications Tietoviikko and CIO magazine.

Simon Collingridge

Managing Director, Structured Finance Ratings, Standard & Poors

Dr Gordon Coutts

Vice President and General Manager, Schering Plough UK

Guy Daniels

Director of Content, Telecom TV

John Defterios

President, FBC Media and Chairman, BusinessWeek European Leadership Forum

John Defterios is an award winning journalist with 25 years of experience in financial news and global affairs and serves as President of FBC Media a European multi-media production and distribution group. He was an anchor and correspondent for CNN, CNN International, and CNNfn from 1992-2000 in New York and London. From 2000 until 2007 he hosted FBC's award winning syndicated programme, World Business distributed to 300 million households in Europe, Middle East, Asia and the U.S., plus 45 airlines. Since October 2007, Defterios hosts CNN International's Marketplace Middle East (MME).

Prof. Javier Diaz-Gimenez

Visiting Professor of Economics at IESE Business School

Soumitra Dutta

The Roland Berger Chaired Professor in Business and Technology, INSEAD

Soumitra Dutta is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology and the founder and academic director of elab@INSEAD, INSEAD's initiative in building a center of excellence in teaching and research in the digital economy in collaboration with leading international organizations such as Morgan Stanley, SAP, Cisco and Intel. 

Prior to joining the faculty of INSEAD in 1989, he was employed with Schlumberger in Japan and General Electric in the USA. Professor Dutta obtained his Ph.D. in computer science and his M.Sc. in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley. He has been a visiting Professor at several international universities including the Haas School of Business (Berkeley) and the Solvay Business School (Brussels). 

His current research is on technology strategy and innovation at both corporate and national policy levels. His latest books are “Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom” (Wiley, 2008), “Innovating at the Top” (Palgrave, 2009) and “The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009: Mobility in a Networked World” (World Economic Forum 2009). He has authored ten other books including "The Bright Stuff" (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002), "Embracing the Net" (Financial Times, 2001) and "Process Reengineering, Organizational Change and Performance Improvement" (Mc-Graw Hill, 1999). He has won several awards for research and pedagogy including awards for the European Case of the Year from the European Case Clearing House in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2002.

He is actively involved in policy development at national and European levels. He is currently a member of the Advisory Committee for ICT for the Government of Qatar and has advised other national governments on ICT policy issues. He is the Chairman of the European Commission's Europe Innova panel on Innovation in the ICT sector and a member of the Steering Committee of eBSN, the European Commission's eBusiness Network initiative for SMEs.

Dr Florence Eid

Managing Director Middle East & North Africa, Passport Capital LLC

Sir Stephen Gomersall

Chief Executive for Europe, Hitachi

Stephen Gomersall was appointed Hitachi’s Chief Executive for Europe in November 2004, acting as senior representative for all Hitachi Group businesses in EMEA. In October 2006 he was further appointed Senior Vice President & Executive Officer of Hitachi Ltd.

Earlier in his career Sir Stephen joined the FCO (the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office) being posted to Japan in 1986 and again in 1999, this time as Ambassador (until July 2004). He also served as a political officer in Washington (1982-86) and as Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN (New York, 1994-98). From 1979-1982 he worked in London as Private Secretary to the Deputy Foreign Minister dealing with European affairs. Sir Stephen was knighted in 2000 for services to government.

Sir Stephen obtained his MA in International Studies from Stanford University, California.

Gavin Grant

UK Chairman, Burson-Marsteller UK
www.bursonmarsteller.co.uk

Andy Green

Chief Executive Officer, Logica
www.logica.com

Andy Green joined Logica on 1 January 2008 as Chief Executive Officer, executive Board director and member of the executive committee.

Previously, Andy was a member of the Board at BT plc and CEO of Group Strategy and Operations where he was responsible for group strategy as well as two business units that designed and operated services across the world to meet the needs of BT and the wider communications industry.

Until April 2007, Andy was CEO of BT Global Services where he drove the transformation of the division into a focused operation providing networked IT services to multi-site organisations worldwide. While there, he doubled revenues to around £9 billion, managed a workforce of 30,000 people and oversaw a major improvement in profitability.

During his 21 years at BT, Andy held several senior positions, including that of CEO BT Openworld, where he launched Broadband into the UK market, gained significant market share in consumer and business internet and set the business on the path to profitability

.Andy began his career with Shell, where he gained a solid foundation in sales and operations. He subsequently joined Deloitte Haskins & Sells, the marketing consulting, where he worked across the communications, manufacturing and banking sectors.

Andy is a non-executive director of Navteq Inc, the world leader in premium-quality digital map data and a board member of e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT & Telecoms. He is also an active member of the CBI President’s Committee and a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, and supports the charities Shelter (Appeal Board) and Abesu (Trustee). He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Leeds University.

Stephen Green is Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc.

Mr Green began his career with the British Government’s Ministry of Overseas Development. In 1977 he joined McKinsey & Co Inc, management consultants, with whom he undertook assignments in Europe, North America and the Middle East.

He joined The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in 1982 with responsibility for corporate planning activities, and, in 1985, was put in charge of the development of the bank’s global treasury operations. In 1992 he became Group Treasurer of HSBC Holdings plc, with responsibility for the HSBC Group’s treasury and capital markets businesses globally.

In March 1998 he was appointed to the Board of HSBC Holdings plc as Executive Director, Investment Banking and Markets responsible for the investment banking, private banking and asset management activities of the Group. He assumed additional responsibility for the Group’s corporate banking business in May 2002. He became Group Chief Executive on 1 June 2003 and Group Chairman on 26 May 2006.

He became Chairman of the British Bankers’ Association in November 2006 and Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Business Council for Britain in January 2009. He is also a trustee of The British Museum, and an honorary trustee of Peking University.

W. Richard Holmes is CEO Europe, Standard Chartered Bank and Co-Chairman, Private Banking, Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to this, Holmes was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Express Bank Ltd., American Express Company’s international banking subsidiary, based in New York.  In this position, he was responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of the Bank.  He was elected President and Chief Executive Officer in June 2000 and Chairman in May 2005. Holmes joined American Express in 1996 as Managing Director and Head of Worldwide Private Banking, leading that unit through a period of significant expansion. 

He has more than 25 years experience in international banking, having served in finance, operations and financial market positions at Wells Fargo Bank from 1980 to 1987 and at Bank of America in executive positions in the World Banking Group and Latin America Divisions.  From 1993 to 1996 he was an Executive Vice President and Head of Bank of America’s Private Bank.  He began his professional career with the accounting firm of Peat, Marwick & Mitchell in 1974. 

Holmes holds an M.A. in Economics from St John’s College, Cambridge University and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

David Kester

Chief Executive, Design Council

Professor J.C. Larreche

The Alfred H. Heineken Chair, INSEAD France

Javier Martin-Artajo

CIO Europe, JPMorgan Chase

Julie Meyer

Chief Executive and Founder, Ariadne Capital

Through these intertwining roles of entrepreneur, advisor, investor and industry commentator, Julie has set her mission to build a growth story for the UK and Europe. This passion and entrepreneurial flair is what has earned her awards as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, World Economic Forum Global Leader of Tomorrow and in the Wall Street Journal's Top 30 Most Influential Women in Europe.

American by birth and European in spirit, Julie has added a flourishing media career to her business commitments, recently joining BBC's Online Dragon's Den. In addition to her weekly column for London's City A.M. and regular contributions to Business Week, Computing, FT Digital Business, Spectator Business, Julie is also a regular industry commentator on the BBC and CNBC.

Julie is Chief Executive of Ariadne Capital, the investment and advisory firm she founded in August 2000. Ariadne backs entrepreneurs in the media (music, broadcast, publishing, advertising, gaming), mobile internet and communications, and internet sectors.

Most recently Julie founded Entrepreneur Country. Managed by Ariadne Capital, Entrepreneur Country is a dedicated community for leading and emerging entrepreneurs, investors, the media and corporate partners who service the start-up industry across the UK and Europe.

From 1998 to 1999, Julie was part of the team at NewMedia Investors, which became early stage investment firm Spark Ventures in October 1999. During this time she took her first steps in the entrepreneurial arena founding First Tuesday, the largest global network of entrepreneurs, which many credit for igniting the Internet generation in Europe. It was sold for $50million in cash in and shares in July 2000.

As a personal project, Julie is also currently setting up an association for teenage girls to help them find their unique contribution to the world and create a virtuous circle of investment in women.

Urs Muller

Managing Director and Chief Economist, BAK Basel Economics

Studies of economics at the universities of Basel and Harvard (Cambridge MA, USA), 1981-1984 economist at BAK, 1985-1989 senior assistant at Basel University, 1989-1996 deputy director of BAK, 1996-2005 head of the Administration of Finance of the Canton Basel-Stadt; rejoined BAK in 2005, since 2007 Managing Director and Chief Economist of BAK Basel Economics. Since 1998 part-time professor of economics at Basel University, lecturing on empirical economic research and public finance.

BAK Basel Economics (www.bakbasel.com) is the leading independent economics research institute in Switzerland. Its focus is both on structural analysis and forecasting, especially in an international and regional context.

Amanda Pierce

Director, Brand Issues, Burson-Marsteller

Christopher Power

Assistant Managing Editor, BusinessWeek

Andy Reinhardt

Europe Editor, BusinessWeek.com

Barbara Ridpath is Chief Executive of the International Center for Financial Regulation.

Prior to her current position, from 2004-2008, Barbara was Executive Managing Director and Head of Ratings Services, Europe, for Standard & Poor’s, responsible for Standard & Poor’s rating activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Before that she was Managing Director and Chief Credit Officer, Europe based in Standard & Poor's London office, where she was responsible for the development and application of ratings policy in Europe including its global consistency.

Barbara joined S&P in 1983 after three years as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She worked in S&P's European network from 1986, holding a broad range of positions. Barbara spearheaded S&P's move into international securitisation based in London in the late 1980s, and ran S&P-ADEF in Paris from 1990 to 1993.

From 1993 to 1998 Barbara was a Senior Credit Officer at JPMorgan Europe, rejoining S&P in 1998. Barbara holds an A.B. degree cum laude from Smith College and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University.

Alan Sheppard is the Global Head of Generics, Thought Leadership, IMS Health and in this role he is responsible for leading the generic initiatives and insights to support both R&D based companies and the generic industry.

Alan has over 35 years experience within the pharmaceutical industry covering the full spectrum of innovative medicines, generics, biologicals, vaccines and OTC medicines.

Having held senior positions within sales and marketing, business development, and general management he has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, partnering, licensing, product development, manufacturing and R&D.

Alan is also an expert witness in the field of Intellectual Property within the pharmaceutical industry.

Previous positions include: Executive Vice-President, Europe Generics, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd Vice-President, Global Corporate Strategy Pliva European Marketing Director and deputy managing director for Medeva General Manager, Rhône-Poulenc Rorer UK General Manager Institute Merieux UK.

Alan was a long serving member of the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority Appeals Board and is a Fellow of the International Doctors’ Association.

Reporting to CEO Ben Verwaayen, Rajeev is responsible for designing and implementing Alcatel-Lucent’s strategy, including making choices about the portfolio (products, services, and software) and markets. He is also involved in the overall corporate development agenda including how to balance organic growth with a merger and acquisition agenda.

Prior to joining Alcatel-Lucent, Rajeev was a senior partner of the Monitor Group, a global professional services firm founded by Harvard professor, Michael Porter. During his 18 years at Monitor Group, Rajeev helped world and business leaders address complex strategic issues, including competitiveness, organizational structure, marketing, industry evolution and pressing social concerns. 

Before that, Rajeev was at Chemical Bank in its Banking and Corporate Finance, Latin America Division.

He holds an International Business Diploma from the United Nations International School. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Yale University.

Rajeev is a director of a variety of foundation and nonprofit boards.

Richard Ward joined Lloyd's as Chief Executive Officer in April 2006.

Previously, Richard worked for over ten years at the London-based International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), re-branded ICE Futures, as both Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman.

Prior to the IPE, Richard held a range of senior positions at British Petroleum (BP) and was Head of Marketing & Business Development for energy derivatives worldwide at Tradition Financial Services.

Between 1982 and 1988, Richard worked as a Senior Physicist with the Science and Engineering Research Council, leading a number of research and development projects.

Richard Ward has a 1st Class Honours degree in Chemistry, and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Exeter University.

Mark Williams

Downstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell

With effect from 1 January 2009, Mark was appointed Director Downstream.

Prior to this, Mark was Executive Vice President (EVP) Supply & Distribution (S&D), where he had responsibility for crude oil and refined products supply for Shell's global refining and marketing businesses.

Mark's other previous positions have been EVP, Global Businesses, Vice President of Strategy, Portfolio and Environment for Oil Products.

Mark was born in 1951 in Houston, Texas. His qualifications include a Masters Degree in Theoretical Physics from Oxford University (1975) and a Doctorate & Masters Degree in Physics from Stanford University (1979).

He joined Shell in 1979 as a research physicist for Shell Oil Exploration and Production. Highlights of his career include being Engineering Manager for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico during the early days of Deep Water, working as Operations Manager for Shell Oil Western EP Operations, being Head of Staff Planning for Shell Oil Exploration and Production, Head of Downstream Strategy for Shell Oil during the merger with Texaco, and Head of Transportation (pipelines and distribution) for Equilon Enterprises LLC, the Shell and Texaco joint venture in the United States.

Mark and his wife, Candace, have two children. His interests include amateur astronomy and astro-imaging, yacht racing, mountaineering, cycling and weight training.

Walter is also responsible for the operations of Genpact Americas, which includes Revenue Cycle Management, and Genpact Mortgage Services. His territory also includes Guatemala and Mexico. His responsibilities also include delivering on growth and profitability targets, driving process excellence in operations to deliver greater productivity, driving employee engagement and satisfaction to establish Genpact as the global employer of choice, and working closely with other regions to drive integration with our global operations to leverage them for greater business impact.

Walter has been with Genpact since March, 2007. He has built operational stability and delivered consistently on-time, on-budget, and on-spec quality. He has also driven Genpact’s first set of IT products for customer solutions and revenue generation.

Walter joined Genpact from American Standard Companies; prior to that he was with GE Aircraft Engines and Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio and Kobe, Japan.

Niklas is a serial entrepreneur having co-founded Joost, Skype, Kazaa, and Joltid among other technology companies, with his long-time business partner Janus Friis. He is now focused on assisting the next generation of European entrepreneurs through his venture capital company, Atomico Ventures, also co-founded with Janus Friis. Atomico Ventures invests in passionate entrepreneurs with a global perspective seeking to create game-changing disruptive businesses.

Previously, Niklas held the position of CEO from Skype's inception until September 2007. During that time, Skype became the global leader in internet voice communications, with more than 309m registered users within five years of launch and revenues of $551m in 2008. In 2005, Skype was sold to eBay Inc for $3.1 bn. Prior to that, Niklas co-founded and served as CEO of Kazaa, which became the world's most downloaded internet software in 2003.

Niklas was recognized by Time Magazine as one of its 100 Most Influential People in 2006, and has received numerous other awards for innovation and entrepreneurship. He and his wife Catherine have co-founded Zennstrom Philanthropies to direct their charitable giving in the fields of Climate Change, Human Rights and Social Entrepreneurship.

Niklas holds dual degrees in Business and MSc Engineering Physics/Computer Science from Uppsala University in Sweden. He spent his final year at the University of Michigan.