Speakers

Michael Froman is a Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the United States Trade Representative (USTR) between June 2013 and January 2017. As USTR, Ambassador Froman was President Obama’s principal advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on international trade and investment issues.

He led the Office of the United States Trade Representative in its work to open global markets for U.S. goods and services, enforce America’s rights in the global trading system, and foster development through trade. Key initiatives that were under his leadership included: conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in the Asia Pacific; negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union, as well as agreements on services, information technology and trade facilitation at the World Trade Organization; and monitoring and enforcement U.S. trade rights, including by bringing a series of systemically important cases at the WTO.

Prior to becoming USTR, Ambassador Froman served at the White House as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs. He served as the U.S. Sherpa for the G20 and G8 Summits, and staffed the President for the APEC Leaders Meetings. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Ambassador Froman served in a number of roles at Citigroup and in the Clinton Administration, including as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Ambassador Froman received a bachelor’s degree in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University, a doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University and law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

As President, Simon has responsibility for the entire Misys go-to-market organisation including sales, pre-sales, partners and marketing. Simon joined Misys in June 2015 and brings more than 15 years’ sales, management and leadership expertise to the company.

Simon came to Misys from SAP where he held a number of senior sales and leadership positions including Global Head of Banking and Global Head of Financial Services. He was then appointed President of Strategic Industries and served most recently as President Industry Cloud with responsibility for driving SAP’s global go-to-market efforts for its applications portfolio across 25 industries and two core lines of business. He was also responsible for driving SAP’s simplification efforts around strategic pricing, solution marketing and solution management; and specific business development / co-innovation.

Simon was formerly a senior consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Simon holds a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the INSEAD Business School in France and a bachelor’s degree in business & European languages from the European Business School.

As one of the finest and most outstanding musical voices of our time – Scottish singer songwriter, campaigner and activist Annie Lennox is celebrated as an innovator, an icon, and a symbol of enduring excellence. Annie’s musical career is peerless, with over 80 million record sales to date. She has received countless awards, including 8 Brit Awards (and a Lifetime Achievement Award ) 4 Grammy Awards with 10 nominations, 26 ASCAP Awards, the American Music Award of Special Merit, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.

She is the first woman to have received a BASCA Fellowship at the Ivor Novello Awards.

Her tireless humanitarian work is widely praised and has been recognised by numerous honours, including the prestigious Livingstone Award by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, the Nobel Peace Laureates award for services to humanity and OBE awarded by Queen Elizabeth.

Minister Zhu Qin began his diplomatic career in 1993. He served several positions in China and abroad, including Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in the United States; Minister Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission of the Chinese Embassy in the South Africa; Deputy Director-General of the Department of European Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He became Minister and Deputy Head of Mission of the Chinese Embassy in the UK in September, 2016.

Lesley Batchelor is a champion of UK exporters, with a powerful track record in enhancing the performance of hundreds of businesses.

Appointed director general of the Institute of Export & International Trade (IOE&IT), an education foundation providing qualifications and support for business for over 10 years. Active on the APPG Advisory Panel on Trade & Investment, the APP Manufacturing Group and provides evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on Government support for SMEs. A director of International Business & Diplomatic Exchange and of the International Association of Trade Training Organisations Lesley is often a leading light in thought leadership issues connected with international trade.

After 15 years working with blue-chip giants including Fujitsu Europe, Canon, Ciba-Geigy and Coca-Cola, Lesley set up CMC Marketing in 1992 to develop inspirational overseas strategies and international training programmes for SMEs. In 2007 she joined the Institute of Export where she has forged influential partnerships with many national and international associations. In 2014 she was appointed CEO of Open to Export a digital platform for new and inexperienced exporters set up as a collaborative CIC with FSB, UKTI, HSBC & the IOE&IT which has now become an exciting addition to the IOE&IT portfolio of services.

Lesley is a graduate of the Institute of Export qualifications and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She has invaluable expertise in intellectual property, global licensing and marketing. Awarded in the OBE in the 2014 Birthday Honours List and recently judged to be the CBI Real Business First Woman in Business Services for 2015.

Stephen Adams is a partner in Global Counsel and its lead consultant on European and multilateral issues, with a particular focus on financial services, trade and wider EU single market issues. He leads teams advising Global Counsel clients navigating EU and UK policymaking and politics, and anticipating and adapting to banking and insurance policy changes in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Stephen has more than a decade of experience in European public policy and regulation, chiefly in the field of international economic policy, financial services policy and European integration. He has advised senior politicians and policymakers in roles in the European Parliament, European Commission and Whitehall on a range of business policy and trade issues, generally with a focus on cross-border issues. He has also been an Executive Director of Goldman Sachs International, based in London. Stephen is an Honorary Senior Research Associate in the Department of Political Science at University College London.

Douglas Carswell has been elected to Parliament four times, for two different parties – finishing up as an independent.

He co-founded Vote Leave, the official campaign group that won the recent EU referendum – and in April 2017 announced he would be standing down from Parliament.

He has advised FTSE 100 firms at board / CEO level about the implications of Brexit and has participated at the Königswinter conference, Anglo-French Colloque and this year’s DigitalK.

Mr Carswell is very concerned about what he sees as the emergence of a political and economic oligarchy. It is this, he argues, that is fueling the rise of destructive, radical populism.

Mr. Fried was named by Prime Minister Trudeau as Coordinator, International Economic Relations in early 2017. He was Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO, playing a key role in multilateral trade negotiations, including as Chair of the WTO’s General Council in 2014, Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body in 2013, and co-Chair with China of the G20’s Trade and Investment Working Group in 2016.

Formerly Canada’s Ambassador to Japan; Executive Director for Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean at the IMF; Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister; Senior Assistant Deputy Minister for the Department of Finance and Canada's G7 and G20 Finance Deputy, Mr. Fried has also served as Associate Deputy Minister; Assistant Deputy Minister for Trade, Economic and Environmental Policy; Chief Negotiator on China’s WTO accession; Director General for Trade Policy; and chief counsel for NAFTA.

He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Trade and Investment, and of the Steering Committee of the e15 initiative on Strengthening the Global Trading System. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and the International Advisory Board of the Central and East European Law Institute.

Mr. Fried was recently named as Coordinator for International Economic Relations at Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, and will assume his new duties in April, 2017.

Katharine is a financial journalist, editor, presenter, analyst and communicator with extensive knowledge of the world of international finance. She has been Editor in Chief of Trade & Forfaiting Review since January 2016. Prior to that, Katharine was Editorial Director at EuroFinance Conferences, part of the Economist Group. She edited Treasury Perspectives magazine and has researched, written and moderated financial conferences worldwide. She has been a consultant on capital markets, and has edited on risk, economics, environment and finance for Finance Asia and Euromoney, Dow Jones and Bloomberg. Katharine has a degree in economics from King’s College, Cambridge. She is also an exhibited artist.

Shawn Donnan leads the FT’s coverage of trade, globalisation, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank from his base in Washington. He previously served as World News Editor, coordinating the FT’s international economic and political news coverage. In that role he oversaw the paper’s award-winning coverage of major news events including the Eurozone crisis and the Arab spring.

As Chief Executive Officer, Nadeem has overall responsibility for the company including its strategic direction, growth and financial results.

Nadeem joined Misys in June 2012 as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). He came to Misys from SumTotal, where he most recently served as COO. Nadeem led the company’s strategic initiatives overseeing services, support, hosting, product management and engineering since early 2010. Before this, he spent over 19 years in numerous positions at Oracle.

Nadeem’s most recent position at Oracle was Group Vice President of Products with responsibility for leading a large, multicultural, globally distributed team. In this role, Nadeem significantly evolved the supply chain management suite to a position where Oracle became the second largest supply chain solutions provider. In addition, Nadeem also held pivotal positions on the acquisition and integration executive teams for several key Oracle acquisitions.

Bill Hayton is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House and author of ‘South China Sea: the struggle for power in Asia’, listed as one of The Economist’s books of the year in 2014. He was the BBC’s reporter in Vietnam in 2006/7 and his book ‘Vietnam: rising dragon’ was published in 2010 to excellent reviews. He spent 2013 working on media reform in Myanmar. He currently works for BBC News in London and is writing a book on Chinese history. His written work has appeared in the Financial Times, South China Morning Post, Foreign Policy and The Diplomat among other publications. He has presented his research to government institutions and think-tanks in the UK, the US, Canada, Vietnam the Philippines and several other countries.

Natalie Blyth is the Global Head of Trade and Receivables Finance which provides financing and risk mitigation solutions to meet clients’ international and domestic trade requirements.

Natalie has over 20 years investment banking experience. She joined the Global Commercial Banking business last year as the Global Head of Large Corporates then Global Head of Client Coverage. Before moving to the Commercial Banking business in 2015, Natalie spent eight years with Global Banking and Markets business as Global Head of the Consumer Group and as Co-Head of UK Banking.

Natalie joined HSBC in 2007 from Deutsche Bank, where she spent three years as Head of Consumer. Prior to this, she spent 11 years at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

Before her move into banking, Natalie worked as a solicitor at Stephenson Harwood, focussed on corporate law. Natalie has a BSc in Biochemistry from St Andrew’s University.

Stefania Palma is Asia Editor of The Banker and also covers capital markets. She joined the publication after reading for an MPhil in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford, during which she completed an exchange at Peking University (北京大学). She was previously responsible for the Niche Currency section at EuroWeek and reported on the development of non-US dollar, non-euro bond markets. She has a BSc in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, where she first started studying Mandarin.

The Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable was Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade (2010-2015). He was Member of Parliament for Twickenham 1997-2015; deputy leader of the Lib Dems 2007-2010 and shadow chancellor 2003-2010. He is currently a professor in Practice at the LSE (London School of Economics, attached to the Institute of Global Affairs). He is also working on a collaborative project on Russia (with Calvert 22) and on ‘industrial strategy’ in emerging economies. He is also a visiting Professor at Nottingham University, Economics Department, St Mary University in Twickenham and is both governor of Richmond Adult and Community College and a life time fellow of the City Lit.

In 1990 he joined Shell International taking up the post of Chief Economist in 1995. He has also been head of the economics programme at Chatham House and is a former fellow of Nuffield College Oxford and the LSE. From 1983 to 1990, Sir Cable worked as special advisor on Economic Affairs for the Commonwealth Secretary General, Sir Sonny Ramphal. He was then appointed Deputy Director of the Overseas Development Institute, which included a period working for the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, John Smith, as a special advisor. After lecturing at Glasgow University in economics, he worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a first secretary in the Diplomatic Service (1974-76). Sir Cable served as a Labour councillor in Glasgow (1971- 74), before joining the Social Democrat party. From 1966 to 1968 he was Treasury Finance Officer for the Kenya Government.

He read Natural Sciences and Economics at Cambridge University, where he was President of the Union, followed by a PhD at Glasgow University.

Arancha González, an expert in international trade issues with 20 years of experience, serves as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the joint development agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation, since September 2013.

Ms. González, a Spanish national, has extensive knowledge about international trade and economics, coupled with broad experience in trade and development matters in the public and private sectors, as well as in management at multilateral organizations.

Before joining ITC, Ms. González served as Chief of Staff to World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy from 2005 to 2013. During her tenure at the WTO, she played an active role in launching the Aid for Trade initiative and served as Mr. Lamy’s representative (Sherpa) at the G-20.

Sir Michael Rake is chairman of BT Group plc. He is senior independent director of Barclays plc and a director of McGraw Hill Inc and the Financial Reporting Council.

He is also chairman of the private equity oversight group the Guidelines Monitoring Committee, and was president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) from 2013 to July 2015. He was the first Chairman of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills from 2007 to 2010. He was a member of the National Security Forum for 2009/2010. He was Chairman of easyJet plc from 2010 to 2013.

From May 2002 to September 2007 Sir Michael Rake was Chairman of KPMG International. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of KPMG International he was Chairman of KPMG in Europe and Senior Partner of KPMG in the UK.

Mike is also a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group, Vice President and Chairman of Governors of Wellington College, a Vice President of the RNIB, a member of the Board of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue, a Trustee of the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation, a member of the Advisory Council for Business for New Europe, and on the Global Advisory Board of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation.

Mike is also a William Pitt Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Mike was Chairman of Business in the Community from 2004-07 and a member of the board of the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum from 1998 – 2007.

Barry Gardiner is the UK Official Opposition Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade and Shadow Minister for International Climate Change. Under previous Labour governments, Barry served as the Minister for Competitiveness in the Department of Trade & Industry, the Minister for Biodiversity, as well as a Direct Rule Minister in the Northern Ireland Office. Barry served on Labour’s front bench as the Shadow Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries and Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change before he was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet in June 2016 in his current position.

Barry is currently the Vice-President for Europe on the board of the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment.

Francisco Cabrera is the Minister of Production of Argentina since 10 December 2015. Prior to his appointment as Minister of Production, he was Minister of Economic Development of the City of Buenos Aires and president of Fundación Pensar. He belongs to the argentine political party PRO (Republican Proposal), is engineer in electricity and electronics and holds a Master in Business Administration.

Under his leadership, the Ministry of Production aims to achieve the productive transformation of Argentina based on three pillars: the defense of competition with institutional quality, the promotion of international integration and the federalization of production. Its main objective is to create jobs and contribute to the long-term goal of Zero Poverty established by the National Government.

Prior to starting his career in public service, Minister Cabrera worked in the private sector. He worked at Hewlett-Packard and was then CEO of pension funds Maxima.

He developed most of his career in management in the Roberts Group, and then the HSBC Group where he was a board member of La Buenos Aires Seguros, of Docthos and directed the retail department of the bank.

Tan Kah Chye serves as an independent board member and advisor for a select number of global organisations including International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Academy, Markham Rae LLP, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Most recently, Kah Chye was the Chairman of the ICC Banking Commission, the leading industry body for the establishment of Trade Finance standards and policies. Under his leadership, ICC introduced the ICC Trade Finance Register to assist the industry in formulating the right Basel III capital adequacy policy. Kah Chye also co-founded the ICC Academy to provide industry leading business education.

With over 20 years of banking and asset management experience in Singapore, Frankfurt and London, Kah Chye’s career has included global P&L responsibilities at institutions including JPM Chase, Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Citibank. Mr Tan also notably led the successful development of the world’s first synthetic securitisation of trade finance assets.

Dr. Marc Auboin is a Counsellor in the Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO, and a member of the WTO Task Force on the Finance Crisis and Trade. Previously he held several positions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was Deputy-Secretary General of the Monetary Committee of the European Union, worked for the French Treasury. Mr. Auboin holds a PhD in Economics from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, and was a research fellow at the London School of Economics, and Yale University. He now lectures at the World Trade Institute in Switzerland and at CERDI in France, and used to lecture at the Universities of Paris-Sorbonne, Sciences-po Paris, Louvain-la-Neuve, and Oxford. He published pieces of research on trade and finance issues in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook, and in WTO Discussion and Working Paper Series.

Ugo Panizza is Professor of Economics and Pictet Chair at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. He is also the Director of the Institute’s Centre on Finance and Development, and a CEPR Research Fellow. Prior to joining the Institute, Ugo was the Chief of the Debt and Finance Analysis Unit at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He also worked at the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank and was an assistant professor of economics at the American University of Beirut and the University of Turin. His research interests include international finance, sovereign debt, banking, and political economy. He is a former member of the executive committee of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) and an editor of the Association’s journal Economia. He is also a member of the editoria board of The World Bank Economic Review, the Review of Development Finance, the Journal of Economic Systems, and the Review of Economics and Institutions. He holds a PhD in Economics from The Johns Hopkins University and a Laurea from the University of Turin.

Dr. Alisa DiCaprio is a Research Economist at Asian Development Bank. She is currently on secondment to ADB Institute in Tokyo. Her research explores ways to make trade a more effective development tool. She has led institutional initiatives on digital trade, e-commerce, trade finance, urbanisation, and technology and innovation. Beyond ADB, she has worked with the public and private sector on trade, export promotion, and labour issues. Her PhD is from MIT, and she holds a BA and MA from Johns Hopkins University.

Lucia Cusmano is Senior Economist at the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) & Local Development (CFE) and Executive Secretary for the OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship (WPSMEE). Ms. Cusmano has a PhD in Economics from the University of Pavia (Italy) and has completed a Master of Science in Economics at Warwick University (UK). She has published extensively in international journals on SMEs, entrepreneurship, innovation, structural change, institutions and economic development in advanced and developing regions.

Daniel Cotti is the Chairman of the Board of Bolero, Founder and Managing Director of Cotti Trade & Treasury, Director, and CFO and Managing Director Trade Finance & Payment Networks of Trade.IX. In addition, he is a Consultant to the IFC SME Banking Advisory Group of the Worldbank, Member of the Trade Finance Faculty of the ICC Academy, Member of the Board of Advisors – TinHill Capital, Member of the Board of Advisors – Finance for Impact, Member of the Board of Advisors – Finanz AG Zurich.

Prior to setting up Cotti Trade and Treasury, a boutique trade finance and treasury management consultancy, Cotti spent over 30 years in the industry working in leading global positions for Citibank, ABN AMRO Bank, RBS and J.P. Morgan. Named as one of the ‘100 most influential people in finance’ he has been actively involved with major industry associations including the ICC Banking Commission, SWIFT and the international financial services association BAFT to drive the Trade Finance Industry agenda forward. With his deep subject matter expertise, he helps to develop sustainable growth strategies and new business models as well as execution plans focussing on client, solution, technology, partnership, connectivity and digitisation strategies and roadmaps for traditional parties, B2B networks and FinTech start ups.

Fabio Manca is Managing Director at DHL Inventory Finance Services GmbH (IFS), based in Bonn – Germany.

After experiences in banking and management consulting, Fabio joined DHL in 1993, covering several finance and senior management roles in Western and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Americas.

In April 2016 Fabio left his role as CFO Global Functions and Managing Director of DHL Supply Chain Management GmbH to take the lead of the IFS new line of business.

Steven is head of trade finance at Asian Development Bank (ADB). In the nine years Steven has been with ADB he managed exponential growth of ADB’s Trade Finance Program and implemented its first supply chain finance business.

Also at ADB, Steven initiated the International Chamber of Commerce’s Trade Finance Register, which compiles the only industry wide statistics on trade finance default and loss rates. These statistics underpinned changes to Basel III regulations, freeing billions of dollars to support trade in emerging markets.

In 2013, Steven led an ADB study that, first the first time, quantified trade finance market gaps and their impact on economic growth and jobs.

Steven started his career in international finance as a Special Assistant to the (former) Canadian Minister for International Trade, Michael Wilson, dealing with issues related to Canada’s export credit agency, Export Development Canada.

He subsequently spent over six years with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) where he was Senior Manager, originating and structuring a wide variety of short and medium term international transactions largely focused on Latin America.

Steven left CIBC to help design and implement the start-up of a new multilateral development bank, Black Sea Trade & Development Bank (BSTDB), where he focused on Turkey, Russia and former Soviet Union countries. Following four years at BSTDB, he had various assignments as a senior consultant, including with USAID working in southern Africa and a start-up financial institution in Armenia.

Steven is on the Advisory Board of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Banking Commission. He is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Working Group for Trade Finance.

Steven has an M.A. from The Fletcher School, Tufts University, MA, USA and a B.A from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Lawrence Wintermeyer is the CEO of Innovate Finance. He has spent over 20 years as an advisor, executive, and board member to build, grow, optimize, re-structure and divest companies from start-ups to global brands. As a Big Four advisor, he has worked with global brands across the financial services, TMT and energy sectors in Europe, Asia and North America. In recent years he has focused on the small cap venture capital and private equity markets and has experience owning, running and advising alternative asset managers and technology start-ups. Wintermeyer has been an early supporter of Innovate Finance and is working towards growing the organisation to ensure the UK is at the centre of global FinTech innovation.

Hanne Melin is Director Global Public Policy and leads for the EMEA region eBay’s Public Policy Lab (https://www.ebaymainstreet.com/lab ). The Lab explores issues that sit at the nexus of technology and commerce through research and policy formation. Hanne is a member of the European Commission’s Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship, and represents eBay in the Private Sector Consultative Group of the World Customs Organization. Before joining eBay, Hanne was an associate at the law firm Sidley Austin LLP based in Brussels, practising competition law for five years. Hanne holds a Master in International Business Law from King’s College London, she is a guest lecturer at the law faculty of Lund University (Sweden), and a frequent speaker and writer on the topic of how the internet and technology transform trade. Recent publications include: “The Leaders of the New eMarkets”, chapter in the Committee of Region’s Guide on Regional Competitiveness, “Inclusive trade: the promise of the global empowerment network”, Journal of Inspiration Economy, and “Technology enabled small business trade in Canada”, Volume VI, Institute for Research on Public Policy.

Martin Habel is the Manager of IFC‘s Treasury Clients Solutions team for Africa, Europe, Middle East, and Central Asia based in London. The team is responsible for delivering capital markets, structured finance and derivative solutions to IFC’s clients in the EMEA region. Since joining IFC in 2007, Martin has worked on transactions and initiatives in Asia, Africa, and Europe across a wide range of asset classes. Prior to joining IFC, Martin worked with German development bank KfW in Frankfurt, and before that performed stints in energy efficiency, renewable energy, microeconomic research and consulting. Martin holds a Masters in Mathematics from the Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg and a MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Kati Suominen is the Founder and CEO of Nextrade Group that helps governments, multilateral development banks, and Fortune 500s optimize public policy and lending strategies in support of trade and digitization; Founder of TradeUp capital Fund, a growth capital platform for globalizing tech companies; and Founder of Business for eTrade Development, a group of leading companies working to bolster ecommerce in developing economies.

She serves as Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and as Adjunct Professor at the UCLA Anderson School.

She is the idea-woman behind such global initiatives as eTrade for All, a global multi-stakeholder initiative to accelerate the adoption of ecommerce worldwide now championed by the United Nations, and RTA Exchange, a global forum on trade agreements sponsored by the Inter-American and Asian Development Banks. She is also Senior Advisor to World SME Forum, a G20-launched initiative to further small business trade and development globally, and Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has published 80 articles and 9 books on international trade and globalization and is working on her 10th, to be published by Stanford University Press in 2017, spoken and keynoted at such venues as Davos, WTO, World Trade Symposium, Global Trade Review, IMF, World Bank, and European Commission.

Orgalime, the European Engineering Industries Association, speaks for 40 trade federations representing the mechanical, electrical, electronic, metalworking & metal articles industries of 23 European countries. The industry employs some 10.9 million people in the EU and in 2015 accounted for more than €1,900 billion of annual output. The industry accounts for over a quarter of manufacturing output and a third of the manufactured exports of the European Union.

Before joining Orgalime in 1996, Adrian Harris worked for 20 years for a number of general contractors for the construction of complete plants, essentially in the agro-industrial and beverage area.

Adrian Harris was born in 1952 and graduated with an M.A. in languages from Jesus College, Oxford University and an MBA (finance) from the University of Leuven.

Orgalime is a member of the Alliance for a Competitive European Industry (ACEI), of which Adrian Harris was Chairman (2012-2013) and at present he is a Board member of the Federation of European and International Associations established in Belgium (FAIB).

John joined BCSG as Managing Director in January 2011. Responsible for the day-to-day management and leadership of the rapidly growing tech company, John has overseen a period of substantial growth for BCSG, both in financial and reputational terms, and is now spearheading ambitious plans in the US, Australia and Africa as well as Europe. Before joining BCSG, John spent 10 years working with small businesses at Barclays. During that time, he held various commercial roles before rising to the position of Marketing and Product Director for Barclays Business, as well as Managing Director of Clearlybusiness, a Barclays subsidiary. Earlier in his career, he worked as a bond salesman at Lehman Brothers and Head of Business Development at Sky. John has graduated from Oxford University twice – as an undergraduate in 1992 and with an MBA in 1997.

Enrico Camerinelli is a senior analyst at Aite Group specializing in wholesale banking, cash and trade finance, and payments. Based in Milan, he brings a strong European focus to Aite Group’s Wholesale Banking practice.

Mr. Camerinelli has been widely quoted by publications ranging from American Banker to the Financial Times. He has contributed editorial content to publications such as Supply Chain Europe, serves as a consulting editor with gtnews, and is the author of Measuring the Value of the Supply Chain, a book about linking financial performance to the supply chain. He has spoken at leading trade shows and conferences in Europe, including Sibos and EuroFinance.

Mr. Camerinelli has extensive experience within his areas of coverage as well as in providing research and consulting services to clients. Most recently, he served as a senior analyst with Celent, focusing on the financial supply chain and Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Prior to that, he was the European director and chief analyst at the Supply Chain Council, a non-profit serving the logistics and supply-chain industry. In that capacity, Mr. Camerinelli provided independent research and advisory services as well as business development and budget control for the organization. Before that, he was a vice president and research leader at META Group’s Electronic Business Strategies service, tracking trends in supply chain management, product life-cycle management, e-procurement, and sourcing. He also spent 10 years working as a supply chain manager at various manufacturing and automotive companies.

Leanne Kemp is a highly decorated entrepreneur with 20 years’ experience in emerging technology. Founding Everledger in April 2015, Leanne has applied blockchain technology to the diamond industry by building a distributed ledger to track and trace a diamond’s provenance throughout the supply chain. By having the ability to verify authenticity various stakeholders across the pipeline, including banks and insurance companies, benefit from an overall reduction of risk and fraud in the marketplace.

In 2016 alone, Leanne won over seven awards for her work, including Best Blockchain Company (European Fintech Awards), Innovator of the Year (Penrose Awards) and Best B2B Startup (Digital Top 50 Award presented by Google, Rocket Internet and McKinsey). With a rich history in innovation, Leanne has also introduced and patented a wealth of transformational technology ideas such as Fastcards (a smart card with managed identification services) and commercialised Multicard (credential verification for consumer, governments and corporations) alongside various solutions to streamline inventory & supply chain operations.

Gerard Hartsink is the Chairman of the GLEIF Board. The GLEIF (Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, a Swiss not for profit organisation) was established by the Financial Stability Board in June 2014 and is tasked to support the implementation of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for the benefit of the users of the public and private sector. The LEI data are free of charge made available for any user on www.gleif.org. The LEI is a high quality legal entity identifier for regulatory reporting and supply chain processes.

Mr Hartsink is the Chairman of the Board of the CCV Group, a payment institution and European card acquirer. He is active in organizations promoting e-commerce (member of the ICC Digital Economy Commission) and e-government (member of the Forum Standardisatie of the Dutch Government).

He has a broad experience in the payments, securities and forex industry. He served as the Chairman of CLS Bank International, the European Payments Council and of the RMG of ISO 20022 and as a Board Member of SWIFT, LCH Clearnet Group, Euroclear Netherlands, Euro Banking Association and Electronic Commerce Platform Nederland.

As former Senior Executive ‎Vice President of ABN AMRO he has over thirty years experience in sales, product development, regulatory affairs, information management and operations. He holds MA degrees ‎in political economy from the University of Amsterdam and in law from the Free University in Amsterdam.

Alexander R. Malaket, CITP, is President of Canadian consultancy OPUS Advisory Services International Inc., established in 2001, focusing on international business, trade and investment with a specialism in trade finance. Alexander has undertaken a range of consultancy assignments, from operational and tactical to technology, to global strategy, for clients around the world and has developed and delivered training seminars and programs in numerous markets including Toronto, New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and Taipei among others.

Mr. Malaket is an internationally recognized expert in international business, trade, investment as well as trade finance and supply chain finance, contributing regularly to industry publications like Trade Finance Magazine, Trade & Forfaiting Review, Global Trade Review, Cash & Trade Magazine and Trade and Export Finance. Alexander speaks and chairs panels at top-tier conferences and events around the world, and is the author of “Financing Trade and International Supply Chains”, Gower/Ashgate Publishing, UK 2014.

Mr. Malaket has been nominated, elected or invited to contribute to various organizations in several capacities, including:

• Member of the Board of Directors and the Board Nominating Committee, FITT Ottawa
• Deputy Head of the Executive Committee, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Banking Commission, Paris
• Co-Chair of the Academic Committee, ICC Academy (Trade Finance and International Banking), Singapore
• Nominated National Expert, Trade Finance, UN/CEFACT, Geneva
• Member of the Trade, Finance and Development Experts Group, E15 Initiative (World Economic Forum and ICTSD), Geneva
• Canadian Delegate, B20/G20 Consultations for 2015 (Financing Growth Task Force) and 2016 (SME Development Task Force) and Co-Chair, ICC Banking Commission B20/G20 Consultations
• Member of the International Affairs Committee, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Ottawa

David Hennah leads the trade and supply chain finance product management team at Misys having re-joined the company from SWIFT, where he spent eight years driving the industry body’s financial supply chain strategy.

David spent over twenty years in a variety of senior roles at Barclays, spanning all areas of the transaction banking business. He is credited with bringing to market the world’s first international direct debit service.

Outside the UK David has worked in France, Belgium and Germany, including a three year secondment to the Associated Banks of Europe Corporation (ABECOR) in Brussels and was once based literally “overseas” managing the Barclays branch on board RMS QE2.

David has become well known for his work in recent years to bring the ICC Bank Payment Obligation (BPO) to market as an established business practice. David was a member of the ICC BPO Rules Drafting Group and is the author of the best-selling ICC Guide to the Uniform Rules for Bank Payment Obligations. He is a regular speaker at industry events and a regular contributor to industry publications including Trade & Forfaiting Review. He has previously run his own consulting business and is a distinguished Member of the Institute of Financial Services. In 2016 David was appointed Special Advisor to the World Trade Board and Expert Advisor to the trade faculty of the ICC Academy.

David has raised funds for a number of good causes over the years and has served as a regional councillor for Sightsavers. He once walked 1000 miles from John o Groats to Lands End and has completed three London Marathons.

Sean Doherty is head of International Trade & Investment and a member of the executive committee at the World Economic Forum. He leads the Forum’s work on trade and investment policy, including the E15Initiative, is the acting director of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation and oversees the Global Future Council on Trade & FDI. He has headed the World Economic Forum’s Supply Chain & Transport, Chemicals and Mining and Metals industry communities. He worked previously as a management consultant and holds masters degrees in aeronautical engineering, molecular biology and business administration.

Bastien Sachet is chief executive officer of TFT (The Forest Trust), an international non-profit that helps companies transform their supply chains for the benefit of nature and people. TFT has offices in 15 countries and an on-the-ground presence in many more, working across commodities including palm oil, pulp and paper, wood, charcoal, cocoa and stone. TFT assists companies to make policy commitments to eradicate deforestation and exploitation from their operations by focusing on innovation and value throughout the supply chain. The organisation then works on the ground to bring about transformation by training suppliers, empowering smallholders, developing landscape initiatives for thriving communities and working with civil society and NGOs to help companies verify that their policies are translating to action in the field.

Prior to becoming chief executive in December 2015, Bastien was director of TFT’s operations in the Americas, Africa and central Europe. He also oversaw the organisation’s palm oil strategy.

Before joining TFT in 2006, Bastien worked for several years in Brazil, Australia, England and Argentina, leading product and sales teams in logistics and agro-business for Group Moullier. Bastien graduated in agricultural engineering from the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon (Agro Paris Tech) in 2000 before completing his postgraduate degree in marketing and strategy at the University of Paris IX Dauphine.

Hugh Jones is President and CEO of Accuity, joining RBI in 2011 as part of its acquisition of Accuity and NRS and its integration with BankersAlmanac.

Prior to joining Accuity, Hugh spent more than 15 years providing rich data streams to solve difficult business challenges. He was involved in building IntrinsiQ Research into a leading information management company in the oncology market, before moving to a private equity firm Accel-KRR. He has also held positions as Engagement Manager at Deloitte Consulting and Global MD at Datamonitor.

Hugh holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a BA from Yale University.

Thomas Verhagen is the Senior Programme Manager – Banking at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. He joined CISL in 2015 as Senior Programme Manager, Banking Environment Initiative in the Sustainable Finance team. Prior to CISL, Thomas worked for ten years at ABN AMRO bank. Here he experienced first-hand the necessity of, and opportunities for, change by working in his two main fields of responsibility: credit portfolio management and business model innovation. Thomas has a BSc and a MSc in International Business from Tilburg University.

As Head of Trade, Product Management, Transaction Banking Michael is responsible for the P&L and delivery of the Bank’s Trade Finance capabilities globally in Documentary Trade, Receivables Finance, Supply Chain Finance, and working capital solutions, to all of the Bank’s clients across Corporate & Institutional, Commercial and Business clients. He is also accountable for the Bank’s Trade Finance distribution.

Michael is a member of the BAFT Global Trade Industry Council and the ICC Banking Commission Advisory Board. He chairs the SWIFT Offshore CNY Best Practice Working Group – Cash & Trade Group and in March 2014 he was recognised by The Asset as The Renminbi Banker of the Year in the Industry Achievement Awards of the Triple A Treasury, Trade and Risk Management Awards.

He joined Standard Chartered Bank in 1995 and has worked in Hong Kong, London and Singapore across a number of business areas including Corporate Relationship Management, Cash Management and Trade Product Sales, Investor Relations, Business Planning and Strategy for the CEO of the Consumer Bank, Customer Segmentation and Branding, and Customer Experience Management.

Most recently Michael was the Head of Product Management for Asia, Transaction Banking where he had product oversight and P&L responsibilities across the suite of solutions for Cash Management, Trade Finance, Securities Services and Clearing for the bank’s clients in the region.

He is on the board and the honorary treasurer of KELY support group, a Hong Kong based Charity. KELY is focused on providing education and intervention for youth targeting drugs, alcohol and self esteem issues through peer support.

Tanya Kuznetsova is a corporate treasury practitioner with 13+ years of experience in USD 10 bln turnover companies, she is an expert in banking products in retail, supply chain finance and a sustainable trade and financial inclusion enthusiast. Tanya has an extensive experience with innovations in working capital and liquidity management. She holds the professional designation of Certified Treasury Professional (CTP). She is a member of the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), member of the Executive institute, honorary member of Russian partnership for Financial Professionals.

Tanya Kuznetsova holds a position of Head of banking products, Assistant treasurer level for X5 Retail Group, a leading Russian food retailer operating over 9000 stores, 2016 revenues over USD 16 billion. Tanya started working in X5 when the company operated 600 stores. She manages cash collection and liquidity, working capital optimization, automation and increase in scalability of treasury function, supply chain finance program and banking relationships.

Tanya is a winner of a prestigious National Award Reputation-2016, established by a committee chaired by Minister of finance of Russia, for personal contribution to the Russian financial market, achievements in development of electronic factoring operations and increasing efficiency of companies which use factoring. Tanya’s work was named highly commended in retail by the Supply Chain Finance Community Awards in December 2016, Amsterdam, Netherlands. She has publications in various professional journals in Russia, in the USA and in the UK and published a business book on professional development in finance.

Brenda is an entrepreneurial executive whose career focuses on transforming global businesses in emerging markets into strong economic growth. She leads a business at Silicon Valley Bank that provides global financing to companies from startups to later stage, who are transforming the international economy. Brenda has been involved in launching businesses in the UK, India and China and is a strategic partnership builder, having established key relationships with multilateral institutions such as IMF and World Bank to enable this success. Brenda is an advisor to the Department of Commerce providing private sector input to trade policy through the International Trade Advisory Committee; a Board Member of the Bay Area Council, a public policy institute comprised of leading CEOs; and a past Board Member of the British American Business Council. She holds a Master’s Degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in International Affairs.

Esther Peh is First Secretary (Economic) at the Permanent Mission of Singapore in Geneva, Switzerland. She covers all issues relating to Trade in Goods at the WTO, including NAMA, Rules, Information Technology Agreement (ITA) Expansion and the ongoing Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) plurilateral. She also currently chairs the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade.

Prior to assuming her post in Geneva, she served at the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore and was Singapore’s co-lead on TBT, SPS and Horizontal issues such as Competitiveness, SMEs and Regulatory Coherence for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. She also fronted negotiations in free trade agreements including the EU-Singapore FTA, Turkey-Singapore FTA, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the bilateral economic partnership agreement between Singapore and Chinese Taipei (Market Access, Rules of Origin and Trade Remedies). She also spent some time in the Foreign Economic Policy Division, where she undertook economic research, strategic planning and policy development for Singapore’s export promotion agency.

Michael had previously worked in international development for 20 years, with a particular focus on poverty reduction and small enterprise development, helping producers identify and access markets. This has led him to believe that there is no better model for ending poverty than through enabling fairer trade and that Fairtrade, when it works well, can be transformational.

Before joining the Fairtrade Foundation as Deputy Executive Director in 2009, Michael spent eight years as Director of Policy at Traidcraft, where he led their research and advocacy programme on issues including international trade policy, corporate accountability, competition and responsible sourcing.

Dr Amy Jadesimi is the CEO of LADOL, a maritime and multi-logistics services base in Nigeria. Beyond LADOL, Amy is on the Prince’s Trust International global advisory board, a founding commissioner of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission and a Forbes contributor. Amy cut her teeth at Goldman Sachs and Brait Private Equity in London before returning to Nigeria to join LADOL’s management team. Amy has a number of accolades under her belt: in 2012, she was named an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow; in 2013, a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum; also in 2013, a Rising Talent by the Women’s Forum for Economy and Society; in 2014, Forbes included her in The 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa; and in July 2015, the Financial Times named her one of top 25 Africans To Watch. Amy holds a MBA from Stanford University, as well as a BA and BMBCh from the University of Oxford.

Susane Chishti is CEO of FINTECH Circle, Europe’s first Angel Network focussed on fintech opportunities and FINTECH Tours, Chairman of FINTECH Circle Innovate and Co-Editor of the Bestseller “The FINTECH Book”​ – the 1st Crowd-Sourced Book on Fintech globally. Susanne is recognised in the European Digital Financial Services ‘Power 50’ 2015, was selected as top 15 FINTECH UK twitter influencers and named “City Innovator – Inspirational Woman 2016″. She is also a University Lecturer at ESCP Europe.

Susanne is an entrepreneur and investor with strong FINTECH expertise. She is a mentor, judge and coach at FINTECH events and competitions such as SWIFT Innotribe, Cambridge Judge Business School Accelerator, Fintech Startup Bootcamp and Barclays Techstars Accelerators. She has more than 14 years’ experience across Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley and Accenture in London and Hong Kong. Susanne is also co-founder of the FINTECH Book series which will see the launch of The WealthTECH, InsurTECH and RegTECH Books published by Wiley in Jan 2018. You can follow Susanne on Twitter: @SusanneChishti

Todd McDonald is COO and Head of Partnerships for R3. Todd co-founded R3 in 2013 and was one of the first to uncover the promise of distributed ledger technology for financial services. In his current role, Todd focuses on building the partner application ecosystem for R3’s Corda platform. Prior to R3, Todd spent fourteen years at Standard Chartered Bank as a Managing Director in their Financial Markets group where he held positions such as Global Head of Electronic FX Trading and Head of FX for the Americas. Todd holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from Colgate University.

Brian Caplen has been Editor of The Banker since 2003. He joined the Financial Times Group from Euromoney in 2000 where he was Executive Editor of Euromoney magazine for five years. He also worked as a business editor and journalist in Hong Kong and the Middle East for 10 years. He has travelled extensively and done numerous high level interviews with prime ministers, finance ministers, central bank governors and senior executives. He has a first-class honours degree in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia.

As the Head of Fintech Partnerships & Strategy, Kaushalya Somasundaram leads the partnership and corporate venturing for HSBC’s core businesses including Global Liquidity and Cash Management, Global Trade and Receivables Finance, Custody and Global Markets. She has led HSBC investments in Fintech companies of strategic importance and the bank’s forays into the world of distributed ledgers. Kaushalya has held a variety of senior roles across HSBC including Strategy & Planning, Corporate Development and Group Audit. Kaushalya has also been recognised in the Brummell’s 2016 list of the most inspirational women innovators in London.

Zaki Manian is a Co-Founder of Skuchain, a fintech dedicated to bringing cryptographic trust to the supply chain. SKUChain uses cryptographic ledger technology similar to BitCoin and similar cryptocurrencies. Prior to this, he was a System Integration Engineer at ReaMetrix. He is very knowledgeable in cryptography, mass surveillance, embedded systems, image analysis and functional programming.

Ghela Boskovich is active in the fintech industry, having spent the last ten years focused on business development for core insurance and banking system solutions, the last half of which has centered on financial services pricing governance functionality, which has leveraged her background in regulatory economics, cost modeling and rate of regulation pricing models. Ghela also founded FemTechGlobal to bridge the gender gap in fintech and the financial services industry. The network is built on the premise that diverse teams create better solutions, and embracing differences fosters creativity. Active in London, New York, Sydney and Singapore, FemTech partners with industry organizations to promote diversity and inclusion, and is a connecting platform for innovators and entrepreneurs. Boskovich is a regular contributor to fintech publications and discussions, specializing in dynamic pricing and customer centricity. Ghela was named one of Brummell Magazine’s 2016 ‘30 Inspirational Women Innovators’, and included in Innovate Finance’s Women in Fintech Powerlist 2016. She also sits on the Banking Technology Awards judging panel, and sponsors the Banking Technology Women In Technology (W.I.T.) Award, as well as the board of the Financial Inclusion Institute.

Dave is the Global Head of Accenture’s Financial Services Blockchain practice as well as a Client Account Lead for two top tier Financial Services firms.

Dave has 20 years of experience in Financial Services split between consulting and industry roles. The early part of his career was primarily focused on Retail Banking, and Cards and over the past 12 years he has focused on Capital Markets.

Dave has experience and expertise in running strategy functions, innovation, strategic cost management, large-scale restructuring, customer relationship management, M&A, outsourcing & offshoring and process excellence.

A senior pharmaceutical executive with over 25 years of international experience in industry leading multi-national pharmaceutical companies such as Schering-Plough, Teva and Novartis. Bringing depth and breadth of specialist expertise in Supply Chain, Strategic Procurement and also General Management. Focused on immediate impact on the success of the business with sustainable results.

Charles Bryant is Secretary General of EESPA and formerly its Co-Chair. In this role he supports the membership in managing public policy, interoperability and promotional challenges in order to further e-invoicing adoption.

He is a member of the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on e-Invoicing and of the CEN Technical Committee for the development of a core invoice standard. He recently edited the ‘Standard Definitions for Techniques of Supply Chain Finance’ for the Global Supply Chain Finance Forum.

He has previous assignments at Tungsten Network, the leading e-invoicing service provider, the Euro Banking Association, and was formerly Secretary General of the European Payments Council playing a major role in the design of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative. He spent six years in the senior executive team at SWIFT, the financial messaging and standards organisation.

Prior to 1997, he had pursued a career in international banking with Chase, Midland (now HSBC) and NatWest with senior executive roles in trade finance, payments, investment and corporate banking. He has lived and worked in London, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Brussels.

He holds an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford (1970) and an MA in History from Birkbeck College, University of London (2012).

Magaly has nearly 20 years experience in corporate payments and e-commerce, having worked in cash management, transactional banking, trade finance, e-invoicing and working capital management.

She joined Taulia in 2015 as Director of Global Product Compliance, to ensure that the design of Taulia’s pioneering products meet in-country regulations and applicable law. She also provides advisory support to corporate clients. Prior to this, Magaly worked for 14 years in senior product management roles at JPMorgan London (including Order-to-Pay Xign). In addition to that, she worked as a consultant in payments and e-commerce at UK Payments (formerly APACS), contributing to innovativebanking industry led solutions.

She has a broad depth of expertise in the trends and developments in international payments and financial supply chain automation across global markets. Magaly represents Taulia at the European E-Invoicing Service Providers Association (EESPA) and other industry forums. She holds two MAs in Sociology and Economics from the University of Louvain (Belgium).

Elliott Limb is the founder of CoBa, the collaborative banking company, focusing on driving collaboration to a future where we have better banking for everyone.

During his 20 years in global banking, he has driven innovation and large scale transformations, been responsible for the some of the world’s most critical payments infrastructure and advised corporates, governments and central banks on innovation. He has mentored, invested in and ran high growth companies, with his focus now on building collaborative eco-systems to help fintech companies grow and banks reduce the cost of innovation.

He passionately speaks on several topics, including banking, fintech, innovation and transformation.

Rhomaios Ram has more than 22 years of wholesale banking experience at Deutsche Bank. His roles have included European Head of FX, Head of FX Electronic Trading, Head of Global Markets Electronic Distribution, where he traded and sold both cash and derivative products and was responsible for driving the automation of trading in FX. Subsequently, he joined the Transaction Bank, where he was Global Head of Product Management and UK Head of Transaction Banking. Transaction Banking is the business responsible for payments, trade finance, securities custody and clearing and bank agency products. His last role at Deutsche was as a founding Partner of the Digital Bank, where he was developing new banking business models suitable for the digital economy. In addition to acting as mentor to several startups, Rhom is now a partner at Ohalo, a startup enabling secure data permissioning, sharing and tracking using blockchain technology.

The majority of his experience has been developing businesses where the product is at the intersection of finance and technology. Rhom has a BSc. from Imperial College London and a MBA from Columbia Business School.

Dr. Selim Seval has been the Founding Board Member of Octet Express Payment Institution since 2015. Prior to this he was the Founding Chairman and Board Member of Finar and Dun & Bradstreet Turkey, General Manager of Demir Factoring, and Executive Vice President of Pamukbank.

His teaching experience includes Managerial Finance for Junior Students, Special Topics in Finance for Senior Students and Cost Accounting Course for Junior Students at Bosphorus University, in addition to Introduction to Finance Course and Financial Planning Course for graduate students at Istanbul University. Between 2011 – 2013, he was a Board Member of FEBIS – Federation of European Business Information Services. He received his BA in Economics and MA in Finance from Bosphorus University, and his Ph.D. in Finance, Istanbul University.

Edle is a Managing Director in Accenture’s Banking practice, and is the global lead for transaction banking and trade finance. She has 17 years of experience in management consulting in different domains, including growth strategy, online and mobile strategy, product innovation, cost reduction, process and organization redesign, with a strong focus on corporate banking.

Amardy Geerdink is Account Manager for European banks at Ripple. Amardy has 10 years of experience in transaction banking and payment technology. Prior to joining Ripple Amardy worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and as a Sales Consultant she was responsible for selling tailored cash and liquidity management solutions to multinational clients. Earlier in her career, she worked for ABN AMRO and finished her Master degrees in Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Amardy believes that in our rapidly changing, internet-led, 24/7 environment money should be able to move as fast around the world, as information does today.

Alex started his career as a maritime lawyer with Holman Fenwick & Willan in London, Athens and Hong Kong. He then joined Freehill, Hogan & Mahar in New York, where his clients included many leading ship operators. In January 2003, Alex co-founded essDOCS with the aim of eliminating the significant inefficiencies resulting from the use of paper documentation in shipping and trade. He is primarily responsible for the company’s strategic direction.

Sukand Ramachandran is a core member of the Financial Institutions, the Technology Advantage, and the Operations practices at The Boston Consulting Group. He leads the firm’s corporate banking segment and BCG’s global work in technology and operations in capital markets.

Since joining BCG in 2006, Sukand has focussed his client work on the financial services, technology, and media sectors. He has acquired deep experience in retail and corporate banking, capital markets, and insurance.

Sukand is a consultant with deep expertise in customer services, organisation, transformational change, as well as technology-enabled change.

Prior to joining BCG, Sukand worked as director of strategy and innovation with Siemens Business Services, and he started his career with Citibank.

Lady Barbara Judge CBE is the National Chairman of the UK Institute of Directors, as well as Chairman Emeritus of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, having been its Chairman from 2004-2010. She is also currently Chairman of the Energy Institute of University College London and Deputy Chairman of the Tepco Nuclear Reform Committee. In addition, she is a UK Business Ambassador. She is also a member ofthe UAE Advisory Board for the Development of Peaceful Nuclear Energy and Chairman of the Advisory Board for the

Association of Consultancy and Engineering (ACE). In addition she is a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University. In June 2016 she completed two terms as Chairman of the UK Pension Protection Fund. Earlier in her career she was appointed as the youngest ever Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Thereafter she was appointed as the first woman Executive Director of Samuel Montagu and News International.

In 2010 Lady Judge was awarded Commander of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List and in 2015 she received a Sunday Times Non-Executive Director Award for her chairmanship of the Pension Protection Fund.

In 2014 Daniel Blockert was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sweden to the WTO in Geneva. He is the current Chairman of the EIF Steering Committee and the Chairman of the Committee on Trade Facilitation. In 2016, Mr Blockert chaired the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements and in 2015, the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration.

In 2011 Mr Blockert returned to the Department of Trade Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, where he served as a Director and Deputy Head of Department. In 2009, Mr Blockert took up the post as Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission at the Swedish Embassy in Singapore. In 2003 Mr Blockert transferred to the Department of Trade Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and in 2007 he became head of the WTO unit in the same department. After the Swedish Presidency of the EU, Mr Blockert then worked with trade related issues at the Ministry of Agriculture, mainly in connection with international organisations such as WTO, OECD and FAO. After finishing his studies in 1999 he got a position as an EU coordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture. He has a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Political Science, and a Master’s Degree in International Relations, all from the University of Stockholm.

Clive Myrie is a multi award winning journalist, one of the BBC’s most experienced foreign correspondents and a recognised face as a BBC News presenter. As well as regularly presenting on the BBC News Channel and the 1pm and 10pm news bulletins on BBC1, Clive continues to make features and programmes for Panorama, Newsnight and Radio 4.

Clive became a full time foreign correspondent in 1996, first being posted to Japan. Since then he has held some of the most important posts in foreign newsgathering including Washington Correspondent, Europe Correspondent, Asia Correspondent and Africa Correspondent. Clive has reported from more than 80 countries on some of the most important news events over the last 20 years including the wars in Croatia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

He has won awards in Monte Carlo, citations in the United States (from the EMMY committee) and the UK (a Screen Nations award.) . Clive has also been twice nominated for France’s prestigious Bayeaux War Correspondent award and was part of the BBC team nominated for a BAFTA for coverage of the devastating floods in Mozambique in 2000. In 2016 he was nominated for an EMMY award in the US for coverage of the Nepal earthquake.

In 2016 Clive was awarded an Honorary Doctorate at the University of Staffordshire for services to journalism.