Focus: Economic Development
Shuaihua "Wallace" Cheng
Shuaihua "Wallace" Cheng is a senior economist at the UN World Food Program, responsible for rural transformation, digital economy, and food security. He has over 15 years' research and policy advisory experience with UNCTAD, International Trade Centre, German Development Institute, ICTSD, and Shanghai Municipal Development Research Center in the areas of macroeconomy, trade and investment, innovation and digital economy, international development, food security, and climate change. Wallace is also an author for the Agenda of World Economic Forum, a member of Advisory Board of Asia Society's Asia 21 Young Leaders, and Adjunct Professor at the University of International Business and Economics. Wallace holds degrees from Fudan University and the University…
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Emmanuel "Alex" Asiedu
Emmanuel "Alex" Asiedu is the Managing Director of STANLIB Ghana Limited and the president of the Ghana Securities Industry Association, the umbrella body for capital market operators in Ghana. He is also the president of the CFA Society, Ghana and chairs the national advisory board of Impact Investment Ghana. Prior to this he held lead responsibility for Ecobank’s investment management portfolio where his team managed retail and institutional portfolios. Alex is passionate about bringing about change in Africa and is involved in a number of social impact programs and activities that aim at creating positive health and educational outcomes. He has lectured as an adjunct at Ashesi University, a leading…
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James Irungu Mwangi
James Mwangi is Founder of Climate Action Platform – Africa (CAP-A), a not-for-profit organisation that aims to help Africa achieve broad-based economic growth through climate action leadership. Prior to founding CAP-A, James served as Executive Director of the Dalberg Group, a global collection of impact-driven businesses that work to build a more inclusive and sustainable world where all people, everywhere, can reach their fullest potential. James joined Dalberg as a founding member in 2002, started Dalberg’s first Africa office (Johannesburg) in 2007, and subsequently served as Global Managing Partner of Dalberg’s consulting business, guiding the formalization of its structure and governance as a global firm. From 2014, James has served…
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Jovitta Thomas
Jovitta Thomas is a community development expert from India, specializing in development work in fragile and conflict states. In her over 20 years of international work, largely in the Balkans and Afghanistan, she focuses on helping new/ transitional governments design and implement very large development initiatives covering the sectors of local governance, poverty reduction, community development, conflict management, emergency support, and core public services. Her expertise is focused on implementing projects in highly volatile environments and adapting international best practices to local contexts. In the Balkans, Jovitta worked to remove parallel structures and integrate minorities into the judicial system of the newly independent Kosovo. In Afghanistan, she was first Deputy…
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Alexander Verbeek
Alexander Verbeek is a Dutch environmentalist, public speaker, diplomat, and former strategic policy advisor at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Over the past 30 years, he has worked on international security, humanitarian and geopolitical risk issues, and the linkage to the earth's accelerating environmental crisis, currently serving Policy Director at the Environment & Development Resource Centre. Alexander also works internationally as an expert speaker and advisor on planetary change to academia, global NGO's, private firms, and international organizations. He is an associate or fellow at a number of international think tanks, a Visiting Fellow in the Peace and Conflict Department of Uppsala University in Sweden, and is on the…
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Tomáš Sedlácek
Tomáš Sedláček is a Czech economist and university lecturer. He is the Chief Macroeconomic Strategist at ČSOB (a Czech national bank), a member of a group Narrative of Europe commissioned by Manuel Barroso and Council Member of World Economic Forum focused on New Economic Thinking. He is a former member of the National Economic Council of the Czech Republic and an economic advisor to former President Václav Havel. His book Economics of Good and Evil, a bestseller in the Czech Republic, was translated into English and published by the Oxford University Press in June, 2011. He is also host of the podcast "CzechMate."
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Alonso Perez-Kakabadse
Alonso Perez-Kakabadse is Managing Director working in the Emerging Markets Fixed Income team at UBP. He is an experienced macro strategist and portfolio manager in the emerging markets space, with prior tenure at prestigious firms like Wellington Management, Caxton, SAC and Moore Capital. Alonso was Founding Partner and Managing Director of ECADSE Ltd, an independent consultancy firm dedicated to providing advice to institutional clients and sovereigns on the assessment and independent consultancy firm dedicated to providing advice to institutional clients and sovereigns on the assessment and resolution of economic and financial crisis. When serving as Vice Minister of the Economy of Ecuador and as Economic Advisor to the President, he…
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Sang-Jo Kim
Sang-Jo Kim is the Chief Presidential Secretary for Policy for the Republic of Korea. Previously, he was Chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission. He has played a key role in building consensus for economic reform following South Korea's financial crisis in the late 1990s. Sang-Jo is also a professor of economics at Hansung University and chairs 'Solidarity for Economic Reform' (SER), a civil organization dedicated to enhancing the corporate governance system through minority shareholder campaigning. Under his leadership, the group won several landmark lawsuits including the one against the directors of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motors. The cases have become the cornerstone for more clearly defining the fiduciary duties…
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Irène C. Hors
Irène C. Hors is Deputy Director of the Public Governance Directorate at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). She leads efforts to design and implement strategic, evidence-based and innovative policies to strengthen good governance. She was previously the first-ever OECD adviser in Beijing, where she is laid the groundwork for China's engagement with the organization, including providing strategic advice to OECD headquarters on the development of the OECD-China relationship, building and facilitating contacts with the Chinese administration, tracking policy developments and providing insight into the OECD-China relationship. Previously, Irène served as Coordinator of the China Governance Program at the OECD in Paris and was a manager in the Anti-Corruption…
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José Luis Chicoma
JosĂ© Luis Chicoma is the Minister of Production of Peru. He previously served as executive director of Ethos Public Policy Lab, a Mexican think tank that promotes development and sustainable food systems. He was the editor and coordinator of the publication “Transforming our food systems: Inspirational stories and proposals” and has served as a core member of the Tortilla Alliance, the Mexican AgTech network, as well as other coalitions that advocate for sustainable and healthy food systems. He also frequently writes and speaks internationally about the intersection of food and politics. He previously held several high-level positions in the Peruvian government, including serving as Vice Minister of Small and Medium…
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