VICTORIA FORUM 2020

Her Highness Sheikha Intisar Salem Alali Al-Sabah Alali Al-Sabah

Sheikha Intisar Salem Al Ali AlSabah is a princess from Kuwait’s Royal Family. She is the founder and editorial director of « Lulua Publishing » and the Founder of« Alnowair » positivity initiative, which is a non-profit initiative considered to be her biggest contribution to date to her beloved country Kuwait. Sheikha Intisar Salem AlAli AlSabah is highly influential in the Kuwaiti society and she is wholly dedicated to the issues of education, health, child protection, human rights and woman rights. She has played a vital role in alleviating the suffering of people afflicted by disasters, conflicts, and wars. Sheikha Intisar AlSabah has dedicated all her life to philanthropist actions and has always been involved with Humanitarian organizations that work towards providing education, upliftment and equal opportunities to those who need it most. To name a few, she has been involved with spreading awareness and raising funds for UNHCR for the victims of the Syrian War. Sheikha Intisar AlSabah is an active member of the Human Rights Watch Kuwait chapter, an organization that promotes justice and human rights across the globe. Additionally, she has organized with ICRC (International Committee of Red Cross) many initiatives such as a roundtable discussion that sheds light on the plight of Arab women in war.

Lord John Alderdice

In the last thirty years, John Alderdice has been involved in almost every aspect of the Irish Peace Process. As Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland from October 1987, he played a significant role in all the talks between the political parties and the British and Irish Governments on the resolution of the historic conflict in Ireland through to the negotiation of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. He then retired as Alliance Leader and became the first Speaker of the new Northern Ireland Assembly, leading the establishment of the new legislature. More recently the First, Deputy First and Justice Ministers of Northern Ireland invited him to work with two colleagues to develop a new strategy to bring an end to the remaining paramilitary organizations in Northern Ireland. He also established the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building in Belfast to work on the cultural and attitudinal changes that will complete the Irish Peace Process.

Dr. Rym Ayadi

Professor Rym Ayadi is the Founder and President of the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA), Founder and Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies (EMNES). She is Professor at CASS Business School, Member of the Centre for Banking Research (CBR) at the City University in London, U.K. and Associated Scholar at the Centre for Relationship Banking and Economics (CERBE) at LUMSA University in Rome. She is. She is Senior Advisor at the Economic Policy Unit of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

She is Academic Member of several high-level expert groups including the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (ESFRC), the European Banking Authority (EBA) Banking Stakeholders Group (BSG) of which she was elected Chair in February 2019, the European Commission’s Financial Services Users Group (FSUG), the European Parliament – Economic and Financial Committee and Committee on Foreign Affairs (EP Think Tank), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), and an invited expert in international organisations including OECD and IMF, among others. She is also member of Finance Watch (FW) a Brussels-based NGO that strives to make finance serve the society since its set-up. She is also the Founder and Co-chair of International Workshop on Financial System Architecture and Stability (IWFSAS), an Annual Conference that provides a forum for academic researchers, practitioners and policy makers to discuss current issues related to the structure and design of financial systems and their impact on macro-financial stability and sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Rym’s fields of expertise include international financial systems, financial markets and institutions, global financial regulation, governance and consumer protection in finance, and socio-economic development and foresight in economies in transition. Her current research focuses on the redesign of a global stable, sustainable and inclusive financial system that better serves economic and societal long-term objectives and with a particular emphasis on the diversity of corporate and business models, private-public partnerships and the conditions for their success, SME financing and the role of financial markets to achieve developmental objectives and the impacts on business models in finance and role of financial regulation and resolution and impacts on incentives in the financial market. Rym works on economies in transition, policy development and foresight.

Previously, 2013-2018, Rym served as Professor of International Business and Finance at the Department of International Business, as Director and Board Member of the Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins Institute for Cooperatives, and Founding Director of the International Research Centre on Cooperative Finance (IRCCF) at HEC Montreal, Canada; as Senior Research Advisor at the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI) (2015-2019) in Piran, Slovenia; and 2001-2013 as Senior Research Fellow and Head of Research of the Financial Institutions Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a policy think tank in Brussels.

She served as an academic senior expert member of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) Stakeholder Group (Between 2011 and 2013). She was the promoter and director of the Mediterranean Prospects Research Network (MEDPRO) an international research network for foresight analysis in the Euro-Mediterranean region (Between 2009 and 2013) funded by the Seventh Framework Program of the EU. She was also Vice President of the European Financial Inclusion Network (EFIN), a European network that promotes mutual learning on financial inclusion which currently part of Finance Watch.

Dr. Paul Beaudry

Paul Beaudry became Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada in 2019. In this role, he oversees the Bank’s financial system analysis and shares responsibility for setting monetary policy.

Before coming to the Bank, Mr. Beaudry spent 25 years as a professor at the University of British Columbia, where his research focused on technical change and growth, labour economics, monetary policy and financial system stability. He has also held academic positions at Oxford University, Boston University and Université de Montréal and was a visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pantheon-Sorbonne University and Université de Toulouse. Mr. Beaudry held a Canada Research Chair in economics from 2000 to 2015 and is a two-time recipient of the Bank of Canada’s Research Fellowship Award.

Born in Montréal, Quebec, Mr. Beaudry holds a BA in Economics from Laval University, an MA in Economics from the University of British Columbia, and a PhD in Economics from Princeton University.

For more information, view Dr. Paul Beaudry’s bio on the Bank of Canada website

Josh Blair

Josh serves as the Chair of the Board for TELUS International, a global leader in the provision of business services, such as customer experience, digital transformation, IT solutions, content moderation and back-office support. TELUS International’s almost 50,000 team members provide differentiated customer experiences in over 50 languages from more than 50 delivery centres in 20 countries across North and Central America, Europe and Asia.

He also serves as the Vice Chair of the Board for Carebook, a Canadian leader in providing digital healthcare solutions for pharmacies, insurance providers, governments, businesses and other stakeholders across customer engagement and loyalty, vitals screening, personal health records and chronic disease management.

Additionally, Josh is a Partner at Esplanade Ventures, a leading health-tech venture capital firm that empowers innovative digital health entrepreneurs globally by using their deep industry knowledge and network, actively providing strategic direction and establishing key partnerships and distribution channels.

Prior to 2020, Josh served at TELUS in diverse leadership capacities over a quarter of a century. From 2014 to 2019, he was Group President, overseeing the successful progression of TELUS International, TELUS Health, TELUS Business Solutions, TELUS Agriculture and TELUS Ventures – all leaders in leveraging advanced technologies in order to help their clients achieve new levels of success.

Earlier in his career, Josh proved himself to also be a successful entrepreneur, leading a start-up business that developed network management software until he orchestrated a sale of the company to Verisign.

Josh has served in many board and advisory capacities over his career, supporting organizations such as the Business Council of British Columbia and Canada’s Health and Biosciences Economic Strategy Table.

In 2015, Josh received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Victoria (having graduated from its Engineering faculty). Josh is also a graduate of the Executive Program at Queen’s School of Business.

Senator Peter Boehm

Born in Kitchener, Ontario, Senator Peter M. Boehm holds a PhD in History from the University of Edinburgh, a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and History from Wilfrid Laurier University.

He was Deputy Minister for the G-7 Summit and Personal Representative of the Prime Minister (Sherpa) from July 2017, until his retirement from the Public Service in September 2018. Peter Boehm had previously been Deputy Minister of International Development, Associate, and, subsequently, Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. From 2013 to 2017, he concurrently served as Sherpa for the G-8 and subsequent G-7 Summits, as well as the Nuclear Security Summit.

A former career foreign service officer, he served as Ambassador to Germany from 2008 to 2012 and previously as Assistant Deputy Minister for the Americas, North America and Consular Affairs. Abroad, he was Minister (political and public affairs) at the Embassy of Canada to the United States in Washington and Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States. He has held a variety of diplomatic positions, including in Cuba and Costa Rica.

He was National Summit Coordinator for the Santiago and Quebec Summits of the Americas, Special Envoy for the Organization of American States Democratization Mission in Peru and Personal Representative (Sherpa) of the Prime Minister for the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata in 2005. From 2005 to 2008, he was the senior official responsible for the annual North American Leaders’ Summit. He is a recipient of the Public Service of Canada Outstanding Achievement Award and the Canadian Foreign Service Office Award for his contribution to advancing peace in Central America.

He was appointed to the Senate of Canada, representing the province of Ontario in October 2018.

Deborah Bonetti

Former President and now Director of the Foreign Press Association in London (FPA), the oldest association of foreign journalists in the world (which celebrated its 130th anniversary in 2018). She is responsible for organizing the program of briefings and events at the FPA and editing the weekly bulletin. Deborah is working as UK correspondent for the Italian national daily newspaper QN -Il Giorno, covering a variety of topics (mostly Brexit). Deborah has co-written a book on Brexit (out January 2019) titled: “Do They Mean us? The Foreign Correspondents’ View on Brexit” with FPA colleagues and other journalists, published by Bite-Sized Books.

Mark Campanale

Mark is the Founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative and co-founder of ‘Planet Tracker’ He has been recognized by The London Evening Standard as one of the ‘1000 most influential people in London’ awards. He has served in various advisory roles for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, UK Sustainable and Responsible Investment Forum, ImpactBase.org, the Rainforest Foundation UK, the Gordon and Betty More Foundation, Consilium Capital and Tribe Impact Capital. He has thirty years’ experience in sustainable financial markets working for major institutional asset management companies and has a BA in Politics & Economic History and an M.Sc in Agricultural Economics.

Honourable Jane Cordy

Senator Cordy was appointed to the Senate by the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien on June 9th, 2000. She was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia and is a graduate of the Nova Scotia Teachers College and Mount St. Vincent University. She taught elementary school for 30 years in Nova Scotia, teaching in Sydney, New Glasgow and the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Senator Cordy has served as vice-chair of the Halifax-Dartmouth Port Development Commission and was also the chair of the Board of Referees for employment insurance. She also served on the Board of Phoenix House for Youth and also served as a Board Member of Mount Saint Vincent University.

Senator Cordy is a past president of the Nova Scotia Women’s Liberal Commission. She also served on Prime Minister Chrétien’s task force on seniors.

Senator Cordy is a past chair of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association and served as an international vice president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly representing North America on the executive. She is also a vice president of the Civil Dimensions of Security Committee in the Assembly. Senator Cordy continues to be involved with the NATO Parliamentary Association as well as the Canada-U.S. Parliamentary Association.

Senator Cordy has a particular interest in issues related to mental health, multiple sclerosis, seniors and aging, NATO and Gender Security, education and children. She was a member of the senate committee which published a report “Out of the Shadows at Last” a study of the issues relating to mental health, mental illness and addictions. She was also a member of the special senate committee on the implications of an aging society in Canada.

Senator Cordy lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia with her husband Bob. They have two adult children, Alison and Michelle, and four grandchildren.

Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz

Joseph E. Stiglitz is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is also the co-chair of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress at the OECD, and the Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute.

A recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979), he is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and a former member and chairman of the (US president’s) Council of Economic Advisers. In 2000, Stiglitz founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development based at Columbia University. He has been a member of the Columbia faculty since 2001 and received that university’s highest academic rank (university professor) in 2003.

In 2011 Stiglitz was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Known for his pioneering work on asymmetric information, Stiglitz’s work focuses on income distribution, risk, corporate governance, public policy, macroeconomics and globalization. He is the author of numerous books, and several bestsellers. His most recent titles are People, Power, and Profits, Rewriting the Rules of the European Economy, Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited, The Euro and Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy.

Kristy Faccer

Prior to joining the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, Kristy Faccer spent more than a decade working internationally as an advisor, researcher and practitioner in the fields of climate change and sustainability. She has been invited to speak and participate in projects on nearly every continent and in the process, engage with and learn from leaders and innovators across all sectors of society. Kristy’s written work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, books and the popular media and covered topics from most recently, corporate sustainability and the green economy to climate resilience. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Toronto and recently completed her PhD in management at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. Her doctoral dissertation drew on framing and social movement theory to explain how attention to context and collaboration between unlikely allies can positively shape climate action within and beyond individual organizations.

Patricia Fuller

Patricia Fuller holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics and Political Studies from Queen’s University, and a Master of Science with distinction from the London School of Economics. Throughout her career, Ms. Fuller has specialized in trade and economic policy, as well as climate change and energy. At Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, she served as Deputy Director for Trade Remedies (1997-1999), Director of the Softwood Lumber Division (2003-2004), Chief Economist (2007-2010), and Director General of Planning and Reporting (2010-2012). While working at Natural Resources Canada from 2015 to 2017, Ms. Fuller headed the Office of Energy Efficiency and contributed to the development of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.

She also gained experience on environment and climate change files earlier in her career while working at the Privy Council Office and supporting the Cabinet Committee on Economic and Regional Development Policy from 2000 to 2003. Ms. Fuller served abroad as Ambassador of Canada to Uruguay from 2004 to 2007 and as Ambassador to Chile from 2012 to 2015. Previous international assignments also included Mexico and Guatemala. Most recently, she has been serving as Director General of Economic Development at Global Affairs Canada. Her responsibilities include oversight of Canada’s engagement with International financial institutions, as well as leadership for development assistance policy related to economic growth and governance.

Fabrizio Hochschild-Drummond

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 18 April 2019 the appointment of Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond of Chile as his Special Adviser on the Preparations for the Commemoration of the United Nations’ 75th Anniversary at the Under-Secretary-General level.

Mr. Hochschild who has served as Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General since 2017, supports the Secretary-General in coordinating the preparation for the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations in 2020 and related celebrations, through a system-wide process of consultations and reflections on the role of the United Nations in advancing international co-operation and in supporting Member States’ ability to respond to emerging challenges and frontier issues.

Mr. Hochschild brings diversified United Nations senior leadership experience at headquarters and the field, having served as Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in 2016, UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Colombia from 2013 to 2016, Director of the Field Personnel Division in the United Nations Department of Field Support, New York from 2010 to 2012; and as Chief of Field Operations and Technical Cooperation in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Geneva from 2005 to 2009.

He began his United Nations career in 1988 with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sudan and served in subsequent postings with UNHCR, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and in peacekeeping. He was posted in Sudan, Jerusalem, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Geneva, New York, Timor-Leste, Serbia and the United Republic of Tanzania.

Mr. Hochschild is a graduate of the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon

Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon is one of Canada’s foremost public intellectuals and a bestselling author. He is considered among the world’s leading experts on the intricate links between nature, technology, and society, with his current research focusing on threats to global security in the 21st century. Tackling subjects such as economic instability and climate change as well as how people, organizations, and societies can better solve complex problems, Homer-Dixon shows audience how to adapt and prosper in a world of ever-increasing complexity.

Homer-Dixon is currently the founder and executive director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. Previously, he directed the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto for nearly two decades. In 2008, Homer-Dixon joined the faculty at the University of Waterloo where he founded the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation. He retired from his faculty position as a University Research Chair in 2021.

A bestselling author, Homer-Dixon has written multiple award-winning books, including The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization; The Ingenuity Gap: Can We Solve the Problems of the Future?; and Environment, Scarcity, and Violence. His latest book, Commanding Hope: The Power We Have to Renew a World in Peril, was published in 2020. Homer-Dixon also writes regularly for the Globe and Mail and has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Scientific American, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Financial Times. He’s been called “one of the best-informed and most brilliant writers on global affairs today,” by The Guardian.

A sought-after speaker, Homer-Dixon has spoken at leading universities, to government agencies, and to major industry associations throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. He has also provided briefings to the Privy Council Office, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of Defence in Canada; the Foreign Office in the United Kingdom; and to the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council, and the State Department in the United States.

Homer-Dixon received a Bachelor or Arts in political science from Carleton University and a PhD from MIT in international relations, defense policy, and conflict theory.

Lila Karbassi

In her current capacity as Chief of Programmes, Lila Karbassi oversees the entire work programme of the UN Global Compact on environment, social, governance and finance issues.

Ms. Karbassi has been instrumental in the work of the UN Global Compact on the environment and climate change and has been responsible for the participation of the UN Global Compact in key UN conferences.

In her 13 years at the organization, Ms. Karbassi has lead numerous successful programmes that have driven businesses to engage with the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact worldwide.

In 2016, Ms. Karbassi worked in the Office of the Secretary-General to provide support and advice on business engagement on the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining the UN Global Compact, Ms. Karbassi held positions on policy regulation at Sanofi-Aventis.

Ms. Karbassi holds a Master of Business Administration from the Bocconi School of Management. She also holds a Doctorate in Biology from the University of Paris and a Master of Biology from the University of Grenoble.

Dr. Jok Madut Jok

Jok’s areas of specialization include security, governance, democracy, and development in South Sudan and Sudan. He has also written extensively about gender, sexuality and reproductive health, humanitarian aid, ethnography of political violence, gender-based violence, and war and slavery and the politics of identity in South Sudan and Sudan.

He is the author of Breaking Sudan: The Search for Peace (Oneworld Publications, 2017), Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence (One World Publication, 2007), War and Slavery in Sudan (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), and Militarization, Gender and Reproductive Health in South Sudan (Edwin Mellen Press, 1998). He has also co-authored The Sudan Handbook (co-edited with J. Willis, J. Ryle and S. Baldo, James Currey, 2011).

Before joining Maxwell he was visiting professor of anthropology, University of Oxford, and Fellow of Linacre College. He had also served in the government of South Sudan as undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, 2010-13. He is the founding director of the Sudd Institute, a public policy research center.

Rt Hon Lord Jack McConnell

Lord Jack McConnell was First Minister of Scotland from 2001 to 2007. He served as UK Special Representative for Peacebuilding from 2008 to 2010, when he was appointed to the House of Lords.

Lord McConnell is currently Co-Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development; Vice President of UNICEF UK; and Chair of the McConnell International Foundation. He is Chair of the Sustainable Development Panel of SSE and is a global adviser to PwC. Jack is Deputy Chair of the UK/Japan 21st Century Group, Chairs the international Peace Direct Awards and has advised in the implementation of peace agreements including the Bangsamoro Agreement in the Philippines. He was made Chancellor of the University of Stirling in June 2019 and is President of Scottish Athletics.

As First Minister, he refreshed Scotland’s International Image and established a new International Development policy. He introduced Scotland’s ban on smoking in public places, the Fresh Talent initiative to encourage in-migration, and a national youth volunteering program, Project Scotland.

From 1999 to 2011, Jack McConnell was a Member of the Scottish Parliament. He was Scotland’s Minister for Finance 1999-2000; Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs 2000-2001, and President of the Legislative Regions of Europe in 2004. He grew up on a small sheep farm on the Isle of Arran, Scotland and was a high school Mathematics teacher before entering Parliament.

David Miller

David Miller is the Director of International Diplomacy for C40 Cities. Mr. Miller was Mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010, and served as Chair of C40 Cities from 2008 until 2010. Under his leadership, Toronto became widely admired internationally for its environmental leadership, economic strength and social integration.

He is a leading advocate for the creation of sustainable urban economies, and a strong and forceful champion for the next generation of jobs through sustainability. Mr. Miller has held a variety of public and private positions and served as Future of Cities Global Fellow at Polytechnic Institute of New York University from 2011 to 2014, was an Adjunct Professor at York University in Toronto and has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Waterloo in Environmental Studies.

Prior to joining the C40, Mr. Miller served as the President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund-Canada, Canada’s foremost conservation organization. David Miller is a Harvard trained economist and professionally a lawyer.

Ruth Mojeed

Ruth brings extensive lived experience and grounded expertise to her work in equity, diversity and inclusion across public and private sectors. Her research and solutions design focuses on an intersectional and inter-generational approach to addressing complex issues of decolonization, race & gender equity. She is the founder of The Inclusion Project, a social innovation network of organizations and individuals engaged in equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Ruth is indigenous to the Yoruba tribe from western Nigeria. She migrated to Canada in 2015 to pursue a master’s degree in intercultural & international communication at Royal Roads University. She holds certificates in community organizing & leadership from Harvard University and community-based participatory research from the University of Victoria.

She is a fellow with the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, a lead researcher and mentor with the UNESCO Knowledge 4 Change (K4C) global consortium. She sits on the advisory of Simon Fraser University’s Community Summit; the Community Social Planning Council’s advisory on Financial Inclusion in the Green Economy. She is the co-chair of the regional committee on inclusive economic recovery (post-covid). She is a director on the national board of the Canadian International Council.

Honorable Jim Munson

Senator Jim Munson is best known to Canadians as a trusted journalist and communications advisor. He reported on current affairs for more than thirty years, most notably as a bureau chief and foreign correspondent for CTV News. His reporting touched upon events around the globe – from Belfast to Beijing – including the First Gulf War, the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the Tiananmen Square Massacre. At home, he covered the FLQ crisis in Quebec and later, in Ottawa, every Canadian government and federal election from 1974 onwards. Senator Munson was twice nominated for a Gemini Award in recognition of excellence in journalism.

In 2001, following his career as a reporter, Senator Munson joined the Prime Minister’s Office as a communications advisor and was made Director of Communications the following year. He was called to the Senate on December 10, 2003, to represent the province of Ontario and served as Whip of the Senate Liberal Caucus from 2008 to 2016.

Deepak Nayyar

Deepak Nayyar is Emeritus Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He holds a D. Phil in Economics from the University of Oxford. Deepak Nayyar is an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. And he is a Distinguished Professor at the Council for Social Development, New Delhi. He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the World Institute for Development Economics Research, UNU-WIDER, Helsinki from 2001 to 2008, as Vice President of the International Association of Universities, Paris, from 2004 to 2008, and as Vice Chairman of the Board of the South Centre, Geneva, from 2011 to 2014.

He was on the Board of Directors of the Social Science Research Council in the United States from 2001 to 2007 and was Chairman of the Advisory Council for the Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, from 2004 to 2007. He served as Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India and Secretary in the Ministry of Finance from 1989 to 1991. He has been a member of the National Knowledge Commission in India. He has been a Member of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization. He was a Director on the Boards of State Trading Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Export-Import Bank of India, Maruti Udyog, Steel Authority of India Limited, ICRA, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

Dr. Aminata Niang

Aminata holds a Ph.D in Cutural Anthropology (University of Arizona) and a M.A. in Sociology (University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar). She has been engaged in collaborative research for over 15 years on qualitative research on development issues, gender, poverty reduction, impacts of corporate mining local development, governance of natural resources in West Africa.

After her MA, she worked at the Centre de Suivi Ecologique-Dakar as junior researcher, then as a consultant for various institutions prior to completing her doctoral studies in the USA where she worked as research assistant and teacher – assistant (2007-2012). Since 2013, she works as research associate at the Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale (IPAR), a Think Tank which contributes to the economic and social development of Senegal and the West Africa region through research, capacity building and policy dialogue.

At IPAR, she worked as lead researcher in various projects funded by big donors (IDRC, Gates Foundation, Hewlett Foundation…) such as : Understanding changing land issues for poor rural people in sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Senegal, Rural markets, Youth employment and migration in Senegal, Mali, Burkina, West African Sanitation and Policy Advocacy Activator (WASPAA), and Institutionalizing evidence use in policy making within the government bodies and Parliament.

Amb. Leslie Norton

Leslie E. Norton (Diploma, Aix-Marseille III University, 1985; BA Hons [Literature], University of Western Ontario, 1988; MA [International Relations], Laval University, 1992) began her career in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and then worked for many years at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in a range of positions in the Africa, Asia and Multilateral branches, including serving in Bangladesh and at the Permanent Mission of Canada in Geneva.

In Ottawa, she served as Director of the International Humanitarian Assistance and Food Aid Unit at CIDA from 2006 to 2008 and as Director of the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Response Group at DFAIT from 2008 to 2009. She served as Director General of the International Humanitarian Assistance Bureau from 2009 to 2015 and as Director General of the Southern and Eastern Africa Bureau from 2015 to 2016. She served as Assistant Deputy Minister of the Sub-Saharan Africa Branch from 2016 to 2019 and was subsequently appointed Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in August 2019.

Senator Ratna Omidvar

Ratna Omidvar is an internationally recognized voice on migration, diversity and inclusion. She came to Canada from Iran in 1981 and her own experiences of displacement, integration and citizen engagement have been the foundation of her work. In April 2016, Ms. Omidvar was appointed to the Senate of Canada as an independent senator representing Ontario. Senator Omidvar is the Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology and served as Deputy Chair of the Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector. She is a Vice-President of the Canada-Germany Parliamentary Group.

Senator Omidvar is a Director at the Century Initiative, a Councillor on the World Refugee and Migration Council, a Founding Committee Member of Lifeline Afghanistan and and Chair Emerita for the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council.

Previously at Ryerson University, Senator Omidvar was a Distinguished Visiting Professor and founded the Global Diversity Exchange, a think-and-do tank on diversity, migration and inclusion. Prior to her appointments at Ryerson, Senator Omidvar was the President of Maytree, where she played a lead role in local, national and international efforts to promote the integration of immigrants.

Senator Omidvar is co-author of Flight and Freedom: Stories of Escape to Canada (2015), an Open Book Toronto best book of 2015 and one of the Toronto Star‘s top five good reads from Word on the Street. She is also a contributor to The Harper Factor (2016) and co-editor of Five Good Ideas: Practical Strategies for Non-Profit Success (2011). Senator Omidvar received a Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, from Ryerson University in 2018 and from York University in 2012.

Senator Omidvar was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2005 and became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2011, with both honours recognizing her advocacy work on behalf of immigrants and devotion to reducing inequality in Canada. In 2014, she received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of German-Canadian relations.

Senator Omidvar has also been recognized by Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, by being named as its Nation Builder of the Decade for Citizenship in 2010. She was named to the inaugural Global Diversity List sponsored by The Economist magazine in 2015, as one of the Top 10 Diversity Champions worldwide. In 2016, she also received Lifetime Achievement Awards from CivicAction and the Canadian Urban Institute, honouring her strong commitment to civic leadership and city building. In 2018, Senator Omidvar was named as one of the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners and in 2019 she received the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from Tufts University.

Dr. Ceyla Pazarbasioglu

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu is Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions at the World Bank Group. In this role, she provides strategic leadership to the best expertise from the World Bank and International Finance Corporation to help developing countries build the foundations for inclusive and sustainable growth. She is a former Deputy Director, Monetary and Capital Markets, at the International Monetary Fund; and Vice President of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, Turkey.

For more information, view Dr. Ceyla Pazarbasioglu’s bio on the World Bank Group website

Deputy Mayor Shirley Rodrigues

Shirley Rodrigues was appointed as Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy in October 2016. She is using her environmental expertise to work with Transport for London (TfL) to deliver the Mayor’s plans for tackling air pollution across London. This includes expanding the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), new charges for the oldest and most polluting vehicles, and creating Low Emission Bus Zones.

She is also overseeing delivery of the Energy for Londoners program (helping Londoners generate more low-carbon electricity), helping to boost London’s recycling rates and cutting landfill. She’s working to deliver the ambitious target of London becoming a zero-carbon city by 2050. Shirley was Acting Executive Director for Climate Change at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), an independent philanthropic organization that works to transform the lives of poor and vulnerable children in developing countries.

She helped establish CIFF’s cities and climate strategy and represented CIFF on the board of the C40 Large Cities Leadership Group – a network of global cities committed to addressing climate change. Shirley has an impressive track record of developing new environmental policies in London. She worked in senior environmental policy roles from 2005 to 2009, helping to implement the London Low Emission Zone and programs to retrofit London’s residential and commercial buildings.

Martin Rohner

Martin Rohner is the Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values a practitioners’ network of 62 banks worldwide dedicated to inclusive and sustainable finance, serving over 30 million clients and representing over USD 200 billion combined assets.

Martin has served as CEO of Alternative Bank Schweiz, Switzerland’s frontrunner bank in sustainable and ethical finance, as CEO of Max Havelaar Foundation Switzerland and Board Member of Fairtrade International. Further stations of his career in development finance and sustainable development include the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen and in Environment and Development from the University of Cambridge, and as well as a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Executive Banking from the University of Bern.

Dr. Yasuyuki Sawada

Yasuyuki Sawada is Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He also serves as Director General of the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, which publishes ADB’s flagship knowledge products such as Asian Development Outlook (ADO). Mr. Sawada is on leave from his professorship at the Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo, Japan.

Mr. Sawada has over 20 years of experience as an economist, researcher, and academic. He has worked at the ADB Institute in Tokyo and served as consultant for various projects at the World Bank Group. He has also served as a visiting professor at Stanford University’s Stanford Center for International Development and adjunct professor of economics at Korea University.

Mr. Sawada has conducted a variety of field-level studies in developing countries and has a deep insight about development issues. His research has contributed to the works of various institutions including: the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS); Economic Research Institute of ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA); Crawford School of Public Policy’s Australia–Japan Research Center at the Australian National University; Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE); International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines; International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Sri Lanka; and, Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry (RIETI) in Japan.

He has published and reviewed numerous books, reports, and journal articles, on diversified topics pertaining to Asia and other developing countries, ranging from macro development issues, such as long-term economic growth and structural change, sovereign debt sustainability, foreign aid, trade, ageing and social security, and natural and man-made disasters to micro issues of poverty, education, infrastructure, microenterprises, microfinance, health, and disabilities.

A leading figure in development economics and applied micro-econometrics, his continuous engagement in policy-oriented research projects contributes extensively towards supporting the ADB’s development goals. He is a recipient of various awards such as the Nikkei Book Prize, Ishikawa Prize of Japanese Economic Association, Kiyoshi Kojima Prize of the Japanese International Economic Association; Enjoji Jiro Prize of Nikkei Center (JCER), and Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize. He holds a Doctorate degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in International Development Policy from Stanford University, USA.

Dr. Mareike Schomerus

Mareike Schomerus is Vice President at the Busara Center in Nairobi and Research Director of the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium at ODI in London. Prior to that she was ODI’s Director of Programme Politics and Governance. She is a widely published researcher with a body of work on violent conflict, political contestation and peace processes in South Sudan and Uganda and across borders, as well as behavioural mechanisms in post-conflict recovery. She has conducted extensive fieldwork, including under challenging and insecure conditions. In addition to conducting and leading academic research as Principal Investigator, she has conducted applied research for, amongst others, the Small Arms Survey, UNICEF, USAID, DFID, and The Carter Center. She is the editor of two volumes and her most recent book The Lord’s Resistance Army: Violence and Peacemaking in Africa is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Master’s Degrees from Columbia University and the University of Bremen.

Ivan Semeniuk

Ivan Semeniuk reports on science for The Globe and Mail. A long time science journalist in print, online and broadcast media, his stories have informed Canadians about topics as diverse as space exploration, genetic engineering and climate change. His previous roles include Washington-based chief of correspondents for the journal Nature, U.S. bureau chief for New Scientist magazine and a producer with Discovery Channel, Canada. His work has garnered several awards including the Royal Canadian Institute’s Sandford Fleming medal for contributions to the public understanding of science.

Senator Murray Sinclair

Senator Sinclair served the justice system in Manitoba for over 25 years. He was the first Aboriginal Judge appointed in Manitoba and Canada’s second. He served as Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in Manitoba and as Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). As head of the TRC, he participated in hundreds of hearings across Canada, culminating in the issuance of the TRC’s report in 2015. He also oversaw an active multi-million dollar fundraising program to support various TRC events and activities, and to allow survivors to travel to attend TRC events.

Senator Sinclair has been invited to speak throughout Canada, the United States and internationally, including the Cambridge Lectures for members of the Judiciary of various Commonwealth Courts in England. He served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Manitoba. He was very active within his profession and his community and has won numerous awards, including the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, the Manitoba Bar Association’s Equality Award (2001) and its Distinguished Service Award (2016) and has received Honorary Doctorates from 8 Canadian universities. Senator Sinclair was appointed to the Senate on April 2, 2016.

Anisha Singh

Anisha is the Director for Research and Innovation at Busara and is interested in all things research methods and data. She leads the portfolio of experimental research at Busara which is the bridge between academia and consulting, as well as, focuses on developing a network of decision labs to contribute to evidence based approaches in the Global South. She also leads development and implementation of creative and innovative research products – at the core of this is exploring what it means for data to be inclusive and how to conduct research that supports the dignity of research participants. She is passionate about taking research beyond a ‘cultural and gender lens’ and bringing context, cultures and gender to the forefront of research designs. Prior to joining Busara, Anisha worked at IFMR LEAD in India expanding financial access, opportunities and capabilities. Anisha holds an MSc in Social Cognition: Research and Applications  from the University College London, UK and a BSc in Economics from the Singapore Management University, Singapore.

Dr. Amadou Sy

Currently a division chief in the African Department, Amadou Sy has held a variety of positions at the IMF covering more than 20 countries and all the financial crises since 1998. His research interest includes FinTech, digitalization, governance, and macro-financial linkages. Amadou is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Africa Growth Initiative (AGI) at the Brookings Institution which he was leading until January 2017. There, his work on the Financing for Development agenda has been influential in global policy circles and he has provided expert advice to the African Development Bank, Making Finance Work for Africa, and the United Nations.

Amadou wrote two books entitled “Africa through an economic lens” (Brookings Institution Press) and “Beyond the Curse: Policies to Harness the Power of Natural Resources” (IMF). He has also published in top academic and practitioner journals, including Emerging Markets Review, IMF Staff Papers, Journal of Banking & Finance, Journal of African Economies, and the Review of International Economics. His policy work won the runner-up 2011 ICFR-Financial Times Prize for best research on financial regulation. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Revue d’Economie du Développement, contributes to the African Economic Research Consortium Visiting Scholars program at the IMF, and has been a member of Ph.D. Thesis Committees at the Université d’Auvergne, France.

Amadou has presented his work at international conferences and central banks worldwide and has testified at the U.S. Congress. He has contributed to blogs, podcasts, radio and TV programs and was quoted in The Financial Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, BBC, Bloomberg, Foreign Policy, El Pais, Les Echos, Il Sole, and O Globo.

Amadou holds a Ph.D. in Finance for McGill University and is a CFA charter holder as well as a Financial Risk Manager (GARP).

Diane T. Finegood

Diane Finegood is a Professor and Fellow in the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University where she teaches the Semester in Wicked Problems as part of the Semester in Dialogue cohort program.

Her career has spanned a broad range of disciplines and leadership roles. She is currently serving as Executive Director of the Canadian Health Services and Policy Research Alliance. She served as President & CEO of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (2012-2016) and inaugural Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (2000-2008).

Diane is an internationally recognized researcher with scholarly work in a range of disciplines including the fundamental science of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, application of mathematical modeling to physiological systems, new models for population health science, cross sector partnership, and complex adaptive systems. During her career, she has published more than 140 peer reviewed papers and book chapters, been awarded $35 million in grant funding and has received numerous honors and awards for scientific excellence, leadership and mentorship.

Nadia Theodore

Nadia Theodore joined the Canadian civil service in 2000. She has made her career in the Trade Agreement and Negotiations Branch of Global Affairs, holding leadership positions on several recent and major trade initiatives of Global Affairs Canada, including serving as one of the two Deputy Chief Negotiators for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and as the Executive Director of Canada’s Secretariat for the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

Consul General Theodore previously served at Canada’s Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organization and at Canada’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, in Geneva Switzerland. Directly prior to being named Consul General for the US Southeast, in August 2017, she served in Ottawa as Chief of Staff and Executive Director to Canada’s Deputy Minister for International Trade.

With over 10 years of trade policy experience, Ms. Theodore’s appointment came as Canada, Mexico and the United States launched negotiations to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As part of Canada’s international trade negotiating team, Ms. Theodore built a reputation for forging strong partnerships with government and business leaders and managing complex, priority trade initiatives.

Ms. Theodore was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London and an M.A. in Political Science from Carleton University.

Senator Pamela Wallin

The Honourable Pamela Wallin, O.C., S.O.M. was appointed to the Senate of Canada on December 22, 2008. Pamela is an Officer of the Order of Canada, this country’s highest civilian honour (2007) and a member of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (1999). She has fourteen Honourary Doctorates and was Chancellor of the University of Guelph.

Pamela served as Canada’s Consul General in New York from 2002-2006, in the wake of the tragic and tumultuous events of 9/11.

Among many other honours, she has been named to the Canadian Broadcasting Hall of Fame; she received a national Visionary Award in Canada; and has been recognized four times by Queen Elizabeth II for her public service and achievements.

Pamela served as the first Honorary Colonel for the RCAF and has an on-going commitment to the men and women of the military. She traveled to Afghanistan on several occasions and to bases across the country and throughout the U.S.A. She was one of five eminent persons on the Special Independent Panel on Canada’s Future Role in Afghanistan who successfully recommended support and airlift for our serving men and women. She is committed to building and enhancing the military/civilian understanding and continues to work with veterans and serves as the Service Officer for her Legion Branch #62.

In 1995, the citizens of her hometown of Wadena, Saskatchewan dedicated a street in her honour, Pamela Wallin Drive. She is the author of three books, including her best-selling autobiography Since you Asked (1998).

The wide-ranging career of the journalist, diplomat, entrepreneur and Senator has spanned more than nearly 40 years, several continents, and always with a focus on politics and foreign policy. She worked for CBC radio, the Toronto Star and CTV, where she hosted Canada AM and went on to become the Ottawa Bureau chief, and anchor of the CTV weekend news. In 1992, she became the first Canadian woman to co-anchor the nightly national television newscast Prime Time News. In 1995, Pamela founded an independent television company, Pamela Wallin Productions. Her media background has proved invaluable in her subsequent public service.