Speakers

Mr. Arnaldo Abruzzini

Secretary General, Eurochambres; Belgium

Business by defnition creates values: for the shareholders, for the employees, for the customers. Everyone individually taken is a part of the society. And creating well being for many means creating wealth for the society. This is the contribution of business to modern societal challenges, framed in the set of shared values of today society.

Mr. Abruzzini joined EUROCHAMBRES in 1999 as Secretary General. EUROCHAMBRES is the Brussels-based European Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, representing more than 2,000 regional and local Chambers of Commerce and Industry with more than 20 million member companies in 45 countries.

• 1996 : he founded INTERACTIVE MEDIA and served as board member till 2010.
• 1996 to 1999: Board Member of MEDIACAMERE, a communication company owned by the Italian Chamber of Commerce.
• 1984 to 1996: shareholder and managing partner of the CONSIR group 
• 1987 to 1989: managing director of the BAVARIA ASSICURAZIONI
• 1982 to 1984: assistant to the Managing Director in MEDIOBANCA
• 1979 to 1982: he worked in the Rome (Italy) and Milwaukee (US) of ces ARTHUR ANDERSEN.

A native of Italy, Mr. Abruzzini is a graduate in Economy with major in Finance from the Rome University “La Sapienza”.

Dr. Mustafa Alsayed

Secretary General, Royal Charity Organisation, Kingdom of Bahrain

The importance of building a trusting organisation that respects human dignity and values cannot be over-emphasised if we want to achieve a peaceful and just society and that is only possible if we practice ethics in business.

Dr. Mustafa Alsayed, who is the Secretary General for Royal Charity Organization, was the Chief Executive of Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) until end 2007.

His previous positions include Chief Engineer with the Ministry of Works, Power & Water, responsible for power generation in Bahrain, Chief Executive at Midal Cables and General Manager with Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) and Power and Utilities Supervisor with Bahrain Petroleum Company.

A mechanical engineer by qualification, Mr. Al Sayed also holds a PhD and Masters in Industrial Management.

Mr. Al Sayed is the winner of Crown Prince Award for Best Research in Social Science in 2007 and the GCC Best Environment Personality Award for 2005-2006. He is the author of a management book, “The Key to Organizational Success”.

Mr. Christian Arbeit

Communications Director, 1. FC Union Berlin; Germany

Christian Arbeit was born in Berlin in February of 1974 and has remained faithful to his home city to this very day. The 41-year-old is a graduate social pedagogue and worked in the cinema industry up to the end of 2008.

Being a fan of 1. FC Union Berlin for many years, he is responsible for the club’s communication since 2009. Three years prior to that, he already started working on the microphone of the club’s stadium located “An der Alten Försterei” as a stadium announcer.

Christian Arbeit has two children.

Mr. Johann Berlin

CEO, Transformational Leadership for Excellence (TLEX); USA

As our global community searches to define the ever moving gray area of good governance, responsible growth, and social responsibility, it is imperative that we move from a space of personal clarity, social togetherness, and shared purpose. With these drivers as a framework, it’s important we have an open mind to different perspectives, think about the common good of humanity as a whole, and find areas of shared value to ensure that we are not using ethics that serve only our stakeholders’ interests or worldview, but rather to serve a higher common good. This approach can lead flexible solutions and shared commitment toward addressing the important issues and topics that are key to sustaining balance in a complex global economy riddled with conflicts of interests.

In his current role as CEO of TLEX, Johann has grown TLEX into leading global institutions and Fortune 500 companies, with projects being mentioned in Harvard Business Review, Wharton Journal, and the New York Times. Prior to joining TLEX, Johann scaled boutique triple bottom line and social sector companies from concept to high-impact with a special focus on sustainability, social ventures, and distribution innovations.

Johann has participated as a speaker and facilitator at events like: TEDx London, World Forum for Ethic and Business at the United Nations, Stanford Center for Compassion, Harvard Executive MBA Alumni Summit, Wharton School of Business, UC Berkeley’s Leadership Symposium, Yale School of Management, American Express, as a keynote at GE HealthCare’s Health Ahead Summit Paris, and Dartmouth on Purpose.

Johann holds certification in Coaching from Integral Coaching, and certification in Leading Teams from the Ross School of Business. He graduated with a B.A. in Business with a focus on Sustainability from MUM International. He sits on the boards of both community and global non-profits focused on business incubation, local economies, environment and education.

Mr. Bob Blackman

Member of Parliament for Harrow East; United Kingdom

The World Forum for Ethics in Business is a great initiative and it is heartening to see principles of ethical living being brought into the way businesses are conducted. Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, I was responsible for the regulatory compliance management at BT. Having worked closely on the regulatory framework and compliance in businesses, I feel it is important to assess how businesses operate. I support the promotion of free trade, providing an enabling environment for businesses and combating corruption across board. I am a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Corporate Governance that endeavours to influence the policy agenda for business, economic and social prosperity.

Bob Blackman is the Conservative MP for Harrow East and presently serves as Joint Secretary of the prestigious 1922 Committee within Parliament. Bob attended Preston Manor High School in Wembley, where he has lived for much of his life. After graduating from Liverpool University Bob joined BT and remained at the company until he was elected London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow in 2004. Bob was also member of Brent Council for nearly 24 years. During that time he led the Conservative Group for 20 years and the Council for 5 years.

Since being elected as MP for Harrow East in 2010 Bob has been able to bring his extensive experience in Local Government to bear on many of the issues facing the Government today. Bob has taken a lead a role in securing compensation for Equitable Life policyholders as Co-Chairman of the APPG, as well as championing the fight against smoking in his role as Chairman of the APPG for Action on Smoking and Health, and providing a platform for British Hindus to engage with Parliament as Chair of the APPG British Hindus.

Mr. Vikas Chawla

Managing Director, South East Europe, The Coca-Cola Company; Greece

A Foundation going strong for 11 consecutive years, as does the World Forum for Ethics in Business, self-signifies its own importance and relevance to the global business community. Such initiatives draw attention to the importance of promoting ethical behavior in the corporate world, as it is not only the right thing to do, but also constitutes the choice that offers organizations long-term sustainable growth. This year’s Symposium rightly places emphasis on the contribution of each and every individual in an organization. Because when the ethics of each individual are recognized, respected and encouraged, the collective impact can only be positive toward building sustainable and healthy businesses and communities.

Vikas Chawla is Managing Director of Coca-Cola South East Europe across 12 countries. He has been working with The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partners for 18 years, holding a variety of leadership positions. Prior to his current role in Europe, Vikas headed Coca-Cola’s India Operations, consolidated the bottling business, setting the foundations for long-term growth. Previous to this role, he was named Managing Director of the bottling business in Sri Lanka.

Vikas has led each of the businesses he handled toward strong, sustainable, profitable growth. Amongst his areas of expertise are mergers and acquisitions, strong overall understanding of consumer businesses and successfully developing values-based organizations that deliver high performance.

Prior to Coca-Cola, Vikas was a Senior Consultant with Arthur Andersen. He has also worked in positions of increasing responsibility in the IT industry. Active in the global business community, Vikas speaks across different forums on sustainability, leadership, business turnarounds and values.

Vikas is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program from Harvard University. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering and an MBA from the USA.

Mr. Günter Conrad

Chairman, CON-First GmbH, Frankfurt; Germany

True Leaders have always acknowledged the operating principles of our universe by being guided by ethics and values. The ignorance of many of these principles by many of today’s leaders has caused the crisis and will cause further crisis based on the law of physics: “action causes reaction”. – Pilots who ignore the operating principles of aircraft also crash. This is the reality. In the future we can only afford True Leaders, being well versed in the operating principles of our universe and being guided by them. Raising these principles is the generally acknowledged prerequisite to taking leadership responsibilities. This is the Paradigm Shift we have to implement.

Mr. Conrad is a top management strategy consultant working with his clients on transforming their enterprise to be relevant in the future. He served in Andersen Consulting/Accenture for twenty-seven years until 2001 and then founded his own company to work with his clients in reviewing their strategic positioning and in charting their future course.

During the past twenty years he has been developing and implementing enterprise transformation plans with his clients. His present research topic deals with effective leadership styles of entrepreneurs and executives in extraordinary turbulent times, moving from motivational to inspirational leadership to respond to the urgent call for aligning leaders’ actions with the universal rules of this world.

Dr. Eric Cornut

Chief Ethics, Compliance and Policy Officer, Novartis AG; Switzerland

The World Forum for Ethics in Business is a powerful initiative since it brings multiple stakeholders from different disciplines together. It is a great forum to challenge ourselves on ethical questions because of the nature of what we do and what we want to become. Business ethics is not a question of philanthropy. For us, it is a prerequisite for providing the best possible care for patients so that people can live longer, with a better quality of life, giving more time to do the things that matter to them.

Eric Cornut is a member of Novartis Group Senior Management in his capacity as Chief Ethics, Compliance and Policy Officer, a role he has held since August 2014. He is responsible for strengthening compliance and public policy that Novartis as a leading company in the industry depends on for a sustainable future in healthcare. He also holds the responsibility as the Chairman of Novartis Group Japan.

Previously, Eric served as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Novartis Pharmaceuticals where he has been responsible for all aspects of Global Product Strategy and Commercialization. Earlier he led Pharma Region Europe for 6 years where he oversaw the operations of affiliates in 35 countries with approximately 9,000 employees.

Eric began his career at Novartis predecessor company, Ciba-Geigy in 1989 and played a key role in the global pharmaceutical merger activities of Ciba-Geigy-Sandoz in 1996.Following this, he assumed the role of CEO Novartis Netherlands and subsequently became President and CEO of Novartis France in 2000.

Eric has a Doctoral degree in Law from the University of Basel, Switzerland and a Master of Law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Lefteris Coroyannakis

Strategic communications, FIFA; Switzerland

As the world governing body of association football, and the organiser of the biggest single-sport competition in the world, FIFA wields significant power and influence. As a result, we have a responsibility that stretches far beyond the game of football. Recent challenges we have faced on ethics and governance have put a spotlight on this responsibility, rendering the main theme of this Symposium even more poignant for FIFA. More than ever, we must ask ourselves what it is that makes our organisation “rich”; what “wealth” means to us.

Lefteris is part of the PR team within FIFA’s Corporate Communications department, where he is primarily responsible for the organisation’s sustainability communications and corporate messaging strategy. Previously, he managed FIFA’s political relations with the EU as a member of FIFA’s Public Affairs department, having had his first experience in football administration in a compliance function at FIFA TMS GmbH.

Before moving to Zurich, he worked as a public affairs consultant for Brunswick Group LLP in Brussels, advising clients on a variety of policy areas. He has also carried out traineeships at U.S. law firm Mayer Brown LLP and in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade.

Lefteris was born in Canada to Greek parents, and raised in Belgium. He holds a law degree from King’s College London and a master’s degree in European public policy from the College of Europe in Bruges. He is fluent in French, Greek, Spanish and Italian, has a conversational level of Portuguese and wishes his German were better.

Prof. Herman de Croo

SMinister of State, Member of the Belgian House of Representatives, Former Speaker and Former Cabinet Minister, Mayor of Brakel; Belgium

Ethics has to be accepted by the people, especially by those who are enthusiast to attend sports manifestations and the millions of them participating in it.

It means transparency regarding the sometimes immense amounts paid to organize games, to hire players, to keep and build the infrastructure, etc.

Trust and confidence in the correctness of the application of social and financial criteria, even if specific to the exercise of this type of activity, where mass information (media, especially T.V. ) and advertisement, are the mean elements of making it sustainable, needs to be transparent. The law acting mechanisms in a representative democracy means that citizen, whose parliament has been free elected, feel that their will, on a democratic way, has been full filed. Any social business, health, entertainment, taxations, or contributions to wellbeing and welfare will be decided on an open and transparent way.

Herman De Croo is a Belgian liberal politician. He is a member of the Open VLD. First elected in March 1968, he is the longest serving Belgian Member of Parliament. He obtained a doctorate in law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.) in 1961. With a Fulbright scholarship he attended University of Chicago Law School (United States) (1961‑1962). From 1999 until July 2007 De Croo was the President of the Chamber of Representatives, the lower house of the country’s Federal Parliament. He is the current mayor of Brakel.

De Croo was first elected to the Chamber of Representatives in 1968 for the PVV-PLP. He has since served in various governments as minister of Transport and Foreign Trade; minister of Transport, Postal Services, Telegraphy and Telephony; minister of Education and minister of Postal Services, Telegraphy, Telephony and Pensions.

Herman De Croo, who holds a Ph.D. in law, is a former Professor of Common Law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

He holds the honorary title of Minister of State since 3 June 1998.

Mr. Christoph Daum

International Football Manager, Germany

“You can fall. It is not important how many times you fall. You just have to get up again.”

Christoph Daum, who was born in 1953 in the mountainous area of Erzgebirge, grew up in the Ruhr region, and is one of the most prolific and idiosyncratic football coaches in Germany.

For a quarter of a century he has been working successfully as the head coach of top European clubs; he won national titles in Germany, Turkey and Austria with his teams.

Christoph Daum is the father of four children and married to his second wife. He lives with his family in Cologne.

Mr. Nirj Deva

Member of European Parliament; Board Member, World Forum for Ethics in Business; Belgium/United Kingdom

Gone is the time when we can act without being accountable for our actions. It is on us to demand something more; to translate the discussions of the coming forum into tangible actions. To build a society of conscience that we can be proud of.

Nirj Deva is the first person in history to be born in one continent (Asia), to be elected to parliament in another continent (UK) and then elected to represent that country as a member of a multi-national Parliament (the European Parliament). He became in 1981, Chairman of the Bow Group, a leading British political think-tank.

In 1985, he was honored as the first Asian to be appointed by Her Majesty The Queen as a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London.

In 1992 he was elected to the United Kingdom Parliament, as the Conservative Member for Brentford and Isleworth (1992-1997). Nirj has subsequently been a Member of the European Parliament for the past 12 years, elected in 1999 from a Constituency of 7.5 million voters in the South East of England.

Appointed Vice President of the Development Committee in 2009, he remains a Member of the South Asia Delegation and of the Subcommittee on Human Rights. He is a Fellow of Britain’s Royal Society of Arts, Hon. Life President of the EU-India Chamber of Commerce, and Patron of the International Monarchist League. His phenomenal work on International Development led to his nomination for the post of Secretary General of the United Nations to succeed Kofi Annan in 2006. In 2011, Nirj was awarded MEP of the Year for Development.

In 2012, Nirj has been honored with the prestigious Priyadarshni Academy award for his services to international development. In 2012 he was nominated by a major political group and came second in the election to be the President of the European Parliament, beating the liberal candidate into third place.

Ms. Annika Dopping

TV-Producer and Host, Communicator and Content Provider, Sweden

Throughout my life I have had a passion for exploring and conveying knowledge around ethics and social sustainability. Having been a TV-producer for many years I was fortunate to be able to produce a program called ”Three Wise men”, featuring The Dalai Lama, Dr. Deepak Chopra and the very founder of World Forum for Ethics in Business, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The TV program has been an inspiration for many viewers and led to many other important openings. When I now was given the opportunity to facilitate a conference on my favourite topic it was an easy choice. I am really looking forward to learning and sharing new insights of what creates true wealth.

Annika Dopping is specialised in communication and communication strategies with a focus on sustainable leadership, health, environment, education and human issues. Her work extends from being a management coach in strategic communications to planning and delivering major conferences/events/workshops/films/web/pod productions and facilitating and lecturing in meetings/conventions, developing new concepts, customer and business value and implementing them with the appropriate sets of communication tools – including film/TV/web-TV productions, podcasts, video conferences, roadshows, lectures and carefully designed meetings.

Mr. Louis Gagnon

Chief Product and Marketing Officer (CPMO) at Audible, an Amazon company; USA

Business Ethics should be defined, modelled out and celebrated for as long as there will be leaders who make unethical choices. But what about those leaders who are already fundamentally ethical? Where should the bar be for them? What level should they aspire to next? Should they move from “being ethical” to “being spiritual”? From “doing good” to “loving”? What does it all mean concretely? What is required to scale? How could this be nurtured and supported? If, in business, information is power, just imagine what love could be.

Born in Quebec City (Canada) and deeply influenced by his witnessing of Roman Catholics who dedicated their lives to providing low-price, high-quality social goods in education and health care, Louis Gagnon developed a life-long fascination for the “why”, the “what,” and the “how” of social change. His particular area of focus has been the concrete application of private sector techniques to crystalize and drive social change. By his own admission, such focus may be explained by the fact that the “market” triumphed as an ideology during his formative years.

In his 25-year career, Mr. Gagnon has supported 7 different social causes in a number of countries across 5 continents.

Amongst them are the 

• Deinstitutionalisation of mental health patients. In the late 80s, as a business school undergraduate at Laval University in Quebec City, Mr. Gagnon led and developed a series of social marketing studies that shed light on how the deinstitutionalisation of 6,000 psychiatric patients in the community could be more effective. The studies identified a huge expectation gap within the community, the employees and patients. The response was a widespread education and training effort to address the issues.
• social marketing for AIDS, reproductive health, and malaria prevention at Population Services International (PSI) to establish a social marketing program for AIDS prevention in Rwanda
• the Health education through word-of-mouth in a brick-and-mortar environment, Consumer word-of-mouth value recognition: the Internet era.

In 1999, learning from the numerous challenges of scaling a word-of-mouth system in a brick-and-mortar environment, Mr. Gagnon brought his concept to the Internet, a space where growth was not limited by physical constraints. His new cause: redistribute the enormous direct marketing budgets spent by telecom and credit card operators to the people who, through the direct and indirect effect of their individual word-of-mouth reach, create value for their business. This tech start-up named YOUge.com generated three of the most successful viral marketing campaigns ever created in Canada’s history, but failed to achieve its destiny as a wealth creation system for the masses. As the key product leader at Monster Worldwid, he supported $1.5B+ in revenue from 53 countries and won dozens of awards including “Marketer that Matters” by the Marketing Magazine (2007) and “Personality of the Year” by the American Marketing Association (2007).

In 2010, Mr. Gagnon joined Yodle in New York City as its Chief Product and Marketing Officer (CPMO). Yodle’s cause was to help small business owners leverage technological tools to grow their businesses faster, and more cheaply. For 3 consecutive years, Mr. Gagnon helped hundreds of thousands of US Small and Medium Business (SMBs) and grew the company 50%+ per year while achieving profitability at scale. Yodle ranked 9th on Forbes’ 2013 List of Most Promising US Companies.

In 2014, Mr. Gagnon joined Audible, an Amazon company. As its Chief Product and Marketing Officer (CPMO), he is responsible for bringing “Inspiring Voices” to the world through the global production and distribution of audiobooks and highly-curated short-form audio content to any device, anywhere, anytime.

In 2015, Mr Gagnon received a prestigious Hermès award by Laval University, its highest alumni distinction for outstanding achievement, leadership, and social commitment. He was also recently named as a Top-100 US CMOs by Peer100, and has been featured in many business publications such as The Economist. He and his wife Cathlyn have 3 wonderful children who are happily anchored in Montclair, New Jersey (USA).

Mr. Sandro Giuliani

Managing Director, Jacobs Foundation; Switzerland

The steadily growing acknowledgment of the private sector, that integrating the wellbeing of individuals and communities in the core priorities and performance measurement systems of the business sector is imperative if sustainable development shall be achieved, is a very promising but still fragile development. In order to embark on and further catalyse this trend, the Jacobs Foundation as a private philanthropic actor has entered into a strategic partnership with the platform CocoaAction of the 11 globally leading cocoa and chocolate companies in order to further strengthen the planned integration of community development – with a specific focus on educational outcomes of children and youth – within the core sustainability strategy of the whole sector.

Sandro Giuliani has a background in business administration from his MBA studies at the University of Zurich and also holds a Master of Advanced Studies in development and cooperation from the ETH Zurich.

From 1999 to 2009, Sandro Giuliani worked for Pestalozzi Children Foundation, most recently as head of its international programs and member of the Board of Directors.

He has joined Jacobs Foundation in 2009 as Program Officer. Since 2013, he has been the Managing Director of the Foundation and since 2015, he is also Delegate of the Board. The Jacobs Foundation is active worldwide in promoting child and youth development. It allocates a budget of approximately 45 million Swiss francs per year to fund research projects, intervention programs and scientific institutions.

Mr. Christoph Glaser

Managing Director, World Forum for Ethics in Business; Belgium

To actually BE the change we want to see in the world, seems to me the biggest challenge of all. The WFEB aims to be a platform for leaders to move in this direction and create collective action for a brighter and sustainable future! It see it as an honour and privilege to be part of this collaborative effort and I look much forward to meet with likeminded people from around the world to make this world a better place.

Born and raised in Basel, Switzerland, Christoph has served since 2006 as Managing Director for the International Leadership Symposium of the World Forum for Ethics in Business. As a leadership expert and personal development coach, Christoph has delivered leadership programs in more than 50 countries over 15 years. This rich experience of diverse cultures and an understanding of global social economic and political scenarios has helped him to establish several public-private partnerships for social development. Since 2009 he acts as CEO for the TLEX Europe (Transformational Leadership) Seminars. Some of the organizations which he has worked with include: Harvard Business School, Accenture, Beiersdorf, Boston Consulting Group, General Electric, Microsoft, Shell and the World Bank Group.

Christoph currently serves on the Boards of a number of Non-Governmental Organizations internationally such as the International Association for Human Values. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy (MPP) from the Humboldt-Viadrina School for Governance and graduated with honors from the Basel Business School, Switzerland.

Mr. Avnish Goyal

Founder & CEO, Hallmark Care Homes; United Kingdom

I am so pleased that there is a forum for business leaders to discuss and share ideas about how ethics in business is the way to do business. I am excited about speaking at the conference about the work we do at Hallmark Care Homes to inspire others. Avnish Goyal is the Managing Director and Founder of Hallmark Care Homes; a family business which was established in 1997 operating 17 care homes across England and Wales. Hallmark Care Homes is a multi-award winning and leading care provider who deliver high quality relationship centred care through an empowered workforce. Hallmark’s vision is to create communities that enhance the quality of life, and give rise to new beginnings and new futures for its residents.

Avnish gained a BA degree from Newcastle University and completed his Accountancy training at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) before joining the family business which is now run by him and his two brothers. He is also the Chair of Care England the representative body for care homes in the UK. Avnish is passionate about people and with his wife run relationship seminars for the public.

Avnish is the Founding Trustee of The Hemraj Goyal Foundation, a registered charity based in Essex operating in the UK and worldwide. Since it was formed in 2010, The Hemraj Goyal Foundation has distributed and raised generous donations to worthy causes, making a real difference to the quality of women and children’s lives. Avnish also is Trustee to The Care Workers Charity; supporting the basic welfare of current, former and retired care workers.

Avnish has three wonderful children all studying at university.

Dr. Monika Griefahn

Chair, Right Livelihood Award Foundation; Germany

Big and successful enterprises prove even nowadays that ethics and business can be combined. In my opinion, only companies with a focus on the wellbeing of their em­ployees and on environmental and healthy products and production will be the ones which will sustain for a longer period.

Monika Griefahn (born 1954) was among the founding members of Greenpeace Germany and served as co-director from 1980 to 1983. She later became Minister of the Environment in the German State of Lower Saxony (1990 to 1998). With Greenpeace she used to organize – among others things – campaigns against the chemical pollution of the North Sea.

From 1984 to 1990 she worked, as the first woman to do the job, on the board of Greenpeace International. She was responsible for building up offices around the world, for example in Russia and Latin America. Moreover, she was responsible for the training and education of new staff and activists. After her service as Minister of the Environment, she became a Member of Parliament in the German Bundestag (1998 -2009). There she was in charge of topics concerning culture and the media, new media and international cultural education policy.

Today Monika Griefahn works as Chief Sustainability Officer for AIDA Cruises and has her own Institute for media, environment culture. It offers consultant services to companies and organizations with the aim to achieve holistic quality in business and society. Monika Griefahn is a member of the SPD (German Socialdemocratic Party).

Mr. Jörg Himmelmann

Director, Global Training, Daimler AG; Germany

Our global Retail Network is one of the key success factors for us. Consequently, the qualification of our colleagues working at the point of sale and representing our brand around the globe in a consistent way is a vital prerequisite for the achievement of our business objectives. I am looking forward to sharing some key levers and our Mercedes-Benz Global Training approach with the participants of this year’s World Forum for Ethics in Business.

Jörg Himmelmann is the Director of Global Training for Mercedes-Benz at Daimler´s headoffice in Stuttgart. He assumed this global responsibility in autumn 2014 after having been in charge of Mercedes-Benz Sverige A/B and Mercedes-Benz Danmark A/S as President & CEO for 6 years.

He started his career within aftersales at a Mercedes-Benz dealership and later on at a factory owned retail branch in his home town Hamburg. His subsequent assignments at the Mercedes-Benz Headoffice in Stuttgart include regional aftersales export responsibilities for Australia/Pacific followed by sales & marketing with a focus on Asia. During the last decade prior to his move to Sweden he was responsible for the global volume planning and allocation, order processing and extensive project development within the passenger cars sales division.

Prof. Dr. Joerg S. Hofstetter

President of the International Forum on Sustainable Value Chains; Switzerland

The WFEB is right in stating that business cannot continue in its present structure. Many companies today report that procurement expenses account for over 80% of cost of goods sold, causing that over 2/3 of the value creation is done by the upstream value chain – sub-suppliers that are generally unknown to companies. Stakeholder pressures increasingly urge companies to bring transparency into their value chains, identifying sub-supplier sites and their practices. Realizing that they are linked with various problematic production steps and industries they never had on their radar screen, companies start engaging with their full value chains of suppliers and sub-suppliers. Yet, how to align sub-suppliers with strategic objectives and behavior is still to be understood.

Dr. Joerg S. Hofstetter is President of the International Forum on Sustainable Value Chains (ISVC), Vice Director of the Chair of Logistics Management and Assistant Professor of Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He holds a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Management.

His research and scientific consulting addresses how companies manage their multinational multi-tier value chains: How to improve transparency in value chains and how to successfully influence the various players therein.

Mr. Michael Hübner

Division Manager Outpatient Care / Care / Innovation; BARMER GEK, Germany

In our modern business world healthy and highly motivated employees are key to every company’s success. Top executives should help foster a corporate culture and philosophy based on mutual trust and shared values which encourages empowerment and resolves conflicts in a cooperative manner.

Michael Huebner is Head of Division at BARMER GEK, one of the major statutory health funds in Germany. Amongst his areas of expertise are clinical care coordination/facilitation, continuity/transition management and public health. Michael has more than 25 years of experience in health care system management including utilization/financial management and performance and outcomes management. He holds a diploma in economics with a special focus on quality management.

The scope of responsibilities encompasses the facilitating of care along a continuum including services by physicians, pharmaceutical therapies, in- and outpatient care and preventing diseases in the German health care system. In addition services in case management for individual customers is becoming more and more relevant. The main goal of product development is to optimize the utilization of results of customer surveys to identify practice improvements and to use evidence based data to influence needed changes, analysing standard data of treatment procedures focusing on important diseases and mental health.

The research is carried out in association with several universities and other independent non-profit organisations like “Bertelsmann Stiftung”. Current studies for example are concentrated on the impact of stress at work. As a consequence, BARMER GEK is developing solutions for companies and their employees to avoid health risks and provide suitable services in the companies’ settings, especially for managers and executives.

Mr. Roland Koch

Chairman, Supervisory Board, UBS; Former Minister-President of Hesse; Germany

The Word Forum for Ethics in Business is an important catalyst for attitudes and experiences of politics and business. As more economically advanced a society is, as more important becomes the question of the real needs beyond life, food and housing, The total GDP may be an indicator, as margin is in business. But human beings, born to be free, have a desire for more, What is that, hoc can it be assest, what responsibility for delivering has politics, is there a consent about the objectives? the conference can help us all to realize the challenges and to search for answers.

Born in Frankfurt am Main in 1958, Mr. Koch completed his final state law examination in 1985. From 1986 to 1999 he worked as a lawyer, with a special focus on business and labor law. Beginning in 1987 Mr. Koch served as a Member of the Hessian parliament until 2010. Concurrently, he was Chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the Hessian Parliament from 1993 to 1999. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Koch was appointed to Premier of the Federal State of Hesse from 1999 – 2010.

From 2011 to 2014, Mr. Koch served as Chairman of the Executive Board at Bilfinger SE, Mannheim. His areas of responsibility included corporate strategy, human resources, legal compliance, project controlling, communications & marketing and group organization. Since 2011 he serves as chairman of the supervisory board of UBS Deutschland AG.

Since March 2015 he serves also as member of the Supervisory Board of Vodafone GmbH. Today Koch runs his own lawfirm in Frankfurt/ Germany.

Prof. Grzegorz W. Kołodko

Former Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance of Poland; Founder and Director of TIGER, Kozminski University Warsaw; Poland

A proper standard of ethics in business is indispensable if we want to have inclusive economic growth and development. So is the case with ethics in politics and policy-making. Neither will be possible without taking care of a culture shaping people’s behavior. But in business the ethics must be also encouraged by relevant regulation and enforced by the law. Thus, the ethics must be always consider in a given cultural and institutional context, as suggested by the New Pragmatism.

Professor Grzegorz W. Kołodko – intellectual and politician, a key architect of Polish economic reforms. Member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities. Author of research papers and numerous books published in 26 languages, including international bestseller “Truth, Errors, and Lies: Politics and Economics in a Volatile World” nominated for the William Harrington Award “for an outstanding book that demonstrates how scholarship can be used in the struggle for a better world”.

While Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (1994-97) he led Poland to the OECD. Holding the same positions in 2002-03 he’s played important role in Poland’s integration with the European Union.

Director of TIGER – Transformation, Integration and Globalization Economic Research at Kozminski University in Warsaw. Photographer, marathon runner, and globetrotter who’s explored over 160 countries.

Mrs. Rajita Kulkarni

President, World Forum for Ethics in Business; India

Economic parameters alone have rendered themselves insufficient of accurately depicting national progress and wealth. Business is not separate from the world it operates in.The bottom line needs to evolve to represent the multiple facets of business performance including adherence to ethics, good governance, contribution to creating shared value and ability to care for the planet.

Rajita is a humanitarian, an educationist, a writer, a leadership coach and a global leader. She is the President of the World Forum for Ethics in Business and a Board member in a number of non-governmental organisations at an Indian national and international level.

She helps organisations globally to achieve excellence in governance, finance and administration. She is committed to create global advocacy to inspire individuals and corporations to embrace an ethical way of life. She has been instrumental in leading a number of action-oriented initiatives towards this goal.

Apart from global responsibility of WFEB, her key current projects include the launch of the prestigious Sri Sri University in India, global design and roll out of the Transformational Leadership for EXcellence program that enables leaders to unleash their full potential and overseeing the administration of over 510 educational institutions that reach education to over 6,000 children (including schools, a college of journalism, a college of Ayurveda and an MBA school). Of these 421 are free schools reaching free education and mid day meals to 43,450 children in 12 states of India.

Her expertise lies in leading large, multicultural, multi country, diverse teams to unleash their full potential and fulfill their vision. She is a certified leadership coach and has trained CEO’s, current and ex Heads of Governments, Parliamentarians among others to sharpen their leadership skills towards creating increased public value.

She travels the world addressing various international fora to advocate the message of excellence, ethics and human values. Before committing her life to society five years ago, Rajita was a banker for 18 years with Citi. She held many international leadership positions in her career, last of which was Asia Pacific Head for Customer Advocacy and Training for the Retail Assets Business where her portfolio responsibility was annual revenues of 750 million US dollars, 16,000 employees and over 800 branches across 12 countries.

Considered an expert in her field of Leadership training and coaching, she designed 85 management exercises and learning tools. She has won 17 awards for professional excellence in her field and has done training and development for over 100,000 participants from over 50 countries.

Mr. Jo Leinen

Member of European Parliament; Member of the Board, World Forum for Ethics in Business; Belgium / Germany

Excess and greed in nance and business have put the world’s economy and with it millions of citizens in a deep crisis. We need a paradigm shift now. We must reconcentrate on core busi- ness values and formulate clear ethical rules for economic activities. The WFEB is a great start to get this done.

Jo Leinen was born in the Saarland at the German-French border. Leinen began his career as a legal trainee at the Higher Regional Court Koblenz and soon after became a well-established lawyer in Freiburg/Breisgau. Before becoming an MEP, Jo Leinen was Minister for the Environment in the State Government of Saarland, Germany from 1985-1994.

From November 1994 until September 1999, he played the triple role of Chairman of the Committee for European Affairs in the State Parliament of Saarland, Germany and member of both the Committee of the Regions and Congress of Regions of the Council of Europe.

He served as Vice President of the European Movement International (EMI) from 2003 to 2011, before becoming its President in November 2011. 

Since July 1999 Mr. Leinen has been a Member of the European Parliament. He was a Member of the Convention for the Elaboration of a Charter of Fundamental Rights for the EU.

From 2004 to 2009 he was President of the Constitutional Affairs Committee and from 2009 to 2011 he chaired the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.

He is a full member in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and a substitute member of the Committee for Foreign Affairs and of the EP’s Working Group on EU-UN relations.

He is also a full member of the Delegation for the relations with India and a substitute in the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

Mr. Peter Marti

CEO, Marti Communications; Switzerland

How to manage brand communication in an ethical environment ? What means the Internet and the Social Media for your business reputation ? The consumer has taken over the corporate governance. Companies must communicate in the future not only with journalists and financial analysts, but also with consumers. Watch out when a platform like e.g. www.change.org starts a petition against your brand and your company. Prepare and manage the new risks in consumer communications over the internet. Leaders can not lead and win when hiding informations or communicating just half of the reality.

Peter Marti has studied communications in Switzerland and in the USA. After a career as a communications consultant, he became President & CEO of Ogilvy group in Switzerland and was head of small countries of the Ogily European network. Later he founded his own communication company in Zurich/Switzerland. He is a member of the Swiss Advertising Association and he was a member of the Art Directors Club in Switzerland.

Peter Marti was elected as „Advertiser of the year“ and won several awards at international communication festivals. During his career, he worked for some major NGO’s such as the World Wildlife Fund, Green Cross International and the Red Cross and also some foundations like the Kantha Bopha Foundation in Cambodia, the “Foundation pour la Formation Hoteliere”and the Dr. Rau Foundation have mandated Peter Marti and his team with their brand reputation work.

Today he is strongly involved in brand reputation development for mid­sized and bigger global companies. He leads Corpo­ rate Social Responsability programs for these companies and is handling their internal and external communications.

Ms. Lamia Merzouki

Chief Strategy & Development Officer, Casablanca Finance City Authority; Morocco

A paradigm shift is occurring, especially in Africa where various stakeholders are reassessing their values, considering what intrinsically constitutes the essence of their bottom line. I strongly believe that we have a unique opportunity to think outside the box, to reinvent the way we do responsible business and to ultimately give a deeper meaning to our most valuable resources: human-beings.

Lamia Merzouki, is director of strategy and development at Casablanca Finance City Authority. Lamia graduated from ESSEC Business School in Paris and followed an executive program at Harvard Business School.

She previously worked in Paris for Arthur Andersen before joining in 2000 AKWA Group, the largest private group in Morocco where she held the position of Director of Strategy and organization for 7 years.

She also worked on the Green Morocco Plan within the Ministry of Agriculture and on the development of the Souss-Massa-Draa region. Lamia is also an executive coach. Furthermore, she is very committed to her spiritual path and attended several art of living programs (Part I, II, III, etc.)

Mr. Michel Nugawela

Brand consultant, Sri Lanka

The complexity of technological, social and economic challenges today seemingly outpaces our ability to solve them. The World Forum for Ethics in Business is uniquely positioned to spearhead disruptive leadership models and practices that integrate the unconscious mind into our conscious lives. Our understanding of the quality of leadership, and the dividends that can be reaped by embracing them at the individual and corporate levels, would thereby be significantly enhanced.

Michel Nugawela is a brand development consultant with over two decades of entrepreneurial experience in senior level corporate consulting that includes brand strategy and positioning, brand architecture, new product/service and value proposition development, corporate and brand identity development, and packaging design.

His expertise also includes understanding, evaluating and determining the role of brands in complex situations such as mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, and diversifications, with related specialization in designing and implementing change strategies across organizations that result in new mindsets and behaviours by individuals and teams.

His processes to connect revitalized brands to management and leadership styles, and the wider organizational culture, are grounded in a Jungian psychodynamic approach to transformation and development that focuses on developing a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious psyche, and achieving wholeness through archetypal integration.

Mr. Milind Pendharkar

Chief Financial Officer, American Express, Saudi Arabia

At American Express, we believe that ethics are not only integral to running a business successfully, it is part of our responsibilities as citizens of the world. The mission of our corporate social responsibility is to bring to life the American Express value of good citizenship by supporting communities in ways that enhance the company’s reputation with employees, customers, business partners and other stakeholders. Our corporate values are built around integrity, personal accountability for our actions and being good global citizens.

Mr. Milind V. Pendharkar has a long and successful career in finance and business management, more than 30 years of experience, a major portion of it is with American Express Middle East/ Saudi Arabia in all-round financial management. He received his education from Commerce Graduate (Mumbai, India), ACA (India), ACMA (UK) and MBA at Sheffield Hallam university (UK). Mr. Pendharkar has been working as chief financial officer & head of operations at American Express Saudi Arabia since 2001. Also, he is a faculty of Art of Living since 2004.

Moreover, Mr. Milind V. Pendharkar is a president of the board in Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia and has been overseeing ten Indian Community Schools with over 50,000 students since 2010.

Mr. Alojz Peterle

Member of European Parliament; Former Prime Minister of Slovenia; Belgium/Slovenia

The lack of rule of law inevitably leads to corruption. While we are all faced with the same global crisis, some of us perform and others not. When we look at where the effects were milder, the answer points to those countries where the rule of law works better.

Therefore, the main reason for the crisis is not only in seemingly external or cyclical causes, but basically in the lack of values. In many cases, the management of public interests left behind the idea of the public good, transforming into clientelism and other sorts of destructive expressions.

So, the basic ethical problem to which we are now confronted is that this cost is now expected to be shared by everybody. Our duty is to rebuild the elites, also within politics. We need elites which would exercise ethics at all levels of decision-making and practice it for the common good.

Alojz Peterle has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2004 and is currently member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and substitute member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). He is as well Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and Member of Delegation to the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee. Besides, he is President of the parliamentary group Friends of Turkey, President of MAC group, Co-chair of ENVI Health Working Group and Member of governing board of Knowledge4Innovation.

Previously Slovenia’s Prime Minister, the first since the country’s independence, Peterle also held the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs twice. He was Vice-President of the European People’s Party (EPP) and Head of the Slovenian National Delega- tion in the EPP.

In 2005 he was the appointed as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office for Central Asia. He was appointed from the European parliament as Member of the Observation Delegations in Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Ukraine. He was also appointed by High Representative/EC Vice-President Catherine Ashton as Chief Observer of the EU Election Observation Mis- sion to Nigeria and to Kenya.

Mr Peterle has been an active promoter of cancer care, in particular as President of the informal all-party forum, ‘MEPs against Cancer’.

Dr. Sanjay Pradhan

Vice President for Leadership, Learning and Innovation, World Bank; USA

The big development challenges that we confront in our society today – corruption, climate change, lack of quality health, education or sanitation – all require complementary actions by government, private sector and civil society. Collaborative leadership across these stakeholder groups must be the driver for tackling these challenges and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals that were endorsed by leaders from around the world in September at the UN General Assembly. We will not move from billions to trillions of financing for development without a new level of public-private partnership. We will not overcome entrenched networks of corruption without coalitions of integrity including leaders from business, government, civil society, media and parliaments. This year’s International Leadership Symposium would look to herald this type of collaborative leadership for development – leaders across sectors in society who seek to serve others, with others for tackling our biggest development challenges.

Mr. Sanjay Pradhan leads the leadership, learning and innovation for development agenda of the World Bank Group. He played a leading role in the recent change process at the World Bank Group. He is also a member of the President’s Senior Management Team.

Previously, Mr. Pradhan was the Vice President leading the World Bank Institute where he championed the open development agenda centered around knowledge & learning, collaboration and innovation. Mr. Pradhan is a recognized authority on governance and anticorruption issues. He served as the World Bank’s Director for Governance, where he led the development of the Bank’s Governance and Anticorruption Strategy, and provided strategic directions on improving governance and combating corruption.

Prior to that, Mr. Pradhan has a distinguished research record with extensive experience working in developing countries in South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, and East and West Africa. He has authored numerous publications including being a principal author of the 1997 World Development Report, The State in a Changing World. He has addressed major high-level forums including the European Parliament, the British House of Commons, the BBC World Debate, and the TED Global Conference.

Mr. Pradhan holds a PhD and a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Mr. Shantanu Prakash

Founder & CEO, Educomp Solutions Ltd.; India

The World Forum for Ethics in Business is an idea whose relevance and importance has never been as critical as today. We are at a crossroads of the creation of a new world order, not just in business and economics, but also in the frame work of values and ethical principles that shall define the business of the 21st century. This conference is bringing together global leaders from government, business, civil society, politics, bureaucracy and thus creating a very impor- tant platform for both communication and advocacy in this most important aspect of human civilization in the 21st century – the aspect of ethics and values.

Shantanu Prakash, is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad1988. He founded Educomp Solutions Limited in 1994, a few years after acquiring an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

His vision has been to transform the teaching-learning process through the use of technology and best practices. The com- pany employs over 16000 people across 27 offices worldwide including India, Canada, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. Educomp is the leader in education content, professional development, online learning and the first company to set up high quality schools across the country

Educomp works with over 26,000 schools and 15 million students across India, USA and Singapore and has joint ventures with Pearson PLC and Raffles Education Corporation for vocational and higher education respectively.

Prof. Fahri Saatcioglu

Professor for Molecular and Cell Biology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Norway

Fahri Saatcioglu is professor at the Department of Biosciences at the University of Oslo, head of the Section for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, as well as researcher at the Division of Surgery and Cancer Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.

He is also a visiting scientist at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. His research focuses on basic molecular and cell biology of cancer cells, in particular prostate, ovarian and breast cancer, including translational research based on these findings. His laboratory has cloned and characterized a number of novel genes, which encode proteins that have a role in cancer development in vitro and in vivo.

The work of his laboratory has contributed significant new knowledge into androgen signaling, its interactions with other central signaling pathways, and its role in prostate cancer development. He is also interested in the biological effects and physiological mechanisms of evidence based traditional practices, in particular yoga and yogic breathing exercises, how they may affect health and wellness, and conducts research in these areas.

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Schröder

Professor of Linguistics, Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

Similarly to the already established concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), we understand Corporate Health Responsibility (CHR) as part of the sustainability concept of companies for optimizing health, performance and resilience. The aim of CHR is to make health risk factors diagnosable and in a resource oriented way treatable.

Corporate Health Responsibility – Systemic Health Management for the Optimization of Health, Performance and Resilience of Executive Managers

Against the background of increasing work stress and according health risks, corporate intervention strategies of preventive health promotion have come more and more into focus. Corporate Health Responsibility (CHR) is understood as part of the corporate culture and particularly as an important part of the sustainability concept of companies for optimizing health, performance and resilience.

The practical implications for CHR are shown using the example of our work-in-progress-tool MindFulCIE. This tool contains on the one hand as an integrative and reliable early warning system diagnostics and screening, which detect the main health and psychosocial characteristics of employees. On the other hand MindFulCIE is a systemic health and openly designed coaching program.

Systemic health management is viewed as cyclical and evolutionary process at different levels: All actions and interventions take place at the personal, systemic and strategic level. It can be adjusted at any point. Screening and diagnostics are not only deficit, but also resource-oriented, with starting points for solutions are identified already at the stage of diagnosis. The aim of the systemic health management is the promotion of self-efficacy at all levels through the continuous and individualized accompaniment.

Mr. Bernhard Schwager

Head of Sustainability, Robert Bosch GmbH; Germany

In the long term, an honest and fair approach to doing business will always be the most profit- able. And the business world holds such an approach in much higher esteem than is generally imagined.” Robert Bosch made this statement in 1921. To this day, the words of our company founder guide the company in matters of responsible corporate management.

From 1980 to 1985 Bernhard Schwager studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg, Germany. Between 1985 and 2005 he acted as an internal consultant within Siemens AG in the fields of Environmental Pro- tection and Technical Safety, both on plant and corporate level before he changed to Robert Bosch GmbH.

In May 2006 he has been appointed as the President of the German Association of Environmental Professionals (VBU) and since May 2008 as chair of the German committee Environmental Management Systems and Audits within the German Standard Institute (DIN NAGUS). In January 2009 he has received a Master degree of Environmental Science.

Within the corporate communication department of Bosch Schwager runs the Sustainability Office. He is acting as contact person for different stakeholder groups and is pushing forward sustainability items. For that the environmental scientist represents the company in various national and international organisations and associations like B.A.U.M., VBU, AfW, GRI, GC, ISO, DIN, ecosense, BDI or ZVEI.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Founder, World Forum for Ethics in Business; Founder, The Art of Living; India

Corruption is an issue that ails all societies all over the world. It happens because of lack of connectedness among people. One cannot indulge in corrupt practices if you feel connected.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a humanitarian and spiritual teacher, an ambassador of peace and human values. He is the founder of the Art of Living and the International Association for Human Values. In a mere 34 years, his programs and initiatives have impacted over 370 million people in 155 countries with the premise of core values of respect for all, harmony in diversity, inner peace and service to society.

His two organisations are spearheading sustainable development in underprivileged communities across the world and have reached out to over 40,000 villages across India and are running 422 free schools.

Through his life and work, Sri Sri has inspired millions around the world with a vision of a stress-free, violence-free world. He has founded courses that provide techniques and tools to live a deeper, more joyous life. As an ambassador of peace, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar plays a key role in conflict resolution and spreads his message of non-violence at public forums and gatherings world-wide. Regarded as a neutral figure with a sole agenda of peace, he represents hope to people in conflict. He has received particular credit for bringing opposing parties to the negotiating table in Iraq, the Ivory Coast, Kashmir and Bihar, India among others.

H.E. Mr. Manjeev Singh Puri

Ambassador of India to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg

In this widely interconnected world, where the actions of one could have repercussions for millions, it highly relevant to have continuous discussions on Ethics in Organizations in order to sustain, promote and celebrate the values of integrity, honesty and accountability. I hope that these discussions will translate to actions and strengthen the foundations of our society.

Mr. Manjeev Singh Puri assumed charge in Brussels on 2nd January 2014.

He is a member of the Indian Foreign Service, having joined the service in 1982.

Prior to Brussels, Ambassador Puri was India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, having served there from 2009 to 2013. He was a senior member of India’s Security Council team during the years 2011-2012, when India served on the Security Council.

Ambassador Puri was actively involved with issues of sustainable development and environment and was a lead negotiator in India’s delegation for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. He was also a key member of India’s delegation at the Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009.

From 2005-09, he headed the United Nations Division in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi dealing with economic and social issues. His charge included global economic and development issues, environment, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, migration, humanitarian affairs and UNESCO related matters. He led the Indian delegation for the first meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Brussels in July 2007.

In the course of his Foreign Service career, Ambassador Puri has served twice in Germany (in Bonn from 1984-86 and Berlin from 1991-94) and speaks German. He was the coordinator of the Festival of India in German in 1991-92 and established the Indian Cultural Centre in Berlin.

Ambassador Puri’s other postings have been Bangkok (1986-89), Caracas (1989-91), Cape Town (1998-2002), Muscat (2002-05) and as Deputy Chief of Protocol in-charge of high level visits in the Ministry of External Affairs from 1994-98.

Manjeev Singh Puri (born 1959) has a Masters degree in Management and had worked for Hindustan Unilever before joining Government. He did his BA (Honours) in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, with top honours. He is married to Mrs. Namrita Puri and they have two children. Ambassador Puri is on the Advisory Board of India’s most well known environment organization, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi).

Mr. Subhash Thakrar

Vice President and Past Chairman, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry; United Kingdom

Good ethics leads to establishment of trust and confidence. Trust and confidence is the pre-eminent requirement for good business to take place. The World Forum for Ethics in Business clearly brings this important issue to the fore and increases awareness. A good debate and development of guidance on good ethics will provide lasting benefits to the business and wider society.

Subhash Thakrar is Deputy President and past Chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce and a Partner at City accountants CBW Blackstone Franks. The firm is a full service accounting firm with specialism in taxation and corporate finance. The firm is also involved in asset management services.

Subhash has increased his focus on Africa recently. In particular, he is working on affordable housing projects in a number of fast growing African countries under the PPP model.

Subhash has extensive experience in advising and doing business in India where he has been a joint promoter of an Equity fund (INVIL), a Real Estate fund (Triangle Real Estate India Fund) and joint ventures with South African as well as Australian Companies involved in the infrastructure sector. Subhash identified the investment opportunities in India in the early 1990s when India was about to take off as an economy. He now believes that Africa is poised for similar opportunities.

CBW has associates internationally under a group called DFK International. The firm was the pioneer in the development of taxation software and is author to over twenty taxation and professional books. Subhash was invited by the London Mayor in respect of his objective to relate to Asian Businesses of London.

Subhash has led other missions for the London Chamber to East and West Africa and India. He has also participated in the missions led by the Prime Minsters Blair and Cameron as well as Mayor Boris Johnson and the Lord Mayor of London.

Subhash has been a trustee / board member of a number of non-profit organisations; the notable ones are Commonwealth Education Fund, Attlee Foundation, 3R’s Trust.

Recently, Subhash has founded the Asian Charity Clarity (www.asiancharityclarity.org.uk) which is growing in popularity as a rating site for Asian charities. The objectives of ACC are to improve the governance and reporting standards of Asian charities in the UK by providing star ratings to highlight well run charities and to help and guide those that are at lower rating.

Subhash has also been on the Thames region regulatory board of Ofwat, the water regulator.

Hon. Mr. Jigme Yoser Thinley

Former Prime Minister of Bhutan

Society is in dire need of reclaiming humanity, of re-evaluating and resetting its goals for development. But values in themselves are not enough. And wrong and immoral ends are deadly. We need a wise and ethical vision that will bring all of humanity together guide societal change. Such a vision must arise from an understanding of what constitutes development, personal wealth and societal prosperity in the human context and for a kind that has the sacred responsibility of stewardship over all other interdependent life forms that make and share this planet.

Mr. Jigmi Y Thinley was the Prime Minister of the first democratically elected government of Bhutan during the period 2008 – 2013. Earlier, he served as his country’s minister of culture, foreign minister and as ambassador to the UN and several European countries.

Having always championed holistic, inclusive and sustainable development, he played a leading role in ensuring that Bhutan’s development plans are not aimed at short term gains. He introduced his country’s concept of Gross National Happiness to the international community when he addressed the UNDP Asia Pacific Millennium Summit here in Seoul in 1998.

Mr. Thinley’s government achieved an average economic growth rate of 8%, halved unemployment down to 2.1%. and reduced national poverty rate from 23% to 12%. These achievements were made without any ecological costs under stringent environmental conditions which resulted in the country having actually become greener with 81% forest cover.

In 2012, Mr. Thinley convened the High Level Meeting on Wellbeing and Happiness: A New Economic Paradigm at the United Nations. He has since led an international working group on the framing of a new development paradigm which submitted its report to the UN General Assembly to inform the ongoing intergovernmental discourse on defining new goals for the post MDG era.