Augusto Lopez-Claros

Augusto Lopez-Claros has been the Chief Economist and Director of the Global Competitiveness Program at the World Economic Forum in Geneva. In this capacity he traveled widely and engaged with senior policymakers in government and the business community on the policy and institutional requirements associated with improvements in the business environment. For many years he was the editor of the Forum's Global Competitiveness Report, including the 2006-2007 edition. He is the founder of EFD – Global Consulting Network an international consultancy specializing in economic, financial and development issues.

He has a degree in mathematical statistics from Cambridge University, England, and a Ph.D. in economics from Duke University in the United States. Before joining the Forum in 2003 he was Executive Director and Senior International Economist with Lehman Brothers International in London. During his 5-year stay with Lehman he wrote extensively on a broad range of economic and financial topics, such as sovereign debt restructuring, foreign direct investment in transition economies, capital account liberalization, growth, and the role of good governance in the development process. As part of this research work and to meet with Lehman clients he traveled extensively in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and Asia. He is a frequent commentator on economic and financial issues, having given well over 150 TV interviews during the last seven years on all the major networks. Before Lehman he worked as an economist with the International Monetary Fund in Washington, an organization he joined in the mid-1980s.

During his years of service at the Fund his assignments included being country economist for Spain; working in the Fund’s main policy making department, where he begun to work on Eastern Europe and did some of the early work at the Fund on good governance. From 1992 to 1995 he was Resident Representative for the IMF in the Russian Federation, where he was responsible for program implementation issues in the context of the IMF’s multibillion dollar program of assistance to the Russian Federation. His stay in Russia was followed by a one-year sabbatical in Moscow, an opportunity he used to do research (subsequently published by the IMF) and to travel extensively throughout Russia to gain a broader perspective on the transition. Prior to his service with the IMF, he was Professor of Economics at the University of Chile, Santiago, where, in addition to his teaching duties, he also headed a research team financed by the Ministry of Health examining economic aspects of alcohol abuse in Chile.

Dr. Lopez-Claros has written and lectured extensively on a wide range of topics in his field, including European economic integration, the determinants of competitiveness, reform issues in transition economies, the European Monetary System, and on a broad range of financial and macroeconomic issues affecting emerging markets. He is a much sought-after speaker, having spoken in the last several years in such places as: the American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow; the Writers’ Union in Sofia, Bulgaria; the Oxford Business School; Darwin and Corpus Christi Colleges at Cambridge University; the RAND Business School in California; the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, the Central Bank of Chile; Imperial College in London; the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London; the Friends’ Meeting House in Canterbury; the Shakespeare Library in Moscow, the India Economic Summit in New Delhi, the China Business Summit in Beijing, Marlborough House in London, the New York Stock Exchange, the Aspen Institute in Washington DC, the Australian Leadership Retreat, the International Leadership Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Microsoft's 2007 Government Leaders Forums in Edinburgh and Cartagena, the European Business School in Frankfurt, the 2008 United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York, among many others. He has an abiding interest in the growth and development of global interdependence and cooperation and the importance of international institutions in their principal role of promoting and safeguarding human prosperity.

Ernst Ligteringen (The Netherlands)
Ernst Ligteringen is the Chief Executive of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an international partnership that has developed the standard for sustainability reporting. Ernst has held this position since 2002, when GRI was established as an independent organization with an international Secretariat in Amsterdam. Ernst holds overall responsibility for GRI, including secretariat operations and the coordination of the worldwide GRI network of active stakeholders who participate in the GRI’s governance, working groups, reviews, and consultation processes. Ernst is a member of GRI’s multi-stakeholder Board of Directors, which has charged the GRI with the mission of making sustainability reporting as relevant and mainstream as financial reporting.

Before joining GRI, Ernst had a 23-year career in various non-governmental and international organizations, including postings and missions in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Europe. His posts included: Executive Director of Oxfam International; Director of Programme Coordination of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; and Consultant to the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization at the ILO.

Ernst Ligteringen is a Dutch national, married and has two daughters.

Jean Pierre Méan (France)
Jean-Pierre Méan has been Senior Vice President of Legal and Compliance for the SGS Group in Switzerland. SGS, with more than 52,000 employees around the world, is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company and is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. Jean-Pierre was also responsible for management of the group's ethics programme and has a particular interest in the subject of bribery and corruption. He is now acting as a consultant on corporate anticorruption and integrity programs.

Amongst his current positions we include:

- Commission on Anti-Corruption of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, France.

- Vice President of the Swiss Chapter of Transparency International, Bern, Switzerland.

Stephen Karnik

Stephen is currently the Chief Administrative Officer of the Baha'i International Community at the United Nations. Prior to assuming this position, he served in the Office of Personnel at the Baha'i World Center in Haifa Israel. Mr. Karnik is a guest lecturer at New York University and has worked as a social and civil rights activist with an emphasis on poverty eradication and the rights of and services for the elderly. Mr. Karnik holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Fairleigh Dickenson University and where he is pursuing a Doctoral degree in nonprofit management.

W. John Patterson(Canada)

John Patterson spent the early years of his career in village development work in India. He and his wife Thea, spent 11 years in service there. This followed John’s having secured his BA from the University of Toronto and having successfully completed post graduate work at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, Queens University, Canada and McCormick Seminary in Chicago.

In the late 1980’s, John and two friends launched a software consulting firm called Kanbay Inc which developed and offered consulting services to the financial services and insurance industries in North America, Europe and Asia. Their company built on what was then the emerging strength of India in the Computer Science industry. All three founders had extensive experience in India which positioned them well for building their company. John was responsible for the development of the company’s presence in the Asia Pacific Region from the family’s base in Hong Kong. By the time the company was sold to Cap Gemini in France, Kanbay had 7000 employees in India and several hundred employed in other parts of the world.

In 2003, John retired and relocated to Canada where both he and his wife had grown up and have since then deeply involved themselves in community efforts. Environmental concerns are at the heart of their work in Canada. They are also however, engaged with hands on service work in three nations of East Africa with a focus on community responses to the HIV-AIDS crisis and early childhood education at a village level. They live in Haliburton, 3 hours north of Toronto where they host numerous gatherings of people seeking ways to serve authentically in a troubled world.

Sylvia Karlsson (Sweden)
Sylvia Karlsson is a Research Fellow of the Academy of Finland working at the Tampere office of Finland Futures Research Centre in the Turku School of Economics. Her current five year project looks at legitimacy and effectiveness in global environmental governance with an empirical focus on climate change and energy policy related processes such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Group of 8, the Commission on Sustainable Development, and various international intergovernmental partnerships.

Dr. Karlsson’s major research has been in political science with emphasis on multi-level governance analysis including the role of institutions (rules and norms), knowledge and values. Her academic training started with an MSc in Biology/Ecotoxicology from Uppsala University, continued with a PhD (political science) from Linköping University and a post doc at Yale University. Dr. Karlsson is one of the lead authors in the forthcoming (2007) UNEP Fourth Global Environmental Outlook Assessment. In parallel to her studies and research she has been actively engaged in the NGO processes of the Rio Conference in 1992, the World Summit for Social Development in 1995, the World Summit on Sustainable Development where she led the delegation of the International Environment Forum (IEF) . In 1997 she was part of the group that started the IEF and has served as its General Secretary since then. She is a Swedish national,

Arthur Dahl (France/USA)
Holds a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of California and is a recognized world expert on coral reef ecology, coastal zone management, biodiversity conservation and island environments. He was Deputy Assistant Executive
Director, Division of Environmental Information and Assessment, UNEP; and Director, Coral Reef Unit, UNEP. a member of the Secretariat of the UN Conference on the Environment and Development. He is president of the International Environmental Forum, member of the EBBF Board, and consults with Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership and the World Economic Forum. He lectures around the world on sustainable development and prosperity.

Lawrence D. Staudt (Ireland)

Lawrence has been involved with renewable energy since 1978. He was engineering manager of Enertech Corporation in the USA in the early 1980s, during which time Enertech designed and installed close to 2000 wind turbines, both large and small, and fifty solar hot water heating systems.

He designed and constructed two solar homes. He was a founder member and chief executive of the Irish Wind Energy Association, and a vice president of the European Wind Energy Association. He is primarily involved with the Wind Power modules.

Victoria Thoresen (Norway)

Victoria Wyszynski Thoresen is Associate Professor of Education at the Hedmark University College in Norway and project manager of the Consumer Citizenship Network. Thoresen has specialized in curriculum development, global education, peace education, value-based education, lifelong learning and consumer education. In addition to many years of experience as a teacher and teacher trainer, Thoresen has been a member of the Norwegian national board for revision of the country’s core curriculum and also a member of the National Norwegian Committee for consumer education. Thoresen has written textbooks for schools and teacher training and has functioned as an international educational consultant. She is presently assisting UNEP and the U.N. Marrakech Process Task Forces in the development of a core curriculum for education for sustainable consumption. For a number of years she was chairman of the board of the Norwegian Peace Center and a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Norway. Thoresen functions also as an international expert contributing to the creation of International Standards (26000) for Social Responsibility.

Alain Gauthier (France / USA)
Alain Gauthier is an international consultant, facilitator, coach, and educator who focuses his work on developing co-leadership and partnering capabilities in and across the public, private and civil society sectors. He is passionate about integrating the inner and outer dimensions of human experience, both at the individual and collective levels. He has recently conducted a year-long global exploratory study of integral leadership development programs, and has published a directory of these programs as well as a working paper on this emerging field – which connects individual to organizational and societal learning.

A graduate from H.E.C. (Paris), Stanford University M.B.A., and former member of McKinsey and Company, Alain is currently Executive Director of Core Leadership Development in Oakland, California. Over the last 40 years, he has served a wide range of clients, from large American, European, and Japanese corporations to UN Agencies, global foundations and other not-for-profit organizations.

Alain has adapted and prefaced in French three of Peter Senge's “Fifth Discipline” books, and is a co-author of "Leadership is Global" and "Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership". He is a member of the Global Leadership Network, a co-founder and member of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) in the United States and France, and a visiting professor for the International MBA Program at the ENPC in Paris.

Shoghi Emerson (Belgium)
Shoghi left his native Belgium in 1999 to attend the Maxwell International Baha'i School in Canada, where he was actively involved in student government, volunteering projects and sports.

Having graduated four years later, he travelled around the world for 12 months. His travels took him to Asia, Australia, Europe and South America. He then attended the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), from which he earned a BA in political science and economics last year.

Shoghi now works in the European Parliament as an assistant to a British MEP. He is mainly involved with climate change and constitutional affairs, which are two areas of great personal interest.

Previously, he was an intern at the Brussels-based European Enterprise Institute and intends to return to university for a Masters degree.

Nancy Lee Harper (Portugal)
Described as "dramatic", "virtuoso", “superb concert artist”, and “an extraordinarily multi-talented American musician and scholar” who possesses an "irresistible creative force", international artist, Nancy Lee Harper, is a pianist whose compelling performances have inspired audiences in on four continents: Europe (England, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Cyprus, Slovakia, Rumania, Ukraine), South America, North America, and China. In 2007, she is invited to give Masterclasses and lecture-recitals at the Juilliard and Eastman Schools of Music.

An American residing in Portugal, Dr. Harper has dedicated much of her time to exploring Ibero-american music, including performances of several world premières (5 viñetas para piano emocionado by Eurico Carrapatoso in Poltava, Ukraine; Rhapsody for flute and piano by James Wintle in Funchal, Madeira, Lírios roxos do campo by Amilcar Vasques Dias in Sernecilche, Portugal; 2 CDs of Portuguese 20th-century composers on the Numérica label in 1999, 2006). Several of her performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio (USA) Portuguese national radio (Antenna 2), and Portuguese national television (RTP 2).

Her current professional activities include: Associate Professor of Piano with Distinction at the Universidade de Aveiro in Portugal, Founder-President of the European Piano Teachers Association in Portugal, Vice-President of EPTA (international), and European President of EPTA (2005-6). She is also co-organiser of the 1st International Course and Festival in Honour of Vladimir Horowitz, Artistic Director of the International Piano Festival and Course “Celebrating the Great Pianists” at the University of Aveiro, and Co-organiser of “Festivais de Outono”. Having completed the first UK certificate course in Music-Medicine “With Distinction”, she is now developing a Masters degree in this area at UA. In 2005, she was featured on the cover of Piano Journal and was the interviewee subject by Carola Grindea. In 2006, she was nominated for a prize from the Samii-Houseinpour Foundation in Belgium.

Steve Hall (USA)

Steve is the founder of Chandler, LLC, a firm located in the northeastern United States that provides owners with planning and management services for the development of their building projects. This means he helps owners navigate the often complex relationships with architects, other design and engineering professionals and contractors, in order to ensure a smooth-running and financially-efficient project.

He has been managing both design and construction for projects in the United States and overseas for over 30 years. Steve has worked on a variety of projects: restoring historic buildings and homes, building educational facilities and a campus in the Caribbean, private homes in the United States, a coastal village development in Brazil, and an award-winning 500,000 square foot rural office headquarters with cogeneration facility in New Jersey, USA. He is working on another co-generation project now for the Princeton Club in New York city that will reduce its carbon footprint by as much as 70%. Steve ventures that altogether the value of all projects he has worked on may total well over $1.5 billion in today’s dollars. The services Steve provides are sought after because by ensuring quality control, financial oversight and coordinating the different players and tasks involved in a large project, the owner can save many times the fee he charges them (on one project he calculated it was a ratio of 10 to 1).

You can read an interview with Steve here.

Diana Cartwright (Canada)

Diana Cartwright has promoted environmental initiatives and sustainability in various faith communities across Ottawa. She is on the National Board for Faith and the Common Good (FCG), an interfaith organization focussed re-establishing our sacred relationships with the Earth and with each other, and is the current Chair of the local Ottawa chapter of FCG.

She represented the Baha'i Community of Canada at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 and continues to advise the Baha'i community on sustainable development issues.

Diana works at Environment Canada as a senior policy advisor in the Products Division, addressing ecolabelling and sustainable consumption issues. Previously she worked for the Delphi Group, a consulting company, where she managed The EXCEL Partnership, an organization of business environmental leaders from across Canada.

Prior to obtaining a degree in Environmental Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo, she performed across Canada as a professional dancer, actor and singer.

Douglas Henck (Israel)
Douglas Henck serves as the Chief Financial Officer at the Bahá’í World Centre, the global administrative headquarters of the Bahá’í Faith.

Mr. Henck retired in August, 2005 from his position as President, Sun Life Financial Asia and as a member of the corporation’s senior executive team. During his five years there, reported earnings increased over 30% per year and reported sales figures even faster: by 2005, fully 1/3 of Sun Life Financial’s worldwide individual life insurance sales were being generated in Asia.

Prior to joining Sun Life Financial, Mr. Henck was Senior Vice President of the AIG Life Division of the American International Group from 1997 to 2000. Prior to that, he spent 23 years with the U.S.-based Aetna, Inc., the last ten years as the senior executive in Asia working out of the regional headquarters in Hong Kong that he started in 1987. Mr. Henck joined Aetna in 1974 after graduating with a B.S. (Mathematics) degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. Mr. Henck qualified as a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in 1978.

Mr. Henck is a Past Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, having led the organization during the historic 1997 year of Hong Kong’s handover. He also served two terms as Chairman of the Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce from 1993 – 1995. As a frequent spokesman for American business interests in Asia, Mr. Henck testified before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1996 and appeared numerous times on local and international television as well as in print media. He continues to serve as Vice Chairman of the Asian Corporate Governance Association and is a member of the Board of Supervisors of China Pacific Life Insurance Company.

Mahmud Samandari (Switzerland)
Mahmud has held the following positions:

. Chairman and CEO of TACOM/TELEHOLDING Consortium, the technological operator of the public transportation system of the city of Guayaquil, METROVIA.

. CEO of GLOBATEL, a satellite interactive distance learning service provider and software development company for mobile solutions

. Founder and CEO of TELEHOLDING a company specialized in advanced telecom services

. Founder and Chairman of Micronet, a public/private mixed company, operating a network of Service Centers for Micro entrepreneurs

. Chairman of Fundación Cultural y Educativa Baha’i, the operator of schools in Otavalo y Guayaquil

. Founding member of EBBF (European Baha’i Business Forum)

. External Advisor to AIESEC Ecuador and EBBF liaison to AIESEC International, the largest student association in the world, based in more than 100 countries

. Member of CERES, the Ecuadorian Corporation for Social Responsibility

. Member of the Board of Directors of MACOSA, a banking software company, exporting to all of Latin America

. Member of the Board of Directors of TVCABLE Ecuador

. Director of INFOTEC S.A, an innovative banking and financial software company based in Switzerland with offices in the UK, France, Germany and Belgium

. Owner and CEO of Equatorial Technologies, a manufacturer of professional satellite antennas, exported to all of Latina America

. Member of the Board of Directors of َ Alliance Française of Quito

. Founder and Director of the ¨Careers´Office¨ of the Graduate Institute for International Studies

. Member of the Rotary Club

. Member of CSR Geneva

. Member of the Junior Chamber International of Geneva

. Member of the American-Ecuadorian Chamber of Commerce

. Chairman of the Coordination Committee for Baha’i Radio in Latin America

Mahmud has a Ph.D in International Law from the Graduate Institute for International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland and a Licence en Droit from the University of Geneva

Currently based in Geneva, he is married with three children

Rebecca Teclemariam-Mesbah (Bosnia)
Rebecca is French-Ethiopian and holds a PhD in Neurobiology and a MA in Gender studies.

She likes to think that present-time definitions of race, nation or gender are more and more too small to define ourselves. Instead of trying to fit ourselves in these boxes, one needs to redefine boundaries or even get rid of them.

Rebecca worked as a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Strasbourg, France, the Netherlands Brain Research Institute and the Free University of Amsterdam where she developed a specialization curriculum for biology students wanting to enter in the business field. With her husband she developed training programmes in Moral Leadership for youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

She now paints (sells through the internet) and runs a small tailor-made furniture business in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina where she lives with her family and two cats.

Yves Garenne (France)
I'm very concerned about how to make business more responsible. The first step is : what is my vision of the future ? The second step is : what do you have to do personaly and as an organization to make this vision a reality ? I do believe that each company or organization can invent a business case to deal with that, or at least to try its best to reduce its negative impacts, and to innovate permanently to improve its positive "externalities".

Presently, sustainable development is founded on 3 pillars : social, environmental and economic. What about art and culture ? Aren't they also essential to a sustainable future? I'm looking for like-minded people to build the 4th pillar!

After 14 years of project management in the aerospace industry, and 6 years of consulting in technology management, all the above assumptions convinced me to create Ecophanie in 2006, a consultant agency in CSR.

I'm also very honoured to be the EBBF Representative at the GRI.

I have an MS in aeronautic engineering, an MS in technology management and a MA in sociology.

Tannaz Grant Morano (USA)
Tannaz Grant Morano is a long-time EBBF member and resides in the USA. She earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. For the last four years, Tannaz has been the Director of Global Product Strategy for Carrier Corporation's Residential/Light Commercial International division. Previously, Tannaz was a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton in New York City. Prior to attending Wharton, she worked as a Manufacturing and Quality Engineer at Ford Motor Company.

Shervin Y. Setareh (Denmark)
Shervin Y. Setareh is a Project Leader for Dalberg’s Copenhagen office. He has advised leading multilateral organizations and foundations on strategic planning, global deployment, evaluation of health-care pilots, and results-based management. He has extensive experience with complex governance analysis and has most recently developed a methodology and co-launched an assessment tool in the form of a guide book that highlights best practice partnership examples of a group of leading NGOs and UN agencies around the world who have proven competence in partnering with companies on social economic development projects.

Prior to joining Dalberg, Shervin worked for six years with the Deminor Group in Brussels, where he co-launched the first corporate governance rating service in Europe, advised ministries and regulatory bodies on governance improvements, and conducted internal assessments of the governance structures of multinational companies. As a Venture Manager with Venturepark Incubator in Berlin, he assessed and valued early stage deals and managed acquired projects. He co-founded a NGO in Bosnia-Herzegovina for the training of youth in the grassroots implementation of community service, peace and human rights education projects. He also, assumed board positions at a non-profit in Pristina aimed at empowering minorities and at one in New York with global chapters that are dedicated to the artistic development and character education of children.

Shervin holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, a Masters in International Politics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), as well as a Diplom-Betriebswirt and a BA (Hons) from the International Partnership of Business Schools’ German and UK institutions, respectively.

Emily Firth (Australia)
Emily is currently working for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, with a focus on increasing collaboration between the scientific and health communities to help reduce the impacts and burden of environmental and climate change on human health. Emily moved to Geneva a year ago from New York following the completion of a M.A. in 'Climate and Society' at Columbia University. She was part of the Baha'i International Community (BIC) delegation at the 15th Commission on Sustainable Development at the United Nations and as part of her studies she continued to work with the BIC on exploring the ethical dimensions of climate change.

Prior to this she worked for a government initiative in Australia supporting the development of renewable energy projects, and spent some time in the international sporting world coordinating language interpreters at the Sydney 2000 and Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

She has a specific interest in the social and environmental impacts of climate variability and global change; energy services for sustainable development

Wendi Momen (UK)
Wendi Momen holds a BSc in Economics and a Ph.D. in InternationalRelations, both from the London School of Economics.

She has been a magistrate in the criminal court since 1982 and a courtchairman since 1994. She has been a court chairman to the family panel since 1991. She is vice chairmanof the North and Mid-Bedfordshire Bench.

She has been a director and trustee of the National Spiritual Assemblyof the Baha'is of the United Kingdom.

She is a Non-Executive Director of the Bedfordshire Heartlands PrimaryCare Trust and is the Older People's Champion.

She is the chairman of the EBBF, chairman of the One World Trust, and a Trustee of the Multi-Faith Centre at the University of Derby.

Gordon Naylor, BA, M.Ed. (USA)

The development of human potential has been the focus of Mr. Naylor’s work for more than thirty years. He has, for the past twenty-two years, been Executive Director of his privately owned residential treatment service for abused youth and children with over two hundred and fifty employees and two hundred residential beds.

He is the founder and Executive Director of Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute, a private, international elementary and secondary school. The school seeks to inspire academic excellence within a clear moral framework for world citizenship. It has been rated a number one academic school by the Fraser Institute.

Mr. Naylor also serves as the Executive Director of Wildfire Outdoor Education Centre, educating youth in Whole Earth Citizenship and inspiring them to become leaders in championing environmental issues.

He has served as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'is of Canada since 2000.

Gary Reusche (Ukraine)
Mr. Reusche is a free lance development consultant, management consultant, trainer, and professor.

He has over 25 years project management experience in more than 40 countries, including 15 years as project director or team leader. He has extensive experience as a trainer in both academic and non-academic environments for topics including small enterprise development, project cycle management, participatory processes, leadership, institutional development, cultural transformation, team building, business planning, values and ethics, fund raising, and rural development.

He is experienced in the writing of business plans, company partnering, financial engineering, rapid appraisal methodologies, the design of projects, M&E, agribusiness, and market research.

His clients include the World Bank, European Union, Senter/DGIS (NL), USAID, UNDP, FAO, DFID (UK), Global Environmental Fund, Abu Dhabi Fund, and the private sector.

He was recently rewarded a "medal of honour" by the Government of Ukraine for the management of a project supporting the development of rural small enterprises.

Lucy Symons (Australia)
Lucy Symons is the Chief Communication and Networks Officer for AIESEC International.

A 23 year old Australian with an academic background in the Arts, Lucy is passionate about youth communication and has taken up leadership opportunities in Nigeria, Thailand and Turkey. In the year of AIESEC's 60th anniversary, Lucy is excited to connect and collaborate with networks interested in global youth leadership.

Emanuel Gavert (Sweden)
Emanuel Gavert has a bachelor degree in International Business from Stockholm School of Business.

He joined the global youth leadership development organization AIESEC three years back in Sweden, his country of origin.

After working in leadership positions, locally, nationally and regionally, Emanuel is now the Global Networks Manager of AIESEC International.

Janne Lemettinen - Finland

IT Professional, musician.

Has worked last 10 years in IT-industry and is a proud father of 2,5 year old son.

His passions are music and spirituality. Janne sees music as one method for self development. He has been performing as a musician for many years in several different venues. He has been giving lectures, speeches and workshops about music, spirituality and values based business.

As it is to spirituality, he is a board member and chairman for several different voluntary based organisations and trusts promoting spiritual wisdom. He is also a board member for Finnish throat singing society.

Mirjami Malleus (Finland)

Entrepreneur, life skills coach

Co-founder of Remake EkoDesign which brings new way of thinking into textile industry. Remake creates custom made clothing and accessories with ecological touch by inspiring people to participate on a creative process. Remake takes part of sustainable development by using only recycled or used materials.

In Mirjami's life all actions and decisions are based on spiritual values. She believes that everything is in relation with each other. Life is one.

All her life, Mirjami has had a will to help others to make their way easier and that's why she studied as a life skills coach. She uses the life skills coach-skills in her every day life.

Apart from being a entrepreneur and life skills coach, Mirjami is a mother of two children. She loves writing and reading and studying all the mysteries in life.

Daniel Truran (UK/Italy/Spain)
Daniel is passionate about connecting individuals to their integrity, creativity and ethics. Inspiring them into action by linking them to other like-minded doers and to their ideas. He believes and wants to demonstrate through innovative enterprises how ethical behaviours in business are directly linked to success. Promoting the evolution towards a world that will be organised, act and behave as one country. Where the creativity of the diversity of its citizens will enhance the wellbeing and prosperity of humankind.

Following a career as Logistics and Marketing director at Exel plc. working in London, Sydney, Johannesburg and Milan, he is currently Secretary General of the European Baha’i Business Forum (www.ebbf.org), board member of Spirit in Business (www.spiritinbusiness.org), Vice President of Humanica Social Ventures, a Director of Via3 (www.via3.net), Board of Trustees member of the Association for Spirit at Work (www.spiritatwork.org), tutor of Social Entrepreneurship at Instituto Empresa.

Kimmo Vesajoky (Finland)
Kimmo Vesajoki enjoys two successful careers: one as sales director of a leading IT provider in Finland and another as a father of four children between the ages of 7-0 years.

Before joining forces with his current employer in the beginning of May 2005, Kimmo worked for 3 years as a director and member of a management team in a leading IT-software vendor operating in the Nordic telecom market. Kimmo has also several years of work experience as a technical consultant and CRM specialist for large Nordic ITC houses, such as TietoEnator and Ementor Group.

Studying business management alongside his work, Kimmo has a special interest in Value Based Leadership and Spirituality in Business. His burning issue is: what can we do to help accelerate the transition to values based leadership that values spirituality in business?

Kimmo is also a board member of a Finnish eco-store Ekolo Ltd. He has been a member of the European Bahá’í Business Forum since 2004 and is also a founding member of an NGO called Global Discourse that has arranged well over 100 seminars and other events on globalization since it’s inception in 1996.

Kimmo holds Master of Science in Business Administration and Economics degree from the University of Jyväskylä, where he studied computer science and economics specializing in software business.

Marjolein Wolters (Netherlands)
Marjolein took seat in the National Youth Committee of the Netherlands for a couple of years. Conducted Baha’i Children’s Moral classes. Served at the Baha’i House of Worship in New Delhi. And studied Hotel Management and Activity Coaching.

Since young age she rendered services at Conference Centre De Poort, starting from the dishes and cleaning department, climbing up to the restaurant, reception and currently works as event manager. She finds this work a joy as it has lots of different aspects and brings always new things to be learned and created. "De Poort is a part of me, I feel greatly connected."

For some years Marjolein lived in Patna, Bihar, India where she worked at New Era High School as teacher for moral classes and trainer/coach for teachers. She married there and has 3 lovely children. Raising the children is a wonderful service to her. To make her children happy , joyful and spiritual is a priority and joy of life.

"We learn from our experiences that come on the path of life, when we welcome our challenges with love, courage and faith, we can overcome our own barriers and develop the qualities that are destined for us, so our spirit grows." (Marjolein)