Organising committee
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Max Studennikoff
Chairman
of the Organising CommitteeA serial entrepreneur, resident in France with an MBA degree from Imperial College, London, Max has been in business for over 25 years. He set up and successfully developed a number of start-ups in such areas as international events management, property development, hospitality and education. Max is currently organising a series of high profile sustainable investment conferences across the globe whose mission is connecting the savviest of the investors with the brightest of startups. He is a sought-after speaker at major international conferences, an investor and an advisor to several global projects.
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Per Wimmer
Astronaut, Adventurer, Financier, Philanthropist, Motivational Speaker, Author of The Green Bubble on green energy. The Sky Is No Limit. Making Dreams Reality.
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Serge Conesa
Serge Conesa brings over 30 years of experience in data communications and the IT networking industry, holding Executive key positions in both sales and marketing management with from Fortune 500 companies and over 20 start-ups. His experience ranges from working in the business of internationally expanding major telecommunications and civil infrastructure businesses coordinating all the key elements of a new business: including time, money, resources and technology throughout multiple geographies and cultures. His vision will help corporate and government customers assess, optimize, and manage the life cycle of resources utilization for enhanced efficiency and reduced energy consumption.At the highest levels of governments, energy independence is recognized as key to maintain a nation’s economic and political security.His work is giving now the ability to respond to the call from the White House, not only in addressing, but also in helping to solve the nation’s need for energy independence in a climate of greater demand and diminishing resources, and to replace the current inefficient industrial model of resources management with a new highly efficient model.
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Michele A. Bongiovanni
Michele Bongiovanni is the CEO and Founder of HealRWorld® LLC (a fintech for good and private company ESG big data social impact business) , Disruptive Data Network (a human trafficking big data sharing consortium), Angels.Inc–a social impact media business, and the founder of Music4ClimateJustice (a non-profit initiative dedicated to raising funds for climate refugees, adaptation and resiliency.) Michele’s led corporate strategy, marketing, and online product development/management for over 25 years in the financial services sector and as an innovator has created multiple patents for Fortune 500 companies. Michele feels very blessed to have been able to leverage her passion for innovation and entrepreneurship at BlackRock, Dow Jones & Co., D&B, McCann Erickson & Merrill Lynch & Company. She served as Senior Director of Product Development and Innovation at D&B and led the conceptualization and development of a multi-million-dollar online system for real time detection/rating of small business fraud which was patented by D&B. In addition to her online expertise, she served on the Merrill Lynch Global Bank Platform Team leading client research and strategy for the bank and managed the $2B lockbox product in partnership with PNC Bank where she innovated and patented Merrill’s lockbox sales management tool. She also led the Communications Strategy Team for the Merrill Lynch Global Bank Group. Bongiovanni was on the launch team for the Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition and SmartMoney Interactive for Dow Jones & Company and continues to work with the organization. Ms. Bongiovanni has been invited to speak at the United Nations, The World Bank, New Jersey Innovation Institute and other thought leadership venues and has received numerous awards for her work at HealRWorld, including most recently the Global Peace Award (from the Celebration of Peace UN Event celebrating 150 Years of Gandhi), as a Top Leader in Data in Technology Supporting the SDGs by D&B (Dun & Bradstreet) and Tableau Foundation, was a finalist in the 2018 Sustainable Brands Innovation Open and awarded the first ever New Jersey Higher Education Social Impact Award. She is an advocate for women-led and minority businesses and passionate about leveraging social impact to better our world through “business for good.” She is also a member of UN Women.
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Valentina Castellani
Valentina Castellani is an Award Winning Film Producer, President of Quinn Studios Entertainment which continues the Legacy of Academy Award Winning Actor Anthony Quinn, in the fields of art and entertainment. Mrs. Castellani produced many Academy Awards candidate films Internationally recognized and distributed. She won the prestigious US CONGRESS AWARD, The HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD, the English WIFTS Award as a "Visionary Producer" together with Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel and actress Gal Gadot. Because of her ethical work as a producer, and her service to global society, Valentina Castellani was invited to speak at many International Organizations, including, The US Congress, United Nations, UNESCO, The YPO/Young President Organization and a number of International Universities.
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Ankit Sahu
Ankit Sahu is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of New Normal Capital. Ankit is a registered investment advisor with 15 plus years of experience in wealth management having managed over $200m in assets under management (AUM). Ankit was previously with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) and UBS. Ankit holds an undergraduate degree in engineering, an MBA in Finance from the University of San Francisco and has completed Level II of the CFA. Ankit also attended Mayo College and Eton College.
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Steven O’Brien
Steven O’Brien is a widely published writer, academic, journalist. He is Editor of The London Magazine, Britain’s oldest literary journal (est. 1732). His current roles also include Secretary General of the G20 Foundation, Trustee of the Patrons of the Vatican Art Treasures, Advisor to the Vatican’s Institute of Human Dignity, Advisor to the Centre for Issues and Crisis Management and Peace Ambassador for Iraq.
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Barbara Dietrich
Diplomatic World (of which Ms Barbara Dietrich is the owner, CEO and Editor-in-Chief) is the only magazine published on paper in or around Brussels (with four editions a year distributed in high-quality paper form), counting amongst its subscribers all the Embassies in Brussels, all Members of the European Parliament, the DG’s of the European Commission, the European Council, Members of the Belgian Government, the Belgian Royal Family and other Heads of State plus many influential economic forums and organizations, advocacy and consultancy bureaus and think tanks in Brussels, providing this community and a wider public of interested readers with profound and trendsetting insights in the latest diplomatic, international and European evolutions and tendencies (with a special focus on cultural diplomacy, diplomatic economy, trade, business, art and health). The high-level content of Diplomatic World is based on a full-time engagement and direct/constant contacts with European and international officials - from Ambassadors and Ministers to European Commissioners, Prime Ministers and national and EU Presidents – of Barbara Dietrich. Through the high-quality paper publication, followed and circulating intensively inside the Brussels bubble and in other diplomatic capitals, and through the further online dissemination of the editions published under the supervision of Ms Barbara Dietrich, Diplomatic World has a very wide reach and can claim the status of a key diplomatic-journalistic medium and very influential global think tank and opinion-maker.