An international governance

Cécilia Attias

Former First Lady of France

Born in France, Cécilia Attias occupied various positions in ministerial offices, at the Assemblée Nationale and at Neuilly’s city hall.

In 2007, as First Lady of France, Cécilia Attias twice visited Tripoli in efforts to persuade Colonel Gaddafi to release five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor imprisoned on Libya’s death row. Having successfully negotiated the extradition of the prisoners to Bulgaria, she was awarded honorary citizenship of Sofia, the Bulgarian capital.

Cécilia Attias currently lives in New York where she works as Vice President of Public Affairs at Richard Attias & Associates, part of WPP, the world’s largest communications services group.

She is also the President and Founder of the Cécilia Attias Foundation for Women which aims to be a guiding force in fostering positive change for women across the globe.

Dr Joyce Banda

FORMER PRESIDENT OF MALAWI

Dr Joyce Banda was Malawi’s first female President and Africa’s second. She had previously served as a Member of Parliament, Minister of Gender and Child Welfare, Foreign Minister, and Vice President of Malawi.

She has been a long-standing champion of the rights of women and girls. During the two years of her presidency, Malawi made significant advances in maternal and child health, reducing the maternal mortality ratio from 675 deaths per 100,000 live births to 460, a reduction of 32%. In 1997 she established the Joyce Banda Foundation which has since reached 1.3 million Malawians in areas such as education, maternal health and women’s rights and empowerment.

Dr Banda has received numerous international awards and honours and has regularly been voted one of the most powerful women in Africa.

Jean-Louis Bruguière

Former French Judge

A distinguish former French Judge internationally known for his work on antiterrorism cases. He was Senior Deputy President of the « tribunal de grande instance de Paris » and played a key role in the investigation of a number of high profile terrorism cases, including of Carlos « the jackal » one

He was later nominated by the European Union to carry out in the US a review of the “Finance Tracking Programme”, an intelligence program dedicated to the fight against financing terrorism.

He sits on the board of advisers of the Chertoff group and helps the Foundation in its work on substandard and falsified medicines.

Amara Essy

FORMER SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE OAU

Amara Essy has had a long and distinguished diplomatic career leading to his appointment as Foreign Minister of the Ivory Coast in 1990. He was later Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity and presided over its transition to become the African Union in 2001-2.

He has particularly close links with the United Nations. He was the Ivory Coast's Permanent Representative to the UN in both Geneva and New York and in 1994 he was elected President of the 49th Session of the UN General Assembly.

In 2000, he was appointed the UN Special Envoy for the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. He is a member of the Global Leadership Foundation.

Ilmas Futehally

CEO of the Strategic Foresight Group

Ilmas Futehally is co-founder and CEO of the Strategic Foresight Group, an international think tank that has advised governments and institutions from 60 countries. She has been instrumental in launching several initiatives in parallel diplomacy to resolve trans-boundary water conflicts, measure the costs of protracted conflicts and used media from rival countries as catalysts for peace. She is the co-author of Big Questions of Our Time and several other publications. Before founding the Strategic Foresight Group, Ilmas was Assistant Director of the International Centre for Peace Initiatives, where she was engaged in conflict resolution in South Asia.

Jan Kohout

FORMER FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Jan Kohout is a Czech diplomat and former Foreign Minister.

He began his career as a researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague and, following the Velvet revolution, joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1993 to 1995 he was director of the United Nations Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and, from 1995 to 2000, served as Deputy Head of the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN and to the OSCE in Vienna.

After returning to Prague he held several positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as Ambassador to the EU in Brussels as well as Deputy Foreign Minister. He became Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2004 and again in 2013.

Kabiné Komara

Former Prime Minister of Guinea (OMVS)

As the Guinea’s former Prime Minister, Mr Komara is a well-known banker in the African continent and a former director at the African Export-Import Bank in Cairo, Egypt. He used to be the Former High Commissioner of the Organisation for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS).

Rising in business and government, he was appointed to the Guinean Conseil Transitoire de Redressement National ruling council in charge of Economic Planning & Cooperation in 1990. He also served as Assistant Director for Personnel in the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée and as director of the Alumina Company of Guinea Aluminum.

Prince Philipp von Liechtenstein

Chairman of the LGT

Prince Philipp von Liechtenstein holds the position of Chairman of the LGT Group since 2001. He manages the family’s fortune and he has also expanded LGT Bank opening offices all around the world.

After beginning his banking career at Hambros Bank, London, he joined Rothschild Bank in Paris. He went back to Liechtenstein in 1979, joined LGT Bank, gradually rose through the ranks and is now Chairman in LGT.

In addition of his activities as a banker, he is a Governor of the European Financial Forum in London, a Founder-Member of the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation.

Amama Mbabazi

Former Prime Minister of Uganda

Amama Mbabazi is a former Prime Minister of Uganda (2011-14). He studied law at Makerere University and is a lawyer by profession. He played an important role in the resistance to dictatorship in Uganda (1972-86) and was a founding member and later Secretary General of the National Resistance Movement (NRM). He was a member of Parliament for 20 years. Before becoming Prime Minister, he held several Cabinet posts, including Minister of Defence, Minister of Security and Attorney General. As Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, he negotiated the Lusaka Peace Agreement that ended hostilities in the DRC, secured the withdrawal of foreign forces and re-established central government administration. He also represented Uganda in the IGAD mediation in the Sudan conflict. In the 2016 Presidential election, he was the only candidate to criticise discrimination against the LBGT community. Among his many other positions, he was a member of the University Council of the Islamic University of Uganda, a founding member of the Uganda AIDS Commission (1990-1995) and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Joint Clinical Research Centre which contributed to vaccine development and HIV care.

Kgalema Motlanthe

Former President of South Africa

Kgalema Motlanthe has had an illustrious political career. He served as President of South Africa between 25 September 2008 and 9 May 2009 following the resignation of Thabo Mbeki. He was subsequently appointed Deputy President of South Africa from 2009-2014.

He played a long and distinguished role in the African National Congress (ANC), beginning as a student activist, trade unionist and member of the ANC's military wing during the struggle against apartheid. In 1976, he was arrested for furthering the aims of the ANC and later imprisoned by the apartheid regime for ten years on Robben Island. Following his release, he held senior roles with the ANC, including serving as Deputy President of the ANC from 2007 until 2012.

He is regarded in South Africa as an ‘elder’ and now heads the Motlanthe Foundation which is committed to social causes, including education and human rights. Recently, he was asked to chair the Parliamentary High Level Panel on the Assessment of Key Legislation and The Acceleration of Fundamental Change.

Olusegun Obasanjo

Former President of Nigeria

Olusegun Obasanjo was born in the south west region of Nigeria and spent 21 years in the army which included serving in UN peacekeeping mission in the former Zaire and commanding the Third Marine Commando Division during Nigeria’s Biafran civil war. He was first appointed President of Nigeria in 1976 following a failed military coup and oversaw the restoration of civilian rule in 1979, becoming Nigeria's first military ruler to hand over power to a democratically elected civilian government. He was elected President in 1999 and re-elected for a second term in 2003, standing down in 2007. His election on 29 May 1999 is now commemorated as Democracy Day, a public holiday in Nigeria. Obasanjo is regarded as a Father figure in Nigeria. Since leaving office, he has taken on a number of high-profile diplomatic missions including Special Envoy to the Ivory Coast on behalf of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 2011; head of African Union electoral observation missions in Togo, Zimbabwe and Senegal; and the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes in 2008.

Dr Mathews Phosa

Leading member and former Treasurer General of the ANC in South Africa

Nakedi Mathews Phosa was born in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga (formerly the Eastern Transvaal) on

He was one of four ANC members (among them Jacob Zuma) to be sent back to South Africa in 1990 to start the negotiation process with the former government for a peaceful end of apartheid and the transition to democracy.

Dr Phosa was appointed as the first Premier of Mpumalanga Province in 1994 by President Mandela. In 1999, he left politics to pursue a career in business. He re-entered the political arena in 2007 when he was elected Treasurer-General of the National Executive Committee of the ANC, a capacity in which he served until December 2012.

As Treasurer-General of the ANC, Dr Phosa has had extensive international exposure at the highest level engaging with leaders across Africa and beyond. He was also part of numerous peace and mediation efforts, namely in Mozambique, Angola, Burundi, Northern Island and Iraq.

He is also chairs the Council of the University of South Africa (UNISA) – Africa’s biggest leading open distance learning institution.

Dr José Ramos-Horta

Nobel Peace Prize Winner and former President of East Timor

1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. José Ramos-Horta is internationally known as a peacemaker for his work toward a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in Timor-Leste. After a five year term as Timor-Leste President, he went to serve as Special Representative of the Secretary General to the African nation of Guinea-Bissau. Most recently he was asked by the United Nations Secretary-General to chair the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations.

When Indonesia invaded his country in 1975, José Ramos-Horta exiled and served as the international voice of the Timorese people, addressing constantly and tirelessly the United Nations, including the Security Council and General Assembly.

As a Nobel Peace Prize winner, he is a Member of PeaceJam and frequently gives conferences. He is also a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation. Moreover, he is a Senior Associate Member of the University of Oxford’s St Antony’s College.

Pär Stenbäck

Leading member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and former Finnish Foreign Minister

Pär Stenbäck was born in Borgå in Finland. In the early 1980, he served as Minister of Education and then Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Pär Stenbäck has had a long association with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, becoming General Secretary of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) from 1988 -1992.

He is a specialist in crisis management and has been a Founding Board Member of the International Crisis Group since 1995. Between 2007 and 2013, he helped initiate humanitarian agreements in Israel and Palestine with the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.

Among his numerous other international positions, he worked with Commission for Investigation, Asia Disaster and he was a member of the Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA).

Dr Aminata Touré

FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF SENEGAL

Formerly President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of Senegal, Dr. Aminata Touré is involved in many activities to strengthen democracy in Africa.

Dr. Touré has also served as Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals from 2012 to 2013, Prime Minister from 2013 to 2014 and Special Envoy for Internal and External Affairs of President Macky Sall. 

She has also held various positions within the United Nations as Senior Technical Adviser of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to the Government of Burkina Faso, Regional Technical Adviser of the UNFPA based in Ivory Coast, Senior Adviser at the UNFPA headquarters in New York and Director of the Human Rights, Gender and Culture Department of the United Nations Population Fund.

Ruben Vardanyan

ARMENIAN PHILANTHROPIST AND ENTREPRENEUR

Ruben Vardanyan is an Armenian philanthropist and entrepreneur who has had a distinguished career in business.

He served as CEO and Chairman of the Board at Troika Dialog, one of the leading investment banks in Russia and the CIS. An active philanthropist in Russia and Armenia,

Mr. Vardanyan is engaged in numerous activities, including the Initiatives for Development of Armenian (IDeA). Together with his wife Veronika Zonabend, he led the collaboration to open UWC Dilijan College, a world-class education institution in Dilijan, Armenia.

Mr. Vardanyan is also a Founding Partner and Vice-Chairman of the International Advisory Board of Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO. In addition, Mr. Vardanyan serves on the International Advisory Boards of business schools in Japan and Brazil.

Dr Sundeep Waslekar

President of the Strategic Foresight Group, India

Sundeep Waslekar is President of Strategic Foresight Group, a think-tank based in India that advises governments and institutions around the world on managing future challenges (water diplomacy, terrorism, foresight for countries and societies).

He has been involved in parallel diplomatic exercises to find common ground in the times of crisis. He has facilitated dialogue between Indian and Pakistani decision makers, heads of Nepalese political parties and water authorities in Africa and the Middle East.

He has been a faculty at World Economic Forum annual meetings at Davos and a senior executive at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm.

Charles Carr

Charles Carr is the founding partner of C&F Partners and a specialist in risk consulting with 25 years of global experience advising his clients on a wide range of risk matters related to financial crime, anti-money laundering, sanctions, regulatory compliance, fraud investigations and other risk management matters. He has worked with multiple worldwide financial institutions and governments and assisted them on their development of their economic crime prevention initiatives and financial intelligence functions.

Martine Chayriguès

Mrs Chayriguès has had a very successful career as a senior executive in various French companies, in positions related to Communications and Marketing.
During 20 years, Mrs Chayriguès worked in the defense industry, in companies such as SOFRESA, PRO-GIAT, and GIAT Industries in which she held positions as event and commercial communication manager to Head of Communication.
In 2002, she joined the Centre for European Policy studies as Deputy Chairman, a think tank and forum for debate on EU affairs.
She worked until 2010 as the Head of Communication, Institutional Relations and Sponsorship at the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, a French public financial institution. Then, she started in 2011, until 2014, her own communication consultancy company, MLC Consulting, specializing in Corporate Communication.

Jean-Yves Ollivier

Founder and Chairman of the Foundation

Jean-Yves Ollivier played a vital behind-the-scenes role in facilitating the Brazzaville Accords, thanks to his extensive network of high-level contacts. He is the only foreigner to have received South Africa’s highest award, first in 1987 – under the apartheid regime – for having organised an unprecedented regional exchange of prisoners, and then in 1995 from Nelson Mandela for his contribution to peace.

Along side his career as a businessman and commodities trader in Africa, China and the Middle East, Jean-Yves Ollivier has continued to pursue a career in parallel diplomacy, harnessing his professional contacts to the cause of peace.

Among many other peace initiatives in which he has been involved, he played a pivotal role in the 2002 talks in Sun City which led to a power-sharing agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between President Joseph Kabila and four rebel leaders. He also had an important role in the reconciliation process between Uganda and Sudan which paved the way for the independence of South Sudan.

Jean-Yves Ollivier is an “Officier de la Légion d’honneur” in France and has received awards from a number of other countries.

Tim Perry

Tim Perry is Senior Partner at Spring Law, a central London law firm specialising in disputes, intelligence acquisition and investigations that he founded in 2002. His expertise includes High Court disputes of all characters and advocacy.
He worked as a corporate lawyer at Simmons & Simmons before specialising in litigation at Denton Wilde Sapte. He was also Head Group Counsel for a London Stock Market listed company where he was responsible for managing the group’s legal department Internationally.
Academically, Tim gained at 2:1 in modern History at Cambridge University and then a Distinction in Law.

Kishore K. Sakhrani

M. Sakhrani has a long career in business. For over 20 years, he advised both corporate clients and high net worth individuals on taxation, corporate structuring, accounting, regulatory and trust related matters and was also licensed with the HK securities regulator.
He is currently a Director and co-owner at Greater Asian Advisors Limited, which provides a range of services to individuals and corporations and is licensed to provide trustee and corporate services in Honk Kong.
In addition to his professional activities, he is involved in several HK charitable organisations. He is a Director of both The Amber Foundation and The Zubin Foundation and is the Board Chair at Community Business Limited.