Speakers' biographies
John Defterios
Group President of FBC Media Group, award-winning correspondent and news anchor
John Defterios is President of FactBased Communications (FBC), a London based developer, producer and distributor of international television programming and strategic communication campaigns. Mr. Defterios has more than two decades of broadcast journalism experience as an award-winning anchor, correspondent and special series producer. Along side his executive role, he is currently host and editor of the weekly CNN programme “Marketplace Middle East” and travels to the region for both in-depth interviews and special coverage.
Minister for Development Cooperation, the Netherlands
Albert Gerard (Bert) Koenders was born in Arnhem on 28 May 1958. He studied political science at the VU University, Amsterdam (sitting his ‘ kandidaats’ examination in 1978) and political and social sciences at the University of Amsterdam (graduating in 1983). He received an MA from Johns Hopkins University, after studying at the School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna and Washington DC from 1979 to 1981. Mr Koenders worked from 1983 to 1992 as a personal assistant to several members of the House of Representatives of the States General and as coordinating foreign policy assistant for the parliamentary Labour Party. From 1984 he was also part-time adjunct professor of international relations at Webster University in Leiden, and from 1987 part-time consultant and European director of Parliamentarians for Global Action in New York. From 1993 to 1994 he was the European staff member and political advisor to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the UN, working in Mozambique, South Africa and Mexico. He was subsequently principal administrator of the policy planning staff of the Directorate-General for external relations, conflict prevention and European Union enlargement at the European Commission in Brussels until 1997. Since 1997, Mr Koenders has been a member of the House of Representatives of the States General. From 2000 to 2002 he was also visiting professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University in Bologna. He has held numerous positions, including member of the Governing Council of the Society for International Development, first deputy chairman of the Netherlands Atlantic Association, member of the Supervisory Council of the Institute for Multiparty Democracy, president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, member of the French-Dutch Cooperation Council, chairman of the Steering Committee of the East-West Parliamentary Practice Project and chair of the board of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank. On 22 February 2007 Mr Koenders was appointed Minister for Development Cooperation in the fourth Balkenende government.
Coordinator of the UN Secretary General's High Level Task Forceon the Global Food Security Crisis
David Nabarro (58) serves as an Assistant Secretary General in the United Nations. He holds the position of Senior UN System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, reporting to the UN Deputy Secretary-General, on secondment from the World Health Organization (WHO) since September 2005. On April 29th 2008 he was given an additional responsibility as Deputy UN system Coordinator by the UN Secretary General and Coordinator for the Global Food Security Crisis As of January 01, 2009.
A physician and public health specialist, Dr. Nabarro has worked in the UK National Health Service, taught at the London and Liverpool Schools Tropical Medicine, worked in child health programmes in Nepal, served as regional manager for the UK Save the Children Fund in South Asia and in 1989 served as health and population adviser to the British Overseas Development Administration (ODA) in Nairobi, Kenya.
In 1990 David Nabarro moved to London as ODA's Chief Health and Population Adviser and was promoted to the position of Director for Human Development in the Department for International development (DFID) in 1997. In 1999 he joined WHO to manage the Roll Back Malaria project: in 2000 he became Executive Director in the Office of the Director-General. He transferred to WHO's Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments cluster in 2003. He was then appointed Representative of the Director General for Health Action in Crises, coordinating support for health assessments and aspects of crises preparedness, response and recovery operations in a variety of locations including Darfur, Liberia, and countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
President, Human Nutrition and Health
DSM Nutritional Products
Mauricio Adade (Brazilian) studied Business Administration at the Escola Superior de Propaganda, and Marketing and Food Engineering at State University of Campinas - UNICAMP in São Paulo, Brazil.
Upon completion of his studies, he joined Bayer do Brazil (Miles Enzymes business unit ), where he introduced a new brand into the market, and thereafter Visconti Ind. Alimenticias, where he managed a food plant, both positions being in São Paulo.
In 1988, Mauricio Adade joined the Latin American subsidiary of the Swiss-based company F. Hoffmann-La Roche in São Paulo, starting as Marketing and Technical Manager in the Vitamins and Fine Chemicals Division and becoming Regional Marketing Director in 1992. Two years later, he was appointed Human Nutrition and Health Director of Roche in Mexico, and 1996 the country’s Divisional Director. In 1998, he moved to Singapore to become Human Nutrition and Health Regional Director Asia/Pacific, until he was promoted to Vice President of the Global Industry Unit Food Pharma at Roche Vitamins’ headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, in 2001.
After the Division was taken over by Royal DSM N.V. in October 2003, Mauricio Adade was appointed Executive Vice President and Head of Global Marketing of DSM Nutritional Products Ltd., and in January 2006 President of DSM’s global Human Nutrition and Health business.
Marc Van Ameringen
GAIN Executive Director
Marc Van Ameringen is Canadian and has spent more than twenty years working in the field of international development. With a background in international political economy, Mr. Van Ameringen spent most of his career in Africa managing and implementing innovative programs ranging from public sector reform to small enterprise development. He is particularly known for his experience in helping countries manage difficult processes of post conflict reconstruction.
Prior to joining GAIN as Executive Director, Mr. Van Ameringen was Vice President of the Canadian-based Micronutrient Initiative which focuses primarily on delivering vitamin A supplementation programs around the world. Before this assignment, he was Special Advisor to the G8 Summit, assisting the G8 in responding to the NEPAD initiative. From 1992 to 2002, Mr. Van Ameringen was a Director based in Africa for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), responsible for a number of large donor programs across Africa. He played an important role in assisting South Africa and other countries in Southern Africa in their reconstruction and development. Prior to moving to Africa, he held various senior positions in Canada for IDRC and other organizations. Mr. Van Ameringen has served as a Board Member and Trustee of many different development organizations and has published a number of books on development in Africa.
Rob Frohn
Board Member responsible for Specialty Chemicals, AkzoNobel
Rob Frohn joined the Board of Management of AkzoNobel in 2004 as CFO. He graduated from the University of Groningen and joined AkzoNobel as a business analyst in 1984. After several jobs in control and finance in the Netherlands and the United States, Mr. Frohn made the switch to a management position in 1994.
Following several General Manager positions within Surface Chemistry, part of the company’s chemicals operations, he was appointed in 2000 to lead the business unit, based in Sweden. He returned to the Netherlands in 2004 when he was appointed as CFO and member of the Board of Management of AkzoNobel.
Mr. Frohn assumed responsibility within the Board of Management for Specialty Chemicals as of May 1, 2008.
Head of the Division of Human Nutrition, Waningen University, The Netherlands
Frans J. Kok PhD (1950) is full professor of Nutrition and Health and Head of the Division of Human Nutrition at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Moreover, as Dean of Wageningen University Graduate Schools he is responsible to secure the scientific quality of the academic research and training (1400 PhD students) at the University. At the Division of Human Nutrition (www.humannutrition.nl), 150 persons are appointed, including 70 PhD students. Currently about 450 (inter)national students are enrolled in the BSc-MSc program in Human Nutrition and Health.
Kok was trained in Human Nutrition at Wageningen University (MSc and PhD) and in Epidemiology (MSc) at Harvard University, Boston, USA. His scientific expertise covers topics such as diet in disease prevention, energy balance and body composition, and sensory science. In developing and emerging countries his research activities are focused on both deficiency disorders and ‘modern’ health problems. Frans Kok has been promotor of 50 PhD students and currently supervises another 25 PhDs. He authored around 300 original scientific publications, H-index 44, number of citations around 8000. Kok is editor of three textbooks ‘Personalized Nutrition – Principles and Applications’, ‘Introduction to Human Nutrition’ and ‘Biomarkers of Dietary Exposure’ and was member of the editorial board of the Journal Public Health Nutrition and the European Journal of Nutrition.
Frans Kok is member of several scientific committees, including the Health Council of The Netherlands and the Netherlands Association for Scientific Research. He is member of the Academic Board of Wageningen University and the Scientific Program Council of the Top Institute Food and Nutrition, a public-private partnership of food companies and knowledge institutes, co-funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Kok has been active in many European courses on nutrition and health and also contributed as faculty member in courses in the USA, Africa and Asia. From 1997 until 2004 Kok was director of the European Nutrition Leadership Program in Luxembourg.
Belete Beyene
Managing Director, Hilina Enriched Foods
Belete Beyene has been General Manager of Health Care Food Manufacturers PLC since 1992 and Managing Director of Hilina Enriched Foods, an Ethiopian company based in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) producer of Plumpy’Nut®, since 2007. Mr. Beyene is also a member of the National Codex Committee of Ethiopia and the National Association of Ethiopian Industries. Mr. Beyene began his career in 1973 as Food marketing Officer at the Ethiopian Nutrition Institute. From 1976 to 1989 he served as General Manager of FAFFA Food Factory and from 1989 to 1990 as Director of Food Research and Development Center where he acquired a broad experience in food promotion and social marketing, applied nutrition and appropriate technologies in food processing with special emphasis in soybean uses.
Mr Belete holds a Degree in Business Administration from the former Haile Sellassie University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1973, a Post-graduate diploma in Nutrition Planning in Dakar, Senegal in 1975 and an Post Graduate Diploma in Management Science from the University of Delft, Netherlands in 1985.
CEO and Managing Director, Renata Limited
Mr. Kaiser Kabir has been the CEO of Renata Limited, a leading pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh since 2002. Prior to entering corporate management, Mr. Kabir worked as an economist in the UK and Bangladesh.
He was educated at University of Oxford, UK and Claremont McKenna College, USA
Djordjija Petkoski
Program Leader, Business, Competitiveness & Development, WBI
Djordjija Petkoski is Lead Specialist at the World Bank and the head of the Business, Competitiveness, and Development team at the World Bank Institute. Hi is also a Senior Fellow at the Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research, the Wharton School. Since joining the World Bank in 1992, Mr. Petkoski has focused on competitiveness and sustainable development, governance, corporate responsibility, ethics and anti-corruption, leadership and leading change, with work experience in Asia, Latin America, the Former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Harvard University in the early 1990's and a Visiting Scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979-80. He has published extensively on issues of strategic management of complex technical, economic and social systems. He is author or co-author of 15 books and over 120 articles. His publications include "Stability Analysis of Large-scale Economic Systems Which Have a Multi-time Scale," in Applied Decision Analysis and Economic Behavior (1984); "Knowledge-based Systems for Robustness Analysis of Large-Scale Economic Systems," in Systems Theoretical Methods in Economic Modeling (1991); and "Emilija: Harvard Business School Case Study No. 9597-053" (1997). He has delivered lectures at leading universities and international organizations around the world. He teaches a course on Corporate Responsibility and Ethics at Wharton Business School jointly with Professor Laufer. He is also serving on the Academic Advisory Board of the Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research, the Wharton School, and is a member of the Private and Public, Scientific, Academic, and Consumer Food Policy Committee at Harvard University. He also sits on the International Advisory Board of Instituto Ethos, Brazil, and the International Advisory Council of the International Center for Corporate Accountability, Inc. Before coming to the World Bank, Mr. Petkoski was the Director of the International Post-Graduate School in Large Scale Systems and Professor at the University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. Mr. Petkoski received his Master's degree in Public Administration at Kennedy School of Governance, Harvard University, Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Zagreb, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Belgrade. He has also completed the Harvard Executive Development Program.
Paulus Verschuren
Chair, GAIN Business Alliance
Senior Director, Global Health Partnerships, Unilever
Paulus Verschuren is Senior Director of the Partnership Development Group. The mission of his group is to develop global nutrition and health partnerships creating social and business value - adding vitality to life for the beneficiaries of the partnership projects as well as Unilever consumers and employees. Mr. Verschuren is presently a Board member of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and Chairman of the GAIN Business Alliance. Prior to his current position at Unilever, Mr. Verschuren was Deputy Environmental Safety Officer in Unilever London and later became Director External Relations of the Unilever Health Institute following an external position as Executive Director of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe. Back at Unilever he acted as Chairman of the Board of ILSI Europe and was a member of the ILSI Global Executive Committee. Paulus Verschuren is Dutch, studied biology, and started his Unilever career in 1981 as an animal pathologist researching the relationship between diet, health and disease. He is married and has three sons.
Jane Nelson
Senior Fellow and Director, Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Jane Nelson is a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government and Director of the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She serves as a Director at the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) and is a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution. During 2001 she worked in the office of the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, preparing a report for the United Nations General Assembly on cooperation between the UN and the private sector, which supported the first UN resolution on such cooperation. Prior to joining the IBLF, Jane was a Vice President at Citibank and responsible for marketing for the bank's Worldwide Securities Services business and Financial Institutions Group in Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. She has worked for the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Africa preparing a report for the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, and for FUNDES (Fundación para desarrollo sostenible) in Latin America undertaking research on small enterprise development. Jane has authored four books and over 50 fifty reports, papers, book chapters and articles on public-private partnerships and the changing role of business in society, especially in emerging markets, and co-authored four of the World Economic Forum's Global Corporate Citizenship reports. She serves on the advisory councils or boards of the World Environment Center, the ImagineNations Group, the Initiative for Global Development, the International Council of Toy Industries CARE process, the 21st Century Trust, the U.K. Environment Foundation, Instituto Ethos in Brazil, the International Council of Mining and Metals Resource Endowment Initiative, and on the faculty for Cambridge University’s ‘Business and Poverty’ leadership program. She has a BSc. Agricultural Economics from the University of Natal, South Africa, and an MA Politics, Philosophy and Economics, from Oxford University, and has been a Rhodes Scholar, a Rotary International student, a fellow of the 21st Century Trust, an Aspen Institute scholar, and recipient of the Keystone Center's 2005 ‘Leadership in Education’ Award.
Omer Imtiazuddin
Health Portfolio Manager, Acumen Fund
Omer is the Health Portfolio Manager at Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. Acumen´s investments focus on delivering affordable, critical goods and services – health, water, housing and energy – through innovative, market-oriented approaches. Prior to joining Acumen Fund, Omer Imtiazuddin worked as a consultant for the International Finance Corporation leading the design of the Global Youth and Informal Enterprise Initiative for the Grassroots Business Initiative group. He also has experience in private equity having worked as an associate at Barnard & Co. LLC, a venture capital fund focusing on the communications, information technology and internet industries. Prior to that, he worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Omer also has an extensive background in micro enterprise and small business development, having worked with ACCION, Women’s World Banking, Trickle Up and the Business Outreach Center Network. Omer received his BA from Yale University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Giuseppe van der Helm
Director, VBDO, Association of Investors for Sustainable Development in The Netherlands
Giuseppe van der Helm has been the director of the VBDO, the Association of Investors for Sustainable Development in The Netherlands, since November 2006. He will also be President of Eurosif as from July 1, 2009. He studied Chemical Engineering and Business Administration at Twente University in The Netherlands. After his graduation in 1985 he started as a marketer with chemical company DSM, where he worked for 10 years in various positions. During that period he got his first taste of sustainability while working in Paris as Quality Assurance Manager for the automotive industry. After a brief episode as Business Unit Manager with Sigma Coatings he worked as President Europe with motor oil company Valvoline. In 2002 Giuseppe decided to leave the world of efficiency and profitability and to dedicate his energy to build a better world. After a sabbatical in which he travelled the world he started to study Theology at the University of Tilburg. He is teaching Philosophy of Life at Montessori Lyceum Flevoland in Almere. Giuseppe lives with his 4 children in Vianen in The Netherlands.
Oliver Karius
Partner, LGT Venture Philanthropy
Oliver Karius is a partner at LGT Venture Philanthropy Foundation, which was founded in 2007 by initiative and funds of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. Its mission is to raise the sustainable quality of life for the less advantaged people especially in the developing world. Applying a venture philanthropy approach, we seek to support both non-profit and for-profit organizations active in the areas of alleviating human suffering, education, and sustainable livelihoods by providing capital, as well as knowledge, strategic support and access to relevant contacts and networks. The aim is to create long-lasting sustainable impact while building the structures to enhance long-term development and self-empowerment. LGT Venture Philanthropy makes use of grants, loans and equity investments up to USD 1 mill to provide missing-middle funding.
Prior to joining LGT Venture Philanthropy, Oliver was Head of Research at Forma Futura Invest AG, an Swiss-based independent investment management company focusing on investing to contribute to a sustainable quality of life. Oliver is also Managing Director and co-founder of VantagePoint Global (VPG) (www.vantagep.org) dedicated to building the capacity for sustainable investing and development in emerging markets. From 2001-2004, Oliver served as Manager Research Services and Senior Sustainability Analyst at SAM Research for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and SAM Group. From 1997-2001, Oliver worked for one of Europe’s oldest and largest Socially Responsible Investment managers F&C and (formerly known as ISIS) where he was principally responsible for European company research and the development and implementation of the responsible engagement overlay (reo®) program for institutional investors.
Throughout his career, Oliver has focused on the interface between sustainable development and finance and he has specific interests in the application of sustainability in developing countries, biomimicry, whole systems design and sustainable architecture.
Oliver holds a MSc in Environmental Technology, Global Environmental Change and Policy, from Imperial College Centre for Environmental Technology (ICCET), Imperial College, London, and a Diploma in Biology (Dipl. Biol.) from the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich, Germany.
Will Oulton
Director, Responsible Investments, FTSE
Will is the Director of Responsible Investment at FTSE tasked with leading the ongoing management and development of FTSE’s responsible investment services which include the FTSE/KLD series. In this role, Will is charged with the ongoing development the FTSE4Good stock selection criteria, and establishing local versions of FTSE4Good in markets around the globe. He has also developed FTSE’s leading Environmental Markets Indices. He is widely recognised as a leading thinker in the responsible investment world and is a regular commentator in the media. He is also the Editor of “Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World” to be published in June09.
Prior to taking up his current post, Will founded CRG Advisory Services, a private consultancy practice advising a range of clients, companies and investors on Corporate Responsibility practices as well as contributing to the development of the global responsible investment market. Prior to establishing his consultancy practice, Will was Deputy Chief Executive of FTSE Group, responsible for its global strategy and marketing programmes. While at FTSE, Will worked on a range of projects that underpinned the success and expansion of the Group, including a three-year posting in New York to establish FTSE Americas, the company’s first overseas business unit.
Before his New York appointment, Will served as the global sales director based in London. Earlier in his career, he worked in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) Indices Unit, where he was Head of Commercial Management. Before this, Will also spent five years in the derivatives industry, specialising in the marketing and promotion of traded options while working with the LSE’s subsidiary, the London Traded Options Market. Will holds a BSc in Zoology from the University of Wales and a Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) Diploma from the Guildhall University in London and is a Research Fellow at the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility at Nottingham University Business School. He is also a non executive director of GMB Publishing Ltd, a co-founder of RI Metrics Ltd, a member of the UKSiF Sustainable Pensions Advisory Board, the Eurosif Board and Responsible Investment Academy of Australia Board.
Prabhu Kandachar
Professor, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Prabhu Kandachar is extensively involved in projects involving students and businesses to identify opportunities as well as to design & prototype products and services for the Base-of-the-Pyramid (BoP). Issues covered include water, healthcare, energy, housing, etc., in countries like India, Indonesia, China, Brazil, Ghana, Tanzania, Honduras, Philippines, Pakistan, Madagascar, etc. He is also directing research work on some healthcare issues of the poor in developing countries. He has given several keynote lectures on this topic. His recent lecture was on Base of the Pyramid Strategy – Innovations & Poverty Reduction, at Copenhagen, during the opening of the BoP Facility (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark) on 4th Dec. 2008. www.pppprogramme.com
Such “Putting People First” activities on BoP have also led to a multi-step project on enhancing the knowledge domain around BoP with the following results so far:
(1) A special issue of "Greener Management International (GMI)”, edited by Prabhu Kandachar, released in June 2007, coinciding with: (2) A BoP Session during Greening of the Industry Network Conference 2007, which served as a platform for: (3) The book Sustainability Challenges and Solutions at the Base of the Pyramid: Business, Technology and the Poor, edited by Prabhu Kandachar and Minna Halme, with a foreword by Stuart Hart (August 2008), www.greenleaf-publishing.com coinciding with: (4) International Conference on Sustainable Innovations at the Base of the Pyramid, September 26–27, 2008, and (5) a Workshop on Wellbeing in Low-Income Communities on Dec. 15, 2008 with Professor Martha Nussbaum as keynote speaker, both at Helsinki School of Economics, Finland. http://www.hse.fi/bop Prabhu talked about Dilemmas during Design Interventions in this event. A conference on BoP with focus on impact is planned to be held at Delft (Nov. 2009).
He is born and educated in India, with Master and PhD degree in Engineering, at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Later at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, he worked for a period of 5 years at Delft from 1975, on environmentally friendly technologies. During this period, he also got an opportunity to develop an affordable product for the foundry industry in Venezuela. Between 1980 and 1995, he worked at Fokker Aerospace, at Schiphol, near Amsterdam in various technical & management positions involving aerospace design. Since 1995, he is with the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) at Delft University of Technology.
Representative Publications:
Prabhu Kandachar et.al. (Ed), Design of Products and Services for the Base of the Pyramid, Oct. 2007, Delft University of Technology, ISBN 978-90-5155-034-4. http://www.io.tudelft.nl/bop
Prabhu Kandachar and Minna Halme, Introduction: An Exploratory Journey towards the Research and Practice of the Base-of-the-Pyramid, Special issue of "Greener Management International (GMI)”, edited by Prabhu Kandachar, June 2007, ISSN 0966-9671. http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/
Prabhu Kandachar and Minna Halme (Ed)., Sustainability Challenges and Solutions at the Base of the Pyramid: Business, Technology and the Poor, 2008, ISBN 978-1-906093-11-2 http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/
Prabhu Kandachar and Minna Halme, Farewell to pyramids: how can business and technology help to eradicate poverty? in Sustainability Challenges and Solutions at the Base of the Pyramid: Business, Technology and the Poor, Prabhu Kandachar and Minna Halme (Ed)., 2008, ISBN 978-1-906093-11-2 http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/
Futures Researcher and Strategy Consultant
Hardin Tibbs is a UK-based management consultant and futures researcher with extensive experience of scenario-based strategic thinking. He is a skilled strategic analyst, process facilitator and presenter, with a background in product development and visual communications. In addition to his strategy work, Hardin has made significant contributions on issues involving technology and environment.
Hardin is CEO of Synthesys Strategic Consulting Ltd. in London, and he is an Associate Fellow at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University, where he co-teaches the executive education Scenarios Programme.
His work is focused on helping organizations move forward with confidence in an environment marked by accelerating social and technological change. He has worked with major companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations in the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. This work has spanned a wide range of industries, government agencies and institutions, including electricity, aviation, cement, insurance, household products, food, biotechnology, urban infrastructure, natural resources, taxation, transport and defence. In addition, he frequently gives presentations on future-related topics.
Hardin returned to the UK in 2001 from Australia, where he established Synthesys Strategic Consulting in 1996. Before moving to Australia, Hardin was a senior consultant with Global Business Network (GBN) in California, playing a role in its development in the 1990s as an influential scenario consultancy. Before this Hardin was a consultant at the Cambridge, Massachusetts headquarters of Arthur D. Little, Inc., an international management, technology and environmental consulting firm.
Hardin is the author of the influential paper Industrial Ecology: An Environmental Agenda for Industry (Arthur D. Little, Inc., 1991, and GBN 1993). This paper helped define industrial ecology, a new approach to industrial sustainability.
Hardin has an MSc in Management and a BA degree in Industrial Design Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA) in London, UK.
Adam Leach
CEO, International Business Leaders Forum
Adam Leach is the new Chief Executive of the International Business Leaders Forum. He heads an organisation of over 50 staff, working with the leaders of more than 100 of the world’s major companies to put business at the heart of sustainable development. An MBA graduate, Adam has a distinguished and varied career in the sustainable development field, at both operational and strategic levels.
He has joined IBLF from a senior position at Oxfam as Regional Director with overarching responsibility for Oxfam’s work in the Middle East, Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe and extensive experience in Africa and Asia. At Oxfam he led a senior management team responsible for over 200 diverse staff in 15 countries, working with over 140 partner organizations and delivering over £12 million annually.
Adam has tackled sensitive, political and complex issues through his wide range of contacts with diverse actors and displayed sound judgement and pragmatism for handling conflicting views to reach agreement to deliver strategic and business interests, and manage risk. Examples of his achievement include promoting civilian protection in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, public advocacy to mobilise action on the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and Lebanon, promoting enterprise in Russia, and increasing access to water in Tajikistan.
Adam is an experienced communicator in a wide range of settings and with global/international and national media.
Oscar Chemerinski
Director of the Agribusiness Department, International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Oscar joined IFC in 1990 as an Investment Officer in the Africa Department. Four years later he moved to the Latin America & Caribbean Department where he actively contributed to the development of IFC’s portfolio in the Latin America & Caribbean Region. In 2000, Oscar was promoted to Manager of the newly created Health and Education Department, and in 2001 he transferred to the Agribusiness Department where he has built strong relationships with local, regional and global players, expanding the range of products offered by IFC to Agribusiness clients, and delivering an investment program with a strong development impact. He has played a key role in positioning Agribusiness as a priority sector for IFC. In 2007 he was appointed Director of the Agribusiness Department.
Oscar came to IFC with extensive experience in the private sector, particularly in financial services, in Argentina, Brazil and the United States. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and is a Certified Public Accountant.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is a global investor and advisor that is committed to promoting sustainable projects in developing member countries that are economically beneficial, financially and commercially sound, and environmentally and socially sustainable.
Jay Naidoo
Chair, GAIN Board and Chairman, Development Bank of Southern Africa
In 1993, Jay Naidoo was appointed as coordinator of the South African Reconstruction and Development Program and he held this portfolio as Minister in the Cabinet of President Mandela, later becoming Minister of Telecommunications, Post and Broadcasting (in 1996). In his role as Chair of the GAIN Board, Naidoo is a tireless proponent and visionary for the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. In March 2006 he gave evidence before the International Development Committee of the United Kingdom House of Commons. The resulting report described GAIN’s self-sustaining, market-driven programs as a model of success. His contribution to development on an international level includes his membership of the Advisory Committee on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) set up by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and his work was recently recognized by the award of the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, the French Government’s highest honor.
Douglas Anderson Baillie
President Unilever Western Europe
Mr Douglas Baillie (1955), a British national, born and educated in Zimbabwe, Doug graduated from the University of Natal with majors in Business Finance, Marketing, and Business Administration. He joined Unilever South Africa in 1978. His career over the years has spanned various Sales and Marketing positions in South Africa, Australia and London. In 2005 he was appointed Group Vice President for the Africa, Middle East & Turkey (AMET) region, and held this position till his appointment as CEO of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. and Group Vice President, South Asia in March 2006.
In May 2008 he has been appointed as President Unilever Western Europe and joined the Unilever Executive team.
Doug is married with four children and lives in Wassenaar (the Netherlands). He is a keen marathon runner and enjoys playing and watching all sports.
GAIN Senior Manager, Investments and Partnerships Program
Dr. Bérangère Magarinos joined GAIN in March 2004 as Leadership and Partnership Development Advisor before she started her new assignment as Senior Manager for the Investments and Partnerships Program. Prior to this she was working for the United Nations System Staff College in Turin Italy as Project Manager of the Partners in Action Initiative, a training program focusing on developing the partnering skills of UN officials in UN country teams. Before that Dr. Magarinos had a range of research, teaching and consultancy positions in Switzerland and in the US focusing on New Public management projects as well as a strong emphasis on creating linkages between the public and the private sector. She was trained in public management and international relations in Switzerland and in the United Sates and has got a PhD from Maxwell School Syracuse University NYC as well as a Master in Public Administration from the Swiss Graduate Institute for Public Affairs. She also specialized in partnership management at Cambridge University.
