Angela Brown

American

Lawyer

Angela Brown is a London-based U.S. lawyer with over 10 years of experience. She was previously with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in Washington, D.C. where she worked on large financing transactions, including public securities offerings and secured credit facilities. In addition, she represented corporate clients subject to bribery, securities fraud and antitrust investigations and advised on regulatory compliance and best corporate governance practices. Having a passion for entrepreneurship, she subsequently acted as co-founder and general counsel for two startups and has advised numerous small businesses and start-ups on forming and funding their businesses.

Sarah Cussen

American

Strategic Advisor, OXFAM

Sarah Cussen is a Strategic Advisor for Oxfam, leading a variety of special projects in the Programme Funding and Partnerships Department. Previously, she worked as Senior Advisor in Development and Human Rights at the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York, coordinating the Sustainable Development Goals negotiations. She has also worked as a conflict advisor at CARE International, providing technical support to the implementation of development and humanitarian programming in fragile states. Earlier in her career, she worked in the Africa Program at the Wilson Center in Washington DC, managing peacebuilding projects targeting key leaders in the Great Lakes region of Africa and in Liberia. She holds an MSc in European Politics and Governance from LSE, a graduate diploma in International Affairs from Sciences Po, and a BA in International Relations and French from Wellesley College.

Shaurav Datta

American

Director, Royal Bank of Canada

Shaurav Datta is currently a Director at the Royal Bank of Canada, where he works on developing and implementing U.S. regulatory governance programs. He was formerly senior staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and has extensive experience with prudential supervisory matters related to large financial institutions and financial market infrastructures. Shaurav is particularly interested in issues surrounding financial stability,  corporate governance, and the field of political economy. Shaurav has a BA (with honours) from the University of Chicago, and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He has previously lived, studied, and worked on three continents and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Alison Fenn

American

Strategy Consultant, York Street Strategy & Rethink: Circular

Ali Fenn is the founder and managing partner of York Street Strategy, a consulting firm founded in 2006 to assist venture backed technology companies, and founder of Rethink: Circular, an advisory firm working with companies to drive system level transformation to a more circular and inclusive economy. Ali's expertise spans capital raising, market & business development, and  product management. She has led early stage company teams as well as F100 initiatives, across North America, Europe, China and India.  Previous experience includes serving as WW Head of Market Development at Seagate, COO at Archetype Solutions, VP of Business Development and Sales at Genius.com, VP BD and Alliances Wyse Technology, and business development at BEA Systems. Early in her career, Fenn was an investment banker at Montgomery Securities, where she helped raise over $1 billion for a breadth of hardware and software companies. 

She is also a former member of the U.S. Ski Team. Ali has an Economics Degree from Yale University.

Emily Gallucci

American

Vice President, Public Finance, Raymond James

Emily Gallucci has 11 years of public finance experience, serving as a financial advisor and an investment banker to municipal entities throughout the Western United States. Financed over 90 transactions totaling to $6.3 billion in par including both new projects and refinancings.

Emily advised on long-term capital plans for transportation agencies and municipal utilities.

Marcella Winearls

American, British

IT Portfolio Manager, Opportunity International

Marcella Winearls has worked with a broad spectrum of organisations including international charities, governments, social ventures and startup companies. Her specialisation is in project and portfolio management and majority of her work focused on countries within Africa.  

Felicitas Colombo

Argentinian

Public Affairs Consultant

Felicitas Colombo is a Public Affairs Consultant and specializes in the following areas: strategy, crisis management, corporate affairs, stakeholder engagement, health education, NGOs, government relations, corporate social responsibility, branding & positioning, market research, regulatory affairs, government relations, reputation management, public opinion and media relations.

Karine Ataya

Australian

Director, Education Services for Middle East, Africa and Turkey
Victorian Government Business Office (VGBO)

Karine Ataya works with Government bodies and educational institutions throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to promote and provide links with the world-class education system in Victoria, Australia. Karine has extensive international experience drafting and implementing educational policies and procedures, establishing frameworks for monitoring performance and driving curriculum reform. Prior to joining the VGBO, she worked with the Abu Dhabi Education Council where she held the position of Contract Manager (PPP Program), managing and monitoring the National Curriculum and policies of the Council in over 50 schools. Prior to this, she was Manager (Knowledge and Education Sector) for the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, one of the world’s largest charitable Foundations with activities across 22 countries. Karine holds a Bachelor of Arts (Public Administration) from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and a Masters of Management Information Systems, Faculty of Business from Edith Cowan University, Australia.

Julia Fetherstonhaugh

Australian

Senior Policy Adviser, Department of Premier and Cabinet

Julia Fetherstonhaugh has seven years of experience in the Victorian Public Service where she has held senior adviser roles in the Department of Premier and Cabinet and in transport and infrastructure reform authorities. Julia has worked in regulatory, environment, transport and infrastructure policy, both in strategic policy development and the Cabinet advisory process.

Most recently she worked on the establishment of Infrastructure Victoria, an independent statutory authority tasked to provide advice to the Government on Victoria’s infrastructure needs and priorities. At LSE, Julia looks forward to learning more about the evolving theories of political economy, particularly in the context of the great challenges of our time, climate change and inequality. Julia is currently based in Paris. 

Aiyngkaran Sivanathan

Australian

Head of Finance/Acting Head of Commercial Services, MDC Business Management Services

Aiyngkaran Sivanathan has international experience working in Australia, Asia and the Middle East in Investment and Asset Management, Banking and Financial Services, FMCG, and Manufacturing sectors. He has worked for a variety of companies ranging from Fortune 500 multinationals to large regional corporate companies. He has strong business partnering skills at country, operational and corporate levels supporting business growth, implementing process efficiency and change management.

Christof Hebenstreit

Austrian

Christof Hebenstreit has over 10 years of experience in various front-office roles in global investment banks, covering multinational corporations and public-sector institutions on funding, market risk management and investment activities (in Developed and Emerging Markets). His most recent experience includes dealing with regulatory change in derivatives trading.

Katharina Strohmeier

Austrian

Expert on European Institutions, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

Katharina Strohmeier is a graduate in law with more than five years of experience working in the European Parliament and more than two years of experience working in an EU financial regulatory agency. Over this time she has gained first-hand experience of EU policy-making and has become familiar with the inner workings of Brussels. Her current role within the EIOPA has given her a good understanding of the policy landscape of insurance and pensions as well as the national priorities throughout Europe. It complements her previous experience working in the European Parliament (EP), where she was involved in the trilogue negotiations and the broader EU policy-making process, with a focus on labour market and pensions policies. Her specific role within EIOPA is to report and channel policy developments, coordinate EIOPA’s position within the European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS), and to give strategic advice and guidance to EIOPA’s Senior Management. 

Murad Maksudov

Azerbaijan

Technology Sales Executive, Oracle

Murad Maksudov started working in the United Nations Development Programme, as a part of the internship programme, and was later recruited to the position of Project Officer. When leaving the organization after 5 years he retired from the position of Project Director. While working for the UNDP, Murad implemented a number of education projects with the NATO Virtual Silk Highway programme, as well as Cisco. While Cisco established a country office in Azerbaijan, he was invited to join the country team, to the position of Programme Manager, responsible for the services delivery on the territory of CIS, Eastern Europe and Baltics. Murad worked for a number of customers in the fields of Telecom, Oil and Gas, and Government delivering a number of technology and infrastructure projects there. After leaving Cisco, he moved to direct sales with terminal Business in Huawei technologies, and finally, joined the Oracle team, being responsible for the Public Sector sales for the core technology segment of Oracle products.

Gabriel Motta

Brazilian

Director - Portfolio Manager, Daemon

Gabriel Motta is responsible for Portfolio Management, Investment Structuring and Operations for Daemon Investment Fund - a U$2.5 billion Fund focused in financing exports of Brazilian capital goods. Before joining Daemon, Gabriel worked at Patria Investimentos as co-portfolio manager in Patria’s Hedge Fund group, and as an Associate in an exchange program with GSO Capital in New York. Prior to that, he was an Equity Derivatives Trader at Goldman Sachs. Gabriel holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering from Escola Politécnica da USP, Sao Paulo. 

Abdul-Rahman Al-Bazzaz

British

Oil Trading Analyst, Chevron

Abdul-Rahman Al-Bazzaz has 6 years experience working in the Oil & Gas industry; the bulk of his experience is situated within various roles in supply and trading. He is currently a Distillate Analyst at Chevron and previously he was an Oil Analyst at Chevron. Prior to this, he held the position of Natural Gas Operator and Shift Trader at Électricité de France (EDF).   

Cynthia Appenteng

British

Consultant

Cynthia Appenteng is a professional policy advisor, stakeholder manager, and a qualified project manager with 11 years experience of the UK civil service.

Annabel Bates

British

Educational Leadership Consultant at SOL Consulting

Annabel Bates has 11 years of experience in the education sector, as a teacher and school leader. Currently working as an independent educational leadership consultant, Annabel's expertise is in supporting schools serving socio-economically disadvantaged communities.  Annabel has worked with schools in London and Scotland, and supported the work of educators in Bulgaria, South Africa, New Zealand and the World Bank. 

Laura Choake

British

Commissioning Programme Manager, Newcastle City Council

Laura Choake works in commissioning and procurement covering all Council goods, works and services including: social care and public health, education, homelessness and active inclusion, housing, trading and resources, ICT, infrastructure, voluntary community sector. She engages in policy development and implementation, change management and service transformation, data analytics and insights, investment models, health and social care integration. 

Rosamund Hawley

British

Management Consultant, Moorhouse Consulting

After graduating, Roz spent three and half years working in the House of Commons as a researcher for two Conservative MPs. She is currently a management consultant specialising in the public sector with clients including the NHS and the Department for Culture, Media and Sports.

Colin Horswell

British

Managing Director, Cordis Bright

Colin Horswell is Managing Director at Cordis Bright, a consultancy and research firm specialising in children’s services, criminal justice, adult social care and health services. Clients include central government, local authorities, NHS and the independent sector. Colin has extensive experience in performance improvement, service reviews, audits, feasibility studies, economic analysis, needs assessments, evaluations, and training/coaching. He also has previous experience in supporting improvement in other fields of the public sector including education and learning, special education needs and disability, and neighbourhood renewal. Colin is a Trustee of School-Home Support: a charity that works with families, schools and local authorities to improve life chances of disadvantaged children.

Mohamed Ibrahim

British, Egyptian

Chartered Water & Environmental Manager

Mohamed is a Chartered Water & Environmental Manager with over 11 years’ experience in infrastructure capital delivery and international development in Europe, Middle East (GCC) & North Africa. He is a specialist in advisory and liaison services for governmental departments and regulators in the water sector, providing insight into guidelines and policies for water resources, budget planning, investment strategy and international best practices.

In the UK Mohamed has delivered value for United Utilities, Scottish Water, and Severn Trent on a number of projects at the key stages of the life-cycle from opportunity development through to tender management, process design, contract management and project delivery. Since joining MWH in the Middle East in 2014, he has been leading MWH consultancy services and stakeholder management for the governmental and quasi-governmental authorities in the UAE and Qatar, including Dubai Municipality, DEWA, Ashghal and Private Developers.

Mohamed’s experience backed with academia affords him an in-depth appreciation of the market drivers, legislations, regulations, funding models and standard deliverables, thus enabling him to meet clients’ expectations by adopting a collaborative value management approach.

Mags Patten

British

Executive Director Public Policy and Communication, Arts Council England

Mags Patten is a member of the executive board of Arts Council England (ACE), an arms length body which invests in, develops and champions the arts, museums and libraries in England. She is the organisational lead for advocacy and communication and her work to ensure the cultural workforce is appropriately skilled and diverse. She also leads on public policy areas including socio-economic disadvantage, the role of art and culture in health and wellbeing and within the criminal justice system. Prior to ACE, she held senior roles in advocacy and communication for a number of organisations in the UK including the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Channel 4 Television and English National Opera. She has also worked as a consultant both in the UK and abroad. She holds postgraduate diplomas in Journalism (Cardiff University) and Marketing (Chartered Inst. Marketing).

Rebecca Stephenson

British

Compliance Officer, UBS

Since graduating, Rebecca Stephenson has been working in the Compliance & Operational Risk department at UBS Investment Bank. In her current role, she provides compliance support to the European Equity, Credit and Economics Research department. She assists the department with day to day compliance queries, developing and delivering training sessions, as well as working on regulatory change initiatives and projects. She has previously worked in a similar role supporting the Mergers and Acquisition department. She recently returned to the UK after spending 8 months on secondment to America where she had the opportunity to set up new compliance team in an expanding office in Nashville.    

Brittany Fletcher

Canadian

Communications Advisor, Global Affairs Canada

Brittany Fletcher works as a Strategic Communications Advisor for Global Affairs Canada, Canada’s federal government department responsible for managing the country’s diplomatic and consular relations, international trade and international development and humanitarian assistance. Based in Ottawa, Ontario, Brittany develops communications strategies and products on international development issues. Brittany's current areas of responsibility include environment and climate change, health, and multilateral organizations such as the United Nations. While at LSE, she looks forward to studying development economics and the role of communications in fostering social change and applying this to her work in international affairs.

Shanshan Yang

Chinese

Correspondent, China Central TV

Shanshan Yang started her journalism career from China Central TV, China's National TV. She worked for CCTV news, the International English news Channel of CCTV for three years and then transferred to CCTV's Europe bureau as a correspondent since 2010.  She covers major European news for CCTV now, including the Paris shootings, Brexit Referendum, Davos Forum, China-Europe relations and more. 

Ulrik Kristensen

Danish

Team Leader - Power Africa
Africa Governance Initiative, London, UK

Ulrik works to expand renewable energy markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. As the manager of the Secretariat for the Senior Advisors Group of the Power Africa Initiative, he coordinates the provision of policy advice to African leaders and as well as relations with investors. 

Previously, Ulrik has worked in a series of positions with the United Nations, mainly in the areas of fiscal decentralisation reform, local service delivery and financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Working for the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), he set up and managed partnerships with governments and private entities in 16 countries in Africa, managed teams across the region, and set up regional structures in Johannesburg and Addis Ababa. He has lived and worked in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, France, Mozambique, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States. 

Ulrik has a Masters degree in Political Science (Sciences Po Paris, France) and a Bachelors degree in Economics (University of Southern Denmark).

Ellen Van der Velden

Dutch

Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Economic Affairs, The Netherlands

Ellen van der Velden has been working since 2005 at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs as an economist. She is currently working as a senior advisor in the field of European economic policy, including the economic and financial policy coordination in the EU, the EU budget and its Multi-annual Framework, Brexit, and trade. She also has recent experience in other politically high-profile topics like migration, the housing market and science and innovation. Previously, she managed a subsidy scheme for renewable energy deployment, coordinated spatial planning procedures of large-scale renewable energy projects and negotiated European climate and energy strategies and policies. She also served as a deputy clerk for the Dutch House of Representatives. She is interested in the latest academic and professional insights in public policy and which policy interventions are most effective. In her free time she loves running and mountaineering.

Risto Linna

Finnish

Scientific Officer, European Chemicals Agency

Risto Linna is a Scientific Officer at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) located in Helsinki, Finland. As a Scientific Officer and an Administrator, Risto is responsible for bridging the gap between science and law, and implementing EU chemicals regulations for the benefit of the society. Prior to joining ECHA in 2014, Risto worked in the pharmaceuticals and chemicals industry in Switzerland and the Netherlands and completed a traineeship in the European Patent Office. In addition to his MSc degree in Organic Chemistry, Risto has completed a one year intensive Japanese language course in Tokai University, Japan, in 2008-2009 and received top marks.

Quentin Savary

French

Manager, HSBC

Quentin Savary has experience in a number of financial institutions in France and in the UK. 

Anna Seeger

German

Education Specialist, UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning

Anna Seeger is an Education Specialist passionate about working towards ensuring that every child has access to a quality education. She holds a Master’s degree in Educational Science, Conflict and Peace Studies and Sociology (Philipps University Marburg, Germany) and has been working in international development for the past 8 years. Currently, Anna works at the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning in Paris, where she provides technical support to developing countries in Sub-Sahara Africa in educational planning processes. She specializes in crisis-sensitive education policies and planning and analysing the functioning of public administration systems.

Vijay Singh

Indian

Country Risk Manager, HSBC Group Management Services Ltd

Vijay Singh is working with HSBC as a Country Risk Manager and specializes in country and sovereign risk for Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). He has 10 years of work experience in the financial services industry. His work involves producing high level economic and political risk reports for the senior management. Additionally, he works actively on country risk appetite framework and currency crisis models. Vijay interacts regularly on the ongoing risk and challenges for MENA region with various external banks and advisory firms. He holds a Master’s degree in Management of Business Finance and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce. Vijay has a strong interest in fiscal and monetary policies, trade relations, geo-political issues, and macroeconomics.

Folasade Olapade-Olaopa

Irish

Senior Project Manager, Mott MacDonald Group

Sade Olapade-Olaopa has over a decade of experience helping to deliver water and wastewater infrastructure for a variety of clients, from multi-lateral institutions to federal and local governments.  Her work has taken her all over the world, from Europe and North America to South Asia and the Middle East (including post war and disaster recovery areas such as Iraq). Sade has a PhD in Water Sciences and a first degree in Chemical Engineering and Management, both of which were gained in the UK. 

She currently works as a Senior Project Manager and Subject Matter Expert for the Mott MacDonald group, a multi-national global development, management and engineering consultancy.

Takashi Hirai

Japanese

Patrick Okigbo

Nigerian

Principal Partner, Nextier

Patrick Okigbo is the Principal Partner at Nextier, a public policy advisory firm with a particular focus on peace and development, investment promotion, and the electricity sector. Prior to this role, Patrick was an aide to a former president of Nigeria where he was part of the team that developed the roadmap for the reform of Nigeria’s electricity sector.  At various points in his career he was the Chief Financial Officer at Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc. (a holding company for businesses in hospitality, telecommunications, and oil & gas), and Vice President at Citigroup N.A. where he provided banking solutions to agencies of the government of the United States. Earlier in his career, Patrick worked for Accenture in projects in the financial services industry. Patrick has a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from the University of Nigeria and an MBA from Emory University in Atlanta, USA. He is particularly interested in how to create policies and programmes that effectively address the development challenges in Africa.

Ania Podeszwa

Polish

Senior Associate, Albany Associates

Ania Podeszwa is an energetic and dedicated communications professional with a proven record delivering effective policy and campaigning strategies for political and corporate clients in the UK and the developing world. Ania currently works as Senior Associate at Albany Associates. Her work at Albany focuses on delivering grassroots and high-level strategic communications and public diplomacy strategies in some of the world’s most challenging and complex environments. She also supports the media training and institutional capacity building function. 

Maria Smirnova

Russian

Adviser to Board of Directors, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Maria Smirnova has been working at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for 2.5 years as an Adviser to Executive Board Director for Russia, Belarus and Tajikistan (EBRD Board of Directors is a permanent governing body, responsible for strategic and operational delivery and administrative governance of the Bank on behalf of its shareholders). Prior to coming to EBRD, Maria was working in the Russian Ministry of Finance for the past 7 years. She has experience in international financial relations, specifically with issues of cooperation with international development banks, state membership in IFIs and multilateral frameworks, financial and legislative aspects of international frameworks and IFI’s investment projects.

Marwan Alahmadi

Saudi Arabian

Chairman and CEO, Alkhalijiah for Consulting & IT

As Founder and Chairman of Virtustream MENA, Dr Marwan offers cloud and cybersecurity services to clients in the MENA region. Dr Marwan is a specialist in the technology industry and has held senior positions across different multinational corporations where he gained a reputation for his entrepreneurial spirit, passion for innovation and successful launching of green field operation skills. His previous positions include Chief Business Officer, Mobily Saudi Arabia, Founding CEO, Zain Saudi Arabia, Chief Strategy Officer, MTC Group, COO, MTC Vodafone, Bahrain, General Manager, Cisco Systems Saudi Arabia, Director, Abdul Latif Jameel Group, Executive Manager, Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp. and Assistant Professor at KFUPM. In the public sector, Dr. Marwan has served for two terms (8 years) as a member of the Madina Region Council, 4th largest region in Saudi Arabia.

Dr Marwan holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.

Radoslav Jusko

Slovakian

Consultant

Radoslav Jusko works in investment management in portfolios of defaulted bank claims in CE Europe (especially Czech Republic and Slovakia) and SE Europe (especially Romania, Bulgaria, Montenegro) in cooperation with investment administrator. He specialises in credit risk management in a semi sized financial institution based in Prague providing individually adapted loans for SME clients. His participation includes development of new banking products e.g. loan to products such as loan acquisition of defaulted retail claims and loan on acquisition of financial instruments. 

Francisco Jose Fortuny Carod

Spanish

Associate Banker, Natural Resources, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Francisco José Fortuny Carod is a finance professional with more than 7 years of experience in completing and monitoring a number of debt, corporate finance and equity transactions in emerging markets. He joined the EBRD in 2011 through the Bank’s International Professionals Programme. He became part of EBRD’s Natural Resources team in 2013, where he has participated in the financing of several oil, gas and mining projects in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and FYR Macedonia. Prior to EBRD, he worked as a monitoring and operations analyst for the African, Caribbean and Pacific Investment Facility at the European Investment Bank (EIB) based in Luxembourg between 2009 and 2008.

Mugad Oumgari Attahallah

Spanish, with Moroccan origins

Head of Pricing Model Validation, Lloyds Banking Group

Mugad Oumgari started work in 2004 in a role which involved the mathematical modelling of interest rate derivatives by solving partial differential equations and implementing the solution in programming code. His next role was working as a Quantitative Analyst consultant for a computer software company based in Paris servicing the banking industry where he quickly learned about rates products. He then joined Deutsche Bank (London) in October 2008 where he started in the model validation team then took responsibilities as Head of Quantitative Credit model validation, where he presented to senior management and main stakeholders model risk related issues and assessed the impact on derivatives and products sold to financial institutions, corporate clients, etc.

He has been with Lloyds Banking Group since October 2012 as a Global Head of Pricing Model Validation where he manages a team of 8 experts in mathematics and statistics, mathematical finance, financial markets, computing, and validation of pricing models being used by the business (trading, structuring, sales, capital markets, and treasury function) for all asset classes. The experience and responsibilities he currently has are of a wider scope compared to his previous roles. In addition to approving complex trades and managing model risk across the board, he deals with different topics such as banking regulation, compliance, risk management, audit issues, governance and policy.     

Amel Karboul

Tunisian, German

Secretary General, Maghreb Economic Forum (MEF)

Dr. Amel Karboul is Secretary-General of the Maghreb Economic Forum (MEF) and a Commissioner on the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity. She is passionate about nurturing a new generation of responsible leaders and building bridges between the private, public sector and civil society to solve today’s global challenges. She received a Master’s degree with honours in Mechanical Engineering from Karlsruhe Institute of technology (KIT) in Germany and holds a Doctorate in Coaching and Mentoring from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Karboul has held leadership roles at numerous firms including Mercedes-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and worked in senior consultant and executive coach roles at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Neuwaldegg & Duke CE. She was, until February 2015, Minister of Tourism in the Tunisian transition government that was appointed after the successful quartet (Peace Nobel prize winners 2015) negotiations and nominated as one of 10 leading young African politicians.