Eurasia

György H Matolcsy

Governor
Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Dr. György Matolcsy serves his second term as the governor of Magyar Nemzeti Bank, the central bank of Hungary. He was nominated to the position in 2013 and his tenure was renewed in 2019 for another 6 years. Since 2013 he is also a member of the Fiscal Council. Prior to his current position he was minister of national economy between 2010-2013. In 2007 he founded the Hungarian Economic Development Institute, which he headed for 3 years. Between 2000-2002 he was Hungary’s minister of economic affairs. Mr Matolcsy is the author of the Széchenyi Plan, a comprehensive strategy aiming to promote the economic growth in Hungary.
He was director of the Institute for Growth (2002-2010) and its predecessor organisation, the Privatisation Research Institute from 1995 to 2000. From the end of 1998 he has been a member of the economic advisory body of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Starting in 1991 he spent 3 years as a member of the Board of Governors at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) representing the Hungarian Government. In 1990 he joined the Office of the Prime Minister and served as the personal economic advisor to Prime Minister József Antall.
Acknowledging his efforts in promoting economic development in Hungary, he was awarded the Barankovics Commemorative Coin in 2013.
He graduated at Karl Marx University of Economics in 1977 and obtained his Doctorate degree in 1984.
Mr. Matolcsy is actively involved in educational activities. He is a frequent lecturer at top foreign and Hungarian universities. He is an honorary doctor at the University of Debrecen and the University of Kaposvár, and honorary member of Fudan Development Institute (FDDI) of Fudan University and of the FDDI International Advisory Board of Shanghai Forum.
Mr Matolcsy is the author of numerous publications, articles and books. His most recent book, Economic Balance and Growth was published in 2015, whereas his other books include Bringing Up the Rear (Éllovasból sereghajtó; 2008), American Empire (Amerikai birodalom; 2004), and Our Living Memories (Élő emlékeink; 2003).

Mihály Patai

Deputy Governor
Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Dr. Mihály Patai has been Deputy Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (The Central Bank of Hungary), and Member of the Monetary Council from 22 April 2019. Until April 2019, he was the President of the Hungarian Banking Association, and the Chairman & CEO of UniCredit Bank Hungary since 2006. From 1996 to 2006, he was Chairman & CEO of Allianz Hungaria Insurance. From 1993 to 1995, he served as Executive Director of Kereskedelmi Bank, and from 1988 to 1993, he worked as assistant to the Executive Director of World Bank.
He graduated from the Budapest University of Economics. He studied under scholarships in London, Vienna and Moscow.
He is the Chairman of the Budapest Stock Exchange, Chairman of the Board of Directors at GIRO Zrt. and Vice President of the Hungarian Economic Association.

Sethaput SUTHIWARTNARUEPUT

Governor
Bank of Thailand

Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, Ph.D. is the 24th Governor of the Bank of Thailand and board member for the National Economic and Social Development Council, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Insurance Commission. Sethaput has extensive experience in economics, policy and financial markets. He has held senior positions with the Siam Commercial Bank group; the Stock Exchange of Thailand; and the Ministry of Finance, and has served on the Board of Directors at PTT Exploration and Production, Osotspa, TMB Bank, and the Bank of Thailand, where he was also on the Monetary Policy Committee. Prior to returning to Thailand, he was with the World Bank in Washington, DC and McKinsey & Co. in New York. Sethaput received his BA with highest honors from Swarthmore College and his M. Phil and Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.

Shamshad AKHTAR

Former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan
Former Care Taker Finance Minister of Pakistan

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar served as Federal Finance Minister of Pakistan holding multiple economic portfolios in the caretaker government and as the Governor, State Bank of Pakistan. As the Under-Secretary General of the Economic and Social Commission of the Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP) and the United Nations Secretary General’s Senior Special Advisor on Economics and Finance, Dr. Akhtar oversaw the development and implementation of the sustainable development agenda including economic, social, environmental and finance work of the UN Department of the Economic and Social Affairs. During her term at UN, she was UN Secretary General’s Sherpa for Development and the Finance and Central Bank tracks. Among others, she was closely involved in the development and implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (SDG), the Ad-dis Ababa Financing frameworks and work on the Paris Climate Accord and ensured closer alignment of G20 development agenda with the 2030 SDG agenda. Dr. Akhtar served as the Vice President, Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, and Di-rector General of Asian Development Bank (ADB). She also served as the Special Sr. Advisor to the President of ADB. Dr. Akhtar is recipient of Asia’s Best Central Bank Governor from Emerging Markets and the Ban-ker’s Trust awards. In 2008, The WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA recognized her as one of Asia’s top ten professional women. Recently in 2020, she has been awarded the HUM Women’s Le-adership Global Award. Dr. Akhtar in now serving as the Chairperson of few Boards in Pakistan: The Pakistan Stock Exc-hange, the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance, Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd. responsible for transmission and distribution company, Karaandaz a nonprofit organization and joint venture sponsored by the FCDO-Bill Melinda and Gates Foundation to promote financial and digital finan-cial inclusion etc. Dr. Akhtar serves on couple of Government’s advisory committee. At Global level she has been appoin-ted to the Council of Advisors of the Boao Forum for Asia after serving as Sherpa of the forum. She remains engaged in both global and national policy dialogues and is the Global Advisor for the Belt and Road Initiative, cochaired G20 Think Tank group on Infrastructure and Sustainable Investment and as Advisor to Shanghai Forum.

Eng Chye TAN

President
National University of Singapore

Professor Tan Eng Chye was appointed President of the National University of Singapore (NUS) on 1 January 2018. Professor Tan is a passionate and award-winning educator. He was a pioneer architect of the current academic system in NUS, and has seeded many initiatives such as the Special Programme in Science, University Scholars Programme, University Town Residential College Programme, Grade-free Year, and Technology-enhanced Education. Professor Tan is a member of the Singapore’s Future Economy Council, which is tasked with driving the growth and transformation of the country’s future economy. He is on the boards of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR); National Research Foundation (NRF); and NUS High School of Mathematics and Sciences. He is the Chair of Universitas 21, a leading global network of 27 research-intensive universities. Professor Tan received the Public Administration Medal (Gold) at Singapore's National Day Awards in 2014 for his outstanding contributions to education. He was awarded the Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal, which honours exceptional alumni in the areas of scholarship, teaching, academic administration and public service, by Yale University in 2018. Professor Tan was also conferred an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Southampton in 2018 in recognition of his achievements as “an innovative and exceptional teacher, and then as a distinguished and respected leader in academia”.

Jeffrey D. SACHS

University Professor, Director
Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned economics professor, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development.
He is widely recognized for bold and effective strategies to address complex challenges including the escape from extreme poverty, the global battle against human-induced climate change, international debt and financial crises, national economic reforms, and the control of pandemic and epidemic diseases.
Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor, the university’s highest academic rank. Sachs held the position of Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Chair of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission, Co-Chair of the UN Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition, Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Honorary Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development at Sunway University, academician of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican, and an SDG Advocate for UN Secretary General António Guterres. From 2001-18, Sachs served as Special Advisor to UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan (2001-7), Ban Ki-moon (2008-16), and António Guterres (2017-18).
Sachs has authored and edited numerous books, including three New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011). Other books include To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace (2013), The Age of Sustainable Development (2015), Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair & Sustainable (2017), A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2018), and most recently, The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020).
Sachs was the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership. He was twice named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders. Sachs has received 38 honorary doctorates. In 2021, Sachs received the TÜBA Academy Prize from the Turkish Academy of Sciences, the Legion of Honor by decree of the President of the Republic of France, and the Order of the Cross from Estonia, and honorary doctorates from Amrita University, Kerala, India, Macau University of Science and Technology, and the University of Siena, Italy.

Prior to joining Columbia, Sachs spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, most recently as the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Sachs received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard.

Simon TAY

Chairman
Singapore Institute of International Affairs

Simon SC Tay is a public intellectual as well as an advisor to major corporations and policy-makers. He is Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, the country’s oldest think tank. The SIIA’s work focuses on the politics, economic policies and sustainablity challenges that matter to corporations and policy makers. The SIIA is ranked by an international survey as the best independent think tank in Asia, and is a founder member of the influential “track-two” network of ASEAN think-tanks. In addition to sharing insights with policy-makers in Singapore, the SIIA has also previously served as pro bono adviser to the Indonesian and Myanmar governments. He is a tenured Associate Professor, teaching international law at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law. He has also taught at Harvard Law School, the Fletcher School and Yale University. Prof Tay’s book, Asia Alone: the Dangerous Post Crisis Divide from America (Wiley 2010) was well reviewed in the Economist and Financial Times. His comments and interviews feature in the international and regional media, including the BBC, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, the Straits Times, NHK Japan and CCTV. Prof Tay has concurrently held a number of public appointments for Singapore, including as an independent Member of Parliament (1997-2001); Chairman of the National Environment Agency (2002-08) and an Expert and Eminent Person in the ASEAN Regional Forum (2002–2019). He also coordinated the country’s equivalent of the Peace Corps (1990-93) and has served as co-chair for a number of public commissions such as Singapore 21, the Singapore Green Plan and the Singapore Concept Plan 2010. In 2006, Prof Tay received a National Day Award. Since 2020, Tay has been appointed an Ambassador for Singapore, currently accedited to Greece on a non-residential basis. In addition to public service, Prof Tay has extensive experience in advising leading private sector corporations especially on political, economic and sustainability issues. He was Corporate Advisor to Temasek Holdings (2006-09) and has since served on boards for global companies including MUFG Bank of Japan, Toyota Japan, and Deutsche Boerse (Asia), LGT Bank of Liechtenstein, and Far East Group in Singapore. Since 2010, he serves as Senior Consultant at WongPartnership, a leading Asian law firm of some 300 lawyers and with offices in ASEAN, China and the Middle East. Prof Tay is also a prize winning author of fiction and poetry. His novel City of Small Blessings was awarded the 2010 Singapore Literature Prize. He graduated in law from the National University of Singapore (1986), where he was president of the student union for three terms. He also holds a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School (1993-94), which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship and where he won the Laylin prize in international law. He was born in 1961 and is the only son of the late Tay Seow Huah, who was a senior civil servant in the government reporting to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister, and the late Madam Cheong Keong Hin, a teacher. Prof Tay has one son.

Ali HASSAN

Senior Representative for Europe and North America
Dubai International Financial Centre

Ali Hassan is a Senior Representative for the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Authority in Europe and North America and Senior Vice President of Business Development for the Centre.
In his current role, Mr. Hassan supports the CEO in developing and promoting the Innovation, Insurance, Banks & Capital Markets, and Wealth Management sectors, in line with the Centre’s future of finance strategy and plays an active role in managing client development. He is also responsible for promoting and spreading awareness of DIFC’s competitiveness and positioning regionally and globally.
Mr. Hassan brings vast regulatory knowledge and commercial experience to his position at DIFC Authority, having supervised and authorised a diverse range of businesses including exchanges, trading platforms, wealth management, investment banking, and brokerage operations with experience in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

Nurkhat KUSHIMOV

Chief Executive Officer
Astana Financial Services Authority

Mr Kushimov was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the Astana Financial Services Authority on 17 March 2022. Mr Kushimov has extensive experience in senior positions in the area of financial market regulation. Prior to this appointment, Mr Kushimov served as Executive Body member in charge of FinTech regulation and company registration at the AFSA. He started his career at the AIFC in 2018 at the Astana International Exchange (AIX), where he oversaw matters relating to the regulation of issuers and IPOs of Kazakhstan’s and international companies. Over the years, he has held various leadership positions in the civil service, including ministries of justice and interior. A Bolashak graduate, he holds LLM degree from the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law (2013).

Patrick LAU

Deputy Executive Director
Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC)

Dr Patrick Lau has been Deputy Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) since 2019. In this role, Dr Lau helps create opportunities and facilitates deals for Hong Kong businesses. His portfolio covers the promotion of Hong Kong’s service sectors, merchandise trade and innovation, as well as the HKTDC’s external relations, corporate communications and marketing and its network of 50 offices worldwide.
From 2001 to 2014, Dr Lau was based in Hong Kong where he worked as a lawyer at international law firms Baker McKenzie and Skadden Arps, and later became an investment banker at UBS AG and China Construction Bank (CCB) International where he held progressively senior posts until becoming Managing Director, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions and Assistant Head of Investment Bank. Between 2015 and 2018, Dr Lau was the CEO of a digital infrastructure company, Director of Investments at the Malaysian Government's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, and Board Director and Investment Committee Member of venture and private equity fund Xeraya Capital.
Dr Lau has successfully handled numerous commercial transactions, joint ventures, restructurings and capital market exercises, and is recognised as a seasoned banker, investor and dealmaker in the region. He has deep knowledge of Hong Kong, Mainland China and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) markets and has also worked with many clients and parties from Europe, the Americas and Middle East.
Dr Lau graduated with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Laws with first-class honours from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, where he attended medical school and law school concurrently. He has been admitted as an advocate or solicitor in Hong Kong, Australia, England, Wales and Malaysia. He was Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Business and Economics of Monash University and part-time Lecturer at the Law Faculty of the University of Hong Kong.

Huiyao WANG

Founder and President
Center for China and Globalization (CCG)

Dr. Huiyao (Henry) Wang is Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG). He was appointed as Counselor to China State Council by Chinese Premier in 2015; in addition, he is Vice Chairman of China Association for International Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce; Director of Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs and Dean of Institute of Development Studies of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics of China. He also sits on the Steering Committee of Paris Peace Forum, and on the Advising Board of Duke-Kunshan University, and the Advising Board of Richard Ivey Business School of Canada. He served as an expert for World Bank, IOM and ILO, Chief Trade Representative for the Quebec Government Office in Hong Kong and Greater China, Director of Asia at SNC-Lavalin, and Vice President at AMEC-AGRA in Canada. Dr. Wang pursued his PhD degree at University of Western Ontario and University of Manchester. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and a Senior Fellow at Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada. His latest English books include The Ebb and Flow of Globalization (2022), Consensus or Conflict? China and Globalization in the 21 Century (2021), The Globalization of Chinese Enterprises: Trends and Characteristics (Springer, 2020) etc. Dr. Wang is a frequent speaker at international events such as the World Economic Forum, Munich Security Conference, Paris Peace Forum, WTO Public Forum, Munk Debate, Berlin Foreign Policy Forum, and Milken Global Forum.

Michael MAINELLI

Chairman
Z/Yen Group Limited

Michael is a qualified accountant, securities professional, computer specialist, and management consultant, educated at Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin with his PhD from the London School of Economics. Originally a research scientist in aerospace (rocket science) and computing (architecture & cartography), he became a senior partner of accountants BDO Binder Hamlyn and a director of UK Ministry of Defence research. During a mergers & acquisitions spell in merchant banking with Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, he co-founded Z/Yen, the City of London’s leading think-tank, promoting societal advance through better finance and technology. Z/Yen is renowned for its Global Financial, Green Finance, and Smart Centres indices. He is Emeritus Professor & Life Fellow at Gresham College where he created the Long Fi-nance initiative asking “when would we know our financial system is working?”. Mi-chael is Senior Independent Director of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and non-executive Director of a listed mining firm, Fellow of Goodenough College, Honor-ary Fellow of King’s College London, and Visiting Professor at UCL’s Bartlett School. His book The Price Of Fish: A New Approach To Wicked Economics And Bet-ter Decisions, won the Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize. He is active in ten livery companies, an Alderman of the City of London and late Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021, with charity interests in the environment, education, and care.

Xuetong YAN

Dean
Institute of International Relations, Tsinghua University

YAN Xuetong is a university distinguished professor of Tsinghua University and foreign member of Russia Academy of Science. He is serving as the Dean of The Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University and the Secretary General of the World Peace Forum. He obtained Ph. D from University of California, Berkeley in 1992 and was named as one of world's Top 100 public intellectuals by the American journal Foreign Policy in 2008. He is the founder of IR moral realism and the only Chinese political scientist listed in Most Cited Chinese Researchers by Elsevier during 2014-2019. Some of his books were translated into English, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Farsi and Albanian.

Deborah ELMS

Founder and Executive Director
Asian Trade Centre

Dr. Deborah Elms is the Founder and Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre (ATC) and the President of the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA). Concurrently, she is a member of APCO’s International Advisory Council, the G20 Trade and Investment Research Network, and the Advisory Board of the Trade and Investment Negotiation Adviser (TINA) at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP). Dr. Elms has extensive experience working with governments, international organizations, and businesses and is one of the leading experts on trade policy in the region. She was also active in her past leadership posts in international trade groups having served on the Trade and Investment Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF) from 2017 to 2019, the International Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA), as well as being the chair of its Working Group on Trade Policy and Law. Prior to her current role, Dr. Elms was head of the Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade and Negotiations and Senior Fellow of International Political Economy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Dr. Elms received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Washington, an MA in international relations from the University of Southern California, and bachelor’s degrees from Boston University. Dr. Elms frequently appears in the media to provide expert analysis on trade issues in the region and publishes the Talking Trade Blog.

Byung-il CHOI

President
Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies

Dr. Choi has been serving as the President of Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies (KFAS) since September 2020. He is also a professor and the former Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), Ewha Womans University. He is a renowned scholar in the field of international trade and US-China relations, and a seasoned trade negotiator. His academic excellence led him to various leadership positions, including the President of the Korea Economic Research Institute (2011-2014), a think tank representing the Korean business sector. He served as the President of the Korean International Economic Association, the President of the Korean Association of Trade and Industry Studies, and the President of the Korea Association of Negotiation Studies. Prior to joining Ewha GSIS as a founding faculty in 1997, he was the Korean chief negotiator for the WTO basic telecom negotiations (1994-1997). He also negotiated service agreement and the telecom annex at the Uruguay Round, the Korea-US telecom agreement, and the Korea-EU telecom agreement. He played an instrumental role in transforming the Korean telecommunication sector from monopoly to competition, thus providing the basis for the ‘IT Korea’. Dr. Choi led the initiative of APII (Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure) with a view of bridging the information divide in the Asia-Pacific region. His contribution in the international area awarded him the two medals of excellence from the Korean government. Based on his negotiating experiences, he pioneered the teaching of conflict resolution at the university in Korea through collaboration with Professor Roger Fisher from Harvard. His negotiation class is one of the most sought-after classes among students and professionals. Dr. Choi is a well-known public intellectual. He has regularly contributed his opinion-editorial in Korea’s major newspapers. His interview has also appeared in the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. He has written several best sellers, including the US-China Competition: Who will Rule the World (2019), the KORUS FTA: Against All Odds (2006). He has actively shared his ideas with the public policy community. He was a member to various advisory councils for the Korean government, including the National Economic Advisory Council for the President of Korea, Trade Negotiations Advisory Council, Inter-Korea Relations Council, and Advisory Council for the Ministry of Foreign Affair and Trade. He was visiting professor at George Washington University, Grinnell College and Ghent University. He received his B.A. from Seoul National University with magna cum laude in 1982, and Ph.D. in economics from Yale in 1989. His doctoral thesis advisors were Paul Milgrom and Bengt Holmstrom; both received Nobel Prize in economics.

Henry T. TILLMAN

Founder
Grisons Peak Services, China Investment Research

Mr Tillman has over 35 years international banking experience including Wholesale Board positions at Barclays and ABN AMRO and a NED Board position at Wells Fargo (EU/UK) He has been advising in CEE for 30+ years, visiting China for 25+ years, Asia for 35 years and has advised many Asian companies on European cross border matters. From 2003-2018 (when it closed) Mr Tillman Chaired Grisons Peak, a UK based international focussed merchant bank which advised on over €25 billion successful transactions/investments, involving several continents. Since 2018, Mr Tillman’s advisory business has been focussed in the tech sector, including biotech, fintech and new energy/renewables. In 2008, Mr Tillman launched a proprietary database tracking all of Chinese outbound investment; adding below FDI/VC (2017 )and China inbound (2018). This data is used for bespoke projects for selected clients and also forms the basis of two publications he edits: www.chinainvestmentresearch.org and www.asiainvestmentresearch.org. Mr Tillman’s Board memberships include the Fudan University BRI Board of Governance and the UK Conservative Foreign & Commonwealth Council. He also speaks frequently on the BRI.

Jun QIAN

Executive Dean and Professor
Fanhai International School of Finance, Fudan University

Jun Qian is Professor of Finance and Executive Dean at Fanhai International School of Finance (FISF), Fudan University. Prior to joining FISF, he was Professor of Finance and Director of the DBA/EMBA/EE programs at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Before returning to China in 2013, he was a tenured finance professor at the Carroll School of Management, Boston College. His research papers have been published in top academic journals including Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, and Management Science. Professor Qian is an Associate Editor of Frontiers of Economics in China and was on the editorial board of Review of Finance. He recently published a book entitled The Power of China’s Financial System. He served as a visiting, guest, or special-term professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania, Stanford Graduate School of Business, School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University, among other institutions. He also serves as an independent director of China CITIC Bank, a member of the Academic Committee of the Capital Market Research Institute of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and one of the first group of international financial legal experts of the Shanghai Higher People's Court.

Yang Su PARK

Director General
Economic Research Institute, Bank of Korea

Yang Su PARK is the director general of Economic Research Institute of Bank of Korea. Prior to this position, he led the Economic Statistics Department as a director general for three years (2018-2021). He had joined Bank of Korea in 1991 and worked most of his career as a head and senior economist at the Research Department and Financial Stability Department. His work has covered a wide range of issues including economic forecasting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, finance, public finance, financial stability, and international economics. He wrote various academic and policy discussion papers on those areas and two books, Economic Forecasts in Practice, Heretical Economics for the Capital in the 21st Century. He taught a couple of courses at the Korea University and worked as a research associate at the Regional Application Lab (joint venture between University of Illinois and Chicago Fed). He graduated from Korea University and received his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Illinois.

Arturo BRIS

Director
IMD World Competitiveness Center

Arturo Bris (www.arturobris.org) is Professor of Finance at IMD. He is the author of several books, a frequent speaker at international conferences and appears regularly on international media outlets. He also leads the world-renowned IMD World Competitiveness Center and is an award-winning teacher and program director. His work has also been published in the most prestigious academic journals, including the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Legal Studies and the Journal of Business, and he has had articles published in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Handelsblatt among others. His areas of expertise include corporate finance, corporate governance, financial regulation and competitiveness. As Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center, he works with governments all over the world assessing, measuring and managing the competitiveness of countries. The WCC produces trusted annual rankings on economies’ competitiveness, and under his leadership it has expanded its coverage by adding new rankings on talent, digital competitiveness and smart cities. Bris is a member of the Strategic Committee of Debiopharm Investment and the International Advisory Council of the Wealth Management Institute in Singapore, and is academic advisor to the Blue Whale Foundation, a decentralized ecosystem enabling the self-employed to thrive by capturing a fair share of the value they create. He also serves as a member of the International Advisory Board of CENTRUM Graduate Business School in Peru, and of the Supervisory Boards of the Kyiv International Economic Forum and the International School of Lausanne. He is also a research associate of the European Corporate Governance Institute and a research fellow of the Yale International Institute for Corporate Governance. Prior to joining IMD in 2005, he was the Robert B & Candice J. Haas Associate Professor of Corporate Finance at the Yale School of Management.

Changhe SU

Dean
School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University

Su Changhe is Professor and Dean of the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, China. Professor Su received his PhD. in international relations from Fudan University in 1999, and then joined the faculty of the International Politics Department at Fudan. During 2006-2011, he was as professor and dean of the School of International and Diplomatic Affairs at Shanghai International Studies University. Professor Su’s major research interests are on international relations theories, Chinese politics and foreign relations, and international organization. Su’s articles are appeared in many Chinese leading journals in international relations. He is also the vice president of China’s Association of International Studies.

Biliang HU

Executive Dean
Belt and Road School, Beijing Normal University

HU Biliang is now the Executive Dean of Belt and Road School(BRS)as well as the Dean of Emerging Markets Institute (EMI) at Beijing Normal University, a professor of Economics of the University.
Before his professorship, he co-founded DoubleBridge Technologies Inc., an IT consulting firm which was acquired by a listed company in Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2005; he was the Chief China Economist of SG Securities Asia (part of the financial consulting business of the French bank Societe Generale), as well as the Chief Representative of the company in Beijing for 4 years in later 1990s; he also worked with the World Bank as an economist focusing on analyzing China economy for 3 years in early 1990s.
His publications include Chinese Village, Global Market (Palgrave, 2012); China’s New Deal: The Development of China’s Economy Under the International Financial Crisis (Nova Science Pub Inc., 2011); Informal Institutions and Rural Development in China (Routledge, 2007). He also published more than 10 books and several hundred papers and articles in Chinese on wide range of areas of Chinese economy, the Belt and Road, world economy, poverty alleviation, agricultural development, urbanization, finance and so on. His works won twice (in 1994 and 2006 respectively) Sun Yefang Economic Prize which is the highest economics research award in China, and he also won Zhang Peigang Development Economics Award in 2008.
He received his Doctorate of Economics from the School of Economics and Management, Witten/Herdecke University in Germany, Master of Science degree from a joint Master program between Dortmund University of Germany and Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok Thailand, and he also conducted a two and half years post-doc research program in Harvard Kennedy School.

Aida SAGINTAYEVA

Dean
Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University

During her career path, Dr. Sagintayeva has worked in various fields of education and gained extensive professional experience. She started her professional career from being a faculty at Dulati Taraz State University, served as a Vice-Rector for International Cooperation at the Gumilyov Eurasian National University and as the President of the Bolashak International Scholarship Office.
Dr. Sagintayeva has been involved in educational research projects at the Ministry of Education and Science on gearing Kazakhstan’s higher education system towards the European three-tiered degree system and has coordinated a ministerial initiative aimed at introducing Western-styled PhD programmes in Kazakhstan.
Since 2017, Dr. Sagintayeva is Dean of the Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Abai National Pedagogical University, Kazakh National Women's Teacher Training University, Yassavi International Kazakh Turkish University as well as the National Center for Professional Development ‘Orleu’.
Dr. Sagintayeva’s research interests include higher education management and governance, internationalization of higher education and education policy. She is the author and co-author of papers, monographs, books, book chapters and analytical reports. She has extensive experience in leading international research and consulting projects in the field of higher education.

Bruno LANVIN

President
Smart City Observatory

President, IMDs Smart City Observatory Co-founder and Director, Portulans Institute Founder and co-founder : Network Readiness Index (World Economic Forum/INSEAD), Global Innovation Index (WIPO/Cornell/INSEAD), Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD/Adecco/Accenture), Smart City Index (IMD, SUTD). Brief Biography: In addition to his thirty years of international experience as an economist in the United Nations and at the World Bank, Dr Bruno Lanvin has been teaching and leading research projects in various first-tier universities in the US and Europe (Michigan State University, INSEAD, IMD e.g.). Initially a mathematician and a specialist of international trade, his research and publications have focused on information technology, innovation and talent strategies. He has over forty years of experience in advising governments and large corporations. During his ten years at the World Bank, he held various high-level positions, in which he contributed to assisting a large number of organizations and governments in designing their knowledge and high-level education strategies. He also worked with the European Commission on various aspects of Europe’s skills and re-skilling policies and strategies. Since 2001, Dr Lanvin has been co-authoring four major indices: the Global Information Technology Report (NRI), the Global Innovation Index Report (GII), the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), and the Smart City Index ‘SCI), as well as the award-winning book ‘Sixteen Shades of Smart’. Over the last decade, his research has very much focused on education and talent policies as a tool to accelerate growth. Through his responsibilities as a board member of various private and public organizations, he was able to heighten interest for education and talent strategies, and to promote the strategic formulation of knowledge strategies. He holds a BA in Mathematics and Physics, an MBA (HEC, a PhD in Economics (Paris I)-La Sorbonne), and is an alumnus of INSEAD (IDP-C) and MIT (Beyond Smart Cities Certificate). A frequent speaker at high-level meetings, he has been a member of numerous boards for many years, including those of ICANN, IDA-Infocomm, GovTech, IP-Watch, AAID, Kazakhstan’s Presidential Board on ICT Strategy, and the Bin Rashid Foundation for Government Innovation. He has also been a frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum, and chaired the Forum’s Global Advisory Group on ‘Future of Government’. His most recent book (The Future is Young) was released in July 2022. It is an optimistic analysis of how younger generations have the power to change the world to make it a better place.

Guiying SUN

Chief Executive Officer
Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility

Ms. Guiying Sun has been the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF), a trust fund of Asia Development Bank since August 2019. Prior to joining CGIF, she was Deputy General Manager of the Investment Management Department of the Export-Import Bank of China, serving simultaneously as CEO, Board Director, and Investment Committee (IC) member of the China-CEE (Central Eastern Europe) Investment Cooperation Fund Management Co. She also held important positions in managing funds like China-Japan Environmental Protection Fund (CJEP), CCGRF, CASREV funds etc. She has been General Manager of the Chongqing Export-Import Credit Guarantee co. from 2011-2015. Ms. Sun holds both a Master of Science in Economics and Development Economics from Nottingham University and a Master of Finance from Central University of Finance and Economics.

Chris HUMPHREY

Executive Director
EU-ASEAN Business Council

Chris Humphrey is the executive director of Singapore-based EU-ASEAN Business Council, a key business association that advocates for the interests of EU businesses operating in ASEAN. It is formally recognised as such by the European Commission and the ASEAN Secretariat. Chris began his varied professional career as a UK civil servant where, amongst other things, he was Assistant Private Secretary to a Minister and an Air Services Trade Negotiator covering the Asia Pacific region. After leaving the civil service, Chris moved to the private sector working initially in the government and external relations teams at two British airlines in the UK, before moving to Shanghai, China with Virgin Atlantic where he headed up the airline’s China operation and oversaw the rapid expansion of their business in China. Whilst in Shanghai, Chris also sat on the Executive Committee of the British Chamber of Commerce. Chris then joined a UK-based security and defence group where he led their Asia Pacific team for over five years and was instrumental in them getting contracts with the Japanese and Singapore governments and also with SOEs in China. More recently, Chris has been acting as a consultant assisting start-ups in Asia with their business and corporate development before joining the EU-ASEAN Business Council in June 2014. With over 20 years of experience of either working for or dealing with governments and regulatory authorities, Chris is available to provide key insights, lead discussions or comment on topics including: • ASEAN integration • European business presence in SEA • Infrastructure financing • EU-ASEAN trade relations • EU economic and political developments Chris is a regular on the ASEAN conference circuit, appearing at conferences and seminars covering ASEAN’s integration agenda as well as trade and investment issues. He has also appeared on the BBC’s Asia Business Report; CNBC’s Asia Street Times; Channel News Asia’s Conversation With; 938Live Radio News; and Channel News Asia news reports.

Gene MA

Head of China Research
Institute of International Finance

Gene Ma is the Head of China Research at IIF (Institute of International Finance). At this capacity, Gene maintains regular contacts with Chinese financial institutions and policy makers. Prior to IIF, Gene was a Director of China economics and strategy at Tudor Investment; Managing Director and China economist at ISI Group (Now Evercore ISI); President and chief economist of the CEBM Group (now owned by Caixin); and chief macro analyst at Citic Securities (Beijing). Gene graduated from Peking Univ. and Cornell Univ.

Mehmet H. BILGIN

Chair
Euro-Asia Forum in Politics, Economics and Business

Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin is professor of economics at Istanbul Medeniyet University (Turkey). He is the Founder and Vice President of the Eurasia Business and Economics Society; Chair of the Euro-Asia Forum in Politics, Economics and Business; Founder and Chairman of the Istanbul Economic Research Association; and member and Country Cluster of the Global Labor Organization.
Professor Bilgin has taken active roles in many leading academic journals. He is the Subject Editor at the Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money; Contributing Editor at the Eastern European Economics; Associate Editor at the International Review of Economics & Finance, Singapore Economic Review, and International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management; and member of the Editorial Review Board at the Small Business Economics and the International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal; member of the Editorial Board at the Investment Analysts journal; and member of the Advisory Board at the Financial Innovation. He has published in many reputable international journals including Economic Letters; The World Economy; Journal of Financial Stability; Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money; Emerging Markets Review; International Review of Financial Analysis; Finance Research Letters; Financial Innovation; and Eurasian Business Review.

Séamus Ó TUAMA

Director and Chair
Adult Continuing Education, University College Cork
ASEM Education and Research Hub for Lifelong Learning

Séamus Ó Tuama is Director of Adult Continuing Education, University College Cork, Ireland, which has a history of adult education since 1911. He is Chair of the ASEM Education and Research Hub for Lifelong Learning, an official network on lifelong learning research and policy in the EU, ASEAN and over 50 countries in Asia and Europe. He sits on the Advisory Group for Universities’ Contributions to lifelong learning led by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and Shanghai Open University. He a member of the Singapore Workforce Development Applied Research Fund Expert Review Panel, the Editorial Board of Journal of Continuing Higher Education, Cork UNESCO learning city steering group, the Board of the Higher Education Research Centre, Dublin City University, the George Moore Scholars (Ireland Funds) panel and is an External Examiner at Trinity College Dublin. He is nominated to the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame, Class of 2022. He evaluates research for the European Commission and national agencies. He publishes, lectures, leads workshop and gives keynotes across the globe. His poetry formed the lyrical basis for the composition A Human Race–Nine Vocal Sagas, composed by Tamar Putkaradze, first performed at Tbilisi Vano Sarajishvili State Conservatoire. He writes a weekly column for the Irish Examiner newspaper.

Chunling LI

Director, Juveniles and Social Issues Research Office
Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)

LI Chunling is a Professor of Sociology and the Head of the Department of Youth Studies and Education at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and the vice chairman of the Center for China Education Development (CCED).

Christoph NEDOPIL

Associate Professor Practice in Economics
Fudan University

Dr. Christoph NEDOPIL is Associate Professor of Practice in Economics and Director of the Green Finance & Development Center at the Fanhai International School of Finance (FISF), Fudan University. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) in Beijing, China, and a Visiting Faculty at Singapore Management University (SMU). Christoph regularly contributes to policies, strategies and advisory services to accelerate the application of sustainable finance for governments, financial institutions, enterprises and civil society. He works with the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, as well as various private and multilateral finance institutions (e.g. ADB, IFC, UNESCAP) and international governments. He is the lead author of the UNDP SDG Finance Taxonomy, the Green Development Guidance Baseline Study of the BRI Green Development Coalition under the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and has authored four books, dozens of articles, and research reports. Christoph is serving as board director and supports various companies in scaling sustainability in businesses and finance. Christoph is quoted regularly in Bloomberg, Financial Times, Reuters, Science. Before joining FISF, he served as Director for the IIGF Green BRI Center in Beijing, and worked in over 15 countries with the World Bank. Christoph holds a Master of Engineering and a PhD in Economics from the Technical University Berlin, as well as a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School.

Jung Cheol SHIN

Professor of Higher Education
Seoul National University

Jung Cheol Shin is Professor of Higher Education at Seoul National University. He served for the Korea Ministry of Education about 20 years before he joined Seoul National University as professor in 2006. His research interests are higher education policy, knowledge and social development, and academic profession. He is Editor in Chief (with Hugo Horta) of the book series Knowledge Studies in Higher Education. His book publications include University Rankings (2011), Institutionalization of World-Class University (2012), The Dynamics of Higher Education Development in East Asia (2013), Teaching and Research in Contemporary Higher education (2014), The Future of the Post-Massified University at the Crossroads (2014), Mass Higher Education Development in East Asia (2015), Doctoral Education for the Knowledge Society (2018), and Higher Education Governance in East Asia (2018), and The International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions (2020). He is expanding his work from academic research to more socially-oriented work such as consulting for developing countries, especially higher education governance reforms, management and leadership development in the South East Asia and the South Asia in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank.

Barnabás VIRÁG

Deputy Governor
Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Barnabás Virág is Deputy Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank responsible for monetary policy and financial stability. From 2015 until his appointment as Deputy Governor, he served as Executive Director of the MNB responsible for monetary policy and economic analysis. Between 2013 and 2015, he was Director of the MNB responsible for economic analysis. From 2003, he worked as an Analyst at the MNB. Prior to that, he taught at the Budapest University of Economics and State Administration (today Budapest Corvinus University) and was an Analyst at the Ministry of Finance. In 2017, he was awarded the Popovics Prize. He completed his studies at the Budapest University of Economics and State Administration.

Ádám BANAI

Executive Director for Monetary Policy Instruments and Foreign Reserve Management
Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Ádám Banai PhD has received his MSc from Corvinus University of Budapest. He holds a PhD in Finance from Corvinus University of Budapest. He joined the Financial Stability department of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank in 2008. From 2013 to 2017 he was the head of Applied Research and Stress-testing Department. From mid-2017 he was the director of Financial System Analysis directorate. From 2020 he is in his current position. He is also an associate professor at John von Neumann University. He is a member of the Financial Stability Board in Hungary. He is also a member of the supervisory board at KELER CCP. He is a guest lecturer and a member of the advisory board at ESCP Europe Institute of Real Estate Finance and Management. He has several papers, articles in high-level journals.

Gergely BAKSAY

Executive Director for Economic Analysis and Competitiveness
Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Gergely Baksay is the Chief Economist at Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary) and Executive Director responsible for Economic Analysis and Competitiveness. In 2003, he graduated from Corvinus University in Budapest, and later obtained an MBA degree from there. His first job was at the Central Statistical Office, and since 2007 he has been working at the Hungarian National Bank. First, he dealt with budgetary matters and then with competitiveness. In 2020, as managing director, his scope of responsibility was expanded to include economic analysis. He was awarded the Popovics prize by the central bank in 2020. He is the head of the Competitiveness Department of the Hungarian Economic Society.

Zoltán CSÉFALVAY

Head of Center for Technology Futures
School of Economics, Mathias Corvinus Collegium

Prof. Dr. Zoltán Cséfalvay is head of the Centre for Next Technological Futures at Mathias Corvinus Collegium, Budapest, where he gives lectures and conducts research on the economic, social and geopolitical impacts of digitalisation, robotisation and artificial intelligence in Europe.
Previously, he worked as senior researcher at the Joint Research Centre of European Commission in Seville (2019-2020), he served as ambassador of Hungary to the OECD and UNESCO in Paris (2014-2018) and as Minister of State for Economic Strategy in Hungary (2010-2014).
He was a professor of economic geography at Andrássy University Budapest (2002-2010) and has been a professor at Kodolányi János University in Hungary for more than two decades. As a research fellow he worked in Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Heidelberg, and Cardiff. Recently he has published his latest book - TECHtonic Shifts - on the current industrial revolution.

Luca MIRAGLIA

Chief Executive Officer
The European House – Ambrosetti (Middle East & Central Asia)

Luca Miraglia is an expert in internationalization and entry strategy with 20 years experience. He is CEO and shareholder at The European House - Ambrosetti Middle East and Central Asia and Head of the Cross Border practice at The European House - Ambrosetti.
Since 2019, he is also consultant to the United Nation within the National Export Strategy program, funded by the European Union. As a consultant, he assisted over 500 enterprises from 16 countries in the world and several governmental organizations, and he held over 100 seminars to provide foreign enterprises, organization and professionals with guidance on doing business. Among the topics covered: geopolitical framework, economic development scenarios, attractiveness, sectorial analyses, export compliance, finance and payments, contracts, negotiation, and business culture.
As export compliance officer, registered at the European Institute for Export Compliance, he performed hundreds of product export and company and individual due diligence (KYC) to clear trading activities and financial flow against EU and US regulations. He oversaw and authored over 20 studies on themes involving macro-economics, industry position papers, market research and distribution analysis and strategy and sector development. He was previously founder and Managing Partner at Quarkup Group, a UAE consulting firm, specialized in entry strategy and international business development. Prior than that he worked at the DeLonghi Group, a leading multinational enterprise active in the field of home appliances, covering different roles in sales and marketing. Among the different countries he oversaw are: North America, South Africa, GCC and Iran.
He received a Master in Integrated Management from C.U.O.A. Business School, University of Padua, graduated cum laude in Science in Business Economics Communication from University of Trieste.

Elena ROVENSKAYA

Program Director
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Elena Rovenskaya is Program Director of the Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria. She has background in applied mathematics. Her scientific interests lie in the fields of optimization, decision sciences and mathematical modeling of complex socio-environmental systems. As the ASA Program director, Rovenskaya is leading a team of 85+ scientists who work on new systems analytical methods, which enable higher levels of agility to support policy and societal decision making. Among many other projects and activities, Elena Rovenskaya led a project on Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Integration within a Wider European and Eurasian Space (2014-2020), which focuses on plausible futures of economic cooperation in the Greater Eurasian space and interplay between different integration processes in the region.

Gergely SALÁT

Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Chinese Studies
Pázmány Péter Catholic University

After graduating at the Peking No. 55 Middle School in 1995, he studied Chinese Language and Culture at the Department of Chinese Studies of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and graduated in 2001. In 2006 he obtained a Ph.D. degree with his thesis related to Chinese legal history. He started his teaching career at the College of Foreign Trade in Budapest in 1997. Since 1998 he has been continuously teaching at the Department of Chinese Studies at ELTE in Budapest. He started to work full-time at the Department of Chinese Studies of Pázmány Péter Catholic University (PPCU) in 2013. He became head of the department and director of the Modern East Asia Research Group in 2014 and served as the head of the Institute of International Studies and Political Sciences between 2018 and 2021. He was elected a member of the Committee of Oriental Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2014, elected as secretary of the Committee in 2017, and vice-chairman in 2021. Ha has been working as a senior researcher at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Trade since 2020. His main research area is the history of Chinese law and institutions, contemporary Chinese domestic and foreign politics, as well as international relations in East Asia.

Zoltán DUBÉCZI

Chief Advisor to the Governor
Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Dr. Zoltán Dubéczi has been working as the Secretary General of the Hungarian Rectors’ Conference (HRC) since 2006. As the operative head of the representative body of Hungarian Universities, he is involved in the strategic and legislation processes regarding higher education reforms in Hungary. In addition to his position at HRC, he’s been responsible for educational developments at the Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) as Chief Adviser to the Governor, managing higher education programmes together with universities in economics and social sciences. Dr. Dubéczi also has comprehensive experience in international activities related to higher education, as former chairman of the Secretary Generals’ Committee at the European University Association (EUA). Currently, he occupies a number of leadership positions, dealing with national and international higher education development projects, additionally, he is also a Full Member of the Administrative Board of the International Association of Universities (IAU). As a result of his constant presence in all major national and international higher education platforms, he gained a broad understanding and expertise of the sector, with extensive insight on international trends and economic perspectives.