2021: In search of New Meanings
Speakers
Rupert Goodman
Rupert Goodman is the Director of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Committee Member and Trustee of the British-Kazakh Society, and Vice President of the UK-Algeria Business Council. He is a founder and representative of the intellectual center Capitalism Initiative, a member of the international advisory board of Atlantic International.
World Petroleum International with Rupert Goodman as the Chairman represents the oil sector worldwide. In 2016, Goodman was appointed Deputy Chairman and Trustee of The Prince’s Trust, a charitable organization. Through his studies at Eton College, his work with Prince Charles and other members of the royal family, he has extensive connections in the British establishment, parliament and government. He is the Chairman of the Board and Founder of FIRST magazine.
Ulzhalgas Chymyrbayeva
Ulzhalgas Chymyrbaeva has diverse experience working for a TV channel and advertising agencies, including major companies, such as P&G, GSK, Shell Helix, and Kcell. She developed creative strategies and supervised client’s marketing activities.
Anton Ossipov
Over 22 years of experience in marketing and advertising with about 10 years in the digital sphere.
In 2013, invited by AFFINITY, then largest digital agency in Belarus, he delivered a series of lectures Creative Methods in Digital.
In 2016, invited by the U.S. Government he participated in the largest international summit GES held at the Stanford University with different speakers, such as: Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Reid Hoffman, Brian Chesky, Barack Obama and other representatives of major digital companies from around the world.
In 2016, he founded a digital agency Digitall in San Francisco, CA with clients, such as Xero (a cloud accounting platform for small and medium-sized businesses), BBC London, Nike
In 2017, he was a speaker at the Mobi Event on BIG DATA is Our Everything
Tatyana Startseva
Tatyana Startseva has been working in research industry for over 20 years as a top manager of local and international research companies. Now she is Managing Director of Kantar [TNS Central Asia] company that is a part of the world's leading data, insights and consulting company. Kantar is working in various research disciplines, including social media monitoring, advertising effectiveness, consumer and shopper behavior, and public opinion research and help clients understand people globally and locally in over 90 markets. Kantar is third biggest research company in the world that serves over half of the Fortune 500 companies. As representative of Kantar in region Tatyana and her team were involved in many research projects for clients across the region including establishing and support of media audience measurement systems in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Ilmurad Jumayev
With over 20 years of experience in marketing and advertising, moderator and speaker of advertising conferences, the National Advertising Forum and AdTribune
Irina Zvyagelskaya
She was a chief research fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. She was also lecturing at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations under the Foreign Ministry of Russia. Prof. Zvyagelskaya’s area of expertise includes contemporary history, conflicts, international relations and security issues in the Middle East and Central Asia. Irina Zvyagelskaya is a member of the Russian Council for International Affairs and of the IISS. She authored over 250 publications, including books, chapters and articles.
Lyazzat Tanysbay
Lyazzat Tanysbay is a well-known TV journalist and media manager. She previously served as a chief expert and head of the Press Service of the President Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Later, she was appointed as Deputy Chairperson of the Committee of Information and Archives of the Ministry of Culture, Information and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan and held the position of Vice Minister for Information and Communications. She has also run the national TV channel Astana, the Nur-Media Holding, which united several domestic newspapers, radio stations and Internet media. In 2019, she was appointed the Chairperson of the Management Board of the Republican Television and Radio Corporation Kazakhstan (RTRK Kazakhstan). In 2020, the Corporation launched a new cultural and educational TV channel AbaiTV under Tanysbay’s leadership..
In recognition of her contribution to the development of journalism and national television in Kazakhstan, Tanysbay was awarded the Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan, Commander of the Order of Kurmet by the President. . She is also holds the title of Honored Worker of Kazakhstan.
Tofik Abbasov
In 1993, Tofik was appointed Head of the Press Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s Administration of the Head of State, while also working as the Presidential Press Secretary. From 1994 to1996, he served as an advisor on information policy and external communications to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan. From 1996 to 2005, he was the Editor-in-Chief of the international regional paper CASPİAN, after which he became the First Deputy Publisher of the daily newspaper KASPİY until 2006. From 2006 to 2010, Tofik worked as the Director of the Department of Information and Political Programs of television company, LİDER. In 2011, he headed the Department of Information and Analytical Publications of the daily newspaper Zerkalo (Mirror), before becoming the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of the first tabloid periodical in Azerbaijan – New Baku Post.
Since 2016, Tofik has been a Senior Advisor to the Baku International Multiculturalism Center, and since August 2019 has been a political observer of Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting CJSC.
Omirtay Bitimov
Omirtay Bitimov is an honorary officer of the national security agencies of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Over the years of his career, he was Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Consul at the Embassy of Kazakhstan to Turkey, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
He has more than 30 state and departmental awards, such as the Certificate of Appreciation of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Orders of Dank and Dostyk, 2nd Class; medals “For Contribution to National Security”, “Veteran of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan”, the highest medal of Afghanistan “Mir Masjidi Khan”.
Yerbol Yesseneyev
Managing Director – Director of Agro-Industrial Complex and Food Industry Department He has vast experience in the industry; in various times, he was Director of EcoProductAstana, a Member of the Board of Directors of KazAgro National Management Holding JSC, Deputy Chairperson of the Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan
Philipp Saprykin
Since November 2016, Mr. Philipp Saprykin was appointed as a Deputy Head of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. He started his diplomatic carrier at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in 1993 and was several times posted abroad, namely in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (1995-1996), Geneva, Switzerland (1996-2000). In between he occupied several positions in the Legal Department and Department for International Organizations in the Russian Foreign Ministry.
From 2002 till 2009 he worked in Stockholm, Sweden, at the Council of the Baltic Sea States, as a Deputy Director-General, dealing with issues of Economic, Energy and Transport cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. From 2010 till 2011 he served as a Deputy Director for the International Cooperation in the Russian Ministry of Justice. In 2011-2013, 2015-2016, he was assigned as a Head of Unit in the Department for New Threats and Challenges of the Russian Foreign Ministry. In 2013-2015, he occupied a position in the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime in Almaty, Kazakhstan, as a Head of the Programme Office and a Senior Coordinator of the CARICC Project.
He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations – MGIMO (University) and holds a PhD in International Law (Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
Born 1967, Has two children.
Fuzuli Majidli Zulfu oglu
He was born on September 15, 1982 in Azerbaijan. In 2003 graduated from the Faculty of International Relations of Azerbaijan University, in 2005 received a master's degree in International Economic Relations.
In 2001-2002, successfully completed a one-year human rights course under the American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiatives (ABA CEELI) project.
In 2005-2008 Fuzuli studied at the full-time doctoral program of the Institute of Philosophy and Law of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), majoring in International Relations and Foreign Policy. He defended his dissertation on "Globalization and the equilibrium problem in international relations" and received a doctorate in political science.
In 2007-2010 he was a researcher at the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS.
Fuzuli has worked in various media organizations since 1999. Since 2005, he has worked as an editor, senior editor, political commentator and head of department, and bureau chief at Azerbaijan Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (Ictimai TV), and has been a presenter of some TV programs like “Ortaq Məxrəc” (“Common denominator”), "Digital World" and "Information Society".
In 2012-2019, Fuzuli headed the Central Asian Bureau of the Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. During 2019-2021 he was a director of the Central Asian Bureau of Azerbaijan Television.
Since 2013, he has been a member of the International Political Science Association, headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
Since 2016, Fuzuli has worked as an expert and counsellor at the International Turkish Academy, headquartered in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. He is currently the Vice President of the International Turkish Academy.
Dozens of scientific and journalistic articles have been published by him in different countries around the world.
In 2018, Fuzuli participated in the courses on "Peacebuilding, Mediation, Conflict Resolution and International Cultural Relations" at the Institute for Peace and Dialogue in Zug, Switzerland.
He took part in scientific conferences and made speeches in Azerbaijan, Turkey, France, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
For his service and fruitful activity in the development of international scientific and humanitarian initiatives, Fuzuli was awarded the " Certificate of Honor" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He was also awarded the "Birlik" gold medal of the People's Assembly of Kazakhstan, signed by the Founder of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, "For his great contribution to the strengthening of the unity of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the preservation of peace and tranquility and development of culture".
Married, has two children.
Bakhtiyor Ergashev
Bakhtiyor Ergashev is an expert in the field of strategic and institutional analysis and forecasting, and has participated in the development of several strategic documents. He specializes in national and regional security and the analysis of the formation of democratic institutions, as well as the analysis of the processes of political and economic transformation in post-Soviet countries. His work involves research based on interdisciplinary approaches involving the application of political science, economics, sociology, cultural studies, social anthropology and psychology. Ergashev is the author of monographs and scientific articles.
Katie Paterson
Katie Paterson is known for her conceptual artworks that have involved broadcasting the sounds of a melting glacier live, mapping all the dead stars in the universe, compiling a slide archive of the history of darkness across the ages, custom-making a light bulb to simulate the experience of moonlight, burying a nano-sized grain of sand deep within the Sahara desert, and sending a re-cast meteorite back into space. Throughout her career she has worked closely with scientists at Caltech, University College London, and European Space Agency to develop and form artistic explorations. In 2012, she was Artist in Residence at The Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK, culminating in the artwork ‘Fossil Necklace’ a string of worlds, with each bead representing a major event in the evolution of life through geological time. Katie has exhibited internationally, from London to New York, Berlin to Seoul, and her works have been included in major exhibitions such as Tate Britain, Hayward Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Guggenheim Museum New York, and The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. She was the winner of the Visual Arts category of the South Bank Awards, and is an honorary fellow of Edinburgh University.
Husain Haqqani
He is also Co-Chair of the institute’s Project on the Future of the Muslim World as well as co-editor of the journal Current Trends in Islamist Ideology published from Washington DC.
From 2088-2011, Haqqani served as Pakistan's ambassador to the USA and is widely credited with managing a difficult partnership during a critical phase in the global war on terrorism. His distinguished career in government includes serving as an advisor to four former Pakistani prime ministers: Yusuf Raza Gilani, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, and Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi.
Haqqani’s academic career includes work as Director of the Center of International Relations and Professor of the Practice of International Relations at Boston University, Adjunct Professor at Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and Visiting Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. Haqqani has contributed to numerous international publications and is the author of several books.
Sultan Akimbekov
Sultan Akimbekov was born in 1964. He is the author of the books including History of the Steppes, History of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan in the Russian Empire, Kazakhs between the Revolution and Famine. Previously he worked as the editor-in-chief of the Continent and Center of Asia magazines and the director of the Institute of World Economy and Politics. Currently Sultan Akimbekov is the director of the Institute for Asian Studies located in Almaty.
Igor Rogov
Igor Rogov is a Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Over the years, he served as Chairman of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Advisor to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
He is a member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) from the Republic of Kazakhstan, Deputy Chairman of the International Union of Lawyers, Chairman of the Commission on Clemency under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Honorary President of the Kazakhstan Criminological Association and Chairman of the Public Council for Combating Corruption. He has published more than 200 scientific and popular science articles in Kazakhstani and foreign editions, teaching aids in criminal law.
KAIRAT ABUSSEITOV
Mr. Kairat Abusseitov has long and extensive experience as Kazakhstan’s top-level diplomat.
Deeply engaged for almost 3 decades in advancing multilateral cooperation and foreign policy initiatives related to the entire complex of international peace and security matters, Ambassador Abusseitov’s positions at Foreign Ministry included Head of Units for International Security organizations and International Security and Arms Control, Director of Multilateral Cooperation Department and Deputy Foreign Minister.
His earlier overseas work included positions of Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and also non-resident Ambassador to Ireland, Iceland and Sweden.
Prior to his work at Nazarbayev Foundation he served as Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Oslo, Norway.
During his diplomatic career Mr. Abusseitov received Order of “Kurmet” (2003) and Order of “Dostyk” (2018). Diplomatic rank – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
Rauan Kenzhekhanuly
Founder and CEO at Bilim Media Group (#1 EdTech provider in Kazakhstan and Central Asia), Republic of Kazakhstan
Social entrepreneur, the founder of “National Bureau of Translations” (Wikibilim Foundation).
Previously served as a civil servant, diplomat and journalist.
In 2014-2016 worked as a deputy governor at Kygylorda province (Kazakhstan), previously served as an adviser to the governor of the Mangystau region (Kazakhstan), counseling on domestic and foreign policy issues. Previously, was executive director of the regional broadcasting company. Prior to this, worked as first secretary at the embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Russian Federation in Moscow. Served as chief of the Moscow bureau of the National TV Agency of Kazakhstan;
Holds an MBA from Russian Academy of National Economy.
In 2010-2011 was a fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
Ekaterina Shulman
Ekaterina is a political scientist, PhD in Political Science, associate professor of the Department of Public Administration of the Institute of Social Sciences of the RANEPA, Lecturer of the Department of Russian Politics of the Faculty of Political Science of the Moscow State University. Columnist of the newspaper "Vedomosti". She works as an author of her own programmes at the radio station «Echo Moskva», TV channel «Rain», also she is a regular lecturer of «Direct Speech».
István Pálffy-Orbán
István Pálffy-Orbán is TV News Editor, Ambassador, EU expert, writer, journalist, architect. Graduated as an architect at the Budapest Technical University. In 1988, he joined the Hungarian Radio (MR) as a reporter, and became News Editor in 1993 at the largest Hungarian public service channel, Kossuth Radio. He was director of the MR Training and Education from 1994 to 1997, when he changed to commercial media. Spent 5 years at Hungary’s most successful television channel, tv2 as head of news and commentator of the evening news and current affairs. In 2002, he was back in the public service.
Graduated as an expert of European Union in 2009 he became a member of the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) and was responsible for communication and media issues. He won a parliamentary mandate in 2010 and had been MP for 4 years. In the parliament, he worked as vice-president of the Cultural and Media Committee. From 2014 to 2015, he worked as the International Secretary of the Christian Democratic People’s Party within the EPP in Brussels, and until 2019, he was Ambassador of Hungary in Ireland, residing in Dublin.
Alex Volcic
Alessandro (Alex) Volcic is a Managing Director in Kroll’s Business Intelligence and Investigations practice and head
of the firm’s Moscow office. Alex leads Kroll's Russia and CIS team and serves clients across Central Asia, Central
and Eastern Europe as well as the Nordics. He manages a wide range of investigations for corporates and financial
institutions, and their advisers, including reputational audits, pre-transactional due diligence, background
investigations, market entry studies, internal corruption and bribery investigations, forensic accounting, compliancedriven third party screenings, and asset traces.
Koert Debeuf
Koert Debeuf is the Editor in Chief of the EU Observer, and Research Fellow at the Institute for European Studies (Brussels University) and at the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (Oxford University). He lived and worked in Cairo from 2011 to 2016 and is a former speechwriter and strategic advisor of the Belgian Prime Minister. Koert is an author, columnist and commentator on international affairs. His latest books are "Inside the Arab Revolution" (2014) and "Tribalization. Why War is Coming" (2019).
Koert has a PhD in Philosophy and an MA in History.
Dmitry Sudakov
Dmitry’s focus of interest is in education and the development of human capital, especially skills. He has participated in numerous international projects, including the development of the Skills Technology Foresight Tool for International Labour Organization, the strategic roadmap for BRICS Skills Development Working Group and the National Skills Development Strategy for the United Republic of Tanzania.
Dmitry was one of the leaders of the FutureSkills project, a WorldSkills Russia global initiative focusing on building understanding of what skills will be needed in the future and how we need to change the training process. Dmitry is also leading the Atlas of Emerging Jobs project, a unique Russian career-guidance tool for young people.
Dmitry is a member of the Expert Board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (Russia), and an expert of the International Research and Development Alliance (R&D Alliance). R&D Alliance is a WorldSkills Russia project, whose main objective is to develop research projects in the field of training and skills development.
Sayassat NURBEK
Nurbek Sayassat was educated at some of the world’s leading educational institutions, including University of Rome La Sapienza (Italy), where he graduated with a master's degree in geopolitics, and Marshalltown College (USA), where he gained a degree in political science. His experience includes working as an assistant to Congressman Mark Smith (USA), actively participating in the implementation of the youth policy of Kazakhstan, and working extensively in the field of investment projects.
Nurbek has held numerous public positions, including: Head of the Personnel Policy Department of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Vice-Provost for International Cooperation and Science of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Director of the Department, Executive Director for Personnel Policy and Personnel Management of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna JSC, President of the Center for International Programs JSC of the Ministry of Education and Science, and Director of the Institute of Public Policy of Nur Otan Party. He has worked as a managing director and as a member of the Board of Astana International Financial Center.
He has been awarded several state medals, including: "For Distinguished Labour" (Eren enbegi usin), "20th anniversary of the capital of Kazakhstan", "Associate with the 20th anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan", "Associated with the 15th anniversary of the Law Faculty of L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University", "Associated with the 20th anniversary of" Kurmet Belgisi" of Kazakh Humanitarian Law University" and "Associated with the 20th anniversary of KATEV International Foundation".
AHMET YEŞİLTEPE
Ahmet Yeşiltepe is one of Turkey's leading television journalists. In addition to news broadcasts, his contemporary and historical documentaries have attracted wide audiences on both television and digital broadcasting platforms.
He has a bachelor's degree in educational broadcasting and a master's degree in media marketing. He started his career on Turkey’s state television TRT, and has worked as the New York and Washington representative for TRT, BBC Turkish and NTV televisions, respectively.
After completing his master’s degree in the United States, he moved to Turkey’s first and currently most prestigious news television channel, NTV.
Besides working as a correspondent / representative abroad, he has presented and anchored prime time news bulletins and prepared and produced countless news programs. These include NTV's Main News Bulletin, Close-up, Inverted Angle, Earth Hour and World News programs.
Yeşiltepe has also worked in managerial roles for digital and radio broadcast brands, including as General Broadcasting Coordinator for Doğuş Broadcasting Group Radios and Editor-in-Chief for ntvmsnbc, and has produced and presented documentaries that are of great interest in the fields of history, art history and archeology.
His documentaries about Far Eastern culture and its ties with Turkey have received very high ratings and won many awards.
Yeşiltepe has prepared and presented many TV shows and programs, such as Time Traveler, In the Footsteps of Turks, Museum Visit, The World's Largest Museum - Turkey, War of Turkish Independence Diaries and many more.
He also prepared and presented a documentary program called The Tower of Babel on NTV Radio for many years.
His articles have been included in many books and magazines published by NTV publications.
Yeşiltepe has been honored by organizations such as the Journalists Association of Turkey (Sedat Simavi Awards), CGD, TYB, United Nations Journalists Association. He has also won İsmail Gaspıralı – Turkic World Journalism Award, the International Turkic Academy Honorary Award and the TASAM Red Apple Award.
Today, Yeşiltepe is NTV’s Foreign News Manager.
Ryan CHILCOTE
Ryan Chilcote is an award-winning broadcaster, presenter, and journalist. A special correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, Chilcote divides his time between reporting, video production, documentaries, and media training. Prior to setting up his own production company, Ryan served as a business correspondent and presenter at Bloomberg Television and a CNN International Correspondent. Chilcote is also one of the world’s best-known MCs and moderators and has lead dozens of discussions on TV & on-line, at the New York Stock Exchange, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Kazakhstan Energy Week in Astana and nearly everywhere in between. Thanks to a quarter-century of reporting that has spanned general and business news, Chilcote is at home moderating a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he is leading a gathering of the C-suite – always ensuring thoughtful and provocative discussions. Recently, Chilcote has been focused on some of the world's biggest business, economic and political stories including but not limited to: the pandemic and economic fallout, Brexit, the G20, G7/8, global trade, NATO, the sanctions regimes imposed on Russia and Iran, the European debt crisis, climate change, OPEC and the oil market, energy companies, financial service and fintech, cyber security, technology, and the automotive sector. Over his 25 years in journalism, Ryan has filed hundreds of reports and conducted more than a thousand interviews. Chilcote served as a roving international correspondent and presenter at Bloomberg Television between 2007 and 2016 covering Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Chilcote also presented Ryan’s Russia, the award-winning year-long tele-series on life in the world’s largest countries and has produced a dozen documentaries. Prior to moving to London to join Bloomberg Television, Chilcote spent 12 years based in Moscow as a CNN International Correspondent, covering Russia, the former Soviet Union, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the crisis in Darfur and road to peace in South Sudan. Chilcote's broadcast work has earned him an Emmy nomination and numerous awards
Riz KHAN
Very few people have conducted the variety of high-profile interviews across such a diverse range of issues as Riz Khan. From world leaders and business icons to film and music celebrities, Khan has led the field of international one-on-one interviews while hosting flagship news and current affairs shows at the world’s three major global news networks. Trust and credibility built up over 25 years have given Khan access to key newsmakers on every continent.
Becoming the BBC’s first person of South Asian origin in mainstream news — and co-anchoring the very first show on BBC World Service TV News in November 1991 — gave Khan an acclaimed public visibility that grew even more when CNN International hired him in 1993 as its leading news figure. In 1996, he launched his groundbreaking flagship interview show, Q&A with Riz Khan, featuring heads of state, celebrities and other leading figures taking calls from viewers around the world on live TV. In 1998, Khan made history once again with unprecedented, award-winning live coverage of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. He was also a prime face for CNNI’s coverage of breaking news, high-profile stories and global events.
In 2005, Khan moved to Al Jazeera, becoming a founding director of the now globally acclaimed network Al Jazeera English and hosting the flagship shows Riz Khan and Riz Khan’s One on One. In 2013, he launched weekly topical show, Riz Khan's Q&A, on Bloomberg TV Africa, a new television network airing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Khan also received praise for his candid, best-selling biography of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia — one of the world’s richest men and the biggest individual foreign investor in the USA. Alwaleed: Businessman, Billionaire, Prince (2005) intimately follows the prince’s bailout of Citibank, as well as his investment strategy into the world’s leading brands.
Yakup Beris
Before joining the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Kazakhstan, Beris headed the UNDP Regional Program for Arab States and worked as a Program Advisor for the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States in NYC. He also held senior positions in the UNDP Country Offices in Amman and Khartoum during the finalization of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. He worked for several World Bank departments in Washington, D.C. He has co-authored books and articles.
Andrew Keen
AUTHOR, DIRECTOR, COMMENTATOR ON THE SILICON VALLEY-BASED DIGITAL REVOLUTION
Named as one of the “100 Most Connected Men” by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world’s best known and controversial commentators on the Silicon Valle- based digital revolution. He has written five books including the best-selling Cult of the Amateur, The Internet Is Not The Answer and How To Fix The Future. He is the director of the acclaimed online video series “How To Fix Democracy”, now in its third annual season, which was made into a documentary movie in 2020. Keen also hosts his iconic daily podcast “Keen On”, a show founded in 2010 whose guests have included the French President Emmanuel Macron, the Californian Governor Gavin Newsom and many other global celebrities.
Based in San Francisco, Keen is also a serial entrepreneur who has been founding tech start-ups for more than a quarter of a century. In 2015, he founded Audiocafe, one of the internet’s first online music businesses, and since then has been involved in many other tech and media start-ups including afterTV, Pulse 3D and Santa Cruz Networks. He is the founder and current CEO of NOW.tv – a next generation platform for the curation of high-quality, reliable video content.
Emma Chiu
Emma Chiu leads Wunderman Thompson Intelligence, the agency’s in-house futures and innovation think-tank.
She consults with clients to build long-term strategies based on qualitative and quantitative insight that incorporates cultural and behavioral change, sector innovation and zeitgeist shifts. Clients include Microsoft, Shiseido, Unilever, Samsung and Nestlé.
Emma’s foresight and thought leadership has been picked up by global publications and has been featured in The Telegraph, New York Magazine and Vogue. She is a member of the WARC Awards and Creativepool 2020 judging panel. In addition, Emma regularly speaks at international conferences including SXSW Interactive, Adobe Max and Pause Fest.
Todd Baer
Todd Baer is an award-winning journalist based in London and Global Director at Bloomberg LP. He also helps governments tell their stories as the Global Lead for Economic and Tourism Development.
Before moving to London, Baer worked as Executive Producer Americas in Mexico City. In this role, he launched and managed Bloomberg's Spanish-language affiliate El Financiero|Bloomberg TV and Elfinanciero.com.mx. He also helped create Bloomberg TV Canada.
Prior to this, Baer was a Hong Kong-based executive producer who launched and managed Bloomberg TV Mongolia and helped create Bloomberg TV Indonesia. Previously, he served as a correspondent for Al Jazeera English in India, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Haiti and the U.S, and reported for CNN and ABC News in the U.S.
Before working as an international correspondent, Baer was a local television reporter at KSTP-TV (ABC) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, WFSB-TV (CBS) in Hartford, Connecticut and NY1 News in New York City.
Baer was part of the team at KSTP-TV that won a prestigious Edward R. Murrow award for breaking the story of unguarded explosives at the Al Qa’qaa weapons facility in Iraq days before the 2004 presidential election. He is also the recipient of two Emmy awards (regional and national) for live and team coverage while working at KSTP.
The University of Nebraska has recognized him for excellence in international journalism, and the Government of Mongolia awarded him with the Order of the Polar Star for creating Bloomberg TV in the country.
As an international media entrepreneur, Baer has managed the launch of TV channels for Dawn News and Dunya News in Pakistan, SAAM-Marathi in India and K24 in Kenya. He has consulted for GEO TV in Pakistan and Aaj-Tak in India.
Baer joined The Bloomberg Media Group from his role as a Knight International Journalism Fellow based in Delhi, India. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska where he was a scholar athlete on the wrestling team.
Sergey Stanovkin
LECTURER, EUROPEAN NEWS ACADEMY
Sergey Stanovkin is a media consultant with over 20 years of experience consulting national and international TV broadcasters and advising national and regional governments and private and state-owned companies on media relations. He was appointed Head of Commercial Representative Office of BBC World News in Russia in January 2006. In 2012, he was appointed Head of BBC Commercial Representatives of BBC Worldwide in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. In 2015 Iran was added to this list.
As an expert on international media, Stanovkin organizes training courses on strategic communications and modern media twice a year. The first seminar took place at the BBC Academy in London in 2009. Since 2010 he has held seminars and lectures in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, France, Georgia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Korea, Uzbekistan.
Ruslan Yusufov
Ruslan Yusufov is the author of numerous studies and publications in Russian and international media, and has spoken at more than 200 specialized industrial events across 8 countries).
Prior to founding MINDSMITH, Ruslan led special projects at one of the leading international companies in the prevention and investigation of cybercrimes and high-tech fraud. In this role he was responsible for effective solutions to ensure the cybersecurity of private clients and family offices, for the protection of blockchain projects, as well as for educational and social projects.
Ruslan has extensive legal experience from one of the world's leading companies (BIG4), backed up by effective practical experience in strategic business planning and analysis.
Maulen Ashimbayev
He graduated from the Al-Farabi Kazakh State National University and the Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (USA). He is an Economist/Political Economics Teacher; he has the Master’s degree in International Relations and a degree of the Candidate in Political Sciences. In May 2020, he was appointed a Deputy of the Senate of the Parliament by the Order of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, elected as the Chairperson of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan (sixth convocation).
He was decorated with the orders of Parasat, Qurmet, Certificate of Merit of the Republic of Kazakhstan and anniversary medals.
Marta Peirano
Marta Peirano is a renowned Spanish journalist and researcher. She has written essays and articles and collaborates as an opinionist on technology, digital art, free software and popular culture in media such as El Pais, eldiario.es or La Sexta. She maintains a weekly section on RNE (Spain's national public radio service).
Peirano was the founder of the newspaper ADN and has been involved with the management of eldiario.es, where she was also head of its culture and technology sections - topics on which she has written about for magazine Muy Interesante.
Her work “The Little Red Book of the Network Activist” is the first book in the world with a foreword by CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden. It constitutes an essay-manual of cryptography for journalists, sources and the media.
In 2019, she published “The Enemy Knows the System” an instant best-seller on platform capitalism and its impact on the media ecosystem and online political campaigns. The book aims to help us understand why the technology companies that generate addiction are the same who spy on - and manipulate - us.
Kjell Stein
Kjell is a seasoned communication expert who has been working in international media sales for almost 20 years. Since 2013, he has been running the German commercial office for Euronews. In his capacity of international sales director, he meets people at all levels of society around the globe on a regular basis and is aware of the important role media plays in today’s world. He holds a degree in European Studies as well as an MBA.
Kjell A. Nordström
Dr Nordström has 25 years’ experience working with multinational companies and has served as an adviser and consultant to several large multinationals around the world. He holds a doctoral degree in International Business from the Stockholm School of Economics. His research and consulting focus on the areas of corporate strategy, multinational corporations and globalization.
Kjell Nordström has published six books and numerous articles on the internationalization process of firms. His book Funky Business (co-authored with Jonas Ridderstråle) sold more than 300,000 copies and has been featured on CNN and CNBC, as well as in numerous magazines and newspapers.
His latest book Corona Express, (co-authored with Per Schlingmann), describes how the pandemic became a time machine. We have been thrust into a radically digitalized future. But in other areas, such as poverty and international trade, we have stepped back in time. Our social habits have been transformed and even our language has changed.
Xenia Sobchak
Xenia Sobchak is widely known for hosting TV shows such as The Last Hero and Doc-Talk on Channel One and Sobchak Alive on Dozhd channel. She is currently the host and creator of the popular YouTube channel #OstorozhnoSobchak, which has more than 2 million followers and for which Xenia regularly posts interviews and documentaries. In the summer of 2021, Netflix bought the streaming rights for one of the documentaries featured on the channel.
Xenia was previously Editor-in-Chief at SNC and L'Officiel magazines and General Producer of the Super TV channel.
In 2018, Xenia ran for president of the Russian Federation.
Clementine Malpas
AN AWARD-WINNING BRITISH FILMMAKER
Clementine Malpas is an award-winning British filmmaker who has spent most of her career in countries torn apart by strife and war, telling the stories of ordinary people whose lives have been upended.
Her film about women’s prisons in Afghanistan led to two innocent women being freed. One of them, who had been jailed for being raped, won a presidential pardon as a result of Clementine’s work.
A co-founder of Tiger Nest Films, Clementine makes documentaries and short news films for a range of international broadcasters including NetFlix, CNN, PBS, Al Jazeera and Channel 4.
In 2013, Angelina Jolie asked Tiger Nest Films to record her work as the special envoy for the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. They have worked together on more than seven films, with refugees from Syria, Iraq, Burma, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others.
In 2016, Clementine and her co-director Leslie Knott worked with the Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and acclaimed photographers Tom Stoddart and Lynsey Addario to document refugee journeys for the Annenberg Foundation. The film, which followed refugees on five continents, was released on NetFlix and won the Jury Award at the 2017 Newport Beach Film Festival.
Clementine’s film about Nigerian women trafficked into Italy, where they are forced to work as sex-workers, saw off competition from 140 countries to win the Social Impact Media Award in 2017. The film, for the Guardian newspaper, focused on the plight of thousands of women and girls forced into prostitution in Asti, Sicily.
Clementine has also worked with a number of international humanitarian organizations including UNICEF, Oxfam, the Aga Khan Foundation, World Vision and the World Bank.
Catherine Cano
Cano is an innovative global leader and an accomplished top executive in a time of transformational change with expertise in media, strategic management, governance, people and culture, as well as in financial restructuring and growth.
Cano has been a senior executive for almost 20 years in media organizations. Roles have included Executive Director of News at Radio-Canada, Director of Program Development at CBC, Deputy News Director at Al Jazeera English in Qatar, and CEO of media network CPAC. She was also the Managing Partner at NATIONAL public relations in Toronto and most recently COO of the International Organization of La Francophonie based in Paris.
Today, Cano is President and Founder of CanoVision, a consulting service firm specializing in transformation, global innovation and ESG. She has worked in complex political and multicultural environments, often with multiple stakeholders and across a wide range of issues. She has won the recognition of her peers, having been selected twice as one of the 100 most powerful women in Canada and named the winner of the Innovator of the Year award from Women in Communication and Technology.
Cano has traveled the world covering G7/G8, Commonwealth and APEC summits, as well as many bilateral meetings between Head of States in Russia, Asia, Europe and the United States. Her responsibilities as Administrator of the OIF brought her to many African countries working with governments, OING, and NGOs. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for international organization, Journalists for Human Rights.
Yerzhan Saltybayev
Born on August 5, 1980.
In his current position, leads research programs in geopolitics, global economic studies, domestic policies and strategic forecasting.
Since 2017, he is one of the main organizers of the Astana Club – the major event on global issues in Central Asia. The Club became an authoritative platform, whose participants are former heads of states and governments, renowned experts, and business leaders.
From 2015 to 2017, served as Head of the Service for Geopolitics and Regional Studies at the Library of the First President of Kazakhstan.
From 2010 to 2015, headed the Analytical Division of the Security Council.
From 2007 to 2010, worked at the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
A graduate of the Kazakh Law Academy. Holds a LLM degree in international law from Georgetown University, USA (2006). Studied at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (2015).
Member of the Consultative Council on Foreign Policy under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Evgeny CHERESHNEV
Evgeny is one of the world’s known experts on AI, data management, privacy management and cybersecurity. He has numerous international patents in those fields and a solid reputation of a human rights for privacy and anonymity advocate.
Evgeny is a true visionary with a solid TED and TEDx track record. He wrote his first programm at the age of 7. Assembled his first computer at the age of 14. He’s been in the IT industry for more than 30 years now in different roles. He has both startup and large enterprise top executive experience which is a very rare find in the industry: Evgeny is the ex Chief Mobile Business Officer of Kaspersky Lab - world’s largest private cybersecurity company and Chairman of Biolink.Tech - a successful UK based startup focussed on data management, AI, privacy management and predictive analytics.
In 2015 Evgeny became the “first professional cyborg” - he implanted himself with a crypto biochip for science and research purposes - he was keen to learn the implications of big data and privacy management to future generations - as our kids who are 9 today will never be able to picture themselves living in a world without Internet.
BEKSULTAN KAZYBEK
Beksultan is a digital producer and media trainer, and a founder of media company, JKS Entertainment. He has wide experience in media management and influencer marketing, and has been a member of a popular Instagram and YouTube team called Jokeasses for seven years. In 2016, Jokeasses received a Silver YouTube button, and has a big audience in social media.
Beksultan currently co-produces two of the world’s top TikTok houses: BIP House (15.8 million followers) and YOLO House (16.7 million), which made a breakdown in TikTok in 2020. In 2020, BIP house won Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.
Besides TikTok houses, JKS Entertainment also manages list of influencers from different platforms, including Aminka Vitaminka, who has 5.5 million followers on YouTube. The company works in collaboration with big brands on influencer marketing, and produces a lot of content on a daily basis.
Anastasia Novikova
Anastasia began her professional career as a journalist while still a first-year student at Al-Farabi Kazakh State University (Almaty, Kazakhstan). Since then she has gained extensive experience working at all levels of the media.
Anastasia is familiar with the current trends in the field of multimedia, and has an objective understanding of the political and economic situation in Kazakhstan and beyond. Over the years, she has taken various advanced training courses in the Kazakhstan and the USA. She is the former chief editor of Forbes.kz website and has won of several professional prizes and awards for her work.
Aida Balayeva
Aida Balaeva has been working in the civil service for over 20 years.
She began her career as a leading specialist at the Almaty Regional Department of Information and Public Accord. She held the positions of the head of the department, the director of the department, the head of the internal policy department of Almaty, the deputy akim of the city of Astana, and the head of the department of internal policy of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
As an assistant to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Aida Galymovna combined the work of the Head of the Division for Monitoring the Consideration of Appeals of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan
On May 4, 2020, she was appointed Minister of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Aida Balaeva, holding various positions in the field of public administration, constantly cooperates with civil society institutions, including the media community.
Aida Balaeva is currently the Chairman of the Committee on Access to Information, the Council for Relations with Religious Associations under the MISD, and the Coordinating Council for Interaction with NGOs.
The Minister also heads the Board of Directors of Egemen Kazakhstan, Kazinform, Otandastar Fund, Kazakhstan Institute of Social Development «Rukhani Zhagyru», N.Nazarbayev Center for Development of Interfaith and Intercivilization Dialogue, Qazaq Gazetteri, Kazteleradio and Kazmedia ortalygy.
Candidate of Science in Sociology
Alina Kim (homm9k)
Homa is an influencer from Kazakhstan who gained popularity through her TikTok videos showing unique cartoon-styled facial expressions, which went viral in 2020. With 27 million followers – and growing - from all around the world, she is currently 43rd in TikTok’s global metrics.
Homa is a member of YOLO House, which is ranked in the top three TikTok houses in the world based on number of followers. She also has a popular Instagram page and a YouTube channel.
Homa has worked with several brands, including Samsung and FlightHouse.
The content that she creates is understandable by people of any language.
Ali Aslan
Ali Aslan is an internationally renowned TV presenter and one of the world’s foremost moderators of high-profile events. His international career in broadcast journalism spans more than two decades and three continents and includes work for CNN in Washington DC, ABC News in New York, Channel News Asia in Istanbul and Deutsche Welle TV in Berlin, where he was the host of its flagship talk show ”Quadriga", which reached over 200 countries and more than 100 million viewers weekly worldwide.
Aslan is a globally sought-after moderator and Master of Ceremonies of international conferences and summits, including for the United Nations, the G20, the EU, the World Bank, the IMF, NATO, FIFA and the OECD. Aslan has interviewed and shared the stage with many global leaders and public figures, including former US President Bill Clinton, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Philanthropist Melinda Gates to name a few.
A former policy and media advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, Aslan is also a frequent public speaker on German, European and transatlantic affairs. Aslan holds masters degrees in International Relations and Journalism from Columbia University in New York and a bachelor's degree in International Politics from Georgetown University in Washington DC.
NAZANIN ALAKIJA
Naza Alakija has been a lifelong advocate for the freedom and education of women and children and believes that climate change is one of the gravest threats to the progress made in their social development.
Naza was born in Tehran, Iran, and raised in the United Kingdom. She has a BSc in Biomedical Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Manchester, a diploma from the University of Oxford’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) program, and a certificate in Climate Change and Environmental Ethics from the University of Oxford.
In 2018, she founded Social Accelerator for a Green Economy (SAGE) Innovation Center. She cooperates with and supports several key agencies, including UNICEF.
Her passion for educating girls inspired Naza to build a girls school in Kohgiluyeh and Bayer-Ahmad, Iran, to sustainably grow a strong community of educated women.
She represents and advises a number of key institutions including Bloomberg and Qatar Media City as they seek to expand their spheres of operation.
Jo Ruxton
Jo Ruxton has been a key advocate for establishing Hong Kong’s first marine parks, and started the WWF’s first marine program in the region.
She was formerly a producer on the BBC Natural History Unit, and a lead member of the BBC’s diving team, producing and directing underwater sequences since the first days of filming on Blue Planet.
Disappointed at the lack of messaging around conservation in BBC films, Ruxton left the corporation in 2008 to work independently, going on to produce the award-winning Netflix documentary, A Plastic Ocean.. She founded the charity, Ocean Generation, to continue the legacy of the film through education and outreach programs which are now expanding to address wider ocean issues.
MATTHEW PYE
Matthew Pye has been a teacher for over 20 years, first in the UK, then Germany and now for 14 years in Brussels.
For over a decade, he has worked with leading scientists in sustainability, with a focus on climate change. Most notably, Pye established the Climate Academy in 2011 in collaboration with Michael Wadleigh (Oscar-winning director of 1970’s documentary, Woodstock) and Birgit van Munster (IPPC Expert Reviewer). This innovative work to hothouse gifted and talented students in the science and social realities of climate change was recognized by the offer of Full Membership to the Club of Rome (EU Chapter) in 2016.
The Academy organized the first climate protest in the world to number more than one person - an example of the social entrepreneurial skills that are fostered. Their latest project, “The Writing’s on the Wall” aims to go viral - to bring clarity and depth to media reporting on the climate crisis. The focus of this artistic project is the concept “cut11percent”, a climate change index that has been endorsed by the world’s most eminent climate scientists.
Pye co-authored the new and widely applauded Philosophy syllabus (2019) for the European School system. His latest book, “Plato Tackles Climate Change” (2020) opens up his classroom and projects to everyone.
Perttu Pölönen
Perttu Pölönen has been given many titles, such as inventor, author, composer, keynote speaker, futurist and visionary. In Finnish media, Perttu has been called a gentle highbrow and a fearless inventor. Perttu himself prefers not to use titles at all, so it’s difficult to put him into any known box.
Perttu is a classically trained composer by education, but became an entrepreneur at a young age. He has studied at Singularity University, a think tank located at the NASA Ames Research Center in California. While in California, he co-founded a non-profit, 360ed, that develops AR apps for the education sector in developing countries and is run and operated in Myanmar. Perttu’s own invention, MusiClock, is an example of how a personal challenge can be turned into an internationally awarded and patented invention. It won the biggest science fair in Europe, the European Union's Competition for Young Scientists. The MusiClock mobile app became the #1 music app in over 10 countries.
In 2014, Perttu was given the “Most Creative Finn” Award at Slush and in 2018 MIT Tech Review honored him as among 35 Innovators Under 35 in Europe. Perttu has written two books: Future Skills (2020) and Future Identities (2021). Perttu is known as an inspiring thinker who believes that human skills and values will be crucially important in the future, to balance technological
SALAH KHALIL
Salah Khalil is a social entrepreneur with specific interests in education, employability, the future of work and the 21st century skills gap.
He is founder of Macat International Limited, a unique venture set up in the United Kingdom to preserve human intelligence. Macat works to measure and develop critical thinking skills. The company defines critical thinking as the component skills of problem solving, analysis, creative thinking, interpretation, evaluation and reasoning or PACIER.
Khalil is also the founder of The Alexandria Trust, a London-based charity dedicated to restoring world-class education in the Arab region. The charity supports innovative projects that respond to a demonstrable need in the region and have the potential to bring about a step-change in educational quality and access. Underpinning this work is his vision for a new era of philanthropy in the Arab world – catalytic philanthropy to support a step-change in education – that grew out of his extensive experience in the areas of business, political reform, institutional change, and philanthropy.
Born in Egypt, Khalil played an active role in Egyptian politics before working for the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and studying for a Masters in political sociology at the LSE.
Kaddu Sebunya
Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya took over as Chief Executive Officer of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) in January 2019, after serving as the AWF President since January 2016. With over 20 years’ experience in conservation at grassroots, national and regional levels in the USA, Africa, and Europe, his current role entails spearheading the vision of a modern Africa where human development includes thriving wildlife and wildlands as a cultural and economic asset for Africa’s future generations.
Under his leadership, Kaddu has been able to amplify the voice of African conservation on both a continental and global scale. Through multi-sectoral engagements with African governments and private sector players, there has been a significant shift towards conservation priority across the continent. African governments have only just begun to give conservation the prominence it deserves, but the real work still lies ahead – creating influence for the African constituency for conservation.
In order to elevate the influence of African conservation on a wider scale, AWF has been involved in key African government engagements. Working with leaders in business, politics, civil society, policy, international development, and education as well as the youth, Kaddu is building a global coalition for conservation to protect Africa’s natural capital for posterity. He sees conservation as a social, economic, security and health question requiring new partnerships and multi-sectoral strategies for the people and wildlife to benefit.
HIROSHI ISHIGURO
Hiroshi Ishiguro received a D. Eng. in systems engineering from the Osaka University, Japan, in 1991. He is currently Professor of Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University (2009-) and Distinguished Professor of Osaka University (2017-). He is also visiting Director (2014-) (group leader: 2002-2013) of Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute and an ATR fellow. His research interests include sensor networks, interactive robotics, and android science. He received the Osaka Cultural Award in 2011. In 2015, he received the Prize for Science and Technology (Research Category) by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). He was also awarded the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award in Dubai in 2015. In 2020, he received the Tateisi Prize.
TANMAY BAKSHI
Tanmay Bakshi is a 17-year-old Canadian homeschool-graduate, TED and keynote speaker, Google Developer Expert for Machine Learning, Advisory Software Engineer at IBM, Visiting Professor at iUniversity in Tokyo, bestselling author, media personality, and YouTuber.
He builds technology that augments human lives and aspires to empower at least 100,000 people with the technology they need to change the world. At the age of 5, his dad’s laptop sparked his passion for code, and by the time he was 9, not only had he had his first iOS App published on the App Store, but he was also the youngest app developer in Canada and was named a Newsmaker of the Year in 2013 by The Toronto Star.
In the last eight years, Bakshi has addressed over 250,000 executives, developers and students in over 30 countries, for organizations including the United Nations, Apple, Walmart, Microsoft, KPMG, Linux Foundation and Amazon, on topics such as the truth behind AI and the importance of making technology accessible to all.
He has applied his knowledge of next-gen tech to implement applications that augment songwriters, trace function calls faster than ever possible before through custom compiler tooling, recognize people by their heartbeat using ECG, and decode mental states from EEG, to name a few.
Jaron LANIER
A Renaissance Man for the 21st century, Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, artist, and author who writes on numerous topics, including high-technology business, the social impact of technology, the philosophy of consciousness and information, Internet politics, and the future of humanism. Lanier’s first book, You Are Not a Gadget, A Manifesto, is held dear by readers as an expression of spiritual sensibility in high-tech times. The book was a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and international bestseller.
In 2018, Lanier was named one of the 25 most influential people in the previous 25 years of tech history by Wired Magazine. He’s also been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine, top 100 public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine, top 50 World Thinkers by Prospect magazine, and one of history’s 300 or so greatest inventors in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
He regularly serves as a creative consultant for movies, including Minority Report and The Circle. Jaron Lanier is also a musician and artist.
Daniel Susskind
Economist, author
Dr. Daniel Susskind is a Fellow in Economics at Oxford University, and a Visiting Professor at King’s College London. He is the co-author of the best-selling book, The Future of the Professions (2015) and the author of A World Without Work (2020), described by The New York Times as "required reading for any potential presidential candidate thinking about the economy of the future”. His TED Talk, on the future of work, has been viewed more than 1.6 million times.
Susskind previously worked in various roles in the British Government, including in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and in the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.
Teresa Ribeiro
Teresa Ribeiro is the fifth Representative on Freedom of the Media. She has vast political, diplomatic, human rights and media experience.
Prior to this position, she was Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, while serving as President of the National Commission for Human Rights.
She was also Secretary of State for European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal and Deputy Secretary General at the Union for the Mediterranean, positions that gave her extensive experience in dealing with the EU institutions and Member States, as well as with its close neighbourhood.
Throughout her career, Ribeiro has held different positions in media, both in Portugal and in multilateral organizations, such as President of the Institute of the Media of Portugal, President of the Steering Committee on Mass Media of the Council of Europe, and also Co-founder and first elected President of the Executive Board of Obercom – Media Observatory.
Michael Favorov
Dr. Michael Favorov has spent for more than 40 years studying and preventing infectious diseases in various regions of the world – from rare types of hepatitis in Central Asia to typhoid fever in Kenya and Mali.
He described the epidemiology, clinical picture and outcomes of viral hepatitis E, and developed and implemented the methods for diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis E. He was engaged in implementation of programs of vaccinating for typhoid fever, papilloma virus, cholera, influenza, pneumococcal infection, meningococcal infection, BCG, etc.
Dr. Favorov participated in adaptation and implementation of the tuberculosis therapy DOTS principles and implemented a program of universal newborn vaccinating for viral hepatitis B.
