ESG Strategy

Why organisations work with Gabriela Salinas She converts brand into a number a CFO will defend. Her methodology training underpins valuations used in M&A, licensing, litigation, and tax disputes at companies including Bank of America, Telefónica, and Repsol. She sits inside the rulebook. Membership of ISO/PC 231, the committee behind the international brand valuation standard, means she can speak with first-hand authority on what counts as a credible valuation and what does not. Her sustainability research pushes back on the prevailing ESG storyline. Perceived sustainability lifts brand value only when customers see it improving the product, a finding that reframes how marketing teams should brief CFOs on ESG spend. Three published books on brand valuation, including the Wiley reference manual cited across the discipline, give her a depth of source material that bureau speakers in marketing rarely match. She teaches the next generation of CFOs and CMOs at IE Business School, which means her frameworks are tested every term against live cases brought by senior executives. Biography highlights Senior Director, Brand Finance, and Global Managing Director of the Brand Finance Institute Adjunct Professor of Strategic Brand Management and Brand Valuation at IE Business School since 2011 Author of The International Brand Valuation Manual (Wiley, 2009) and two earlier brand valuation titles Member of ISO/PC 231, the international committee for the brand valuation standard Published in the Journal of Brand Management, Marketing Science Institute, and Harvard Deusto Business Review Previously Global Senior Brand Manager at Deloitte and Managing Director at Brand Finance Iberia Biography Brand is the largest single intangible on many corporate balance sheets, and one of the least understood by the people who sign off on its budget. Boards approve brand investment with little sense of how it converts to enterprise value. CFOs ask for a number and receive a story. Gabriela Salinas works at the seam between marketing and finance, where that confusion is most expensive. As Senior Director at Brand Finance and Global Managing Director of the Brand Finance Institute, she advises corporations on what their brand is worth, how to measure it, and how to manage it as a financial asset. Her client work has included Bank of America, Telefónica, Repsol, Mapfre, Iberia, LaLiga, and Johnson & Johnson. Her authority rests on three foundations. Twenty years of practitioner work across Brand Finance, Deloitte, and FutureBrand in New York, Madrid, Singapore, and Buenos Aires. Three published books on brand valuation, including the Wiley manual that remains a standard reference in the field. And membership of ISO/PC 231, the international committee that wrote the global standard for brand valuation methodology. Her recent research with Carmen Abril at Complutense University tests a question CFOs have been asking quietly for years. Does sustainability add brand value? The finding: only when customers see it improving the product. That answer travels well in rooms where marketing teams are under pressure to justify ESG spend in financial terms. Key speaking topics Brand valuation and intangible asset measurement Brand as a financial asset on the balance sheet Sustainability and brand value Corporate reputation and brand architecture Strategic brand management Brand portfolio strategy in M&A and licensing Ideal for CFOs and CMOs working to align brand investment with measurable enterprise value Boards reviewing brand performance, M&A intangibles, or ESG capital allocation Marketing and finance leadership teams jointly accountable for brand strategy Audience outcomes A working vocabulary for discussing brand in financial terms with CFOs, auditors, and investors Clarity on which brand metrics actually predict commercial outcomes and which are noise A defensible position on whether and how sustainability investment translates into brand value Familiarity with the ISO methodology that underpins formal brand valuation in M&A, tax, and litigation

Why organisations work with Didem Ün Ateş She has operationalised responsible AI inside three of the world’s largest organisations (Microsoft, Accenture, and Schneider Electric) as an executive with direct accountability, not as an external advisor. That gives her a precise understanding of where enterprise AI governance breaks down in practice. Her role as Advisor and Generative AI Council Member for Goldman Sachs Value Accelerator, working with over 300 portfolio companies, gives boards and investment teams a live investor-grade view of how AI strategy translates, or fails to translate, into commercial value and risk-adjusted returns. LotusAI’s documented methodology, running 60 co-creation workshops across more than 200 SVPs and VPs to identify and prioritise 200 generative AI use cases inside a single Fortune 500 company, is a concrete, tested model for enterprise AI adoption, not a conceptual framework. As an accredited algorithm auditor and former WEF AI Governance Alliance Fellow, she connects organisations to the governance principles emerging at the regulatory and multilateral level, including the responsible-AI debates shaping how the technology is regulated globally. Her dual degree from the University of Pennsylvania (BS in Engineering from the Moore School and BS in Economics from the Wharton School), combined with an MBA from Columbia Business School, means she can engage credibly at both the technical architecture and commercial investment layers of an AI decision, a combination that is genuinely uncommon. Biography highlights Founder and CEO of LotusAI Ltd, advising private equity firms, hedge funds, financial institutions, and Fortune 500 companies on AI strategy, responsible AI governance, and talent transformation Former Vice President, AI Strategy & Innovation at Schneider Electric, where she defined the company’s AI and generative AI strategy, innovation roadmaps, ecosystem partnerships, and responsible AI programme Former Head of Data & AI / General Manager, Data & AI at Microsoft (EMEA) and former Managing Director of Data & AI, Europe at Accenture’s Microsoft Business Group; earlier roles at Capgemini, EY, BT, and Motorola Advisor and Generative AI Council Member for Goldman Sachs Value Accelerator, working with the firm and over 300 portfolio companies Board member of the Edge AI Foundation, the Wharton AI Alumni Studio, the Columbia Business School Women’s Circle, and the Hg Foundation Technology Advisory Board Certified Algorithm Auditor and Executive Coach; former WEF AI Governance Alliance Fellow; Forbes Technology Council member TechWomen100 Champion and Trailblazer 50 honouree; 2025 recognition includes CEO of the Year Awards UK in the AI Advisory category, Responsible AI Innovation & Growth in Business Award, New Technology Consultancy of the Year, Best New Business of the Year, and British Business Excellence Award Alumna of the University of Pennsylvania (Management & Technology dual degree: BS in Engineering from the Moore School and BS in Economics from the Wharton School) and Columbia Business School (MBA) Biography Most enterprise AI strategies stall in the same place: at the gap between approved roadmap and accountable delivery. Didem Ün Ateş has worked on both sides of that gap inside organisations large enough for every failure to matter. As VP, AI Strategy & Innovation at Schneider Electric, she held direct accountability for the company’s generative AI strategy and innovation roadmap, its ecosystem partnerships, its responsible and sustainable AI programme, and the upskilling of its global workforce. Before that, she served as Head of Data & AI and General Manager, Data & AI at Microsoft EMEA, with revenue accountability of over $2.7 billion across more than 70 subsidiaries, and as Managing Director of Data & AI, Europe within Accenture’s Microsoft Business Group. She founded LotusAI Ltd to apply that operational depth where boards and investment teams need it most. Her advisory relationship with Goldman Sachs Value Accelerator, as Advisor and Generative AI Council Member, puts her in direct conversation with over 300 portfolio companies on AI value creation, governance, and risk. LotusAI’s engagements have included guiding a generative AI opportunity scan across more than 200 senior leaders in a Fortune 500 company, delivering a three-year use-case roadmap tied to the organisation’s strategic plan and regulatory requirements. Her work sits at the intersection of commercial strategy and institutional accountability. As an accredited algorithm auditor and former WEF AI Governance Alliance Fellow, where she has co-chaired sessions on AI and sustainability at WEF summits, she connects the boardroom conversation to the multilateral frameworks shaping how responsible AI is defined and regulated globally. She also sits on the Hg Foundation Technology Advisory Board, alongside senior leaders from ING, Google, McKinsey, and Accenture. She holds a dual degree from the University of Pennsylvania, in Engineering from the Moore School and in Economics from the Wharton School, and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Recent recognition includes the CEO of the Year Awards UK 2025 in the AI Advisory category, the Responsible AI Innovation & Growth in Business Award 2025, and the British Business Excellence Award 2025, alongside the earlier TechWomen100 Champion and Trailblazer 50 honours. Key speaking topics Enterprise AI strategy and governance Generative and agentic AI adoption at scale Responsible and sustainable AI AI for private equity, private credit, and financial services AI-driven workforce capability and talent transformation AI risk management and regulatory compliance Edge AI, physical AI, embedded AI, and tinyML AI leadership training and executive workshops Ideal for Boards and C-suite teams (CEO, CTO, CDO, CAIO) building or pressure-testing enterprise AI strategies Chief Data and AI Officers designing governance frameworks for generative AI adoption Private equity and investment leadership teams assessing AI value creation and risk across portfolios Transformation and innovation leaders in financial services, industrial, and consulting sectors navigating responsible AI operationalisation Audience outcomes Practical criteria for identifying, prioritising, and sequencing AI use cases, tools, platforms, and agents within a complex organisation A clearer model of where enterprise AI governance frameworks typically break down, and what structural conditions make them durable A sharper understanding of how responsible AI principles translate into investment-grade governance, not just compliance documentation A working language for talent transformation in the agentic AI era, including the workforce decisions board members need to be ready to make More confident language for board-level conversations on AI risk, sustainability, and value creation Awareness of inclusive AI design as both a reputational risk and a long-term commercial consideration

Why organisations work with Ugwem Eneyo She has operated, not observed. She built and sold SHYFT Power Solutions, a venture-backed company commercialising IoT-based metering and distributed energy software in Nigeria and East Africa, and now leads product and innovation at the acquirer, Steama Co. She holds patents underpinning advanced metering infrastructure for unreliable-grid environments, the technical layer most climate keynote speakers describe abstractly. She won the MIT Clean Energy Prize and is on Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy, credentials that signal technical depth rather than commentary. She is one of a small group of Black female founders to raise over 1m USD of venture capital in climate hardware and software, giving her authority on capital formation, founder discipline and operating in markets that institutional capital under-serves. Her perspective on energy transition is grounded in the Niger Delta and Sub-Saharan Africa, the geographies where global emissions and energy demand growth are concentrated and where most Western climate frameworks degrade fastest. Biography highlights Co-founder and former CEO of SHYFT Power Solutions, acquired by Steama Co, where she serves on the Board of Directors and leads Product and Innovation. MIT Clean Energy Prize winner, 2017, for the Shyft smart meter and transfer switch product. Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy; Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy honouree. Patent holder in advanced metering infrastructure for distributed energy resources. MS/PhD candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University; BSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Speaker at the World Bank State of the African Union Forum, the Global Climate Action Summit, and Ceres. Biography A diesel generator runs in a Lagos backyard most nights. The household paying for it is not waiting for a national grid upgrade or a multilateral climate plan. They are choosing between fuel and electricity bills in real time. That is the market Ugwem Eneyo built a company to serve, and it is the market most net zero strategies still skip over. Eneyo co-founded SHYFT Power Solutions while an MS/PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford, after earlier work as an environmental and regulatory risk advisor on infrastructure projects across South Asia, Africa and the Americas, and as an engineer at ExxonMobil. The company commercialised IoT-based metering, transfer-switch hardware and distributed energy software for Nigerian and East African customers operating between grid, solar and generator power. It won the MIT Clean Energy Prize in 2017, secured patents in advanced metering infrastructure, and was acquired by Steama Co, where she now leads product and innovation from the board. Her recognition list, Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy, Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy, status as one of the early Black female founders to raise over 1m USD in venture capital, signals the rarer underlying point. The vast majority of energy transition speakers describe capital flows, policy and technology from outside the system. Eneyo built the hardware, raised the capital, hired the engineers and managed the regulatory and political risk inside one of the markets that will define whether the transition succeeds at global scale. For boards investing in climate, energy, emerging markets infrastructure or distributed technology, that operator-grade view is the contribution. The capital question is no longer whether the energy transition is real. It is whether it can be financed, engineered and governed in the places where demand is rising fastest, and Eneyo has done the work in one of those places. Key speaking topics Energy transition in emerging markets Distributed energy, microgrids and advanced metering Climate technology and venture-backed hardware Africa’s tech and startup ecosystem Sustainable infrastructure for fast-growing cities Capital formation for under-represented founders IoT and software for energy systems Ideal for Boards and investment committees of energy, utilities, infrastructure and climate funds with emerging-markets exposure CSOs, sustainability leads and ESG officers building credible transition strategies outside mature markets Heads of innovation and corporate venture teams in energy, industrial and technology businesses Convenings on climate finance, African business, and women and underrepresented founders in deep tech Audience outcomes A sharper view of where energy transition strategies break when they leave OECD markets, and what to design instead. A grounded picture of how distributed energy, IoT and metering actually work as a business in unreliable-grid environments. A working understanding of the capital, regulatory and operational realities facing climate hardware founders in Africa. A more honest read on the gap between net zero narrative and the engineering and finance required to deliver it where demand is growing fastest.

Why organisations work with Aubrey Blanche-Sarellano She built the Balanced Teams Diversity Assessment used inside the Atlassian Team Playbook, giving People teams a measurement framework they can run themselves rather than a workshop they have to repeat. She has held the senior internal seat twice, at Atlassian and Culture Amp, so her recommendations come from running the function at scale, not from observing it. Her work on AI ethics is grounded in current academic study at Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre, which means the responsible-AI content is current with regulation rather than recycled from 2021 DEI decks. She treats equity as a product and operations problem. That makes her useful to CHROs, Heads of Product, and AI leads, not only to DEI specialists. She speaks credibly to the post-DEI-backlash context: how to keep inclusion outcomes when the political signalling has to come down. Biography highlights Founder and CEO of The Mathpath, advising on equitable operations, responsible AI, and ESG. Former Global Head of Equitable Design & Impact, Culture Amp. Former Global Head of Diversity & Belonging, Atlassian. Built the function from scratch. Inventor of the Balanced Teams approach and the Balanced Teams Diversity Assessment in the Atlassian Team Playbook. Master’s candidate in AI Ethics and Society, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge. Board director at Circle of Blue and the Culture Amp Foundation; limited partner at Operator Collective. Featured in Wired, Wall Street Journal, Australian Financial Review, and USA Today. Biography Diversity programmes were designed for a political environment that no longer exists. Budgets are smaller, scrutiny is sharper, and the language that worked five years ago now invites litigation in some markets and ridicule in others. The companies that still want inclusion outcomes have a problem: they need the results, but they cannot keep running the programme in its original form. Aubrey Blanche-Sarellano works on that problem from the operations side. She built Atlassian’s Diversity & Belonging function from scratch and scaled it across the company’s international expansion, then joined Culture Amp as the first Global Head of Equitable Design & Impact. The Balanced Teams Diversity Assessment she developed at Atlassian became part of the company’s public Team Playbook, which is why her frameworks are familiar to People teams who have never met her. Through The Mathpath, her consultancy, she now advises leaders on the same question at a higher altitude: how to embed equity into talent processes, product decisions, and AI deployment so that the outcomes survive without the political infrastructure. Her current academic work at Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence sits behind the responsible-AI content, which has become a larger share of her client engagements. She is direct about what does not work. Unconscious bias training is not, in her reading, a solution. Equitable design is. Her audiences leave with a clearer view of where inequity is actually produced inside their organisation and which operating levers, talent process, product practice, AI tooling, will move it. Key speaking topics Equitable operations and organisational design Responsible AI and algorithmic bias Talent process redesign and ERG programmes Inclusion in a post-DEI-backlash context Equitable product development ESG and ethical business operations Ideal for CHROs and Heads of People rebuilding inclusion strategy under new constraints Heads of Product and AI leads embedding fairness into model deployment and product practice ERG sponsors and DEI leads under pressure to demonstrate operating impact, not activity Executive teams reviewing where to take DEI investment next Audience outcomes A clearer map of where inequity is produced inside your own talent and product systems A working definition of equitable design, with examples of where it replaces conventional DEI activity Specific guidance on evaluating AI tools for fairness risk before deployment A read on how to keep inclusion outcomes when the political signalling has to come down Language for talking about equity that holds up in front of a sceptical board

Why organisations work with Jeff Speck He has translated walkability from a planning preference into a measurable argument about carbon, healthcare costs, property values and downtown economic performance, set out in Walkable City and applied in master plans for Memphis, Grand Rapids, Lowell and Tampa. His General Theory of Walkability gives mayors, developers and corporate site selectors a single framework for evaluating the trade-offs in any street, block or downtown investment. He brings both sides of the table: ten years inside Duany Plater-Zyberk shaping the New Urbanism, four years running design policy at the National Endowment for the Arts, and almost two decades leading his own consultancy advising cities and the real estate industry. Walkable City is the best-selling urban planning book written this century, and his two 2013 TED Talks have passed six million views, which means audiences arrive already familiar with the argument and ready to discuss application. The 2022 Seaside Prize, awarded previously to Jane Jacobs and Christopher Alexander, places him in a small group of figures recognised for shaping how cities are now planned. Biography highlights Principal of Speck Dempsey, the urban design consultancy he has led since 2007. Director of Design at the US National Endowment for the Arts, 2003 to 2007, where he ran the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and founded the Governors’ Institute on Community Design. Former Director of Town Planning at Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company, a ten-year tenure inside the firm at the centre of the New Urbanism movement. Author of Walkable City and Walkable City Rules; co-author of Suburban Nation and The Smart Growth Manual. FAICP, FCNU, LEED-AP, Honorary ASLA. Master of Architecture with Distinction, Harvard Graduate School of Design. 2022 Seaside Prize, an award whose previous recipients include Jane Jacobs and Christopher Alexander. Ranked among the ten most influential urbanists of all time in Planetizen’s 2023 reader poll. Biography Most arguments about downtowns get stuck on aesthetics. The serious case is economic. Jeff Speck has spent twenty years showing public officials, developers and corporate leaders that the width of a lane, the placement of a parking lot and the design of a block decide whether a city captures investment, talent and tax base, or quietly loses it. Walkable City, published in 2012, set out the General Theory of Walkability and the ten-step process Speck uses to apply it. It became the best-selling urban planning book written this century, and his two 2013 TED Talks have since passed six million views. Walkable City Rules followed in 2018 as the operating manual for practitioners. The argument is built on three decades inside the work. Ten years as Director of Town Planning at Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company, the firm at the centre of the New Urbanism movement. Four years running design at the US National Endowment for the Arts, where he oversaw the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design. Almost two decades leading Speck Dempsey on master plans and street designs for cities including Memphis, Grand Rapids, Lowell and Tampa. The 2022 Seaside Prize, awarded previously to Jane Jacobs and Christopher Alexander, recognises the small group of figures whose work has changed how American cities are now planned. For boards, mayors and developers wrestling with the future of downtown, Speck is the rare adviser who can move between climate strategy, real estate economics and the design of a single intersection without losing the thread. Key speaking topics Walkable cities and downtown economic performance The General Theory of Walkability Street design and the public realm New Urbanism and smart growth Cities, climate and public health economics Downtown revitalisation and real estate investment Transportation policy and the future of the car Ideal for Mayors, city managers, planning directors and downtown development authorities Real estate developers, REITs and corporate site selectors making place-based investment decisions Sustainability, ESG and climate leads in organisations linking property and emissions strategy Boards and senior teams in retail, hospitality and mixed-use real estate Audience outcomes A working definition of walkability as four conditions a street must meet, applicable to any block under review The economic case for walkable places, expressed in terms of property values, retail performance, healthcare costs and carbon A ten-step sequence for prioritising downtown investments when the budget will fund a fraction of what is on the wishlist A clear view of the trade-offs between car capacity, street life and downtown tax base, with named examples of cities that have got it right and wrong A shared vocabulary between planners, developers, finance teams and elected officials for the next set of decisions

Why organisations work with Alessandra Dabul A board chair and M&A lawyer who has spent three decades inside cross-border deals, so her ESG perspective lands as governance and diligence content, not as advocacy. President of the Board at Gavea Angels and board member at AmCham Brasil, giving her a working line of sight into how investors and corporates in Latin America are actually pricing ESG into capital decisions. Brings the rare combination of IBGC corporate governance certification with executive education in Sustainable Capitalism at UC Berkeley Law and Sustainable Business Strategy at Harvard Business School, applied to live private and public company boards. Speaks fluently in English and French to international audiences, with deep specificity on the Brazil and broader Latin American context that most global ESG speakers cover only thinly. Founding partner of two Brazilian firms focused on M&A and family business governance, which gives her credibility on succession, owner transitions, and the ESG questions that surface during ownership change. Biography highlights Founding partner of Pereira, Dabul Advogados and of RCA Governanca e Sucessoes, both Brazil-based firms. President of the Board at Gavea Angels, one of Brazil’s longest-standing angel investor networks. Board member at AmCham Brasil and member of Women Corporate Directors Brazil Chapter. Former director at Deloitte and senior manager at KPMG, with prior leadership at EY in southern Brazil. Masters and PhD in Economic Law and Social and Environmental Law; IBGC corporate governance certification. Executive education in Sustainable Capitalism and ESG at UC Berkeley Law, and in Sustainable Business Strategy at Harvard Business School. Biography Most boards in emerging markets are still treating ESG as a reporting exercise. The directors who have lived through cross-border M&A know the cost of that posture. Diligence opens up environmental liabilities, governance gaps, and labour exposures that were invisible in the management deck, and the deal repricing happens in the room. Alessandra Dabul has spent close to thirty years inside that room. She built her career advising European, North American, and Canadian corporates entering Brazil through acquisition, first as a director at Deloitte and senior manager at KPMG, with earlier leadership at EY, and now as founding partner of Pereira, Dabul Advogados and of RCA Governanca e Sucessoes. The second firm reflects the part of her practice focused on family business succession, where ownership transitions surface governance and ESG questions that cannot be deferred. Her board work runs in parallel. She is President of the Board at Gavea Angels, one of Brazil’s longest-standing angel investor networks, and a board member at AmCham Brasil. She holds IBGC corporate governance certification and has completed executive education in Sustainable Capitalism at UC Berkeley Law and Sustainable Business Strategy at Harvard Business School. The combination matters because the substance of ESG governance, as she frames it, is whether the board can defend a capital allocation, a deal, or a succession decision when it is questioned by an acquirer, a regulator, or a limited partner. That is the conversation she brings into the room: ESG as a discipline of decision, tested against the realities of M&A, board accountability, and investor capital in a Latin American market that does not yet have the regulatory scaffolding of Europe, but increasingly has the scrutiny. Key speaking topics ESG governance for boards and investment committees Sustainable business strategy in emerging markets Corporate governance and board effectiveness Cross-border M&A and post-acquisition integration in Latin America Family business succession and ownership transitions Angel investment and early-stage capital in Brazil Ideal for Boards and audit committees of multinationals with Brazilian or Latin American operations Chief sustainability officers and general counsel managing ESG diligence and reporting Private equity, venture capital, and angel investor networks pricing ESG into deal flow Family business owners and family office leadership facing succession or governance reform Audience outcomes A clearer view of the specific ESG questions that surface in cross-border M&A diligence, and how to answer them at board level. A working framework for distinguishing ESG narrative from ESG governance, with examples from Brazilian and Latin American board practice. Practical reference points on how angel investor networks and corporate boards are integrating ESG into capital decisions today. A grounded perspective on family business succession, including where ownership transitions create governance risk.

Why organisations work with Tara Shine Two decades inside the UN climate negotiation system, including EU negotiating roles within the UNFCCC, give her direct authority on the policy environment shaping corporate net zero obligations. Reviewed the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C, the scientific reference point most net zero strategies are still benchmarked against. Runs Change by Degrees, a B Corp certified Irish social enterprise, so her advice is grounded in the operating reality of building a sustainable business, not only in policy theory. Communicates climate substance to non-specialist audiences without softening it. The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and BBC One presenter work demonstrate the rare ability to hold scientific authority and audience accessibility in the same conversation. Adviser to the Mary Robinson Foundation and The Elders, giving her a track record at the level where climate strategy meets serious geopolitical and ethical scrutiny. Biography highlights Co-founder and Director, Change by Degrees (B Corp certified social enterprise) Chair of Trustees, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), 2014 to 2025 Former Special Advisor, Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice; adviser to The Elders UN climate change negotiator for over a decade, including for the EU under the UNFCCC Co-facilitator, Structured Expert Dialogue of the Second Periodic Review under the UNFCCC Reviewer, IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C Presenter, Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2020 (Lecture Three: Up in the Air); BBC One contributor Author, “How to Save Your Planet One Object at a Time” (Simon and Schuster, 2020) Biography The Paris Agreement was negotiated in rooms most business audiences never see. Tara Shine spent a decade in those rooms, including in EU negotiating positions, and later co-facilitated the Structured Expert Dialogue assessing whether the Agreement’s goals were actually being met. That history matters now, because the policy assumptions corporates built their net zero plans on are being tested in real time. She is co-founder and director of Change by Degrees, a B Corp certified Irish social enterprise that advises organisations on the operating side of sustainability. Her work as a reviewer of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5C gave her standing in the scientific community; her role as Special Advisor to the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice gave her standing in the political one. Few speakers carry both at once. Public audiences know her from the 2020 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, where she delivered Lecture Three on air pollution and climate, and from BBC One presenting work on heat pumps and electric vehicles. Her 2020 book “How to Save Your Planet One Object at a Time” (Simon and Schuster) translated climate science into household decisions, and was reviewed by The Times as “an unpreachy guide free of jargon and full of often surprising information.” She chaired the Board of Trustees of the International Institute for Environment and Development from 2014 to 2025, a tenure that placed her at the intersection of climate, equity, and development finance for over a decade. That vantage point gives her something most sustainability speakers do not have: a direct view of how climate policy is made, contested, and translated into the rules companies have to operate inside. Key speaking topics Climate policy and the UN negotiation system Corporate net zero and the credibility of climate commitments Energy transition and the gap between policy and capital allocation ESG under scrutiny Climate justice and the geopolitics of climate action Sustainability strategy for B Corps and purpose-led businesses Science communication for non-specialist audiences Ideal for Boards and executive committees setting or revising net zero strategy Chief sustainability officers and ESG leads briefing investors and regulators Corporate communications and investor relations teams under scrutiny on climate claims Sustainability and transformation leads inside energy, finance, manufacturing, and consumer sectors Audience outcomes A clearer read on where global climate policy is heading and what it requires of corporates A sharper distinction between climate commitments that will hold up under scrutiny and those that will not Practical reference points from a B Corp operator, not only a policy adviser A scientific grounding for boardroom climate conversations, free of jargon Confidence to engage seriously with stakeholders on climate without retreating into PR language

Why organisations work with Valentini Konstantinidou A working scientist, not a wellness presenter. Her PhD work on Mediterranean diet and olive oil nutrigenomics is published in peer-reviewed journals including Nutrients, which makes the content defensible inside a medical or HR governance review. She translates nutrigenetics into corporate programme design. DNANUTRICOACH has been doing this commercially in Barcelona since 2015, including for B2B clients, so the operating model is tested. She gives wellbeing teams a way to talk about ESG that is grounded in measurable employee health, not narrative. The connection she draws between Mediterranean diet research, chronic disease prevention and productivity is specific and citable. Trilingual delivery in English, Spanish and Greek, with academic teaching credentials at UOC and TECH in Spain. Useful for multinational employers running pan-European wellbeing programmes. Biography highlights PhD in Biomedicine, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona (2010); MSc Biomedical Research, Pompeu Fabra (2007); degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, CEU San Pablo University, Madrid (2019). Founder of DNANUTRICOACH, Barcelona (2015), and of the first Nutrigenetic Centre in Athens (2020). Co-author of “Nutritional Genomics and the Mediterranean Diet’s Effects on Human Cardiovascular Health” (Nutrients, 2016). Ambassador, European Lifestyle Medicine Organization. Member, American Society of Nutrition since 2012. Collaborating professor at UOC and TECH universities; university lecturer accreditation by AQU Spain. Author of the first Greek-language book on nutrigenetics for a general audience (2021). Biography Most corporate wellness programmes assume one set of habits will work for an entire workforce. Nutritional genomics has spent two decades disproving that assumption. Valentini Konstantinidou’s research career, from Pompeu Fabra University to her current commercial practice, sits inside that disproof. She completed her PhD in Biomedicine at Pompeu Fabra in 2010, with research on the nutrigenomic effects of virgin olive oil polyphenols within the Mediterranean diet. She added a degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from CEU San Pablo University in Madrid in 2019, which makes her a registered dietitian-nutritionist in Spain as well as a published researcher. Her 2016 paper in Nutrients on Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular health remains one of the cited reference points in the field. In 2015 she founded DNANUTRICOACH in Barcelona, then opened the first Nutrigenetic Centre in Athens in 2020. The business translates genetic test results into specific dietary and lifestyle recommendations. The corporate arm applies the same model to employee wellbeing, designing programmes that connect nutrition science to chronic disease prevention and to ESG reporting on workforce health. For organisations, the practical value is a defensible alternative to generic wellness. Her work gives HR and benefits leaders a way to spend wellbeing budget on interventions with a published evidence base, delivered by a researcher with academic teaching posts at UOC and TECH and ambassador status with the European Lifestyle Medicine Organization. Key speaking topics Precision nutrition and corporate wellbeing Nutritional genomics and nutrigenetics Mediterranean diet and chronic disease prevention Sustainable nutrition in workplace programmes ESG and employee health metrics Behaviour change in dietary habits Extra virgin olive oil and healthy ageing Ideal for CHROs and benefits leaders designing or auditing employee wellbeing programmes ESG and sustainability leads building defensible workforce health metrics Heads of corporate health, occupational health and medical directors in multinational employers Leadership audiences at food, pharmaceutical, insurance and healthcare companies Audience outcomes A working understanding of how nutritional genomics differs from generic wellness advice, and where each is appropriate Specific examples of how Mediterranean diet research links to chronic disease prevention and productivity A framework for connecting employee wellbeing spend to ESG reporting in a way that holds up to scrutiny Practical entry points for piloting precision nutrition inside an existing wellbeing programme

Why organisations work with Lizzie Daly She brings working scientist credentials, not commentator credentials. Her PhD research at Swansea University tracks animal movement with tag technology, including fieldwork on African elephants in Kenya and a male jaguar in the Pantanal. She has the broadcast craft to land a sustainability message with a non-specialist audience, with on-screen credits across BBC One, BBC Two, CBeebies, CBBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet and Love Nature. Conservation organisations trust her platform: ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society and the Jane Goodall Institute UK, and the first female patron of ORCA. She has a track record of hosting and moderating high-stakes industry moments, including the Wildscreen Panda Awards in 2018 and 2022 and over 50 hours of live content during Wildscreen 2020. Her expedition record, including a 140km solo run in the Finnish Arctic Circle at minus 35C, gives a credible second register on resilience and decision-making in extreme environments. Biography highlights Honorary Fellow of Swansea University and part-time PhD researcher there, with a research focus on animal movement through tag technology. Academic Teaching and Outreach Fellow at Swansea University. Undergraduate degree from the University of Exeter; research Masters from the University of Bristol. Author of Life in the Wild (DK, 2024), a children’s wildlife book illustrated by Chiara Fedele. Presenter credits include Weatherman Walking (BBC One), Curious Creatures (BBC Two), Winterwatch (BBC Two), The One Show (BBC One), Solved: Nature’s Greatest Mysteries (Animal Planet), Jaguar Journals (Love Nature) and Deep Dive Australia (Love Nature). Hosted the Wildscreen Panda Awards in 2018 and 2022, and live-hosted the Wildscreen festival in 2020. Ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society and the Jane Goodall Institute UK, first female patron of ORCA, and ambassador for the Norwich Science Festival. Biography A barrel jellyfish the size of a human, filmed off the Cornish coast during Wild Ocean Week 2019, became one of the most-shared marine wildlife clips on the BBC that summer. The biologist in the water was Lizzie Daly, then mid-way through a seven-day expedition raising funds for the Marine Conservation Society. The clip travelled because the science was real and the storytelling was clean. Both qualities define how she now works with organisations on sustainability and conservation. Her academic base is Swansea University, where she is a part-time PhD researcher studying wildlife movement with tag technology and an Academic Teaching and Outreach Fellow. The fieldwork is specific and physical: deploying tracking tags on African elephants in Kenya, on a male jaguar in the Pantanal, and joining a 2022 scientific expedition to the Peruvian Amazon. Swansea has since named her an Honorary Fellow. The broadcasting CV runs in parallel. Recent series include Jaguar Journals and Deep Dive Australia for Love Nature, alongside earlier credits on BBC One, BBC Two, CBeebies, CBBC, National Geographic and Animal Planet. She has hosted the Wildscreen Panda Awards twice, in 2018 with Lewis Pugh and in 2022 with Dan O’Neill, and live-hosted more than 50 hours of Wildscreen festival content in 2020. For a corporate audience, this combination matters. A sustainability or ESG narrative that has to survive scrutiny needs a voice with field credibility, scientific training, and the storytelling judgement to keep a non-specialist audience with the argument. In September 2024 she published Life in the Wild with DK, a children’s title built on the same instinct: real animals, real movement data, told without hype. Key speaking topics Sustainability and environmental responsibility Marine conservation and ocean health Wildlife biology and animal movement science Climate communication for non-specialist audiences Conservation storytelling and public engagement Resilience and performance in extreme environments Hosting and moderation of awards, conferences and live formats Ideal for Chief sustainability officers, ESG leads and corporate affairs teams shaping external sustainability narratives. Boards and leadership offsites adding scientific credibility to climate, ocean and biodiversity discussions. Conference and awards organisers who need a host who can carry a science-led programme on stage. Internal events focused on purpose, employee engagement and connecting people to environmental commitments. Audience outcomes A clearer sense of what current wildlife and ocean science actually shows, beyond headline narratives. Practical reference points for talking about sustainability with employees, customers and stakeholders without resorting to slogans. A vivid set of field stories, from Arctic expeditions to jaguar tracking, that audiences can recall and retell. Renewed conviction about the role organisations can play in marine and wildlife conservation, grounded in named partner organisations.

Why organisations work with Steve Backshall Two decades of first-hand evidence on climate and biodiversity change, anchored by Our Changing Planet, the BBC’s seven-year longitudinal study of six fragile ecosystems. Credibility across two audiences in one booking: the executive room responsible for climate strategy, and the wider workforce that responds to adventure, resilience, and human performance stories. A scientific spine behind the broadcaster, including an MSc in bioscience and an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter, which lifts the content above motivational generality. Experience hosting and moderating at scale, including a sold-out UK and Australia theatre tour, which makes him a low-risk choice for plenary, fireside, or interview formats. A working conservationist, not a commentator. President of Buglife and an active patron, which gives his environmental content first-party authority rather than secondary analysis. Biography highlights Two BAFTAs in 2011: Best Children’s Presenter and Best Factual Series, both for Deadly 60. MBE, 2020, for services to wildlife conservation and charity. Honorary PhD, University of Exeter; MSc Bioscience, Canterbury Christ Church University. National Geographic Channel “Adventurer in Residence”, 1998 to 2003. Presenter of Our Changing Planet (BBC One), Expedition with Steve Backshall (BBC Two and Dave), Deadly 60 (CBBC), and Lost Land of the Tiger / Volcano / Jaguar. Author of Deep Blue, Mountain, Wildlings, Expedition, and The Falcon Chronicles novels. Biography The natural world is no longer a separate file in the corporate risk register. Climate volatility, biodiversity collapse, and ocean health now feed directly into supply chains, insurance pricing, and licence to operate. The leaders who handle this best tend to be the ones who have spent time looking at the physical evidence, not only the disclosure templates. Steve Backshall has spent his career inside that physical evidence. As presenter of the BBC’s Our Changing Planet, he has tracked six of the world’s most fragile ecosystems over a seven-year arc, returning to the same sites to document what has actually changed. Earlier work for National Geographic, where he served as Adventurer in Residence from 1998, gave him a comparable long view across reefs, jungles, and polar regions. The credentials sit on top of fieldwork, not the other way round. He holds an MSc in bioscience from Canterbury Christ Church University and an honorary PhD from the University of Exeter, and he serves as President of Buglife. His two BAFTAs in 2011, for Deadly 60, and his MBE in 2020 for services to conservation, anchor a public profile that reaches well beyond the specialist audience. The same body of work supplies a second register that organisations use heavily: first-descent kayaking expeditions in New Guinea, first ascents on Venezuelan tepuis, world record paddles, and the operational discipline behind them. That material translates cleanly into sessions on resilience, decision-making under risk, and team performance in environments where failure is not abstract. Key speaking topics Climate and biodiversity change observed in the field Ocean health and marine conservation Expedition leadership and decision-making under risk Resilience and human performance in extreme environments Conservation strategy and corporate environmental responsibility Adventure, exploration, and the science behind both Ideal for Sustainability, ESG, and corporate affairs leaders responsible for climate narrative and substance Senior leadership offsites and all-hands events where one speaker needs to land with the boardroom and the wider workforce Conference hosts and moderators needing a credible plenary anchor across science, exploration, and sustainability tracks Internal leadership programmes on resilience, team performance, and decision-making under pressure Audience outcomes A grounded view of what is actually happening in climate and biodiversity systems, beyond the headline framings A clearer link between environmental change and operational, commercial, and reputational exposure Concrete stories on risk, preparation, and team behaviour drawn from genuine first-descent and first-ascent expeditions Renewed appetite for ambition and long-horizon thinking inside the organisation

Why organisations work with Miloš Maričić He gives investment boards a working diagnostic for distinguishing real machine learning from AI marketing, anchored in his SPEC framework and his CFA Institute Enterprising Investor work on weak quant models. He chairs Executive AI, the network of CEOs of major European institutional investment organisations, and represented that industry in the EU Artificial Intelligence Act standardisation process. Few speakers can describe AI regulation from inside the room where the rules were written. He has co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Philanthropy with the University of Geneva, the standard reference for AI in the social sector. That gives foundations and philanthropic boards a credible voice on the same subject. He has built and exited two AI companies and ranks in the top five per cent of the Numerai global leaderboard for market prediction models, so the technical claim is matched by personal track record. He is an OECD AI Expert and a World Economic Forum contributor, which means his framing is already calibrated for senior policy and regulatory audiences. Biography highlights Founder of the Altruist League, Geneva, a philanthropy consultancy whose network reports AUM above USD 10 billion. Chair of Executive AI, a network of CEOs of major European institutional investment organisations. AI Expert at the OECD and contributor at the World Economic Forum. Co-editor, The Routledge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Philanthropy, Routledge, 2024. Co-author, Fixing Philanthropy: Six Principles for Actually Improving the World When Giving Away Money, 2021. Educated at the London School of Economics, New York University and Harvard Business School. Biography Most institutional investors now have AI somewhere in their portfolio, their managers, or their operations. Very few have a working method for telling genuine machine learning from a factor model dressed up for a board meeting. That is the gap Maričić has spent his career filling, first inside his own AI ventures, now as Chair of Executive AI, the network of CEOs of major European institutional investment organisations. His SPEC framework, developed for capital allocators and published through CFA Institute’s Enterprising Investor, gives investment committees a short diagnostic for evaluating quantitative managers who claim AI capability. It is the kind of practical tool a CIO can take into a manager meeting on Monday morning. He represented the institutional investor industry in the EU Artificial Intelligence Act standardisation process, and serves as an AI Expert at the OECD and a contributor at the World Economic Forum. Maričić founded the Altruist League, a Geneva-based philanthropy consultancy that pioneered the use of AI in sourcing investments, distributing funds and managing portfolios, and whose network now reports AUM above USD 10 billion. With Giuseppe Ugazio at the University of Geneva, he co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Philanthropy, the 2024 reference work for foundations and social sector boards thinking about AI governance. He is educated at the London School of Economics, NYU and Harvard Business School, ranks in the top five per cent of the Numerai global leaderboard for market prediction models, and writes The Specification, a newsletter that translates frontier AI research into practical tools for institutional allocators. Key speaking topics AI governance for investment boards and fiduciary committees Due diligence on machine learning in quantitative investment strategies AI regulation, the EU AI Act and institutional capital allocation AI in philanthropy and the social sector Causal inference and the limits of factor investing Geopolitics of AI for sovereign wealth funds and central banks Trust-based giving and systemic-change philanthropy Ideal for Chief Investment Officers, investment committees and manager-selection teams at pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, central banks and endowments Boards of foundations and philanthropic organisations setting AI strategy and governance Risk, audit and fiduciary committees taking responsibility for AI-driven strategies they did not build Senior policy and regulatory audiences working on AI in financial services Audience outcomes A clear diagnostic for distinguishing real machine learning from AI marketing inside quantitative managers Specific questions a board or investment committee can put to managers and internal teams about AI claims A current read on the EU AI Act and what it means for institutional allocators in practice A grounded view of where AI is genuinely changing philanthropy and where it is hype A working vocabulary for fiduciary AI oversight that does not require a technical background

Why organisations work with Guntram Wolff His book The Macroeconomics of Decarbonisation (Cambridge University Press) is one of the few analyses that maps how the green transition reshapes fiscal policy, labour markets, public finances, and central banking together – giving leaders a framework, not just commentary. He has briefed EU finance ministers at informal ECOFIN and testified to the European Parliament and the Bundestag since 2013 – his analysis informs European policy before it becomes the operating environment for business. His concurrent research on European defence economics and rearmament – generating coverage in the Financial Times, Bloomberg, and Le Monde – makes him one of the few economists who can connect climate, security, and fiscal risk in a single board conversation. As inaugural holder of the Euroclear Chair in Sustainable Finance at the Solvay Brussels School, he works at the direct intersection of academic research and European financial market infrastructure – relevant to any bank or asset manager assessing ESG transition risk. He has served on the IMF External Advisory Group on Surveillance, France’s Conseil d’Analyse Economique, and the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness Financing – a verifiable international policy footprint that most European economic commentators cannot match. Biography highlights Professor of Economics and inaugural holder of the Euroclear Chair in Sustainable Finance, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université libre de Bruxelles Former Director of Bruegel (2013-2022) and former Director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations/DGAP (2022-2024); senior fellow at Bruegel and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy Co-author of The Macroeconomics of Decarbonisation (Cambridge University Press, 2024) Research published in Nature, Science, Nature Communications, Energy Policy, and Foreign Affairs; policy commentary in the Financial Times and the New York Times Advisory roles include the IMF External Advisory Group on Surveillance, the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness Financing, and France’s Conseil d’Analyse Economique (2012-2016) Regular advisor to informal ECOFIN, the European Parliament, and the Bundestag since 2013; PhD in Economics, University of Bonn; fluent in German, English, and French Biography European finance ministers have been briefed by Guntram Wolff at informal ECOFIN since 2013 – a run of advisory engagement that tracks the continent’s most consequential economic crises, from euro area governance reform to energy security to the financing of rearmament. That record of access is not incidental. It reflects the specific value of economic analysis that connects academic rigour to the political and institutional constraints that policymakers actually face. During his nine years directing Bruegel, Wolff built the Brussels-based think tank into one of Europe’s most influential global research institutions. The body of work he developed there spans euro area governance, climate economics, economic statecraft, and European security – with research appearing in Nature, Science, and Foreign Affairs, an unusual range for a European economist. His 2024 book with Cambridge University Press, The Macroeconomics of Decarbonisation, makes the specific case that the green transition is above all a macroeconomic and fiscal policy challenge – a position that distinguishes it from most climate literature. Since taking the inaugural Euroclear Chair in Sustainable Finance at the Solvay Brussels School, Wolff has extended his research into European defence economics and rearmament, contributing analysis covered by the Financial Times, Bloomberg, and Le Monde. He now works across sustainable finance, security economics, and European governance – giving financial institutions and corporate boards access to analysis that treats these as connected, not parallel, problems. His advisory and institutional record includes the IMF External Advisory Group on Surveillance, appointed by then-Managing Director Christine Lagarde, and the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness Financing. He is a council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, has testified to the European Parliament and the Bundestag, and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Bonn. Key speaking topics European macroeconomics and euro area governance Macroeconomics of decarbonisation and the green transition Sustainable finance and ESG transition risk Geoeconomics and European defence economics European energy security and geopolitical risk Fiscal policy and the financing of structural transitions Euro area reform and European strategic autonomy Ideal for Boards and executive leadership teams with significant European market exposure Financial institutions, asset managers, and investors navigating ESG and transition risk Government, central bank, and public policy audiences International organisations and multilateral forums focused on European or global economic governance Audience outcomes A clearer analytical framework for understanding how decarbonisation, European rearmament, and fiscal reform interact as strategic risks Informed perspective on the macroeconomic implications of the green transition – beyond policy advocacy to economic mechanics Greater ability to distinguish durable structural shifts in European policy from political noise Understanding of how European governance reform and the euro area’s fiscal architecture create risk and opportunity for financial institutions Context on geoeconomic dynamics – trade, sanctions, energy, defence spending – that directly affects European business strategy