Matthew Springer is the founder and CEO of Holistec® which prepares learners, educators and organisations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

He is deeply passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and social impact, with experience in business development, operations, fundraising, partnerships, IP, branding, and marketing. Born in Barbados, with an LLB from the UK, he launched his first venture at age 14, and bootstrapped two ecommerce companies whilst in law school, which generated sales to over 60 countries. Driven by the lack of diversity and well beingin the tech industry, coupled with the understanding that tech can be used to solve some of humanity’s biggest problems, he founded Holistec® Academy, a Personal Accelerator® which incorporates tech, mindfulness, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. 

Andrew Staines is the United Kingdom’s Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative for Economic Affairs in Geneva, also with responsibility for the World Trade Organization (WTO). He has extensive experience in diplomacy, accountancy and the interaction of the two disciplines. Mr. Staines is a Chartered Accountant by training, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and a past winner of the Hewitt Prize, delivered by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. His earlier career includes over five years working for Deloitte. Mr. Staines is also a charter holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute. He has served as Chairman of the working group to revise the Financial Regulations of the WTO, and as a member of the board of the WTO’s Pension Fund.

John was project coordinator for the IPSASB’s Conceptual Framework project, the IPSASB’s main strategic priority in 2012-2014 and was also the lead author for the components of the Framework on elements, recognition and measurement. He has also been heavily involved with the IPSASB’s work on long-term fiscal sustainability and social benefits. John was with the UK institute, CIPFA, from January 2000 until March 2005. Previously he has worked for the UK Audit Commission and the Audit Office of New South Wales. John has postgraduate degrees in the electoral politics of the United States from the University of Essex.

Dr. Thomas Steffen is State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Germany, where he oversees trade, economic, European, SME, and digital policy. Over the course of a 35-year career in the German federal government, he has held a number of senior leadership roles across several ministries. Prior to his current appointment earlier this year, he served as State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health (2019–2025) and at the Federal Ministry of Finance (2012–2018). His distinguished career also includes positions as Director-General for Europe at the Federal Ministry of Finance; Chair of the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS); Executive Director for Insurance Supervision and member of the Executive Board of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin); and Head of Division for Export and State Guarantees at the Federal Ministry of Finance. Dr. Steffen holds a doctorate in law from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, complemented by studies at the London School of Economics.

Yvonne Stein  has served as Deputy Director of the Consumer Policy Division at the Ministry of Finance of Sweden since 2015. Her main field of responsibility is product safety of goods and services, including textile fibres, market surveillance and standardisation within the field of consumer protection. She has been an expert in the investigation to implement the Market Surveillance Regulation. Mrs Stein has been the Swedish delegate negotiating the Commission Proposal for a Regulation on General Product Safety and is the Swedish negotiator for the Commission Proposal for a new regulation of safety of toys. She is delegate in OECD Consumer Committee and since 2018 vice chair in the Bureau for the Working Party of Consumer Product Safety. She is also active within UNCTAD ‘s Intergovernmental Group of experts within the field of product safety.

Sweden held the Presidency at EU for the first time in 2001 and Mrs Stein was designated to work as a negotiator for the Swedish Government, Ministry of Justice when returning to Sweden. 2005-2006 Mrs Stein was appointed key legal expert by the European Commission in the EC Cards project Capacity Building in the area of Consumer Protection (2005-2006) for coming member states in Zagreb Croatia. As the legal expert she was responsible for legislative and policy work in the field of Consumer Protection, capacity building and institutional strengthening. Strengthening Croatian product safety legislation and capacity to conduct risk assessment and enforcement and training of civil servants was a key issue.

She started her career as a lawyer at the Swedish Consumer Ombudsman, the Swedish Consumer Agency, where she conducted legal investigations and analysis on juridical issues as well as negotiations with Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and   commercial enterprises particularly within the product safety field. After Sweden become a member state in EU Mrs Stein was appointed national expert at the European Commission in Brussels, DG Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) (1998-2000). She participated in the development of the Guide for the New Approach and the revision of the 92/59 EEC General Product Safety Directive. During that period, she was also the coordinator for legal/juridical issues related to the enlargement process, taking part in the negotiation process within the field of consumer protection in Brussels as well as frequently in each of the 10 coming members states.

She has a Master of Law degree from Lund University. She specialised in international commercial law and has a diploma in European Community Law. Mrs Stein has over 30 years of professional experience in the field of Consumer Protection Policy. Product safety in a very broad context has been the red line through her career and she has taken part in the development of product safety at national, EU, OECD and global level.

Matthew Stephenson, PhD, has extensive work experience in various organizations. Matthew currently serves as the Head of Investment Policy and Practice at the World Economic Forum since February 2019. Prior to this, they were the Outward FDI Workstream Lead at the IFC - International Finance Corporation from 2016 to 2019. Matthew also worked as a Jr. Policy Analyst and Consultant at the OECD - OCDE from 2014 to 2016. Earlier in their career, they held multiple roles at the U.S. Department of State, including working in the Office of Afghanistan Affairs, the Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative, the Office of Iraq Economic Affairs, and the U.S. Consulate General Istanbul. Matthew also worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Office of Management Policy, Budget, and Performance. Additionally, they had a brief stint at The World Bank Group in the Independent Evaluation Group.

Matthew Stephenson, PhD has an extensive education history. Matthew holds a BA (Hons) degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of Oxford. Matthew later went on to pursue a Masters degree in Public Policy from Harvard University. Lastly, they obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in International Political Economy from the Geneva Graduate Institute. Prior to their higher education, Matthew Stephenson attended St. Albans School (D.C.) for their high school education.

Neil Stevenson has nearly 20 years of experience in the accounting and finance sectors. At the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), he leads on developing a strong global brand for Integrated Reporting and key institutional relationships. Neil was involved in the communications group that established the brand in 2010 and subsequently served on the IIRC Working Group which provided guidance on the development of the IIRC as a global organization and the International Framework. He therefore has long-standing insight into the work of IIRC and how its brand can be developed to support adoption of worldwide. Through his working experience and his work with the IIRC, Neil has extensive links to organizations who are well placed to influence the market at all levels and across stakeholder groups. Neil has previously worked in senior marketing and brand roles at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and PwC, with responsibilities including oversight of policy and thought leadership. He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Leeds and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Mr Ian Stewart is a results-driven Port Operations Executive with over 10 years of experience in process improvement and cost optimization, with a proven track record of increasing efficiency and productivity by 20%, while reducing operational costs by 15%. He has a passion for Technology Management and improving systems.

Ian has over 35 years of experience overseeing staff, budgets, Facilities and Port operations. Extremely knowledgeable of the analytics necessary to evaluate a Port's performance and the means to apply them to drive the Port forward and maximize profit, he is a strong leader, a skilled problem solver, environmentally focused and an innovative thinker.

Michael Stewart has been Director of Implementation Activities for the IFRS Foundation since September 2009. In this role he is responsible for overseeing the work of the IFRS Interpretations Committee, including the development of IFRIC Interpretations, narrow-scope amendments to IFRSs and Annual Improvements. Michael is also responsible for the IASB’s post-implementation reviews, the second of which, focusing on IFRS 3 Business Combinations, was completed in June 2015. Michael represents the IASB on the Consultative Advisory Group (CAG) of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). Prior to joining the IFRS Foundation, Michael was a director in the global IFRS technical group of one of the large international audit firms, where he spent eight years advising clients on the application of IFRSs.