Bernard Hoekman is Professor and Director, Global Economics at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute in Florence, Italy, where he has been since 2013. Previous positions include Director of the International Trade Department (2008-13) and Research Manager in the Development Research Group (2001-08) at the World Bank. He was a member of the GATT Secretariat during the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations. He is also cochairing the Academic Advisory Council Committee of United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS).
He currently serves as Chairperson of a High-Level Board of Experts on the Future of Global Trade Governance, a Bertelsmann Foundation initiative. He is a London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) Research Fellow, where he co-directs the Trade Policy Research Network, a senior associate of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab countries, Iran and Turkey, and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on International Trade and Investment.
He is an economist graduated from the Erasmus University Rotterdam and holds a PhD in economics from the University of Michigan.
Rutger Hoekstra is an associate professor at the Institute of Environmental Sciences of Leiden University. He is an expert on measuring Beyond-GDP metrics for Wellbeing, Inclusion and Sustainability (WISE). He is also the author of Replacing GDP by 2030 which was published by Cambridge University Press in 2019.
Rutger was the co-chair of the UN-ECE/OECD/Eurostat task force that produced the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations on Measuring Sustainable Development. He currently leads the WISE Horizons project which is a 4-year European project to develop metrics, accounting and models for sustainable and inclusive wellbeing. Furthermore, he is also involved in the MERGE project and many other international initiatives such as the UN Expert Group on Wellbeing Measurement (EGWM).
He has worked with/for the United Nations, World Bank, European Commission, OECD, European Central Bank, KPMG, Statistics Netherlands and many other organizations.
Roel Hoenders is Head of Climate Action and Clean Air in the IMO Secretariat and oversees IMO's regulatory work on decarbonizing international maritime transport.
Roel holds a law degree with specializations in international environmental and maritime law. Before joining IMO, Roel held various positions in the European Commission, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and in the port and logistics sector.
Before joining the IMO Secretariat, he worked as legal and policy officer on defining EU renewable energy and clean air policies in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Environment and on promoting sustainable shipping in the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
In earlier functions, Roel managed sustainable transport infrastructure projects in the MENA region at the European Commission's Development Cooperation Directorate and advised on ESG and government relations at the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) and DHL Netherlands.
Jan joined UNCTAD in 2003 and is Chief of the organization’s Trade Logistics Branch since 2016. The Branch implements research and technical assistance programmes in international transport and trade facilitation.
Previously, Jan worked six years for the UN ECLAC in Santiago de Chile, and two years for the IMO in London and Santiago.
Prior to this, he held part time positions as assistant professor, import-export agent, and seafarer. Jan has studied in Germany, UK, and Spain, and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Hamburg.
André Hoffmann is a businessman and firmly believes in business as a force for good. He is a passionate advocate for the corporate pursuit of societal purpose and sustainability.
André is Vice Chairman of Roche Holding AG, a highly innovative pharmaceutical company established by his great-grandfather in 1896. He also serves on the board of the fully-owned subsidiary, Genentech Inc.
Alongside these non-executive roles in the family business, André is co-chair of the World Economic Forum; he also joined the Board of SystemIQ to help drive positive disruption in economic systems. He is President of W.A. de Vigier Stiftung and Vicechairman of the board of the Venture Foundation.
Together with his wife Rosalie, André is co-chair of InTent, a platform which aim to accelerate sustainable solutions by building bridges and connecting people.
André also has a distinguished career in nature conservation and sustainability. He is the President of Fondation Tour du Valat, a world-renowned institute dedicated to wetland conservation, he is the Chairman of Capitals Coalition, and serves on the boards of B-Team , Peace Parcs and the Givaudan Foundation.
André’s also helped establish the Hoffmann Institute at INSEAD, and chairs its Advisory Board, and the Hoffmann Center for Sustainability at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
André studied economics at St. Gallen University and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
Onno Hoffmeister joined the UN Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) Statistics Service in 2015.
He previously worked as statistician at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation (FAO) and Eurostat and as researcher at the University of Hamburg and the German Institute for Economic Research. He was engaged as consultant for the GIZ and the German Federal Ministry of Economics in capacity building ("twinning") projects of the European Commission.
In 2024, he led UNCTAD's comprehensive assessment of the impact of mid-term IMO GHG reduction measures on States and in 2023 the development of the UNCTAD - World Bank Trade-and-Transport Dataset. He coordinated the statistical work behind many of UNCTADs online datasets including on ocean trade and maritime transport.
He holds a PhD in Economics from the European University Viadrina and has 25 years of experience in statistics, economic analysis and capacity building. He published in the Journal of Shipping and Trade, the Statistical Journal of the IAOS, Agricultural Economics, the Review of Income and Wealth and other peer-reviewed journals. He is member of the UN Committee of Experts on Business and Trade Statistics, the International Association for Official Statistics, and the German Association for Social Policy.
Dr. Laurie C. Hofmann is a marine biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and a professor of Applied Marine Biology at the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences.
Her research interests include innovative uses of macroalgae, growth and optimization of sea vegetables, the development of sustainable macroalgae aquaculture, anthropogenic impacts on macroalgae, and calcification in macroalgae.
She is currently leading the optimization and scaling-up of land-based cultivation of Ulva spp. for the development of food packaging within the EU NOVAFOODIES project.
She is also leading the SeaStrains initiative funded by the Safe Seaweed Coalition (now Global Seaweed Coalition) to develop a European-wide strategy for safeguarding seaweed genetic resources to ensure food security and to protect biodiversity.
Kienda Hoji is the Assistant Head of the School of Arts at University of Westminster London and principal lecturer in music law and business.
He is a music and entertainment lawyer, and a consultant with more than 30 years of experience in the global music industry both at independent and major levels.
He is a visiting professor at Peking University, Beijing, China. He has held visiting lectureships including at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki Finland and the Institute of Cultural Studies in St, Petersburg, Russia.
Keeley Holder was appointed Chief Agriculture Officer in Barbados’ Ministry of Agriculture in February of 2021. Ms. Holder, who holds a BSc in Biology and Computer Science from The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Crop Production and Water Management from Galillee Institute, Israel, is the first female and youngest-ever Chief Agricultural Officer. On being appointed to her post, she stated that she is “… pleased to be in a position to lead agriculture into a new future. We can only grow from strength to strength, working in partnership and unity as we fight COVID-19, and ensure food and nutrition security for all.”
Ms. Holder has a wide background in agriculture including experience in both the private and public sectors. She is a former Chief Executive Officer of HydroGrow Farm and Go Bananas Inc., served as a member of the National Agricultural Advisory Commission of Barbados and has also held the position of Vice President of the National Union of Farmers, from 2012 to 2018. Additionally, she served as 1st Vice President of the Barbados Agricultural Society and President of the Barbados Fruit and Vegetable Growers. Her Caribbean regional experience includes working as a consultant with the Food and Agricultural Organization (GAO) for the Caribbean region between 2015 and 2018.