Joe Kramek, President and CEO of the World Shipping Council, was a U.S. Coast Guard commissioned officer for 28 years, and most recently served as the Chief of Maritime, International and Environmental Law where he led the U.S. Delegation to the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Legal Committee.  

He also served as Chief of the Coast Guard's Legislative Affairs program.  Joe was selected as a Federal Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution where, in 2013, he completed one of the first research projects on maritime cyber security.  

He was also detailed to the Department of Justice for two years as an Admiralty Trial Attorney and served four years at sea as a deck watch officer.

Joe has been admitted to the bar in Florida and the U.S. Supreme Court.  He is a member of the U.S. Maritime Law Association and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Committee for Autonomous vessels.

Joanna Krasodomska is an Associate Professor in the Department of Financial Accounting at Cracow University of Economics (CUE) in Poland. She received her habilitation in 2015 (CUE, Faculty of Finance and Law) and Ph.D. in 2006 (Jagiellonian University). Her publications address both corporate financial and non-financial reporting, and her primary research interests center on sustainability and integrated reporting, stakeholder engagement, and extended external reporting assurance. Joanna is a member of the European Accounting Association (EAA) Stakeholder Reporting Committee. She was also appointed as Poland Representative to the EAA Board (2021-2024). She is a member of the International Association for Accounting Education & Research (IAAER). In 2016-2018 she was a member of the Academic Research Support Group appointed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).

Michael Kratsios is the chief science and technology policy advisor to President Donald J. Trump. As the thirteenth Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, he oversees the development and execution of the nation’s science and technology agenda, focusing on American leadership in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, nuclear energy, and biotechnology.

Previously, as the fourth Chief Technology Officer of the United States, he drafted the nation’s first AI Strategy, the American AI Initiative, and doubled federal funding for AI and quantum research.

He also established the National AI Initiative Office and led a billion-dollar initiative to create a network of AI and quantum research institutes. Before his role at the White House, Michael served as Under Secretary of War, managing significant research and development budgets at the Pentagon, overseeing organizations like DARPA and the Defense Innovation Unit.

He has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate twice and received the Distinguished Public Service Medal from the Department of Defense.

His writings appeared in major publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

A South Carolina native, Michael graduated from Princeton University and was also a Visiting Scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Axel is Chairman and Principal Consultant of Syntegra Change Architects Limited. As the practice lead for Corporate Governance he has been working with Boards of Directors and Executives across various industries for over 15 years. Axel is also the Founding Chairman of the Caribbean Corporate Governance Institute (CCGI), a membership, non-profit organization established in July 2012 to promote the good Corporate Governance throughout the Caribbean. Axel presently leads the Trinidad and Tobago Corporate Governance Code project - a joint initiative of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce (TTCIC), Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) and CCGI. Axel is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and Politial Science (B.Sc., M.Sc., PhD) and a member of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN).

He is a national of Austria with over 15 years of professional experience in environmental diplomacy, policy, and law. He began his professional career at the regional and national levels and joined UNEP in 2005, fulfilling growing responsibilities for the organization. Most recently, he was deputy director and acting director (2019–2021) of UNEP’s Law Division.

Among his key professional achievements are the repositioning of the Montevideo Environmental Law Programme, his work on improving governance of natural resources, human rights and the environment, or his support to the implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), among others. In 2012, he led the planning and organization of the first World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability as part of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).

Earlier in his career, Arnold worked in the governmental, non-governmental and private sectors. He holds a doctorate in international law from the University of Vienna and a master's degree in advanced international studies from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.

Bachelor degree in Geography (1990), expert in Environmental Planning (Watershed Management) (1992), master (1998) and doctor (2003) in Geoscience (Environmental Geochemistry) (UFF). Project manager at Coordination of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies in IBGE, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, coordinating the production of Brazilian Sustainable Development Indicators (2011-2017). Member of Expert Group on Environment Statistics (EGES) of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) (2012-2017). Member of Environmental Indicators Group of Latin America and Caribbean Initiative for Sustainable Development (ILAC) (2012-2017). Professor of ‘Environmental Indicators and Sustainable Development’, at post-graduation course on Environmental Analysis and Territory Management, at National School of Statistics Science (ENCE/IBGE) (2002 onwards). Assistant of the IBGE’s President to coordination of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – SDG Indicators. Member of IAEG-SDGs – Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (United Nations). Author of the book “Local Sustainable Development: a practical approach” (Senac Publishing Company).

Ms Kruger is a lawyer by training and since January 2012 serving as the Chief Director: Trade Policy and Negotiations in the Trade Branch at Department of Trade, Industry and Competition in South Africa. She is responsible at a technical level for leading South Africa’s international trade and investment negotiations at bilateral, regional and multilateral level including the WTO and G20. She is currently South Africa’s Chief Negotiator for the African Continental Free Trade Area. She is also responsible for the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union and United Kingdom as well as the free trade agreement with the member states of the European Free Trade Association. Ms Kruger further manages South Africa’s international trade and investment disputes as well as the development of South Africa’s investment legislation, international trade legislation and Intellection Property policy, including the Protection of Investment Act, International Trade Administration Act and new patent legislation. Prior to her position as Chief Director at the dtic, Ms Kruger was the head of the legal division at the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) of South Africa for 8 years. While at ITAC, Ms Kruger managed the development of South Africa’s international trade legislation as well as the Commission’s litigation cases including the first international trade law case that was heard by the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

Her duties among others include supervision and coordination of activities of the United Nations Intergovernmental Working Group on International Accounting and Reporting Standards (ISAR) to assist developing countries and economies in transition to meet international requirements in the area of accounting and reporting. In this regard she leads UNCTAD’s work on formulating and implementation of the Accounting Development Tool (ADT), preparing a guidance on core SDG indicators for entity reporting intended to serve as a tool to assist governments to assess the private sector contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, developing metadata guidance for the SDG indicator 12.6.1 in cooperation with UN Environment, as well as other activities related to corporate financial and non-financial reporting with a view to achieve better quality and international comparability of such reports based on international standards, benchmarks and good practices. Before joining the United Nations in 2000, she was a partner at KPMG in Moscow where she was in charge of the Methodology department that advised Russian government and companies on transition to IAS/IFRS. She was also a consultant to the World Bank, OECD, EBRD, and other international organizations on accounting and finance issues. In different years she was a member of the Standards Advisory Council of the IASB, of the Education Committee and the Developing Nations Committee of the International Federation of Accountants. She was previously a Professor at Moscow State University teaching accounting and finance and was elected as American Accounting Association Distinguished International Lecturer for 1997. She holds a PhD degree in accounting from Moscow State University and was a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University, California, in 1992-1993.

David Kuijper is the CEO of the Association of European Development Finance Institutions. He previously served as the Manager of Public Investment and Blended Finance at FMO – the Dutch Development Bank. Prior to his role at FMO, he worked at the World Bank on the UN Financing for Development process and trust fund reform. In 1998, he joined the Netherlands Foreign Service in 1998, where he held various positions, including Deputy Director for Environment, Climate, Water, and Energy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands to Pakistan, Senior Advisor to the Netherlands Executive Director in the Board of the World Bank, and Head of the Development Cooperation program at the Netherlands Embassy in Accra, Ghana. He is an alumnus of the Free University Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and University College Dublin, Ireland.

David Kuijper has been the CEO of the Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI) since September 2023. Previously, he served as the Manager of Public Investment and Blended Finance at FMO (the Dutch Development Bank). Prior to that, he worked at the World Bank Group as Advisor on Trust Fund Reform and Financing for Development. He joined the Netherlands Foreign Service in 1998, where he held various positions. He is an alumnus of the Free University Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and University College Dublin, Ireland.