H.E. Mr. João Augusto Ribeiro Nardes is currently minister and former president of the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU). For Rio Grande do Sul (a state in the South of Brazil), he was a federal deputy for three terms and a state deputy for two terms.
He has a degree in business administration, a postgraduate degree in development policy and a master's degree in development studies from the Institut Université d'Études in Geneva, Switzerland.
Teresa Ribera is the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.
She previously served as Vice President of the Government of Spain and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge as well as Member of Spanish Parliament.
Prior to that, she was Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) from 2014 to 2018, enabling the Institute to play a key role in the negotiation of the Paris Climate Agreement.
From 2008 to 2011, she served as the Spanish Secretary of State for Climate Change and Biodiversity. A public official from the Senior Corps of State Civil Administrators, she has also taught public law at the Autonomous University of Madrid. She is member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium since 2021.
Serena Ricci is currently working as Product Marketing Manager – Thought Leadership at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insight to the global higher education sector.
Serena is an EdTech enthusiast whose mission is to create a global partnership network for educational innovators and university leaders. Since 2015 Serena has been organizing the QS Reimagine Education Awards and Conference: The Oscars of Education, in cooperation with The Wharton Business School. Reimagine Education is the world’s largest educational award scheme, rewarding the most innovative pedagogical approaches enhancing student learning outcomes and employability.
In 2019 Serena joined Holistec, a London-based academy teaching STEAM, mindfulness and entrepreneurship as business growth consultant.
Dr. Chrystelle Richard is an associate professor at ESSEC Business School (France). She teaches financial accounting and sustainability reporting, and her primary research interests focus on firms' oversight and new forms of economic governance. Dr. Richard has published in renowned academic journals and has received the “Professor Teaching Award” in 2021 and the “Jury’s Special Prize” in 2025 from the ESSEC Foundation. She has also taken on leadership roles in academic associations in her field. She is currently a board member of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the Autorité des Normes Comptables (ANC), the French accounting standard-setting authority. Dr. Richard is a former student of the École Normale Supérieure and holds a Ph.D. in Management Studies.
Ms. Stacy Richards-Kennedy is Regional Manager for the Caribbean for the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF). She has over 25 years' experience in multilateral negotiations, development management and international finance. Her diverse experience includes forging strategic partnerships, leading multi-disciplinary teams and marshalling resources for the successful execution of projects in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Stacy formerly served as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Affairs at The University of the West Indies, which is ranked among the top 1.5% of universities globally. She also has extensive experience working in multilateral development agencies. She was Assistant Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaçao and St Maarten; Chief Technical Advisor, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); Consultant, The World Bank, Washington DC and Programme Specialist, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris.
She holds a Doctorate in Education from The University of Sheffield.
Rubens Ricupero, currently in charge of the José Bonifácio Chair of Ibero-American Studies at the University of São Paulo, was from l995 to 2004, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in Geneva. Before that, he had been Minister of Finance of Brazil (1994), succeeding Fernando Henrique Cardoso. In 1993-94, Rubens Ricupero was Brazil’s Minister of the Environment and Amazonian Affairs, an area where he had accumulated experience as the Chairman of the Negotiation Group on Finance, during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Rio Climate Summit, in 1992, in Rio de Janeiro.
For several decades, he has been associated with international trade negotiations, as the chief Brazilian negotiator during most of the duration of the Uruguay Round of the GATT (1987-1991).
In Presidents Tancredo Neves-José Sarney’s Administration, he was Deputy-Chief of the Presidential staff and Special Adviser to the President (1985-1987).
For 36 years, he was a career diplomat, reaching the posts of Secretary for Inter-American Affairs, at Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Relations.
He represented Brazil as Ambassador at the GATT and the United Nations Organization, Geneva (1987-1991), Ambassador to the United States of America (1991-1993) and Ambassador to Italy (1995).
Rubens Ricupero was born in São Paulo on March 1st, 1937, and he studied Law at the University of São Paulo. He was a Professor of Theory of International Relations at the University of Brasilia and of History of Brazilian Diplomatic Relations at the Rio Branco Institute, the Brazilian Diplomatic Academy. He published several books and articles on international trade, development issues and international relations. His most recent book is A Diplomacia na Construção do Brasil 1750-2016 (2017), a history of Brazilian diplomacy and foreign policy, awarded the José Ermirio de Moraes Prize by the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
A commodities and FinTech specialist with two decades in the markets and a proven track record creating and growing innovative businesses with technical edge. Led the sale of Munich based tech startup MVS, achieving full exit to Platts in 2015. James led the Platts Innovation centre which specialises in deploying applied blockchain, machine learning and big data.
- 2018 Deployment of the Energy Industry's first (and longest running) blockchain platform (https://on.ft.com/2PmfKBc)
- 2019 Rolled out Platts Tradevision, revolutionary DLT powered trade capture system to widespread adoption by North American Nat Gas Market (https://bit.ly/3fw4kFt)
- 2020 Successfully developed energy market analytics platform harnessing machine learning over billions of previously untapped data points, generating price forecast accuracy of 92% across 2 benchmark contracts. (client privileged results)
- 2020 Delivered world's first fully equipped high frequency, realtime p2p power market Rotterdam (https://bloom.bg/3ufjOSF)
- 2021 led spin out and foundation of Distro Energy B.V. an independent venture backed by the Port of Rotterdam, deploying software to facilitate the most profitable connections between energy users, generators, and storage providers.
Ms. Elizabeth Riley is the first female Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and was appointed to that position on1 July 2021.
She is a committed regionalist with over 22 years experience in the areas of disaster risk management at the regional and international levels and in environmental management.
At the operational level, Ms Riley has played a leadership role in the coordination of regional responses to all major hazards impacting the region from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 to the La Soufriere Volcanic Emergency in 2021.
She has written, presented, and published technical papers in disaster management and environmental management and has lectured in Disaster Management at the University of the West Indies (UWI). She holds a M.A (Econ) in Environment and Development (University of Manchester, UK), a BSc. (Hons) in Geography (UWI, Mona, Jamaica) and a Masters Certificate in Results Based Monitoring and Evaluation and Information Systems (University of Laval, Quebec).