Georg Kell is the Chairman of Arabesque, an ESG Quant fund manager that uses self-learning quantitative models and big data to assess the performance and sustainability of globally listed companies.
He is the founding Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate sustainability initiative with over 9,000 corporate signatories from more than 160 countries. Through Georg’s leadership, the Global Compact became the foremost platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible and sustainable corporate policies and practices.
Georg also oversaw the conception and launch of the Global Compact’s sister initiatives, on investment, the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and on education, the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), together with the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative.

Monika Kolb is a conference coordinator and researcher at the Center for Advanced Sustainable Management (CASM) at CBS. She is also a Ph.D. candidate at the IEDC School of Management in Bled, Slovenia. Her research focus includes responsible leadership development, embodied cognition, and innovative teaching methods. Since 2014, she has organized various projects that seek to empower tomorrow’s game changers. She is actively involved in academic networks like PRME and CEEMAN to promote responsible management. Additionally, she has several years of professional experience in the consumer goods industry and is a certified trainer and coach. Monika designs and conducts leadership development seminars together with M3trix GmbH where she is Director Empowerment.

Jan Köpper studied European Studies in Maastricht/NL and Berlin with a focus on European Union, Development Economics, Economic History and Human Rights. After having worked for the european business network CSR Europe in Brussels he joined imug Beratungsgesellschaft für sozial-ökologische Innovationen in Hanover, Germany. In his position as Head of Client Relations in the division imug | rating, German partner of global sustainability rating agency Vigeo Eiris, he worked togehter with SRI Investors from diverse backgrounds in the development and implementation of sustainable investment strategies. Since April 2018, Jan works as Head of Department on Impact Transparency and Sustainability at German alternative bank GLS Bank in Bochum.

Norbert Kunz is one of the high-profile social entrepreneurs in Germany. For 20 years he has advised and supported entrepreneurs, companies, and non-profit organizations in developing their business models, financial plans, and organizational structures. Norbert Kunz has been Ashoka Fellow since 2007. The Schwab Foundation awarded him Social Entrepreneur of the year 2010 in Germany and in 2011 Social Entrepreneur of Europe.

Prof Dr Hakan Lucius is Head of Corporate Responsibility at the EIB, the European Union’s bank, covering sustainability and stakeholder engagement dimensions of the institution. The EIB evaluates all the investment projects it finances with regard to their sustainability credentials. Dr Lucius possesses more than 20 years of sustainability experience. In his career he has structured multiple billions of euros of investments, through both, loans and equity, was quoted by the Financial Times and by Reuters, has led multinational teams and negotiated with governments, corporate and civil society organizations, alike. Academically, he received a Ph.D. with distinctions in industrial economics, an MBA from INSEAD, France, and an MSc in Engineering from Vienna Technical University, where he graduated as the youngest student of his faculty.
Hakan Lucius is Professor of Finance in parallel to his professional career at the EIB, and specializes in sustainable finance. He has developed a masters class in sustainable finance, which he teaches at SciencesPo in France, the Frankfurt School of Finance in Germany and the Welch College of Business in Luxembourg. He has lectured in Europe and the US and is an internationally acclaimed speaker, having presented in conferences in over 14 countries globally. He was awarded Best Lecturer, Master of Development Finance, by Frankfurt School and by the by Welch MBA, Luxembourg and has published articles in multiple languages.
Dr Lucius also currently the serves on the European Investment Bank’s Pension Board, co-chairs the FinTech working group of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, and is on their environmental fund label and the ESG fund label eligibility committees, is a member of the Frankfurt School’s Board of Trustees, and of the EIB Institute’s Knowledge Committee.

Dr. Nayan Mitra comes with a rich mix of diverse professional experience, in which she straddles seamlessly between academics, social and corporate sectors. As a Developmental Consultant and Researcher, she works closely with some of the eminent Corporations and not-for profits of India as well as being in their Advisory and Board level capacity. She has conducted several social researches for multi-lateral agencies; the findings of which have become important bases for sustainable action. She has been a resource person in eminent Institutions of higher learning in the areas of CSR and Corporate Governance and has important double blind peer reviewed research publications to her credit in national and international Academic journals and books as well as delivered at key Conferences. Her book, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in India: Cases and Development after the Legal Mandate’ alongwith co-editor Dr. Rene Schmidpeter is a first book of its kind that charters the development of mandated Indian CSR from a multi-stakeholder perspective. She is the recipient of the coveted India CSR Author Award two years in a row in 2017 and 2018. She spearheads the India CSR Leadership Series. She was a finalist of the prestigious Chevening Gurukul Scholarship for Leadership and Excellence –2013, as conferred by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the British Deputy High Commission.

An insightful Social Sector and Policy Development leader with over eight years volunteer and professional experience spanning across Social Sector, Private Sector and Public Sector, designing, implementing and managing initiatives in the areas of Youth Employment, Enterprise Development, Technology Education and Human Capital Development.
Ade’ possesses extensive experience working with the Government, socially responsible Multinational/Private Sector Organizations and Civil Society Organizations in appropriating their social resources towards the development of sustainable solutions and projects which enhances Youth Employment, Job Creation and Economic Development

Hilke Posor works as Change Managerin for the s.Oliver Group and is Management Consultant as well as Managing Partner of Heldenrat GmbH and Founder of Heldenrat e.V., a Consulting Organisation that focus on solutions combining experience and know how of business and social sector. She is also lecture for project-, process- and qualitymanagement, trainer for Change Management and works as facilitator. Furthermore she has experience in the consulting field of the Non-profit Management, of Strategy- and Structure Development as well as Team Development.

Gerhard Prätorius studied economics, German literature and political science in Marburg and Frankfurt am Main. He started his professional career as a research associate at the Faculty of Economics at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, after which he was Project Manager Technology and Transport at the Institute for Ecology and Management of the European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel. In 1992, Prätorius received his doctorate with ‘summa cum laude’ in an innovation economics dissertation on autonomous driving cars at the Faculty of Economics at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University.

Gerhard Prätorius joined Volkswagen in 1992 and started as a policy advisor for environment and transport. After working in research, he was Managing Director of regional development agencies for employment and technology transfer. Gerhard Prätorius established Group-wide coordination for sustainability and CSR in 2006 and since then has held executive positions in sustainability and scientific cooperation within the Volkswagen Group.

Gerhard Prätorius was appointed honorary professor at the TU Braunschweig. He has published numerous articles on the topics of mobility and sustainability. Gerhard Prätorius is a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy, the Executive Board of the Managerkreis der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Convention of the Protestant Academy Loccum.

Professor Danica Purg is President of the IEDC-Bled School of Man agement, Slovenia, and President of CEEMAN, the international association for management development in dynamic societies, which brings together 220 management development institutions from 55 countries. She is also leading UN Global Compact Slovenia and the European Leadership Centre (ELC). In 2010 Prof. Purg received the 2010 International Educator of the Year Award by the Academy of International Business (AIB) for her outstanding achievements in international business education, in 2013 she was the Chair of the PRME Steering Committee and in July 2017, the Global UN PRME Forum awarded Prof. Purg for her pioneering work in establishing the UN PRME initiative. Prof. Purg is professor of leadership and effective management at the IEDC- Bled School of Management. She authored and co-authored several books and numerous articles on leadership issues, her special field of interest is looking for inspirations for managers from art and other professions.

Dr. Andreas Rickert is CEO and founder of PHINEO and incubated the organization as Director of the former program ‘civil society’ at the Bertelsmann Foundation. Andreas also worked as Senior Governance Specialist at the World Bank in Washington D.C. Prior to this he was Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, Inc. globally working on public sector and healthcare projects in Bahrain, The Netherlands, UK and Switzerland. He studied Biology and completed his Ph.D. on genetics in Germany and the United States.

Andreas serves on various boards such as the expert group of the European Commission on social entrepreneurship (GECES) and is member of the German Council for Sustainable Development. His large network comprises top level decision makers in the private, public and third sectors. He has specific expertise in public private partnerships, corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, impact investing, social business and philanthropy.
He speaks German, English and French.

René Schmidpeter holds the Dr. Juergen Meyer Endowed Chair of International Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility at (CBS) and is conference chair of the 8th International Conference on Sustainability and Responsibility in Cologne (ICSR). He is director of the Center for Advanced Sustainable Management (CASM) at CBS, General Secretary of the World Institute of Sustainability and Ethics (WISE) in Bled and Vice-President of the Global Corporate Governance Institute (GCGI). He is a series editor for Springer’s CSR, Sustainability, Ethics and Governance books, a section editor of the Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility (ECSR) and an editor of the Dictionary of Corporate Social Responsibility (DCSR) as well as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of CSR (IJCSR). His research and teaching activities focus on the management of Corporate Social Responsibility, international perspectives on CSR, Social Innovation and Sustainable Entrepreneurship as well as the relationship between business and society. He has published widely, holds several honorary and guest professorships in three continents, is advisor to national and international sustainability initiatives, an international keynote speaker as well as founding manager of M3TRIX in Cologne – an innovative sustainable transformation company.

Joachim Schwalbach is Professor emeritus of International Management at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. From 2004-2006 he was the Dean of the School of Business and Economics. He was a visiting professor at various universities like Harvard, Santa Barbara, Stanford GSB, and Toulouse; and is visiting regularly Peking University-Guanghua School of Management and Sun Yat-sen – Business School in Guangzhou.

Joachim Schwalbach’s research and consulting fields are: corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, responsible leadership, and executive pay, effective boards of directors, corporate and CEO reputation management, and international market entry. He is editor and associate editor for various academic book series and journals, and published books and many articles in leading academic journals.

Joachim Schwalbach was and is on several advisory boards, like as deputy-chairman at the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW), 2011-2014, and INFRANEU-Hauptverband für den Ausbau der Infrastrukturen und Nachhaltigkeit, since 2016.

Joachim Schwalbach organizes the world’s premier international conference on corporate sustainability and responsibility since its inception in 2004.

Janine Steeger is a journalist, moderator and speaker. From 1998 to 2015 she worked for several TV stations in germany and get know a larger audience by hosting a magazine at RTL for seven years. Then she quit her job for take care of environmental protection. She wants to inspire people for a more sustainable lifestyle and finding solutions to safe the planet for the next generations.

Kanji Tanimoto is the Professor of Business and Society at the School of Commerce, Waseda University, Japan. He is the Founder and President of the Japan Forum of Business and Society, an academic association dedicated to exploring the intersection between business and society. He was a visiting professor at Free University of Berlin, , Durham University, and National Taipei University.

His research interests are primarily concerned with the relationship between business and society, especially corporate social responsibility, social enterprises and social innovation. He is an editorial member of a number of journals and publishing numerous papers and books.

Additionally, he has been active as a consultant and has advised numerous leading Japanese companies on the topic of CSR management over the last 20 years.

Dr. Dirk Voeste is Vice President of Sustainabiltiy Strategy at BASF SE, Ludwigshafen. Being in this position since 2012 he is responsible for BASFs sustainability strategy, the implementation into the business activities and decision making processes as well as sustainability stakeholder relation management. He is also heading the eco-efficiency analysis and sustainability evaluations, including Value-to-Society; BASFs monetary assessment of business impacts on society along the value chain.

In 1994 Dirk Voeste graduated with a Ph.D. in biotechnology and agricultural botany from University Bonn in Germany and a M.Phil. in Post Harvest Technology from the Cranfield Institute of Technology in England. After his studies he was a responsible scientist in cooperation with NASA, USA. Since 1998 he has held various positions in the field of biotechnology, breeding and crop protection. Dirk joined BASF SE in 2001. He previously held responsibilities in research as well as in global marketing functions. Among others he was Head of Sustainability and Product Stewardship for the Crop Protection Division.