/ 1 June 2023 /

Ivan Krastev is the chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna. He is a founding board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Open Society Foundations Board of Directors, a member of the Board of Trustees of The International Crisis Group and member of the Board of Directors of GLOBSEC. He was a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times (2015-2021) and currently is a Financial Times contributing editor. Ivan Krastev is the author of "Is it Tomorrow, Yet? How the Pandemic Changes Europe" (Allen Lane, 2020); The Light that Failed: A Reckoning (Allen Lane, 2019), co-authored with Stephen Holmes - won the 30th Annual Lionel Gelber Prize; “After Europe” (UPenn Press, 2017); “Democracy Disrupted. The Global Politics on Protest” (UPenn Press, 2014) and “In Mistrust We Trust: Can Democracy Survive When We Don't Trust Our Leaders?” (TED Books, 2013). Ivan Krastev is the winner of the Jean Améry Prize for European Essay Writing 2020.

/ 3 May 2023 /

Frank commenced his higher education with studies in Philosophy and Theology at the University of Vienna. While on a sabbatical he started an MBA which he in 2002. Frank also has an MSc in Development, an MSc in Human Resource Management, and an MPA.

Frank has spent most of his professional career in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) where he worked for the past 38 years. He started work in statistics and financial management, moving on to project management. He then spent over 10 years in the Evaluation Section, later moving on to Strategic Planning. He saw the need for training and capacity building for better quality projects and was instrumental in the creation of a training unit and quality assurance for development projects. In the more recent past, the Director General of the IAEA designated Frank to be the Chief of Ethics of the organization where he remains until the present.

Frank is a firm believer in lifelong learning and a crusader for sustainable development in developing countries. Frank also worked for over 12 years as a part-time lecturer for Strategy at the Open University Business School.

Frank is an avid reader, likes hiking and cycling, and has a passion for choirs.

/ 19 April 2023 /

Dr. Mukherjee is currently a Senior Lecturer at James Cook University’s Singapore Campus and a Visiting International Researcher at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. She has previously held research and teaching positions in Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and Essec, Singapore. Malobi has over 15 years of research, teaching and consultancy experience in customer relationship management, services marketing, retail format development and retail public policy. She has published in Long Range Planning, Sustainability, Futures, Asia Pacific Business review and International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer research. She is also the author of an edited book on Retail Development in Emerging Markets published by Routledge. Malobi has been quoted in the Straits Times and Business Times (Singapore) and written opinion pieces for leading newspapers such as Indian Express, Times of India, and Business Times. Malobi is also a futurist specialising in the Scenario Planning which she has used for several retail research and consultancy projects across Asia, Australia and Europe. Malobi earned her undergraduate degree at Presidency University, Kolkata, India; her Masters in Business Administration from Leeds University, UK and her PhD from Alliance Manchester Business School, UK where she was the recipient of the AXA PPP Healthcare scholarship.

/ 15 March 2023 /

An experienced global leader in technology, investments and quality & standards with more than 30 years of international experience in global development. His involvement includes working in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Dr. Calzadilla has held positions in standardization,technology and investment promotion, innovation, sustainability and social responsibility.

Dr. Calzadilla Sarmiento is former Managing Director for Digitalization, Technology and Agri-Business, UNIDO and was Director for Fair Production, Sustainability Standards and Trade leading the work on quality and standards for trade facilitation, investment for sustainable development and innovation in the context of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).

Mr. Calzadilla also worked as Director for the Technical Assistance and Training at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). He holds a Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria) and Executive Education certificates on trade negotiations from Harvard University.

/ 22 February 2023 /

Beate Meinl-Reisinger is the party leader of “NEOS”, the liberal party in Austria, as well as the leader of NEOS in the National Council. She was co-founder of the party in 2012 and served as a Member of the National Council from 2013 until 2015, and as a Member of the Viennese Local Council from 2015 until 2018. She was first elected party leader in 2018 and reelected in 2021. She holds a law degree from the University of Vienna and a Master in European Studies from the Danube University Krems.

/ 8 Feburary 2023 /

The Global Humanitarian Outlook of UN-OCHA predicts that in 2023 a record number of 339 million people will be in need of humanitarian assistance.

The gap between available funds and growing needs is getting wider. At the same time the space for principled humanitarian action is shrinking. Disregard for International Humanitarian Law, the politicisation of humanitarian assistance and a growing “misunderstanding” of humanitarian principles are making relief operations more dangerous and less effective.

I would like to discuss these challenges and possible ways forward with reference to some focus regions of Austria’s humanitarian assistance (Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Sahel-region).

/ 14 December 2022 /

Ambassador Michael Carpenter was nominated by President Biden to be the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on July 13, 2021.  He was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 3, 2021, by unanimous consent.

/ 9 November 2022 /

Various studies have shown that one of the top five reasons that startups and scaleups fail is that they have ineffective teams at the top. During this interactive fireside chat, Paula and Mark will lead a discussion exploring why it is important for team leaders to focus on the design of high performance teams and the various conditions that need to be in place for success. They will then look closely at how to apply this to newly formed entrepreneurial leadership teams.

/ 5 October 2022 /

Geoffrey W. Smith is the Founder and Managing Partner of Digitalis Ventures, a venture capital firm that partners with founders and scientists across all stages of venture investing to back technology-driven solutions to complex problems in health. He currently represents Digitalis as a Director of GRO Biosciences and Terray Therapeutics.

He is also a Co-Founder and General Partner of Ascent Biomedical Ventures, a New York City-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage life sciences investments. Geoff currently represents Ascent on the Board of Directors of Azevan Pharmaceuticals and Orchestra Biomedical.

Geoff received a B.A. (with honors) from Williams College and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

/ 14 September 2022 /

After years as an in-house lawyer at major banks, she became a private banker at Dresdner and Citibank as well as JPMorgan with stations in Frankfurt, Berlin, New York and Zurich and Geneva. She was a member of the UBS Brand Management Team and took over the management of the UBS Art Collection. Responsible for the branding and marketing of the collection, she organized major exhibitions at MoMA New York, Tate Modern in London, National Art Museum in Beijing, art museums in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Sydney, Melbourne, and Tokyo ... to name a few. She has been an independent entrepreneur in the digital space for more than 7 years. She is the co-founder of the Swiss Legal Tech Conference, wrote a book on Legal Tech, became Woman of Legal Tech in D-A-CH in 2018 and European Woman of Legal Tech in 2020. In 2018, she founded the Davos Digital Forum, a think tank dedicated to smart city developments. Finally, in summer 2021 she founded Rolemodel Rebels, an international, cross-professional platform connecting women throughout their careers with learning resources, coaching opportunities, and networks to support their professional growth.

/ 22 June 2022 /

Liz Skalla is the co-founder of GIVN Goods, makers of GIVN Water. GIVN is a social enterprise, certified B Corporation, and one-for-one company that supports social justice. Their flagship product GIVN Water provides a day of clean water to people in need for every bottle drank, and to date, 5 million days of clean water have been achieved. Liz proudly builds brands that matter. Her background includes first startup PiecesofThere, which helped college students feel less homesick, and was sold to a competitor after three years. Liz has been trained in the lean startup method by accelerator programs like Founder Institute and Foodx. She has raised capital, built boards of advisors, leads all sales and marketing for GIVN, launches new products for the business, and continues to ensure all efforts help people and/or the world. Liz often speaks at events on topics including growing brands with purpose that also generate profit.

/ 23 February 2022 /

Ronald-Peter Stoeferle is managing partner of Incrementum AG and responsible for Research and Portfolio Management.

He studied business administration and finance in the USA and at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, and also gained work experience at the trading desk of a bank during his studies. Upon graduation he joined the research department of Erste Group, where in 2007 he published his first In Gold We Trust report. Over the years, the In Gold We Trust report has proceeded to become one of the benchmark publications on gold, money, and inflation.

Since 2013 he has held the position as reader at scholarium in Vienna, and he also speaks at Wiener Börse Akademie (i.e. the Vienna Stock Exchange Academy). In 2014, he co-authored the international bestseller “Austrian School for Investors”, and in 2019 “Die Nullzinsfalle” (The Zero Interest Rate Trap). He is a member of the board of directors at Tudor Gold Corp. (TUD), a significant explorer in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle as well as a member of the advisory board of Affinity Metals (AFF). Moreover, he joined as an advisor to Matterhorn Asset Management, a global leader in wealth preservation in the form of physical gold stored outside the banking system.

/ 2 February 2022 /

Dr. Markus Engels is a social scientist with a background in politics and international affairs. He studied social sciences in Duisburg, Portsmouth/UK, and Berlin and obtained his doctorate at the faculty of law at the University of Munich (LMU).

Markus Engels has worked as a senior scientific advisor at the German Federal Parliament, the European Parliament and the Executive Board of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

He headed the office of Deputy Party Chairman Frank-Walter Steinmeier and served as spokesman and campaign manager for Martin Schulz, during his tenure as President of the European Parliament and as SPD Chairman.

Furthermore, Markus Engels participated in the drafting of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the charter of fundamental rights for the digital age, initiated by charitable foundations.

/ 19. January 2022 /

Florian Dorfbauer is leading the Vienna Development Lab of Dynatrace, the world market leader in software intelligence. He works on designing and building the Dynatrace Hub which serves as central place to extend the Dynatrace platform. Dynatrace has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2019. The technological and creative heart of software development at Dynatrace beats in Europe with Austria hosting the headquarters and the majority of the company's global engineering footprint.

Florian is an enthusiastic entrepreneur and founded several companies. He has over a 15 years of industry experience in building and shaping SaaS businesses and has a track record of delivering on rapid organizational expansion.

He holds a PhD in Numerical Physics. Currently, he is living in Vienna.

/ 1. December 2021 /

Shermin Voshmgir is the author of the book Token Economy, the founder of Token Kitchen and BlockchainHub Berlin. In the past she was the director of the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics which she also co-founded. She was a curator of TheDAO (Decentralized Investment Fund), an advisor to Jolocom (Web3 Identity), Wunder (Tokenized Art) and the Estonian E-residency program.

Shermin studied Information Systems Management at the Vienna University of Economics and film-making in Madrid. She is Austrian, with Iranian roots, and works on the intersection of technology, art & social science.

/ 17. November 2021 /

Triin Kask is the CEO of the augmented reality based social platform Plop. She’s one of the board members of Estonian Founders Society and actively participates in different activities aiming to increase diversity in the startup sector.
Triin has been running various companies since 2009.

/ 13. October 2021 /

Hemdat Sagi is the Chief of Strategy and Business Development Officer at Konnect- Volkswagen Group Innovation hub in Tel Aviv.

She joined Audi in 2016 and worked as the brand’s Scouting & Innovation representative in Israel. In 2017, she was hired by the VW Group as a freelancer and established the first Innovation hub of the Volkswagen Group in Tel Aviv, named Konnect.

Before, she served as a diplomat in Berlin, heading the Economic and Trade Mission at the Israeli Embassy in Germany. Hemdat worked at the Israeli Ministry of Economy for 3.5 years in several roles.

Even before, Hemdat worked as a parliamentary assistant to two members of Knesset, advising on governmental, legislation, political, and media issues.

Hemdat is a lawyer by training and holds two degrees in Law (LL.B, LL.M) from Bar Ilan University. She has a diploma in Management from the Berlin-based business school ESMT and in 2020 completed a program on Negotiation by the Harvard Negotiation Program.

/ 22. September 2021 /

Dr. Adam Lessing is the Head of CEE and Member of the Board of LGT Bank Austria. His responsibilities encompass the activities of LGT in RU, UK, KZ, CZ, SK, HU, RO.

LGT is the world’s largest private banking and asset management group, managing over 240 bn CHF of client assets.

Prior Adam was the Head of CEE for Fidelity International, Head of Business Development Europe for the asset manager AVIVA and held leading positions with AXA Investment Managers, Goldman Sachs Asset Management et al.

In March 2020 his latest book "Sustainable Investing against Climate Change“ was published.

Adam holds a doctorate in law (Dr.iur.) from the University of Vienna and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of California, Berkeley.

/ 7. July 2021 /

Sarah Lewis serves as the VP for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Hartford Healthcare. In this role she oversees the development and implementation of the system’s strategy to quantify and introduce interventions to reduce health disparities across the communities HHC serves.

Sarah served as Vice President for Health System Services at the Greater New York Hospital Association. Sarah’s professional background includes service in both the legislative and executive branches of NY State government. While working in state government, she served as deputy chief of staff to the lieutenant governor and subsequently as assistant secretary for policy to the governor.

B.A. in Human Biology (Stanford) & Master in Public Health (Columbia).

/ 16. June 2021 /

Peg Nicholls is a SaaS Sales leader known for building successful sales teams and inspiring high growth rewarding cultures. Peg leads the Cisco Worldwide Conferencing, Calling & Video Sales Acceleration Team and is a Global Lead for Cisco's Disability Awareness Network.

She is a Board member at North Georgia Autism Foundation and is passionate about helping people with disabilities find strength and self-esteem leading to the grit and determination to compete in the workplace.

She is helping to launch The Georgia Bridge Academy to offer tuition free access to a Network Security Academy for young adults with disabilities and then partner with companies to place for employment.

/ 19. May 2021 /

Jens Schadendorf is an economist, author, keynote speaker, panelist and a book changemaker.

Jens focuses on LGBTIQ+ equality, responsible business, organizational and social change and thought leadership.

An award-winning editorial and publishing director for many years, he has worked with bestselling authors such as Jack Welch, Bill Clinton, Peter Drucker, Anita Roddick, and Hans-Werner Sinn. Today his main business is to advise companies, scientists, managers, and medical doctors on book projects globally. These have been published by well-known US, British and German media houses, as well as some in Japan, China, France, Brazil, Korea, and Russia.

www.schadendorf-bcc.com
www.gaymechanger.com

/ 20. January 2021 /

Dr. Nicola Redi brings 20+ years experience in translating innovations into the market through venture capital investments & R&D.

He is managing the first ever tech transfer fund on Industry 4.0 tech. His venture capital past appointments include CIO/CTO of TTVenture & member of the investment committees of the French lifescience fund Technologie et Santé I and Atmos II renewable energy fund.

He created & was appointed CEO of SeedLab, the first accelerator program for research-based projects & companies. He served leading multinational industrial corporates with Global & EMEA leadership positions in R&D. He is Italian rep among the High Level Group for Innovation Policy Management & is author of various international innovation publications.