The TCS Summit Europe is an exclusive, invite-only conference that has now emerged as Europe’s premier conference for senior leaders. Hosted by the CEO of TCS and its European leadership team, the event is held annually in a major European city. The two day conference brings together 350+ top executives (CXOs, Chairmen, Board Members, and Senior Management Executives) from 130 companies across Europe. The 2018 edition of the TCS Summit Europe takes place in Budapest, Hungary between 26th and 28th September at the InterContinental Hotel.
Business 4.0: Going Agile in a Machine First World
Global companies are increasingly leveraging the combined effect of digital technologies to be “future fit,” helping to drive business decisions, growth and their transformation journeys. At TCS, we call this amalgamation of business and technology Business 4.0, where organizations are becoming more intelligent, agile, automated, and on the cloud. They are shifting mind-sets from one of optimizing scarce resources to that of harnessing an abundance of resources, capital and talent. In turn, they are characterized by their ability to mass personalize, actively leverage ecosystems and embrace risk in delivering exponential growth.
TCS Summit 2018 will showcase how global companies across industries are adopting a Business 4.0 framework. How the cloud is powering location independent agile methodologies at scale — allowing enterprises to meet ‘on-demand’ customer expectations, significantly compress innovation project life cycles and deliver differentiated value. And how artificial intelligence, automation and robotics require a vast sea-change in conventional thinking regarding human-machine collaboration – where machines get the first right of refusal on time intensive and complex tasks, and human productivity and customer experiences are elevated to new heights.
The 2018 edition of the TCS Summit Europe takes place in Budapest, Hungary between 26th and 28th September at the InterContinental Hotel.
Between them they have won the World Cup, the European Championship, the Champions League, and multiple league titles and trophies in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and England.
Read moreWhen an ash cloud caused travel chaos across Europe seven years ago, KLM’S digital response earnt us a reputation as ‘the social media airline’.
Read moreThe postal service is one of the oldest industries in the world. For many years, companies like PostNord have performed a vital role in ensuring letters and parcels are delivered on time.
Read moreIn an increasingly digital world, customers want fast service but they also expect good service.
Read moreOver the years the TCS Summit has transformed itself into the premier event for senior leaders in Europe. In 2017, it celebrates 12 years of enabling debate of the issues of highest concern to European businesses and political circles. Over 100 of the region’s foremost business, sports, community and political leaders have addressed its previous editions, including eight heads of government from across the region: former Deputy Prime Minister of the UK, Nick Clegg MP, President Sarkozy from France, Chancellor Schroeder from Germany, Prime Minister Aznar from Spain, Prime Minister Bildt from Sweden, Prime Minister Leterme of Belgium and Prime Ministers Monti and Prodi from Italy.
Here’s a short synopsis of our previous events:
Building on his 35 plus years’ experience covering the spectrum of IT services, business processes and IT operations, PRK creates synergy across multiple TCS service lines and oversees TCS’ next generation automation capabilities leveraging AI and Machine First Delivery Model (MFDM™). PRK leads initiatives that take a Machine First™ approach to solving complex business challenges, using emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, smart automation, machine learning and cognitive thinking.
Prior to creating EIA & AI, he was the global head of IT Infrastructure Services (ITIS) at TCS, where he built the service line to nearly 3 Billion USD, positioning TCS as a game changer in the post Y2K era.
Long-time journalist for The Economist, Adrian Wooldridge speaks on a wide range of subjects from management to politics to globalization and the economy.
He writes The Economist’s Bagehot Column and is Management Editor. Adrian was previously the “Schumpeter” Columnist. He also has served as the magazine’s Washington Bureau Chief, Los Angeles Correspondent, and Social Policy Editor (specializing in education and health care).
Adrian is the coauthor or coeditor with fellow Economist journalist John Micklethwait of six books on globalization and business, including The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to Reinvent the State, The Right Nation, The Company, God is Back and the bestseller The Witch Doctors.
Róbert Ésik is an economist and a finance & investment analysis expert. He graduated at the Corvinus University of Budapest and earned a master’s degree at the Université Panthéon Assas in Paris.
He spent almost 15 years in various positions at the largest ICT companies in the world, such as Alcatel, Siemens, Nokia and Amazon. As the country director of Nokia Solutions and Networks he played a key role in the Hungarian subsidiary becoming one of Nokia’s most important technology development centres.
Róbert’s professional, as well as personal ambition is to further promote his homeland as a favourable investment location and by so doing contribute to Hungary’s economic and social development.
In 2012, Louis joined ASML as CIO to manage and lead IT. He supported ASML in their growth ambitions, focusing on strengthening the IT organization, standardization and virtualization of the worldwide infrastructure, and complexity reduction in business processes and IT applications. In 2014 he was honored with “CIO of the Year 2014 – award”.
Prior to joining ASML, he has served as a CIO for NXP Semiconductors for about 6 years (2006 – 2012), focusing on managing and leading the disentanglement from Philips and Simplify SAP Landscape. Before joining NXP Louis worked at Philips (1987 – 2006) where he managed several global projects in Supply Chain Management and later was responsible for the integration of newly acquired companies in Eastern Europe.
Marjan Oudeman is a Dutch citizen with a long career in industry, including a full term of presidency for one of the leading research universities in Europe. She is a lawyer by background and has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Rochester, and has accrued almost 28 years in Tata Steel in various corporate and managerial positions.
Marjan has held several board positions in listed and unlisted companies, in the Netherlands and abroad, such as ABN AMRO bank and Statoil ASA (now called Equinor ASA). Currently she is a non-executive board member of SHV Holdings NV, Aalberts Industries NV, Solvay SA, UPM-Kymmene Corp and NLMK Group.
René leads development of Randstad’s digital tech and touch strategy and its implementation across the group globally. René’s passion lies where business and digital join hands to better serve customers. He is a supervisory board member of KPMG and former board member of the global advisory board of IBM. He previously held CIO roles with Rabobank and Essent and has a combined 25 years of experience working with McKinsey & Company and Procter & Gamble.
David Mattin is Global Head of Trends and Insights at TrendWatching. A sought-after keynote speaker and widely published writer, he speaks regularly at high-profile conferences around the world, including The Next Web 2018, the 15 Seconds Festival and NEXT Conference.
After graduating from the University of Cambridge, David’s career began at the features desk of The Times. Since then, his business, innovation and trends journalism has appeared everywhere from Fast Company to the Guardian to Google Think Quarterly. An experienced broadcaster, David also has written and presented documentaries for BBC Radio.
At TrendWatching, David leads trend thinking. As an innovation and consumer insight expert, he is regularly quoted across UK broadsheets and by international media. David is the co-author of Trend-Driven Innovation, published by Wiley.
Thomas Lee-Warren is Chief Technology Officer for R2 Data Labs, playing a leading role in driving data innovation, artificial intelligence, and a digital-first mindset within Rolls-Royce. His career spans retail, grocery, aerospace, government, engineering, logistics, building consortia and finance.
Thomas is an active participant in the lean start-up community and is supporting the next wave of business leaders by mentoring female entrepreneurs at the Said Business School, Oxford University: Ascent Programme.
Howard Watson is BT Group’s Chief Technology and Information Officer. When Howard joined BT in October 2011 he brought 30 years of telecoms experience with him, including time spent at Virgin Media and Telewest. He possesses a broad knowledge of operational leadership, technology and IT, fortified by his expertise in strategic development, business transformation and post-merger integration. He also has strong experience in innovating and delivering transformational products in the UK cable industry. His areas of expertise include telephony, digital TV, video on demand, high definition TV and ‘ultra’ high speed broadband. Howard is passionate about technology and innovation, and bringing transformational products to market.
‘The outside world is ever changing and KLM needs to keep up’. As Chief Executive Officer of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Pieter Elbers aspires to make KLM the most customer centric, efficient and innovative airline of Europe. In 2017 this aspiration resulted in a record turnover of more than €10 billion and a profit sharing by the employees of €170 million. In order to lead the airline into its next century of existence after 2019, he considers technological innovation for both customer and employees to be vital.
After obtaining his engineering title, Pieter Elbers started his career with KLM in 1992 on the platform as Manager Aircraft loading. Next to his current role in KLM and as managing director of the Air France-KLM Group, he is a member of the Board of Governors of IATA and has a leading role in the Dutch business world as managing director of VNO-NCW.
He is married and has three kids. Convinced that a healthy mind equals a healthy body, he runs regularly to stay fit.
Prior to becoming CIO of ING WB Tech, Michael amassed more than 20 years of international experience across retail and wholesale banking.
During his career at ING, which began in 2010, he has led many strategic change projects across ING’s Retail and Wholesale Banking divisions including the IT integration between ING Bank and Postbank and the implementation of the Core Bank in the Netherlands.
Dedicated and professional with a fantastic sense of humor, Gabby is one of the UK’s leading broadcasters.
A former international gymnast, Gabby began her broadcasting career in radio in 1992 and joined Sky Sports in 1996 where she quickly established herself as one of their key presenters. She joined ITV in 1998 and during her time at the channel Gabby’s repertoire expanded through presenting various fixtures including The World Cup and Champions League. In 2004 Gabby hosted Sport Relief for the BBC before joining the corporation in 2007.
While at the BBC Gabby has presented the Final Score, Inside Sport, Invictus Games, MOTD Six Nations, The Olympic Journey, The One Show, Inspire: The Premier League Show, The World Swimming Championships, and Women’s Football, making her one of the network’s most integral faces. She was also a key member of the BBC’s presenting team for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, 2014 Brazil World Cup, and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Following various stints on the station, Gabby began presenting a weekly Sunday morning show on 5Live in 2008 and until 2011 presented the Gabby Logan show during weekdays. She also hosted a live daily show Live with Gabby on Channel 5. In 2013 Gabby presented I Love My Country, a primetime patriotic quiz show for BBC1 along with the celebrity diving show Splash! on ITV with Vernon Kay and Tom Daley. That year also saw her presenting Sport Relief from the Olympic Park as well as hosting the BBC’s first ever Sports Prom. In 2015, she hosted the primetime entertainment show Flockstars for ITV.
Eoin Conneely is the Vice President and Head of ADP Program & Strategy Implementation for PDU OSS. Prior to this role, Eoin amassed over 25 years’ experience with Ericsson (LM Ericsson Limited), and also holds extensive professional experience in software and Agile S/W development.
Eoin earned his Bachelor of Engineering Electronic (1989-1993) from National University of Ireland, Galway
and is currently working on his own book about Agile.
Andrew Brothers is the Chief Information Officer of Albert Heijn, the leading food retailer in the Netherlands. As CIO he is responsible for the strategic direction of technology for the operating unit covering Albert Heijn, Etos, Gall & Gall and AH.NL.
Prior to this Andrew has worked for Whitbread Group PLC as the Group IT Director and IBM UK in the business consulting services group. He started his career with Sainsburys’ working in both the operations and commercial divisions.
Andrew has an MBA from Kingston University Business School as well as a BA in Retail Marketing from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Ruud Gullit is a world-renowned Dutch football coach and former player. He is currently an analyst and pundit for the Eredivisie on Tien TV and on Sky Sports for UEFA Champions League games.
Ruud became the world’s most expensive player in 1987 when he moved from PSV Eindhoven to Milan for a then-record £6.5 million. He ended his career as a professional football player with Chelsea FC where he stayed on to manage the London club. Ruud has also managed clubs such as Newcastle United FC and Feyenoord Rotterdam. Ruud is one of the most successful footballers in recent history, both as a player and a manager. Ruud has raised money for various charities participating in ambassador duties for UNICEF. In 2006 Gullit hosted a chat show on Dutch TV interviewing, amongst others, Nelson Mandela. He also appeared as a pundit for ITV during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Felix Baumgartner is a skydiver and BASE jumper with 14 world records in BASE jumps all over the planet. Besides BASE jumps, he was the first person in the world to cross the English Channel with a carbon fibre wing and the first to compete flying next to a plane.
Nicknamed “Fearless Felix” and “God of the skies”, he made history in 2012 by breaking the world record for the highest-ever skydive, jumping from a balloon more than 39km (128,000 ft) up in the stratosphere and became the first person to break the speed of sound in freefall as part of the Red Bull STRATOS project. Extreme sports aside, Felix is also a prominent advocate for the nonprofit ‘Wings For Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation’ and is currently developing his own personal humanitarian project, FLY 4 LIFE.
There are few football players worldwide with a similarly impressive career as Lothar Matthäus.
He is World Champion, European Champion, has won the German championship seven times with Bayern Munich and can count three DFB-Cup championships, as well as the UEFA-Cup championship with Bayern Munich and Inter Milan amongst his successes. He was in the Champions League final twice and runner-up world champion two times.
Following 20 years as a national team player, Lothar Matthäus began his successful career as team manager in 2001. His international on-pitch experience led to coaching commitments on a club team level in Serbia, Austria, Brazil and Israel and on a national team level in Hungary and Bulgaria. His offensive playing tactic and leadership qualities led to a series of successes. He won the Austrian and Serbian championships, led Partizan Belgrade to the Champions League and achieved a remarkable away win against Germany with the Hungarian national team.
TCS Summit Europe 2017 took place at Madrid’s landmark Westin Palace Hotel. The programme saw world leaders from business, politics and sports discuss adapting to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and going beyond their regular digital strategies to reimagining every aspect of their enterprise – Business 4.0.
The rapid integration of the physical, digital and biological worlds is impacting all industries and sectors. This provides significant opportunities to those companies who are ready to take advantage.
The word ‘disruption’ has negative connotations, but in today’s digital world it is something that companies should be striving for. If organizations don’t disrupt themselves, then others will enter the fray to disrupt the status quo and take away market share from sleepy incumbents.
In the summit’s discussion of superaccelerators – companies that are able to sustain long-term organic growth – it was made clear that part of these businesses’ success was their ability to bring ideas to market quickly.
Networking activities included guided tours of Real Madrid’s iconic Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and a visit to the Spanish stock exchange, Bolsa de Madrid.
From 2007 to 2011, Javier was General Manager of Financial and Budgetary Policy for the city of Alcalá de Henares.
He previously held the roles of Economic Advisor of the Ministry of Development, Director of the Economic Department of Local Development Company, S.A., as well as the post of Senior Economic Advisor to the Popular Parliamentary Group in the Chamber of Deputies.
From 2015 and until taking office as Deputy Minister of Economy and Innovation in November 2016, Javier held the position of Chief of Cabinet for the Regional Ministry of Economy, Employment and Finance.
Javier has also extensive teaching experience, and has held various management positions within the private sector, including Ferroli Spain, S.A. and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Spain.
Steve joined Equifax in 2015 as Head of Enterprise Architecture for Europe. He’s gained significant IT Management and Domain expertise in a career which spans over 20 years across Information Services, Credit, Telco, Financial Services, Retail, Utilities and Digital. Steve has successfully led numerous large-scale solutions for a wide variety of Strategic clients.
In his current role, Steve is responsible for designing and chalking out the Business and IT Transformation initiatives within Equifax Europe which has led to not only generating significant revenue streams but also making Equifax one of the leading credit bureaus in the geography.
Marc is the chief information officer of Engie Electrabel for the commercial activities in Belgium and Luxembourg.
He is a linguist who has spent his entire career in functions between the business and IS, translating the business requirements to IS and the IS constraints to business.
His first job was with Apple, where he was in charge of training and graphical user interfaces. After creating a company specialising in ergonomics and human-machine interfaces, Marc decided in the mid-1990s to take his expertise to larger corporations to help develop their internet presence on a broad scale, first with Canon Inc. and then with Engie Electrabel.
His excellency, Ambassador Venkatesh Varma serves as the Ambassador of the Republic India to the Kingdom of Spain. He is concurrently accredited as the Ambassador of lndia to the Principality of Andorra. Having joined the Indian Foreign Services in 1988, he has previously served as the Indian Embassies in Moscow, Tashkent and Geneva. He served as the Ambassador and Permanent representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament and as a Director in the Indian Prime Minister’s Office, playing a key role towards the US-India civil nuclear agreement. He was the first recipient of the S.K. Singh award for excellence in the Indian Foreign Service and has regularly been a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations General assembly. He holds a Masters degree in International Relations and is considered as one of the world’s foremost experts in the field of disarmament.
As chief operating officer and a member of the Executive Board, Nick is responsible for delivery of NEST, the UK-based occupational pension scheme. NEST has grown from a zero base in 2011 to supporting over 5 million members, 400,000 employers and £2 billion ($2.6 billion) of assets. Nick has been at NEST since its inception and was Director of Programmes for the initial setup. Throughout, Nick has been responsible for preparations to ensure NEST’s unprecedented (and ongoing) growth was successfully navigated and delivered at a sustainably low cost base. Before working at NEST, Nick was CEO of Alpheus Solutions Limited, a niche technology delivery consultancy working across a range of mobile and financial services clients in Germany, Sweden and the UK, and a non-executive director of the mobile content/app generator start-up Refresh Mobile Limited. Nick’s work at Alpheus and NEST is built on around 10 years’ experience at PWC, consulting on a number of technology and change delivery assignments in the UK and overseas. Nick has an Engineering degree from Cambridge University and is currently based in the south of England with his family.
Former Foreign Minister of Spain and of the European Union
One of Spain’s most important political figures, both because of his national standing and his key role in geopolitics for over three decades. He has been one of the top officials at two multilateral organizations of fundamental global importance: NATO and the EU. He began his career as a public administrator in Spain and held the posts of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Education and Minister of Culture, as well as government spokesperson. In the international arena, he has been Secretary General of NATO, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Commander in Chief of EUFOR. Pro-European and a champion of multilateralism, he is considered a man of consensus and a skillful negotiator. He drew up the EU’s first strategic security doctrine and gave substantial input to the European Security and Defense Policy. Since 2009, he has been a regular speaker at important institutions and think tanks, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Foreign Policy Association, Esade’s Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics and the East West Institute (EWI).
Scott Jacobs is a Partner at Heidrick & Struggles’ London office and part of Heidrick’s consulting practice. He leads the global Organizational Acceleration service line, helping companies improve their performance and transform their cultures. He has worked with Fortune 1000 companies as well as small-cap organizations under private ownership. Previously, Scott had management responsibility for the Technology and Services Practice across EMEA and he often works with technology clients or those driving digital transformation. He is a member of the board practice in EMEA and has led a number of Chairman and NED searches and board reviews in sectors relevant to his background. Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, he had a career in management consulting, first in the United States and then in Europe. He has worked at Accenture, Gemini Consulting and Cluster Consulting (now part of Oliver Wyman). His teams addressed a variety of projects, from multi-million dollar restructuring projects at large organisations to new-business launches for technology start-ups. He graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Rosario Rey García is currently General Director of Economy and Financial Policy of the Community of Madrid and President of Avalmadrid(1). Mrs. Rey started her professional journey in private banking and developed her career in the area of Public Administration. Since 1995 Rosario has occupied different roles in the Public Administration, in the budgetary domain, the economy, employment and Innovation. In the Community of Madrid Rosario has held positions of General Secretary of the Madrid Institute of Training and Manager of the Agency of Employment. Also, in the field of innovation Rosario was Director of the Technological Science Park of the University of Alcalá and Director of Innovation. At the Board of Castilla-La Mancha has been General Director of Budgets since 2011 until her incorporation into the Community of Madrid in July 2015. Rosario holds a degree in Economics and Business Studies from the
Complutense University of Madrid, in the specialty of financial analysis, and has carried out the Executive in Public Leadership at the Instituto de Empresa.
(1): a Reciprocal Guarantee Company whose job is to facilitate and help the financing of SMEs, self-employed and entrepreneurs of the Community of Madrid, improving the financing conditions and / or subsidy that Madrid companies can access both in cost and On time. Avalmadrid is a company owned by the Community of Madrid, Bankia, Cámara de Madrid, Santander, Caixabank, Popular, Grupama and CEIM.
With over 25 years’ experience in the telco sector, Cristina has held several director positions including AlcatelLucent (1992-1995), Vodafone (1996-2006), Telefónica Spain (from 2006) as CIO (Chief Information Officer) and Director of Services Development. Cristina has also been a member of the board of directors since 2009. A proactive participant in Foros representing Telefónica, Cristina is also active in promoting and improving the role of women in the technology industry. She holds a Telecommunications Engineer Degree from UPM (1987-1992) and attended the Management Development Programme at IESE. Cristina is convinced about the importance of diversity to create competent teams. She has recently been nominated for “Engineer of the Year 2017” award by COIT and AEIT and Autelsi 2017 Career Award in TIC.
Kees started his career in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. After 13 years of service, he took up a position in the private sector working for oil and gas company, Total. He joined Hoogovens in 1997 and went on to hold various directorships in Logistics and Transport, Commercial and Business Development, and Research and Development. Kees was appointed Group Director Supplies and Transport for Corus in 2005 and was responsible for purchasing. From 2008, he implemented the integration of the purchasing function and oversaw synergies within the Tata Steel Group and Corus.
He was appointed to the role of Group Director of Procurement for the Tata Steel Group in October 2009, with an annual budget of $18 billion.
In 2013, he became responsible for the TSE Supply Chain and Outbound transport. He was appointed as CIO of Tata Steel Europe in January 2016, and is responsible for contract management, modernization of the IT landscape, driving the digital agenda and data management. He has an MBA and an Executive MBA qualification in Strategy and Business Development.
Paul is chief information officer (CIO) for the John Lewis Partnership, where he is responsible for leading and coordinating IT across John Lewis, Waitrose and the JLP Group. Prior to holding this position, Paul was IT Director at John Lewis from 2011, where he helped to create and deliver the John Lewis omni-channel strategy, which has delivered 40% online sales for the retail business. During this time JL IT delivered the new platform for johnlewis.com, the new mobile site, launched myJL and installed the new electronic point of sale system.
Before this, Paul was CIO at British Airways for 10 years where he helped develop ba.com, including calendarbased selling of flights, self-service check-in and the ability to combine flight bookings with hotels and other services online. Prior to joining British Airways, Paul was a civil servant in the Departments of Transport and Environment, where he worked in Ministerial Private Office and on aviation, highways and rail policy. Paul’s previous roles have included Non-Executive Chair of SITA; Non-Executive Director at P&O Ferries; Chair of the eSkills UK CIO Board and Chair of the oneworld airline CIO Group. He is currently Non-Executive Director on the Pets at Home Group and Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Group Boards.
Steven Krupp is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Leadership Consulting group and a member of the firm’s global CEO & Board Practice.
As the knowledge leader for leadership development, he works to help individual leaders mobilize, execute, and transform with agility. Krupp helps senior leaders execute Heidrick & Struggles’ Accelerating Performance framework as they look to shape their teams and organizations in a disruptive and volatile environment. To that end, he guides executives to develop their capabilities for strategic agility, transformation, decision-making, collaboration, customer centricity, and innovation. He continually advises CEOs on how to implement winning strategies for an uncertain world, and shape adaptive organizations that flex to rapidly changing demands.
Krupp has also served as senior managing partner at Decision Strategies International and as a senior partner at Oliver Wyman/Mercer Delta. He is co-author of the book Winning the Long Game: How Strategic Leaders Shape the Future, which provides a leadership roadmap to navigate today’s volatile environment. Krupp has also published articles on leadership and strategy in Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal and MIT Sloan Management Review. He holds a Ph.D. in organizational development from Temple University.
Rajesh was appointed as CEO & MD of TCS in February 2017, having previously served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) since 2013.
During his tenure, TCS has emerged as one of the leading private sector employers worldwide with 387,000 consultants and revenues of US$17.6 billion. Under Rajesh’s leadership, TCS was rated in 2017 as one of the world’s top three most valuable brands in IT Services and recognized as a Global Top Employer by the Top Employers Institute across 27 countries.
Prior to his role as CFO, Rajesh was the Vice President for Business Finance. He joined TCS in 2001 from Tata Industries, and played a key role in expanding TCS’ newly established e-business unit into the United States.
He has worked on multiple assignments with Tata companies as part of the Tata Strategic Management Group since 1996. Rajesh was awarded the ‘Young Alumni Achiever’s Award’ in the ‘Corporate Leader’category from IIM, Ahmedabad. An electrical and electronic engineer from NIT Trichy, Rajesh graduated in 1994. He went on to pursue a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad.
Frans was appointed as Group Chief Information Officer of ABN AMRO in February 2014. After an intensive period of separating and integrating, ABN AMRO is now fully focused on its future again. In February 2017, he was appointed as a member of the Executive Committee and as Retail Bank CEO. He previously held a number of positions within ABN in the branch network.
Previously at Fortis Bank Netherlands, he served as global COO of the Retail Banking business (Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Turkey, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland). In 2007 he became Vice Chairman of the Managing Board at Fortis. After the turmoil in the banking industry he moved to Senior Managing Director ABN AMRO Bank N.V., responsible for Global Operations, Facility Management Services and Procurement. Frans has a background in business economics.
Javier is President of MasterCard Europe and a member of the company’s Management Committee.
He is responsible for the Europe region and Global Accounts, encompassing 53 countries and working with 9,000 MasterCard financial institutions. He also helped establish the World Food Programme-MasterCard partnership. Javier joined MasterCard in 1996 and prior to taking on his current role in 2006, he was president of the Latin America and Caribbean region, achieving significant growth. He began his banking career with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA). While at BBVA, he held various top level international positions including country executive for Tokyo and Hong Kong operations; president of the bank’s Miami subsidiary, managing bank operations in Latin America and Southeast US; head of payment systems, commercial banking and new banking products in Spain; and international area head for the Asia, Middle East and Africa regions. He has also served in executive positions at Banca Catalana, Banco Directo, Lider Direct Marketing, Lider Telemarketing, Lider Advertising and Visa International.
N. Ganapathy Subramaniam (NGS) has been chief operating officer of TCS since February 2017. He has also been an Additional Director and Chairman of Tata Elxsi Limited since November, 2014. Prior to taking over the COO’s role he served as the Executive Vice President and Head of TCS Financial Solutions, a strategic business unit of TCS.
In that role, he was responsible for overseeing the non-linear growth strategies, products and platform businesses for TCS. In steering TCS Financial Solutions, he led the company’s efforts in launching a suite of products for banking, capital markets and insurance domains – TCS BaNCS – many of which have become world-class solutions used by major financial institutions globally. Over the past 35 years, he has held many key leadership positions in TCS across client delivery, business development, integration of businesses and product development.
Hilde is a professional with 20+ years’ expertise in preclinical and clinical pharmaceutical research. She has hands-on experience and held various management positions in clinical operations, data management, safety management, professional affairs, quality management, strategic business improvement and clinical trial innovation at different pharmaceutical companies, CROs and universities.
Hilde has a passion for complex or so-called mission impossible projects and enjoys bringing different visions and cultures together to create power teams with a “never-give-up” mentality. She has a track record of transforming controversial ideas into reality, a strong strategic and diverse mindset, and makes things works. Hilde has led several major cross-pharma and cross-industry initiatives, including first-of-its-kind engagements with patients, sites, ethics committees and health authorities.
Currently, she heads up top priority patient engagement and digital innovation projects within Janssen R&D to transform the clinical trial environment and beyond. Hilde holds a degree in Engineering in Chemical and Agricultural Sciences, a master’s degree in Environmental Sciences and a PhD in Medical Sciences, all from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
Jos is a veteran business leader with the over 35 years’ experience in driving ‘forward-looking’ strategies to enable organizational growth. Widely renowned in the IT industry, he has successfully delivered IT transformation programmes, performed IT reorganizations to make them more agile, and is highly innovation oriented. At KLM, Jos has worked across multiple management roles as VP Development, Head of Architecture, IT Director Organizer and is currently serving as Vice President – Development Passenger Business and Deputy Vice President Development. At Air France-KLM, he is driving major transformations to take the organization to new heights. Additionally, as VP he is currently responsible for transforming the complete IT organization of Air France and KLM to an agile way of working based on the SAFe framework. Jos is a certified SAFe Agilist. Before joining KLM, he worked for organizations including Delft Hydraulics Laboratory, CapGemini, Neddloyd and EDS.
Michel started his career with BDO Camps Obers as EDP auditor, before joining ABN AMRO Bank in 1992. After working in the corporate NL division, he later moved to the international division leading an implementation organisation with responsibilities to introduce a standard payments infrastructure in the ABN AMRO foreign branches. Subsequently, he took positions as Operations Head for Payments, Securities and later on Fulfilment and Services. He also led the 2.300 fte operations NL department during the separation of RBS and the integration between ABN AMRO and Fortis bank. In his current role as Head of IT Solutions, which he has held since 2013, he is responsible for the development and implementation of IT solutions within the bank. In the journey to bring ABN AMRO into the next digital era of banking, he is also executing a program called TOPS2020, investing in simplification of the IT landscape and further digitization of the ABN AMRO product offering. Michel studied Business Information in Utrecht and Business Economics at the University of Amsterdam.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chandra) is Chairman of the board of Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of more than 100 Tata operating companies with aggregate annual revenues of more than $100 billion. He joined the board of Tata Sons in October 2016 and was appointed Chairman in January 2017. Chandra also chairs the boards of several group operating companies, including Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Indian Hotels and Tata Consultancy Services – of which he was chief executive from 2009 to 2017. His appointment as Chairman followed a 30-year business career at TCS, which he joined from university. He serves as a director on the board of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India. In April 2017, he ran the London Marathon, completing the World Marathon Majors, which also include: New York, Boston, Chicago, Berlin and Tokyo.
Christian served as the Foreign Affairs Editor on TV France 3 and is considered to be one of the world’s leading journalists on geopolitics. An accomplished presidential interview specialist, Christian has interviewed key world leaders including all US, Russian and French presidents of the past four decades. With a keen interest in the Middle East, Christian has interviewed many Israeli Prime Ministers and the Presidents of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iran. Christian now serves as a consultant appearing frequently on global TV channels including CNN, I24News, NBC, Al Jazeera and BBC. He also serves as the Co-President of the European-American press club. He has written a number of books including “Dans le secret des maîtres du monde” chronicling his meetings and conversations with heads of state from across the world.
This year’s Summit will be anchored by the leading international news broadcaster and journalist Andrea Catherwood. In her longstanding career, Andrea has anchored bulletins for Channel 5, NBC Asia, CNBC, ITN, Five News and ITV. In 2009, Andrea presented Bloomberg TV’s flagship business news, politics and current affairs show “The Pulse with Andrea Catherwood”. She has interviewed several global political figures as well as leading CEOs. She is now a regular contributor to ITV’s “This Morning” and writes opinion editorials for the Times and travel articles for the Mail on Sunday. She has also written for the Guardian, Telegraph, Sunday Times and Independent, among others.
In a career spanning more than 30 years, Surya has made a significant contribution to the growth of the global software industry. As President for North America, UK and Europe, Surya is responsible for the continued growth of the company’s global revenues, key customer relationships and technology offerings across TCS’ largest markets. His longstanding tenure at TCS includes establishing the presence of TCS in Japan in 1987, leading UK operations in the 1990s while recording substantial growth and visibility for the organization, and serving as the Head of Operations in North India until 2005. Surya has also spearheaded numerous employee initiatives that have since been adopted as company best practices and recognized through industry awards in the areas of HR (leadership development and diversity) and CSR (education and health). He is affiliated with several academic institutions and a frequent speaker at industry conferences, most notably playing a leading role supporting STEM education and careers.
Shankar serves as the Vice President and Country Head for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) UK & Ireland, which is the company’s second largest country operation worldwide. He is responsible for driving business strategy and operations for the region, which comprises over 150 clients, including 38 FTSE 100 companies in the UK. Additionally, he oversees the Retail & Consumer Practice across Europe, which manages a client portfolio that includes eight of the top 10 retailers in the UK. He joined TCS in 1993 and has since held several key leadership positions in the company, handling operations and management portfolios working in India, US, UK, Sweden and the Netherlands. In 2016, he received the Chairman’s Award at the UK Tech Awards.
As the head of Tata Consultancy Services’ European business, Amit oversees strategic, customer, organizational and operational functions organized around seven sub-regions and 16 countries that make up this unit. In the 19 years that Amit has worked for TCS, he has occupied several leadership roles across geographical markets and industries. Prior to his appointment in 2016 as head of the European business, Amit was the head of TCS’ North European business where he oversaw the emergence of TCS as the industry leading provider in terms of growth and customer satisfaction, helping customers drive twin objectives of simplification and digital transformation. In his spare time, he is passionate about nature, long distance running and behavioural economics.
Björn has an MBA from Warwick Business School, a MSc in Industrial Management and Engineering, and has been Chief Information Officer (CIO) at PostNord since March 2016. He is also a member of the PostNord Group executive team.
Prior to PostNord, Björn was CIO at Sandvik AB, he also held a number of executive IT positions at Sandvik AB and Vattenfall AB. He previously served as Colonel and Chief Controller and Head of Strategic Management at the Swedish Armed Forces, as well as serving in a number of senior military positions in the Air Force.
Lord Hague became leader of the Conservative Party after the 1997 General Election, making him, at 36, the youngest leader of a major political party in the UK in 200 years. He was widely credited for leading a successful campaign against the country joining the Euro. During his tenure as Foreign Secretary from 2010 to 2014, Lord Hague dealt with one of the most tumultuous periods in modern history with unrest across the Middle East, and crises in Europe. In 2012, he launched the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative with UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie Pitt, to address the culture of impunity that exists for crimes of sexual violence in conflict. After four years as Foreign Secretary, he declared his intentions to step down from front-line politics at the 2015 General Election, becoming Leader of the House of Commons in his final 10 months in Government, and retaining his position as First Secretary of State. He was appointed a member of the House of Lords on his retirement from the Commons. Lord Hague is currently chairing the United for Wildlife Taskforce, which is tackling the trafficking of illegal wildlife products.
Neelie was the Vice President of the European Commission, responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe from 2010 to 2014. This portfolio included the information and communications technology and telecommunications sectors ensuring trust and security for the Internet and new technologies.
Neelie now leads StartupDelta, Europe’s gateway for disruptive start-ups and fast growing tech companies based in the Netherlands. Her political career started at the Rotterdam Municipal Council. She was elected as a Member of the Dutch Parliament and served as Minister for Transport, Public Works and Telecommunication. After politics, Neelie was appointed President of Nyenrode University and served on various company boards, including Lucent Technologies, Volvo and P&O Nedlloyd. Since 2004, she has worked for the European Commission.
As a Competition Commissioner she was responsible for ensuring a level playing field for business in Europe and fair prices and wide choice for consumers. Her charity work has included advising the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and World Cancer Research Fund.
Alexander Stubb has served as Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Trade and Europe Minister of Finland. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004-2008 and in the national government from 2008-16.
Alexander Stubb was the Chairman of the National Coalition Party from 2014-16 and is currently a Member of the Finnish Parliament. Alexander Stubb’s background is in academia and civil service. He holds a Ph.D. From the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Master’s degree from the College of Europe in Bruges, and a B.A. from Furman University in South Carolina. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. Alexander worked as an expert adviser at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Helsinki and in Brussels, and in President Romano Prodi’s team at the European Commission. He has been a visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. His expertise includes European and International Affairs, Foreign and Security Policy, the Euro and the Global Economy.
Carl has nine Olympic gold medals to his name. Incredibly, he was on every US Olympic team from 1980 to 1996. This is a record for a male athlete. The Carl Lewis Foundation helps disadvantaged youths, and is just one of many charitable works that he is now involved with. His World Championship record is equally impressive.
Between 1983 and 1995 he won eight World Championship gold medals, one silver and one bronze. Voted track and field athlete of the decade in the 1980s, he dominated the sprint and long jump events. He has appeared in numerous films and TV productions. He played himself in cameos in Perfect Strangers and Speed Zone and appeared in Material Girls. In 2009, he was nominated a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Dame Kelly is one of Britain’s most recognisable and admired athletes. She has won Olympic, European, World, and Commonwealth medals. In 2008 she founded her own charity, the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust, which provides support to elite performers as they develop their career. Before turning to athletics, Kelly joined the British Army, where she reached the rank of Sergeant. She decided to leave the army in 1997 to pursue a senior athletics career full time.
Upon leaving, she was awarded an MBE for her services to the British Army and was later honoured by the Queen in the 2005 New Year’s honours with a Damehood. Dame Kelly is Vice President of the Women’s Sports Foundation, was an Ambassador for London 2012, and is the patron of several charities. She founded a multimillion pound programme for British female athletes, is President of Commonwealth Games England, and has even opened her own cafe in her home town in Kent.
She has also written numerous books, including ‘Black, White & Gold’ and ‘Just Go For It – 6 steps for success’.
Formerly Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, Kevin carries out research in artificial intelligence, control and robotics, and has been described as Britain’s leading prophet of the robot age. As well as publishing more than 500 research papers, Kevin’s experiments into implant technology led to him being featured as the cover story on the US magazine ‘Wired’. In 1998, he shocked the international scientific community by having a silicon chip transponder surgically implanted in his left arm. His research has involved the invention of an intelligent deep brain stimulator to counteract the effects of Parkinson’s Disease tremors. He was successful with the first extrasensory (ultrasonic) input for a human and with the first purely electronic telegraphic
communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans.
Guy is a non-executive director of Royal Dutch Shell plc, and, Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director of SAB Miller plc. He was formerly an executive director and CFO of Rio Tinto plc, where he spent the majority of his career. Guy was also Senior Independent Director of Cadbury plc from 2007 until its takeover in 2010.
Guy has spent most of his career working with governments, partners, shareholders, clients and colleagues outside the UK, including a period living in Brazil. Since university, he has taken a close interest in geopolitical affairs. Connected to this, Guy has been a member of the Trilateral Commission since 2008.
Guy has extensive experience of joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions. These include major defences BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto, Kraft/Cadbury and AB InBev/SABMiller, and major acquisitions such as Rio Tinto/Alcan and Shell/BG.
Guy has also been on the UK Takeover Panel since 2012, and chairs the Code Committee (which defines the rules). He is on the International Advisory Board of the Fundacio Dom Cabral, the Brazilian business school. He is the Chairman of the Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum.
Guy read Modern History at Oxford and has an MBA from INSEAD.
TCS Summit Europe 2016 at Berlin’s landmark Adlon Hotel attracted more than 320 senior executives from Europe’s leading businesses, representing half of the Financial Times top 100 companies. The programme saw world leaders from business, politics and sports discuss how organisations can align their cultures, strategies and mindsets to stay relevant in the ever-evolving digital economy. Senior politicians including former UK Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg MP, and Joschka Fischer, Germany’s Foreign Affairs and Vice Chancellor from 1998 to 2005, were joined by leading figures from the European world of business and Formula One champions Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard.
The latter shared their experiences of learning from losing rather than winning grands prix, reinforcing the need to embrace failure in sport as in business. Another key learning for delegates was that the traditional dichotomy of business-to-business and business-to-consumer no longer exists, which means that we now need to think about people-to-people business models. Similarly, the worlds of brand and risk management are increasingly merging in an environment where organisations have to be transparent like never before. Networking activities included guided tours of Berlin and a visit to the world-renowned Friedrichstadt Palast theatre, visits to Berlin’s many museums.
Shankar Narayanan serves as the Vice President and Country Head for TCS, UK & Ireland, which is the company’s second largest country operation worldwide. He is responsible for driving business strategy and operations for the region which comprises over 6800 employees, working with over 150 clients, including 24 of the FTSE 100 companies in the UK.
Additionally, Shankar also oversees the Retail & Consumer Practice Europe wide, which manages a client portfolio that includes 6 of the top 10 retailers in the UK.
Previously Shankar was instrumental in managing some of the company’s most successful client engagements. Among others these included re-architecting Corporate Credit & Collections systems for a leading Global Financial services firm, managing large programs for a top Global credit risk management firm, nurturing business relationship for a large USA based retailer and supporting business development for the Mid West region in USA.
Shankar joined TCS in 1993 and has since then held several key leadership positions in the company handling operations and management portfolios working in India, US, UK, Sweden and the Netherlands.
He graduated from Birla Institute of Technology & Science, India in 1993, with an integrated Bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Electronics and Master’s degree in Physics. He lives with his wife and two children in London.
Amit Bajaj is Head of Tata Consultancy Service’s European business, a unit which spans over 15 countries generating Euro 1.5 bn in revenues and supported by over 30,000 employees. He oversees strategic, customer, organizational and operational functions organized around 7 sub-regions that make up this unit – Nordics (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark), Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg), Central (Germany & Austria), Switzerland, France, South (Italy, Spain & Portugal) and Eastern (Hungary & Poland). In the 18 years that Amit has worked for TCS, he has occupied several leadership roles across markets & industries.
Prior to his appointment in 2016 as Head of European business, Amit was the head of TCS’s North European business where he oversaw the emergence of TCS as the industry-leading provider with top ranking growth & customer satisfaction, helping customers drive the twin objectives of simplification and digital transformation.
Earlier in his career, Amit managed TCS’ Consumer & Retail industry vertical for Europe based in the Netherlands and spearheaded the founding of European outsourcing practice at TCS. Before moving to Europe in 2005, Amit spent over 5 years in the US in various industry and service line roles where he drove TCS’ positioning as an integrated service provider, winning TCS’ first integrated IT-Business Process outsourcing contract.
An engineer and MBA by qualification, Amit is a Dean’s Scholar from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, India. His professional interests are in the areas of organizational behavior and operating model design.
In his spare time, Amit is passionate about nature, long-distance running and behavioral economics. He lives in Stockholm, with his wife Ritu and daughter Riam.
Johan Torstensson has been appointed VP and CIO in July 2016, taking on the role after five years as VP & Head for the Group IT & Enterprise IT organisation within Ericsson AB. Ericsson’s IT is delivered through a mixed sourcing model, with a large proportion outsourced in the Enterprise sector, but almost all services to the Engineering environment being delivered from the global in-house organisation.
Johan’s present role is the perfect culmination of his career history within IT outsourcing, which started at the outsourcing providers EDS and then at HP, where he worked chiefly in Account Management, managing outsourced delivery for global companies. Following 14 years with outsourcing providers the next step was to move into advising in IT strategy and sourcing within ISG (former TPI). The assignments included building up IT strategies, sourcing models, outsourcing transaction and setting up governance structure for outsourced environments. Through this journey Johan built expertise in managing an IT environment from the eyes of a supplier, advisor and a customer in the IT outsourcing market.
Michel studied Business Information in Utrecht and Business Economics in Amsterdam at the University of Amsterdam. He started his career with BDO Camps Obers as EDP auditor and entered ABN AMRO Bank in 1992. After working in the Corporate NL divison, he later on moved to the International Division leading an implementation organisation with responsibilities to implement a standard payments infrastructure in the ABN AMRO Foreign branches. Subsequently, he took several positions as an Operations head for Payments, Securities and later on Fullfilment & Services and led the 2.300 fte Operations NL department during the separation of RBS and the integration between ABN AMRO and Fortis bank. In his current role as Head of IT Solutions he is responsible for the development and implementations of IT Solutions within the bank. In the journey to bring ABN AMRO in the next digital era of banking, he is also executing a program called TOPS2020, investing in simplification of the IT landscape and further digitization of the ABN AMRO product offering.
Guy is a non-executive director of Royal Dutch Shell plc, and, Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director of SAB Miller plc. He was formerly an executive director and CFO of Rio Tinto plc, where he spent the majority of his career. Guy was also Senior Independent Director of Cadbury plc from 2007 until its takeover in 2010.
Guy has spent most of his career working with governments, partners, shareholders, clients and colleagues outside the UK, including a period living in Brazil. Since university, he has taken a close interest in geopolitical affairs. Connected to this, Guy has been a member of the Trilateral Commission since 2008.
Guy has extensive experience of joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions. These include major defences BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto, Kraft/Cadbury and AB InBev/SABMiller, and major acquisitions such as Rio Tinto/Alcan and Shell/BG.
Guy has also been on the UK Takeover Panel since 2012, and chairs the Code Committee (which defines the rules). He is on the International Advisory Board of the Fundacio Dom Cabral, the Brazilian business school. He is the Chairman of the Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum.
Guy read Modern History at Oxford and has an MBA from INSEAD.
Andrew is one of the original Founders of Criticaleye, the peer-to-peer Board Community, an organisation whose focus is to inspire leaders to succeed through the medium of experiential learning. He is a highly experienced advisor to Boards and Executive Teams as well as a facilitator of debates on Boards and boardroom dynamics at conferences and executive retreats around the world.
Before founding Criticaleye, Andrew worked to establish executive and non-executive boards and management teams across EMEA on behalf of his clients, as well as to advise on competitive intelligence and market entry strategies across Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
During his career, Andrew has been instrumental in three successful start-ups in executive search, strategy and executive development.
Andrew speaks French, Russian and Spanish, having studied the latter two at degree level at the University of Bristol. He has diplomas from the University of Quito in Ecuador and Lomonosov University, Moscow in Russia.
Being in the center of the innovation cycle he is responsible for Tryg’s development of completely new business lines, as well as commercializing known products and ideas. Alex Arrey joined Tryg in 2008 and has previously also hold positions as VP for Group Strategy and as Programme director for a comprehensive Outsourcing Programme. Tryg is one of the largest insurance groups in the Nordics catering to the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish market place. Tryg is listed on the Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen and services everyday 2.8 million customers.
Prior to Tryg, Alex Arrey held various positions in the Reinsurance industry including postings in London and Sydney. Alex holds a Master’s degree from ESADE in Barcelona and a European CEMS MIM.
Cornelia Yzer is the Senator for Economics, Technology and Research in the government of the state of Berlin. Yzer has held several government positions at the national and state level in Germany. She also has a longstanding track record as a business executive as well as a member of supervisory boards. She is a lawyer for more than 25 years.
Currently, she is the chairwoman of the supervisory board of the investment bank IBB and vice chair of the supervisory board of Messe Berlin. She was previously the chairwoman of the water management company BWB, the German cancer institute DKFZ and the Max Delbrück Center of Molecular Medicine MDC.
Prior to her present position, Yzer was Director General of the German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (1997-2012), Member of the German Bundestag (1990-1998), Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Women and Youth and at the Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology (1992-1997) and held senior management positions at Bayer AG. Yzer studied law and economics at the universities of Bochum and Münster.
Karl Sandlund is Executive Vice President Strategic Initiatives and Member of SAS Group Management. He comes from a position as Vice President Network & Partners and previously worked in management roles with strategic assignments for SAS. He was recruited to SAS in 2004 from McKinsey and has worked on strategy issues for SAS in a variety of managerial positions.
He holds Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Management from Linköping University.
Rita has been called ‘Brand guru’ by the Financial Times and ‘The doyenne of branding’ by Campaign magazine. The Daily Telegraph described her as ‘The brand leading the brands’.
Rita graduated from Cambridge University and started her career in advertising, where she became Vice Chairman and strategy director at Saatchi & Saatchi in its most successful period. She then joined Interbrand, the world’s leading brand consultancy, as London CEO and then Chairman from 2002. She now has a portfolio of chairing and non-executive director roles, including ASOS, Nationwide, Ascential plc and Populus, the opinion pollster and research company. Previous non-executive directorships included three terms on the board of Dixons Retail plc and on Emap plc until the successful divestment of the business. In 2013, she became Chairman and co-founder of BrandCap, the brand consultancy for the boardroom.
She has worked with many of the world’s leading brands, and speaks around the world on all aspects of brands, branding and business leadership. She is also a regular commentator in all the major TV, radio and news channels and her writing has included the best selling book ‘The Future of Brands’, and The Economist book ‘Brands & Branding’. Her pro bono roles have included the boards of Worldwide Fund for Nature, of the Henley Festival and as Chair of the leading practical sustainability organisation TCV. She has also been on the UK Government’s Sustainable Development Commission, and is on the Advisory Board for BP’s carbon offset programme ‘targetneutral’. She was President of the Market Research Society for a five year term, and is now a Fellow.
In the 2014 New Year’s Honours List, Rita was awarded a CBE for services to the creative industries, and in 2015, she was included in Debretts 500 most influential people in the UK.
For more information, go to www.ritacifton.com
Baroness Denise Kingsmill, born 1947 in Rotorua, New Zealand, is a solicitor who graduated from the University of Cambridge.
Prior to qualiying as a solictor in 1980, Baroness Kingsmill worked in the textile and fashion industry in London and Paris. From 1997 to 2003, she was Deputy Chairman of the UK Competition Commission. During her time at the Commission, she chaired many regulatory inquiries into various sectors. She undertook two inquiries for the UK government into pay and recruitment of women as well as human capital management. In the year 2000, Baroness Kingsmill was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), and in 2006, she was appointed as a member of the House of Lords, where she is a member of the Economic Affairs Committee.
Member of the Supervisory Board of E.ON AG / E.ON SE since 2011; term of office will end at the close of the Annual General Meeting in 2018.
Specific expertise and experience for membership on the Supervisory Board of E.ON SE:
Baroness Kingsmill commands comprehensive legal and compliance expertise and has extensive experience in regulated industries. She has profound expertise in the area of human resources and the associated issues of sustainable development and corporate responsibility. Since she is a member of the House of Lords and has chaired extensive inquiries for the UK government, Baroness Kingsmill has broad experience in the management of political and strategic processes.
Other supervisory board seats:
Stine Bosse is a Danish businesswoman with a global mindset. She is a director of the board of Allianz and TDC and a chairperson of BankNordik, Tele Greenland and Nunaoil. She is also a chairperson of BØRNEfonden and The Danish European Movement. She is actively engaged with reputed international and academic organizations such as Copenhagen Business School, Norwegian School of Economics and the European Council on Foreign Relations. As an Ambassador of Danmission, she focuses on multicultural/multi-religion dialogue between women.
Stine has held several high-profile posts during her extensive career. She was the former chairperson of The Royal Danish Theater, Flügger and the The Danish Insurance Association. She also served as a director of the board of Nordea Bank, Aker ASA and Grundfos. In 2010, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Stine as an Advocate for the Millennium Development Goals.
Successful loyalty programs, digitization and growth in top and bottom line are the key issues associated with her career in operational and top management. In her latest book ‘The Boss – about balanced leadership’ (2014) she shares her thoughts and experiences from her many years with Executive Management in Tryg, where she served as Group CEO from 2003 until 2011.
Stine Bosse holds a Master of Laws degree and has two daughters.
Sir Howard has served as Director of the London School of Economics and as Chairman of the Financial Services Authority. He previously served as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Director General of the Confederation of British Industry and Controller of the Audit Commission. He now serves as Chairman of RBS.
Along with a number of other directorships and non-executive positions in both the public and private sectors, Howard is a member of the advisory boards of the China Banking Regulatory Commission and of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. He also chaired the UK Airports Commission and their report in to UK airport capacity and expansion.
Howard’s career has also incorporated spells at consultancy McKinsey and Co, the Treasury, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and as a Special Advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He served on the International Advisory Board of Natwest bank, was founding Chairman of the Employers Forum on Age, and was a non-executive Director of Morgan Stanley.
An economist by training, he has returned to academia and teaches financial markets and central banking at the Paris Institute of Political Studies’ (also known as Sciences Po) School of International Affairs. Most recently he has led the high-profile study in to the UK airport capacity and is reviewing the controversial options for expansion.
As well as his board and advisory work, Howard writes extensively on financial markets, regulation and the economy. His books include Can Financial Markets be Controlled?, Banking on the Future: The Fall and Rise of Central Banking, and Global Financial Regulation: The Essential Guide.
Hanne B. Sørensen is the CEO of Damco since January 2014. She was previously the CEO of Maersk Tankers, a position she held from 2012 to 2013.
Hanne has been with A.P. Moller Maersk since 1994 where she joined as an economist. She holds a Master of Science in Business Economics from the University of Aarhus, Denmark. From 1997 to 2002, Hanne held various CFO positions for Maersk Line in India, Italy and Singapore. From 2002 to 2006, she was Global Programme Director for the implementation of the SAP-based financial system in Maersk Line. In 2006, she was promoted to Group Vice President and Maersk Line Area Manager for the region Eastern Mediterranean based in Genoa. Then, she was appointed the Chief Commercial Officer in Maersk Line from 2008-2012.
Additionally, Hanne B. Sørensen is an external board member of Lafarge Holcim Ltd.
Antonio Queiroz heads Retail Distribution within BNP Paribas RD&I (Retail Development & Innovation). Prior to joining BNP Paribas, he launched several specialized direct marketing and media relations units for leading French companies. He is also the founder of three start-up companies in different domains, two of which he has already sold.
Antonio started his career in BNP Paribas Personal Investors as Manager of Business Center Internet and Mobile. He later joined Digital Marketing as the Head of New Markets and Digital Integration. During 2013-2015, he was the CIO of Consorsbank and Deputy CIO of BNP Paribas Personal Investors. In 2013, he became a member of BNP Paribas Personal Investors Executive Committee.
As the head of Retail Distribution for BNP Paribas RD&I, Antonio is on a mission to speed up the transformation of the distribution model, leveraging already successful projects such as Hellobank! and the multi-channel model of BNP Paribas.
Antonio lives in Paris with his wife and two children.
Ashok Vaswani is the CEO for Barclays Bank UK, covering Retail Banking, Wealth, Business
Banking and Barclaycard UK. Ashok joined Barclays in 2010, managing the credit card
business across the UK, Europe, and the Nordics, becoming chairman of Entercard. He went on
to manage Barclays in Africa, Barclays Retail Business Bank globally and Barclays Personal
and Corporate Banking.
Ashok is a member of Barclays Bank UK PLC Board, UK Finance Board and the Trustee Board
at Citizens Advice. He also sits on the advisory boards of a number of institutions such as
Rutberg & Co and is Founder Director of Lend-a-Hand, a non-profit organization focused on
rural education in India.
Prior to Barclays, Ashok was a partner with a JP Morgan Chase funded private equity
firm – Brysam Global Partners. He started his career in India and has since worked and lived in
Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US. Ashok spent 20 years with Citigroup, his last
position being CEO, Asia Pacific.
Ashok graduated from Bombay University, Sydenham College, College of Commerce and
Economics and has post-graduate degrees from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries of India.
Over 360 business, technology, economic and political leaders from all the top 10 competitive economies in Europe, representing 50 per cent of the Financial Times Europe 100 companies, participated in the TCS Summit Europe 2015. Former Prime Ministers (Mario Monti of Italy and Carl Bildt of Sweden), nine-time grand slam winner Monica Seles, and senior management executives such as CEOs, COOs and CIOs from organisations such as Legal & General, Royal DSM, Infineon, Telefonica, Visa Europe, ABN Amro, Unicredit, Ericsson and The Economist captured themes of “digital”, “leadership” and “hyper-connectivity” in their own unique manner. Former grand slam tennis champion Monica Seles sat down with Andrea Catherwood (ex-ITN and Bloomberg journalist) to discuss her career and the transferable lessons she’d learned as an elite sportswoman. The traditional gala evening of the summit was organised at the ‘Isola delle rose’ or ‘Island of roses’, a private island resort in the Venetian lagoon in the north of Italy. Besides the special tennis clinic led by the legendary Monica Seles, guided tours of Venice, a workshop on traditional Murano glassworks and golf were the networking activities on offer.
The story of TCS Summit Europe 2015 on social media is captured here.
Connecting with the EU’s Lisbon Agenda 2010, the 2006 Summit centred on the theme “Towards a More Competitive Europe”. Held on 28–29 September at the Chateau St. Gerlach, a boutique hotel in Maastricht, the discussions touched upon how to make EU “the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world.” Guests also experienced a classic car rally.
The 2007 edition of the TCS summit, held on 20-21 September at the Royal Riviera Hotel in Nice, focused on the growing importance of IT in business, and borrowed its theme from TCS’ brand positioning “Experience certainty”. Customer case studies illustrating “how IT can bring certainty to business” were a highlight of the event. The chief guest at the Nice Summit was tennis champion and winner of 59 Grand Slams, Ms. Martina Navratilova. Guests also had the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour of Monaco, including the Oceanographic Museum and Royal Palace.
The theme of the 2008 TCS Europe Summit in Cologne was “Collaborative Innovation”, elaborating on how companies seek innovation beyond their R&D departments and collaborate with various entities within and outside their organization. Held on 11-12 September at the Hotel Schloss Bensberg, the guests were treated to hot air ballooning and an evening dinner cruise during the course of the two days.
Scheduled at a time when the world faced financial turmoil, the 2009 TCS Summit held at The Okura in Amsterdam explored the topic “Beyond the Economic Crisis – Success and Sustainability.” Participants heard from experts and business leaders on sustainability and Mr. Job Cohen, the Mayor of Amsterdam at that time, addressed the guests at his official residence. The networking dinner was organised at Amsterdam’s Restaurant Fifteen, modelled on the British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s concept of training young people to take up successful careers. Networking programmes included a guided tour of the famous Rijksmuseum and Hermitage Museum.
Organised at the Westin Hotel in Paris on 7-8 October, the 2010 TCS Europe Summit had more than 250 distinguished leaders and executives in attendance. The discussions and keynote speeches put the spotlight on “Business renewal – reimagining the path to growth”. The Vice-Mayor of Paris Mr. Christian Sautter addressed the audience. A theatre group from London’s West End performed the famed musical “Les Miserables” at “Le Théâtre du Merveilleux “(The Theatre of Marvels) at the “Les Pavillions de Bercy”, an extraordinary location of cultural importance.
The 2012 edition of TCS Summit Europe was held at Hotel Cavalieri in Rome, Italy on 3-5 October 2012. Featuring “The New Digital Wave” as its theme, the summit had speakers such as Mr. Jeremy Rifkin (author of “The Third Industrial Revolution”), Mr. Romano Prodi (former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission), Mr. Dana Deasy (Group CIO of BP) and Mr. Michio Kaku (Futurist). CIOs and senior business executives participated in the panel discussions detailing the many facets of the digital wave and its implications. A grand gala dinner was held at the Villa Aurelia, located on the highest point of Rome’s ancient walls, where the guests were treated to entertainment and an informal conversation with tennis legend, Mr. Boris Becker. Networking options included a tour of the city, a tennis clinic, Golf, wine tasting and pasta making sessions.
Overlooking the old city, port and the stylish La Croisette in Cannes, the Palais des Festivals played host to over 300 delegates from over 100 companies, including 44 of Europe’s top 100. Tata Group Chairman Mr. Cyrus Mistry, TCS CEO Mr. N. Chandrasekaran and TCS North America, UK & Europe President Mr. Surya Kant welcomed customers and guests to the Summit. The Summit featured keynotes from His Excellency Nicolas Sarkozy (President of the French Republic 2007-12 and former G8 President), Lord Sebastian Coe (Chairman of the British Olympic Association and celebrated athlete) and TCS CEO N. Chandrasekaran. CIOs from Europe’s leading firms such as ABN Amro, Nokia, John Lewis, Royal Haskoning and Cargotec were part of the panel discussions. TCS CTO Mr. Ananth Krishnan and Futurist Mr. Peter Cochrane presented perspectives on “redefining the company for a new age”. London Business School’s Prof. Lynda Gratton led an interactive peer to peer session on the “workplace of the future.” Networking options included an afternoon abroad a luxury Catamaran cruising the bay of Cannes, a panoramic helicopter flight along the Côte d’Azur, wine tasting at the Le Parc Mougins, sailing experience in racing yachts and golf at the Royal Mougins Golf Course.
Deliberating on the new growth agenda, the 2011 TCS Europe Summit was held at Hotel Conrad in Brussels on 19-21 October. Eminent speakers and panelists spoke about capitalising opportunities in emerging nations while pursuing a low-carbon growth and expanded on the theme “The Growth Imperative: New Rules, New Opportunities”. The audience also had a dialogue with Tata Group Chairman Mr. Ratan Tata, facilitated by Mr. Christian Malard of TV France. The sitting head of state of Belgium at that time, Mr. Yves Leterme, gave a keynote speech at the summit. Guests also experienced the capital of Europe through thematic trips on beer, chocolates, cartoons and discovering urban architecture.
The Hotel Arts Barcelona welcomed distinguished delegates, 88 per cent of whom were CXO level, from Europe’s Top 100 companies on 8-10 October for the 2014 edition of the TCS Summit Europe. At the welcome reception, the region’s foremost political leader, President Artur Mas of the region of Catalonia welcomed TCS’s guests – initiating an informal and enjoyable atmosphere for the next two days. This year’s Summit featured the most senior speaker line up so far, with two heads of state (the former Chancellor of Germany and the former Prime Minister of Spain), five major CIOs (ABN Amro, PSEG, Carlsberg, Elisa and British Airways), two world famous personalities from the world of football (Johan Cruyff and Michael Owen) and three renowned CEOs (Ericsson, Kingfisher and Telenor). The gala dinner, set in the magnificent Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalonia, was animated by musicians, vocalists and costumed dancers. Networking activities ranged from a rare opportunity to visit FC Barcelona at Camp Nou to enjoying a football clinic with football legend Michael Owen. Other options included playing golf at the Real Club el Prat, relaxing aboard a luxury Catamaran or taking a whirlwind tour of Barcelona city.
The story of TCS Summit Europe 2014 on social media is captured here
This year’s Summit will be anchored by the leading international news broadcaster and journalist Andrea Catherwood. In her longstanding career, Andrea has anchored bulletins for Channel 5, NBC Asia, CNBC, ITN, Five News and ITV. In 2009, Andrea presented Bloomberg TV’s flagship business news, politics and current affairs show “The Pulse with Andrea Catherwood”. She has interviewed several global political figures as well as leading CEOs. She is now a regular contributor to ITV’s “This Morning” and writes opinion editorials for the Times and travel articles for the Mail on Sunday. She has also written for the Guardian, Telegraph, Sunday Times and Independent, among others.
David Rowan is editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine’s UK edition, Conde Nast’s award-winning technology-and-innovations magazine that stays ahead of the trends transforming our world. He’s taken 120 flights in the past year to investigate the companies and entrepreneurs changing our world.
From Tel Aviv to Shenzhen, his travels include spending time with the founders of WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Google, Spotify, Nest and countless other disruptive startups. David’s most recent awards include Techmark Technology Journalist of the Year, DMA Editor of the Year and BSME Editor of the Year in 2012.
Christian Malard served as the Foreign Affairs Editor on TV France 3 and is considered to be one of the world’s leading journalists on geopolitics. An accomplished presidential interview specialist, Malard has interviewed key world leaders including all US, Russian and French presidents of the past four decades.
With a keen interest in the Middle East, Malard has interviewed many Israeli Prime Ministers and the Presidents of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iran.
Malard now serves as a consultant appearing frequently on global TV channels including CNN, I24News, NBC, Al Jazeera and BBC. He also serves as the Co-President of the European-American press club. He has written a number of books including “Dans le secret des maîtres du monde” chronicling his meetings and conversations with heads of states from across the world.
Mark Gallagher has been associated with Formula One for almost 30 years, working as a senior executive within the management of Jordan Grand Prix, Jaguar/Red Bull Racing and Cosworth. During his career, Mark has worked with drivers including Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Ayrton Senna, and also spent time as part of Jenson Button’s management team.
Today, Mark is the driving force behind the Status Grand Prix team. He is also an expert and commentator at F1 events with ESPN Star Sports, broadcasting to 24 countries and 36 Million fans in Asia. He is an internationally respected public speaker – relaying the business lessons that can be derived from creating winning teams in this highly competitive world where performance is everything. Mark offers a fascinating insight into the workings of F1 racing teams, demonstrating the motivation, teamwork and leadership skills required to maintain performance and commitment levels.
Nicknamed “The Flying Finn”, Mika Häkkinen, is a two time winner of the Formula One World Championship, making him one of the greatest F1 drivers in history. He won both his titles, in 1998 and 1999, for McLaren. From his first season in F1, in 1991, it was clear to professionals and pundits that Häkkinen possessed the rare talent to progress to the very top.
In 1993, he joined McLaren as test driver with a view to be promoted into the race team later on. 1995 would be the start of a long relationship between Häkkinen’s McLaren team and the car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz.
Mika announced his retirement from competitive motorsport in 2007. In 2008, he announced that he will begin a new career in driver management. Mika gives businesses and organizations a rare insight into what it takes to build winning teams and compete for success at a global level.
David Coulthard is one of the most successful British drivers in the history of Formula One. During his F1 career, David drove for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. He announced his retirement from F1 in 2008 after his fourteenth F1 season, with 13 Grand Prix victories including two at Monaco and 62 podium finishes. Known for his smooth driving style, Coulthard took McLaren’s first win in three seasons at the 1997 Australian Grand Prix.
Altogether, he scored 12 of his 13 Grand Prix wins and 51 of his 62 podium finishes with McLaren, and, after supporting team-mate Mika Häkkinen to the drivers’ championship in 1998 and ’99, he finished runner-up to Michael Schumacher in 2001.
After his driving career, he regularly appeared as an expert on BBC TV’s Formula 1 coverage. Early this year, it was announced that he would be heading up Channel 4’s Formula One coverage.
Responsible for overseeing and strengthening customer relationships and revenues across TCS’ largest markets, Surya Kant (“Sury”) plays a key role in growing business and expanding the company’s range of technology and service offerings. For over 30 years at TCS, he has made significant contributions to the growth of the company and the software industry. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Electronics from the Delhi College of Engineering, as well as a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Computer Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chandra) is Chairman of the board of Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of more than 100 Tata operating companies with aggregate annual revenues of more than $100 billion. He joined the board of Tata Sons in October 2016 and was appointed Chairman in January 2017. Chandra also chairs the boards of several group operating companies, including Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Indian Hotels and Tata Consultancy Services – of which he was chief executive from 2009 to 2017. His appointment as Chairman followed a 30-year business career at TCS, which he joined from university. He serves as a director on the board of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India. In April 2017, he ran the London Marathon, completing the World Marathon Majors, which also include: New York, Boston, Chicago, Berlin and Tokyo.
Joschka Fischer served as Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Chancellor from 1998 to 2005. Known for his outspoken debating style, Fischer was arguably the most popular politician in Germany during his tenure as Foreign Minister. He was also considered one of the most influential leaders of the German Green Party.
Upon his appointment as Minister of the Environment and Energy for Hesse in 1985, he was the first German Green to assume a government post. From 2006 to 2007 he held a professorship at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Joschka Fischer currently runs an advisory firm in Berlin, serving a wide range of corporations and institutions.
Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP is a Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Britain’s first post war Coalition Government from 2010 to 2015. He was also the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. He is a Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam, from where he was first elected in 2005.
As the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg occupied the second highest office in the country at a time when the United Kingdom was recovering from a deep recession following the banking crisis of 2008. Despite the hugely controversial decisions needed to restore stability to the public finances, Nick Clegg successfully maintained his party’s support for a full five-year term in office. Since 2013, Clegg is also known for his weekly radio show “Call Clegg”, which was nominated for two Radio Academy Awards in 2014.