Chief Information Officer, Marks and Spencer

Carl has been CIO of the iconic British retailer Marks and Spencer for five years, where he has led a transformation of the Technology function to bring a more Agile, commercial and technical capability in the drive to make M&S a Digital-First retailer. He has worked in and led technology organisations for over 25 years, having held similar roles in the Retail sector and the Travel sector.

Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Tata Consultancy Services 

Ananth directs Research, Innovation and Co-Innovation at TCS.  Under his leadership, TCS has created significant IP with business impact. Ananth has architected an agile model for innovation delivery and has scaled innovation deep into business units. He has been a member of the TCS Corporate leadership since 1999, and has led several strategic initiatives. 

Chief Information Officer and SVP, NXP Semiconductors

Olli Hyyppä is an information technology executive with 25+ years of experience in global B-to-B high-tech companies ranging up to 10B$ revenue, with leading digitalization and fast-pace product development. Responsible for technology expert organizations (1000+) in global TOP5 companies and acquainted with building in-depth understanding of information technology in fields such as telecommunication, software, semiconductors, automotive and cyber security businesses. He has successfully operated in multiple countries like China, Finland, France, Germany, India, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. He is the current CIO & SVP at NXP Semiconductors based in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Chief Information Officer, Bayer AG and Chairman of the Executive Board, Bayer Business Services 

Daniel Hartert has served as CIO of Bayer AG and Chairman of the Executive Board of Bayer Business Services since January 1, 2009. As Chairman of the Executive Board of Bayer Business Services, Hartert is responsible for the strategic alignment of the wholly owned Bayer subsidiary, which serves as a global center of expertise for innovative business solutions and supporting processes within the Bayer Group. As Group CIO, he is also responsible for Bayer’s global IT strategy and its operational implementation.

SVP IT Strategy & Architecture, Ahold Delhaize

In this global role, Chris works across Ahold Delhaize to shape the development of the overarching IT Strategy for all our brands and the multi-year roadmaps to deliver these strategies. He leads the global architecture community which is embedded in all the key technology decisions taken by Ahold Delhaize and ultimately fall under Chris’ jurisdiction.

Founder and CEO of the Futures Agency

Gerd Leonhard is a widely-known and top-rated futurist, Founder and CEO of the Futures Agency, a global network of over 30 leading futurists. He focuses on near-future, ‘nowist’ observations and actionable foresights in the sectors of humanity, society, business, media, technology and communications.

Six-Time Grand Slam Singles Tennis Champion

Stefan Bengt Edberg is a Swedish former world No. 1 professional tennis player (in both singles and doubles). Considered one of the greatest players of his era, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men’s doubles titles between 1985 and 1996. He also won the Masters Grand Prix and was a part of the Swedish Davis Cup-winning-team four times.

Youngest-ever No. 1 Ranked World Tennis Player

Martina Hingis is a former Swiss professional tennis player. A tennis icon, Hingis spent a total of 209 weeks as the singles world #1, and 90 weeks as doubles world #1. In the 1990s, she became the youngest-ever Grand Slam champion, when she won Wimbledon at the age of 16 and youngest ever world #1.

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 showcased 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.

Executive Vice President and Global Head of the Enterprise Intelligent Automation and Artificial Intelligence (EIA & AI), Tata Consultancy Services

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.

Management Editor of The Economist & author of the Begehot column

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.

President at Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency – HIPA

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.

Chief Information Officer, ASML

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.

Board member of Solvay SA & various other international companies

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.

Chief Digital Officer & CIO, Randstad

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.

Global Head of Trends and Insights, TrendWatching

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.

Chief Technology Officer, RT Data Labs

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.

Chief Technology & Information Officer, BT Group

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.

Chief Executive Officer, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

‘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.

Chief Information Officer, ING WB Tech

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.

World Football Player of the Year 1987 and 1989

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.

First human to jump from space

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.

World Cup winning football captain

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.

Deputy Minister of Economy and Innovation for the Regional Ministry of Economy, Employment and Finance of the Madrid Region

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.

Head of Enterprise Architecture for Europe, Equifax

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.

CIO, Engie Electrabel

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.

Ambassador of the Republic of India to the Kingdom of Spain

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.

Chief Operating Officer, NEST (National Employment Savings Trust)

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).

Partner, Leadership Consulting, Heidrick & Struggles

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.

General Director of Economy and Financial Policy of the Community of Madrid and President of Avalmadrid

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.

Director of Services Development and Systems, Telefónica Spain

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.

Chief Information Officer, Tata Steel Europe

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.

Chief Information Officer, John Lewis Partnership

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.

Partner, Leadership Consulting, Heidrick & Struggles

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.

Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Tata Consultancy Services

Member of the Executive Committee, CEO Retail Banking, ABN AMRO

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.

President, MasterCard Europe

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.

Chief Operating Officer & Executive Director, Tata Consultancy Services

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.

Innovation Leader at Janssen Clinical Innovation

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.

VP – Development Passenger Business & Deputy VP Development Air France – KLM

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.

Head of IT Solutions, ABN AMRO

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.

Chairman of Tata Sons

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.

Presidential Interview Specialist

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.

Renowned TV Anchor

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.

President of North America, UK and Europe, Tata Consultancy Services

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.

VP and Head of UK & Ireland, Tata Consultancy Services

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.

VP and Head of Europe, Tata Consultancy Services

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.

Chief Information Officer, PostNord

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.

Former UK Foreign Secretary

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.

Former Vice President of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda for Europe

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.

Former Prime Minister of Finland

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.

Nine-time Olympic gold medalist

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.

Double Olympic gold medal winning athlete

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’.

World’s leading expert in cybernetics

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.

Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, SABMiller; Member of the Board of Directors, Royal Dutch Shell

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.

Former Deputy Prime Minister of the UK

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.