Speaker

Carla Arellano
Partner, Greyhound Capital

Carla is a serial business builder and incessant problem solver – constantly exploring how people and organization come together to achieve enduring growth that transforms industries. A strong believer that people build companies, Carla partners with leaders to shape and execute bold strategies by getting people and organization side of business building right.

At Greyhound Capital she builds on her experience with McKinsey growing two businesses and counseling leaders to assess prospective CEOs, leadership teams and their organization for markers of Enduring Growth to inform investment go-no-go decisions.  Post investment, she partners with management teams to achieve successive S-curves of growth by embedding bold aspirations, resilience and adaptability into the organization’s fabric. This may include designing organization structure and roles, getting the right people into these, developing leadership skills, aligning culture and operating model to the strategy and/or developing pivotal growth capabilities such as product management or strategy.   

She continuously evolves the Greyhound playbook with qualitative and quantitative research into markers and drivers of enduring growth, with the aim of increasing the odds of success for each portfolio company. 

Speaker

Niklaus Brantschen
Jesuit/Zen Master

Niklaus Brantschen is a Swiss Jesuit, Zen master of the White Plum Sangha line and founder of the Lassalle-Institute within the Lassalle-House in Bad Schönbrunn/Zug, Canton Zug. He is co-initiator of the Jerusalem-Project.al development.

Speaker

Tim Brown
Co-chair of IDEO, Vice Chair of the kyu Collective

Tim Brown is co-chair of IDEO the global design and innovation firm IDEO and Vice Chair of the kyu Collective. His best selling book Change By Design has introduced design thinking to business leaders worldwide. Tim has written for Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Rotman Magazine and his TED talks Serious Play and Designers Think Big have reached millions. His work focuses on creative leadership and the strategic application of design across sectors such as health, education, technology, mobility and global development.

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Speaker

Thomas Bubendorfer
Solo climber and author

When he was only 16, Thomas became the youngest climber in history to solo climb the hardest rock faces of his time. At 20 he revolutionized extreme mountaineering by solo climbing without ropes the highest and hardest mountain faces in in the Alps in unprecedented, breath-taking speed. Many of his solo climbs stand unparalleled to this day.

While climbing remains the most important and influential activity in his life, Thomas, now 56, is not just a climber. He has always sought to balance his intense physical activities - training up to 400 hours per year, and climbing 120 days per year - by training his mind. He speaks four languages and has written seven books. Presently he is working on his first book in English. He keeps studying subjects as varied as chaos science, neurobiology, brain science, philosophy and history.

An international keynote speaker since 1985, Thomas has shared his views on performance, self-responsibility, goal-setting, quality, crisis, teamwork and many more related topics with audiences of many of the leading companies in the world.

Thomas is a father of three children and travels around the world giving a maximum of 30 keynote speeches in Asia, the US and Europe. He coaches and consults business leaders in the art of „intelligent performance" and is brand ambassador to Porsche.

Speaker

Amy Edmondson
Professor of Leadership & Management, HBS

Amy C. Edmondson, PhD is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, a chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of society.

Edmondson has been ranked by the biannual Thinkers50 global list of top management thinkers since 2011 (most recently #1). She teaches and writes on leadership, teams and organizational learning.  Her most recent book, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety for Learning, Innovation, and Growth offers practical guidance for leaders who are serious about building a thriving organization in the today’s uncertain environment. Her prior books, Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate and Compete in the Knowledge Economy and Teaming to Innovate (Jossey-Bass, 2012, 2103) and Building the Future: Big Teaming for Audacious Innovation (Berrett-Koehler, 2016) explore teamwork in dynamic, unpredictable work environments.

Before her academic career, she was Director of Research at Pecos River Learning Centers, where she worked on the design and implementation of transformational change in large companies. In the early 1980s, she worked as Chief Engineer for architect/inventor Buckminster Fuller, and her book A Fuller Explanation: The Synergetic Geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller (Birkauser Boston, 1987) clarifies Fuller's mathematical contributions for a non-technical audience. Edmondson received her PhD in organizational behavior, AM in psychology, and AB in engineering and design, all from Harvard University.

She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband, George Daley, a physician-scientist and Dean of Harvard Medical School, with their two college-age sons.

Speaker

Robert S. Kaplan
Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus at HBS

Robert S. Kaplan is Senior Fellow and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School. He joined the HBS faculty in 1984 after spending 16 years on the faculty of the business school at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he served as Dean from 1977 to 1983. Kaplan has co-developed both activity-based costing (ABC) and the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), widely recognized as seminal contributions to management theory and practice. His current research applies these two innovations to important problems at the intersection of business and society.

He introduced time-driven activity-based costing to health care, where it has become the global standard. In 2021, Kaplan partnered with Oxford professor Karthik Ramanna to create the E-liability method, the first system to accurately measure and report corporate greenhouse gas emissions across corporate supply and distribution chains. The approach, readily extendible to societal and other environmental outcomes, is the first rigorous approach for ESG reporting. A recent paper, with Ramanna, established the measurement and accounting foundations for trading of legitimate carbon offsets.

In a third research stream, conducted as Palladium thought leader, Kaplan extended the Balanced Scorecard strategy execution for inclusive-growth regional ecosystems. These generate strong financial returns while transforming the socio-economic and environmental conditions of residents in low-income communities around the world.

Kaplan has authored or co-authored 14 books and 250 papers, including more than three dozen in Harvard Business Review. He and David Norton have written five prize-winning, international best-selling books on the Balanced Scorecard. He co-authored Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing with Steve Anderson; Cost and Effect with Robin Cooper; and Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting, with H. Thomas Johnson, which received the AAA Seminal Contributions to Literature Award in 2007.

Kaplan received a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T., a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University, and honorary doctorates from four international universities. Elected to the Accounting Hall of Fame in 2006, he received the Outstanding Accounting Educator Award in 1988 from the AAA, the 1994 CIMA Award from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK), and Lifetime Contribution Awards from the Management Accounting Section of the AAA (2006) and the Institute of Management Accountants (2008).

Speaker

Michael Kaschke
President of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Former ZEISS Group President & CEO

President of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Association for the Promotion of Science and Humanities in Germany), Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, a company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (MDax), as well as Member of the Governing Board of Deutsches Museum München, of the Supervisory Boards of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Deutsche Telekom AG, Robert Bosch GmbH as well as of the Governing Board of Ottobock Management SE. Member of Leopoldina, German National Academy of Sciences. Adjunct Professor at the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering of the Medical University of Vienna.

Speaker

Guila Clara Kessous
UNESCO Peace Ambassador, Executive coach

Dr. Guila Clara Kessous is a UNESCO Peace Ambassador and an executive coach using theatrical techniques to enhance corporate communication and help heal those who have suffered from prior trauma. She became Paul Ekman International Partner in 2021 and is using Ekman’s profiling and emotional intelligence techniques dedicated to coaching in leadership, negotiation, and humanitarian causes.

As a recipient of an Executive MBA from ESSEC Business School, a Ph.D. from Boston University under Nobel Prize Elie Wiesel’s direction, and a Post-Doc from Harvard University, she was invited to develop the communication course of the new certificate on « Situational Intelligence » at the Political Science Institute in Paris in 2021.

She has combined her artistic experience together with coaching methods such as positive psychology (Tal Ben Shahar), Leadership and Negotiation (William L. Ury), Executive Communication Skills (Marjorie North), and Emotional Intelligence (Associate Paul Ekman’s EIA). She is a certified coach ICC trainer (EMCC) and expert in assessment tools such as Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (MRG) and Hogan (Authentic Talent). As a certified coach, she has helped hundreds of senior executives (private sector: CAC 40, Nasdaq 500…) dealing with positive leadership. As a certified negotiator, she has been involved in peace negotiation working alongside her Ph.D. advisor, Nobel Prize Elie Wiesel, and Harvard Professor William L. Ury. She is the recipient of the Women Empowerment Award 2020 by Eva Longoria from the Global Gift Foundation for her work to help access education in Pakistan and in Burundi and has been knighted by the French government. In 2021, she became "Rising Talent" of the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society for her work to help women empowerment with her coaching skills notably with women refugees in Bangladesh.

Speaker

Timo Meynhardt
Professor for Business Psychology and Leadership,
HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

Timo Meynhardt is full professor and chairholder of the Dr. Arend Oetker Chair of Business Psychology and Leadership at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management and managing director of the Center for Leadership and Values in Society at the University of St. Gallen. In his research, he links psychological and business management topics, especially public value management, leadership and competency diagnostics. He is strongly committed to research in the field of public value as well as to the application of the concept in business and administration. Timo was the first researcher to apply the concept to the private  sector. He developed a unique public value theory, which conceptualizes public value as “a necessary fiction” for individuals and groups.

Timo publishes the Public Value Atlas for Switzerland and Germany (www.gemeinwohlatlas.de, www.gemeinwohl.ch), which aims at ranking and making transparent the public value of companies and organizations. His Public Value Scorecard provides a management tool to measure public value creation along five basic dimensions. Timo co-initiated the Public Value Award for Start-ups, where he is chairing the jury. He is as well the chair of the jury of the public value award for public baths in Germany.

Speaker

Maria Norrman
Global Chief of Staff, EF & Chief of EF Procykling Team

Maria Norrman is the Global Chief of Staff with EF Education First, the world’s largest private education company with over 45,000 staff in over 50 countries. Within this role, she is in charge of HR globally for the group and is also the President of EF Educations Professional Cycling Team.

Maria started her career as a management consultant within McKinsey & Company in London. She then moved to Asia where she lived and worked for 10 years before moving back to Europe. Firstly, as the trading director for Hutchison Whampoa’s retail arm Watsons and subsequently as the CEO and Founder of DNA Beaute, a pan Asian beauty retail manufacturer and distributor with operations and offices across five Asian countries.

Speaker

Daniel H. Pink
Author

Daniel H. Pink is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including his latest, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward. His other books include the New York Times bestsellers When and A Whole New Mind -- as well as the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. Dan's deeply-researched books have won multiple awards, have been translated into 42 languages, and have sold millions of copies around the world.

Speaker

Sally Susman
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Executive Vice President Pfizer

As Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Sally Susman leads engagement with all of Pfizer’s external stakeholders overseeing communications, corporate responsibility, global policy, government relations, patient advocacy and investor relations. She also serves as vice chair of The Pfizer Foundation. 

Before joining Pfizer in 2007, Susman held several senior communications and government relations roles at The Estée Lauder Companies and American Express. Earlier in her career, she spent eight years on Capitol Hill focused on international trade issues and was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs in the Clinton Administration. 

Currently, Susman serves as co-chair of The International Rescue Committee, one of the world's largest humanitarian aid organizations, and on the board of UL Solutions, a global leader in applied safety science. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2022, Forbes named Susman one of the World’s Most Influential CMOs for Pfizer’s efforts to combat vaccine misinformation and embrace new communications channels.

Susman is the author of Breaking Through: Communicating to Open Minds, Move Hearts, and Change the World, published by Harvard Business Review Press in March 2023.

Visit SallySusman.com to learn more.

Speaker

Johnny C. Taylor Jr.
President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and CEO of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. With over 300,000 members in 165 countries, SHRM is the largest HR professional association in the world, impacting the lives of 115 million workers. A nationally bestselling author, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work. He is frequently asked to testify before Congress and authors the weekly USA Today column "Ask HR."

He is the author of RESET: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval. Immediately upon its release in September 2021, RESET was in the top three of the Wall Street Journal’s list of best-selling hardcover business books. All author proceeds benefit the SHRM Foundation, which is committed to empowering HR as a social force for change.

He was appointed chairman of the President’s Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and served as a member of the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board during the Trump Administration. He is a Trustee of the University of Miami, Governor of the American Red Cross, and member of the corporate boards of Guild Education, iCIMS, and XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO).

Speaker

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox
Founder and CEO, 20-first

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox is a potent mix of writer, entrepreneur, change agent, coach and consultant. She is a global expert on all things gender and generational balance. She is currently spending a year at Harvard as a 2022 Advanced Leadership Fellow researching all things related to longevity, gender differences in ageing, and navigating later life transitions into the Third and Fourth Quarters. Graphically summarised in her latest book Thriving to 100 – Through Life’s 4 Quarters.

As the CEO of 20-first, she works with organisations interested in capturing the competitive advantages of the future of work, talent and demographic trends. Her ground-breaking thought leadership is accessible through several seminal books and regular contributions to Harvard Business Review and Forbes. She’s done several TEDx talks, was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for Gender Balanced Leadership by PWN Global, and was recently recognized as one of the world’s 40 Most Inspiring Women Over 40. Her book, Why Women Mean Business, was awarded the MANPOWER Best Book of the Year Prize.

In her own First and Second Quarters, she grew up in Toronto, attended the University of Toronto as a joint Computer Science/ Comparative Literature major, went to Paris for a year and stayed for 30, doing an MBA at INSEAD along the way. She has 3 passports (CDN, F, CH), lives in London with her sculptor/ magistrate husband and visits her two grown gender-balanced children, a son and daughter based in Dakar and New York.

On a more personal note, she is tracking her 60th year, back at school at Harvard, in a weekly newsletter called elderberries.