Natalie Marko Nietsch is the Global Head of Social Sustainability at Standard Chartered Bank. In this capacity, Natalie is responsible for working across the bank to maximize the bank's social impact across the emerging markets. Working with clients across the bank's corporate, retail and wealth segments, she identifies new opportunities for socially focused financing and helps to mobilize diverse sources of capital in support of social outcomes. Natalie also co-leads the bank's Adaptation Finance hub, with a focus on building resilience across communities in the bank's footprint.Natalie has been working in the global financial markets for over twenty years and has extensive experience in client coverage, structuring, and strategy.  Natalie is particularly focused on financial inclusion & gender equality. She is on the Steering Committee for the Women's Financial Inclusion Data Partnership and is also a member of the Milken Institute’s Young Leaders Circle. Natalie is currently based in Singapore.

Dr. Ghulam Omar Qargha is a fellow in the Center for Universal Education at Brookings and an education, research, and program evaluation expert with 20 years of overseas experience designing, managing, implementing, and evaluating international education programs. Qargha’s expertise is in policy analysis, program design, education transfer, and research on teacher education, curriculum development, educational delivery, and monitoring and evaluation in the developing world, with a particular focus on fragile, conflict-affected, and emergency contexts. Qargha holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of North Florida, a Master of Education degree in curriculum and instruction from George Mason University, a Master of Arts degree in international comparative education from Stanford University, and a doctoral degree in international education policy from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Serves as General Director of Customs Services and International Affairs at the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM). She previously served as Advisor at the Coordination Office to the Secretary of Finance from the Mexican Federal Government. For more than 16 years she leaded the Mexican Association of Private Industrial Parks (AMPIP), representing the largest real estate developers in Mexico. In 2020 she was part 100 most powerful women in business, by Expansion magazine in Mexico. She has also been Secretary of Economic Development in the Hidalgo government, and Deputy Trade Commissioner of Mexico in Stockholm, Sweden, and in Toronto, Canada, participating in the promotion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), today USMCA.She is a columnist and lecturer on topics related to economic development, foreign direct investment, nearshoring, and security programs for global supply chains. She has a degree in International Relations at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); an MBA from the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto, and a PhD in Strategic Management from the Anahuac University in Mexico City. She speaks 4 languages.

Csaba Kőrösi previously held the positions of; - Deputy State Secretary in charge of security policy, multilateral diplomacy and human rights- Vice-President of the UN General Assembly (2011-12)- Co-chair of the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals- Vice-Chair of Bureau of HABITAT III (2014)- Director (state secretary) for Environmental Sustainability, Office of the President of the Republic of Hungary (2015-2022)- Sherpa to the President of Hungary, at the High Level Panel on Water co-convened by the UN Secretary General and the President of the World Bank Group - Sherpa to the President of Hungary at the Water and Climate Leaders panel, - 77th President of the UN General AssemblyOther engagements have included;-        Member of the UN Council of Presidents of the General Assembly -        Member of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center-        Distinguished Fellow, Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development of the Japan International Cooperation Agency -        Fellow, International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing, China -        Member of the Board of Patrons, World Sustainability Forum, USA-        Member of the National Council on Sustainable Development at the Hungarian National Assembly-        Member of the Jury, Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy, USA-        Member of the Presidential Committee on Sustainable Development at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences-        Founding member of the Hungarian Scientific Panel on Climate Change-        Honorary member of the Hungarian Chamber of Engineers, Department of Hydrological Engineering

Dr. Cinzia Bianco is a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, where she works on political, security and economic developments in the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf region and relations with Europe. She also wrote extensively about Europe-Gulf relations in the domains of energy and climate security.  Previously, she was a senior analyst at Gulf State Analytics, where she has done consultancy and advisory work for European and US stakeholders since 2015, and a Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC. Between 2013 and 2014, Dr. Bianco was a research fellow for the European Commission’s project on EU-GCC relations ‘Sharaka’.  She holds an MA degree in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London and a PhD in Middle East Politics from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, where she worked on threat perceptions in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) after the 2011 Arab uprisings. She is the co-author with Prof. Matteo Legrenzi of “Le monarchie arabe del Golfo: Nuovo centro di gravità in Medio Oriente” (Il Mulino, 2023) and the sole author of “The Gulf monarchies after the Arab Spring: Threats and Security” (Manchester University Press, forthcoming)

Brian Finlay is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Stimson Center. Brian previously served as Vice President, Managing Director, and Senior Fellow at Stimson. Prior to joining the Center, he served as executive director of a Washington-based lobbying initiative focused on counterterrorism issues, as a researcher at the Brookings Institution, and as a program officer at the Century Foundation. Prior to emigrating to the United States from his native Canada, Brian served with the Public Health Agency and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Sachin Dev Duggal is a founder and entrepreneur, whose AI-powered platform, Builder.ai, grew 200% last year; and raised over $450M since 2018 to help make building software as easy as ordering pizza!Sachin started his career at the age of 14, building PCs, and by 17, he built one of the  world’s first automatic currency arbitrage trading systems for Deutsche Bank. He started a cloud computing company, Nivio, when he was 21 and still at university (Imperial College), taking it to just under $100m in valuation before exiting (and he still holds a trademark for the word cloud in India!).Sachin was the World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer in 2009, Entrepreneur.com’s Serial Entrepreneur of the Year and a 2x finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year. He also founded the ‘Geek’s Dinner’, a diverse community of personalities from tech to film, who came together to discuss the most pressing issues challenging humanity.

Lord John Thomas practiced at the Commercial Bar in London from 1972. He was appointed to the High Court of England and Wales in 1996. He was a Presiding Judge of the Wales and Chester Circuit 1998 - 2001 and Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court 2002-3. In 2003, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal and was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (2013-2017). He is President of the Qatar International Court and an arbitrator and takes part in the business of the House of Lords.  He is Chair of the Steering Committee of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts, Chair of the London Financial Markets Law Committee, President of the London Shipping Law Centre, Chancellor of Aberystwyth University and a Fellow of several Universities. He was a Founder of the European Law Institute in 2011, its First Vice-President 2109-2023 and President of the European Network of the Councils of the Judiciary 2008-2010.

Dominic Grieve is a barrister and King's Counsel. He was a member of the Parliament of the UK from 1997-2019. from 2010-14 he was Attorney General of England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland in the UK Government. He is a trustee of the Ditchley Foundation and of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.

Adnan Tabatabai is co-founder and CEO of the Germany-based Middle East think tank CARPO – Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient. As an Iran analyst he is consulted by European policymakers and businesses on Iran-related affairs. Through his work at CARPO, Tabatabai has designed and facilitated track 2 and civil-society dialogue formats between Iran and Saudi Arabia since 2015. He is furthermore involved in a variety of projects at CARPO on regional security in the Persian Gulf region. Tabatabai is author of the book “Morgen in Iran” (Oct. 2016, Edition Körber-Stiftung). He is regularly featured in international media with commentary and analysis on developments in Iran and the Middle East.

Sebastian Son Ph. D works as a senior researcher for the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO). Prior to that, he served as an advisor for the Regional Programme “Cooperation with Arab Donors” (CAD) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. He holds a Ph.D. from the Humboldt University Berlin. His thesis deals with media discourses on labor migration from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia. He studied Middle Eastern Studies, Contemporary History and Political Sciences in Berlin and Damascus. He was further trained as journalist in print, TV and radio media at the Berlin School for Journalists (Berliner Journalisten-Schule). After finishing his studies, he worked as Head of Research and Editor-in-Chief of the academic magazine Orient at the German Orient-Institute from 2009-2014 and as a project researcher at the Program Near East and North Africa at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin. As a political analyst, he is consulted by German and international political institutions as well as by international journalists to provide expertise on the Gulf monarchies. He provides his expertise to institutions such as the European Union, ministries from different European countries, SIPRI, International Crisis Group, the Middle East Institute among others. His fields of interest include EU-GCC relations, development cooperation policies and foreign assistance policy of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, GCC’s migration policies, sport diplomacy and sports for development concepts in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, South-Asian migration to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and political and economic engagement of the Gulf monarchies in Africa.

Professor David Monyae is an Associate Professor of Political Science & International Relations under the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg. In addition, he is the Director of the Centre for Africa-China Studies. Professor Monyae is an international relations and foreign policy expert, he holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Witwatersrand. He previously served as Section Manager: International Relations Policy Analysis at the South African Parliament, providing strategic management, parliamentary foreign policy formulation, and monitoring and analysis services.

Dr. Balgis Osman Elasha is a forester by training with PhD in Forestry and Master’s in Environmental Science. Dr. Balgis has more than 20 years of experience spanning climate change mitigation and adaptation, natural resources management, renewable energy and green growth with special focus on human dimension of global environmental changes and their impacts on sustainable development. Dr. Balgis is a winner of the UNEP Champions of the Earth Award for outstanding environmental achievements in 2008, a member of the IPCC Lead Authors-Nobel Peace Prize winners in 2007. Awarded the Highest Achievement Medal by the Government of Sudan in 2011. Dr. Balgis conducted  and supervised large number of research and scientific work. She has written more than 45 peer-reviewed articles, reports, and books. Dr. Balgis is a member of wide professional networks in the area of conservation and sustainable development including IUFRO, IAASTD, IPBES. Dr. Balgis had served on numerous scientific committees and boards.https://www.linkedin.com/in/balgis-osman-elasha-8930817

As Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Yemen, Nagi is responsible for covering conflict dynamics, politics, security and the regional role of the country. He provides field-based insights and recommendations aimed at resolving conflict.Before joining Crisis Group, Nagi was a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, where he covered the conflict in Yemen, borderland dynamics and local governance transformations, among other issues. Additionally, he was the research manager at the Institute of Citizenship and Diversity Management at Adyan Foundation in Lebanon, a country coordinator on Yemen and Oman at Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem) in Sweden, and a senior consultant at Insight Source Center for Research and Consulting in Yemen. Nagi holds an MA in Public Governance from the University of Granada, Spain.

Hassan Ahmadian is an Assistant Professor of Middle East and North Africa studies at the University of Tehran and a Senior Research Fellow at the Middle East Scientific and Strategic Studies Center in Tehran. He previously was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center as well as an Associate with the Project on Shiism and Global Affairs at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. His research and teaching work is mainly focused on Iran’s foreign/regional policy and relations, political change in the Middle East, civil-military relations and Islamist movements in the Middle East. 

Before coming to American University of Afghanistan, Ian Bickford was the first provost of Fulbright University Vietnam where he guided the launch of Vietnam’s first American-style undergraduate program in the liberal arts and sciences. His service to innovation and equity in higher education, in the United States and around the world, includes many years of support for Bard College’s partner programs in Myanmar, where the Parami Institute of Continuing Education and the soon-to-launch Parami University are beacons for educational quality and access in an opening democracy. As an influential leader in the U.S. early college movement, which creates meaningful bridges between high school and college for younger students, Dr. Bickford served as provost and vice president of Bard College at Simon’s Rock; founding dean of Bard Academy at Simon’s Rock; and dean of the Bard Early Colleges. He is a specialist in Early Modern British and transatlantic literature, with an A.A. from Bard College at Simon’s Rock; B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley; M.A. from Stanford University; and Ph.D. from the City University of New York Graduate Center.

Matthew McInnis is a consultant and analyst on China, the Middle East, and the evolution of modern warfare. Mr. McInnis previously served as the U.S. Deputy Special Representative for Iran and as a Member of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State. He was also an intelligence officer and policy advisor on Middle East, China, and non-proliferation issues for fifteen years in the U.S. Department of Defense.

Jon B. Alterman is a senior vice president, holds the Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy, and is director of the Middle East Program at CSIS. Prior to joining CSIS in 2002, he served as a member of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State and as a special assistant to the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, and from 2009-2019 he served as a member of the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel. In addition to his policy work, he often teaches Middle Eastern studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the George Washington University. Earlier in his career, Alterman was a scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace and at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a legislative aide to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan (D-NY) responsible for foreign policy and defense. From 1993 to 1997, Alterman was an award-winning teacher at Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. in history. Alterman has lectured in more than 35 countries on five continents on subjects related to the Middle East and U.S. policy toward the region. He is the author or coauthor of four books on the Middle East and the editor of five more. In addition to his academic work, he is sought out as a consultant to business and government and is a frequent commentator in print, on radio, and on television. His opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and other major publications. He is a former international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is now a life member. He received his A.B. from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs.