Chair: John W.H. Denton AO is the Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). He is a global business leader and international advisor on policy and a legal expert on international trade and investment.
In 2022, Mr Denton was appointed by United Nations Secretary General to represent the global private sector on the newly formed Steering Committee of the UN Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance.
He currently serves on the WHO Foundation Strategic Advisory Group and the Global Task Force on Refugee Labour Mobility.
Mr Denton is a Board member of the UN Global Compact and Co-chair of the B20 finance and infrastructure taskforce, as well as a founding member of the Business 20 (B20), Co-founder of the Australia–China CEO Roundtable and Patron of UNHCR in Australia. He serves on the Board of IFM Global Investors, a leading institutional investment manager, and is Chair of the Moeller Institute Advisory Board at the University of Cambridge.
He additionally serves on the Boards of the UN Development Programme’s Impact Investing Steering Group and UNICEF’s global education initiative, GenU, and he is a member of the Advisory Board of the African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank (AfGIIB) and the G7 Working Group on Impact Investment. A former diplomat, Mr Denton co-led the Australian Government’s 2012 White Paper on “Australia in the Asian Century” and previously chaired the APEC Finance and Economics Working Group. Prior to joining ICC, he served for two decades as Partner and CEO of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Australia’s leading independent law firm.
In 2015, Mr Denton was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to the business community, the arts and the rights of refugees, including as a founder of Human Rights Watch (Australia) and Teach for Australia.
Dermot Ahern is a former Irish Member of Parliament and Government Minister and was a key figure for more than 20 years in the Irish peace process, including in negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement. He also has extensive experience at the EU Council level, including as a key negotiator and signatory to the Constitutional and Lisbon Treaties. In 2005, he was appointed by the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to be a Special Envoy on the issue of UN Reform.
Ambassador Antonio José Ardila is Colombian Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Mr Ardila is a graduate from Harvard College and MBA from University of Miami. He has been a businessman for more than 37 years.
Until recently Mr Ardila was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Colombia's largest non-alcoholic beverage company, Postobon, owned by the Organización Ardila Lülle (OAL). He was also member of the Board of Directors of Peldar S.A, Colombia´s largest glass container manufacturer, and Central Cervecera de Colombia (CCC) a joint venture in the brewing industry with CCU of Chile and Heineken. He was Chairman of the Board of other companies, such as Club Atletico Nacional, one of Colombia´s professional football teams, and Chairman of other non-profit foundations.
Mr Ardila is founding member of the Georgetown University’s Latin American Board, a Latin American programme created to promote entrepreneurial leadership.
On 4 March 2019, Mr Ardila was appointed by the President of the Republic of Colombia, H.E. Iván Duque Márquez, as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Louise Holden is an experienced and innovative leader in technology and payments who creates future business models and inclusive smart technology for partners in the humanitarian, development and government sectors. She designs commercially sustainable partnerships and digital solutions to meet national and multinational partner goals including private sector organisations, Cities, National and Local Governments, UN, IGOs, NGOs, Humanitarian Actors, and Foundations. Louise is currently with Mastercard and her previous career includes American Express and Barclays. She has worked and lived abroad extensively across Africa, Europe and Australia. She is on the Leadership Circle of ARISE, ActionAid, a Governor, FRSA and is passionate about equality. She co-chairs a UK Gender Network and mentors a number of younger executives. Louise’s other interests includes beekeeping, art, competitive squash, property development and her 2 children.
Saker Nusseibeh is CEO of the international business of Federated Hermes, appointed November 2011, having joined in June 2009 as CIO. He is also a member of the Federated Hermes Executive team. Prior to this, Saker was Global Head of Equities at Fortis Investments, having previously been CIO Global Equities since 2005. Before this, he was CIO of Global Equities and Head of Marketing for SGAM UK. This followed SGAM’s acquisition of Trust Company of the West, where Saker was a Managing Director running global and international strategies. He started his career at Mercury Asset Management in 1987.
Saker is founder of the 300 Club and was an inaugural member of the CFA Institute’s Future of Finance Advisory Council from 2013 until 2019. He is a member of the IIRC Council, the FCA-PRA Climate Financial Risk Forum, the United Nations Environmental Programme Financial Initiative Steering Committee, the Banking Standards Board, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and the advisory Board of the National Youth Orchestra.
In 2018, Saker was named CEO of the Year at the Financial News Asset Management Europe Awards and was named as European Personality of the Year for 2020 at the Funds Europe Awards. He has a BA and PhD in Medieval History from King's College, University of London.
Saker was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s 2020 New Year's Honours list for services to Responsible Business and Finance.
Melissa Powell is the Chief of Staff of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate sustainability initiative. A valued member of the Executive Management Committee, Ms Powell joined the UN Global Compact shortly after its launch in 2001. Ms Powell has been involved in virtually every aspect of the programme, building the initiative to where it stands today — with over 10,000 corporate participants and non-business stakeholders from 160 countries.
In 2016, Ms Powell assumed the role of Chief of Staff. Reporting to the CEO & Executive Director, she is responsible for managing day-to-day operations, as well as key strategic initiatives. Her responsibilities include overseeing the governance of the initiative, including Board Relations and Integrity. She also oversees Strategic Planning, the Compact’s strategic relations with Governments as well as partnerships across the United Nations System, including with the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General.
In her previous role as Head of Strategy and Partnerships for the UN Global Compact, Ms Powell led a range of strategic initiatives including those focused on connecting companies with the United Nations. She also led the development of “Business for Peace”, an initiative that supports companies to operate responsibly and contribute to development and peace in high-risk areas of the world.
A graduate of the London School of Economics, where she earned a master's degree in International Relations, Ms Powell also holds an honours bachelor's degree in Political Science from Queen’s University, Canada.
Lutfey Siddiqi is an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore (Risk Management Institute), a Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics (LSE IDEAS) and a Distinguished Fellow at Policy Research Institute Bangladesh. He was previously Global Head of Emerging Markets for Foreign Exchange, Rates & Credit at UBS Investment Bank and, prior to that, a Managing Director at Barclays Bank in charge of a business-line across Asia Pacific.
Antonio Fuertes Zurita is ESG Senior Advisor at Business and Human Rights (BHR), a consultancy company specialized in promoting Human Rights in the business context and at Specialisterne, a Danish company which aim is to integrate persons with autism in labour markets.
Antonio has 30 years of experience in the energy business, 16 of them as a Global Head of Sustainability at Naturgy leading the Human Rights project for 10 years and the social impact projects of the company in different countries. He coordinated the Sustainability Plans that led the company to be a world leader at of Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good and to get outstanding positions in Sustainability Rating Agencies (Sustainalytics, Vigeo, and MSCI).
Antonio was a Board Member of Bettercoal from 2015 to 2019, an initiative launched by the main European utilities to commit to the international purchase of coal under ESG criteria. He is a member of the ESG Working Group of the European Confederation of Directors Associations (ecoDa) and a member of the Spanish Institute of Directors, where he is a professor on Sustainability for Board Members. Antonio is a member of the Executive Committee of the Spanish Association of Sustainability Directors since 2021.
In 2007 he co-authored the book “The challenges of CSR: An industry approach” published by IESE Business School. He has education on Good Corporate Governance by the Institute of Directors of Spain, on Energy Business by ICADE/Spanish Institute of Energy Business, on Accounting and Finance by IESE Business School and on Sustainability by IE Business School. He started his professional career at Accenture.
Mehrnaz Mostafavi is the Chief of the Human Security Unit (HSU) at the United Nations. Since joining the HSU, she has been instrumental in establishing the strategic vision of the HSU and its operational activities in over 90 countries; developing the HSU as the centre of excellence and knowledge on human security; strengthening the policy basis for human security within and outside of the United Nations; and expanding the resources of the HSU and the UNTFHS.
Ms Mostafavi has in-depth knowledge of global priorities such as: Agenda 2030 and the implementation of the sustainable development goals; bridging the gap between humanitarian assistance, sustaining peace and long-term development; climate change and disaster risk reduction; and responding to the multi-dimensional consequences of today’s crises on peace, prosperity and human dignity.
Prior to joining the HSU, she worked at the Bureau for Development Policy at the United Nations Development Programme where she provided policy guidance on a wide range of issues including inclusive globalization, pro-poor trade and poverty reduction. In addition to her contributions at the United Nations, Ms Mostafavi has worked in the corporate multinational sector, as well as academia.
Hugh Sandeman is a Visiting Senior Fellow at LSE IDEAS and Project Head of Global Strategies. He was an international banker for 30 years based in New York, Tokyo, London, and Frankfurt, and for the past decade has focused on India. He was previously Tokyo correspondent, international business editor and New York correspondent of The Economist.