Abyd Karmali is MD and Global Head of Carbon Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In 2008, his team won Environmental Finance magazine’s Carbon Finance Transaction of the Year and The Banker Award for Most Innovative in Sustainability. Abyd has worked for two decades on climate change and is President of the Carbon Markets and Investors Association. From 1996-97 he was Climate Change Officer at the UNEP’s Industry office in Paris and participated in the Kyoto Protocol. He holds an M.S. in Technology and Policy from the MIT.

Alison Hill manages Concept Development in the Climate Business Unit for Vestergaard Frandsen. She has extensive experience in designing and implementing global health programs and currently focuses her work on building scalable development programs that link environmental sustainability and health outcomes. In 2011, Alison managed the development and implementation of the first carbon financed safe drinking water program, registered under the Gold Standard. Alison received her MPH and MBA from Johns Hopkins University and has lived and worked extensively in Africa over the last 11 years.

After working in the insuring sector for some years, Ana focused her career in structuring capital for Energy and green supply chain projects, mostly initiatives that would interact with the Kyoto protocol mechanism by generating Carbon Credits. She joined the Carbon Investment Team in ArcelorMittal in 2008 to promote the development of external solutions to decrease the level of CO2 emissions of the group. Currently, her responsibility in ArcelorMittal is in the International Affairs team, where she coordinates governmental policy matters for the Group.

Secretary-General
United Nations

Ban Ki-moon is the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations. At the time of his election, Mr. Ban was his country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He had served in the Ministry for 37 years. As Secretary-General, his priorities have been to mobilize world leaders around a set of new global challenges, from climate change and economic upheaval to pandemics and increasing pressures involving food, energy and water. He has sought to be a bridge-builder, to give voice to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, and to strengthen the Organization itself..

Björn Stigson worked for the Swedish multinationals Kockums and ESAB in several positions from 1969-1982. From 1983-91 he was President and CEO of the Fläkt Group, and following this, he became Executive Vice President and a member of ABB Asea Brown Boveri’s Executive Management Group. In 1995, he was appointed President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Björn serves on the boards of a variety of international companies and organisations, and has been active as an advisor to governments (particularly China, US and Germany).

Mr Caio Koch-Weser is Vice Chairman of Deutsche Bank Group (since 2006) with global responsibilities for strategy; government, regulatory and corporate advisory; and co-ordination and implementation of group-wide business initiatives. He was German Deputy Minister of Finance (State Secretary) from 1999 until 2005.From 2003- 2005, Mr. Koch-Weser was Chairman of the EU’s Economic and Financial Committee. From 1973 until 1999, Mr. Koch-Weser held a number of high-level positions in the World Bank. He is a German and Brazilian national, born in Brazil. He is married with three children

At Autodesk, Emma spearheads the design software company’s efforts to make sustainable design easy, cost-effective and routine across the building, infrastructure, and plant industries. In 2009, Emma founded Autodesk’s Sustainable Design Living Lab program, which uses Autodesk facilities as a testing ground for new software to rapidly green existing buildings.Prior to this, she founded and directed the Environmental R&D Division at BSR. Emma holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Management from Stanford and a B.A. Honours degree in Human Sciences from Oxford.

Before joining Rand Water Board, Dr Fawcett Ngoatje held the following positions: Business Analyst, Manager: Entrepreneurial Development and Manager: Economic Research and Strategic Planning at Limpopo Development Corporation; Director: Project Preparatory Facility (PPF) in the Premier’s Office in Limpopo; Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the then Northern District Council (now Capricorn District Municipality);Director: International Development Corporation (IDC) and Chief Director: Strategic Coordination at the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF); and Chief Executive (CE) of Lepelle Water Board.

Mr. H. M. Nerurkar joined Tata Steel on February 1, 1982. In September 2007 he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Tata Steel. Mr. Nerurkar is a unique motivational leader who instills confidence in his subordinates and mentors them to reach excellence, innovation and out of box thinking. He has keen business acumen in identifying new business opportunities for accelerated growth.

Jane has headed the WGBC since February 2010. Previously, Jane was the founding CEO of the New Zealand Green Building Council, which she helped establish in 2005. She has served on the boards of the WorldGBC and New Zealand GBC. Additionally, Jane is a Board Director of UNEP’s Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative. Jane is committed to driving market transformation that is underpinned by sound economic practices that simultaneously deliver financial, social and environmental benefits.

Jeremy leads McKinsey’s global Sustainability and Resource Productivity Practice (SRP), the Firm’s hub on green growth, resource productivity and the wider sustainability agenda. The SRP practice’s aspiration is to help decision makers accommodate their value-creating agenda, the sustainability imperative and the discontinuities altering resource economics, including technology innovation and regulatory intervention. Jeremy has a MA in Law and Economics from Cambridge University and a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government. Prior to joining McKinsey, he worked as a Senior Economist at the World Bank.

Karin is Director: Group Sustainability Management for the Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest . Prior to joining the bank she held a similar role at mining giant, Anglo American. She has previously served as a sustainable energy advisor at Eskom and Manager of the then Industrial Environmental Forum. Her early career was in news and business journalism. She holds an MA in International Political Economy (Leeds). She serves on numerous sustainability advisory boards and chairs the international Stakeholder Council for the Global Reporting Initiative.

An expert on international climate policy, Mark advised former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in the joint policy initiative Breaking the Climate Deadlock (2008-2009) and co-founded the successful Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). Previously, Mark worked in WWF’s International Climate Change Programme where he led the creation of the CDM Gold Standard, a tool for channeling carbon market investments into sustainable clean energy projects. He has also served as Director of Planning at Fundacion Natura, Ecuador’s largest environmental organization, and climate change advisor to the Ecuadorian government.

Nick Robins heads the Climate Change Centre of Excellence at HSBC in London, which analyses the strategic implications of climate change for investors and the Group as a whole. Recently, Thomson Extel rated HSBC the #1 firm for integrated climate change and renewable energy (2010 & 2011), and Nick as #1 analyst for climate change (2011). Nick has more than 20 years experience in the policy, business and investment implications of sustainable development and corporate responsibility, and has authored numerous publications. He co-chairs the UNEP Finance Initiative’s Climate Change Working Group..

Paul Simpson is the CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent non-profit organization which aims to accelerate solutions to climate change and water management by putting relevant information at the heart of business, policy and investment decisions. Paul sits on the board of EIRIS, the advisory panel of Guardian Sustainable Business and on the steering committee of Forest Footprint Disclosure. Paul has previously worked with Chesham Amalgamations & Investments Ltd and the International Society for Ecology & Culture and is the former Director of the Social Venture Network.

Peter is a is a civil and structural engineer who has become a recognised world leader in major bridges (he received an OBE for successfully delivering the Second Severn Crossing as Government Agent), advanced composite technology and now in sustainable development in cities and regions. In April 2011, he set up The Ecological Sequestration Trust.

Phillip Barton is CEO for De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited (DBCM). Phillip serves on several boards and is a trustee on a number of trusts, including the De Beers Fund, The Diamond Route Trust and Ponahalo De Beers Fund. Previously, Phillip was appointed as CFO in 2009, his major achievements include playing a major part in the refinancing of DBCM and formulating and implementing the strategy for DBCM in response to the global economic crisis and beyond. Phillip previously held several positions in accounting and internal audit since joining De Beers in 1988.

Prior to her current position at WWF, Ms. Smith held various senior roles in the New Energy division of Statoil, the Norwegian energy company, where she developed wind power and CO2 projects. Before this, Ms. Smith was director of WWF’s International Arctic Programme, where she worked for ten years. Ms. Smith represented WWF in high-level political processes and the media, and focused on climate, energy and governance issues. She started her professional career as a corporate litigation attorney and has degrees in history and law from the University of California, Berkeley.

Soweto-born Simpiwe “Sim” Tshabalala is the CEO of Standard Bank South Africa as well as one of three Deputy Group CEO’s for Standard Bank Group. Standard Bank is Africa’s largest bank, with operations in 18 African countries and 20 countries on other continents. Sim – who is a qualified attorney, and holds a LLM from Notre Dame University (USA) – joined the Standard Bank in 2000, and has worked himself up through the ranks, holding various roles including Managing Director of Stanbic Africa and Chief Executive of Personal and Business Banking, South Africa

Steve is a qualified Scientist and Engineer with a PHD in Materials Engineering. He was appointed to his current position, Divisional Executive (Eskom International), on 01 April 2011. He is a global business leader who has a reputation for bridging sharply contrasting positions in various global forums such as the World Economic Forum (WEF), G8, United Nations and International Chamber of Commerce. His awareness of global trends in power generation and the wider energy sector has earned him widespread recognition.