Platform Members

Chairperson

Mr Frans TIMMERMANS

Since 1 November 2014, Mr Timmermans is the European Commission’s first vice-president. He is responsible for better regulation, inter-institutional relations, the rule of law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Frans Timmermans began his career in 1987 as an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague. After taking part in the induction course for diplomats, he worked as a policy officer in the Ministry's European integration department from 1988-1990, before joining the Dutch embassy in Moscow as second embassy secretary.
After a brief period back in The Hague as deputy head of the Ministry for Development Cooperation's European affairs section, Mr Timmermans became a member of the staff of European Commissioner Hans van de Broek. He later became adviser and private secretary to Max van der Stoel, the high commissioner on national minorities for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
From 1998 he was a member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party (PvdA). In that capacity, he dealt mainly with foreign affairs. He was chair of the Permanent Committee on Economic Affairs and represented the House of Representatives in the European Convention.
In the 4th Balkenende government, from February 2007 to February 2010, Mr Timmermans was minister for European affairs. After the end of that government he returned to the House as the PvdA's spokesperson on foreign policy.
On 5 November 2012 Mr Timmermans served as minister of foreign affairs in the Rutte-Asscher government. He was then appointed in 2014 by the Dutch government to serve at the Commission.

Birdlife

Martin Harper

Martin Harper is the Global Conservation Director of the RSPB. He leads the charity’s strategy for evidence, practical conservation and influence (in the UK, the 14 UK Overseas Territories and, working with the BirdLife International partnership, across the Africa-European flyway and globally where we can make a difference).  He is a member of Defra’s Biodiversity Programme Board and the BirdLife European and Central Asia Committee.

BusinessEurope

Markus Beyrer

Director General

Markus J. Beyrer has been Director General of BusinessEurope since late 2012. Prior to this he held the positions of CEO of the Austrian Industry Holding ÖIAG, Director General of the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) and Director for Economic Affairs of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. Before this Mr Beyrer served as Chief Economic Advisor to the Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel. Mr Beyrer holds a law degree from the University of Vienna. Later he completed postgraduate studies in European law at the Danube University in Krems (Austria) and the Stanford Executive Program at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

CEMR Council of European Municipalities and Regions

Frederic Vallier

Frédéric Vallier has been Secretary General of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) since 1 February 2010. Expert in European affairs at the local and regional levels and city diplomacy, he has over twenty five years of experience working with local and regional authorities, including within the city and Metropolitan Authority of Nantes (France) where, from 2004 to 2010, he held the position of Deputy-head of the Mayor’s office (Jean-Marc Ayrault), advisor for international and European affairs, and Head of the European Service. Frederic Vallier holds an Executive Master’s Degree in public management from Science Po Paris

COFACE Famillies Europe

Annemie Drieskens

President

Annemie Drieskens is Coface President since 2012 and she works in close contact with Coface members in 24 countries . She holds a Law degree from the University of Leuven. She builds expertise in EU matters and especially in social and family policies. She represents the interests and the needs of families in different  fields, (eg  ECEC , gender equality…)  and in different institutions and networks. Since 2012 she worked especially on the roadmap and the Coface actions in the field of worklife balance , starting from the clear needs of parents all over Europe.  
As president she succesfully applied for the consultative status for Coface by the UN, a concrete way for Coface to link up with the UN programmes and actions, especially with UN DESA focusing on the realisation of the SDG’s.  
She is also vice president of Gezinsbond, the Flemish league of families that relies 240.000 families, and daily involved at local, regional and national level to promote actions for families.

Committe of the Regions

Arnoldas Abramavicius

Graduated from a Bachelor’s degree in Physics in 1992 and a Master’s in Public Administration in 2010.

Vicemayor of Zarasai municipality, Lithuania. Former Mayor  from 1997 to 2000 and 2007-2013.

Member of Utena county regional development council.

Vice president of the EU Committee of the Regions (COR).
First Vice president of the COR Commission for Economical Policy (ECON).
Head of the Lithuanian national delegation to the COR.
Joint monitoring committee member on European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (2014-2020 EU Cross Border Cooperation Programme “Lithuania-Latvia-Belarus”).

CONCORD

Johanes Trimmel

President of the Board

Johannes Trimmel is Director, Policy and Advocacy at the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. Since June 2014 he is President of CONCORD, the European Confederation of Relief and Development NGOs that represent over 2,600 NGOs. He also serves as a member in the advisory group of the civil society engagement mechanism with the Universal Health Coverage 2030 multi-stakeholder platform. During the last 15 years of working in development cooperation he has been focusing on the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as access to eye health and health systems strengthening – amongst others as Director for International Programme Support and Policies at Light for the World and Chair of the International Disability and Development Consortium.

COPA COGECA

Liisa Pietola

Liisa Pietola received her Ph.D in soil and crop sciences in 1995 and serves also as an adjunct professor (docent) at the University of Helsinki in Agricultural Chemistry and Physics (1998- ). She has published close to 100 scientific papers and led courses on soil structure, hydrology and plant nutrition over 20 years. She worked 5 years for international fertilizer industry on research and development (2006-2011).  
Currently, she is a Head of Environmental Affairs at the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK), and chair of the Working Party on the Environment at Copa-Cogeca.
Her responsibility is focus on environmental externalities and impacts related to agriculture and forestry, such as recycling of nutrients, water quality protection, climate change mitigation, air quality and biodiversity of agro-forestry ecosystems, including landowner’s property rights and legislation proposals both in Finland and EU level.
She is also an active farmer and round wood producer. Her family grows barley and wheat and has pastures and grasses on the family farm in South-Western Finland. Forests include both conservation areas and wood production areas.

CSR Europe

Etienne Davignon

Etienne Davignon is Chairman of the “Advisory Board” of “Business Network for Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR).

In 1959, Mr. Davignon joined the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was Head of the Cabinets of Ministers Spaak and Harmel. From 1969 he was responsible for the Political Department of the Ministry until his departure in 1977.

In 1977, Mr. Davignon was appointed Vice President of the EEC, in charge of industry, research and energy up until the end of 1984. During this period he was active in the restructuring of European industry (steel, textiles, synthetic fibres) and promoting new research cooperative ventures in Information Technology and Telecommunication (Esprit, Race).

In the beginning of 1985 he joined Société Générale de Belgique, Belgium's leading holding company of which he became Chairman on April 11, 1989 and Vice-Chairman on February 28, 2001.

He was teacher at Université Catholique de Louvain from 1980 to 1983 and is Chairman of the Board of Institut Catholique des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (Brussels).

EUROCITIES

Silvia Ganzerla

Policy Director

Silvia Ganzerla is a Policy Director in EUROCITIES where she is responsible for social and economic policies, such as poverty and social inclusion, migration and refugees, affordable housing, jobs and skills, inclusive growth, innovation and economic transition. She is strongly committed to ensure prosperity and quality of life to people living in cities by addressing social, economic and environmental issues in an integrated way.
Previously Silvia worked in a consultancy and she conducted several studies related to sustainable development such as: education for sustainable development, gender budgeting, employment and education, green jobs, active citizenship, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Silvia holds a Master in Local Development from the University of Birmingham, with a dissertation on cultural policy in urban development; she also has a Master in European Social Policy Evaluation from Bath University.

ETUC

Liina Carr

Confederal Secretary

Liina Carr was elected as ETUC Confederal Secretary at the Paris Congress in 2015. Born in Paide, Estonia, Liina was the Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions’ international secretary from 2004 to 2015.
She worked in the private sector in Estonia and Britain, and studied law at Tallinn College of Economics, before going on to secure a first class honours degree in law at the University of Kent in the UK, in 1999. She stayed in England as a university teaching assistant, and then in the management accounts department of a National Health Service trust.
In 2002, she returned to Estonia and was appointed as European integration and training coordinator in the Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions (EAKL).
Liina completed a Master’s degree in European law and institutions at Estonia’s Academy Nord in 2004. She also became an active member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), as Chair of the European Economic Area Consultative Committee, a Vice President of the workers’ group, and on the Single Market Observatory.

EESC European Economic and Social Committee

Peter Schmidt

Sustainable Development Observatory President

Born in 1962, Peter Schmidt's first occupation was cheesemaker. Later on he was a regional officer of the NGG trade union (Food and Catering Union, affiliated to the DGB) for 27 years, in charge of dairy industries and bakeries. Since 2014 he has been a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)'s Group II (Workers). From 2015 to March 2018, he was the president of the EESC's Permanent Study Group on Sustainable Food Systems. Since April 2018, he has been the president of the EESC's Sustainable Development Observatory and one of the three EESC members steering the work of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, a joint initiative by the EESC and the European Commission.

ENEL

Francesco Starace

Francesco Starace is Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Enel S.p.A. since May 2014.
Mr. Starace joined the Enel Group in 2000, holding several top executive positions including Head of Business Power (from July 2002 to October 2005); Managing Director of the Market Division (from November 2005 to September 2008) and Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Enel Green Power (from 2008 to 2017).
Since June 2014, he is a member of the Advisory Board of the United Nations’ Sustainable Energy 4 All initiative. In May 2015, he joined the Board of Directors of the United Nations’ Global Compact. In January 2016, he was designated co-chair of the World Economic Forum's Energy Utilities and Energy Technologies Community and, in October of the same year, he was appointed co-chair of the B20 Climate & Resource Efficiency Task Force. In June 2017, he was elected President of the European electricity industry union Eurelectric.
He graduated in Nuclear Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan. He is married and has two sons, he is a keen cyclist, a supporter of A.S. Roma football club and has a passion for poetry.

EPHA European Public Health Alliance

Fiona Godfrey

Fiona Godfrey has been Secretary-General of the European Public Health Alliance in Brussels, a public health NGO with over 80 organisational and network members across Europe, since January 2019. She trained as a lawyer in England and represented trade union members in industrial accident and employment-related crime cases. In 1995, she moved to Luxembourg where she worked as a consultant to the European Commission public health directorate specializing in tobacco control legislation.  She subsequently became Policy Director at the European Respiratory Society where she worked on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control as well as air pollution policy. In 2007, she joined the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease where she led on tobacco control projects and legislation advising several health ministries in the former Soviet Union, Asia and North Africa. In 2013, she was appointed Policy and Advocacy Director at the European Association for the Study of the Liver where she worked on chronic disease health determinants, infectious diseases and EU research policy. She was a member of several expert advisory groups during the FCTC process and in 2011 was awarded the WHO World No Tobacco Day award for individual achievement.

ESADE Business School

Eva Jane Llopis

Independent Researcher

Dr Eva Jané-Llopis is Director of Health, Sustainable Development Goals and Social Innovation at ESADE Business School, where she leads research and executive training for the SDGs, building health, well-being & social innovation programmes, studying the impact of future trends, unpacking strategies for public-private sector interface and measuring SDG 17.
Previously she was director of Health Programmes at the World Economic Forum, where she created multi-stakeholder collaborations and supported the positioning of well-being on the global agenda. Through her previous senior positions in academia, government, World Health Organization and World Economic Forum, she has over eighteen years of national and international experience in public health strategy, evidence development, policy making, and alliance building, engaging high-level stakeholders from public and private sectors, creating and evaluating public-private partnerships. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences, a Master in Global Leadership, and continuous executive education on strategy, management and leadership from INSEAD, Wharton, and other leading business schools.

ETUCE

Michelle Olivier

Michelle OLIVIER is a teacher, member of the international SNUipp-FSU sector, a union representing pre-primary and elementary school teachers. SNUipp-FSU is a member of ETUCE, which brings together the European affiliates of Education International.

Within this framework, in delegations led by Education International or Coalition Education, she participated in many high-level events which resulted to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

She had the opportunity to present the issues of the post-2015 process and their conclusion in the 2030 Agenda during several meetings, cooperation activities, and workshops with CSFEF (Francophone Trade Union Committee for education and training).

If she is an education specialist, related to the SDG4, she also follows very closely the issues related to poverty.

EUA European University Association

Michael Gaebel

Michael Gaebel is the director of the Higher Education Policy Unit, which focuses on issues related to higher education learning and teaching, including the Bologna Process, lifelong learning, e-learning and MOOCs, internationalisation and global dialogue.
When he first joined the European University Association (EUA) in 2006, he was in charge of developing EUA’s international strategy and global exchange and cooperation.
Before joining EUA, Michael worked for more than a decade in higher education cooperation and development in the Middle East, the former Soviet Union and Asia. From 2002 to 2006, he was the European Co-Director of the ASEAN-EU University Network Programme (AUNP) in Bangkok.
 
Michael graduated with a Masters in Middle Eastern Studies and German Literature and Linguistics from the Freie University Berlin, Germany

European Environmental Bureau

Jeremy Wates

Secretary General

Jeremy Wates is Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Europe's largest network of environmental citizens' organisations, since May 2011. In a career that has included grassroots activism, freelance consultancy, working as an international civil servant and organic farming, respect for the environment has always been a central preoccupation.

Prior to joining the EEB, Jeremy served for more than a decade as Secretary to the Aarhus Convention with the Geneva-based United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

During the 1990s, Jeremy led the campaign by the European ECO Forum, an NGO coalition, to persuade governments to start work on a treaty on environmental democracy.

In the 1980s, Jeremy founded the Irish environmental organization Earthwatch, the Irish member of Friends of the Earth International, and led the organization for more than a decade.
Jeremy holds an MA Honours Degree in Philosophy and Social & Political Sciences from Cambridge University, UK.

In 2011, Jeremy was awarded the David Brower Lifetime Achievement Award.

European Youth Forum

Rosalyn Old

Board Member

Rosalyn works as a researcher on community organisations and has undertaken PhD research on sustainable cities and human behaviour. Her volunteering background is in students’ unions, Girlguiding UK and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, with a focus on governance and advocacy. In the European Youth Forum she focuses on sustainable development, climate change and supporting youth delegates in these spaces.

International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)

Jonathan Labrey

Chief Strategy Officer

Jonathan Labrey is Chief Strategy Officer of the International Integrated Reporting Council. Jonathan Labrey leads the IIRC’s global strategy and policy development, which aims to create the conditions for Integrated Reporting to flourish.  Since joining the IIRC in March 2012, Jonathan has travelled widely and has developed a deep insight into the major trends and policy developments in corporate reporting across the world.

Jonathan has a background in government relations, policy and regulation, having headed up the public affairs and policy team at the ICAEW from 2004-10 and at the RIBA from 2000-2004.

From 2010-2012 Jonathan was head of communications at the UK’s Financial Reporting Council, the accounting, audit and corporate governance regulator. He started his career as a political advisor in the UK Parliament, having read Law at King’s College, University of London.

Social platform

Mrs Kelig Puyet

Director of Social Platform

Kélig Puyet has been Director of Social Platform since May 2017.

She has acquired extensive experience of the civil society sector and the impact that EU and national policies have on people in vulnerable situa¬tions. Prior to joining Social Platform, she was Head of Global Advocacy at SOS Children’s Villages International. Since 2003, she has been actively involved in the work of different organisations including the European Youth Forum, Eurochild, CONCORD and the International Civil Society Centre.

Kélig holds a Master’s degree in Law from the Robert Schuman University, France, and a European Master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratisation from the University of Padova and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (University of Lund).

SDG Watch

Leida Rijnhout

Programme Coordinator Resource Justice and Sustainability

Leida is a national Dutch and has a background in cultural anthropology with more than 30 years of experience in international development cooperation (focus on rural development in Bolivia) and sustainability. For many years, she facilitated and coordinated the global NGO community to realise their active engagement in United Nations processes on Sustainable Development and Environment. For that reason, she was heavily involved at and in the preparations of the Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 (Johannesburg), at Rio+20 in 2012 (Rio de Janeiro) and in the development of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals. She is the European Focal Point for civil society in Europe, in the 10-year Framework on Sustainable Consumption and Production (UNEP). And was the representative for the Environmental NGOs at the OECD, until shortly.

Leida initiated a broad alliance of civil society organisations SDG Watch Europe and is member of the Steering Group.

Transparency International

Patricia Moreira

Managing Director

Patricia Moreira has been appointed as Managing Director of the International Secretariat of Transparency International in October 2017. She is Spanish-Brazilian and has worked for more than a decade promoting social impact and innovation in a global environment. For the past 14 years, she worked at Ayuda en Acción, a Spanish aid organisation operating in 20 countries around the world. She became the organisation’s CEO in 2009 heading a team of around 100 people at headquarters and more than 300 in the field.

Prior to that, Ms Moreira worked as an international management consultant for ten years with a focus on technology, innovation and impact. She holds an MBA from INSEAD, France and a BA in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has done PhD research in Social Entrepreneurship at ICADE University in Madrid.

Unilever

Paul Polman

Chief Executive Officer

Paul Polman has been CEO of Unilever since January 2009. Under his leadership Unilever has an ambitious vision to fully decouple its growth from overall environmental footprint and increase its positive social impact through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.
Paul is Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, a member of the B Team and sits on the Board of the UN Global Compact and the Consumer Goods Forum, where he co-chairs the Sustainability Committee.
Paul’s commitment to the SDGs inspired him and others to establish the Business and Sustainable Development Commission.
In recognition of his contribution to responsible business, Paul has received numerous awards and accolades including the Rainforest Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), the Oslo Business for Peace Award (2015), the UN Environment Programme’s Champion of the Earth Award (2015), the Singapore Government Public Service Star (2016) and France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (2016).

WWF

Ester Asin

Director

Ester Asin took the position of Director for WWF’s European Policy Office on 1 October 2018.

A lawyer and political scientist, Ester was previously the Director and EU representative of Save the Children’s Brussels Office, where for the five years she developed and leaded the NGO’s advocacy with EU institutions and represented the organisation in European fora and civil society networks. Prior to that, Ester acted as EU Representative for CARE International, and as Policy Manager at CONCORD, the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development, and worked for the European Commission in West Africa.

Ester holds degrees in Spanish and European law and an M.A. in European Studies from the College of Europe. She is a Spanish national, and has lived in Brussels for more than 15 years.

Vandinika Shukla

Personal capacity

Vandinika Shukla is the European Commission’s Young Leader (2016). She currently works for the Office of the Director, UN System Coordination, UN Women HQ on accountability for gender equality across 65 UN bodies. She has previously worked on localizing the Sustainable Development Goals in national and state policies as the Youth Focal Point for UN Women’s Multi Country Office in India, and led a social entrepreneurial project on engaging youth for implementation of the Right to Education Act in India. The Indian Ambassador for G(irls)20, Vandinika is serving as the Vice President of the Global Steering Committee, G(irls)20.

Christian Thimann

Personal capacity

Mr Thimann is Chairman of the EU High-level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and Senior Executive of the AXA Group, based in Paris, where he has been in charge of Strategy, Sustainability and Public Affairs. He has also served as Vice-Chair of the Task Force of Climate-related Financial Disclosures of the G20’s Financial Stability Board.

Until 2013, he was Director General and Adviser to the President at the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt. Before joining the ECB in 1998, he was a staff member of the International Monetary Fund in the European Department and the Asia and Pacific Department.

He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Munich and a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and has published in academic journals as well as general interest papers on insurance, international money and finance and European integration.

Wiebe Draijer

Personal capacity

Wiebe Draijer (1965, born in Enschede, The Netherlands) took over as Chairman of the Rabobank Managing Board on 1 October 2014. He studied mechanical engineering in Delft and in 1992 received an MBA from the Insead Business School. From 1990 to 2003, he was employed as a consultant at the McKinsey consultancy firm. In 2004, he was appointed the company's managing partner for The Netherlands and in 2006 for the Benelux countries. As from 1 September 2012, Wiebe Draijer was appointed president of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands. Wiebe Draijer is married, with four children.

Janez Potocnik

Personal capacity

Dr Janez Potočnik was appointed Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development of the Republic of Slovenia in 1994. In April 1998, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia appointed Dr Potočnik Head of Negotiating Team for Accession of the Republic of Slovenia to the European Union. In June 2001, he was appointed a Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister. On 24 January 2002, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia appointed him as the Minister without portfolio responsible for European Affairs.

Dr Potočnik became a Member of the European Commission on 1 May 2004. From 2004-2010 he was responsible for the Science and Research. In 2010 he took on a second mandate as Member of the European Commission responsible for Environment.
Still in 2014 he was appointed for a three-year term as a member and Co-Chair of International Resource Panel hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme. In the same month he was also appointed as a Chairman of The Forum for the Future of Agriculture and a Member of the European Policy Centre's Advisory Council.

Mella Frewen

(Food Drink Europe)

Director General of FoodDrinkEurope, representing Europe’s largest manufacturing industry, since July 2007.

Mella Frewen’s previous positions include Director for Government Affairs EMEA at Monsanto, dealing with agricultural biotechnology, conventional agriculture, seeds and agri-chemistry.

Prior to that, she was Director, International Relations for Cerestar, then Europe’s biggest starch producer. She has a wide experience of relations with International institutions, with the Institutions of the European Union and trade associations within the food chain, as well as with the agri-food and non-food, and chemical sectors.

At the OECD & FAO, Ms Frewen is Vice President of the Advisory Group for Responsible Business Conduct along Agricultural Supply Chains. She is also Co-chair of the European food “Supply Chain Initiative” (SCI) for fair business practices across the food chain.

Sergi Corbalan

(Fair Trade Advocacy Office)

Sergi Corbalán is since 2008 the Executive Director of the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, based in Brussels.

The Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) speaks out on behalf of the Fair Trade movement for Fair Trade and Trade Justice with the aim to improve the livelihoods of marginalised producers and workers in the South. The FTAO is a joint initiative of Fairtrade International and the World Fair Trade Organisation (Europe and Global). Through these three networks the FTAO represents an estimate of 2.5 million Fair Trade producers and workers from 70 countries, 24 labelling initiatives, over 500 specialised Fair Trade importers, 4,000 World Shops and more than 100,000 volunteers. More information under: www.fairtrade-advocacy.org

CoR

Peter Bossman

Peter Bossman (SI/PES), Mayor of Piran (Slovenia), is a Member of the Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs (CIVEX) within the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and rapporteur of the CoR opinion "Partnership Framework with third countries under the European Agenda on Migration" (adopted in February 2017).

Roby BIWER

Former Mayor of Bettembourg, Luxembourg
Member of Bettembourg municipal Counseil
Vice-president of the European Committee of the Regions
Rapporteur for the Committee of the Regions to the fitness-check of the Nature Directives  
1 vice-president of the ENVE commission of this Committee of the Regions.

EEAC

Arnau Queralt Bassa

Mr. Queralt-Bassa has been serving as chair of the European network of Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC) since January 2015 and he is the co-chair of its working group on sustainable development. The EEAC is a network of advisory councils established by national or regional governments. EEAC members offer independent advice to their respective national or regional governments and parliaments related to the environment and sustainable development..

EESC

Lutz Ribbe

Mr Ribbe has been the Director of the Environmental Policy Section of EURONATUR and of its office in Bonn for over 20 years. His sustained and knowledgeable environmental activism led to his appointment in 2010 as Chair of the Commission for Agriculture and environment at the German Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt). He has also been active in a number of German and European environmental councils such as the German-Polish Environmental Council (on-going), the nature conservation of Land Brandenburg, and is Vice-President of the working group on agriculture in the German Association for Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND).  Since 2015, he has been the vice-president of the EESC's Sustainable Development Observatory and is a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)'s Group III (Diversity Europe).

Tellervo Kylä-Harakka-Ruonala

Tellervo Kylä-Harakka-Ruonala acts as Senior Advisor in topics relating to sustainability, business environment and EU policies. Previously she has worked for the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) and held executive positions in energy, transport, infrastructure and industrial affairs, as well as in environmental policy, sustainable development and corporate responsibility. She has acted in numerous national committees and organs, and on a European level she has been a long-standing member of the Industrial Affairs Committee of BusinessEurope. Before joining industrial organisations, she worked for the Ministry of the Environment and for the National Board of Waters. Since April 2018, she has been the vice-president of the EESC's Sustainable Development Observatory and is a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)'s Group I (Employers).

EIB

Mikołaj Dowgielewicz

Mikołaj DOWGIELEWICZ is the head of the EIB Brussels office and permanent representative to the EU institutions. Mikołaj´s previous experience covers foreign affairs, European policymaking and multilateral development. Mikołaj graduated in law and politics from the University of Hull and in Advanced European Studies from the College of Europe.

ESDN

Wolfram Tertschnig

Wolfram Tertschnig  has been involved in environmental and sustainable development policy  formulation   and implementation since  30 years. His current  responsibilities as  Director in the Austrian Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management  include Agenda 2030 implementation,  sustainable production and consumption, and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Mr. Tertschnig is co-chair of  the European Sustainable Development  Network,  an informal peer learning mechanism of public administrators from approx. 40 countries dealing with sustainable development strategies in Europe.

IUCN

Luc Bas

Luc Bas is the Director of the IUCN European Regional Office in Brussels , representing IUCN towards the EU Institutions and providing leadership and guidance for all activities undertaken by IUCN Government and NGO members within the European context. This includes informing decision-making through IUCN’s knowledge on topics such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Red Lists, Protected Area management, Natural Capital and promoting the use of nature-based solutions across different sectors.

OECD

Martine Durand

Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician

Martine Durand is the Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician of the OECD. She is responsible for providing strategic orientation for the Organisation's statistical policy and oversees all of OECD's statistical activities. She is in particular responsible for the Organisation’s work on the measurement of people’s well-being and societal progress, promoting the analysis and use of well-being and sustainability indicators for policy-making. This work features regularly in the flagship publication How’s Life? and related reports on well-being, inequalities and sustainable development.

UNITED NATIONS

Barbara Pesce-Monteiro

Director UN/UNDP Office in Brussels

Ms. Barbara Pesce-Monteiro was appointed Director of the UN/UNDP Office in Brussels in 2014. Before this appointment, she was the UN Resident Coordinator in Cuba for 4 years. From 1990-2010, she worked with UNDP in Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Angola, and Mexico. In addition, she covered the Sahel with UNCDF. She holds a Master’s degree in Rural Development Planning (UK), and completed her degree in International Political Science at La Sapienza University (IT).

World Bank

Mahmoud Mohieldin,

Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda

Dr. Mohieldin is the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, UN Relations and Partnerships. He serves as a Board member on the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, as well as an observer to the EU Multi-Stakeholder Platform for the SDGs. Dr. Mohieldin previously served as Corporate Secretary, President’s Special Envoy, and Managing Director for the World Bank Group.