Horizon Conference 2019

Pierre Gramegna joined the government as Minister of Finance in December 2013 in the coalition formed by the Democratic Party (DP), the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Green Party (“déi gréng”).

A career diplomat, Minister Gramegna joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983. He was subsequently appointed political and economic affairs advisor to the Luxembourg embassy in Paris in 1988, an office he held for four years before being appointed consul general and director of the Board of Economic Development in San Francisco. From 1996 to 2002, he was Luxembourg’s ambassador to Japan and South Korea. He was subsequently responsible for the Directorate of International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2003, Minister Gramegna took up the position of director general of the Chamber of Commerce, an office he held until his appointment to the government in December 2013.

Prior to joining the government, Minister Gramegna was a member of the executive board of several companies, including Cargolux Airlines International SA (as chairman from 2004 to 2008), the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (Bourse de Luxembourg), the National Credit and Investment Company (Société nationale de crédit et d’investissement), the Del Credere Office (Office du ducroire) , LuxExpo Luxembourg and BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg SA. He has also been a member of numerous advisory committees, such as the Tripartite Coordination Committee (Comité de coordination tripartite), the Economic and Social Committee of the Greater Region (Comité économique et social de la Grande Région), the Advisory Committee on Foreign Trade (Comité consultatif du commerce extérieur), the Economic Development Committee (Comité de développement économique), and the National Committee for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship (Comité national pour la promotion de l’esprit d’entreprise).

Minister Gramegna holds a Master’s degree in Civil Law and a degree in Economic Sciences from the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II). He also holds a DEA (post-graduate diploma of advanced studies) in Community law.

Mikko Hypponen is a world-wide authority on computer security and privacy issues. He has been working with computer security for over 20 years and has fought the biggest malware outbreaks in the net. As a result, he has been involved in catching several online criminals. He also tracked down the authors of the very first PC virus. Mr. Hypponen has also extensively researched cyber warfare and online espionage. He has written on these topics for magazines such as Scientific American and Foreign Policy.

Mikko Hypponen was listed as one of the 50 Most Important People on the Web by the PC World magazine. Tagged as a "Code Warrior" by Vanity Fair, Hypponen is a go-to expert on cybercrime for international news media. In 2013, Reader's Digest listed Hypponen as one of the "8 Europeans who make a difference" together with Adele and Felix Baumgartner. Later in the same year he was inducted to the Infosecurity Europe Hall of Fame. Mr. Hypponen sits on the advisory boards of the Lifeboat Foundation and T2.

Mr. Hypponen set up one of the first websites in Europe, and he started one of the first blogs in history. Nowadays, he runs his award-winning Twitter account at twitter.com/mikko

Bloomberg described Gina Miller as an ‘Establishment Wrecking Ball’ but her drive for transparency, scrutiny and integrity is about reform, not wrecking. Her expertise and areas of work cover investments, charities, democracy and political processes, as well as social justice.

Post the financial crisis, Gina and her husband Alan founded SCM Direct as a modern disruptive digital wealth manager centred on 100% transparency, low cost and putting clients first.

In 2012 Gina co-launched the True and Fair Campaign, calling for an end to rip offs and dubious practices in the investment and pension industry. Gina’s campaigning has resulted in contributions to three EU Directives – Article 24 of MiFID II, PRIPS and The Shareholder Directive.

In 2016, Gina successfully challenged the UK Government over its authority to implement Brexit, winning in both the High Court and Supreme Court in what is hailed as the most important British constitutional case since the 1700s.

Gina continues a “democracy and legality” watching brief of the UK Government’s activities as Brexit is progressed. In September 2018 she launched the End the Chaos! campaign aimed at promoting the final decision being taken by the people rather than Parliament to break the political deadlock, provide an open source platform for unbiased, simple to understand information so people are able to make an informed choice should the decision come back to them, and explain unanswered questions about the European Union and the UK’s membership.

At the end of August 2018, Gina published her first book ‘Rise: Life Lessons in Speaking Out, Standing Tall & Leading the Way’

Cathy O’Dowd is the first woman in the world to climb Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, from both its north and south sides. Her first ascent of Everest happened in the midst of the chaotic events that formed the basis of the ‘true story’ behind the Hollywood movie Everest.

Cathy, who grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, has climbed ever since leaving school. She was completing her Masters degree in Journalism, while working as university lecturer, when she saw a newspaper advert for a place on the 1st South African Everest Expedition. Six months later she was the first South African to summit Everest. Three years later she became the first woman in the world to climb the mountain from both sides. Finally she made one last expedition to Everest to try a new route on the Kangshung face. She has written a book about her Everest experiences, Just For The Love Of It.

The years she spent in the Himalaya were for her a degree ‘in living’. The insights she discovered about herself, and about individuals and teams under intense stress in the face of overwhelming challenge, are ones she has been sharing with her corporate audiences ever since. Her stories touch on themes of importance to anyone trying to run successful projects and get the best out of people.

Cathy’s most challenging Himalayan epic was as part of team forging a new route on an 8.000 metre peak. Although Cathy herself did not reach the summit, two of her teammates did, doing the first ascent of Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno ridge, and winning the prestigious Piolet d’Or for their achievement. She has turned this experience into a fascinating interactive case-study of successful project execution of truly innovative goals. Cathy O’Dowd - the 1st woman to climb Mount Everest from both sides.
Cathy has been a professional speaker for over 20 years and has presented her message to companies in 44 countries on six continents. She is a Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association of UK/Ireland, who have given her their highest award, the Professional Speaking Award of Excellence. Her spring 2019 expedition is a ski ascent of Mt Steele, a 5.000 metre peak in the Canadian Yukon.

Cathy is actively involved with charities focused on female empowerment, notably the Rwenzori Women for Health project in Uganda, and the Astraia Female Leadership Foundation in Germany.

She lives in Andorra, in the Pyrenees mountains, from where she pursues her speaking career, and explores the mountains of Europe. In her free time she does technical rock-climbing and ski mountaineering.

John Psaila is currently the Managing Partner of Deloitte Luxembourg. He will officially take over as Managing Partner of the firm’s 2,300 professionals on 1 June 2018.

John started at Deloitte as a junior in 1995 and has been loyal to the Deloitte brand ever since. He has worked as an auditor for three different Deloitte member firms, and been exposed to a broad portfolio of clients that are diverse both from an industry as well as from a cultural perspective. John is specialized in group audits of commercial and industrial companies, and a reference when it comes to the framework governing the operation of public companies in Luxembourg. John joined Deloitte’s Luxembourg firm in 2001 and was appointed to Partner in 2008. In 2015, he was further promoted to the firm’s Executive Committee, and he acted as Deloitte Luxembourg’s Reputation & Risk Leader until he was elected as the firm’s next Managing Partner in October 2017 at the age of 39.

Originally from Malta, John is a fellow of the UK Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a member of the Luxembourg Institute of Auditors, and an Authorised Statutory Auditor (réviseur d'entreprises agréé) in Luxembourg.

Dr Daniel Susskind explores the impact of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, on work and society. He is a Fellow in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford University, where he teaches and researches. He is the co-author of the best-selling book, The Future of the Professions. His TED Talk, on the future of work, has been viewed more than 1.3 million times.

Previously he worked in the British Government – as a policy adviser in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, as a policy analyst in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and as a senior policy adviser in the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.

Denise Voss, ALFI Chairwoman and Conducting Officer of Franklin Templeton Investments, has worked in the financial industry in Luxembourg since 1990. Denise joined Franklin Templeton Investments in 1995 and is currently Conducting Officer and board member of Franklin Templeton International Services S.à r.l., a Luxembourg-based management company.

Prior to joining Franklin Templeton Investments, Denise worked for over 9 years in the audit division of Coopers & Lybrand in Boston, USA and Luxembourg. Denise holds a Massachusetts C.P.A. license and obtained an undergraduate degree from Tufts University, as well as a masters degree in accountancy from Bentley University. She is Chairman of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) and has been a member of the ALFI board of directors since 2007. Denise is also Chairman of the EFAMA Investor Education Platform.

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