Ambassador Gallegos is a distinguished Ecuadorian diplomat who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador and as Chair of the Board of Trustees of UNITAR. With over five decades of service in international relations, human rights, and multilateral diplomacy. He has been Ecuador’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in both New York and Geneva across three separate terms, playing a key role in advancing global human rights frameworks.

Ambassador Gallegos has also held ambassadorial posts in El Salvador, Australia, and Bulgaria, as well as leadership roles at the Organization of American States and the UN Committee against Torture.

Ambassador Gallegos chaired the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee responsible for drafting the landmark Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), one of the most significant international human rights treaties of the 21st century. His longstanding commitment to disability rights has earned him global recognition, including leadership positions with the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict) and the Institute of Public Policy and Disability. He is also a board member of the Special Olympics.

In addition, Ambassador Gallegos has held vice-presidential positions within several UN bodies, including the Human Rights Commission, the UN General Assembly, and ECOSOC, contributing extensively to international governance and multilateral dialogue.

Ambassador Gallegos holds a Doctor of Law (JD) from the Central University of Ecuador and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

H.E. Ambassador Royo is a seasoned Panamanian diplomat with extensive experience in multilateral organisations and international relations. She has held several key positions in Panama’s foreign service, including serving as Ambassador to the United Kingdom since 2022. Previously, she served at the Permanent Mission of Panama to the United Nations, where she managed the economic section and led negotiations on global initiatives such as the Development Agenda, the IV World Conference on Women, the World Summit for Social Development, and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

She was the Coordinator for the Rio Group, representing 14 Latin American countries and facilitating their positions at the United Nations. She also served at the Mission of Panama to the Organisation of American States (OAS) during the XXVI General Assembly hosted by Panama.

Ambassador Royo also worked with the Permanent Mission of Panama to UNESCO and at the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). During her eight years at SEGIB, she managed multilateral cooperation programs between Latin American governments, disaster prevention efforts with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), decentralization, municipalities, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

She studied journalism at New York University (NYU) and holds master’s degrees in International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, as well as in Political Communications and International Affairs from Fundación Ortega y Gasset / Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain.

The Honourable Mayor Francisco de la Torre Prados has been Mayor of Malaga since 2000, and was re-elected by an absolute majority on three consecutive occasions (2003, 2007, and 2011). He was also re-elected in 2015 and 2019. 

Mayor de la Torre Prados has been the Vice President of the Euro-Mediterranean Paternariado of Regional and Local Assembly (since 2010), and Vice President of the Euro-Mediterranean Association of Local and Regional Assembly. He has notable involvement in the development of Malaga as a pioneer city in Smart City and Sustainable Development. 

Mayor de la Torre Prados has chaired the Finance Commission, as well as the Mobility and Accessibility Commission of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces. He was elected Deputy for Malaga from 1977 to 1982, and Senator for the Constituency of Malaga from 2011 to 2014. He was National Deputy and Adviser in the first pre-autonomous Government of Andalusia. At the Spanish Congreso de los Diputados, he is a member of the Budget Committee and the Tourism, Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Committee.

In 2017, he was awarded by the French Republic, the Legion of Honour for his role in building cultural relations with France. In 2018, he received the Pushkin Medal from the Russian Federation for promoting cultural ties between Russia and Spain. In 2019, he was awarded the Distinction of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendly relations between Japan and Spain.

Mayor De La Torre Prados graduated with a PhD in Agronomy from the University of Madrid, is a Regional Development Specialist at the University of Rennes (France), as well as a BA in Sociology from the University of Málaga.

Dr. Vishwajeet Rana is a globally recognised education leader and the Group Chief Executive Officer of GEDU Global Education, a multinational education group operating across more than 15 countries.

With a background in international finance and a deep commitment to widening access to quality education, he is dedicated to building inclusive and high-impact learning ecosystems that continue to inspire educational reform and opportunity across continents. His leadership was recently recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award from POWER 100 and British Asians Who’s Who for his contributions to the UK’s Asian community and the global education sector.

Dr. Rana began his career in finance at HSBC’s New York office, where he specialised in cross-border equity and debt structured investments across markets in the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Hong Kong. He later transitioned into the education sector, where he has led GEDU in transforming the lives of over 75,000 students globally by focusing on employability, accessibility, and academic excellence.

A respected academic and author, Dr. Rana holds an MBA from Ohio University and an MS and PhD from Stevens Institute of Technology. He is also the author of the textbook Applied Corporate Valuation & Financial Modelling, which is widely used in business and finance education.

Professor Hatipoğlu is a distinguished academic leader and expert in European Studies, international relations, and political economy. She is currently serving as the Rector of Bahçeşehir University and was previously the Rector of Nişantaşi University in Türkiye.

Prof. Dr. Hatipoğlu has played a key role in global academic and policy circles, conducting research at leading international institutions, including the European University Institute (Florence), the London School of Economics (LSE), and the Central European University (Budapest).

She has contributed actively to several projects under the auspices of the Presidency of Türkiye, including Türkiye’s Strategic Vision 2023 Project, initiatives related to the European Union, EFTA, CEFTA, and human rights education. She was also the Deputy Director of Marmara University’s Middle East Studies Institute (2001–2006) and the founding head of the Department of International Political Economy at Marmara University’s Faculty of Political Sciences (2014–2015).

Her academic career includes teaching and research at Marmara University, where she became an Associate Professor of International Relations in 2007 and a Full Professor in 2014. Prof. Dr. Hatipoğlu holds degrees from Marmara University’s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences (Political Science and International Relations and Economics), an MA in Russian and Post-Soviet Studies from LSE, and a PhD in European Studies from Marmara University.

Mr. Ghory is the Chairman of the SmarterChains Foundation and a senior supply chain executive with over 35 years of experience in the Consumer Goods Industry. He has been the Senior Vice-President of Procter & Gamble Corp and the Chief Operating Officer of Kimberly-Clark Corp.

 He is a champion for sustainable development and brings extensive expertise in operations, innovation, logistics, and work systems, with a strong record of designing business-relevant strategies, building environmentally committed organisations, and developing high-performing teams.

Throughout his international career, Mr. Ghory led both global and regional operations across multiple business units, as well as key supply chain disciplines including Operations, Planning, and Global Manufacturing. His leadership has consistently delivered breakthrough results in operational excellence, helping to accelerate both top- and bottom-line performance while building long-term competitive capabilities.

In 2017, he co-founded SmarterChains SA, a Swiss technology start-up dedicated to helping manufacturers define and execute their digital transformation strategies towards the Factory of the Future. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) in Mexico.

Dr. East is a world-renowned champion for sustainability, an educator, and a social innovator. Her work spans the fields of cultural geography, urban ecology, and women’s studies. She holds a Master of Science in Spatial Planning with specialisation in the rehabilitation of abandoned villages and a PhD in Architecture and Urban Planning on the topic “What if Women Designed the City?”.

 Her research interests also include nature-based solutions for urban planning and the use of regenerative design approaches for shaping eco-communities, mining cities, slums, transition, and abandoned towns. Her passion is to co-develop Project-Based Learning trajectories supporting indigenous and migrant communities and their traditions to survive in rapidly changing environments while enhancing their opportunities to become the designers of their desired future.  She works with community-based organisations and intergovernmental agencies in policy guidance for SDGs implementation with projects seeking to strengthen climate resilience, food security, and women’s empowerment. 

Dr. East was designated one of the 100 Global Sustainability Leaders by Showcase Asia and ABC Carbon three years in a row and Women of the Decade in Sustainability and Leadership by Women Economic Forum 2019.

Dr. Fan serves as the Executive Vice President of the Shanghai Arbitration Commission (SHAC).    He has extensive knowledge of the Asia-Pacific region and is an experienced arbitrator.  Over 200 arbitration proceedings have been conducted with him as presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator or co-arbitrator under the rules of UNCITRAL, CAS, SIAC, HKIAC, KCAB, CIETAC, etc. 

On top of commercial arbitration, Dr. Fan’s appointments and tenures witness his extensive experiences in the niche disciplines of sports and international investment arbitration.  

Dr. Fan is a panel arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and a Council Member of the China Court of Arbitration for Sport (CCAS).  He chaired the Arbitration Commission of the Chinese Football Association between 2019 and 2023 and served on the ad hoc panel of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023 as well as the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin.

Dr. Fan is one of the four ICSID arbitrators by the PRC government to the ICSID panel as well as a Fellow of Roma Tre-UNIDROIT "Center for Transnational Commercial Law and Investment Arbitration”.

Before joining SHAC, Dr. Fan served as Director of Arbitration and ADR for North Asia of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) between 2016 and 2021 and as a law professor for 13 years at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, one of the leading law schools in Shanghai, PR China, during which he was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Duke University, the United States. He received Ph. D from the East China University of Political Science and Law in PR China and LLM from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

Professor Lalvani is a former UN diplomat and the founder and Executive Director of The Empower Group, a global organisation specialising in institutional and human resources capacity building. Operating in over 40 countries, Empower has supported more than half a million professionals through digital solutions.

Prof Lalvani has over 25 years of experience working across both developed and developing countries with health and humanitarian organisations, including The Global Fund and WHO. He has advised board members, health ministers, and heads of state on strategy, vision, and impact. Beyond the boardrooms, he has spent years on the ground, navigating the dusty roads and last-mile clinics of Kabul, Port Moresby, Sokoto, and Sana’a.

Organisations that Prof Lalvani has supported through Empower include Ministries of Health in over 30 countries, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, President Kufuor’s Foundation in Ghana, The Global Fund, George Soros’ Open Society Institute, various UN agencies (WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNAIDS), the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, the Asia Pacific Leaders’ Malaria Alliance, and others.

Mr. Ammirati has served as Director for Road Safety and Global Advocacy at the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) since 2017, where he leads international strategy and advocacy for a global network representing over 80 million road users. He has played a key role in strengthening global cooperation on sustainable mobility, road safety, and the rights of road users through FIA Member Clubs and strategic partnerships with multilateral institutions.

Prior to his work at the FIA, Mr. Ammirati spent 12 years at the World Economic Forum, where he was responsible for the Forum’s strategic agenda on Transportation & Logistics and the Automotive sectors. He also held senior roles at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), contributing significantly to the development of global air transport policy and industry alignment on key issues of mobility and connectivity.

Mr. Ammirati has been a prominent advocate for road safety in international forums, actively engaging with institutions such as the UN Road Safety Collaboration, OECD, and World Bank, and helping position FIA as a policy leader in the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.

He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. His academic background and professional experience have enabled him to contribute meaningfully to discussions on sustainable transport, infrastructure financing, and smart mobility.

In recognition of his global advocacy, Mr. Ammirati has participated in high-level advisory boards and expert panels focused on the future of urban mobility and international regulatory alignment in the transport sector.

Ms. Mugione served as a senior official of the United Nations in Geneva. She is a leading economist and international development expert with over 30 years of experience in global policy design, entrepreneurship promotion, and private sector development. She currently serves as Director for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific at the Global Development Solutions Initiative (GDSI), where she oversees regional strategies aimed at fostering inclusive economic growth, enterprise competitiveness, and sustainable development.

From 2006 to 2019, she led the Entrepreneurship Programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), where she coordinated the EMPRETEC programme across more than 40 countries. Under her leadership, EMPRETEC evolved into one of the UN’s flagship initiatives for promoting entrepreneurship, innovation, and capacity building among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Prior to her work at UNCTAD, Ms. Mugione held senior positions at the OECD, UNESCAP, and UNDESA. Throughout her career, she has led more than 30 international programmes in enterprise development, trade, and investment policy, with a strong focus on building enabling environments for inclusive and sustainable economic transformation.

Her work has spanned across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean, where she has contributed to shaping public-private partnerships, enterprise policy reform, and development cooperation initiatives.

Ms. Mugione holds a degree in Economics, with a specialization in international trade and development, and an MBA in International Trade. In addition to her professional work, she is an active mentor, speaker, and advocate for women's economic empowerment.