Dr. Fatima Akilu is the Executive Director of Neem Foundation. She is a trained psychologist with over 25 years’ experience in the field of mental health, psychology, Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) and communications. Dr. Akilu holds a master’s degree and PhD in Psychology from University of Reading (UK), and was a Former Head of Communication to the Senior Special Assistant to the Nigerian President on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). From 2012 to 2015, Dr. Akilu served as the Director of Behavioural Analysis and Strategic Communications at the Office of the National Security Adviser where she pioneered Nigeria’s first Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programme. Dr. Akilu is a seasoned educationist with over 12 years lecturing experience as an Adjunct Professor of General Psychology at Broome Community College (USA). She is responsible for the implementation of programmes and strategies as the Executive Director of Neem Foundation and determining the direction of focus of the projects implemented by the organisation. She has overseen psychological support services to over 30, 000 survivors of the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast of Nigeria, a region that has been significantly affected by climate change. Alongside this, she currently oversees several conflict responses programmes across various lake Chad basin region and other parts of the globe.

Miguel R. Bautista - As Secretary of the Trade and Development Board and Director for Intergovernmental Outreach and Support of UNCTAD, Mr. Miguel R. Bautista is tasked with facilitating the smooth functioning of its intergovernmental machinery so that UNCTAD may fully contribute to the accomplishment of the global development agenda. He is also responsible for outreach and engagement with civil society and other stakeholders in UNCTAD’s intergovernmental machinery and its processes. Before joining the UNCTAD secretariat, Mr. Bautista was a career Philippine diplomat having served at the Philippine Mission to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York, the Philippine Consulate General in New York, and the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh. Mr. Bautista has been admitted into the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and was a member of the international relations faculties of Miriam College in Quezon City and the College of St. Benilde in Manila in the Philippines. Mr. Bautista is also a regular contributor to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Mr. Bautista has been awarded the Order of Rizal (Philippines), the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins (Chile), and the Order of Rio Branco (Brazil). He has also been decorated for his service in the reserve of the Philippine Coast Guard where he currently holds the rank of Captain and where he earned the Outstanding Achievement, Merit, and Search and Rescue medals. He has published on matters pertaining to diplomacy and public administration including in the Center for Integrative and Development Studies of the University of the Philippines, the Journal of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations, and the Philippine Journal of Public Administration

Dominique Bichara, a Belgian and Egyptian national, first joined the Legal Department of the World Bank Group in 1992 where she worked for the Sub-Saharan Africa Region, then became Special Assistant to the Senior Vice President and General Counsel. From 1995 to 1999, she worked for the UN FAO's and IFAD's Legal Departments in Rome, Italy, covering countries across regions and specializing in project financing in environmental protection and water management. In 1999, she returned to the World Bank Group as Senior Counsel for the Maghreb countries and Lebanon. In 2004, she opened the first World Bank Group office in Tunisia, where she represented the Bank until 2007. From 2007 to 2010, she was Senior Counsel for Eastern Europe and Central Asicountries. She was, in addition, the World Bank Group’s focal point for legal and judicial reform in the Middle East and North Africa and led a number of projects and regional initiatives on legal and judicial reform and enforcement of environmental legislations. In 2010, she was appointed Special Representative of the World Bank Group to the United Nations in New York. She also coordinated the World Bank Group's engagement in UN global processes such as  Rio+20 and Climate, the negotiations of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda - Financing for Development Framework.In 2016, she was appointed Director, Corporate Affairs and Administration, in the Corporate Secretariat of the World Bank Group.Before joining the World Bank Group, she was Attorney at Law in private practice in Brussels and Paris, specializing in European business law. She holds a Maîtrise en Droit International from Université d'Aix-en-Provence, France, a Postgraduate Degree in European and International Law from Institut d'Etudes Européennes of Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and a Certificate in Common Law from the University of Exeter, U.K.

H.E. Ms Doreen deBrum, assumed her role as the Ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva in March 2019. Her government appointed her to establish the first and only Embassy and Permanent Mission in Europe, with a wide mandate covering all of Europe and international organizations like the European Union, FAO, IAEA, and IMO.Before this assignment, Ambassador deBrum held various roles as a civil servant. She served as Assistant Secretary to the Bureau of Multilateral Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Marshall Islands and as a Planning Advisor on Fisheries Policy at the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority. Her work primarily focused on environmental conservation and sustainable resource management.In her extensive career, she also served as Undersecretary for Asia-Pacific Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Marshall Islands from 1996 to 2005. She played a key role in maritime boundary delineation agreements with Nauru and Kiribati. Beyond her diplomatic career, Ambassador deBrum actively contributes to pediatric healthcare improvement in the Marshall Islands. In 2017, she founded Nito's Butterfly's Foundation, dedicated to ensuring proper diagnosis and treatment for children and improving healthcare access.

Rabih El-Haddad leads the Division for Multilateral Diplomacy of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). His work focuses on supporting governments, decision-makers, multilateral negotiators and the numerous negotiating groups that use diplomacy and negotiation as tools for defending and promoting their national interest in a complex context. As the key interlocutor with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Ministries leading international negotiations of the 193 Member States, Mr. El-Haddad adheres, in his daily job, to the purposes and values of the United Nations that aim at developing friendly relations amongst nations by disseminating a culture that celebrates negotiation and enlightened decision-making for the peaceful settlement of disputes. Throughout his career Mr. El-Haddad has closely worked with the governing bodies and intergovernmental machinery of the United Nations and the presidencies and heads of negotiating groups of key global negotiations related to climate change, trade, human rights, sustainable development and peace and security. Mr. El-Haddad was also involved in numerous capacity strengthening projects that shaped the Organisation’s transformative global agenda and enabled member states to foster an environment of collaboration for overcoming challenges on a global scale. Mr. El-Haddad holds Lebanese and Swiss citizenship. He is fluent in French, Arabic, English and Spanish and holds a “Diplôme D’études Approfondies” (DEA) and a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Economic and European Law from the Universities of Geneva and Lausanne.

Matthew McKinnon has over 20 years’ experience addressing climate change and global challenges within the United Nations, public and non-profit sectors. Currently, he is the Executive Director of Aroha, an international non-profit based out of Geneva that focuses on combating the climate emergency through international cooperation, communications and analysis. He is also Senior Advisor to the Global Center on Adaptation CEO and Chair of the Advisory Board of MSC Foundation. He established the secretariat of the Climate Vulnerable Forum and V20, a 58-member cooperation group of nations highly vulnerable to climate change, and is the body's lead advisor. He spearheaded a campaign for a 1.5 degrees Celsius limit in the Paris Agreement on climate change and has edited several global reports on climate vulnerability and low-carbon development, including the three editions of the ‘Climate Vulnerability Monitor’. He has also acted as an advisor on the Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Maldives, Marshall Islands, and Philippines delegations to the UN climate change convention negotiations (UNFCCC). Previously, Matthew has worked at the United Nations secretariat, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UNICEF. A New Zealand national, prior to the UN, Matthew worked in the country’s Cabinet Office. He also served as an advisor on climate change to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan between 2007-2010. He holds advanced degrees in international relations and economic and social history from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, and the University of Cambridge. 

Marwan Mery is the only negotiator in the world to conduct critical negotiations (kidnapping and ransom, extortion, suicide), commercial, social, diplomatic and therapeutic negotiations, particularly when faced with patients refusing to take their treatment. Consultant to the United Nations and speaker at Harvard University in complex negotiations, he is the author of around ten successful books. He also manages ADN Group, a negotiator agency, made up of around thirty experts located in France and abroad. Marwan Mery is a former officer specializing in influence and crisis negotiation within the COS, the general staff of the French special forces. Each year, Marwan Mery conducts an average of 30 negotiations, gives 100 conferences and trains more than 1,000 people.  Marwan Mery regularly appears in the major media (TF1, France 2, Canal+, LCI, La Chaîne Parlementaire, Le Monde, Le Point, Paris Match, France Inter, Les Échos, L'Express, Le Parisien, France bleu, RTL.. .) on themes related to negotiation and lie detection. 

Corinne Momal-Vanian is the Executive Director of the Kofi Annan Foundation. Previously, she worked in various senior positions and a variety of countries for the United Nations, most recently as Director of Conference Management at the United Nations Office at Geneva (2015-2020) and Director of Information (2010-2015). Ms. Momal-Vanian served as Special Assistant to Kofi Annan in 2005 and 2006, traveling with him to some 20 countries as he worked to resolve crises, defuse tensions, highlight the plight of communities and individuals suffering from discrimination and abuses, build international cooperation and strengthen support for development and justice. She worked for a total of six years in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, after serving in two regional economic and social commissions of the United Nations. Passionate about justice, gender equality, inclusion, innovation and learning, Ms. Momal-Vanian chaired the Steering Group of the International Gender Champions from 2016 to 2019 and was a co-organiser of the three editions of TEDxPlaceDesNations. A French citizen, she holds a master’s degree in business administration from HEC Graduate School of Management, Paris, an advanced degree in international relations from the Institut Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) – Paris and an Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Ross Mountain has served as Assistant Secretary General, Deputy UN Special Representative, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in numerous countries- most recently Lebanon. He has held senior United Nations positions managing  complex humanitarian, reconstruction , development and peacekeeping operations in Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sudan, Angola), Asia (Afghanistan), the Middle East (Lebanon ,Iraq/Jordan, Palestine), the Pacific ( Fiji, PICs) and the  Caribbean(Haiti, Barbados, EC States).   As the UN Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator and Director of OCHA Geneva he also served as the special humanitarian envoy of the Secretary-General for crises in Mozambique and East Timor.He has also worked in Myanmar as UN Senior Advisor and as Senior Advisor to the UN Secretary General on cholera in Haiti. 

Angelika Muller has Master’s Degrees in Comparative Labour Law and International Human Resources. Working since 2004 at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva (Switzerland), Angelika specialised in policy advice on labour law reforms, governance, multilateral negotiations, collective bargaining, tripartism and social dialogue. She published comparative studies on employment protection legislation, gender equality at work, international labour standards, and national social dialogue institutions. Angelika has been collaborating with the ILO International Training Centre in Turin (Italy), academic institutions worldwide and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Since 2018, Angelika is the Head of the Official Relations Unit in charge of the ILO governance bodies. 

Elayne G. Whyte is the former Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica and was  Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations. She is currently a Professor of Practice at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies -SAIS- in Washington, D.C. In 2017 she was President of the United Nations Conference that negotiated and adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 2021 and now has almost 100 signatories. She has served in different leadership positions in security and disarmament treaty-regimes and has led several global negotiation processes to fill legal or cooperation gaps in the fields of human rights, and global health at the World Health Organization (2015-2018) and regional integration. She also has served as the executive director of the Mesoamerica Integration & Development Project, which coordinates and delivers social and economic development projects across the Central American region. Elayne Whyte was a Fellow at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Scholars Program and at the Advanced Leadership Initiative, where she conducted research on global negotiations and led a study group on “negotiating for humanity.” She has also served as Adjunct Professor at the International Law Department of the United Nations-mandated University for Peace, in San Jose, Costa Rica and at the School of International Relations of the National University of Costa Rica.