Nick Read joined Vodafone Group in 2001, holding local, regional and global senior executive roles until he was appointed as CEO in 2018. Prior to joining Vodafone, Nick held senior global finance positions with United Business Media Plc and Federal Express Worldwide.

Vodafone’s purpose is to connect for a better future by enabling an inclusive and sustainable digital society. Its technology, connectivity, platforms and products and services support consumers, government and businesses through the delivery of Gigabit networks to increase access to vital connectivity, expanding access to education, healthcare and digital skills; supporting Small and Medium Enterprises, the backbone of our economies; and being recognized for its climate change action and transparency including Vodafone’s commitment to have European network powered by 100% renewable electricity by July of this year.

Nick serves as a champion for HeforShe, a UN solidarity movement for gender equality and is a Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission. Under Nick’s leadership, Vodafone has expanded its commitment to diversity and inclusion through parental leave, tackling domestic violence and abuse in society and introducing a new global commitment to menopause. In addition, Vodafone’s Foundation supports communities in Europe and Africa in the areas of health, education and equality. Nick is a Non-Executive Director with Booking Holdings Inc.

Pamela Coke-Hamilton has served as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre since 1 October 2020. She joined ITC from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, where she was Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities. She served with the Jamaican Government, the Caribbean Forum in trade negotiations, and multilateral institutions, including the Organization of American States and InterAmerican Development Bank. She previously served as Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, strengthening the private sector and MSMEs through investment promotion. She holds a Juris Doctor in Law from the Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, DC.

Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP) is Ghana’s Minister for Communications and Digitalisation and serves as the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West Constituency within the Greater Accra Region in Ghana.

Before Mrs Owusu-Ekuful she was appointed the Minister for Communications in 2017, she was a Managing Consultant with N. U. Consult Legal – Governance and Gender Consultants – thereafter she served as the Chairperson of the Social Development Sector Committee – a committee responsible for the development of policy interventions for women, children, persons with disability, the aged and all social intervention policies and programs for the NPP 2016 manifesto.

She is also a member of the ITU Broadband Commission in addition to the following –

• She is a member of the Ghana Bar Association,
• An Executive Member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Ghana,
• A member of the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA), Ghana.

She holds a Masters degree in Conflict, Peace and Security from the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre. Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful also co-chaired the AU/EU Digital Economy​ Task Force launched in 2018 by the EU/AU.

Mmabatho Motsamai is a development practitioner who believes in inclusive governance. Her work encompasses project coordination, research and advocacy. Adopting SDG17, Motsamai is the founder of The Afrolutionist, a digital institution that enhances critical discussions and projects on inclusive development in Africa. She has also engaged in various global projects including research co-coordination with UNU-IIGH and co-facilitated the first policy hackathon in Botswana. Currently, she is a board member of Akina Mama Wa Afrika and the Botswana National Youth Council, and aims to share insight on ICT governance through a human rights lens for positive outcomes for young people.

José serves as Interim CEO and Director of Strategy and Operations. In providing strategic direction for the Web Foundation, he benefits from his deep knowledge of the organisation, as its longest-serving team member. He joined in 2011 to lead the Open Data program, later becoming the Director of the Digital Citizenship program.

He contributes to the overall direction and leadership of the Web Foundation, with special responsibility for effectiveness of strategy and oversight of operations across the organization.

José has extensive programmatic experience in the fields of Open Data, eGovernment and the Open Web, where he has held a number of international leadership and advisory roles.

He has served on United Nations and European Commission expert panels as well as on the Nominating Committee at ICANN, the organisation dedicated to preserving the operational security and stability of the Internet.

Prior to joining the Foundation, José held several positions at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Web standards-setting organisation, where he established and led the eGovernment Activity. He also launched the Spain country office.

As Microsoft’s president and vice chair, Brad Smith leads a team of more than 1,500 business, legal and corporate affairs professionals located in 54 countries and operating in more than 120 nations. He plays a key role in spearheading the company’s work on critical issues involving the intersection of technology and society, including cybersecurity, privacy, artificial intelligence, environmental sustainability, human rights, immigration and philanthropy. In his recent bestselling book, coauthored with Microsoft’s Carol Ann Browne, ‘Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age’; Smith urges the tech sector to assume more responsibility and calls for governments to move faster to address the challenges that new technologies are creating. The New York Times has called Smith “a de facto ambassador for the technology industry at large” and The Australian Financial Review has described him as “one of the technology industry’s most respected figures.”

Dr. Sima Sami Bahous of Jordan was appointed as the Executive Director of UN-Women in 2021. Ms. Bahous brings to the position over 35 years of leadership experience at the grass roots, national, regional and international levels.

Ms. Bahous most recently served as Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations in New York. Prior to that position, she served as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), from 2012 to 2016, and Assistant Secretary General and Head of the Social Development Sector at the League of Arab States, from 2008 to 2012.

She has also served in two ministerial posts in Jordan as President of the Higher Media Council, from 2005 to 2008, and as Adviser to King Abdullah II from 2003 to 2005. She was Media Adviser and Director of Communication for the Royal Hashemite Court from 2001 to 2003, Acting Executive Director for the King Hussein Foundation from 2000 to 2001 and Executive Director of the Noor al Hussein Foundation from 1998 to 2001. She also worked for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and with a number of United Nations and civil society organizations, and taught development and communication studies at various universities in Jordan.

Ms. Bahous holds a doctorate degree in mass communication and development from Indiana University, in the United States; a master’s degree in literature and drama from Essex University, in the United Kingdom; and a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Jordan University. She is fluent in Arabic and English, and proficient in French.

Micaela Sánchez Malcolm is Secretary of State for Public Innovation of the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers’ Office of Argentina. The Secretariat works to universalize access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) and promote public policies with the aim of innovating in government management and generating well-being, inclusion and expansion of rights for the entire population.

She has a degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) with a postgraduate degree in Design and Evaluation of Public Policies (Pompeu Fabra University). She is also a researcher and teacher of the Communication Sciences career at the University of Buenos Aires.

She led the Workshop on Digital and Political Communication Strategies of the Master’s Degree in Political and Institutional Communication of the Ortega y Gasset University Research Institute (Complutense University of Madrid).

In addition, she coordinated the project of digital signature and digital management of judicial files in the Secretariat of Innovation of the Council of the Magistracy of the City of Buenos Aires, where she also directed the training team of the General Directorate of Informatics and Technology.

In the private sector, she was in charge of the Communication and Development area of the i-ciudad Public Policy Institute and the Intercargo handling company.

Sinead Bovell is a futurist and the founder of WAYE, a tech education company that prepares youth for the future of work and life with advanced technologies, with a focus on non-traditional and minority markets. To date, Sinead has educated over 10, 000 young entrepreneurs on the future of technology, and was recently recognized by Wired Magazine for her work in bringing ‘new faces to the table in tech,’ and named one of Refinery29’s Top Ten Black Women Changing the Game. Prior to founding WAYE, Sinead received her MBA from the University of Toronto and worked as a management consultant for A.T. Kearney.

Chat Garcia Ramilo is the Executive Director of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). She is from the Philippines.

Chat has considerable organisational, management and gender expertise developed from over 25 years of leading multi-country and multi-disciplinary projects, programmes and networks on ICT, human rights and development. She previously served as APC’s Deputy Executive Director and led APC’s women’s programme before being appointed in her current position in 2017. She has served as a gender expert for national and sector-based ICT for development projects in Asia and a gender and ICT consultant for UN bodies and development agencies.

Under Chat’s leadership, APC entered its 30th year with staff and members in 73 countries working on empowering organisations, movements, and individuals through the use of ICT to advance collective power, digital inclusion, a feminist internet, human rights advocacy, internet governance, and environmental sustainability.

Gopal Vittal is currently the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (India & South Asia) of Bharti Airtel Limited. In his role as CEO, he is responsible for defining and delivering the business strategy and providing overall leadership for Airtel’s India & South Asia operations.

Under the leadership of Mr. Vittal, Airtel had achieved a lifetime high revenue market share. Airtel was
recognized as the second most valuable brand in the country. In 2018, Airtel was also ranked as the 10^th ‘Best Company to Work for’ and the ‘Best Employer in Telecom’ in India. In the last six years, he has strengthened the operation by driving the transformation of the telco to be a strong digital services player.

Mr. Vittal was previously with Bharti Enterprises where he was the Group Director, Special Projects (April 2012 – Feb 2013). In this capacity, he worked towards formulating and supporting Airtel’s International strategy and data expansion. He also held the post of Director, Marketing at Bharti Airtel (2006-08).

In addition, Mr. Vittal has also been with Hindustan Unilever for over a 20 years. He led several national and global assignments across sales, marketing and general management. In his last four years he was the Head of the US$ 3.5 Home and Personal Care Business driving accelerated growth from 5% to 15%.

Mr. Vittal is an alumnus of Madras Christian College and has completed his MBA from IIM, Kolkata

Achim Steiner is the Administrator of UNDP. Over nearly three decades, Achim Steiner has been a global leader on sustainable development, climate resilience and international cooperation, working to champion sustainability, economic growth, and equality for the vulnerable, and has been a vocal advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to joining UNDP, he was Director of the Oxford Martin School and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford. He was also the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (2006-2016), the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and Secretary-General of the World Commission on Dams.

Björn Richter is heading the GIZ Digital Transformation Cluster of Global and Sector Programmes and is representing German Government. Together with his team of experienced tech-experts he is implementing the global digital development agenda of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. They aim to facilitate a human-centered digital transformation with all partners of the digital ecosystem while utilizing digital technologies for leap-frogging. Jointly with twelve EU member states, European Commission, tech-companies and civil society they also facilitating the D4D hub as “Team Europe” approach on digital development projects.

Before engaging in digital development, he was working ten years in the media business, experiencing the impacts of digital transformation. Afterwards he joined German Development Cooperation and was advising senior representatives of partner countries in the ASEAN and SADC Countries as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. These experiences can be utilized during his current assignment, as he taps into concrete experiences on the ground as well as first-hand expertise from disruption in the field of media.

Ted is the co-founder of Evercomm Singapore – one of the fastest-growing cleantech startups in the Asia Pacific. He is also the youngest to receive the prestigious Singapore Energy Award and is recognized as one of the digital pioneers by the Singapore Committee on the Future Economy (CFE). Ted is also an expert technical partner for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and a Barclays Unreasonable Impact Fellow. He has notably received the Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and made it to World Cities Summit Young Leader and Forbes’ inaugural 30 Under 30 Asia list.

Kate believes that digital technology products, new technology policies and updated business model practices are required to make transformative change in the lives of the under-served and decrease the growing digital divide. Kate joined DIAL in February, 2016 as its CEO to accelerate the pace at which this vision can be achieved. She has committed the past 26 years to bringing diverse stakeholders together to find common ground in business, technology, and policy, holding leadership roles in both the corporate and non-profit sector.

Prior to DIAL, Kate co-founded and led the Digital Health Solutions Group at PATH, the Seattle-based international health organization. During her eight years there, Kate designed and led several global projects, working in both Africa and Asia, most notably those including the use of digital technology to improve the delivery of immunization services and health information systems for universal health coverage. Prior to PATH, Kate held diverse senior roles in the commercial software sector and international trade. At Microsoft, Intel, and General Electric, Kate held roles in ICT product development and launch, strategic planning, and business development, including launching Xbox Live in Europe and leading worldwide deal negotiations with telecom providers.

Kate holds an M.B.A. and an M.A. in Southeast Asian studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a B.A. in International Relations from the College of William and Mary.

Andile Ngcaba is the founder and Executive Chairman of Convergence Partners Investments. He established Convergence Partners in 2006 as an impact investment holding and private equity firm focusing on technology around the African continent. Andile has been driving Pan African initiatives designed to build a digital Africa throughout his career. He has been involved in Africa’s digitisation by building submarine cable systems, satellites, wireless, and cloud.

In the early 1990s, when Info-Dev of the World Bank was established, Andile served as one of the advisors. In 2019 Andile served as a working group expert on connecting schools for the Broadband Commission for sustainable development assembled by the ITU, UNICEF and UNESCO. This project was launched as the “GIGA” project during the United Nations General Assembly in 2019.

Andile is also highly passionate about philanthropy, where he works on several projects through his family foundation, the SolCon Foundation.

Benigno López Benítez, a Paraguayan citizen, was appointed Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge as of November 16, 2020.

Prior to joining the IDB, he served as Minister of Finance of Paraguay since August 2018. In that role, he led a comprehensive tax-reform initiative aimed at improving the progressive capacity of the tax system, increasing government revenue to finance health and education reforms, and incentivizing labor formalization. He also coordinated efforts to restructure the pension system, reform public expenditure and the civil service, implement a results-based budgeting system, and promote e-government reform to improve public-sector functions and foster private-sector innovation.

As Minister, Mr. López led Paraguay’s emergency economic planning in response to the COVID-19 crisis. He also directed efforts to implement systemic education reform, improve human capital and promote research. Among his transparency and anti-corruption initiatives, he led work to ensure his country’s compliance with the updated standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

From 2014 to 2018, Mr. López served as Chairman of the Social Security Institute, Paraguay’s employer-based health insurance and pensions system. During his tenure, he worked with board members to restructure the institution’s debt, professionalize its administration and – in collaboration with IDB Invest – structure and diversify its investment portfolio.
In 2013, Mr. López was appointed Executive Legal Director and member of the board of Itaipú Binacional, which administers the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, on the Paraguay-Brazil border. His efforts centered on increasing operational efficiency, consolidating the company’s governance structure and developing a strategy to increase funding for corporate social responsibility.

From 2012 to 2013, Mr. López served as Senior Advisor to the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.

Previously, he worked for more than two decades at the Central Bank of Paraguay. As Board Director from 2007 to 2012, he provided strategic vision for initiatives on inflation targets and financial inclusion. Efforts to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing resulted in the country’s removal from the FATF blacklist. As head of the legal department, he helped produce the framework to ensure the Bank’s institutional strength and independence.

Mr. López holds a law degree from Paraguay’s Catholic University and a Master of Laws degree from Georgetown University.

Shalin Jyotishi is an award-winning researcher, writer, and policy strategist at the think-tank New America in Washington, DC. His expertise focuses on equitable public problem solving where higher education, the workforce, innovation policy, and emerging technologies converge. His work has appeared in Forbes, The World Economic Forum Agenda, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and NPR Marketplace. He has delivered 50+ keynotes, presentations, and workshops before international venues including the United Nations, OECD, U.S. National Academies, World Bank, National Academy of Inventors, and the International Economic Development Council.

H.E. Dr. Tariq Al Gurg was appointed as CEO of Dubai Cares in 2009 and as its Vice-Chairman most recently.

Al Gurg has enabled Dubai Cares to contribute to the evidence-base in education, leverage funding and invest in strategic relationships and programs that support the global education agenda.

Globally, Al Gurg is a founding member of the High-Level Steering Group of ‘Education Cannot Wait’ and sits on UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited Board of Trustees and Global Leadership Council. He is also a high-level Champion of the WEF’s Reskilling Revolution, a member of the advisory board of UNESCO’s Futures of Education Commission, and the Regional Champion of the Global Partnership for Education in the Middle East. Locally, Al Gurg is the Chairman of the Global Council on SDG 4, the Commissioner General of the Dubai Cares Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, a member of the UAE Committee for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid and a board member of MBRGI’s Digital School.