2015 Globalizer Doha - Strategy Thought Partners

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Benjamin Vedrenne-Cloquet

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Benjamin is founder of EdTech Europe, Europe’s largest Education Technology conference for thought leaders, innovators and investors. He also serves as advisor for SXSW Edu, world’s largest conference on Innovation in Education. Benjamin is also Partner at IBIS CAPITAL (London), leading European investment and advisory firm specialised in Media and Education Technology. Formerly Europe’s Head of Strategy, Business Development and New Ventures for Time Warner, Benjamin directly managed the expansion of a portfolio of Entertainment, TV (CNN, Cartoon Network) and Digital properties spanning across 25 countries and totalling 650 M euros in revenues. Benjamin is non-executive Chairman of Primo ltd, an education technology company designing and manufacturing connected toys. He is a graduate from Babson, ESCP Europe and The University of Texas at Austin.

 

Boqing Wang

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Dr. Boqing Wang is a recognized expert in higher education in China, having created through his company MyCOS China’s first third party higher education follow-up system to track and analyze education and employment outcomes for college graduates – a pioneering large-scale approach to improving education quality. Under his leadership, MyCOS has worked with over 600 universities and 10 provincial education departments to track millions of graduates across China. Dr. Wang is deeply concerned with issues of equity in access to higher education and job market outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged students. He established the MyCOS Research Institute within MyCOS to analyze issues of access and equity in higher education on a not-for-profit basis. The institute is also the exclusive applied research base for Universities in China. 

 

Charles McIntyre

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Charles' experience has been in building businesses in a number of industry sectors including: financial services, media, media tech and more recently online education. He co-founded IBIS Capital in 2003 in order to create a flexible, boutique investment bank that could both invest in, and advise companies and their shareholders. 12 years on and IBIS Capital has evolved into three distinct businesses; investment banking, venture capital and hedge fund management. Charles also sits on the Boards of a range of entrepreneurial companies in the media and education sectors. In 2013, Charles started focusing on the e-learning and ed-tech markets and is responsible for a number of key industry initiatives including co-founding EdTech Europe, an annual summit for strategic players and investors interested in the online education market. 

 

Iman Bibars

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Iman is the Regional Director of Ashoka Arab World (AAW), which she launched in 2003. Renowned within Egypt and throughout the region for her work as an outspoken advocate for the rights of marginalized groups, including women and children, Iman is a co-founder and the chairperson of ADEW, an Egyptian CSO that provides credit and legal aid for impoverished women, while making substantial changes at the policy and the community levels to empower these women and their families. Her extensive experience also comprises roles in UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services, CARE-Egypt, GTZ and KFW. Iman holds a PhD in Development Studies from Sussex University and a BA and MA in Political Science from the American University in Cairo. She was a Peace Fellow at Georgetown University and a Parvin Fellow at Princeton University. Iman also authored the books Heroines and Victims: Women, Welfare, and the Egyptian State, Dreams of a Good Fellow, one of the first books written in Arabic about US President Barack Obama, and The Women of Tahrir.

 

Kevin Ruth 

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Kevin is Executive Director of ECIS. In addition to two decades in education, he has given 16 years of service as a director on non-profit boards, with four years as a school trustee. Kevin is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; advisory council member for Harvard Business Review; advisory council member for AAIE (Association for the Advancement of International Education); member of the Online Executive Panel (Education) for McKinsey & Company; and member of the Feedback Forum (Marketing) for the Financial Times. He holds bachelor’s degrees in French and German and a Master’s in Comparative Literature, all from the Pennsylvania State University; a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Rutgers University; and two executive certificates from Stanford University in Advanced Project Management and Strategic Decision & Risk Management.

 

Louise van Rhyn

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Dr. Louise van Rhyn is a social entrepreneur in South Africa. She believes the worlds' huge intractable problems can be solved through cross-sector collaboration and a solid understanding of complex social change. Her approach to change is shaped by 20 years of working as an Organisational Change practitioner. She holds a Doctorate in Complex Social Change and has founded a few entrepreneurial organisations. In 2010 she started the School at the Centre of Community social change process and the Partners for Possibility leadership development and principal support process: an innovative process to change education in South Africa through collaborative partnerships between business leaders and school principals. Louise has found enormous joy and a huge sense of purpose from being part of a cross-sector collaborative process where citizens are being mobilised to reclaim responsibility for raising and education our children. She has experienced what is possible when citizens re-discover their sense of identity and belonging in community and is excited about the opportunity to explore the links between community, citizenship (purpose and identity) and wellbeing. 

 

Mike Feerick

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Mike Feerick is Founder & CEO of ALI-SON, a global leader and innovator in the field of free online certified learning. Launched in April 2007, ALISON is widely credited as the world’s first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) with a focus on providing free certified learning and skills training for the workplace. With 5 million learners’ registered worldwide and 600,000 graduates, ALISON pioneered and has led a movement which is revolutionizing global access to education and employment opportunity. ALISON recently launched free learning management capability for group learning, and will shortly launch free course publishing. ALISON is inspired by Article 26 of the United National Human Rights Declaration which states that “education shall be free”. Mike has received awards from UNESCO, WISE and Ashoka (Fellow 2010) for increasing access to education through innovation. Mike holds degrees from the University of Limerick, Ireland, (BBS 89) and Harvard University (MBA 94).

 

 

 

Rabea Ataya

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Rabea Ataya, Founder and CEO, Bayt.com. Rabea Ataya is focused on providing employment opportunities for Middle Eastern youth by aiding in developing both the Internet and SME sectors in the region. Rabea is the founder and CEO of Bayt.com, the Middle East’s leading job site, which now serves over 21,500,000 professionals and 40,000 employers from its 12 regional offices.  He co-founded Gonabit.com, the region’s first group purchasing site, InfoFort, the Middle East's first and leading records management company, and he serves on the board of several Middle Eastern startups.  Rabea also serves on the board of the Queen Rania Foundation which is focused on empowering youth through education in our region. Rabea is a graduate of Stanford University with a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Engineering Economic Systems. 

 

Reinhard Gorenflos

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Reinhard studied Economics History and Public Administration at Freiburg and Paris Universities and Harvard Kennedy School of Government (KSG). He pursued a career in corporate management and in private equity, including service as CFO of ARAL AG, Germany, and as partner of KKR & Co, London. Today, Reinhard dedicates most of his time to philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. He is Founder and CEO of Tua Res Foundation, www.tuares.org, dedicated to promoting the education of vulnerable girls in Burkina Faso. Founded in 2012, Tua Res has so far supported 2839. Reinhard is also Board Member of AppsFor Good, London, and the Stiftung Lyrik–Kabinett (Poetry Foundation), Munich, and is a member of the Ashoka Support Network (ASN). Reinhard was elected Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, Davos. 

 

 

Salvador Medina

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Salvador Medina holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a PDG at INSEAD and a PDG in Business Administration at IESE. At present he is Senior Vice-President of Banco Santander and Director of International Expansion, Marketing and Institutional Relations at Santander Universities. He previously worked for Hewlett Packard carrying several positions in the fields of Product Marketing and Communications and Sun Microsystems as Head of Marketing Services for its subsidiary in Spain. He joined Banco Santander in 2002  to build the new born E-Business Area as Director of Internet Projects and Director of Top Management Internet Training, launching the Universia in Latin America and Portugal and serving as Executive Director. 

 

Sandeep Aneja

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Sandeep's passion for investing in innovative companies drove him to establish Kaizen Private Equity in 2009. As the Founder of the fund, he has been instrumental in building the firm's knowledge and client network across U.S, Europe and Asia. He believes in forming trusted partnerships with companies and their management teams on a shared commitment to achieve excellence and growth.  Sandeep’s passion is to work closely with entrepreneurs who have a deep sense of purpose and a solid plan for identifying and “owning” emerging white spaces and leveraging initial “ownership” to build highly valuable differentiated companies. One of his professional commitments is to promote and improve the overall human capital development environment, by investing in companies that have a progressive impact on the economic growth of societies. Sandeep has been a part of the venture capital and private equity industry since 2002. He has a MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.