Our People

The Right Honourable George Osborne is a former British Chancellor of the Exchequer and is currently the editor-in-chief of the London Evening Standard. He was made a Companion of Honour by HM The Queen in 2016.

Chancellor of the Exchequer in the cabinet of Prime Minister David Cameron (2010–2016) First Secretary of State (May 2015-July 2016) Shadow Chancellor (2005-2010) Conservative MP for Tatton, Cheshire (2001-2017

– Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University – Chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership – Senior Adviser, Blackrock – Chair, Exor Partners’ Council

Philippe Aghion is a professor at the Collège de France, the London School of Economics, and a member of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His work focuses on growth theory and the economics of innovation.

– Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, Harvard University, (since 2018) – Centennial Professor, London School of Economics, (since 2015) – Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Institutions, Innovation and Growth, (since 2015) – Invited Professor, Institute of International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, (since 2009) – Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics, Harvard University, (2002-2015) – Professor of Economics, Harvard University, (2000-2002) – Professor of Economics, University College London (UCL), (1996-2002) – Research Co-Ordinator, EBRD (London), (1992-2000) – Official Fellow, Nuffield College (Oxford), (1992-1996) – Deputy Chief Economist, EBRD (London), (1990-1991) – Research fellow at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (since 1989)

– Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association, 2017 – President of the European Economic Association, (2016-2017) – President of the French Economic Association, (2016-2017) – Managing Editor, Animal Reviews in Economics, (since 2016) – Global Entrepreneurship Award, 2016 – Fellow of the British Academy, (since 2015) – Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, (since 2009) – John Von Neumann Award, 2009 – Editor, Review of Economics and Statistics, (since 2008) – CNRS Silver Medal, 2006 – Honorary Doctorate, Stockholm School of Economics, 2005 – CEPR Program Director in Industrial Organization, (1998-2006) – Council, European Economic Association, (1995-2000) – Associate Editor, Econometrica, (1992-1995) – Managing Editor, The Economics of Transition, (since 1992) – Associate Editor, Review of Economic Studies, (1991-1997)

Cécile Cabanis is the Chief Financial Officer, Strategy, IS, Procurement and Cycle of the world leader in fresh dairy products, Danone. Cécile Cabanis started her career within the cosmetic company L’Oréal as a logistic manager, before joining the Danone group in 2004. She became Finance Director of the Fresh Dairy Products division in 2010 and member of the Board of Directors in 2017.

– Logistics Manager and then Financial Controller at L’Oréal South Africa, (1995-2000) – Internal auditor at L’Oréal, (2000-2001) – Deputy Director of Mergers and Acquisitions at Orange, (2001-2004) -Finance Director at Danone, (2004-2005) – Mergers and Acquisitions Director at Danone, (2005-2008) –  VP Finance Dairy Western Europe, (2008-2010) – VP Finance Worldwide Dairy Division, (2010-2014) – Chief Financial Officer, Strategy, IS/IT and member of the executive committee, (2015-2017) – EVP, CFO, Strategy, Tech & Data, Cycles & Procurement, member of the Board of Directors and ExCo, (since 2017) – Director of Research and Academic Director at Neoma Business School (2009-2012)

– Member of the Supervisory Board and Chair of the Audit Committee of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield –  Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield – Member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of Schneider Electric – Member of the Supervisory Board of 2MX Organic

Camilla Cavendish is a contributing editor and columnist for the Financial Times. Before becoming a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard, she was the head of Downing Street policy unit for David Cameron in 2015 and 2016. Since March 2020, she has been advising the UK Department of Health and Social Care.

– Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company (1991-1993) – CEO for South Employers Group (1995-1999) – Adviser to the CEO at Pearson (2000-2002) – Leader writer and columnist for The Times (2002-2012) – Head of the Downing Street Policy Unit (2015-1016) – Independent Peer at the House of Lords (since 2016) – Chair of Frontline (since 2017)

– Author of “Extra Time: Ten Lessons for an Ageing World” – Harold Wincott Senior Financial Journalist of the Year – 2012 – Campaigning Journalist of the Year – 2009 – Paul Foot Award for Investigative Journalism – 2008

Camille François is the Chief Innovation Officer at Graphika. She has acted as an advisor both in the United-States and in France on cybersecurity. In 2019, she was named by the MIT Tech Review as one of their “35 Innovators under 35” and by TIME Magazine as one of the “100 Next” global leaders.

– Associate Research Manager at Google, (2011-2012) – Program Associate – Expert Workshop on Privacy & Security – US Department of Defense – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (2013) – Special Advisor for Cybersecurity and Chair for inaugural working group on Cybersecurity & the Law – French American Foundation (2014) – Project Lead: Delphi Cyber Security Project – Mozilla (2013-2014) – Special Advisor to the Chief Data Officer of France and to the Open Data & Open Government Mission  (2014-2015) – Principal Researcher – Jigsaw (2015-2018) – Chief Innovation Officer for Graphika Inc. (since 2018)

– First Place at the Atlantic Council National Cyber Policy Challenge – Advisory Board Member at the CyberPeace Institute – Advisory Board Member at the Global Network on Extremism and Technology

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University as well as Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College. He is the bestselling author of “The Silk Roads” and “The new Silk Roads”. He and his wife founded A Curious Group of Hotel in 1999.

– Chairman of A Curious Group of Hotels (since 1999) – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Director, Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (since 2010) – Associate Director, Silk Roads Programme, King’s College, Cambridge (since 2020) – UNESCO Member of Scientific Committee (since 2020)

– Chair of the Frankopan Fund – Played cricket for the Croatian national team

Brent Hoberman is the Co-Founder and Chairman at Founders Factory, Founders Forum, first minute capital and Karakuri as well as Co-founder and investor for many other companies. He is also a member of several advisory boards including the Oxford Foundry and is a Male Champion of Change for the Global Tech Group.

– CEO and Co-Founder of lastminute.com, (1998-2006) – Chairman and Co-Founder of mydeco, (2007-2014) – Non-Executive Board Director for the Guardian News and Media, (2007-2015) – Co-Founder of PROfounders Capital, (2009-2016) – Non-Executive Director for The Economist, (2015-2018) – Co-Founder of Founders Pledge, (since 2013) – Chairman and Co-Founder of Smartup.io, (since 2014) – Co-Founder of Founders Keepers, (since 2014) – Co-Founder of accelerateHER, (since 2016) – Chairman and Co-Founder of Founders of the Future, (since 2016)  

– Young Global Leader – World Economic Forum – Chair of the Royal Foundation Taskforce on the Prevention of Cyberbullying for the Duke of Cambridge in 2017 – Commander of Order of the British Empire

Mukti Khaire is the Girish and Jaidey Reddy Professor of Practice at Cornell Tech and in the Johnson School at Cornell University. She is also faculty director of the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA Program. Her research focuses on entrepreneurship, with a focus on creative industries.

– Program Director, Johnson Cornell Tech MBA (2017 – present) – Girish and Jaidev Reddy Professor of Practice, Cornell Tech, (2016) – Professor of Practice, Cornell Tech, (2016) – Visiting Associate Professor, Brown University (Sociology Department), Visiting Associate Professor, Cornell Tech (2015-2016) – Associate Professor of Business Administration, Entrepreneurial Management Unit, Harvard Business  School (2011-2016) – Marvin Bower Fellow, (2011-2013) – Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Entrepreneurial Management Unit, Harvard Business School, (2005-2011) – Consultant, Environmental Resource Management (ERM), India, (1999) – Consultant, Godrej Hi-Care Ltd., India, (1998) – Project Manager, Global Environmental Engineering, Ltd., (GENL), India, (1995-1997) – Founder, People’s Sanctuary (Biodiversity Conservation Group), Pune, India, (1994-1997) – Executive Assistant to the Director, and Lecturer, Ecological Society of India, (Part-time, 1993-1995)

– Member of the Board of Directors of Fractured Atlas, a tech not-for-profit organization that serves artists and creators (2018 – present) – Member of the Board of Directors of Exponential Creativity Ventures, a venture fund for cultural and artistic ventures (2018 – present) – University sponsor and host of the A. D. White Professor-at-Large (ADW-PAL) for 2019- 2025, Ms. Keri Putnam (2018 – present) – Amabile, Teresa and Mukti Khaire, “Creativity and the Role of the Leader” Harvard Business Review October 2008 – Selected to be part of HBR On Point (curated collection of most important HBR articles on a particular theme), Spring 2019 “Craft in Organizational Society” Finalist for Best Symposium Award, OMT Division, Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (2018) – “Culture and Commerce: The Value of Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries” in Forbes’ Top 10 Books on Creative Leadership in 2017 (2017) – Invited Keynote Speaker at the Annual Meeting of the Book Industry Study Group, Invited Keynote Speaker at International Conference on Globalization of High Culture, Amsterdam (2016) – Distinguished Scholar – Invited Keynote Speaker at Plenary session at EGOS 2013, Montreal (2013) – “Emergence Studies: Towards a Sense-making Symposium” Winner, Best Symposium, OMT Division, Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (shared with Mark Kennedy) (2012) – “Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow: Strategies for New Venture Growth.” Best Paper Proceedings, Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management 2004 Paper (“Too Fast, Too Furious: An Exploration of Entrepreneurial Resistance to Venture Capital-Backed Growth.”) selected for presentation at special session for papers with unique theoretical contributions at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, New Orleans (2005) – Dissertation Proposal Selected for OMT Proposal Workshop at the Annual Meetings of the Academy of Management, Seattle (2003) – First Rank in University of Pune, M.Sc. program (1995) – First Rank in University of Pune, B.Sc. program (1993)

Yann Le Cun is VP and Chief AI Scientist at Facebook. He is Silver Professor at NYU and Founding Director of the NYU Center for Data Science. He is also affiliated with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science. In 2013 he created Facebook AI Research.

– Head of the Image Processing Research Department at AT&T (1996-2002) – Fellow at NEC Research Institute (2002-2003) – Owner of YLC Consulting (2008-2013) – Co-Founder and Chief Scientist for MuseAmi (2007-2016) – Co-Founder and Adviser for Element Inc (since 2012)

– Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur – IEEE Neural Network Pioneer Award, 2014 – IEEE PAMI Distinguished Researcher Award, 2015 – ACM Turing Award, 2018

Enrico Letta is the former Prime Minister of Italy and dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po in Paris. He also occupies the position of Co-Chairman at Tianjiu Gongxiang Holding Group and President at Jacques Delors’ Institute. He is actually National Secretary at the Italian Democratic Party.

– National Secretary, Democratic Party, Italy, (2021 – present) – President of Jacques Delors’ Institute, Paris, France, (2016 – present) – Founder of Scuola di Politiche, Roma, Italia, (2015 – present) – Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs, (PSIA, Science Po Paris, (2015 – 2021) – Deputy of the Italia Republic, Chamber of Deputies, (2001 – 2015) – President of the Council of Ministers, Italy, (2013 – 2014) – Deputy Secretary, Democratic Party, Italy, (2009-2013) – Founder of Associazione TrecentoSessanta, (2007 – 2013) – Founder of veDrò, (2005 – 2013) – General secretary, Arel, (1993 – 2013) – Secretary of the Council of Ministers, (2006-2008) – Parliamentary at the European Parliament, (2004 – 2006) – Lecturer on EU history, European integration, Public policies, Haute Ecole de Commerce, Paris, France, (2004-2005) – Lecturer on EU history, European integration, Public policies, Scuola Superiore S. Anna di Pisa, Italy, (2003) – Lecturer on EU history, European integration, Public policies, Libera Università Carlo Cattaneo di  Castellanza, Italy, (2001-2003) – Minister of Industry, Commerce and Crafts, Italy, (1999 – 2001) – Minister for Community Policies, Italy, (1998 – 1999)

– Associative experiences: – Co-Chairman of Pontignano Conference / British Council – Italian member of the Trilateral Commission – Vice-president of Aspen Institute Italia – Member of the Steering Committee, Instituto Affari Internazionali, Italia – Member of the Steering Committee, Fondazione Italiani-Europei, Italia – Member of the Scientific Council, Limes – Italian geopolitics magazine

Verena Pausder is a start-up founder and bestselling-author. She is the co-founder of Ada and the founder of Fox & Sheep, one of the largest app developers for kids in Europe. She is the founder of the non-profit StartupTeens. She launched a tech conference called TheKidsWantMobile.

– Managing Director for be2, (2007-2008) – CEO Young Internet GmbH, (2010-2012) – CEO and Founder of Fox & Sheep, (2012-2019) – CEO and Founder of HABA Digitalwerkstatt, (2015-2019) – Co-Founder of Ada, (since 2020)

– Young Global Leader – World Economic Forum – Bestselling-author – “Das Neue Land” – Former member of the Supervisory Board of comdirect bank AG

Dame Sharon White joined the UK Civil Service in 1989, she has held various positions including second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury. She is currently the 6th Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership. Prior to that appointment and from 2015, she was the Chief Executive of Ofcom.

– Director-General at the Department for International Development, (2003-2009) – Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury, (2013-2015) – Director-General of Public Spending for the UK Government, (2013-2015) – Chief Executive for Ofcom, (2015-2019)

– Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire – Keynote speaker

Patrick Zhong is the founding managing partner of M31 Capital, former Chief Investment Officer at Wanda Group and former President for China Momentum Fund LP. He was also Head-Global Investments & Strategies at Shanghai Fosun High Technology (Group) Co., Ltd and and President of the Pramerica-Fosun China Opportunity Fund.

– Chief Investment Officer at Wanda Group – Senior Managing Director and Global Partner at Fosun Group – President of the China Momentum Fund – President of the Pramerica-Fosun China Opportunity Fund – Senior Equity Analyst at Wasatch Advisors, Inc. – Portfolio Manager at Rice, Hall, James & Associates LLC – Analyst at BMO Nesbitt Burns, Inc. (US) – Analyst at Harris Bank & Trust Co – Vice President for Wellington Management Co. LLP. – Senior Managing Director and Global Partner at Fosun Group – CEO of Fosun Lifestyle Brands Group – Chairman of Fosun Media Group – Chairman of Forbes China – Investor at Wellington Management – Senior investment professional at RHJ Associates and Wasatch Advisors