Jean-Claude Badoux Ambassador-at-Large CH

Jean-Claude Badoux earned his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Lehigh University in 1965 after studying at ETH Zurich as well as the TU Hannover. He has been involved in multiple design and construction projects and Technical Advisor for over 100 construction projects in Switzerland and other countries. From 1992 to 2000 he was President of the EPFL, Switzerland and has also served as President of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects. He was awarded the Anton Tedesko Medal 2007 by the IABSE Foundation Council in recognition of his dedication to excellence in structural engineering and his role as mentor for younger engineers.

Hans Derksen - Industries NL

Hans has been successfully active in the international technology business for more then 35 years, and has held senior management positions at DEC, Intel, HP, Convex, as well as at Philips and Rabobank. He is currently active in a broad range of innovation and technology developments involving leading European universities, governments and investors. He is a frequent speaker in the area of technology innovation, e-government and change management. By means of his ‘Murielle’ foundation, Mr. Derksen is also active in humanitarian projects within western Africa countries and Asia, such as Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and SriLanka. He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Twente and is currently working on his PhD in sociology and corporate change at the University of Amsterdam. Mr. Derksen is a Dutch national and has lived in Switzerland for more than 30 years.

Edwin Douglass - Financials NZ

Edwin brings over 20 years of broad financial management experience including the CFO role, company preparation for an IPO, M&A, strategic funding, management of business integration projects, project management of enterprise wide business process re engineering and IT system implementations. He is a results orientated professional who enjoys working with management teams to make change happen. Prior to his financial management experience, Edwin practiced civil engineering specialized in the design and construction of earthquake resistant buildings, as a member of multi discipline construction management teams delivering turnkey construction projects in New Zealand, Canada and Switzerland. Edwin holds a MBA degree from the IMD, Switzerland, and a civil engineering degree from the University of Canterbury, NZ.

Nelson Heller - Education USA

Dr. Heller is an iCREST Foundation Fellow and a pioneer in developing markets for educational technology products for schools, colleges and universities. He began The Heller Reports news service and EdNET conferences, both leading venues for education industry executives. Nelson’s annual “View from the Catbird Seat” at EdNET conferences have anticipated countless education market developments, including the Internet, online content and service marketplaces, e-books, cloud services, social learning platforms, educational recommendation engines, and the globalization of edu markets. Dr. Heller is recipient of the “Making It Happen” education industry award and, in 2009, was inducted into the K-12 education industry’s Educational Publishing Hall of Fame. Nelson holds a PhD from Uni of Pennsylvania, Masters & graduate Engineers degrees from MIT and an EE degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He’s a member of the UCSD Rady School of Management Mentors and Advisors Network.

http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/hellerresults/tomorrow-s-whole-earth-simulations--connecting-students-to-the-world-they-ll-face.html

Michael Horner - Integrated Models Switzerland

Mike is a dual British-Swiss citizen resident in the Canton of Geneva currently active in the integrative modelling of physical systems theories to social systems. He helped to introduce digital computers into UK flight simulators while employed by Redifon Flight Simulation in the 1960’s and 70’s, after which he joined Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and progressed through sales, marketing and strategic planning – ultimately coordinating special projects and DEC’s multiple EU 'Framework Programs'. On retiring from DEC, Mike helped start several local IT businesses and is currently director of an Internet financial news feed company as well as partner in a law firm that specialises in finance and IPOs. He is coordinator for the Swiss group of the Scientific and Medical Network. Mike’s educational background is with the Western Behavioural Science Institute and as Industrial Professor at Heriot-Watt University attached to the Institute of Computer Based Learning.

Marie-Christine Sawley HPC & Exascale Switzerland

Marie-Christine has been an active figure in HPC and large scale computing over the last 2 decades: 2010-2020: director of Intel Exascale Lab in Europe, partnering with CEA, CERN and BSC. 2003 – 2008, managing director of CSCS, the Swiss national supercomputing centre. 2008-2010 CMS Computing at CERN. She was one of the drivers for establishing the Vital-IT centre of the Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics in 2002 with HP and Intel, and also conducted activities in the area of science and technology, such as the EPFL CRAY collaboration in 1994-95, EPFL Alinghi project in 2002-03, Swiss TX cluster at EPFL and promotion of ETH Zurich and Swiss industries in the building of the CMS detector at CERN in 2008. She participated to the EGEE, CoreGrid, EXA2CT and READEX Horizon projects. Marie-Christine is now active consultant, conference technology selection committees & white-paper editor & speaker. Her PhD is in Plasma physics from EPFL and her Exec MBA from IMD.

William Westermeyer - Policy USA/Switzerland

UCSB (1972-Geology) with Master’s & PhD (International Relations) from USC, William worked at McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Stations, then 1984-1995 as Senior Policy Analyst in the Oceans & Environment Program of US Congress’s Office of Technology Assessment, involving natural resources, environmental and marine policy assessments for Congressional Committees. He was a Fellow of the Scientific and Technological Options Assessment Programme of the European Parliament and worked for the Board on Sustainable Development of the US National Academy of Sciences. Between 1999-2012 he was employed by the WMO-UNEP-IOC-ICSU-sponsored Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Secretariat as a Senior Scientific Officer and Coordinator of Regional Activities, organizing workshops and participating in UNFCCC-COPs. He writes about climate, environment, and natural resources, dividing his time between Boulder, Colorado and Geneva.

Xue Zengyun (Aaron) - China PRC

Mr. Xue Zengyun (Xue Aaron) is the recently appointed Vice Chairman of China Robotics Centre, Shanghai, and has a 15-year background in the transfer and operation of global high-tech companies into the Greater China Region. He is best known for the successful start-up of Compaq, Rackable, SGI and Tandberg subsidiaries within the Greater China Region, together with his extensive network of high-level contacts and his analytical and creative management strategies. Aaron’s experience encompasses science, software, control systems, high-performance computing and Internet security. He holds a degree in Computer Science from Sun Yat-sen University (Guangdong), and an MBA from Indiana University.