Bachelor in International Relations, IE University, Editor in Chief, RAIA Group (Youth Think Tank), Executive Advisor, The Stork (IE University Student led Media)

Thomas Estermann is the Director of Governance, Funding and Public Policy Development at the European University Association since 2014. As such, he holds responsibilities for EUA’s work aimed at strengthening universities’ autonomy, governance, management and their financial sustainability.
Mr Estermann is member of several European and national committees, expert groups, editorial boards, advisory groups and contributes on a regular basis to higher education management programmes and national higher education reform processes. He has published on the topic of university funding, governance and management.

Previously, he served for 10 years as Deputy University Director of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien.

He holds a Masters Degree in Law from the Universität Wien.

Nunzio Quacquarelli is founder and CEO of QS Quacquarelli Symonds

Best known for producing the world’s most popular rankings – QS World University Rankings – QS is also a world leader in international postgraduate student recruitment, running 350 events in 57 countries, online platforms attracting over 60 million web visitors and offering student enrolment solutions.

Before starting his own business, Nunzio worked in strategy consulting in the UK and Italy. Later on, he established the not-for-profit foundation, QS Education Trust, and one year later, he designed the QS World University Rankings®.

In 2010, he was selected as one of the ‘top 50 business leaders under 50’ by Diversity MBA magazine in the USA and since 2014 he co-chairs the Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Awards.
Nunzio contributes to leading media around the world, including The Times, Handelsblatt, South China Morning Post, and Corriere della Sera.

He holds a MA/BA in Economics from Cambridge and an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Finance from The Wharton School (UPenn), where he won the Glockner Prize for Management.

Satoshi Nakano is President of Hitotsubashi University since September 2020.

Previous to that, he has also hold the position of vice President and Dean of the Center for International Joint Research, as well as Councillor of the Graduate School of Social Sciences at Hitotsubashi University.

He has also been visiting scholar at the University of the Philippines Dilliman (Philippines), Weatherhead Institute for East Asian Studies, Columbia University, NY (USA), and at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, George Washington University (USA) and part time lecturer at Faculty of Liberal Arts at Tsuda College and at the Faculty of Letters at Kyoto University.

He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Hitotsubashi University and his areas of studies are U.S. history, Philippine history, Japanese modern history, and International Relations.

Professor Shankararaman is the Provost of Education at Singapore Management University in Singapore since 2020. Previous to that, he hold the position of Associate Dean, Professor of Information Systems (Education) at SMU for 6 years.

His current areas of specialization include business process management and analytics, enterprise systems architecture and integration, and education pedagogy. He has designed and delivered professional courses for government and industry in areas such as business process management and analytics, enterprise architecture, technical architecture, and enterprise integration. He has published over 65 papers in academic journals and conferences.

Prof.  Shankararaman holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow) and has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry in various capacities as a researcher, academic faculty member, IT professional and industry consultant.

Dr. Daniela Trani is the Director of the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) Alliance at Maastricht University.

Dr. Trani was one of the main developers of the YUFE ERASMUS+ pilot proposal selected by the European Commission as one of the first 17 pilot European Universities Initiatives in June 2019. Previously, she worked as Senior Advisor for International Research Policy at the department of Academic Affairs of Maastricht University.

She holds an MSc degree in Physics (cum laude, 2003) from the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, and a PhD in Thoracic Oncology and Applied Biotechnology (2007) from the Second University of Naples, Italy. She worked as NASA/NSBRI postdoctoral fellow in the field of space radiation biology at Georgetown University (2008-2011) and then as senior researcher at the Department of Radiotherapy at Maastricht University (2011-2014).

Kate Vivian is the Deputy Vice President for International Affairs of Sciences Po, and currently the Acting Vice President for International Affairs (until Spring 2022).

In this capacity, she heads the international strategy of Sciences Po, including the 470 academic partnerships of the institution, its dual degree programs and strategic alliances across continents, and the international outreach and attractiveness of Sciences Po for students, faculty and talents worldwide.

Before this, Kate Vivian was the Senior Assistant Dean for Admissions and Careers at the Paris School of International Affairs of Sciences Po and Academic Advisor for the Master’s programs in International Development and Environmental Policy (2013-2017), overseeing 500+ students a year and working directly with 80+ Faculty members.

From 2009 to 2013, she began her career within the startup industry, having co-founded a successful boutique consulting firm dedicated to innovative educational guidance and counselling, to which were associated a number of societal outreach branches and initiatives.

Kate Vivian holds a Master in Research in Sociology from Sciences Po, and speaks fluent French, English and Spanish.

Manuel Muñiz is a Spanish lawyer, academic administrator, and International Relations scholar who currently serves as Provost of IE University since 2021. Prior to that, he was second Secretary of State for Global Spain in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation from 2020 to 2021, and Dean of the IE School of Global and Public Affairs at IE University from 2017 to 2020.

Muñiz has coordinated the crafting Spain’s Foreign Action Strategy 2021-2024, and has worked at the OECD on the approval of a global mobility framework aimed at minimizing the economic impact of Covid 19, and was the coordinator of Spain’s OECD Ministerial Presidency during 2020.

He started his academic career working on European integration, with a particular focus on transatlantic relations, security and defense.

He holds a Law Degree from Madrid’s Complutense University, a Master of Science in Financial Markets from the Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles, a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a DPhil (PhD) in International Relations from the University of Oxford. He has also been a David Rockefeller Fellow of the Trilateral Commission and a Millennium Fellow of the Atlantic Council. In 2019 he was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship.

Ilham Kadri is CEO, Chair of the Executive Committee, and member of the Board of Directors of the Solvay Group since 2019.

Prior to her arrival at Solvay, Ilham Kadri was President and Chief Executive Officer of Diversey, a global leader in hygiene, cleaning solutions, food safety, and infection prevention. Dr. Kadri is also board member at A.O. Smith, a U.S.-based leading global manufacturer and supplier of water heating equipment.

Her prior responsibilities have included research & development, strategy, business and digital in industries spanning automotive, aerospace, oil & gas, mining, water desalination, construction, consumer goods, food service, hospitality and healthcare. She has overseen transformations through multiple mergers and acquisitions.

Ilham Kadri is committed to diversity and inclusion, mentoring young women and promoting female leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Throughout her career, she received awards for fighting illiteracy, for developing charity and for her business leadership.

Ilham Kadri holds a degree in chemical engineering from L’Ecole des Hauts Polymères in Strasbourg, and a PhD in macromolecular physic-chemistry from Strasbourg’s Louis Pasteur University.

Lucas S. Grosman is Rector of the Universidad de San Andrés since 2017. Previous from that, he was Dean of the Law School from 2009 to 2017, and Professor of Law from 2006 to 2009.

He has also hold the position of tutor in law at Yale Law School, has taught and lectured at different universities in Latin America, Commissioner of the Argentine Antitrust Commission (Comisión Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia) from 2001 to 2003 and Advisor to the Secretary of Competition and Consumer Affairs from 2000 to 2001.

Additionally, he was an expert witness before the Argentine Supreme Court on constitutional law and antitrust from 2013 to 2018 and World Bank consultant on competition and regulation from 2013 to 2016. He is also author of several articles and books on constitutional law, social rights, rights and scarcity, equality, antitrust law, and law and economics; and his doctoral thesis on social rights and scarcity was published in Argentina in 2008.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, a LL.M from Yale and a Ph.D. in Science of Law from Yale.

Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger became Rector of the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) in 2015, and she is also Head of the Institute for Gender and Diversity in Organizations.

From 2006 to 2009, she served as the Chair of the Senate at WU, and was also a member of the board at Graz University of Technology from 2008 to 2013. In addition, she also chaired the Institute of Management at WU from 2012 to 2014.

Previously she was guest researcher at several international research institutions, such as London School of Economics (UK) and McGill University (Canada), and has held the EU Jean Monnet Chair.

She is a member of numerous international academic networks, supervisory boards and consulting bodies, such as the Board of Trustees of the Central European University (2019), the International Advisory Board of Aalto University School of Business (2020) and the International Board of the NHH Norwegian School of Economics (2020).

She has published more than 350 articles, books and book chapters on Gender and Diversity, as well as Diversity Management and Organizational Management.

Professor Hanappi-Egger holds a PhD in Computer Science from TU Wien (TUW), followed by numerous research stays abroad in Stockholm, Toronto and Oslo.

Professor Peter Mathieson assumed the office of Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh in February 2018.

Prior to that, he was Director of Studies for Clinical Medicine at Christ’s College (Cambridge) and President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong (2014-2018). He has also served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Bristol, Director of Research & Development for the North Bristol NHS Trust, President of the Renal Association, and Head of the University Department of Clinical Science at North Bristol.

He has been awarded an honorary life membership of the Australian & New Zealand Society of Nephrology and Honorary Fellowship of Hughes Hall (Cambridge) and the Hong Kong College of Physicians, and he is also Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Additionally, he is member of the League of European Research Universities Board, Board of the Scottish Funding Council, Chair of Higher Education and Further Education Strategy Group, and Chair of Confucius Institute Council, among others.

He holds an MBBS (First Class Hons) from the University of London and was awarded a PhD by the University of Cambridge.

Federico Valdés Lafontaine is Rector of the Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD) since 2011, where he previously had served as Vice Rector in Economic and Provost.

Federico is one of the founders of the UDD, which was born in Concepción in 1990 with only 100 students and which 9 years later had already began academic activities in Santiago and counted a total of 1,500 students. Today, the institution has almost 15,000 students and 16,000 alumni from its 24 undergraduate courses that include, among others, Medicine, Engineering and Law.

Currently, the university has two headquarters in two cities, four campuses and two clinics. Regarding postgraduate studies, the university has more than 2,500 students, concentrating especially in its schools of Government, Education, Business and Health Sciences.

Under his presidency, the UDD has achieved the third institutional accreditation in 5 years, including for the first time the Research area, and, thanks to its achievements in entrepreneurship, innovation and public responsibility, has been named as one of the 40 best universities in Latin America according to the Times Higher Education Ranking.

Federico Valdés is a civil industrial engineer from the University of Chile and he holds a Master of Science in Management from Stanford University.

Professor Liu was appointed President of Renmin University of China in 2015. He also supervises PhD candidates is a member of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee and Theoretical Economics Committee of the Academic Council, as well as Deputy Director of the Committee for the Development of Academic Disciplines and Specializations under the Ministry of Education.

In 2010, Professor Liu was appointed member of the PKU CPC Standing Committee and Executive Vice President of Peking University. Additionally, he held the post of Executive Vice President of Peking University before assuming his position as President of Renmin University.

Professor LIU’s main research areas include socialist economic theory; transition economics, industrial development theory, economic growth and corporate property rights. He has published more than two hundred academic articles and several dozen books. He has also won a number of academic awards, including the SUN Yefang Economics Book Award, the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Science Economics prize, and the first National Youth Social Science Achievement Award.

Professor Liu holds a Ph.D. in Economics

Professor Dilly Fung joined The London School of Economics and Political Science in May 2018 and since the end of July 2018, she is Pro-Director for Education.

Her work focuses on the circle of scholarship that connects research, learning, engagement and leadership. Her open access monograph, A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education (2017), explores the unity of research and teaching in curriculum design, providing a spectrum of practical applications to programme design within and across the disciplines.

Before joining LSE, Dilly was Professor of Higher Education Development at University College London and the Academic Director for UCL Arena Centre for Research-based Education. As Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she has led a series of ambitious initiatives designed to advance research-based education at UCL, including the innovative Connected Curriculum strategy. Previously, Dilly was Senior Lecturer in Academic Practice and Head of Academic Development at the University of Exeter, where she had been awarded a PhD in Higher Education.

Recent publications include an HEA-funded analysis of ways in which job families and career opportunities are changing in research-intensive institutions, and she was also lead author of a position paper by the League of European Research Universities looking at educational excellence in Europe’s leading research-intensive universities.

David Garza became Rector at Tec de Monterrey in 2017.

Throughout his 30 years of service at Tec, Garza has occupied several academic and executive positions, such as Director of the Research and Graduate Program; Dean of Information Technology and Electronics, Dean of Engineering School at the Monterrey Campus, Rector of the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey and Vice-Rector of Undergraduate position

Garza has been a research professor in the Information Technology and Electronics department. As a researcher, he has participated in the definition and development of projects financed by prestigious national and international institutions such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, European Commission and National Council of Science and Technology. Author of multiple articles and consultant of different corporations’ projects, he was recognized on two occasions with the Distinguished Professor Award.

He was President of the Global Engineering Deans Council’s, an initiative created with support of the American Society for Engineer Education and the International Federation of Engineer Education Societies. In 2012, Garza received the Honoris Causa doctorate from the American University of Nicaragua.

President Garza holds a Bachelor’s Degree on Computer Systems from Tec of Monterrey and a PhD on Computer Science from the State University of Colorado.

Professor Inan is the President of Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey.

During 1982-2009, he served at Stanford University as a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the Space, Telecommunications, and Radioscience Laboratory. He is also a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Institute of Electrıcal and Electronics Engineering, and the American Physical Society; and he has served as Vice President of the International Union of Radio Science, and was elected as a Member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences. In addition, he has authored more than 366 scientific publications with more than 10,000 citations, and served as the Principal Advisor for 60 PhD students since 1990.

He is the recipient of the Stanford University Allan V. Cox Medal for Faculty Excellence, the Stanford University Tau Beta Pi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, several Group Achievement Awards from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the European Space Agency; the Antarctic Service Medal of the U.S., with an Antarctic Mountain named “Inan Peak” in his honor, the Appleton Prize from URSI and the Royal Society, and the Special Science Award from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.

Professor Inan received his Bachelor and Master in Electrical Engineering from Middle East Technical University (Ankara) and a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University (California).

Felipe Portocarrero is currently President of the Universidad del Pacífico in Peru, where he also served as Director of the Research Center and President of the University Press.

He has been visiting researcher at the Center of Latin American Studies and at St. Antony’s College of Oxford University, and in the PASCA Program from Harvard University. Likewise, he has served as researcher at the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project, Director of the Leadership and Social Development Program in Latin America / Andean Region, and Director of the Peruvian Team of the Social Enterprise Knowledge Network.

Additionally, he has been member of the Leadership Program in Philanthropy in the Americas, the Board of Directors of the Network for the Development of Social Sciences in Peru, and the Advisory Board of AVINA.He is specialized in economic and social history, studies on the third sector, volunteering and philanthropic activities in Peru and Latin America, corporate social responsibility, social capital, and democracy.

He holds a Bachelor’s in Social Sciences and a Master’s in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Oxford.

Professor Romani is Deputy Rector for Sustainability and Innovation in Teaching and Learning at Luiss University in Rome, Italy. She is also a Full Professor in Consumer Behavior. She has been a Visiting Professor at University of Michigan and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She has been also invited speaker at a variety of institutions in Europe and abroad.

Professor Romani is an expert on psychology of consumption, consumer emotions, consumer-brand relationships, and consumer responses to new technologies. She has published articles on these subjects in consumer and marketing journals – e.g. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Marketing Letters, and European Journal of Marketing.

Dr Michael Spence AC joined UCL as President & Provost in January 2021.

Prior to this, he was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney (2008–2020). Under his leadership, it has risen to first in Australia and fourth in the world for graduate employability.

He embedded diversity and inclusion in the university’s culture, delivered significant investment in multi-disciplinary research activity, transformed the undergraduate experience and created strategic partnerships with leading industry, government and community organisations across the globe. As Vice-Chancellor, Dr Spence was also responsible for raising a record one billion Australian dollars through the INSPIRED philanthropic campaign.

Dr Spence is recognised internationally as a leader in the field of intellectual property theory and holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he headed Oxford’s Law faculty and Social Sciences division.

An alumnus of the University of Sydney, Dr Spence has a BA with first-class honours in English, Italian and Law. His other languages include Chinese and Korean.

In 2017, Dr Spence was named a Companion of the Order of Australia in recognition of his service to the higher education sector and in 2018 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Mathias is Managing Partner at XOLAS, a Higher Education Consulting Firm based in Berlin, Germany. XOLAS is assisting global universities and business schools in designing and implementing institutional change, with particular attention to issues of sustainability and responsibility; quality management and internationalization. Mathias is also the Executive Policy Advisor at LUISS Business School, LUISS University, Rome (Italy).

Mathias was the Managing Director of CHE Consult and worked before as Director of Business School Services at the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) in Brussels. He was also the Director of International Relations at IÉSEG School of Management in Paris & Lille, and Director of the International Summer University at the Free University in Berlin. He started his career as a Program Officer at the North American headquarters of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in New York.

Mathias has a Doctor in Business Administration in Higher Education Management from the University of Bath (UK) where he is now a research fellow at the International Centre for Higher Education Management (ICHEM).

Prof. Phakeng is full professor and Vice-Chancellor at the University of South Africa since 2018.

Additionally, she is founder of the Adopt-a-Learner Foundation, a non-profit organisation that provides educational and financial support to learners from townships and rural areas to acquire higher education, and she is the current President of Convocation of the University of the Witwatersrand and trustee of the FirstRand Foundation, a public-benefit organisation.

She served as president of the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa, founding chairperson of the Board of the South African Mathematics Foundation, and secretary and member of the Executive Committee of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education.

She has published over 80 research papers and four edited volumes and she is a National Research Foundation-rated scientist. Moreover, she has won several awards for her research and community work, including the 2011 National Science and Technology Forum Award. In 2014, CEO magazine named Prof Phakeng as the Most Influential Woman in Academia in Africa; and in 2016 she was awarded the Order of the Baobab in Silver.

Prof. Phakeng is Doctor of Science, honoris causa, by the University of Bristol, and she holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of North-West and a MSc in Mathematics from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Professor Garland was born in Lima, Peru, where he took his degree in Economics at the Universidad del Pacífico, subsequently teaching there. In 1984, he earned his Master’s degree in Economics from Stanford University, and in 1989, he began his doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a research assistant to Lawrence Klein and Albert Ando. In 1994, he moved to Spain and joined IE, teaching and running the Economic Environment course.

He is currently the Executive Vice President of the IE Foundation, a position he holds in parallel with that of Vice President of Global and Strategic Agreements at IE University. He is also a member of the Steering Committee at IE University. Prior to this, he was Director of IE’s External Relations Department and Director of the Department of International Relations. He currently combines his management responsibilities with teaching courses on Managerial Economics, Country Economic Analysis and Economic Development.

His interests include emerging countries, financial crises and the effects of aging populations.