Specialist area: macroeconomics

Dr. Anders Åslund, one of the world's leading economists and experts on Ukraine, specializes in economic transition of russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Dr. Åslund holds the position of adjunct professor at Georgetown University and serves as Chairman of the International Advisory Council at the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) as well as the Board of International Advisors, Bank of Finland Institute of Transition. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Stockholm Free World Forum and previously served as a resident senior fellow in the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council.

From 2006 to 2015, Dr. Åslund was a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.  Dr. Åslund has served as an economic adviser to several governments, notably the governments of russia and Ukraine. Formerly, Dr. Åslund served as the Director of the russian and Eurasian Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was also the Founding Director of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics and a Professor of international economics at the Stockholm School of Economics.

He has published widely and is the author of 16 books and editor of 16 additional books. His latest book, “The Reconstruction, Reform, and Accession of Ukraine” (2023), was co-authored with Andrius Kubilius, MEP and former Prime Minister of Lithuania.

Dr. Åslund served as a Swedish diplomat in moscow, Geneva, Kuwait, and Poland. He earned his doctorate from the University of Oxford. He has also served on four corporate boards and several advisory boards.

Senior independent director, Confederation of British Industry; Chair, Audit Committee at Euroclear Bank SA/NV

Specialist area: compliance and quality

Victoria Cochrane is a former member of the global executive board of Ernst & Young (EY) and served as the Global Managing Partner for Quality & Risk Management (2008-13). She started her career as a solicitor and spent 10 years in private practice. She joined Ernst & Young as their first UK general counsel in 1991. Victoria was a partner for 20 years and for the last five, she was a global executive board member and global managing partner for risk, quality and governance.

Victoria was appointed as an independent non-executive director and Audit and Risk Committee chair to NinetyOne plc. Victoria also currently serves as senior independent director at Integrafin Holdings plc and non-executive director and chair of the Audit Committee at Euroclear Bank SA/NV. Victoria previously served as senior independent director of HM Courts & Tribunals Service, a non-executive director at Gloucester Insurance Limited and Perpetual Income & Growth Investment Trust plc and was senior advisor to Bowater Industries Limited.

Pascal Lamy is the Vice-President of the Paris Peace Forum and of the European branch of the Brunswick Group. He coordinates the Jacques Delors Institutes (Paris, Berlin, Brussels).

He is also President or member of various boards with a global, european or french vocation (European Starfish Mission (ocean), Mo Ibrahim Foundation, European Climate Foundation, IFPRI, PECC, CERRE, TMEA, Antarctica 2020, Transparency International, Alpbach Forum, Beijing Forum, World Trade Forum, WEF, Global Risks, Europaeum, Collegium international, Musiciens du Louvre, Institut Mendes-France, Colbert Foundation, etc.).

He is an affiliated professor at the China Europe International Business School CEIBS (Shanghai) and at HEC (Paris).

From 2005 to 2013, Pascal Lamy served two consecutive terms as Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He was previously Trade Commissioner (1999-2004), Director General of Crédit Lyonnais (1994-1999), Chief of Staff of the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors and his G7 Sherpa (1985-1994), Deputy Chief of Staff of the French Prime Minister (1983-1985) and to the French Minister of the Economy and Finance (1981-1983).

Last publication "Strange new world" (Odile Jacob 2020), "Où va le monde?" (Odile Jacob 2018).

Miriam Maes has worked 40 years for multinationals, of which more than 20 years managing national and international P&L’s. She spent around 20 years in the B2B food and beverages sector and 20 years in the B2B energy and climate change space.

Miriam was managing international food, foodservices and beverages businesses for Unilever, ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) and the Marmon Group (privately owned by the US Pritzker family).

In 2002, she entered the Energy sector, first with Texas Utilities (TXU) as member of their European Executive and between June 2003 and August 2007 with EDF Energy in the UK, as COO of their non-regulated distribution networks' business (£500 million/Euro 600 million turnover and 2000 employees).

In 2007, Miriam founded Foresee, Climate Change Consulting Company, an energy and climate change strategy consultancy, where she is the CEO.

Between May 2010 and April 2012, Miriam was Senior Advisor to the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in the UK. On request of the Minister of Energy and Climate Change, she chaired and participated in several Ministerial working groups.

From 2012- today: Founder and Chairman of the Energy Transition Forum, a USA-European “Think-Tank”. Website: https://energytransitionforum.com/

In 2012, Miriam became a Senior Fellow on the Climate and Energy Program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States ("GMF"), a Washington based transatlantic Think-Tank. In this role, she founded and chaired GMF's “Energy Transition Forum”. In 2015, Miriam launched as Chair the second phase of the “Energy Transition Forum” as an independent Not-for-Profit organisation and partnered with the United Nations Foundation. Until today, Miriam continues as Founder and Chairman the Energy Transition Forum (“ETF”), now in its 12th year, organising 2 Forums per year in Europe and the USA, between top-level participants in the energy value chain from the private and public sector, the academic world, and NGO’s. The “ETF” is a think-tank, facilitating constructive discussions under Chatham House rules on ways in which companies, organisations and governments in the United States and Europe can achieve a timely and responsible transition to a secure, affordable, and low-carbon energy system.

Current Non-Executive Directorships

• Eramet

May 2016 - Present

Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Euronext listed global mining company Eramet; Chairman of the Audit Committee; Member of the Remuneration Committee (Revenue 2021: Euro 5 billion). Eramet is a global mining company, headquartered in Paris, France.

• Assystem

June 2011- Present

Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Euronext listed company Assystem, Chairman of the Remuneration and ESG Committee and Member of the Audit Committee. Assystem is an international Nuclear and Energy Engineering company, headquartered in Paris, France.

Current Advisory Roles

• Since 2018: Member of the Advisory Committee of TotalEnergies-Tikehau Investment Fund (“T2 Energy Transition Fund”) in France.
• Since 2020: Member of the Advisory Committee of Pioneer Point Partners Investments in the UK
• Since 2021: Member on the Advisory Council of Arcus Infrastructure Fund in the UK.
• Since 2021: Member of the not-for-profit Lloyd's Register's Advisory Board in the UK.

Past Non- Executive Directorships

• Port of Rotterdam (January 2016- December 2023)

From January 2018 – 31^st December 2023

Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Port of Rotterdam; Member of the Remuneration Committee. The Port of Rotterdam’s shareholders are the City of Rotterdam and the Dutch Ministry of Finance. The Port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe and number 9 in the world after Singapore and 7 Chinese ports.

From January 2016 - January 2018: Member of the Supervisory Board of the Port of Rotterdam; Member of the Audit Committee and Chairman of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee.

• Urenco and Ultra Centrifuge Netherlands (UCN) October 2015 – 30^th September 2023

Non-Executive Director on the Board of URENCO and Vice-Chair of Ultra Centrifuge Netherlands, representing the Dutch Ministry of Finance; Member of the Urenco Audit Committee and Chairman of Urenco Board’s “Health, Safety and Sustainability” Committee.

URENCO is a joint venture between the UK and Dutch governments and RWE and Eon. It manufactures enriched uranium and uranium for nuclear power utilities worldwide.

• Limagrain/ Vilmorin

November 2013 – December 2019

Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Euronext listed company Vilmorin & Cie; Chairman of the Audit Committee of the listed Vilmorin & Cie

Vilmorin & Cie is headquartered in France and one of the world-leaders in vegetable seeds and field seeds, competing with Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta-ChemChina and DowDuPont.

• Elia Group

May 2014- May 2017

Chairman of the Board, Elia Group, the Euronext listed Belgian national and part German Transmission System Operator).

May 2011-May 2014

Member of the Board, Elia Group

• Sabien Technologies

June 2012-June 2015

Chairman Sabien Technologies, a secondary market listed UK gas technology company.

• Kiwi Power

July 2012- July 2014

Chairman of Kiwi Power, UK, a non-listed Demand Response company

• EDF Energy

June 2003- August 2007

Chairman of Powerlink, a joint venture between EDF, ABB and Balfour Beatty, representing EDF Energy.

Member of the Dalkia UK Board, representing EDF Energy.

Member of Metronet Board, representing EDF Energy.

Miriam has a degree from Nijenrode International Business School in the Netherlands and is a fluent English, French, Dutch, and German speaker. Miriam has a 26-year-old daughter and lives in Paris with her French husband.

Dr Axel Theis is a respected and accomplished global business leader with significant experience leading insurance and asset management businesses of significant scale across the European and global markets.

He has more than 34 years of history working with international financial services provider Allianz, including as CEO of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE and Chair of Allianz UK. He has extensive insights into risk, finance and governance having worked across multiple geographies within Allianz, including leading Allianz Eastern Europe. He also holds expertise in ESG, and in Europe’s energy transition.

Dr Axel currently serves on the board of Axis Capital Holdings as Non-Executive Director and chairs the board of ProCurand Care.

Ambassador of Italy to the United Kingdom (2018 to 2022)
Specialist area: EU and Italian affairs       

Raffaele Trombetta served as the Ambassador of Italy to the United Kingdom from 2018 to 2022. He supported the co-Presidency of COP26 during his tenure. Prior to his role in the UK, Raffaele served as the Italian Ambassador to Brazil from 2013 to 2016. He also played a significant role in Italian diplomacy as the personal representative and sherpa of the Italian Prime Minister for the G7 and the G20, where he coordinated the Italian G7 Presidency from 2017 to 2018.

Earlier in his career, Raffaele held the position of acting Director General for the European Union and served as Chief of Staff to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Paolo Gentiloni. Throughout his diplomatic career, Raffaele has demonstrated a broad focus that includes engagement with China, India, and Japan.

He served as the Deputy Head of Mission in China from 2002 to 2006. Additionally, he has experience in international development cooperation, having worked in the Africa Office, and served as Deputy Head of Mission in Colombia. In academia, Raffaele Trombetta holds a visiting professorship at the London School of Economics, where he also obtained a master's degree in European Studies. He is set to teach at the University of Naples, his alma mater, as well.