Christian Artelt is an expert in sustainable construction with deep understanding of construction materials, in particular of cement, concrete and aggregates, and their production processes. In his current role as Senior Manager Sustainable Construction & Public Affairs Christian Artelt is part of HeidelbergCement’s Sustainability Office, where he is supporting the development and implementation of HeidelbergCement’s way to carbon neutrality. Key-topics of Christian Artelt’s work include assessing construction materials with enhanced sustainability performance, their responsible sourcing, and circular economy related approaches in the construction material sector. He also chairs the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC). This independent organization was founded in 2016 with the mission to improve the sustainability performance of concrete and its supply chain and to enable the construction sector and its stakeholders to take informed construction material related decisions.

Dr. Hans Christoph Atzpodien is Managing Director of the Federation of German Security and Defence Industries (BDSV e.V.).

Michael Bennett is the head of market solutions and structured finance in the Treasury Department of the World Bank. He has spent more than 20 years with the World Bank and has worked in both the World Bank’s Paris office and its Washington DC headquarters. Among other areas, he is responsible for the World Bank's capital markets work related to new structured instruments and catastrophe risk financing. He has led the World Bank’s execution of many landmark transactions, including the first multilateral development bank issued catastrophe bond, the first multi-sovereign catastrophe bond, the first global pandemic bond, the first vaccine sukuk, the first wildlife conservation bond and the first bond to provide financing to a UN agency, as well as carbon offset linked bonds for the Pilot Auction Facility for Methane and Climate Change Mitigation.

Gea Paas Broekman is Treasury Manager at N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie since 2018. Before that Gea worked for different subsidiaries and business entities in different roles with a focus in controlling (finishing her executive master of Finance & Control in 2013). Before joining Gasunie, Gea worked in the accountancy.

Tim Buchholz is Senior ESG Originator at DZ BANK with a focus on Corporates. He has more than 8 years’ experience in Banking with a focus on Fixed Income and Debt Capital Markets, is CFA Charterholder since 2016 and holds a Certificate as Expert in Sustainable Finance from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Loek Caris is Manager Investor Relations at N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie since 2020. Before joining Gasunie, Loek worked as an economist at the Sector Advisory department of ABN AMRO Bank. Gasunie marks Loek’s return to the energy sector. In 2000 Loek founded energy news wire Energeia.nl. He led the company until its acquisition by Het Financieele Dagblad in 2014.

Malvern Chirume has over 23 years international experience gained in multi-cultural environments. He has deep insurance sector knowledge gained in US, Bermuda, Europe, Middle East, and African markets. His experience spans underwriting, investments, audit, finance, risk management, research & development, pricing, reserving, governance, and strategy. Before joining ARC, he was the Chief Risk Officer at Federated Employers’ Mutual Assurance Company. He previously spent over ten years working in the London market in various roles at major global carriers, such as Chubb and Lloyds. Malvern started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, then joined EY in their London Financial Services practice. Thereafter, he held several roles in the London insurance market, primarily in the property and casualty sector, before relocating to South Africa. Malvern is a Chartered Accountant and is registered as a Fellow with both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe, and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is also a member of the Institute of Risk Management South Africa (IRMSA). Malvern holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School.

Adam Cotter is Senior Vice President, Senior Executive Banking of DZ BANK AG stationed in Singapore. His primary focus is to lead strategic engagement with government, SSAs and other official institutions in the Asia Pacific region. Adam joined DZ BANK in January 2021 from OMFIF.

Since October 2018, Mr. Arsène M. DANSOU is the General Manager of the Caisse Autonome d'Am ortissement (CAA), the debt management office  of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Benin. He holds a Master's degree in Accounting and Financial Sciences and Techniques (MSTCF) from the Catholic University of Central Africa (Cameroon) and a Specialized Master's degree in International Finance from the NEOMA Business School in Rouen, France. Dedicated professional with 17 years of diversified experience, working for several major organizations; he has acquired increasing responsibilities covering multiple sectors including financial institutions, infrastructure, energy, agribusiness and sovereign debt. He has developed strong skills in financial engineering and analysis, debt structuring, risk management, innovative finance structuring, credit insurance and sovereign risk. As Director General of the Debt management office in support to, and under the leadership of the Minister of Economy and Finance, he currently leads the implementationof the country's debt strategy as well as the efficient management of the public debt portfolio; and the follow-up and monitoring of public debt sustainability.

Stefan Haver is SVP of the Function Sustainability at the Essen-based specialty chemicals company Evonik Industries AG. In this role he has driven Evonik’s business transformation towards a recognised sustainability leader in the chemical industry, making sustainable portfolio steering an integral part of Evonik’s Strategic Management Process. After joining Evonik in 2005 the trained banker and change expert was initially responsible for the Internal Communications & Group Media department, and later for the Corporate Communications & Board Office Division. During this time, he supported the integration of Degussa AG into the former RAG Aktiengesellschaft as well as the realignment and IPO of the resulting Evonik Industries AG.

Yunuen Hernandez Sunoo is Deputy Director of ESG Control and Monitoring within the Debt Management Office in the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico. She participated in the development of the SDG Sovereign Bond Framework, and on the sustainable issuances of thematic bonds with an outstanding amount of 2bn euros, and developed the first SDG Bond Allocation and Impact Report published in 2021. Within the Ministry, she has also served as Deputy Director of Structuring and Projects Analysis, where she provided assistance and financial strategic advice to the National Infrastructure Fund to ensure liquidity, and promote infrastructure investment in Mexico. She has participated directly on asset securitizations and liability managements transactions for this fund. She graduated from the Bachelor’s Degree of Financial Strategy, from the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology.

Stefan Hirche is Principal Portfolio Manager at KfW. He has been working at KfW Development Bank since 2002, being previously responsible for financial sector development in the Caucasus and sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, he works mainly on regional and global developmental investment funds/risk pools for climate risk insurance. He is a director of REGMIFA, a debt investment fund for the benefit of micro, small and medium enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. On secondment from 2010-2013 he worked at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Berlin on (post-2015) sustainable development finance strategy and innovative financial instruments. Previous steps in his professional career were with the International Finance Corporation, the NORD/LB and in private equity. Stefan holds an MBA and an MA in International Economic Policy of American University in Washington, DC, as well as a BA in business administration of Leibniz Academy in Hannover. He is also a certified bank officer.

Hector Ibarra has worked for over 20 years driving innovation in the financial industry for multilateral agencies, financial intermediaries and national/regional governments. As Lead Financial Officer at the World Bank, he designed and placed over $1 billion in disaster risk financing products. Hector also has significant commercial experience; prior to his role at the World Bank he was Assistant VP for Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) at Partner Re. In his current position as GP CEO, his corporate mandate is to leverage advances in climate science, data modelling and financial engineering to build the tools needed to understand, manage and mitigate the risks of extreme weather and natural disasters anywhere in the world. GP core social mission is based on the belief that resilience to these natural events is fundamental to sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction and the realization of human potential. As part of this mandate, Hector is the Portfolio Manager of the Natural Disaster Fund (NDF).

Sithembiso Khoza is the head of balance sheet management at DBSA where he oversees market risk, capital adequacy, funding and liquidity management. He has been in development finance for the past 17 years and has total 24 years of experience in banking having worked in trading desks, funding desk and risk management roles.

Herman Kamil is the Head of the Sovereign Debt Management Office at the Minister of Economy and Finance of Uruguay. He joined the Ministry in 2015, and has continued in his role under the new administration that took office in 2020. Before joining the government, he worked for ten years at the International Monetary Fund. There, he held diferents positions in the Western Hemisphere and International Capital Market departments. He has a Bachelors Degree from the University of the Republic in Uruguay, and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Robert Koller has vast expertise in debt capital markets and in funds (particularly, hedge funds) as well as in the social impact area, in particular finding solutions to scale up investment opportunities. He is also the spearheading of the development of a European debt primary placement market with eppf. He has also ample general capital markets experience (including equity transactions), as well as in financial regulatory law and project and asset finance. He is especially interested in alternative investments, such as cat-bonds and other insurance linked securities as well as infrastructure investments. Robert has also worked in the general corporate and corporate finance areas. He was involved in establishing electronic trading platforms and has also worked for shorter periods in Mexico, France, Austria and the UK.

Andreas Kusche is Investor Relations Manager and ESG expert at the Mercedes-Benz Group AG. Here he is responsible for capital market communications concerning the ESG factors. He has a degree in engineering management. Andreas Kusche joined the Mercedes-Benz Group AG in 2006 and has worked in his current position since 2019.

Bianca Lind is head of corporate sustainability for AGRAVIS, one of the leading agricultural cooperatives in Germany. She is focusing on the impact of AGRAVIS on sustainability goals and tries to find solutions for the value chain. The agricultural engineer has brought experience in animal production systems, animal welfare, animal breeding, agricultural legislation, and lobbying due to her former job as general manager at Bundesverband Rind und Schwein, the German umbrella organization for the cattle and pig industry.

Friedrich (“Fritz“) Luithlen is Head of Debt Capital Markets Origination and Syndication at DZ BANK. Before taking up his current role in late 2017, Fritz ran the private placement business of the bank, and acted as Head of Covered Bond Origination, promoting the Bank’s covered bond franchise with issuers across the globe.

Glenn Melcher has an degree in economics from the University of Mannheim. He has many years of experience in banking and is since 2020 with EEW Energy from Waste.

Jenny Lale Petersen has more than 14 years of experience in the international capital markets. Since February 2018, Jenny has been with the SSA origination team of DZ BANK in Frankfurt, Germany. Prior to this, she held a similar position at Commerzbank. Before changing for the SSA side, she has covered European corporate clients at Commerzbank since 2011. Until then, she has worked for 3 years in group financing for Siemens in Munich, after having started her career with L-Bank in Karlsruhe. Jenny holds a Diplom-Betriebswirt degree from DHBW Karlsruhe.

Marcus Pratsch has more than 16 years of experience in sustainable finance and is currently working as head of Sustainable Bonds & Finance at DZ BANK AG in Germany. In this role, he worked on numerous successful Sustainable Bond transactions for global issuers. Marcus is also a member of the Advisory Council of the OMFIF Sustainable Policy Institute (OMFIF SPI). He joined the finance industry in 1996 and has worked for several banks in Germany and abroad. He joined DZ BANK in 2006 and developed the bank's sustainable investment research strategy as Head of Sustainable Investment Research. In 2011, he introduced DZ BANK's EESG rating - the bank's own integrated SRI rating and analysis methodology that goes beyond the classical ESG approach by integrating the economic dimension of sustainability. Furthermore, Marcus has successfully advanced the integration of sustainability criteria into the valuation process of various asset classes enabling the bank to extend its portfolio of sustainable products and services around the globe.

Dr. Lothar Rieth has been with EnBW since 2011. He has been Head of Sustainability at EnBW since June 2021 and is responsible in particular for topics such as reporting, sustainable finance and sustainable procurement. He studied administrative and political science in Konstanz, Tübingen, Darmstadt and at Rutgers University/NJ in the USA and completed his doctorate on "CSR and Global Governance" in 2008. Since 2018, he has been an elected member of the Econsense board and topic sponsor of the Sustainable Finance & Reporting and Human Rights & Value Chains clusters; since 2021, he has been a member of the DRSC specialist committee on sustainability reporting; from 2019-2021, he has been a member of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Board of the German Federal Government, where he is co-responsible for the sub-chapter "Future-oriented and integrated reporting"; and since 2020, he has been: co-project manager for the internal implementation of the EU taxonomy at EnBW and responsible for conducting sustainability audits of business partners.

Michael Roth is Public Sector Practice Lead / Capital Partners Division and Senior Manager Public Sector at Munich Re.

Frank Scheidig is global head of Senior Executive Banking at DZ BANK, leading DZ BANK’s high level global strategic engagement with government and official institutions. His network covers – amongst others - the German government, Bundesbank and KfW; the EU commission, EIB and ESM as well as SAFE, AIIB and Worldbank. Having previously had a 40+ years career in the capital markets, with Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank among others, covering governments, central banks, supranationals, state funds, and development banks. He is Deputy Chairman of the Advisory Board of OMFIF (The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum), a well-connected think-tank for central banking, economic policy and public investment. He chairs the Rhein-Main regional committee of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany, is a member of the Board of the IBF International Bankers Forum and of the German government’s committee for sustainable development. 

Dr. Jacob Schewe leads the FutureLab "Security, Ethnic Conflicts and Migration", as well as the Working Group "Impacts of climate change on human population dynamics", at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. A physicist by training, he has worked and published on a range of topics from monsoon dynamics, to global water resources, to food price shocks induced by extreme weather events. A key research interest is how these and other impacts of climate change combine to affect people and societies.

Aparna Shrivastava is a climate adaptation and international development specialist with a decade of experience including sustainable development and humanitarian work across East Africa, Central America, and South & Southeast Asia. This experience has given her a foundational understanding of the opportunities and challenges faced by communities on the frontlines of climate change. Most recently, Ms. Shrivastava worked at the intersection of climate change and finance to ensure a just transition to a low-carbon. economy.

Florian Sommer heads the ESG Strategy group in Portfolio Management, which is primarily responsible for ESG research and the further development of ESG competencies. He has been with Union Investment since 2010. Mr Sommer has 20 years of professional experience as a strategist, analyst and consultant. Previously, he was head of sustainable investment research at Fortis Investments and later at BNP Paribas Investment Partners. Prior to that, he advised multinationals on sustainability at Forum for the Future in London. Before that, he worked at the New Economics Foundation, advising ministries and public institutions on integrating sustainability into policy and business.

Stelios Sousamoglou is Assistant Treasurer funding for Black Sea Trade and Development Bank and is directly responsible for formulating and executing the funding strategy for the bank. Stelios is providing global oversight and guidance for all liability managed activities and ensures the fair priced and effective raising of funds needed to meet operational requirements. Under this role ,Stelios has pro-actively diversified the investor base for BSTDB by opening up new market segments , tapping into regional pockets of liquidity and offerings of new products. Funding highlights include apart from USD benchmark public deals, placements in currencies such as RON, HUF, CZK, PLN, JPY, AUD, GPB, EUR and also green placements in the form of ESG notes. Stelios in 2019 has achieved the lowest public coupon in CEE and has won the deal of the year award twice by MTN-i on the back of private placement transactions. Stelios before joining the MDB ecosystem had commercial experience with Credit Suisse as part of the Fixed Income Portfolio Management team and HSBC investment banking in securitized products. Stelios is an Insead and Imperial College alumni holding a Global Management executive education from Insead and a MSs in Financial Engineering from Imperial college.

As Secretary General of ICC Germany, Oliver Wieck in charge of serving world business by promoting trade and investment, open markets for goods and services, and the free flow of capital, and the co-ordination of German delegates being active in the various ICC Commissions on the global level. Prior to this he was from 2008-2013 Managing Director of the Foreign Economic Policy at the Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI. He was responsible for formulating the BDI’s position on international trade issues, transatlantic economic relations including TTIP, foreign trade law European Customs Code and export financing guarantees.

An astute economist and entrepreneur, Michael Wurmser will advise on the finances and strategic direction of Norge Mining. He’s worked for Citibank Zurich, and has held a prestigious array of senior positions at multinational financial institutions in New York and Frankfurt. He’s previously been mandated by various governments, finance ministries and state banks to help settle sovereign debts. Over the years, Michael has advised on structure financing for companies in the natural resources, commodities and mining sectors in Russia, the Middle East and Mongolia.