Our team of external experts
Advisory group
Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Nasser Al-Khalifa is the CEO of Qatar Development Bank (QDB) - the leading development and financing body driving the growth of Qatar’s private sector and its contribution to GDP. Mr. Abdulaziz previously held leadership positions at QDB, where he was the Executive Director of Strategy & Business Development for three years, serving simultaneously as Vice President of several internal and external committees.
Prior to joining QDB, Mr. Al-Khalifa worked at Qatar Shell as a Business Development Manager for nearly three years and held technical and managerial positions at The Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA) for six years prior to that. Mr. Al-Khalifa holds an MBA from Qatar University, a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from University of California and has received several specialized diplomas from Harvard and Insead Universities.
Mr. Al-Khalifa has vast experience in the SME, private and entrepreneurship sectors; He played a leading role in the launch of several flagship development initiatives, including the Al Dhameen Partial Guarantee Program, Tasdeer Qatar Export Development Agency and the Housing Loan Program for Qatari citizens.
Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Khalifa is the: Member of Supreme Council for Economic Affairs & Investment - Chairman of Qatar German Company for Medical Devices - Chairman of Q Media - Chairman of Qatar Business Incubator Center - Chairman of the Bedaya Center for Entrepreneurship and Career Development - Member of the Board of Directors at Silatech - Member of the Board of Directors at Qatar Science Technology Park
Professor Alexander Zehnder is a globally recognised water expert with decades of experience.
Building on his accomplished academic standing, Professor Zehnder has managed some of the world's foremost public and private institutions, and universities. He has published a number of books and over 200 articles in peer reviewed journals and chaired a number of international expert commissions. He is currently Scientific Director of the Alberta Water Research Institute (AWRI) and founder of triple Z consulting. His major knowledge areas cover a range of water related subjects in the fields of scientific research, engineering, economics and sustainability.
From 1992 to 2004, he was Director of EAWAG and Professor for Environmental Biotechnology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. From 2004 to 2007, he was president of the ETH-Board, responsible for ETH Zurich and Lausanne and four national laboratories (PSI, EMPA, WSL, EAWAG) with an annual budget of US$2bn. Prior to EAWAG and ETH, he was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Microbiology of the Wageningen Agricultural University since 1982.
Professor Zehnder completed his studies in Natural Sciences at the ETH. He then did a Ph.D. at ETH and the Swiss Water Research Institute (EAWAG), became a Research Associate at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA, and accepted an Assistant Professorship at Stanford University.
Esther Dyson is editor at large at CNET Networks, where she is responsible for its monthly newsletter, Release 1.0, and its PC Forum, the high-tech market's leading annual executive conference. As editor at large, she also contributes insight and content to CNET Network's other properties. She sold her business, EDventure Holdings, to CNET Networks in early 2004. Previously, she had co-owned EDventure and written/edited Release 1.0 since 1983.
At Release 1.0 and in her private investment activities, Esther focuses on emerging technologies, emerging companies and emerging markets. Among the topics she has covered for Release 1.0 recently are social software and social networks, registries of people and things, the Internet, the transformation of e-mail to 'Meta-mail,' identity management, and the use of 'consumer' Internet services such as Yahoo! eBay and Google by small businesses.
By 1994, she had already explored the impact of the Net on intellectual property (among other things, why many software products are now turning into online services). In 1997, she wrote a book on the impact of the Net on individuals' lives, 'Release 2.0: A design for living in the digital age.' It includes a number of chapters about today's hot topics such as security, privacy, anonymity and intellectual property.
Esther is also an active player in discussions and policy-making concerning the Internet and society. From 1998 to 2000, she was founding chairman of ICANN (the organization responsible for overseeing the Domain Name System). A variety of government officials worldwide turn to her for advice on Internet policy issues.
In addition, she donates time and money as a trustee to emerging organizations (Bridges.org, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Eurasia Foundation). For several years in the '90s she was chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Founder of SustainAbility in 1987, John is one of the world's leading authorities on sustainable development and 'triple bottom line' business strategy.
John is also a Founding Partner & Director of Volans Ventures, which aims to find, explore, advise on and build innovative scalable solutions to the great global divides that overshadow the future. John has authored or co-authored 17 books, some 40 published reports and hundreds of articles. Publications include the No.1 best-selling 'Green Consumer Guide and The Chrysalis Economy: How Citizen CEOs and Corporations Can Fuse Values and Value Creation' (Capstone, Oxford/John Wiley, New York 2001).
His book 'Cannibals With Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business' (Capstone, 1997/New Society 1998) was a finalist in the Global Business Book of the Year Award, organised by the Financial Times and Booz-Allen Hamilton. His latest book being 'The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World', was published by Harvard Business School Press on 5th February 2008. In 1989, John was elected to the UN Global 500 Roll of Honour for his 'outstanding environmental achievements'.
Shane Tedjarati joined the zouk industry advisory group in 2010. He is President and CEO of Honeywell’s entire business portfolio in China and India, the company’s most strategic growth markets. Shane brings broad experience to the advisory group, from Honeywell's expertise in consumer products and engineering services to a wide knowledge of business development in Asia. He has more than 20 years of experience in consulting to various industries and has been working in China since 1992. He has a proven track record of creating localized go-to-market strategies, fostering cross-business cooperation and nurturing business partnerships.
Mr. Tedjarati moved to Honeywell from Deloitte Consulting, where he was the regional managing director for Greater China. In that role, he worked with Chinese stated-owned enterprises and multi-national corporations to help them formulate and execute strategies for sustainable growth in China and abroad.
Mr. Tedjarati is one of the relatively few western businessmen who have successfully bridged the complex East-West divide in China and across Asia, and understands the intricacies of growing complex businesses in this environment. He is a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute; special advisor of the Chongqing Mayor’s International Economic Advisory Council; member of the advisory board of Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, industry Co-Chair of China Leaders for Manufacturing at Shanghai Jiao Tong University/MIT Dual Master of Engineering and MBA Program. He is also a sought-after speaker in China and the emerging markets. He has authored many articles on business practices, and he is currently working on a book regarding the social and cultural ramifications of the sweeping changes taking place in Chinese society
Professor Grubbs, is the Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
In 2005 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Yves Chauvin and Richard R. Schrock, for his work in the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis.