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Despina Anastasiou
Global Business Development Director, Corporate Development & PR!ME ERG Leader
Dow
Despina Anastasiou is the Global Business Development Director, Corporate Development at Dow. In this strategic role, she is responsible for identifying new materials and business models to drive the growth and the sustainability of the industry across the many value chains Dow serves. Despina is also the EMEAI Co-Chair for Dow’s ‘PR!ME Valuing Experience’ Employee Resource Group.
Since obtaining a Ph.D. in Chemistry and joining Dow, Despina has held diverse roles of increasing responsibility in Technology and Innovation, Sales, Market Management, Business Development and Business Leadership across a broad range of products, markets and countries.
Despina is a committed advocate and recognized practitioner for Dow's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion priorities, having led and served on multiple employee resource groups with a 'leave no one behind' philosophy. She is also an active member of European Women in Leadership and mentors many women across various industry programs. She is an active external ambassador for STEM across all academic levels and actively volunteers to advise, sponsor, and drive the inclusion, training and successful development of others.
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Placid Jover
Vice President HR Latin America and Global Leader for New Employment Models
Unilever
Placid Jover is Vice President, HR at Unilever. Prior to joining Unilever in 2004, Placid worked in the Department of Information Management & Technology and Bacardi Ltd. He has built extensive experience across Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK, in progressively more senior HR roles. In 2019, Placid was appointed VP HR Latin America, while leading New Employment Models globally for the Group and is now based in Buenos Aires Argentina.
Placid’s passion for HR Analytics, Longevity and the Future of Work has been recognized and he was voted one of the ‘Top 70 HR Analytic Influencers’ globally. Future of work | Unilever.
Placid was born and educated in Spain and has a combined Degree in Business Administration and an MBA from ESADE Business School program. He has also studied at INSEAD, the MIT, Columbia and the University of Southern California. He is a member of the advisory board in HR Technology companies.
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Michael A. McKay
Corporate Communication Consultant, Speaker
McKay's International
Michael McKay is a communications consultant, well-known across Geneva’s, international community, and a recognized voice on World Radio Switzerland where he conducts insightful ‘The McKay interviews' with prominent guests on leading issues.
Over his extensive fifty-year career, Michael has built a notable corporate client list which includes HSBC, Trafigura, JT International, Intertrust Switzerland, UBS, Nomura, Bank Vontobel, EHL, ITU, Airports International Council Europe (ACI), Dow, International Trade Centre at UN Geneva, DuPont, and Nestlé to name a few. His roles as both a conference moderator and speaker have taken him as far afield as London, China, Turkey, Spain, British Virgin Islands and Indonesia.
In addition to being the former Chairman of the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce Geneva, he has been a visiting lecturer and speaker at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, University of Geneva, University of Fribourg and NATO Advanced Research Workshops.
Michael was born in Jamaica, raised and educated in England and moved to Switzerland in 1984.
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Alistair McQueen
Head of Savings & Retirement
Aviva
Alistair McQueen is head of savings and retirement at Aviva – the UK’s largest and the world’s oldest insurer, found in 1696. Alistair leads Aviva’s pensions business, helping six million people save for and live on in retirement.
As an employer of 15,000 people in the UK, from 18 to 78, Aviva has been recognized for its age friendly policies designed to ensure that age represents no barrier to opportunity. Aviva has led the UK in introducing a ‘mid-life review’ for its people aged 45, to help them embrace a longer working life.
Alistair represents Aviva in the media and with government. He is also a member of the Association of British Insurers’ retirement working group; the Money and Pensions Service long-term savings challenge group; the Department for Work & Pensions Mid-life-MOT board; the Business in the Community Age Leadership Team; and sits on the advisory board of Bravestarts – a social enterprise with the goal of supporting a fuller working life. Alistair shares his views on age, via Twitter @HelloMcQueen.
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Yvonne Sonsino
Mercer
Yvonne Sonsino is Partner and Global Co-Lead of the 'Next Stage' at Mercer which examines the coalescence of living and working longer. Her current focus is on the organisational implications of macro trends such as increasing longevity, 4IR future of work scenarios, and creating a truly inclusive workforce while ensuring business continuity and multigenerational fairness.
With a career spanning 30 years in HR and as a senior HR consultant, Yvonne has been driving the discourse and design thinking to inform both policy makers and global organizations. She has co-chaired the UK Govt. Department for Work and Pensions Fuller Working Lives Business Strategy Group, which developed policies to guide employers to recruit, retain and retrain older workers.
Her seminal book ‘The New Rules of Living Longer’ has challenged us to think differently about living and working longer and provides a practical framework on life-long learning and multi-stage careers. Yvonne is an advisor to the Healthy Ageing challenge fund, and is currently working on a global dialogue series called ‘Redesigning later life | The new reality of retirement | Mercer’ with the World Economic Forum.
Yvonne holds a Masters Degrees in Psychology and Business Research, and is a Fellow of The Pensions Management Institute, previously an author of their International Diploma syllabus.
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Marco ten Bruggencate
Commercial Vice President Packaging & Specialty Plastics EMEA
Dow
Marco ten Bruggencate is the Commercial Vice President for Packaging and Specialty Plastics for EMEA, and is based in Horgen, Switzerland. He is also a vocal advocate for inclusion and diversity and is Co-Chair in Dow’s Women’s Inclusion Network.
Marco joined Dow in 2000 in the role of Commercial Manager, Spray Polyurethanes within PU Systems House. In 2007, he became Strategic Marketing Manager for Dow Building Solutions, before being appointed Product Director in 2011. As part of that role, he became the Chairman of the European Extruded Polystyrene Insulation Producers Association, EXIBA and represents Dow on the Board of Directors of the Joint Venture, Arabian Chemical Company Ltd, (Saudi Arabia).
In 2012, Marco assumed the role of Business Director EMEAI for Dow Building Solutions and in 2014 was appointed Global Business Director for Dow Construction Chemicals. In 2016, he became the Global Business Director of Dow Building & Construction and was then responsible for Global Strategy for the Polyurethanes Portfolio before assuming his current role.
Marco earned his Masters degree in Business Economics at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.
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Avivah Wittenberg-Cox
CEO, Author, Global Consultant on Gender & Generational Balance
20-first
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox is a global expert on all things gender and generational balance. She is the CEO of 20-first, a global consulting firm working with companies interested in capturing the competitive advantage of gender, nationality, and generational balance.
Her ground-breaking thought leadership is accessible through several seminal books and regular contributions to Harvard Business Review and Forbes. She has done several TEDx talks, has been recognized by ELLE Magazine as one of the Top 40 Women Leading Change and was recently celebrated by PWN Global with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Gender Balanced Leadership.
Having recently turned 60, Avivah has launched two new ventures focused on supporting others in the third quarter of life: The MidLife ReThink, a program for those wishing to get the most from their third quarter by harvesting the past, assessing the present and mapping the future; Elderberries, a more personal and reflective outlet for Avivah's journey from 60 and beyond.