The Leading Speakers Bureau

Former Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations (2002 to 2008)

Munir Akram has enjoyed a long and distinguished diplomatic career and is now ready to step out from behind the diplomatic curtain and tell what he knows and offer his perspective on what the goals of the United States should be in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and how they can be obtained. Ambassador Akram, perhaps better than anyone, knows how the Pakistanis, the Taliban, the Afghans, eat, drink, sleep and think.

“A distinguished & highly respected speaker”
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Joint Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, 2004

Dr. Edward Prescott was awarded the Nobel Prize for contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles. He is currently working as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and a Professor at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. His work has altered the course of macroeconomic thinking in the past three decades.

“Edward Prescott is a major figure in macroeconomics, especially the theories of business cycles and general equilibrium”
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One of the World’s Most Influential Industrial Designers & Architects

Ron Arad’s constant experimentation with the use of possibilities of materials such as steel, aluminium or polyamide and his radical re-conception of the form and structure of furniture has put him at the forefront of contemporary design. He is currently Professor of Design Product at the Royal College of Art in London.

“Ron Arad constantly pushes the boundaries of design”
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British Actor, Writer, Comedian, TV Presenter and Film Director

Stephen Fry is one of the few living legends of acting and comedy and a great after dinner speaker and host. As a solo actor, he played the lead in the film Wilde, was Melchett in the Blackadder TV series and is the host of the erudite, but comedy-based quiz show, QI. He also presented a 2008 television series Stephen Fry in America having become known to American audiences for his recurring guest role as Dr. Gordon Wyatt on the Fox crime series Bones.

Stephen has been described as a “national treasure”, “a phenomenon”, and “an epitome of the Renaissance man”
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Highly influential expert in On-demand cloud computing

Dr. Timothy Chou was the president of Oracle On Demand, the fastest-growing business inside Oracle. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of Embarcadero Technologies (EMBT) and as a member of the advisory board of WebEx (WEBX). In addition, he has been a lecturer in computer science at Stanford University for more than 15 years and continues to give seminars.

“Under his leadership, Oracle experienced global momentum”
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Highly Successful Entrepreneur

Klaus Kobjoll is a highly successful and noted entrepreneur in the hotel and restaurant business in Europe. He is the owner of the established Country Hotel and Creative Centre Schindlerhof and winner of the European Quality Award for Independent SME’s 1998, Paris.

Klaus Kobjoll studied at the D.Speiser hotel school in Tegernsee, Bad Wiesee and at the Lycée Technique Hôtelier in Strasbourg, France. He also spent some time studying in England.

He began his career at the age of 22 when he established himself as self-employed entrepreneur starting the “Crêperie Rennaise” in Erlangen in 1970. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s he opened several restaurants including a French Bistro called “Café des Arts”, a jazz cellar with live music called “Strohalm” and a restaurant called “Prison St. Michel” in Nuremberg. In 1978 he opened his first hotel “Landhotel Mörsbergei” with 19 rooms and 80 restaurant seats.
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Leading Innovator, Director of Game Research & Development, Institute for the Future

Jane McGonigal is a brilliant designer of online mass roleplaying games. She’s also on the forefront of academic research on societal development and computer gaming. She is best known for creating games that inspire global-scale collaboration and collective intelligences. Most recently, she directed the world’s first massively multiplayer forecasting game Superstruct, which brought together more than 7000 future forecasters from 90 countries to tackle real-world problems such as pandemics, food systems, and climate change. The Association of Professional Futurists honoured Superstruct as the “Most Important Futures Work of 2008″.

“The leading innovator in the field of game design for future forecasting and problem solving”
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Philanthropist, World Famous Author & Creator of the Harry Potter Series

Joanne “Jo” Murray OBE better known as J. K. Rowling is perhaps equally famous for her “rags to riches” life story, in which she progressed from living on welfare to multi-millionaire status within five years. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies, and been the basis for a popular series of films. Time magazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fandom.

Forbes ranked J. K. Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity of 2007
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2007 Joint Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Vice Chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Prof. Mohan Munasinghe is Chairman of the Munasinghe Institute of Development (MIND), Colombo; Director-General of the Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) and Distinguished Professor at the University of Manchester; and Honorary Senior Advisor to the Sri Lanka Government. As Vice-Chairman of the United Nations IPCC, Professor Munasinghe shared the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace, for his work on global warming and sustainable development.

“Prof. Munasinghe is a multi international prize winner for his research and its applications”
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CEO & Chairman of the Management Board of Gucci Group, Fortune Magazine’s European Businessman of the Year 2007

Robert Polet joined Gucci Group in 2004 after a 26-year career at Unilever, bringing considerable global management experience and a deep knowledge of the development of consumer brands in a multicultural environment. His dynamism has helped turn around luxury goods company Gucci Group and was named as European Businessman of the Year 2007 by Fortune magazine. He encourages the people working with him to break rules and to go outside the box.

“The man who has put the extra into extravagance”
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