The Leading Speakers Bureau

Professor of Health Policy and Management, Witten-Herdecke University

Christian Koeck is a visionary in health policy and management. He is Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Witten-Herdecke University and Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. A regular contributor to national and international industry journals addressing a range of healthcare issues, he is firmly committed to improving the quality of healthcare throughout the world.

“Christian is a leading expert on Health Policy and Management that gives healthcare professionals practical ideas for improvement”

[expand title=”In detail”] Christian studied Medicine in Vienna and received his first doctorate in 1983. Harvard awarded a second doctorate in 1984, where he studied Health Policy and Economy. Between 1990 and 1995 he was a member of the executive board of the network of Viennese Hospitals with responsibility for quality management and organisation. In 1998 he was awarded a Professorship at the Witten-Herdecke University. Most recently, in 2002 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Medicine[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Drawing upon his extensive knowledge, comprehensive studies and rigorous research Christian provides you with sound, practical ideas on how to improve healthcare among health professionals and patients; and how to improve quality through financial investment.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]You will be both entertained and informed by his talks, his drive and motivation is infectious making him highly sought-after at leading healthcare events. [/expand]
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One of the World’s Leading Authorities on Cloud Computing

Ignacio M. Llorente is Full Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid and has been involved in the coordination of leading innovative projects such us OpenNebula, most advanced open-source solution for cloud computing, and RESERVOIR, flagship of EU-funded initiatives in cloud computing. He has held several appointments as independent IT expert for the European Commission and several national governments; and consultant positions at ICASE NASA Langley and Sun Microsystems.

World’s Leading Expert in Cloud Computing, and Strategic Management of Research, Development and Innovation”

[expand title=”In detail”] Prof. Llorente attained a Ph.D in Computer Science (UCM) and Executive MBA (IE Business School), is a Full Professor (Catedrático) in Computer Architecture and the Head of the Distributed Systems Architecture Group at UCM, and Chief Executive Advisor and co-founder of C12G Labs, a technology start-up. He founded and co-chaired the OGF Working Group on Open Cloud Computing Interface; and participates in the European Commission Group of Experts in Cloud Computing and in the main European projects in Cloud Computing. He has given many keynotes and invited talks in the main international events in cloud computing, and has contributed to several cloud computing panels and roadmaps. He has been involved in the coordination of working groups in the main European technology platforms, such as NESSI, and international standards bodies, such as OGF.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Prof. Llorente has almost 20 years of experience in IT research and management of large international projects on advanced distributed computing and resource provisioning models, such as cloud computing, to address real-life business and science use cases. In the context of these projects and his participation in standards bodies, technology platforms and advisory boards, he collaborates with the leading IT companies and has participated in the definition of strategic research programs. As leading expert and active researcher in innovative and emerging IT technologies with extensive expertise in project management and consultancy, he offers a unique perspective into how companies can innovate and compete with next generation Internet and cloud computing. As cloud computing pioneer and guru, he communicates his vision about the data centre as the computer of the future and the IT resources as the next utility. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]An accomplished teacher, Ignacio is an energetic and motivating speaker who captivates audiences with his wide expertise in the field and clear structured presentations.[/expand]
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One of the Most Recognisable & Trusted Market Commentators

With twenty years experience following the ups and downs of the markets, Justin Urquhart Stewart’s assessments, predictions and witty observations guide investors worldwide. Marketing Director and co-founder of Seven Investment Management, he is also a founder member of the Entrepreneurial Working Party, a group dedicated to developing and promoting entrepreneurship and new business in the UK.

Justin innovated the UK investment market with the introduction of the first Sterling Wrap Account”

[expand title=”In detail”] Trained as a barrister, Justin moved into international corporate finance. He specialised in International and EC Law (LLB Hons) and worked in Corporate Finance in Africa and Singapore, and then in Marketing with a focus on Electronic Corporate Cash Management in Europe. This led to him helping to found Broker Services in 1986, which later became Barclays Stockbrokers, the largest retail stockbroker in the UK. He was named Favourite Financial Personality by Proshare, writes regularly for national magazines and newspapers and frequently appears on TV and radio.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]An engaging, lively and entertaining character, Justin Urquhart Stewart is a commentator in the media on market events and developments and appears regularly on television and radio. He is frequently invited to speak on a wide range of topics attracting media and press coverage for his corporate events. He shares his wealth of knowledge and offers a calm, clear-sighted view of the markets.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]A former trade union shop steward and a vineyard manager, Justin Urquhart Stewart’s presentations are highly memorable, both for the content and for the powerful, eloquent and captivating way in which they are delivered.[/expand]
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The Fifth Executive Director of UNICEF (2005 – 2010)

Ann Veneman recently completed a five-year term as executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, travelling to more than 60 countries to review the plight of children and UNICEF’s work to assist them. In a personal capacity, she serves on the Board of the Close Up Foundation and has previously served on a number of advisory councils and committees. A champion of UN coherence and a strong voice for children as well as Millennium Development Goal implementation, her legacy at UNICEF is an organization that is financially and intellectually strong and well-equipped to meet the challenges children face in the twenty-first century.

In 2009, Ann Veneman was named to the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women list, ranking #46

[expand title=”In detail”] A lawyer by training, Veneman has practiced law in Washington, DC and California. Prior to joining UNICEF, Ann Veneman served as Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), overseeing 110,000 employees and an annual budget of $113 billion. In 2003 she hosted the first-ever Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology, bringing together leaders from 120 nations. She held various other positions at USDA, including Deputy Secretary, Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs and Commodity Programs and Associate Administer of the Foreign Agricultural Service. She also served as Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. [/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]With first-hand knowledge of how children’s lives are saved and having stressed a culture of continuous improvement to help achieve lasting results for children, Ann Veneman offers insights into her leadership and vision that has been recognized both nationally and internationally. She has helped children around the world by advocating for and protecting their rights.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]The first woman to become the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Ann Veneman is a distinguished orator who impresses with her extraordinary energy and immense dedication. She has become a catalyst for global action to help children reach their full potential.[/expand]
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Founder, President, CEO & Chairman of the Board of Amazon.com

Jeff Bezos is the brains behind Amazon, that now sells more than $10 billion a year of goods, profitably, and its technology will influence the changes to business and media that will come next. Intrigued by the amazing growth in use of the Internet, he created a business model that leveraged the Internet’s unique ability to deliver huge amounts of information rapidly and efficiently. Time magazine named him Man of the Year in 1999.

“If the Internet was the new rock and roll, Jeff Bezos…was its Elvis … [Today he’s] the ultimate dotcom survivor” BBCNews.com

[expand title=”In detail”] Jeffrey Preston “Jeff” Bezos, a Tau Beta Pi graduate of Princeton University, worked as a financial analyst for D. E. Shaw & Co. before founding Amazon in 1994. His bookstore quickly expanded into dozens of product categories, forcing the world’s biggest retailers to rethink their business models, and ultimately changing the way people shop. From 1990 to 1994, Bezos worked for D.E. Shaw & Co where he helped build one of the most technically sophisticated quantitative hedge funds on Wall Street. Outside of his work with Amazon, he recently founded Blue Origin, a space-flight startup.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders in 2008, Jeff Bezos is one of the few early Web CEOs who still runs the company he founded. He didn’t invent online shopping, but he almost single-handedly turned it into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise. He provides a deep prospective into the importance to accessing all kinds of information. He offers his unique perspective on how he defined online shopping and rewrote the rules of commerce, ushering in a new era in business.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Online commerce pioneer, Jeff Bezos is a warm, informative and entertaining speaker with boundless optimism, whose laugh is like a streak of exclamation points. Irrepressibly casting every challenge as an opportunity, his presentations are memorable both for their content and powerful delivery.[/expand]
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Internist, Social Scientist & Expert on Social Networks

Dr. Nicholas Christakis is a Professor at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School who has done groundbreaking research on social networks and social media. His startling findings present intriguing new evidence that our real-life social networks shape virtually every aspect of our lives. How we feel, whom we marry, whether we fall ill, how much money we make, and whether we vote — everything hinges on what others around us are doing, thinking, and feeling

“In 2009, he was named to the Time 100, Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world”

[expand title=”In detail”] Dr. Christakis is an internist and social scientist who conducts research on social factors that affect health, health care, and longevity. For the past decade, Dr. Christakis has focused on how social networks form (“connection”) and how they influence behaviour (“contagion”). He has received various accreditations including TIMES’ one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, and named “most original thinker” of the year in 2008 by The McLaughlin Group. His research on social networks featured in TIME’s Year in Medicine in 2007 and 2008 and in Harvard Business Review’s Breakthrough Ideas of the Year (2009).[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Dr Christakis outlines the principles of network theory and demonstrates his vision and ideas in the real world. He makes a persuasive case how the power of social networks affect everything and everyone. Explaining why emotions are contagious, and how health behaviours spread, he overturns the notion of the individual and provides a revolutionary paradigm that social and online networks influence, change and affect every aspect of our lives relating to our ideas, emotions, health, relationships, behaviour, politics, and much more. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Dr Christakis though provoking and intriguing presentations are highly insightful, content rich and eloquently delivered.[/expand]
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Award-winning Author & Financial Journalist, Specializing in Healthcare, Investing, Sustainable Investing, & Business-Social Policy

For more than twenty years, Fran Hawthorne has been one of the few journalists at the nexus where social and government policy meet business – an interrelationship that is becoming ever-more important in these days of rising consumer awareness and government regulation. She has written the only book that looks in-depth at the modern U.S. Food and Drug Administration. No journalist has more experience covering the multi-trillion-dollar pension-asset management arena. She has been interviewed on numerous television and radio shows, including CNN and National Public Radio, and been filmed for documentaries.

Fran Hawthorne understands and communicates the incredible complexity of discovering new drugs and introducing them to market”

[expand title=”In detail”] Fran Hawthorne’s career includes being Senior Editor for Fortune magazine, running the Investor section, managing Fortune’s financial coverage. She was Senior Editor and senior writer at Institutional Investor magazine for fifteen years, Staff Editor at Business Week magazine for four years and News Editor of three award-winning newspapers in Silicon Valley. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa in English from the University of California, while running the daily student newspaper and reporting for United Press International and the San Francisco Examiner. Currently, in addition to her books and public speaking, she writes regularly for The New York Times, The Scientist, Institutional Investor, and many other publications.[/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]From years of covering finance, healthcare, consumer activism, and politics for some of the world’s leading magazines, Fran Hawthorne is able to bring a unique range of experience, analysis, and ability to synthesize these crucial areas. She is an experienced public speaker who provides a thought-provoking and lively analysis of topics such as the impact of health reform, and where pensions fit into the strategies to move troubled companies forward. She offers invaluable insights into how businesses can adapt to growing social and environmental pressures.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]With clarity and humour, Fran Hawthorne is a speaker with a powerful message who has the ability to talk to her audiences as though sitting down together. A natural speaker, astute and comfortable on stage, with semi-professional acting experience, she takes questions confidently and eloquently.[/expand]
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Global Vice President of Digital Marketing

Erik Qualman is an MBA Professor at the Hult International Business School. For the past 16 years Qualman has helped grow the online marketing and eBusiness capabilities of many companies including Cadillac, EarthLink, EF Education, Yahoo, Travelzoo and AT&T. He is a columnist for ClickZ, while also owning the social media blog socialnomics.com. Qualman holds a BA from Michigan State University and an MBA from The University of Texas.

Erik Qualman is the Global Vice President of Digital Marketing for EF Education headquarted in Lucerne, Switzerland. Qualman works out of the 950 person Cambridge, MA office. EF Education is the world’s largest private educator with 26,000 employees in 53 countries.

[expand title=”In detail”] Prior to joining EF Education in 2008, Qualman was the Head of North American Marketing operations for Travelzoo Inc. (NASDAQ TZOO). Erik Qualman is the author of Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. Socialnomics made Amazon’s #1 Best Selling List for the US, UK, Canada and Germany. It is also currently being translated into Chinese, Portuguese, Korean and Japanese.

Qualman is a frequently requested International speaker of the Fortune 500 and has been highlighted in numerous media outlets including: BusinessWeek, The New York Times, CNET, San Francisco Chronicle, Mashable, USA Today, Forbes, CBS Nightly News, TED and The Huffington Post.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]His specialities include Socialnomics, Social Media, Search Engine Optimization,Search Engine Marketing, Online/Display (Media Buying, Creative, Strategy, etc.),Email Marketing,International Domain Acquisition,Trademark and Copyright,Web site Strategy and Development, Brand Marketing & Strategy,Trade Marketing, Channel & Partner Marketing, Business Development,Messaging platform and strategy development, Press relations & public evangelism,Digital Marketing and Mobile Applications.[/expand]
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Former Director of E.C.L.A.C in Washington

For 24 years Dr. Isaac Cohen worked at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean region. He served as Director of ECLAC’s Washington, D.C. office and as the Economic Affairs Officer in charge of economic integration in Mexico. He is currently President and CEO of Inverway LLC, a Washington DC based company dedicated to business development in the Western Hemisphere.

An experienced economist and accomplished negotiator

[expand title=”In detail”] Dr. Cohen received his B.A. in Law and Social Sciences from the Universidad de San Carlos in Guatemala and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is a regular guest on business television commenting on current world economic affairs and he is frequently quoted in Latin America newspapers and periodicals. More recently he has been a consultant to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Washington DC and consultant to Caja Navarra (Spain), on the strategy to access the US banking market. In 2007, for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guatemala he was advisor to negotiators of an association agreement between Central America and the European Union.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Dr Cohen has considerable expertise in the area of international trade negotiations and his understanding of issues such as globalisation, free trade agreements and the future of Latin American political economies is unparalleled.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]A brilliant communicator and teacher, Dr Cohen’s presentations are tailor-made to suit clients’ individual needs and offer practical information in a clear and concise manner.[/expand]
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Founder & CEO of FutureWorld

Wolfgang Grulke is Founder and Chairman of FutureWorld, a global business and technology think tank, instrumental in helping major corporations and venture capital firms position themselves for the new world economy. Wolfgang is a Fellow of the Centre for Management Development at the London Business School and teaches regularly on the School’s flagship Senior Executive Programme. He also works with Duke CE and Oxford University’s Said Business School. He was formerly founder and CEO, Business Futures Group, a South African management consultancy firm renowned for applying holistic and systemic thinking in a chaotic business environment and creating sustainable business change.

“One of the world’s most important commentators on the future” The Forbes Group

[expand title=”In detail”] As a former IBM executive he worked internationally with IBM for more than 20 years and was awarded the prestigious IBM Outstanding Innovation Award from then CEO John Akers in London in 1983. His article, In Search of Simplicity, won the NACCA award for the best business article of the year and From Value Chain to Marketspace was awarded the AFSM International Writing Award for Professional Writers and Consultants in Boston. He also works with Duke CE and Oxford University’s Said Business School. He is a successful writer and photographer and has been widely published, on the subjects of business, technology, management and marine life.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]With a background in business, technology, nuclear physics, entertainment and marine biology, Wolfgang is an exhilarating and thought-provoking speaker on topics from business transformation to the technological revolutions, paradigm shifts to chaos, fractals and the dilemmas of modern management, With a superb combination of practicality and vision, real out-of- the-box thinking, exploring essential strategies for difficult times, Wolfgang shows decision makers from all fields how to create powerful communication vehicles to encourage and promote radical business and personal change. Wolfgang has addressed audiences in more than 20 countries, in person, on radio and on television.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Wolfgang is a true visionary and in the style of a Victorian raconteur Wolfgang brings fresh ideas and a breadth of thinking that is rare in today’s focused and specialised world.[/expand]
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