Programme

Geoff Cutmore anchors CNBC’s flagship Squawk Box programme in EMEA. The three hour show, which broadcasts worldwide five days a week, bookends the opening of European equity markets and is a must see for financial professionals, C-suite executives and investors. Cutmore is one of CNBC’s most experienced presenters, with more than 15 years dedicated to financial broadcasting. He has anchored programmes for CNBC in both Europe and Asia, having spent a number of years working in Hong Kong. Cutmore covers the most important senior business gatherings for CNBC including the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos and China and the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where he has interviewed the world’s top CEOs, economists and political leaders. He has reported on the most important issues facing the global economy today and has also led special programming on Central and Eastern Europe, climate change and the global energy challenge. Cutmore is a contributor to business and finance magazines including the Economist, Investors Chronicle and Money Market. His first book on the markets, New Market Mavericks, was well received.

On 9 July 2014, the Secretary-General appointed Mr. Christian Friis Bach of Denmark as the next Executive Secretary of UNECE. Mr. Bach brings to the position a combination of deep knowledge in international economy and development affairs coupled with innovative and results-oriented leadership. Mr Bach came from a position as Member of the Danish Parliament and Head of the Parliamentarian Group for the Danish Social/Liberal Party. He previously served as Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation (2011-2013) and Special Advisor to the European Union Commission for the United Nations Global Sustainability Panel (2010-2011). He is Honorary Professor of International Economics and Development at the University of Copenhagen (2009-2014) and has been Associate Professor in International Economics and Development Economics, the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (1999-2005). Mr. Bach has a long history with civil society, notably as the International Director for the DanChurchAid (2005-2010) and as Chairman of the Danish Association for International Cooperation (1997-2001). He also has private sector experience from running a start-up company and has worked as a journalist at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. Bach holds a Ph.D. in International Economics (1996), an MSc in Agronomy (1992) from the Royal Danish Agricultural University in Copenhagen and a supplementary degree in Journalism from the Danish School of Media and Journalism.Born in 1966, Mr. Bach is married and has three children. The family lives on a small farm outside of Copenhagen.

Mr. K.V.Kamath is the President of the New Development Bank (Shanghai) founded by the BRICS nations in 2014. He is the former Chairman of ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank and of Infosys Limited, one of India's largest technology services companies. Mr.Kamath served on the board of Schlumberger Limited.After graduating from prestigious Indian Institute of Management in 1971, Mr.Kamath started his career with ICICI in the Project Finance division and was responsible for setting up new businesses such as leasing, venture capital, credit rating as well as handling general management positions. In 1988, Mr. Kamath joined the Asian Development Bank in Manila (Philippines) in their Private Sector Department.In 1996 Mr.Kamath took over as Managing Director & CEO at ICICI. The strategic initiatives and structural changes instituted by him across the ICICI Group have helped ICICI to redraw its boundaries and become the first universal bank in India.Rewards: Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honors (2008), CNBC’s Asian Business Leader of the Year (2001), Businessman of the Year by Forbes Asia and Business Leader of the Year by The Economic Times, India (2007).

With VTB Bank since 2002. President and Chairman of the Management Board, Member of the Supervisory Council Previously held positions: In 1996 under the Presidential Decree Appointed as Chairman of Vnesheconombank, with the authorities being extended in 1999 for another three years. In 1995 – Elected First Deputy Chairman, National Reserve Bank. 1993-1995 – Deputy Head of Foreign Investment Department, Imperial Bank. 1979-1992 – Diplomatic service: during 1979-1982 – in the USSR Consulate General in Australia, in 1985-1990 – in the USSR Embassy in Great Britain. In 1979 – graduated cum laude from Moscow State University with a degree in International Economics, Ph.D. in Economics. Awarded with the Orders of Merit for the Fatherland III, IV degree, the Medal of Honor and the Order of Merit (France). Born in 1956, in Moscow.

Sir Christopher Pissarides is the Regius Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics (the first and only Regius Professor of Economics in the UK) and the Professor of European Studies at the University of Cyprus. He also holds the position of Chairman of the Council of National Economy of the Republic of Cyprus on a voluntary basis. He was educated at the University of Essex and the London School of Economics (LSE), and he spent the bulk of his career at the LSE. Sir Christopher specialises in the economics of labour markets, monetary and fiscal policy, economic growth and structural change. He was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics, jointly with Dale Mortensen of Northwestern University and Peter Diamond of MIT, for his work on markets with frictions. The emphasis of his work has been the labour market and the theory and policy related to unemployment. Prior to that, in 2005, he became the first European economist to win the IZA Prize in Labor Economics, sharing it again with his collaborator Dale Mortensen. He is an elected Fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Athens, the Academia Europaea and several other learned societies, and he is a Lifetime Honorary Member of the American Economic Association.In 2011 he served as the President of the European Economic Association. Between 2000 and 2007 he was the external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Cyprus, which brought the euro to Cyprus.

Murat Sönmez was a member of the founding team in 1997 at TIBCO Software, a real-time integration and business intelligence software provider based in Palo Alto, California. He was responsible for TIBCO’s customer and partner facing global field operations across 32 countries with a team of 1,700 employees looking after 4,000 customers. He was also a director and board member of TIBCO Software Federal Inc., servicing the US Federal Government. He left in August 2014 after leading the company cross the billion dollar revenue mark and joined the World Economic Forum as a Member of the Managing Board. TIBCO has been a pioneer in several industries and Murat has personally been involved in many of industry firsts: digitizing the Wall Street trading floors; helping companies such as eBay, Amazon and Yahoo! build their e-commerce platforms; helping Intel to create the world’s first fully automated fab; laying the foundation for FedEx’s real-time track & trace operations; working with national intelligence agencies to help identify and respond to cyber-attacks; working with manufacturing companies to identify supply chain issues before they happen to take proactive action; working with leading retailers such as Macy’s to match customers’ references to available inventory in real-time; working with leading banks such as DBS and Citibank Asia for predictive customer management; creating the smart grid and cyber security infrastructure for utilities in the US and Australia, and in one case doubling the electricity capacity without adding a single watt of extra generation leading to $2 billion savings annually. In his executive sponsor role in several of these engagements, Murat worked directly with the CEO’s and boards to help transform their organizations and gave keynote speeches globally at customers’ and partners’ gatherings. Murat’s educational background includes a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Bosphorus University, Istanbul, Turkey, and M.S., Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Virginia Tech.

Born in 1963. Frédéric Oudéa is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. From 1987 to 1995, Frédéric Oudéa held various positions in the French senior civil service (Audit department of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Budget Ministry, Private Office of the Minister of Budget and Communication). In 1995, he joined Societe Generale and in 1996 he was appointed Deputy Head then Head of the bank’s Corporate Banking arm in London. In 1998, he became Head of Global Supervisory and Development of the Equities division. In May 2002, he was named Deputy Chief Financial Officer of Societe Generale Group. He became Chief Financial Officer of the Group in January 2003. In 2008 he was appointed CEO of the Group, before becoming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2009. Following the regulatory split between the roles of chairman and chief executive, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer in May 2015. In 2010 he was named Chairman of the Steering Committee on Regulatory Capital (“SCRC”) at the Institute of International Finance (“IIF”) and President of the European Banking Federation (“EBF”) since January 2015. In September 2015 he was named Chairman of the French Banking Federation (“FBF”).

Born January 4, 1967, in Bilibino, Magadan Region. 1993: graduated from the Law Faculty of Moscow State University with a degree in jurisprudence. 1984–1985: laboratory assistant at the EKOS Scientific Research Institute. 1985–1987: served in the Soviet Army. 1993: attaché of the Law Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. 1993–1995: senior legal adviser at ALM Consulting. 1995: Director, ALM Law Office. 1997: Head of Department of the State Register of Federal Property, State Committee of the Russian Federation for State Property Management. 1998: Deputy Minister for State Property of the Russian Federation. 1998–2000: Chairman, Russian Federal Property Fund. 2000–2003: Chief of the Government Staff in the rank of Minister. 2003: Aide to the President of the Russian Federation. 2003–2004:Deputy Head of Administration of the President of the Russian Federation. 2004: Aide to the President of the Russian Federation. 2005: Russian Sherpa in the G8. 2008: First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. Married with two sons and two daughters.