About the Speakers

Mr. Vicente Fox – President of Mexico (2000 - 2006) and former President, Coca-Cola de México and Latin America

A visionary leader with a deep understanding of the economic and social challenges facing Latin America, President Fox is one of the world’s most important voices on the contemporary geo-political landscape and the role of business in the developing world.

When elected to the presidency of Mexico in 2000, Vicente Fox broke the stranglehold that the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party had held on the State for seven decades. A charismatic reformer, Fox is credited as playing a vital role in Mexico’s democratization, and with strengthening the country’s economy. During his tenure, Fox succeeded in controlling inflation and interest rates, and in achieving the lowest unemployment rate in all of Latin America.

Originally from Mexico City, Vicente Fox was born on July 2nd, 1942, the second of nine children born to José Luis Fox, a farmer, and Mercedes Quesada. He studied Business Administration at the Universidad Iberoamericana; he recalls his provincial, "ranch-style" appearance and how it contrasted with that of his classmates. He then pursued a Top Management Diploma at the Harvard Business School.

In 1964, Vicente Fox joined Coca-Cola de México as a route supervisor and, while riding aboard a delivery truck, he had the opportunity of traveling almost 2,500 routes, some of which led to most isolated places in Mexico. This experience and his constant contact with everyday people led him to develop an understanding of adverse situations and, upon returning to Guanajuato, he decided to participate in business, political, social and educational spheres.

Whether as a business leader or politician, President Fox has always sought the common good, and has constantly given his support to Mexico's people. He was President and Founder of the Amigo Daniel Children's Home Foundation, an institution where many children receive attention and affection; President of the Loyola Foundation; a promoter of the León campus of the Universidad Iberoamericana, and of the Lux Institute, an educational center where thousands of state residents have received training.

As part of his constant efforts to continue his personal growth and as a means of applying his business knowledge to benefit his fellow countrymen, Vicente Fox has been a Counselor of the Mexico-American Chamber of Commerce. Likewise, as Director of Grupo Fox, he has managed companies operating in the areas of agriculture, livestock breeding, agro-industry and the production of shoes and boots for export; all of these activities have generated sources of employment.

Vicente Fox’s political career has been a swift, upward climb. He has been Federal Congressmen for the Third District of León and Secretary of Agriculture in the opposition cabinet formed by Maquio to give follow-up to government policies. From this time on, he also began to write political articles in national and state newspapers.

In 1991, he ran for Governor of the state of Guanajuato; nonetheless, Carlos Medina Plascencia was named Interim Governor in his place. In 1995, he participated in the extraordinary election for the governorship of Guanajuato, and was elected by an overwhelming majority of two votes to one (1995-1999).

As state Governor, Vicente Fox strove to promote economic development by encouraging the private sector, foreign investment and, above all the consolidation of small firms. Thus, in order to open up new markets, he promoted the sale of goods manufactured in Guanajuato overseas. He improved and broadened the state’s economic infrastructure so as to attract domestic and foreign investment, and also created a unique system in which micro-credits with no overdue portfolio were granted. Under his leadership, Guanajuato became the fifth most important Mexican state economy and, in certain productive sectors, even surpassed the national average. Vicente Fox was one of the first state governors to give a clear, public and timely account of the finances of Guanajuato state and of his personal patrimony.

Vicente Fox has a great commitment to Mexico and to his desire to continue working to attain a better life for all. Thus, he constantly travels the country and speaks to different sectors of Mexican society. In his speeches, he always remarks: "I've set my heart and all my strength and determination to overcoming this challenge, and I wish this to be clearly understood. I will uphold my commitment until the very end".

Mr. Jeroen Van der Veer – Former Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell plc

Jeroen is currently a Non-Executive Director of Royal Dutch Shell plc, a Non-Executive Director (Vice-Chairman) of Unilever, Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ING, and a member of the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips Electronics. He was World President of the Society of Chemical Industry from 2002 to 2004.

Jeroen joined Shell in 1971 and worked in manufacturing and marketing in the Netherlands, Curaçao and the United Kingdom. In 1984, he returned to Shell Nederland as manager of Corporate Planning, and then of the Pernis refinery in Rotterdam. After an assignment coordinating Shell businesses in Africa and Canada, he became a Managing Director of Shell Nederland in 1992. He led major reorganisations and a $2 billion upgrade of the Pernis refinery.

In 1995, he moved to the United States as President and Chief Executive of the Shell Chemical Company. He was appointed a Group Managing Director in 1997. Chemicals remained one of his areas of responsibility and he oversaw the worldwide restructuring of the business.

Jeroen was named Chief Executive in 2004 and led Shell through major change, simplifying governance and organisation, while clarifying accountabilities.

In 2009 Jeroen was appointed Vice-Chairman of a group of experts who will draw up recommendations for a new Strategic Concept for NATO.

Mr. Martin Wolf—Chief Economic Commentator, Financial Times

Martin Wolf is an extremely effective speaker on global economics, with unparalleled experience as both an economist and a journalist.

Martin was recently appointed as a member of the UK government’s new Independent Commission on Banking. This commission will formulate policy recommendations to reduce systematic risk in the banking system with a full report due September 2011.

Martin also serves as Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, London, writing a weekly column on the world economy and a fortnightly column on the UK, and is Forum Fellow at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he has served as a panel moderator.

Before joining the Independent Commission on Banking, Martin was a senior economist for ten years at the World Bank’s division of international trade, was Director of Studies at the Trade Policy Research Centre, London, and has advised governments and international organizations on trade and economic integration.

Martin has authored several books on global economics and political economy, including, Why Globalization Works and the widely praised book, Fixing Global Finance: How to Curb Financial Crises in the 21st Century (now in an expanded and updated edition), and won several prestigious awards for his journalism, including the US Society of Business Writers and Editors 15th annual Best in Business Journalism award, the “Ludwig-Erhard-Preis für Wirtschaftspublizistik” (“Ludwig Erhard Prize for economic commentary”) from the Ludwig Erhard Stiftung (Foundation) for 2009. He won “Commentariat of the Year 2009” at the Comment Awards, sponsored by Editorial Intelligence, CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2000 “for services to financial journalism” and the Decade of Excellence Award at the 2003 Business Journalists of the Year Awards.

Thomas Monahan III – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Corporate Executive Board

Thomas L. Monahan III was named Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Corporate Executive Board (NYSE: EXBD) effective 1 January 2008. He has served as Chief Executive Officer of the company since 1 July 2005.

Prior to assuming the role of CEO, Mr. Monahan served as General Manager of the Finance, Legal and Governance, Strategy and Innovation, Information Technology, and Operations divisions. He has been a member of the company’s leadership team since its 1999 initial public offering and a member of the company’s board of directors since 2001.

Before joining The Corporate Executive Board, Mr. Monahan was a member of the Financial Institutions practice in the New York office of Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, a Research and Information Director at the Committee for Economic Development, and a Staff Consultant at Andersen Consulting.

Mr. Monahan is also a member of the board of directors of Convergys Corporation. He holds an undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Harvard University and received his MBA with distinction from New York University.

Dan Currell—Executive Director,
The Corporate Executive Board

Dan Currell is an Executive Director with the Corporate Integrity practice of the Corporate Executive Board, providing management research and services to legal, compliance, audit and risk executives.  He also leads the Advisory function across all practice areas at CEB.

Working with the Corporate Executive Board since 1999, Dan has presented the Board’s management research to over 700 executive and board audiences in North and South America, Europe, Africa and Australia. His work at CEB has included research and presentations on legal, compliance, internal audit, audit committee, HR, corporate strategy, and corporate real estate issues.

Prior to joining the Corporate Executive Board, Dan practiced commercial litigation. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago and his B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and has an office at the Corporate Executive Board’s headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia.

Claire Lawson – Executive Director,
Russell Reynolds Associates Inc.

Claire Lawson is a member of the Industrial/Natural Resources and Consumer sectors with a particular focus on general management and supply chain management. She also works with clients across a range of sectors on senior functional roles in HR. She is based in Singapore. Prior to joining Russell Reynolds Associates, Claire spent 10 years as a Management Consultant at Accenture, focusing on supply chain strategy and process redesign. She was also involved in the implementation of large scale outsourcing programmes and the establishment of global shared service centres. Claire has worked in Europe and Southeast Asia across a number of different industries such as natural resources, consumer goods, real estate, retail and distribution. She has also recently undertaken a number of regional executive assessment initiatives. Claire has contributed to various industry and business publications, most recently authoring an article for The Business Times, "Turning local talent into leaders". She received her M.A. in modern languages from Somerville College, University of Oxford.

Ken Lever – Chief Executive Officer, Xchanging

Ken’s career has developed in two separate phases. Initially Ken progressed through the accounting profession with Arthur Andersen becoming a partner in 1985. Since 1987 he has served as a public listed company director in various sectors initially with Corton Beach plc, a small conglomerate, where he was Finance Director and then Group Managing Director and then as Finance Director of Alfred McAlpine plc, the international construction services group, Albright & Wilson plc, the global chemicals group and then for eight years with Tomkins plc, the global engineering and manufacturing group listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges. Ken’s most recent position was as the Chief Financial Officer of the Private Equity financed business, Numonyx BV, based in Switzerland and operating in the semi-conductor non-volatile memory market.

Ken has previously had a number of non-executive roles at Vega Group plc, a consulting and technology services business in the space, defence and government sectors, Meerwood Group plc, a home builder, iSoft plc, a leading provider of software to the health sector and Wolsey Securities Group, a provider of finance to the home building industry.

Ken is a Chartered Accountant and during his career Ken has played an active role in the development of external financial reporting having served as the Vice Chairman of the Financial Reporting Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (1998 to 2006) and Chairman of the Financial Reporting Committee of the UK 100 Group of Finance Directors (2004 to 2008). Ken is currently a member of the UK Accounting Standards Board.

Debra Valentine – Group Executive, Legal and External Affairs for
Rio Tinto plc

Debra Valentine is Group Executive, Legal and External Aff airs for Rio Tinto plc. Her areas of responsibility include leading the legal, external relations, media, security, and compliance functions globally. As a member of the Executive Committee, she contributes to the development and execution of Group strategy and direction, and is a member of various oversight and steering committees. Debra joined Rio Tinto in 2008 from United Technologies Corp. after practicing with O’Melveny & Myers LLP, and serving in the US Department of Justice and the US Federal Trade Commission. Debra is a member of the Counsel on Foreign Relations, the American Law Institute, and the American Bar Association and is admitted to practice in Washington, DC, and before the US Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals: District of Columbia Circuit, the Third and Eleventh Circuits, and the US District Court of the District of Columbia. She serves on the BNA Advisory Board on Trade Regulation and previously served on the board of directors for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Hartford Stage Company. Debra is a Fulbright Scholar, graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University, and is a Yale Law School graduate, where she served as an Editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Peter Whitehead – Managing Director, The Corporate Executive Board

Peter Whitehead is a Managing Director and Executive adviser in our Finance and Strategy practice. Peter returned to the Corporate Executive Board in 2010 following two and a half years in executive recruitment with Heidrick and Struggles and a start up search firm. Immediately prior he spent four and a half years serving CFOs, IROs and senior finance executives within CEB’s
European finance practice.

Peter has a degree in Economics and is a Chartered Accountant by training. He combines management consulting experience gained at Ernst & Young, where he lead business change programmes around ERP solutions and shared services; together with an operating experience as Finance officer of the European arm of a US based trading firm.

Joel Whitaker – Head of Research, Asia-Pacific, The Corporate Executive Board

Joel’s Singapore and Delhi research teams support CEB’s networks for Asia CEOs and HR directors, as well as documenting regional trends and emerging best practices. Since joining CEB in 1997, Joel has led research programs for CIOs, heads of R&D, and chief strategists.

Joel launched the Center for Science, Technology and Peacebuilding at the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC, and serves on the advisory board of TechChange. Joel holds a BA in Economics and Politics from Oberlin College.

Christophe Martel – Executive Director, The Corporate Executive Board

Christophe Martel has served as the Executive Director of EMEA at Corporate Executive Board since April 2011. Prior to this Christophe worked as Managing Director of the EMEA Sales Department and was elected to the firm’s Policy Committee in 2007.  From 2004 to 2006, Christophe oversaw the Finance and Legal practices as well as the CLC practice as Senior Director in 2006.  Christophe joined Corporate Executive Board in 2002 as a Sales Director in the London office. Before joining CEB, Christophe served in various Sales, Marketing and Management roles in Europe and Asia at Dassault Systemes, Computervision, EDS and IBM. Christophe is an Engineering and Geophysics graduate from ENSG in France.