Theme: The Future of Relationships

In a world accelerated by technology, brought to a standstill by the pandemic, we have begun to pause and reflect on the relationships we carry with others, ourselves and the objects around us.

Virtual
Avenida Pearson 21
Barcelona, Barcelona (ca), 08034
Spain

Aakanksha Katihar

Student, IESE

Aakanksha Katihar was born and brought up in a small Indian town. She completed her bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from MNIT Jaipur and moved to the US for her master’s in 2010. After graduation, she worked for seven years at Honeywell International Inc. in Product Development and Operations Management. In 2019, she joined IESE Business School for her MBA and moved to Barcelona, where she currently lives with her husband.

Adrià Huguet-Ferran

CTO, Kumux

After obtaining a Degree in Physics and a Master’s Degree in Renewable and Sustainable Energy, in 2014 he joined the Electrophotincs Group at the University of Barcelona to study the interaction of light with humans. Since then, he has maintained an active scientific activity and recently he has been awarded with the best scientific paper of 2020 in the LpS Digital Conference for stablishing a link between the visual and non-visual properties of light. Adrià is currently a professor at the University of Barcelona and CTO at Kumux, a lighting software company.

Alexandra Borchardt

Professor, Berlin University of the Arts

Alexandra is a senior journalist, author, lecturer and media adviser. She supports media companies and media leaders in digital change and is passionate about quality journalism as a means to strengthening democracy. Alexandra is affiliated with the World Association of News Publishers, Hamburg Media School and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. As a visiting professor she teaches Journalism at the University of the Arts in Berlin and as a honorary professor Leadership and Strategy at TUM School of Management in Munich. She serves in the Council of Europe’s Expert Committee on Digital Technologies and Freedom of Expression and holds other international advisory roles. Before this she spent 25 years in German media companies, 15 of these in leadership roles.

Ambi Parameswaran

Brand & Executive Coach

Ambi Parameswaran is one of India’s most respected advertising and marketing professionals. Former CEO of FCB Ulka, one of India’s top ad agencies, an award-winning best-selling author of ten books on advertising, branding and consumer behavior, he is now a brand/executive coach [www.brand-building.com]. He is a guest faculty at leading Indian B Schools including IIMA, IIMC, MICA and is an Adjunct Professo at SPJIMR. In a career spanning 40 years he has worked on brands from corporates such as Tata, SC Johnson, ITC, Wipro and J&J; he has conducted brand coaching sessions at companies including PepsiCo, GSK, Abbott and Nippon Paint. He has served as the President of Ad Industry bodies and on the Governing Board of his alma mater, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. His latest book ‘Spring – Bouncing Back From Rejection’ explores ways to handle professional and business setbacks through a three step process.

Athena Lam

Student, IESE

Athena Lam is the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants to Australia. Born and bred in Melbourne, Athena is an accomplished corporate lawyer who grew up with the challenges of being a young Asian female in the business world. Athena is passionate about using her voice and personal experience to promote diversity and inclusion, and challenge discrimination in the workplace environment.

Heather Kelly

Founder, Aura Wellbeing

Heather Kelly has been investigating the power of empathy for the past 10 years. This journey led to her work in developing Mind's Workplace Wellbeing Index in the UK, and facilitating youth photography-based education projects in Uganda, the UK and Spain. Her mission is to inspire positive social and environmental consciousness and to help eliminate stigma around mental health, through encouraging the practice of empathy. She is the founder of Aura Wellbeing, a company that provides workplace mental health and wellness training, consulting and coaching services across Europe & North America; and she also covers these topics as a global content specialist.

Isabel Worch

Founder & CEO at Zugvogl

Having grown up in Brussels, studied & worked in London, Brazil and Germany, I fostered the importance of continuous learning, growth, hard work and adapting to change; but most of all: of the importance of an unshakable sense of basic trust and positive adaptivity, especially during difficult times. This journey led me to working in consulting, tech, and business. I worked for established businesses and pioneering institutions as an IT consultant and a business development executive. I contributed my experience with digitalization in large companies and advocate for the interests of the German startup and entrepreneur scene. 5 years ago, I decided to further my path for expansion and founded my own company Zugvogl. Innovation to me exceeds vision and action; it also involves creation, contribution, culture and value. Having experienced the deficiencies of recruitment processes, it is my mission to redefine the recruiting industry by combining people, science and data.

Larry Hochman

Author, Consultant, Speaker

Larry Hochman is one of the most popular keynote speakers in the world, having now done over 500 speeches in 72 countries. He is also a former European Business Speaker of the Year, and one of the world’s most influential advisors on building organisations that deliver an exceptional customer experience. Before beginning his speaking career, Larry held a number of senior positions at British Airways and the loyalty management company Air Miles in both New York and London. His roles included Director of Customer Service and separately Director of People and Culture- Larry being the very first person in Europe to ever have this role and title, which became a benchmark for re-inventing HR departments all over the world. He was also a pioneer of corporate mentoring in Europe and has been the personal mentor to many top executives. Originally from America, Larry has lived in Europe for the past 27 years and currently resides in both London and Venice.

Madison Butler

VP Talent, Sourced Craft Cocktails

Black Girl, You Are Magic. These are the words I needed to hear when I was little. These are the words that could have kept me safe. These words could have kept me from dreaming of a life in a different body. Instead I was met by impossible societal standards. Standards that made me hate my Blackness, my queerness, myself. This talk will be centered on what every little girl deserves to hear before society tempts her to strip herself of her magic, her power, her voice. We all deserve a relationship with ourselves, our true selves, not the self that society has pushed on us. I have spent years curating my relationship myself and shedding the skin of society, dismantling the box they wanted to put me in. Societal trauma is still trauma. As a domestic violence survivor, I will speak about my experience with trauma and how it is similar to the gaslighting that exists in society. This is a coming home story, because it is never too late to come home to yourself.

Sanjali Nirwani

Founder/CEO, UnLocked India

Sanjali Nirwani (IESE MBA '2014), is the Founder & CEO of Unlocked India. It's the first of its kind space with an international cuisine restaurant, an interactive cocktail bar, India's largest library of board games with 150+ titles and a real life Escape room. The ethos of the brand is build around the concept of EAT, DRINK & PLAY - a space to celebrate togetherness and bring you closer to the people you are with - be it friends, family, colleagues or even strangers. Sanjali has previously worked as a Strategy Consultant at Bain & Company in New Delhi and as a Business Architect at the Philips NV Headquarters in Amsterdam. Sanjali has a keen interest in social entrepreneurship, travel, food, board games and cultural exploration. Sanjali has been nominated for the Forbes 30 under 30 list 2019.