Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary, UNECE

On 13 April 2017, the Secretary-General appointed Ms Olga Algayerova of Slovakia as the next Executive Secretary of the UNECE. She took office on 1 June 2017.

Ms. Algayerova brings to the position a combination of leadership and diplomatic skills with deep knowledge of the region with its challenges and opportunities and a strong focus on building and nurturing partnerships among key stakeholders with the United Nations.  Prior to her appointment, she served as Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the International Organizations in Vienna, Austria (since 2012). She was previously President, Slovak Millennium Development Goals (2010-2012); State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2010) and Corporate Export Manager, Zentiva International, a.s. (2004-2006).

Dan Thomas, Chief of Communications, United Nations Global Compact

In his role as Chief of Communications, Dan Thomas leads corporate communications, media relations and strategic events.

During his time at the UN Global Compact, Mr. Thomas has led the creation of a new communications strategy designed to engage a broader coalition of partners in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Prior to joining the UN Global Compact, Mr. Thomas led communication and external relations for the Presidents of the 70th and 71st Sessions of the United Nations General Assembly.

Previously, Mr. Thomas has headed communications, mobilization and outreach for the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team within the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. In 2014, he led communications for the UN Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit.

A former journalist with Reuters and BBC Television News, Mr. Thomas joined UNICEF as a multimedia producer in 2000. In 2008, he left the UN system to join GAVI, a public-private global health partnership — eventually becoming Acting Director of Communications.

Aldijana Sisic, Chief, Multi Stakeholder Partnerships and Advisory Services, UN Women

Aldijana Šišić is the Chief of Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Advisory Services (MPAS) at UN Women. MPAS is the lead for UN Women’s corporate engagement with the private sector, corporations, foundations and individuals - both in terms of the substantive component of partnerships and of resource mobilization. 

With over 25 years of experience in the area of human rights, and specifically women’s rights, Aldijana has diverse and longstanding experience in strategic leadership, advocacy and resource mobilization. Prior to joining MPAS, Aldijana held the position of Chief of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women at UN Women for over eight years. Under her leadership, the UN Trust Fund has grown from an annual allocation of 17 grants with a total value of USD 7.8 million in 2013 to 37 grants with a total value of USD 15 million in 2021. Just in the past five years, the UN Trust Fund has disbursed over USD 82 million, and its current overall portfolio covers 150 grants in 65 countries with a total funding envelope of USD 71.5 million.  With the potential announcement of 35+ additional grants in the first half of next year, the UN Trust Fund is poised to manage its largest grants portfolio ever in 2022 [175+ grants).

Prior to joining the United Nations in January 2009, Aldijana worked with Amnesty International in London, UK and Wellington, New Zealand for 15 years. She led the development and implementation of national, regional and international strategies and campaigns on a range of human rights issues including women’s, children’s, refugee and migrants’ rights, torture and the death penalty. In her native Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Aldijana worked as a teacher, journalist and director of a private sector company. After finishing her Ph.D. in 1997 at the University of London and teaching at the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, she pursued her career as a human rights advocate and practitioner.

Ursula Wynhoven, Representative to the UN in New York, ITU

Ursula is an international lawyer with 24 years’ experience. She joined the ITU in 2017 as its Representative to the UN. The ITU is the UN’s specialized agency for information & communication technologies with the mission to connect the world. Ursula leads UN relations and represents the agency and its Secretary-General at the UN in NY. She heads the ITU’s UN Liaison Office and works at the intersection of technology and development, promoting digital inclusion and the use of ICTs for sustainable development.

Previously, Ursula spent 14 years with the UN Global Compact, the UN’s corporate sustainability initiative. Her last position was Chief, Social Sustainability, Governance & Legal and member of the Executive Committee. Ursula led legal affairs and oversaw policy development & implementation of the UNGC’s integrity measures. She also led the UNGC's work on human rights & decent work, gender equality, poverty & inequality, peace, anti-corruption & the rule of law. She was responsible for the creation and development of many initiatives including the Women's Empowerment Principles, Children's Rights and Business Principles, Guide for General Counsel on Corporate Sustainability, Business for the Rule of Law, and the Foundation for the Global Compact. Ursula began working with the UNGC in 2002 and played an active role in helping to grow the initiative to more than 13,000 signatories in more than 160 countries with a full roster of corporate sustainability workstreams. Ursula's tenure included a 6 month loan as Senior Advisor, Business & Human Rights to the UN’s Human Rights Office.

Prior to joining the UN, Ursula worked in law firms and government human rights agencies in Australia and the US, and for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the OECD's corporate responsibility initiative. 

Anabela Vaz Ribeiro, Executive Director, Global Compact Network Portugal

Executive Director Global Compact Network Portugal, the United Nations initiative for business sustainability since January 2018.

Member of the ISO PC 337 on Guidelines for the promotion and implementation of Gender Equality and Convenor of the Work Life Balance national technical committee and of the Subcommittee on Sustainability, focusing on Sustainable Procurement of the Sectoral Standards Body of the Portuguese Association of Business Ethics (APEE).

Member of the ISO Technical Committees on Circular Economy and Organizational Governance.

President of the Sectoral Standards Body (APEE) in the period 2016-2017.

Vice-President of APEE in the period 2002-2015. Expert of the Portuguese delegation for the international standard "ISO 26000: Guidance on Social Responsibility" for 5 years.

Postgraduate Professor in the fields of Ethics, Social Responsibility and Sustainability. Speaker, author, and co-author of technical publications related to social responsibility and circular economy.

Postgraduate in Marketing by the Catholic University of Portugal. Degree in Organizational Management from ISCTE-UL.

Salome Zurabishvili, Executive Director, Global Compact Network Georgia 

Salome Zurabishvili founded and has been heading the Global Compact Network Georgia since February 2016. She assumed the position of Executive Director of the host organization of the GCNG platform, non-governmental organization CIDA, in April 2018.

She is a Human Rights Lawyer with substantive academic knowledge and experience in the field of corporate sustainability.

Salome’s professional experience counts ten+ years in the NGO, INGO, Public and Academic Sectors.

Salome is a winner of Forbes Georgia 30 under 30, Class of 2020. She is a Swedish Institute Visby Programme Alumnus and holds Master’s Degree from Lund University, Sweden in International Human Rights Law and Labour Rights. Salome is the European Parliament's Sakharov Fellow.

Asel Kubanychbekova, Founder, Women's Entrepreneurship Development Fund, Kyrgyzstan

Asel Kubanychbekova is a Regional Coordinator of Women and Girls Empowered Project in Central Asia at Center for International and Private Enterprise. Asel is  a founder of She Starts, Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Fund in Kyrgyzstan. She was an Executive Director of the Association of social entrepreneurs in Kyrgyzstan.  Additionally, Asel is one of the National Youth Gender Activists of the UN Gender Youth Group. Where she co-led youth advocacy campaigns for women's rights in Europe and Central Asia "YOUthDemand" Currently, she is a Board Member of the Public Union "Civic Engagement" and alumnus of Women Deliver Young Leaders Global Program. She is passionate about women's economic empowerment.

David Garcia Nuñez, Communications Director, FCC Construccion, S.A, Spain 

David Garcia Nuñez, engineer from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

MBA from the Instituto de Empresa and several leadership and communication programs, and leadership in public management at IESE and Harvard B School.

I started my professional career in several communication offices of the Public Administration and after 8 years working in the public sphere, I changed to the private sector where I am developing the communication direction of the construction area of the FCC Group.

Athlete and fan of traveling as a method of discovering new cultures

Esra Beyzadeoglu, Chief People and Culture Officer, Hepsiburada Turkey 

Esra is currently working as Chief People Officer at Hepsiburada responsible for its People and organizational business transformation Journey with inspiring targets. Feel excitement of the company and industry dynamics.

Formerly, Estra worked for 3 years as Executive Vice President-COO-CDO at AlternatifBank mainly responsible for IT, Digital Banking, CRM, Process Management and Operations(Central Operations (Credits, Foreign Trade, Cash Management, Treasury, Payments and Cards), Branch Operations and Architecture ) of the bank.

Prior to this, Esra worked nearly 7 years as Senior Vice President at Technology and Operations at AKBANK.

Esra has nearly 19 years of business process management, system analysis, design and project management experience in the sector. Prior to joining Akbank, Esra worked as a Management Consultant in Accenture Consulting and governed management consulting and system integration projects for different clients in Turkey.

Esra has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Galatasaray University and Executive MBA degree from Sabancı University, and speaks English and French fluently. 

Juliet Thomson, EVP People, Menzies Aviation, UK 

Juliet is the Executive Vice President of People for Menzies Aviation, a global aviation services provider operating in 38 countries with over 27,000 employees.  A qualified employment lawyer, Juliet joined the Menzies Group in 2014 holding various positions before being appointed to the Executive Management Board of Menzies in 2020. 

Nataša Malić, Operations Director, Hrvatski Telekom, Croatia 

Natasa Malic was born on 3rd August 1972 in Zagreb, Croatia. Graduated in Faculty of electrical engineering and computing in 1995, Masters degree in 1999. after working on EMF related project in INTEC Gent in Belgium. 17 years in Ericsson Croatia, working as Radio Access Networks solution manager, network planning and optimization projects around the globe from Sweden to Japan. Since 2009 working in different management roles, from department manager for local engineering team in Croatia to Mobile Broadband pre-sales head for Central Europe where responsible for multi-country team and various mobile operators in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenija.

Since 2018 working in Croatian Telecom as Director of planning and engineering of access networks, on large projects like Radio Access Network modernization, 5G introduction, fiber optics rollout, etc.

Active in different panels, round tables, also recognized as expert for 5G related topics in Croatia.

Mother of two children (Jakov and Nina), loves travelling, dancing and cooking exotic food.

Pascale Alpha, Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer, CAE Inc, Canada

A seasoned communications and public relations professional with 25 years of media and strategic internal and external communications experience. Solid communications planning and execution supporting business growth and culture evolution of global company. Spokesperson with strong writing and editing skills in English and French. In depth experience of aerospace industry. Proven ability to lead high performance teams.

Thomas Nagbøl Mejlgård, Senior Vice President, People, Brand & Sustainability, Semco Maritime, Denmark 

Thomas Nagbøl Mejlgård joined Semco Maritime in November 2020 as Senior Vice President & CHRO responsible for developing and executing Semco Maritime’s People, Brand & Sustainability strategy. He is member of the Group Senior Management Team reporting to CEO Steen Brødbæk. Previous organizations include  Salling Group (2019-20), Vestas Wind Systems (2012-19), The LEGO group (2008-12), Arla Foods (2005-08). Thomas has extensive experience with project management and development of leaders, employees and organisations in international companies. He has an educational background as MSc in Strategy, Organisation & Leadership, B.Sc. in Business Administration.