Speakers & Impact
“We make some kind of impact on the planet every single day, and we can choose what sort of impact we make.”
Jane Goodall
PhD, DBE, ethologist and conversationist, at the St. Gallen Symposium
“The climate does not have a crisis, but humanity has a crisis.”
Luisa Neubauer
climate activist and author, at the St. Gallen Symposium
“A company should succeed only when it helps the world around it succeed.”
Satya Nadella
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, at the St. Gallen Symposium
“To be able to give a chance to mother nature to regenerate itself, we have to raise our level of ambition, starting with each one of us.”
Mamphela Ramphele
Co-President of the Club of Rome, at the St. Gallen Symposium
“[Leadership with the next generation in mind] means the ability to move with the times, to understand the aspirations of younger people, to adjust your thinking, vision, policy choices and decision-making to meet those aspirations.”
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
Minister of External Affairs of India, at the St. Gallen Symposium
“Governments have a difficult and delicate balance to strike between interdependence and independence.”
Karin Keller-Sutter
Federal Councillor of Switzerland, at the St. Gallen Symposium
“[In the wake of Covid-19], we have seen a dramatic acceleration and accentuation of injustices in the world, and it is of critical importance to deal with those fragmentations.”
Peter Maurer
President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, at the St. Gallen Symposium
“You have proven from St. Gallen, from this university, that greatness has nothing to do with bigness.”
Kofi Annan
former Secretary General of the United Nations, at the St. Gallen Symposium
51st St. Gallen Symposium
Selection of upcoming Speakers
Ignazio Cassis
President of the Swiss Confederation,
Federal Council of Switzerland
Maria Ressa
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Armen Sarkissian
President,
Republic of Armenia
Bernhard Ehrenzeller
President,
University of St. Gallen
Dominic Barton
Co-Conference Chair,
St. Gallen Symposium
Lord Brian Griffiths of Fforestfach
Co-Conferenece Chair,
St. Gallen Symposium, Former Vice-Chairman, Goldman Sachs International
José Manuel Barroso
Board Chair,
Gavi Vaccine Alliance
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic
4th President of the
Republic of Croatia
Claudia Plakolm
Member of the National Council,
Austrian Parliament
Hervé Berville
Member of the National Assembly of France
Peter Voser
Chairman of the Board of Directors, ABB Ltd
Raynald Aeschlimann
President and
Chief Executive Officer, Omega
Julian Teicke
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, wefox
Pranjal Sharma
Economic Analyst, Advisor and Author
Vanessa Nakate
Climate Activist
Nat Ware
Founder & CEO Forte Global
Nuseir Yassin
Chief Executive Officer,
Nas Academy
Alexander Sixt
Chief Executive Officer,
SIXT SE
Ali Aslan
TV presenter,
talk show host,
event moderator,
speaker and journalist
Amanda Shantz
Director,
University of St. Gallen Executive School of Management,
Technology and Law
Andrea Stürmer
Chief Executive Officer, Zürich Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
Andreas Brandstetter
Chief Executive Officer UNIQA Insurance
Group AG
Andreas Herrmann
Co-Director,
Institute for Mobility,
University of St. Gallen
Astrid Frohloff
Author
Benedikt Franke
Chief Executive Officer, Munich Security Conference
Bracken Darrell
President and
Chief Executive Officer, Logitech
Christoph Keese
Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer, hy
Christopher Jarvis
Executive Director, RWInstitute
Christopher Jarvis
Executive Director, RWInstitute
Dirk Schütz
Editor-in-chief BILANZ at Ringier Axel Springer Schweiz AG
Dorothee Blessing
Managing Director and Co-Head of Investment Banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)
Fabien Curto Millet
Director of Economics, Google
Father Karl Wallner
Priest, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Austria
Florian Brokamp
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Thinksurance GmbH
Gabor Steingart
Journalist, Founder of Media Pioneer
Heike Bruch
Director, Institute for Leadership and Human Resources Management, University of St. Gallen
Herrmann Simon
Founder & Honorary Chairman,
Simon-Kucher & Partners
Jane Jie Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Trip.com Group
Jean-Christophe Deslarzes
Chair of the Board, Adecco Group
Joanna Krawczyk
Chairwoman, Leading European Newspaper Alliance
Kaiser Kuo
Host and Founder,
The Sinica Podcast
Keith Enright
Chief Privacy Officer, Google
Kerstin Knapp
Executive Vice President, People & Culture, Vestas Wind Systems
Klaus Wellershoff
Chief Executive Officer, President of the Board of Directors of Wellershoff & Partners Ltd.
Leslie Maasdorp
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, New Development Bank
Li Xin
Managing Director, Caixin and Vice President,
Caixin Media
Lisa-Marie Fassl
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer,
Female Founders
Maja Göpel
Political Economist and Author
Makram Azar
Chief Executive Officer at Golden Falcon Acquisition Corp.
Małgorzata Bonikowska
President, Centre for International Relations
Martina Fuchs
Business Correspondent, Xinhua News Agency Company
Mathias Müller von Blumencron
Journalist, member of the board Tagesanzeiger
Michael Shellenberger
Author
Oliver Gassmann
Director, Institute of Technology Management,
University of St. Gallen
Parag Khanna
Founder & Managing Partner of FutureMap
Patrick Zhong
Founding Managing Partner, M31 Capital
Paul Radu
Investigative Journalist, co-founder OCCRP
Markus Gabriel
Philosopher and author, The University of Bonn
Rachele Focardi
Author
Raoul Roßmann
Managing Director,
Dirk Rossmann GmbH
Rolf Wüstenhagen
Professor of Management of Renewable Energies, University of St. Gallen
Shuo Chen
General Partner, IOVC
Tycho Onnasch
Co-Founder and COO, DeedMob, Netherlands
Veit Dengler
Chief Operating Officer, Bauer Media Group
Fostering the Dialogue between generations
The impact our speakers have:
Sending a Strong Message
With intergenerational frictions rising around the world, our debates signal the importance of cross-generational collaboration and leadership with the next generation in mind.
Inspiring Future Leaders
The symposium allows for intimate exchanges between current decision-makers some of the world’s most brilliant young talents, inspiring them to mutually take responsibility.
Advancing the Global Debate
The St. Gallen Symposium promotes cross-generational dialogue on the most pressing issues of our time. Our annual theme inspires our cross-generational community of leaders of today and tomorrow to reflect and act upon key questions in five thematic areas, related to business, governance, sustainability, technology, and the social and generational contract.
history
Past Speakers
Aiko Doden
Senior Commentator
NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)
Aisha Addo
Founder/Mentor
Power to Girls Foundation
Alain Dehaze
Chief Executive Officer
The Adecco Group
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde
Winner FIS Alpine Overall World Cup Title in 2019/20
see full list of past speakers
Prof. Alena Buyx
Chairwoman
German Ethics Council
Prof. Alison Wolf
Professor of Public Sector Management
King’s College London
Alois, Hereditary Prince of
Liechtenstein
Alvin Tan
Minister of State, Ministry of Culture,
Community and Youth & Ministry of Trade
and Industry, Singapore
Amitabh Kant
CEO
Niti Aayog, Government of India
Andreas Berger
Chief Executive Officer Corporate
Solutions
Swiss Re
Andreas Neus
Director
Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions
Andreas Treichl
Chairman Erste Stiftung
President Forum Alpbach
Anthony Lamy
Chief Revenue Officer
Wecan Group
Anton Shingarev
Director of Public Affairs
Yandex
Prof. Antoinette Weibel
Professor of Human Resources & Trust
Researcher
University of St.Gallen
Arlene Mulder
Founder
WeThinkCode
Audrey Tang
Digital Minister of Taiwan
Prof. Bernhard Ehrenzeller
President
University of St.Gallen (HSG)
Brian Bosire
Founder & CEO
HydroIQ
Catherine Chen
Corporate Senior Vice President and
Director of the Board
Huawei
Charlotte Stix
Researcher
Eindhoven University of Technology
Christiane Schulz
Chief Executive Officer
Edelman Germany
Christophe Deloire
Secretary General
Reporters Without Borders
Christoph Franz
Chairman of the Board of Directors Roche
Prof. Christoph Frei
Associate Professor, School of Economics
and Political Science
University of St.Gallen
Christoph Heusgen
Permanent Representative of Germany to
the United Nations
Cindy Chow
Executive Director
Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund
Prof. Damian Borth
Professor of AI & Machine Learning
University of St.Gallen
Dominic Barton
Conference Chairman
Canadian Ambassador to China
Doris Leuthard
Chairwoman
Swiss Digital Initiative
Former Federal Councillor of Switzerland
Edmund Koh
Member of the UBS Group Executive Board
President UBS Asia Pacific of UBS Group
Edward Brooks
Executive Director
Oxford Character Project
University of Oxford
Elizabeth Filippouli
CEO & Founder
Global Thinkers Forum & Athena40
Erik Fyrwald
Global Chief Executive Officer
Syngenta
Fabian Ziegler
Managing Director
Shell Germany Oil GmbH
Franklin Cudjoe
Founding President & Chief Executive Officer
IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
Gabor Steingart
Journalist & Media Manager
Media Pioneer
George Yeo
Former Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Singapore and Senior Advisor, Kuok
(Singapore) Limited
Prof. Gerd Gigerenzer
Director
Harding Center for Risk Literacy
Hao Li
CEO and Co-Founder
Pinscreen
Harriet Nartey
Broadcast Journalist
Pan African TV
Heather Evans
Project Coordinator
CDL Rapid Screening Consortium
Henrik Andersen
Chief Executive Officer
Vestas Wind Systems
Hui Zhang
Vice President
NIO Europe
Prof. James Davis
Professor of International Politics
University of St.Gallen
Jane Goodall Ph.D., DBE
Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace
Prof. Jean-François
Manzoni
President
IMD Business School
John L. Hennessy
Chairman
Alphabet
Josef Aschbacher
Director General
European Space Agency
Prof. Judith Walls
Professor for Sustainability Management
University of St.Gallen
Karin Keller-Sutter
Federal Councillor of Switzerland
Katharina Jünger
CEO & Co-Founder
Teleclinic
Keith Enright
Chief Privacy Officer
Google
Kira Marie Peter-Hansen
Member
European Parliament
Leon Löwentraut
Artist
(Leader of Tomorrow)
Prof. Linda Hill
Wallace Brett Donham Professor of
Business Administration
Harvard Business School
Li Xin
Vice President
Caixin Media Company Ltd
Lord Brian Griffiths of
Fforestach
Conference Chairman
Vice-Chairman Goldman Sachs
Prof. Louise Fresco
President of the Executive Board,
Wageningen University
Lubomila Jordanova
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
PlanA.Earth
Luisa Neubauer
German Climate Activist
Mamphela Ramphele
Co-President
Club of Rome
Marcela Escobari
Senior Fellow
Brookings Institution
Maria Exner
Editor-in-Chief
Zeitmagazin
Marianne Janik
Area Vice President
Microsoft Germany
Mark Schneider
Chief Executive Officer
Nestlé
Marie-Claire Graf
Co-Founder
Sustainability Week for Business
Martin Wolf
Chief Economics Commentator
Financial Times
Mathias Imbach
Co-Founder & Group CEO
Sygnum
Sir Michael Arthur
Senior Vice President
The Boeing Company
Prof. Michael Sandel
Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government
Harvard University
Max Schmidheiny Lecture
Milojko Spajic
Minister of Finance
and Social Welfare of
Montenegro
Prof. Miriam Meckel
Professor of Communication Management University of St. Gallen
Co-Founder and CEO
ada Learning GmbH
Nandan Nilekani
Co-Founder & Chairman
Infosys
Nathalie Tocci
Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali
Nicole Büttner
Co-founder & CEO
MerantixLABS
Nina dos Santos
Europe Editor
CNN
Niniane Paeffgen
Managing Director
Swiss Digital Initiative
Ola Källenius
Chairman of the Board of Management
Daimler AG
Prof. Oliver Gassmann
Professor of Technology Management
University of St.Gallen
Ong Ye Kung
Minister for Transport, Singapore
Patrick Awuah
Founder and President
Ashesi University, Accra (GHA
Paul Achleitner
Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Deutsche Bank
Paul Ostwald
Co-Founder and Editor-at-Large
Forum.eu
Peter Maurer
President
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Peter Voser
Chairman of the Board of Directors ABB Ltd.
Philipp Rickenbacher
Chief Executive Officer
Julius Bär
Rainer Dulger
Chairman
Employer’s Association, Germany
Rana Foroohar
Associate Editor
Financial Times
Reiner Hoffmann
President
German Trade Union Confederation
Rich Lesser
Chief Executive Officer
Boston Consulting Group
Richard David Precht
German Philosopher
Ritesh Agarwal
Founder & CEO
Oyo Rooms
Roshni Nadar Malhotra
Chief Executive Officer
HCL Corporation
Satya Nadella
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft
Sebastian Kurz
Chancellor of Austria
Shradha Sharma
Founder & Chief Editor
YourStory
Prof. Simon Evenett
Professor of International Trade and Economic Development
University of St.Gallen
Simone Menne
Member of Supervisory Boards
BMW, DHL, Johnson Controls
International
Sophie Trelles-Tvede
CEO and Founder
Newflag GmbH
Prof. Stephanie Kelton
Author & Professor of Economics and
Public Policy
Stony Brook University
Stephanie Wyss
Swiss Climate Activist
Stephen Sackur
Journalist
BBC
Stefan Scheiber
Chief Executive Officer
Bühler AG
Subrahmanyam
Jaishankar
Minister of External Affairs of India
Thomas Schmidheiny
Chairman
Max Schmidheiny Foundation
Yin Tongyao
Chairman
Chery Automobile & Co.
Thomas Buberl
Chief Executive Officer
AXA
Tino Krause
Country Director DACH
Facebook
Tycho Onnasch
Co-Founder & COO
Deedmob
Valentin Stalf
Founder & CEO
N26 GmbH
Vas Narasimhan
Chief Executive Officer
Novartis
Prof. Wolfgang Jenewein
Professor of Business Administration
University of St.Gallen
Wolfgang Schürer
Founder of the St. Gallen Symposium
Zach Wahls
Senator
Iowa Senate
Zarifa Ghafari
Mayor of Maidan Shahr
AfghanistanCon