Circular Economy Consultant, Managing Director MGT OPEN; Supervisory Board Member, Circle Economy Amsterdam; President, stars South-East Europe Alumni Chapter, Grižane, Croatia

Circular Economy Mentor, Trainer and Consultant, Managing Director and Co-Founder of EntrepreneurCircle.World

Gordana Kierans has over 24 years of business experience at the interface between leading Business Schools, companies, and governments. Her last 10 years have been primarily dedicated to teaching and consulting for circular economy initiatives. During her career, she has worked with students, entrepreneurs, SMEs, multinationals and the Public Sector in Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. During her time at a global network of universities and multinationals in Brussels, she worked with top academics in the area of the circular economy which inspired her to create a practical programme with focus on entrepreneurs that can be found on Udemy (with over 11,000 subscribers currently). Her career is further underscored by her invitation to deliver a TEDx Talk in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Dr Kierans was born and raised in Croatia, but she lived abroad for nearly three decades, including Italy, Germany, Belgium, and - most recently - China, where she spent four years as a Professor of International Business at Shenzhen Technology University (SZTU). She completed all her academic studies in Germany, including a PhD in Business Administration. In addition, Gordana is an alumna of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education and the School of System Change.

Today, Gordana is back in Grižane (Crikvenica), Croatia, but she still spends much of her time travelling and giving workshops in London, Dubai, Paris, and Amsterdam. She is also a Co-Founder of the membership platform EntrepreneurCircle.World – a network for circular entrepreneurs.

Former Group President, GIC; Former Head of Singapore Civil Service; Member, stars International Board, Singapore

Siong Guan Lim was Group President of GIC from 2007 until the end of 2016, after which he was Advisor to GIC's Group Executive Committee until March 2019. The GIC manages the financial reserves of the Singapore Government. He was Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board from October 2006 to June 2009. The Board is the Singapore government’s lead agency for planning and executing strategies to enhance Singapore’s position as a global business centre. Much of its work is attracting international corporations to set up manufacturing and services activities in Singapore as critical links in the global supply chain.

Siong Guan was Professor in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore from 2005–2023, instructing on leadership and change management, as well as a Senior Fellow of the Civil Service College from 2006–2023.

He was the Head of the Singapore Civil Service from September 1999 to March 2005. Siong Guan was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defense (1981-1994), the Prime Minister’s Office (1994-1998), the Ministry of Education (1997-1999) and the Ministry of Finance (1999-2006). In every appointment he introduced innovative policies and practices which enhanced the drive, capacity, capability and performance of the organization. Siong Guan has chaired the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (2004-2006), the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (2004-2006) and the Central Provident Fund Board (1986-1994), and was a board member of many companies including Temasek, the other sovereign wealth fund manager of Singapore.

President, Basel Institute on Governance; Former President, International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC; Member, stars Global Advisory Panel, Berne, Switzerland

Peter Maurer is President of the Board of the Basel Institute on Governance and a leading voice internationally on humanitarian and related issues. He joined the Basel Institute in October 2022, following over 10 years as President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Born in Thun, Switzerland, Peter Maurer has had a distinguished career in the Swiss diplomatic service. Among various positions he served for five years as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, where he worked to integrate Switzerland into multilateral networks. Prior to joining the ICRC, Peter Maurer was the Swiss Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in charge of five directorates and around 150 diplomatic missions around the world.

In recognition of his long humanitarian and diplomatic service, Peter Maurer has received the prestigious awards of Commander of the Order of the Oak Crown by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and of Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit by Germany.

Among other engagements, he is Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on the Future of Good Governance, a Member of the Advisory Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and a Member of the Board of Directors of Zurich Insurance.

Peter Maurer holds a PhD in History and International Law from the University of Bern. He has been awarded honorary PhDs from the University of Basel and Waseda University.