Dr. Dalia Abdel Kader
Chief Sustainability Officer, Commercial International Bank (CIB)

Dr. Dalia A. Kader is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of sustainable finance and branding financial institutions. She currently holds the post of Chief Sustainability Officer at Commercial International Bank – Egypt (CIB) Egypt’s leading private sector bank.

An advocate for sustainable finance since 2003, Dr. Kader has been a pioneer in advancing the discipline within the financial industry and related international networks.  In 2014, she helped launch MOSTADAM, the first platform for advancing sustainable finance in the MENA with a focus on capacity building, policy advocacy and promoting sustainable products and services. Dr. Kader represented Egypt in the working sessions of the G20 Green Finance Study Group that issued the 2017 Green Finance Synthesis Report. In 2018, she helped launch the Principles for Responsible Banking during her term at AAIB and was appointed by the UNEP FI to promote the principles in the MENA region.

Salvaging an inter-disciplinary exposure to finance, political science, economics and sustainability, Dr. Kader conceived the concept of “Humanizing Finance” which advocates System Thinking with the discipline of Finance, which was the subject of a TEDx Talk in 2013. She also introduced and lectured on a proprietary postmodern interpretation of the marketing discipline in international platforms. Dr. Kader has given talks as part of several local and international conferences on sustainable finance and sustainability branding including the Financial Times conference “Future of Marketing” in New York in 2016. She was also an adjunct professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC), instructing courses on “Sustainability Marketing” and “Egypt: Corporate Responsibility & Social Entrepreneurship” for the MBA program from 2013 to 2016.

In her capacity as the Director of Sustainability & Marketing Communications at Arab African International Bank (AAIB), a post she held from 1997 to 2019, she contributed to the turnaround performance and positioning of the bank, especially when it comes to its sustainable finance. In 2009, Dr. Kader made AAIB the first bank in Egypt to join the Equator Principles and introduced social and environmental risk management policies and procedures to the bank’s corporate line of business. Dr. Kader leveraged international networks to provide professional guidelines for the bank’s sustainability efforts, including the UN Global Compact – which recognized AAIB for Best Practices from 2011 through 2017 – and the London Benchmarking Group.

She is also Founder, Vice Chairman and Board Member of the “We Owe it to Egypt” foundation, the first of its kind to be established by a financial institution in the Middle East in 2007. Dr. Kader is also Board Member of Al Taleem Haya Fund (Education for Life Fund). She had been Head of the Sustainable Development Committee at the Federation of Egyptian Banks from 2014 to 2020, overseeing an EGP 400 million slum development project.

Dr. Kader holds a bachelor’s and master’s in Political Science from AUC as well as a PhD in Political Science from Cairo University, from which she graduated with distinction.

Sheila Aggarwal-Khan
UN Environment Director, Economy Division

Sheila brings to this position more than 30 years of management and technical expertise from a range of institutions. Sheila was the Director of the Green Climate Fund and Global Environment Facility operations at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

She has previously served as an Environmental Specialist at a U.S. State Department of Environmental Protection, as well as at the Environment Liaison Centre International and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. At UNEP, she held positions ranging from Senior Advisor in the organization’s Strategic Implementation Team to Acting Director of the Policy and Programme Division and Deputy Director of the GEF Coordination Division.

Under Sheila’s leadership at IUCN, she grew the programme from the two largest global environmental funding mechanisms five-fold, increasingly bringing in actors from the banking, investment and insurance sectors alongside those from sectors such as energy and agriculture.  She is also serving as the external advisor in the UNDP working group that is reviewing its business model in one of its global fund operations.  Sheila has authored The Policy Process in International Environmental Governance and Promoting Coherence: Towards an Effective Global Environment Facility.

Sheila holds a doctorate in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia with her Master’s and Bachelors’ degrees from the U.S.

Christine Bergeron
President & CEO, Vancity

Christine Bergeron took up the role of interim President and CEO of Vancity on July 1, 2020.

As interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Vancity, Canada’s largest community credit union, Christine believes that banking plays a vital role in developing a healthy society—building the well-being of people and, at the same time, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the communities in which they live and work.

Before being appointed to this role, Christine served as Vancity’s Chief Member Services Officer, leading the Member Experience & Community Engagement divisions. In this role, Christine oversaw services to Vancity’s 543,000 members, including its branch network and retail, business, commercial and wealth management operations. She also led the credit union’s community impact and investment strategies.

Prior to joining Vancity, much of Christine’s career involved working with entrepreneurs, financing innovative companies and building financial firms – all focused within the cleantech, sustainability and impact investing sectors. This included being a co-founder of Shoreline West Asset Management Inc. and being a founding team member at Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital. Christine was an Adjunct Professor and Lecturer at the Sauder School of Business and is a board member of Aviso Wealth.

Christine chairs the board of the Women’s Enterprise Centre and lectures on finance and impact investing at various universities, in addition to other advisory roles at community organizations and social enterprises.

She is personally committed to issues related to women, impact financing, and community, with a particular focus on equality and empowerment.

Christine pursued post-secondary education at the University of Guelph and UBC, earning a B.A. in sociology and MBA in Strategic Management.

Ricardo Cuesta
CEO, Produbanco Grupo Promerica

Graduated from FIU – Florida International University in Economics and Latin American Studies. His proficient training is complemented by international seminars on Digital Transformation Strategy, Strategic Planning, Marketing, Management, Treasury, Corporate and Consumer Credit, among others.

His professional career has been connected to the financial sector, holding positions of high responsibility at a national and international level in institutions of recognized trajectory: Citibank, N.A. (Mexico, Panama, Ecuador); Banco Aserval (Ecuador); Sociedad Financiera and Banco MM Jaramillo Arteaga (Ecuador); Chief Executive Officer for Banco Promerica Ecuador and, for the last six years as Chief Executive Officer for Banco de la Producción – Produbanco, member of Grupo Promerica (PFC – Promerica Financial Corporation).

He has actively participated in boards of organizations related to the financial sector: Chairman of the Board of ASOBANCA, Private Banking Association of Ecuador; Senior Director of the Fondo de Liquidez de la Banca Privada del Ecuador, Private Bank´s Liquidity Fund; Chairman of the Board of AIFE – Asociación de Instituciones Financieras del Ecuador, Association of Financial Institutions of Ecuador; Credit Rating Committee, Thompson Bankwatch Credit Agency; Administrative Council of CICSA – Central de Informes de Crédito y Cobranzas de México, Credit Bureau of Mexico.

In addition, Ricardo has been awarded the Banking CEO of the Year Ecuador Award for two consecutive years (2017 – 2018) by The European Global Banking & Finance Awards of London, UK.

Dimitrios Dimopulos
Director of Sustainability Unit, Piraeus Financial Holdings

Dimitrios Dimopoulos received his bachelor degree in biology and his PhD from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 1989, he has been involved in nature conservation and sustainable development working for environmental organizations. He is a member of the Board of ARCHELON an active Greek NGO.  In 2006, he joined Piraeus Bank and today is the Director of the Sustainability Unit. His work involves drafting of sustainability policies and strategies, reduction of the Bank’s operational environmental footprint, management of environmental and climate risk, education and raising awareness on environmental and social aspects, participation in sustainability indices (extra-financial ratings) and organizations. He represents the Bank at UNEP FI. Recently he was involved in creating the Principles for Responsible Banking as member of a UNEP FI working group. He also participates in the EU Business @ Biodiversity Platform, a forum for dialogue and policy interface to discuss the links between business and biodiversity.

Wendy Dobson
Group Head of Corporate Citizenship, Standard Bank Group

Wendy Dobson is the Group Head of Corporate Citizenship for Standard Bank. Prior to joining Standard Bank in 2009, Wendy held executive positions at the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Economic Development Labour Council (NEDLAC). She is an alumnus of the University of the Witwatersrand, with a BA Honours (Industrial Psychology), a Masters of Management Degree (Public and Development Management). Wendy recently completed a Masters of Arts (Applied Ethics for Professionals) focusing on the ethics of corporate lobbying. In her current role at Standard Bank, Wendy leads the bank’s approach to advocacy, stakeholder engagement, sustainability and shared value with the aim of building trust between the bank and its stakeholders. Her particular areas of interest are Business Ethics, Business and Society, Corporate Citizenship, and the political role of corporations in emerging markets.

Wang Kun
Deputy General Manager, International Banking Department, ICBC, China

Mr. Wang joined ICBC Head Office in 2002. From 2002 to 2011, he worked in the International Banking Department, and successively served as the Deputy Head of Financial Institutions Div, the Deputy Head of Rules Management & Strategy Planning Div., Overseas Institutions Management Div, Head of International Financial Institutions Div. Europe & Africa. From 2011 to 2013 he served as the Vice President of ICBC Nanchong Branch, from 2013 to 2016 he served as President of ICBC Bazhong Branch.From 2016 to November 2017, he served as the Deputy General Manager of Strategic Investment and Investors Relations Dept of ICBC HO. In November 2017, he was appointed as the Deputy General Manager of International Baking Department. Mr. Wang obtained a master’s degree in English from Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Anders Langworth
Group Head of Sustainable Finance, Nordea

Anders Langworth is Head of Group Sustainable Finance at Nordea, where integrating sustainability in the Groups entire offering – investments, financing, advice and internal operations is the main objective.

Anders has worked in the financial industry since 2006, at Citibank, Genworth Financial and joined Nordea in 2011, where he has led several business development units. He started working full time with sustainable finance in 2016 and have had previous roles such as Head of Strategy & Implementation and Deputy Head of Group Sustainable Finance. He is based Sweden and holds a Masters in Business Administration from Stockholm School of Business and the Certificate of Management Excellence from Harvard Business School.

Anders is also the Founder of Bankers for Climate (www.bankersforclimate.com), a fully independent non-profit climate change movement for all employees in the global financial industry. The purpose is to drive positive change from within the industry.

Celina Padilla Maerdi
President, Banco Hipotecario de El Salvador

Celina Padilla Meardi has a vision to create better opportunities and make the economy of the country grow through banking services.

In 2002 she graduated with a law degree from the Universidad Dr. José Matías Delgado of El Salvador and in 2004 she obtained her license to practice law in the Republic of El Salvador. In 2005 she earned the authorization from the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador to be a notary under the Civil Law System. Celina continued her postgraduate studies achieving a master’s degree in International Transactions and Comparative Law, at the University of San Francisco, California, United States in 2005. She has advanced studies on legal aspects of technology, blockchain having gained her diploma in December 2018 through the Options & Future Institute, in association with Colade and Felaban.

With a 19 year experience in the Banking sector, at Banco Agricola, a subsidiary of Grupo Bancolombia, and a strong commitment to her country and with ethical values as a professional, Celina Padilla Meardi takes the lead of Banco Hipotecario in June 2019, under the administration of the President of El Salvador, Nayib Armando Bukele, to bring a refreshment to the banking business with more products and services to offer, creating efficiency within the bank and a strengthening of the national banking service by contributing with an inclusive way to offer banking products and services.

With a vision focused on clients and modernization, Celina has based its management on four pillars: trust, transparency, respect and communication, which has generated an environment of innovation and development for the entire institution.

Elsa Palanza
Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainability & ESG, Barclays

Elsa Palanza is a Managing Director and the Global Head of Sustainability & ESG for Barclays. In this role, Elsa leads the strategic direction and execution of the bank’s policies and practices across a broad range of sustainability and ESG matters, including climate change, environmental stewardship, human rights and social impact. She manages ESG assessment and approach for the firm, strengthening client and investor engagement, and ensuring diverse stakeholder perspectives are integrated into decision-making. In addition, Elsa oversees the development of appropriate and ambitious standards and metrics to advance green and sustainable finance and steward early innovation in sustainable product and service development.

Elsa assumed this role with over 20 years of experience as a strategic advisor for corporations, foundations and non-profits. Most recently, she was enlisted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create and launch a platform to advance progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. For many years, Elsa served as Director of Commitments for the Clinton Global Initiative, a role that afforded her comprehensive insight into best practices in sustainability, cross-sector partnership development, and corporate responsibility. Previously, she worked in Washington, D.C., delivering geopolitical and industry risk analysis to large international energy companies, and in Istanbul, Turkey, leading strategy and business operations for an education company.

Elsa attended Middlebury College and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Laurence Pessez
Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, BNP Paribas

Laurence Pessez has been leading the Corporate Social Responsibility of BNP Paribas since 2010. Under her leadership, the bank became in 2017 the n°1 bank in Europe for its sustainability performance, according to the extra-financial analysis Vigeo-Eiris. In 2019, she contributed to obtaining the “World’s Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility” award by Euromoney and to positioning the bank as the n°1 bank in Europe and n°3 worldwide in Corporate Knights’ “Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the World” ranking.

Prior to her current role, she occupied a variety of positions in Communications, Marketing, and HR in several other corporations. Laurence graduated from Sciences Po Paris. She is a Board member of both the French think tank Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) and ‘Finance for Tomorrow’, the Sustainable Finance arm of the French financial hub.

Siobhan Toohill
Group Head of Sustainability, Westpac Group