Speakers

Yonov Frederick Agah

Deputy Director General, World Trade Organisation

HE Derick Ally

High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Republic of Seychelles

Jacqueline Alder

FISHCODE Manager, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO

Stanislas Bamouni Baba

Minister-Counsellor to the President of the Togolese Republic

Joshua Brien

Special Counsel, Cooley UK LLP

Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent KCB CBE MA

Senior Fellow, One Earth Future Foundation/ Oceans Beyond Piracy

Phillip Cable

Director and Co-Founder of Maritime Asset Security and Training (MAST)

Grace Cerere

Ag. High Commissioner to the UK, Republic of Kenya

Dr Hamady Diop

Head of the Program, Natural Resource Governance, Food Security and Nutrition, NEPAD Agency

Mark Eddo

CEO of Mark Eddo Media Ltd

Captain Peter Hammarstedt

Director, Sea Shepherd

Dr Nick Hardman-Mountford

Head of Oceans and Natural Resources at the Commonwealth Secretariat

Rassim Hariz

Business development Manager, Offshore Renewables & Grid Access Solutions, Siemens

Paul Holthus

Founding President & CEO, World Ocean Council

Leo Horn-Phathanothai

Director International Cooperation, Head Of London Office, World Resources Institute (WRI)

Maximilian Jarrett

Adviser, Filmmaker, Honorary Fellow, Moderator, Motivational Speaker

Khemraj Jingree

Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Republic of Mauritius

Samuel Kame-Domguia

Former African Union OCist., Coordinator 2050 AIM Strategy, PO Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIM Strategy) Task Force, African Union Commission

David Luke

Coordinator, African Trade Policy Centre, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Christopher Marks

Managing Director, Head of Emerging Markets EMEA, MUFG

Miguel Marques

Partner and leader of the PwC Economy of the Sea project, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Marta Marrero Martín

Oceans Governance Director, The Nature Conservancy

Nadia Mensah-Acogny

Co-Founder of Acosphere and Journalist at Forbes Afrique

HE Vincent Meriton

Vice-President of the Republic of Seychelles, Responsible for Information, Blue Economy, Investment and Industry, Information Communication Technology, Disaster Risk Management, Civil Society and Religious Affairs, and the Inner and Outer Islands

Dr Essam Yassin Mohammed

Principal Researcher Ocean and Fisheries Economics, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Christian Neumann

Programme Leader Ecosystems, Economies and Sustainable Development, GRID-Arendal

Gregor Paterson-Jones

Independent Board and IC Member UNCDF, EC, Mergence, Dolma

Jeremy-Price

Dr Jeremy Prince

Adjunct Professor of Fisheries, Murdoch University

Elizabeth Naa Afoley Quaye

Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Republic of Ghana

HE Aziz Rabbah

Minister of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development, Kingdom of Morocco

BillStaby

Bill Staby

CEO, Resolute Marine

William Stephens

Conservation Programme Director, Blue Ventures Conservation

Kristian Teleki

Director of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative, World Resources Institute

Professor Kevin Chika Urama

Senior Advisor to the President on Inclusive and Green Growth – Strategy, Policy Development & Implementation, African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

Professor Lee White

Director, National Parks Service (ANPN) of Gabon

Imed Zammit

CEO, Institut Méditerranéen de Formation Aux Métiers Maritimes (IMFMM)

Yonov
Frederick
Agah

Deputy Director General, World Trade Organisation

Yonov Frederick Agah was appointed as Nigeria’s Ambassador to the WTO in 2005. In that capacity, he served as the Alternate Chief Negotiator for the Doha Round and Head of Nigeria’s Trade Office to the WTO in the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations Office in Geneva. The Trade Office is responsible for Nigeria’s participation in Geneva-based trade-related international organizations, particularly the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the International Trade Centre and the WTO.

Mr Agah served as Chair of the WTO’s General Council in 2011. He was responsible for organizing the Eighth WTO Ministerial Conference, which was acknowledged to be successful despite the prevailing stalemate in the Doha Round. He has also served as Chair of the following WTO bodies: Dispute Settlement Body in 2010, the Council for Trade in Services in 2009, the Trade Policy Review Body in 2008, the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in 2007, and the Council for Trade in Goods in 2006. He was also the Chair of the Council for TRIPS, Special Session, in 2013.

Mr Agah has previously worked as a lecturer at Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna (1979-81), senior features writer/circulation manager, Benue Printing and Publishing Corporation (1982-84), Sales Manager, Benue Bottling Company Limited (1984-87), Field Manager, UTC Nigeria PLC (1990-91), Deputy Director (multilateral) (1991-2001) and Director (external trade) (2002-05).

Mr Agah holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Economics from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. He obtained a Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (International Trade) from the University of Jos, Nigeria, in 1989 and 2007 respectively. His doctoral dissertation was on “Trade Policy Reform and Economic Growth in Nigeria Since 1986”. Mr Agah also obtained a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Abuja, Nigeria, in 2009. He has contributed to various books and journals.

HE
Derick
Ally

High Commissioner, Republic of Seychelles

Derick Ally has been the High Commissioner of the Republic of Seychelles to the Court of St James since January 2017. Born in 1966, he studied in Seychelles and at the University of Auckland, New Zealand after which he taught Mathematics on La Digue island in Seychelles.

He started his diplomatic career in 1995 when he joined the Seychelles Foreign Service as Head of Protocol and in 2004 he was appointed Director General for Presidential Affairs in the President’s Office. He subsequently joined the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Office and worked for nine years as Executive Assistant to two Secretaries-General at Marlborough House in London.

After his return to Seychelles in 2014, he was appointed Ambassador and pending his posting, he worked for the Seychelles Pension Fund as General Manager for Corporate Service. He is also the Seychelles Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

Jacqueline
Alder

FISHCODE Manager, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO

Jacqueline Alder leads the Blue Growth Initiative at FAO and is the director of the FISHCODE programme. The Blue Growth Initiative covers the spectrum of the work of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department with a focus on capitalizing on the value of aquatic resources while generating social benefits and maintaining or enhancing ecosystems and their services. She is also overseeing and coordinating many Global Environment Facility (GEF) projects and developing the Departments Green Climate Fund portfolio, as well as the development of projects under the African Package, and the Blue Hope Programme. She has a background in fisheries and marine policy as well as marine protected area management and integrated coastal management. She has worked extensively in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Australia and Africa. She was the Head of the Freshwater and Marine Ecosystem Branch for the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya for 6.5 years before joining FAO in 2015. She earned her PhD from the James Cook University in Australia and is a graduate of Lakehead University in Canada.

Stanislas
Bamouni
Baba

Minister-Counsellor to the President of the Togolese Republic

Stanislas Bamouni Baba advises the President of Togo on questions related to the sea.

He also coordinates the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Togo’s Threshold Program, designed to support policy and institutional reforms in two areas identified as critical constraints to economic growth and poverty reduction: information and communication technology (ICT) and land tenure.

Joshua
Brien

Special Counsel, Cooley UK LLP

Joshua Brien has acted for a range of Governments throughout the world, including small-island States and the developing world. This has included engagement in matters before the International Court of Justice, the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in contentious and advisory proceedings, including provisional measures applications and prompt release cases.
He has extensive experience advising on law of the sea, with particular expertise concerning maritime boundary delimitation, the management of offshore resources including petroleum and minerals, the preparation and defence of continental shelf submissions to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (‘CLCS’) made under UNCLOS, and the legal aspects of the pioneer activity of deep- seabed mining both in the Area managed by the International Seabed Authority and within areas of national jurisdiction, including areas of extended continental shelf.
Joshua has been directly engaged in the successful conclusion of over 15 maritime boundary delimitation agreements in the Caribbean, African and Asia-Pacific regions over the past decade and has prepared over 19 Submissions to the CLCS. He continues to advise a range of States on the preparation of new submissions and in respect of the examination of existing Submissions.
He also provides advice to States and other clients on the policy and legal aspects of the development of the blue economy and the integrated management of ocean space. This includes advice concerning the reform and development of national laws and policies and management of marine resources including international fisheries and the development of new and innovative ocean-based industries in support of sustainable development.
Joshua has presented papers on the legal aspects of maritime boundary delimitation, the preparation of continental shelf submissions and on the international regime for seabed mining and has participated in and run training courses and workshops on maritime boundary delimitation and natural resource management for foreign governments and capacity building (Pacific maritime boundary workshops at the University of Sydney; NUS Singapore; and Dalhousie University).
Joshua is also listed in the most recent edition of the Who’s Who of Public International Law directory of public international lawyers of standing and prominence in the judicial, academic and professional fields.

Admiral Sir James
Burnell-Nugent
KCB CBE MA

Senior Fellow, One Earth Future Foundation/ Oceans Beyond Piracy

After reading mathematics at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent served in the Royal Navy for 37 years, latterly as Second Sea Lord and then Commander-in-Chief Fleet, retiring in 2007.

He commanded the conventional submarine HMS OLYMPUS, the nuclear submarine HMS CONQUEROR, the frigate HMS BRILLIANT and the aircraft carrier HMS INVINCIBLE. He saw active service in Northern Ireland, the Cold War and in the Bosnia, Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan Campaigns. When not in command, Sir James served in the Ministry of Defence, undertaking leading roles in long term strategic planning and resourcing. In recognition of his contribution to change and efficiency programmes in the MoD, he was loaned to HM Treasury to work on the same themes across Government.

He was awarded an operational CBE for inspirational leadership in 1999 and knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 2004.

Since 2008 he has built up a portfolio of non-executive roles in the private and not for profit sectors. He is a non executive Director of the FTSE 250 defence and security technology company QinetiQ, Chairman of Plymouth Marine Laboratory and Chairman of a renewable energy start up, Witt Ltd. He is a Senior Advisor to the investment bank Evercore, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Risk Intelligence, based in Copenhagen, and a Senior Advisor to the resilience practice, Regester Larkin by Deloitte. He has been an advisor to Shell Shipping and the Oil Companies International Marine Forum on Maritime Security and is currently a Senior Fellow of the NGO, The One Earth Future Foundation, based in Colorado, with a particular interest in Maritime Security. He has his own company, Orchard Leadership, which helps with leadership development of individuals and small organisations.

Phillip
Cable

Director and Co-Founder of Maritime Asset Security and Training (MAST)

Phillip Cable was born in London in 1972 and after leaving school at 16 he worked for 2 years in the Lloyds of London marine insurance market before returning to academic study to train as a Solicitor. He suffered an early midlife crisis at 25 and gave up his legal career to embark on a short career commission in the Royal Navy serving as a Watch keeper and Ships Diving Officer.

Since leaving the RN in 2003 he has been active in providing advice and guidance to governments and commercial entities in the field of port and ship security and has worked extensively in the Middle East and Africa.

He co-founded MAST in 2005, and has been instrumental in the growth of the Company and its expansion not only into commercial ship security but also in the development of a yacht security design department which is involved in several design and build projects in Europe and more recently into land based physical and risk consulting work for commercial clients and the insurance industry.

Phillip holds a Masters degree in Maritime Law giving him a unique insight into the insurance and legal aspects of security.

Grace
Cerere

Ag. High Commissioner to the UK, Republic of Kenya

Mrs Cerere is a career Diplomat and Public Servant with over 30 years’ experience in the Civil Service. Prior to her posting to the UK. She worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in the Protocol Division and Europe and Commonwealth Directorate. She also served at the Kenya Mission to the United Nations, New York from 2006 to 2010.

She is responsible for the promotion of Kenya/UK relations, Commonwealth Secretariat, Commonwealth Foundation and related organisations.

Mrs Cerere is also responsible for coordination and facilitation of Kenyan official delegations meetings with UK Counterparts and dealing with Diaspora Matters.

Dr
Hamady
Diop

Head of the Program, Natural Resource Governance, Food Security and Nutrition, NEPAD Agency

Mark
Eddo

CEO of Mark Eddo Media Ltd

Mark Eddo is an international journalist and CEO of Mark Eddo Media Ltd. Between 2006 and 2009 Mark was the Senior Correspondent Business and Economics for ITV News in London. On most week nights Mark joined Sir Trevor Macdonald on the News at Ten and kept ITV’s 5 million regular viewers informed on all the major business stories.

Before ITN, Mark spent 4 years working as a presenter and reporter at the BBC in London. He regularly hosted ‘World Business Report’ on BBC World. Mark provided BBC reports from Asia, South Africa, the USA and the Middle East. Until March 2012, he continued to work for the BBC as the roving reporter for BBC World’s Africa Business Report. Mark has also reported for Al Jazeera, CNBC, MSNBC, NBC in San Francisco and The Wall Street Journal TV in New York.

Mark is a respected public speaker who has moderated many major international business events such as the United Nations Habitat conference in Naples and Kigali and Economist Magazine Conferences in Abuja, Lagos and Addis Ababa. Mark is the son of a Nigerian engineer and a British nurse. He grew up in Lagos and London.

Captain
Peter
Hammarstedt

Director, Sea Shepherd

Born in Sweden, Peter Hammarstedt, 33, sits on the Board of Sea Shepherd Global and is Chairman of Sea Shepherd Australia. He is the captain of the marine conservation ship ‘Bob Barker’ and as the Director of Campaigns for Sea Shepherd, oversees the development of programs to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing around the African continent.

For the past several years, Sea Shepherd has under Peter’s leadership, provided civilian offshore patrol vessels, under so-called ‘ship rider’ agreements, to the African coastal states of Liberia, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe and Tanzania. 

Joint patrols between Sea Shepherd and the law enforcement agents of African coastal states have resulted in the arrests of over 21 illegal fishing vessels over the past three years; detecting and deterring IUU fishing activity while also monitoring legal compliance by licensed fishing operators.

The civilian offshore patrol vessels – provided at no cost to partner countries – have served as critical platforms for capacity-building of armed forces in increasing monitoring, control and surveillance capabilities in the maritime domain.

Dr
Nick
Hardman-Mountford

Head of Oceans and Natural Resources at the Commonwealth Secretariat

Dr Nick Hardman-Mountford is Head of Oceans and Natural Resources at the Commonwealth Secretariat, where he leads a technical advisory team working on ocean governance and sustainable natural resource development projects. Prior to joining the Commonwealth, Dr Hardman-Mountford was Principal Scientist at Australia’s national research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), where he led the Indian Ocean Ecology and Oceanography group. His research on ocean observations and modelling has taken him to the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans and has found application in addressing a diverse range of societal drivers such as sustainable blue economies, carbon storage, food security, energy and climate change. Dr Hardman-Mountford joined CSIRO in 2012 after 10 years at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK where he led the Ocean and Carbon Cycle program of the National Centre for Earth Observation and was Director of the Centre for observation of Air-Sea Interactions and Fluxes (CASIX). Dr Hardman-Mountford has published over 100 research papers, book chapters, articles and technical reports. He also holds an adjunct position at the University of Western Australia.

Rassim
Hariz

Business development Manager, Offshore Renewables & Grid Access Solutions, Siemens

Rassim Hariz is an international maritime sustainable infrastructures and technology advocate across Africa and Europe. He has gained a global experience with public, private and civil sectors on several maritime and coastal sustainability development issues across a wide range of disciplines such as strategic advisory, business development, financing & investment, permitting, engineering and operations in large-scale projects. He had the opportunity to work on offshore renewables and energy transmission deployment as well as on institutional capacity building with a specific focus on environmental, energy, water, transportation and security infrastructures planning policies. In this framework, he has been involved with many stakeholders such as the United Nations, European Commission, Algerian and French governments, global NGOs, major utilities and industrial manufacturing companies. Rassim holds an environmental engineering degree from the National Higher School of Offshore Engineering and Coastal Planning (Algiers, Algeria), a Master of Science in Coastal Expertise and Management from the European Institute of Marine Studies (Brest, France) and an MBA in Renewables and Energy Efficiency from Beuth University of Applied Sciences and Technology (Berlin, Germany). Rassim is also an active promoter of #EnergisingAfrica on social media.

Paul
Holthus

Founding President and CEO, World Ocean Council

Paul Holthus founded and leads the World Ocean Council (WOC), the international business leadership alliance on “Corporate Ocean Responsibility”. Through his work at the WOC, he brings together shipping, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, oil/gas, offshore renewables, seabed mining, submarine cables, ports, investment and other sectors to create business community leadership and collaboration in addressing ocean sustainable development. 

Prior to the WOC, Paul held senior positions with the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and with several international environment organizations, including as: Deputy Director, IUCN Global Marine Programme; head of the Asia Pacific Marine Program, The Nature Conservancy. He has worked in over 30 countries, with companies, communities, industry associations, UN agencies, NGOs, foundations and governments to develop practical solutions to ocean sustainable development.

He is a graduate of the University of California and University of Hawaii, with advanced degrees/certificates in marine resources and international business. He was a Fulbright scholar in Australia and is an East-West Center alum. He is a frequent speaker at the international ocean and industry conferences, was invited to be on the UN Secretary General’s ocean expert advisory panel for Rio+20, and is the only ocean industry organization representative to have addressed the UN General Assembly.

Leo
Horn-Phathanothai

Director International Cooperation, Head Of London Office, World Resources Institute (WRI)

Leo is Director for International Cooperation at the World Resources Institute.

Leo comes to WRI with a rich background in programme and policy advisory roles in bilateral and multilateral development organisations. Prior to joining WRI, Leo served as Climate Change and Environment Adviser for the Africa region at the United Nations Development Programme, covering 45 countries. Before that he had served as an adviser to the British and Chinese governments and the World Bank, covering a range of technical and strategic issues linked to the environment-development nexus.

From 2006 to 2009, he helped develop and then coordinated a pioneering partnership between the UK and China on sustainable development, launched by Prime Ministers Blair and Wen, and involving 17 government ministries/agencies. In parallel, he co-founded the China Carbon Forum and led it to become a thriving professional association acting as the key interface between the business community and senior Chinese government decision-makers on climate policy issues.

Leo is fluent in four languages, and has published and been quoted in mainstream and specialist media on China’s development challenges (including the Financial Times, Reuters, The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, CNN, The Bangkok Post etc).

Maximilian
Jarrett

Adviser, Filmmaker, Honorary Fellow, Moderator, Motivational Speaker

Maximilian Jarrett is the Founder of Abundenta Divina (Media) Ltd, a political affairs, government relations and strategic communications advisory services firm. As an independent consultant, he is retained to provide advisory services to several high-profile clients across the world. This includes serving as Special Adviser to the Chair of the Africa Progress Group, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In the academic realm, he serves as Honorary Fellow at Murdoch University, in Perth, Western Australia and Honorary Fellow at the Research Centre for Governance, Leadership and Global Responsibility, at Leeds Business School and Leeds Beckett University in the United Kingdom. His volunteer roles include serving as a member of the International Council of the United Kingdom’s Creative Industries Federation and as an active supporter of the Malaika Foundation school for girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Maximilian has three decades of professional experience in the field of African and international political affairs, multilateral diplomacy, intergovernmental policy coordination, media production, speech writing and strategic communications, including serving most recently as the final Director-in-Charge of the Geneva based Africa Progress Panel, chaired by the late former UN Secretary General and Nobel Laureate, Kofi Annan, and over a  decade as a regular daily current affairs radio programme presenter and senior producer with the British Broadcasting Corporation World Service, where he began his career in 1990. A passionate Pan-Africanist and internationalist, he was born not very far from the Atlantic Ocean in Monrovia, Liberia.

Khemraj
Jingree

Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Republic of Mauritius

Mr Khemraj Jingree started his diplomatic career in December 1993 when he joined the Foreign Ministry of Mauritius as Second Secretary. Since then he has been alternately serving at the headquarters and Mauritius Missions abroad in different capacities. He is currently the Deputy High Commissioner at the Mauritius High Commission in London.

For his first posting in 1996, Mr Jingree formed part of the team which opened the Embassy of Mauritius in Addis Ababa and the Permanent Mission of Mauritius to the African Union. He has participated in a number of conferences and summits of the African Union (previously the Organisation of African Unity).

Mr Jingree also served at the Permanent Mission of Mauritius to the United Nations in New York where he had the opportunity to contribute to the work of the United Nations Security Council as part of the team of Mauritius as a Non-Permanent member of the Security Council from 2001 to 2002.

From 2008 to 2012, Mr Jingree was posted to the Mauritius High Commission to New Delhi where he was called upon to assume the role of Chargé d’Affaires for more than a year.

In between his appointments abroad, Mr Jingree has worked in the different Directorates of the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dealing with bilateral and multilateral issues.

Samuel
Kame-Domguia

Former African Union OCist., Coordinator 2050 AIM Strategy, PO Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIM Strategy) Task Force, African Union Commission

Former African Union OCist., Coordinator 2050 AIM Strategy, PO Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIM Strategy) Task Force, African Union Commission

Samuel Kame-Domguia is a distinguished leader in integrative strategic thinking, having given more than 100 international conferences on long-term geostrategic challenges and opportunities related to Africa’s oceans and seas in various high-level academic, business and military forums.

 He joined the African Union (AU) Commission in 2007, as a Strategic Planner within the AU’s Darfur Integrated Task Force (DITF). Realizing that maritime issues were not addressed in the quadrennial AU’s Strategic Plan, he initiated the development of the 2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIM-Strategy) which was formally adopted on 31st January 2014 by the 22nd Ordinary Session of AU’s Assembly of Heads of State and Government (www.au.int/maritime).

Before joining the AU Commission, he was cumulatively working in the Capacity of Strategy Lecturer at the Command and Staff College in Yaoundé (Cameroon), as well as Projects Lead, at the Cameroon Navy Headquarters.

He is currently the Coordinator of the 2050 AIM-Strategy Task Force, a multidisciplinary team of international cross-sectoral maritime experts at the AU Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

He graduated from the Yaoundé University (Cameroon), the French Naval Academy (Brest, France), Surface Warfare Officers School (Coronado, California, USA), Command and Staff College (Yaoundé, Cameroon), and currently finishing an Executive MBA Program at Hult International Business School.

David
Luke

Coordinator, African Trade Policy Centre, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

David Luke is Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre at the UN Economic Commission for Africa with the rank of a director at the Commission. He is responsible for leading ECA’s research, policy advisory services, training and capacity development on inclusive trade policies and in particular the boosting intra-African trade and the continental free trade area initiatives. His portfolio also includes WTO, EPAs, Brexit, AGOA, Africa’s trade with emerging economies, and trade and cross-cutting policy areas such as trade, industrialization and structural transformation, trade and gender, trade and public health and trade and climate change.

Prior to joining ECA in 2014, he served as UNDP trade policy adviser in Southern Africa and Geneva and also as Senior Economist and Chief of Trade at the Organization for African Unity/African Union Commission, and as an Associate Professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.

Christopher
Marks

Managing Director, Head of Emerging Markets EMEA, MUFG

Dr. Christopher Marks has worked in the financial markets and financial sector advisory, across the public and private sector, for more than 25 years. He is Managing Director, Head of Emerging Markets EMEA, MUFG. Prior to his current role, Christopher served as Senior Advisor at the African Development Bank in Abidjan and consulted as Expert – Capital Markets/Debt Management for the International Monetary Fund. He was previously Global Head of Debt Capital Markets at BNP Paribas in London and a member of BNP Paribas’ Global Fixed Income Business Committee, having spent 15 years at the bank. In this role Christopher, was responsible for all capital markets origination and execution, including associated structuring, across all sovereign, public sector, corporate, high yield, special situations loan-bond and financial institution client segments worldwide. Prior to his career as an investment banker, he worked as a public finance specialist, consulting for the World Bank, OECD and as a three-year resident US Government Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Republic of Poland. M.A. Johns Hopkins SAIS; D.E.A. Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris ; Ph.D. Princeton University.

Miguel
Marques

Partner and leader of the PwC Economy of the Sea project, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Miguel Marques is the Economy of the Sea Partner at PwC. Since he completed the degree in Economics at Porto University he has been working at PwC as advisor of multinational companies related with several industries.


He speaks regularly at conferences and other events around the world regarding off shore activities and sea industries.


Miguel has worked with leaders and executives across Europe, The Americas and Asia in order to help them make the best business decisions.


Miguel is the author of HELM – PwC Economy of the Sea Barometer, a compilation of data that allows, a better understanding of the evolution of the economy of the sea. Simultaneously, HELM enables trend analysis and the evaluation of decisions that are being taken by various economic agents. HELM is a barometer made up of quantitative information transformed into indexes and perspectives of top managers provided by questionnaires answered by CEO’s of several important entities operating in different subsectors of the economy of the sea.

Marta
Marrero
Martín

Oceans Governance Director, The Nature Conservancy

Marta has been directing the Ocean Governance programme at the Conservancy since 2016. She is an environmental lawyer with over 10 years of experience protecting nature through international and European Union policy and law. For over 6 years she has worked to tackle the issue of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing globally, as well as helping to establish groundbreaking legislation to protect the deep sea. She works with public and private partner organisations around the world to enable accurate fisheries management decisions and monitoring. Marta also brings experience working with the European Commission on multilateral environmental agreements. 

She holds a Masters degree in Environmental Policy and Management from the University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain; as well as a Masters in Energy and Environmental Law from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

The Nature Conservancy is committed to conserving and sustainably managing our ocean, seas and marine resources. We are working in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America and Australia in order develop this global strategy. 

Nadia
Mensah-Acogny

Co-Founder of Acosphere and Journalist at Forbes Afrique

Co-Founder and Managing Partner of ACOSPHERE Ltd, Nadia Mensah-Acogny is an expert in global communications, interpersonal skills and cross cultural communication. She has worked for both the Central Bank of West African Countries (BCEAO) as communications manager and as a consultant for various United Nations Agencies in Syria, France, Greece and Kenya. Nadia has 3 MAs in communications, political science and sociology from the University of Sorbonne. She is on the Board of Trustees of Women in Africa and the Africa Centre, London. She is also a columnist at Forbes Afrique and author of the Forbes Afrique annual report on the 100 Most Influential Women in Africa. Within ACOSPHERE, Nadia trains internationally for clients and in works regularly in West and Central Africa. She is fluent in a total of 9 languages and trains in French, English, Italian and Spanish.

HE
Vincent
Meriton

Vice-President of the Republic of Seychelles, Responsible for Information, Blue Economy, Investment and Industry, Information Communication Technology, Disaster Risk Management, Civil Society and Religious Affairs, and the Inner and Outer Islands

On 28th October 2016, Vincent Emmanuel Angelin Meriton was sworn in as Vice-President of the Republic of Seychelles. He holds the portfolios of Information, Blue Economy, Information Communications Technology (ICT), Foreign Affairs, Religious Affairs and Civil Society, and Inner and Outer Islands.

He was first appointed as Minister in January 2004 when he became Minister for Social Affairs and Employment. In 2005, he assumed the role of Minister for Health and Social Services, which he held until August 2006. In 2006, when he was appointed Minister for Community Development and Youth. In 2007, he became the Minister for Community Development, Youth, Sports and Culture. In 2010 to 2011, he was the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports.

From June 2011 to March 2012, he was the Minister for Community Development and Youth and from March 2012 to October 2016, he was the Minister for Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports.

Vincent Meriton completed his primary and secondary education in Seychelles and further his studies in Moscow where he graduated with a Masters Degree in Sociology from Moscow State University.

Dr
Essam
Yassin
Mohammed

Principal Researcher Ocean and Fisheries Economics, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Dr Essam Yassin Mohammed is a principal economist with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Essam leads IIED’s work programme on Ocean and Fisheries Economics. He works on a wide range of topics, from economic valuation of environmental goods and services and the use of economic instruments for sustainable and inclusive marine resources governance, to influencing policy processes to promote fair, inclusive and sustainable economies both at national and global levels. Prior to IIED, Essam served as Head of the Fisheries Promotion Unit at the Ministry of Fisheries of the State of Eritrea. Essam is a member of a number of expert groups including the Group of Experts for the second cycle of the United Nations Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects.

Christian
Neumann

Programme Leader Ecosystems, Economies and Sustainable Development, GRID-Arendal

Christian Neumann works for GRID-Arendal, a Norwegian foundation collaborating closely with UN Environment. He’s joined the organisation seven years ago, and todays leads its Programme on Ecosystems, Economies and Sustainable Development, bringing together a range of projects focusing on the interface between healthy marine ecosystems and human well-being, both globally and with a focus on the Atlantic coast of Africa.

Christian has served as the chief editor of UN Environment’s 2012 Green Economy in a Blue World report, and has worked with hundreds of practitioners over the past years, to develop their knowledge on integrating natural capital and ecosystem services into marine planning.

Before joining GRID-Arendal, he was led the World Wide Fund for Nature’s initiative to create Marine Protected Areas in the High Seas.

Gregor
Paterson-Jones

Independent Board and IC Member UNCDF, EC, Mergence, Dolma

Gregor Paterson-Jones is an international expert in Clean Energy Finance. He is a former Investment Committee member for the European Union’s EUR 100bn European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) run in co-operation with the EIB, and currently advises the European Commission on Blue Economy Investment. He also sits on the Mergence Infrastructure Fund IC in South Africa and is an expert panel member to the International Solar Alliance in India. He is also currently Expert advisor on Energy Access funding at scale for the UN Capital Development Fund. UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia, and for lending and guarantee programmes for the UNDP.

Gregor was previously Managing Director of the UK Green Investment Bank which has successfully concluded over 80 individual investments in Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency in the UK and has a funding partnership between DECC and the GIB for funding Clean Energy in Emerging Markets including India and Africa, the UK Climate Investment platform. Prior to this he was CEO of SW Securities, a clean energy finance firm investing in Renewable Energy projects and Energy Access projects in emerging markets internationally, and responsible for the world’s first listed Carbon project Fund in 2005 in South Africa.

Dr.
Jeremy
Prince

Adjunct Professor of Fisheries, Murdoch University

Dr Jeremy Prince is an alumni and Adjunct Professor of fisheries of Murdoch University. With more than 30 years of international experience he is recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts in assessing and managing small scale and subsistence fisheries. Long held to be the most intractable challenge for sustainable fisheries, the inapplicability of established methodologies has, until recently, made it impossible to scientifically address the sustainability of more than 90% of the world’s fisheries, upon which 40+ million artisanal fishers directly depend, and 200+ million people indirectly depend, many of them in Africa. Since a break-through discovery in 2011, hailed by the Marine Stewardship Council as a ‘global game-changer’, Dr Prince has been working around the world implementing his new approach to small-scale fisheries assessment and management. Supported by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, since 2012 he has been primarily focused on fisheries reform in Pacific rim and island countries. However, invited by the World Wildlife Fund and Kenyan Fisheries Service, in 2017 he began introducing his approach to Africa where he is happy to see it being adopted just as enthusiastically, already empowering discussion about reforming coastal fisheries management.

And just two weeks ago the Lake Tanganyika Authority initiated discussions about extending his approach into the great rift valley lakes.

HE
Elizabeth Naa
Afoley Quaye

Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Republic of Ghana

Elizabeth Naa Afoley Quaye is the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Republic of Ghana. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agribusiness from the Central University College. She also obtained a National Diploma in General Agriculture from the University of Ghana, and a certificate in General Agriculture from the Kwadaso Agricultural College. For over 20 years, she has worked as the Principal Production Officer at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. She was also a Member of Parliament for the Krowor.

HE
Aziz
Rabbah

Minister of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development, Kingdom of Morocco

Bill
Staby

CEO, Resolute Marine

Bill Staby is CEO of Resolute Marine which is developing a technology that harnesses ocean wave energy to produce clean water for off-grid communities in developing countries and islands.

Bill is a director of the World Ocean Council and U.S. Head of Delegation to IEC TC-114 which is developing international standards for the marine renewable energy industry. He is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the UNC-Coastal Studies Institute and of the Humanitarian Committee of the Caribbean Desalination Association.

Previously, Bill was an investment banker at First Boston, Rabobank International and Prudential Securities and he earned his MBA from New York University.

William
Stephens

Conservation Programme Director, Blue Ventures Conservation

William is Conservation Programmes Director for Blue Ventures Conservation. BVC works with coastal communities to rebuild tropical fisheries. Their strategy is to develop transformative approaches for catalysing and sustaining locally-led marine conservation. They work in places where the ocean is vital to local cultures and economies, and are committed to protecting marine biodiversity in ways that benefit coastal people. Will’s background is in international supply chains, running the ethical trade programme for the UK’s largest grocery retailer, Tesco, and then the Community Fair Trade programme for The Body Shop and L’Oreal. Will joined the BVC board in 2015 as a trustee (non-executive), following a stint in procurement at Tesco managing the £50m canned fish portfolio, including tuna. Will joined BVC’s executive team as Conservation Programmes Director in April 2018.

Kristian
Teleki

Director of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative, World Resources Institute

Kristian Teleki is the Director of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative for the World Resources Institute and the Head of the Friends of Ocean Action for the World Economic Forum. Most recently Mr Teleki was the senior marine adviser to the Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit and the director of engagement for Ocean Unite. Prior to this he held the post of the director of global engagement for the Global Ocean Commission, and the vice-president of SeaWeb, where he was responsible for its sustainable-markets, science and Asia-Pacific programmes. He has also been the director of the International Coral Reef Action Network and led the marine programme at the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Mr Teleki is on the boards of several environmental, development and social initiatives, and the editorial board of Aquatic Conservation. He has degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Cambridge University.

Professor
Kevin
Chika
Urama

Senior Advisor to the President on Inclusive and Green Growth – Strategy, Policy Development & Implementation, African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

Professor Kevin Chika Urama advises the President of the AfDB on strategy, policy development and implementation of activities to achieve inclusive and green growth in Africa. He guides and supports Bank-wide efforts on energy, climate change, agriculture and natural resources management; provides technical advice to the Bank’s Senior Management Coordination Committee to ensure cross-complex coordination and alignment of activities to deliver on the strategic priorities of the Bank to accelerate delivery on the ground in countries and across regions.

He also serves on various boards and global research committees to deliver inclusive green growth and sustainable development. He was the inaugural President of the African Society for Ecological Economics, and Deputy Chairman of the OMFIF Economists Network. He is widely published in various media and has served on / contributed to many international and inter-governmental scientific panels/reports including the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC); Green Growth Best Practice (GGBP); the International Resource Panel (IRP); the OECD Green Growth and Poverty Reduction Task Team; the UNESCO Governing Board of the International Research and Training Centre for Science and Technology Strategy (CISTRAT), Beijing, China; and the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) Advisory Committee; the High-Level Panel on Global Assessment of Resources for implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020; among others.

Professor Urama holds a First Class Honours degree and a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; a Master of Philosophy degree with distinction and a Ph.D. in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Professor
Lee
White

Director, National Parks Service (ANPN) of Gabon

Professor Lee White CBE is head of Gabon’s National Parks Service (ANPN). Appointed in 2009 by President Ali Bongo Ondimba, he has overseen the development of ANPN from a nascent parks authority with under 100 employees to a professional parks management agency employing over 800 staff, including a dedicated national parks “gendarmerie” – an armed police force. In addition to managing Gabon’s National Parks and terrestrial protected areas, ANPN has taken a lead role in the fight against illegal fishing and coordinated the planning process which resulted in the creation in January 2018 of 20 marine protected areas covering 27% of Gabon’s EEZ.

Professor White is an honorary professor at the University of Stirling, who was awarded a CBE in 2011 for services to conservation in Central Africa. His career in the West and Central African forest belt spans 35 years. As a scientist he has published over 100 scientific articles and book chapters and authored and edited 15 books on the ecology and conservation of the African rain forest.

As head of ANPN he is a police officer responsible for the respect of the parks and forestry laws, with hundreds of officers under his command. He has played a key role in the fight against poaching and other illegal natural resource use in Gabon. He is an advisor to the President of Gabon, and a “Chevalier” in the National Order of Merit.

Imed
Zammit

CEO, Institut Méditerranéen de Formation Aux Métiers Maritimes (IMFMM)

Mr Imed Zammit has 27 years’ experience in the maritime field (Navy, Merchant Navy, Maritime Authority).
He participated in the elaboration and implementation of the Five Year Plan (1991-2001, 2002-2006) in maritime, port policy and strategy development, and strengthening of maritime safety and security. He is a member of the committees to reform and update the International Conventions, Code of Policy and Navigation at Sea, Ports Code (ISPS Code) and the Code of Merchant Navy.
He was head of Maritime and Inland Water Transport Unit at the African Union Commission and held several senior posts in the Ministry of Transport, Deputy Director General of the Tunisian Shipping Company, and Chief Executive Officer of the Merchant Marine and Ports Authority. 
Since 2011, he has been General manager of the Mediterranean Maritime Institute and is also Secretary General of the Tunisian Association of Maritime Law.
He is also a lecturer at the Naval Academy and School of Merchant Navy in the field of Maritime Legislation, Maritime Safety and Security, and Pollution for the Naval Officer and Coast Guard personnel over a 15-year period