Speakers
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Amanda Levete
Founder and Principal
AL_A
Amanda Levete CBE is a RIBA Stirling prize-winning architect and founder of AL_A, an international design-and-architecture studio. For more than a decade she was a trustee of both leading social-innovation centre the Young Foundation and influential arts organisation Artangel. She is also a radio and TV broadcaster, writes for a number of publications and lectures throughout the world.
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Hiroyuki Isobe
Managing director
Wonderwall
Isobe is an architect and managing director of Tokyo-based interior-design firm Wonderwall. He is responsible for the firm’s operations and business development, and has managed numerous projects for Wonderwall, including: Intersect by Lexus Tokyo, Westfield Sydney Center and Japan House London.
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Jean-Louis Missika
Deputy mayor
Paris
Missika is in charge of urban-planning, architecture and economic development in Paris. He was head of the Information and Dissemination Service under prime minister Michel Rocard and director of BVA, before setting up a consulting firm. He is also a media sociologist and holds a PhD in management and a degree in philosophy.
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Michael Jones
Senior partner
Foster and Partners
Jones has practiced as an architect for more than 20 years. He is a senior partner at Foster and Partners, where he is joint leader of a team of 120 architects working on a broad range of projects, from a modest-scale Maggie’s cancer care centre in Manchester to major projects for Apple and Bloomberg.
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Jeannine Pilloud
Delegate
SBB
Pilloud has worked for the newly created Public Transport Sector Development Group since the start of 2018. In 2011, she became the first woman to be a member of SBB’s management board. Pilloud has also been on the board of directors at Switzerland Tourism since 2011.
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Peter Neumann
Professor of security studies
Department of War Studies, King’s College London
Neumann writes about radicalisation, terrorism and the merging of terrorist and criminal milieus. He has written numerous books and peer-reviewed articles about different aspects of terrorism and radicalisation, and edited Routledge’s four-volume Major Works Collection: Radicalization. Shorter pieces have appeared in The New York Times, New Scientist, London Review of Books and The Wall Street Journal.
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Dr Sally Leivesley
Managing director
Newrisk Limited
Leivesley runs catastrophic-risk consultancy Newrisk and is a founding member of The Exercise Group 7 LLP, which focuses on life preservation and critical infrastructure. She trained with the British Home Office as a scientific adviser for the mitigation of nuclear, cyber and chemical attacks on cities.
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David Harry Stewart
Founder
Ageist
This photographer is the founder and face of Ageist, a media company whose remit is to reinvent how life is lived, experienced and understood by those over 50. He is an expert on the new life phase that is emerging among this financially empowered yet underserved demographic.
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William Skidelsky
Literary editor
Observer
William Skidelsky has been literary editor of the Observer as well as deputy editor of Prospect magazine. He writes about his passions – mainly tennis, food and books – for a range of publications. In 2015 he published the critically acclaimed Federer and Me, a story of his obsession with the Swiss champion.
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Daniela and Emanuel Steiner
Co-owners
Felfel
Felfel, founded by Emanuel and now co-run by Emanuel and his wife Daniela, is a Zürich-based food-technology company that has revolutionised how people eat at work. The firm has developed a technology that makes it affordable for all companies, no matter how small, to provide a healthy, all-day food offering.
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Hanna Åkerström
Founder and creative director
Soeder
Swedish-born Åkerström studied architecture in Zürich before founding Soeder, a lifestyle and design shop, with Johan Olzon in 2013. It’s an airy space that sells sustainably produced basics and homeware. The products that they don’t make themselves are well sourced from craftsmen who are among the best in their respective fields.
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Christian Wolmar
Journalist and transport analyst
Wolmar is an award-winning writer and broadcaster, and the author of a series of books on railway history, including Stagecoach, The Subterranean Railway and Engines of War. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and railway events, and regularly appears on TV and radio.
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David Allemann
Co-founder
On
On was founded in Zürich in 2010 with the intention of reinventing the running shoe and inspires a loyal following in more than 50 countries. With a background at McKinsey & Company and as CMO of Vitra, Allemann is an entrepreneur who considers himself to be at the intersection of business and creativity.
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Katja Weber
Events entrepreneur
Katja Weber started her career as a financial consultant but since 2009 has been the driving force behind an array of events such as Zürich’s Frau Gerolds Garten, which provides a retail space for young designers and has quickly become a summer destination, and Zürich’s largest Christmas market.
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Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
Founder and president
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo is a contemporary-art collection that its founder began in 1995; today there is also an exhibition venue in Turin. Sandretto Re Rebaudengo herself plays a leading role on the international contemporary-art scene as a board member for venues that include Moma, the Tate Gallery and Philadelphia’s Museum of Art.
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Markus Albers
Author and entrepreneur
Rethink, Neuwork
Albers is a writer, consultant and entrepreneur living in Berlin. He is co-founder and managing partner at Rethink as well as co-founder of Neuwork. His books include Meconomy, Rethinking Luxury and Digital Fatigue, and he hosts workshops based on their topics.
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Tom Hodgkinson
Editor and author
The Idler
Tom Hodgkinson is editor of The Idler magazine and author of six books including How to be Idle, How to be Free and Business for Bohemians. From 2011 to 2016 he and his partner ran a bookshop, café and arts centre. They now run The Idler Academy of Philosophy, Husbandry and Merriment, which offers online courses and live events.
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Stacey Boyd
Founder and CEO
Olivela
Stacey Boyd founded Olivela, a luxury retailer with “doing good” built into every transaction, in 2017. The idea came to her after a trip to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. More than 200 luxury brands are now a part of Olivela, with sales helping to support girls’ education worldwide.
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David Marquardt
Partner
Mach Architektur
After training at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Marquardt spent several years working for top architects in Berlin and Paris. Since he launched Mach with Jan Fischer in 2000, their team has worked on more than 350 projects around the world.
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Dr Andreas Ritter
Lawyer
Ritter & Partner Rechtsanwälte
Ritter founded his own law firm in 2001. Specialising in art and entertainment law, he advises companies in the creative industries as well as private collections and public institutions. Ritter is also a board member of several companies and an author. He recently co-founded the Kunstforum Zürich.
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Winy Maas
Co-founder
MVRDV
Maas is one of the co-founding directors of MVRDV in Rotterdam, known for projects such as Expo 2000, the Crystal Houses in Amsterdam, and the Seoullo 7017 Skygarden in Seoul. Maas is also director of The Why Factory, a research institute he founded in 2008 at TU Delft. He is visiting professor at Columbia GSAPP in New York and Illinois Institute of Technology.
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Luzi Bernet
Editor in chief
NZZ am Sonntag
Bernet is editor in chief of NZZ am Sonntag. He has previously been head of the newsroom, head of the Zürich section and deputy editor in chief at Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and editor in chief at Zürichsee-Zeitung.
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Luca Camponovo and Marianne Baumgartner
Founders
Camponovo Baumgartner Architekten
Architects Camponovo and Baumgartner formed Camponovo Baumgartner Architekten in Zürich in 2014. The office has gone on to win several national and international awards.
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Richard Hoechner
Co-founder
Republik
Zürich-based online magazine Republik was founded in 2017 with a world-record breaking crowdfunding campaign, and launched in January 2018. As co-founder and head of community relations, Hoechner is focusing on crafting meaningful relationships with members and pursuing new forms of community engagement in journalism.
