Mark Allen, Pepperdine University, USA
Mark Allen, Ph.D is an educator, executive, speaker and author who currently serves as the Director of Executive Education at Pepperdine University. He is responsible for designing and delivering executive education programs. In that capacity he is in charge of the University’s Corporate University Partnerships program and has developed alliances between Pepperdine and corporations throughout the United States. He is also the editor and co-author of The Corporate University Handbook published in 2002 and the Next Generation of Corporate Universities in 2007. As an internationally-recognized authority, he is a popular speaker and has published and presented research on corporate universities and non-traditional higher education.

José Ángel Fernández Izard, GAS NATURAL FENOSA - Spain
Director for Spain and Latin America
Civil Engineer (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid).
Master in Energy Business (Spanish Institute of Energy-Enerclub-1986).
PDD for Euroforum/INSEAD (1992) and PDG for IESE Business School (2003)
Started his professional career at UNION FENOSA with responsibility in technical areas.
Joined Human Resources unit in 1990 as head of Training Department.
In 1997 became Professional Development Manager.
Member of the Steering Committee of CLIP (Corporate Learning Improvement Process) led by the European Foundation for Management Development.
The UNION FENOSA Corporate University runs the selection, training, assessment and performance management processes for the whole UNION FENOSA Group, with a team of 50 associates and a budget of 26 millions € per year.

Chris Hardy, DAU, USA
Chris Hardy, Ph.D., Director, Plans, Policy, and Leadership Support, is the Strategic Planner for the Defense Acquisition University, an award-winning corporate university serving a 128,000 corporate workforce. As such, Dr. Hardy helps set the direction for the university and recently implemented an in-depth strategic planning system to rapidly transform the DAU into a Premier Corporate University serving the Department of Defense. Included in this transformation is a unique enterprise-wide, performance based planning system supported by a technology drive business and learning analytic infrastructure that have repeatedly been recognized as a best-in-class practices throughout the public and private sectors. Dr. Hardy has a Ph.D. in Adult and Continuing Education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Prior to his current position, he served both in government and recently private industry becoming Vice President, INNOLOG, Inc., a Global Supply Chain Logistics Company headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

Srikantan Moorthy, Vice President and Head of Education & Research (E&R) with Infosys (India)
Srikantan Moorthy - known as Tan to friends and colleagues is a Vice President and Head of Education & Research (E&R) with Infosys. Tan has more than 24 years of experience in the Information Technology based Professional Services Industry. He spent 12 of those years working in the US during which time he gained hands-on experience in strategy formulation, operations management and talent development.
Tan started his career as a software engineer and has worked on a variety of computing platforms working on both systems and applications programming. Tan has played multiple roles including those of a division General Manager and Client Partner working with Fortune 500 clients. During his tenure at Infosys, Tan managed client delivery for a large business unit managing projects worth over two hundred million dollars with a team of more than 4000 people.
As head of Education and Research at Infosys, Tan's primary responsibility is talent development through competency building. The residential 19 week training for fresh engineers joining Infosys is a key program run by Infosys E&R. Over 15,000 fresh engineers go through this program every year. The certification program of E&R is aimed at renewal of competencies of experienced professionals in the organization. More than a 100,000 assessments are conducted annually as part of this program. Infosys Campus Connect (which is also run by E&R) partners with over 500 engineering colleges in India and provides interventions to raise the employability of graduating engineering students.
Tan has a passion for people development and has been involved in the competency development initiatives at Infosys. He is part of the Infosys Competency Council. Tan is also a member of the Professional Development Committee of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), and is on the board of IUCEE (Indo US Collaboration for Engineering Education).
Tan has a Bachelor's in Engineering from Bangalore University.

Josée Ouellet, Mouvement Desjardins (Québec) - Canada
Josée Ouellet is Vice-President, Organizational and Personal Development and Cooperative Network Support.

She is MANAGER with solid experience in all aspects of management, especially customer service, operations, project management, human resources development, budgets and financial control, as well as strategic planning and change management.
Distinctions
Earned the 2001 Girardin-Vaillancourt award from Fondation Desjardins for her excellent results
Entered on the honour roll of the Faculty of Administration at Université Laval for the year 2002-2003
Training and improvement
2003 MBA (Management) - Université Laval
1984 Bachelor's in Administration (Finance) - Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
1981 Diploma of Collegial Studies (DCS) in Administration - Cégep Saint-Félicien
Involvement
Club ressources humaines - Québec City region
Human Resources Planning Society
Association des MBA du Québec
Association des femmes en finance du Québec.

Sash Padayachee, Landmark Group, United Arab Emirates
Sash Padayachee it General Manager, Group Learning & Development at Landmark Group in Dubai. He is responsible for devising and implementing Group
Learning Strategy, including development of Learning Teams across GCC.
Establishing evaluation and QA mechanisms to ensure delivery standards are improved. Managing content development and related processes.
Sash has been involved in the Fashion industry for over 27 years. His interest in the sector was developed at an early age when he used to assist his father selling clothing from a car boot at the age of 6. His great grandfather arrived in South Africa in the 1890’s and was a ‘dhobi wala’ -washerman. His grandfather later expanded the business with industrial washing machines. His father, Shunmugam served an apprenticeship with a tailor and later became a machinist in a clothing factory. However during the apartheid era management positions were reserved for Whites only and his father toiled for over 30 years before becoming head of production for Pierre Cardin suits in South Africa.
Sash showed an early interest in art and studied fashion design. He also holds a degree in Retail from Newport University USA. He first worked in clothing factories as a designer. Sash then joined retail as a warehouse supervisor. He also served as retail supervisor, store manager, area manager, merchandise planner, buyer , divisional operations manager, Head of the Edcon Retail Academy RSA and now GM Learning and Development in Landmark Group. He has worked in South Africa, Botswana and UAE. He counts his exciting role in the opening of Max with Landmark Group as one of his career
highlights together with the establishment of the Landmark Group Retail School .
Sash is passionate about the sector noting that his family has been washing, manufacturing, designing, buying and selling clothes in the last 120 years.
Sash remains committed to the cause of human transformation by empowering people to strive and deliver thereby adding value to lives that we touch. He is currently engaged with establishing Retail Academies in the Middle East to promote job creation through skills development with a focus on women empowerment.

Ricardo Salomão, formerly Dean at Petrobras University (Brazil)

Jean Pfeifer, UBS, Switzerland
Jean is a seasoned learning professional with international exposure and a long experience in the financial services business. He worked 10 years in UBS' core business (Wealth Management) before joining Learning & Development, where he was successively Advisory Program Director, Senior Manager in the UBS Global Learning Strategy, Project Manager at the UBS Wealth Management Campus Asia-Pacific in Singapore, CLO of UBS Japan in Tokyo and now Talent Manager in the Business Area LAMMA (Latin America, Canada, Europe, Middle-East and Africa). He founded in 2004 the Geneva Learning Managers Roundtable, organization gathering some 25 learning managers of MNCs to share very hands-on best practices. Jean is fluent in French, German and English. He holds a BBA (Lausanne), MA in Business Economic (UC Berkeley), a Master of Advanced Studies in Human Systems Engineering (Univ. of Applied Sciences, Lausanne) and the Swiss Advanced Federal Diploma in Corporate Education. He also eagerly teaches and share knowledge on various topics for business schools and organizations besides his work.

Isabelle QUAINON - VEOLIA Environnement - France
After a first job in a recruitment agency, Isabelle QUAINON joined Veolia Environnement in 1992 as head of management training at the CGEA (environmental services and transportation). Then she was a member of the team that created the Urban Environment Institute, now called Campus Veolia Environnement. She also acted as head of training for Veolia Transport.
In 2003, she decided to expand her career options with operational experience. For three years she led a transportation network in the Greater Paris area. In 2006 Isabelle QUAINON became HR Director for the Paris Suburbs region of Veolia Water, where she contributed to the work that led to the renewal of the contract with SEDIF. During the same period, she took on the coordination of HR for the Ile-de-France (Greater Paris Veolia) concession.
In 2011, Jean-Marie Lambert (Senior Executive Vice-President and Human Resources Director of Veolia Environnement) asked her to take charge of training and supervise the network of Veolia Campuses. As from December 1rst 2011, Isabelle QUAINON is appointed as Training Director of Veolia Environnement and deputy of the HR CEO.

Filippo Romanini, Barilla - Italy
Head of Barilla Lab for Knowledge & Innovation, Corporate University of Barilla.
Filippo is passionate about learning and organizational dynamics and cultural change, and this current position offers him the possibility to put passion at work. Before joining the Barilla Lab, still within the same Company, Filippo covered several positions: first Packaging Innovation, then member of the Innovation Team, a multifunctional project run with the support of Gary Hamel’s consultancy firm, and finally Innovation Practices Development manager, in charge of boosting the innovation capability of the company through direct support to business projects. During this career path across the organization, Filippo had the chance to learn all languages in the Company, an ability that makes him a relevant partner also in his new function, dedicated to Learning and Development, Knowledge Management, Cultural Identity and Evolution at global level.
Before joining Barilla, Filippo worked at TetraPak, where he developed his skills and knowledge in Technical Packaging and Consumer and Market Understanding. When quitting TetraPak, Filippo was head of the Packaging Development Unit, a global function in charge of all product performance analysis and development.
Filippo graduated first in Nuclear Engineering (La Sapienza University, Rome), and then, in Social Sciences (Alma Mater Studiorum, Bologna). He’s a marathin runner and loves reading both fiction and essays, always keeping a glance at possible implications for life, both private and professional.

Christian STANDAERT - ArcelorMittal
Christian Standaert is General Manager of ArcelorMittal University, the corporate university of the world’s leading steel company with 280,000 employees in over 60 countries.
Born in 1959, he graduated in 1982 as a metallurgical engineer from the University of Gent and joined Sidmar, now ArcelorMittal Gent, in 1983 as a project engineer in the process modelling department. He obtained an additional master in Industrial Engineering in 1990.
He occupied different positions in the group, merely in the field of research and development and quality management in Gent (Sidmar and OCAS), Bremen (Stahlwerke Bremen) and Paris (Arcelor R&D).
Since 1996, Christian Standaert is visiting professor at the University of Gent, Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
In 2005 he was appointed Director of Arcelor University in Luxemburg and since the merger of Arcelor and Mittal Steel into ArcelorMittal in 2006, he is responsible for the corporate university of the new company.
The corporate university offers programmes in leadership and management, in functional expertise and languages.
Christian Standaert is also leading ArcelorMittal’s Learning Council, that supports the local and regional training centres worldwide and is member of the Education and Training Committee of the World Steel Association.

Annette Thompson, Farmers, USA
Senior Vice President, Farmers - Chief Learning Officer
Annette is a graduate of Iowa State University. She has worked for Farmers since 1984 in various capacities including underwriting, policy processing, research and development, pricing, product, marketing and sales before assuming her role as an officer with Farmers in 1996. Her initial assignment was as a Assistant Vice President of a Service Center with the responsibility for the internal service operations for a six state operating area. Her next assignment was as a State Executive responsible for the business results in the state of Ohio, including the growth in distribution, sales, and profit. In her next move to Vice President Marketing Operations, she had responsibility for the marketing operations for Farmers which included responsibility for the training and development for the 30,000 Farmers agents, district managers, and their staff.
Annette was successful in reengineering learning and development at Farmers. In 2004, she launched the University of Farmers. Annually over 4,000 individuals attend the University. In addition, annually there are over 500,000 hits to the 700 web-based courses contained on the University of Farmers Online. Most importantly, the results from the curriculums created through the University of Farmers are being recognized within Farmers for their ability to drive organizational results.
The University of Farmers has also been recognized in the industry. Since inception in 2004, the University of Farmers has been recognized with over 30 awards from the American Society for Training Development, Corporate University Exchange, Chief Learning Officer Magazine, and Corporate University Best in Class. Many of these awards have been centered in the area of Measurement and Evaluation based on the University’s ability to deliver solid organizational results for Farmers. In 2007, the University of Farmers received the Best Overall Corporate University (CUX) award and Annette received the Corporate Leader of the Year (CUBIC) award. In September of 2008 Annette was recognized by Chief Learning Officer Magazine, receiving the Gold Medal in Leadership.

Jenny Yan Xiaozhen joined Motorola in 1994 as manager of government and university relations, followed as Site manager of Motorola University TJ, operation manager of MU China, Senior manager of MU China and Director of Motorola University China and MU Asia Operation, Also Director of Asia Inclusion & Diver- sity. Has joined HP China as Co-president of China HP University, Dean of Business School and Dean of Quality/Supply China Management School in March of 2011. Has got more than 18 years rich experience and knowledge on education/ training & development, human resource development, leadership development, Corp U and six sigma improvement system, has been certified as Motorola Green Belt. Has been certified as Coach/Consultant by Global Harrison Assessment Center. Has been certified as Senior Consultant by Global Balance Scorecard Institute. Has been trained as Consultant by Global Hogan Assessment Center. Board member of Asia/China Corp U Association. Jenny has received the Ph.D. Degree from one of top ten -- University of Reading, UK.

Jeffrey Krebs assumed the role of Director of Microsoft China University in November, 2010. As Director, Jeffrey oversees university functions in partnership with the Academy deans and is the primary point of accountability to executive leadership. Jeffrey engages with partners across Microsoft’s learning and development community to support alignment and integration of corporate programs with Microsoft China University, ensuring our employees receive the developmental support they need for success in their role and career. Microsoft China University delivers learning and development programs across all employees in region, and sales and technical readiness programs to our partner companies in China.
Jeffrey joined Microsoft in 1998 and came to Beijing in early 2006 to establish the Engineering Excellence team in China in 2006 in partnership with the Asia-Pacific R&D Senior Leadership Team to assist in the development of R&D engineering capability through expanded employee development and engineering system consulting programs. He worked in Microsoft Engineering Excellence for more than 7 years in various roles including global engineering discipline management from headquarters. Prior to that, Jeffrey worked on development of Exchange Server, SQL Server and other server products. Before joining Microsoft, Jeffrey worked in Japan and Seattle in hardware and software development companies for both consumer and industrial applications. Throughout his career, Jeffrey has combined his passions for technology and its benefit to customers with a focus on international business.
Jeffrey lives in Beijing with his wife and two daughters (15 and 13 years old). He enjoys sampling the wide variety of Chinese and other Asian foods, hiking and photography.

Desiê Ribeiro, General Manager of Education and People Development at Vale, distinguished herself with more than 15 years experience working in education, talent management and organizational development processes.
Before joining Vale, she worked more than 10 years in the biggest airline company in Brazil where she redesigned the travel chain process. Desiê also created the Varig style of service which focuses on improving the quality of service by reviewing the recruiting, training, communication and recognition processes.
At Vale she worked as the organizational development manager in Canada and Brazil, supporting the processes integration. As the general manager, she created the Talent Management department and lead the implementation of a global system for Career and Succession to manage all of Vale´s talents in terms of roles and responsibilities, competencies and performance. This global system improves the identification and preparation of new leaders. Now as the general manager of the Education processes, she is standardizing the Education process in Vale’s operations all over the world and developing educational initiatives to provide a competent workforce for Vale’s operational needs.
Desiê received her master’s in Marketing and Services at IBMEC Business Management School, an MBA at Fundação Dom Cabral and received her bachelor degree in Literature at UFRJ. She enjoys sharing her experience by delivering presentations about Corporate Education and Talent Management around the world in different forums.