Jim Garrison
Jim Garrison is president of Wisdom University and of the Gorbachev Foundation/USA. The latter set the stage for the establishment in 1995 of the State of the World Forum, a global network of leaders dedicated to creating a more sustainable civilization. With President Gorbachev as its convening chairman, the Forum brings leaders from around the world together, and has catalyzed the creation of several independent organizations. Jim was born in China and grew up in Taiwan. After returning to the US, he received a B.A. magna cum laude in World History, a double M.T.S. in Christology and History of Religion from Harvard Divinity School (1975), and a Ph.D. in Philosophical Theology from Cambridge University (1982). He published several books.
Jeremy Black
Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the author of over seventy(!) books, especially on eighteenth century British politics and international relations. In 2008 ‘Great Powers and the Quest for Hegemony. The world order since 1500’ was published, a study of the rise and fall of great powers through the ages. Jeremy graduated from Queens' College, Cambridge, with a starred first and then did postgraduate work at St John's and Merton at Oxford, and then taught at Durham as a professor before moving to Exeter in 1996. He has lectured extensively in Australasia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the U.S. He was awarded an MBE for services to stamp design. He is a gifted speaker with a brilliant mind and a well-founded opinion about nearly everything.
Francine Houben
Francine Houben of Mecanoo is one of the few female architects to have reached a position of eminence. She has many highly appreciated projects to her name, in the Netherlands and abroad. Mecanoo's oeuvre is extremely wide-ranging: houses, schools and complete residential areas, theatres, libraries and skyscrapers, parks, squares and highways, cities, hotels, museums and even a chapel. Francine Houben enjoys interweaving social, technical, playful and humane aspects together to form a unique solution to each situation. Therefore she combines the disciplines of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture in an unconventional way and with sensitivity for light and beauty. Her use of material is expressive. Since 2007 Francine Houben has been a visiting professor at Harvard University. She also lectures internationally and is the author of a book containing her views on architecture.
Twan van de Kerkhof
Twan van de Kerkhof is the chairman of FEL. He founded FEL in 2003 as a forum for leadership professionals. He also is the managing director of the European Leadership Platform, a membership organisation for top executives. Twan was a journalist for 15 years before founding ELP and FEL. From 1999 until 2003, he was Chief Editor of Management Scope, the leading management publication in the Netherlands. Twan has written five books on leadership. He studied economics in Tilburg and Amsterdam.
