CEO of Aira

Henrik Henriksson is CEO of H2 Green Steel, a Swedish industrial impact startup which is investing in a large-scale facility for production of green steel in northern Sweden. Prior to that Henriksson was President and CEO of Scania, where he led the shift towards more sustainable transport systems. During his 24 years at Scania, he held several positions within the commercial area of the company including Senior Vice President for Scania Trucks and four years as Export Director at Scania South Africa in Johannesburg. Henriksson is a Board Member of AB Electrolux, Hexagon AB, Creades AB and SAAB AB. Henriksson is also co-author of the book ‘Sustainability Leadership: A Swedish Approach to Transforming your Company’, your Industry and the World, and he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration.

Aurora James, author of widely acclaimed memoir, Wildflower, Creative Director and Founder of luxury accessories brand Brother Vellies, vice chair member of the CFDA, and founder of the non-profit advocacy organization, Fifteen Percent Pledge, has long worked to make the global economy a more equitable place for historically excluded groups.

Founded in 2013, Brother Vellies began with the mission of keeping traditional African design practices and techniques alive. The brand supports artisan communities around the world, creating timeless pieces that celebrate different cultural histories and honor the individuals that make them through fair labor practices and job creation. The first Brother Vellies collection was a single style of vellies that Aurora sold at the Hester Street Fair in New York. Today, Brother Vellies has expanded into handbags and other accessories categories, including a home goods subscription service, Something Special, and continues to support artisan communities around the world. While no longer sold at the Hester Street Fair, Brother Vellies is sold online at BrotherVellies.com, and at retailers such as Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, and more.

In June 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Aurora founded the Fifteen Percent Pledge, a non-profit advocacy organization that has created a call to action that urges companies and individuals to make a long-term commitment to increased diversity and representation across their business practices and buying habits. Since its founding, the Pledge has signed 28 pledge takers including Nordstrom, Vogue, InStyle, Sephora U.S. and Canada, generated over $12 billion of revenue for Black-owned businesses and helped 625 companies launch their products with pledge takers.

In recognition of her work with Brother Vellies, Aurora was a winner in the 2015 edition of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and was previously nominated for two CFDA Awards for Emerging Talent.This year, Aurora was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, nominated for the CFDA American Accessories Designer of the Year award and will receive the CFDA Founder’s Award for her work with the Fifteen Percent Pledge.

Jessica Alba is a Golden Globe Award-nominated actress, advocate, bestselling author, and Founder of The Honest Company and Honest Beauty.  Jessica gained worldwide recognition in James Cameron’s “Dark Angel,” and she has made over 25 feature films that have earned a combined box office total of over $800 million, including “Fantastic Four” and “Sin City.”  She and Gabrielle Union starred in and executive produced the action-packed drama series, “L.A.’s Finest.”  She is Founder of The Honest Company, is a mission-driven, digitally-native brand focused on leading the clean lifestyle movement, creating a community for conscious consumers and seeking to disrupt multiple consumer product categories. Since its launch in 2012, Honest has been dedicated to creating thoughtfully formulated, safe and effective personal care, beauty, baby and household products.  In 2013, Jessica released her first book, the New York Times bestseller, The Honest Life, a how-to handbook based on her mission to create a natural, authentic and non-toxic life for her family.  Upcoming projects include the Netflix feature, “Trigger Warning” (working title) “Confessions on the 7:45,” a series she will produce and star in for Netflix and “Honest Renovations,” which she will executive produce and host with Lizzy Mathis for Roku, premiering later this year and has already been renewed for a second season.

Next up, she will star in and executive produce the feature film, “Flash Before the Bang.”  Jessica’s activism endeavors are extensive, and her passion for social justice, particularly for women and children, has led to several trips to Capitol Hill.  She is on the board of directors of Baby2Baby, which provides low-income children and families with diapers, clothing and basic necessities every child deserves.

Malala Yousafzai began her activism at age 11 when she anonymously blogged about life under the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, particularly the ban on girls’ education. She soon began advocating publicly, giving speeches and interviews and attracting international media attention and awards.

At age 15, she was shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out. After many months of surgery and rehabilitation in the United Kingdom, she founded Malala Fund with her father Ziauddin. A year later, Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work for education and equality.

Malala graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in 2020. She is the best-selling author of three books and president of Extracurricular Productions, a film and television company.

Hans Vestberg is chairman and chief executive officer of Verizon, the world’s largest wireless, fiber-optic and global information networks and services company. In 2017, Hans served as Verizon’s chief technology officer and president of Global Networks, responsible for developing the architecture for Verizon’s fiber-centric networks. He was appointed CEO in August 2018 and Chairman of Verizon’s Board of Directors in March 2019. Hans has transformed Verizon’s business, leading the company to be first in the world to deploy 5G home and mobile technology including the nationwide launch of 5G Ultra Wideband and Fixed Wireless Access. Before joining Verizon, Hans served for six years as president and CEO of Ericsson, a multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Sweden.

Hans is a founding member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Broadband Commission for Digital Development, where he has led climate-change and digital-health initiatives. He is a board member of BlackRock, the UN Foundation, the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative, and is Co-Chair of the New Jersey CEO Council, a coalition of leaders from the state’s largest companies. Hans chairs The World Economic Forum’s EDISON Alliance for digital inclusion, which aims to impact 1 billion lives with affordable and accessible digital solutions by 2025. He is past chairman of the Swedish Olympic Committee and a current member of the Leadership Council of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network, where he helped author the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Born in Hudiksvall, Sweden, Hans earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Uppsala in Sweden. He is married with two children and is fluent in Swedish, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Mattias is the CEO of Cellcolabs, a biotech company specializing in industrial production of high-quality stem cells in order to make them available at scale. Mattias holds an MD from Karolinska and an MSc from Stockholm School of Economics. He has worked both as a physician in the ER at Karolinska University Hospital and as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group before starting his first company in digiphysical health. Even as CEO during his vacations he still stays clinically active at one of the finest healthcare centers on the Swedish west coast. This gives him perspective on the greater goal of Cellcolabs and a way to stay in touch with fellow healthcare staff and patients.

Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces

Adriana Cisneros, CEO of Cisneros, blends tradition with innovation as a third-generation family business owner. With a passion for emerging trends she successfully navigates the ever-changing business landscape while staying true to her core values. Cisneros Real Estate, Cisneros Interactive and Cisneros Media are the three divisions of her company.

Adriana is also actively involved in philanthropy through the Fundación Cisneros, focused on improving education access in Latin America.

Adriana’s board memberships include AST & Science, where Cisneros is an investor, Mattel, Inc., Parrot Analytics, the Knight Foundation, and Paley Center for Media. She holds degrees from Columbia University and New York University, and she is a Henry Crown Fellow and a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development (PLD – 2010).

George’s environmental career started when he produced the award winning feature documentary ‘The End of The Line’ which alerted the world to the crisis in our oceans. The film was recognised for its enormous success with the 2011 Puma Creative Impact Award.

He then co-founded The Blue Marine Foundation which has directly protected over 4,500,000 km2 of ocean. The Blue Marine Foundation was instrumental in establishing the largest no-take marine reserve in the world around Chagos and many other reserves, including around Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha in the Atlantic.

With over forty active projects from the Sea of Cortez to the Caspian, and rapidly growing in size, BLUE is leading global efforts to create the “blue belt”- a network of marine reserves in the UK Overseas Territories around the world. This has been described as “the greatest environmental commitment by any government ever.”

Blue Marine – with Exeter University – has begun the Convex Seascape Survey – a global survey to quantify the amount of carbon stored on a healthy seabed. This critical project could play a decisive role in the fight to stop runaway global heating.

George is a Founding Partner and Chief Impact Officer at the Impact Investment fund Ocean 14 Capital, a €200m growth equity fund addressing the UN’s Global Goal 14 – Life Below Water.  Ocean 14 Capital is investing in sustainable aquaculture, fisheries, plastic solutions, and the development of seaweed and alternative proteins, all to generate health in the ocean.

George is an award-winning wildlife photographer and holds a BA from Harvard University.