Greenbuild China, Human X Nature, the
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Henk Ovink was appointed in 2015 by the Cabinet of the Netherlands as the first Special Envoy for International Water Affairs. As the Ambassador for Water, he is responsible for advocating water awareness around the world, focusing on building institutional capacity and coalitions among governments, multilateral organizations, private sector and NGO’s to address the world’s stressing needs on water and help initiate transformative interventions.

Ovink is also Sherpa to the High Level Panel on Water, installed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and President of the World Bank Jim Kim with 11 Heads of State/Heads of Government including Prime Minister Rutte from the Netherlands to catalyze change in water awareness and implementation.Ovink is Principal for Rebuild by Design, the resilience innovation competition he developed and led for President Obama's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force.

In January 2018 Henk Ovink was awarded for his ‘global water work’ an honorary membership of the Royal Instítute of Engineers of the Netherlands.

Ovink teaches at the University of Groningen, the London School of Economics and at Harvard GSD. His last book “Too Big. Rebuild by Design: A Transformative Approach to Climate Change” explores the recovery work post Hurricane Sandy as an opportunity to learn from.

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Mahesh Ramanujam is proving that building a more sustainable world is no longer a dream, but a global evolution. As president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Green Business Certification, Inc. (GBCI), he leads a community of 13 million people that’s growing every day.

A graduate from India’s Annamalai University with a degree in Computer Engineering, Ramanujam couples a strong background in technology and innovation with his goal of building healthier communities and democratizing sustainable living.

Ramanujam serves on numerous boards and advisory committees, including Bank of America’s National Community Advisory Council and the Board of Directors of GRESB, a private organization wholly owned by GBCI and that is the leading sustainability standard for global real estate portfolios and infrastructure assets.

Before becoming President and CEO of USGBC, Ramanujam served as both the organization’s COO and CIO. Prior to joining GBCI in 2009, he was COO of Emergys Corp., and for more than a decade, he successfully led various business transformation programs at IBM and Lenovo.

Transformative thought programs, partnerships, and initiatives continue to be at the heart of Ramanujam’s work today. He leads hundreds of employees and thousands of volunteers who work tirelessly as the backbone of the green building movement. He believes that sustainable living is not just about the physical building and rebuilding of our communities, but ultimately about our willingness to reimagine the way we treat each other. He envisions a world where construction is as much about compassion as it is about the convenience and efficiency of the structures themselves. And most importantly, behind every strategy, he emphasizes our universal responsibility to prioritize health and wellness, to make a commitment to the longevity of our planet, and to create a better quality of life for ourselves and future generations.

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Sustainability provocateur and cultural protagonist Dr. Leyla Acaroglu challenges people to think differently about how the world works. As an award winning designer, UNEP Champion of the Earth, sociologist, and entrepreneur, she developed the Disruptive Design Method and designs cerebrally activating experiences, gamified toolkits, and unique educational experiences that help people make the status quo obsolete. Her mainstage TED talk on sustainability has been viewed over a million times, and she leads presentations around the world on activating positive social change through creative interventions and systems thinking.

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Claudia has over a decade of experience in CSR and sustainability reporting as well as a decade of marketing and communications experience in the real estate sector. She has held senior positions at New Economics Foundation, AccountAbility and KPMG Sustainability Advisory Services in London. Later she was Marketing Director and Country Franchise owner of Coldwell Banker in Nicaragua and Belize and built several successful businesses powered by content marketing. Claudia holds a MSc. from Imperial College, London.

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Francesca Galeazzi is an architectural engineer with over 19 years’ experience in sustainable development. She currently leads the Sustainability and Energy team of Arup in Berlin. Arup is one of the world’s most prominent engineering consulting firms globally, whose aim is to shape a better world. Francesca has worked in Australia, UK, India, China and Germany. She has extensive expertise in sustainable design at urban and building scale, climate change adaptation and mitigation, urbanisation and social sustainability, design for health and wellbeing, and is one of the first WELL Approved Professionals in Germany. She is a firm believer that the built environment has the potential to enhance the quality of life of entire communities, supporting people to fulfil their potential. She is a regular speaker at international conferences and forums on sustainable architecture and lectures at major Universities in Europe and China.

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Lonneke Löwik was appointed CEO of INREV, the European Association for Investors in Non‐Listed Real Estate Vehicles in December 2017.

Lonneke returned to the association having left to take on new challenges in 2014 having previously held the positions of Director of Research and Market Information, and Director of Professional Standards at INREV between 2009‐2014. In the intervening period, she further widened her deep understanding of the global real assets industry; firstly, through supporting the launch of the Global Infrastructure Investor Association (GIIA), and then serving as Head of Operations for the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). Lonneke has nearly 20 years of experience in the real asset investment industry and holds a MSc. Civil Engineer from the Delft University of Technology and a MSc. European Property Planning and Development from the University College London.

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Marie Sallois is currently the Director of Corporate Development, Brand and Sustainability at the IOC, where she has been working since 2004. Among other things, she is responsible for the IOC Headquarters project, Olympic House, which will open this year. She is also in charge of the implementation of the IOC Sustainability Strategy and the IOC Legacy Strategic Approach, which are core to the Olympic Movement’s strategic roadmap, Olympic Agenda 2020.

Prior to joining the IOC, she had over 10 years of experience in professional services worldwide. She headed the consulting practice of the SchlumbergerSema company, which is still, under the name ATOS, a major technology partner of the Olympic Games. As a management consultant, she led major transformation projects internationally in the public and private sectors for Andersen, Cap-Gemini and Bossard Consultants.

She holds an MBA from IMD and an MSc in Management from HEC Paris, and she remains closely connected with the academic world. She used to row and continues to swim, ski and dive.

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