Global Sustainability Summit

Jean-Pascal Tricoire is the Chairman of Schneider Electric. He previously served as COO of Schneider from 2003, CEO from 2006 to 2013, and Chairman and CEO from 2013 to 2023. Under Jean-Pascal's leadership, Schneider has transformed and become a technology company leading in software, sustainability, digitization, and electrification. As CEO, he redefined the company's purpose and technology portfolio, quadrupling Schneider's revenues across its balanced geographical footprint. 

Jean-Pascal joined Schneider Electric in 1986 and held various positions across France, Italy, China, South Africa, the United States and Hong Kong. In 2001, he first joined the company's Executive Committee to take charge of Schneider's international division. 

Jean-Pascal also serves as an independent director on the board of Qualcomm. He is a director of the worldwide board of the United Nations Global Compact, a United Nations #HeForShe Corporate IMPACT champion and a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum as well as the Asia Business Council. He is also a member of the board of trustees of Northeastern University. 

Jean-Pascal is a member of the International Advisory Council of the Singapore Economic Development Board and a member of the advisory councils of Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. He led the France-China Business Council from 2009 to 2019. He is a Knight of the Legion of Honor and an Officer of the National Order of Merit in France.  

Dr. Arunabha Ghosh is an international public policy expert, author, columnist, and institution builder. He is the founder-CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, and has led CEEW to the top ranks as one of Asia's leading policy research institutions and among the world's 20 best climate think-tanks. He played a formative role in creating the International Solar Alliance and was a founding board member of the Clean Energy Access Network. Co-author/editor of four books and with experience in 45 countries, he previously worked at Princeton, Oxford, UNDP (New York), and WTO (Geneva).  

Dr. Ghosh currently serves on the Government of India's G20 Finance Track Advisory Group for India's G20 Presidency in 2023. Most recently, the UN Secretary-General appointed him to the High-level Expert Group on the Credibility and Accountability of Net-Zero Announcements by Non-State Actors. In 2018, the UN Secretary-General nominated him to the UN Committee for Development Policy, re-nominating him this year for a second term until December 2024. In 2020, the Government of India appointed him Co-Chair of the energy, environment and climate change track for India's Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP2020). He has also been appointed the Co-Chair of the T20 Task Force on climate and energy for Indonesia's G20 Presidency in 2022. He is co-Chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Clean Air, a member of the international high-level panel of the Environment of Peace initiative, and serves on the Board of ClimateWorks Foundation.

Anshu Gupta, the Founder of Goonj, is a pioneering social entrepreneur who has reshaped the development sector in India by prioritizing the dignity and agency of marginalized communities. For over 25 years, Goonj has bridged urban-rural inequalities by repurposing urban waste into a powerful tool for rural development. Under Anshu's leadership, Goonj has developed a unique barter system, transforming surplus materials from cities into a form of currency that empowers rural communities and addresses their overlooked needs. This approach has not only provided essential resources but also fostered a sense of self-reliance and dignity among the recipients. 

Recognized globally for his innovative approach, Anshu has been honored as an Ashoka and Schwab Fellow and listed among India's most influential social entrepreneurs by Forbes. He received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2015 for his creative vision in transforming the culture of giving in India. Through Goonj, Anshu has initiated large-scale disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts across India, using every crisis as an opportunity to bring attention and resources to neglected communities. 

Beyond disaster relief and rehabilitation, which Goonj has conducted extensively across India, Anshu's work focuses on changing the narrative around poverty and development. He challenges the traditional labels of ‘helpless' or ‘poor' and emphasizes the capabilities and potential of every individual, advocating for a model of development that is inclusive and empowering. 

Anshu is currently focused on replicating Goonj's model globally, aiming to address social and economic inequities by fostering deeper engagement with the issues faced by underserved communities. He is a sought-after speaker at national and international forums, where he passionately shares his vision for a development model that upholds human dignity and shifts the narrative from charity to empowerment. 

Franziska Ohnsorge is the World Bank Chief Economist for South Asia. In this role, she is responsible for leading the research program on key economic issues in South Asia to inform the policy debate and World Bank lending. Before starting this position, she was the Manager at the Development Economics Vice Presidency where she spearheaded the flagship Global Economic Prospects report.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Franziska Ohnsorge worked in the Office of the Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and at the International Monetary Fund. Her research has been featured in peer-reviewed journals as well as policy publications and has covered a wide range of topics in international macroeconomics and finance, including debt and financial crises, inflation and monetary policy, as well as growth and informal labor markets.

Her work has been widely cited, including in the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times.

She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. 

Dr. Shameen Prashantham is a Professor of International Business and Strategy and Associate Dean (MBA) at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, China. Prior to joining CEIBS, he taught at Nottingham University Business School (NUBS) China and the University of Glasgow. He pursued doctoral and post-doctoral research at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland. 
 
Dr. Prashantham is best known for his work on partnering between large corporations and startups – which he refers to as “dancing with gorillas.” This focus evolved from his extensive research on new venture internationalization. He is also interested in strategy-as-practice and is currently focused on partnerships that contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  
 
His latest book, Gorillas Can Dance: Lessons from Microsoft and Other Corporations on Partnering with Startups, offers managers in large corporations a proven guide to partnering and collaborating with startups to improve innovation by delivering the “where,” “why,” and “how” of corporation-startup partnerships. His academic research has also been published in journals such as Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management Studies and Organization Studies. 

Kevin Chuah is an Assistant Professor of International Business & Strategy at Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business and a Research Fellow at the Wharton ESG Initiative. Kevin's research interests relate to corporate governance, corporate sustainability, and responsible investment. Specifically, his research examines how shareholder activism influences firms' strategies in relation to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Before academia, Kevin had an extensive career in the investment management industry.

He was a portfolio manager at BlackRock within the Multi-Asset Strategies group. Kevin previously held portfolio management roles at Man AHL and First Sentier Investors.

Kevin holds a PhD in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from London Business School, an MSc in Statistics (Research) from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales, where he was a UNSW Co-op Program scholar. 

Maria Ivanova is the Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. She focuses on international environmental institutions, environmental sustainability, and the science-policy interface. The author of The Untold Story of the World's Leading Environmental Institution: UNEP at Fifty (MIT Press 2021), she has published on global environmental governance, climate change, and the Sustainable Development Goals, among other topics. Her work has appeared in Nature, Sustainability, Ethics & International Affairs, Global Policy, Global Environmental Politics, Global Governance, and elsewhere.

Maria's scholarly focus encompasses the performance of international institutions, the implementation of international environmental agreements, and sustainability. Her current research examines national performance on international environmental conventions, and she actively collaborates with countries in East Africa.

Maria served for 12 years at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she co-created the PhD program in Global Governance and Human Security and launched the Center for Governance and Sustainability.

In June 2022, she was named one of 66 inaugural Foundation Fellows of the International Science Council, the highest honor awarded by the Council in recognition of remarkable contributions to the role of science in promoting the global public good. She was a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) member of the Global Commission on Science Missions for Sustainability.

Maria is also an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, a member of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and an Ambassador for Transparency International. She was a Research Scholar at the Center for Collective Intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on the Sustainability Advisory Council at Yale University, and on the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative Advisory Group.

Aayushi Mishra is a PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Engineering program within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University. She is the recipient of the inaugural Mary Elizabeth “Lizzy” Warner '22 Fellowship, an honor established by the department and supported by a generous donation from alumnus Evan Kodra, PhD '18, in memory of Lizzy Warner. Aayushi conducts research in Professor Auroop Ganguly's Sustainability and Data Sciences Laboratory (SDS Lab), focusing on critical issues in environmental engineering and policy.

Aayushi holds a bachelor's degree in biology and environmental studies from Mount Holyoke College and a master's in environmental science and policy from Columbia University. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she worked as an environmental scientist and proposal writer at a consulting firm, where she applied her expertise to real-world environmental challenges. In 2021, she was awarded the prestigious GreenBiz Emerging Leader Award and will attend their VERGE conference in California this fall.

Her research interests include the study of drinking water contaminants, particularly per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), water infrastructure degradation, environmental justice, and climate policy. Aayushi is also drawn to the broader interdisciplinary opportunities at Northeastern, citing initiatives such as AI4CaS, the Global Resilience Institute, and the Roux Institute as key factors in her decision to join the university.

Divya Chandra is a Senior Associate Research Scholar at the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, where she draws on over a decade of accounting expertise and practical finance experience to develop financial tools that integrate sustainability into the core operations of enterprises. At the Center, she utilizes the innovative Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI) methodology to create open-source repositories of best-in-class sustainability practices in food and agriculture, and healthcare decarbonization. Her work includes developing case studies and financial models that highlight the financial benefits of sustainable business practices.

Divya's commitment to providing stakeholders with a holistic understanding of a company's impact on society and the environment led her to contribute to the Impact Weighted Accounts Initiative at Harvard Business School, where she helped develop a forward thinking accounting framework designed to measure corporate impact.

She holds a Master of International Business from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, where she was recognized as an Emerging Markets Scholar, and is a Chartered Accountant from India. Beyond her professional work, Divya mentors high school girls in remote regions of Uttarakhand, India, and fosters a global community of Chartered Accountants by serving on the Managing Committee of the New England chapter in the U.S. She also served on the Board of Saheli Boston, a nonprofit addressing domestic violence, for five years.

Ravi Ramamurti is an expert on strategy and innovation in emerging markets.
He is University Distinguished Professor of International Business & Strategy
and Founding Director of the Center for Emerging Markets at Northeastern University.

Ravi obtained his BSc (Physics) from Delhi University, his MBA from the Indian
Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), where he received the Gold Medal for
graduating at the top of his class, and his doctorate in business administration
from Harvard Business School, where he was awarded the HBS Dissertation
Fellowship.

Besides Northeastern, Ravi has been a visiting professor of business administration at Harvard
Business School, at the Wharton School of the U. of Pennsylvania, and at the MIT-Sloan School of
Management. He has also taught at Tufts University's Fletcher School, the China-Europe International
Business School in Shanghai, and IMD-Switzerland. Prior to academia, Ravi worked as a Consultant to
the Indian Planning Commission, as executive assistant to the CEO of India's largest engineering
company, and as a UN Adviser to Bangladesh and South Korea.

Ravi is recognized as a leading thinker in the field of global strategy and innovation in emerging markets.
For his “outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of international business” Ravi was
elected a Fellow of the Academy of International Business in 2008. A survey ranked him among the top
1% of all scholars in his field. He is the author of eight books, including three published by Cambridge
University Press and one by Harvard Business Review Press. He was elected in 2007 as president of the
Academy of Management's International Management Division. In 2017, The Globals, based out of
London, honored Ravi for being the “most innovative thinker on strategy and innovation in emerging
markets in the world.” He is a six-time winner of the ADL Prize for Professor of the Year based on his
excellence as a teacher.