Our Speakers

Deneece has taught in the Education, Leadership, and Policy program at the University of Utah and is involved in several community boards and committees including the Salt Lake Chamber, EDCUtah, the Women’s Leadership Institute, the Intermountain Community Care Foundation, the International Women’s Forum Utah Chapter and the World Trade Center Utah. Nationally, Dr. Denecee serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Salt Lake City Branch Board of Directors, the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration Steering Committee, and has served as a commissioner and Executive Committee member for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU).

Sam Pitroda would speak on his latest book ‘Redesign the World’ a Global call to action with Nitin Potdar, Founder India Power Talk. His book is a must read for everyone who wants a better planet and people around us based inclusion, human needs, a new economy, conservation and non-violence.

Loretta is a highly skilled banking, financial and consulting professional with over 25 years of experience in financial markets and related sectors. She has a worked for major investment banks at Board, Managing Director or senior management level throughout Asia and South Asia including, RBS India, Macquarie Group India, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Elara Capital India.

Loretta has advised many international banks, global hedge and pension funds on portfolio management and exposure to derivatives and related products. For the last decade, she has been paramount in successful transaction facilitation for foreign investors in India and other emerging markets. Loretta sits on the advisory board of UWS Business School and Blume Ventures India. She is an adjunct fellow at UWS, lifetime fellow of the advisory board of Australian Digital Currency and Commerce Association and holds various advisory positions for multiple tech, biotech and cybersecurity companies. Loretta champions the cause for responsible blockchain adoption with global governments, regulators and industry players. She has been recognized with awards like the FinTech Australia FinTech Leader of 2017, Female leader of 2016 and Sancta Sophia College Alumni Award 2016 for Social Impact.

Miles Hansen is the President & CEO of the World Trade Center Utah, he also draws on his vast experience with the US Department of State working across the Middle East and in the White House. This combination of private- and public-sector work, local and global perspectives, gives him an extraordinary overview of world affairs.

As head of the World Trade Center Utah, which belongs to the World Trade Centers Association headquartered in New York City, Miles has far-reaching responsibilities. The mission of the WTC is to guide Utah companies into profitable global markets. The organization helps companies evaluate their global position and international strategy, and also offers education in the form of seminars and workshops.

Miles’s service with the US State Department of State reaches back many years. In addition, he was Director of Gulf Affairs with the US National Security council from 2017 to 2018. He has published articles on many topics, including mediation and intercultural issues. In addition to his native English, he speaks Arabic, Persian and Russian.

She has also published over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals, six books and multiple book chapters. The awards she has received include Top 100 Women in Crypto, Crypto Curry Club (in 2020), Women in GovTech 2019 Special Report, 10 Digital Frontier Women, UN Decade of Women (in 2018) and UN Decade of Women Quantum Impact Champion (also in 2018).

Throughout her career, Ingrid has held several leadership positions and is a member of numerous prestigious professional organizations. She holds several certifications, such as Bioethics from Harvard, Artificial Intelligence, Business Innovation, Business Strategy, Blockchain Technology from MIT Sloan, Finance and Negotiation from Harvard Law School, Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Ingrid has received many awards and honors for her work over the years. Recently, the World Business Angel Investment Forum recognized her with the World Excellence Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

Bernhard Steinrücke is the Former Director General of the Indo‐German Chamber of Commerce, or IGCC. The IGCC, which was founded in 1956, is headquartered in Mumbai, has six other offices in India.  It also has 17 honorary representatives in smaller towns and cities in India to facilitate better business contacts among Indian and German companies.

It is a highly respected institution in India and Germany, with a team of over 100 qualified professionals. The services the IGCC offers range from business partner searches, support in company formation and legal advice to HR recruitment, trade fairs and training.

Bernhard Steinrücke has been the Director General of the IGCC since 2003 who recently retired. He is also a board member of various Indo‐German and Indian companies.  He studied Law and Economics and received a law degree with distinction.  His involvement with the IGCC began as early as 1993, when he became a Committee Member and Treasurer.

Bernhard has been a Programme Ambassador for the German Chancellor Fellowship since 2013. He has been the World Speaker for the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad since 2016.

Adrian began his academic career as a scholar of urban planning, gender and development and population studies. In 1993, at the age of just nineteen, he set up his first business in India, which brought international students to the country for experiential tours.

In 1992/93 Adrian taught Economics and English at a public school in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He then went on to work with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Slum and Jhuggi Jhopri Division advising on the resettlement of urban slum dwellers to new purpose-built townships and upgrading inner city settlements, where he also developed

Mahila Mandal’s (women’s working group) entrepreneurship programs.

Leveraging his previous experience, Sannam S4 was founded in 2008. The firm was awarded UK-India Consulting Firm of the Year by India Inc. in 2018 and 2019, in recognition of the impact it has on bilateral business ties between the two countries. When the pandemic struck last year, Adrian re-imagined Sannam S4’s future, invested in it’s human capital and talent development, increased the workforce by 20%, and led the company through continued double-digit growth.

SnapIT Solutions is based on the concept of regenerative learning, a term borrowed from thermophysics to indicate a continuous feedback loop.

Aurora is the only Italian fountain pen manufacturer, and one of the few in the world, that creates every part of the pen. This includes even the nib, or tip, which is often made of gold and is the heart of the fountain pen. Aurora also produces exclusive leather goods and watches.

Cesare graduated in economics with honors at 23, and began his work experience outside the family company, undertaking roles in important companies. He joined Aurora in 1993, bringing with him the skills gained in high-profile positions. He began managing marketing and then the export department. After advancing to Managing Director, Cesare then became President and Chief Executive Officer. He’s particularly committed in bringing the culture of writing to a wider audience.

Prior to assuming his position as head of The Climate Reality Project in 2014, Ken was a founder and Executive Vice-President and General Counsel of the Coalition for Green Capital. Prior to that, he headed the Environmental and Climate Change Practices at the international law firm of Skadden, Arps. He holds a Doctorate in Law from Columbia University School of Law.

Dr. Voria has been a National Advisor to the United States Secretary of Commerce for MBDA, a U.S. Federal Agency, to shape future policies and programs that set a foundation for growth and policy making for 8 million Minority /MSMEs of the US , a Trillion dollar economy of the United States.

Dr. Voria served on President George W. Bush’s 2005 Presidential Commission and was awarded a Congressional Medal of Distinction for her outstanding leadership in business and contributions to the United States economy. Also in 2005, The Wall Street Journal honored her as a Business Woman of the Year!! Most importantly Dr. Voria is the recipient of SDG-16 Sustainable Development Goal in the United Nations.

Mihir additionally holds positions on panels with the Greater London Authority and Harrow Council, where he is helping to shape future infrastructure and regeneration within London.

Alongside her expertise in digital sales and marketing, which reaches back many years and includes a key role in building a new digital sales force for Microsoft, Rakhi has a strong passion for advancing women in sales and millennials in business. She regularly shares her thoughts on these topics at conferences and in articles for Forbes, as a member of the Forbes Business Development Council. She currently serves as Executive Co-Chair of Women@IBM NYC, which is focused on attracting, retaining and advancing women.

Rakhi has been featured in several publications, a Top Sales Keynote Speaker in 2020 and a Top Sales Woman to Watch in 2019.

In 2020, Lori launched Digital Gold, a company dedicated to cryptocurrency education, digital change and transformation coaching and consulting as well as change management strategies for brokerages and organizations adopting the new digital economy. This covers digitization of money, contracts, markets and payments. She is also the founder of Innovation RE, which focuses on real estate, digital finance and tokenization.

Lori holds several distinguished degrees, including a Bachelor of Science in Technology from Kent State University and an MBA in Global Management from the University of Phoenix. She offers highly informative online tutorials as well as the interview series Women in Crypto.

Mr. Prabhu Guptara was born and educated in India, currently based in the UK and worked primarily from Switzerland, helping Boards of companies and organizations with strategic, organizational, human resources, and market-related issues.
For over 15 years, he was responsible, at one of the largest banks in the world, for:

• Think Tanks,
• Briefings, and for holding
• The (English-language) Distinguished Speaker Series.

Through these activities, he had the unique job of working with innovative, cutting-edge and otherwise outstanding people throughout the world to identify new ideas that might bring value to the company.

In recognition of his pioneering research contributions in Polymer Science & Engineering, he has been honored as a Fellow of Royal Society, Foreign Fellow of US National Academy of Science as also Engineering, Foreign Associate of American Academy of Arts and Science & Fellow of US National Academy of Inventors.

He has won sixty-plus awards that include the prestigious TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize, Business Week (USA) award of `Stars of Asia & JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award.

Dr. Mashelkar, who was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister for over thirty years, has been honored with Padmashri, Padmabhushan, and Padma Vibhushan, three of the highest civilian honors.

His work as Chairman of the Commonwealth Skills Forum in India and other countries is also highly appreciated. Under this program, he brought together the governments, training organizations, staff and students to look at research, debate, design and implement best practices in the area of vocational skills.

Recently he stepped down as the Chairman of the International Advisory Board operating Oxford & Other colleges.

He has served on the boards of more than 100 growth companies; consulted in 85 countries, advised ministers in over 15 countries, and delivered keynote speeches in 75 countries.

In the last ten years worked for his family’s company, Strega Alberti Benevento as co-CEO. In 2015 he founded its consultancy boutique SOULSIDE, which has been listed #8 in the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders & Influencers on Change Management

In parallel he has been teaching in several business school and wrote seven books the latest being “Legendary brands (2020)” – with the intention to answer two questions: Why has a brand become a legend? Why does a brand continue to be a legend?

Andy Agathangelou Founder of the Transparency Task Force, UK one of the fast-growing and increasingly impactful collaborative campaigning community that encourages the financial services sector to be transparent, truthful and trustworthy.  With over 20+ years of work experience, he’s spearheading purposeful, reformatory change in the global financial ecosystem with over 2,500 strong volunteers around the world who are organised into subject-specific 14 Groups.   Publisher of the ‘Transparency Times’ an online magazine and a recently published book, entitled “Why we must rebuild trustworthiness and confidence in financial services; and how we can do it”.   He is the Governor of the UK’s Pensions Policy Institute and A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.  Frequent speaker on Corporate governance at conferences and symposia around the world;  Andy has particularly fond memories of a conference about Corporate Governance at which he spoke last year, in Pune; which by chance led him to a journey of discovery into the wonderful wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi….

In 2019, she co-authored “Blockchain Economics” the first book on the economics of blockchain and Hyperledger’s & Blockchain for Business & online course which has trained over 160,000 entrepreneurs globally.