Special addresses

Alumna from the Institut d’études politiques (Aix-en-Provence), Christine Lagarde graduated from Holton Arms School in Bethesda (USA) as well as from the University Paris-X in social law. A lawyer at the cour d’appel in Paris, she has also worked for the law firm Baker & McKenzie in Chicago, whose executive committee she presided from 1999 to 2004. Since 2004, she presides over their global strategic committee. She was appointed as Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade in 2005 before becoming Minister for Agriculture and Fishing. Since June 2007, she has been Minister for Economy and Finance.

A graduate from the École polytechnique (1977 class) and PhD in Civil Engineering from the École nationale des ponts et chaussées, Antoine Frérot started his career in 1981 as a research engineer at the Bureau central d'études pour l'Outre-Mer. In 1983 he joined the Research centre at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées as project manager before becoming deputy director from 1984 to 1988. From 1988 to 1990, he was head of Financial Operations at the Crédit National. He joined the Compagnie Générale des Eaux in 1990 as attaché to the Managing Director of Compagnie Générale d'Entreprises Automobiles (CGEA), then Managing Director. In 2000 he was appointed Chief Executive officer of Veolia Transport, Veolia Environnement's transportation division and member of the Veolia Environnement Board of Directors. In January 2003 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Water, the water division of Veolia Environnement, and Executive Vice-President of Veolia Environnement. At the end of 2009, Antoine Frérot was appointed Chief Executive Officer and, in December 2010, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Environnement.

Dov Zerah has been Chief Executive Officer of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) since June 2010. He is President of PROPARCO, subsidiary of the AFD for financing the private sector. An alumnus of Science Po Paris and ENA, Dov Zerah began his career at the Treasury Department. Dov Zerah went on to head the Cabinet of the Minister of Cooperation, Michel Roussin, in 1993. From 1995 to 1997, he became the Director of Cabinet of the Minister of the Environment, Corinne Lepage, before heading the Cabinet for the European Commissioner, Édith Cresson until 1999. For three years, Mr. Zerah was Chairman of DAGRIS (Development of South Agribusinesses) and Chairman of Compagnie Cotonnière (COPACO). Mr. Zerah went on to become Director of the Mint and Medals Department from 2002 to 2007, before becoming senior advisor to the Government Accounting Office.

Amartya Sen is Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University and was until recently the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He has served as President of the Econometric Society, the Indian Economic Association, the American Economic Association and the International Economic Association. He was formerly Honorary President of OXFAM and is now its Honorary Advisor. Born in Santiniketan, India, Amartya Sen is an Indian citizen. He was the Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University, and is a Distinguished Fellow of All Souls. Amartya Sen’s books have been translated into more than thirty languages, and include Choice of Techniques (1960), Collective Choice and Social Welfare (1970), Choice, Welfare and Measurement (1982), The Standard of Living (1987), Development as Freedom (1999), Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (2006) and The Idea of Justice (2009). His research has ranged over a number of fields in economics, philosophy, and decision theory, including social choice theory, welfare economics, theory of measurement, development economics, public health, gender studies, and moral and political philosophy. Among the awards he has received are the “Bharat Ratna” (the highest honour awarded by the President of India); the Senator Giovanni Agnelli International Prize in Ethics; the Edinburgh Medal; the Brazilian Ordem do Merito Cientifico; the Eisenhower Medal; the George C. Marshall Award; and the Nobel Prize in Economics.

A biologist who graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, Philippe Kourilsky is Professor and Chair of Molecular Immunology at the College de France since 1998. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences. He is also the Chairman of the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) since its creation in 2006. He currently sits on the Board of the Veolia Environment company in which he chairs the Innovation Committee. From 2000 to 2005, he has been the Director General of the Pasteur Institute. He has contributed to public debates about life sciences in many instances, and written two reports for the French government, about the “Precautionary Principle” (1999) and about infectious diseases in developing countries (2005). He is the author of some 350 publications in international scientific journals and of several books, more recently “Le temps de l'altruisme” and “Le manifeste de l'altruisme” (2009 & 2011, Ed. Odile Jacob). He has inspired the FACTS

Trevor Manuel is South Africa's National Planning Minister and the Chair of the National Planning Commission of the Republic of South Africa, a position he has held since 2009. He is a National Executive Committee (NEC) member of the African National Congress (ANC) and has been since 1991. Earlier this year (2011) he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Global Green Growth Institute, and was recently elected as Co-Chair of the Transitional Committee for the Design of the Green Climate Fund.
 

Wangari Muta Maathai is the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. She obtained a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh before pursuing doctoral studies in Germany and obtaining a Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi. She was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976-87. While chairing this council, she introduced the idea of planting trees in 1976 and developed it into a grassroots organization whose main focus is planting trees with women groups in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. She and the Green Belt Movement have received numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. In 2005, Prof. Maathai was named by Time Magazine as one of 100 most influential people in the world. She was elected and served in parliament and as Assistant Minister for Environment (2002-2005). In 2005, she was elected the Presiding Officer of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union.
 

Brice Lalonde has recently been appointed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to be one of the two Executive coordinators of the Rio+20 conference. From 2007 to 2010, he was Ambassador for climate Change negotiations. In 2007, he was also Chairman of the Round Table for Sustainable Development (OECD) that gathers people from various fields (ministers, scientists, international organizations, NGOs, business CEOs) on difficult topics related to the global environment. Since 1993, he has been a Senior Advisor for the Environment and has been a consultant in environmental strategy and policy, as well as arbitration settlements. From 1973 to 1983, he was Director of Friends of the Earth-France before becoming from 1988 to 1992 French Minister for the Environment. While in office, he was involved in global issues and contributed to international results, including the Basel Convention, the Madrid Treaty on Antarctica, the management of the Rio Climate Convention, the creation of the GEF, and the contribution to the European Union Environmental Policy.