ESG & Climate Resilience Summit Theme: Geospatial Technology for Climate: Accelerating the Transition to a Sustainable Green Economy

Pooja Mahapatra, a seasoned professional with 14 years of diverse experience spanning R&D, startups, space agencies, and multinational corporations, is dedicated to leveraging geospatial solutions for addressing climate and infrastructure challenges. Holding a PhD from TU Delft, Pooja's research focused on measuring millimetric ground subsidence using satellite EO, enhancing the applicability of InSAR, and connecting subsidence to phenomena such as sea-level rise. Renowned for her proactive, positive, and energetic approach, Pooja is recognized as a clear, open communicator with a talent for building networks swiftly. An excellent public speaker and presenter, she blends solid technical prowess with a keen business acumen. Pooja's creativity, combined with her ability to get things done autonomously or cooperatively, establishes her as a leader who influences effectively. Her consistent feedback highlights her capacity to lead with influence, making her a dynamic force in the geospatial and earth observation domain.

Dr. Sheila Lakshmi Steinberg is an author, educator and advocate for the applied use of GIS across disciplines. Dr. Steinberg is President for the Southern California Chapter of URISA 2023. Sheila leads the integration of innovative geospatial concepts and curriculum design into micro-credentials, certificates and programs at UMass Global. She is a co-author of Resilient Communities Across Geographies Esri Press (2021) and GIS Research Methods for Esri Press (2015); Extreme Weather, Health and Communities: Interdisciplinary Engagement Strategies for Springer Press (Springer Press 2016). Steinberg is a keynote speaker at professional conferences and international meetings and creates partnerships for how to use GIS to solve problems. Her research focuses on the connection between people, places and environments considering local knowledge, networks and the power of community engagement using GIS.

Jimena is Verisk Maplecroft's Chief Analyst. She frequently provides advice to multinational companies and multilateral institutions on geopolitical and country-specific political risk. Jimena has undertaken numerous field projects, including Human Rights Impact Assessments for clients across the globe.

Jimena participates in diplomatic, academic and business forums, addressing issues of global, regional and country-specific concern. She is an experienced public speaker and is often invited to deliver analysis to some of the world's largest industry shows and conferences. Jimena also makes regular contributions to the British and foreign media.

Prior to working for Verisk Maplecroft, Jimena edited several publications at Latin News and wrote extensively on Latin America. She was also a contributor to the International Institute for Strategic Studies' special dossier, The Farc Files: Ecuador, Venezuela and the Secret Archive of 'Raul Reyes'.

Jimena studied History and Political Science at Randolph-Macon Woman's College and obtained a master's degree in Latin American Studies from the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London.

Thomas Blaschke is a Professor at the University of Salzburg and Deputy Head of Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS. He also acts as the director of the Doctoral College GIScience and serves at various editorial boards and commissions including ISPRS and the ESA Earth Observation advisory board. His research interests include methodological issues of the integration of GIS, remote sensing and image processing also with aspects of citizen participation and human-environment interaction. Prior positions comprise several lecturer, senior lecturer and professor positions in Germany, Austria and the UK as well as temporary affiliations as guest professor and visiting scientist in Germany and the US including a Fulbright professorship. His academic record yields 370+ scientific publications including 130 journal publications.

Matthew is a GIS Consultant at Mott MacDonald, a global engineering, management and development consultancy. In his role he helps domain specialists across a range of disciplines use technology to help deliver infrastructure projects through the collection, manipulation, analysis, and visualisation of spatial data. He has technical expertise in a variety of GIS and data transformation software, including the ArcGIS suite (desktop, online, mobile), QGIS, and FME, often in combination with programming languages such as R and Python.

Mitakshi Sirsi is an architect and sustainability engineer with experience in developing policy, climate resilience planning and stakeholder engagement for sustainability and ESG. Mitakshi's work aims to promote the delivery of holistic, scalable innovation within the built environment, focusing on addressing the long-term impacts of the climate crisis on health and communities. Her interest in geospatial technologies stems from the significant potential it carries to enhance Environmental, Social & Governance efforts, facilitating more informed, equitable and transparent decision making at different scales in the built environment.

Marc Serres is the Chief Executive Officer of the Luxembourg Space Agency. He heads the Luxembourg Delegation at the European Space Agency (ESA) and represents Luxembourg in the Council of ESA. He is Member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

He has been Director of Space Affairs at the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg since January 2014. Before joining the Ministry of the Economy, Marc Serres managed Luxembourg's relations with ESA at the Ministry of Higher Education and Research as an industrial policy officer for 8 years. Prior to becoming a civil servant, he spent 5 years in the satellite communications antenna manufacturing industry within the company HITEC Luxembourg S.A., first as a Project Engineer and finally as Chief Engineer for satcom products development. Marc Serres holds a PhD in optoelectronics and a Master in electrical engineering with specialty in microwave frequencies, both from the University catholique de Louvain in Belgium.

Mr. Christophe YVETOT is the UNIDO Representative to the European Union, the European Investment Bank, the Organisation of ACP States, Belgium and Luxembourg in Brussels.

An international lawyer, he has over 25 years of experience in international development in various organisations including as representative of UNIDO to the European Union, to Senegal and the Sahel, as policy officer in the office of the Director general in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Chief of Cabinet in the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

He has contributed to many international conferences, workshops and meetings as moderator and speaker as well as to international reports and publications.

Simon's key role is working with sustainability, ecosystem and corporate sector specific teams for global banks and funds. With 10 years previous corporate banking experience his task is to bridge the current gap between the Testing Inspection Certification ("TIC") and the Financial Services industries acting as a trusted third party delivering a full suite of assurance and advisory services. As ESG advisor for corporate clients helping build core implementable sustainable business strategy around enterprise risk management; financial strategy; operations and supply chains.

Rodolfo Orozco Galvez, an Agricultural Engineer specializing in soils, is a distinguished alumnus of the University of Guadalajara (Mexico). He furthered his academic journey by obtaining a Doctorate in Agronomy from the prestigious Universitat de Lleida (University of Lerida) in Spain.

Since 2020, Rodolfo has been serving as the Deputy General Director of Natural Resources and Environment, overseeing the generation, analysis, and dissemination of geographic and statistical information concerning the environment and natural resources. His responsibilities encompass projects and studies focusing on biodiversity, water resources, soil health, vegetation dynamics, and waste management. Prior to this role, he held a key position at INEGI as the Director of Competence Analysis and Environmental and Natural Resources Scenarios.

Rodolfo's career spans across diverse sectors, ranging from rural production to the private industry. In the public sector, he held significant roles such as Director of the National Forest Registry and Management System at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. He also served as Director of the Documentation and Events Coordination Center Unit at the Ministry of Economy. His tenure as General Coordinator of Planning and Information at the National Forestry Commission, as well as the position of executive director of Sector Analysis at the National Financial Institution for Agricultural, Rural, Forestry and Fisheries Development, showcased his commitment to sustainable resource management.

In the private sphere, Rodolfo's leadership as General Director of PRODECISION, SC, a consulting firm specializing in rural development, environmental issues, and information systems, has been instrumental. Additionally, his pivotal role in establishing an automotive industrial company, underscores his versatility as a manager in Human Resources and General Affairs. In academia, Rodolfo has excelled as a researcher focusing on hydroponics under controlled conditions as an alternative to traditional soil-based horticultural practices. His passion for knowledge sharing led him to teach at several private universities as ITESM (Tec de Monterrey), where he also served as director and consultant at the International Agribusiness Center, and at Universidad Panamericana (UP) covering a wide array of subjects including Physics, international agribusiness, leadership, business consulting, ecology, and sustainable development.

Doctor of Laws, William Gilles is a tenured and senior associate professor (HDR) of Digital law and Open Government at the Sorbonne Law School (University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne) where he is the director of the 2-year master's degree in data law, eGov and open Gov. Qualified to direct research, he is also the supervisor of several PhD Students in data law, in artificial intelligence law and in open government issues.

He is the cofounder and President of IMODEV (the Institut du Monde et du Developpement pour la Bonne Gouvernance Publique), an international academic network that analyzes public policies in the digital society, especially regarding fundamental rights, data law and smart governance. He is a member of the Sorbonne Legal Research Institute (IRJS) and of the Sorbonne Observatory on Artificial Intelligence. He is a former member of the board of the Sorbonne Law School, and a former member of the Academic Board of the University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, where he served on the Research Council of the University.

William Gilles is also attorney at Law at Paris Bar, and professional mediator accredited by the French National Center for Mediation by Attorneys at Law. He is founder and President of BeRecht Avocats. William Gilles is a former lawyer at the French Constitutional council (2009-2011). He is the director of the International Journal of Open Government, and of the International Journal of Digital and Data Law.

His research focuses on : 1. digital law (data law, ethic and law of artificial intelligence, right to privacy and data protection, cybercrime, fundamental rights in the digital society); 2. open government (open data, right of access to information, government transparency, citizen participation, government accountability, but also mediation and collaborative lawyering and contributive negotiation that he considers as a need for an open justice), and 3. smart government issues (eGovernement, smart cities and governments).

William Gilles has organized and delivered conferences in Europe (12 countries), in America (Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, USA), and in Asia (Vietnam). His last book has just been published and deals with the new right to open data (W. Gilles, I. Bouhadana, L'open data. Droit d'acces et de regulation dans la societe des donnees, LexisNexis, Nov. 2023, 490 pages).

Dr. Mila Koeva, an Associate Professor at the University Twente's International Institute of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) in The Netherlands, is a distinguished figure in the field of geospatial science. Holding a Ph.D. in "3D modelling in architectural photogrammetry" from the University of Architecture, Civil engineering, and Geodesy in Sofia, along with an MSc. degree in Engineering (Geodesy), she brings extensive expertise in 3D land information, Digital Twins, and 3D Cadastre.

With a career spanning a decade as a photogrammetric specialist and department head, and three years in a private organization leading EU projects, Dr. Koeva's focus lies in innovative geospatial and machine learning methods for 3D urban modeling and cadastral applications. Her leadership in the EU Horizon 2020 project its4land underscores her commitment to multidisciplinary collaboration.

Recognized for her scientific contributions, Dr. Koeva actively participates in international professional organizations, chairing working groups, and organizing scientific events. Her engagement extends to guest lectures, keynote speeches, and editorial roles for various publications, reflecting her dedication to advancing the field. As a teacher, she has been acknowledged as one of the top educators at ITC, further showcasing her commitment to education and mentorship in the geospatial domain.