Meet our 2026 Speakers

Eva Riesenhuber is Global Head of Sustainability at Siemens, where she leads sustainability as a strategic driver of business transformation across industrial, infrastructure, grid, and mobility sectors. She focuses on scaling decarbonization and circularity through digitalization and AI, helping customers build resilient value chains, accelerate adaptation, and unlock growth opportunities in a rapidly changing world. With a multidisciplinary background spanning law, finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, venture capital, and investor relations, Eva integrates sustainability into business strategy, innovation, and portfolio decisions. She works closely with executive leaders and boards to navigate regulatory complexity and position sustainability as a source of competitiveness, resilience, and long-term value creation. Her areas of expertise include industrial and infrastructure decarbonization, the energy transition, circular product design, AI-enabled sustainability, and value-chain resilience. She is also passionate about building collaborative ecosystems that advance sustainable infrastructure and societal progress. Eva serves on the Supervisory Board of Siemens Mobility and on the Sustainability Council of Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). She holds a doctorate in International Public Law from Goethe University Frankfurt and LL.M. degrees from NYU School of Law and Université Paris Nanterre. She was recognized as one of the TOP100 Most Influential Women in German Business from 2022–2025 and named to the TIME100 Climate Leaders list in 2025.

Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. With Mrs. Ogunbiyi at the helm, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) has entered into working relationships with over 200 partners, supported over 100 countries globally, and secured commitments of more than USD 1.6 trillion in energy finance. She has practical on the ground experience, she initiated the Nigerian Electrification Project, a USD 550 million facility which is a joint World Bank and African Development Bank programme that to date has provided energy access to over 8 million people across Nigeria and implemented over 100 megawatts of decentralized energy projects supplying electricity to hospitals, schools, and government facilities. Mrs. Ogunbiyi is a member of the World Bank’s Private Sector Investment Lab, a member of the Global Leadership Council of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), an Advisory Board member of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and a member of the Climate and Environment Advisory Council of the European Investment Bank (EIB). She was part of the COP28 Advisory Committee and was Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council (ETC). She is a global leader and advocate for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and is passionate about achieving SDG7, which calls for access to reliable, affordable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030. Mrs. Ogunbiyi was recognized in the 2026 TIME Earth Awards, the 2025 Forbes sustainability leaders list, the 2024 TIME100 Climate list and is the recipient of the First Class Order of Zayed II from the UAE President in recognition of her contribution to the success of the climate conference, COP28. She also received the Think Global Leadership Award in 2026, the Global Female Leadership Impact (GFLI) Award in 2024 and the Energy Institute President’s Award for 2023.

Prabhu Pingali is a Professor of International Development Economics at Cornell University, and the Founding Director of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI). He was Chair of the Governing Board of ICRISAT, a CGIAR Center focused on dryland agricultural systems. Prior to joining Cornell, he was Deputy Director, Agricultural Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2008-13), and Director of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2002-08). In addition, he worked with the CGIAR for 15 years from 1987-2002, first with IRRI in the Philippines and then with CIMMYT in Mexico. Dr. Pingali is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Science Academy a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), India’s National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA), and the African Association of Agricultural Economists and a former President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE). He is globally recognized for his research and policy contributions focused on the nexus of hunger, poverty and environmental sustainability. Prof. Pingali has written 15 books and over 200 journal articles and book chapters. He is the recipient of the 2025 M.S. Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture.

General Richard Nugee was commissioned into the British Army in 1986. He completed numerous operational tours and also specialised in personnel (HR) roles both for the Army and Defence culminating in Chief of Defence People (equivalent to Global HR Director for Defence). As his final role he wrote a Review of Defence's approach to Climate Change and Sustainability. He has since earned international recognition for bringing the implications of Climate Change and Sustainability to Defence and National Security sectors and has expanded this policy interest into delivery as the Chair, Director and Advisor of a number of renewable energy and environmental sustainability organisations. He is Chief Executive of the Scar Free Foundation, Chair of the Royal NAAFI Board, a strategic advisor to consultancies and organisations, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and is Patron, Chair and Trustee of a number of organisations such as Invictus Games UK2027.

Patty is Director of the Food and Agriculture Program at ClimateWorks Foundation. Patty brings decades of experience in leading philanthropy on climate, energy and food systems transformation. Previously, Patty led the climate and health portfolios at the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, was the founding COO at the European Climate Foundation (ECF), and helped launch Energy Foundation China.

Mike leads a portfolio of global campaigns that secure climate commitment and action from the world’s most influential companies: from driving action towards zero carbon grids (RE100, Smart Energy Coalition and the 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition), to growing demand for electric vehicles (EV100) and low carbon materials (SteelZero and ConcreteZero). He is also co-lead of the We Mean Business Coalition’s Electric Advantage programme, and a Director of ResponsibleSteel where he chairs the Finance and Risk Committee. Mike has worked with companies across the world on climate and sustainability issues since 1998, spending more than a decade at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), including as Director of Executive Programmes and Director of Strategy & Communications. Before joining CISL, he was Chief Operating Officer of AccountAbility where he led the development of the AA1000 framework for sustainability accounting and reporting. Mike started his career as a business consultant for the COBA Group, following studies in politics, philosophy and economics at the University of Oxford, and international relations at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.