fellow at the Shiloah Institute, specializing in Middle Eastern issues. Ph.D in Islamic Studies from UCLA.

Prior to his current role, Dominic was McKinsey’s Chairman of Asia from 2004-2009, based in Shanghai, and he led McKinsey’s office in Korea from 2000-2004.

Dominic is an active participant in many international fora including Davos, Les Rencontres Économiques d’Aix-en-Provence, the Asia Business Council and the Aspen Strategy Group. He is also a prolific writer – authoring more than 80 articles on financial services, Asia, history and the issues and opportunities facing global and Asian markets. He is the co-author – with Roberto Newell and Greg Wilson – of Dangerous Markets: Managing in Financial Crises (Wiley & Sons, 2002). His most recent book is China Vignettes: An Inside Look at China (Talisman, 2007).

Dominic is a Trustee of the Brookings Institution, the Chairman of the International Advisory Committee to the President of South Korea on National Future and Vision and recently became a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council. In 2009 he was awarded the Magnolia Gold Prize by the Shanghai Government for his outstanding contributions to the city’s development. In 2011, Dominic was selected for a INSEAD Business Leader for the World Award. Dominic is also named in the National Association of Corporate Directors list of 100 most influential people in corporate governance and the Boardroom.

McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious firms in the management consulting industry.

McKinsey has about 9,000 consultants in 99 locations in 56 countries. Forbes estimated the firm's 2009 revenues at $6.6 billion

Shari’s microfinance work began in the early l980s, when she served as Program Director for Partnership for Productivity International. Throughout the l980s, Shari worked with microfinance operations in more than two dozen countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In the mid-90s, Shari was engaged in various consultancies – preparing a monograph on banking regulation for microfinance, helping to launch MicroRate, and conducting program design and evaluations on behalf of USAID and the World Bank.

Ms. Berenbach served as an Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation (l990-l994) where she worked with the Business Advisory Services for Latina America and the Caribbean. Shari also has held private sector positions at Solomon Brothers, Citigroup and a start-up telecommunications firm, Radio Movil Digital.

Shari holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School, an MA in Latin American Studies from UCLA and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley. Ms. Berenbach serves on the Non-profit Advisory Committee of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Finance Committee of the Needmor Fund, and the Board of Directors of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity.

He is also a full member on the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Mauritius and Chairman of the Global Agenda Council on the International Monetary System at the World Economic Forum (Davos).

Between 2003 and May 2008, Mario I. Blejer was the Director of the Centre for Central Banking Studies at the Bank of England and served as an Adviser to the Governor. During 2001/02 he was Deputy Governor and then Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina.

Previously, he served for 21 years at the International Monetary Fund where he was Senior Adviser at the Monetary and Exchange Affairs (MAE) and the Asian Department, working also in the European, Fiscal and Research Departments.

During his academic career Blejer held the Walther Rathenau Chair in Economics at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1996–1999). He also taught and held professorial positions at world-renowned universities.

Mario I. Blejer received his BA and MA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his Ph.D from the University of Chicago. He has published a number of books and extensively in specialised journals.

In the process, he has worked with numerous countries and international organizations. He is the author of many books and articles, including two textbooks in macroeconomics, one at the graduate level with Stanley Fischer, one at the undergraduate level.

He is a fellow and Council member of the Econometric Society, a past vice president of the American Economic Association, and a member of the American Academy of Sciences.

He is director of J. Mirrlees Institute of Economic Policy Research (IEPR) at Peking University, and director of Guanghua Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He is a National Chang Jiang Scholar (awarded by Ministry of Education of China) and a National Outstanding Young Researcher (awarded by National Science Foundation of China).

He has published many academic papers in top international journals in economics and finance, in a wide range of areas including game theory, Chinese economy, industrial organization and corporate finance.

He is a member of the Central Committee of China Democratic League and Vice Chairman of its Committee of Economic Affairs. He was the founding president of The Chinese Finance Association (TCFA, overseas). He serves on the boards of China Unicom and China Everbright Bank.

He is the editor of the Carnegie International Economic Bulletin, and the co-author of Paradigm Lost: The Euro in Crisis (Carnegie report, June 2010) and of Juggernaut: How Emerging Markets Are Reshaping Globalization (Carnegie book, 2011).

Dadush previously served as the World Bank’s director of international trade and before that as director of economic policy. He has also served concurrently as the director of the Bank’s world economy group, leading the preparation of the Bank’s flagship reports on the international economy over eleven years.

Prior to joining the World Bank, he was president and CEO of the Economist Intelligence Unit and Business International, part of the Economist Group (1986–1992); group vice president, international, for Data Resources, Inc. (1982–1986), now Global Insight; and a consultant with McKinsey and Co. in Europe.

He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Dershowitz, joined the Harvard Law School faculty at age 25 after clerking for Judge David Bazelon and Justice Arthur Goldberg.

He has also published more than 100 articles in magazines and journals such as The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post. The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Nation, Commentary, Saturday Review, The Harvard Law Review and the Yale Law Journal, and more than 300 of his articles have appeared in syndication in 50 national daily newspapers. Professor Dershowitz is the author of 27 fiction and non-fiction works with a worldwide audience. His most recent titles include "an exceptional, action packed book," The Trials of Zion, a novel which has been called "a thought-provoking page turner," Rights From Wrong, The Case For Israel, The Case For Peace, Blasphemy: How the Religious Right is Hijacking the Declaration of Independence and Preemption.

In 1983, the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith presented him with the William O. Douglas First Amendment Award for his "compassionate eloquent leadership and persistent advocacy in the struggle for civil and human rights." In presenting the award, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel said: "If there had been a few people like Alan Dershowitz during the 1930s and 1940s, the history of European Jewry might have been different."

In 1996 Gilder was made a Fellow of the International Engineering Consortium. The investigation into wealth creation led Mr. Gilder into deeper examination of the lives of present-day entrepreneurs, culminating in many articles and a book, The Spirit of Enterprise (1986). The book was revised and republished in 1992. That many of the most interesting current entrepreneurs were to be found in high technology fields also led Mr. Gilder, over several years, to examine this subject in depth. In his book, Life After Television, was a prophecy of the future of computers and telecommunications and a prelude to his book on the future of telecommunications, Telecosm (2000).

Mr. Gilder's latest book The Silicon Eye (2005) travels the rocky road of the entrepreneur on the promising path of disruption, and celebrates some of smartest-and most colorful-technology minds of our time. In this fascinating narrative of personality and technology, Gilder shares his insider knowledge of Silicon Valley and illustrates how the unpredictable mix of genius, drive, and luck that can turn a startup into a Fortune 500 company.

Mr. Gilder hosts the web's premier technology investment discussion forum, the Gilder Telecosm Forum, and co-hosts (with Steve Forbes) the annual Gilder/Forbes Telecosm Conference, both of which offer elite analysis of ascending and disruptive technologies affecting management and investment decisions of investors, executives, engineers and entrepreneurs. The Gilder Telecosm Forum is a powerful network of talented, tech-savvy investors and thinkers that collaborate online daily by utilizing the very technologies that Gilder celebrated for eleven years in Gilder Technology Report.

Daniel Gross is a best-selling author and one of the most widely-read economic/financial writers working today. Prior to joining Yahoo! in September 2010, he was senior editor and columnist at Newsweek and "Moneybox" columnist for Slate. He has been a columnist for the New York Times, a contributing writer at New York, Fortune, and Wired, and a staff reporter at Bloomberg News and The New Republic.
Gross appears regularly in media outlets such as CNBC, CNN, MSNBC and National Public Radio. Specialties include: the economic impact of globalization, the links between business and politics, and business history.

A native of East Lansing, Michigan, Daniel Gross is a graduate of Cornell University, holds an A.M. in American history from Harvard University., as well as an honorary degree from Lake Forest College.

He is the author of "The Shackled Continent", a book that tries to explain why Africa is so poor and how it could become less so. His most recent book is "Borderless Economics: Chinese Sea Turtles, Indian Fridges and the New Fruits of Global Capitalism", which examines thegrowing importance of migration and diaspora networks.

Lisa was previously the Director of More for Mission at the Harvard Kennedy School, a research and advocacy initiative promoting mission investing, in which she built a network of over 90 foundations representing over $38 billion in total assets. Prior to her role at More for Mission, she completed her doctorate in economic geography. Her doctoral thesis was in economic geography on Public Pension Fund Investment in Urban Revitalization, a project supported by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. She was previously a Vice President of Economic Innovation International. In addition, Lisa has ten years of banking experience, three of which were with Wells Fargo Bank in Government Relations and seven years at Citibank for in the Latin American Marketing Division.

His previous work included: Economic growth project, Finland/Norway desk, Chief Economist’s office, Czech-Hungary Desk; OECD Directorate for Social Affairs and Statistics Directorate and Labour market issues, international migration, unemployment statistics.

His publications includes: Policy Options for Reducing Poverty and Raising Employment Rates in Israel. OECD Economics Department Working Paper, 2010.; Israeli Education Policy: How to move ahead in reform. OECD Economics Department Working Paper, 2010.

Dr. Hemmings earned his PhD from Aberdeen University.

He taught at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of International Relations and was a Middle East specialist at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Previously, he served as the founding Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater New York and of the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry.

Mr. Hoenlein appears regularly in the media and has lectured and met leading officials throughout the world. A recipient of many awards, tributes and two Honorary Doctorates, he is associated with and serves on the boards of many communal, educational and civic organizations. He is the Chairman of America’s Voices in Israel and Co-Chair of the Secure Community Network. He also serves on the board of several high-tech and med-tech companies as well as a bank.

Previously, Irving was Co-Chairman, CEO and managing partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, a national law and consulting firm. His corporate law practice included mergers and acquisitions, capital markets activities, governance issues, and a wide range of business and financial industry regulatory matters

A frequent speaker on leadership and strategy, Irving serves on the board and audit committee of East West Bancorp, Inc. He is a member of the board, executive committee and audit committee of Operation Hope, of the National Council of Human Rights First and of the Social Investment Forum.

His previous work included: Head of Division, Country Studies Branch, Economics Department, OECD since 1999; Head of Japan/Ireland Desk, 1997-99; Head of United States/Iceland Desk, 1992-97

Amongst his publications: "The role of housing in the NZ business cycle and its macro imbalances", manuscript submitted to New Zealand Economic Papers, 2011(with Calista Cheung).

"Pension Reforms in Poland and Elsewhere: The View From Paris", CASE Network Studies & Analyses, No. 425/2011.

"Modernisising Canada’s Agricultural Policies", OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 629, August 2008.

He earned his PhD in Economics from Harvard University

He served as the American Ambassador to four countries: Israel (2005-2008), Kuwait (2001-2004), Kazakhstan (1998-2001) and Lebanon (1996-1998). He also acted as the U.S. Secretary of State’s Senior Advisor and Co-ordinator for Iraq Policy from February-August, 2005

During his diplomatic career, Ambassador Jones gained a wide range of policy experience in energy policy, working closely with national and international oil companies and energy ministers in several petroleum exporting countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Iraq. Early in his diplomatic career he served as Economic Policy Advisor at the U.S. Mission to the OECD.

Ambassador Jones earned his PhD in Business/Statistics from the University of Wisconsin. In addition to his native English, his foreign languages include Arabic, French, Russian and German. He and his wife Joan have four children.

Following a successful career abroad, where he worked both as a chemical engineer and a petroleum engineer at Sasol and Royal Dutch Shell and as a consultant on energy issues at the World Bank and other organizations and governments, he returned to Cyprus where he joined the Cyprus Petroleum Refinery and then the Geological Survey Department, before attaining his current position. Solon is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Oil Terminal Ltd

The Middle East Peace Process project organizes a range of Policy Forums and off-the-record roundtable discussions designed to encourage discussion and open exchange between Washington policymakers and their Middle Eastern counterparts.

Before joining The Washington Institute, Mr. Makovsky was an award-winning journalist who covered the peace process from 1989 to 2000. He is the former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post, was diplomatic correspondent for Israel's leading daily, Haaretz, and is a former contributing editor to U.S. News and World Report.

Mr. Makovsky is the coauthor with Dennis Ross of the 2009 book Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East (Viking/Penguin).

He is also the author or coauthor of a variety of Washington Institute monographs on issues related to the Middle East Peace Process and the Arab-Israeli conflict, including these titles: Lessons and Implications of the Israel-Hizballah War: A Preliminary Assessment (2006); Olmert's Unilateral Option: An Early Assessment (2006);

Mr. Makovsky is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. He has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.

In July 1994, with the personal intervention of then Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Mr. Makovsky became the first journalist writing for an Israeli publication to visit Damascus. In total, he has made five trips to Syria, the latest in December 1999 as he accompanied then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In March 1995, with assistance from U.S. officials, Mr. Makovsky was given unprecedented permission to file reports from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for an Israeli publication.

Through these venues, cyber; intelligence, research, best practices and innovative technology solutions are discovered or developed.

Mr. Martinez’s career includes 18 years in the IT industry both as CIO, and solutions provider, such as with CSC a $10 Billion IT company delivering global solutions to the financial services industry. He has effectively implemented state of the art technologies across public and private sector, including; the Department of Defense, the Defense Information Systems Agency, White House initiatives in Human Health Services, and partnered programs with Northrop Grumman,Visa International, Aegon, Citi Global, as well as startup technology companies.

His accomplishments include; leading the AIG global account after the World Trade Center attack, recipient of the U.S. Senatorial Medal of Freedom endorsed by U.S. Senators Frist and Brownback (former award winners include President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher), keynote speech at InfoSec World (Chaired by White House Cyber Security Coordinator), Honored by Senator Elizabeth Dole as one of 100 distinguished Texans, and a contributing author to the SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture (2011). He’s also an advisor to; CIO Executive Council, Forbes Technology, Congressional members.

Bill has more than 30 years of experience in investment banking, including 26 with Citi. Before relocating to London, he was Chief Executive Officer of Salomon Smith Barney Asia Pacific and a member of the Salomon Smith Barney Management Committee. In that role, Bill was responsible for the Firm’s investment banking, equity, fixed income, private client services, and other operations conducted in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the sub-continent.

Bill began his Citi career in New York where he formed and headed the debt origination and securitization group at Smith Barney, served as co-head of Smith Barney’s Financial Institutions Division, and spent five years as co-head of the Investment Banking Division. Before joining Smith Barney in 1982, he was a Vice President at Standard & Poor's Corporation, where he was a member of the Structured Finance Rating Committee.

Widely cited in the media, he is a contributor to journals such as Foreign Affairs, the Financial Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He worked in the US government at the State Department, and later was an advisor to the United Nations Compensation Commission on Iraq as well as to the US Departments of State, Energy and Defense and to the International Energy Agency on issues related to oil, natural gas and the impact of financial flows on energy prices. A former Princeton professor and author of numerous books and articles on energy, economics and international affairs, Ed was the publisher of Petroleum Intelligence Weekly and other trade periodicals and also worked at Hess Energy Trading Co. (HETCO).

,Ghanem specialises in political and economic risk, and works with governments and organizations from around the world. He was born in Jerusalem and completed his schooling and university studies in the UK, holding a degree in Civil Engineering from Imperial College London. He heads the GCC and Yemen section of the think-tank Political Capital Policy Research and Consulting Institute. He regularly appears in regional and international media commenting about regional affairs.

Prior to assuming this role in September 2010, O'Neill was head of Global Economics, Commodities and Strategy Research. He also serves on the Senior Diversity Council

Jim joined Goldman Sachs in 1995 as a partner, co-head of Global Economics Research and chief currency economist.

Prior to joining the firm, Jim was head of research, globally, for Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) from 1991 to 1995. He joined SBC in 1988. Prior to that, he was with Bank of America and International Treasury Management, a division of Marine Midland Bank.

Jim is the creator of the acronym BRICs. Together with his colleagues, he has published much research about BRICs, which has become synonymous with the emergence of Brazil, Russia, India and China as the growth opportunities of the future.

Jim is a member of the board of the Itinera, and has been on the board of Bruegel since its creation. He is a member of the UK-India Round Table and the UKIBC. Jim is chairman and one of the founding trustees of the London-based charity SHINE.

Jim earned his PhD from the University of Surrey in 1982.

During his tenure NDS Group expanded twenty five fold reaching close to $1B in revenue and became the leading provider of content protection and software solutions to pay-TV providers worldwide. In July of 2011 Dr Peled moved to the position of Executive Chairman of NDS Group Ltd.

Dr. Peled is a Fellow of the IEEE. Between 1989 and 1993 he served on the US National Research Council’s Board on Computer Science and Telecommunications. In addition, he served on numerous advisory boards and councils, among them: New York State Centre for Advanced Technology, Princeton University EE Department, DARPA ISAT, and USRA.

Dr. Peled holds four patents and is the co-author (with Prof Bede Liu) of a book on digital signal processing, published by John Wiley & Sons. He has authored numerous scientific publications and was the invited author of the lead article in the in October 1987 special issue of Scientific American on the future of computing.

During the 90s, Dr. Peled joined Elron Electronic Industries Ltd in Haifa, Israel as Senior Vice President for Business Development. He also served on the boards of several of Elron’s affiliated companies, among them PC Etcetera, Rafael Development Corporation and as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Chip Express.

Quest joined CNN in 2001 for the launch of Business International. Since this time Quest has covered a variety of different events for CNN, amongst others an analysis of the U.S. elections as American Quest and the start of the circulation of euro banknotes and coins on 1 January 2002 and the last official commercial flight of Concorde. He has also headed up CNN’s coverage of several events involving the British Royal Family.

In 2010, he oversaw the relaunch of The Times's online business report at NYTimes.com/BusinessDay, a successful counterpunch to the Wall Street Journal’s introduction of a local news section in New York. His team has introduced local news pages in copies of The Times sold in the Bay Area, Chicago and Texas, forging innovative collaborations with WInon-profit news start-ups in those regions. He also leads a pilot project, The Local, that develops hyperlocal Web sites teaming professional journalists, leading journalism schools and local residents to cover the news of everyday life. The Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Local is a collaboration with the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. The Local: East Village is a collaboration with the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University.

Previously, Mr. Schachter was deputy editor of The New York Times Magazine, and of the newspaper’s Culture and Business reports.

Before joining The Times in 1995, he was a reporter or editor for the

los Angeles Times, the Kansas City Star and the Jacksonville (Fla.) Journal.

Schachter and his wife, Pamela, live in Summit, N.J. They have four children ranging in age from 10 to 24.

. Prior to joining ATP, Mr. Tate worked for over 30 years with Atlantic Richfield Company ("ARCO"). From 1998 until July 2000, Mr. Tate served as the President of ARCO North Africa. He also was Director General of Joint Ventures at ARCO from 1996 to 1998. From 1994 to 1996, Mr. Tate served as ARCO's Vice President Operations & Engineering, where he led technical negotiations in field development. Prior to 1994, Mr. Tate's positions with ARCO included Director of Operations, ARCO British Ltd.; Vice President of Engineering, ARCO International; Senior Vice President Marketing and Operations, ARCO Indonesia; and for three years was Vice President and District Manager in Lafayette, Louisiana.

He left Standard & Poor's in 1997 to help found Global Partners, Inc., a US-based consulting firm. Mr. Six rejoined Standard & Poor’s at the beginning of 2005 in New York and subsequently moved back to Europe. Jean-Michel has been a member of the European Central Bank’s Shadow Council since 2006.

Mr. Six holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Paris.

Previously, Stein was the co-head of Moody's KMV research and product development. In this role, he led the development of commercial risk management tools that have been adopted by hundreds of major financial institutions globally; he also worked on developing techniques for model validation. Before that, he led Moody's Risk Management Services research group.

Stein has authored dozens of professional and academic articles, and serves on the editorial boards of several finance-related journals. In his most recent book, "Active Credit Portfolio Management in Practice" (Wiley), he and the co-author Jeffery Bohn provide a handbook for practitioners on applied corporate credit risk management. Stein holds a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton and a master's and Ph.D. from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.

Prior to 1994, Mirko was based in Berlin where he worked in the music industry (A&R, management and touring) with artists such as Paul van Dyk, PJ Harvey, and Ultravox.

From 1982 to 1987, he worked as a research scientist at the Free University of Berlin, Germany (Institutes of Embryology and Pharmacology, Zoology and Neurobiology). Mirko graduated from Plymouth University (Applied Biology), New York University (Internet Technologies), Open University (MSc in Science) and is an alumni member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Before entering government, Dr. Wurmser founded the Middle East studies program at the American Enterprise Institute in 1996. Dr. Wurmser has 11 years of intelligence experience -- for which he was awarded the prestigious Defense Meritorious Service Medal -- in the U.S. Navy Reserves, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

At the Israel Center, Yago oversees a range of activities that are devoted to accelerating Israel’s economic growth, bridging social and economic gaps, and securing Israel’s global competitiveness through financial technology transfer that increases the impact of government policy, philanthropy, and private-sector investment. As part of his work, Yago directs the Koret–Milken Institute Fellows program, which places graduates in internships related to financial reform and economic development projects.

He is the co-author of multiple books, including "Financing the Future: Market-Based Innovations for Growth" (Wharton School Publishing, 2010), "The Rise and Fall of the U. S. Mortgage and Credit Markets" (John Wiley and Sons, 2009), "Global Edge" (Harvard Business School Press, 2007); just to name a few.

His research focuses on tracking changes in global capital markets and directing the Institute's series of Financial Innovations Labs^TM to structure economic solutions.
Yago earned a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

He speaks frequently at business conferences in the United States and Asia on M&A, financial restructuring and shareholder liquidity, among other topics. He has appeared as an expert witness in superior courts and served on the faculty of various World Bank and IFC conferences.

His government clients include the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Korean Asset Management Company (KAMCO). In 2004, he formed Houlihan Lokey’s Sovereign Advisory Services practice, whose clients include Antigua & Barbuda, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Liberia, the Republic of Iraq and the Russian Federation.

Mr. Zukin serves as a delegate to the Paris Club Meetings involving the private sector. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Prior to joining MIGA, Ms. Boza was Regional Representative for IFC (from 1998-June 2002) for Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay. Based in Buenos Aires, Boza was in charge of the regional office and business development in the region.

Before going to Argentina for IFC, Ms. Boza was principal investment officer for Latin America and the Caribbean (1996-1997), and North Africa and Middle East (1992-1995), and Eastern Europe (1991). She joined the World Bank Group in 1990 as a Young Professional and worked at the Latin America Industry Trade and Finance department focusing on Structural Adjustment Loans. Prior to the World Bank Group, Ms. Boza worked at Corporación Financiera de Desarrollo (COFIDE) in Peru and in the Peruvian private sector.

Ms. Boza has completed the World Bank-sponsored
Executive Development Program at Harvard University.

Mr. Schaefer is also Counsellor of the Brazilian Development Bank – BNDES, Counsellor of Latin America Logistics - ALL, Counsellor of the Foreing Trade Studies Foundation – FUNCEX and Vice-President of the Administration Council of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency – Apex-Brasil.

Previously, Mr. Schaefer was Vice-President of Apex-Brasil. In this position he coordinated the Agency’s 2007-2010 Strategic Planning which led Apex-Brasil to be elected as 2010 World´s best Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, according to the UNCTAD´s International Trade Centre. As the Brazilian Deputy General-Comissionner to the Expo Xangai 2010, he was in charge of the conception, construction and fully operation of the Brazil´s Pavillion.

Mr. Schaefer was also member, since its very beginning, of President Lula’s Government. In 2003, he played a role in the creation of the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism and of its main policy framework, namely the National Tourism Policy. Additionally, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development - ABDI, from 2005 to 2007, when he accumulated the position of Secretary to the Nacional Council for Industrial Development, created as an advisory board to the President of the Republic.

From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Schaefer was the Director of International Affairs of Rio Grande do Sul Government, President of the Trade Point Council and of the Export Processing Zone Council – ZOPERGS. In this position, he was responsible for the planning and organization of several trade missions, to more than 30 country destinations. Earlier, Mr. Schaefer held the position of Investment Analyst at the Regional Development Bank of the Extreme South –BRDE.

On February 12, 2004, Mr. Pulver's petition for clarification declaring Free World Dialup as an unregulated information service was granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This landmark decision by the FCC was the first decision it made on IP communications.

Bernie is one of a handful of economic developers who have been recognized three times by Site Selection magazine with its prestigious Top Ten Economic Development Groups award, winning in 2001, 2007, and 2008 while leading economic development efforts for the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance. During this time, the PRA amassed totals for located corporate location/expansion projects, and new jobs and investment that the Pittsburgh region last saw in the mid-1970s. Prior to the PRA, Bernie’s role as a senior advisor on corporate location strategy in Deloitte’s Fantus Consulting practice enabled him to work with senior executives of Fortune 1000 companies in crafting strategies for new and expanded facilities. He also served as Legislative Director of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Washington, D.C. office under Governor Robert P. Casey, and as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representative James H. Bilbray (Nevada - 1^st District). He has taught business attraction and marketing techniques in courses sponsored by the International Economic Development Council, the Community Development Institute-East, and the Pennsylvania Economic Development Association. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University, and a M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Highly ranked by well-known independent legal industry directory Chambers & Partners Guide, (recognized as a "star performer," a category that surpasses a #1 ranking for individual lawyers), clients and peers called him "an extraordinary lawyer who has made his name through hard work, not through marketing" and stated "there is virtually no one like him for big-ticket M&A" (2008 edition of the Chambers USA Guide). He has also been included in The Best Lawyers in America for the past 24 years.

Named the leader of the firm's corporate and securities practice in 1996, Gary also co-chairs Greenberg Traurig's Israel Practice and often serves as a speaker at conferences and seminars in the United States and Israel.

Ambassador Yakis was also Member of the European Friends of Israel and Served at various posts abroad such as: Antwerp, Lagos, NATO Defense College in Rome, Turkish Delegation to NATO and Turkish Embassy in Damascus.

In 2001, became the founding member of the Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) and its Vice Chairman in charge of International Relations

Received Decoration of "King Abdulaziz (1^st degree)" for his contribution to Turkish-Saudi relations -1992.

Decoration of "Ordine della Stella della Soliderietà Italiana – Commendatore, 2007" by the President of the Republic of Italy.

Decoration of "Légion d'Honneur" (Officier), 2009.