Keynote speaker Jacques Attali is both a bestselling author and a professor. Among his many honors are those of Special Adviser to the President of the Republic, Honorary Member of the Council of State, founder, and first President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London.

Jacques is the CEO of A&A, a strategy consulting company located in Paris. Aside from that, he serves as the President of Positive Planet. This global non-profit organization assists microfinance institutions across the world with their operations. PlaNet Finance is the world’s leading microfinance institution. The company provides advice and funds for the growth of microfinance in 80 countries. It was the driving force behind the LH Forum, a movement for positive economic development.

Jacques had previously launched Action Contre la Faim in 1980, as well as the European program Eurêka. Additionally, in 1989, he developed a global action plan in response to the devastating floods that hit Bangladesh. Subsequently, speaker Jacques Attali provided advice to the Secretary General of the United Nations against the dangers of nuclear proliferation. He introduced the LMD reform, which aims to standardize all European degrees.

Attali holds numerous degrees and taught at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées, the Ecole Polytechnique, and the University of Paris-Dauphine. In addition, Jacques works for the magazine L’Express. He has published fifty books, which have been adapted into more than twenty languages and have sold more than six million copies worldwide.

In 2007, the President of the French Republic chose Attali to be the President of the Commission for the Liberation of the French Economy for Growth. Jacques’ inclusion in the Foreign Policy Magazine’s top 100 public thinkers in the world is a testament to his success.