SPEAKERS

Romina Pourmokhtari has been the Minister of Climate and the Environment since 2022.

is responsible for issues related to climate and the environment, chemicals, waste and circularity, radiation safety, environmental permitting, biodiversity, marine and freshwater environments and their management, species protection, Agenda 2030, outdoor recreation, and the circular economy.

Mr Thierry Carlier was appointed as Ambassador of France in Sweden on March 7th 2025. From 2014 to 2018, he worked at the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN) as Director for international, strategic and technological affairs, managing inter-agency coordination for counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation and export control. Promoted to Lieutenant General, he then went back to the DGA as Director for International Development (2018-2022). He was then promoted to General and assigned as Deputy General Director of DGA (2022-2025).

Married and father of two children, Mr Carlier was awarded the ranks of officier of the Légion ’honneur and commandeur of the ordre national du Mérite, and received the Aeronautics Medal. He was awarded the rank of Commander of the Legion of Merit (USA), Officer of the Order of Merit (Italy), and received the Tamandaré Medal of Merit (Brazil).

He speaks English and German.

Ambassador Caroline Vicini handed over her letters of accreditation to President Macron on September ^1st 2025. She came to France from Kenya where she led Sweden’s largest embassy in the world for 5 years. She was, in parallel, Sweden’s Permanent Representative to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Habitat, as well as accredited to the Seychelles and the Comoros. She has also been ambassador to Afghanistan.

Caroline has served two tours in Washington D.C. as Deputy Chief of Mission at both the Swedish Embassy and there after at the EU Delegation. Caroline has also been Chief of Protocol at the MFA in Stockholm and hasprepared and led numerous state visits, among them the state visit to France in 2014.

As young diplomat she was posted in Alger, Paris, Rome and Dublin as well as in Stockholm. She has also worked shorter periods for World Food Programme (WFP) and KREAB.

Caroline is passionate about security policy and military affairs, but also having a considerable experience in public diplomacy and trade promotion.

Aurore Belfrage is a tech investor, geopolitical advisor, and sustainability strategist working at the intersection of technology, energy, and global
affairs. She co-founded the green-tech think tank SusTechable and invests in renewables, with a strong bet on geothermal.

Aurore serves on multiple boards, co-hosts the “Cow on the Ice” podcast, and advises AI Sweden and the Swedish Institute. Formerly with EQT Ventures, she’s also a columnist, author, and ex-scrap dealer and the co-author of “Climate and the New World Order” and “Modern Warfare – New Technologies and Enduring Concepts”.

Philippe Aghion is a Professor at the College de France, at INSEAD, and at the London School of Economics, and a fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on the economics of innovation and growth.

Philippe Aghion, alongside Joel Mokyr and Peter Howitt, laureates the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 2025, for their pioneering research on innovation-driven growth and the theory of creative destruction in promoting long-term prosperity. With Peter Howitt, Philippe pioneered the so-called Schumpeterian Growth theory which became a leading paradigm to analyze the interplay between growth, innovation, market structure, and firm dynamics.

Much of this work is summarized in their joint books Endogenous Growth Theory (MIT Press, 1998) and The Economics of Growth (MIT Press, 2009), in his book with Rachel Griffith on Competition and Growth (MIT Press, 2006), in his survey “What Do We Learn from Schumpeterian Growth Theory” (joint with U. Akcigit and P. Howitt), and more recently in The Power of Creative Destruction (joint with C. Antonin and S. Bunel).

In 2001, Philippe Aghion received the Yrjo Jahnsson Award of the best European economist under age 45, in 2009 he received the John Von Neumann Award, and in March 2020 he shared the BBVA “Frontier of Knowledge Award” with Peter Howitt for “developing an economic growth theory based on the innovation that emerges from the process of creative destruction”.

Jesper Brodin is the former CEO of Ingka Group. His career with IKEA spans over 30 years, and he stepped into his current role in September 2017. Before being appointed CEO, Jesper was Managing Director at IKEA of Sweden/Range & Supply.

Jesper’s career at IKEA started in 1995 with a purchase manager role in Pakistan; not long after that he became Regional Purchase Manager for South East Asia. In 1999, he took on the assignment of assistant, both to IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad and to Anders Dahlvig, who was CEO at that time.

As a leader, Jesper is known for his belief in values-based leadership and for his emphasis on togetherness. Jesper’s vision for Ingka Group spotlights sustainable development. He is a member of the World Economic Forum, advocating for wider climate commitments across the global retail sector.

Having stepped down as CEO on the 5th of November 2025, Jesper will remain with the company until the end of February 2026 to ensure a smooth transition. Thereafter, he will serve as a Senior Advisor to the IKEA Foundation, among other engagements

Jesper has also recently been nominated by Sweden as a candidate for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Anand Chandarana is President of Essity’s Health & Medical Business Unit, a role assumed in September 2025.

Based in Gothenburg, Anand oversees global operations for leading brands such as TENA, Leukoplast, Cutimed, JOBST, Actimove, Delta-Cast, Sorbact and Radiante, driving innovation in wound care, compression therapy, orthopedics, and incontinence solutions. Anand joined Essity in 2020, holding senior positions in Commercial Development and Global Marketing & Innovation before stepping into the executive team.

Prior to Essity, Anand spent 17 years at Mölnlycke Health Care, where Anand led strategic initiatives in digital health, marketing, and sales across multiple regions. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Mathematics and a Professional Certificate in Management.

Thierry Coulhon is President of Institut Polytechnique de Paris, a leading science and technology institution bringing together six top French engineering schools.

A mathematician by training, he previously led Université de Cergy and PSL, and advised President Macron on education and research.

He also headed the Mathematical Sciences Institute (ANU, Australia) and chaired Hcéres, the independent public authority responsible for evaluating all higher education and research structures.

Holder of an engineering degree from the École Supérieure du Bois in Nantes and a MSc in Management from IFG Paris, Anne Duisabeau joined Swiss Krono, one of the leading wood panel producers, in 1995 as Head of Wood Procurement. She subsequently held the positions of Industrial Site Director, then General Dorector of the company’s French subsidiary.

In 2018, she founded A&D Conseil, providing consulting services for industrial projects within her field of expertise.

Deeply involved for many years in professional representative bodies, she has also served on the boards of numerous organizations and associations related to the forestry and wood industries.

Honored as a Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite and a Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite Agricole, she was elected President of France Bois Forêt in 2024.

Forestry engineer, he worked for 16 years for forestry contractors organisations in the Aquitaine region and then at national level. Currently Secretary General of the French Forestry Cooperatives Organisation, he represents french forestry cooperatives, the main managers of private forests (120 000 familly private owners representing 2.2 million hectares, harvesting 7 million cubic meters of timber and replanting 15 000 hectares annually). Involved in European affairs for many years, he actively participates in the French-Swedish partnership between professional federations since its creation in 2023.

Dr. Holmgren has worked with the forest-based sector over the past 40 years in science, international development, diplomacy and the private sector. He has a PhD from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences on Geographic information for forestry planning. He has led the Global Forest Resources Assessment at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO), headed FAOs work on forest resources development and was for five years Director of Climate Change at FAO.

He move in to Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), based in Indonesia and was immersed in the global development of the forest and climate agenda.

Since 2018 he is based in his home country Sweden, working SCA on opportunities for the wood-based value chain in today’s challenging policy landscape related to climate, nature and the economy.

Paul-Antoine Lacour is the Director General of COPACEL, the trade organization representing the paper industry in France.

Before taking on this role, he headed the economic studies department of the forestry research center (AFOCEL), which had been established by the pulp producers. Alongside these activities, he was responsible, within the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), for defending the interests of paper manufacturers on all matters related to research and innovation. Paul-Antoine began his career at the Finnish consulting and engineering company Jaakko Pöyry (now AFRY).

He is a graduate of the French National School for Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry (ENGREF) and holds an economics degree from the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan.

Since January 1, 2023, Professor Mikael Lindström has served as Deputy President of KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden's largest and leading technical university, known for its research and education in science, engineering, and architecture. In this role, he is, among other things, responsible for strategic research funding and strategic collaborations, including external funding, fundraising, infrastructure, and strategic partnerships.

He is a Professor of Pulp Technology, a field focused on the processes and technologies used to extract fibres from wood. These fibres are primarily used as raw materials in paper and carbon production, but also in products within the pharmaceutical and textile industries. His research involves modelling and simulation methods for analyzing various chemical pulp production processes. It also examines how different stages in the process influence the characteristics of the final product enabling efficient use of wood fibre.

Hanna Maurer Sibley is the European Chief Technology officer for Networks in the Market area Europe, Middle East and Africa at Ericsson.

She is responsible for visualizing and advocating technology solutions applicable for the Telecom Industry and its surrounding eco system. Hanna is central in driving the full value of 5G and soon 6G connectivity for Ericsson’s customers. She brings a broad range of experience and deep expertise from across the telecommunications and ICT industry.

During her career at Ericsson, Hanna Maurer Sibley has contributed to creation of the industry-leading mobile broadband solution portfolio. She first started at Ericsson in 1993 and has served in various positions across the US and Europe. Prior to taking up her current position, she headed the global portfolio development of Enterprise offerings. She has also led solution design teams in Europe and Latin America covering over 70 countries.

Hanna Maurer Sibley holds a Master of Science in Engineering, Engineering Physics from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm. She resides in Stockholm, Sweden with her family.

Pär Olsson is professor of physics and Head of the Physics Department at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm since 2020. He was appointed Knight of the Ordre des Palmes académiques by the Prime Minister of France in 2025. He is the Director of the Swedish Sunrise centre on sustainable nuclear energy research, is coordinating the Nexus initiative for nuclear driven decarbonization, coordinates the Nuclear Materials Platform and is representing Sweden on the Euratom Scientific and Technical Committee, as well as in the European Atomic Energy Society. He has a long career working with nuclear energy research in both Sweden, from KTH and Uppsala University, and in France, where he worked at EDF R&D between 2005 and 2011. His research focus is nuclear materials and nuclear engineering, in which he has published over 115 scientific papers, several bookchapters and is Editor in Chief of the journal Nuclear Materials and Energy. His graduates are working in universities, research labs and industry all over the world.

Gîta Paterson is the president of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in France. She is also the Chairperson of the Swedish-French Language Foundation and board member of the foundation Swedish Youth Abroad. She is the legal advisor of SWEA International, Inc. Gîta Paterson graduated from the School of Law and Graduate School of Management of the UCLA (1975-1978) and Lund University in Sweden, LL.M. (1975). She is an international business lawyer at the law firm FTPA and has solid experiences within the French-Swedish business relations and companies.

Karen Pflug is Chief Sustainability Officer at Ingka Group. As part of the management team, she leads the delivery of Ingka Group’s global sustainability strategy, including its commitment to the Paris Agreement and reducing its climate footprint by 50% by 2030. Recognised by TIME100 in 2024 as one of the top leaders in Climate, Karen is known for aligning bold sustainability ambition with scalable business transformation.

Under her leadership, Ingka has accelerated renewable energy investments, championed circular customer offers, and advanced its human rights and social impact agenda. With over 25 years of international experience, she has held senior roles at Nike, Reebok, and Triumph, and brings over 10 years of senior leadership experience across the global IKEA value chain.

Thomas Reynaud is the CEO of iliad Group, Europe’s 4th largest telecom operator, and Chairman of Tele2, a leading listed Swedish operator.

Iliad has become a major European and Latin American player, operating in 18 countries — including France, Poland, the Baltics, Sweden, and across Latin America — serving 113 million customers worldwide. Beyond telecoms, Thomas Reynuad drives iliad’s expansion into digital and AI infrastructures, positioning the Group as Europe’s 3rd largest provider of AI computing power, with its own cloud services, Scaleway and Opcore, the continent’s leading sovereign data center platform.

Stéphane Rouault is Head of ZEROe Ecosystem & Value at Airbus, leading a team responsible for stimulating the emergence and readiness of an hydrogen ecosystem for Airbus’ ZEROe project. His focus is on understanding the various challenges of bringing sustainable hydrogen to airports, in the most efficient way, in order to enable commercially viable operations of hydrogen powered aircraft. Prior to this role, he was responsible for Value Assessment of hydrogen powered aircraft technologies. Since the late 90s, Stéphane held various roles in Marketing, Sales, and Sales Financing at Airbus.

Benoît Tanguy began his career in the commercial vehicle industry in 1990 as Sales Manager for Heavy Goods Vehicles and Light Commercial Vehicles at Mercedes-Benz Trucks for the Pays de la Loire region and part of the Vendée department. In 2000, he joined Scania France as Regional Manager. Promoted to Sales Director in 2003, he left France in 2014 to head Scania Colombia.

He returned to Europe in 2018 as Managing Director of Scania BSU (Black Sea Unit), the entity responsible for distributing Scania products in Bulgaria and Romania. Since April 1, 2024, at the age of 57, he has held the position of Chairman and CEO of Scania France.

He is also the Chairman of the International Trade Association for Automobiles and Motorcycles (division industrial vehicles).

Henrik Vassallo is Advisor of EU & European Affairs for FAM AB since 2022 where he advises the management of the clients on all matters related to EU and European affairs, in Brussels and throughout Europe.

Previously, he headed up the Wallenberg Investments AB’s EU presence in Brussels where he also represented Investor AB, FAM AB and Wallenberg Investments. Before that he worked at the head office of the Wallenberg Office in Stockholm.

Henrik is a former VP and Head of Saab France & Benelux as well as VP Saab EU Affairs & NATO in Brussels, an office he established in 2008.

Before joining Saab, he was a consultant at Kreab. He also worked in the Cabinet of the Maltese European Commissioner Joe Borg in 2006.
Currently, he is a Board Member of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in France as well as SFS – Swedish French language Foundation.

Henrik is a business graduate from Lund University and has a law degree from University of London as well as a diploma from IHEDN (Institute for Higher National Defence Studies in France).

Marcus Wandt is a Swedish astronaut, fighter pilot, and aerospace innovator with a distinguished career in aviation and space exploration.

Currently serving as Head of Group and Technology at Saab AB, member of Saab's Group Management, and Special Advisor to the Swedish National Space Agency, he brings extensive expertise in cutting-edge aerospace technology and strategic development.

In 2024, he flew to the International Space Station as a European Space Agency astronaut, contributing to scientific research and technological advancements in space.

With a background as Chief Test Pilot at Saab Aeronautics and a fighter pilot in the Swedish Air Force, Marcus has played a key role in developing and testing advanced fighter aircraft, including the Gripen E. His leadership spans both military and civilian aerospace projects, combining operational experience with a passion for innovation.

Marcus holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology and has received honorary doctorates and numerous awards for his contributions to science, aviation and spaceflight.