H.E. Mr. Olivier Maes took up the position of Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the United Nations in New York on 15 July 2021. During his tenure, Ambassador Maes has been appointed three times as co-facilitator by the President of the United Nations General Assembly. With the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh, he co-facilitated the Progress Declaration of the first International Migration Review Forum held in May 2022 to assess the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The next year, Ambassador Maes co-facilitated with the Permanent Representative of South Africa the preparation of the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development held in September 2023. In 2024-2025, Ambassador Maes serves with the Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as co-facilitator for the preparation of the fourth high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well-being to be held on 25 September 2025.

During his tenure, Luxembourg was elected for the first time as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, for the term 2022-2024, at the election held in the General Assembly on 14 October 2021. In the field of human rights, Luxembourg took an initiative that led to the adoption on 29 June 2023 of resolution 77/301, by which the General Assembly decided to establish, under the auspices of the UN, the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic, to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons in the Syrian Arab Republic and to provide adequate support to victims, survivors and the families of those missing.

Before his appointment as Permanent Representative to the UN, Mr. Maes served as Ambassador, Director for Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg for almost four years, starting on 1 September 2017.

He was Deputy Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the United Nations in New York from 27 August 2010 to 31 August 2017, a period that included Luxembourg’s first ever term as an elected member of the Security Council, in 2013-2014.

Before moving to New York for his first assignment at the UN, Mr. Maes served as Deputy Director for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from November 2007 to August 2010. It is during that period that the official development assistance (ODA) provided by Luxembourg reached 1% of its gross national income.

For four years, between 2003 and 2007, Mr. Maes was posted in Brussels, where he served as the Deputy Representative of Luxembourg to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union from 15 August 2006 to 31 October 2007, after serving as Politico-Military Counsellor from 1 September 2003 to 14 August 2006 and Chair of the Politico-Military Group of the European Union during Luxembourg’s Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first semester of 2005.

From 6 April 1999 to 31 August 2003, Mr. Maes worked as Attaché, Second Secretary and then First Secretary in charge of the management of Luxembourg’s ODA and cooperation with non-governmental organizations in the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg.

Mr. Maes received a post-graduate diploma from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) in France in 1998, where he undertook a comparative study of democratic transitions in post-communist Europe. This followed two diplomas in political and social sciences he obtained from Sciences Po Paris and from the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany in 1996 and 1997.

Born on 23 January 1974 in Nancy, France, Mr. Maes is married to a United Nations staff interpreter and they have two children.

Tara Soomro was appointed as the UK’s Minister Counsellor for Humanitarian, Peacebuilding, and Development issues and the UK’s Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council in July 2024. Prior to this she was a Deputy Director in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office working on the Indo-Pacific. She was part of the UK’s initial response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, working as Deputy Director for Strategic Communications. She spent three years working in No10 Downing Street as the Prime Minister’s Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs, serving two Prime Ministers – Theresa May and then Boris Johnson. She has worked in British embassies and consulates overseas in Iraq, Turkey and the UAE and spent several years working for the UK’s Department for International Development. She began her career in the Civil Service in 2010, at the Scottish Government.

Andrew Sollinger is the publisher and CEO of Foreign Policy, which he joined in 2018. Previously, he was executive vice president at Business Insider, executive director of Capital New York (now Politico NY) and managing director of the Financial Times Americas. Sollinger was part of the executive team that built Money-Media, a digital news startup focused on the fund management industry, and sold it to the FT. A former reporter and editor for Institutional Investor magazine’s newsletter division, Andrew has lived in London, Hong Kong and New York. He is a graduate of Clark University, where he was executive editor of The Scarlet.

Allison Carlson is the Executive Vice President of FP Analytics, Foreign Policy’s independent research and advisory division, and FP Events. She oversees FPA’s cross-cutting research at the intersection of policy, technology, and global markets as well as Foreign Policy’s global dialogues and convenings. Prior to these roles, Carlson led FP Analytics’ energy and technology team for more than a decade, evaluating evolving policies, regulations, and market factors to identify opportunities for advanced technology deployment internationally. Before joining FP, she led the Latin America program for a boutique consulting firm assisting European companies on investing in emerging markets’ energy and financial sectors. Carlson has presented her work at a variety of international conferences and before the U.S. Senate. She is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where she received a master’s degree in international relations and international economics.

Maggie Lake is a veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering business, technology, politics, and international affairs. She started her career at Reuters, where she worked in both the New York and London bureaus covering economics and global finance. In 2001, she joined CNN International, where she served as a correspondent and anchor for the network’s flagship business shows. Over the course of her career, she has interviewed the world’s top CEOs, celebrities, and politicians and has been a consistent champion of economic inclusion and sustainable development. She has served as a weekly contributor for NPR and moderated events for the United Nations, World Bank, Council on Foreign Relations, and Global Citizen. Maggie has now launched her own content company and a new podcast, Maggie Lake Talking Markets, where she is continuing her mission to educate people on investing and new technology.

Diana currently coordinates Guyana’s largest cancer awareness and fundraising initiative at the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company. She’s involved with the Healthy Caribbean Coalition and a former Our Views, Our Voices Global Advisory Committee member. Previously, Diana was on the Board of Directors of the Dominica Cancer Society.

Shashank Deshpande is a Member of the Board of Managing Directors at Boehringer Ingelheim, responsible for the Human Pharma Business Unit. Shashank leads a talented global team of nearly 30,000 people, who are bound by their diversity and dedication to lead the way to make more of every life, for generations.

Shashank joined Boehringer Ingelheim in 2012 and held human pharma leadership and marketing positions in Japan and Germany, before joining the Board of Managing Directors in 2023, taking over responsibility for the Animal Health Business Unit in early 2024.

Prior to being part of Boehringer, for over ten years he held leading roles at Sanofi driving their portfolio and marketing strategy as well as worked in strategy and transformation consultancy.

With a strong background in managing business across Asia, Europe, and North America, Shashank is passionate about people driving successes for patients. A German and US national, Shashank holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Hamburg, Germany.

Tisha Boatman is a passionate advocate for screening to ensure diseases are caught as early as possible when they are most treatable.  Since 2022, she been the global lead for Healthcare Access, where she is responsible to implement Siemens Healthineers’ vision to provide healthcare for everyone, everywhere, sustainably. She is also head of Global Government Affairs at Siemens Healthineers since Oct 2024 and a Board Member at Movement Health Foundation.  Tisha believes high quality healthcare is a human right and knows that collaboration is the key to make a substantial impact in global health development.

Prior to her current role, Tisha held various leadership positions in Siemens Healthineers for over 19 years in the USA, Europe, and Asia.

Tisha is also a breast cancer survivor and has experienced the full patient pathway first-hand after finding a lump in her breast during a self-exam.  Through this experience, she solidified her patient and provider first perspective.

Tisha is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and holds an MBA from University of California Berkeley.

Katie Dain is Chief Executive Officer of the NCD Alliance, a global network of civil society organisations dedicated to transforming the fight against non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Katie has worked with the NCD Alliance since its founding in 2009.

Katie is widely recognised as a leading advocate and expert on NCDs. Katie co-chairs the WHO Civil Society Working Group on NCDs, and has served as a commissioner on the WHO Independent High-Level Commission on NCDs, The Lancet Commission on NCDIs of the Poorest Billion, The Lancet Commission on Global Oral Health, and The Rockefeller-Boston University Commission on Health Determinants, Data and Decision-making (3-D Commission). Katie is also a member of the Steering Committee for the Coalition for Access to NCD Medicines and Products.

Her experience covers a range of sustainable development issues, including global health, gender equality and women’s empowerment, violence against women, and women’s health. Before joining the NCD Alliance, she held a series of policy and advocacy posts in international NGOs and government, including the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in Brussels, leading their global policy and advocacy programme; the UK Government as a gender policy adviser; Womankind Worldwide, a women’s rights organisation; and the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), a HIV and sexual health charity.

Jon started his career with Bayer UK where he held successive positions in sales and marketing before joining Sanofi in 2002 as Sales Manager within the cardiovascular team. He subsequently held two more positions over the next four-year period, as BU Director for the Central Nervous System business and Business Support Director.

Since 2006, Jon has held General Manager roles in Bulgaria (2006-2007), Finland (2007-2010), Portugal (2010-2012) and Canada (2012-2015) before taking the position of Head of Africa Region from 2015 to 2019 where he was then appointed as Head of External Affairs for Eurasia, Middle-East & Africa (EMEA). From March 2020 to December 2021, he was Head of Global Trade & Revenue Management. Jon started in his current position as Head of Sanofi Global Health Unit in January 2022.

Caroline Mendy is Director, Global Policy at Roche Pharma, based in Basel, Switzerland, where she leads the Policy Advocacy and External Engagement team in the External Affairs International department.

Drawing on her 20 years of experience working in stakeholder engagement roles within the pharmaceutical industry and international organizations, Caroline joined Roche in 2020 to lead Roche’s partnerships and collaborative projects with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other multilateral specialized agencies.

Before joining Roche, Caroline served as Director of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for the Global Self-Care Federation (GSCF). She has previously led the innovative industry’s regulatory policy and technical standards portfolio at the International Federation of Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

Prior to joining the industry, Caroline worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Technical Officer in the Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies Department (EMP). There, she led the technical secretariat developing WHO global quality and regulatory norms and standards for essential medicines (e.g. specifications, guidelines, EML). She also assisted WHO Member States with the implementation of national pharmaceutical policies, with a specific emphasis on low- and middle-income countries’ health systems and capacity strengthening.

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