Speakers

Please note that Speakers may change at any time

 
Portrait of Kate Forbes

Kate Forbes
President of the IFRC

Day 3 - Friday October 4th 2024 | 9:00am
Session 4: Welcome from IFRC President, Kate Forbes + National Society Presidential Panel

Kate Forbes is the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Inspired by her mother’s work helping migrant farm workers, Kate grew up understanding how hard people for a better life. Starting as a Red Cross volunteer at her local branch in Phoenix, Arizona, she now leads the world’s largest humanitarian network.

 
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Caroline Holt
Director of Disaster, Climate and Crises at the IFRC

Day 2 - Thursday October 3rd 2024 | 11:30am
Session 3: Resilience in Crisis: How Disaster Response is Evolving

Caroline Holt was appointed as Director, Disasters, Climate and Crises Department, based in Geneva, effective 17 October 2022.

Caroline, who is British, has been leading IFRC’s Global Cash team for the last five years. She led IFRC to become one of the largest cash providers in the world. She played a central role in developing the Emergency Social Safety Net programme (ESSN) which provides cash assistance to 1.5 million refugees living in Türkiye. The ESSN is the largest humanitarian programme in the history of the EU and the largest programme ever implemented by the IFRC.

Prior to this, Caroline worked with the British and Norwegian Red Cross Societies. She joined the British Red Cross in London in 2004 as the Head of International Finance before moving to manage operations in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In 2012, Caroline joined the Norwegian Red Cross in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, initially as Regional Programme Advisor where she supported National Societies in the implementation of DRR programmes before becoming Regional Representative for Asia.

Caroline began her career in the private sector as a finance analyst with British Airways and, alongside her operations experience, brings a strong finance and accountability perspective. She holds a master’s degree in International Development from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and is a Chartered Management Accountant. Caroline is FACT- and ERU-trained and has been a team leader of the ERU Field Hospital in Nepal and Bangladesh.

 
Portrait of Anna Hunt Binkley

Anna Hunt-Binkley
Geneva Forum Co-Chair

Day 1 - Wednesday October 2nd 2024 | 6:00pm
Welcome Reception; Journey of Humanity

 
Portrait of Janet Johnson

Janet Johnson
Chief Development Officer, Canadian Red Cross

Day 3 - Friday October 4th 2024 | 3:15pm
Session 8: Bringing our Learnings Home: Empowering Women’s Philanthropy

Janet Johnson is the Chief Development Officer at the Canadian Red Cross and first joined the Red Cross in 2018 as the Vice President Philanthropy. Janet brings more than 25 years of progressive leadership experience in philanthropy, human resources, sales and marketing with over 10 years of executive leadership within the humanitarian charitable sector and 15 years in the for-profit financial services sector. Driven by a desire to help others, Janet's passion is helping people connect their philanthropic goals with the causes they care deeply about. In addition to her philanthropy experience, Janet has a Bachelors degree in Business Administration, is a Certified Human Resources Leader and has her Masters Business Administration specializing in innovation and leadership.

 
Portrait of Petra Khoury

Dr. Petra Khoury
Director of Health and Care department, IFRC

Day 3 - Friday October 4th 2024 | 1:00pm
Session 6: Closing Gaps in Global Health

Dr. Petra Khoury, serving as the Director of Health and Care department for the IFRC, is a national of both Lebanon and the United States, with significant professional experience from both countries. Most recently, she led the national COVID-19 response and vaccination plan in Lebanon and was appointed as the Chair for both national COVID-19 Response and Vaccination Executive Committees. In this capacity, she developed and executed the operational response and preparedness plan as well as vaccination roll-out plan and became the nation's scientific spokesperson on COVID-19 related matters, serving as the Public Health Advisor to the Prime Minister of Lebanon.

Prior to her leadership role in the national COVID-19 response in Lebanon, Petra was Chief Quality and Compliance Officer in the Executive Leadership Team at AUBMC. In this role, she had oversight over compliance, quality, safety, risk management, medico-legal, Joint Commission accreditations and regulatory compliance. She also worked on Re-engineering the Delivery of Healthcare at the American University of Beirut Medical Centre (AUBMC) thru implementation of electronic health records (Epic) and automation systems.

Her career started in Boston at Massachusetts General Hospital as an infectious disease specialist developing antimicrobial stewardship program, providing patient care, and leading internal medicine pharmacy clinical service. Petra holds a doctorate degree in Pharmacy from Lebanese American University in Lebanon. She trained at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)-Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts U.S.A, and specialized in infectious diseases. She also earned a Post-graduate certificate in Quality, Safety, Leadership, and Informatics from Harvard Medical School. She is fluent in Arabic, English, and French.

 
Portrait of Natia Loladze

Natia Loladze
Vice-President, IFRC
President, Georgia Red Cross Society (GRCS)

Day 3 - Friday October 4th 2024 | 9:00am
Session 4: Welcome from IFRC President, Kate Forbes + National Society Presidential Panel

Ms. Natia Loladze is the elected Vice-President of the International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) since 2022 and the president of the Georgia Red Cross Society (GRCS). She is a proactive and resourceful professional with track record in leadership and strategic development of the organization. Prior to holding a Vice-President position Ms. Loladze was elected member of the IFRC Governing Board. She was a chair of the IFRC Governing Board Working Group on “National Societies, Localization and Volunteering”. Ms Natia Loladze chaired the 33-rd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent held in Geneva, Switzerland in every four years. She is often invited to take part as a chair and a speaker in various international conferences/events focused on global trends and emerging challenges that require humanitarian action by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Ms. Natia is the founder of the Fintech company, among the largest payment system providers in Georgia. Expanding its operations beyond Georgia to cover the broader region.

Ms. Natia Loladze is a professional economist graduated with a master’s degree in management and leadership of the London School of Economics and Political Science and a bachelor’s degree in BSc Economics of the University of Essex. She is the author of several works in management and economics.

In 2018, she completed High Performance Boards (HPB) Program in IMD Business School, Switzerland.

 

Elaine Lyerly
TCIC Co-Chair

Day 1 - Wednesday October 2nd 2024 | 6:00pm
Welcome Reception; Journey of Humanity

 

Nicole Martins-Maag
Head of Archives and Outreach, ICRC

Day 2 - Thursday October 3rd 2024 | 10:15am
Session 2: International Humanitarian Law over History

 

Row McGilvray
Geneva Forum Co-Chair and Founding Member of the Australian Red Cross Tiffany Circle

Day 1 - Wednesday October 2nd 2024 | 6:00pm
Welcome Reception; Journey of Humanity

 
Portrait of Anne McKeough

Anne McKeough
Chief Development Officer, American Red Cross

Day 3 - Friday October 4th 2024 | 3:15pm
Session 8: Bringing our Learnings Home: Empowering Women’s Philanthropy

Anne McKeough joined the American Red Cross in October 2021 as Chief Development Officer, responsible for overall fundraising for the American Red Cross. She is responsible for leading the overall strategic direction and implementation of programs designed to raise funds from individuals, corporations, foundations, and community organizations. As part of the senior leadership team, she’ll develop and implement short and long-term strategies designed to provide mission growth/expansion.

Anne is a strategic executive with a proven track record of building and leading high-powered teams, accelerating profitable growth and driving change. Her areas of expertise include building a value-driven sales process, streamlining operations, negotiating complex business deals, creating and driving improvements in a global engagement support model, and developing the next generation of leaders.

Prior to joining the American Red Cross, Anne served as the vice president of Global Sales for Staples, leading their sales organization and international business units for this top industry promotional products distributor for 22 years.

Anne has a passion for cultivating and developing talent. At Staples, she built a strong management team and fostered a team environment while encouraging innovation and collaboration. She has been recognized by the Advertising Specialty Institute as a Distributor Woman of Distinction in 2019 and as part of their Power 50 listing in 2019 and 2020.

Anne earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a Minor in Business with honors from Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island.

 
Portrait of Sarah Epprecht Noetzli

Sarah Epprecht Noetzli
Director of Protection and Essential Services, ICRC

Day 2 - Thursday October 3rd 2024 | 10:15am
Session 2: International Humanitarian Law over History

Currently overseeing the further development of the ICRC's programs to achieve humanitarian outcomes for and with people affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence. These include the ICRC's work in the domains of health, economic security, Health, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), weapons contamination, as well as efforts to address issues related to the respect of civilians and detainees and persons who are separated from their families, or have gone missing.

 
Portrait of Anjana Dayal de Prewitt

Anjana Dayal de Prewitt
Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Consultation, American Red Cross

Day 2 - Thursday October 3rd 2024 | 10:15am
Session 2: International Humanitarian Law over History

Anjana is currently serving as the Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for American Red Cross, National Headquarters. In the last 21 yrs., she has had the opportunity to work with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and Save the Children US in various leadership positions. She has worked in over 30 countries in humanitarian settings affected by disasters and armed conflicts, where she conducted situational analysis, designed and managed complex programs and budgets, developed training curricula, and build capacity of the local teams. She has developed program guidance and strategy pertaining to Community based Psychosocial Support, Child Protection, Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion.

She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Lucknow University (India), a master’s degree in Sustainable Peace from UN Mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica) and Certification in Humanitarian Diplomacy from IFRC/DiploFoundation (Geneva). Recently, she completed certification in Peace Leadership program accredited by the Centre for Executive Education at the University for Peace, established by the General Assembly of the United Nations. In addition to her two books, Gudia: A Defiant Doll (English) and Papa ke Joote (Hindi), her work has been published in various peer reviewed journals. She's a polyglot, speaks English, Hindi/Urdu, and Spanish.

 

Dania Samawi
Geneva Forum Co-Chair and Founder of the Swiss Red Cross Tiffany Circle

Day 1 - Monday October 2nd 2024 | 6:00pm
Welcome Reception; Journey of Humanity

 
Portrait of Thomas Zeltner

Thomas Zeltner
President, Swiss Red Cross

Day 2 - Thursday October 3rd 2024 | 9:00am
Welcome from Swiss Red Cross President Thomas Zeltner

Thomas Zeltner was born in Bern (Switzerland). He graduated with an MD and a Master's degree in Law from the University of Bern. Since 1992 he has been Professor of Public Health at the University of Bern. He is also the founder and first chairman of the WHO Foundation and now President of the Swiss Red Cross. Between 1991 and 2009 Thomas Zeltner has been Director General of the Swiss Federal Office of Public. Finally he serves as Deputy Chair of the University Council of the Medical University of Vienna (Austria).