Richard Samans

Richard Samans is a Member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He is responsible for the Forum’s action and policy oriented multistakeholder initiatives on major global challenges, relations with intergovernmental and civil society organizations and portfolio of public-private cooperation projects. From 2011 to 2013, he served as Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute,  where he led the organization’s transformation from a  start-up non-governmental organization to a treaty-based  intergovernmental institution active in over 20 countries.  Before an earlier stint at the World Economic Forum from 2001 to 2011, Samans served in the US White House as Special  Assistant for International Economic Policy to President  Bill Clinton and Senior Director for International Economic Affairs at the National Security Council. Prior to that, he was Economic Policy Adviser to US Senate Democratic Leader Thomas A. Daschle and served in a range of roles in other public, private, and research institutions. Since 2007, he has also served as Chairman of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board, a consortium of business and environmental  organizations that has established a common framework for reporting of carbon-related corporate performance and risks in mainstream reports to the investment community.

Jennifer Blanke

Jennifer Blanke is Chief Economist at the World Economic Forum, overseeing economic research activities and leading the Global Initiative on Economic Growth and Social Inclusion. She joined the World Economic Forum in 1998 as Senior Programme Manager, responsible for developing the  business, management and technology section of the annual meeting in Davos. In 2002 she became a member of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network before becoming team head in 2007, and then taking on her current role in 2012. She also sits on the Canadian Government’s Council on Economic Growth and holds a number of  not-for-profit board positions. Dr Blanke has written and  lectured extensively on issues related to national competitiveness and has served as lead editor on a number of regional and topical reports related to economic growth and development. Her expertise centres on economic growth and development, national competitiveness and political economy. Prior to  joining the Forum she was a Paris-based management  consultant at Eurogroup, Mazars Group, where she specialised  in banking and financial market organization. She has a  Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University;  and a Master’s and PhD in International Economics from  the Graduate Institute of International and Development  Studies in Geneva.

Gemma Corrigan

Gemma Corrigan is a Practice Lead on the Economic Growth and Social Inclusion Team at the World Economic Forum.  She is responsible for the development of a new benchmarking tool, which measures how well countries deliver inclusive outcomes from growth, and is a lead author of the Inclusive Growth Report 2017. She has also co-authored the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-15 and the Global Risk Report 2014. Prior to joining the World Economic Forum, she worked in the Division of Country Programmes at the International Trade Centre (UNCTAD/WTO) in Geneva, where she  focused on export strategies and issues related to trade  competitiveness. Her research interests include new  institutional economics and applying behavioural science to tackle poverty and inequality. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and History from Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, and a Master’s in Political Economy from the London School of Economics, UK.

Margareta Drzeniek Hanouz

Margareta Drzeniek Hanouz is Head of the Global  Competitiveness and Risks Team at the World Economic Forum. She leads the Forum’s work on national competitiveness and global risks and is lead author or editor of a number of regional and topical reports and papers, including The Global Competitiveness Report and the Global Risks Report series. Before joining the Global Competitiveness and Risks Team, Dr Drzeniek Hanouz was in charge of the economics section of the Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos. Prior to that she worked with the International Trade Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, where she was in charge of relations with Central and Eastern European countries. Dr Drzeniek Hanouz has a Diploma in Economics from the University of Münster and holds a PhD in International Economics from the University of Bochum, both in Germany.