Alexander Frisenberg

W. Alexander Frisenberg (°1975, Oslo Norway, co-founder The Zelecive Group) holds an MBA from the International University of Monaco.

In 1992, he started THE PLAYER GROUP in Oslo which consisted of 7 retail stores situated in the main shopping streets of Oslo.

It also consisted of a wholesale division, selling to retail stores all over Norway and parts of Sweden and Denmark. Being one of Norway's most well-known retailers as well as having one of the best brand names in the country (THE PLAYER made in Italy ), he has had the pleasure of being the provider of clothes to the prime minister, the foreign minister, the oil and energy minister and the secretary of state in Norway.

In 2004 he sold a few of his stores and moved to Monaco where he launched the brand "The Monaco Cashmere Collection". The brand is represented in 8 European countries, as well as the USA. Alexander has successfully opened accounts at some of the world’s most renowned department stores such as; Harrods, Paul Stuart and Galeries Lafayette - just to name a few. He lives in Monaco managing "The Monaco Cashmere Collection" with his business partner.

Barend van der Vorm

Barend van der Vorm manages a portfolio of private equity investments. He founded CentreCourt in Monaco which supports high-growth companies and develops entrepreneurial strategies.

Mr. van der Vorm is Chairman of the investment committee of IFHA (Investment Fund for Health in Africa) and serves as a member of the investment committee of a Dutch private equity firm. He is the honorary consul-general of the Netherlands to Monaco.

Mr. van der Vorm has been teaching the venture capital course in the MBA programs of the International University of Monaco (IUM), EDHEC Business School, CERAM Graduate School of Management and Eurecom. At IUM he has served on the Graduate Academic Committee and the Executive Committee.

More info: www.mvca.asso.mc

Daniele de Winter

Daniele de Winter is the daughter of Dr Jan de Winter, a pioneering cancer specialist who opened the UK's first high-street Cancer Prevention Clinic in 1982. Daniele de Winter has worked with her father in cancer prevention for over 20 years, focusing on the lifestyle choices people can adopt to reduce their risk of contracting this disease.

Daniele's philosophy: that beauty and health are inseparable, led to her first health and beauty book ''What the Doctor Ordered' at the age of 15, this was followed by the US best-seller 'Eat Yourself Beautiful' at the age of 21. Daniele's latest book INSIDEOUT beauty™ was published in 2006 to accompany the launch of the INSIDEOUT beauty™ skin rejuvenation system.

In 2003, Daniele launched DANIELE de WINTER MONACO, a luxury, holistic beauty and spa company based in Monte Carlo. In three years Daniele has successfully launched her innovative and medically developed skin rejuvenation range in over 9 countries and has plans for expansion to a further 5 in 2006. Daniele de Winter has an MBA from INSEAD.

More info: www.danieledewinter.com

David Taylor

David Taylor is an experienced software and technology entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded and was chief executive of TOPIC, the financial information database, co-founded Fidessa Group PLC (FDSA.L) and helped Digital River Inc (DRIV.NQ) to commercialize internationally.

He is currently a board member of Monaco Telecom and was an early investor in Seeker and is currently the Chairman of Seeker Wireless Pty Ltd.

James Beadle

James is a British born investment management professional. Since 2006 he has served as the chief investment strategist of Pilgrim Asset Management, a Russian company with a Moscow-based brokerage, and interests in wealth management and real estate development.

He holds an MBA from EADA, Barcelona, and an MSc in Financial Engineering from IUM, Monaco.

James has been working with the former Soviet Union since 1999. He has held roles in equities and political research on both the buy- and sell-sides, and as a consultant for the OECD.

Jean Luc Herouard

Jean-Luc Herouard is the founder, designer and manager of Zest Monaco.

He describes the concept of Zest:
"The adventure began four years ago when I was working in the luxury field. It was apparent that a caterer in Monaco didn’t really exist, so I took the knowledge I already had in this field and I sourced 500 high quality products. Zest has over 1000 m², but the area you see in the restaurant is only the tip of the iceberg. Behind that is our laboratory where we create our product, that has a surface area of 450 m². It is our ambition to meet the catering demands of Monaco while not forgetting the catering needs of enormous events such as the Yacht Show, Jumping (Monaco’s horse show) and the Grand Prix. We also pride ourselves on proposing new and exciting food options daily in Zest for our regular clients."

Johannes Pinl

Johannes Pinl (BSBA) can look back over 7 years work in the entrepreneurial domain.

After founding the Entrepreneur Association IUM Monaco in 2001 and starting the NeXt Generation Entrepreneur Forum with participants as Sir Philip Green (Top Shop), Johannes joined a Business Angel office in Monaco. This work lead in 2004 to his first venture “Smart Tender” as co-founder.

In 2005, Johannes co-founded Marine & Remote Sensing Solutions (MARSS), the 1st fully automated navigation and security system for the commercial shipping industry. Today MARSS has completed two finance rounds and teamed up with the major players in the industry for the market launch of its MARSS system in mid 2009.

John Mclean

John Mclean was born in Ayr, Scotland, the same small town as Scotland’s famous poet Robert Burns. With a creative vision and an entrepreneurial spirit, John always held a keen interest in the fashion and luxury sectors. After his studies, John began his career in the fashion industry, where he had four years’ management experience with Coats Viyella, including brand management experience with Jaeger.

Having gained a reputation as a talented force in the United Kingdom’s marketing sector, John enjoyed a number years in the brand consultancy field with the world’s largest and most prestigious marketing firms. John was Associate Board Director with D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B), the world’s third largest marketing and advertising agency group.

Shortly after this, Mclean felt the desire to become an entrepreneur, thus utilising his professional strengths and past successes in global marketing. In 1989 he founded The Late Escapes Group, which began as a small travel company. With a phenomenal rate of growth and success, the company became the largest and most profitable direct sales travel agency group in the UK, counting over 200 members of staff and an annual turnover in excess of US$75 million. At the height of its success, the Late Escapes Group was acquired by an international travel corporation, and is now part of the Thomas Cook Group.

Shortly after the sale of his business in 1996, John Mclean became a permanent resident of the Principality of Monaco. Whilst managing his family office financial interests, John’s deep interest in fashion augmented, fuelled by his passion for Monte Carlo’s unique heritage and way of life. He desired to create a brand that allowed the glamorous traits of the Principality to be showcased to the world.

In 2006, as part of this vision to develop a Monaco based, super-premium fashion brand, John graduated with an MBA, specialising in Luxury Branding, from the prestigious International University of Monaco.

Equipped with both the vision and the acumen, John Mclean founded Mont Charles de Monaco in 2007, and opened the company’s Monte Carlo headquarters. Having amassed a talented team, John has since steered the marque toward the launch of its first exquisite handbag line, the “Lady Collection”, and held a series of private preview launch events. From this, John wishes to eventually create a total fashion label.

Inspired by the wonderful legacy of HSH Prince Charles III and the foundation in 1861 of Monte Carlo, it is John’s desire that Mont Charles de Monaco will showcase spirit of the Principality’s style and glamour worldwide.

Judy Churchill

With over twenty-five years experience in communication skills, language training and consulting at corporate level, Judy has developed her own particular style based on both her studies and experience. An honours graduate in French and Spanish, speaker of five languages, a qualified teacher and trainer, legal and official translator (for the Monaco Law courts), Judy has worked in four countries and set up her own businesses in three.

Judy also worked for 4 years as Regional Manager (PACA, Monaco, Corsica) for Educational Testing Service (USA), dealing with the sales and teacher training of the foreign language testing unit of ETS. This set her up as a specialist in exam preparation and stress management resulting in several articles, conferences and lectures on the subject.

She currently runs her own communications consultancy from Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (next to Monaco) and is director of UK based Language Consulting Services Ltd. Her six years as English Training Manager for Merck- Théramex (Monaco/Paris) provided her with the necessary experience and credentials to become a specialist in the medical and pharmaceutical field. In 2006 she ran training courses in French across France training French Dermatologists in Non-verbal communication skills. In 2007 she received the CityWealth platinum award for professional excellence in her field.

2007/2008 saw Judy develop and run her own brand of assertiveness training for one of the major international pharmaceutical companies.

Part of her work today involves assisting VIPs with PR and Protocol. She was responsible for the setting up and conducting of a Cross Cultural trade delegation project at ministerial level (Monaco/Finland) resulting in a training video, “Bridging Cultures” with University of Westminster and Swedish School of Economics, Helsinki. Her portfolio includes royalty and stars from the cinema and sports world. Last summer Judy was consultant to Piers Morgan for the making of the programme Piers Morgan on Monaco which was broadcast on ITV on 5 February 2009.

Judy has lectured at various universities across Europe. She occasionally runs workshops on the IUM MBA executive programme, conducting sessions on Emotional Intelligence and its application on the acquisition/improvement of specific skills (Conflict Management, Stress Management, Face to Face Interaction) and seminars on Cross-Cultural awareness.

Read more: www.judychurchill.eu

Mark Dixon

Mark founded Regus in 1989 and has been Chief Executive Officer for over 18 years, leading the Group’s worldwide expansion programme and the development of pioneering workplace solutions. Regus now operates over a 1000 centers in over 70 countries and continues to be at the forefront of radical changes in the way companies use office space. Prior to Regus he established business in the retail and wholesale food industries.

Read more:
www.luxe-corp.com
www.luxe-mag.com
www.luxuryfashionbranding.com

Michael Payte

With a significant career in commercial and investment banking in both the New York and London financial markets spanning the 1970’s through the 1990’s, Mr. Payte was an acknowledged industry leader and member of the original team that pioneered the swaps and derivatives markets in the 1980’s and 1990’s. As a Vice President at Citibank and Senior Managing Director with Bear Stearns & Co., Mr. Payte headed up the International Capital Markets Structuring and Marketing team covering many of Europe’s leading international borrowers being responsible for over $6 billion in international structured financings.

Since 2003, Mr. Payte has been active in the academic community having served as guest and adjunct professor/ lecturer in international corporate finance and financial markets courses with the International University of Monaco (IUM), Grenoble Graduate School of Business and EDHEC-Nice. In addition, Mr Payte has served as Scientific Director for the Master Science International Finance and the Financial Markets programs with CERAM Nice-Sophia Antipolis Graduate School of Business.

Previously, Mr. Payte was one of the founding members of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Financial Engineers (IAFE.org) which includes leading Nobel Laureates in its Senior Fellows Program. Mr. Payte’s publications include co-authoring case studies in the Corporate Cultural Transformation of Microsoft and a study on the Harmonization of Corporate Governance in the European Union. Mr. Payte graduated with an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1971.

Oliver Sodeik

Founder of Why Monaco. Since 1999, he is member of the Management Board for the"Special Olympics", Monaco and since 2003, he´s Active member, "Lions-Club", Monaco. He is part entrepreneur, part facilitator, part organiser, part team player. An ardent pursuer of the projects he is involved in. He defends your ideas as they were its own. His motivation energizes everyone.

He continually strives to improve any projects.

"Ultimate success is the only criteria that impresses him."

Pascal Wiscour-Conter

"Being based in Monaco and truly convinced of the assets of the Principality, I believe we all should help in developing the local structures, education being an essential part to it. It is good for the reputation of Monaco to have a good MBA program and it may attract valuable people for local enterprises.

I try to give an outlook into the true nature of our activity (yachting) as well as our specific field of competences. I also like to bring over some practical thinking and to put things into perspective by drawing mentees attention to the actual context of things. When there is a fit, we offer internships to carry out punctual works or reflections that are related to our daily business.

I find it very rewarding to meet with motivated and curious mentees as they are both refreshing and stimulating. Further we have been very happy with the good job of those we took on internship. This is even more true when interns have had a working experience before coming to IUM.

I am a founding partner and CEO of Equisea® Yacht Management, a Monaco based innovative company specializing in business-oriented and integrated yacht management and my principal fields of activities are company development, promotion and sales, development of an in-house progressive technological platform."

Paula Russamanno

Paula Russomanno is a Senior Business Analyst at Luxe Corp, the pioneer Strategy & Management Consultancy company specialized in the luxury industry.

At Luxe Corp, she has been involved in negotiating and executing business consulting projects for both established luxury brands and emerging brands and also oversees the initiation of business partnerships and consulting processes and assessment methodologies.

Prior to moving to Paris and to joining Luxe Corp, she had a thriving career in New York City as an advertising specialist with Sothebys, MediaCom and Lipman where she executed campaigns for reputable luxury brands including the brands in the LVMH Fashion Group: Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy and Loewe.

Her portfolio also included Oscar de la Renta, David Yurman, Burberry among others. Paula has a marketing & strategy specialization from New York University and a MBA in International Luxury Brand Management from ESSEC Business School Paris. Paula is multi-lingual and is fluent in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian

Ray Zahab

Winner of some of the world’s most difficult and challenging ultra-distance foot races, Ray Zahab is motivated by challenge, distance and discovery.

Late in 1998 Ray made a life changing decision to leave a pack a day smoking habit and very unhealthy life choices behind him. New Years day 2000 he went hiking with his brother John and never looked back.

New to the sport of running in 2004, ultra-marathoning took Ray from the cold north of Canada to the Amazon jungle. But it was the Sahara desert that ultimately captured Ray’s heart. After racing across Niger, Egypt and Libya the idea was born to cross the entire Sahara out of a love for the terrain and it’s people.

In 2007, Ray Zahab and two others made history by running 4300 miles across the entire Sahara Desert , raising awareness for clean-water initiatives in Africa. This feat consisted of 111 consecutive 40 - 50 mile days of running in extreme desert conditions through six countries. Ray dreamed of this adventure after a 200 mile foot race in Niger, during which he became very attached to the Sahara and its people, the Tuareg. During this run, Ray met a young Tuareg girl who asked him for his water bottle so that she could drink the remaining drops. Ray later came to understand this interaction as symbolic of the profound clean-water crisis devastating the region. After witnessing and experiencing the water crisis and malaria epidemic in Africa, Ray decided to dedicate his future adventures to raising awareness and funding for causes that he supports and believes in. Ray is a member of the board of Directors of the Ryan’s Well Foundation, is the official Athletic Ambassador to the ONExONE organization, and is a representative of SpreadTheNet and the founder of Impossible2Possible. Ray was the recipient of the ONExONE Difference Award in 2007- honorees included Sarah Ferguson, Chief Phil Fontaine, Richard Gere and Wycleff Jean.

Most recently, Ray has been inspired to include the connection between climate change and it’s negative social impact. From desertification and the expanding malaria belt- to the loss of Inuit hunting grounds in Canada’s north, the impact of the changing climate is felt around the world. Rays next adventure, The Polar Run Expeditions in 2008 and 2010 will highlight these issues for younger people through the creation of a unique and wide reaching online educational resource. Ray has an exploding speaking career- speaking in front of audiences worldwide including PowerWithin, Johnson and Johnson, Pepsi, Sunlife Financial, Outdoor Retailers (Utah), and so many more.

Ray also splits his time speaking to schools, fundraisers and special events such as AL Gore’s Climate Project, Special Olympics, Canadian Olympic Association, Icebergs to Sand Dunes...Our Changing Planet, Riverside Resolve Center, Guts and Glory, Youth Business Network End Child Poverty, plus many more. More info on his website: www.rayzahab.com

Serena Benedetti

A graduate from Grenoble Management School, Serena travelled to China with her idea to distribute in Europe an electric scooter called the Kosmob. She went onto create and is now managing the B.Power company in Monaco.
B She is the winner of the Economic Young Chamber of Monaco business plan competition in 2007.

She speaks English, German and Chinese.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou – who prefers to be known as Stelios, the Serial Entrepreneur - is best know for creating easyJet in 1995, at the age of 28. In 2000, he floated - on the London Stock Exchange - the low-cost airline that revolutionized European air travel. Nowadays, the company has grown into one of Europe’s leading airlines with some 170 aircraft flying over 400 routes between 103 airports in 26 countries. Approximately 45 million people a year fly with easyJet enjoying more value for less!

Stelios is the son of a highly-successful Greek shipowner, the late Loucas Haji-Ioannou, who provided the seed capital for Stelios’ independent business career, which started when he created a shipping company - Stelmar - at the age of 25. Subsequently, Stelios floated Stelmar on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001; the company was successfully sold to a rival in 2005, creating significant shareholder value. Today, Stelios remains the biggest single shareholder of easyJet PLC and a non-executive director. In parallel, before the IPO in 2000 - and true to his beliefs in serial entrepreneurship - he consolidated the ownership of the easy brand into his private company, easyGroup, and launched several easy-branded businesses. The group currently includes easyCar (car rental), easyHotel (budget hotels), easyBus (airport transfers), easyOffice (low-cost, serviced office rental for small businesses), easyPizza and easyCruise - all dedicated to offering more value for less to millions of consumers.

In 2006, at the age of 39, Stelios received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for services to entrepreneurship. Since then, Sir Stelios has expanded his dedication to making a difference to society by launching a number of philanthropic initiatives supporting entrepreneurship, higher education and environmental sustainability. Stelios has pledged 200 scholarships over 10 years to the London School of Economics and Cass Business School in London - his almae mater - supporting young, exceptional scholars who want to make a difference in their chosen fields. Similarly - in partnership with Leonard Cheshire Disability in the UK - Stelios created the "Disabled Entrepreneur of the Year" award given to exceptional entrepreneurs who have overcome significant physical and perceptual limitations in starting their businesses. (www.lcdisability.org/stelios).

In Cyprus, the birthplace of his parents, Stelios co-founded CYMEPA in 1992 (www.cymepa.org) - an association dedicated to preserving the marine environment. In his own birthplace, Greece, he continues his commitment to environmental protection by supporting the Pendeli Reforestation project. Additionally, in Greece, Stelios strives to further inspire entrepreneurship through the Kouros award, a 50,000EU prize given to the outstanding business start-up of the year. More likely to be on an aircraft than in an office, Stelios is 42 years old and lives in Monaco.

Sixcia Devine

Sixcia Devine is the Providence Regional Director, Rhode Island Small Business Development Center at Johnson & Wales University.

In this capacity, she has created an entrepreneurial and innovated community with business owners and university students. She provides one-on-one business counseling sessions to businesses and entrepreneurs, develops and teaches business related workshops and seminars, provides financial loan assistance, and works with business resources partners at a regional, national and international level. She is judge for the nationally recognized Rhode Island Business Planning Competition.

Sixcia also teaches a Business Planning class at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island in addition to providing customized business related workshop at local universities like Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Brown University and the University of Rhode Island. She is founder of HDSC,LLC, SpeakNow! International Programs.

This venture provides business development tools, language immersion programs and business networking events to the business community. Sixcia was formerly the Training and Development Specialist at the Center for Women & Enterprise in Providence.

In 2008 she was named the 2008 Business Women of the year by Providence Business News. Other accolades include the 2008 Extraordinary Women Award, in 2007 she was one of 40 Under 40 Young Professionals of the year by the Providence Business News, and in 2006 she was named the Small Business Administration (SBA) Woman in Business Champion of the Year.

Walter de Brouwer

Walter De Brouwer was nicknamed by Corriere della Sera the "Woody Allen del business" because of his übernerd personality. He is most known as the founder of the European cult company Starlab, the first private blue sky research laboratory (called 'Nerd Heaven') that once, together with Paul Allen's Interval and MIT specialized in highly advanced 'deep future' research. This gained him the reputation as a futurist and big-picture thinker. De Brouwer was asked for the 20th Anniversary of The Wall Street Journal Europe as one of the four guru's to depict the World in 2023 together with John Naisbitt (Global Paradox), Bill Ghitis (Dupont) and Shai Agassi (SAP).

De Brouwer studied Philology at the University of Ghent and did his PhD in Semiotics at the University of Tilburg (Holland). He started his academic career as an assistant lecturer at the Jesuit University UFSIA (Antwerp) but left academia in 1989 and became an entrepreneur. In 17 years' time he set up more than 40 companies, was involved in several international IPO's (Stepstone [LSE: sso], Eunet-Qwest [nyse:Q]) and stood at the cradle of long-distance carriers in two continents (Eunet, Qwest). Originally De Brouwer's expertise was in publishing; he founded an international publishing house that published three computer magazines in three countries and was taken over by VNU in 1995.

In 2008 Walter De Brouwer was elected Chairman of the (British) Royal Society of Arts (RSA, Europe) serves since 2003 as a Director of the Tau Zero Foundation, which was formerly known as NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project