Professor Martin Charter MBA FRSA has worked as a manager, researcher and trainer on sustainable innovation and product sustainability for 30 years in academia, business and consultancy. He is the founding Director of The Centre for Sustainable Design ® at University for the Creative Arts (UCA), Senior Associate, Business School for the Creative Industries at UCA and is the author/co-author of Greener Marketing 1 & 2, Sustainable Solutions, System Innovation for Sustainability, Eco-innovate and Designing for the Circular Economy. Martin is the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Farnham Repair Café and is a regular speaker in conferences worldwide.

Film maker and multimedia communication consultant by profession, Beryl Koltz has been working for the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs since 2020 as the Strategic Manager of Luxembourg’s nation branding initiative, known as LuXembourg – Let’s make it happen. 

Daniel Sahr has been with International Affairs at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce since 2009, where he holds the position of Senior Coordinator. Helping Luxembourg based companies to unlock the potentials of foreign markets or guiding and assisting them to thrive abroad has been his passion for over a decade by now. In 2010 he was closely involved in the preparation of the Luxembourg Commercial Week, an economic promotion event at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, which turned out to be a project bringing him closer to the idea and spirit of World Expos. After gaining another experience with Luxembourg’s presence at Astana Expo in 2017, Daniel joined the team of Luxembourg @ Expo 2020 Dubai as Pavilion Director. Since the Chamber of Commerce renewed its commitment for the upcoming Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Daniel is currently a member of the organisation team. Before joining the Chambre of Commerce he worked in the field of Marketing and Sales for various companies. He holds an MBA degree from Université de Strasbourg and participates on a regular basis in vocational training programs. Daniel loves to spend his free time on Luxembourg’s hiking trails. 

Ernstine Kornelis is a diplomat at the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE). She entered the diplomatic profession by joining the UK Foreign Office for a posting at the British Embassy in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and then joined the Grand Ducal Court as Advisor to the Cabinet of HRH the Grand Duke. After various assignments at the MAEE, she is now Coordinator of the Digital for Development and Private Sector Department and is the thematic expert for Research and Development and Space for Development. Ernstine has a background in English and German literature and is also a member of the Board of Directors of Lux-Development. 

After graduating in 2012 from the Université Libre de Bruxelles with a degree in political science, Rachel Negri started working for the European Institutions in Brussels and gained her first practical work experience in a diverse and multicultural environment. 

In 2017, Rachel joined the General Directorate for Tourism at the Ministry of the Economy where she works as a project manager contributing to the development of the business events industry in Luxembourg.  

The business events sector is a key sector for raising awareness of eco-friendly low-waste activities since it is engaging an entire industry including accommodations, venues, transport, catering, and audiovisual. Making events sustainable has become essential for success in today’s meetings and conference industry. Sustainability grows increasingly more important as an evaluation criterion in the planning and development process of business events. In this context, Rachel worked closely with the main actors in this particular field to set up the “Green business events” initiative, a project supporting business events organizers in reducing the environmental impact of their event. 

Since 2018 Rachel has been a board member of the Luxembourg Convention Bureau, the national agency for the promotion and development of Luxembourg as a destination in the business events sector. She currently serves as President. 

Sophie Öberg is a sustainability and communications professional with over 25 years´ experience in Luxembourg, Stockholm and Paris.

She has been working with strategy development and activation, project leading and management, design thinking and facilitation both as a manager and as a consultant within large corporations, smaller businesses, own ventures, profit and non-profit, such as RTL Group, Ceratizit, McKinsey & Company and Sandvik.

Besides her current position as Deputy Director at IMS Inspiring More Sustainability, Luxembourg’s leading network for Corporate Responsibility, Sophie is Co-Chair of the Sustainability Strategy for Boards working committee at ILA.

She holds a BA in Communications and Media Sciences from Sciences Po Paris and a Master of Arts in History from Sorbonne University, Paris, France.

Anabel Witry studied communication science, intercultural communication and organisational psychology at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. After several years of professional experience in marketing and PR for the architecture and construction industry in Munich and Luxembourg, she joined the management board of her parents’ architectural office witry & witry architecture urbanisme. Witry & Witry was one of the pioneers of sustainable architecture and urbanism in Luxembourg and still has a strong emphasis on planning and constructing in the philosophy of circular economy today. The project focus of the office is on public buildings, especially school buildings, day-care centres and larger residential buildings. Anabel Witry has been a committee member of the asbl Design Friends since 2010, since 2020 in the function of president.

Sébastien Zinck holds a Master’s degree in Materials Science (EEIGM / Université de Lorraine, France) and an Advanced Master’s degree in Ecodesign and Environmental Management (Arts & Métiers ParisTech, France). He worked for 10 years as Eco-design Expert, and then Eco-design Manager at Steelcase, the global leader in the office furniture industry. Since 2016, he has been working at LIST as Senior Engineer in Circular Economy with a focus on topics such as eco-design, product life extension and recycling. He is currently involved in ISO standardisation work: participant to ISO/DIS 14009 (“Environmental management systems – Guidelines for incorporating material circulation in design and development”) and President of the Luxembourgish Mirror for the ISO/TC323 “Circular Economy”.

Samuel Majerus, Partner of LSC Engineering Group, joined the firm in 2018. LSC is one of the leading engineering consultancy firms in Luxembourg. Samuel worked previously in Switzerland in renewable energies before coming back to Luxembourg.

He is specialized in circular economy, helping his clients in implementing the circular economy principles into their organizations and projects. Additionally, he is teaching circular economy at the University of Luxembourg.

Born in 1961 in Luxembourg, Ann Muller worked and lived abroad for more than 30 years before returning to Luxembourg in 2021 to take over the general coordination of the LUGA – Luxembourg Urban Garden exhibition to be held in 2025 in Luxembourg.

The organisation of this large-scale project will be carried out with the financial support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development and the City of Luxembourg.

After her studies in visual arts and art theory, Ann Muller worked mainly in the art world, a milieu that she finds deeply fascinating and  inspiring. Returning to Luxembourg was straight from the heart: “Getting the opportunity to get involved in a project that addresses all major challenges our planet is facing today and in the near future, I was immediately hooked and never let go” she explains. It is a great honour to be able to participate in the organisation of such an important project for our country!

Most people embrace a career in innovation after having explored different horizons. This is good as innovation is fuelled by diversity.  This is also good as it gave me the opportunity to focus on what I love: doing things differently together with partners, not because I want to be special, because it can make PEOPLE special, impacting their daily life. I have studied innovation management and development; I have worked 20+ years accompanying innovators. My new frontier is now at LuxDev, as a private sector expert, making innovation happen for the benefit of Luxembourg cooperation’s partner countries.

Benoit has two passions in life; technology and people.  

He is an engineer by education and worked 25 years in the field of IT and digital transformation; from startup to big companies. Supporting the local ecosystem with innovation and technologies.  

In 2019, Benoit has joined the education sector and the Lycée des Arts et Métiers as TalentHub Coordinator; creating contexts where students can learn how to get prepared for the future and be the best themselves. Within the TalentHub, Benoit supports startups; mainly in EdTech and Gaming fields. 

Menachem moved to Luxembourg in March to launch gener8tor Luxembourg as the Managing Director. He previously worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison coaching tech startups in a partnership with gener8tor, the computer sciences department and the tech transfer office. Before joining gener8tor, Menachem co-founded and ran a cleantech circular economy startup called Nutrient Recovery and Upcycling for over 10 years. He has expertise in Venture Capital and early-stage funding, manufacturing, water/wastewater, agriculture, automation, and end-to-end product development as well as coaching, business development, sales and fundraising. 

Chaos fighter x Love for travelling and curious about the world x Passion for entrepreneurship and innovation
This passion has translated as well into a career as I was always looking to create impact by supporting entrepreneurs in their day to day: Exchanging ideas to increase business opportunities, drive customer satisfaction and building a network! After working years with start-ups and innovative companies, I got the chance to set the coworking space Silversquare up for Luxembourg. It resonated deeply with me as the heart of the business is building a strong community of great entrepreneurs from different phases, cultures, backgrounds and activities which grow stronger together!

Doctor in organic chemistry, Dr Serge Quazzotti first worked as a researcher. Since 1994, his career was focused on patents and industrial property, and he has set up and managed a department within the Henri Tudor Public Research Center aiming to develop public services and research activities in these fields for the benefit of local businesses and researchers. He is the first director of the Institute of Intellectual Property Luxembourg (IPIL), set up by the Luxembourg government in 2014. During his 26 years of activity, he has been appointed several times to join different groups of experts on patents and intellectual property, in particular by the European Commission, and as a member of the academic advisory group of the Academy of the European Patent Office. He is a lecturer at the University of Luxembourg. Since 2019, he has chaired the jury of the Jonk Fuerscher competition in Luxembourg. Convinced that “Intellectual property concerns everyone”, that it is essential to make innovation and creativity useful for society, Dr Serge Quazzotti is happy to be part of the Circular design challenge.