Biographies of Nominees

José Luis Cordeiro. Mr. Cordeiro is chair of the Venezuelan Node of the Millennium Project, founder of the World Future Society (Venezuela Chapter),  director of the Single Global Currency Association (SGCA) and the Lifeboat Foundation, cofounder of the Venezuelan Transhumanist Association and of the Internet Society (ISOC, Venezuela Chapter), board advisor to the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN), member of the Academic Committee of the Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge (CEDICE), the World Future Society (WFS) and the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF), former director of the World Transhumanist Association (WTA), the Extropy Institute (ExI), the Club of Rome (Venezuela Chapter, where he has being active promoting classical liberal ideas) and of the Association of Venezuelan Exporters (AVEX), where he participated in the original negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). He has also been advisor to the Venezuelan Business Association (AVE) and other companies and international organizations.Mr. Cordeiro holds Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and Master of Science (M.Sc.) degrees in Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in Economics and Languages. Mr. Cordeiro worked as an engineer in petroleum exploration and for over six years, he served as an advisor for many of the major oil companies in the world. Later, with the international consulting company Booz-Allen & Hamilton he specialized in the areas of strategy, finance and restructuring. He has served as an advisor for some of the most important regional corporations and has taken part in the transformation and privatization of a number of oil companies in the region. His experience and studies in monetary policy, currency boards, dollarization and monetary unions have taken him to participate in several monetary changes in Latin America and Eastern Europe.

He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies, IDE – JETRO, in Japan and more recently at Singularity University. He is an independent consultant, writer, researcher, professor and “tireless traveler”. He has lectured as an Invited Professor at several major institutions, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and London Business School (LBS) to the Institute for Higher Studies in Administration (IESA) and the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), where he created the first formal courses of Futures Studies (“prospectiva”) and of Austrian School of Economics in Venezuela.

 

Cornelia Daheim is Z_punkt's Managing Director. She has been with the Z_punkt GmbH The Foresight Company, one of the world's largest foresight consultancies, since 2000, conceptualizing, realizing and supervising projects for key customers from several industries and within the framework of European research networks, and developing the company's international business. In 2003, Cornelia founded and has since been heading the Millennium Project’s German Node, connecting major institutions from the German foresight scene, and actively shaping the cooperative work of the European Nodes. She has, among others, worked for corporations such as the Korean Telekom, Volkswagen, BASF, Bayer, Philips, or Alstom Power, and for public institutions such as government foresight units in Europe and Asia as well as the European Commission or the German Ministry for Science and Education. For corporations and institutions, she has taught Foresight Methodology courses, e.g. as part of the Corporate Foresight seminars of UNIDO. She has spoken on matters related to the future on all continents, e.g. at OECD and the Korean and Egyptian Government's Foresight Units. In terms of methodology, she concentrated on joining foresight and strategy in the last years, successfully implementing continuous foresight processes at CEO level, as well as on projects that integrate quantitative and qualitative approaches. Currently, she focuses on further developing Z_punkt's CSR activities as well as on an approach connecting sustainability, foresight and strategy. She currently also heads a project on the future of waste for the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), in order to underpin long-term policy making in this area, and a CEO-level project in the energy sector for a major European corporation, involving the corporations' board, strategic planning and R&D as well as board level representatives from the sector from all over the world. 

Born in 1973, she studied General and Comparative Literature, English and Psychology at the University of Essen and at King's College, London; completed her M.A. with distinction and won an award for "outstanding graduation". Before joining Z_punkt, Ms Daheim worked as a freelance photographer, as a bookseller, as an editor and as university research assitant in the humanities. 

 

Philippe Destatte is the director general of The Destree Institute (European think-tank and research centre in Wallonia, Belgium). He is an Associate Professor at University of Paris Diderot and of Reims (France), where he is in charge of the Foresight courses. He has acquired skills in foresight both in Paris (mostly at Futuribles of which he is a board member), in the United States (Certificated in Strategic Foresight University of Houston), as well as by working on the field, in European Regions. He has been working as an expert for the OECD, the World Bank, the European Commission and several governments. Philippe Destatte is involved in some European Commission initiatives for the convergence of European Foresight methods and practices. Since 2004, he has been chairing the European Regional Foresight College and has been in charge of writing and editing a Foresight Glossary which is now translated in many languages. Since 2003, he has also served as Chair of the Brussels Area Node of the Millennium Project. He has organized, in 2005 near Brussels, a joint conference of the European Millennium Project Nodes Initiative (EuMPI) with EC DG Research untitled "The Futures of Europeans in the Global Knowledge Society", coordinated with a MP Planning Committee. He co-authored, with Dr Günter Clar (SEZ-Stuttgart), the Foresight report, "Boosting Regional Potential" for the European Commission (2006). He has just developed a new foresight method built on long term bifurcations and alternatives analysis as presented in the MPPC in Boston (2010).

 

Juha Kaskinen is Director of Tulevaisuuden tutkimuskeskus, Turun Yliopisto (Finland Futures Reserach Centre, at the University of Turku).  At the Center he has been Senior Researcher, Project Manager, and Coordinator of International Affairs. His doctorial thesis was titled, From Turku to St. Petersburg as Fast as You Can. Road Planning as Practise of Environmental Impact Assessment, at the Department of Sociology, University of Turku. He also has a Master of Social Science degree from the University of Turku. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Archipelago Research Institute, University of Turku, Satakunta Environmental Research Centre, University of Turku, The Westermarck Society, and the Finnish Society of Future Studies. He has written many research papers: some of his most recent include:

 

 

Concepcion Olavarrieta  has background in Foreign relations, Law, Economics, Strategic Planning & Future Studies. Her experience includes 41 years working with public, private, and social sectors all over México. Special works in USA and Chile. She has been  President, CEO and Director of different private firms, NGOs, as well as trusts and government agencies.  Her work has included  economic and strategic planning, urban and tourism development, foreign trade, marketing, commercialization, publishing and fundraising.

She has contributed to over 200 studies on topics such as: great vision, marketing, futures and technical and socio-economic feasibility issues. She is associated with theWorld Future Society Mexican Chapter 2003, United Nations DPI/NGO 2005, International Women’s Forum 2006, and World Alliance to Transform United Nations 2009.

Since 2004 she has had a full time commitment to the NGO “The Mexican Node. The Millennium Project” and the major activities there were:

 

 

Professor Kamal Mahmoud Shaeer, Professor Emeritus: Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University (2000-present). Founder and Ex-Manager: Future Research & Study Center (FRSC), Cairo University, (1995-2003). Chairperson: Cairo Node of the Millennium Project (1999-Present).  Founder and Chairperson: Egypt’s Chapter World Future Society (WFS, USA ), (1999- present).
World Future Society Life Membership (1999). Executive Board Member: National Center of the Middle East Studies, (Futures and Strategies Research), Cairo, Egypt, (2005-present). Executive Board Member: Arab Center for Education Development (ACED), (Futures and Strategies Research), Cairo, Egypt, (2007-present) .

Member of Editorial Board: Asian Journal of Andrology  (AJA) (2005-Present). Founder and Secretary-General: Egyptian –Arab Futures Research Association (EAFRA) (2004-present). State Prize Laureate in Medical Sciences, Egypt (1984). State Award Medal of  Science and Arts, Egypt (December, 1985)
Appreciation Certificate of the International Society of Andrology, (June, 2001, Montreal, Canada).

He has led and participated in many conferences, symposia and written many papers dealing with both medicine and futures, including the following examples: