Maria Besiou, Dean of Research and Professor of Humanitarian Logistics at Kühne Logistics University, holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Operations Management from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Specializing in sustainable supply chain management, her research explores humanitarian logistics, closed-loop supply chains, and stakeholder media using system dynamics methodology.

Besiou's work addresses decision-making in commercial and humanitarian organizations amid challenges like regulations, resource limitations, and online community monitoring. Her research provides valuable insights for policymakers, blending academic research with operational training and consulting excellence. Published in renowned journals such as Production and Operations Management, Journal of Operations Management, and the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Maria Besiou also serves editorial roles in top academic publications, showcasing her influential contributions to the field.

Stephen Cahill was named as country director to Turkiye in September 2023.

Prior to that he served as Chief of Common Services within WFP’s Supply Chain Division in June 2021. Common Services is the part of WFP Supply Chain focused exclusively on supporting humanitarian and development partners with the provision of supply chain services.  This included several teams working on different facets of service provision to partners, either mandated or on cost recovery, including the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) and the Global Logistics Custer. Common Services works with over 1,000 partners, supporting them with tailored, efficient and reliable supply chain services to implement their programmes.

Stephen was the Chief of Logistics from 2019 to 2021, focused on supporting WFP core operations. While covering this role, when the global COVID-19 pandemic hit at the beginning of 2020, Stephen played a central role in designing, implementing and overseeing a global platform of common logistics services that supported over 400 organizations in continuing their existing humanitarian operations as well as responding to the global crisis. Through this platform, WFP delivered over 150,000 m3 of essential items to 173 countries, and over 30,000 passengers were transported to and from 70 destinations. In addition, as part of this,

Before 2019, Stephen was Global Logistics Cluster Coordinator from 2015 to 2019, and Head of Logistics for WFP in Ethiopia from 2011 to 15, WFP's largest operation at the time. For the past ten years, Stephen has worked in a variety of emergencies including Ukraine in 2022, Mozambique cyclone in 2019, Sierra Leone during the West Africa Ebola Outbreak in 2014 - 15, and the Philippines, where he managed WFP emergency operations in the wake of typhoon Haiyan.

Prior to joining WFP, Stephen was a director at a major international shipping company in London, in addition to working extensively in South America and the Middle East. Stephen has a background in Economics and Shipping.

Felix Creutzig is Professor for Sustainability Economics of Human Settlements at the TU Berlin, and Group Leader at the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. He is speaker and scientific coordinator of the Einstein Center Climate Change and member of public district, municipal and national climate advisory boards. Previously he had been visiting fellow at Princeton University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the China Energy Foundation in Bejing. He holds a PhD in computational neuroscience/machine learning. His groundbreaking research on climate change mitigation on urban scale has been recognized by the Piers Sellers Prize of the University of Leeds in 2017. Felix Creutzig coordinated a chapter on demand, services and social aspects in the recent assessment report on climate solutions by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is also leading a crosscutting effort introducing digitalization and AI in the context of climate change mitigation, both as method and as governance dimension.  Felix had been fellow of the Studienkolleg zu Berlin and also served as president of Netzwerk Europa, its alumni organization.

Jörg Dräger is a renowned German physicist, non-partisan politician, and accomplished manager. Notably, he served as a Senator for the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg from 2001 to 2008 and later held key responsibilities in education, integration, and digitalization on the board of the Bertelsmann Foundation until 2021. Recognized as an expert in these domains, Dräger has authored influential books on educational policies, particularly addressing the impacts of digitalization.

Since April 1, 2022, Jörg Dräger has taken on the role of Managing Executive Director of the Kuehne Foundation, marking a significant shift in his career. His academic background in theoretical physics, coupled with a commitment to educational reform, positions him as a thought leader in shaping positive changes both nationally and internationally. Dräger's influence extends to advocating for the independence of universities, better resources for focal schools, and adapting educational systems in rural areas to demographic changes, reflecting a dedication to building a better future through education and innovation.

As a transportation and environmental engineer with over 20 years of experience in the transportation industry, Dr. Façanha’s mission is to reduce climate change and air pollution by cleaning the transportation sector. In his current role at the Smart Freight Centre, he leads their road freight electrification work aimed at supporting shippers and carriers to electrify their fleets. At his latest role at CALSTART, Cristiano led their Commercial Vehicle Drive to Zero Program, which aims to accelerate the uptake of zero-emission trucks and buses worldwide. In previous roles, he led ICCT’s activities related to green freight, Brazil and emission inventory tools. He is an expert in the design, modeling, and evaluation of transportation emission reduction strategies and policies. Dr. Façanha hold a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Masters of Science in Transportation Management from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Dietmar Guhe is an accomplished professional with over a decade of expertise in enterprise technologies, development and IT architecture & infrastructure management. 

His diverse background and proven leadership in enterprise technologies and cloud innovation make him an invaluable asset in navigating complex IT landscapes and fostering organizational success. Since 2021, he has served as the Vice President of Cloud IT & Infrastructure at Arvato, where he continues to lead the charge in cloud technologies and infrastructure management.

Ana is a passionate founder specializing in sustainable entrepreneurship and impact investing. In her role, she is highly engaged in Social Entrepreneurial ecosystems and shares her expertise through various mentoring and lectureship formats.

As Co-CEO of the female-led company Seedtrace, Ana does not only master typical founder’s challenges like fundraising, hiring,
and scaling but she also brings urgently needed transparency into complex supply chains. She is dedicated to shaping the future with
fairer and more sustainable food production and consumption. Recent initiatives include launching the first fair payment project
in the cocoa industry and a pioneering project for more transparency in gastronomy.

“At Seedtrace, we rethink traceability from a social and environmental impact perspective and make credible transparency economically
viable. We want to drive change beyond compliance by connecting the dots from the origin, all the way through the supply chain to the
consumer.”

Ana has gained popularity as a speaker at numerous conferences and events on supply chain transparency, sustainability, and
traceability as well as social and female entrepreneurship. Beyond her business-related pursuits, she is deeply immersed in the art of
professional dancing and leads a renowned Berlin association.

Sven Hennebach is Senior Manager for TOMRA’s Business Unit “Reuse” in Germany. Sven joined TOMRA in 2023 and has built up the Sanitation hub of TOMRA Reuse’s first project in Aarhus/Denmark.

Sven has 10 years’ experience in reusable packaging and logistics. Sven started his career in consulting and has previously served in different roles in the waste management industry and circular economy. He is an expert in Deposit Return Systems (DRS).

Kai Hoberg, Professor of Supply Chain and Operations Strategy at Kühne Logistics University since November 2017, also led the Operations and Technology Department from 2017 to 2023. Before joining KLU, he was an Associate Professor from May 2012 and held the role of Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management at the University of Cologne from 2010 to 2012. Hoberg earned his PhD in 2006 from Münster University, Germany.

As a visiting scholar at esteemed institutions like Cornell University and the University of Oxford, Hoberg's diverse research interests include supply chain analytics, technology's impact on supply chains, and the convergence of operations and finance. His research, utilizing real-world data, has been published in prestigious journals such as the Journal of Operations Management and the European Journal of Operational Research. Beyond research, Hoberg is dedicated to innovative teaching concepts in supply chain management. Prior to academia, he worked as a strategy consultant and project manager for Booz & Company from 2006 to 2010, contributing to projects in supply chain and operations management. Currently, he continues to actively contribute to executive supply chain education for global firms.

Martin works as a Director of Business Development at shipzero.

shipzero is a data platform developed to calculate, measure, and reduce the carbon footprint of global freight transportation.

The platform provides a unique data perspective on logistics activities, connecting order and transport data from carrier, freight forwarder and shipper.

Martin holds a Master’s Degree in Sustainability and Innovation Management, with over a decade of professional expertise from logistics and technology-driven companies. He joined shipzero in 2019 and is responsible for the Client Solutions department. Within his role, he intends to enable companies a data-based approach towards decarbonization of global logistics activities.

Timo Landener is Innovation Manager for Swisslog’s Corporate Development Center. With more than 20+ years’ experience in logistics and intralogistics, he has previously served in a wide variety of roles including consulting, system design, project management and product management. Timo joined Swisslog in 2019 and has been leading innovation focusing on various topics including the future of the food supply chain and the role of digitization and automation. Timo earned his Diploma in Industrial engineering from Westfälische Hochschule in Recklinghausen, Germany.

Henrik Leopold is Professor for Data Science and Business Intelligence and Head of Department of Operations and Technology. Before joining KLU in February 2019, he held positions as Assistant Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2015 to 2019) and WU Vienna (2014 to 2015). In 2013, he obtained his PhD degree (Dr. rer. pol.) in Information Systems from the Humboldt University of Berlin. For his thesis he received the TARGION Dissertation Award 2014 for the best doctoral thesis in the field of Information Management and the runner-up of the McKinsey Business Technology Award 2013.

In his research, Henrik is mainly concerned with the interplay between information systems and business processes. Such business processes can range from manufacturing a car to delivering a medical service to a patient. He particularly focuses on leveraging technology from the field of artificial intelligence (such as machine learning and natural language processing) to develop novel techniques for process analysis, mining, and automation. The results of his research have been published in over 100 publications in books, journals, and conferences proceedings. Among others, his research has been published in the journals IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, and Information Systems.
 

Johannes Meuer is Associate Professor for Sustainability Strategy and Operations at KLU and Co-director of KLU’s Center for Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chains. Before joining KLU, he worked at ETH Zurich where he received his habilitation (Venia Legendi) in 2021 and at the University of Zurich. He holds a PhD from RSM Erasmus University, and an MSc in International Economics from Corvinus University Budapest. During his studies, he spent time at USC Marshall Business School in Los Angeles, and the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. He also holds a position as Senior Researcher at ETH Zurich, and as Visiting Scholar at the University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management and at the Cranfield School of Management.

Mr. Cormac O’Sullivan is the Global Head of the Emergency and Relief Team in Kuehne + Nagel. He comes to this role with a decade and a half of experience in the humanitarian sector; working with regional NGOs, Global INGOs, the UN, the Kuehne Foundation and a wide variety of stakeholders throughout the sector. As an Emergency and Relief Supply Chain Leader with 15 years of experience in a wide range of supply networks and operating environments, Mr. O’Sullivan is a driver of strategic supply chain development, innovation and implementation; with a thorough understanding of corporate, development and humanitarian contexts. He has a demonstrated history of organizational and team leadership, as well as a successful record of engagement with multiple humanitarian agencies and partnership management with diverse and senior-level stakeholders in the pursuit of excellence and delivery in the humanitarian sector.

Sean Rafter is the Managing Director of HELP Logistics AG, where he spearheads innovative research, education, and consultancy programs to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian logistics. With a background exceeding 13 years in the field, he is dedicated to optimizing supply chain processes to serve communities impacted by crises worldwide. Sean holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering, blending his technical understanding with strategic management skills to tackle complex operational challenges across varied settings, including Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Before his current role, Sean significantly contributed to Save the Children International as the Head of Logistics in Asia, where he led strategic logistics planning and implementation across 15 countries. His tenure as Emergency Logistics Manager across 7 countries further demonstrated his capacity for enhancing logistical operations in challenging environments.

Sean's strategic vision extends towards advancements in humanitarian logistics, driven by a commitment to innovation, transformation, and collaboration. His dedication exemplifies his unwavering commitment to fostering meaningful change in humanitarian efforts globally.

Stefanie Rinderle-Ma is a full professor at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and holds the Chair of Information Systems and Business Process Management. Her research interests focus on process-oriented information systems, flexible and distributed process technologies, compliance management, as well as production and process intelligence. The overarching goal of her research is to enable and accelerate digitalization and automation through processes and at the same time keep the human in the loop. Application areas comprise manufacturing, transportation and logistics, as well as medicine.

Friedel Sehlleier is a specialist in transport, climate and development with a focus on freight and logistics. He joined the Kühne Foundation in May 2023 to build up its international climate action portfolio. Previously, he worked for 13 years at the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ). For six of those years, he worked in the ASEAN region, collaborating with governments and regional institutions on policies and actions to reduce emissions from the transport sector. He was co-leader of the EU Switch-Asia project "Sustainable Freight Transport and Logistics in the Mekong Region", a technical advisor for freight transport projects in the global projects division of GIZ and served as carbon market expert in the German government's UNFCCC delegation. After graduating with a Master of Arts in Political Science, Economics and Psychology from the University of Bonn in 2007, he started his career at a carbon market consultancy.

Sandra Transchel is Professor for Supply Chain and Operations Management. From 2008 to 2011 Transchel was Assistant Professor for Supply Chain Management at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. In 2011 she was Visiting Assistant Professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, USA. In 2008 Dr. Transchel received her PhD from the University of Mannheim, Germany and graduated in March 2004 with a Diploma degree in Business Mathematics from the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany. 

Transchel’s research interests are in the areas of supply chain management, inventory control, revenue management, and production scheduling. Her current research focuses on retail operations and supply chain management with the special interest in the integration of supply and demand management. Her research conducts theoretical research in inventories to study the relationship between replenishment policies, inventory levels, price strategies, perishability, and customers’ substitution behavior. She also studies optimal price and capacity management in Airline Alliances. Dr. Transchel’s research has appeared in numerous academic journals including Operations Research, European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Production Economics, and Business Research.

Dr. Niels Van Quaquebeke is professor of leadership and organizational behavior at the KLU in Hamburg, Germany. He is additionally affiliated with the University of Exeter as a distinguished research professor. He is widely regarded one of the most influential German business scholars and has earned a reputation as a thought-provoking academic who not only shapes his field but also important discourse in practice. 

Frank is a highly experienced and qualified executive with comprehensive experience in deploying overall supply chain and logistics management on strategic, tactical and operational level to deliver sustainable business performance and results. He has a proven track record of success in global business and supply chain strategies, supply chain excellence system, operations and lean management, manufacturing excellence, ESG, supply chain capability improvements, change management and business transformation, logistics and transportation procurement and strategic business value analysis. Frank worked and lived in in Germany, Denmark, South Africa, Brazil, and US.

Prior of joining Danfoss as responsible  global VP for Supply Chain Services, Frank was with Gartner Supply Chain as an Executive Supply Chain Partner and Vice President Service Delivery EMEA & APAC, worked at Johnson Controls as Vice President Global Supply Chain and at DHL in various Leadership senior leadership positions.