Mika Sulkinoja plays a strategic leadership role in the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF). With around 25 years’ hands-on experience in advancing the global sustainability agenda, Mika has worked across sectors—from the United Nations and the Finnish Government’s climate negotiation team to the private sector. His focus has been on market-based policy instruments, climate finance and international cooperation. At Sitra, he leads collaboration on the WCEF and contributes to the European Union Circular Economy Resource Centre, helping shape initiatives and partnerships that accelerate the global shift towards a sustainable, circular future.
Izabella Teixeira was minister of the environment of Brazil (2010-2016). She is member of the High-Level Advisory Board of UN-DESA and of the administrative council of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). Izabella won the UN Environment's "Champions of the Earth" in 2013 for her contribution to reducing deforestation in the Amazon. She also serves on the boards of international and national institutions, including as senior fellow of Arapyaú Institute, board member of the iFHC and member of the International Advisory Board at CEBRI.
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Liisa Folkersma
Counsellor, WTO
Permanent Mission of Finland in Geneva
Career diplomat at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Liisa is passionate about sustainable development. Currently, she focuses on sustainable trade, the circular economy, dispute settlement, trade rules and trade in goods at the WTO. Her previous positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland include deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Finland in Vietnam and regional manager for Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Earlier, she worked at UNICEF Brazil, UN Women Brazil and Southern Cone, and Akava, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland.
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Al-Hamndou Dorsouma
Division Manager Climate and Green Growth
African Development Bank (AfDB)
Al-Hamndou Dorsouma leads AfDB’s efforts on climate change in Africa, including policy and finance, building climate resilience and low carbon opportunities into the bank’s investments, as well as supporting the bank’s engagement in the green transition and the circular economy. Dr Dorsouma’s academic background is in geography and environmental management. He also worked for other international organisations, namely the Observatory of Sahara and Sahel (OSS) in Tunis as environment and climate change officer and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva as senior programme manager for resource mobilisation and development partnerships.
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Angelica Pena
Free Trade Zones Chamber Director
Colombian National Business Association (ANDI)
Angelica is a Colombian lawyer specialised in corporate law, with a degree from Universidad de Los Andes and LLM from Cornell University. She has more than 15 years of professional experience in international trade, customs and international investments, as well as corporate government, public policy and government relations. Angelica is also co-author of the Colombian chapter of the Foreign Tax & Trade Briefs by LexisNexis and other publications on trade and customs in the country. She has been a professor of international trade and customs at Colombian universities.
Patricia Malnati is a public accountant and leads a family-owned SME dedicated to the industrialisation of rubber. She has served as director of the sustainability committee of the Latin American Society of Rubber Technology (SLTC) and vice-president of the environment and sustainability department of the Industrial Union of the Province of Buenos Aires (UIPBA). She is founder of the Women and Rubber Network, member of Red de Mujeres de la Industria Argentina (MIA), advisory member of G100 Resources and Talent Development, and vice-president of Red Pacto Global Argentina. She was elected as Best Company Director at the Recircle Awards 2022, a global event that recognises excellence and contribution to the tyre recycling sector, and Best Businesswoman 2024 at the WEF Women Economic Forum Argentina.
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Soumyajit (Jeet) Kar
Lead, Policy and Sustainable Trade
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Jeet Kar leads sustainable trade and global plastics policy at the World Economic Forum, also coordinating the WEF's role as an observer to the discussions around an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. He has previously held positions at the United Nations and the OECD, working on sustainable trade policies and development cooperation. Jeet holds a master's in economics from Sciences Po Paris, and speaks English, French and Spanish.
Manuel Frávega works for one of the largest law firms in Argentina, where he heads the environmental law and climate change department and co-leads the ESG department. Prior to joining the firm in 2022, he served as environment regional senior manager for Tenaris (2020-2022) and as undersecretary of environment of the Provincial Agency for Sustainable Development (Government of the Province of Buenos Aires) (2017-2019). Previously, Manuel worked at Techint Group as a senior counsel in charge of the environmental law department (2011-2017) and participated as vice president of the Environment Commission of the Argentine Industrial Union. Currently, he is the president of the department of environment and sustainability of the Industrial Union of the Province of Buenos Aires (UIPBA).
Marcela is an investment officer for climate change on the climate and enviroment team at IDB Invest, which she joined in 2021. She is responsible for supporting the development of climate change operations and since 2025 is leading the circular economy agenda for IDB Invest. Marcela holds a master’s in urban and regional planning from the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and an industrial engineering degree from Universidad Militar Nueva Granada (Colombia).
Xandra Weinbeck works for the Netherlands' national promotional institute, which boasts an investment capital of around €2 billion. In her work, she aims to accelerate transitions towards a carbon-neutral economy, bio-based and circular solutions, deeptech innovations, agrifood advancements and life sciences. The approach includes direct investments in pioneering companies, as well as the development of financial instruments and market growth strategies. Business development at Invest-NL focuses on creating the necessary financial tools for industry scaling and fostering market demand. With over 20 years of experience in the chemical and semiconductor industries, Xandra holds an MSc in chemical engineering and an MBA.
