Born 1953. Mr. Grønn holds a graduate degree in economics (cand.oecon. 1979) from the University of Oslo. Work experience since 1980 includes various positions at Norges Bank, including Director of International Department, Director of Statistics Department, and Special Advisor to the Governor. Mr. Grønn spent altogether eight years at IMF’s Executive Board in Washington DC, as Senior Advisor (1989-1992), Alternate Executive Director (2011-2013) and Executive Director (2013-2016), as well as one year at the ECB in Frankfurt as national central bank expert, monetary policy (2005-2006). He retired from his position at Norges Bank in July 2021, but continues as a consultant on a part-time basis.

Marko Škreb is a former governor of the Croatian National Bank. Currently he is Central banking lead on a Financial sector reform project (FINRA) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, financed by USAID. Before that he was resident project manager for Canada-IMF Capacity building project at the National Bank of Ukraine. He moved to Kyiv from his position as advisor at the International Monetary Fund’s Regional Technical Assistance centre in Accra, Ghana.  Before that, he was chief economist and strategist at the second largest commercial bank in Croatia. Mr. Skreb started his professional career teaching at the University of Zagreb. Following academic vocation he joined the Croatian central bank, first as research and statistics director and later on as governor (from 1996 to 2000). In 1997 he was awarded the Central European Annual Awards for Excellence - Best Central Bank Governor by the Banker. Since 2000 he worked as a consultant for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in numerous countries, mostly in South-East Europe. He also worked at the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF in Washington DC in the period 2004-2005. Mr Škreb published a number of articles and edited books, focusing on transition questions and financial issues.

Sheila Mmbijjewe MBS, ACCA (UK) was appointed Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya with effect from 19th June, 2015. She holds a BA in Accounts and Finance and is a Chartered Accountant England and Wales.

Sheila was the first woman in Kenya to be appointed as an executive director of a publicly quoted commercial bank. She has worked in the commercial banking sector in Kenya, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Kenya, the Financial Reporting Centre of Kenya, Pricewaterhouse Kenya and Deloitte Touché Kenya. More recently Sheila became the first Kenyan woman to be appointed to the Board of a large international publically quoted company.

Sheila was a founding member of the Monetary Policy Committee in Kenya and the Crime and Anti- Money Laundering Act Advisory Committee of Kenya. She has been a director of the Capital Markets of Kenya, the Disclosure Committee of the Capital Markets in Kenya and the Information and Technology Committee of the Nairobi Stock Exchange, Old Mutual Insurance Company Kenya amongst others.

In 2008 she was awarded the Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS), a presidential medal for service to her country.

Born 1953. Mr. Grønn holds a graduate degree in economics (cand.oecon. 1979) from the University of Oslo. Work experience since 1980 includes various positions at Norges Bank, including Director of International Department, Director of Statistics Department, and Special Advisor to the Governor. Mr. Grønn spent altogether eight years at IMF’s Executive Board in Washington DC, as Senior Advisor (1989-1992), Alternate Executive Director (2011-2013) and Executive Director (2013-2016), as well as one year at the ECB in Frankfurt as national central bank expert, monetary policy (2005-2006). He retired from his position at Norges Bank in July 2021, but continues as a consultant on a part-time basis.

Douglas W. Arner is the Kerry Holdings Professor in Law, RGC Senior Fellow in Digital Finance and Sustainable Development and Associate Director of the HKU-Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy at the University of Hong Kong. In addition, he is Associate Dean (Taught Postgraduate and Development) of the Faculty of Law at HKU and co-founder and former Director of HKU’s Asian Institute of International Financial Law, as well as Faculty Director and co-founder of the LLM in Compliance and Regulation, the LLM in Corporate and Financial Law, the Law, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (LITE), and the East Asian International Economic Law and Policy Programmes. Douglas served as Head of the HKU Department of Law from 2011-2014, as Director of the Duke University-HKU Asia America Institute in Transnational Law from 2005-2016, and as an inaugural member of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council from 2013-2019. In 2020 he was awarded an inaugural Hong Kong Research Grants Council Senior Fellowship to study the role of digital finance in financial inclusion and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Douglas is a Visiting Professor and Senior Visiting Fellow of Melbourne Law School of the University of Melbourne, a Visiting Professorial Fellow of the Faculty of Law of UNSW Sydney, a non-executive director of NASDAQ and Euronext listed biotechnology firm Aptorum Group, an Advisory Board Member of the Global Impact FinTech (GIFT) Forum, Policy 4.0 and of the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), and co-founder and an executive board member of the Asia Pacific Structured Finance Association. Douglas has published eighteen books and more than 200 articles, chapters and reports on international financial law and regulation, including most recently Reconceptualising Global Finance and its Regulation (Cambridge 2016) (with Ross Buckley and Emilios Avgouleas) and The RegTech Book (Wiley 2019 (Janos Barberis and Ross Buckley). His recent papers are available on SSRN at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=524849 , where he is among the top 50 authors in the world and among the top 15 authors in the area of law by total downloads. Douglas led the development of Introduction to FinTech – launched with edX in May 2018 and now with over 100,000 learners spanning almost every country in the world – and the foundation of the edx-HKU Online Professional Certificate in FinTech. In addition, he has served as a consultant with, among others, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN, APEC, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He has lectured, co-organised conferences and seminars and been involved with financial sector reform projects around the world. Douglas has been a visiting professor or fellow at Duke, Harvard, the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, IDC Herzliya, McGill, Melbourne, National University of Singapore, University of New South Wales, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Zurich, among others.Douglas W. Arner is the Kerry Holdings Professor in Law, RGC Senior Fellow in Digital Finance and Sustainable Development and Associate Director of the HKU-Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy at the University of Hong Kong. In addition, he is Associate Dean (Taught Postgraduate and Development) of the Faculty of Law at HKU and co-founder and former Director of HKU’s Asian Institute of International Financial Law, as well as Faculty Director and co-founder of the LLM in Compliance and Regulation, the LLM in Corporate and Financial Law, the Law, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (LITE), and the East Asian International Economic Law and Policy Programmes. Douglas served as Head of the HKU Department of Law from 2011-2014, as Director of the Duke University-HKU Asia America Institute in Transnational Law from 2005-2016, and as an inaugural member of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council from 2013-2019. In 2020 he was awarded an inaugural Hong Kong Research Grants Council Senior Fellowship to study the role of digital finance in financial inclusion and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Douglas is a Visiting Professor and Senior Visiting Fellow of Melbourne Law School of the University of Melbourne, a Visiting Professorial Fellow of the Faculty of Law of UNSW Sydney, a non-executive director of NASDAQ and Euronext listed biotechnology firm Aptorum Group, an Advisory Board Member of the Global Impact FinTech (GIFT) Forum, Policy 4.0 and of the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), and co-founder and an executive board member of the Asia Pacific Structured Finance Association. Douglas has published eighteen books and more than 200 articles, chapters and reports on international financial law and regulation, including most recently Reconceptualising Global Finance and its Regulation (Cambridge 2016) (with Ross Buckley and Emilios Avgouleas) and The RegTech Book (Wiley 2019 (Janos Barberis and Ross Buckley). His recent papers are available on SSRN at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=524849 , where he is among the top 50 authors in the world and among the top 15 authors in the area of law by total downloads. Douglas led the development of Introduction to FinTech – launched with edX in May 2018 and now with over 100,000 learners spanning almost every country in the world – and the foundation of the edx-HKU Online Professional Certificate in FinTech. In addition, he has served as a consultant with, among others, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN, APEC, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He has lectured, co-organised conferences and seminars and been involved with financial sector reform projects around the world. Douglas has been a visiting professor or fellow at Duke, Harvard, the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, IDC Herzliya, McGill, Melbourne, National University of Singapore, University of New South Wales, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Zurich, among others.

Ms Sharmyn Powell has been employed at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for over 25 years and currently holds the position of Chief Risk Officer.  She leads the Office of Corporate Strategy and Risk Management with responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management, Compliance, Strategic Plan development and monitoring and Business Continuity Management. 

Prior to assuming this role, she served in various capacities at the Bank including, Deputy Director, Accounting Department, Director, Currency Management Department and Director, Support Services Management Department.  She is the Chairperson of the Bank’s Fintech Working Group, which is leading the implementation of the DCash Pilot Project for the issuance of a block-chain based digital version of the EC Currency. 

Ms Powell is a Certified Accountant (ACCA), and also carries the designations of Chartered Director (C. Dir) and Audit Committee Certified (A.C.C). 

Holding a College degree in Mathematics, and two MBAs in Systems Analyses I have been working for the Information Technology Department of the Central Bank of Brazil since 1993, becoming the Head of the Information Technology Department in April 2019. I work at Central Bank of Brazil for 29 years and I am the Head of the Information Technology Department since April 2019.

Francesco Papadia is chair of primary collateralised securities, chair of the selection panel of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, resident fellow of Bruegel and lectures at various universities. Between June 1998 and May 2012 he was director general for market operations at the European Central Bank. Before that he held different positions at Research Department and Foreign Department at the Bank of Italy. Between 1980 and 1983 he was economic advisor at the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission. From 1974 to 1979 he served as economist in the Research Department of the Bank of Italy. He holds a degree in law from the University of Rome and did his postgraduate studies in economics at Istao, Ancona and at the London Business School. He has written numerous articles and books.

Robin Darbyshire is a chartered accountant who has worked, as an independent consultant for 10 years, mainly on central bank issues. He has undertaken a number of projects for the International Monetary Fund, including implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in central banks. He has also worked on a payments system at a middle eastern central bank. Previously he spent 19 years with the Bank of England, for 17 of which he was responsible for the Bank’s accounts. He was a founder member of the committee that devised the accounting framework and policies for the European System of Central Banks and has recently undertaken projects for the European Central Bank related to Eurosystem accounting. He has written a number of articles on issues in central bank accounting and regularly speaks at conferences on central bank finances.

Mohammed Nyaoga is the Chairperson of the Central Bank of Kenya Board of Directors and the Chairperson to the International Monetary Fund (Washington) external Experts Panel. Mr. Nyaoga is a Senior Counsel and a Senior Partner at the law firm of Mohammed Muigai LLP. He holds LLB and LLM degrees from the University of Nairobi and Diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. He is also currently a PhD student researching on "The Role of Regulation and Corporate Governance of Banks in Kenya". He is a Certified Public Secretary (CPS); holds certificates in Corporate Governance from Commonwealth Association of Corporate Governance, Certificate from American Securities and Exchange Commission; a Certified Company Director and a Member of the Institute of Directors of Kenya. He specializes in Corporate Finance, Civil, Commercial, Litigation and Corporate Governance. In addition to the practice of Law, he has been Vice-Chairman of the Law Reform Commission, Chairman of its Business Laws Committee and Chairman of the Mining Licences Task Force. He has also been a Director of Capital Markets Authority, Chairman of International Commission of Jurists, Council member of Law Society of Kenya, Special Board Corporate Governance Advisor and Chairman of EcoBank Kenya. He has also been Chairman at the Commission of Inquiry into the suspension of the County Government of Makueni.

In addition, he is a certified training consultant in corporate governance with the Centre for Corporate Governance for over 15 years where he has trained over 10,000 directors in Kenya and in Africa at large. He has also been a consultant and Trainer for State University of New York on procurement (SUNNY Kenya) and a Lecturer (LLM Programme) University of Nairobi, School of Law (Business Law Department) on Public Procurement and accounting law. He is currently a regular Trainer/ Speaker at Central Banking Publications (UK) Governance Training Series at Windsor, Cambridge and Oxford and also one of authors and editors of Central Banking Publications.

Kenneth Sullivan was until 2015 a senior financial sector expert with the International Monetary Fund. Previously, he spent seven years at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand as chief manager of both Accounting and Corporate Services where the bank won accounting prizes for the transparency of its published financial statements. Prior to that he provided a financial management information system consultancy, held senior accounting roles in insurance and wholesaling, and worked in education. Starting in 1993 he served as accounting expert on IMF missions, providing accounting technical assistance to central banks around the world, organized and presented at central bank accounting workshops and participated in Financial Sector Assessment Program and Safeguard Assessment

Following the graduation IT College and the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Mirela Roman joined the Monetary Policy Department of the National Bank of Romania for almost three years up to 1994 when switched to gain almost 12 years of valuable experience as an economics correspondent at Reuters News Agency, working in Bucharest, London, Prague, Warsaw or Copenhagen. In 2005 she rejoined NBR as an Adviser to the Governor and has run a newly created Communication Department for eight years before taking a new challenge: the strategy path. Economic analysis, news coverage, project development and team coordination defined her business for years, while her focus was growing with memberships in the local Foreign Press Association, the Romanian-Chinese Association, the Club of Rome Romanian arm, Ethics Board of the ICCO-Affiliated Romanian Association of Public Relations as well as a lecturer in Winsor or Cambridge training series by Central Banking Publications for a decade now.

Born 1953. Mr. Grønn holds a graduate degree in economics (cand.oecon. 1979) from the University of Oslo. Work experience since 1980 includes various positions at Norges Bank, including Director of International Department, Director of Statistics Department, and Special Advisor to the Governor. Mr. Grønn spent altogether eight years at IMF’s Executive Board in Washington DC, as Senior Advisor (1989-1992), Alternate Executive Director (2011-2013) and Executive Director (2013-2016), as well as one year at the ECB in Frankfurt as national central bank expert, monetary policy (2005-2006). He retired from his position at Norges Bank in July 2021, but continues as a consultant on a part-time basis.