Sustainable Finance Forum 2022

After graduating with an International Baccalaureate from the Canadian Academy International School in Kobe in 1989, Yuriko Backes obtained a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1992. She then attended the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where she successfully completed a master’s degree in Japanese studies in 1993. Yuriko Backes obtained a second master’s degree in European political and administrative studies from the College of Europe in Bruges in 1994.

On 5 January 2022, following the resignation of Pierre Gramegna, Yuriko Backes joined the coalition government between the Democratic Party (DP), the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Green Party (déi gréng) as Minister of Finance.

Yuriko Backes began her professional career in 1994 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has held various positions, including at the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the United Nations in New York, the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the Western European Union in Brussels, and the Luxembourg Embassy in Japan.

As attaché at the Directorate of European Affairs and International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg, she was sworn in as a civil servant in 2001.

The career diplomat was then assigned to the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the European Union in Brussels from 2001 to 2006.

She continued her diplomatic career as deputy head of mission at the Luxembourg Embassy in Japan from 2006 to 2008 and as deputy head of the Directorate for International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg from 2008 to 2010.

From 2010 to 2016, Yuriko Backes was the diplomatic adviser and sherpa to Luxembourg Prime MinistersJean-Claude Juncker and Xavier Bettel.

She was the representative of the European Commission in Luxembourg from 2016 to 2020.

From June 2020 until her appointment to the government, she served as marshal of the Grand-Ducal Court.

Nicolas Mackel is CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, the Agency for the Development of the Financial Centre, since July 2013.

Nicolas is a career diplomat. He has graduated with a law degree from the University of Aix-en-Provence, and holds two post-graduate diplomas in European law from the Sorbonne University, respectively the College of Europe in Bruges where he then also served as a teaching assistant in the Law Department. He worked as a legal clerk at the European Court of Justice before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. His assignments focused on the successive EU Treaty negotiations (Amsterdam, Nice, Constitution, Lisbon).

Nicolas was consecutively posted at Luxembourg’s Permanent Representation to the EU (2002-07), as Deputy Chief of Mission at Luxembourg’s Embassy in Washington DC (2007-11) and as Consul General in Shanghai (2011-13) where he was in charge of promoting Luxembourg’s economic interests throughout China as the Executive Director of the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office.

Judith Bogner is a television presenter, event facilitator and commentator for international finance, business and geopolitics based between the UK and Germany. For more than ten years she was one of the main European anchors of the financial news channel Bloomberg Global Television in London. Since 2012 Judith runs her own business, offering event and business facilitation, client advisory boards and strategic consulting. She is also a UK accredited mediator.

Judith regularly leads public and private events for corporate and institutional clients in the financial sector and beyond. Her list of clients include the Federation of German Industries, the Euro Finance Week (Frankfurt), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of New York Mellon, The Brewers of Europe, Luxembourg for Finance, the Dutch Development Bank FMO, Ergo Insurance, State Street, Scope Ratings, the Institute of Culinary Art, Allianz Global Assistance, Wacom and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Born in Germany, Judith has lived in Switzerland, China, Ukraine, France and Italy. Currently she divides her time between Munich and London. She is bilingual in English-German and also speaks Italian, French and Mandarin Chinese. Judith holds a degree in International Business Management and Chinese from the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen.

Dorothée Baumann-Pauly is a Professor at Geneva University’s School of Economics and Management. She directs the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights, the first human rights center at a business school in Europe.

Since 2013, she is also the Research Director at the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University. In these roles, Dorothée works with companies to advance human rights in corporate practice. Her applied research is focused on embedding human rights in organisations and developing business models that enable profits and principles to coexist.

Dorothée also teaches Business and Human Rights and she co-edited the first textbook on Business and Human Rights (Routledge 2016). In 2016, she also co-founded a business school network to integrate human rights in business education as well as the BHR Young Researchers Summit for emerging scholars.

Dorothée earned her PhD in Economics (summa cum laude) at the University of Zurich in 2010 while working for the Fair Labor Association, a multi-stakeholder initiative with the mission to improve labor rights in global supply chains.

Julie Becker has been at the helm of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) since April, 2021. She joined LuxSE in 2013 and was appointed to its Executive Committee in 2015, before being named Deputy CEO in 2019, and CEO two years later.

Her career in the financial sector in Luxembourg spans over two decades and includes positions at the Central Bank of Luxembourg and Dexia. In 2016, Julie Becker founded the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities. A recognised expert in the field of sustainable finance, Julie Becker has represented LuxSE and LGX at numerous, international expert forums and conferences over the past years, including at the prestigious EU High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance from 2016-2018. She is also the Chair of LuxCMA, a capital markets industry association established in 2019.

Julie Becker specialises in regulatory and legal matters linked to capital markets. She holds a Master Degree in European & Corporate Law and a Master Degree (DEA) in Private Law from the University of Nancy II, France. She is also an alumna of the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Genuino M. Christino is a member of the Group Management Committee since 2016 and Executive Vice President and Group Chief Financial Officer of ArcelorMittal since February 2021.

Prior to Mr. Christino’s appointment as Group CFO he was the Group Head of Finance since 2016. As Group CFO Mr. Christino is responsible for all of the Company’s financial functions, including treasury, corporate finance, accounting, performance management, insurance and investor relations. In addition Mr. Christino oversees group M&A, Legal and IT activities and is a member of the Company’s Investment Allocation Committee. Mr. Christino also heads the Company’s Corporate Finance and Tax Committee where all key financial transactions of the group are reviewed and approved.

Prior to joining the ArcelorMittal Group in 2003, Mr. Christino had spent ten years at KPMG in Brazil and in the United-Kingdom, as an auditor and a consultant.

Mr. Christino holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from the Universidade Paulista in São Paulo, Brazil and has also completed an Executive MBA Program from the Dom Cabral Foundation in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Mr. Christino is a citizen of Brazil.

Claude Marx was appointed Director General of the CSSF by the government in February 2016. Claude is also a member of the Board of Supervisors of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

Prior to his nomination as Director General of the CSSF, Claude Marx was the CEO of Lombard International Assurance S.A., the largest unit-linked life insurance company, owned by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities. He was also Chairman of the Board of Lombard Intermediation Services S.A. Claude was with Lombard for 4 years.

Prior to that, Claude worked for HSBC for 17 years, and was Deputy CEO of its Private Banking Division.

At the beginning of his career, Claude worked as a lawyer with a local firm that is now Allen & Overy, as well as Arthur Andersen.

Claude is a lawyer by training, he holds a Master of Laws Degree from the University of Paris and a Master of Laws in International Business Law from the University of London. He was admitted to the Luxembourg bar as Avocat à la Cour in 1990.