Dr. Jörg Dräger studied Physics and Economics in Hamburg and New York. After his graduation, he worked for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in Frankfurt/Main. He returned to Hamburg as CEO of the Northern Institute of Technology. From 2001 to 2008 Dr. Dräger took office as Hamburg’s Minister of Science and Research. In addition, he was a member of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs and a deputy member of the German Bundesrat. From 2008 till the end of 2021 he was a member of the Executive Board at the Bertelsmann Foundation and CEO of the Center for Higher Education Development. Dr. Dräger was first appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Kühne Foundation in 2008 and has been additionally its Executive Director since 2022.

Swati is the Country Director for Khan Academy India. Swati has 31 yrs of diverse experience in for-profit and not-for-profit across several countries in South Asia, Far-East, China, and India and 11 yrs in the US. Prior to Khan Academy she has served as the COO for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation India, set up a grad school, Indian School of Public Policy as their founding CEO, advised several startups including EdTechs, and served on boards of educational institutions. She has worked for McKinsey, Sleep Number Company, SYSCO, and with Schlumberger as a field engineer on oil-rigs. Swati is an engineer by training with a BTech from IIT Delhi and an MBA from Chicago Booth.

Paul Blackstone is Managing Partner of SummitLearn, a specialist strategy consultancy
to the global learning sector, advising investors, founders and management teams on
growth strategy, commercial model design, and operational performance.
He brings 25+ years of operating and investing experience across Asia, Europe, MENA,
and the Americas. As CEO of Pearson Asia's largest education unit WSE, he scaled the
China business to 65,000 students and +$250M in revenue, culminating in a successful
sale to a private equity consortium.
Paul also serves as Chair of CURIOO Limited in Hong Kong and Advisor to Magistra
Schools in Dubai, and earlier founded ChannelEnglish, one of the first online language
learning companies globally.

Jaspal Sidhu spent nearly 30 years working across Indonesia as an engineer before establishing high-quality, affordable schools. Today, he leads the SIS & Inspirasi Group operating schools across multiple price points in major and emerging cities across Indonesia and beyond. The Group’s successful journey has been through strategic partnerships with the World Bank Group and private equity funds. It has received numerous international accolades, including one from the Financial Times & World Bank Group for its transformational work in education.

Claudia Zeisberger is a Professor at INSEAD and one of the most well-connected figures in the private capital space, with over 35 years of experience in financial markets. She founded INSEAD’s Global Private Equity Initiative (GPEI), shaping the school’s global reputation in private equity and venture capital, and has been widely recognized for her teaching excellence, winning INSEAD’s Best Teaching Award for her Private Equity elective three years in a row.
An active investor across startups, private equity, and venture funds, Claudia also advises boards, leadership teams, and governments, often describing herself as a “Professional Devil’s Advocate.” She serves on advisory boards including Standard Chartered Ventures, Linzor Capital, Kaizenvest, and S4Learning, and is a founding member of KKR’s Sustainability Expert Advisory Council.
Claudia is also the founder of 5 Quadrants, a research and risk advisory firm, and the author of the best-selling book Mastering Private Equity. A sought-after speaker at the intersection of finance, innovation, and risk, she brings seasoned judgment, candour, and a global perspective to every platform she engages with.

As President and CEO of the National Center on Education and the Economy, Dr. Vicki Phillips works with states and nations to build education systems that champion young people’s potential. A former teacher, superintendent, state chief, and foundation leader, Vicki has long believed we must think differently about teaching and learning—grounded in evidence and designed for possibility. From a small Kentucky farm to global policy tables, her life has been shaped by education’s power to change trajectories. She leads with urgency, optimism, and an unwavering belief that every young person deserves a future full of purpose and hope.

Noam Gerstein is the founder and CEO of bina, an AI-powered, profoundly human global school serving families daily in over 50 countries, growing 44% QoQ, NPS ~87, Cambridge-accredited, with a clear path to $116M ARR at 10k students. bina's leadership team includes Stanford AI-in-Ed experts, a post-exit CTO, CRO, and herself. Before bina, Noam bootstrapped and sold a seven-figure ops business, managed 150+ people, conducted boots-on-the-ground primary-systems research globally, and led NGO operations and fundraising.

Phil Psilos is a higher education, workforce, and innovation expert, building analytics and advising leaders on AI readiness, resilience, and reimagining as Founder of Qualis Education and Head of Consulting for the Mekong Capabilities Lab in Hanoi. A Deloitte alumni, he has led U.S. efforts to align higher education and innovation ecosystems in the Philippines and Vietnam, advised U.S. governors on technology industry development, and facilitated blended education finance in Africa. He holds degrees from Johns Hopkins and the LSE.