Iraj Abedian – Iraj Abedian is an economist and has been involved in formulating macroeconomic policy in South Africa since the end of apartheid. He is an adviser to and director of a number of public and private sector organizations. Career highlights include his service as Chief Economist at the Standard Bank Group in South Africa. He has been a member of President Thabo Mbeki’s Panel of Economic Advisers and an honorary professor of economics at the University of Pretoria. He is the co-founder and CEO of a private investment company called Pan-African Capital Holdings and its subsidiary companies.

Nick Binedell – Nick Binedell is the Founding Director and Sasol Chair of Strategic Management of the Gordon Institute of Business Science, which is ranked as one of the top 40 global executive education providers by the Financial Times. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for the encouragement of Arts Manufacturers and Commerce and a determined traveler and explorer. During his travels he has explored various models of governance and economics. His area of expertise is in the field of business strategy formulation and his academic and consulting work extends internationally.

Gregory Dahl – Greg Dahl is a Harvard-educated economist. For the last twenty-seven years he worked as an economist and senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He is the author of numerous articles and several books on economics and social development, which are widely published throughout the world – most notably “One World, One People: How Globalization is Shaping our Future”.  Dahl focuses on dispelling misconceptions about globalization from an economic perspective. He currently lives in Bulgaria with his wife and three children.

Adam Habib – Currently Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research, Innovation and Advancement at the University of Johannesburg, Adam Habib is a world-renowned researcher, scholar, and political commentator. His most recent appointment was as a research professor at the Center for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is an expert on issues of democracy, governance, race, South African politics, public policy, and social movements. Professor Habib is also a vocal critic of various aspects of U.S. foreign policy, including the war in Iraq and his work includes researching various models of democratic application.

Michael Karlberg – Michael Karlberg is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Western Washington University. His research and writing focus on the relationship between communication, culture and conflict. He also teaches in the area of ‘critical media literacy’, helping students understand the ways that we are influenced by, and can also influence, our mass-mediated cultural environments. He is the author of “Beyond the Culture of Contest”, which largely formed the basis for the film, “Beyond King of the Mountain” by Leyla & Ryan Haidarian.

Xolela Mangcu – Xolela Mangcu is a renowned and vocal political analyst, author and anti-apartheid activist. He is the Executive Chairman of the Platform for Public Deliberation at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Executive Director of the Human Sciences Research Council and the Social Cohesion and Identity Research Programme. He is also a columnist and Associate Editor for such publications as Business Day and the Sunday Independent in South Africa.