He has held visiting positions at Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), the University of Melbourne (Australia), Henley Business School/University of Reading (UK), ISEG/University of Lisbon (Portugal), and the University of Valencia (Spain).

Benito is co-editor of Global Strategy Journal and consulting editor of Journal of International Business Studies, and a member of the editorial boards of other top international journals.

Benito’s research agenda focuses on corporate governance, the strategies of multinational enterprises, and the economic organization of international business. He has been President of EIBA (European International Business Academy), and has served in various roles in the Academy of International Business (AIB) and Strategic Management Society (SMS). He organized the 2005 EIBA Conference and was Co-Chair of the 2018 SMS Special Conference in Oslo. He was elected Fellow of AIB in 2015, and Fellow of EIBA in 2017.

Anders Byriel has worked for over 30 years at Kvadrat, a company founded by his father Poul Byriel and Erling Rasmussen, and has overseen it since 1998. During Anders Byriel’s leadership, Kvadrat has grown from USD 16 mill. to USD 258 mill. in revenue.

Kvadrat produces high-quality textiles and textile-related products worldwide for private and public spaces and has won several significant international design awards. Those collaborating with the company include highly esteemed designers such as Peter Saville, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, architect David Adjaye, and many more.

The company was established in Ebeltoft, Denmark, in 1968 and has deep roots in Scandinavia’s world-famous design tradition. The word “kvadrat” means “square”, the primary design unit of all textiles.

Anders Byriel was ranked in the Top 20 influencers by Wallpaper magazine in October 2015, and in November 2015, he received the Owner/CEO of the Year Award from PricewaterhouseCoopers in Denmark. In 2018, he received the ‘Årets Ildsjæl’ award (the most passionate entrepreneur of the year) from Design Awards, and in 2019 he received the EY- Entrepreneur of the Year, Denmark award.

While working for Kvadrat, Anders Byriel was chairman of the Danish Design Council 2007 – 2012 and has also been chairman of various innovative companies such as ReD Associates. Anders Byriel also served as vice chairman of Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture.

Anders Byriel is a member of the board of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Museum Foundation, and the Louisiana Foundation (voted one of the ten most beautiful museums in the world). Byriel has also served as a member of the board of JP/Politikens Hus, one of Scandinavia’s leading media companies.

He has a master’s degree in law from Aarhus University and an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree from Copenhagen Business School (CBS). From 2020 to 2023, he attended the YPO Gold Harvard Presidents’ Program at Harvard Business School, Boston.

He is also Director of the IDBM Master's Program (the Aalto International Design Business Management program for future transdisciplinary professionals) and involved in developing Network University Fitech (a transformative education endeavor of the seven biggest Finnish universities, Technology Industries of Finland, and TEK, the trade union for academic engineers and architects in Finland).

Dr. Ville Eloranta is an expert in design management (connecting design paradigms to management practice), business model innovation (especially platform business models), and distributed ledger technologies (especially open blockchain implementations). He has a solid track record of publications in top-level management journals.

Besides a strong academic track record, Dr. Ville Eloranta has 20 years of experience in design and entrepreneurship solving digitalization challenges, especially for big B2B customers.

Ville Eloranta holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management from Aalto University School of Science and Technology.

Kasper Holten (born 1973 in Copenhagen) was Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Opera 2000-2011 and Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden 2011-2017.

Holten has directed opera, drama, musicals and operetta in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Latvia, Germany, UK, France, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Israel, Argentina, Russia, China, Australia, Japan and USA.

Kasper Holten made his feature film debut in 2009 directing and co-writing Juan – a radical, fast-paced contemporary take on Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, which was praised at film festivals from Korea to Germany and the US.

Kasper Holten has directed more than 70 productions, including many at leading opera houses such as Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Opera Berlin and Teatro Real. His productions include: Der Ring des Nibelungen (Copenhagen), Carmen (Bregenz Festival), Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni and Meistersinger (Covent Garden), Der Rosenkavalier (Lyon), Idomeneo (Vienna) and Lohengrin (Berlin), as well as a number of new commissions. Several of his productions are available on DVD.

He is a sought-after motivational speaker on leading and developing extraordinary talents, and he has worked as a teacher at schools and Young Artists Programmes in Denmark, Sweden and the UK.

He is former Vice President of Opera Europa, has been a member of the Danish Radio and TV Board and the Danish Arts Council, and is an honorary professor at Copenhagen Business School. He has received a Knighthood and the medal ”Ingenio et Arti” from HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and is a Commander of Romania.

For further information, please go to www.holten.com

Since taking up the post in 2017, Dr. Hunt has prioritized support for design education in UK schools, expansion of the photography department, and encouraging debate around the history of the museum’s global collections.

Dr. Hunt’s priorities are focused on the transition to a multi-site museum, with V&A Dundee, the redesign of the Museum of Childhood, and the development of a new museum and open access Collections and Research Centre in Stratford, East London.

Prior to joining the V&A, Dr. Hunt was Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central and Shadow Secretary of State for Education.  He has a doctorate in Victorian history from Cambridge University and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.  In addition to numerous radio and TV programmes for the BBC, he is the author of Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City (2005); Friedrich Engels: The Frock-Coated Communist (2009); and Ten Cities That Made an Empire (2014).

Ms. Huopalainen is a qualitative researcher who studies the connections and possible conflicts between art and organization, leadership in creative organizations, and creative work in the post-industrial era. Her multidisciplinary research interests include organizational aesthetics, leadership for creativity, and interactions between art and management.

Kaitue is currently the Chairman of the Board of Alexandria Bank and holds several different board positions internationally. Kaitue has been a Director at Ekokem Ltd and Deputy Managing Director at Outokumpu Ltd.

Kaitue’s current positions of trust are Chairman of the Board at Marinetek Group Ltd since 2021, Emilie Capital Ltd since 2018 and Filtra Group Ltd since 2020, and Board member in Elcoline Group Ltd since 2020, Suomen Messut Ltd since 2021, and Off Counsel in Nunziante Magrone, Rome, Italy, since 2021.

His former key positions of trust have been the Chair of CapMan Oyj, Destia Oyj, and Feon Oyj, and a Board member of Okmetic Oyj and Cargotec Oyj. Additionally, he has chaired the Finland University of the Arts. Among his extensive experience in manufacturing, technology, financial industries, and legal fields, he has a close experience and interest in the arts.

Professor Malmi has served as a consultant to a large number of companies from different industries, e.g. Computers, Electrical, Energy, Finance, Food processing, Furniture, Health Care, Media, Metal and Engineering, Paper and Pulp, Pharmaceuticals, Rental Services, Retail, telecom and Transportation/logistics. He has also served ministries, municipalities, and hospitals.

He works frequently with European, Asian, African, and North American executive audiences on themes of strategic management, business model innovation, leadership, top team dynamics, leading change and transformation, organizational culture, and strategic marketing. During the period 2011-2021, he served as the Managing Director and Associate Dean of Aalto University Executive Education.

In addition to his academic activities Mattila has conducted an active business career. He has served or currently serves as the Chairman of the Board or as a Member of the Board at a number of innovative companies in media, banking, ecommerce, technology, edtech, invest-in, construction, as well as food and beverage industries. Moreover, he serves as a Member of the Board of The Finnish National Gallery.

Mattila holds a doctorate (D.Sc. 2006) and a master’s degree (M.Sc. 2003) in sociology at the University of Helsinki and an Executive MBA (2010) at London Business School. Over the years, he has frequently visited several prestigious European and Asian universities teaching management, organizational behaviour, marketing, and sociology.

Mattila has authored several managerial books on leadership, change, and transformation as well as strategic marketing and sales. His consulting, training, and coaching career started in 2003, and his corporate clients comprise over 480 Nordic and international companies, entrepreneurial ventures as well as prominent public sector institutions and NGOs.

He has a background in management accounting and devotes his time to research within the field of how digitalization topples old assumptions in governance and control, and how it forces us to balance innovation and efficiency in a new manner. He is active as an external keynote and advisor for organizations within both the public- and private sector and is highly engaged in the public debate concerning the digitalization of society.

Nothnagel's focus is on encouraging individuals and organizations to excel by increasing self-awareness, creating understanding of the individual diversity of performance and results, enhancing influencing-skills and building high-performance leadership teams.

Nothnagel’s current research focus on three main areas: neuro-leadership (practical lessons that leaders can learn from neuro-science), cognitive decision-making and emotional-intelligence.

Nothnagel teaches periodically in Aalto Executive MBA programs at various locations in Europe and Asia. He is the owner of Benna Oy and is a Senior Advisor at Aalto EE. He works as a consultant and executive-coach all over the world, including the Nordic-countries, Germany, the United States and Asia. His clients include companies such as ABB, Basware, Cargotec, Danfoss, Daimler, Fazer, Finnair, GE, Hewlett-Packard, HKScan, Michelin, Ruukki, Vaisala and Yahoo.

Nothnagel is an Attorney at Law, Myers-Briggs Certified Interpreter and Certified Emotional-Intelligence Practitioner.

Dr. Pettersson is also an Adjunct Professor in Museology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and an Associate Professor at the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Before moving to Stockholm, she worked as Director of the Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery.

Dr. Pettersson has worked for more than twenty years in museums. Her posts have included Director General at the Nationalmuseum, Sweden, Director of the Finnish Institute in London, Director of the Alvar Aalto Foundation and Museum, and Director of Development at the Finnish National Gallery.

Dr. Pettersson’s research interests include museum history, collection studies, history of art history, and 19th-century and modern art, and she publishes widely. Her positions of trust include Board Membership of Aalto University (Finland), and she is President of the Board of the Finnish Institute in Japan.

Remlov was Artistic Director at Den Nationale Scene (The National Stage) in Bergen from 1986 to 1996, Managing Director and Executive Producer at the publicly-owned studio and production company Norsk Film AS until 2001, CEO at Den Norske Opera & Ballett (The Norwegian Opera & Ballet) from 2008 to 2014, and Artistic Director at Riksteatret (The Norwegian National Touring Theatre) for a fixed tenure ending in 2020.

Throughout his professional life, Mr. Remlov has been active as a public speaker, educator, translator, and writer and has served on a wide range of committees and boards. Apart from several directorships, he is today Adjunct Executive in Residence at BI Norwegian Business School at the Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour.

Ingrid Røynesdal made early contact with classical music because her father was a musician in the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. She studied piano at the Barratt Due Music Institute and the Norwegian Academy of Music with Jens Harald Bratlie, Jiří Hlinka, and Einar Henning Smebye as teachers. She graduated from the two-year soloist diploma program at the Norwegian Academy of Music in the spring of 2005 in the same year as she completed her master's degree in political science with a thesis on cultural policy.

Previously, she was director of the Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen in Bergen from 2011--2013, chair of the board of the Ultima festival, and a commentator and reviewer in Aftenposten from 2009--2011. She took over as director of the Oslo Philharmonic from Odd S. Gullberg in 2013.

She has published books and articles on cultural policy, cultural entrepreneurship, cultural leadership, and the role of artists in society.

Røyseng teaches several Executive Master of Management programs in leadership at BI and has been the Associate Dean for BI’s bachelor program in Creative Industries Management (2016–2019).

Røyseng is the chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Conference on Cultural Policy Research and she sits on the editorial boards of Poetics – Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media and the Arts, International Journal of Cultural Policy and Norwegian Journal of Sociology. Røyseng is also on the boards of the Danish Institute of Cultural Analysis and Swedish Agency of Cultural Policy Analysis.

The common denominator between these three roles is his endless enthusiasm to figure out how technology and society are intertwined: as a culture, in politics, in business, as well as in everyday life.

His research, teaching, and service design work have received several awards and much popularity.

Risto Sarvas holds a doctorate from the Helsinki University of Technology in Media Technology.

Trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance, she was one of the first female Principal Dancers invited to join the all-male award-winning Phoenix Dance Company, touring with the company from 1989 to 1997, where she choreographed Never Still and Shaded Limits. Having left Phoenix to pursue a number of other ventures, including setting up her own company ABCD, Sharon returned in 2009 as the new Artistic Director.

During her tenure at Phoenix Dance Theatre, Sharon has received a number of awards and accolades: In 2010, she was named as one of the Cultural Leadership Programme’s ‘Women to Watch,’ a list of 50 influential women working in arts and culture in the UK. She recently received the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts’ Companionship Award from Sir Paul McCartney and was recognized as one of the ‘100 faces of a vibrant economy 2017’ by Grant Thornton. 

Watson’s recognitions are a testament to her continued passion and drive to contribute to the local and national creative industries through the medium of dance. She is committed to improving diversity within the arts by supporting the creative voices of women and black and ethnic minority artists.