KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Mr. Charles Rockefeller
Composite Apps, Inc., Asia Society Trustee

Charles Rockefeller is a head of partnerships and East Coast business development of Composite Apps Inc., a digital consulting company that specializes in applying a combination of mobile technology, user experience, and advanced analytics to solve real-world business problems. A leader in large-scale Enterprise solution development, Composite Apps works with businesses to maximize the value of existing IT investments by creating unprecedented visibility and empowering users with tools to impact data-driven change within their organization.

Prior to this role, Charles was a co-founder at LearnerX and Halio Health, innovative companies that create science-based, technology-enabled products and services to help people develop practical habits to improve their lives. In 2013, Charles received a master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania, while concurrently earning three certificates from the Wharton School of Business. Prior to that, he earned a master’s degree from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. Previously, Charles worked as a marketing manager at sothebys.amazon.com and then in the Global Private Client Group at Sotheby’s, Inc., where he created a loyalty program for Asian clients. A graduate of Stanford University, Charles is a Trustee of Historic Hudson Valley and Asia Society as well as a member of the President’s Council of the University of Tokyo.

SPECIAL ADDRESS
H.E. Ban Ki-moon
8th Secretary-General of the United Nations (2007-2016)

Ban Ki-moon is a South Korean diplomat who was the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 2007 to December 2016. Before becoming Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India.

Ban was the foreign minister of South Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006 he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General. Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office. As foreign minister of South Korea, however, he was able to travel to all the countries on the United Nations Security Council, a maneuver that turned him into the campaign's front runner.

On October 13, 2006, he was elected eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations General Assembly, succeeding Kofi Annan on January 1, 2007. As Secretary-General, he was responsible for several major reforms on peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with U.S. President George W. Bush, and on the Darfur conflict, where he helped persuade Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan.

Ban was named the world's 32nd most powerful person on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People in 2013, the highest among South Koreans. In 2014, he was named the third most powerful South Korean after Lee Kun-hee and Lee Jae-yong. In 2016, Foreign Policy named Ban one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers for his achievement of making the Paris Agreement a legally binding treaty less than a year after it was adopted.

AMBASSADORS OF THE YEAR AWARDEES



H.E. Ramzi Teymurov
Ambassador E & P of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Korea (2014-present)

Ramzi Kazim oglu Teymurov is an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Korea. He started his diplomatic career in Korea Chargé affairs of the Azerbaijan embassy since February 2013. Prior to Korea, he was a First Secretary at the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Austria, while concurrently serving as a Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the International Organizations in Vienna. Teymurov is a diplomatic expert with over 15 years of experience at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to his career as a bureaucrat, he served his country in the military from 2001 to 2002 and received both bachelor’s and master’s degree from State University of Foreign Languages.

H.E. Bader Mohammad AlAwadi
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Kuwait to the Republic of Korea (2016-present)

Bader Mohammad AlAwadi is an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the State of Kuwait to the Republic of Korea. He is a veteran diplomat in the State of Kuwait with 25 years of experience. He was counsellor of the State of Kuwait to the United Nations in New York from 1995 to 2004, and Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission in the Embassy of the State of Kuwait to the Republic of France from 2004 to 2010. From 2010, he served as an ambassador E & P to Cuba for 6 years, during which he also served as a non-resident ambassador E & P to St. Lucia, Dominican Republic and Antigua & Barbuda. Prior to his career as a diplomat, he worked as a Journalist for the Kuwaiti newspapers Al-Seyasah and Al-Watan during his undergraduate years. He received his B.A. in Political Science and General Administration from University of Kuwait and Post Graduate Diploma and Certificate in Diplomacy and Law from Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, U.S.

H.E. Vikram K. Doraiswami
Ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea (2015-present)

Vikram K. Doraiswami is an ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1992 and continued his career as a veteran diplomat until today. In 2006, Mr. Doraiswami was posted to the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York as Political Counsellor and in October 2009 he served as India's Consul General in Johannesburg, South Africa. In July 2011, Mr. Doraiswami returned to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi, where he was Head of the Division for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), a post he held until early October 2012. During this period, he was also Coordinator for the Fourth Summit meeting of BRICS in New Delhi in March 2012. From October 2012 to October 2014, Mr. Doraiswami was Joint Secretary of the Americas Division of the MEA. He became Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan in October 2014, before assuming his current responsibilities as India’s Ambassador to the Republic of Korea in April 2015. Prior to joining the Indian Government, he worked for one year as a journalist. He took a Masters’ Degree in History from the University of Delhi.
 

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