Europe

Matthew Freud is an Oscar-Nominated Producer and Chairman of Freuds Group, the international public relations and marketing company he founded in 1985.

Matthew is best known as a champion of cause related communications. He helped establish (RED), raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the work of the Global Fund and has been a long-standing supporter of Comic Relief. Matthew has overseen the agency’s work with charities and institutions including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the HRH Prince of Wales’s Sustainable Markets Initiative, the UNHCR, Make Poverty History, The UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and Live Earth.

Jean joined LinkedIn in September 2015 and is currently the Head of LinkedIn Sweden. He is responsible for defining and implementing the strategy for the Swedish market and also leads the work on helping the Nordics public sector, recruitment industry and partners to attract, develop and retain top talent. Apart from his business commitments Jean was one of the founding members of the initiative “Welcome Talent” at LinkedIn Sweden. An initiative started in mid-2016 during the rise of the Syrian war, with the aim to help refugees connect with Swedish businesses for job opportunities. “Welcome Talent” was highlighted as one of the key initiatives by The White House Call to Action from US Private Sectors.

Jean is one of the Co-Founder of a Global Employee Resource Group (EMBRACE) at LinkedIn focusing on underrepresented groups of culture, ethnicity and nationality. He is often invited to speak in various contexts about topics such as the integration of underrepresented minorities in businesses. Jean’s latest appearance on the topic was at the US Ambassador’s residence in Sweden along with other panelists and together with Ambassador Erik Ramanathan and Chobani and Tent Founder Mr Hamdi Ulukaya.

Prior to joining LinkedIn, Jean was a member of the Senior Management board at Dell Sweden where he held numerous sales and leadership roles across various industry segments. With more than 20 years of experience within Global organisations, Jean has solid expertise in sales, business development transformations and leadership and has a true passion for building high performing, diverse teams.

Jean holds a BA in Telecommunications and Economics from Stockholm Royal Institute of Technology, and a MA in Space Operations from the University of Colorado.

 As a young child, Jean came to Sweden as a war refugee from Iran in the late 1980s together with his family. He resides in Stockholm together with his partner Julia and their son Frank.

June has enjoyed a 25-year career which has already seen her become one of the most recognizable faces of British television, as well as being one of the UK’s most intelligent and dynamic young hosts. June is a media phenomenon and is the only host of her generation that is equally comfortable interviewing politicians, celebrities and members of the public. 

June is the Co-Founder of the Women:Inspiration & Enterprise. WIE first launched in NYC in 2010 and then in the UK in 2012 and has featured leading speakers from a gamut of industries, previous speakers include: Sarah Brown, Melinda Gates, Arianna Huffington, Donna Karan, Queen Rania, Nancy Pelosi, Iman and many more. 

In Nov 2019 she was appointed as the BBC’s first Director of Creative Diversity, she was in this role for three years and spearheaded the organisations $124 million investment in diverse content. 

She is the author of “Diversify” , “Power of Women” and “Power of Privilege” all books are published by Harper Collins and currently out on global release.

Hein was appointed Chief Executive Officer in July 2023. As CEO of Unilever, Hein is responsible for leading one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse consumer goods businesses, with presence in 190 countries, serving 3.4 billion people every day. 

Hein is a global business leader with an excellent track record in the consumer goods industry.  He was CEO of Royal FrieslandCampina, an €11bn business operating in over 40 countries – and with products sold in over 100 – from January 2018 to May 2023. Previously, Hein worked for H.J. Heinz for over a decade. In 2008 he was appointed Chief Strategy Officer, before moving to Heinz China in 2011 as its President and CEO. In 2013, he was appointed Executive Vice President of Kraft Heinz’s Asia Pacific Zone and led a successful turnaround of the business, which spanned China, Indonesia, India, Japan and Oceania.  Earlier in his career, Hein worked in finance as Corporate Controller, Asia and Central America for Royal Ahold NV. He began his career as a Finance Manager in Unilever, working in Germany and the Netherlands. 

Hein served as a Non-Executive Director of Unilever from October 2022 until his appointment as CEO. From January 2021 to October 2022, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of C&A AG.  He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Amsterdam.  He lives in the Netherlands with his wife, Margot Dekkers-Schumacher and they have three children, Luca, Kim and Merijn.

Margot Slattery is Global Group Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at ISS World Services, headquartered in Denmark. She is passionate about helping global leading FM company ISS World Services to become renowned in this space, and to furthering this agenda inside and outside work.

As a member of different boards and NGOs, she helps advance the case for social and climate justice, and at ISS she is directing, implementing, and aligning integrated and dynamic diversity and inclusion initiatives spanning the dimensions of Cultures & Ethnicity, Abilities, Gender, Sexual Orientation/LGBTQ+ and Generations & Age. Margot continues to work tirelessly and with great heart to champion diverse abilities, equity, and opportunity, and is proud to be ISS World Services global representative with ‘The Valuable 500’ movement, which is tabling disability on board agendas.

Born to dairy farmers in Limerick County, Ireland, Margot started her career as a chef. She subsequently moved into management to pursue her potential, which saw her become CEO (2012), then Country President (2015) of Sodexo Ireland. She developed her experience in evolving workplace standards as Global Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer with Sodexo Group, and she was co-founder and signatory of Ireland’s first Diversity Charter. 

Margot joined ISS World Services in May 2021 and lives with her wife Sarah in Co Dublin and Co Leitrim in Ireland. In her leisure time Margot enjoys eating out, meeting friends, watching rugby, learning golf, walking, reading and being part of the local community.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem is the Director of The One Campaign France and the President of France Terre d’Asile, a non-profit organization that sustains asylum seekers and fights for asylum seekers’ rights. She was previously the CEO Global Affairs at the IPSOS Group, a global market and opinion research company. She also directs a research collection within Fayard, a French large publishing house.

Previously, Vallaud-Belkacem served as the French Minister for National Education, Higher Education, and Research from 2014 to 2017. She has also served as the French Minister for Women’s Affairs, the government spokesperson, and the Minister for Urban Planning, Youth and Sports. Prior to that, she was involved in local politics for ten years – she served as Regional Councillor for Rhône-Alpes, Deputy Mayor of Lyon, and General Councillor of Rhône.