Hélène Barnekow has more than 25 years of experience from the IT and Telecom industry. Prior to joining Ascension, Hélène has been CEO of Microsoft Sweden, between 2018 and 2022, and worked as the CEO of the Telco company, Telia Sweden. Earlier in her career she was Head of Field & Partner Marketing at EMC in Boston, USA, where she was awarded several grants for her excellent leadership and marketing achievements. She has also been assigned several leadership roles at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. Hélène is part of the Board of Directors of GN Store Nord A/S and Kindred Group plc. In August 2019, Hélène launched her first book, Re:start, about valued-based leadership in a ever changing world.

Sanna is an active early stage investor, advisor and board professional with a long background in private equity investing and she was appointed Sweden’s most influential business woman by VA in 2012. She was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of Norrsken’s investment operations (Impact Tech focus), where she today is senior advisor. Sanna is also an Industrial advisor, Board member and an early investor in Northvolt, (one of Sweden’s latest unicorns) accelerating the move to a climate neutral transport sector through the manufacturing of the greenest batteries in the world. She is also chairman of electrical boating company X Shore and the NOD group, as well as Board member of H2 Green Steel, Estrid and listed companies Kinnevik and Indutrade.

Anton is a sailor and competes in the two-person dinghy 470 class. In Tokyo 2020, He has represented Sweden in the Olympic Games four times, and won Olympic Silver in Tokyo 2020. Anton is now preparing for Paris 2024, which will be his fifth Olympics.

Erik Fernholm has a background in Cognitive Neuroscience and Happiness Research. He is an award- winning keynote speaker and CEO and co-founder of several change-making organisations. Erik´s calling is to help us in understanding of and thereby change our inner perspectives in order to profoundly deal with our major and pressing external challenges. Erik has been implementing new research insights to contribute to conscious and connected shifts of values and meaning for a decade. He regularly works with transforming perspectives of senior leadership at the Swedish Armed Forces, H&M, Spotify and the Swedish Government. Erik is further CEO of the non-profit tech start-up 29k.org which he co-founded with philanthropists Niklas Adalberth and Tomas Björkman. 29k is a non-physical, global retreat centre that gives millions of people evidence-based tools and processes to build their skills as resilient and responsible change agents in a complex world. 

Nik Gowing was the main news presenter for BBC World News (1996-2014), and he has 35 years of analytical experience in diplomacy, defence and international security. In 2018 Nik Gowing, along with Chris Langdon, released the book Thinking the Unthinkable: A new imperative for leadership in the digital age.

Jens Henriksson has extensive experience in financial markets, public finances, private companies and international economic affairs, gained during his years as an advisor and policy maker in government, international agencies and policy organs, and president and CEO in private companies. Jens Henriksson is the President and CEO of Swedbank since October 2019. Swedbank is a digital bank with roots in the Swedish savings bank movement and has more than 7 million private and 600,000 corporate customers in its four home markets, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden. For six years, between 2013 and 2019, Jens Henriksson was the President and CEO of Folksam, Sweden’s largest insurance company. Before joining Folksam, he was a Senior Vice President with NASDAQ OMX and the President and the CEO of the Swedish Stock Exchange, NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. In 2008 – 2010, Jens Henriksson was Executive Director at IMF in Washington, DC, and in 1994 - 2006 he worked at the Swedish Ministry of Finance.

Staffan Ingvarsson, CEO Stockholm Business Region has over 20 years of experience in the development of Stockholm. He has held various positions for the city among others twice as deputy CEO for the City of Stockholm. He is the chair of Invest Stockholm, Visit Stockholm and Stockholm Innovation and Growth.

Micael Johansson was deputy CEO and Senior Executive Vice President of Saab, before he was appointed President and CEO in October 2019. Micael started at Saab in 1985 and has held several executive positions within the company, including head of business area Surveillance. He holds a degree in mathematics and computer science from Uppsala University.

Adam Kostyál is Senior Vice President of Listing Services, Europe. In addition to Nasdaq Nordic Exchanges, where there are more than 800 companies listed, Adam is also responsible for the more than 120 European companies that are either primarily listed or dual listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market in the U.S. 

He started his career at OMX as a Sales Director, and then became Head of the Strategic Initiative Groups in 2006. Most recently, as Vice President of Market Technology Sales, he was responsible for sales, account management, and business development for the Eastern and Western Europe. 

Adam has held various positions with Enron, Cell Network and Bloomberg. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Marketing from Vrije Universiteit de Bruxelles and speaks four languages — English, Swedish, Italian and French.

Günther Mårder is CEO of Företagarna, Sweden's largest federation of business owners. Företagarna’s mission is to promote entrepreneurship, improve the conditions for business owners, and influence policymakers to simplify regulation, making it easier to start and run a business. Günther has a background as a saving economist at Nordnet Bank and with Aktiespararna as CEO.

Air Marshal Sir Stuart Peach was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the Western Balkans in December 2021. Previously Sir Stuart was the 32nd Chairman of the Military Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); the most senior and longest-standing military structure in the Alliance. Air Chief Marshal Peach was NATO’s most senior military officer and the Military Adviser to the Secretary General and the North Atlantic Council. In addition, he was the UK’s most senior serving officer.

Jonathan Reynolds is the Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, and has been an MP continuously since 6 May 2010. He currently undertakes the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Industrial Strategy.

Tom Standage is Deputy Editor of The Economist and editor of its future-gazing annual, The World Ahead. He joined The Economist as science correspondent in 1998 and was subsequently appointed technology editor, business editor and digital editor. He is the author of seven history books, including “Writing on the Wall” (2013), “The Victorian Internet” (1998) and the New York Times bestsellers “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” (2005) and “An Edible History of Humanity” (2009). His latest book, “A Brief History of Motion”, was published in 2021. Tom studied engineering and computer science at Oxford University and has written for other publications including the New York Times, the Guardian and Wired, taking a particular interest in technology's social and historical impact.

Andrew has been at Monocle since its launch in 2007 and is now the title’s editor in chief. He has been central to the development of all of Monocle’s editorial projects including the radio station, Monocle 24 and its move into book publishing. Andrew also presents shows across Monocle 24, including his weekly podcast about city living, The Urbanist, and writes a weekly column for the digital Weekend Editions.

Before joining Monocle, Andrew was the executive editor of the Independent on Sunday newspaper overseeing the title’s feature pages. He was also the editor of the Independent’s Saturday and Sunday magazines during his eight years with the newspaper group. Andrew lives in London with his partner and fox terrier, Macy.

Johan Wibergh joined Vodafone and the Executive Committee in May 2015 as Group Chief Technology Officer and CIO. He is responsible for all aspects of Network and IT in Vodafone including strategy, architecture, vendor executive management, delivery, operation and performance, technology security including Cyber Security, product development and all IT systems including all digital interactions with customers.

Before joining Vodafone, Johan held Profit & Loss responsibilities for 23 years in the telecom vendor industry at Ericsson as well as in the IT industry. Johan was Executive Vice President and responsible for the Networks product business in Ericsson. Other positions at Ericsson include Chairman of Region Latin America for five years and twice-local market President (Brazil and the Nordic and Baltic countries).

Annika Winsth, is the Chief Economist of Nordea Sweden. Aside from her role as Chief Economist, she is a Board member of Lund University and a Board Member of The Swedish Institute of International Affairs. She actively contributes in the economic debate and is a frequent chronicler.

After completing her studies, Annika Winsth first worked at the Ministry of Finance before joining Nordea in 1994. She subsequently became the bank’s Chief Analyst and was promoted to Chief Economist in December 2008. She was named “Bank Profile of the Year” in 2012 by Swedish business magazine Privata Affärer with the citation that “few people are as talented as she is in such a pedagogical manner.