Plenary Session: Regulatory Policy, Better Rules for a New Game

- Angel Gurría
Secretary-General, OECD

Born on May 8th 1950, in Tampico, Mexico, Angel Gurría came to the OECD following a distinguished career in public service, including posts as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance and Public Credit. As OECD Secretary-General, since June 2006, he has reinforced the OECD’s role as a “hub” for global dialogue and debate on economic policy issues while pursuing internal modernisation and reform. Under his leadership, OECD has expanded its membership to include Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia and opened accession talks with Russia. It has also strengthened links with other major emerging economies, including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa, with a view to possible membership. The OECD is now an active participant in both the G-8 and the G-20 Summit processes. Mr. Gurría holds a B.A. degree in Economics from UNAM (Mexico), and a M.A. degree in Economics from Leeds University (United Kingdom). He speaks: Spanish, French, English, Portuguese, Italian and some German.  

- Vincent Van Quickenborne

Minister for Enterprise and Streamlining Policy, Belgium

Vincent Van Quickenborne (37) likes to keep and make things simple. That’s why you can simply call him “Q”. “Senator Q” stormed into national politics eleven years ago. At that time, he was 25 and the youngest senator. As Secretary of State for Administrative Reform, he turned Belgium into the 3rd easiest country to start a business in (Doing Business 2008, World Bank). Today, he is Minister of Economy and Reform. He wants to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit in everyone and to cut down red tape. In 2010 he was selected as “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum. Mr. Van Quickenborne graduated from Sint-Barbara College Gent 1991, Belgium, and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 1995, Belgium, magna cum laude. He is a former lawyer at the bar of Kortrijk. He was a Senator from 1999-2003, member of the City Council of Kortrijk since 2001, Member of the National Bureau of Open Vld (Flemish Liberal Party) (2002-09) and Vice-Chairman of Open Vld since 2009, and Secretary of State for Administrative Reform, attached to the Prime Minister (2003-07).

- Kenneth Bengtsson

Chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise

Kenneth Bengtsson began his career as store manager at the local ICA store in south of Sweden and eventually advanced to become ICA-retailer. In 1995 he took over as retailer for two larger stores in the Stockholm area. After turning those into profitable units he became Head of the Hypermarket Segment at ICA AB in 1999. In 2000 he was promoted to CEO of ICA Sweden and in 2001 President and CEO of the entire ICA Group. Mr. Bengtsson is Chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise since May 2010, prior to that he held the position as Deputy Chairman. He is Member of the Board of Consumer Goods Forum and the World Childhood Foundation, and between 2005-10 (May), was Chairman of the Board of Swedish Trade. The ICA Group (ICA AB) is one of the Northern Europe’s leading retail companies, with around 2,200 of its own and retailer-owned stores in Sweden, Norway and the Baltic countries.

- Marianne Klingbeil, Director for Better Regulation; Acting Chair of the Impact Assessment Board, Secretariat-General of the European Commission

Marianne Klingbeil joined the European Commission in 1985, holding successive posts in the Directorates-General for Economics and Financial Affairs, for Industry and for Environment. Her last posts before joining the Secretariat-General in 2007 were Head of Unit for Production, Consumption and Waste and Head of Unit for Clean Air and Transport at the Directorate-General for Environment. In her current post, she is responsible for overseeing the Commission’s Better Regulation agenda, coordinating the Commission’s evaluation activities, ensuring the follow-up and currently chairing the Impact Assessment Board, a quality assessment body for impact assessments accompanying legislative proposals. Marianne Klingbeil studied economics and holds a PhD from the University of Hannover.

- Gunter Thielen

Chairman of the Board, Bertelsmann Stiftung 

Gunter Thielen has worked for Bertelsmann since 1980, transforming Bertelsmann’s former Printing and Manufacturing Division into the Arvato AG, a cutting edge media and communications service provider. In July 2002, the Bertelsmann AG Supervisory Board appointed Thielen chair of the Executive Board. In  January, 2008, Thielen became chairman and CEO of the Bertelsmann Stiftung. Gunter Thielen was born on August 4, 1942, in Germany's Saarland region. He studied mechanical engineering and economics at Aachen Technical University. After earning a doctorate in engineering, he worked in a variety of executive positions at BASF before becoming technical director of the Wintershall refinery in Kassel. Thielen began his career with Bertelsmann in 1980, becoming CEO of the maul-belser printing company in Nuremberg. In 1985, he took over the Printing and Manufacturing Division, and became a member of the Bertelsmann AG Executive Board. Throughout his years as an executive at the international media company, Thielen has a adhered to the Bertelsmann corporate culture as formulated by the company's founder, Reinhard Mohn. His success has been based on employing the key concepts of decentralisation, entrepreneurship and leadership based on partnership.

- Adam Jasser

Undersecretary of State, Secretary of the Economic Council, Prime Minister’s plenipotentiary for the Reduction of Bureaucracy, Poland

Graduate of English Language and Literature at the University of Warsaw. Formerly program director and Member of the Board of the demosEuropa Foundation - European Strategy Centre. Until April 2009 he was head of the editorial team at Reuters for Central Europe, the Balkans and Turkey. Between 2001 and 2004 he was the head of the Reuters office in Frankfurt, which specialised in economic issues, the business sector and the operations of the European Central Bank. He previously managed the agency’s office in Helsinki and was an editor at the Agency’s headquarters in London. During the period 1991-1996 he was a correspondent for Reuters in Warsaw and head of the Polish economic service. Completed a course in management at Michigan Business School.

- Gary Banks

Chairman, Productivity Commission, Australia

Gary Banks has been Chairman of Australia’s Productivity Commission since its inception in 1998.  The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government’s independent research and advisory body on major economic, social and environmental issues affecting the wellbeing of the community. In addition to overseeing the Commission’s activities, Gary has personally headed national inquiries on such topics as National Competition Policy, the National Reform Agenda and the Economic Implications of an Ageing Australia.  He also chaired the Prime Minister’s Regulation Taskforce, which issued its influential report ‘Rethinking Regulation’ in 2006.  For many years Gary Banks was responsible for the Office of Regulation Review, a gate keeper for good regulatory practice, and he established its successor body, the Office of Best Practice Regulation. In 2007 he was made an officer of the Order of Australia for services to the development of public policy in microeconomic reform and regulation