Meet the HSC
Council and
Advisory Board

Juliana Rotich is CEO of a tech company in Kenya. She is a Fintech leader and technology entrepreneur of repute, keynote speaker, consultant, advisor and Board Member/Advisor with years of experience spearheading and scaling technology companies; operating in markets domestic and international.

Her personal mantra is to build impactful technology, fix problems, and help others. She enjoys  forging powerful partnerships to accomplish transformational projects and provide opportunities for innovators in Africa. Wherever technology and science can help to do these three things and accelerate progress, she enjoys figuring out that intersection and adding constructive value.

She is passionate about putting together high performance teams. She champions internet connectivity in underserved areas, science education, financial literacy, inclusion and empowerment. An ardent supporter of Learning Lions in Turkana, she also supports entrepreneurs to scale their work and impact as an angel investor in FinTech and other startups.

She serves in boards as a sought after advisor, thought leader on;  strategy, ecosystem development, business, tech, development, AI, entrepreneurship, innovation, impact, digital public infrastructure and more

Isabel Saint Malo is Former Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama (2014 – 2019). With over 30 years of experience in consulting, development and implementation of public policies in Latin America, she was the first woman to be elected to the Vice Presidency in Panama as well as the first woman appointed as Foreign Minister in the history of her country. Ms. Saint Malo started her diplomatic career occupying different posts between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama and the United Nations Permanent Mission in New York and also worked for 15 years with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Panama. She has been honored with multiple awards recognizing her work and is a strong voice on issues of foreign affairs and development.

Currently, she is Senior Policy Adviser to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Program and a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Foundation for Reporting Standards (IFRS), at a moment when the IFRS is working to deliver a comprehensive baseline of sustainability-related disclosure standards. She serves on the Advisory Board of Institución Internacional SEK, on the Editorial Board of Americas Quarterly, and on the Board of Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL). She previously served as independent member of the Board of BBVA Panama.

Prof. Dr. Michael Otto, born 1943, is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Otto Group, a Hamburg-based retail and services group.

After an apprenticeship at a bank and studying economics, he joined the Otto Group in 1971 as Member of the Executive Board Merchandise (Textile). Between 1981 and 2007, he was Chairman & CEO of the Otto Group. Under his leadership, the company developed into a globally active retail and services group. Prof. Dr. Otto already recognised the potential of online trade back in the mid-nineties and turned the Otto Group into one of the world's most successful e-commerce companies.

Acknowledging the company’s responsibility for acting socially and ecologically, Prof. Dr. Otto declared the protection of the environment as business goal already in the 1980s.

Being also a founder and philanthropist, Prof. Dr. Otto has established several foundations, and donates for social, environmental, and cultural projects. His desire to give back to society is reflected in the variety of honorary posts he holds. Among the various awards and honours, Prof. Dr. Otto is honorary citizen of Hamburg and has received the Knight Commander’s Cross (Great Cross with Star) of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Svenja Schulze was appointed Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development in December 2021, in the Cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. She served as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since 1988, she was Secretary General of the North Rhine-Westphalia SPD from 2017 to 2018, and served both as member of the State Government, heading the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 to 2017, and the North Rhine-Westphalia state Parliament (2004–2018, 1997–2000). Schulze was born in Düsseldorf and studied German Studies and Political Science at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, which she completed in 1996 with the academic degree of Magistra Artium.

Achim Steiner became UNDP Administrator on 19 June 2017. The United Nations General Assembly confirmed his appointment following his nomination by Secretary-General António Guterres. In April 2021, the General Assembly confirmed his appointment to a second four-year term beginning in June 2021.  Mr. Steiner is also the Vice-Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, which unites 40 entities of the UN system that work to support sustainable development.  Over nearly three decades, Achim Steiner has been a global leader on sustainable development, climate resilience and international cooperation. He has worked tirelessly to champion sustainability, economic growth and equality for the vulnerable, and has been a vocal advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.  Prior to joining UNDP, he was Director of the Oxford Martin School and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford. Mr Steiner has served across the United Nations system, looking at global challenges from both a humanitarian and a development perspective. He led the United Nations Environment Programme (2006-2016), helping governments invest in clean technologies and renewable energy. He was also Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi. Achim Steiner previously held other notable positions including Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and Secretary General of the World Commission on Dams.  Achim Steiner has lived and worked in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and the United States. He graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (MA) from Worcester College, Oxford University and holds an MA from the University of London/School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Peter Tschentscher was born on January 20th 1966 in Bremen. Beginning in 1987, after secondary school and civil service, he studied medicine with postgraduate studies in molecular biology in Hamburg, which he completed with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1995. This was followed by a Habilitation in 2008. Until 2011, he was a senior physician at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Peter Tschentscher joined the SPD as a student. From 2008 to 2011, he was Deputy Chair and Financial Policy Spokesman of the SPD faction in the Hamburg Parliament. In 2011, he was named Minister of Finance in the Hamburg Senate. On 28 March 2018 and again on 10 June 2020, the Hamburg Parliament elected Peter Tschentscher as the First Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.