John Armstrong is a Lecturer and Fellow in the Stanford Design Program, where he teaches courses that help students navigate their educational, vocational, and personal paths. John is a meditation guide for the number #1 app for meditation and sleep, consults with companies as a Design Coach, and has led courses and workshops at universities in the Middle East, South America, and Asia.

Rolf Potts is truly a man of the world. He has reported from more than 60 countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. Rolf is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his book on the subject, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (Random House, 2003), has been through thirty-one printings and translated into several foreign languages. His collection of literary travel essays, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, won a 2009 Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers, and became the first American-authored book to win Italy’s prestigious Chatwin Prize for travel writing. He has taught nonfiction writing courses at University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, and the Paris American Academy.

Jeffrey Donenfeld is an international business strategy advisor, investment manager, and startup venture mentor with experience in tech ideation, investment analysis and market positioning. He has been instrumental in raising and managing multi-millions in private equity, seasoned working with sector-leading technology and lifestyle brands, and successful in guiding teams and companies to profitable growth. Jeffrey is currently the Investment Director of Boomtown Accelerators, and Director of Four North Ventures. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Denver Daniels College of Business. He’s also worked globally as a photojournalist, public speaker, and Antarctic expedition technician. He blogs at http://JeffreyDonenfeld.com and @Jeffzilla.

Managing Director of PBN Hill + Knowlton Strategies in Kazakhstan. Over 10 years of professional experience. Inna leads the implementation of client projects of PBN H + K Strategies in Kazakhstan in the field of corporate communications, social media marketing and cooperation with mass media. Among her past and current clients are Capital Partners, Dell, Cameco, Beeline, Google, Shell, Huawei, P & G, Rio Tinto, Verny Capital, Citi, Megafon, and others. Inna graduated from the Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management with a specialization in public relations, she has a PhD candidate in Sociology.

Founder, CEO at Green Business Innovation. Technovation ambassador in Uzbekistan. Sustainable development specialist with an emphasis on sustainable energy, green technology and innovations. Extensive experience in working with international organisations (UNDP, ILO, IREX), research, project development/management, cooperation with Government partners.

Mirzoyeva Firuza, in the recent past, General Director of “Softline Tajikistan”, with more than 12 years of experience in the IT field. Currently, she is a business coach in “Accelerate Prosperity” and a specialist in digital communication risks. She has an MBA degree. Firuza was an intern in the United States in the program "Intellectual Property Rights for Eurasia. Transfer and commercialization of technology”. A practicing psychologist -consultant. Adherer of cyber psychology. In her practice Firuza uses work experience in the field of information technology, communication risks and the psychology of human relationships. In the frame of social responsibility, she is a mentor of various start-up development projects, such as “StartUp Weekend for Woman”, EBRD's “Mentoring for Women Entrepreneurs” program.

Entrepreneur, business - coach. The head of Kazakhstan's first Center for business training with horses “Chamberlain-Education”. Certified partner and official representative of the German company “HorseDream GMBH” in Kazakhstan. She graduated from the Moscow Electrotechnical Institute of Communications with a degree in Electrical-mechanical Engineering, MBA. General Director of the “Asia-Soft” company.

Gani Abadan is a professional business coach. Over the past 5 years he has trained more than 9,000 people. He has extensive experience in conducting trainings in Kazakhstan and beyond and is one of the "Seven Successful Kazakhs" according to the @look.tm magazine. Gani is a certified mentor and business coach of the international business association Youth Business International; business coach of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Atameken; member of the Science Council of the Foundation of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan; and author of the first training book in Kazakhstan related to business creation, #Business by Love (#БизнесПоЛюбви).

Almas Moldakanov is helping to enable Digital Transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. He has held various positions in the marketing and operations departments at Microsoft for 3 years in Kazakhstan, other CIS, Central and Eastern Europe countries’ markets. Almas has worked in the field of marketing and business development for more than 11 years, during which he spend more than 8 years in the IT industry in the areas of cloud technology, Artificial Intelligence, software, development and e-Commerce. For fun, Almas enjoys graphic design, reading business literature, psychology of personal development, professional dubbing of documentary, doing "Stand Up" and going to the gym.

Prior to becoming a partner at PapaJohn's international franchise chain Monolbaev Daniyar was a shareholder and owner of several bars. In 2015 he purchased the first franchise in restaurant sphere. For more than 8 years his team of like-minded people strives to provide quality service and goods to their clients. This principal approach has become a link between Daniyar and PapaJohn's team. "The idea of purchasing PapaJohn's franchise was born when I was on a foreign trip with my business partner. We always try new and unusual products and always look for ways to adopt experiences of other players in HORECA. When we tried PapaJohn's we were ignited to make such pizza in Central Asia."

Geniyat Issin is the Country Manager for MasterCard Kazakhstan. Payment industry professional having the practical business understanding of all range of card products, money transfers, innovative payment solutions including mobile and contactless payments and e-wallets. Freelance journalist - marketing, finance, banking, investments.

Louis Albertini is the Managing Partner of Redfern Partners, a strategy and innovation consultancy that specializes in launching new ventures and transforming existing ones. He has worked in a number of international companies and technology startups with a professional focus on global marketing and business development. He specializes in emerging market strategy, market planning, and new business innovations with a keen interest in harmonizing international best practices with local capabilities.