Born in Lørenskog, from 1995 Eriksen Søreide studied law at the University of Tromsø, while at university she joined the Conservative Party and got involved in local politics. In 2000 she became a member of the Conservative Party Central Executive Committee and Chairman of the Young Conservatives of Norway.

Dr Yu Jie is senior research fellow on China at The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, focusing on the decision-making process of China's political economy as well as China’s economic diplomacy.

She speaks and writes frequently in major media outlets such as the BBC and Financial Times; and regularly briefs senior policy practitioners from the G7 member governments,and advises the Silk Road Fund in Beijing, as well as major FTSE 100 companies.

Yu Jie has testified at the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and the International Trade Committee. She was head of China Foresight at LSE IDEAS-- LSE's foreign policy think tank.

Prior to LSE, she was a management consultant, specializing in Chinese state-owned enterprise investments in Europe and Chinese market entry strategies for European conglomerates at the London Office of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.

She has been recognized as a ‘Leading Woman’ of the London School of Economics for her contribution to teaching and engaging in public debates on China’s foreign affairs. She remains an associate fellow at LSE IDEAS.

Andreas Sohmen-Pao is Chairman of BW Group, BW Offshore, BW Energy, BW LPG, Hafnia and the Singapore Maritime Foundation.

He is also a trustee of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation.  

Mr Sohmen-Pao has served as a non-executive director of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, and Singapore National Parks amongst others. 

Mr Sohmen-Pao graduated from Oxford University in England and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Àngels Orduña is a seasoned EU and international collaboration leader with proven track record championing success in technology and business development through multi-partner, multi-country and multidisciplinary collaboration.

With an academic background in International Relations, she has managed and led a number of RDI projects in the EU and Canada in technology areas related to value chain productions and enabling technologies such as ICT, energy, renewables, environment, advanced materials or manufacturing.

She has shown great ability to translate technological concepts to market opportunities and to link partners’ commitment through a win-win perspective.

She now runs the SPIRE Association (A.SPIRE), representing the private side in the SPIRE Public Private Partnership (Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency), and the initiative of Processes4Europe, candidate Partnership for Horizon Europe.

Helge Aasen has been the Chief Executive Officer of Elkem. During his 29 years at Elkem, he has acquired a broad industrial experience of most of the company’s different functions, from marketing and sales through operations to logistics and purchasing.

Helge Aasen holds an MSc in Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and has participated in the executive leadership development program at IMD in Switzerland.

Helge Aasen is Chairman of the Norwegian Industry Association (Norsk Industri) and Eyde Cluster. He is a board member of; Elkem ASA, Borregaard ASA and China National Bluestar (Elkems largest shareholder). 

Liv Monica Stubholt has more than 20 years’ experience as a corporate lawyer, currently in the law firm Selmer. She has previously held several top executive positions in Aker ASA and has been State Secretary both at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

Stubholt primarily works in the energy and climate technology sector and holds several non-executive board positions in the energy and seafood sectors. She continues to be engaged in the role of business for foreign affairs and security policy including a strong commitment to the role of Arctic industry collaboration.

She is a former member of the board of trustees of International Crisis Group and a current member of the international board of World Ocean Council, organising international business for blue economy and sustainable oceans.

Rolf Thore Roppestad is the Chief Executive Officer of Gard, the world’s largest specialised marine insurance group. Rolf Thore has been in Gard since 1997 in different roles, and since 2014 as CEO.

He has a degree in geography from the University of Bergen and graduated from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration in 1992.

Prior to joining Gard, Rolf Thore was working with KPMG and the County Governor of Aust-Agder (Southern Norway).

 Rolf Thore engage in the development of the maritime industry and the marine insurance industry. This includes active participation in UN Global Compact’s Action Platform for Sustainable Ocean Business.