2021 Selection Panel

Christian Fillet is vice general director of the city of Bruges in Belgium and Chair of the European Social Network. He is also responsible for all social services and nine local public welfare associations in Bruges covering services for children, disabled people, elderly, and youth. In addition, Christian sits on the Board of EXELLO, the Flemish association of city directors.

In addition to being the Head of EU Affairs of Edenred which operates in more than 40 countries worldwide, Delphine Chilese-Lemarinier has held successive positions within the private and public sectors as well as NGOs. These include project manager and editor for the Jean Monnet Association (1999-2002), project officer at the private office of the French European Affairs Minister (2004-2007) and senior consultant for Publicis Consultants (2007-2010). Delphine graduated in Political Sciences (Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Grenoble, 1999) and additionally specialised in communication (DEA Paris IX Dauphine, 2001) and in European Policies (Institut d’Etudes Européennes in Bruxelles, 2003).

Within IBM Hector holds worldwide responsibility for research, strategy and market development in Watson Health for Long Term Care, disability management and coordinated Health & Social Outcomes. He is responsible for strategic initiatives, identifying new and innovative best practices, developing them into business models and then promoting their success and usage around the world, especially in the field of industry solutions, artificial intelligence and cognitive computing in health care and social areas.

Cornelia C. Walther, PhD combines praxis and research. As a humanitarian practitioner, she worked for nearly two decades with UNICEF and the World Food Program in large scale emergencies in West Africa, Asia and Latin America. As lecturer, coach and researcher, Cornelia collaborates with various universities; including the Center for humanitarian leadership at Deakins (Australia), the Fachhochschule Muenster (Germany), the University of Palermo (Argentina) and Aix-Marseille’s Law faculty (France). Cornelia holds a doctorate in Law and is a certified yoga and meditation teacher.
Aside from her interest in the multiple shapes of influence, Cornelia's focus is on social transformation from the inside out, looking at individual aspirations as the point of departure. Her objective is to refine a methodology that influences people towards wanting to get involved in social change processes, rather than obliging them to act for the sake of others. In 2017 she initiated the POZE (Purpose – Optimization – Zenith – Exposure) dynamic in Haiti, offering individuals tools to identify and pursue their aspirations. The network is now expanding into the Americas, Africa and Europe.

Enrique is an economist and political scientist educated at the University of Buenos Aires, the Institute for Economic and Social Development, Columbia University, and the New School for Social Research. He was a policy analyst at UNICEF’s Headquarters, the Social and Economic Policy Regional Advisor at UNICEF’s Office for Latin America and The Caribbean, the Chief of Social Policy and Gender Equality at UNICEF Nigeria.
He has written and co-edited books and articles on economic development, children’s rights, social protection, macroeconomic trends impacting on children, socioeconomic disparities, the green economy, quality of life, social exclusion and discrimination, and financing social services.
He has also taught economics, international development, policy analysis, statistics, and research methods at, among other places, New York University, Columbia University, the New School for Social Research, and Saint Peter’s College (New Jersey). He was a Fellow of the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty of the International Social Science Council between 2010 and 2018. Currently he is at the board of the Research Committee on Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy of the International Sociological Association

With a beginning in the Red Cross as a volunteer, Jean Ayoub became operations director during the Lebanese civil war. He then served on several field missions for the Int’l Red Cross before relocating to Geneva to re-design and supervise Red Cross Red Crescent response to worldwide natural disasters as director of operations and IFRC USG.
Jean went off then to Paris as of DG for the French Telethon to refocus systems and teams on the main vision and mission of the Telethon umbrella association the AFM. Starting 2005 he worked several years as an independent advisor consulting mainly on turnaround management situations and leadership coaching.
Jean is currently and since 2010 the Secretary General and CEO of the International Social Service (ISS) driving with a dream team the full transformation of the organisation ahead of its 100th anniversary in 2024.
Jean has travelled to more than 130 countries, has a deep understanding of the world's humanitarian and social affairs. He is a strategic thinker and committed to organisational change and cultural diversity in the digital age.

Dorothy Adams served as the Chief Executive Officer, at the New Zealand Social Wellbeing Agency between 2020 and 2021. Prior to this, she was the Acting Chief Executive Officer at the Social Investment Agency, which she led from its inception in July 2015. Before that, she was a General Manager in the Ministry of Social Development, where she was responsible for their data, analytics and evidence hub. Prior to joining the Ministry of Social Development in 2008, Ms. Adams worked in local government for ten years specialising in policy and governance. She also held senior roles in the Department of Labour, NZL Employment Service and was an advisor to the Minister of Employment. Ms. Adams has a Master of Public Administration from Monash University and an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington. She is an Enrolled Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Wellington. In May this year, Dorothy joined the OCDE to pursue projects focused on better use of data and evidence to improve policy and programme design.

Andrzej Klimczuk, PhD, a sociologist and public policy expert, assistant professor in the Department of Public Policy of the Collegium of Socio-Economics at the Warsaw School of Economics, Poland. He worked as the external expert of institutions such as the European Commission, URBACT III Programme, Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme, and Fondazione Cariplo. Member of various scientific organizations such as the Polish Sociological Association, Polish Society of Gerontology, and European Sociological Association. Author of many scientific papers in the fields of gerontology, labor economics, public management, and social policy.
His recent monographs include “Economic Foundations for Creative Ageing Policy” (the two-volume set, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, 2017), “Generations, Intergenerational Relationships, Generational Policy” (17 languages; co-edited with K. Lüscher and M. Sanchez, Universität Konstanz, 2017), “Selected Contemporary Challenges of Ageing Policy” (co-edited with ?. Tomczyk; Pedagogical University of Kraków, 2017), “Between Successful and Unsuccessful Ageing: Selected Aspects and Contexts” (co-edited with ?. Tomczyk; Pedagogical University of Kraków, 2019), and “Perspectives and Theories of Social Innovation for Ageing Population” (co-edited with ?. Tomczyk; Frontiers Media, 2020). He is an editor of sections “Aging and Public Policy” and “Aging and Financial Well-Being” in the “Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging” (Springer Nature, forthcoming).

Manuel Torres is a managing director in Accenture’s Health and Public Service Practice in Spain. He leads the Social Services and Employment Strategy & Consulting team. For more than 20 years, Manuel has worked across different levels of government helping to implement new ways of working to better serve citizens and society. Manuel has PPD from IESE Business School and a degree in Economics from Madrid University. He is also a proud fellow of the Aspen Institute España and an Adjunct professor of Non market strategies at IE Business School in Madrid.

Dr. Valentine has over 20 years of international experience at WHO across multiple public health topics. She currently leads the programme for the multicountry WHO Special Initiative for Action on the Social Determinants of Health for Advancing Equity at WHO, that has started with forming a learning network with 9 countries across 3 regions. She launched the WHO global Health in All Policies capacity building programme in 2015, which supported workshops in a number of countries in all WHO regions, targeting government civil servants, health policy makers and educators and continued to lead WHO work on social determinants of health equity education and training. Most recently, her work on evidence reviews has focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on health equity through the social determinants. Between 2012 and 2017, she also led several WHO projects related to monitoring systems and the social determinants of health indicators. Between 2000 and 2007 she led the team developing the global metrics and survey questionnaires for health systems' responsiveness and served in the Secretariat of the global Commission on Social Determinants of Health, where she co-led the work stream with policymakers. She has held the positions of Acting Coordinator/Head of the Equitable Health Systems and Policy unit and of the Equity and Heath Unit.
Prior to joining WHO, Dr. Valentine worked at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she undertook teaching and led policy and service research projects on national health accounts, out-of-pocket expenditures, health performance, expenditure and quality of care assessments in local, provincial and the national governmental health systems. She holds Bachelors' degrees and a Master of Economics from the University of Cape Town, a Master of Public Health from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a PhD in Public Health from the Erasmus Medical Centre in The Netherlands.

Prof. Dr. Johannes Schädler, is a professor for social work and coordinator of the Centre for Planning and Evaluation of Social Services (ZPE) at the University of Siegen, Germany. He has been working on modernization processes in services in different fields like, disability and rehabilitation, mental health and long-time care services. In his projects he has focused on needs assessment and individual service planning and their linking with the development of service systems on local level. Moreover he worked on implementation models for innovative programmes in social services with relation to local governance structures in Germany and other European countries. Prof. Schädler is experienced in comparative studies on social services in Europe and since recently engaged in social service development in West African countries with strong links to Ghana.

Kenichi Hirose is Senior Social Protection Specialist in ILO Office for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest. His main expertise is social security. Prior to this position, he worked in ILO Offices in Geneva and in Manila, as well as in Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Government of Japan. Kenichi Hirose holds MSc. Economics from London School of Economics, and B.S. Mathematics from Kyoto University.

Born in Verona but living in Milan, she holds a BA in International Development and a first MSc in International Relations at the Catholic University of Milan and a second MSc in Environment & Development earned at the London School of Economics, London. In 2013 she got a Phd in Inclusive Business at Catholic University of Milan. Founder in 2014 of the Benefit Corporation and certified B-CORP™ ``De-LAB srl”. She’s been research fellow at Feltrinelli Foundation and she’s currently advisor for the Bassetti Foundation on Global Health. Winner of the special mention of the Business Spirit Award (RIS -Ireland) for her KOKONO project in Uganda, and of the European SESA Award in the category “Female Role model of the Year” 2019. Lucia’s specific expertise relies on participative approaches to engage vulnerable stakeholders in profit-driven initiatives at the base of the income pyramid (i), and systemic approaches for designing and implementing poverty alleviation policies (ii). In 2021 she got the B-CORP “Best for the World” award for De-LAB's impacts in the Governance area.

Monika Chaba works for the Social Policies Unit in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission. She is in charge of the social services file and is a member of active inclusion team. She is interested in integrated delivery of social services and quality assessment of social services' provision and delivery. Previously, she has worked in the Commission's Secretariat General and Internal Audit Department. Prior to joining the European Commission, she worked in the private sector as European affairs communication consultant. She holds a MA in European Studies of University of Exeter, UK and Jagiellonian University, Poland.