Meet The Speakers
Basel Investor Forum - ART Basel edition 2026

Stefan Germann
CEO, Ursimone Wietlisbach Foundation; Board member Blue Earth Capital
Stefan Germann joined the Ursimone Wietlisbach Foundation, dedicated to holistic Health, Education, and Sport. in May 2024 as its first CEO. Before he was CEO of Fondation Botnar (Basel) for 7 years and was working for World Vision in a leading role. With over 30 years of leadership experience across Africa, Asia and Europe, Stefan has held key roles with PMNCH, UBS Optimus Foundation, and REPSSI. He started up several social development organizations and programmes in Africa and Asia and worked for over 20 years in Africa and Asia in various innovation and health leadership roles. He holds two Master’s degrees and a PhD. He champions good governance, compassionate leadership, and nurturing future leaders to drive sustainable societal and environmental impact.

Marco Lambertini
Executive Chair Nature Positive Initiative
Marco was WWF International Director General (2014-2022) and Special Envoy (2023). Before joining WWF he was Global Director of Network and Programme and subsequently CEO of BirdLife International.
Marco’s experience and career ranges from ecological field research to high level advocacy and international policy, nature reserve management, integrated conservation and development projects, environmental education, NGO development, communications and campaigning, in many countries all over the
world.
Marco is a member of:
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The China Council (CCICED)
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The Board of Directors for the Fondation Prince Albert II of Monaco
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The Board of Directors of the MedFund
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A Distinguished Fellow of the Hoffmann Centre for Global Sustainability
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Advisory Board member of the European Business & Biodiversity Platform
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Former co-chair and now Board member of the Belt and Road Initiative Greening Coalition
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A founding member of the Nature Action Agenda and the Friends of Ocean Action at WEF
Marco is the lead author of the recently published book “Becoming Nature Positive:
transitioning to a safe and just future” (2025, Earthscan Routledge, London) and Executive Director of the film ‘Becoming Nature Positive’ (2026, Open Planet Studios).

Silvia Zimmermann del Castillo
Co-President of The International Club of Rome
Silvia Zimmermann del Castillo is an Argentinean writer, philosopher and international lecturer. She was a disciple and collaborator of the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges with whom she studied ancient Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic literatures. She studied Social and Cultural Anthropology at the École Pratiques des Hautes Études, La Sorbonne, Paris and Philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires.
Currently, she is a columnist for the newspaper La Nación, writing for the Opinion and Cultural Supplement sections. She co-directed the Watershed Conference on Water at the Vatican in 2017. She coordinates “Dialogues in Paradise“ at the Mokichi Okada Art Museum, Japan: face-to-face meetings between personalities of culture, art and science from various countries of the East and West to discuss art issues, culture and society. She is the International Director of the Mokichi Okada Chair on Beauty at the University of Bologna, Italy, and the founder and current President of the Argentinean Chapter of the Club of Rome.
In 1983, she was selected as an outstanding woman of the national history by the Dictionary of Argentinean Women. She has been distinguished as Ambassador of Peace, by the International Foundation Thousand Millennia of Peace.
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Anastasia Kalinina
Co-founder/CEO at reState Foundation, Senior Advisor on Partnerships United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Anastasia Kalinina is a global diplomacy and governance innovation leader, formerly Head of Regional Agenda at the World Economic Forum and Senior Advisor on Partnerships at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She was a member of the founding team of the Global Shapers Community, a global network of young change-makers. Anastasia is also Co-Founder and CEO of the reState Foundation, a Swiss-based non-profit focused on reimagining governance and regenerative approaches to investing. She is also the Co-founder of SuperSymmetry Institute, a think-and-do tank dedicated to rebalancing asymmetries between the Global South and Global North through leapfrogging policy solutions and future-oriented projects. Her work spans public governance innovation, civic tech, regenerative approaches to philanthropy and investing, and social innovation. She is a frequent speaker at international forums and contributes to global policy and governance publications. Anastasia holds degrees from Bard College New York, the University of Northern Iowa, the London School of Economics, and an Executive Master in Global Leadership delivered jointly by CEIBS, Columbia University, INSEAD, London Business School, and Wharton. She is a John Smith Fellow, People Centered Internet Fellow, Apolitical Academy Fellow, and World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow.


Dr James Gifford
Core faculty member at the Centre for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth
Dr James Gifford is an independent advisor to UHNW investors and family offices on all aspects of sustainable and impact investing. He is also a core faculty member at the Centre for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth at the University of Zurich, where he teaches a joint program with MIT (and formerly Harvard) on impact investing for the next generation of UHNW family members. He was the founding Executive Director of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment and led the organisation from inception in 2003 until 2013. Other roles include Head of Impact Investing at Credit Suisse and UBS, and Director of Impact at TAU Investment Management. James has published numerous articles and book chapters on responsible investment, and has a PhD from the University of Sydney on the effectiveness of shareholder engagement in improving corporate sustainability performance.

Cintia Jaime
Co-Founder of ES VICIS Foundation
Cintia Jaime is an Argentine-Swiss cross-sector entrepreneur and co-founder of the ES VICIS Foundation, where she co-created human-centered and data-driven de-risking frameworks designed to support rural investment, territorial resilience and long-term community development.
Over the past 30 years in Switzerland, she has co-founded two for-profit and two non-profit organizations, building bridges between innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability, culture, systemic transformation and regional development.
Alongside her entrepreneurial work, she has cultivated a long-standing engagement with the arts, culture and human-centered innovation, leading interdisciplinary cultural initiatives and art events in Basel, including the Frau sieht Frau series (2001–2003), focused on women in the arts and developed in collaboration with academic institutions.
She serves on strategic and advisory boards and contributes to the strategic architecture of The First International Children’s Art Biennial Basel 2027, a human-centered initiative connected to The Club of Rome agenda for a New Humanism that places children and youth at the center of intergenerational dialogue and co-creation.
With a background in law and specialization in non-profit organizations at the University of Basel, her work combines systemic thinking, innovation and human-centered development.
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Daniel Winzenried
CEO World Vision Switzerland & Liechtenstein; Co-Founder of ES
VICIS Foundation
Daniel Winzenried is a Swiss transformational leader, CEO of World Vision Switzerland & Liechtenstein, and co-founder of the ES VICIS Foundation. With more than three decades of
leadership experience across the private, public and non-profit sectors, he has held senior executive roles including Chief Operating Officer at Aon Switzerland and Managing Director of
Stiftung Blumenrain, where he developed integrated care models across regional systems. As both founder and executive leader, Daniel brings a deep understanding of building organizations from early stages as well as guiding established institutions through strategic renewal. His leadership is defined by the ability to combine clear strategic direction with a strong values-based, human-centered approach, always considering the wider ecosystem in which
organizations operate. Shaped by cross-cultural experience and a nuanced understanding of social and institutional
dynamics, he brings a global perspective while remaining grounded in local realities. He is recognized for helping organizations regain clarity, strengthen trust, and unlock sustainable growth in times of transformation. With a background in business administration and advanced studies in leadership, coaching and change management, he combines operational expertise with a coaching mindset and a strong commitment to developing the next generation of leaders.

Britta Gruenig
Stewardship Advisor, Gruenig & Partners Senior Fellow Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth
​What if the most important questions in wealth stewardship aren’t technical? Britta Gruenig has spent two decades sitting with that question - and with the wealth holders, families, and next-generation leaders brave enough to ask it. As founder of Gruenig & Partners, she works with next-generation wealth holders, parents preparing the ground for their children, and families and communities navigating the question of what wealth is really for - at the intersection of inner development, relationships, and systemic change.
Before founding her practice, she spent a decade at UBS leading global next-generation dialogues for family office successors - and later helped build what is now a global foundation, CSP Global, at the University of Zurich, where she initiated and continues to steward its inner-work dimension as Senior Fellow, a role for which she has been called the “Mother of Inner Work.” She is the creator of the Steward Field framework, and her forthcoming book, Steward Field: Where Wealth and Stewards Come Alive, serialises on Substack, where the article underpinning this session was first published.
Britta is a Professional Certified Coach and holds an MSc from the London School of Economics. She worked as a professional clown and performer from the age of seven to twenty-one - a formative period that continues to shape how she connects, designs learning, holds space, and works with complexity. At her core, she remains an artist in how she leads and facilitates.

Dr. Bilal Fares
Co-founder, CEO, AzureCell SA; Senior Scientific Collaborator, University of Geneva
Dr. Bilal Fares, PhD-MBA, is a biotech entrepreneur and CEO of AzureCell, the first Swiss company developing stem cell-based regenerative therapies for the brain. His work focuses on translating cutting-edge neuroscience into scalable therapeutic platforms addressing major unmet medical needs in neurodegeneration, driven by a personal commitment to advancing new treatments for these diseases. In parallel, he
serves as Senior Scientific Collaborator at the University of Geneva, where he leads a collaborative translational research program developing regenerative cell therapies for Parkinson’s disease, bridging academic innovation with entrepreneurial strategy toward clinical and commercial deployment. With over 15 years of experience in neurodegeneration, Dr. Fares has held research and leadership roles across academia, Fortune 500, and high-growth biotech environments, operating at the
intersection of science, innovation, and company building. He completed his PhD and postdoctoral research at EPFL (Switzerland), where he developed innovative preclinical models for Parkinson’s disease, and holds an MBA from Quantic (USA).
Dr. Fares previously co-founded ND Biosciences, an award-winning EPFL spin-off, where he led R&D before transitioning into business development, fundraising, and
strategic partnerships, contributing to the company’s evolution into a differentiated discovery and preclinical services platform. Across his ventures, he has secured and
managed more than CHF 5 million in funding, authored over a dozen peer-reviewed publications, and is an inventor on multiple patents in neurodegenerative therapeutics. His work has been supported by leading Swiss innovation programs,
including Innosuisse, the Gebert Rüf Foundation, FONGIT, and Biopôle, as well as international organizations such as the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s
Research (USA) and the Creative Destruction Lab (Canada). He has received several entrepreneurship recognitions, including Venture Leaders Biotech (Top 10, 2023), MassChallenge Switzerland (Top 20, 2024), the De Vigier Award (Top 10, 2025), and Venture.ch (Top 10 biotech, 2026).

Janna Schubert
Director of Growth, Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth
Janna has spent over ten years in corporate finance and private markets, scaling technology and impact investment funds and supporting technology startups with their growth. As an angel investor, she sources and assesses opportunities often in syndicates with fellow angels and family offices.
Janna serves on the Advisory Board of Joran Partners, and volunteers as a subject matter expert for the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce's annual Sustainable Business Summit.

Johannes Tschiderer
Senior Associate at the TransCap Initiative (TCI)
Johannes leads the delivery of TCI’s prototyping activities and contributes to original innovation work and methodological development. Notably, he has been involved in projects on the design and development of systemic investment programs for the transportation and agri-food systems in Switzerland. Prior to joining TCI, Johannes had led a student-run sustainability consultancy, which worked with impact-oriented start-ups and SMEs. He's also actively engaged in the design and facilitation of innovative education programs at the nexus of business and sustainability at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, where he also holds a position as lecturer. Johannes obtained a BA in Business Administration and an MA in Banking and Finance and Managing Climate Solutions, both from the University of St. Gallen, and he completed programs related to systems innovation at UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Climate-KIC and Collaboratio Helvetica.

Romano De Vivo
Vice Chair of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAiR); Chair RAMP Advisory Committee
Romano De Vivo is Vice Chair of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAiR) and chairs the Advisory Committee of RAMP, the accelerator of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (CGIAR). He has worked for 30 years across the agrifood value chain, in crop protection, plant nutrition, flavours and ingredients, and global industry associations. His work has included regenerative agriculture and reforestation programs covering 15 million hectares, and he convened the 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress (3,000+ participants). He holds a Master's in Economics, an MBA, and a Master's in Environmental Governance.

Adela Villanueva
C0-Founder & MP The Impact Office, Founder Alkelio
Adela is a global steward with the purpose of achieving impact & responsible growth through innovation, investments, and systemic change. As visionary forward-thinker, she believes technology, open collaboration, a ‘conscious’ approach, and new ways of thinking & deploying capital have the power to transform the world and help find hidden opportunities where everyone has a role to play (and contribute). During her 19 years of experience she has successfully built, transformed, accelerated, and scaled F500 & midsize-organisations, start-ups, people, and businesses around the globe. Adela has founded ALKELIO; -as some call it- the 'tinder' for companies embracing collaboration & open innovation, Co-Founded The Impact Office, a new breed of single-family offices aligning purpose and profit and Founded BAOWA, with the purpose of raising collective consciousness. In addition to that, she sits on the Board of several companies and teach MBA students & executives innovation, design thinking, entrepreneurship, systemic approaches and venture creation.
Meet The Artists
Basel Investor Forum - ART Basel edition 2026
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Mariia Plekhova
Abstract & immersive artist; Art-tech Innovator
Mariia Plekhova is an Italian abstract and immersive artist, and art-tech innovator. She develops her projects across Italy, Portugal, Russia, Finland, Malaysia, Singapore, and Cyprus. She has participated in more than 20 international exhibitions, and her works are held in prestigious public and private collections alongside masters such as Picasso, Modigliani, and Chagall.
She presented a collective VR installation during the World Economic Forum 2026 through the Basel Investor Forum and has also been invited to present her VR installation during Art Basel 2026. Mariia was twice awarded at the Italia Media Art Festival. Her AI-generated short film was presented within the framework of the parallel program of the 60th Venice Biennale.
She is the founder of Cyprus Art Week, an international cultural and ecological festival developed with the support of the Government of Cyprus, bringing together more than 100 artists. She also represented the Lazio Region at Maker Faire Rome and developed a limited-edition furniture collecеction.

Duccio Bombardini
Contemporary Artist & Community Builder
Born in Rome in 1996, Duccio Bombardini is an artist, founder, and community builder active in the Italian and international contemporary art scene.
His painting combines intense color, expressive gesture, and a strong material quality, drawing on Impressionist influences and Expressionist energy reinterpreted in a contemporary way. Using a palette knife, he creates dynamic, textured works that invite the viewer into the pictorial space.
Alongside his artistic practice, he is the founder of DADA Group, one of Rome’s most dynamic art communities, active internationally. The group promotes collaborations, exhibitions, and events, and operates an exhibition space on Via Margutta, Rome’s historic “street of artists.”

Massimo Agostinelli
Conceptual Artist; Art Interventionist & Founder of Think 1st Principles (T1P)
Massimo Agostinelli, also known as Max Agos / XX, is a Switzerland-based American-Italian, French-Greek conceptual artist and Art Interventionist and Founder of Think 1st Principles (T1P), a family office focused on long-term Muskonomy investments. Born in London in 1987, originally from Manhattan, New York, he currently lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland. ”
A graduate of Webster University, Agostinelli trained in typesetting, typography, and printmaking processes. His artistic practice explores text, wordplay, found objects, and performance installations through interventions. He is particularly known for his use of the letter X in drawing and painting, combining traditional techniques with innovative, cutting-edge technologies across a wide variety of media and crafts.
Agostinelli is a member of the Global Council Community for the Nolder Residency of the Institute Museum of Ghana and a founding patron of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. His work brings together conceptual art, cultural commentary, and an entrepreneurial mindset shaped by his interest in the Elon Musk ecosystem.
Alongside his artistic practice, he is an early Tesla shareholder and the founder of Think 1st Principles (T1P), a family office focused on long-term Muskonomy investments and guided by the philosophy of “think first principles.

Florencia Levy
Visual artist, researcher, and educator
Florencia Levy is a visual artist, researcher, and educator whose interdisciplinary practice combines long-term research, fieldwork, and experimental methodologies. Her work explores the intersections of history, subjectivity, and public space, with a focus on extractive processes, technological production, and their social and environmental implications. Working across installation, film, photography, and sound, she investigates how materials, infrastructures, and narratives shape contemporary experience.
Levy studied at Central Saint Martins College of Arts (London) and the Universidad Nacional de las Artes (Buenos Aires). She has received numerous international awards, including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2020, 2015) and the Premio Konex Arte y Tecnología (2022), and has participated in residencies worldwide. Her work has been exhibited internationally in institutions across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Since 2021, she co-directs the Contemporary Art Practices program at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín, where she also leads the Art and Science Research Centre. In 2024, she represented Argentina at the 15th Gwangju Biennale. Levy lives and works in Buenos Aires.

Till Langschied
Visual artist and writer

Clifton Mahangoe
Conceptual Light-Artist
Mahangoe is an artist who creates immersive light and video installations that encourage contemplation and inner reflection. Inspired by the reflections and movements of water, he captures fleeting moments of light that connect with unconscious memory. Influenced by Hindu and Buddhist traditions, he views light as both a physical medium and a spiritual metaphor. His work explores time, perception, and the relationship between inner and outer worlds. Using thousands of video images of natural phenomena such as waterfalls, geothermal landscapes, and underwater environments, he transforms reality into abstract, cosmic experiences. Advanced projection technologies allow him to create luminous environments that blur the boundaries between silence and movement. The circle, a symbol of infinity and unity, is a recurring element in his work. A pioneer of large-scale video projection since the 1990s, he has exhibited internationally at major art events and venues. His meditation performances in powerful natural locations deepened his exploration of Prana, the universal life force. Based in Amsterdam, Mahangoe’s practice brings together nature, technology, spirituality, and his Surinamese, Indian, and Dutch heritage.

Tanja Bürgelin-Arslan
Multidisciplinary artist
Born in Lörrach, is a multiple award-winning artist who works to make the invisible visible. Across monumental art in public places, delicate sculptures, photography, paintings and installations, she challenges the foundations of Christian culture, faith and contemporary society, creating works that unsettle as readily as they enchant.
Following studies in communication design in Nuremberg, she has realized acclaimed art in public space throughout Germany and Switzerland, from the antibody sculpture “Wings of Hope” for Roche's Innovation Centre in Zurich to numerous prize-winning commissions (including an underground station, a bus stop shelter, a fountain and a memorial).
Her ongoing photographic series “Knocking on Heaven's Door”—begun after the loss of her mother—has been exhibited in Basel and, most recently, as a participatory installation at the Palace Church in Bruchsal.
For Bürgelin-Arslan, the idea precedes the material. She gives form to concepts through wood, metal, glass shards, light and, latterly, shredded euro banknotes.