Emma Marcegaglia has been President of BUSINESSEUROPE since July 2013. She is Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Marcegaglia S.p.A. - a leading group in steel processing. Marcegaglia served as President of Confindustria from 2008 until 2012 and has been President of Luiss Guido University since 2010. She holds a Degree in Business Administration, with first class honours, from the Bocconi University in Milano and a Master in Business Administration from the University of New York.

José Manuel Barroso has been the President of the European Commission since 2004. In 2009 the European Council unanimously nominated him for a second term and he was re-elected to the post by an absolute majority in the European Parliament in September 2009. Barroso is former Prime Minister of Portugal elected in 2002. He graduated in Law from the University of Lisbon, has a Diploma in European Studies from the European University Institute, University of Geneva, and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Geneva.

Michael Hüther has been Director of IW Köln since 2004. He is an honorary professor at the European Business School Oestrich Winkel. From 1999 to 2004, he was chief economist and later Head of Division Economics and Communication at DekaBank. From 1991 to 1999, he worked at the German Council of Economic Advisors, first as research assistant, later as Secretary General.

Martin Schulz was elected President of the European Parliament on 17 January 2012. Since 1994 Martin Schulz has been a Member of the European Parliament and has served in a number of committees, and in 2004 he was elected group leader of the second largest group in the European Parliament. At the age of 31, he was elected as the youngest mayor of North Rhine-Westphalia, a post he held for 11 years.

Antonio Tajani is Vice-President of the European Commission. He was Commissioner responsible for Transport until February 2010 and has since been European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship. Antonio Tajani was elected Member of the European Parliament in 1994, 1999 and 2004 with over 120 000 preference votes. He was also Member of the Convention on the Future of Europe and Member of the Bureau of the Group of the European People's Party. In 2002, he was appointed Vice-Chair of the European People's Party, and re-elected in 2006, 2009 and 2012.

Pierre Gattaz has been President of MEDEF, Mouvement des entreprises de France, since 2013. Mr Gattaz has been Chairman of the Federation of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Industries (FIEEC) and of the Group of Industrial Federations (GFI). He is a founding member of the think tank Fabrique (Industry’s Think Tank). Mr Gattaz is a graduate of Telecom Bretagne and holds a Certificate in Administrative Management from the George Washington University. He is Knight of the French Legion of Honor and officer of the Order of Merit.

Ingo Kramer has been President of BDA, the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations, since November 2013. Moreover, he is President of the Confederation of Employers and Business Associations in Bremen, Chair of the Foundation of German Business, as well as President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Bremerhaven. Kramer holds a diploma in Industrial Engineering and is Managing Director and Shareholder at J.H.Kramer Group.

Sir Michael Rake has been President of CBI, Confederation of British Industry, since June 2013. He is currently Chairman of BT Group PLC and Deputy Chairman of Barclays PLC. He qualified as a UK chartered accountant, and started his career at KPMG, where he worked for over 30 years. From 2002 to 2007 he served as Chairman of KPMG International. In 2007 he was knighted for his services to the accounting profession.

Maria van der Hoeven has served as Executive Director of IEA, the International Energy Agency, since September 2011. She has steered the IEA during a period of exceptional change in the global energy landscape, and is taking the initiative to address the challenges of global energy governance. Her priorities include building and formalising cooperation with the major emerging energy players of the 21st century, and also expanding energy access. Ms. Van der Hoeven was formerly Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands.

Ulrich Grillo has been President of BDI, the Federation of German Industries, since January 2013. From 2006 to 2012 Grillo was President of the WirtschaftsVereinigung Metalle (German non-ferrous metals association) Düsseldorf/Berlin. In 2001 he joined the executive board of the Grillo-Werke AG and has been its chairman since 2004. Grillo has a degree in Business Administration from Westfälische Wilhelms University in Münster.

Henryka Bochniarz is President of the Polish Confederation Lewiatan - the biggest organisation representing private employers in Poland, which she founded in 1998. She is former Polish Minister of Industry and Trade, and in 2006 she was named President of Boeing Central and Eastern Europe. She graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics and received a Ph.D. in Economics from the Foreign Trade Research Institute.

Theo Henrar is Chairman of the Board of Tata Steel Nederland and Sales Director responsible for the distribution units in Mainland Europe and the UK as well as for the sales sectors Packaging and Building Envelope of Tata Steel in Europe. He sits on the board of governors of Ashorne Hill Management School and on the board of VNO-NCW. He has held various senior positions in both sales and production. Henrar studied Dutch law at Leiden University, specializing in corporate law.

Mr Conti has been Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Enel since May 2005. From 1999 to June 2005 he was Enel’s Chief Financial Officer. Mr Conti is currently also a director of Barclays Plc, AON and RCS Mediagroup. He is also deputy Chairman of Endesa and deputy Chairman of Confindustria for the Research Department. In 2007 he was awarded with the Doctor Honoris Causa degree in Electrical Engineering from Genoa University; in May 2009 he was appointed ”Cavaliere del Lavoro” of the Italian Republic

Margret Suckale was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1956. After completing her postgraduate clerkship and working as a research associate at the University of Hamburg, she did an Executive Master of Business Administration from WHU, Vallendar, Germany, and Kellogg School of Management, Illinois, United States. Furthermore, she holds an Executive Master of European and International Law from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Karel De Gucht has been a member of the European Commission since 2009, first as Commissioner in charge of Development and Humanitarian Aid, and then, since 2010, as Commissioner in charge of Trade. He has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs, and Minister of International Trade. De Gucht has a law degree from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) where, prior to his appointment to the European Commission, he was also a professor of European Law.

John Kennedy has been President of IBEC since October 2013. He has also been President of Diageo Western Europe since November 2012. Kennedy has held a variety of senior positions across Diageo over the last seventeen years. He is an Economics graduate of Duke University in North Carolina, US.

José Vicente González is President and Director General of GH ELECTROTERMIA and GH Group. He is Vice President of the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations (CEOE), President of the Confederation of Employers and Business of the Region of Valencia (CIERVAL) and President of the Valencia Trade Fair. González holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA).

Peter Chase is Vice President, Europe at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He joined the Chamber in 2010 after 30 years with the U.S. State Department. He has worked on U.S.-EU economic issues since 1992, including two tours at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels (1992-96 and 2007-10), at the U.S. Embassy in London and as Director of the Office of EU Affairs.

Günther Oettinger has been European Commissioner for Energy since 2010. He served as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, Germany from 2005 to 2010. Oettinger was a member of the State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg from 1984 to 2010. Since 2005 he has been member of the Governing Board and the Federal Executive Committee of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). Oettinger has studied Law and Economics in Tübingen.

Jacki Davis is a leading commentator and analyst on EU affairs. She is an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator of high-level events both in Brussels and in EU national capitals, the editor of many publications, a news regular broadcaster on television and radio, and a Senior Adviser to the European Policy Centre. Jacki was previously Communications Director of the European Policy Centre; editor-in-chief of E!Sharp; and launch editor of European Voice.