Theme: The Context of Connectivity

Everything in our universe is connected – whether at a macro or a micro level. Our speakers will be exploring this idea against the background of their own expertise and experience and showing how, in their context, understanding connectivity leads us to ideas about how to progress further as an animal indigenous to this amazing planet and, ultimately, to create positive outcomes for our species and our habitat.

Cinéma de Verbier
Place Centrale
Verbier, Valais (fr), Wallis (de), 1936
Switzerland

Anne-Sophie Ollivier

Violinist

Anne-Sophie Ollivier began studying violin aged 8 at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Versailles. She also travelled with the Orchestre National de France, performing in Europe and the USA. She later played in the Sorbonne Orchestra in Paris and more recently was their concertmaster on a tour of China. After obtaining her DEM under Saskia Lethiec, she entered the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne in 2013 under Gunars Larsens. During her studies, she played and toured with the Animato Orchestra, the Norwegian Youth Orchestra and the Orchestre Romand des Jeunes Professionnels in renowned halls such as the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Vienna and Oslo, the Grand Theatre in Shanghai and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Today, Anne-Sophie puts the emphasis on teaching while performing in various ensemble formations such as the Crossover Ensemble, a string quartet and saxophone ensemble combining the colours of classical and jazz music.

Bear Grylls

Adventurer, Writer, Television Presenter and Businessman

Bear is probably the most recognisable adventurer on the planet. A former special forces soldier, he was one of the youngest to climb Mount Everest despite breaking his back in a free-fall accident months earlier. Since then, Bear has carved out a record-breaking career in television, including the legendary Discovery Channel show Man vs Wild, not to mention Running Wild with Bear Grylls on National Geographic. His Running Wild guests have included President Obama, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Roger Federer, Julia Roberts, Prime Minister Modi of India and many others. Bear also hosts the Emmy-nominated, interactive Netflix series You vs Wild. This was one of the most viewed Netflix shows of 2019 and has now been made into an interactive movie. Bear is also a family man and a number one bestselling author who has sold over 20 million books. He is Honorary Colonel of the British Royal Marine Commandos and the first ever Chief Ambassador to the 57 million young Scouts worldwide.

Daphna Joel

Professor of Neuroscience, University of Tel Aviv

Prof. Daphna Joel received her Ph.D. in psychology in Tel-Aviv University in 1998, and joined the faculty of TAU, after receiving the Alon fellowship for young Israeli scientists. Prof. Joel is presently the head of the Psychobiology graduate program and the Chair of the PhD Committee at the School of Psychological Sciences and a member of the Sagol School of Neuroscience. Prof. Joel studied the involvement of basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits in normal and abnormal behavior, using mainly animal models of psychopathology. More recently Prof. Joel has expanded her work to research questions related to brain, sex and gender. Ongoing studies attempt to characterize the relations between sex and brain structure and function. Other studies focus on the perception of gender identity and on sexual practices.

Erik Bethel

Global Finance Professional

Erik Bethel is a global public and private sector finance professional. In 2020 he was nominated as the US Ambassador to Panama, having already represented the US at the World Bank. There, he spearheaded technology initiatives including AI, blockchain and the tokenization of World Bank loans. Erik’s prior experience in investment banking and private equity focused on emerging markets. He was a Managing Director at Franklin Templeton Investments, executing private equity transactions in Latin America. Before that, he was in Shanghai as Managing Partner of SinoLatin Capital and Managing Director of ChinaVest. Earlier in his career, Erik held a variety of emerging markets-focused private equity and investment banking positions at JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley in New York and Mexico City. He holds a BSc in Economics and Political Science from the US Naval Academy, Annapolis and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin.

Géraldine Fasnacht

Extreme Sports Athlete

Géraldine Fasnacht, Paris Match’s Adventurer of the Year 2021, is known worldwide as a pioneering professional freeride snowboarder, base jumper and wingsuit pilot, based in Verbier. Her motivation comes from the remote and awe-inspiring natural landscapes where she has tested her limits: freeride snowboarding in Antarctica, wingsuit flying from the Matterhorn. Geraldine continues to push her boundaries with passion, while all the time taking a deep philosophical interest in the balance and risk which are so central to her lifestyle.

Juliette Henry

Connectivity Entrepreneur

Juliette is a female entrepreneur with a start-up in the human-to-human connectivity field. She is a registered U.S inventor with a software art unit patent in nearby technologies. She is Swiss and spent the majority of her teenage years in the United States where she received her Bachelor's degree for Entrepreneurship and Advertising Management from the University of Miami. She is following in the footsteps of her father, a multi-sector entrepreneur himself. She believes that whatever skills you wish to acquire if enough effort is applied, success will be found. This led her to participate in the Oxford Intro to Computer Science Summer Courses which enhanced her engineering communication skills while working on her start-up. She also has a product management background with strong skills in the digital space.

Justin Lamy

Music teacher

Justin Lamy started studying the violin aged five. At eight, he was accepted at the Conservatoire de musique of Gatineau in Canada, under Brian Boychuk. As a young violinist, he won awards at the Kiwanis Music Festival and the Canadian Music Competition. He received the “Most Promising Artist Award” at the National Arts Center Orchestra Competition in Ottawa. He has notably performed as a soloist with the National Arts Center Orchestra conducted by Pinchas Zukerman, the Lucerne Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sebastian Hamann and other Canadian and Swiss orchestras. Justin has participated in masterclasses given by Régis Pasquier, Ivry Gitlis, Pavel Vernikov, Pierre Amoyal, Igor Oistrakh, Martin Chalifour and Kristof Barati, among others. From 2011 to 2019, Justin played a 1667 Stradivarius “ex-Tom Jenkins” violin, a loan from Canimex inc. of Drummondville, Québec. Justin founded Académie de Musique des Combins in Verbier, Switzerland, where he works as teacher and director.

Roger Lambert

Geobiologist and Operative Alchemist

Roger has dedicated his life to understanding how subtle energies affect the body, mind, and the very fabric of our perceived reality. He is a consultant geobiologist for a naturopathic clinic in Austria and a founding partner of the Helvetia Human Performance Group. His journey has taken him from geobiology and energetic medicine, through the arcanes of high magic to spagyria and alchemy. Today, Roger is a certified scientific geobiologist, a practising bioenergetic therapist and is a researcher and teacher in bioenergetic sciences and an operative alchemist. He is also a member of the International Alchemy Guild.

Rowena Samarasinhe

Sports Lawyer, Businesswoman and Campaigner

Rowena Samarasinhe is an international sports lawyer and advocate for sport as a power for good. She is a non-executive director of sports businesses across the world and has worked on some of the largest global events in sport. She is passionate about changing perceptions in the industry; she has a unique perspective, from grassroots to high performance to the boardroom. She sits on the Leadership Circle for ActionAid’s Arise Fund, supporting women in disasters and emergencies.

Tim Smith

Particle Physicist and Open Science Advocate

Tim is an Open Science advocate who launched CERN’s Open Data Portal to share Large Hadron Collider big data with the world. He also worked to nurture Zenodo, an open data service for worldwide science, as part of the European Commission’s OpenAIRE project. Tim strongly promotes Open Source software, fostering InvenioRDM, a turnkey research data management repository platform, Indico conference manager, and the MALT project for CERN’s core IT services. Tim came to CERN at the end of the 80s, obtained a PhD in Particle Physics and performed research at the Large Electron-Positron Collider accelerator for 10 years. He then joined the IT Department to lead teams innovating in computing farm management and physics data management.

Verbier Dance Crew

Dance teacher

Reelika Vallas opened her figure skating school in Norway in 2018 to provide skaters with professional training and facilities. In under three years, she was coaching two national skaters, winning one national championship medal. A Copenhagen dance graduate, in 2020 she opened a dance school in Trondheim. Since 2021, she has been an individual coach, working with international athletes of all levels, including Norwegian Combat Academy boxers, Swiss hockey players, Norwegian skaters, and other athletes from Denmark, Estonia and Russia. In January 2022, she created Verbier DanceCrew. Starting with figure skating and dancing, the school has moved into cheerleading and enjoys a respected reputation in the village for high standards, physical training, self-discipline and fun.