David Benton took up post as Chief Executive Officer of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) on the 1st of October 2008. Immediately prior to this he worked with ICN for three years where he held the role of consultant nursing and health policy and specialised in regulation, licensing and education.

He qualified as a general and mental health nurse at the then Highland College of Nursing and Midwifery in Inverness, Scotland. His MPhil research degree focused on the application of computer assisted learning to post-basic nurse education and has over the past thirty years had articles published in relation to research, practice, education, leadership, and policy topics. He has a PhD Summa Cum Laude from the University of Complutense researching an international comparative analysis of the regulation of nursing practice

David has held senior roles for twenty-five years across a range of organisation. These roles have included working as Executive Director of Nursing at a health Authority in London; as a senior civil servant in Northern and Yorkshire Region; as Chief Executive of a Nurse Regulatory body in Scotland and as Nurse Director of a University Trust Health System.

David is the recipient of several awards and honours. He is particularly proud of being awarded the inaugural Nursing Standard Leadership award in 1993. He was presented with Fellowship of the Florence Nightingale Foundation in 2001 and awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing in 2003 for his contribution to health and nursing policy.

David has held several visiting appointments and is currently a visiting professor of nursing policy at the University of Dundee in Scotland.

Russell Williams is a passionate advocate for innovation in health care and in economic development. Since joining Rx&D in March 2004, Mr. Williams has promoted policies that improve patient outcomes by expanding patient choice and access to new medicines and vaccines. He works tirelessly to ensure that Canada is a world leader in attracting biopharmaceutical investments, which are key components of the knowledge-based economy.

Under Mr. Williams’ leadership, the association’s Code of Ethical Practices has been significantly enhanced to ensure that all member companies adhere to the highest standards of ethics. He has participated actively in numerous provincial working groups and task forces aimed at improving the partnership between industry, governments and stakeholders.

Prior to joining Rx&D, Mr. Williams had a successful career in provincial politics and community service. For fifteen years, he represented the Montreal riding of Nelligan in the National Assembly of Quebec. During his career as Liberal MNA, he led numerous public policy debates on important and complex issues, such as the role of government in research and development (R&D), compensation for victims of contaminated blood, linguistic policy, access to services for the disabled, and pre-hospital emergency services. He is well known for his dedication and perseverance as an advocate for individual rights and government services focused on the needs of its citizens. He continues active volunteer involvement in palliative care.

Dr Otmar Kloiber was appointed as Secretary General of the World Medical Association in February 2005. Before joining the WMA, Dr Kloiber served as Deputy Secretary General of the German Medical Association. As WMA Secretary General, he is the head of its Secretariat and is responsible for managing and directing the WMA staff and the activities of the WMA. He provides overall leadership and strategic direction to the organisation and represents the WMA to the Association’s members, the medical profession, the international community, representatives of government, the business community, and the public.

Sara joined the IHF Secretariat in 2011 as Membership and Project Manager. She is responsible for member liaison activities and in charge of designated IHF projects such the University Hospitals SIG and the CEO Circle. Sara represents the Federation in international meetings and working groups. She supports the organization of IHF events and institutional meetings, is in charge of the Annual Secretariat Activity Report and development of the IHF Website and Knowledge Exchange platform. She also leads designated research studies.

Sara is member of the NGO Forum for Health Steering Committee since May 2014 and member of the ALASS (Latin Association for the Analysis of Health Systems) since 2012.

Sara has a Master degree in International Relations and Political Sciences from the University FCSH-Nova of Lisbon (Portugal) and has a graduate degree in Sociology from the University La Sapienza (Italy). In 2010, Sara underwent a 3 month internship at the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Department of Human Resources for Health.

Sara is of Italian and Swiss nationality. She speaks Italian, French, Portuguese, English and some Spanish. She enjoys international affairs, literature and has travelled widely.

Clara Zachmann joined the EGA (European Generic Medicines Association) in January 2011.
She has worked on drawing up and implementing EGA’s Code of Conduct with the Healthcare Community. She has also been involved with joint projects to increase EGA’s membership capacity in public health objectives.
Prior to joining EGA Clara worked for the European Commission’s DG SANTE division on a consumer survey on ‘Confidence in EU Markets’.
Clara holds a Masters in International Management (ICHEC Business School). She also has a European Master in Consumer Affairs from both the Montpellier Law Faculty and Brunel University (London).
She joined the 23rd ETC-PHHP Summer Course 2014 where she worked on a programme ‘Mobilizing Local Health Promotion Systems for Equity’.

Dr. Edward Kelley currently serves as Director for the WHO Patient Safety Programme. In this capacity, he coordinates both strategic management and external relations and business development for the world’s only global health care safety initiative, with responsibility for administration of the department and teams working in health care associated infection, technology, capacity building, reporting and learning and patient and community empowerment. Prior to joining WHO, Dr. Kelley was Director of the first US National Healthcare Reports for the US Department of Health and Human Services in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).. Dr. Kelley also directed the 28-country Health Care Quality Improvement (HCQI) Project of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. Formerly, Dr. Kelley served Scientist in the Operations Research Division for the USAID-sponsored Quality Assurance Project (QAP) and Partnerships for Health Reform Project Plus (PHRPlus). In these capacities he worked for 10 years in West and North Africa and Latin America, directing research on the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness in Niger. Dr. Kelley’s other experience includes his role as manager for the Advisory Board Company, a large health care consulting firm based in Washington, DC. Outside of the US, Dr. Kelley has worked throughout Europe (UK, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Italy in particular), Canada, North and West Africa and Latin America. While at AHRQ, Dr. Kelley also served as an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, where he was involved in courses and research in health systems management and health systems statistics. Dr. Kelley’s research and project work has produced numerous publications in the areas of health systems performance measurement and improvement, value for money in health care, cost and quality interactions and the clinical areas of pediatric infectious disease, respiratory illness, cardiac care and cancer survival.

Luc Besançon is the Acting General Secretary for Professional, Scientific and External affairs at the International Pharmaceutical Federation which is the global federation of national organisations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. Luc completed his Doctorat d’État en Pharmacie (PharmD) in 2004 further to an education in France and Canada. He completed a Master’s Degree in European Public Relations at Paris V – La Sorbonne in 2003.

He has worked for FIP since 2008. His field of expertise includes Counterfeit (or falsified) medicines, Patient Safety, Pharmaceutical policies, Pharmaceutical sciences, Regulation of healthcare professionals and Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH).

Since December 2003, he has been involved in the committee of experts in charge of counterfeit medicines at the Council of Europe / EDQM.

Prior to that, he worked for five years as a professional adviser for international affairs and for pharmacists’ competences at the Ordre national des pharmaciens, the French body in charge of the registration and regulation of pharmacists.

Alison manages and coordinates IAPO’s policy activities including policy development, communication and project work.

Before joining IAPO, Alison worked as a Senior Policy Adviser leading on research and academic medicine at the Royal College of Physicians. She has also worked for the Education Quality at the General Medical Council, in fundraising for community development organizations and held positions in international development charities.

With a number of long-term health conditions, Alison has a personal commitment to genuine collaboration between health professionals and patients.

Originally from New Zealand, Alison holds a BA in Political Studies and History, and a Bachelor of Communication Studies in Journalism.