“What I Wish They Knew”: Translating between Bureaucrats and Politicians

Lisa Witter is co-founder of Apolitical, a global learning network for government, named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the world. She co-founder CEO of the Apolitical Foundation, a not-for-profit founded by Apolitical to advance the revitalization of democracy by building better politics. The foundation’s keystone project, Apolitical Academy Global, helps prepare a new generation of transformational political leaders via a network of non-partisan political training academies. She’s a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, co-chairs the Forum’s Council on Agile Governance. She is a former public servant with deep experience in gender and behavioral science and has founded numerous political training academies over the last 25 years. She was awarded the 2020 Creative Bureaucracy Award and named a BMW Foundation Futurity Fellow in 2022. She loves wearing dresses, her childhood nickname was ‘Animal’ from the sports fields, and dreams of being a stand-up comedian (but might not be funny enough.)

Axelle Lemaire is Former Secretary of State in charge of Digital and Innovation and former Member of the National Assembly of France. She was a leading proponent of net-neutrality legislation and was a key figure in the French tech start-up scene. Axelle is now the Global Head of Terra Numerata at Roland Berger.

Cecilia is a policy maker and consultant with over 20 years’ experience managing social development policies and programmes. Most notably, she was Minister of Social Development of Ecuador from 2013-2016, during which time she championed policies to improve the conditions of children, women and indigenous communities, including a cross-sectoral policy for early childhood development.

Cecilia is currently a senior advisor to the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA), and from 2016-2022 she served as Programme Director and Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation. She has also worked for several civil society organisations, the Organisation of American States, the UNDP, and as a university professor. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Policies for Sustainable Development from the University of Bologna, a BA in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University in Ecuador, and an Executive Master’s degree in Cities from the London School of Economics.

Paraguay’s former Minister of Housing and Habitat. At the age of 31, she became the youngest Minister of the Executive Branch. Soledad oversaw a dramatic increase in the production of social housing for low-income households having worked with more than 30,000 families in her country. Soledad was also elected President of the Regional Assembly of Ministers and High Level Authorities of Housing and Urban Development for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2015.

Before, Soledad coordinated the implementation of a National Poverty Eradication Plan and was an active leader in the Development of the Paraguayan Open Government Plan at the Technical Planning Secretariat for Social and Economic Development. She has also served as National Director of TECHO Paraguay, a non-governmental organization that provides emergency housing solutions and promotes the active involvement of young people in the policy making process. She recently founded Alma Cívica, a new organization which aims to create a new generation of transformational public leaders

Nick Clelland is a communications expert and strategist with experience in the most aggressive media and public environments. He is the CEO of Resolve Communications, a lobbying and advocacy agency operating in South Africa, and a former MP for the Democratic Alliance. Nick has directed political communications operations on three continents: he was director of strategic communications for the Western Cape Government in South Africa, headed up media communications for the Auckland City Council in New Zealand and, in Britain, was part of the media team for the Liberal Democrats 2005 general election campaign. He is also an experienced communications trainer and a member of the teaching team at the International Academy for Leadership in Germany.