2025 Speakers

Michael Train was named Emerson’s first chief sustainability officer in March 2021. In this role, he leads the company’s environmental sustainability strategy, with a focus on advancing technologies and advocacy to enhance company operations and enable customer improvements through Emerson’s solutions and partnerships. He joined Emerson’s Office of the Chief Executive, which helps develop and guide the company’s global business strategies, in 2016.

From 2018 to March 2021, Train served as president of Emerson, where he oversaw software and digital technology development, major investments, international growth and global shared service organizations.

Train began his career at Emerson in 1991, starting as an international planner, and was promoted to vice president of planning and development for Emerson Asia-Pacific in 1994. He became president of Emerson in Japan and Korea in 1996, before moving back to the United States to lead Emerson’s planning group from 1997 to 2002 as corporate vice president of planning and international. In 2002, Train returned overseas when he was named president of Emerson Process Management Asia-Pacific, a role he held until 2008.

From 2008 to 2010, Train served as president of Emerson’s Rosemount business. From October 2010 to April 2016, Train served as president of global sales for Emerson Process Management. In the latter role, he oversaw five world area regional organizations focused on sales, service, support and customer satisfaction across all products and services provided by Emerson Process Management.

In April 2016, Train was named executive president of Emerson’s Automation Solutions business, managing strategy and operations for one of the company’s two business platforms. In this role, he led initiatives to help industrial customers enhance their operations to achieve Top Quartile performance.

Train currently serves as chairman of the board of trustees at Ranken Technical College and on Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management Advisory Council. He was a 2008 Eisenhower Fellowship recipient.

Train holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from General Motors Institute and a master’s degree in business administration from Cornell University.

Monika Froehler is the Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, a quasi international organization that empowers women and youth to become global citizens and leaders for a sustainable future. She has over six years of experience in this role, leading the strategic vision, development, scaling, fundraising, programmatic focus and partnerships of the Centre. Monika is also serving on several Boards including the Board of the ENLIGHT university network, the Advisory Board of VCDNP, and the Board of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation in New York.

She has a strong background in international relations, law, history, and diplomacy. She has worked in various field missions in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe and at UN headquarter offices across the world, focusing on sustainability, disarmament, and sustainable energy. She is a keynote speaker, moderator, and change-maker who has supported hundreds of women and young people to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. She is also an International Gender Champion, who advocates for gender equality and women’s empowerment in all sectors and levels of society.

Nigar Arpadarai is an independent Member of Parliament for Azerbaijan, representing one of the central constituencies of Baku city since 2020. She was elected to parliament after 15 years of professional experience in international organizations, sports and telecommunications.

Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, Ms. Arpadarai was the Director of the Marketing and Communications Department and the official spokesperson of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix since its inception in 2016. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in law and international relations from Baku State University.

Rt Hon Chris Skidmore OBE was the UK’s Energy and Clean Growth Minister in the British Cabinet when he signed the UK’s commitment to net zero by 2050 into law- becoming the first G7 country to do so. He further chaired the UK’s Net Zero Review, publishing the influential Mission Zero report in 2023. He is Chair of the Climate Action Coalition and Chair of the Centre for Economic Transformation (Cetex) at the London School for Economics and a Fellow at the Harvard Salata Institute for Climate. He also chairs the Policy Working Group for the UK’s Transition Finance Council and is Chair of Desmos Capital Partners.

Suresh Yadav is Director for Climate Change, Ocean and Energy Directorate in the Commonwealth Secretariat, London. Earlier he was Interim Senior Director for Trade, Ocean and Natural Resources and he was also the Secretary of the Commonwealth AI consortium to promote development of AI and capacity building in the Commonwealth countries. Prior to this he had worked in the Board of World Bank Group, Washington DC as representative of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. As a member of IRS in India, he had worked as an Officer on Special Duty to President of India and Director to Finance Minister of India. He has also worked extensively for DTAA negotiations on behalf of India and global specialist in transfer pricing audit of MNEs. He is an author of a Book on FDI and passionately work for using AI and transformative technologies for development and to use the platform approach for attracting finance by the small states. He is alumni of IIT Delhi, Indian School of Business, John Hopkins University, Duke University and German Development Institute.