Karl P. Sauvant, PhD, is Resident Senior Fellow, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), Columbia University, Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School and Guest Professor at Nankai University, China. From 2005 to 2012, he was Founding Executive Director of the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment, the predecessor of CCSI. Before that, he was Director of UNCTAD’s Investment Division and founded the prestigious annual World Investment Report, being its lead author until 2004. He is a leading advocate for a negotiations aid facility for developing countries. Karl P. Sauvant was awarded his doctorate by the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Jorge Chamot is an energy executive advising governments on policy and business development. He served as Peru’s Minister of Energy and Mines from 1999 to 2000. He has worked for a state-owned company, a Texan independent energy conglomerate and a private European shipping and trading firm. His understanding of the intricacies of policy-making and implementation allows him to adopt a comprehensive approach to national and regional development programs. Jorge Chamot holds Petroleum Engineering and MBA degrees with further studies in Oil Planning and International Development.

Boris Dolgonos has advised on a wide range of mining issues, investment and financing transactions, including initial public offerings, high-yield and investment-grade debt offerings, structured product offerings and privatizations. He has represented public and private corporations, investment banks and other financial institutions. His mining practice has focused on government representation and capacity development, including negotiating mining concessions, drafting model mining agreements and financing transactions. Boris Dolgonos also regularly participates in conferences on providing assistance to governments in negotiating large-scale investment agreements. He serves on the Board of Directors of the International Senior Lawyers Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing legal services for human rights and economic development throughout the world. Boris Dolgonos received a Law degree from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Laura Morales is a financial advisor to small family firms and investors. Until November 2016, she created and headed the Middle East Wholesale Banking efforts for Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA). In 2010, she launched a Private Equity Research Center for INSEAD in Abu Dhabi. Previously, she was a Director at Merrill Lynch, where she led the Structured Products Origination and Distribution teams in Private Banking for Europe and the Middle East. Prior to that, she held various investment and wholesale banking roles at Barclays Capital in London and BankBoston and Banco Wiese in Perú. She holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s in Accounting and Finance from Florida International University.

Louis T. Wells is the Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management (Emeritus) at Harvard Business School, where he taught courses and conducted research on international business, largely on investor-host government relations. He advised governments and international organizations on foreign investment policies and negotiations with foreign investors, particularly for mining. He served as an expert in 10 investor-state arbitration processes. Back in 1975, he and David N. Smith of Harvard Law School wrote Negotiating Third World Mineral Agreements: Promises as Prologue.