SDL - Key Persons

Dr. Sergiy Korsunsky was appointed as Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan in 2020. Prior to that for three years he served as Director of the Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. He holds a diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Ambassador Korsunsky's previous positions include: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Turkey (2008-2016), Director-General of the Economic Department, Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2008); Minister-Counselor and Acting Ambassador at the Embassy of Ukraine in the USA (2000-2005); Deputy Director, Department for Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (1999-2000); Counselor for Economy, Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Israel (1994-1998). Ambassador Korsunsky has extensive professional experience with strategic planning and development, including energy, trade and investment policy, energy security, regional security, science and technology. He holds a Doctor of Science Degree in Applied Mathematics since 1991. He is a well-known expert on geopolitical issues and energy security. Dr. Korsunsky authored more than 300 publications, including 10 books. He had been teaching Critical Thinking, Negotiations, Geopolitics, Energy Diplomacy at the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. His most recent book published in 2020 is "Foreign Policy in Times of Transformations: How not be left on the margins of history". In 2008 he was awarded for his contribution to economic development by the President of Ukraine.

Job Titles:

• Director of Compassionate Sustainability at the Stanford University School of Medicine CCARE Institute
• Founder of ReGen Villages Holding, B.V

James Ehrlich is Director of Compassionate Sustainability at the Stanford University School of Medicine CCARE Institute (Center for Compassion, Altruism Research and Education, under Dr. James R. Doty). Additionally, James is appointed Faculty at Singularity University, Senior Fellow at NASA Ames Research Center, and a White House / OSTP Appointee to a joint taskforce on Regenerative Infrastructure. Mr. Ehrlich is also the Founder of ReGen Villages Holding, B.V., a Stanford University spin-off formed in the EU as a Netherlands impact-for-profit company, using machine learning software to address the U.N. 17 Sustainable Development Goals, specifically to provide solutions for affordable housing, climate change adaptability, and regenerative resiliency. Mr. Ehrlich founded ReGen Villages in 2016, with its patent-pending VillageOS™ operating system software, using machine learning to design and operate bio-regenerative and resilient (self-reliant) neighborhood infrastructure and retrofits - integrating clean water, renewable energy micro-grids, high-yield organic food, and circular nutritional flows at the neighborhood scale. To promote healthy long-term outcomes for residents and flourishing communities.

Job Titles:

• Director of the Center for Sustainable Development
• Economics Professor

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned economics professor, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development. He is widely recognized for bold and effective strategies to address complex challenges including debt crises, hyperinflations, the transition from central planning to market economies, the control of AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, the escape from extreme poverty, and the battle against human-induced climate change. Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor, the university's highest academic rank. Sachs held the position of Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, and an SDG Advocate for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. From 2001-18, Sachs served as Special Advisor to UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan (2001-7), Ban Ki-moon (2008-16), and Antonio Guterres (2017-18). Sachs has authored and edited numerous books, including three New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011). Other books include To Move the World: JFK's Quest for Peace (2013), The Age of Sustainable Development (2015), Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair & Sustainable (2017), A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2018), and most recently, The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020). Sachs was the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership. He was twice named among Time magazine's 100 most influential world leaders and has received 35 honorary degrees. The New York Times called Sachs "probably the most important economist in the world," and Time magazine called Sachs "the world's best-known economist." A survey by The Economist ranked Sachs as among the three most influential living economists. Prior to joining Columbia, Sachs spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, most recently as the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Sachs received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard.

Job Titles:

• Professor of the Department of Geography

Pauline Deutz is Professor of the Department of Geography, Geology and Environment at the University of Hull, UK. Following on from a multi-disciplinary training, with degrees in Geography and Geology, Pauline's research takes an interdisciplinary social science approach to the co-ordination of environmental issues with other social-economic priorities. Examples include: incorporation of industrial ecology/circular economy principles into economic development & resource management; integration of eco-design in product design; building the capacity for sustainability in waste management. Currently she is coordinating the EU Marie Skłodowska Curie Innovative Training Network ‘Cresting: Circular Economy: sustainability implications and guiding progress'. She was the co-PI of ‘Evolving a Circular Plastics Economy' institutional award to the University of Hull funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Pauline is currently the Immediate Past President of the International Sustainable Development Research Society, having been President for 2019-2020.