Path Passion Purpose by DIONZ

Princess Alia Al-Senussi, PhD, is a globally renowned member of the contemporary art world with a focus on cultural strategy and patronage systems. She is an active cultural strategist, writer, patron, public speaker and academic recognized for her deep knowledge of the global art world and its systems and members.  Considered one of the foremost figures in contemporary art of her generation, Dr Alia has spent her entire career in the global art world. Dr Alia has served as Art Basel's UK and MENA Representative for over a decade, and is also currently Senior Advisor, International Outreach for Art Basel. In 2019 she was appointed Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia, where she focuses on developing international partnerships whilst working on a variety of projects across the Ministry’s commissions and the Diriyah Biennale Foundation. Dr Alia is a visiting lecturer at Brown University’s Watson Institute, working primarily with the Middle East Studies Program. Dr Alia is currently the founding Chairperson of the K11 International Council, a member of the Tate Modern Advisory Council (London), the Board of Trustees of the ICA London, the Strategic Advisory Panel of the Delfina Foundation (London), the Board of Trustees of The Showroom (London), the Board of Trustees of FUNTASIA/Elisa Sednaoui Foundation (UK / Egypt / Italy), the Board of Governors of Aiglon College (Switzerland) as well as a member of Therme Advisory Board (Germany) and the UCCA Contemporary Circle (China). Dr Alia has recently been appointed founding Global Co-Chair of the LACMA Ambassadors Board. She continues to serve as a founding member of the Tate's Acquisitions Committee for the Middle East and North Africa, the Board of 1:54 The African Art Fair, and the Middle East Circle of the Guggenheim, the Middle East Studies Advisory Committee at Brown University, the Serpentine Future Contemporaries (and founding committee member) as well as was a founding member of the Board of Patrons of Art Dubai, having played an integral role in the founding of the fair. Dr Alia is also a member of the British Museum committee for the acquisition of Middle Eastern art. Dr Alia has a PhD in Politics from SOAS (London), examining the nexus of power and cultural patronage, featuring Saudi Arabia as a case study. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in International Relations (honors) and Middle East Studies from Brown University and holds an MA in Political Science from Brown and an MSc in Law, Anthropology and Society from the London School of Economics. 

Stefan von Bartha (b. 1981) is the Director and owner of von Bartha. He is, with his wife Hester Koper, bringing the gallery into a new era with its dynamic art program at its two locations in Basel and Copenhagen, alongside its dedicated online presence. He became Director of the gallery in 2008 and has been responsible for keeping the DNA of one of the longest-running galleries while pushing it into the future. Now in its second generation, his vision for von Bartha is to be a space for inspiration and dialogue that values art for its critical and cultural importance. As the son of Margareta and Miklos von Bartha, he grew up in a home that also functioned as the gallery. Here, he was surrounded by creatives who had come to define the landscape of 20th-and 21st-century art. At the age of 18, he curated his first exhibition at the gallery with a loan of 800 Swiss francs from his parents. The exhibition consisted of 420 vintage space toys, of which he sold 419. With a passion for rarities, he established the vintage boutique Designago selling rare design collectibles. His private collection includes objects from the Swiss manufacturer Mewa, vases from the Danish glass factory Holmegaard, and a collection of children‘s chairs. Stefan’s passion and expertise are also expressed through his private art collection, including significant works by Miriam Cahn, Los Carpinteros, Julian Charrière, Nathalie du Pasquier, Helmut Federle, Hulda Guzman, Renée Levi, Verena Loewensberg, Richard Paul Lohse, Enzo Mari, Sirous Namazi, Remy Zaugg and artists represented by von Bartha. He studied Modern and Contemporary Art at Christie‘s in New York and has worked at Galerie Nordenhake in Berlin and Sotheby‘s in Zurich. He is on the board of Friends of Liste Art Fair, Enter Art Fair, and the Friends of the Swiss Institute. He is, together with Hester Koper, Friends and Patrons of Fondation Beyeler, Kunsthalle Basel, Kunstmuseum Basel, and Philaneo–a fund for Art. He lives in Basel and Copenhagen.

Born and raised in Lebanon, Maria relocated to London with her husband Malek and their three children in 2004. Their art collection named ISelf looks at identity with particular reference to the human condition. ISelf was shown at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2017 and 2018 and received over 350,000 visitors. Maria is a member of the International Council at Tate. She co-chairs their Middle Eastern Acquisitions Committee (MENAAC) and sits on their Photography Acquisitions Committee (PAC). Maria is a trustee of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) and is a member of the Contemporary and Modern Middle Eastern Art (CaMMEA) acquisition group of the British Museum and is a Strategic Advisor of the Delfina Foundation. She also sits on the Commissioning Committee at the Hayward Gallery. She supports the Showroom, the Chisenhale, the Camden Art Centre, the South London Gallery and the Design Museum. Whilst in Lebanon Maria supports the Beirut Art Centre. She also sits on the Solomon Guggenheim Directors Circle and on the New Museum International Leadership Council in New York. Maria is on the Photo London Founders Committee as well as their Advisory Board and is a nominator of the Prix Pictet photography prize. She is also a juror on the Max Mara Art prize for Women and on the Louis Roederer Art Prize for Sustainability. She is also a member of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies Advisory Board at Boston University and a contributing editor to LUX magazine. Maria is a trustee of the St Jude's Cancer Centre for Children (Beirut-London) and a vice-chair of the Chain of Hope (London).

Alisée de Tonnac's journey begins at the International School, first in Singapore, then in Silicon Valley, before returning to France. She obtained a Bachelor in Management and Economics from the HEC faculty of UNIL. Subsequently, she continued with a Master in International Management at the Università Bocconi. From 2011, she immersed herself in the field of marketing by joining the L'Oréal group in Milan. After two years, she made the decision to resign to join the founding committee of the Seedstars organization, whose mission is to support promising start-ups in emerging countries. Under Alisée's leadership, Seedstars collaborates with governments, institutions, foundations, corporations and investors to promote entrepreneurship in emerging markets. They provide capital, knowledge, and connections to high-growth technology companies through capacity building programs, funds such as Seedstars International Ventures, and partnerships with venture capital fund managers through Seedstars Capital. Seedstars also encourages talent development with Seedstars Academy, with the aim of creating strong entrepreneurial ecosystems for targeted social and economic development. In addition to her role at Seedstars, Alisée serves on the boards of international foundations and companies, including Proton, and is a member of the Swiss Innovation Council (Innosuisse), further contributing to the global entrepreneurship landscape and innovation.

Chris Luebkeman’s career to date has spanned professions and geographies. His personal learning journey, encouraged by a family of entrepreneurs and educators, took him from his midwestern birthplace of Cincinnati, Ohio to Vanderbilt, Cornell and eventually to the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland. His multidisciplinary education (geology, civil engineering, structural engineering, and a Doctorate in Architecture) led him to became an academic gypsy teaching courses in Design and in Technology at the University of Oregon, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and at the MIT. His research at that point focused on the confluence of the digital and physical. He created, and coded, the first web-based teaching site in architecture and subsequently dove into understanding what we now call the ‘digital transformation’ of the home of the future. His desire to make things real took him to the global design consulting firm of Arup in London where he led the Research and Development group. He then became a corporate Intrapreneur by founding the Foresight, Innovation and Incubation teams and was accused by the Guardian to have a mindset “in league with the future”. For twenty years he shared his observations and insights by leading projects focused on the future for Arup, it’s clients and for many of the world’s leading institutions. He and his team created unique tools and techniques which progressively permeated the world of foresight and strategy. He is deeply passionate about curating constructive dialogue, insatiably curious, loves to develop future scenarios to better understand the opportunities which will be created by change and, perhaps most importantly, to evolve positive solutions to the profound challenges we face today. Chris has spoken at TED, Aspen Ideas, hosted conversations at, and for, WEF and keynoted hundreds of conferences around the world. He is a member of the prestigious Research Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC) of Singapore, the Steering Committee of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects, of the external advisory Board of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore and of the Brain Trust of the Climate Music Project. He returned to ETH in Zurich in 2020 as a strategic advisor to the President and Executive Board. There, he founded the Strategic Foresight Hub within the Office of the President to enhance the futures literacy of the Institution, to review and rewrite the strategy process in order to help his Alma Matter continue to be one of the best technical Universities in the world. While doing all of this, he also co-founded [y]our 2040 whose mission is to be a world-renowned community of actionists shaping the future, sharing ideas, influencing global dialogues, building momentum and implementing creative solutions to accelerate the transition to a regenerative future. He combines an attitude of pragmatic optimism with curiosity and a deep sense of planetary responsibility in all that he does.

Anna completed her medical studies at the University of Zurich Medical School in Switzerland and Harvard Medical School in the USA. After graduating, she conducted post-doctoral research at Harvard Medical School in biomedicine and genetics. In parallel, Anna received a PhD in epidemiology and health systems management from University of Basel (Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute). Subsequently she specialized in internal and sports medicine in Switzerland. Before her role as a medical director in Klinik Hirslanden, she attended courses at Harvard Business School and graduated from the INSEAD Directors Program. Anna has been a clinical lecturer at the University of Zurich for several years and is currently part of the faculty of University of St. Gallen Executive School. In addition, she is also a keen mentor for master’s students and alumni from the ETH. Apart from lecturing for various executive business schools on healthy leadership and resilience, Anna has been giving talks and presentations on planetary health, preventive medicine and longevity for the UN and the World Economic Forum among others. Anns is still involved in medical research; she is a scientific advisor for selected organisations, and is committed to clinical work with patients ranging from multi-morbid patients to the executive management of leading listed companies and world-class athletes together with the European Longevity Center and Hintsa Performance.

Multi-Grammy Award-winning musician, composer, and artist Dhani Harrison's long career has been anything but ordinary. Originally stepping onto the global stage with his band thenewno2, a musical collective that seamlessly fused alternative rock, electronica, and blues, the band earned critical acclaim for its innovative sound and performances at Coachella, Lollapalooza, and on multiple late-night T.V. shows. However, it was as a solo artist that Harrison truly demonstrated his creative autonomy. His debut solo album, IN///PARALLEL, served as a testament to his evolution as a musician, which Rolling Stone dubbed, "A psychedelia-tinged journey into modern-day disconnect." The album weaved intricate melodies and a subject matter that forewarned much of what the world has experienced in the years following its release. Harrison now returns with his new solo album, INNERSTANDING, featuring collaborations with Graham Coxon (Blur), Liela Moss (The Duke Spirit), Mereki, and more. The album's first single, "Damn That Frequency," serves as a testament to Harrison's unwavering dedication to constructing intricate auditory landscapes. Through his lyrical storytelling and musical artistry, he invites audiences on a transformative cinematic adventure that unfolds within the realm of sound. As an artist who defies categorization, Harrison continues to explore the boundaries of music and creativity. His ability to seamlessly blend diverse influences while maintaining his individuality has solidified his place as a contemporary musical visionary. With each new composition, performance, and collaboration, Harrison invites us to join him on a sonic journey that knows no limits.

Mimi Ikonn is a serial entrepreneur, a social media influencer and an angel investor. She has co-founded several successful businesses. Luxy Hair was her first start-up, which became one of the largest Direct-to-Consumer beauty e-commerce brands online (acquired Dec. 2018). Currently, Mimi is mostly focusing on Intelligent Change, which she also co-founded. Intelligent Change has created the best-selling Five Minute Journal (2M+ units sold) and Productivity Planner (750k+ sold). Mimi is passionate about self-growth and sharing her personal findings with the world through her social media accounts.   

Born in Aix-en-Provence, Philippe Schucht grew up on Lake Zürich where he studied mmedicine. He focused his professional life on the brain, became a neurosurgeon, and studied and worked in South Africa, the USA and France. Today, he is responsible for research and education, pediatric neurosurgery and brain tumor surgery, and the translational HORAO Lab at the Inselspital, the University of Bern. He initiated several projects alongside his true north: He founded the Swiss Young Neurosurgeons Society, the main national educative organisation for neurosurgery in Switzerland. He created an NGO for building neurosurgical capacity in Myanmar, where only 4 certified neurosurgeons needed to deliver care for a population of over 50 million. This organisation (swiss-neurosurgeons-international.org) significantly increased the size and scope of neurosurgery in Myanmar through training courses, fellowships and teaching material, and helps build new medical facilities in remote areas of South East Asia. He co-founded Trustedoctor, a for-profit platform-based video conference system with the aim to give anyone, anywhere simplified access to specialised healthcare.

Marina is an award-winning CEO Coach and Board Advisor, guiding boards, executives and top teams on the journey to extraordinary leadership beyond profit. With her rich business background in financial services, she personally advised and coached hundreds of executives across the globe. Marina is a sought-after keynote speaker on boardroom-related topics as well as a TEDx speaker. She serves on the board of Boardstrong NYC, an organisation committed to fostering a better board governance and a higher quality dialogue in boardrooms across the NY state. She is also on the board of Charterpath, a UK based organization dedicated to connecting the financial services sector talent with the non-profit world as well as Maruu, Swiss based organization supporting female talent on their way to the top. Marina is a contributor to the book “Stand Up for the Planet: 45 Stories of Extraordinary Women” as well as “Successfully”, highlighting stories of passion from around the world. She is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, an Executive Board Member of Fast Company as well as a member of 100Coaches, alongside Dr. Jim Kim, Alan Mulally and other top 100 selected leaders in the world. 

Benjamin has 13 years’ experience in impact investing. His firm, Impact Finance, has disbursed, since October 2011, $360 million in high impact food value chains. Benjamin is head of impact and is a member of the investment committee. He developed Kharmax Impact Monitoring System, the company’s proprietary tool to enable portfolio companies to report on impact. Benjamin serves on the board of Stellar Impact, the private equity impact investing arm of a Belgian family and is member of the jury of IMD-Pictet Sustainability in Family Business Award. Following the merger of his family business Firmenich with the Dutch listed company DSM in 2023, Benjamin, together with his brother Julien and sister Yasmine have created Anaïs Ventures, a new family business taking the shape of an investment firm based on 4 values: Independence, Impact, Familiness and Excellence. He lives in Geneva with his wife and two kids and enjoys sailing, skiing and improv.

Angelica’s career includes tenure at Fiat USA as Director of Investor relations, sales and trading at Morgan Stanley, followed by her co-founding her own asset management company which to date has invested and managed a compounded usd 2 billion. Angelica has been an Angel Investor for the past 20 years.  Her vision of creating positive legacy that transcends generations by accelerating impactful capital is evident in her investments to date. While managing these venture, she built a private real estate portfolio worth usd 90 million. Angelica became an Olympian in 2014, is a published author, speaks 5 languages and has lived in 9 countries. She is now based in Switzerland.

Stuart J. Russell is professor (and formerly chair) of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley. He is holder of the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering and director of the Centre for Human-Compatible AI. His book Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach is the standard text in AI; it has been translated into 14 languages and is used in over 1,400 universities in 128 countries. Stuart also works for the United Nations, developing a new global seismic monitoring system for the nuclear-test-ban treaty. He is an honorary fellow of Wadham College, Oxford; distinguished fellow of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI; and fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a recipient of the Presidential Young Investigator Award of the National Science Foundation, the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award, the World Technology Award (Policy category), the Mitchell Prize of the American Statistical Association, the Feigenbaum Prize of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and Outstanding Educator Awards from both ACM and AAAI. He received his B.A. with first-class honours in physics from Oxford University in 1982 and his Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford in 1986.

Jen has been instructed in domestic and international cases involving media law, public law and international law. She advises media organisations, journalists, whistle-blowers and high-profile individuals on all aspects of media law and reputation management. She has also been instructed in human rights related judicial review cases and has given expert evidence in Parliament and at the United Nations. Jen advises individual and state clients on a wide range of international law issues, has appeared before the International Court of Justice and regularly engages with UN Special Mechanisms. Many of her cases and clients are high-profile and involve novel cross-jurisdictional and comparative law issues. Jen can be instructed directly in suitable cases under the Bar’s Direct Access scheme and previously practised as a solicitor. In this episode, we discuss:  Jennifer's background and how she became interested in human rights through her experiences in Indonesia and East Timor. Her work documenting human rights abuses in West Papua and working with marginalized communities. Her work representing high-profile cases, including Julian Assange and whistleblowers, with a focus on free speech and political freedoms. Jennifer's motivation and how she stays positive despite the challenges of her work. The online harassment and threats she faces as a woman in the public eye and the importance of creating a safer online space for women. Jennifer's book, "How Many Women," which highlights the issues of violence against women, censorship, and the need for law reform. Jennifer's involvement in initiatives and programs to support young people, particularly women, in pursuing careers in human rights law. The need for cultural change, calling out misogyny and stereotypes, and supporting women who speak out against violence. Jennifer's work in addressing climate change, including representing the government of Vanuatu in the International Court of Justice. Her future plans, including writing two more books and continuing her advocacy work.

Sir David King was the permanent Special Representative for Climate Change from September 2013 until March 2017. Sir David was previously the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor from 2000 to 2007, during which time he raised awareness of the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the Energy Technologies Institute. He also served as the Founding Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at Oxford; was Head of the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge University 1993-2000 and Master of Downing College at Cambridge 1995 -2000. Sir David has published over 500 papers on science and policy, for which he has received numerous awards, and holds 22 Honorary Degrees from universities around the world. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991, a Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002 and knighted in 2003, Sir David was also made an Officier of the French Legion d’Honneur’ in 2009, for work which has contributed to responding to the climate and energy challenge. In this conversation, we discuss:  Advocacy for climate action and raising awareness of the risks posed by climate change Challenges faced in addressing climate change, including the cumbersome negotiating process under the United Nations Success in gaining all-party agreement on action on climate change in the UK Importance of deep and rapid emissions reduction, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, and stopping deforestation The need to remove excess greenhouse gases from the atmosphere at scale Addressing the impact of climate change on the Arctic Circle region and the importance of refreezing the Arctic Actions individuals can take, such as setting an example, advocating for change, and working towards achieving net zero emissions

Path | Passion | Purpose, a podcast presented by DIONZ, aims to inspire and empower its audience by interviewing conscious and impactful global leaders, NextGens, entrepreneurs, and creatives. Through candid conversations, guests delve into their self-realisation path, the discovery of their passion, and how they transformed these passions into impactful endeavours. DIONZ is a diverse member community of value-driven, multi-generational, interdisciplinary, and conscious individuals who include change-makers, entrepreneurs, NextGens, investors, leaders, experts, coaches, creatives, and life-long learners who want to co-create a better world. What ties us together is our value system. Through diverse event types and the DIONZ app, DIONZ curates monthly learning activities focusing on three pillars of education: (1) self-realisation, (2) technology, incl. AI, blockchain, and robotics, and (3) the systemic system change needed for humanity to thrive.  In addition, DIONZ launched its podcast in February 2024 to motivate a wider audience to tap into their full potential. We are an impact-driven supportive ecosystem (rather than ego-system) focusing on education.