Path Passion Purpose by DIONZ

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.

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.