Supervisory Board
Director | Chair
🌍 Denmark-
Torben brings deep industry and academic knowledge to our application of Strategic Risk, Innovation and Leadership. As Professor of Strategy and International Management at the Copenhagen Business School he has researched and written extensively on Strategic Risk and is the editor of the pivotal work on the subject “The Routledge Companion to Strategic Risk Management”. Torben combines his chair at CBS with being Director of the Center for Global Strategic Responsiveness. Before this, he developed a profound knowledge and practice of the financial world in executive positions with Citibank NA, Citicorp Investment Bank Ltd, SDS Securities and Unibank A/S. He also taught financial economics at George Mason University and Johns Hopkins University. Torben is seen as a global reference in Strategic Risk management and excels at combining strong conceptual thinking with pragmatic approaches to ensure CHÔRA delivers sustainable solutions for strategic renewal.
Director
🌍 Canada-
Laura Lee is a registered architect and Professor of Architecture. She has also taught throughout North America (most notably at Carnegie Mellon University where she served as Head of the School) and institutions in Antwerp, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Dublin, Doha, Gdansk, Istanbul, Milan, Rome and Zurich. Laura is a leading voice for integrated design education, policies, practice and research. She works across service, systems and strategic design and innovation domains to address complex challenges facing society to develop and implement integrated design strategies and collaborative programs between the academy, government, the built environment industry and the profession.
Laura lectures and practices internationally and serves as an advisor and consultant for numerous institutions, governments and professional organisations. She is the recipient of several awards, grants and honours. In 2020, Laura is awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Residency in Bellagio, Italy to work on “From 1% to 10 Billion – An Open Source Guide to Collaborative Innovation for Collective Action”.
Director
🌍 Australia-
Ian Dunlop brings extensive experience in climate and energy policy, corporate governance, international business and engineering, with a particular interest in the interaction of corporate responsibility, sustainability and risk assessment.
He is an independent advisor on climate change and energy, a senior advisory board member of the Breakthrough Centre for National Climate Restoration, a Director of Australia 21, a Fellow of the Centre for Policy Development, a board member of the Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes at UNSW, and member of the Club of Rome.
Previously, Ian has worked in oil, gas and coal exploration and production, and in scenario and long-term energy planning. He was a senior executive of Royal Dutch Shell for many years and CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has chaired the Australian Coal Associations and the Australian Greenhouse Office Experts Group on Emissions Trading which developed the first emissions trading system design for Australia.
Director
🌍 United States-
Agnes Mary Chimbiri-Molande is a development expert with broad work experience in governance and development policy and programming. Currently, Ms Chimbiri-Molande is serving as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Malawi to the United Nations. Prior to becoming a diplomat, she served in areas of Governance; gender equality and women empowerment; development policy research, analysis, and advocacy; programme management; and public sector reforms. As a governance team leader in UNDP Malawi, Ms Chimbiri-Molande led the governance team to experience and institutionalize sense-making and dynamic portfolio management processes leading to Malawi’s adoption of portfolio approach to development programming.
While working with UNDP, she also worked with several UN agencies in delivering various development interventions including the introduction of UN reform in Malawi. These include UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNCDF, FAO, UNEP, UNAIDS and UN Women. Prior to joining the UN, she worked with the University of Malawi, the World Bank Malawi office, and the Government of Malawi.
Ms Chimbiri-Molande holds a Doctorate in Demography (2000) and a post-graduate Diploma in Gender Studies (1998) from University of Waikato, New Zealand; a Master of Arts in International Affairs from University of Ohio, U.S.A. (1987); and a Bachelor of Arts in Education from University of Malawi (1984).
Director
🌍 Australia-
Mark has diverse project and business management expertise across geography, industry and function. An experienced leader of multi-disciplinary teams for multi-faceted businesses, he is adept at delivering advisory services and multi-billion dollar programs in a global context.
Mark has lived and worked in multi-cultural team environments in Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Pacific and USA. An independent Non-Executive Director with particular interest in leadership and governance, Mark is a Chartered Director and Fellow of the Institute of Directors. He is a past Chair of the global Board of the Project Management Institute (PMI).
Mark brings a pragmatic and systems approach to strategy implementation and portfolio governance. Combining a background in project delivery and corporate governance in a global context, Mark has reflected on the future of project management and its strategic role in a changing landscape. He has delivered keynote presentations on the topics of leadership, governance and strategy implementation.
Supervisory Board Secretary
🌍 United Kingdom-
Caterina has trained as a lawyer, and is interested in applying her skills to help companies overcome regulatory burdens and procedures. Caterina is managing a Governance Project to rewrite the articles of association of CHÔRA Design and CHÔRA Foundation to better articulate the entities’ purpose, objectives, and interrelationship.
In her role as Board Secretary of CHÔRA Design and CHÔRA Foundation Supervisory Board, Caterina is keen to ensure effective communication between the company and each respective Board, and also between the two entities.
Caterina previously worked at Norton Rose Fulbright, and specialised in international arbitration and commercial litigation. Caterina holds a Bachelor of Laws and Arts.
Management Board
Founder | Managing Director
🌍 The Netherlands-
Luca is CHÔRA’s founder and Chair of the Management Board. He brings a conceptual architecture of decision-making centred around resilience and renewal. He has extensive experience in the articulation of policy and the facilitation of governance and a deep understanding of the leadership and operational implications of Strategic Innovation processes. Luca has operated at the policy and board levels of organisations ranging from Metropolitan Area of Milan, Generali Group and Insurance Australia Group to UNESCO, UNDP and USA NIC. He is a former fellow of Harvard University, an Associate of the Copenhagen Business School, and has taught and researched at the College de France and the Scuola Normale. Luca has delivered his thinking and practice over recent years to audiences and organisations in New York, Istanbul, Bangkok, Sydney and London. He brings to the complex space of Strategic Innovation a generative, evolutionary and pragmatic approach to the dynamics of human systems and of their entrepreneurial efforts and a deep experience in the design and management of transformational programs.
Director
🌍 The Netherlands-
Emilia brings a variety of experience at the intersections of public and private, for- and non-profit organisations. Emilia previously worked as the head of partnerships for CODE, a project-based university in Berlin, where she shaped and grew a co-creative ecosystem between corporates, non-profits and students, and with Airbnb’s public policy department in the DACH region where she supported multiple campaigns and facilitated the very beginnings of volunteer-led initiatives in multiple cities. She holds a B.A. in Cultural Studies and a MSc in International Public Policy from UCL. She is curious about the role systems thinking, community and leadership building play in fostering new thinking and in building more sustainable organisations.
Director
🌍 Italy-
Annemarie is fascinated by how social change can be created by challenging and improving the design and chemistry between our people and societies.
She comes to CHÔRA from having worked with civil society groups and aid organisations around the world to reimagine and collectivise around radically different humanitarian aid models.
She combines process design, partnership brokering, infrastructure building and transition facilitation to support (groups of) people to create social value.
Annemarie is an accredited Partnership Broker and holds an MSc in Security Studies.
Management Board Secretary
🌍 Spain-
Anita is passionate about her work at CHÔRA - working closely with the team and our network of collaborators in a myriad of ways. This passion provides her with a steady source of motivation that drives her to always do her best, no matter how varied the task.
Anita’s experience in office management, bookkeeping, travel and event planning and executive support roles allow her to anticipate her coworkers' needs while working in a complex and multi-stakeholder context.
Within and outside of work, she likes exploring the dynamics of change which she faces with energy and dedication.