Join Us on October 30
Thursday, October 30
2:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Georgetown University
Rafik B. Hariri Building, Lohrfink Auditorium
The Future of Global Business Conference 2025
Reimagining the Future of Global Business: Transformation, Leadership, and Impact
The global business landscape is becoming increasingly fragmented and unpredictable. Challenges from previous years — ranging from shifting trade policies and geopolitical tensions to the rapid pace of technological change — not only persist, but are growing in more complex and unprecedented ways.
In this context, the imperative for business leaders of today and tomorrow is clear though difficult: to reimagine the future of global business through a lens of adaptability, innovation, and impact.
This moment calls for a new approach to leadership, one that is informed by global transformation, grounded in leadership, and driven by a commitment to long-term value creation. Join us for the third annual Future of Global Business Conference to explore these issues alongside global executives, policymakers, academics, and students.
Speakers
Joseph Baratta (B’93)
Joseph Baratta is the global head of private equity strategies and a member of Blackstone’s Board of Directors. He is also a member of their management committee and serves on many of the firm’s investment committees.
Baratta joined Blackstone in 1998, and in 2001, he moved to London to help establish Blackstone’s corporate private equity business in Europe. Since 2012, he has served as the firm’s global head of private equity in New York City.
Baratta has served on the boards of many past Blackstone portfolio companies. Currently, he serves as a member or observer on the boards of Ancestry, Candle Media, First Eagle Investment Management, Medline, and Merlin Entertainments Group. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees at Georgetown University, is a trustee of the Tate Foundation, and serves on the board of Year Up, an organization focused on youth employment.
Before joining Blackstone, Baratta was with Tinicum Incorporated and McCown De Leeuw & Company. Baratta also worked at Morgan Stanley in its mergers and acquisitions department. He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University.
Gina M. Raimondo
Gina M. Raimondo was the 40th U.S. Secretary of Commerce. As Secretary, she focused on making America more competitive by driving job creation, fostering innovation, and strengthening national security. Under her leadership, the Department of Commerce made historic investments in internet access, manufacturing, workforce training, and climate readiness through initiatives like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. She oversaw $39 billion in incentives for chip manufacturing, $40 billion in broadband grants, and significant investments in climate resilience and minority business support.
Raimondo has also led efforts on AI development, launched the U.S. AI Safety Institute and established an international network of AI Safety Institutes. She has been recognized as one of TIME’s Most Influential People and is known for her role in advancing national security through technology and international cooperation.
Before her tenure as Secretary of Commerce, Raimondo served as the 75th Governor of Rhode Island, becoming the state’s first female governor. During her time in office, she revitalized Rhode Island’s economy by attracting new businesses, reducing unemployment, and creating thousands of jobs. She prioritized infrastructure, education, and job training, making record investments in these areas. Notably, she launched the first statewide program offering tuition-free community college to all high school graduates, a groundbreaking initiative to provide accessible higher education.
Raimondo is a graduate of Harvard University, Oxford University (as a Rhodes Scholar), and Yale Law School. She is married to Andy Moffit, and they have two children.
Dr. Thomas Becker
Since May 2025 Dr. Thomas Becker is head of external affairs and sustainability combining the previous two departments which he has built up over the last years.
Prior, Dr. Thomas Becker was vice president for sustainability, mobility at the BMW Group in Munich from October 2019 to April 2025 and vice president of government and external affairs at the BMW Group in Munich from 2007 to September 2019. During his time in the area of Government and External Affairs he supervised the worldwide representation of the BMW Group’s political interests, the company’s approach to integrate political topics into the product as well as business communications and the steering of the sustainability communication of the company.
Dr. Thomas Becker received his PhD degree with Professor Dr. Ekkehard Kappler at the Reinhard-Mohn Foundation Chair for Management, Economics, and Social Evolution at the University of Witten / Herdecke with magna cum laude. He also holds a diploma in economics from the University of Cologne.
Reggie Aggarwal (L’99)
Reggie Aggarwal is the CEO & Founder of Cvent, a leading event and hospitality software company based in McLean, VA, with over 5,000 employees and 25,000 customers globally. Cvent’s technology powers millions of in-person and virtual events for more than 50% of the Fortune 1000. Reggie founded Cvent in 1999 and guided the company through multiple phases of growth including two public listings (NYSE and Nasdaq). In 2023, Blackstone took Cvent private for $4.6 billion.
He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Businessweek and was the youngest person ever to be inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame. He has been named the #1 Software CEO by The SaaS Report, Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, and “Most Admired CEO” by the Washington Business Journal.
Shyam P. Kambeyanda
Shyam P. Kambeyanda is president and CEO of ESAB Corporation and a member of the company’s Board of Directors. As the leader of ESAB, Kambeyanda has overseen the growth of the fabrication technology business, including expanding the company’s global operations, improving financial performance, and driving ESAB Business Excellence (EBX) throughout the business.
Before becoming the CEO of ESAB Corporation when it became a public company in 2022, Kambeyanda served as President and CEO of ESAB starting in May 2016 when it was part of Colfax Corporation. Kambeyanda also served as an Executive Vice President of Colfax starting in December 2019. Prior to joining Colfax‚ Kambeyanda served as the President of Americas for Eaton Corporation’s Hydraulics Group. Kambeyanda joined Eaton in 1995 and held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in engineering, quality, e-commerce, product strategy, and operations management in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and Asia. Since leading ESAB, Kambeyanda has maintained a keen international perspective on driving growth and business development in emerging markets.
Shyam P. Kambeyanda holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and general science from Coe College in Iowa and in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University. Kambeyanda also earned his MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He currently serves on the board of directors for Veralto, a global leader in essential water and product quality solutions.
Urban Ahlin
His Excellency Urban Ahlin has been the Ambassador of Sweden to the United States since September 2023. Ambassador Ahlin most recently served as Sweden’s Ambassador to Canada.
Prior to that, he was a member of the Swedish Parliament, representing the Social Democratic Party. Following the 2014 parliamentary election, Ambassador Ahlin was elected Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, Sveriges Riksdag, for the period 2014-2018.
Ambassador Ahlin first became a member of Parliament in 1994. Since then, he has worked on foreign policy in numerous capacities. He was Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs between 2002 and 2006, and later Deputy Chair from 2006 to 2014. He has also been a member of the War Delegation, the Swedish Defence Commission, and a member of the Committee on European Affairs.
As part of his work for the Social Democratic Party, Ambassador Ahlin served as the party’s Foreign Policy Spokesperson and has also been a member of the party’s Executive Board.
In addition, Ambassador Ahlin is one of the founding members of the first pan-European think-tank, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), which was established in 2007.
Ambassador Ahlin is a teacher and graduated from the University of Karlstad with a Master of Science. He is married and has two daughters.
Troy Fitrell
Troy Fitrell, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister Counselor, was the Senior Bureau Official leading the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs. He recently served as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea. He previously held positions as Director of the Offices of West African Affairs and Southern African Affairs, as Chargé d’Affaires and as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in Ethiopia and Mauritius, and as Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Cooperation in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
He served as a Pearson Fellow on the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and served overseas at the U.S. embassies in Portugal, Guatemala, Zambia, Ghana, and Denmark. Fitrell earned a B.A. at the University of Maryland and an M.S. at the National War College. He is the recipient of a Presidential Rank Award, the Cobb Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development, the Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Labor Affairs, and numerous superior and meritorious awards. He is a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Guinea. He speaks French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Swedish.