Nelida Ancora
Nelida is an expert in sustainable development and social justice, with extensive experience working with government bodies, private companies, NGOs, and IGOs.
After starting her career at the Italian Trade Agency (ICE), Nelida spent several decades working in Italy and across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Main areas: socio-economic development, private-public partnership, space-ICT applications. She has been CEO of a subsidiary of Italy’s State Mint, policy advisor to Italy’s foreign ministry, member of Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS), representing Regione Molise, president of the GEOSAT Molise Consortium.
In recent years Nelida has focused professionally on the mining industry, using her extensive experience to develop social and technological innovation strategies for international extractive companies.
Nelida has always accompanied her professional work with an extensive voluntary work focused on Peace and Social Justice. Aware that religion has an important role to play in public life on the occasion of the crisis in Afghanistan, on August 2021, aware that the new course of international events started a process that would have changed the previous international order, matured the proposal of a new Development Goal to be added to the UN Agenda 2030: “SDG 18: Cooperation between Religions”,recognising that Religions could play an important role in achieving the SDGs, transforming the interreligious-dialogue into interreligious- cooperation to promote justice and peace.
Nelida was born in Buenos Aires, moved to Italy when she was a child. She holds a law degree from Sapienza University of Rome.
Felix Pole
Felix is an accomplished business leader with more than 50 years of experience working in board and senior management positions in mining, aviation, and other industries.
After several decades successfully founding and operating aviation and oil and gas E&P companies in the Middle East and eastern Europe, in 1996 Felix began to focus on mining, specifically nickel, copper and cobalt. He has worked on mining projects across Africa and in countries ranging from Albania and Turkey to the Philippines and Australia.
Felix initially served as finance director of Titan Resources NL, a listed company that developed and operated the Radio Hill Mine in Western Australia, and developed the bacterial heap leaching process (BioHeap) for nickel and copper sulphides. He later became a director at Toledo Mining and chairman of European Nickel PLC, where he helped increase the company’s market cap from $50m to more than $300m in just three years.
Felix is a director of Consolidated Nickel Mines Ltd (CNM), which operates the Munali Nickel Mine in Zambia. At CNM he has maintained his close 20-year relationship with China’s Jinchuan Group, the largest nickel producer in Asia.
Felix was born in Reading in the United Kingdom. He holds degrees in estate management and music.