People

Our network of contributors

Virginia Roe

Mar 28, 2017

Joining the team in 2016, Virginia is the Development and Partnership Manager for NewCities. Virginia is responsible for building relationships across sectors and helping ensure that NewCities is providing attractive opportunities for current and new members and partners. With more than ten years of development experience in the not-for-profit sector, Virginia hopes to help NewCities…

Manon Guyot

Mar 28, 2017

Manon has graduated from McGill University in February 2015 after completing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences and International Development. Her interest in urban development and her experience in event management led her to join NewCities in September 2015. She is passionate about horseback riding and has participated in the French Show Jumping Championship…

Steven Hearn

Mar 28, 2017

Steven Hearn began his career in cultural strategy and launched le Troisième Pôle in 2000, following studies in economics, politics and art history. Steven has also been in charge of the public programing of the Gaîté Lyrique (a centre for cultures of the digital age) since 2008. In 2010, he brought together all his initiatives…

Odile Decq

Mar 28, 2017

Odile Decq set up her own office just after graduating from La Villette in 1978 and from Sciences Politiques Paris in Urban Planning in 1979. International renown came quickly in 1990 with the Banque Populaire de l’Ouest in Rennes. She was awarded with a Golden Lion in Venice in 1996. After the MACRO in Rome,…

Zia Yusuf

Mar 24, 2017

Zia Yusuf is the President & CEO of Streetline Inc., the leading global provider of sensor-enabled smart city solutions. He is also an Associate Consulting Professor at Stanford University and is an actively involved board member of non-profit institutions focused on education in South Asia and social entrepreneurship in East Africa.

Carlo Ratti

Mar 24, 2017

An architect and engineer by training, Carlo teaches at MIT, where he directs the Senseable City Lab, and is a founding partner of the international design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati. He graduated from the Politecnico di Torino and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, later earning his MPhil and PhD…

Dr. Parag Khanna

Mar 24, 2017

Parag Khanna is a leading global strategy advisor, world traveler, and best-selling author. He is Founder & Managing Partner of FutureMap, a data and scenario based strategic advisory firm. Parag’s newest book is MOVE: The Forces Uprooting Us (2021), which was preceded by The Future is Asian: Commerce, Conflict & Culture in the 21st Century…

Alessandra Orofino

Mar 24, 2017

Alessandra Orofino’s mission is to make cities more inclusive, participatory, and innovative. She has been pursuing this goal in many different ways. As a Co-founder and General Manager of Purpose Brasil, she is contributing to the development of tools for civic engagement and participation in Rio de Janeiro.

Dan Hill

Mar 24, 2017

Dan Hill is Director of Strategic Design at Vinnova, the Swedish government’s innovation agency. A designer and urbanist, Dan’s previous leadership positions have included Arup, Future Cities Catapult, Fabrica, SITRA and the BBC. Dan is Visiting Professor at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose in London, Visiting Professor at Design Academy Eindhoven, and Adjunct…

NewCities

Mar 24, 2017

NewCities is a global nonprofit committed to shaping a better urban future, headquartered in Canada. We have a decade’s experience curating and producing innovative content about the most important emerging urban trends. We do this through our events, our knowledge-sharing platforms, and actionable research. NewCities brings a ‘whole-city’ approach – we convene and connect the…

Chinmay Agarwal

Mar 24, 2017

Chinmay is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Jugnoo. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and did a Joint Masters in Advanced Robotics on Erasmus Mundus scholarship from Ecole Centrale Nantes, France and Univ. of Genoa, Italy. He is also the co-founder and ex-CTO at Click…

Raphaël Gindrat

Mar 23, 2017

Raphaël Gindrat is the CEO and Co-Founder of BestMile. BestMile provides the first platform allowing for the intelligent operation and optimization of autonomous vehicle fleets, regardless of their brand or type, leveraging their full potential to tackle urban mobility challenges. Raphaël holds a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Transportation from the…