Jozef Konings obtained his PhD in Economics at the London School of Economics in 1994. His research focuses on firm dynamism, international macroeconomics, and micro drivers affecting macroeconomic fluctuations. To this end, he makes use of ‘big data’ analytics to answer pressing economic questions. He has been involved in numerous research projects from the EU, the OECD, the Asian Development Bank and other international institutions and private firms. Konings has published various papers in leading academic journals, such as the American Economic Review, The Review of Economic Studies, Information Systems Research and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Konings has advised various governments on economic policy. He is a regular guest speaker for private firms, government institutions and Central Banks. He is a research fellow of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the director of the Center for Regional Economic Policy (VIVES).

Venkat Subramanian is a vice dean of research at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Business. Previously, he had faculty appointments at the University of Hong Kong and Vlerick Business School in Belgium. He was also a research fellow in Strategy and International Management at Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, a Research Associate in Strategy and Finance at INSEAD, France, and completed a PhD in Management at the Solvay Business School, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. He has published in academic and practitioner journals, and in the business press, on topics of strategy and international business, and on competition in emerging markets. He has also advised start-ups in Europe and Asia.

Dr. Jenifer Lewis is a vice dean of academic programs at the NU Graduate School of Business. She first joined Nazarbayev University in 2011 as part of the first cohort of NU faculty members. Prior to joining GSB, she was a professor in and (Acting) Chair of the Department of Communication at NU in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Dr. Lewis earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Communication Studies from The University of Kansas with emphases in Political Communication and Leadership. She teaches classes in Business Communication, Leadership, and facilitates the team building modules during student orientation.

Mr. Mamashev has graduated from the Kazakh State Academy of

Management (“Narhoz”, Almaty) in International Finances and from

Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Nur-Sultan) in Law. He also

studied in International Business Economics at Anglia Polytechnic

University, Cambridge (GB), holds Master of Business Administration

(MBA) from the Duke University’s, Fuqua School of Business, USA and “A”

level-Project Director professional certificate in Project management,

International project management Association (IPMA).

Since February 2024, Maksat is CОО of Nazarbayev University and

concurrently serves as a Vice-dean of NU Graduate school of business.

Being a member of founding small team of people who have worked on

establishment and development of the Nazarbayev University from the

moment of initiation in 2009 until 2018 leaving NU from Executive vice-

president position. In 2019, he worked as Rector-launching project leader

of the establishment of new International IT University Astana.

He has had extensive experience of work in both public and corporate

sectors:

For number of years Maksat also served as founding Board member of

Kazakhstan National Geographic Society, Vice-president of Kazakhstan

project management Association and member of Int’l Advisory Board of

the Fuqua Business School of the Duke University, USA.