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. Dr.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).

Tom Vinaimont is a vice dean of academic affairs at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Business. He hails from Belgium where he obtained a doctorate in Finance from the KU Leuven. He was a visiting scholar at NYU's Stern Business School and an Assistant professor at the department of Economics and Finance at the City University of Hong Kong. His work on Finance appears in internationally refereed journals such as the Journal of Banking and Finance and the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, in policy-related publications on security design and law and practice and in the common law courts as defense expert witness on cases related to the functioning of financial markets and the trading of financial instruments. Dr.Vinaimont received university-level excellence awards at CityUHK and NU for his contributions to teaching and learning.

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. Dr.Subramanian 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.

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.

Dr. Turganbayev is fluent in Kazakh, English, and Russian and has extensive experience in higher education leadership, research, and academic program development.