Mr. Janez Lenarčič is currently serving as Commissioner for Crisis Management in the European Commission, which took up the mandate in December 2019. In this capacity, he is responsible for EU civil protection as well as humanitarian aid, with an overall focus on ensuring that European Commission has the tools and the capacity to respond swiftly and efficiently whenever the EU is called upon, whether in Europe or elsewhere in the world. Prior to this assignment, Mr Lenarcic has served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the EU in Brussels from 2016. Before and as of 2014, he held the Secretary of State position in the cabinet of the Slovenian Prime Minister. His previous experience also entails the position of Director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw from 2008 to 2014. He also served as Secretary of State for European Affairs, including representing Slovenia during the Lisbon Treaty negotiations in 2007 and later representing the Slovenian EU Council Presidency to the European Parliament in 2008. In 2002 and 2003 he held the position of State Secretary in the cabinet of the Slovenian Prime Minister, after which he started to serve as Slovenian ambassador to the OSCE. In 2005, he was also Chairman of the Permanent Council of the OSCE in Vienna. In 2000 he started serving as adviser to the foreign minister and the following year he became the diplomatic adviser to the then Slovenian Prime Minister. Between 1994 and 1999 he was posted to Slovenia’s Permanent Representation to UN in New York, where he also served as the alternate representative of Slovenia on the UN Security Council. Mr. Lenarčič is the recipient of France's highest award as Officier de la Legion d'Honneur. Next to his native Slovenian his languages are English, French and Serbian. Mr. Lenarčič holds a degree in international law from Ljubljana University.

Andreas Papaconstantinou is currently the Director for Neighbourhood and Middle East with the Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) at the European Commission. In this capacity, he is also responsible for Humanitarian Aid Thematic Policies. Before joining DG ECHO, he was Head of Unit for Ocean Governance, Law of the Sea, Arctic Policy with the Directorate General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries at the European Commission. Prior to that Mr. Papaconstantinou was Senior Adviser in the cabinets of European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Maria Damanaki (2010 2014) and European Commissioner for Environment Stavros Dimas (2004-2010). Previously, he was a member of the Policy Unit of the European Union’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana (2002-2004), a seconded diplomat to NATO’s International Secretariat, Defence Planning and Operations Division (1999-2002), and the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for Albania (1998-1999). Mr. Papaconstantinou holds a Law Degree from Aristotle University in Greece and a Master’s Degree in European Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, and he has been a Fellow at the Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University.

Yasmine Sherif is the Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW) - the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. A lawyer specialized in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law (LL.M), she has 30 years of experience with the United Nations (UNHCR, UNDP, OCHA) and international NGOs, starting her international career in 1988. Ms. Sherif has served in some of the most crisis affected countries and regions on the globe, including Afghanistan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and across the Middle East, including Jordan (the Syria-crisis) and the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as in New York and Geneva. Her expertise spans across the humanitarian, development, human rights, gender and peacekeeping spectrum. Ms. Sherif has also worked as an Adjunct Professor responsible for the Masters Programme on the United Nations, humanitarian assistance, and human rights at Long Island University (LIU), and has published on international humanitarian and development issues, as well as international law. She is the author of the book, The Case for Humanity: An Extraordinary Session, which was launched at the United Nations in New York in 2015. She is also a Huffington Post blogger, and has appeared in the media in Scandinavia, the US and Canada. In 2017, she received the annual award “Sweden’s UN Friend of the Year.