Kristel VAN DER ELST

Kristel Van der Elst is the CEO of The Global Foresight Group

Kristel Van der Elst has 16 years of experience in forward-looking strategy and policy advisory roles. Prior to founding The Global Foresight Group, Kristel was Senior Director and Head of Strategic Foresight at the World Economic Forum. During her 10 years at the World Economic Forum, Kristel was responsible for multi-stakeholder scenario and foresight activities across a broad set of countries, industries and global issues. She worked with senior executives and policy makers including heads of state, ministers, heads of international organisations and think tanks, and CEOs. She built a practice recognized around the world for providing innovative thinking and ideas to strengthen their strategies, policies and prospects for sustainable growth.

Kristel is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Strategic Foresight Community, the OECD Governmental Foresight Community, the Strategic Foresight for Research & Innovation Policy in Horizon 2020 (SFRI) European Commission Expert Group, and the Independent Advisory Committee to the Global Burden of Disease initiative.

Kristel is an established speaker, moderator and facilitator at high-level events including Davos, OECD, European Commission and Oxford, and the author of numerous reports and articles. She is also a HuffPost blogger.

Kristel holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management, a Masters in Development Cooperation from the University of Ghent, and a Masters in Commercial Engineering from the Free University of Brussels. She is a Fulbright Scholar, a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar, a Global Leadership Fellow and a Certified Professional Facilitator.