An international, cross-industry career that has moved from corporate management to extensive research, advisory and capability development services to public, private and third sector organisations. Tim has lived and worked in the UK, France (3 years) and United States (20 years), building an impressive research and entrepreneurial record, with demonstrated commitment to delivering social benefit.

As Founder and President, World Commerce & Contracting (formerly International Association for Contract & Commercial Management), Tim has built a 72,000 member worldwide non-profit association which increasingly influences commercial policies and contracting practices in major corporations and governments. In September 2019, he was presented with the Financial Times ‘Market Shaper of the Year’ Award.

Tim was until recently Professor and Chair, International Commercial & Contract Management, University of Leeds, School of Law, where he taught and led development of inter-disciplinary commercial programs.

Prior to founding World Commerce & Contracting, Tim was on the Chairman’s staff at IBM Corporation and led the development of worldwide commercial processes and skills. His early career included management roles in banking, automotive and aerospace industries, where he led negotiations up to $1.5 billion in value. He has served in advisory roles for government departments in various countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan.

Keld Jensen has consistently ranked in the Global Gurus Top 30, reaching #4 as a Global Guru on Negotiation worldwide in 2024. In 2016 he was recognized as one of the world’s 100 Top Thought Leaders in Trust. He is the creator of the world’s most awarded negotiation strategy, which has received accolades from The Organization of Public Procurement Officers and The World Commerce & Contracting Organization’s Innovation and Strategic Award, IACCM etc.

Keld's extensive background in management and his role as a former CEO of a publicly traded technology company, underline his leadership and strategic acumen. An associate professor, Keld teaches at top-ranked universities worldwide, including the Thunderbird School of Global Management at ASU, BMI Executive Institute in Lithuania, BMI/Louvain University in Belgium, and Denmark’s Aalborg University. He is the former chairman of the Centre for Negotiation at Copenhagen Business School.

With more than 200 international TV appearances, and hundreds of articles in major business publications across Europe, Asia Pacific, and the U.S., Keld has established himself as a global thought leader. He is a prolific author of 26 books, which have been translated into 16 languages and have reached over 3 million readers worldwide. Several of these works have received awards, marking him as a significant voice in international business literature.

He is the founder and head of The SMARTnership Negotiation Organization, a pivotal force in consulting and training for both the private sector and governmental bodies. His clientele includes industry giants such as Vestas, LEGO, ConocoPhillips, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson, Bechtel and leading organizations like UNICEF and World50, as well as the governments of Canada, Denmark, and Great Britain.

Keld is the Negotiation Expert in Residence at WorldCC.

Melissa Fortunato is a recently retired FBI Special Agent with over 23 years as a federal law enforcement officer. During her career, she was assigned to the New York City and Cleveland field offices. Her investigative experience included public corruption, civil rights, white collar crime, and domestic terrorism matters. Melissa earned the United States Attorney General’s Award for Excellence for her work on a public corruption investigation in which over 60 public officials, contractors and business people were indicted. Melissa was a certified FBI Crisis Negotiator and Undercover Agent. She spent her last 15 years as an FBI Crisis Negotiator; leading FBI Cleveland’s Crisis Negotiation Team for 10 of those years. In this capacity, she successfully resolved domestic and international kidnappings, barricaded subjects, and other crisis events. Melissa planned and executed formal crisis negotiation training for hundreds of law enforcement officers. Moreover, she has worked as a coach and assessor for the FBI’s National Crisis Negotiation Course. In 2020, Melissa was selected by the FBI to instruct at the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest, Hungary, where she taught crisis negotiation strategies to international law enforcement officers. In addition to her FBI training, Melissa represented the FBI in 2019 as a student at the Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) Hostage Negotiation Course in London, England. As an FBI undercover agent, Melissa operated both domestically and internationally. Her undercover portfolio included transnational organized crime, public corruption, drug trafficking and counterintelligence matters. One of the cases in which she was directly involved as an undercover agent was briefed to the President of the United States and won the FBI Director’s Award. Melissa is now the Founder and Chief Negotiating Officer (CNO) for the Alchemy-Team, which is a negotiation and conflict resolution training, consulting and coaching company. She is also a Senior Associate for the Negotiations Collective. Melissa is married with two daughters and two rescue dogs. Her husband is an Assistant Special Agent in Charge of FBI Cleveland, where he leads its National Security branch.