Michael Wells, Director, IFRS Education Initiative, International Accounting Standards (IASC) Foundation:

 Michael leads the Education Initiative of the IASC Foundation. He qualified as a South African Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young before being seconded to work out of the firm's Detroit office. He subsequently joined the academic world, and became the Associate Professor responsible for the financial accounting section of a South African University. He also served as an independent evaluator of professional qualifying examinations. He is a member of a number of international accountancy education advisory groups

John Hegarty, Head, The World Bank Centre for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR):

John contributes to many World Bank activities and partnerships in the area of corporate sector accounting and auditing, corporate governance and market regulation. John represents the World Bank on the Monitoring Group (where he is Chair of the group assessing the effectiveness of the IFAC governance reforms) and on the Consultative Advisory Groups to the Boards which set international auditing and ethical standards - the IAASB and IESBA. He is also the World Bank observer at the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators. John was Manager of the World Bank’s Financial Management Unit for Europe and Central Asia for over nine years. Prior to joining the World Bank, he was Secretary General of the Federation des Experts Comptables Europeens (FEE) for over twelve years, and was closely involved in developments in financial reporting regulation at both European and international level. John graduated from University College Dublin in Business Administration, began his career with Andersen, and was admitted as an Associate (later Fellow) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.