The aim of the Advisory Council of the Order of Malta’s Grand Chancellor, Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo, which met for the first time in Rome at the Villa Magistrale, is to answer the needs of the most vulnerable by promoting international cooperation and dialogue between world-class experts and business leaders. A space for discussion and reflection on the global challenges of our time that directly challenge the Order of Malta, the oldest humanitarian organization in the world with an almost thousand-year history, today active in over 130 countries worldwide in addressing poverty, disease, social marginalization, consequences of conflict, migration and natural disasters.
The Grand Chancellor’s Advisory Council brings together eminent figures from the scientific, cultural, business and economic worlds. The idea is to share ideas and proposals, searching for innovative solutions from different sectors to contribute to humanitarian projects and activities in the field. Members include: James Patrick Allison, Professor of Immunology and 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine; David Beasley, former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, on the behalf of which he received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize; Stefano Buono, founder and CEO of newcleo; Paul Desmarais Jr., Chairman of Power Corporation of Canada; Tan Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes, CEO of Capital A; Pasquale Ferrara, Former Director General for Political Affairs of the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, Chairman of Heritage Group; Andrónico Luksic Lederer, President of Antofagasta PLC and Director of Quiñenco SA and Compañía Minas Buenaventura S.A.A.; Romain Peugeot, board member of Etablissements Peugeot Frères, Managing Partner of EIM Capital and RAX Printing Ltd; Paola Severino Di Benedetto, Head of Luiss School of Law and the National School of Public Administration; Giovanni Tria, Honorary Professor of Economics at the Tor Vergata University of Rome and President of the Enea Tech and Biomedical Foundation; Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises SA; Joerg Wolle, Chairman of Kuehne and Nagel International AG.
“At the first meeting, we told the members of the advisory board about our thousand-year history, to be cherished and continued through the hospitaller vocation which calls us to intervene in all corners of the earth,” said Grand Chancellor Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo. “Faced with the urgent and complex challenges of the third millennium, we realize we need to develop skills, to make increasingly efficient initiatives and to seek new responses to emerging needs. Drawing on the technologies and scientific discoveries of all ages has always been the Order of Malta’s fundamental approach. I trust that this initiative will mark an important new chapter in our history”.
