Margery Kraus is the Founder and Executive Chairman of APCO Worldwide, a company she started in 1984 as a small subsidiary of a Washington, D.C. law firm and built into a global consultancy with roughly 1,200 people across 35 locations.

Her story, though, starts much earlier. The child of immigrants whose family fled Nazi Europe, passed through Cuba and eventually rebuilt their lives in America, Margery grew up around resilience, risk and starting again.

We talk about how that shaped the entrepreneur she became, why she refused to listen when people told her “you can’t do that,” and what it was really like building a global company while raising a family.

We also get into the 2004 management buyout that helped make APCO one of the world’s largest majority women-owned consulting firms, how you step back from leading a company you built without really letting go, and what four decades advising some of the world’s most influential leaders have taught her about who thrives under pressure and who doesn’t.

Recorded in Dalian, China, during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions, we also look at the world right now: China’s place in the global economy, shifting trade relationships and what the rest of the world may be getting wrong about this moment.

And then there’s AI. Margery says it’s the thing that keeps her up at night. For someone who has built a career and a business around human trust, judgment and relationships, I wanted to know why.

A fascinating conversation with someone who has spent more than 40 years building, adapting and refusing to stand still.

Special thanks to the World Economic Forum for bringing us together in Dalian.

Jeff Hoffman is an award-winning global entrepreneur, proven CEO, bestselling author and speaker who has played a role in some of the world’s best-known startups, including Priceline.com/Booking.com and uBid.com.

Over his career, he has founded multiple companies, led both public and private businesses, and worked across industries ranging from technology and entertainment to gaming. His work has also earned recognition beyond business, including producing a Grammy Award-winning jazz album and executive producing an Emmy Award-winning television show.

Today, Jeff is Chairman of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, which supports entrepreneurs across 200 countries, and serves as Chairman of the Global Gaming League. He has advised entrepreneurs, corporations and governments around the world, working with organizations including the White House, U.S. State Department and United Nations on entrepreneurship and economic growth initiatives. He has spoken in more than 70 countries and is the author of SCALE, a guide to growing businesses.

Beyond business, Jeff is the founder and CEO of World Youth Horizons, a nonprofit providing homes, education, food and healthcare to children in need around the world. His career has increasingly focused on using entrepreneurship not simply to build successful companies, but as a tool to create opportunity and positive impact at scale.

Mazen S. Darwazeh is the Executive Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, and a Jordanian senator currently serving his fifth term.His journey with Hikma began in 1985 as a medical representative.

Over the next four decades, he rose through the company to lead its MENA business and help shape Hikma into the largest pharmaceutical company by sales in the region and a FTSE 100 multinational employing around 9,500 people across three continents.

Recorded in Dalian, China, this conversation was made possible thanks to the World Economic Forum, who facilitated the episode during the Annual Meeting of the New Champions.

On this episode, we talk about what it takes to preserve the values of a family-built company as it becomes a global institution, Hikma’s ambitions for healthcare in the Middle East, the growing role of biosimilars and biotechnology, and the challenge of ensuring access to essential medicines in a region shaped by geopolitical uncertainty.

We also discuss China’s evolving role in the pharmaceutical industry, Mazen’s perspective from both business and public service, and what four decades in healthcare have taught him about leadership, longevity and building something that lasts.