challenges beyond borders solutions beyond cultures

CHALLENGES BEYOND BORDERS
SOLUTIONS BEYOND CULTURES
ASIA 21 YOUNG LEADERS SUMMIT
Tokyo – November 14-16, 2008
Profiles
AHMAD NIZAM ABBAS
Ahmad Nizam Abbas is a lawyer at Straits Law LLC. He has been a lawyer for 14
years and handled cases involving the death penalty. Mr. Abbas has a keen interest in
inter-religious issues, having studied in a Christian Mission school for 10 years. He
served on Statutory Boards as diverse as the MUIS (the Islamic authority in Singapore)
and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). Mr. Abbas received the Public
Service Medal at last year's National Day Honours for his voluntary contributions to
the Community Development Council, National Youth Council, and Programme
Advisory Committees for the TV media, among many others. He is
involved in several non-governmental organizations, mainly in the social service sector.
AMADOR DEAN AGUILLEN
Amador Dean Aguillen is the Senior Vice President of Ogilvy Government Relations.
Named one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S. in 2007 by Hispanic
Business magazine, Mr. Aguillen joined Ogilvy Government Relations after serving
as a senior advisor and Director of Member Services in the Office of Speaker Nancy
Pelosi. In this role, Mr. Aguillen was one of the Speaker's primary advisors on matters
pertaining to members of Congress and played a key role in the formulation of the
Speaker's agenda. He joined Congresswoman Pelosi's staff in 2002 after her election
to House Democratic leadership as Democratic Whip. Besides his work in Congress,
numerous campaigns and various political and governmental
organizations, Mr. Aguillen had the privilege of working for the Clinton Administration. On July 5, 1999,
President Clinton appointed him to the position of Special Assistant in the Office of Congressional and
Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor and later promoted him to Director of
Intergovernmental Affairs and Chief of Staff for Congressional Affairs. A native Texan, Mr. Aguillen
received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, with
double majors in Political Science and Communications, Radio-Television. He later went on to complete
his Master of Arts degree in Public Communication at the American University in Washington, DC.
HANA SHAMS AHMED
Hana Shams Ahmed is a researcher, journalist, and human rights activist, working for
The Daily Star. She graduated in International Journalism from The University of
Westminster, London. Her investigative reports focus on gender, child labor, migrant
and minority rights. She has written numerous cover stories as well as special reports
for The Star. Past reports include stories on Bangladeshi migrants in Bahrain, Malaysia
and Kuwait, as well as a report on child smuggling. Her other research articles have
included citizenship legal limbo of UN Geneva camp-based Urduspeaking minorities, sexual harassment at nation's top universities, abuse of domestic workers, medical
negligence at private hospitals, and human rights abuse of indigenous people in the hill tracts. Ms. Ahmed
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is also a freelance researcher and translator for local NGOs. She is a member of Drishtipat.org, a global
network of Bangladeshi human rights activists.
SHEILA G. ALGABRE
Sheila G. Algabre is the Vice-President for Identity and Mission of the Notre
Dame of Marbel University, the Philippines. Her mission is to help uplift the
lives of Filipinos who continue to live in poverty in Mindanao. She accomplishes
this by spearheading technical education programs and alternative learning
programs for out-of -school children and youth, as well as providing capacity
building seminars and trainings for cooperatives and peoples organizations.
Aside from these initiatives, she continues to promote the rights of women in
Mindanao by serving as commissioner-at-large of the
Mindanao Commission on Women. She is also a founding member of the Political Caucus of Women
Leaders in Mindanao, a non-profit organization aiming to get more women elected in public office. Ms.
Algabre actively promotes peace in Mindanao as a member of the Youth Peace Circles and the Mothers for
Peace Movement. She is the head of the operations unit of the National Movement for Free Election
(NAMFREL) in Maguindanao and Cotabato City, and continues to promote transparency and good
governance by serving as lecturer and resource person to youth organizations and non-government
organizations in these regions. She earned a Bachelors degree in Management and her Masters Degree in
Business Management at Notre Dame University.
SURYANI SENJA ALIAS
Suryani Senja Alias is Senior Vice-President, Research & Investment
Strategy at the Malaysian Government's strategic investment arm, Khazanah
Nasional. She is interested in public policy reform, effecting developmental
change and the promotion and preservation of art, culture and heritage. Ms.
Alias spent some time at the policy unit of the current Malaysian Prime
Minister's office and at Khazanah, where she spearheaded a nation-building
project called the Khazanah Merdeka Series, which
included creating the Khazanah Global Lecture series on Development that successfully procured Nobel
Laureates like Kofi Annan, Muhammad Yunus and Joseph Stiglitz to address the Malaysian public, network
with focus groups and live casted to several public universities. The project was recently documented in
book form. Ms. Alias currently looks at investment strategies and formulating policies for the Creative
Industries and forming successful Creative Clusters in a country like Malaysia. She also serves as a trustee
for a royal foundation, Yayasan Tuanku Nur Zahirah, which is committed to improving lives through
promoting heritage-related social businesses, and is currently working on a project to revive and re-brand
a traditional embroidered and woven textile called "Songket" from Terengganu, a state on the east coast of
Malaysia. Ms. Alias is also a member of Sisters in Islam, a movement to promote reform in Islamic family
law and the rights of Muslim women. Prior to this, she practiced international law from 1997 to 2001 at the
United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva, Switzerland where she was assessing international
law claims of damages in the 1990 Gulf war. From 2001-2003, she practiced corporate law in London, UK
in an American law firm specializing in cross-border energy transactions, Vinson & Elkins RLLP. She
earlier trained in London and Singapore as a telecoms equity analyst at Banque Paribas (now BNP), a
French bank. She returned to Asia and became the Group General Counsel of AirAsia in 2005 and was
heavily involved in aircraft financing and the aviation business. Ms. Alias read law at the International
Islamic University, Malaysia and the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
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FAIYSAL ALIKHAN
Faiysal AliKhan is Senior Advisor Public Policy for DHL Pakistan. He is a member of
Pakistan's International Chamber of Commerce and chairs the Customs and Trade
Regulation Commission. He founded FIDA (www.fida.com.pk), a development
organization based in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. The organization is focused on rural
development, sustainable livelihood and engaging disenfranchised youth. He is also a
board member of the Rural Support Programmes Netwok (www.rspn.org).
MANIRA ALVA PINTO
Manira Alva Pinto is an Executive Director with Miditech Private Limited, a leading
television production house which is now partnered by Turner International. A Delhi
University graduate, she has been associated with all forms of media, ranging from
print journalism and radio to new media and television. Over the years, Ms. Pinto
has specialized in developmental documentary film-making and made several films
for donor agencies like the UNDP. At Miditech, she set up the news and current
affairs division and produced several unusual series for BBC World, including
"Commando" and "Take Off." Apart from the
professional, she is passionately interested in the global women's movement with specific reference to
political empowerment, and is actively involved with the U.S. -based NGO Vital Voices. Her
developmental media background was recognized by the Government of India when the Union Ministry of
Rural Development nominated her to the CAPART (Council for the Advancement of People and Rural
Technologies)-South India Board in 2005. She is actively involved with Karuna, an all- India NGO working
with the empowerment of women in the legal and political sphere. At Karuna, she is currently working on
an ambitious plan to build a centre to train women for political participation under a Constitutional
reservations scheme for women. She is a Member of the Press Club of India and the India Habitat Centre.
IVA AMINUDDIN
Iva Aminuddin is currently serving in the Singapore Public Service as a Manager in
the Civil Service College (CSC), Singapore. Her work focuses on sharing Singapore's
governance experience with governments from the ASEAN and South Asian regions.
Ms. Aminuddin has also been actively involved in local and international
volunteerism. She is currently on the Advisory Panel on the Youth Expedition Project
(YEP) with the Singapore National Youth Council and had previously led a YEP
Project with the Young Sikh Association (Singapore) to India where she focused on
breaking down social and cultural barriers among youths from
different walks of life. Ms. Aminuddin has also been involved with organizations from different ethnic
backgrounds such as the Mendaki Club (focusing on upliftment of Malay youth in Singapore), the Malay
Youth Literary Association (4PM), and the YMCA (Young Men Christian Association). As a former theatre
practitioner, she was also the President of an ethnic Malay non-profit theatre group, Teater Ekamatra, and
has been active in utilizing theatre techniques and experiences to reach out to youths. She has written and
spoken extensively on the role of youths in the Malay Muslim community in Singapore.
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SUTAPA AMORNVIVAT
Sutapa Amornvivat is currently Executive Vice President and Head of Risk Analytics
and Research at TMB Bank in Thailand. Prior to that, she was an Economist at the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC. She had also served as
Advisor to the Thai Senate Committee on the Economy, Commerce and Industry, as
well as Director, Macroeconomic Analysis Section at the Fiscal Policy Office, Thai
Ministry of Finance. She has lectured at various universities in Asia including
Hitotsubashi University, the Indian Institute of Technology, Chulalongkorn
University, and Thammasart University. She conducted research on regional
economic policy issues at the World Bank in Washington and the Harvard Institute for International
Development. Dr. Amornvivat received an undergraduate degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvard
University and a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
BAM PAOLO BENIGNO A. AQUINO IV
Bam Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV is the Co-Founder and President of Microventures,
Inc., a social business enterprise that services microfinancing organizations and their
clients. After having ended his stint in government, he has recently been involved in a
number of entrepreneurial efforts. In 2007, he joined the board of Rags2Riches, Inc.,
another social business enterprise that helps underprivileged women with livelihood
projects. Previously Mr. Aquino was made Chairman of the National Youth
Commission (NYC), the main youth policy-making
arm of the Philippine Government from 2003 to 2006. Previous to this, he was Commissioner- at-Large for
two years. He was the youngest person in Philippine history to head a government agency. He also hosted
Breakfast, a youth-oriented TV morning talk show aired over ABS- CBN's Studio 23 from 2001 to 2006,
and Yspeak, from 2006 to 2007, another youth-oriented show on the same channel. He is currently one of
the ambassadors of the Haribon Foundation and is the current President of the TAYO (Ten Accomplished
Youth Organizations) Awards Foundation, the country's premier youth award -giving body for youth
groups. His first publication, Young Southeast Asia, a book that focuses on young achievers in the region
and commissioned by the ASEAN, has recently been released in leading bookstores across ASEAN.
JUMAATUN AZMI
Jumaatun Azmi is the Founder and Managing Director of KasehDia Sdn Bhd, a niche
communication and consultancy firm focused on the application of Islamic concepts.
Under Ms. Azmi's leadership, the company has created world renowned events and
publications and consulted the government on Halal matters. KasehDia Consultancy
was involved in the drafting of the Halal Chapter of Malaysia's 3rd Industrial Master
Plan after being appointed as consultant by the Ministry of International Trade and
Industry in 2006. It also developed the initial framework of the Halal Industry
Development Corporation for the Malaysian Prime Minister's Office. Ms. Azmi is the
Editor of The Halal Journal, a trade publication on the Halal industry currently
distributed in over 35 countries. She also founded the award winning Halal Food Guide series which to date
has covered eight countries. Ms. Azmi's other accomplishments in the related industry include the creation
of The World Halal Forum, Halal Journal TV, Halal Journal Award, Halal Restaurant Awards and the Halal
Journal Workshop Series. Due to her prolific and cutting edge work, Ms. Azmi has been featured in various
international mainstream media including the Asia Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, International
Herald Tribune and Bloomberg. She holds a degree in Communications (Honours) from the University of
Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
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LIDA BALOCH
Lida Baloch is a women’s rights activist working on promoting civil society activities
and the promotion of women's role in Afghan society. In May 2004, Ms. Baloch was
selected as a board member for the Afghan Civil Society Forum. She has attended
several conferences and summits, such as the Women Global Summit 2007, to raise
the voices of Afghan women in different sectors. At the age of 26, she is working
full time with the Asia Foundation, and is a student at the American University of
Afghanistan (AUAF). She is pursuing a major in International Business and minor
in Political Science, with a focus on advocating the
empowerment of women.
RIKA BEPPU
Rika Beppu is a Managing Partner of Simmons & Simmons, an international law firm,
and advises clients on corporate law transactions as a solicitor qualified in England and
Wales (1994). Between 1996 and 1998, Ms. Beppu worked in the firm's Hong Kong
office (and obtained her qualification as a Hong Kong solicitor in 1997) and
subsequently on secondment at a major Tokyo law firm. During her time in Tokyo, she
was seconded to the Project Finance Department of The Japan Bank for International
Co-operation (formerly The Japan Export-Import Bank) in March 1998, where she
continued to focus on international transactions. Ms. Beppu is a former
Secretary of the Executive Committee of the British Japanese Law Association. After obtaining a BA in
Foreign Languages and Studies from Sophia University in Tokyo, she studied English law at the University
of Birmingham and at De Montford University, prior to passing the England and Wales solicitor's exams
in 1992. She founded the firm's Tokyo office in 2001, and leads the team of international lawyers as the
office's Managing Partner.
SHARIF BHUIYAN
Sharif Bhuiyan is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh practicing in the
areas of commercial law, energy, international arbitration, international trade and
regional integration. He is a founding member and the Acting Director of the South
Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS), which has
been established recently as a regional centre of excellence for research and education
in law and human rights from a South Asian perspective. Mr. Bhuiyan teaches a course
in the MA in Governance and Development programme of BRAC University designed
for and taught to civil servants. He received LL.M. and Ph.D.
degrees from Cambridge University, UK. His most recent publication is National Law in WTO Law:
Effectiveness and Good Governance in the World Trading System (New York and Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2007).
WEN BO
Wen Bo is Pacific Environment's Beijing-based China Program Co-Director. Mr. Bo
graduated from the China School of Journalism in Beijing, and earned his master's
degree in international relations at the KDI School of International Policy and
Management in Seoul, South Korea. He is a founder of the China Green Student Forum,
which is now a network of more than 100 student environmental groups. He was a
journalist at China Environment News from 1996 to 1998, and studied for a certificate
course at the Center for Environment Education in India in 1997. In 2000, Mr. Bo set
up a Greenpeace office in Beijing, and is currently on the China Advisory
Board of Global Greengrants Fund to facilitate the growth of environmental communities in China.
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VINCENT BRANIFF
Vincent Braniff is a student of International Relations and Humanities at St Paul's
College in Sydney University, where he is also a tutor. He graduated from medicine
and surgery at the University of Adelaide in 1993. His interest in international
affairs was evident early, traveling through Eastern Europe as a student during the
collapse of soviet communism and joining other students protesting in the 'Prague
Spring'. Dr. Braniff’s medical career has included service for the Australian
military and UN peacekeeping, in areas such as East Timor and Bougainville. In
addition, he has worked as a doctor in the Caucasus,
West Africa, and Asia, and undertaken surgical training in Australia. In recent years, he has developed his
own international businesses as a young entrepreneur, engaging the international community in commerce
through trade, medical tourism, housing projects, and international start-up incubation. In addition to
medicine and business, Dr. Braniff has a view toward the field of international security and a future career
in public service at the national and international level.
NEEL BROKER____________________________________________________
Neel Broker is Principal and India Head for Laureate Education and Sterling
Partners, both part of one of the world's largest private education groups. He is
responsible for leading the group's effort to setup world-class post-secondary, K-12
and other education institutions in India. Previously, Mr. Broker was a Director with
Merrill Lynch's Principal Investing group in Hong Kong focused on private equity
investments in India. Neel has worked with McKinsey in East Asia and the US, and
with Deutsche Bank in the US and Europe. He has an MBA from The Wharton
School, and an undergraduate degree from BITS Pilani in India.
PAUL BUENCONSEJO
Paul Buenconsejo is the Senior Program Manager of the Metrobank Foundation. Mr. Buenconsejo has played
an instrumental role in developing Metrobank Foundation's various programs, having been with the
organization for the past thirteen years. He conceptualized the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence
(MADE), Country's Outstanding Policemen in Service (COPS) and The Outstanding Philippine Soldiers
(TOPS) programs, and currently manages the Foundation's Grants Excellence Awards Program and
Healthcare (GEAPH) Unit. He is concurrently Assistant to the President at the Manila Doctors Hospital – in
which the Foundation has a majority share – and oversees the implementation of its CSR program. He is a
member of and was the immediate past Chair of the Health Committee of the League of Corporate
Foundations. Mr. Buenconsejo has a degree in Philosophy from St. Louis University in Baguio.
MYRISH CADAPAN-ANTONIO
Myrish Cadapan -Antonio is a Faculty Member of the Silliman University College of Law in Junior Partner,
EDLaw Office. She is a distinguished academician teaching corporate law, legal and judicial ethics, and
international human rights at Silliman University. She was elected the lone woman councilor of Dumaguete
City from 2001 -2007. As councilor, she chaired the committee on Women and Family Life, and drafted
legislation on Public Order, Women and Development, Gender Non -Discrimination and Public Safety.
Since 2004, she has provided pro-bono counsel for victims of spousal and parental abuse. Ms. CadapanAntonio received her LL.B, cum laude, from Silliman University in 1999 and her LL.M in George
Washington University Law School – where she also received the Thelma Weaver Memorial Award (for
outstanding international LLM student) and Lifetime Feminist Award (for excellence in feminist legal
practice) – in 2007.
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MERIA CARSTARPHEN
Meria Carstarphen is the Superintendent of the Saint Paul Public Schools. Dr.
Carstarphen leads an urban, public school district with an annual budget of $628M,
6,500 employees, and 40,000 pre-kindergarten-12th grade students in over 120
schools and programs. She is deeply involved in boards that serve children and
families such as the Council of the Great City Schools, Educational Testing
Service, and Minnesota Children's Museum. She obtained a doctorate in
Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of
Education. She has also studied at the University of Seville, Spain and
University of Innsbruck, Austria. Ms. Carstarphen hails from Selma, Alabama where she began her
teaching career.
AASMANI CHAUDHARY
Aasmani Chaudhary is the Founder and Chairperson of the Rural Women Development
Center, which she has chaired for the last 14 years. The Rural Women Development
Centre (RWDC) is a Non-Governmental Organization based in Dang District, Nepal,
working on women's and children's empowerment. A young, enterprising and dynamic
community leader, Ms. Chaudhary is well-known for her commitment and fight against
domestic violence in rural and marginalized communities, and for improving their
livelihood through income -generating activities. She has involved thousands of women
in the process of promoting reproductive health (RH) rights, advocating for their right
to parental property, and
raising awareness against sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. She has strongly advocated
for women's RH rights and gender parity working through line agencies at the district level.
FIZA CHAUDHRY
Fiza Chaudhry is an Executive Director at the Worldwide Group of companies in
Pakistan. Worldwide Group is a family run Logistics and Automobile conglomerate
(OCS Pakistan, Logex, APL, WWM). Ms. Chaudhry has been managing the
companies since 2001 and she is actively involved in restructuring, strategy, and
monitoring of the Group's core functions. She has over 7 years experience in
International Negotiation, Finance, HR, Legal, and has been involved in
consolidation and expansion strategies concerning the Group Real Estate. She has
organized several relief operations during the earthquake and flood disasters in the
last 5 years. Her current social initiative is a project (Tabdeel) which focuses on
providing sustainable solutions for urban low to medium income individual
households. Ms. Chaudhry is a member of KCC, PGBF, PJBF, PFBA, PCC, and has a B.A in
Government from Cornell University (Class of 2003).
GEORGE CHEN______________________________________________________
George Chen is Private Equity Correspondent for Reuters Asia, a position he was
appointed to in September. He will be relocated to Hong Kong in December. Prior to
this position, he was Senior China Financial Services Correspondent, based in Shanghai
for Reuters News Agency. Mr. Chen joined Reuters in 2005 from Dow Jones Newswires
where he covered China's banking industry reform. He started his journalist career at
China's official newspaper Liberation Daily in 2002. Mr. Chen is the winner of DJN
Asia-Pacific Star Award in 2004 and 2005. He was named Reuters Company News
Reporter of the Year in 2006 and won Reuters Asia CEO Award in
2007, Reuters Business Story of the Year Award in 2007. He is also a winner of U.S. journalism award
"30 Under 30" in 2007. He is the founding chairman of the Sino-Foreign Media Club, one of the biggest
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foreign media groups in China since 2004. News and in-depth analysis reports by George Chen are
frequently published on major global media outlets like International Herald Tribune.
CHEY CHUL WON
Chey Chul Won is the CEO of M&M corp., a logistics company covering
transportation, satellite DMB and telecommunication parts. Mr. Chey was Executive
Director of SK Global before joining M&M corp. He graduated from Korea
University in Seoul.
SU YEN CHIA
Su Yen Chia is the Vice-President of Public Policy at Credit Suisse, Asia-Pacific. Ms.
Chia’s responsibilities include crafting policy positions in matters pertaining to the
development of financial markets, writing policy papers, and managing sustainable
development issues for Credit Suisse's APAC operations. She has spent the majority of
her career as a banking professional. In her personal life she is deeply involved in
matters related to minority and women's rights. Ms. Chia underwent an attachment with
UNDP based in New York where she helped draft the APAC Gender Policy Report for
2005 and developed UNDP's reporting framework for the Millennium
Development Project. Currently Su Yen is working on crafting a financial awareness program that ties in
with career development objectives targeted at teenage girls incarcerated by the Singaporean judicial
system. Su Yen has also been nominated to participate in Georgetown University’s (Washington DC)
prestigious Georgetown Leadership Seminar in the spring of 2009. She is a graduate of the Columbia
University School of International and Public Affairs and a Sasakawa Fellow.
MITSURU CLAIRE CHINO
Mitsuru Claire Chino is General Manager in the Legal Department at ITOCHU
Corporation, an international trading company that she joined as a corporate counsel in
2000. Ms. Chino was born in the Netherlands and spent her formative years in England,
Japan and the U.S. She received her B.A. (cum laude) from Smith College and her J.D.
from Cornell Law School. She was admitted to the California bar in 1991. Ms. Chino
worked for an international law firm in its Newport Beach (California), Hong Kong,
Tokyo and San Francisco offices, specializing in cross-border transactions. She became
the firm’s partner in 1999. The World Economic Forum selected her as one of the “100
Global Leaders for Tomorrow” in 2003 and as a “Young Global Leader” in 2005. In her spare time, she
lectures at Keio University Law School and Hitotsubashi Business School. Ms. Chino is an Advisory
Council member of Cornell Law School and a member of the President’s Counsel of Cornell Women of
Cornell University. She is co-chair of the Corporate Counsel Sub-Committee of the American Chamber of
Commerce in Japan, and is active in promoting women’s interest in corporate Japan.
HYUN-JIN CHO____________________________________________________
Hyun-Jin Cho is a journalist, head of the news division, and Special Assistant to the
President at Arirang TV based in Seoul, Korea. He started out his career at YTN, a
24-hour news channel, and mainly covered business and finance news. Mr. Cho also
worked as an executive consultant at Invest KOREA, Korea's investment promotion
agency, where he handled investment and promotion activities. He participated in the
European Union's Visitor Program in 2003 and CNN International Professional
Program in 2002. He also served as a marketing
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consultant for the Seoul Metropolitan Government from 2004 to 2006. Mr. Cho studied economics at
Clark University and received his MBA from Yonsei University.
H.S. CHO
H.S. Cho is the Senior Vice President at the Corporate Strategy Center at Hyosung
Group. Mr. Cho is a Member of the Management Committee (Hyosung Group’s
Supreme decision making board) and a Member of the Board of Hyosung Group’s
several subsidiaries (in charge of Group’s Key Decision Making/Strategic
Planning/Operations). His past experience includes Consultant, Bain & Company,
Tokyo/Seoul. In this role, he executed many Asian MNC’s cases. Mr. Cho also served
as a Manager at NTT Communications Corporation (largest Telecom in Japan,
Tokyo). As a regular participant of the World Economic Forum, Mr. Cho has
also been selected as a member of the “Asian Young Leader’s Forum” by the Korea/Japan Foundation
(2005). He graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Brown University/Yonsei University. Mr. Cho is
fluent in Korean, English, and Japanese. He is an enthusiastic lover of sports, traveling, photography, and
gastronomy.
KATHERINE CHON
Katherine Chon is President and Co-Founder of Polaris Project, one of the largest
leading nonprofit organizations combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery
in the U.S. She has worked closely with survivors of trafficking through crisis
intervention and service provision. Ms. Chon has testified before the U.S. Congress
and has provided consultation to government and non-government agencies, including
law enforcement, service providers, and foreign delegations. She has been recognized
for her leadership and social entrepreneurship with numerous honors including the Do
Something BRICK Award and Redbook Magazine's
Strength and Spirit Award. Ms. Chon has a B.Sc. in Psychology from Brown University.
SIDDHARTH CHORARIA
Siddharth Choraria is Senior Associate with Merrill Lynch, Asia-Pacific. He has five years
of global capital markets experience working in Washington DC, New York, and now
Hong Kong. Leading the establishment of the Hong Kong Chapter for Pratham, India's
largest education-focused NGO, he has a deep commitment to education issues and their
critical importance in sustaining growth and development in Asia. He is also a founding
partner of MeiPort, an Internet startup connecting outstanding Asian students with the
international business community. At Merrill Lynch, Mr. Choraria led the formation of
New York South Asian Professional Network. He holds a MSc. in Financial
Engineering from The George Washington University and is President of the University's Alumni
Association in Hong Kong.
NAZIM FARHAN CHOUDHURY
Nazim Farhan Choudhury is the Managing Director at Adcomm Limited, a leading
advertising agency in Bangladesh. After returning to Bangladesh following college
education abroad, Mr. Choudhury joined the family’s advertising business and has
worked tirelessly to developing communication for some of leading commercial brands
in the country as well as bringing the slickness of advertising and marketing to socially
oriented messages and activities. Over the last 14 years he has taken their advertising
agency Adcomm to a leadership position in the country as well as diversified the business
into other areas including IT services, human resource development and
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tourism. He plays an active role in the AdClub Dhaka as a joint convener and with the Bangladesh
Association of Software and Information Services (www.basis.org.bd) as a Director. His role in
encouraging youths to participate in the political process is well documented through his writings in leading
newspapers and a personal blog [http://nazimfarha.blogspot.com]. He is one of the founding trustees of
Phiriya Ano Bangladesh (Take Back Bangladesh), a youth organization aimed at providing a platform for
future leaders of the country. He was named by the national daily newspaper New Age as one of the "Faces
of the Future" in their 2006 annual "Heroes" compilation. Mr. Choudhury received his degree in Economics
from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi.
EDMON CHUNG
Edmon Chung is the CEO of DotAsia Organisation and serves as the Vice Chair for
the Internet Society Hong Kong. He is also an elected member of the Election
Committee of the HKSAR (http://www.eac.gov.hk/en/ecse/function.htm) and the
ICANN GNSO Council (http://gnso.icann.org) . Mr. Chung is an inventor of patents
underlying technologies enabling multilingual domain names and email addresses
for the Internet. In 2000, The Globe and Mail recognized him as one of the Young
Canadian Leaders. In 2001, Mr. Chung led his company to win the Most Innovative
Award in the Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurship Award.
STEVE WOO-SUNG CHUNG
Steve Woo-Sung Chung is the Chief Strategy Officer for CDNetworks, Inc., a publicly
traded company on Korea's KOSDAQ providing Internet content delivery network
(CDN) services, which is Asia's #1 provider. He is responsible for corporate strategy,
M&A and the company's global businesses in US, Europe, Japan and China.
Previously, Mr. Chung was a venture capitalist for BlueRun Ventures in Silicon
Valley, a $1 billion venture capital fund initiated by Nokia. Prior to that, he was the
COO for Pan Media Corporation in Beijing and analyst for Goldman Sachs in NY. He
received his A.B. from Harvard and his MBA from Stanford.
MATTHEW CLARKE
Matthew Clarke is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Deakin University (Australia)
post-graduate program in International and Community Development. This program
teaches over 400 students in the Asia-Pacific region how to engage with communities
to better improve the lives of the poor. In addition to teaching, Dr. Clarke’s research
interests include climate change, aid effectiveness, HIV/AIDS and the Millennium
Development Goals. He has published five books, edited four, and presented or
published over 80 journal papers, book chapters and conference presentations. Prior to
Dr. Clarke’s academic career, he worked for the international
organization “World Vision” and was responsible for managing and designing development projects in
South-East Asia.
JANE COOMBS
Jane Coombs has been serving as New Zealand's Ambassador to Korea since January
2006. She is concurrently New Zealand's Ambassador to the Democratic Peoples
Republic of Korea. She is delighted her first Ambassadorial assignment is in Asia.
Indeed, it seemed critical to her to experience this dynamic region first hand. She has
extensive prior diplomatic experience: in New York, where she represented New
Zealand from 1989 -93 on the Third Committee of the United Nations dealing with
human rights, social and cultural issues; in Moscow as
Deputy Head of Mission, from 1995-1999, where she witnessed the first democratic elections of the newly
formed Russian Federation and its early economic and social upheavals following the collapse of the Soviet
Union; in Canberra, from 1999 -2003, working on taking forward the closer economic relationship (CER)
and exploring the "behind the border" issues that arise when forging closer economic integration; and in
the arena of international environmental negotiations, where she was lead negotiator for New Zealand
during 2004-05 in the international bodies dealing with biodiversity and biosafety, oceans and forestry.
NITIN DAS
Nitin Das is the Director of Filmkaar Productions and is an independent filmmaker
based in Mumbai, India. He is currently making a feature length children's film in the
slums of Mumbai that combines community development, education and the creative
arts in an unusual way. Mr. Das has a degree in marketing from one of India's leading
business schools, and was working as a brand manager for India's largest selling news
magazine before he turned to filmmaking. He also completed a filmmaking course in
New York. On returning to India, he set up a film production house to make
"extraordinary films with ordinary people." The United Nations environment
programme recently selected one of his films on Global Warming. Mr.
Das won a special award from the British Council for creative entrepreneurship in the social sector. His
next venture is to connect exceptional filmmakers from around the world with social entrepreneurs working
in fragile ecosystems to create a collection of entertaining films called "Tales from Enchanted Lands."
SONAM DHONDUP
Sonam Dhondup is a Field Director for Machik, a U.S.-based nonprofit
organization founded by Tibetans and dedicated to strengthening communities
on the Tibetan plateau through education, capacity-building and social
entrepreneurship. Mr. Dhondup and Machik seek to find innovative pathways
toward a healthy and sustainable Tibetan future, addressing the urgent
challenges Tibet faces. Previously, he was a Tibetan student leader in Beijing,
organizing major events and launching a magazine. He then served
as the principal of the largest middle school in the Tibet Autonomous Region, where he instituted
management reforms that improved the school system. Mr. Dhondup also started the first Chinese-language
Tibetan website.
KANAE DOI_________________________________________________________
Kanae Doi is the Tokyo Director of Human Rights Watch and works to encourage the
Japanese Government to prioritize human rights in its foreign policy and practices. Prior
to joining Human Rights Watch in 2006, she worked as a practicing attorney, based in
Tokyo. Her practice included refugee and immigration law, constitutional law and
criminal defense. Ms. Doi received her law degree from the University of Tokyo and
her Master's degree in International Legal Studies from the New York University School
of Law. As a student at the University of Tokyo, she spent one year in Africa as a legal
volunteer.
21
RITWICK DUTTA
Ritwick Dutta is an environmental lawyer and Founder of the Legal Initiative for
Forest and Environment (LIFE). Mr. Dutta and his team at LIFE, based in New Delhi,
provide legal support to communities, individuals and civil society groups across the
country struggling to protect their land, forests and livelihood against dams, mines
and mindless industrialization. He is the author of 11 books on environmental law.
Besides litigation, he is involved in environmental law training to communities as
well as to officers of the Government, and serves as legal
advisor to various civil society groups. Mr. Dutta is a recipient of the 2005 Carl Zeiss Honor Roll, and the
Sanctuary ABN Ambro Wildlife Service Award 2007, for his work on using law to protect forests and
wildlife habitat. In 2008, he was selected as an Ashoka Fellow – a network of leading social entrepreneurs
in the world. His current mission includes protecting nature by democratizing environmental decisionmaking for which he leads "The Access Initiative Himalayan Coalition (TAI Himalayas)” and the EIA
Response Centre.
ZAHID EBRAHIM
Zahid Ebrahim is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan who specializes in free
speech and constitutional law. At present, he is advising the leading coalition partner in
the Pakistan government on issues of judicial reforms. He has played an important role
in the lawyer's movement for the restoration of an independent judiciary and has
suffered illegal arrest during the martial law imposed in Pakistan in November 2007.
Previously, Mr. Ebrahim has worked with Interights and Article IX on their
international litigation project and is presently nominated as the 2008 Drapper Hill
Summer Fellow at Stanford University. His articles have been published in the
U.K., U.S., India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
MING FAN
Ming Fan is an award-winning TV producer for News Probe, the only in-depth
investigative reporting program at China Central TV Station (CCTV). Her
work, The Unnatural Death of a Cat, investigated one of the most infamous
incidents in China's powerful Internet culture, and received the 2006 Special
Jury Award from the China Documentary Association. Another piece, In the
Name of Life, was the first show to cover the real life of homosexuals in China,
and won the 2006 Chinese Academic Award for best TV documentary. She
has also won numerous Golden Awards at CCTV (the
highest awards given by the station) for her investigation into sensitive news issues and scandals,
including high ranking corruption, child suicide, medical malpractice, environmental pollution,
and social injustice. She served on the executive committee of the Chinese Youth League of CCTV
from 2005 to 2007. From September 2007 to July 2008, she studied under the auspices of the
Nieman Foundation at Harvard University. She also participated in the Tallberg Forum in Sweden
in June 2008.
DENNIS ECLARIN
Dennis Eclarin is the Founder of Hometown Corporation, a company whose aim is to
alleviate poverty in geographically-isolated highland and island towns. After graduating
from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Major Dennis Eclarin served as
a combat commander in the elite Scout Ranger Regiment of the Philippine Army. While
in the war zones, he authored two books on combat
22
techniques. Convinced that he had to fight another war, he soon advocated social entrepreneurship. Thus,
he founded Hometown Corporation, a microfinance company solely dedicated to serving the hard to reach
areas.
DAN FELDMAN
Dan Feldman is a Partner and Co -Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at
the law firm Foley Hoag LLP, the only Corporate Social Responsibility legal practice
in the U.S., where he advises multinational corporations on international human rights
and labor rights standards. He previously served as Director of Multilateral and
Humanitarian Affairs at the National Security Council in the Clinton Administration,
and as Counsel to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee. Mr. Feldman has worked in Asia and Africa on human rights and
democratization issues, been awarded a White House Fellowship and a Henry Luce
Scholarship. He holds degrees from Tufts, Columbia, and Princeton Universities.
VAHID FOTUHI
Vahid Fotuhi is the Head of Middle East Analysis for British Petroleum. He is also the
founder of the Dubai Literary Society which promotes critical thinking among youth in
Dubai. In his previous role, Mr. Fotuhi spent three years living in North Africa where
he led BP's corporate social responsibility projects in Algeria. He played a key role in
initiatives ranging from providing 600 local artisans with technical and marketing
assistance (www.illizi.uk.com), to helping promote a world-class CO2 carbon
sequestration project deep in the Saharan desert. Mr. Fotuhi has held senior positions
with several distinguished NGO's, including Transparency International,
where he pioneered an in-depth review of corruption in Iran. He has also worked with the World Economic
Forum's Global Leaders of Tomorrow in Davos from 2000-2002. Mr. Fotuhi holds an MS in International
Relations from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he
studied under the Olin Fellowship. He received his BA in Political Science from McGill University, and
has also completed executive leadership training at the Dale Carnegie Institute.
SHINICHIRO FUKUSHIGE
Shinichiro Fukushige is a venture capitalist specializing in cross-border investments
at Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, a VC subsidiary of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
He specializes in investments in businesses that are enabled, or are enabled by, ICT
and advances in physical sciences. He focuses in particular on enterprises whose
potential is fully realized by connecting technologies and markets across borders.
Prior to becoming a venture capital professional, he worked for close to a decade in
Japan with venture and growth stage multinationals
in various sectors of the IT industry, including serving as President of a NASDAQ-listed IT organization’s
Japanese subsidiary. Mr. Fukushige also sits on the nomination committee for the Entrepreneur of the Year
Japan.
PATRICIA ISABEL GALLARDO
Patricia Isabel Gallardo is currently the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Manager at the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts in the Philippines. She has more than
five years of NGO experience, having worked for The Asia Foundation, Figaro
Foundation, UNDP Special Projects and the Office of the President of the Philippines.
She has set up the Birmingham (UK) Chapter of the United Nations Association and
continues to work with the Asia Europe Young Leaders and ASEF University program
of which she is an alumnus. She speaks Italian, German and
Spanish, is vegetarian and a yoga practitioner/teacher. She holds a joint MA in Globalization & Governance
on scholarship from the University of Birmingham and the London School of Economics where she
graduated with Distinction.
SU-LIN GAN
Gan Su-lin has led Republic Polytechnic's (RP) Centre for Culture and
Communication since 2004 and concurrently served as the Founding Director of the
School of Technology for the Arts from January 2005 to October 2007. Prior to RP,
she was a tenured professor at Nanyang Technological University's School of
Communication and Information, serving as Sub-Dean from 2001- 2003. A media
psychologist by academic training, Dr. Gan gained professional experience in
journalism and public relations through work in Singapore, Brunei, London, and the
United States, including at CNN. Since returning to Singapore in 1996, she has become
a familiar face in Singapore's youth development scene. Her public service
appointments include the National Youth Council and the North West Community Development Council.
Her vision for youths is “Heads that understand, Hearts that empathize, Hands that freely give.” Two values
most often manifest in her youth development work are a definition of wealth that extends far beyond
material possessions, and the belief that hang hang chu zhuang yuan (Mandarin for "every field of work
can produce a top scholar"). In 2006, in recognition of her community contributions, Dr. Gan was awarded
the Public Service Medal by the President of Singapore.
DANG HUONG GIANG
Dang Huong Giang founded Action for the City in 2006 to promote sustainable urban
development. Action for the City, a registered local non- governmental organization
in Hanoi, encourages citizens to minimize consumption of resources, carries out
communication campaigns on reduction of transport emissions, and promotes green
spaces and green buildings. Ms. Giang has been an active advocate for civil society
in Vietnam for the past decade as a senior trainer and consultant
for the Center for Community Empowerment and as Education Program Manager for Catholic Relief
Services. She holds a MA in sociology from Catholic University of America, Washington DC.
RAJ GOYLE
Raj Goyle is in his first term representing the 87th District in the Kansas House of
Representatives. Called a "rising star" by the Wichita Eagle, Mr. Goyle defeated a threeterm incumbent and is committed to a bipartisan, common sense approach to lawmaking.
Goyle serves on the Tax, Judiciary, and Veterans/Homeland Security Committees and
co-wrote the recently enacted law protecting families from picketers at the funerals of
Kansas' fallen soldiers. Mr. Goyle is a lecturer at Wichita State University and an
attorney. A native Wichitan, he graduated from Duke University and Harvard Law
School.
TAMAO GUNN_______________________________________________________________
Tamao Gunn has been an investment banker at Merrill Lynch since 1998. For the last 10 years, she has
worked in the investment banking division covering Japanese financial institutions including Japanese mega
banks. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, she was an attorney in New York for Skadden Arps and Milbank
Tweed, mainly focusing on corporate finance and project finance that originated in emerging markets. She has
truly enjoyed investment banking work at Merrill Lynch as it has provided her with the opportunity to work on
business origination in addition to transaction execution. In particular, the recent financial turmoil and the
drastic change in the financial landscape globally via consolidation has been very interesting for her as a
banker, and has given her the opportunity to reassess the importance of global
24
financial stability and the role that Japanese financial institutions could play in this event. She holds an
LLB from Keio University and Sydney University and was admitted as an attorney in the state of New
York and the state of New South Wales in Australia.
ANSHU GUPTA
Anshu Gupta is the Founder and Director of GOONJ. Popularly known as the Clothing
Man, he studied Mass Communication apart from pursuing his Masters in Economics.
After a few years in the corporate sector, he founded GOONJ in 1998 with a mission to
make clothing a matter of concern and get it acknowledged as a subject in the society.
An Ashoka Fellow and a member of Ashoka's think tank, Mr. Gupta is creating a mass
movement for recycling and reuse of tons of urban waste by channelizing it as a resource
for rural development. A well respected public speaker and motivator, he is also a keen
writer, traveler and photographer. Under his effective
leadership, GOONJ has won many prestigious awards including the most recent ones: the India NGO of
the Year award, Changemakers award and the DM award from the World Bank.
MENAKA GURUSWAMY
Menaka Guruswamy is an advocate in New Delhi, India. She has practiced law at the
Office of the Attorney General of India, the highest office that represents the federal
government of India in the Supreme Court of India. Ms. Guruswamy has also practiced
law in New York, as an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell, a large American law
firm, where her primary area of practice was commercial law. In addition, she has
worked as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program and the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), advising both on law reform. This
past year she was an Assistant Professor at New
York University's School of Law. Ms. Guruswamy presently lives in New Delhi, where she practices law,
and focuses on Constitutional Law scholarship and litigation. She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford
University, a Gammon Fellow at Harvard Law School, and a gold medalist from the National Law School
of India. She has law degrees from all three schools, with a focus on Constitutional Law and Public
International Law.
ALAMDAR S. HAMDANI
Alamdar Shabbir Hamdani is an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern
District of Kentucky. Before that he was in private practice in Houston where his
practice involved civil rights and liberties work. Over the past few years, Mr. Hamdani
has dedicated a significant portion of his free time to civil rights issues facing
Muslims, South Asians, and Arabs in a post 9-11 environment and in that regard has
defended many individuals in voluntary FBI interviews, debated Department of
Justice officials, and published several opinion pieces in The Dallas Morning News
and The Houston Chronicle. He is also a contributor to the American Bar
Association's Supreme Court Preview. Much of Mr. Hamdani’s community
work has come as the President-Elect of the North American South Asian Bar Association, and as the first
South Asian or Muslim board member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. This work has
culminated in several awards including recognition by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as
one of Houston’s top 40 people to make an impact on civil rights, and by the Texas Law Foundation as a
top civil rights attorney. Mr. Hamdani received his BA from The University of Texas at Austin, and JD
from the University of Houston, where he served as an editor on the University of Houston Law Review.
25
PIYA HANVORAVONGCHAI
Piya Hanvoravongchai is a Lecturer in Health Policy at the London School of
Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. His interests span the areas of health systems, health
economics, international health policy, and global development. Mr.
Hanvoravongchai has over 12 years of work experience in the public health sector.
He started his career as a clinician and later a hospital director at a rural hospital in
Thailand. He then expanded to health policy and health systems research with
previous professional experiences as researcher at the Health Systems Research
Institute and research fellow at the International Health Policy Programme in Thailand, research scientist
at the World Health Organization in Switzerland and research associate at Harvard University in the United
States of America. He was also the Co-ordinator of the Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources
for Health (AAAH) from 2006-2008. He received his M.D. from Mahidol University and his M.Sc. in
International Health Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
KIYONO HASAKA
Kiyono Hasaka is the Vice President of Sales, Global Payments & Cash
Management at HSBC in Japan. She is responsible for promoting cash management
solutions to financial institutions and multinational and local corporations in Japan.
Prior to joining HSBC, she worked for the Bank of America Global Treasury
Services in Tokyo and Singapore where she was responsible for providing treasury
management and trade finance solutions for multinational corporations, local
corporations and government agencies in the Asia Pacific region. Earlier in her
career, Ms. Hasaka worked for a number of
years at the then Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi marketing cash management solutions in Singapore. She holds
a Bachelor of Social Science degree (with honours) from the City University in the UK and her MBA from
Deakin University in Australia. Ms. Hasaka takes an active interest in the equality of women in the
corporate work place.
IVAN ANTHONY HENARES
Ivan Anthony Henares is a trustee of the Heritage Conservation Society and
member of the International Cultural Tourism Committee (ICTC) of the
International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), as well as a staunch
advocate of cultural heritage. He was Program Director of the Preserving
Heritage for Progress Program of the City of San Fernando, Pampanga and
subsequently served as City Tourism Officer and later, the local government's
consultant for Tourism and Heritage Conservation. The program was named one
of the League of Cities of the Philippines Top 10 Best Practices (2004) and
a Trailblazing Project at the Gawad Galing Pook (2004). Mr. Henares has received numerous recognitions
for his work in heritage conservation, including Most Outstanding Kapampangan for Youth Leadership
(2001), Most Outstanding Fernandino for the Preservation of Heritage and Promotion of the Arts (2006),
and the U.N. Association of the Philippines Outstanding Youth Leader Award (2005). His blog
www.ivanhenares.com was also judged the Best Travel Blog at the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards. Mr.
Henares graduated from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, where he received his BA in Economics
(2002), MBA (2006), and Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning (2008). He currently works as the
Marketing Operations Manager of the North Philippines Visitors Bureau.
26
LISA HEYDLAUFF
Lisa Heydlauff is the Founder & Director of Going to School (GTS), a
creative non-profit media trust based in New Delhi, India. GTS makes media
(movies, books, radio) for children in India to make going to school relevant
to children's lives and, most importantly, lots of fun. It was founded in 2003
with the belief that creative media could act as an agent of social change.
GTS creates compelling stories about the power of education, and is
committed to working with private and public sector
partners – from schools to TV channels – to ensure that as many children as possible see its media free of
cost. Going to School began with a children's book called Going to School in India that celebrated what
school can be, and its most recent project, Girl Stars, created icons out of everyday women and girls who
have changed their lives by completing their education. Girl Stars movies have been aired on national
television and have been seen by over 750 million people in India. GTS is working on its next project, Be!
an Entrepreneur – a multimedia project to inspire millions of young people from low-income groups to
choose to become entrepreneurs and to create businesses that solve the social, economic and environmental
problems they face in their lives. Ms. Heydlauff believes inspiring stories can change the way children see
their lives.
SARA HOSSAIN
Sara Hossain is a lawyer at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh (High Court Division),
practicing constitutional and public interest law. She is a Board Member of Ain o
Salish Kendra (the Law and Mediation Centre), a leading national human rights
organization and is also associated with other legal services groups. She regularly
writes, lectures and comments on human rights law and practice. Earlier, Ms. Hossain
served at the Legal Officer for South Asia at the International Centre for the Legal
Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS), based in London, where she
worked with lawyers and judges across South Asia on the process of incorporating international human
rights law in national courts. She has written and lectured on public interest law, domestic application of
international human rights law and on women's human rights. Her most recent publication is 'Honour'
Crimes Paradigms and Violence against Women (Zed 2005), co-edited with Lynn Welchman.
CHRISTOPHER HOWARD
Christopher Howard is the Vice President for Strategic & Leadership Initiatives at the
University of Oklahoma, where he also serves as the Director of the Honors College
Leadership Center and a President's Associates Presidential Professor. He has worked
in various management roles at both Bristol-Myers Squibb and General Electric and is
the Chairman of the Impact Young Lives Foundation and a Senior Advisor at
Stonebridge International. A Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Howard was called to active duty
during 2003 in Afghanistan where he was awarded a Bronze Star and currently serves
as the Reserve Air Attaché to Liberia. He has also served as the Managing Director of
Endeavor South Africa. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the US Air Force Academy.
A Rhodes Scholar, he earned his doctorate at Oxford University and an MBA with Distinction from the
Harvard Business School.
27
BI-KHIM HSIAO
Bi-khim Hsiao is Vice President of Liberal International, an organization of liberal
political parties around the world. She was a Member of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan.
Although she was one of the youngest members, Ms. Hsiao has been active in Taiwan
politics for over a decade. She is currently Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee
in the Legislative Yuan. Ms. Hsiao has also been the Director of International Affairs
for the governing Democratic Progressive Party, Consultant to the Mainland Affairs
Council, spokesperson for Chen Shui-bian’s 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns,
Advisor to the Office of the President, Secretary General of the Council of Asian
Liberals and Democrats, and President of the Taiwan
Association for Women in Sports. In addition to foreign policy issues, she continues to be outspoken on
immigrant rights, gender equality, sports, human rights and other issues in Taiwan.
YUANQIONG HU
Yuanqiong Hu works as the Staff Attorney for the China Environmental Law project
in Beijing office of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental NGO,
based in the U.S. The current project focuses on public participation and open
information in environmental protection, as well as the environmental health and law
issues. She also worked as the Advocacy Advisor for the "Access to Essential
Medicines Campaign" of the international medical humanitarian NGO Médecins Sans
Frontières/Doctors without Borders in Beijing from 2006-2008. At Médecins Sans
Frontières, she was in charge of advocating for the accessibility of essential
medicines, and using TRIPS flexibilities to safeguard public health needs. As a licensed Chinese lawyer,
she has worked as a practicing lawyer focusing on civil and commercial law, and as a teacher of economic
law. While studying at Oslo University, she worked with the "China Rule of Law" and "China Autonomous
Law" programmes at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights. She has also worked as a volunteer with
different international NGOs, including Save the Children Norway. She attained her Master of Philosophy
in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights from Oslo University in Norway, as well as a Master of Law
(LLM) and Bachelor of Law (LLB) from Shandong University in China.
DAISUKE IWASE
Daisuke Iwase is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Lifenet Insurance
Company, a web-based life insurance company that started operations in May 2008
with the aim of revolutionizing Japan's $380 billion life insurance industry. Lifenet
received more than $120 million in equity funding at its inception from leading
Japanese firms such as The Monex Group, Mitsui & Co., Seven & I Holdings, Shinsei
Bank, and Recruit, as well as global financial investors such as Farallon Capital
Management. Before co-founding Lifenet, he worked as a private equity investor with
Ripplewood Holdings and as a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.
Mr. Daisuke is a graduate of the Harvard Business School (MBA
with High Distinction) and the University of Tokyo (LLB).
ZAHID U. JAMIL
Zahid U. Jamil is a Barrister-at-Law and Senior Partner at Jamil & Jamil Barristersat-Law. He is a specialist in Banking, International Law, Property Law, Constitutional,
Conflicts of Laws, Corporate Finance, Securitization, International Law of Trade
(WTO), Privatization, Petroleum Law, Recovery of Loans, Transportation Law,
Corporate and Commercial matters. Mr. Jamil has been, as a member of the
Information Technology Law Forum, Ministry of Science & Technology, responsible
as the core drafter of the Electronic Transactions
Ordinance, 2002 and is currently working on the drafts of the Cyber Crimes Law, the Electronic Banking
Law, Telecommunication & Convergence Law and the Anti-Trust Law relating to the Information
Technology Industry of Pakistan. At present he is advising the U.S. Government on a major project based
in Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan on various regulatory issues and advising the first Pakistani Export
Finance Agency Ltd. (PEFGA) on issues from incorporation to treaty reinsurance, Export Credit and Trade
Law. He is a Professor of U.S. Constitutional Law at the Sindh Muslim Law College, University of Karachi,
and also lectures in U.K. Constitutional Law for the LL.B. (Hons), University of London at L'Ecole,
Karachi. He graduated from University College, London with an L.L.B. (Honors), is a Barrister of the
Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, London, U.K and an advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan.
NATALIE CHRISTINE JORGE
Natalie Christine "Ching" Virata Jorge is the Vice President and Director for Programs
and Research at the Bato Balani Foundation, Inc., a non-profit foundation engaged in
the management and implementation of educational development programs in the
Philippines. Committed to social and youth development, Ms. Jorge is also the
Chair/Lead Convenor for Young Public Servants (YPS), a youth organization that aims
to harness a new generation of young leaders who support and advocate democratic
citizenship and good governance. She is also the Chairperson of the Research
Committee of the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF), the leading
proponent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in the Philippines and the founder of Project
LIA (Love in Action) an advocacy campaign in support of Orphanages and Day Care Centers. Ms. Jorge's
commitment to development work includes original research, consulting and volunteer activities with
various academic institutions and NGO's. She has undertaken lead roles in development and research
programs on CSR, Policy Development and Education. She has over a decade of experience in social
development including work with the Philippine National Museum Foundation, the Policy Center and the
Center for Corporate Social Responsibility of the Asian Institute of Management. Ms. Jorge has also
published a number of articles and research on Education, Youth Development, Governance, and Corporate
Social Responsibility.
GEN KANAI__________________________________________________________
Gen Kanai is Director of Asia Business Development for Mozilla, a California-based
not-for-profit organization that develops, manages, and freely distributes the popular
Mozilla Firefox web browser. Firefox is the web browser of choice for over 100 million
Internet users worldwide in over fifty different languages. Mr. Kanai is also Director of
Marketing for Mozilla Japan. Prior to joining Mozilla, he was on the team responsible
for the launch of Technorati Japan, a weblog search engine. In 2003, he co-produced
the First International Moblogging Conference, the first worldwide conference on the
topic of mobile weblogs and personal publishing from mobile
phones with over 150 attendees from England, Italy, the U.S., and Japan. Mr. Kanai has also worked for
Sony Marketing of Japan, Sony Electronics Inc., and Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., on various Internetrelated businesses in both the U.S. and Japan. He is a fellow of the U.S.-Japan Foundation’s “US-Japan
Leadership Program.” Later in October, he will be speaking on trends in consumer-generated media at the
USC Global Conference in Tokyo. He received a B.A. in Geography from Dartmouth College in 1996. He
is proud to be born and raised in New York City and currently resides in Tokyo.
29
NEAL KATYAL
Neal Katyal is the Saunders Professor at Georgetown University Law School. Professor Katyal won
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld in the U.S. Supreme Court, where the Court found that President Bush's Guantanamo
tribunals violated the Constitution and Geneva Conventions. Mr. Katyal previously served as National
Security Adviser in the Justice Department and was commissioned by President Clinton to write a report
on the legal profession. He served as Vice President Gore's co-counsel in the 2000 Supreme Court election
dispute, and represented the Deans of most major private law schools in the landmark affirmative-action
case Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). Professor Katyal clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. His
articles have appeared in virtually every major law review and newspaper in America. Mr. Katyal was
named Lawyer of the Year in 2006 by Lawyers USA, Runner-Up for Lawyer of the Year by National Law
Journal, one of the top 50 litigators nationwide by American Lawyer. He was also named one of the 30 best
advocates before the U.S. Supreme Court by Washingtonian Magazine (2007), and one of 10 Non -Resident
Indian Achievers Worldwide by Hindustan Times. He attended Dartmouth College and Yale Law School.
HARVEY KEH
Harvey Keh is the Executive Director of Pathways to Higher Education at the
Ateneo de Manila University, an organization that aims to help marginalized
students gain access to quality higher education in the Philippines. He became
the youngest Ford Foundation grantee in the world at the age of 22 and has
helped more than 300 poor but deserving students gain a better future by
providing them with an opportunity to enter top-notch universities. He also sits
as the youngest Board Member of the Synergeia Foundation, a coalition of various public and private
institutions and individuals aimed at promoting education reform in the Philippines. Mr. Keh hosts two
regular radio programs and writes a weekly column for The People’s Taliba (a national daily). He also
teaches part-time in the Department of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University.
VIKAS KHANNA
Vikas Khanna is an Indian chef, restaurateur, food writer, and humanitarian based in New
York City. He is the founder of award winning foundations, "Cooking for Life" and SAKIV
(South Asian Kids Infinite Vision), both based in New York City. New York Chefs Cooking
for Life was founded to organize tasting events with some of the top chefs of New York to
help raise money and awareness for different relief efforts around the World. Chicago Chefs
Cooking for Life and San Francisco Chefs Cooking for Life are the other chapters of the
organization. World Chefs Cooking for Life is a series of culinary events being hosted at the
World Wonders (Pyramids, Egypt in 2006,
Taj Mahal, India in 2008) and many more, to raise awareness and funds for different foundations. Mr.
Khanna is the recipient of several National and International Awards, including New Yorker of the Week,
Proclamation from the Council of the City of New York, Access to Freedom Award and others. He studied
at Cornell University, the Culinary Institute of America and New York University and lectures on food all
over the world. He is also an author of several books, including LA Times best book of the season Modern
Indian Cooking.
BORA KIM
Bora Kim is an artist and design researcher for Samsung Electronics, and an art
community activist. She was also an Adjunct Professor at Sookmyung Women’s
University, where she lectured on design and its correlation to art history. Ms. Kim
has exhibited her work in the United States, Korea, and China, garnering critical
acclaim and receiving the Sara Lee and Skowhegan Merit Fellowships.
30
At Samsung, her area of expertise is analyzing a country’s design heritage and culture in order to develop
innovative product designs. She also had an advisory position on the Seoul City Project. Ms. Kim holds an
MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
JINAH KIM
Jinah Kim is currently a correspondent for KNBC, NBC News Channel and MSNBC in
Los Angeles, California. She is also the co-founder of WorldWiseProductions.com. Ms.
Kim wrote for the Daily Bruin while at UCLA, and then interned at CBS News in New
York City. She has served as the assistant editor of KAGRO, a national Korean
American magazine. Ms. Kim moved on to KCCN, when it was a CBS affiliate, in
Monterey, California, where she produced the 11 pm news. Over the next few years, she
went on to report and anchor at KCBA, the FOX television station in Salinas, California,
KSWB-TV Channel 5 in San Diego, California, and KUSA-TV, Channel 9
in Denver, Colorado. Ms. Kim has a passion for languages and speaks, reads and writes German, Korean
and Spanish. She is the current president of the Asian American Journalists Association's Los Angeles
chapter, and was Co-President of the national Korean American Journalists Association. She is a national
board member for the ALS Association and a founding member of the San Diego Asian Film Festival. She
has served in leadership roles for many non-profit organizations. The winner of the prestigious Wirth Chair
Awards while at KUSA-TV for three segments on the significance of recycling, Ms. Kim has also been
nominated for several Emmy awards and received two Golden Mikes, an Associated Press Award and
RTNDA Award for her reporting. She attended UCLA, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi
Beta Kappa.
ANDREW KLABER
Andrew Klaber is the President and Founder of Orphans Against AIDS, a non-profit
organization that provides 500 AIDS orphans with academic scholarships and basic
healthcare throughout seven Asian and African countries. He has worked at Goldman
Sachs, McKinsey, and the United Nations. For his commitment to public service and
leadership, Mr. Klaber presented at the 2008 World Economic Forum and was named a
Goldman Sachs Global Leader, a First-Team USA-Today Academic All-American, and
a Truman Scholar. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale (summa cum laude), his
Master of Science from Oxford (Marshall Scholar), and is pursuing a JD/MBA at
Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.
STEFAN KRATZ
Stefan Kratz is Managing Director in China for the German solar company Q-Cells,
the leading producer of solar cells in the world. He worked for many years in the
non-profit sector in China, including rural health in the Tibetan plateau, Fairtrade
certification of tea worker collectives, and biodiversity protection in northwest
Yunnan Province. Born in the US to Chinese-German parents, Mr. Kratz has spent
his life negotiating across cultures and disciplines. He attended Duke University as
an Angier B. Duke Scholar, completed his Master's in Political Science at Freie
Universitaet in Berlin, and was a Blakemore Freeman Fellow at Tsinghua University,
Beijing.
31
VIVIAN LAU
Vivian Lau is the CEO of Junior Achievement Hong Kong, an educational nonprofit organization, and Hong Kong Petrochemical Co Ltd, a for-profit US$200
million turnover company. She has twenty years of international experience
spanning the educational non-profit, petrochemical, leadership development, IT,
airlines, advertising, online, and telecommunication industries. In 1999, she was
elected one of 12 Internet Superstars of the Year by Advertising Age International.
Ms. Lau was the Chairman of the Hong Kong Chapter of the Interactive Advertising
Bureau from 2001 to 2003, and the Founding Chairman of the Hong
Kong 4A’s Interactive Committee. In 2006, she was selected by the International Women’s Forum as one
of the 16 Leadership Foundation Fellows for its 2006-2007 Global Program.
HUEI MIN LEE_______________________________________________________________
Huei Min Lee is a violinist and student at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, where she is
pursuing her second Master’s degree. She started playing the violin at the age of 2 and gave her first
public performance at 5. At the age of 14, she was admitted to Yale University where she completed her
graduate degree. Since then, her recent appearances include performances with orchestras such as the
Philharmonic Orchestra (London), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK, Russian National Orchestra,
Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, and Prague Sinfonia under the baton of conductors such as
Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Mikhail Pletnev.
DANNY LEVINSON
Danny Levinson is the CEO and Founder of BDL Media Ltd, a multimillion dollar
digital direct marketing, publishing, and advertising business started in China five years
ago. He has been working in China for over 11 years and at BDL Media he helps runs
the companies divisions, including CharityInChina.org – a service that links NGOs to
companies and individuals who can provide necessary funding and volunteer hours; and
ChinaCSR.com, a daily Chinese news website that covers corporate social
responsibility in China. He is currently the Chairman of the I.T. Committee at the
American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, as well as the Chief
Representative in China for Spamhaus, which with over 650 million users worldwide is the largest opensource anti-spam organization around the globe. He has presented at various conferences and forums
including Harvard China Review, Internet Society of China, Kenan-Flagler Business School, CEIBS, and
Merrill Lynch Asia Rising Stars. Originally from the United States, he graduated from the College of
William and Mary in the US with a BA in English literature, and also studied both Japanese and Chinese,
starting in high school.
SCARLETT LI
Scarlett Li is Founder and CEO of Zebra Media. Prior to that, she co-founded R2G
in 2004, serving as the start-up’s President and managing day-to-day operations.
R2G is the first company in China to promote and distribute legitimate digital music.
Prior to founding R2G, as one of China’s leading media executives, Ms. Li was the
general manager of the Newscorp’s Channel [V] music channel in China where she
launched the first ever Channel [V] Chinese Music Awards (CMA). The events
broke viewership records for music awards shows in China, reaching more than 139
million homes. She also launched the popular “Made in China” campaign
to increase the pride and sense of ownership in modern Chinese music by China’s youth, turning [V] into
one of the most popular youth/music brands in China. She obtained her B.Com. Degree in Australia and
her MBA from Tsinghua University in Beijing. She is a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute.
32
QINGCHUAN LIAN
Qingchuan Lian is a columnist for the Bond Pictorial Shanghai. He started his
career working as a reporter and editor for the Southern Weekend in Guangzhou,
and wrote hundreds of reports concerning social chaos in rural China, governmental
corruptions and malfunctions, as well as stories on cultural issues. Later he was
transferred to be editor of Read Magazine and in 2002 became the Editor of the 21st
Century World Herald, nominated the best newspaper of the year. He then worked
as a research fellow in Columbia University in New York, first at the East Asian
Institute and later at the Journalism School. During that period of time, Mr. Lian
helped the Open Society Institute develop several programs in China, including a
two month long training program for Chinese journalists on covering AIDS issues.
In 2006, he returned to China focused mainly
on building an internet journalist network, as well as working as a columnist on international issues for
various Chinese publications.
MINA TITI LIU
Mina Titi Liu is the Executive Director of the Asian Law Caucus, where she brings both international
experience and a deep concern for Asian Pacific Islander community in the United States. She began her
legal career as an associate in the China practice of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison. She also
worked for seven years as the Law and Rights program officer in the Ford Foundation's Beijing office
supporting the development of nongovernmental organizations and leading two legal reform initiatives in
China. She also funded organizations throughout Asia working on legal reform. Prior to joining the Caucus,
she was the Garvey Schubert Barer Visiting Professor in Asian Law at University of Washington School
of Law. Ms. Liu is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She has consulted to the U.S.
State Department and USAID and has served on the board of the Social Justice Fund Northwest. She has
published numerous articles on legal reform in China and lectured widely on the relationship between legal
reform and social change.
ROBIN LOON
Robin Loon is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at the National
University of Singapore. He actively researches and participates in the local and global
theatre scene. He is the Prorgramme Advisor for Theatre for the Singapore International
Arts Festival and is also a commissioning dramaturg for the Festivals Young Director's
Programme entitled "Full Frontal.” Mr. Loon is also a member of the Arts Resource
Panel and the Grants Assessment Panel at the National Arts Council of Singapore. He
is also an Associate Artistic Director of TheatreWorks Singapore Ltd, the premier
Singapore English Language theatre company, in charge of the company's
writers' incubation programme - Writers' Laboratory. His recent works include 120, a site-specific
collaboration commissioned by the National Museum of Singapore in 2007 and his latest collaboration with
TheatreWorks artistic Director, Ong Keng Sen, an intercultural work entitled GEISHA, has travelled to the
Lincoln Centre in New York, Goteborg Dance & Theatre Festival in Sweden and the New Visions Festival
in Hong Kong in 2006. In 2008, he was also dramaturge for 2 Singapore International Arts Festival
Commissions: "Rhinoceros" as part of FULL FRONTAL and "Temple" by Cake Theatricals which also
travelled to the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia. His current research project includes a book on intercultural
performance; an international collaboration on an electronic video-streaming archive on Asian Shakespeare
Performance and also the use of creative practice as research. He is currently working on three new plays
which he hopes to complete by end of 2008.
33
NGOC LUONG
Ngoc Luong is the Regional Liaison Officer of Fairtrade Labeling Organizations
International, where she helps regional agricultural producers market their products to
consumers in developed nations under the recognized and certified Fairtrade label.
She works throughout Laos, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Ms. Luong is
also a Project Management Consultant/Trainer for international and local NGOs. She
was previously a Rural Economic Development Project Officer at Oxfam Quebec. She
has a B.A. from the Institute of International Relations (Vietnam). She also holds
graduate diplomas from the McRae Institute of International Management
(Canada) and the East-West Center (USA). She completed her MBA at INSEEC (France).
PARDIS MAHDAVI
Pardis Mahdavi is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Pomona College. She received her Ph.D at
Columbia University in the departments of Socio-medical Sciences and Anthropology, focusing on gender
and sexuality in the Middle East within a medical anthropological context. Her research interests include
sexuality, human rights, transnational feminism and public health in the context of changing global and
political structures. Professor Mahdavi is also a consultant to the International Women's Health Coalition
and the United Nations Fund for Population Advancement. She has published in the
Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Cultures; Culture, Health and Sexuality; Anthropology News; and the
Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World Review. Her book, Passionate Uprisings: Iran's Sexual
Revolution was published this Fall with Stanford University Press.
RAYYA MAKARIM
Rayya Makarim is a screenwriter at Ecco Films Indonesia. She has been a
scriptwriter since 1998 when the first film she wrote swept all awards at the
annual Television Awards Ceremony. She has written two TV films that have
been nominated for and won awards, and four feature films which have
traveled the international film festival circuit. Her latest script "Jermal" won
the top award in the Open Doors segment of the Locarno International Film
Festival. It also received funding from the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Berlin
International Film Festival. The film "Jermal" will have its World Premier at the 2008 Pusan International
Film Festival. Ms. Makarim worked as a film curator, organizing discussions and screenings of world
cinema as well as banned films at Teater Utan Kayu – a cultural pocket dedicated to the freedom of
expression through monthly programs of alternative art, thought and journalism. She has also been regularly
involved in the Jakarta International Film Festival since its founding in 1999. In 2002, she was selected as
a Salzburg Seminar Fellow for the session "From Page to Screen: Adapting Literature to Film." She holds
her BA in Film from Vassar College, and was granted the British Chevening Award Scholarship to do her
MA in Twentieth Century Literature and Its Intellectual Context at Goldsmiths College, University of
London.
UMESH MALHOTRA
Umesh Malhotra is the Founder and Chief Executive Director of Hippocampus Reading
Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that promotes reading to children. Mr.
Malhotra has been nominated to be an Ashoka Fellow for his work at Hippocampus. He
also chairs the board of Dream-a -Dream, a not-for-profit organization that is involved
in developing life skills of underprivileged children. Besides his work as a social
entrepreneur, Mr. Malhotra is also very active as an investor and director in Idenizen
Smartware, an IT company aiming to empower educational institutions; Tusker
Entertainment, a hospitality company that runs restaurants in Bangalore; and People
Health, a company that empowers and enables
34
smaller hospitals to remain profitable in spite of large corporate hospitals. He graduated from IIT Madras
and has been fortunate to be involved in the pioneering days of the Indian IT industry. He has worked
extensively in IT across the U.S. and Europe and was one of the early employees at Infosys Technologies
Ltd. After a stint at Infosys he set up his own firm called Bangalore Labs which he sold in 2002.
MICHAEL MANGA
Michael Manga is a professor of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley. His
research focuses on understanding how volcanoes erupt, the ways in which water in the
Earth's crust interacts with earthquakes, and the evolution of the interior of planets.
Most recently, Professor Manga has studied the Sidoarjo mud flow in Indonesia
(erupting since May 2006) to evaluate whether this disaster was natural – caused by an
earthquake – or the result of drilling operations. His work has been recognized with a
MacArthur Fellowship, and medals from the Geological Society of America and
American Geophysical Union. Dr. Manga received his undergraduate
education at McGill University in Canada and his graduate education at Harvard. He served on the faculty
at the University of Oregon prior to relocating to Berkeley.
SWETA MANGAL
Sweta Mangal is the Co-Founder & CEO of the Dial 1298 for Ambulance project. She
has worked with top corporations in India including ZEE TV group, Tata AIG Life
Insurance, and Marico Industries. Today 1298 Ambulance Service covers 30 million
people in Mumbai and Kerala and has transported over 75,000 patients/victims since its
launch. Ms. Mangal also started a school in Rajasthan to impart good quality education.
She is an MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA and a Chevening
Senior Gurukul Scholar in Leadership and Excellence from the London School of
Economics, UK.
AARON MANIAM
Aaron Maniam is currently Senior Assistant Director of the Futures Unit at
Singapore's Strategic Policy Office, where he leads a team that analyses
long-term inter-agency issues. From May 2006 to January 2008, he served
as First Secretary at Singapore's Embassy to Washington, DC. In his
community work, he has served as a resource person for Singapore's
National Youth Council and a Member of the Executive Committee of
Mendaki Club, a group of young Muslim professionals in Singapore. He was Director for Fundraising and
Special Services with the Washington DC chapter of the Hugh O' Brian Youth Foundation, a 501(c)(3)
youth leadership body. As Vice President (2003-2005) and President (2005-July 2006) of the Debate
Association (Singapore), Mr. Manian was active in promoting debating among Singaporean youths. He
continues to judge debating competitions and conduct workshops for schools. He will be one of the Chief
Adjudicators at the 2008 World Schools Debating Championship, to be held in Washington, DC. He won
the First Prize for English Poetry in the 2003 National Arts Council-Singapore Press Holdings Golden Point
Award. His first collection of poems, Morning at Memory's Border, was shortlisted for the biennial
Singapore Literature Prize in 2007. He graduated from Oxford and Yale on a Singapore Public Service
Commission scholarship.
35
ICHINNOROV MANJAA
Ichinnorov Manjaa is a Deputy Head of the Civic Movement Party, a party
formed on the base of the last four years of civic movement for civic democracy
in Mongolia. She is a human rights lawyer and the Director at Grand Law
Center. Mrs. Manjaa is a well-known lawyer, human rights activist and one of
the leaders of Mongolia's emerging political reform movement, as well as the
main human rights face in Mongolia. She initiated the strategic human rights
and public interest litigation in Mongolia. One of her most successful cases led
to reforming the criminal law of Mongolia,
particularly changing its harsh punishment policy. Through her famous litigations she was able to bring
serious human rights related issues such as torture and detention reform to the attention of the government.
For her work in the fight against widespread corruption, human rights abuses and social injustices, she was
awarded the Mahathma Ghandi award for “Fight Against Social Injustices With Non-Violent Means” in
September 2007. Mrs. Manjaa is a former fellow of the John Kennedy School of Government of Harvard
University, and was also an Eisenhower Fellow 2005 of the young leadership fellowship program based in
Philadelphia. She received her Master’s degree in International Legal Studies from the American University
and law degree specializing in human rights from the Washington College of Law.
ORANART MATANGKASOMBUT
Oranart Matangkasombut is an Assistant Professor in Microbiology at the Faculty of
Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, and researcher at Chulabhorn Research Institute.
After obtaining her D.D.S., she was awarded the prestigious Anandamahidol
scholarship to pursue her Ph.D. at Harvard. She later received the Harvard Dental
School Dean's Scholar Award for postdoctoral research at the Whitehead Institute for
Biomedical Research. While in Boston, she founded the "Thai Health Science Forum",
which has become one of the largest and most active Thai student groups in the U.S.
Since returning to Thailand, she has devoted herself to research and higher
education development. She also regularly volunteers in the Royal Mobile Dental Service to serve the
underprivileged in rural areas and helped coordinate the post-tsunami forensic dentistry efforts in 2004.
SHAFFI MATHER
Shaffi Mather is the Founder of Dial 1298 for Ambulance. He is one of the upcoming
new generation of young leaders within the Indian National Congress Party. He was
educated at the Mahatma Gandhi University, India; University of Pittsburgh, USA;
University of Bridgeport, US; and the London School of Economics, UK where he
was a Chevening Senior Scholar and currently, a Visiting Lecturer. He was selected
to be a Mason Fellow at the JFK School of Government, Harvard University for the
academic year 2007-08. Post his MBA, Mr. Mather took his family business in real
estate to a leadership position in his state and then
professionally worked with two of India’s leading corporate tycoons, Mr. Mukesh Ambani (Reliance
Industries) and Mr. Subash Chandra (Zee TV/Essel Group). Mr. Mather’s most notable accomplishment
has been the successful establishment of an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) “DIAL 1298 FOR
AMBULANCE” (www.1298.org.in) in Mumbai, the first truly world- class self sustainable EMS in India.
This project is now under expansion in Mumbai and in his home state, Kerala.
36
NAMI MATSUKO
Nami Matsuko is an investment banker at Nomura Securities Co., providing corporate
advice for major Japanese companies. Hoping to directly contribute to building fair
rules for M&A activities, she is also dedicated to several governmental committees
such as the Corporate Value Study (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), and
M&A Study Group (Cabinet Office). Ms. Matsuko is also active in speaking on these
topics to enhance understanding of the Japanese business environment, for example,
as a panelist for “Japan's New Legal Framework for Corporate Governance” (Japan
Society, San Francisco, 2006), and as a speaker on
“Hostile Takeovers, Takeover Defenses, Triangular Mergers and Beyond: WHAT NEXT in 2006?
(American Chamber of Commerce Japan, Tokyo, March 2006). She received her B.A. from Sophia
University in Tokyo and a LL.M from Georgetown Law Center and New York University School of Law,
and is admitted to the New York Bar Association. She enjoys playing the violin in her orchestra on
weekends.
MOHD AZMYL MD YUSOF
Azmyl Yunor (born Azmyl Md Yusof) is a communication and cultural studies
lecturer at Taylor's University College Malaysia and co-artistic director of
Troubadours Enterprise, a collective set up by independent musicians to support and
highlight local musicians and organizers of the annual KL Sing Song singersongwriter festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A critically acclaimed and popular
independent folk singer-songwriter who composes and performs in English and Malay
languages (both as a solo artist and with various band projects), he is also a founding
member of the Experimental Musicians and Artists Co-operative Malaysia
(EMACM). He holds an MA in Communication from RMIT University, Australia. His academic research
interests include the media's misrepresentation of local music subcultures in contemporary Malaysia.
ADITYA MEHTA
Aditya Mehta is a senior correspondent at CNN-IBN, India's leading Englishlanguage news channel. Prior to joining CNN-IBN in 2005, he was an anchor with
In Mumbai TV News. He has also worked in radio, including WIN 94.6, during
which time he won RAPA awards in 2003 and 2004. Mr. Mehta began his journalism
career in 1999, writing for the Bombay Times and Mumbai Newsline. He comments
on foreign affairs for IBN Live and has previously contributed to the opinion pages
of Tehelka and the Hindustan Times. Recently, Mr. Mehta gained policy experience
at the United Nations, New York, at the Department of Political
Affairs, where his focus was the Palestine Question. He received the Griffith Award for Academic
Excellence in 2001, during his Masters degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. Mr. Mehta has just
completed a Masters in International Relations from the University of New South Wales, on an Australian
government scholarship (Australian Leadership Award 2007) given to a leader or those with potential to
assume leadership roles to 'influence social and economic policy reform.'
SHUYI MO
Shuyi Mo is the Executive Director of Banyan Tree Holdings (Private Equity) Limited, a hospitality group.
Her career spans across Asia and the U.S. in private equity, and she has a keen interest in children charities.
Ms. Mo has taken a three year sabbatical to devote time to two China/Hong Kong charities – one with
children survivors of an earthquake, and another for children whose parents have contracted HIV through
insanitary blood donation. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Microbiology and an MBA.
37
WESTLEY MOORE
Wes Moore is an investment banker for Citigroup. A Former White House Fellow, Mr.
Moore served as Special Assistant to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. As a
paratrooper and Captain in the United States Army Reserves, he served a combat tour of
duty in Afghanistan and spearheaded the American strategic support plan for the Afghan
Reconciliation Program that unites former insurgents with the new Afghan Government.
He completed an MLitt in International Relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes
Scholar. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins
University in 2001 with a degree in international relations, and currently serves on its Board of Trustees.
He is authoring a book entitled Elevate: American Journeys into Manhood published by Random House,
for a highly anticipated 2009 release.
MEE MOUA
Mee Moua is the nation's first Hmong American elected to a state legislature. She
was first elected to the Minnesota Senate in a special election in January 2002.
Senator Moua chairs the Senate Committee on Judiciary and is a member of the Tax
Committee, Public Safety Budget Division, and the Transportation Budget and
Policy Committee. In addition to being a member of the Senate, Senator Moua is an
attorney. She has degrees from Brown University, a Masters of Public Policy from
the University of Texas-Austin, and a law degree from the University of Minnesota.
She is a member of the Democratic National Committee and a board
member on the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum. Born in Laos, Senator Moua
immigrated to the U.S. in 1978 and currently lives in St. Paul with her family.
ABDUL MULTHALIB MUSA
Abdul Multhalib Musa is regarded as one of Malaysia's leading contemporary sculptors.
Besides Malaysia, he has exhibited in Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, and Spain
among others. In 2001, he was selected for the Rimbun Dahan Residency and the
following year was awarded the Award of Excellence at the 6th Oita Asian Sculpture
Open Competition in Japan. He was the recipient of the Australian High Commission
Residency in 2004, and was commissioned through an international competition by the
Beijing Olympic Park City Sculpture Project 2008 to create a major outdoor sculpture
for the Beijing Olympics, China. Mr. Musa is currently doing
sculptural work in an architectural manner. An architect by training, he pursued his Bachelor's Degree in
Design Studies from the University of Adelaide in Australia, thereafter obtaining his Bachelor of
Architecture from MARA University of Technology in 2000.
FAWAD AHMAD MUSLIM
Fawad Ahmad Muslim is the CEO and President of Jahaan Technology
Corporation, an IT company he started in 2006, after resigning from the
Afghan government. Jahaan Technology Corporation is a software
development company with over 150 employees and also is the main partner
of Microsoft in Afghanistan. He returned to Afghanistan in December 2001,
and worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan as a DirectorGeneral of Communication & Archives. There, he built the first IT department and training center at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and trained over 2600 employees of the government at that training center. Mr.
Muslim received a degree in Computer Science from George Mason University, Virginia.
38
HTOO MYINT NAUNG_________________________________________________
_______
Htoo Myint Naung is CEO of Technomation Studios, a leading IT company in Myanmar. He is also a wellknown IT innovator and inventor who did extensive language research that produced an input system for
mobile phones and computers, which allowed computers to communicate in Myanmar language. His works
achieved a number of local awards including two National ICT Awards and an Asia Pacific ICT Award in
2004. Currently, among many services and products being offered by his company, mobile software
produced with his language technology embedded has made his company the top mobile software vendor
in Myanmar. He graduated with a B.A. in Computer Science from the University of Computer Studies
inYangon.
AHMAD NADER NADERY
Ahmad Nader Nadery is a Commissioner at the Afghan Independent Human Rights
Commission. He represented Afghan Civil Society at the UN peace talks for
Afghanistan in the Bonn Conference 2001. Mr. Nadery works also as the Chairperson
of Fair and Free Election Foundation of Afghanistan, he is a member of the Steering
Committee of Citizens Against Terror and member of advisory board to Open
Society Institute (OSI) Afghanistan programs. He has written extensively on politics
and human rights in Afghanistan and is a member of Board of Editors of the Oxford
Journal on Transitional Justice. He served as Spokesperson
for the national assembly (Loya Jerga) in 2002. Prior to his appointment at the AIHRC he worked as country
director for the international human rights law group (Global Rights). Mr. Nadery won several international
awards and was recognized as an "Asian Hero" by Time Magazine in 2004. Mr. Nadery was recognized as
Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum in 2008. He studied law and political science
at Kabul University and earned his masters degree in International Affairs from George Washington
University.
NAVNEET SINGH NARULA __________________________________________
Navneet Singh Narula is Director of United Sikhs, a United Nations (U.N) mandated
global civil rights and humanitarian relief NGO, where he focuses on humanitarian
relief, public policy affairs and community empowerment programs. He has spent over
nine months onsite providing disaster relief in Asia and the United States. Mr. Narula
is also the President & CEO of nBrilliance, an international strategic consulting firm
specializing in building high performance people, businesses, non-profits and nations.
He was named one of the Top 30 Consultants in America in 2008 by Consulting
Magazine and was selected as the American Marshall Memorial Fellow. Previously,
he was a Management Executive at Accenture. He works with
US Senators regularly to bridge gaps between law makers and common citizens. He serves on the Board of
Directors for The Civic League for Regional Atlanta, National Association of Asian American
Professionals, Minorities in Business Foundation and is an Executive Advisor to Michigan State University.
Mr. Narula was honored by Senator Hillary Clinton as "Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business",
recognized by International Stevies as "Top Management Executive", selected as an "Outstanding Atlantan"
of the year in 2008, lauded as "Best Finance Executive" at the American Business awards and bestowed
Georgia's "Top 40 under 40" - Best and Brightest Leaders in America award. He was honored as
Humanitarian of the Year by MIB foundation, recognized as "Community Change Visionary" in Atlanta,
honored with Seva - Service Leadership Award by Centennial foundation and awarded "Guru Nanak
Benediction Award". He graduated from Michigan State University with high honors in International
Business Marketing and was named Distinguished Alumni of the Year in 2007. He has also studied abroad
in universities in the UK, Russia, and Poland and recently completed his Executive Masters from
Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute.
39
ADITYA NATRAJ
Aditya Natraj is the Founder Director of the Indian School of Education, an
initiative that trains rural government school principals in India to turn around
their failing schools. Earlier in his career, Mr. Natraj worked as a Programme
Director at Pratham, India's largest educational non-profit focused on literacy
improvement across 3,000 villages in the Western Indian state of Gujarat. He has
also worked as a World Bank consultant in Afghanistan. Mr. Natraj is a National
Talent Search Scholar and was recently awarded the Echoing Green fellowship
for 20 of the world’s most promising social entrepreneurs. He has an
MA in Economics and an MBA from INSEAD.
CHUCK NG
Chuck Ng is Managing Director of Suma Ventures and is involved in investments
across the life science and other emerging technology sectors. Its current portfolio
includes a number of biotechnology companies in therapeutic discovery, CRO,
CMO, and other innovative technology companies with cross border strategy
between U.S. and China. Prior to Suma, Mr. Ng worked for eBay Inc. and had
responsibilities in international expansion and financial strategy of eBay's PayPal
business unit. In this role, he led the expansion of PayPal's global footprints to
Singapore (APAC HQ), Australia, China, Europe and the formation of PayPal
Bank. As a result of his leadership, he won the "PayPalian" Award, the
highest award at PayPal as well as four MVP Awards. Prior to eBay, he worked for Chiron Corporation
(now Novartis), the second largest biotech company by revenue after Genentech in San Francisco Bay Area,
where he managed the global hedging program as well as the strategic investment at Chiron. Mr. Ng has
also dedicated a considerable amount of time and commitment in community services. He is currently the
Head of Venture Capital Group at HYSTA, the leading entrepreneur group for Chinese Americans in
Silicon Valley as well as a co-founder and CFO of the Berkeley Chinese Alumni International Association
(BCAIA). Most recently, Mr. Ng is the co-founder and CFO of the US China Green Energy Council
(www.ucgef.org). He is also the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Bradford King Award in Excellence
(given to outstanding Berkeley alumnae within first 15 years of graduation). He is a graduate of the
University of California, Berkeley and also studied at Tsinghua University in China. He is fluent in
Mandarin, Cantonese and English, and is conversant in Japanese.
SHARMEEN OBAID CHINOY
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a journalist and documentary filmmaker for
Channel 4 (U.K.). She is the first non-American journalist to be awarded the
prestigious Livingston Award and the youngest recipient of the One World
Media broadcast journalist of the year award in the United Kingdom. In the
last seven years she has produced and reported on thirteen films for networks
in the United States and Britain including CNN, PBS, Channel 4 (U.K.) and
the Discovery channel. Her work has earned her major awards in broadcast journalism including the
Overseas Press Club Award, The American Women and Radio and Television award, The Cine Golden
Eagle Award, The Banff TV Rockie award and the South Asian Journalist Award. Ms. Obaid Chinoy is
also the founder and President of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan, a non-profit organization dedicated to
creating Pakistan's first national archive of oral history and photography and building the country's first
"Living History Museum."
40
ARMEN ORUJYAN
Armen Orujyan is the Founder and President of Athgo International since 1999, and
also serves as a member of the UN e-Leader Committee on Information and
Communication Technologies and Youth. He has consulted for various U.S.
Presidential candidates and currently serves as a high-level Advisor to the UN Global
Alliance for ICT and Development. He is a certified presenter of former Vice
President Al Gore's Climate Project. He earned his BA degree with Honors in Political
Science from UCLA, and received his MA degree in International Studies and PhD
in Political Science from Claremont Graduate University, California.
JASPREET (RICK) PAL
Jaspreet (Rick) Pal is the CEO of AirGenerate, a manufacturer and distributor of
patented energy saving devices with offices in China and the U.S. Mr. Pal is an awardwinning serial entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder of Ek-Disha
Non-Profit, Inc. that helps the needy in India. He has also created, 'Pal - Make a
Difference" endowment at his alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin, to award
an annual scholarship to students making a difference in their community. He is a board
member of Texas Union Advisory Council, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, and
Indo-American Forum. He also regularly writes for his Business
Forum section in Voice of Asia and Minority Executive Report. His other charity involvement includes
UNCF, Red Cross, Goodwill, United Way, Daya, and Pratham. Mr. Pal’s recent accolades include Asian
Chamber's Outstanding Entrepreneur, MLK Foundation's "Keeping the Dream Alive,” and AABDC's
Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award.
DIOSDADO PAMBID
Diosdado Pambid is the Deputy to the Assistant Chief of Academy Staff for
Education, Plans, and Programs, Philippine Military Academy (PMA). A graduate of
the PMA in 1996, Captain Pambid served with the elite Special Forces Regiment of
the Philippine Army immediately upon graduation until being assigned as the Aidede-Camp to the PMA Superintendent in 2005. Most of his assignments are in the
different units of the Special Forces deployed in Central and Southern Luzon and in
Northern and Southern Mindanao. He also became part of the Philippine Contingent
in East Timor in 2001, as part of the UN Transitory Administration in
East Timor. At present, he is currently involved in strategic planning and in the crafting and enhancement
of the Cadet Leader Development System and other key leadership development courses in PMA. A
graduate of the Infantry Captains Career Course in the United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning,
Georgia, he is presently pursuing his Masters of Arts in Social and Development Studies at the University
of the Philippines, Baguio.
RAHUL PANDIT
Rahul Pandit is a practicing physician and partner at Medical Center Ophthalmology
in the Texas Medical Center and serves as Clinical Assistant Professor of
Ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He actively
lectures and teaches in ophthalmology, and has served on educational committees
of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Texas Medical Association.
An advocate at heart, Dr. Pandit is the past-President and current board member of
the Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF, www.iakf.org), a non-governmental
organization dedicated to highlighting the plight of the displaced Hindus of Kashmir
in India. In 2005, Dr. Pandit became a founding
41
director of Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT, www.factusa.org), a non-profit organization
dedicated to supporting victims of terrorism in South Asia. In these capacities, he has spoken at briefings
in Washington, D.C., and maintains continual communication with Congressional offices, State Department
personnel, and think tank officials. Dr. Pandit believes that the key to success is to maintain a physical,
mental, and spiritual balance in life. In that regard, he holds a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, a Korean martial
art, and is an avid performer on the tabla, an Indian classical drum.
RASHNEH PARDIWALA
Rashneh Pardiwala is an ecologist and the Founder and Director of the Centre for
Environmental Research and Education (CERE), a young non-profit organization that
works to promotes environmental sustainability through formal education, public
awareness, corporate partnerships and legal advocacy. In a period of five years since
establishment, CERE has successfully completed many rural and urban research and
development projects, been consultants to different government departments, helped
integrate environmental education into mainstream curriculum, published 25 titles and
conducted teacher training workshops across India. In 2005, Dr. Pardiwala was
recognized as a social entrepreneur for change and was awarded the ASHOKA Fellowship.
JOHN PARK
John Park is a Senior Research Associate at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) where
he focuses on Northeast Asian security, economic, and energy issues. He is director of
USIP's Korea Working Group, co-director of the U.S.-China Project on Crisis
Avoidance & Cooperation, and co-director of the Trilateral Dialogue in Northeast Asia
(U.S., ROK, Japan). He is also a research associate with the Harvard Kennedy School's
Managing the Atom Project, which examines the military and civilian applications of
nuclear energy. Prior to joining USIP, Dr. Park worked in Goldman Sachs' public
finance group. Prior to that, he was the project leader of the Harvard Kennedy School's
North Korea Analysis Group. During the post-Asian Financial
Crisis period, Dr. Park worked for Goldman Sachs and The Boston Consulting Group focusing on South
Korean economic restructuring. In 2008, he was selected as a Next Generation Project Fellow by The
American Assembly. His writings have appeared in The Washington Quarterly, The Wall Street Journal
Asia, and the International Herald Tribune. He has commented on the Six-Party Talks on BBC, CNN,
CNBC Asia, and Bloomberg TV. Dr. Park received his MPhil and PhD from Cambridge University. He
completed his pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training at the Belfer Center for Science and International
Affairs at Harvard University.
QUINTIN JOSE PASTRANA
Quintin Jose Pastrana is Senior Associate at Chevron Geothermal and Power. His work in the energy sector
has placed him in a strategic position to advocate key reforms in energy legislation, such as the Electric
Power Restructuring Act (2001) and the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol (2003) . He is now co-founder
and core member of the multisectoral Renewable Energy coalition lobbying for the bill in Philippine
Congress. Prior to working in the energy sector, he served under then Congressman (now Senator) Manuel
Roxas II and the late Senator Raul Roco. He was selected as a Fellow of the Global Institute of Social
Innovation of the London Business School in 2007. He founded the Leaders for Asian Progress organization
at Georgetown, and leads the Library Renewal Partnership program in collaboration with Synergeia
Foundation. He is also a published poet and author, and amateur photographer. Mr. Pastrana majored in
Political Science at the Ateneo de Manila University and holds an international MBA from the McDonough
School of Business, Georgetown University. He also participated in the International Management
Programme of Oxford University.
LOVE GREGORIE PEREZ
Love Gregorie Perez is Executive Director of Gifts & Graces Fair Trade Foundation
(G&G), where she champions fair trade products made by disadvantaged groups. Ms.
Perez leads G&G in improving the lives of street children, former prisoners, the urban
poor, persons with disabilities, indigenous groups, former migrant workers, and special
needs individuals through product development, market access, and capability building
for their livelihood programs. Through their livelihood, these groups become
empowered and contributing members of society who find dignity in every product they
make. Ms. Perez's mission to pursue social justice led her to the social development
sector in 2004 when she joined FCED Foundation as Livelihood and
Microfinance Program Manager. While with FCED, Ms. Perez organized women's groups in 13 poorestof-the-poor baranggays in Manila, and provided livelihood technical assistance and marketing support to
these groups. She also improved their access to microfinance products and designed and conducted
Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship Modules especially for urban poor women.
MITCHELL PHAM
Mitchell Pham is the Founder and Director of the Augen Software Group. Born
in Vietnam, he went through a series of refugee camps and arrived in New
Zealand at the age of 13. After university studies, he co-founded the technology
group which now encompasses a number of software companies in both NZ
and Vietnam. He also works as a strategy advisor to a number of NZ companies
with high-growth potential, and advises in a number of NZ-Asia government
initiatives, trade missions and research projects. Mr. Pham is a keen supporter
of the Asia New Zealand Foundation and a member of the Action Asia
Advisory Group – a team working to advise the NZ government
on policies for furthering engagements with Asia. He is actively involved in bridging the cultural and
knowledge gaps in the business community, and encouraging NZ organizations to engage more with Asia.
He supports not-for-profit organizations in the community healthcare & disability services sector as well
as the fitness industry.
TRUC PHAM-DINH
Truc Pham-dinh is the Head of the Department of Power Machines and Equipment for
the Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Vietnam National University.
After living and studying in Australia and the UK for 10 years, Dr. Pham-dinh went
back to Vietnam with a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering. He now teaches at
Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City and was the youngest Head-ofDepartment at a Vietnamese university when appointed in 2006. Dr. Pham-dinh is an
energetic leader, educator and scientist. He has facilitated international collaborative
relationships between Universities as well as multinational
industries, such as the collaboration with Emerson Network Power (USA), for an on- campus engineering
design centre, the first of its kind in Vietnam. He established the National Committee for Vietnam's Open
Courseware, a project for modernization of higher education in Vietnam, funded by the Vietnam Education
Foundation USA (www.vef.gov) . He also pioneered an international project to develop a research and
education centre for sustainable energy in the Indochina region.
43
JIA PING
Jia Ping is Chief Executive Director and Founder of Global Fund Watch (China
Initiative), a watchdog nongovernmental organization that combats AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria. He is also the Chief Lawyer for the Project of Friends, which is the leading
MSM Network on the Chinese Mainland and just received the UNAIDS award for its
contributions to fighting AIDS. He also served on the experts’ committee for HIV/AIDS
of China’s Center for Disease Control. Mr. Ping is a tireless advocate for the rights of
people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, sex workers,
migrant people, drug users, and homosexuals. He aims to bring the rights of these socially marginalized
groups under Chinese constitutional law into accord with international standards. Mr. Ping also served as
executive director of Tsinghua University’s human rights and constitutional law center, and as the lawyer
responsible for health education at the Beijing Ai Zhi Xing Institute. He graduated from Renmin University
and East China law schools and was a visiting scholar at the Columbia University Center for the Study of
Human Rights in 2005.
TONY PUA
Tony Pua is a Member of Parliament, Malaysia, serving the constituency of Petaling Jaya Utara under the
Democratic Action Party. The party won a historic 28 parliamentary seats (out of 220) in the last general
elections. Mr. Pua was the economic advisor to the DAP Secretary General, who is currently the Chief
Minister of Penang state. He was also recently elected into the party's Central Executive Committee and
appointed the National Publicity Secretary. He previously held positions as CEO and founder of a
Malaysian IT company for ten years. The company was successfully listed on the Singapore Exchange in
2001. He holds degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.
KAMAL QUADIR
Kamal Quadir is the Founder and CEO of CellBazaar which builds electronic
platforms for market information via cell phones. CellBazaar won the Best Use
of Mobile for Social and Economic Development Award 2008 from GSM
Congress and Asia's Innovation of the Year 2008 Award. Previously, Mr. Quadir
led the business development division of Occidental Corporation's energy
initiatives in South Asia, worked in the New York City Chamber of
Commerce and Insight Venture Partners. He received the Tech Award 2007 for applying technology in
benefiting humanity. He is also a founding member of Open World Initiatives, a Lausanne, Switzerlandbased organization of young thinkers. He is involved with AQ Foundation which recognizes innovations in
developing countries. He has a B.A. from Oberlin College and an MBA from the Sloan School of
Management at MIT.
PRITI RADHAKRISHNAN
Priti Radhakrishnan is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Initiatives For Medicines,
Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), a team of lawyers and scientists working with
governments, scientists, procurers, and suppliers to strengthen patent systems. The
team conducts pharmaceutical patent analysis to encourage innovation in new
medicines while also assuring broad access to the best and latest treatments. Her
recent accomplishments include working with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS
Initiative and the World Health Organization on issues of intellectual property and
access to treatment. In 2008, Ms. Radhakrishnan was awarded the
Echoing Green Fellowship for social entrepreneurs and was named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow.
Along with her Co-Director at I -MAK, she has worked on issues impacting several countries, including
India, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, Brazil, Nigeria and Mexico. Prior to founding I-MAK, she served
44
as the Senior Project Officer of the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit in India. She obtained her law
degree from the New York University (NYU) School of Law and has worked as a health attorney in the
U.S., Switzerland and India. Her work as a public health advocate has merited recognition: she recently
coordinated the efforts of TEAM VINAY – a movement that registered 25,000 new bone marrow donors
in the South Asian American community, which received the National Marrow Donor Program's Lieutenant
General Frank E. Peterson Jr. award for innovation and commitment to minority recruitment & retention of
bone marrow donors.
ANITA RAMASASTRY
Anita Ramasastry is a law professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. She
is an international expert on the role of businesses in conflict zones and their
accountability for human rights violations in conflict. Professor Ramasastry is
currently advising John Ruggie, the United Nations Special Representative on
Business and Human Rights. During 2008-09 she will be a Fulbright scholar at the
Irish Center for Human Rights, National University of Ireland – Galway. She was
previously an attorney at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, an associate at the
international law firm of White & Case in Budapest, Hungary, and professor of law
at the Central European University in Budapest, founded by financier George Soros. In 1998-99, she served
as a senior attorney and advisor to a claims resolution tribunal in Zurich, Switzerland, established to resolve
claims to World War II-era bank accounts. She has been a visiting professor and Atlantic Fellow in Public
Policy at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary Westfield College, and University of
London. In 1996, she founded a nonprofit organization, the Immigrant Families Advocacy Project (IFAP),
which assists immigrant women and children who are survivors of domestic violence. IFAP now in its 11th
year also represents immigrant juveniles and victims of human trafficking. She received the 2007 Amicus
Award from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project for her work with IFAP.
WILLIAM RANDALL
William Randall is an Executive Board Member and Director of the Noble
Group Limited (NGL) an executive board that reports to the main board. This
small group is the managing body of NGL, responsible for operation of all
aspects of the Group's global business, and is driven by the principle of long
term sustainable increase in company and shareholder value. In his role as the
Director at Noble Energy Inc, Mr. Randall is responsible for the global
operations of the Coal and Carbon division. Noble Energy is a major supplier
of energy coal to Power Stations and carbon products to Steel Mills in Asia
and globally. Mr. Randall has been heavily involved in the Asian energy markets over the last decade. He
has a detailed working knowledge of the economic, industrial, as well as the political and important social
issues surrounding long term energy supply and related environmental issues throughout Asia. He has had
involvement in both the supply side from Australia, Indonesia, India, countries in southern Africa, and
China, while also being active on the consumption side in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Hong
Kong, North America and Europe. He oversees the operation and development of coalmines and
infrastructure projects across Australia and Indonesia. Mr. Randall works closely with consumers and
governments around the region on long term energy supply and related issues (such as carbon trading and
emission programs) . He is involved in developing alternative energy solutions, varying from exploring
new technology to developing community sustainable development programs for each project. Mr. Randall
graduated from ACU, Sydney, Australia with his Bachelor of Business (International Finance and
Marketing).
45
KATHLEEN REEN
Kathleen Reen is the Vice President for Asia, Environment and New Media Programs
with Internews, an international non-profit media development organization devoted
to increasing access to information for people worldwide. She oversees projects across
Asia countries including China, Thailand and Afghanistan and has worked on media
and development projects throughout Asia since 1998, when she founded Internews’s
media support program in Indonesia. She has led research, training, and grant-giving
initiatives including efforts to support the rebuilding of Timor’s devastated media
environment and the establishment of a
national media assistance program in Pakistan. In 2005 she worked with dedicated teams of professionals
and volunteers providing urgent information via radio and satellite to populations affected by the tsunami
in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Ms. Reen’s first overseas assignment was in Cambodia in 1993, where she was
the youngest registered journalist to cover the U.N.-sponsored elections. She was deployed in the Balkans
with the UN Peacekeeping (UNPROFOR) in 1994 and reported on the war in Bosnia. She was a foundercoordinator of the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) and in 2007 became a fellow of the
Flow Fund, a 3 year program in “venturesome philanthropy” that aims to increase the number of
philanthropists worldwide.
ROBERT REFFKIN
Robert L. Reffkin is a Vice President in the Principal Investment Area of Goldman
Sachs. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he worked at Lazard Frères where he was an
Associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions group and at McKinsey & Company where
he was a Business Analyst. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of USI
Holdings Corporation, XLHealth Corporation, the National Foundation for Teaching
Entrepreneurship and the Summer Search Foundation. From 2005-2006,
he was a White House Fellow serving as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury. He received a
B.A. from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. His primary philanthropic
undertaking includes running 50 marathons – one in each U.S. state – with the goal to raise $1 million for
youth education and enrichment programs (RunningToSupportYoungDreams.com).
KIREN RIJIJU
Kiren Rijiju is the National Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the largest
political party in India. He is also a member of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee for Energy; Consultative Committee on Ministry of Petroleum & Natural
Gas, and Youth Affairs & Sports; and Parliamentary Forum for Youth in India. He
is the Vice President of the Archery Federation of India, and an active student leader.
He became a member of Khadi & Village Industries Commission, Government of
India from 2001 to 2004. Mr. Rijiju won the Lok Sabha (Parliamentary) election in
2004 and became one of the youngest MPs. He
obtained his BA, LLB from Delhi University.
ANURUPA ROY
Anurupa Roy is the Founder and Managing Trustee of the Kat-katha Puppet Arts
Trust, New Dehli. She is a puppeteer with diplomas in Puppet Theatre from DI
(Dramatiska Institutet for Film, T.V., Drama and Radio) at The University of
Stockholm, Sweden, and for traditional glove puppetry from the Scoula Della
Guaratelle (School of Traditional Glove puppetry) in Naples, Italy. She is a puppet
designer and performer and has directed over 14 full-fledged performances (Almost
Twelfth Night, About Ram, Virus ka Tamasha, The Kashmir Project, to name a few),
which have toured festivals in India and abroad. Ms. Roy has used
46
puppetry as a tool of empowerment of women and youth though several grassroot level interventions in
areas of gender and health. She is the co-founder of the 15 Minute Fringe Festival and has been the recipient
of the Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2006 and the WISCOMP Fellowship of Peace in 2005.
MARK RUIZ
Mark Ruiz is Founding Partner and Managing Director of MicroVentures, Inc., which developed the
Hapinoy Store (a microfinance and micro- entrepreneurship program), as well as Founding Partner of
Rags2Riches, which produces the R2R by Rajo Laurel collection, an accessories line created by the women
of Payatas. He is also involved with the idea collectives, WhyNot?Forum and Kolektib. Before venturing
into social entrepreneurship, Mr. Ruiz led a successful career in Customer Marketing in Unilever
Philippines, where he was responsible for the national sales of Hair and Oral Care. He continues to share
his business insight as part time faculty of the Ateneo de Manila School of Management and AIM Venture
into Entrepreneurship Program. He has a degree in Management Engineering from the Ateneo de Manila
University.
ALIA SABUR
Alia Sabur is a faculty Professor at the Konkuk University in Korea. She is the
youngest ever to receive fellowships and awards from the Department of
Defense, NASA, GAANN and NSF, and the youngest scientist to do research
at Edwards Air Force Base. Professor Sabur is working in the Department of
Advanced Technology Fusion and hopes to take advantage of the
interdisciplinary nature of the faculty to continue her groundbreaking work
towards developing nanotube-based sensors for use in the trace detection of
materials and apply it in the different fields. Multi-talented, Professor Sabur
has been performing with orchestras since her solo debut at 11 years old with the Mozart Concerto. As a
Juilliard School student, she was mentored by some of the world's greatest musicians and is the winner of
several celebrated awards. Her highest priority is trying to influence other young people to help them realize
their full potential. In 2005, she became one of Teen People's "20 Teens Who Will Change The World."
She has been setting records and making history starting with reading at 8 months old. She went from 4th
grade to college, earning a B.S. in Applied Mathematics summa cum laude from the Stony Brook University
at age 14. She then earned an M.S. and Ph.D. (ABD) in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel
University.
ASIF SALEH
Asif Saleh is currently the Founder and Executive Director for Drishtipat, a
global human rights organization focusing on Bangladesh. He is also a
writer, human rights activist and a technologist, as well as an executive
director at Goldman, Sachs. In 2001, he started Drishtipat (Take Notice), an
Internet based organization which became an umbrella of concerned
diaspora expatriates that lobbied for and ran campaigns on human rights
issues in Bangladesh, focusing on stories that deserved larger attention. After its initial success, the
organization was launched as a physical one. Currently it has 9 chapters in the USA, Australia, UK, Canada
and Bangladesh with over 3000 members who focus on rights and development issues. Mr. Saleh writes
regularly for leading dailies in Bangladesh and in international magazines on society and politics. His write
ups have been published in The Guardian, Himal, Daily Star, and New Age, among others. The group blog
of Drishtipat which he started is the most popular Bangladeshi blog in English. Mr. Saleh received his BSc
in Computer Science from North Carolina State University and his MBA from New York University.
47
OLIVER SAN ANTONIO
Oliver San Antonio is the Presidential Assistant for Public Relations, Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
Prior to his current designation at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, he was Chief of Staff of
Congresswoman Leonila Chavez, the party-list representative of BUTIL, a sectoral organization for farmers
and fisherfolk (2005-2007). He was also Chief Political Communications Officer of the Office of Senator
Francis Pangilinan from 2003-2005. He considers communication as one of his key strengths, and has
served in various editorial capacities since his days with the Philippine Collegian. His most recent posts
include Associate Editor of the IBP Journal and Editor-in-Chief of the IBP Newsletter. Mr. San Antonio
received his Political Science and Law degrees at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
LOBSANG SANGAY
Lobsang Sangay is a Research Fellow at the East Asian Legal Studies Program at
Harvard Law School. Dr. Sangay earned his Doctorate in law, and master's degree
from Harvard Law School, and did his LLB and B.A. (Honors) from Delhi
University, India. He was a recipient of the 2004 Yong K. Kim' 95 Prize of
Excellence for his doctoral dissertation and received a Fulbright Fellowship to study
at Harvard Law School. In his Track II Initiative, Dr. Sangay has organized five
unprecedented conferences between Chinese and Tibetan scholars, including an
unprecedented meeting between HH the Dalai Lama and 35 Chinese scholars at
Harvard University in 2003. As an expert on Tibet, international human rights laws,
democracy and conflict resolution, he has been consulted by the news media, including BBC, Washington
Post, Far Eastern Economic Review, and The Boston Globe and has published articles about the Tibetan
issue in the Harvard Asia Quarterly and Journal of Democracy, to name a few.
ASIM SARODE
Asim Sarode is a human rights advocate and practices law in India, trying to
introduce socio-legal practices into the system. Mr. Sarode was recognized by
the Ashoka Fellowship For Innovators for the Public (Washington) and is
currently an Ashoka Fellow. His goals are to increase the participation of the
common public into the judicial system. He has successfully secured the
rights of many individuals and continues to create social change through past and present success stories.
Mr. Sarode writes consistently on socio-legal issues in newspapers and magazines to promote awareness.
In his law practice, he holds to the principles of Mahatma Gandhi by advocating for non-violent ways of
communication, the concept of trusteeship rather than ownership, and the decentralization of government
in favor of a public-centric development approach. Mr. Sarode is also working towards establishing a probono culture in the Indian legal system. He received his diploma in Communication and Journalism before
pursuing his law degree.
AAKASH SETHI
Aakash Sethi is the Executive Director of the Quality Education & Skills Training
(QUEST) Alliance, a multi -stakeholder partnership that works to promote innovative
and effective uses of ICTs in education. It brings together public, private and NGO
partners to create, pilot and institutionalize technology tools for improving the quality
of education at all levels in both formal and non-formal settings to better reach
disadvantaged youth populations. Prior to joining the QUEST Alliance, Mr. Sethi
worked with Microsoft's regional office in Istanbul covering the Middle East and
Africa. He was the Community Affairs & Citizenship manager where he developed a
three-year regional plan for digital inclusion programs with a strong focus on IT
Skills development for employment. He also worked on integrated rural development programs and
48
creating a long term vision for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Ambuja Cements. He was an active
member of AIESEC, the world's largest youth organization that helps young people gain vital leadership &
cross cultural experiences, for over 4 years where he held various local, national and global leadership
positions. He conceptualized and executed AIESEC's first International Development Congress and a
learning network on CSR for youth leaders from around the world. He is passionate about exploring the
role of business in poverty alleviation and the role of Sport in Youth Development. He is on the boards of
Foundation for Development Initiative and Science Dharma. Mr. Sethi has a graduate degree in Economics
from St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad.
BANDITA SIJAPATI
Bandita Sijapati is a National Civil Affairs Officer with the United Nations
Mission in Nepal, the organization responsible for assisting in Nepal's peace
process through the management of the arms and armies, assistance to the
constituent assembly elections, and monitoring of the ceasefire. She is a founding
member and General Secretary of the Social Science Baha, a non-profit
organization devoted to social science research and teaching in Nepal. With the
goals of combining research with advocacy, Ms. Sijapati has done extensive
research, delivered lectures and published on Nepal's Maoist movement, student activism, social
movements, ethnic conflict, peace-building, and migration.
MARIE TZE KWAN SO
Marie So is the co-founder of Ventures in Development, a non- profit that catalyses
creation of social enterprises in the Greater China region. Ms. So graduated from
Harvard Kennedy School's Masters in Public Administration/International
Development program, received her Masters in International and Public Affairs from
Hong Kong University, and Bachelors in Economics, Engineering and Management
Science from Northwestern University. She has worked for the United Nations; Dubai
Development and Investment Authority; Procter and Gamble, Merrill Lynch. Ms. So
is a Board member of the Chen Yet Sen Family Foundation, Bright China Group Social Enterprise Steering
Committee. She is an award recipient of Echoing Green Fellow 2008, Outstanding Chinese Entrepreneur
Award 2008, Business in Development (BID) 2006.
ZAFAR SOBHAN
Zafar Sobhan is the Opinions Editor for The Daily Star, the biggest English language
newspaper in Bangladesh. He also writes a weekly column and edits a monthly political
magazine, Forum. Prior to returning to Bangladesh to take up these positions, he worked
in New York, first as a corporate attorney and then a public high school teacher in the
Bronx. In addition to Bangladesh and the U.S., Mr. Sobhan has also lived in India, UK,
and Canada, and is a firm believer that all the peoples of the world must either sink or
swim together.
SEAGULL SONG
Haiyan (Seagull) Song is a consultant with Arnold & Porter LLP, a top-tier law firm in the
U.S. She has been practicing Intellectual Property law for more than 10 years in China. She
was a former partner in China's largest law firm (King & Wood) and during 2005-06 headed
its Shanghai IP Group. She is actively involved in the legislation reform of the Chinese
Copyright Law and Trademark Law. Ms. Song was named an "AsiaLaw Leading Lawyer"
in the IP field for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008, and she
was selected by the Asia Society to participate in its Asia 21 program, which identifies outstanding young
leaders from around the Asia/Pacific region to meet and collaborate on public service projects. One of the
projects that Seagull has been working on is the US-China Green Energy Conference, which is to be held
in China in November 2008. Seagull obtained her second LL.M at U.C. Berkeley School of Law and her
first LL.M degree at Hong Kong University. Seagull is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.
DORJEE SUN
Dorjee Sun is CEO of Carbon Conservation and is passionate about forests,
community development, conservation and climate change. He started Carbon
Conservation to finance the preservation of tropical rainforests and provide
carbon credit revenues to local communities via avoiding deforestation. He has
broken new ground by engineering a moratorium on deforestation in 3 Indonesian
Provinces, bringing Green Governors from the Amazon and Indonesia together
whose forests cover close to 200M hectares of forest. Carbon Conservation's
Aceh Forest was the world's first avoided deforestation pilot
project to receive the independent validation under the Climate Community Biodiversity Standards. In
2007, Carbon Conservation acquired market leader Carbon Pool, which completed the world’s first avoided
deforestation transaction with Rio Tinto in Australia. Previously, Mr. Sun was a founder of a recruitment
software company, as well as an award winning education company which mentored over 25,000 students.
As a University Melbourne Asialink Asia Australia Leader, Youth Chair of the Ethnic Communities
Council at both national and state levels, and University Law Society President, Mr. Sun has spoken at the
Future Summit, AsiaConnect and the World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He has
participated at Australian Davos Leadership retreat and other think tanks. Mr. Sun graduated from UNSW
with Law and Commerce degrees, and a diploma in Asian Studies majoring in Mandarin after studying for
two years on scholarship at Peking University in China.
NICOLE SWAN______________________________________________________________________
Nicole Swan is a Senior Director at Merrill Lynch Equities, based in Sydney Australia who has spent most
of her career in Equities Research. She started her career in the Securities Industry in Equities Research as
a junior anayst at James Capel. Following this, she was a Small Companies Analyst with a small Australian
broking firm, which was taken over by Merrill Lynch McIntosh Securites. There, she continued her role as
an analyst before taking on the role of Research Business Manager for Australia. As Business Manager,
she manages a team of 42 analysts on all facets of the business from strategy to report writing, financial
data collation, and monitoring of internal and external clients. This role is focused on Australia but works
closely with the Pac Rim Regional to ensure that the Australian business runs consistently with Merrill
Lynch around the globe. She is Head of the Women's Professional Network for Merrill Lynch in Australia,
representative for Australia on the Regional Research Women's network, and sits on the Australian
Charities Committee.
TOSHIYUKI TAKASAKI
Toshiyuki Takasaki is Co-Founder, Vice President, and Chief Technology Officer
of NPO Pangaea, a Japan-based independent nongovernmental organization. The
aim of NPO Pangaea is to create an innovative ICT platform where children
worldwide can foster bonding and learn to respect cultural diversities, regardless
of their language and distance. He was inspired to launch this project after
witnessing the events of September 11th while working on
communication and technology at the MIT Media Lab. Mr. Takasaki aims to use his strong ICT insight
and technical skills to continue expanding NPO Pangaea to incorporate Peace Engineering.
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WINNIE S.M. TANG
Winnie S. M. Tang is the Founder and CEO of ESRI China (Hong Kong) Limited. She is a frequent guest
speaker and guest professor for various universities in Hong Kong and China, grooming future IT talents.
While Dr. Tang is passionate about her profession in GIS, she cares about society and has taken up various
advisory roles with the Hong Kong Government. Her achievements and contributions are widely
recognized. She received the 'Ten Outstanding Young Digi Persons' Award in 2001, 'Women of Influence
Young Achiever of the Year Award' presented by Amcham in 2004, and the Hong Kong "Ten Outstanding
Young Persons' Award in 2006.
HSU- MING TEO_______________________________________________
Hsu-Ming Teo is a lecturer in the Department of Modern History at Macquarie
University in Sydney, Australia. She has published in the area of cultural history and
is currently completing a book on Orientalism in western women's popular culture.
In 1999, she won The Australian Vogel Literary Award for her first novel "Love and
Vertigo" (2000), which was also short-listed for several other literary awards. It has
been translated into German, Italian, Chinese and Thai. Her second novel, "Behind
the Moon" (2005) was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier's Literary
Awards in 2006. She is working on her third novel. From 2003-2005, Ms. Teo was a
committee member of International PEN, Sydney Centre. She worked on the New South Wales Premier's
History and Literature Committee in 2004, and was a judge of the New South Wales Premier's Literary
Awards in 2007. Since 2007, she has served as a member of the Hong Kong-based Man Asian Literary
Prize advisory panel, and she is a representative of the Chinese Australian Forum in Sydney.
SUMITRA THINAGARA SUNDRAM
Sumitra Thinagara Sundram is a Management Analyst with the United Nations
Development Programme’s (UNDP) Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific in
Sri Lanka. She has split her nine-year career between working with the private
sector (environmental consulting with Environmental Resource Management in
Malaysia) and the international development sector (with the UNDP). She
previously worked with UNDP's Africa-Asia Eco-Partnership Programme and the
UNDP-GEF Small Grants Programme Malaysia. As part
of her volunteer work with civil societies, she was Vice-President twice for the Environmental Protection
Society of Malaysia, Founding Vice President for AsiaWorks Foundation, a mentor with the AsiaWorks
Leadership Programme, and a tutor/mentor with Fresh Youth Initiatives in New York. She holds a
Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering (double major in Spanish) from Carnegie Mellon University,
and a Master's in International Affairs (Environmental Policy) from Columbia University. Ms. Sundram
was also a Fulbright Scholar in Residence at Westshore Community College, Michigan.
JOHN TIEN
John Tien is the Director for Counterinsurgency Operations for Iraq and
Afghanistan at the National Security Council, The White House. As a Colonel in
the U.S. Army, he commanded a battalion in Iraq and helped start the Al Anbar
Awakening in early 2007. He is a Rhodes Scholar, member of the Council on
Foreign Relations, and was a White House Fellow. He holds a BS from West
Point, an MA from Oxford University, and was a National Security Fellow at the
Harvard Kennedy School. In 1987, he was the first ever Asian-American to
graduate as the number one ranked military cadet at West Point.
CHUNG TO
Chung To is Founder and Chairperson of Chi Heng Foundation, a charitable
organization founded in 1998 in Hong Kong, China. Utilizing innovative and
pragmatic approaches, Chi Heng has excelled in education and care for children
orphaned by AIDS and HIV prevention among vulnerable groups. It won Asia 21's
inaugural Public Service Award in 2006. Viewed by many as a best practice model
of its kind, the program has become the largest non-governmental effort focusing on
helping children impacted by AIDS in China. Chung is also involved in HIV
education and prevention while working with vulnerable groups. In collaboration
with Fudan University, Chi Heng has been the sole sponsor and co-organizer of the first accredited
university course explicitly on homosexuality in China for the four consecutive years. In addition to its
direct service programs, Chi Heng has also raised significant awareness of AIDS in the public through
organizing exhibitions, launching media campaigns and giving talks in universities. Named as "Ten Future
Leaders of China" by People Magazine and "Ten Model Citizens in China" by China’s Phoenix TV, Mr.
Chung has been contributing to the development of civil society in China through constructive dialogue
with government leaders. Prior to moving to Hong Kong in 1995, he resided in the United States for 13
years, where he received a bachelor's degree at Columbia University and a master's degree at Harvard
University. Before taking his 6 year sabbatical to work full time for Chi Heng on a pro bono basis, Chung
worked in investment banking in New York and Hong Kong for ten years. Chung was a recipient of "Ten
Outstanding Young Persons" of Hong Kong in 2003 and of the World in 2006, "Rotary Club Centennial
Service Award for Professional Excellence" in 2005, the "Ramon Magsaysay Award" and Hong Kong's
First "Humanity Award" in 2007.
ASUKA TSUZUKI____________________________________________________________________
Asuka Tsuzuki is a Founder and Chairperson of the Tsuzuki International Scholarship Foundation in
Tokyo, which provides financial and social support for both foreign and Japanese students; non-profit and
educational organizations; social ventures; and artists. She had been considered as one of the youngest
founders of a government-authorized foundation. She also organized the "Asia- Pacific English
Presentation Contest," which brought together approximately 300 young Asian students annually to
discuss the co-existence of society in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, Ms. Ysuzuki has been a director
of an incubation center for young entrepreneurs in Tokyo since 1999. It has been providing facility,
advisory, and investment services for more than forty various start-up companies, which currently include
a green energy venture, and a medical R&D team for cancer treatment. Since 2007, Ms. Tsuzuki has also
been a Chairperson of a private university in Fukuoka, Japan, where she is pushing for a new joint
industry-university program in an effort to build an academia network among Asian countries such as
China, Korea, Vietnam, India, and Fiji. Ms. Tsuzuki obtained a B.A. in law and is a master's and Ph.D.
candidate in Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo.
SANDIAGA S. UNO
Sandiaga S. Uno graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Business
Administration from the Wichita State University in 1990 and obtained a Masters
of Business Administration from George Washington University in 1992. From
1992 to 1997, he served as Finance and Accounting Officer in the Summa Group
of Companies in Indonesia, Manager/Financial Analyst in Seapower Asia
Investment Limited (now Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited) in
Singapore, Chief Financial Officer of NTI Resources Limited in Calgary,
Canada. In 1997 he co-founded Recapital Advisors an investment advisory firm together with his high
school friend, Rosan Perkasa. Since 1998, he has been the President Director of Saratoga Capital, a
private equity/direct investment firm he co-founded with Edwin Soeryadjaya. He currently holds
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directorships with PT Adaro Energy Tbk (Indonesia’s second largest integrated coal company) , PT Mitra
Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telecom Operator – Central Java) and Interra Resources Limited (Oil
& Gas). From April 2005 to July 2008, he served as the Chairman of the Indonesian Young
Entrepreneurs Association. He also holds the position of Chairman of the Permanent Committee for
Small & Medium Enterprises of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) since March
2004. In 2004, he was appointed as the Team Manager for the Indonesian Women Basketball Team for
the 2005 SEA Games in Manila. Mr. Uno is Enterprise Asia’s 2008 Indonesian Entrepreneur of the Year.
VIKRAM UPADHYAYA
Vikram Upadhyaya is President and CTO of I.A.P KK, as well as founding board
member of four ventures in India and Japan (Team Pasona, Turbolinux India,
Merinews.com,VoiceofIndia.co.jp). Keizaikai and the Japan Times featured Mr.
Upadhyaya in both 2006 and 2007 as the most up-and- coming foreign entrepreneur
in Japan. As an entrepreneur he is involved in the future Internet Business Modeling.
He specializes in New Venture Turnaround, Start-up Mentoring, Internet Business
Modeling, Japanese Project Offshoring, and Brand-building for Indian/Japanese
Market. Mr. Upadhyaya is the youngest active angel investor of India's Biggest Angel
Investors Network (Indian Angel Network). Mr. Upadhyaya strongly believes
in giving back to society and shows his dedication through contributions to non-profit organizations such
as India Center Japan, as a Founder Director of TIE Japan-Tokyo Chapter, ICT Forum Japan, Global
Industrial & Social Progress Research Institute, and the Japan-India Association. He is a graduate of the
University of Tokyo, and has diversified experience in IT & Consulting Industry, ranging from Japanese
Projects Offshoring to Global Corporate Strategy and New Ventures Turnaround.
STEVEN WANG
Steven Wang is the Director of Dermatologic Surgery and Dermatology at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New Jersey. He has more than 40
publications in scientific journals and books, and has lectured in the U.S., Europe,
and China. Aside from his clinical and research work, he has a keen interest in
public health. As the founder and ex-president of the China AIDS Orphan Fund,
he has organized efforts to deliver much needed relief for AIDS orphans in China.
Currently, he serves as the secretary for the China AIDS Fund in New York City.
T. B. NANDASIRI WANNINAYAKA
T. B. Nandasiri Wanninayaka is the CEO of the Horizon Lanka Foundation. In
rural areas plagued by unemployment, isolation, and fractured schools, Mr.
Wanninayaka makes rural youth competitive in the global marketplace. He has
found a way to bring modern technology to isolated communities, link villagers
to outside networks through Internet, and use alternative education (with an
emphasis on the English language) to foster teamwork, creativity and
self-esteem amongst students. Mr. Wanninayaka has been able to initiate Sri Lanka's first village-level
outsourcing venture. Establishing e -commerce so farmers can avoid middlemen and sell their products at
market prices is also being pursued through the already installed mesh Internet community network in the
village. Visit www.horizonlanka.org for more information on his work and www.wanni.info for his
personal website.
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TING HWAY WONG
Ting Hway Wong is Registrar at the Singapore General Hospital. She was a former volunteer with Doctors
without Borders and helps co-ordinate the Doctors without Borders Peer Support Network in Singapore.
She was the first Singaporean to work as a medical delegate with the International Committee of the Red
Cross. Back home in Singapore, she has served as volunteer committee chairman and council member of
HCA Hospice Care, the largest homecare hospice organization in Singapore. Conversant in several
languages, including English, Chinese, Spanish, French and Portuguese, she also speaks basic Malay,
Arabic and Nepali. Nine years after receiving her medical degree was from Cambridge University, she
decided to pursue a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, and is now training to be a
general surgeon at the Singapore General Hospital. When not walking around the hospital, she tries to find
time to belly-dance and write poetry.
BINGLAN XU
Binglan Xu is a Senior Editor at Caijing Magazine in China. He recently graduated
from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government with a Master's degree
in Public Administration and is now working with a group of seasoned journalists
setting up a Beijing -based news organization that will target an international
audience. Prior to his time at Harvard, Mr. Xu worked for the China Daily, one of
the country's leading broadsheet newspapers. He was a member of the paper's
editorial group, which decided the paper's views on key domestic and international
issues, and also headed up its economic news and commentary teams. Mr. Xu has
been a strong advocate for economic and political reforms in China, as well as for closer regional
cooperation in Asia. His articles are widely quoted by international and domestic media. In 2002, he won
the China Journalism Award – the top industry award in the country – for his in-depth coverage of regional
economic issues. He was a Media Fellow at the World Economic Forum's China Summit from 2001 to
2006. He won the Washington DC-based Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship and worked in an American
newsroom in 2000. Mr. Xu also holds a MA and a BA from Renmin University in Beijing.
KEIKO YAMAMOTO
Keiko Yamamoto is a journalist who joined NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation),
Japan public Broadcaster in 1995 after receiving her M.A. in International
Development from Nagoya University, Japan. She has covered educational and social
issues including decreasing birthrates, gender inequality, and economic disparities in
Japan. Ms. Yamamoto founded a female journalist's association in 2001 wishing to
create a professional networking among female journalists in Japan. There are now
two chapters, one in Tokyo and one in Nagoya, with a current membership of over
250. Today, the network has worked to introduce and foster
such new concepts to Japanese society as the work life balance, diversity and supporting non-profit
organizations through the positive use of media.
JEFF YANG
Jeff Yang is "Asian Pop" columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He began
his decade and a half as cultural critic and columnist for Manhattan's legendary
alternative newsweekly, the Village Voice; and his work now appears in
Conde Nast Portfolio, Vibe, Salon.com and the Washington Post. Mr. Yang is
also a recurring correspondent for WNYC, NPR's flagship station in New
York, and founder of aMagazine, Asian America's largest and
most influential English-language media institution. He has authored several books including Eastern
Standard Time; I Am Jackie Chan; Once Upon a Time in China; and the forthcoming Asian American
superhero anthology, Secret Identities, coming in Spring 2009.
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RUTH YEOH
Ruth Yeoh is Director of Investments at YTL Corporation Berhad, a US$9 billion
corporation in the power, water, retail, hotel, resorts, construction, cement and esolutions sectors. She currently leads the environmental division at YTL, where she
reports on her organisation's environmental activities through writing its awardwinning Sustainability Reports, published yearly. Ms. Yeoh also pioneered YTL's
highly successful "Climate Change Week", an educational campaign designed to raise
awareness on the important issue of climate change in her nation of Malaysia and
globally. She is a member of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility Malaysia
(ICRM) and researches investments in clean technology and renewable energy. Ms.
Yeoh was appointed to be the youngest Board Member of Rare Conservation in 2008, with responsibilities
in the Governance Committee of this US-based conservation organization. She also helps to strategise
environmental protection and conservation work in Asia through strengthening partnerships with leaders
and practitioners. She was previously affiliated with Credit Suisse, Singapore, where she was responsible
for research into equities, renewable energy markets, commodities, clean technology, investments and the
author of several flagship publications. She has further written for both the Wall Street Journal Asia and
Financial Times, and has authored and co-edited a book on climate change entitled Cut Carbon, Grow
Profits: Business Strategies for Managing Climate Change and Sustainability. Ms. Yeoh graduated with a
degree in Architectural Studies (Hons) from the University of Nottingham UK and an MSc in Management
(Distinction) from Cass Business School in the City of London.
NOVA RIYANTI YUSUF__________________________________________
Nova Riyanti Yusuf is Chairperson for Metaforma Institute (Center for Social and
Community Development), an independent organization that advocates mental
health awareness in Indonesia. The program includes journal publishing, Ataraxis
(The Indonesian Journal of Mental Health) in collaboration with Indonesian
Mental Health Network and CBM International, conducting international lecture
series to broaden the epistemological basis of psychiatry, mental health tips
collaborating with a national television QTV, and various mental health
programs. She is also a lecturer at Paramadina University, JakartaIndonesia, teaching Psychological Physiology and Biological Anthropology. In 1995, Ms. Yusuf took a
course in writing at The Writing School, Singapore and has been a published author since 2003 when she
published her first psychological genre novel that hit bestseller stands, "Mahadewa Mahadewi" / God and
Goddess (published by Gramedia Pustaka Utama). The book was Editor's Choice of Cosmopolitan
magazine Indonesia and a reference novel for the Indonesian Language Advanced Learning at Charles
Darwin University, Australia in 2003 (formerly known as Northern Territory University). She has published
2 more original novels, 3 adaptation novels from movie scripts, two books of essays, and her movie script
in 2007 "Merah Itu Cinta" / Red is Love had made the movie nominated for seven categories in the
Indonesian Film Festival 2007. She also won first place for the Fun Fearless Female pageant 2004 held by
Cosmopolitan magazine Indonesia. She was a junior tennis player who won several singles tennis
tournaments in Jakarta (age group of 12 and below) but developed more interest in writing. She is currently
preparing for the National Board Exam to obtain her Psychiatrist degree from Psychiatry Specialization
Program in University of Indonesia Medical Faculty. She has just completed her thesis, "Biopsychosocial
Aspects of Suicide: A Case Study of Two Dead Painters in Yogyakarta- Indonesia" She completed her
Medical Doctor degree from Trisakti Medical Faculty, Jakarta-Indonesia, in 2002.
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RIDWAN ZACHRIE
Ridwan Zachrie currently serves as Director of PT Recapital Advisors,
Recapital Group, one of the leading Investment Banking in Indonesia. He is
also the current Commissioner of PT Asuransi Jiwa Recapital (Life Insurance),
PT Recapital Securities, and a member of Audit and Risk Monitoring
Committees for a number of companies, including PT Bank Tabungan
Pensiunan Nasional Tbk (National Pension Saving Bank) and PT Asuransi
Umum Recapital (General Insurance). He has worked for the
government as a Foreign Service officer, responsible for handling economic and trade issues. Dr. Zachrie
has served as an Indonesian diplomat in the United Kingdom and New Zealand and has attended many
international conferences, including ASEAN, APEC, WTO, ASEM and other bilateral meetings. Over the
past five years, he has made a significant effort to promote good corporate governance (GCG) in Indonesia.
He is also Chairman of the prestigious Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI). Dr. Zachrie
graduated with Distinction from the School of Law, University Trisakti Indonesia. He was awarded the
prestigious British Chevening Scholarship and successfully obtained two master degrees in economics from
the London School of Economics and a Master of Law from Indonesian Institute of Business Law with
Distinction. He is continuing pursuit of his doctorate and is an active senior lecturer in a number of
Indonesian universities and government institutions.
JINGJING ZHANG
Jingjing Zhang is Director of Litigation at the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV)
at the China University of Political Science and Law. Ms. Zhang has been involved in several leading
pollution class action and environmental impact litigations in recent years. She received her first law degree
from Wuhan University Law School in 1991 and her Masters of Law at the China University of Political
Science and Law, Beijing in 2000. She was selected as a fellow, at the Columbia University Law School
Public Interest Initiative in 2005 and will be one of Yale’s World Fellows at Yale University in fall 2008.
JIADONG ZHU
Jiadong Zhu (Patrick) is the Head of Retail Risk ANZ China and Senior Risk
Advisor to ANZ's partner bank – Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank. Prior to
joining ANZ, he was an International Manager with HSBC. As a professional
banker, Mr. Zhu worked in a number of Asia-Pacific countries/territories
including Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, HK and Mainland China. In his
leisure time, he is enthusiastic about volunteer work – he taught English at a
middle school in China's Anhui Province as a volunteer teacher, and spent two weeks in Malaysia's rain
forest assisting scientists study and preserve bats as an EarthWatch fellow. Mr. Zhu is a Certified Financial
Analyst charter holder and an advanced scuba diver.
ALI ZUASHKIANI
Ali Zuashkiani joined the Center for Maintenance Optimizations and Reliability
Engineering (CMORE) at the University of Toronto, as the director of educational
programs after obtaining his PhD from the same university. He is Iran's most
distinguished student of 1999. Dr. Kuashkiani is the co-founder and BOD member
of Knowledge Diffusion Network, aiming to promote collaboration of Iranian
academics inside and outside of Iran. He is also the president and co-founder of the
International Association of Iranian Managers with more than 6000 members aiming
to improve management knowledge and practice in the Middle East. These
non-profit institutions have been providing training and networking opportunities to thousands of
participants with different backgrounds and social classes. Over the last four years Dr. Kuashkiani has
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been the chairman of International Physical Asset Management conference, designed to improve physical
asset management knowledge in Iran in order to increase companies' competitiveness and also to reduce
their environmental and safety hazards.
SOOFIAN ZUBERI
Soofian Zuberi is a Managing Director and Co-head of Asia Equity Capital Markets
at Merrill Lynch. In this role, he is responsible for the origination and execution of
all aspects of the firm’s equity, equity -linked and structured equity capital markets
franchise across both the public and private markets. Mr. Zuberi joined Merrill Lynch
in 1993 as a member of the New York Corporate Finance team. From there, he
transferred to Hong Kong where he has held a number of increasingly senior roles
including Head of Asia Equity Syndicate and Head of South East Asia Equity Capital
Markets before being promoted to his current position in 2006. Mr Zuberi
has worked on over 130 transactions and raised over US$90 billion across equity, structured equity and
convertible bonds for both corporate and sovereign clients in Asia. Mr Zuberi is based in Hong Kong and
holds a MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA (Hons.) from Reed College.