Seventy-Fourth President of the Economic and Social Council

Her Excellency Inga Rhonda King, who comes to diplomacy from the private sector, has lived and worked in several Caribbean countries, the United States of America, and China. She is a small business owner, business strategist, the author of three books, and a management accountant with more than two decades of professional experience. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and chemistry, is the immediate past chair of the Investment Promotions Agency of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Invest SVG), and a former Honorary Consul for Portugal to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Since becoming Permanent Representative in September 2013, Ambassador King has held several leadership roles which include:

• Chair/Spokesperson of L69 (2016 - present), the largest reform group for the Security Council Reform of the United Nations.
• Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council for the period 2017-2018.
• Chair of the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly of the 71st Session (2016 - 2017). At the time of her chairmanship, she was only the second woman to chair this committee in the history of the United Nations.
• Immediate-past chair of the Island Women Open Network (IWON) (2014 - July 2018). The IWON is tasked with ensuring gender-mainstreaming in the renewable energy sector of Small Island Developing States by building capacity at the grassroots and community level. The IWON is a part of the SIDS DOCK Secretariat platform. SIDS Dock is a UN registered SIDS International Organization.

Senior Fellow and the Director of Technology and Development, Center for Global Development

Charles Kenny is a senior fellow and the director of technology and development at the Center for Global Development. His current work focuses on gender and development, the role of technology in development, governance and anticorruption and the post-2015 development agenda. He has published articles, chapters and books on issues including what we know about the causes of economic growth, the link between economic growth and broader development, the causes of improvements in global health, the link between economic growth and happiness, the end of the Malthusian trap, the role of communications technologies in development, the ‘digital divide,’ corruption, and progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. He is the author of the book "Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding, and How We Can Improve the World Even More" and “The Upside of Down: Why the Rise of the Rest is Great for the West.” He has been a contributing editor at Foreign Policy magazine and a regular contributor to Business Week magazine. Kenny was previously at the World Bank, where his assignments included working with the VP for the Middle East and North Africa Region, coordinating work on governance and anticorruption in infrastructure and natural resources, and managing a number of investment and technical assistance projects covering telecommunications and the Internet.

Charles Kenny keeps a personal blog at http://charleskenny.blogs.com

Assistant Secretary General Human and Social Development, CARICOM Secretariat

Mr. Harris brings over 25 years of international experience in the fields of international economics and development policy analysis, coupled with knowledge of the United Nations system, multilateral and inter–agency coordination processes. He has extensive experience in the design of macroeconomic policies and its application as a central instrument for the reduction of poverty and for resilient and sustained economic development. His work in the field of economics also focuses on the macroeconomic linkages with global social and environmental policies.

Since 2015, Mr. Harris has served as Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). He joined UNEP’s Senior Management Team in 2013 as Director of the New York Office and Secretary to the Environment Management Group.

Prior to joining UNEP, Mr. Harris began his career in the International Monetary Fund in 1988, where he worked in the African Department and the Fiscal Affairs Department. In 2002, he became an Adviser in the Policy Development and Review Department, and was appointed in 2008 as Special Representative to the United Nations, in addition to serving as Assistant Director of the Strategy and Policy Review Department.

Mr. Harris holds a Bachelor of Science in German and Political Science and an advanced degree in economics. He was awarded an Advanced Studies Certificate in international economics and policy research from the Institute of World Economics in Kiel, Germany.

Executive Director of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data

Claire Melamed is the CEO of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. This growing network brings together several hundred members -- governments, private sector, and civil society -- to harness and leverage data and data technology towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. She was previously Managing Director of the Overseas Development Institute, and in 2014, she worked in the office of the UN Secretary General, writing the report of the Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution, “A World That Counts”. "We say that every life counts, but we still don't count every life", she says in her advocacy to use the knowledge provided by data to improve lives and protect the planet. Claire is based in London and heads up a global team based in six countries. Claire serves on a number of Boards and advisory groups for institutions including the UK Office of National Statistics Data Science Campus, Government of UAE Task Force on Global Data Commons, Overseas Development Institute Human Mobility Initiative, and Mo Ibrahim Foundation Governance Index.

Director of the Development Bureau of ITU (Elected official at the ASG level)

Doreen Bogdan-Martin was elected Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau on the 1st of November 2018. She took office on the 1st of January 2019.

She is a strategic leader with more than 25 years of high-level experience in international and inter-governmental relations. She has a long history of success in policy and strategy development, analysis and execution.

From 2008-2018, Ms Bogdan-Martin led the Strategic Planning & Membership Department of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), located in Geneva, Switzerland. ITU is the specialized United Nations agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), with 193 Member States and a membership of nearly 800 private sector entities and academic institutions around the globe. It is dedicated to bringing connectivity to all the world’s people through development assistance, standardization and coordination of radiocommunications.

Ms Bogdan-Martin was responsible for the organization’s strategic planning processes, while also overseeing the organization’s Membership, Corporate Communications and External Affairs teams, the work of the United Nations Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, and Coordinator of United Nations affairs for the organization.

Ms Bogdan-Martin has advised governments from around the world on policy and regulatory reform measures. She has organized impact-driven global conferences with thousands of participants from 150+ countries, brokered international consensus on many critical issues, and is a regular presenter at high-level international forums and summits. As part of this important work, she was one of the principal architects of the annual Global Symposium for Regulators, directed ITU’s first global youth summit #BYND, and is currently driving ITU latest high-profile initiative – EQUALS, The Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age.

Ms Bogdan-Martin previously headed the Regulatory and Market Environment Division of the Development Bureau and was responsible for the programmes on Regulatory Reform and Economics and Finance. Prior to joining ITU, she was a Telecommunications Policy Specialist in the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA), US Department of Commerce. With a Master’s degree in International Communications Policy from American University in Washington, DC, Ms Bogdan-Martin completed post-graduate certification in Strategies for Leadership at the Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is also certified in Accountability and Ethics by the United Nations Leaders Programme.

Additionally, Ms Bogdan-Martin is an affiliate of the Harvard University Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society, currently serves as the Co-Chair of the United Nations Strategic Planning Group, Chair of the Academic Council for the Swiss Network for International Studies, and is a member of the Board of Governors of the UN Staff College. She is also an amateur radio operator. She is married with four children.

former Minister of Public Service and Administration of South Africa, Chair of Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA)

Geraldine Joslyn Fraser-Moleketi is the Chancellor of Nelson Mandela University. She was the former Special Envoy on Gender at the African Development Bank. In this role, she led a strategy to mainstream gender in the Bank’s policies and operations, making the Bank a reference institution on gender equality in Africa. She was previously Director of the Democratic Governance Group of the United Nations Development Programme, with activities in more than 170 countries, supported from six regional service centres. She served in the South African Government as Minister of Public Service and Administration for two consecutive terms. As Minister, she led the development of a senior management service within the South African public service; oversaw a comprehensive review of the public service remuneration system; revitalized the “Batho Pele” strategy within the public service; and established the Government Employees Medical Scheme and Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy. She also served as Chair of the Pan African Ministers of Public Service for three consecutive terms and has worked on intergovernmental bodies globally and in Africa. While Minister for Public Service and Administration, she served as a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration. As Minister for Welfare and Population Development in the first democratic Government of South Africa, she introduced the Government’s white papers on social welfare (1997) and on population policy (1998) in the Parliament, worked on the development and implementation of the Child Support Grant and chaired the Ministerial Team on Children and Youth at Risk. She served as Deputy Minister of Welfare and coordinated the country’s preparations for the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. Ms. Fraser-Moleketi also served as Deputy Leader of the South African delegation to the Conference and represented South Africa at the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995. In addition, she served as member of the South African Parliament for three consecutive terms, from 1994 until her resignation in September 2008, and was a member of the Constituent Assembly and various subcommittees responsible for drawing up the South African Constitution adopted on 8 May 1996. She served on the Management Committee of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa and was Deputy National Coordinator of the National Elections Commission of the African National Congress in preparation for the country’s first democratic elections. Mrs. Fraser-Moleketi serves on various boards across academia, government and development organizations on issues related to youth, the empowerment of women, capacity development and education, governance and poverty eradication. She also serves as non-executive director on the boards of listed companies. She is a fellow of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, and holds a Master’s Degree in Administration. Mrs. Fraser-Moleketi was named 2016 New African Woman of the Year and was conferred a Doctorate of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD

On 9 June 2017 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, in consultation with the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), decided to appoint Isabelle Durant of Belgium as Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD at the Assistant Secretary-General level. Ms. Durant will succeed Joakim Reiter of Sweden to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service and commitment to UNCTAD.

Ms. Durant brings to the position a wealth of international experience at the senior level, in the political, diplomatic and development policy at the national, regional and global levels interacting with Governments, the private sector and civil society.

Currently a member of the Parliament of Brussels-Capital Region, Ms. Durant formerly served as Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium for four years, as well as Vice-President of the European Parliament (2009-2014). As a Senator, she served on Committees for Foreign Affairs, Social Affairs and participated in many elections observation missions (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Tunisia) (2003-2009) and also worked in the Belgium Government as Federal Minister of Transport and Vice-Prime Minister in charge of direct supervision on Energy and Sustainable Development (1999 and 2003). As such, she chaired alongside the Government of the time, the presidency of the European Union and particularly the presidency of the European Union Council of Ministers of Transport.

Ms. Durant was Senior Expert on Local Governance in Algeria (2015) and participated in or headed European Union Parliamentarian Delegations to Iran, Myanmar and Haiti prior (2009-2014).

Ms. Durant holds a Master of Science degree in economic and social policy from Université Catholique de Louvain.

Born in 1954, she is married and has three children.

Executive Director of the International Movement ATD Fourth World

Isabelle Pypaert Perrin first joined the long-term ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps in 1981 and worked in low-income communities in her native Belgium as well as in Guatemala, Haiti, Mauritius, France, Switzerland, and southeast Asia. All her work has been underpinned by the goal of reaching and empowering people most likely to be left behind. As part of ATD Fourth World's international leadership team since 2008 and its director general since 2012, Isabelle Pypaert Perrin is responsible for grassroots cultural projects and policy advocacy work in 34 countries. Her ethos of leadership is based on horizontal governance that begins with people experiencing the worst forms of poverty. In 2009–2012, she led an international participatory research project published under the title Extreme Poverty Is Violence – Breaking the Silence – Searching for Peace. Isabelle Pypaert Perrin's degree is in social work from the Institut Cardijn Haute École Louvain en Hainaut, Belgium.

Executive President of Association Camerounaise pour la Prise en Charge des Personnes Agees, (MGoS)

Paulette METANG, Executuve President, Association Camerounaise pour la Prise en charge des personnes Agées (ACAMAGE), Cameroon Association for Elderly Care. NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSSOC, UN. Paulette is the pioneer on aging issue in Cameroon. So, ACAMAGE Is the first Older people NGO created in Cameroon in 1995. She has been working in the field of aging since then, promoting older people’s rights for a dignified life, challenging poverty and illiteracy, saving abandoned older people.

She is contributing to the Cameroon VNR

Paulette attended the 2nd World Conference on Aging in 2002, Madrid. When back, she put in place The MIPAA CSOs appraisal and follow up committee in Cameroon. She reported MIPAA +5, +10, and +15 review and appraisal. Always commemorating June 15 and October 1st.

She coordinates and promotes networking, leading : ACAMAGE Network for SDGs, The Cameroon Older people FORUM, ACAMAGE Network for the CONVENTION OF OLDER PEOPLE’s rights, Older Women Network. I very very often attend in New York the CSD and CSW.

Thanks to Paulette’s work, as Older people’s rights Older Activist trained by GAROP/HELPAGE, her country Cameroon,s Government (represented by the Ministry of Social Affairs) and the National Commission on Human Rights as well, FOR THE FIRST EVER TIME, submitted inputs on the focus and normative areas, and the Government Delegate attended for the first EVER TIME since 10 years, and in support, the tenth session of the Open Ended working Group on Aging , April in New York, UN/HQ, I have attended OEWGA sessions 7 times. Paulette METANG publishes books, journal articles and ACAMAGE Newsletter, all in line with Capacity building on Aging.

She is nationaly member of the Cameroon NGOs Forum on SDGs, the Foreign Affairs Ministry CSOs platform, the Cameroon Network for Human Rights, and so on. In addition, she is :

• The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE in Cameroon
• The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP) and Helpage International (HAI) PROJECT PARTNER IN CAMEROON (older people’s rights)
• Accredited to the Open Ended Working Group on Aging
• Member of International Federation on Ageing IFA, HAI Partner, SGA/SGAA

Future Generations Commissioner Wales

Sophie was appointed as the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales in February 2016. Her role is to act as a guardian for the interests of future generations in Wales, and to support the public bodies listed in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to work towards achieving the well-being goals.

Prior to this role, Sophie was the first Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales and the only woman in a police commissioner leadership role in Wales. In this role, she led programmes to tackle violent crime and violence against women and girls, focusing on early intervention and partnership working particularly with health. She reformed programmes on substance misuse and offender management and led a review of women in policing as well the Force's work to increase recruitment of black and monitory ethnic officers and staff.

Sophie served as a Government Special Adviser from 2009-2013 providing policy and political advice on communities, local government, community safety, housing, regeneration and equality to the Cabinet and First Minister.

With a background in equality and diversity having managed the legal department in the Equal Opportunities Commission and subsequently as a policy adviser in the Equality and Human Right Commission, Sophie chaired and wrote the report of the Councillors Commission Expert Panel on increasing diversity in Local Government.

Sophie served as a County councillor in Cardiff - having been elected at the age of 21 she became the youngest Councillor in Wales. During her nine years as a Councillor she was Deputy Leader of the Opposition for a period, as well as a member of the Children and Young People Scrutiny and planning Committees.

She is currently a member of the Wales Committee of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and is Chair of the international Network of Institutions for Future Generations. She lives in Cardiff with her husband Ceri and their five children.