UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety

• Mr. Todt was appointed as the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety since April 2015.  


• Mr. Todt is currently the President of Federation International de L’Automobile (FIA). He was first elected to this post in October 2009 and re-elected in 2013 and 2017.  


• Between 2006 and 2009, Mr. Todt was Chief Executive Officer of Ferrari. Prior to that, he has held senior level positions overseeing racing and sporting activities in Ferrari and PSA Peugeot Citroën Group.  


• Mr. Todt started his career in 1966 as a rally co-driver and participated in the World Rally Championship until 1981. He won the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers with a Talbot Lotus in 1981.  


• Mr. Todt also devotes his time to several charitable causes. He is one of the Founders and Vice-President of the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM), an institute devoted to medical research for brain and spinal cord disorders.


• Mr. Todt was awarded the Humanitarian of the Year Award by the United Nations Association of New York in 2016.  


• Mr. Todt studied economics, business and marketing at the Ecole des Cadres in Paris.  


• Mr. Todt was born in 1946 in Pierrefort, France. He has one son and shares his life with actress, film producer and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Michelle Yeoh.

Head of Urban Systems at Sidewalk Labs

Rohit T. “Rit” Aggarwala is Head of Urban Systems at Sidewalk Labs. Previously, he headed the sustainability practice at Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consulting firm that serves city governments. He is also an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and recently co-chaired the Regional Plan Association’s Fourth Regional Plan for the New York metropolitan area.
Rit served as Special Advisor to the Chair of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group from 2010-2013, guiding the organization’s strategic transformation into a global leader. During that period, he also developed the environment program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, which grew to a total of $145 million in grants under his management.
Rit served as Director of New York City’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability from 2006-2010, and led the creation and implementation of “PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York.” PlaNYC has been hailed as one of the world’s best urban sustainability plans, leading New York City to a 19% reduction in its carbon footprint since 2005. Prior to joining City Hall, he was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Rit holds a BA, MBA, and PhD from Columbia University, and an MA from Queen’s University in Ontario. He was born in New York City, where he now lives with wife and three daughters.

Mayor of Pittsburg, US

Mayor of the city of Genk and President of the Flemish Association of Local Councils, Belgium

Wim Dries was born on March 24, 1972, and grew up in the district of Bret-Gelieren. He is still living in the same area, together with his spouse Nele and their two children Viktor en Nore. Since childhood, Wim has been actively engaged in voluntary work. He had a seat in the Students’ Council, was for a long time chairman of Vlaggendansgroep Symbolica and within the organization of the Genker Heidefeesten. Hij committed himself to assisting many youngsters and developed a sound interest in everything related to the internet, networks and technology.
After finishing his secondary education in the Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege, Wim obtained a Bachelor Degree in Elektronica Finaliteit (Electronics) at Diepenbeek University and followed several additional courses. He worked for a long time as manager at DAF-Company, and for some time acted as a teacher as well. In 1995, Wim Dries was elected member of the Genk City Council, and since 2002 he has been a fulltime active member of the Board of Aldermen. In December 2009, Wim was elected as the 10th Mayor of Genk. He also occupies the position of chairman of Infrax Company and he is the chairman of the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities (VVSG), which gathers all 308 local governments of the northern part (Flanders) in Belgium. As a local governments association, the VVSG assists their members in training and advice, advocates for their interests with the other tiers of government and builds the municipal movement in Flanders. Since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the VVSG has been active in localizing the Agenda 2030 with its members.

UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing

Ms. Farha is the Executive Director of the NGO Canada Without Poverty, based in Ottawa, Canada. A lawyer by training, for the past 20 years Ms. Farha has worked both internationally and domestically on the implementation of the right to adequate housing for the most marginalized groups.

In Canada Ms. Farha worked on housing rights issues as the Executive Director of the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA). In that capacity, she helped to launch a historic legal challenge seeking the implementation of UN recommendations for addressing homelessness as a violation of human rights. In her current work she continues to promote a human rights based approach to poverty.

Internationally, Ms. Farha has actively participated in a number of missions around the world to examine the status of housing rights and to assist in developing policy responses for the implementation of these rights. Within the UN human rights system, she helped spearhead the first resolution regarding women and the right to adequate housing. Ms. Farha has also undertaken numerous consultancies related to housing rights; she has appeared before various UN human rights mechanisms to address economic, social and cultural rights issues; and she was a member of the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions for UNHabitat.

Ms. Farha is known as a dynamic and effective advocate for economic, social and cultural rights and for promoting legal protection and access to justice for these rights. She has researched and published widely on issues related to housing rights, including on forced evictions, securing land rights for indigenous peoples, and housing indigenous peoples in cities. As a central dimension in all her activities, she has worked extensively on women’s economic, social and cultural rights, playing a pivotal role in raising awareness about the gender dimensions of these rights. Ms. Farha was also a founding member of the ESCR-Net – an international network of organizations committed to economic, social and cultural rights.

Executive Director of UN-HABITAT

The General Assembly, on 22 December 2017, elected Maimunah Mohd Sharif of Malaysia as Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN‑Habitat).
Ms. Sharif is currently Mayor of the City Council of Penang Island, Malaysia. Prior to her appointment as Mayor, she was the first woman to serve as President of the Municipal Council of Seberang Perai in 2011. As mayor of a local authority, she leads the Municipal Council to achieve its vision of a “cleaner, greener, safer and healthier place to work, live, invest and play”. She is a champion of Gender‑Responsive Participatory Budgeting to integrate gender perspectives into the governance process, as a tool to mainstream gender into budgetary and development policy and planning.
Ms. Sharif began her career as a Town Planner at the Municipal Council of Penang Island in 1985. In 2003, she was promoted to Director of Planning and Development, a position she held until November 2009. As Director, she was responsible for the preparation of structure and local plans, and directly involved in development control of Penang City projects and landscape development. She also led a team for the planning and implementation of the Urban Renewal Projects in George Town. In November 2009, she was entrusted as the first General Manager to establish George Town World Heritage Incorporated and manage the George Town World Heritage Site, which was inscribed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in July 2008.
Photo: https://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sga1778.doc.htm
Bio: http://www.environewsnigeria.com/malaysian-urban-planner-sharif-replaces-clos-un-habitat-boss/

Project Manager and member of the SDG 11 Global Council, Smart Dubai, UAE

Meera AlShaikh is a project manager at the Smart Dubai Office, the government entity entrusted with Dubai’s city-wide smart transformation by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. She holds a Master’s Degree in Project Management from The British University in Dubai and a BSc in Information Systems and Technology Management from Zayed University, Dubai.
She has recently been appointed as a member and secretariat of the SDG11 Global Council, part of the Global Councils on Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to her role in the Strategy and Emerging Technology Department, Meera is also Smart Dubai’s team lead for the Dubai 10X initiative, which aims to take Dubai 10 years ahead of other global cities by disrupting how traditional government services are delivered to the city's stakeholders. Meera also leads Smart Dubai’s future team at the Dubai Future Accelerators program, which taps into the global start-up ecosystem to find transformational solutions using emerging technologies, and connects the startups to relevant government and private sector entities in Dubai.

Commissioner, NYC Mayor’s Office for International Affairs

Penny leads the City's global platform for promoting its goals for a more just society, showcasing the diversity of New Yorkers and sharing policies and best practices with the world. Her agency serves the largest diplomatic corps in the world, including strategic partnerships and programming reaffirming NYC’s local leadership on global issues.

From 2009-2014, Penny was the Director of Girls and Women Integration at the Clinton Global Initiative, where she led the program's evolution into one of CGI's most successful efforts.

Penny is a French-American Foundation Young Leader (2017) and a WEF Young Global Leader (2016).

Senior Programme Coordinator-Gender and Climate Change at International Centre for Climate Change and Development as Coordinator-Gender and Climate Change (ICCCAD) (Women’s Major Group)

Shaila is serving International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) as Senior Programme Coordinator- Gender and Climate Change. Prior to that, she served Gender and Water Alliance (GWA), GIZ, UNDP, IFPRI, WaterAid and Oxfam as a full-time advisor. She is an environmental lawyer and a World Wilf Life Fund (WWF) Fellow with long experience in Disaster Risk Reduction, Integrated Water Resources Management, Climate Change Adaptation and building community resilience. She is the Advisor of the local farmer’s research institute “Krisoker Sor (Farmers’ Voice)” a UNISDR nominated Global Champion Community on Disaster Resilience in 2015 from Bangladesh. She holds diverse professional background from social activism to gender equality and environmental sustainability. She is the global and regional voice on women’s issues, climate justice and SDGs campaign. She is also an active member of Women’s Major Group, Women and Gender Constituency of UNFCCC, GNDR and Asia-Pacific RCEM, a platform on SDGs. Shaila closely worked with government and involved with a number of policy development process nationally and globally like Disaster Management Act, Water Act, Gender and Equity Strategy and Risk Reduction Action Plan for Climate Change and Disaster for different Ministries in Bangladesh.