Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, United States
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, United States
Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton is the 67th Secretary of State of the United States. Secretary Clinton joined the State Department after nearly four decades in public service as an advocate, attorney, First Lady, and Senator.
In 2000, Hillary Rodham Clinton made history as the first First Lady elected to the United States Senate, and the first woman elected statewide in New York. In 2006, Senator Clinton won reelection to the Senate, and in 2007 she began her historic campaign for President. In 2008, she campaigned for the election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and in November, she was nominated by President-elect Obama to be Secretary of State.
Secretary Clinton is a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School.
Kum-lae Kim, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, the Republic of Korea.
Ms. Kum-lae KIM is a professional administrator and politician and served as Secretary-General of the Korean National Council of Woman (1988-97) and Representative Director of Seoul Foundation of Woman and Family (2006-07).
She was elected to the 18th National Assembly in 2008 and served as a member of Health and Welfare Committee and Gender Equality and Family Committee of the National Assembly until September 2011, when she took office as the Minster of Gender Equality and Family.
After graduating Ewha Women’s University, Ms. Kim received a Master’s degree from Graduate School of Policy Studies, Sookmyung Women’s University.
Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director, UN Women
Mme Bachelet is a Social Democrat politician who was President of Chile from 11 March 2006 to 11 March 2010. She was the first woman president of her country. In September 2010 Bachelet was appointed as the head of UN Women by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Bachelet won the 2006 presidential election in a runoff, beating center-right businessman and former senator Sebastián Piñera (who eventually succeeded Bachelet as President) with 53.5% of the vote.
Bachelet, a pediatrician and epidemiologist with studies in military strategy, served as Health Minister and Defense Minister under her predecessor, President Ricardo Lagos.
Dr. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director, World Bank
Dr. Mulyani is an Indonesian economist. She was appointed the Managing Director of the World Bank Group in 2010 and resigned as Finance Minister of Indonesia in the Second United Indonesia Cabinet. As Indonesian finance minister from 2005 to 2010, Sri Mulyani is known as a tough reformist and has largely been credited with strengthening Indonesia's economy, increasing investments and steering Southeast Asia's largest economy through the 2007–2010 financial crisis.
In 2001, Mulyani left for Atlanta, Georgia, to serve as a consultant with the US Aid Agency (USAID) for programs to strengthen Indonesia’s autonomy. She also lectured on the Indonesian economy as visiting professor at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at the Georgia State University. She was an executive director of the International Monetary Fund representing 12 economies in Southeast Asia from 2002 to 2004.
She obtained her degree from Universitas Indonesia in 1986. Sri Mulyani received her master and doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1992.
Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Group Chief Executive / Non-Independent, Executive Director, Dialog Telekom
Dr. Wijayasuriya joined the Company in 1994 as a member of the founding management team of the Company, and has functioned in the capacity of the Chief Executive of Dialog Axiata, since 1997. He counts over 17 years experience in technology related business management. He also serves on the boards of a number of international subsidiaries of the Axiata Group.
A Fellow of the Institute of Engineering Technology of the UK (IET), Dr. Wijayasuriya is a Chartered Professional Engineer and also a member of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), USA. Dr. Wijayasuriya graduated with a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK in 1989. He subsequently read for and was awarded a PhD in Digital Mobile Communications at the University of Bristol, UK. Dr. Wijayasuriya also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Warwick, UK.
Dr. Wijayasuriya is a past Chairman of GSM Asia Pacific – the regional interest group of the GSM Association representing 49 Asia Pacific member countries, and has earned the distinction of being included in the GSM 100 Role of Honour for his contribution to GSM in the Asia Pacific Region.
Invited: H.E Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson, African Union
Mr. Mwencha was appointed the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union in January 2008. Prior to this position, he served as the Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) for almost ten years. He has also been involved in WTO and EPA negotiations. Prior to joining COMESA, Mr. Mwencha worked for the Government of Kenya in various capacities. He was Director of a number of public enterprises from 1979 to 1983. He also served as Head of the Department of Industry and as a Senior Economist in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Kenya. In 1979, Mr. Mwencha was appointed Secretary to the Industrial Science Advisory Council and was also a Member of the Research Council of the National Council for Science and Technology.
Mr. Mwencha was awarded the “Moran of the Burning Spear” by the President of the Republic of Kenya in recognition of his contribution to national and regional development.
Esther Mwaura-Muiru, Founder and the Coordinator of the Groots Kenya
Ms. Mwaura-Muiru is a Founder and Coordinator of GROOTS Kenya (Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood) – a network of more than 2000 self-help groups from poor communities in urban slums and rural areas across Kenya. Esther’s leadership has enabled women in the GROOTS Kenya network to build a solid network of grassroots women’s organizations and take leadership roles in their own communities and within local, national, regional and international decision-making forums, focusing on local governance, secure land tenure, and community responses to HIV and AIDS.
She continues to write articles, serves as an environmental specialist who has documented several award-winning Kenyan community development practices and sits on advisory boards for national and international organizations. Esther also stood for Parliament as a Green Party candidate in Kenya’s national elections in 2007. Since 2007, she has been coordinating GROOTS Kenya’s response to the political and ethnic violence, which erupted across the country through supporting the provision of direct relief, and leading dialogue towards reconciliation and long-term rebuilding of communities.