Benjamin C. Abalos Jr

Benjamin C. Abalos Jr. was elected Number 1 City Councillor (District 1) in 1995 and served in this capacity up to 1998.

When elected Mayor in 1998, his brand of governance transformed Mandaluyong into the “Tiger City of the Philippines” in barely a term in office. He served as the local chief executive until 2004.

As the city’s Lone Representative to the Philippine Congress (2004-2007), he authored a total of 25 legislations and co-authored 54 House Bills, all geared to champion the welfare of the underprivileged. He sponsored the biggest budget of the Philippine Sports Commission in its entire history and principally authored Republic Act No. 9397 - the Amended Urban Development Housing Act of 1992.

His continuous pioneering effort to attract multi-billion investments to the city’s coffer brought him back as Mayor in 2007 where he also served as President of the League of Cities of the Philippines and of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), an organization of leagues of 49,000 strong elected local officials countrywide. He became the very first Mayor to hold the Presidency of these two prestigious organizations concurrently. It was also the first time in the history of the ULAP, which has always been headed by a governor, that a city mayor was unanimously elected as president.

Benjamin C. Abalos Jr. is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 4: Innovative Financing Instruments for Local Authorities 

Saada Abdulraqeeb Abdalallah Al-areqi

Miss Saada Al-areqi is a student in the Faculty of Law at Taiz University. She has a diploma in computing and has attended a number of training courses on the principles of development, accounting, project management, management, political participation, advocacy and human development skills. Miss Saada has implemented a lot of community service initiatives and activities. Recently she and a group of youth have established a network called "Taiz Youth Initiative Network" and she was selected to be the Secretary-General of this network. She worked as a volunteer in Youth Development Organization (YDO) for two years and worked in this organization as a project coordinator for a project entitled "Women's Voice Project".

Currently, Miss Saada is a project coordinator in Youth Without Borders Organization (YWBOD) and she is the coordinator of a project entitled "Connecting Youth With State and Endowment Lands", implemented by YDO in partnership with YWBOD and funded by UN-Habitat’s Global Land Tool Network.

Saada Abdulraqeeb Abdalallah Al-areqi is one of the speakers of WUF7 World Urban Youth Assembly

Sheelu Adhikari

Bio coming soon.

Sheelu Adhikari is one of the speakers of WUF7 World Urban Youth Assembly.

Akon Eyakenyi

Bio coming soon.

Akon Eyakenyi is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: South-South Cooperation.

James Alcime

Mr. Alcime is from Haiti and studies communications and minors in Organizational communication at Paris 8 University in France. He was honored with the Ten Outstanding Young People Award by the Junior Chamber International in 2009. He is the co-founder VOF World in Haiti, an international youth media project which aims to communicate the rights and wants of young people around the world using social media. For his work in Haiti, Mr. Alcime was awarded a Tutu desk in the presence of Nobel Prize winner Sir. Desmond Tutu at the One Young World Summit in Zürich 2011.

He has served two terms on the UN-Habitat youth advisory board and attended various conferences as a speaker or observer, such as the World Forum of Democracy and UNESCO Youth Forum. Mr. Alcime has also been featured as a “young changemaker” in the Huffington Post, the BBC, Canal France and many other media outlets.

James Alcime is one of the speakers of WUF7 World Urban Youth Assembly

Zoubida Allaoua

Ms. Zoubida Allaoua, has over 20 years’ experience with the World Bank, since she joined in 1988 through the Young Professionals Program. She has since then held various positions as Economist covering West Africa, India and Pakistan. In 2002, she was appointed Sector Manager, Private and Financial Sector Development for the Middle East and North Africa Region. In May 2009, she was appointed Director for Urban and Disaster Risk Management Department (UDR), which is the global practice leading the Bank's agenda on Sustainable Urbanization, City services, Resilience and Disaster Risk Management.

In December 2013, Ms. Allaoua was appointed Acting Vice President for the Sustainable Development Network (SDN), a responsibility which she is carrying in addition to Managing the Urban and Disaster Risk Management Department, and also serving as Acting Director of Strategy and Operations for Sustainable Development Network (SDN).

Zoubida Allaoua is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: Financing the New Urban Agenda. 

Walid Al-Masri

Bio coming soon.

Walid Al-Masri is one of the speakers of WUF7 Ministers Roundtable.

François Albert Amichia

François Albert Amichia holds a PhD in contemporary history. He has been Mayor of Treichville municipality (part of the Abidjan urban area) since 1996. In 1998 he was one of the instigators of the Ivorian Forum on Urban Security (FISU) which he currently chairs. Thanks to his commitment to the promotion of local authorities and his inspiring personality, in 2002 he became chair of the Ivorian Cities and Municipalities Union (UVICOCI), a position he held continuously until December 2013. In 2002 and 2003, he was Minister of Sports and Leisure in the Government of Côte d’Ivoire.

François Albert Amichia is also a member and senior director of several networks that bring together local authorites as well as regional and international organisations. His other positions include : Council Member, United Cities and Local Governments Africa (UCLG-A) ; Chair, Steering Committees of several projects led by the International Association of French-speaking Mayors (AIMF) ; Vice-chair, Municipal Development Partnership (PDM-MDP) ; Chair, Local Authorities Council of the UEMOA area since April 2012 ; Vice-chair, Global Network on Safer Cities since the 2012 Africities conference in Dakar ; and Member of the governing bodies of UCLG since November 2013.

François Albert Amichia is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 6: A Safe City as a Just and Equitable City

Mahamudo Amurane

Bio coming soon.

Mahamudo Amurane is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly. 

Sol Beatriz Arango

Bio coming soon.

Sol Beatriz Arango is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Sahar Attia

Ms. Attia is Professor of Architecture & Urban Design and Director of the Postgraduate Program, Department of Architecture at Cairo University. Dr. Attia holds a PhD in Urbanism from the Urban Institute of Paris. She has more than 30 years of experience in academia and the professional field, including in strategic urban planning, and sustainable urban habitat design & strategies.

Sahar Attia is one of the speakers of WUF7 Universities Roundtable

Ricardo Ávila

Ricardo Ávila is both the Editor-in-Chief of Portafolio, Colombia’s largest and most influential business daily as well as Deputy-Editor-in Chief (Opinion) of El Tiempo, the most important newspaper in Colombia. An Economist by training he holds a Masters’ degree from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Latin American Development. Before his present job Ricardo was Editor-in-Chief of Cambio, at the time one of Colombia’s leading weeklies. He also worked for Semana magazine for more than a decade, as editor of the Economy and Business section and as a correspondent in Paris and the United States of America. A winner of the National Prize of Journalism Simon Bolivar, Ricardo has been a teacher of Econometrics and of Economic Journalism at Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. He has been a consultant on different matters for the Andean Development Corporation in Caracas, Venezuela, and for the Organization of American States and the Inter American Development Bank in Washington, DC. His book “Más futuro que presente: la crisis mundial y América Latina a la luz de los avances del pasado medio siglo” was published in October, 2009. His most recent work is “América Latina y el efecto dominó”, published in December, 2010.

Mr. Avila will moderate Special Session 5, Urban Data for the New Urban Agenda. 

Gábor Bagdy

Bio coming soon.

Gábor Bagdy is one of the speakers of WUF7 Mayors Roundtable.

Sai Balakrishnan

Sai Balakrishnan is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Center on Global Legal Transformation at the Columbia Law School. She holds a Masters in City Planning from MIT and a PhD in Urban Planning from Harvard. Sai’s research interests include property rights and land markets, urban informality, institutions for managing rapid urbanization, theories of justice, and planning histories and theories. Her doctoral dissertation derived from these interests and looked at the restructuring of land markets during India's contemporary agrarian to urban transition, the land conflicts precipitated by these changes and the institutional innovation of land cooperatives in the Pune region as a resolution to these conflicts. Sai has worked as an urban planner in India, the U.S and the U.A.E and as a consultant to the UN-HABITAT, Nairobi. Sai is also a Research Associate at the Land Governance Laboratory, a not-for-profit organization that studies and disseminates innovative land tools for more inclusive land resource allocation in rapidly urbanizing countries.

Sai Balakrishnan is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue: Equity in Urban Development Law

Benedito Barbosa

Bio coming soon.

Benedito Barbosa is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Nesreen Barwari

Nesreen Barwari is an Adviser to the Ministry of Education in Kurdistan, CEO of KWS for Education, Learning and Human Development, and Former Minister of Municipalities and Public Works, Iraq.

Previously, Ms Barwari served as Minister of Public Works under Iraq’s Government. Following the 1991 Persian Gulf War, she worked with the International Organization for Migration to assist in the repatriation of refugees. She then headed UN-Habitat Field Office in Dohuk/ Kurdistan leading and managing resettlement and rehabilitation efforts for hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons in Kurdistan. Prior to April 2003, Ms. Barwari was Minister of Reconstruction and Development in the Kurdistan Regional Government.

She was honored by the United Nations-Habitat’s Scroll of Honor in 2003 for her “outstanding commitment to the welfare of displaced and vulnerable persons in Northern Iraq.” She was also selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and as one of 10 distinguished women by the Arab League in 2004.

Ms. Barwari holds a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering and urban planning from the University of Baghdad, a master’s degree in public policy and management from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Ph.D. candidate on political sciences and planning with a focus on postwar reconstruction and development at the University of Dortmund.

Nesreen Barwari is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Gender and Women Roundtable. 

Jorge Bela

Jorge Bela has been working as a freelance writer and journalist in Bogotá since 2010. Prior to that, he worked at El Pais, Spain’s leading newspaper, and Analistas Financieros Internacionales. Mr. Bela has also worked as a researcher at the European Latin American Relations Institute and as project manager at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He has an M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida and completed the coursework for a Ph.D. in comparative politics at the University at Albany.

Jorge Bela is the moderator of WUF7 Digital Media Academy.

Emmanuel Biogenimana

Emmanuel Biogenimana is the Coordinator of the One Stop Youth Centre National Project The project is supported by the Ministry of Youth and ICT in collaboration with UN-Habitat and is aiming to boost the socio economic chances of youth using an integrated approach

Prior to this, Ms Biogenimana was the Youth and Women Employment Promotion Program Coordinator in the Ministry of Public Service and Labour and National Focal Point of the Youth Employment Network (YEN) where Rwanda is a Lead County. She has worked on a number of public political documents such as a National Position Paper on Youth employment as a National Collaborator of ILO/EAC ( 2009) and a EAC Regional Paper on Employment Promotion with a special focus of youth employment as a national expert.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Law and is currently studying for a Masters in Development Studies.

Eugénie Birch

Eugénie L. Birch FAICP, RTPI (hon) is Nussdorf Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, founding co-director, Penn Institute for Urban Research, and co-editor, Penn Press’s The City in the 21st Urbanization (2011), Women’s Health and the World’s Cities (2011), and Neighborhoods and Life Chances, How Place Matters (2011). She is chair, Board of Directors, Municipal Art Society of New York and co-chair, UN-Habitat’s World Urban Campaign. A New York City resident, she holds a Ph.D Urban Planning from Columbia University and an A.B. in History cum laude from Bryn Mawr College.

Eugénie Birch is one of the speakers of WUF7 Universities Roundtables and moderator of WUF7 Special Session: World Urban Campaign. 

David Bojanini

Bio coming soon.

David Bojanini is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Benedito Braga

Benedito Braga is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Escola Politecnica of University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil. He graduated from the same university in 1972 and holds a M.Sc. in Hydraulic Engineering from USP (1975), an M.Sc. in Hydrology (1976) and Ph.D. (1979) in water resources from Stanford University, USA. His scientific interests are in the field of systems analysis modeling of hydrologic processes, integrated water resources management and water policy development.

He was a member of UNESCO - International Hydrologic Program committee that designed its phase V (1995 – 2000). At UNESCO he was elected President of the Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrologic Program (2008-2009). He served as senior advisor to the Secretary of Energy and Sanitation of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2010 and was a member of the Gulbenkian Think Tank for the future of water and mankind based in Lisbon, Portugal (2010 – 2012).

He served on the Board of Directors of the Brazilian National Water Agency – ANA from 2001-2009. He was President of the International Water Resources Association (1998-2000) and Vice-President of the World Water Council (2006-2012). Prof. Braga chaired the International Steering Committee of the 6th World Water Forum held in Marseille in March 2012.

Prof. Braga is the author of 25 books and chapters of books. He has edited several books on water resources development including Water Management of the Amazon Basin, Weather Radar Technology for Water Resources Management, Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Freshwaters of Brazil. He is the author of more than 200 scientific articles published in journals and proceedings of symposia and congresses worldwide.

He is the recipient of the 2002 Crystal Drop Award, given by the International Water Resources Association – IWRA in recognition for his life time achievements in the area of water resources management. In 2009, Prof. Braga was awarded the Honorary Membership of the American Water Resources Association – AWRA for his eminence in the field of water resources. In the same year he was awarded the Flavio Terra Barth Award of the Brazilian Water Resources Association for his contributions to the water resources policies of Brazil. In 2011 he was awarded the Honorary Diplomate from the American Society of Civil Engineers due to his long and distinguished career in the field of water resources.

Benedito Braga is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Maya Brahmam

Maya Brahmam is a Senior Communications Officer at the World Bank. She has managed communications for a range of clients within the World Bank, including the Bank’s Chief Economist and the high-level independent Commission on Growth and Development, chaired by Nobel Laureate, Michael Spence.

Maya currently leads and oversees communications for the World Bank Institute’s Knowledge Exchange and Learning department, where she has been involved with the new Open Learning Campus and successfully launched the World Bank’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on climate change. Previously, she developed and led innovative campaigns for the External and Corporate Relations department. Examples include the Nike-World Bank "Party in the Park" for gender equality, the first global Open Forum 2010, which opened up the Bank-Fund Annual Meetings to a broader public, and Arab Voices and Views, a high-level forum on the Middle East and North Africa, which brought in fresh viewpoints to a critical discussion on accountability and jobs in the region. She also organized and curated TEDxSendai, the first TEDx event sponsored by the World Bank on the theme of natural disasters and launched the first Apps for Climate competition.

Experienced in stakeholder engagement and relationship management, Maya has led the consultations in over 30 countries for the World Development Report 2007 and the global web consultations for the Governance and Anti-Corruption initiative. Her areas of interest include climate change, growth and development, gender, youth, and knowledge for development. A native English speaker, she is fluent in French and is proficient in Spanish.

Maya Brahman is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Digital Media Academy.

Xavier de Souza Briggs

Bio coming soon.

Xavier de Souza Briggs is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: South-South Cooperation.

Lorena Brito

Bio coming soon. 

Lorena Brito is one of the speakers of WUF7 Indigenous Peoples Roundtable.

Alison Brown

Ms. Brown is a Professor at the School of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University. She is Course Director for the MSc in International Planning and Development, and has extensive professional experience in the international and UK fields. Her areas of expertise include planning practice, international planning in emerging economies, and the informal economy. She has overseas experience in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and current projects include comparative research on poverty reduction in low income cities, and work for local authorities, NGOs and private clients in the UK.

Ms. Brown is a member of the steering committee of UN-Habitat’s World Urban Campaign. She is the urban planning advisor on DFID's Technology, Infrastructure and Urban Planning Resource Centre, managed by WSP International. Ms. Brown is also a consultant to the UNESCO/UN-Habitat project on Urban Policies and the Right to the City, a member of the UNESCO expert team for the project on Migrants in the City, and planning advisor to WIEGO on their Inclusive Cities Project.

Alison Brown is moderator of the WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly

Barbara Burnham

Bio coming soon.

Barbara Burnham is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Paula Caballero

Paula Caballero currently serves as Director of Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia where she leads a multidisciplinary team that covers the major multilateral negotiations and agreements in these fields. Her professional background includes work for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the Energy and Environmental Group, as Assistant Executive Director for the London-based Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS), and as Sub-Director of FES Andean Program for Environment and Sustainable Development, amongst other posts.
Ms. Caballero has also served as Professor of International Law and International Environmental Law at Andes University, Colombia.

Carlos Caicedo

Bio coming soon.

Carlos Caicedo is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Juan Esteban Calle Restrepo

Juan Esteban Calle Restrepo holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from EAFIT University, an MBA from the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business and the CFA charter. He has over twenty years of experience in leading companies of the financial sector in Colombia, Canada and the USA. Some of his former positions include Senior Associate at Chase Manhattan Bank in NYC, Secretary of Finance for the State of Antioquia, Foreign Investment Director at Proexport Canada, and Investment Advisor at the Bank of Montreal. Mr. Calle has been the CEO of EPM since 2012.

Juan Esteban Calle Restrepo is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 3: Basic Services: Local Businesses for Equitable Cities

Tim Campell

Tim Campbell has worked for more than 35 years in urban development with experience in scores of countries and hundreds of cities in Latin America, South and East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. Recently he has concentrated on city learning, smart cities, urban innovation, and the role of cities in global affairs. He was recently named a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and was formerly a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. His latest book Beyond Smart Cities: How Cities Network, Learn and Innovate was published in January of 2012. He holds degrees political science and city and regional planning from U.C. Berkeley (1970), and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies and Planning from M.I.T. (1980).

Tim Campell is the moderator of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Maruxa Cardama

Bio coming soon.

Maruxa Cardama is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Josephine Castillo

Josephine (Jhocas) Castillo is a grassroots community leader and organizer with DAMPA in Manila, Philippines. She has worked extensively on a number of key urban poor issues for over 22 years, including reversing forced eviction and involuntary relocations, ensuring land and housing security for poor communities, and advocacy for the provision of basic services in urban poor communities.

Jhocas is also a member of the Bantay Banay network, working to eliminate violence against women in cooperation with her local authorities. She is the official representative of the organization in various networks and forums in which DAMPA is engaged, including the Land Use Campaign and the Reproductive Health Network in the Philippines. Jhocas is also a member of Philippine Community Organizers Society, an organization of community development workers of the Philippines, a board member of Asian Bridge, an NGO coordination the exposure and training of social activists in Asia, a member of Urban Poor Alliance of Quezon City and Integrated Peoples Organization Network of metro Manila. Finally, she is a nominee for the local housing board of Quezon City, representing the 3rd district. Recently Jhocas was selected as one of the four grassroots women representatives on the UN Women Global Civil Society Advisory Board.

Josephine Castillo is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 6: A Safe City as a Just and Equitable City

Lorenzo Casullo

Lorenzo Casullo currently works at Steer Davies Gleave, leading transportation consultants, advising public and private sector organisations across the world on issues of mobility and economic development. In 2012, he was elected Youth Advisor to UN Habitat and has since represented European youth in several events on urban issues and youth participation.

His previous experience include facilitating youth and children forums across Europe as a UNICEF volunteer, such as the Young People's G8 in Rome and the Climate Change Children’s Forum in Copenhagen. Lorenzo holds a degree in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge.

Lorenzo Casullo is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: World Urban Campaign. 

Daniel Chain

Daniel Chain is an architect and minister of urban development of the city of Buenos Aires. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, with postgraduate degree in Urban Economics, awarded by Torcuato Di Tella university in 2003. He specialized in Executive Development Program, University of Pennsylvania, Strategic Management, in Buenos Aires course taught by Prof. Arnold Hax representative of MIT and Professional Ethics course taught in Buenos Aires by Professor Lynn S. Paine of Harvard University. Also participated in the Special Preparation Program for Coordination General of the Strategic Cultural Change, Forum Corp., Boston, USA.

He served as Director of Promotion for the Secretariat of Institutional Relations of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Buenos Aires. He was a member of the Academic Council of the First Latin American Course of Specialization in Habitat and Urban Poverty and delivered one of the modules of the course in FADU-UBA. (Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism / University of Buenos Aires). He served as Director of Housing Institute of the City of Buenos Aires. Also highlighted in infrastructure work in ports, in the field of national road networks, Obras Sanitarias de la Nación, Sanitation Arroyo Maldonado, Uruguay. Gas distribution in regions of Cuyo, Center, Capital Federal and Buenos Aires among others.

Abroad he participated in the International Consortium for Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Dominican Republic, a study conducted in Switzerland. Methanol Plant, a project carried out in Argentina and Japan. Structuring the proposal to t privatise OSN London with Thames Water. He served as Director at believe and Grow Foundation and as Coordinator of Environment, Urban Development and Infrastructure designing programs to improve the quality of life. He has taken several urban studies, for example, diagnosis of the area bounded by the Corporation of South Buenos Aires, under the Interdisciplinary Workshop on Urban Economics, of the University Torcuato Di Tella.

Daniel Chain is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue: Urban Planning and Design for Social Cohesion.

Harvey Chimaliro

Harvey Chimaliro is a Malawian Youth based in the City of Blantyre. He has been involved in urban youth work for over 12 years. He has been working with fellow youth and is passionate to contribute towards youth development, empowerment and involvement, sustainable community and country development.

He works for Concerned Youth Organization (CYO) as an Executive Director, a local youth-focused and led, non-profit and non-governmental organization, legally registered with the government of Malawi under the Trustee Incorporation Act of the Laws of Malawi in May, 2006 and with the National Youth Council of Malawi under the National Youth Act in September 2005. Harvey is one of concerned visionary driven youth who conceived the idea to establish CYO.

Harvey has significantly contributed to the development of young people of Malawi through a number of projects and initiatives. One of the initiatives includes: ICT for Youth Development, a UN-Habitat Urban Youth Fund funded project aimed at preparing youth towards entrepreneurship, job creation and employment. Through the project 120 youth from Blantyre City were trained in computer packages

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development, an advanced Diploma in Business Administration from University of Malawi, The Polytechnic, a certificate in Project Management and Business Plan as well as a certificate in Management and Administration Course for Program/Project Leaders and Managers in Africa from Malawi Institute of Management.

Harvey Chimaliro is one of the speakers of WUF7 World Urban Youth Assembly. 

Hyun-Ock Cho

Ms. Cho has been the Assistant Mayor of Women and Family Policy Affairs Office at Seoul Metropolitan Government since 2011. Before that she was an Adjunct Professor at Ewha Womans University (2007~2010), Presidential Secretary at the Balanced Personnel Commission (2006~2007, and a Senior Researcher of Hanshin University (2002~2004). She was also a standing representative of the Korea Women’s Political Solidarity between 2001 and 2006 and a researcher at the Korean Women’s Development Institure between 1983 and 1987.

She has a Ph.D degree in Politics at Heidelberg University, a Master's degree in Politics at Ewha Womans University, and completed her Bachelor's degree in Political Science also at Ewha Womans University.

Hyun-Ock Cho is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly

Maria Eugenia Choque Quispe

Bio coming soon. 

Maria Eugenia Choque Quispe is one of the speakers of WUF7 Indigenous Peoples Roundtable.

Michael Cohen

Michael Cohen (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Director of the International Affairs Program. Before coming to the New School in 2001, he was a Visiting Fellow of the International Center for Advanced Studies at New York University. From 1972 to 1999, he had a distinguished career at the World Bank. He was responsible for much of the urban policy development of the Bank over that period and, from 1994-1998, he served as the Senior Advisor to the Bank's Vice-President for Environmentally Sustainable Development. He has worked in over fifty countries and was heavily involved in the Bank's work on infrastructure, environment, and sustainable development. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Panel on Urban Dynamics.

He is the author or editor of several books, including most recently Preparing the Urban Future: Global Pressures and Local Forces (ed. with A. Garland, B. Ruble, and J. Tulchin), The Human Face of the Urban Environment (ed. with I. Serageldin), and Urban Policy and Economic Development: An Agenda for the 1990s. He has taught at the University of California at Berkeley, The Johns Hopkins University, and the School of Architecture, Design, and Urban Planning of the University of Buenos Aires.

Michael Cohen is the moderator of WUF7 Dialogue 4: Innovative Financing Instruments for Local Authorities and of WUF7 Universities Roundtable.

Lene Conradi

Bio coming soon.

Lene Conradi is one of the speakers of WUF7 Mayors Roundtable.

Juan Esteban Correa Elejalde

Juan Esteban Correa Elejalde is an architect and urban designer from Medellin, Colombia. He is adjunct assistant professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York and also professor at the Pontificia Bolivariana University in Medellin. He currently faculty of the spring studio at Columbia and is the co-director of the Urban Design Lab and co-coordinator of the public space design studios at the Pontificia Bolivariana. He has also taught at the National University of Colombia in Medellin.

Juan holds the architecture and Urbanism project director of his practice that shares with his wife Lina Ruiz and long time friend and colleague Felipe Villa engaging from furniture and interior design to architecture, urbanism to construction. He is also currently the coordinator for the Master planning of Medellinnovation District for RutaN.

Juan Esteban Correa Elejalde is one of the speakers of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable. 

Louise Cox

Louise Cox is Immediate Past President of the International Union of Architects (UIA). She was UIA President from 2008 to 2011. Louise was a member of UNESCO’s Historic Urban Landscape working group. She represents UIA on the UN-HABITAT World Urban Campaign steering committee and she chairs the UN-Habitat Professionals Forum. She has had wide experience in heritage, conservation, institutional and health planning, and contract administration of major health and institutional projects. Louise served as President of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) from 1994 to 1995. Louise was a Member of the NSW Heritage Council from 1996 until 1999 representing architects and planners. Louise is Patron of Emergency Architects Australia. She is an Honorary Life Councillor of Standards Australia, a member of Australia ICOMOS and has represented UIA on the ICOMOS ISC20C since 2005. Louise was Chair of DOCOMOMO Australia from 2012 to 2013 and is now the Membership Secretary and Treasurer of DOCOMOMO Australia.

Louise Cox is the moderator of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable. 

Xavier J. Crepin

Xavier J. Crepin is Secretary General of AdP “Villes en développement”, a Professional association promoting a comprehensive urban development agenda worldwide, Mr. Crepin is representative to the Habitat Professional Forum (HPF). Individual members of AdP are mainly architects, urban planners, engineers, economists, sociologists, working part or full time in public or private sectors for developing countries and using French as working language. Previously, he was appointed in Africa as a Volunteer, Consultant, and Technical Advisor to National Governments. As a civil servant, he joined the French Ministry for Aid and Development as Head of Urban and Local Development Department and Senior Advisor to the Minister for Southern Africa. For 15 years, he was CEO at ISTED. He is currently teaching at Paris la Sorbonne University, and lecturing at the Paris School of Architecture and Rennes University.

Xavier J. Crepin is one of speakers of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable. 

Joyati Das

Joyati Das is the Senior Director for Urban Programs at World Vision International. Based in Australia, her portfolio includes senior roles in indigenous reconciliation and humanitarian responses including the Asian Tsunami Response. In 2008, Joyati was instrumental in launching a multi- country urban action-research initiative across several World Vision offices. This pilot initiative is investigating and developing measurable, scalable and flexible programs that are locally led and respond to urban dynamism.

With masters in Sociology and Communications, Joyati brings 20 years of experience in diverse sectors including corporate, government and non-government organisations in India, Middle East and Australia. She is passionate about human rights, justice and development issues seeking innovative approaches to drive program effectiveness and sustainable impact.

Joyati Das is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable and Children's Assembly.

Yves Dauge

Yves Dauge has been a Special Advisor to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre since 1994. Before that, he worked as a General Civil Engineer in the French Department of Public Works, as a Special Advisor to the former French President, François Mitterrand (1991-1995), and an Inter-ministerial Delegate for Cities and Urban Social Development (1988 – 1991). As well as serving as Senator of Indre-et-Loire and Mayor of Chinon, he has also served as President of French World Heritage Sites Association, and Honorary President of the French Association for the prevention of Natural Disasters and of the National Commission for Urban Protected Sectors.

Yves has post-graduate degrees in Political Economy and Economic Science from the University of Paris, a Master of Arts from the University Of Notre Dame in Indiana and certificates from the Institute of World Affairs at Harvard University.

Yves Dauge is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Global Parliamentarians on Habitat Roundtable

Julio D. Dávila

Julio D. Dávila is Professor of Urban Policy and International Development and Director of the Development Planning Unit, a research and postgraduate teaching department in University College London (UCL). He holds a civil engineering degree (Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá), an MSc in urban development planning (UCL) and a PhD in urban economics and planning (UCL), and has over 25 years’ international experience in research, teaching and consultancy projects in over a dozen countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Prior to UCL, he worked as a researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development (London and Buenos Aires), and at the Colombian Government’s National Planning Department.

As an academic interested in practice, in recent years much of his research work has focused on: the role of local government in progressive social and political transformation in developing countries; the governance dimensions of urban and peri-urban infrastructure, especially public transport, and water & sanitation; the intersection between planning and urban informality; and the linkages between rapid urbanisation and health. Julio’s latest book will be launched at WUF7 and is entitled ‘Urban Mobility and Poverty: Lessons from Medellin and Soacha, Colombia’.

Julio D. Dávila is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Urban Researchers Roundtable. 

Stefan Denig

Stefan Denig is Head of Corporate Communications - Issue Management at Siemens AG, based in Munich, Germany. His work includes identifying major trends with business relevance for Siemens and managing research projects and thought leadership programs on issues of public debate.

Stefan has undertaken extensive projects on the issues of urbanization, demographic change and climate protection. He is leading a research program on sustainable infrastructure and resource efficiency in urban agglomerations. A comprehensive stakeholder research on urban infrastructure issues in the world’s 25 largest cities was published at the 2007 World Economic Forum in Davos (“Megacity Challenges – A Stakeholder perspective”). He also led the development of the first ranking regarding the environmental sustainability of Europe’s major cities which was published at the 2009 UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) and will be rolled out to cities worldwide.

Stefan Denig is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 5: Raising Standards of Urban Resilience 

Facundo Martín Di Filippo

Facundo Martín Di Filippo has a journalism degree and a master in Human Rights. Between 2005 and 2007he was chair of the Committee of Human Rights and between 2007 and 2009 of the Dwelling Committee. Previously, he has worked in different media. Currently he is chair of the Centre for Studies and Action forEquality (CEAPI), advising on urban issues in the Legislature of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, and develops journalistic work for the radio of the University of Buenos Aires.

Di Filippo has a long experience from participating in different events and panels concerning Human Rights,specializing in rights to housing and rights to cities, among them, the 5th World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro in 2010. 

Facundo Martín Di Filippo will be a moderator during the Urban Journalism Academy.

Abze Djigma

H.R.H. Princess Abze Djigma is a direct descendant of Princess Yennenga, who is considered to be the mother of the Mossi people of Burkina Faso and was a famous warrior in the 12th century.

After studying in Europe and working for a few years with KPMG, Princess Abze Djigma retuned to Burkina Faso to use her skills and experience to help and to empower her people. As the lack of electricity is one of the key hurdles in Africa she decided to focus on providing light and energy. She created AbzeSolar S.A. and developed and MAMA-LIGHT® off grid solar products and systems: MAMA-LIGHT® portable solar lamp, MAMA-LIGHT® streetlights, MAMA-LIGHT® solar water heaters, MAMA-LIGHT® home systems and the MAMA-LIGHT® municipality box.

Together with its products, AbzeSolar S.A. provides training to young people for the installation and maintenance of solar products, thus assuring a sustainable implementation and creating employment.

Her objective is to empower the people in both rural and urban areas who don't have electricity today to help them creating a sustainable future for their families and themselves. With AbzeSolar S.A. she works together with local communities, municipalities and cities to keep the price for the products as low as possible to make them accessible for everybody - especially for the poorest.

H.R.H. Princess Abze Djigma is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender and Women Roundtable. 

Shaun L.S. Donovan

Mr. Shaun L.S. Donovan is Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the United States. He is one of the speakers of the Ministers Roundtable and the Special Session on Financing the New Urban Agenda. 

Showiesh Dowaih

Bio coming soon.

Showiesh Dowaih is one of the speakers of WUF7 Ministers Roundtable.

Diane Dumashie

Dr. Dumashie FRICS CEDR holds a doctorate in land economics and coastal planning and is managing director of Dumashie Ltd. Awarded a fellow status in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) she is the head of RICS delegation to international NGO, FIG, past board member of the environment faculty professional group and current Board member of the RICS South West regional group.

Diane is widely acknowledged as a creative and strategic business thinker with a proven ability to lead and manage change, to energise and resolve complex issues and deliver successful outcomes for all stakeholders. Diane works in the field of knowledge transfer including designing and facilitating workshops for government to adapt to organisational change, helping professionals and grassroots organisations to accommodate global drivers and leading business and ministry senior teams to assess strategic next steps.

Committed to sub Saharan African regeneration, assisting to alleviate poverty Diane has senior responsibilities with FIG. Having served two terms as the elected Chairman for Commission 8 (Spatial Planning and economic development) she is elected Chair of the International Task Force focusing on Africa, providing leadership to stimulate global collaboration, to build key stakeholder relationships at both global donor agencies and multinational corporation levels

Diane Dumashie is the moderator of WUF7 Gender and Women Roundtable. 

Mark Eddo

When it comes to understanding how to get the best from the media companies in West Africa turn to Mark Eddo. Mark’s career in international news media spans 15 years and three continents. Before founding his rapidly expanding communications firm Mark Eddo Media, Mark was the Business and Economics Senior Correspondent for ITV News in London. On most week nights Mark joined Sir Trevor Macdonald on the News at Ten programme to keep ITV's 5 million regular viewers informed on all the major business stories. ITV News is produced at the London studios of ITN, the world's largest independent broadcast news provider.

Mark joined ITN in January 2006, where he put business and economics at the heart of the ITV News schedule. He has interviewed such luminaries as Bill Gates and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and distinguished himself with a series of reports on the worsening economic climate brought about by the credit crunch.

Before ITN, Mark spent 4 years working as a presenter and reporter at the BBC. He regularly hosted 'World Business Report' on BBC World, seen by over 200 million viewers every day. Mark can still be seen on BBC World’s Africa Business Report where he files regular TV reports on the most exciting trends in business. 

Mark Eddo is Moderator for the Ministers Roundtable and the Special Session on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Roberto Eibenschutz

Roberto Eibenschutz is an architect and master in urban planning and full-time Professor and Researcher. He is in charge of the Science and Arts for Design Division, Metropolitan Research Programat the Metropolitan Autonomous University - Xochimilco Campus, México, and the Vice president of the Iberoamerican Federation of Urban Planners (FIU).

His previous positions include: Secretary for Urban Development and Housing for the Federal District Government of México; Rector, Metropolitan Autonomous University - Xochimilco Campus; Under-secretary for Urban Development, Urban Development and Ecology; General Director, National Popular Housing Fund; General Director of Population Centres, Human Settlements and Public Works; Founding Director, Science and Arts for Design Division, as well as Secretary; and Technology Director, Urban Action and Social Integration Institute. State of México.

Roberto Eibenschutz is one of the speakers of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable. 

Joan Erakit

Joan Erakit is a UN Correspondent at Inter Press Service in New York City. Born in Kisumu, Kenya and she lived between Tanzania, Swaziland and Kenya before migratingto the United States with her family. Joan studied cultural anthropology at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota before moving to Washington, D.C. to work as an editorial assistant and intern at National Geographic Traveler Magazine. With a passion for writing, she began working as a freelance writer in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area after returning from time spent in both France and Canada. She has worked for over 6 years as a research assistant and coordinator for Africa Center Peace and Democracy helping field staff develop conflict monitoring units in east, central and southern Africa.

Additionally, Joan also spent the summer of 2010 working as an assistant curator for the Art of Conflict, an exhibition put on by the Iraqi American Reconciliation Project that encouraged dialogue between Americans and Iraqi's on the topic of conflict and reconciliation.

Her love for writing goes beyond the United Nations and into fashion, culture and lifestyle. Joan's work has been published by Cool Hunting, Essence, the Minneapolis City Pages,Metro Magazine, Frank151 and InDepth News.

Joan currently covers the United Nations with a specialization in women's issues. She is deeply dedicated to sharing stories about gender inequality, education, reproductive health and rights, maternal and new born health, and sustainable development.

Joan sees the World Forum as a place to not only discuss matters that affect our growingc cities and people, but also as a place to create new initiatives that can influence policymakers to protect our communities in a way that promotes social justice, inclusion and development.

You can follow her on Twitter: @Erakit

Or visit her online homes here and here  

Jaime Erazo Espinosa

An Ecuadorian national, architect and professor of Local and Regional Development and City Development at the Latin American Faculty of Social sciences (FLACSO Ecuador), Mr. Espinosa has a Ph.D from the College of Mexico (Colmex). He is an abstract artist and a scholar of esthetic philosophy. He has taught as a university professor of for undergraduate and post-graduate institutions in Ecuador and the Latin American region since 1998.

Mr. Espinosa is the author and manager of more than one hundred academic projects, publications and research cycles, as well as university and professional development courses, seminars and conferences. He founded, with Teolinda Bolívar, the Working People and Social Inclusion Latin American Habitat Council of Social Sciences (Clacso). Mr. Espinosa is a policy researcher with a special interest in urban land markets and housing, and of the self-produced results of informal housing settlements, as well as the general conditions of production and the infrastructural apparatus of cities. He coordinated, with other regional institutions, the research project “Government of Andean Cities” and, together with Laura Cédres and UN-Habitat Ecuador, the project “Housing for the Andean Indigenous Peoples in Four Cities”. Together with Fernando Carrión, Mr. Espinosa acts as a coordinator of editorial projects of the Latin American and Caribbean Organization of Historical Centers (Olacchi). He is the author of many social science articles and Op-Eds and has contributed to both books and magazines. An urban social political activist, Mr. Espinosa is a member of networks and social movements of self-producers.

Jaime Erazo Espinosa is one of the speakers of WUF7 Indigenous Peoples Roundtable. 

Ernesto Gil Elorduy

Bio coming soon.

Ernesto Gil Elorduy is one of the speakers of WUF7 Global Parliamentarians on Habitat Roundtable.

Agustín Escobar Cañadas

Agustin Escobar is the Siemens S.A. Vice-president of Infrastructure and cities Sector for South America countries without Brazil (Based in Colombia). He has been working for Siemens since 1998, starting his career with an internship. Over the years, he held various positions within the company, based all over the world. Mr Escobar holds an executive MBA from the Inistituto de Empresa, an MBA from the Universidad del Alcala and is a trained industrial engineer in I.C.A.I. He has also successfully completed the “Siemens Management Learning” (S5).

Agustín Escobar Cañadas is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Ana Falú

Ana Falú is an Argentinean architect and professor at the National University of Argentina in Cordoba,and Director of the Research Institute on Housing and Habitat. She also acts as gender expert of the Union Iberoamericana de Municipalistas and was nominated by the Executive Director of UN-Habitat to be one of the two Latin American representatives in the Advisory Group for Gender Inclusion. She was made the Regional Director of UNIFEM (now UN Women) for Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in 2002. During 1999-2002 Dr Falú was Vice-President of the Habitat International Coalition.

She founded the Argentinean NGO Centro Investigación y Servicios de Promoción del Hábitat (CISCSA), and was one of the founders of the Women and Habitat Network. She has been a university professor since 1970 and is a renowned expert in gender issues related to housing and urban policies. Since the mid-1980s she has been directing research programmes and belongs to the National Council of Technology and Scientific Research of Argentina. Internationally she has been teaching at the Masters level for more than a decade in Latin America, Spain and the Netherlands. Her current research interests include social housing policies and urban sociology; conception, design and evaluation of development programmes; a gender-focused approach to housing and urban development policies and urban violence and violence against women in cities, in both the public and private spheres.

Ana Falú is one of the speakers of WUF7 Universities Roundtable

Edesio Fernandes

Fernandes has a Diploma in Urban Planning from the Minas Gerais Federal University, Brazil and a Masters in Law in Development and Ph.D. from Warwick University, UK. Fernandes is a dual Brazilian/British national based in the UK, and works as a lecturer, researcher, writer and legal consultant. He is currently a member of DPU Associates (London, UK) and of the Teaching Faculty of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Cambridge MA, US). Before moving to the UK in 1988, Fernandes worked as a lawyer, city planner and as a lecturer in Brazil (1980-86), as well as a legal advisor during the national Constitution-making process (1986- 88). For over 20 years, he has been a consultant to many governmental and national/ international non-governmental organisations, such as UN-Habitat, UNDP, UNESCO, OSCE, the World Bank, FAO and DfID, having regularly worked in Brazil and most of Latin America, South Africa, Kosovo, Syria, Cape Verde, and elsewhere. In 2003, Fernandes was Director of Land Affairs at the Ministry of Cities in Brazil, and co-ordinated the formulation of the National Programme to Support Sustainable Land Regularisation in Urban Areas. He has published several articles in academic and technical journals, as well as contributed chapters to several books in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. Most recently, he authored a book entitled "Regularization of Informal Settlements in Latin America" (2011, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy).

Edesio Fernandes is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 1: Equity in Urban Development Law

Ismael Fernandez Mejia

Mr. Fernandez Mejia is Past President, and Delegate to the OECD of ISOCARP, a global society of urban planners devoted to the generation and dissemination of knowledge for better cities, with representation and members in more than 90 countries. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign and team Leader of the Global Research Study “The Age of Cities”.

As an architect, urban planner, international consultant in urban development projects, he is President of IFM International, a firm devoted to the integration of urban development, infrastructure and real estate investment projects and President and CEO of IF&A SC, a consultancy firm giving advice on projects and studies in architecture, urban design and regional planning. He is also Head and founder of the Centre of Urban Studies, a think tank specialized in urban matters. His professional experience of more than 35 years lies in the fields of urban and regional planning, spatial analysis, urban and architectural design, and the design and integration of infrastructure and real estate development projects.

Ismael Fernandez Mejia is one of the speakers of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable. 

Ernesto Cortés Fierro

Ernesto Cortés Fierro is a journalist and social communicator with 20 years of experience. He holds a master degree in journalism from the University of Miami and has worked as a journalist professor at the University of Javeriana, Bogotá. Cortés Fierro has worked as a reporter for both TV and radio and during the last years he has been working with El Tiempo, currently holding the position of chief editor. He is also a part of the strategic team which designed and brought forward a model of convergence and multimedia for Casa Editorial EL TIEMPO and is the coordinator for the Colombian branch of the group Diarios América (GDA). In addition, Cortés Fierro writes the Sunday column ‘Voy y vuelvo’ with which he got the journalist prize ‘Alvaro Gómez Hurtado.

Together with the journalist María Teresa Ronderos, he was awarded the journalist prize Rey de España in 1996 for the work ‘El proceso a los medios’ and in 2013 for the ‘Cuatro años para salvar el agua de Bogotá’ in EL TIEMPO Casa Editorial.

Diana Fitzsimons

Diana Fitzsimons has her own planning consultancy -Diana Fitzsimons, Planning and Development and has worked for many years in the UK as a planner, both in the public and private sectors. She is a former academic with a track record of research publications and international conference papers in the field of urban regeneration. She currently teaches on the programmes of the University of Ulster’s School of the Built Environment and has recently been appointed as Chairman of a Housing Association which delivers social housing and health care linked housing across Ireland.

She is also Deputy President of the International Federation of Housing and Planning (IFHP) based in Denmark and with offices in Brazil and the Netherlands. She has been closely involved in this international organization for the last decade and was Joint Chair of the IFHP’s Centenary Congress in London in 2013. Diana has been on the International Board of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) in the UK for the last four years and was previously on the International Governing Council of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Diana Fitzsimons is one of the speakers of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable. 

Jochen Flasbarth

Since December 2013 Jochen Flasbarth is the State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMU) in Germany. Before his appointment he was the President of the German Federal Environment Agency, the Director-General for Nature Conservation and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety as well as the President of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU.)

His voluntary involvement includes, amongst others, the membership of the former Deutscher Bund für Vogelschutz (DBV, German Society for the Protection of Birds), from which Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V. (NABU, Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) emerged, as well as the membership of the board of Deutscher Naturschutzring (DNR, German League for Nature and Environment). He is also a member of the Federal Government’s Council for Sustainable Development and the Chairman of the board of trustees of Stiftung Naturschutzgeschichte (Foundation on the history of nature conservation).

Mr Flasbarth studied economics, political science and philosophy in Münster and Bonn in Germany, graduating with a degree in economics.

Jochen Flasbarth is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 2: Urban Planning and Design for Social Cohesion

Sandra Fonseca

Sandra Fonseca has a degree in Electrician Engineering from the University Escuela de Ingeniería de Colombia and a Master in Energy Studies and an MBA in Business Administration, both from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK.

She has nearly 18 years’ experience in energy and utilities. Her previous positions include Executive Director of the Energy Regulatory Commission and Gas – CREG and Director of the Division of Mines and Energy of the National Planning Department. She has also been an advisor on economic issues both nationally and internationally in countries such as Peru, Panama and Ecuador, among others. Ms. Fonseca has extensive experience in business management, on issues of economic regulation, focused on Public Services and Energy; analysis in economics and business strategy, corporate governance and management of infrastructure projects.

She currently is the President of Empresa de Energía de Bogotá, and chairs the Steering Committee of the Global Compact Local Network in Colombia. In 2014, she entered the Steering Committee of the Global Compact Lead. She is also the President of the Commission of Regional Energy Integration – CIER – an international organization that seeks energy integration in South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Sandra Fonseca is one of speakers of WUF7 Business Assembly. 

Alfredo Garay

Alfredo Garay is an Architect and Urban Planner, currently working as a Principal Professor in Urban Planning at the University of Buenos Aires.

In 2008, he worked as the Director of the Corporación Antiguo Puerto Madero S.A. In 2013 he began to work in different areas of National Government, including as a board member responsible for the developing of a new program for building houses called PROCREAR. This program has enabled the building of 100,000 houses to date. He has worked as the Sub-secretary of Urban Planning and Housing of the Province of Buenos Aires (2004/07) and Secretary of Urban Planning of the City of Buenos Aires (1989- 1992). He led the development of the Strategic Guidelines for the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires.

He regularly works as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program and as a professor in the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.He has worked on several urban renewal programs, including: San Pablo (Brazil, 2004), Valparaíso (Chile, 2010/12) and the old city of Montevideo (Uruguay 2011/13). He was one of the founder members of the Institute of the Conurbano in the National University of General Sarmiento (Buenos Aires) where he developed the Urbanism Graduated Studies that he led for ten years (1994/2004).

Alfredo Garay is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 4: Innovative Financing Instruments for Local Authorities 

Enrique Garcia

Bio coming soon.

Enrique Garcia is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: Financing the New Urban Agenda.

Gloria Isabel Garcia Parra

Bio coming soon.

Gloria Isabel Garcia Parra is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Aníbal Gaviria Correa

Aníbal Gaviria Correa is a politician, businessman and Colombian journalist born in Medellin - Antioquia, on January 16, 1966. Currently, he is the mayor of the city of Medellin for the period 2012-2015. He was a Governor of Antioquia between 2004 and 2007 and belongs to the Colombian Liberal party. and in the year 2009 he was a pre-candidate to the consultation of the party to choose the representative of the above mentioned collectivity to the Presidency of Colombia in 2010.

In his earlier career, he worked in private entities such as the Union of Banana trees of Colombia, UNIBÁN, and the Lacteal Cooperative of Antioquia, sectors in which his work was recognized for contributing to the well-being of the communities and the territorial and socioeconomic development of the Department of Antioquia and Colombia. In 1998 he began to work for the newspaper “El Mundo,” the second most-circulated in the Department of Antioquia. He worked at “El Mundo” for almost 14 years, where he served as General Manager and General Editor.

He studied Business Administration at EAFIT University in Medellin, obtaining his title in 1988. Recently, he pursued advanced studies at Harvard’s Extension School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government of the same institution.

Germán Nivello

Bio coming soon.

Germán Nivello is one of the speakers of WUF7 Ministers Roundtable.

Caleb Gichuhi

Caleb Gichuhi is the Programs officer for Sisi Ni Amani Kenya (SNAK), a small non-profit organization whose programmes are aimed at bringing together stakeholders through civic engagement and peace initiatives to help prevent a recurrence of the 2007-2008 post-election violence and other conflicts. Caleb has done extensive work and research on land and land-related conflict both in the rural and urban settings of Kenya.

Caleb constantly works with grassroots communities frequently travelling to the rural and conflict prone areas to better understand the challenges of resources and create solutions that search for common ground between communities that are at war with each other. He volunteers with the Standby Task Force (SBTF) an organization that organizes digital volunteers into a flexible, trained and prepared network ready to be deployed in crises with the main objective of effectively assisting crisis affected communities through co-operation with local and international responders.

Caleb is currently pursuing a professional course on Social Enterprise: Sustainable Change for Development with the Eminus Academy. He holds a degree in Business Information Technology from the Kenya Methodist University, a Certificate in peace, reconciliation and conflict management from the Catholic Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission, and a Diploma in Business Information Technology from the Kenya Methodist University.

Caleb Cichuhi is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Youth Roundtable. 

Matthew Glasser

Matthew Glasser currently serves as Lead Urban Specialist in the World Bank’s Legal Vice Presidency, where he advises Bank teams and external clients on issues of urban law and finance.  His prior assignment in the Bank was in the Bank’s Knowledge and Learning unit, where he managed innovative and experimental knowledge programs, and improved results measurement for the Bank’s knowledge and advisory services.  He has also worked as a Lead Urban Specialist in the Africa and South Asia regions of the World Bank, focusing on local government and urban finance issues in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Swaziland, the Philippines, and India.  

Matt’s legal career began as a municipal Bond Counsel and City Attorney in Colorado, and includes a stint as a registered professional lobbyist in Washington, DC. Matt is currently working on a book exploring the legal and regulatory frameworks within which cities operate globally.  

Prior to joining the Bank in 2003, Matt worked as an adviser in the South African National Treasury, where he helped develop regulatory frameworks for municipal borrowing and financial emergencies. He has also worked with national and local governments in Europe, Asia, and Africa on policy, legislation, and advocacy regarding urban issues.

Matt’s educational background includes:

JD: Cornell University Law School, Ithaca, NY, 1977
MBA: University of Colorado, Denver, CO, 1989
BA cum laude: University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 1974

Renée Lewis Glover

Renée Lewis Glover joined the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) as CEO in 1994 and pioneered master-planned, mixed-use, mixed-income residential development where all socio-economic profiles live together in an amenity-rich community. Glover stepped down as CEO in 2013 having transformed AHA from a chronically-troubled housing authority on the verge of receivership to a high-performing and diversified real estate organization with a public mission and purpose.

Her model is used as the redevelopment blueprint by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and has improved housing, public schools, transit access and economic development opportunities.

Glover’s many honours include CEO of the Year Award from the Atlanta Business League;,one of Atlanta’s Defining Women (Atlanta History Center); Public Official of the Year (Governing Magazine) and one of the top ten American women in government (Center for American Women and Politics, Ford Foundation and the Council for Excellence in Government). Glover was featured in an anthology of speeches from Atlanta’s political and corporate leadership and contributed to From Despair to Hope, a book on HOPE VI and the new promise of public housing in America’s cities.

Glover is on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; Chair of Habitat for Humanity International; a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center Housing Commission and served on the Millennial Housing Commission. Prior to joining AHA, she was a corporate finance attorney with degrees from Boston, Yale and Fisk Universities.

Renée Lewis Glover is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable.

Peter Götz

Peter Götz, a former mayor and a member of the German Bundestag, has been World President of the Global Parliamentarians on Habitat (GPH) since April 2008. On 20 March 2010 he was unanimously re- elected at the Global Forum of the GPH in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Götz declared: "It is a great pleasure for me that our members have given me their confidence once again. I am now able to continue and deepen the work started two years ago." In the twelve years from 1996 to 2008, Götz has been part of the organization as President of the European Chapter: "Committed with heart and soul" was his comment when he was elected.

Before 1996, Mr. Götz the spokesperson on local government policy for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, the Federal chairman of the Local Government Policy Association of the CDU and CSU of Germany, a member of the Committee on Transport, Building and Urban Affairs in the German Bundestag as well as a member of the German delegation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Mr. Götz was born on 24 September 1947 in Baden-Baden/Germany.

Peter Götz is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: World Urban Campaign.

Cheikh Gueye

Bio coming soon. 

Cheikh Gueye is one of the speakers of WUF7 Mayors Roundtable.

Shukran Hussein Gure

Shukran Hussein Gure joined politics in 2012 when she entered the race to become the first elected Women’s Representative for Garissa County in North-Eastern Province of Kenya during the March 2013 general elections. She is serving her first term in Kenya’s parliament as Women’s Representatives for Garissa County after a landslide victory against her opponents in a fiercely contested race. She is a member of the Wiper Democratic Party.

Shukran completed her early education in Kenya and university education in the United States. She is a graduate of Saint Catherine’s University where she completed her Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN). She also holds a graduate degree in Public Health. She is a Minnesota Board of Nursing-certified Registered Nurse. Shukran trained extensively and holds professional certificates in Neurology and Neonatal Intensive Care.

Her accomplishments culminated in a successful career and a thriving business in the healthcare industry in Minnesota, USA before returning to Kenya. Shukran has been appointed to positions on the Parliament’s Finance and Budget Subcommittee, and the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee. She holds other memberships related to her work as a Legislator and Women’s Representative in Kenya’s Parliament including: the Pan African Congress, the regional leadership initiative on peace in Somalia, the Parliamentary Women’s Association and the Garissa Governor’s Development and Leadership Council.

Shukran Hussein Gure is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 5: Raising Standards of Urban Resilience 

Fernando Haddad

Bio coming soon. 

Fernando Haddad is one of the speakers of WUF7 Mayors Roundtable.

Johannes Hahn

Born in 1957 in Vienna, Austria, Mr. Hahn started his career in 1987 as the Secretary General of the Austrian Managers Association after graduating from the University of Vienna with a Doctorate in Philosophy. He became the Executive Director of the Austrian’s People Party Vienna in 1992 and held this position until 1997. In the time from 1996-2003 he was a Board member and later CEO of the Novomatic AG as well as a member of the regional Parliament of Vienna. He became a member of the regional Government of Vienna in 2003. In the following years he was the Austrian Federal Minister for Science and Research as well as the acting Austrian Federal Minister for Justice.

Johannes Hahn has been a member of the European Commission in charge of Regional Policy since 2010. In his position, his vision is to realize the Europe 2020 Strategy, creating growth and new jobs and boosting the internal market through targeted regional investments in innovation and energy-efficiency.

Johannes Hahn is one of the speakers of WUF7 Minister's Roundtable and Special Session: Financing a New Urban Agenda.

Edwin Heathcote

Edwin Heathcote is an architect, writer and critic living and working in London. Since 1999 he has been the architecture and design critic for The Financial Times newspaper.

He is the author of more than a dozen books including ‘Contemporary Church Architecture’, ‘The Meaning of Home’, ‘Monument Builders’ and ‘The Architecture of Hope’ (the latter together with Charles Jencks). He is on the editorial boards of Icon and Architectural Design magazines and is a trustee of architectural education charity Open City in London and of the Blood Mountain arts foundation in Budapest, Hungary.

In 2001 he also co-founded hardware manufacturer ize. For the last two years he has been chairman of the judges for the Financial Times Citi Ingenuity awards, which attempts to reward emerging ideas in urban innovation. He is currently establishing a free-to access online archive of critical writing on all aspects of design.

He lives in London with his wife and two daughters.

Edwin Heathcote is the moderator of WUF7 Dialogue 6: A Safe City as a Just and Equitable City

Ralph Horne

Bio coming soon.

Ralph Horne is one of the speakers of WUF7 Indigenous Peoples Roundtable. 

Suvi Huikuri

Bio coming soon.

Suvi Huikuri is one of the speakers of WUF7 High Level UN Special Session.

Gregory Ingram

Mr. Ingram is the President and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy since June 2005 and was formerly the Director- General,Operations Evaluation at the World Bank, where he also held positions in urban development and research and was Staff Director for the World Development Report 1994, Infrastructure for Development. He has published in urban economics, housing markets, transportation, land policy, infrastructure, evaluation, and economic development.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Ingram was Associate Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Mr. Ingram holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University; a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University; and a B.S. in civil engineering from Swarthmore College.

Gregory Ingram is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: Urban Data for the New Urban Agenda.

Carlos Jacks

Carlos Jacks is Chief Executive Officer of CEMEX Latam Holdings and Director of CEMEX Colombia. He joined CEMEX in 1992 and, after holding management positions in the strategic planning area, finance and investor relations, he headed several of CEMEX's operations, including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica. He is currently president for CEMEX in Colombia. Mr. Jacks is a member of the board of directors of the Cámara Colombiana de Infraestructura, the Federación Interamericana del Cemento and the Consejo Privado de Competitividad. He graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.B.A. from ITESM.

Carlos Jacks is one of the speakers of WUF7 Business Assembly.

Carolina Jaramillo

Carolina Jaramillo is a 13-year old girl, born in San Andrés de Antioquia. She is currently studying in the eighth grade at the Joaquin Vallejo. She has been a mentor in the National Movement of Children, Adolescents and Youths Peace Builders for three years.

Through her involvement in this movement, she participates in radio, IT and journalism and has developed skills in story writing, drawing and website creation.

Through the Peace Builders Movement she hopes to learn to live with others together in peace, to develop better people for the city and the country, to build a better present and future for children, adolescents and youth, and to be part of a culture of peace in her neighbourhood, city, country and the world.

Carolina Jaramillo is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: World Urban Campaign.

Wilson Jeudy

Bio coming soon.

Wilson Jeudy is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

José Siri

José Siri is an epidemiologist focusing on infectious disease transmission, systems-analytic research and global urban health. As of February 2014, he became a Research Fellow in Urban Health at the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH), and an Associate Editor for the Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/Pan American Journal of Public Health. He also continues to work as a consultant for the International Council for Science (ICSU) on the development and implementation of their new decade-long programme, Health and Wellbeing in the Changing Urban Environment – A Systems Analysis Approach—a programme which UNU is now co- sponsoring. From 2009-2012, he worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna, where he conducted research for the Health and Global Change, World Population, and Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases and Atmospheric Pollution Programs. He has lived and worked in cities large and small on four continents.

José Siri is one of the speakers of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable.

Aisa Kirabo Kacyira

Before joining UN-Habitat at the end of 2011, Ms Aisa Kirabo Kacyira was the Governor of Eastern Province, the largest province in Rwanda with a population of 2.5 million. 

Previously, she was Mayor of Kigali City (2006 - 2011), one of the fastest urbanizing cities in the world. In recognition of the high level of cleanliness, greenness, safety and the sustainable, affordable housing initiatives combined with pro-poor urban employment opportunities, under Ms Kacyira’s leadership, Kigali won the UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Award in 2008.

Prior to her position as Mayor, Ms Kacyira was an Elected Member of Parliament (and member of Parliamentary Standing Committee in charge of land use and management, settlement and environment), she actively participated in the legislative and over-sight functions of parliament in addition to community mobilization.

Ms Kacyira was educated at James Cook University, Australia, where she gained her Masters in Veterinary Science in Animal Production and Economics and at Makerere University, Uganda where she gained her Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine. She is currently pursuing an MBA in the School of Finance and Banking, Rwanda/Maastricht School of Management, Netherlands. 

Jean-Marie Kazadi

A Congolese national, Mr. Kazadi has been the Katanga Provincial Minister of Infrastructures, Urbanism, Habitat and Land Affairs since 2013. He is also a lecturer at Lubumbashi University in charge of theories of communication and methods of communication research. Prior to that, he was the Katanga Provincial Ministers of Home Affairs (2007-2013), Ambassador for the Democratic Republic of Congo to Zambia (2002-2005), Director of the Presidency Minister Office (2001-2002) and Political Advisor to the Katanga Provincial Governor (1998-2001).

He has a Master degree in Information and Communication Sciences.

Jean-Marie Kazad is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 2: Urban Planning and Design for Social Cohesion

Madina Khsrawy

Bio coming soon.

Madina Khsrawy is one of the speakers of WUF7 World Urban Youth Assembly.

Ronald Kiandee

Bio coming soon.

Ronald Kiandee is one of the speakers of WUF7 Global Parliamentarians on Habitat Roundtable.

Kenneth Kika

Mr. Kika is an accountant and community worker, currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy. He is the founder and executive director of the Kajjansi Youth in Development Initiative. He is also a board member of YOUTH Climate Network Uganda and a Youth Specialist on the UN-Habitat project Kampala One Stop Youth Centre. Mr. Kika has long been an advocate for issues such as youth empowerment, sustainable development and climate change.

In 2010, Mr. Kika was a panelist at the World Urban Youth Assembly in Rio, contributing to discussions on economic empowerment through improved youth livelihood. He has also worked as a consultant on a 5-year strategic plan for Youth Livelihood and Development in Kampala for the Kampala Capital City Authority. As part of his work as an advocate for Climate Change issues, Mr. Kika acted as a trainer on mitigation at the Climate Change Conference during the Cities and Climate Change Initiative hosted in 2011 by UN-Habitat.

Kenneth Kika is one of the speakers of WUF7 World Urban Youth Assembly

Friedrich Kitschelt

Dr Friedrich Kitschelt was appointed State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in January 2014. He has worked at theBMZ since 1989, most recently as head of the Directorate-General "Africa and Latin America; Global and Sectoral Affairs". He is a trained journalist and studied sociology, economics and law. Dr Kitschelt has held various positions at theBMZ, including head of the Directorate for Asia and South-Eastern Europe, Director for Asia, Special Commissioner for Afghanistan and BMZ Commissioner for Europe.Dr Kitschelt spent some time working at the Federal Chancellery, where he headed the division for North-South relations and human rights policy. State Secretary Kitschelt also has more than twelve years of experience of working abroad in various countries, including Jamaica, India, Kenya and Belgium. Some of these periods abroad were spent working for GTZ – as it was then known – now the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). In Kenya he was in charge of German-Kenyan development cooperation at the German Embassy in Nairobi and in Brussels he headed the division for development policy at Germany's Permanent Representation to the European Union.

Friedrich Kitschelt is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: Post 2015 Development agenda.

Christian Klezl

Christian Klezl is Vice President, Corporate Strategy at IBM, based in Armonk, New York. Previously, Mr. Klezl headed IBM’s cloud computing business as part of its European leadership team. He joined IBM in 1998, taking charge of marketing and communications in Central- and Eastern Europe (CEE), Russia, the Middle East, and Africa. From 2000 to 2010, he held several line executive positions, including VP for Infrastructure Services in CEE, Russia, the Middle East, Austria, and Switzerland, Sales Director for GTS in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and CEE and executive leadership roles for IBM Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) in Paris, France.

Christian Klezl is one of the speakers of WUF7 Private Sector Roundtable.

Vincent K'Odera

Bio coming soon.

Vincent K'Odera is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly. 

Benjamin Krause

Benjamin Krause serves as Senior Vice President for Institutional Partnerships and Organizational Learning for J/P Haitian Relief Organization and as Chief of Staff for Sean Penn in his role as Ambassador-at-Large for Haiti and in his broader humanitarian work.

Benjamin has been working in Haiti since March 2010 and he joined J/P HRO as Country Director in January 2011. During his tenure, he led the transformation of J/P HRO from an emergency response team of international volunteers to a community-based development organization of 350 predominantly Haitian staff. Together they accompany and empower families in Haiti to demonstrate to the world the transformative potential of marginalized, high-density, urban neighborhoods as an engine of development for the 21st Century. J/P HRO’s efforts aim to promote resilient, sustainable and prosperous communities through four integrated programs: 1) Medical, 2) Camp & Relocations Management, 3) Engineering & Construction and 4) Community Development. The organization works with the support and collaboration of local and national government leaders, community based organizations, other international NGOs, donors, UN agencies and most importantly the community.

Benjamin’s community-based development and non-profit management career began first in poverty-stricken pockets of the United States and then took him throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and East Africa. In addition to his work with J/P HRO, he has extensive experience in participatory risk and asset mapping, natural resource management and community health. He has advised government officials including multiple heads of state on humanitarian response and development.

Benjamin has been invited to speak at universities including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Boston University, Fordham, Xavier and Salisbury as well as at international conferences. He received his MA studying International Development and International Economics at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and his BA in Philosophy and Spanish from Xavier University. Both institutions honored him as the outstanding overall graduate of his class, and in 2012 Xavier University recognized him with its annual Magis Alumni Award.

Leon Krier

Mr Krier is a world-renowned architect, urban planner and architectural theorist pioneer in promoting the technological, ecological and social rationality and modernity of traditional urbanism and architecture; he is considered the “Godfather” of the “New Urbanism” movement. He started his career in 1968 working with James Stirling in London, following a stint at the University of Stuttgart. Since then, he has combined his practice with writing and teaching, serving as a professor at the Architectural Association and the Royal College of Arts in London, Princeton University, the University of Virginia, Yale University, and has guest lectured at numerous institutions. Since 1987, Mr Krier has been H. R. H. the Prince of Wales’ advisor, and responsible for the master-planning and architectural coordination of Poundbury, the Duchy of Cornwall’s urban development in Dorset, U.K. In addition, he has worked as industrial designer for Giorgetti since 1990.

Hubert Julien Laferriere

Bio coming soon.

Hubert Julien Laferriere is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: South-South Cooperation.

Andrea Landry

Andrea Landry is Anishinaabe from Pays Plat First Nation. She has a Masters in Communication and Social Justice from the University of Windsor. She has been involved, and engaged with, advocacy roles within the Indigenous community on a local, provincial, national and international level. Andrea sits on the United Nations Global Indigenous Youth Caucus. Through this work, Andrea represents Indigenous youth living on Turtle Island and brings their issues to the forefront of the international human rights arena.

Andrea Landry is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Youth Roundtable. 

Sook-Jin Lee

Ms. Sook-Jin Lee has been the President of the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family since 2013. She has developed her career as an outstanding professional in the field of women’s studies and social welfare as well being as a well-known leader of women’s organization. Much of the policy research she studied includes work/life balance and women’s social rights.

She was a research professor in many different women and family related organizations and Director of the Gender and Social Research Institute. She has published books about migrant women, and gender sensitive welfare and social policy. She also has diverse experience in policy implementation in the presidential office and at central government. She proactively engaged in legislation on the Anti- Discrimination Act including preventing gender discrimination in Korea.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication, a Master's degree in Women's Studies and a Ph.D degree in Women's Studies from Ewha Womans University

Sook-Jin Lee is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 6: A Safe City as a Just and Equitable City

Mathieu Lefevre

Mathieu Lefevre is the Executive Director of the New Cities Foundation, a non-profit that incubates, promotes and scales urban innovations. The Foundation works with the leading public, private, non-profit and academic organizations in this field. The Foundation runs an Urban (co)LAB - an in-house think-and-do tank - and organizes high-level thought-leadership events on the future of the urban world. Previously, Mathieu worked for the World Bank and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, serving in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Mathieu is also a Senior Advisor to Purpose, a social business that builds movements driven by people and enabled by technology. Mathieu is a Board Member of Impulsion 75, a non-profit that works to reintegrate underprivileged youth in Paris.

Mathieu is Franco-American and has published articles in The Economist magazine, the Foundation for Strategic Research, the French Almanac of International Relations and the Afghanistan Analysts Network. He is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and the London School of Economics. Mathieu frequently speaks at events on cities, innovation, participation and governance.

Mathieu Lefevre is the moderator of WUF7 Dialogue 3: Basic Services: Local Businesses for Equitable Cities

Isaac Lenaola

Mr Lenaola is Resident and Presiding Judge of the High Court of Kenya, Deputy Principal Judge of First Instance at the East African Court of Justice and Judge at the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone. He started his professional carrier as associate advocate. Then, he became partner and head of Litigation Department; Commissioner for the People Commission of Kenya. In 2003, he began working for the Kenya Judiciary as Resident Judge and Presiding Judge of the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court. In the Judicial Service Commission, he is engaged in policy-making for the Kenyan Judiciary and is Chairman, Human Resource and Administration Committee. He is also Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Commission and deals with all discipline cases in the Judiciary.

Mr Lenaola is Judge of the First Instance Division at the East African Court of Justice, too, and has authored decisions that have impacted positively on the proposal for establishment of East African Federation. Furthermore, he works as judge for the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone.

He is Chairman of the “Kenya Magistrate and Judges Association”, honorary Treasurer of the “East African Magistrates and Judges Association, Past immediate Past”, member of the “Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association” and of the “International Association of Refugee Law Judges”.

Isaac Lenaola is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly.

Anne-Marie Leroy

Anne-Marie Leroy, a French national, was appointed Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the World Bank Group in March 2009. Prior to joining the WBG, she was a partner of the Paris Office of Denton Wilde Sapte LLP since 2005 where she was in charge of the Department of Public Law. A graduate of both the Paris Institute for Political Science, and the National School for Public Administration (ENA), with a graduate degree in the Sociology of Organizations, Anne-Marie joined the Council of State (Conseil d'Etat) in 1986, the highest court in France for public and administrative law, where she worked as a judge for five years. In 1991, she was appointed to the Ministry of National Education. From January 1995 to May 1998, she served in the World Bank, MENA region as a senior public sector specialist, working on public management issues especially in Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. Returning to Paris in 1998 to take up the position of Department Head in charge of Governance and Civil Society issues in the Public Management Service of the OECD, she was soon appointed as Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, in charge of government reform. Following the presidential election of 2002, she returned to the Council of State and her functions as a judge.

Anne-Marie Leroy is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 1: Equity in Urban Development Law

Lluís Brau

Lluís Brau is a spanish Architect and Dipl. Ing. Town Planning and a member of the Architectural Association, London. He is also a town and territorial planner consultant. He has worked in urban and regional plans, studies, reports, projects, primarily in Spain but also in Cuba, Mexico, Palestine, Angola and Tanzania. In Barcelona he has been involved in many advocacy planning experiences. Mr Brau has produced publications related to town planning issues and has been teaching town planning in the Barcelona Polytechnic. He is the Spanish delegate in the European Town Planning Council, ECTP-CEU and represents this professional organisation in the Habitat Professionals Forum. He is also the president of the Federación Iberoamericana de Urbanistas, FIU.

Lluís Brau is one of the speakers of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable. 

Carmen Lomellin

Ambassador Carmen Lomellin Carmen Lomellin was confirmed by the United States Senate as Permanent U.S. Representative to the Organization of American States, with the rank of Ambassador, on November 20, 2009.

Ambassador Lomellin was appointed in May, 1998 to the position as Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) for the Organization of American States (OAS) by Secretary General Cesar Gaviria. She served as CIM Executive Secretary until March of 2009. In that position, she provided guidance and direction to the OAS member states and Permanent Secretariat on hemispheric policy advancing issues affecting women, particularly in the areas of human rights and gender equality. As head of the CIM Permanent Secretariat, Ambassador Lomellin oversaw the activities of the Commission’s delegates representing the 34 democracies of the Western Hemisphere and managed the daily operations of the Permanent Secretariat. She most recently served as Director for Outreach within the OAS Department of External Relations.

During the Clinton Administration, Ambassador Lomellin held the positions of White House Liaison for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and Director of that agency’s Office of International Affairs. She was an Advisor on Hispanic Affairs to the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach, as well as Search Manager in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel during the 1996 presidential transition, where she worked on sub-cabinet appointments in the area of international trade.

Ambassador Lomellin has experience in local government (Chicago, Illinois). She worked for Mayor Richard M. Daley as Director of the Private Industry Council of Chicago and also implemented and managed one of the nation’s most successful graffiti abatement programs. Ambassador Lomellin has worked for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund where she was the Director of Leadership Development, and for Chicago United, a civic think tank, as Director of Economic Development. In addition, she has extensive experience in the private sector, working for the Chicago-based Inland Steel Company in various sales and marketing capacities. Ambassador Lomellin holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from St. Joseph’s Calumet College and a Masters in Business Administration in International Business from De Paul University, Chicago, Illinois. Ambassador Lomellin has spent a major part of her professional career and personal life working on women’s issues, particularly those in the United States Hispanic community.

Carmen Lomellin is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender and Women Roundtable.

Bing Lu

Bio coming soon. 

Bing Lu is one of the speakers of WUF7 Mayors Roundtable.

Luis Felipe Hoyos

Bio coming soon.

Luis Felipe Hoyos is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Shuaib Lwasa

Dr. Lwasa is a lecturer at the Department of Environmental Management, School of Forestry, Environment and Geographical Sciences at Makerere University inUganda. Dr. Lwasa has twelve years’ experience in urban development issues and urban education. He has been involved in The Habitat Partner University Initiative to develop urban climate change syllabi and is currently investigating the state and challenges of urban education in East Africa.

Shuaib Lwasa is one of the speakers of WUF7 Universities Roundtable

Bruce Mac Master

Bruce Mac Master is from Cartagena, Colombia and an Economist from Universidad de los Andes, with master courses in economic development. Mr Mac Master is also the co- president of the Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation of World Economic Forum.

He was a Director of Social Prosperity Department of Colombia – DPS, and he lead the National System of Integral Assistance to Conflict Victims, the Poverty Board of the National Government, and the Directive Council of Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar - ICBF. Mr. Mac Master was Mayor in Charge of Cartagena City in 2012, and Viceminister of Finance between 2010 and 2011. He has been professor of post-grades in Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Finances, Inversion Bank, Infrastructure Projects, and Business and Society.

Nowadays he is Executive Director of National Business Association of Colombia – ANDI, a non-profit organization whose main purpose is to expand and promote economic, social and political principles within a free enterprise system, based upon beliefs that include human dignity, political democracy, social justice, private property and liberty.

Mr. Mac Master is co-founder of Compartamos con Colombia and Fundación Granitos de Paz, his experience in social sector include also the Chair of the Board of Fundación Pies Descalzos, and he is member of the Boards of Directors of Fundación Batuta, Fundación Semana, Corporación Conexión Colombia, Fundación Víctor Salvi and Fundación Casa de la Madre y el Niño.

Bruce Mac Master is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly. 

Graça Machel

Graça Machel is an international advocate for women’s and children's rights, a former freedom fighter, the first Education Minister of Mozambique and the widow of the former South African president, the late Nelson Mandela and of the former Mozambican president, Samora Machel. She is the founder of the Foundation for Community Development in Mozambique and a UN independent expert on the impact of armed conflict on children.

Graça Machel is also a founding member of The Elders with her husband, the late Nelson Mandela. A constant advocate for good governance, human rights and development in Africa, she joined the first Elders’ mission, travelling to Sudan with her fellow Elders Lakhdar Brahimi, Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu. She spent time in Darfur, highlighting the issue of rape and gender-based violence in the region. As one of the world’s best known advocates for women and children's rights, Mrs Machel travelled to Ethiopia with The Elders in June 2011 to convene an international meeting of experts and activists tackling the harmful traditional practice of child marriage. “Activists working at the grassroots sometimes feel isolated when they are at the forefront of such change,” she said. “We hope that we can unleash each other’s energy and build the momentum needed to end child marriage.”

Graça Machel is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender and Women Roundtable. 

Inés Sánchez de Madariaga

Inés Sánchez de Madariaga is an architect and planner, and a leading international expert on gender and city planning with extensive experience in both public policy and research. She holds a PhD from the Technical University of Madrid and a Master of Science from Columbia University in New York, where she studied as a Fulbright grantee.

She is the current Director of the Women and Science Unit at the Spanish Minister’s Office for Economy and Competitiveness and an Advisor to the European Commission on Gender and Research in various capacities. Inés is Chair of the international network Gender, Science, Technology and Environment, genderSTE, which brings together representatives from stakeholders of 40 countries in Europe and beyond committed to advance research and policy in the fields of gender in planning, transport, energy, and climate.

Inés was Chair of the European Commission Expert Group on Structural Change of Research Organizations which produced a roadmap for action to promote women and gender in research, and is leading and advising a number European projects. Previous to her current public office responsibilities, she was Executive Advisor to the Minister of Housing, a member of the Board of Directors of Spain’s Public Housing Corporation, Deputy Director General for Architecture, and a member of the Cabinet of the Minister for Research and Innovation. She has been a member and spokesperson of the Spanish delegations to both the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and to the Commission on the Status of Women on a number of occasions.

As a researcher, Inés is Professor of Urban Planning at Madrid School of Architecture on a leave of absence. She has been a visiting professor at leading international universities among them the London School of Economics, Columbia University, and Weimar-Bauhaus University. She lectures nationally and internationally, in Spanish, English and French. Inés has been in the jury of many architectural and urbanism biennials, competitions and prizes, including the Iberoamerican Biennal, the Spanish Biennial, Europan, and the Dominican Republic Biennial. Her last books are Fair-share cities. The impact of gender planning in Europe. Ashgate (co- edited with Marion Roberts) and Matilde Ucelay. Una vida en construcción, a biography of the first Spanish woman architect. 

Jose B. Martinez Madero

Jose B. Martinez Madero is the Head of Corporate Public Affairs at CEMEX, with responsibility for strategy and policy development in this field worldwide. Previously, José was Business Development Director for CEMEX in EMEA and Strategic Planning Director for CEMEX in Thailand respectively. He holds a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Monterrey in Mexico; and an MBA from the University of California Los Angeles in the US.

Jose B. Martinez Madero is one of the speakers of WUF7 Private Sector Roundtable.

Patrick Magebhula

Patrick Magebhula is a founder and president of the Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP), the largest community-based organization in South Africa, which organizes communities around women-led daily savings, and community information gathering, and is a founding member of the Shack / Slum Dwellers International (SDI) network. FEDUP is part of the Informal Settlement Network (ISN), an agglomeration of settlement-level and national-level organizations of the urban poor in all major municipalities in South Africa, for which Magebhula serves as the chair.

Prior to helping found FEDUP in 1992, Magebhula was the founder of the United Democratic Front branch in his community of Piesang River in Durban in 1985. In addition to his positions in FEDUP and ISN, he served as a member of the board for Shack / Slum Dwellers International, an alliance of slum dweller organizations in 33 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

In 2010, Maghebula was asked to serve as an advisor to the Minister for Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, on human settlements policy and practice. FEDUP has had a relationship with South Africa’s national department of housing (now “human settlements”), since the tragically brief tenure of Joe Slovo as minister in 1994. That relationship has resulted in over 15,000 houses built by poor communities themselves. The following year, Maghebula was asked to serve on a Ministerial Task Team on Water and Sanitation, headed by Ms. Winnie Madikizela Mandela, tasked with addressing the issues of open-air, incomplete and dilapidated toilets in poor communities across South Africa.

Patrick Magebhula is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue: Basic Services - Local Businesses for Equitable Cities.

Maged Thabet Saleh Sultan

Mr. Maged Sultan has a Master Degree in English Linguistics and diplomas in marketing, accounting and computer. He has attended a number of training courses on project proposal writing, project management, leadership, planning, ToT, project financial management, etc. He has participated in many local workshops, forums and seminars. He has also participated in international workshops such as training course on project management in Cairo in 2012 organized by UN-Habitat Urban Youth Forum, a workshop on connecting youth to land and land to youth in Casa Blanca- Morocco in 2012, a learning event on the land tenure and property rights in the Muslim World in Cairo in 2013, organized by GLTN and a Learning Exchange Workshop from 7 to 9 November 2013 and the 5th Partners’ Meeting from 11 to 14 November 2013, in The Hague, The Netherlands, organized by the GLNT.

Currently, Mr. Maged is an instructor in the Faculty of Arts, Taiz University, Yemen, the chairman of Youth Development Organization (YDO)- a youth-led NGO based in Taiz-Yemen, president of Taiz Network for Development (TND) and a member of the consultative board of Yemen Youth Observatory Organization. He is implementing a project titled Connecting Yemeni Youth with State and Endowment Lands, funded by UN-Habitat Urban Youth Fund and GLTN, aiming at developing a draft of a national strategy to connect Yemeni youth with State and Endowment Lands.

Mr. Maged has also worked as a local expert and consultant for Consulting Institution like Althuria Agricultural Consulting, Training & Technical studies. He has experience in different fields like fund raising, projects management, project coordinating, project monitoring and evaluation. In addition, he also performs a well-organized and stable management of the organization, participating in preparing the plans, the regulations, publications and media activities.

Maged Thabet Saleh Sultan is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Youth Roundtable. 

Ali Mandanipour

Ali Madanipour is Professor of Urban Design and Director of the Global Urban Research Unit (GURU), School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, United Kingdom. He has studied (MArch, PhD), practised, researched and taught architecture and urban planning and design. In 2010 he was the City of Vienna Senior Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Vienna, Austria, and in 2011 the Wits-Claude Leon Distinguished Scholar, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. His research has focused on planning, design, development and management of cities, organized through three overlapping themes of theories of urban design and planning, public space and urban governance, and urban neighbourhoods and social exclusion. This work has been supported by the UK research councils, the European Commission, and other national and international organizations. His latest books include Public Space and the Challenges of Urban Transformation in Europe (2014), Knowledge Economy and the City (2011), Whose Public Space? (2010), and among the earlier books Social Exclusion in European Cities (2003), all published by Routledge, London.

The Global Urban Research Unit (GURU) is a multidisciplinary team of urban researchers from architecture, planning, geography, sociology, economics and related fields, involved in a range of research projects around the world. GURU combines traditional and innovative approaches to the analysis of cities and towns, to better understand cities and their potential creative and sustainable transformation.

Ali Madanipour is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 2: Urban Planning and Design for Social Cohesion

Beatrice Marshall

Beatrice Marshall is a Global News Anchor for China’s international News Network, CCTV NEWS, and is based in the channel’s Africa Headquarters Nairobi. She anchors "Africa Live", a daily Global News program that gives viewers a deeper perspective of the news and views of Africa. Ms Marshall is also the host of "Talk Africa", a weekly talk show that provides global viewers with an inside look at economic and political events shaping the African continent. She has interviewed 16 sitting African Heads of State and Governments, among other leading African politicians, decision-makers & thought-leaders. Ms Marshall joined CCTV News with a wealth of regional and international expertise of over 15 years in journalism, covering major events across Africa. She has moderated a number of high level events including : an African forum on building Africa’s Infrastructure in Brazzaville ; a forum for visiting former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Nairobi (AGOA 2009) ; a forum on growing German-African partnerships for visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Nairobi ; and a National debate on Kenya's dialogue and reconciliation process chaired by the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, among others. Previously, Ms Marshall was the Deputy Managing Editor of KTN, Kenya’s leading National Television Network, and the channel’s Chief Anchor. She has also taught Journalism and Mass Communication at the United States International University (USIU) Nairobi campus. Ms Marshall holds a Masters Degree in Mass Communication from the University of Leicester (UK).

Beatrice Marshall is the moderator of WUF7 Dialogue 1: Equity in Urban Development Law

Desiree Martinez

Desiree Martinez is a Landscape Architect who graduated from the Technical University of Munich. She became president of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), in May of 2010. IFLA gathers the professionals in Landscape Architecture and has member organizations in more than 70 countries all over the world.

During her tenure one of IFLA’s central goals has been fostering landscape protection and awareness through national landscape charters and regional initiatives, between civil society, governments and other social actors with respect to the protection of the landscape as an element of life quality. The Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) has been a very successful example of the promotion of such a regional agreement focusing on all kind of landscapes, urban, rural and natural.

Her professional work is focused on the restoration of public space and the promotion of sustainability, through her firm PAISAJE RADICAL, projects and research on landscape architecture, urban design and environmental management. She has taught the master program in Landscape Architecture of the Iberoamerican University in León Guanajuato, Mexico and has several publications on Landscape Architecture and urban sustainability.

Desiree Martinez is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable

Dr. Didas John Massaburi

Didas Massaburi is the Lord Mayor of the City of Dar es salaam and also the National Chairman of Association of Local Authorities of Tanzania (ALAT), the organization that advocates the Local Economic Development Strategies in Tanzania. ALAT is mandated to represent both rural and urban authorities in Tanzania in various international and local forums. He has a background in procurement, projects management and transport management at postgraduate levels and engineering and accountancy at post-secondary education. He previously worked for the central government under several donor funded activities, including World Bank-financed projects in education, health, and forest sectors. Dr. Massaburi is also a professional trainer and a consultant in the field of Local Governance particularly in policy formulation and development strategies. He served as a Member of Parliament in the East African Legislative Assembly representing Tanzania in the East African Community prior to becoming the Mayor of Dar es salaam.

Didas Massaburi is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 3: Basic Services: Local Businesses for Equitable Cities

Barbara McMurray

Bio coming soon.

Barbara McMurray is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Geeta Mehta

Dr. Geeta Mehta, an architect and urban designer, is an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York. She serves as a faculty member and co-coordinator of studios that have worked with underserved communities in Accra and Kumasi (Ghana), Kisumu (Kenya), Mumbai and Delhi (India), Kingston (Jamaica), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and other locations. She also teaches courses on urbanism and public spaces, and is a member of the advisory board of Millennium Cities Initiatives at the Earth Institute.

Geeta is the founder of Social Capital Credits (SoCCs), a virtual currency for incentivizing social good and community based urban development with “Asia Initiatives” (www.asiainiitiatives.org), an organization she founded and heads. She is also the co-founder of “URBZ: User Generated Cities” (www.urbz.net), a think tank committed to empowering people at the community level to improve their own neighborhoods. Geeta is the past president of the American Institute of Architects’ Japan Chapter.

Geeta is the author, co-author and editor of several books on architecture and urbanism, including publications on Accra and Kumasi co-edited with faculty colleagues and students at Columbia University. She is a graduate of the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi and Columbia University in New York. She received her Ph.D. in Urban Engineering from the University of Tokyo.

Geeta Mehta is one of the speakers of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable. 

Rose Molokoane

Ms. Rose Molokoane is National Chairperson of the 80,000-member South African Homeless People's Federation, their national savings coordinator, and a Board Member of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI). A South African veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, she is one of the most internationally recognized grassroots activists involved in land tenure and housing issues. The South African Homeless People’s Federation has helped more than 150,000 squatters, the vast majority women, pool their savings. This has won them sufficient standing to negotiate with the government for a progressive housing policy that has already produced 15,000 new homes and secured more than 1,000 hectares of government land for development. SDI is a network of squatter groups on three continents. From her modest squatter home in Western Pretoria, Rose Molokoane has travelled to Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines as well as many African nations to share SDI’s methods. She was awarded the Habitat Scroll of Honour in 2005 for her tireless struggle to bring land and homes to the poor.

Rose Molokoane is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: World Urban Campaign.

Talita Montiel

Talita Montiel is a consultant to social development projects with special focus on innovation, technology, and building networks. Her latest projects are related to corporate social responsibility and highly networked individuals embracing social causes. Previously, she worked at the Telefonica Foundation as a senior project analyst, where her responsibilities included coordinating a network focused on children and public policies, forming partnerships, and bridging non-profits with local government through new technologies. Earlier in her career, Talita worked at the Global Youth Action Network, strengthening youth leadership by building collaborative networks around international events. Previously, through Instituto Fonte, she studied planning, management, and evaluation techniques of social projects. Her experience as a learning process facilitator for the third sector in Brazil was developed through participation in many diverse groups from an early age. Talita majored in History at the University of Sao Paulo.

Talita Montiel is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Youth Roundtable. 

Luis Alberto Moreno

Bio coming soon.

Luis Alberto Moreno is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: Financing the New Urban Agenda.

Caroline Moser

Ms. Moser is an urban social anthropologist and social policy specialist with more than forty years’ experience in academic research, teaching and training. Recent research has focused on the assets of the urban poor, their accumulation and poverty reduction; their adaptation to climate change; their transnational accumulation associated with international migration; and finally the implementation of asset planning in cities of the south. It also includes extensive research on urban violence, most recently as the principal investigator of a four city project on ‘Understanding the tipping points of urban conflict’. Recent projects have used participatory research methodology – with capacity building of local researchers undertaken in Colombia, Chile and Kenya, and currently in a global project undertaken by WIEGO. Throughout she has continued research and policy-focused work on gender planning and development.

She worked as a lecturer in academic university departments at the LSE, London and New School, in a graduate urban development institute, the Development Planning Unit, UCL, where she initiated global training on gender planning; in a policy-focused international agency, the World Bank, where as Lead Specialist for Social Development in Latin America, she researched the impact of structural adjustment on the urban poor; and in policy-related research think-tanks, the Overseas Development Institute, London and Brookings Institution, Washington.

She recently completed a 5 year appointment as Professor of Urban Development and Director of the Global Urban Research Centre in the University of Manchester, School of Environment and Development. In September 2012 she was appointed an Emeritus Professor at the University of Manchester, as well as a Research Fellow, Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, American University DC for the academic year 2012-2013.

Caroline Moser is one of the speakers of WUF7 Urban Researchers Roundtable.

Jacqueline Moustache-Belle

Jacqueline Moustache-Belle was born in 1961 in Seychelles. She studied journalism, radio and television production in France, USA and Mauritius. She attended a course for Commonwealth Diplomats and on public relations. She has worked in the Ministry of Planning and Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism and Transport, Seychelles Broadcasting Company and National Arts Council.

Since 2012, she is Mayor of Victoria and President of the Association of Districts of Victoria.

Jacqueline Moustache-Belle is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: World Urban Campaign. 

Lyneth Mtemeri

Ms. Mtemeri has been a youth advocate for the past 6 years. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theater and Filmmaking from the University of Zimbabwe. She has worked at the Biomedical Research and Training Institute as a Research Assistant on young people and HIV/AIDS. She is currently working with young women facing issues such as unemployment, early marriages, incest rape and lack of education due to forced evictions.

She has been a part of innovative approaches to youth advocacy programs such as the Women’s Arts Festival which aimed to promote young women’s participation in the arts and address issues faced by women in Zimbabwe. Ms. Mtemeri also pioneered the first Installation Theater in Zimbabwe in order to raise awareness of the challenges posed by insecure tenure.

Lyneth Mtemeri is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Youth Roundtable. 

Ibrahim Muhanna

Ibrahim Muhanna founded i.e. Muhanna & co. (Actuaries & Consultants) in 1986, Omnilife insurance company in the UK in 1988, The Muhanna Foundation in 1994, and i.e. Muhanna & co. (Rating Services) in 2000. Prior to that, he worked in the USA and Lebanon from 1976 to 1985.

He graduated from the University of Michigan (1976) with an MSc in Actuarial Mathematics. Since 1986 he has advised 52 insurers, 23 governments, and other clients in 38 countries. He has written several papers & delivered over 600 presentations on actuarial, financial awareness, & governance issues in 60 countries.

Mr. Muhanna has been a member of the International Actuarial Association (IAA) Council since 1985. He also served as a member of the IAA Executive Committee and is actively involved in other IAA Committees & Sections. He is currently a member of the board of Actuaries without Borders and of International Association of Consulting Actuaries. The vice-chairman of the actuarial technical commission of the International Social Security Association (ISSA). In 2007, he was awarded "The National Order of the Cedar" by the Lebanese President in recognition of his great service & devotion to the Nation. His is currently Managing Director of i.e. Muhanna & co and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Muhanna Foundation.

Ibrahim Muhanna is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 4: Innovative Financing Instruments for Local Authorities 

Esther Mwaura-Muiru

Esther Mwaura-Muiru is the founder of GROOTS Kenya. Bio coming soon. 

Michelle Mycoo

Ms. Mycoo from the University of the West Indies is an Urban Planner with 24 years of professional experience and a Senior Lecturer with 15 years of academic experience. She has provided consultancy services internationally, regionally and locally on planning issues for several development agencies and has more than 25 publications in refereed international journals and book chapters on themes such as natural hazards reduction, climate change adaptation, social exclusion, urban water demand management, urban land access and sustainable cities. Ms. Mycoo has previously served as President of the Trinidad and Tobago Society of Planners and coordinator of the Urban and Regional Planning Programme. She is currently a member of the UNDP GEF (Global Environment Facility) Small Grants Programme in Trinidad.

Michelle Mycoo is one of the speakers of WUF7 Universities Roundtable

Mariam Nalubega

Hon. Mariam Nalubega, aged 27 years, is the only female Youth MP (Legislator) in the National Parliament, elected by all the Youths in the country currently serving her 3rd and educated in Uganda at Makerere University Business School, Law Development Centre and Makerere University.

Since 2001 she has played a number of roles in promoting and advocating for meaningful Youth empowerment and involvement in national planning and development programs. She has attended various Conferences and Forums both Local and International, like the European Development days in Brussels 2006, the UN Governing Council in Nairobi 2007, World Habitat Day Monterry 2007, the European global parliamentary forum on Habitat in Bucharest 2008, and the E-Governance exchange program in Stockholm 2008.

Mariam Nalubega is one of the speakers of WUF7 Global Parliamentarians on Habitat Roundtable. 

Dr. Shipra Narang Suri

Dr. Shipra Narang Suri is an urban planner with a Ph.D. in Post-War Recovery Studies from the University of York, UK. She is a Vice-President of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP), responsible in particular for technical cooperation and projects. Shipra has a keen interest and extensive experience in issues of urban planning and management, good urban governance and indicators, liveability and sustainability of cities, urban safety, as well as post- conflict/ post-disaster recovery. She is currently the Coordinator of a country-wide project on local governance at UNDP Myanmar. Shipra has worked with the United Nations, specifically, UN-Habitat, UNDP, and UNESCO, for over fifteen years, and is currently based in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). She has worked in Asia, Africa, South Eastern Europe and the Middle-East. She is an Associate (Visiting Fellow) at the Department of Politics, University of York (UK), and has also lectured at several universities in India, Europe and the US. She is an Editor of the international journal ‘CITY’, and a member of a global think tank on ‘Liveable Cities’ set up by Philips. Shipra has been involved in the development and execution of a variety of development, research and training projects and programmes, is a regular public speaker at national and international fora, and has several publications to her credit.

Shipra Narang Suri is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 2: Urban Planning and Design for Social Cohesion and of the WUF7 Special Session World Urban Campaign.

Anita Nayar

Bio coming soon.

Anita Nayar is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Gata Ngoulou

Bio coming soon.

Gata Ngoulou is one of the speakers of WUF7 Ministers Roundtable.

Ha Thu Nguyen

Bio coming soon.

Ha Thu Nguyen is one of the speakers of WUF7 World Urban Youth Assembly.

Rodrigo Alejandro Nieto Enriquez

Bio coming soon. 

Rodrigo Alejandro Nieto Enriquez is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue: A Safe City as a Just and Equitable City.

Francis Chuks Njoguani

Bio coming soon.

Francis Chuks Njoguani is one of the speakers of WUF7 World Urban Youth Assembly.

Sean Patrick O’Brien

Sean Patrick O’Brien is Global Vice President for Urban Matters & Public Security, with responsibility for SAP’s cities & public security strategy. Leading SAP’s urban strategy, Sean’s team is engaging with cities, agencies, analysts and customers across the globe.

Sean has 25 years experience in public sector, as a former senior public official and someone who has worked closely with government on innovation, transformation and strategy for more than a decade, he has been delivering government transformation, innovation and technology enabled value.

Creator of the SAP Urban Matters programme, Sean has established a new way for SAP to engage with cities and urban settlements across the world. Helping city customers, their ecosystems’ and SAP to redefine how SAP can help cities improve livability, transform governments and help grow economic prosperity.

Sean participates and advises on many groups and specialist bodies around cities and public security, within SAP he has championed SAP’s Urban Matters programme to better understand the needs of cities, as well as the value technology can deliver.
 
Sean Patrick O’Brien is one of the speakers of WUF7 Private Sector Roundtable. 

Ruth Odinga

Ruth Adhiambo Odinga Busia is currently the Deputy Governor of the County Government of Kisumu. She holds a Degree in Social Sciences and a post graduate Certificate in Development Studies from the University of Oslo, and is also currently pursuing a post graduate Diploma in Corporate Governance at the Kenya College of Accountancy.

Ruth boasts over 20 years of experience working in several fields that has seen her serve as a teacher in Gambia and a development officer in the UK. She is an astute business lady; prior to joining politics she has held a number of senior management positions which include being the Managing Director of Spectre International Ltd, Managing Director of Petroplus (Africa) Kenya Ltd amongst others that have given her a firm foundation in business management and development. She is a member of the presigeous East Africa Business Council (EABC). She is currently the Chairlady of the Kenya Women Governors Association (KWGA

She is passionate about engendering the newly formed Counties Integrated Development Plans in Kenya. Currently she is part of a two-year Local Political Leaders training programme that aims to capacitate women in politics sponsored by SIDA and ICLD.

Ruth Odinga is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Gender and Women Roundtable. 

Christer Öjdemark

Christer Öjdemark holds a Master of Science from Linköping University, Sweden, where he also became Doctor of Technology (h.c.) in 2011.

From 1975 to 1991 he held various management positions in BT Industries, today a part of Toyota Material Handling. 1991 to 1993 he was the Managing Director for Fuji Autotech AB, a company in the automotive sector. In 1993 he joined Danfoss, one of the largest Danish industrial companies as Managing Director for the Swedish company. In 2001 he joined the Envac Group and has been the CEO & President since 2004. He also has external board assignments in Proplate AB and Beijer Electronics AB.

Christer Öjdemark is one of the speakers of WUF7 Private Sector Roundtable. 

Maria Eugenia Olarte

Ambassador Maria Eugenia Correa Olarte, currently the Colombian Ambassador to Kenya, has vast experiences in education with emphasis on Higher Education and Research in the areas of education, gender and socio-economic aspects. She is an expert in the design of public policies in the area of gender and education, an expert in planning, management assessment and inspection of research projects and international cooperation in the above mentioned fields. She also has experience in the stages of Bids, Contracting and preparation of contents in order to turn in Paper Work, experience in Public Sector and International Cooperation and experience in High National and International Management Positions. She has been the Colombian Representative for various countries in Africa, which has given her many years of experience in Diplomatic Representations.

The Ambassador is a member of the Colombian Conservator Party, where she has been a presidential advisor since 2007.

She holds various academic titles, like a PHD in Law (2005), the Honoris Causa Doctorates in Sciences of Education (2010), a Masters in Educational Research and Technology (1978) and a Masters in Political Science (1977).

Maria Eugenia Olarte is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender and Women Roundtable.

Diana Ortega

Bio coming soon. 

Diana Ortega is a speaker of WUF7 Dialogue: A Safe City as a Just and Equitable City.

Anne Paugam

Anne Paugam became the first woman to head the Agence Française de Développement, the main operator for France’s Overseas’ Development Policy when she tool on the role in 2013. Mrs. Paugam joined the AFD in 2002, where she held responsibilities in strategic management and operations. She was subsequently appointed Secretary-General and member of the Executive Board responsible for the budget, resources, finance and risks. Since 2010, she has been Inspector General specialized in development at the Inspectorate General of Finance, where she regularly consults with the administrations responsible for the bilateral and multilateral Official Development Assistance policy. Mrs. Paugam graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Studies. She joined the Inspectorate General of Finance in 1993, after graduating from ENA (French National School of Administration). In 1997, she joined the World Bank in Washington via the Young Professionals’ Programme, where she held positions related to strategic management, then operational functions. She was notably in charge of public sector reform projects at the World Bank’s office in Rabat (Morrocco). From Sept. 2001 to May 2002, she was adviser, then Deputy Director at the cabinet of the Minister for Cooperation and Francophonie, Charles Josselin, and worked on development finance issues.

Anne Paugam is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: Financing the New Urban Agenda.

Pedro Ferradas

Bio coming soon.

Pedro Ferradas is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Marisol Delmazzo Peillard

De nacionalidad chilena, reside en Colombia.  Arquitecta de la Universidad Nacional del Colombia. Experta  en vivienda social y urbanismo con enfoque de  género aplicado al  hábitat y la planificación urbana. Co- Fundadora AVP Asociación para la Vivienda Popular, ONG que trabaja desde 1981 por el derecho a la vivienda y la ciudad con enfoque de género y Directora de la Fundación AVP para el Desarrollo Social Cofundadora e integrante de la Red Mujer y Hábitat de A. Latina- Colombia. Desde el año 2001 trabaja en el enfoque de ciudades seguras para las mujeres,  por el derecho a las mujeres a una vida libre de violencias en la ciudad.

Entre 2007 y 2012,  lideró, coordinó y realizó el seguimiento en Colombia  el Programa Ciudades sin violencia hacia las mujeres, ciudades seguras para tod@s, implementado por la Red Mujer y Hábitat de A. Latina con el apoyo de  ONUMUJERES – AECID. Actualmente  es responsable en Colombia de la ejecución del proyecto regional “Mujeres más seguras. Colombia, Chile, El Salvador: Un nuevo paso en la aplicación de políticas contra la violencia, con actores policiales” que implementa la REDMUJER Y HABITAT de A. LATINA con el apoyo de ONUMUJERES. De 2008 a 2014. Ha sido consultora de la Subdirección de género y diversidad sexual de Secretaría de Planeación Distrital de Bogotá y actualmente de la Secretaría de la Mujer,  para desarrollar recomendaciones para la incorporación de género en el Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial,  el Sistema Integrado de Transporte de la ciudad y el Plan Maestro de Espacio Público.

Jan Peterson

Jan Peterson serves as the Chair of the Huairou Commission. Her work in community development spans four decades, throughout which she has been a groundbreaking leader in creating community structures led by grassroots women. She was awarded the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honor in September 2009 for her commitment to improving grassroots women's lives globally. Because of her strong advocacy, Jan has ensured the global women's movement incorporates grassroots women's groups and takes heed of community development priorities for sustainable human settlements. She has supported pioneering initiatives such as the Grassroots Academies held at each World Urban Forum and the Local- to-Local Dialogue process. She has been a partner of UN-Habitat since 1987 and currently serves on the International Advisory Board of UN-Habitat’s Global Land Tools Network (GLTN) as well as the Advisory Group on Gender Issues (AGGI).

Jan Peterson is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: World Urban Campaign.

Santiago Piedrahita

Bio coming soon.

Santiago Piedrahita is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Amit Prasad

Bio coming soon.

Amit Prasad is one of the speakers of WUF7 High Level UN Special Session.

Joachim Prey

Joachim Prey currently works as Director General for the Sectoral Department of GIZ after having worked there as Deputy Director General for four years before. Until December 2008 he was Country Director of GTZ for the Palestine Territory and Jordan and before that Head of Section and Senior Advisor for Private Sector Development in the Department for Economic Development and Employment Promotion of GTZ. Main thematic areas are investment climate / investment promotion, SME policy, business development services (BDS), business start-ups and e-business. He has extensive experience as technical adviser and project manager in Private Sector and SME Promotion in various countries. Before joining GTZ he spent some years as a consultant specializing in renewable energies and technology transfer.

Joachim Prey is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 3: Basic Services: Local Businesses for Equitable Cities

Lakshmi Puri

Lakshmi Puri is Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN- Women and member of Advisory Group on Gender Issues. Ms. Puri is responsible for the leadership and management of the Bureau supporting intergovernmental bodies, United Nations coordination and external relations.

She has more than 37 years’ experience in economic and development policy-making, as well as in political, peace and security, humanitarian and human rights–related diplomacy. Throughout her career, she has promoted the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda, where Ms. Puri has been actively involved in pioneering efforts to analyse and advocate positive linkages between economic development and gender equality. She has worked on including a gender perspective in trade investment, migration and labour mobility, financial flows, environment and climate change, energy, agriculture and food security, and access to essential services, among other issues.

Prior to her appointment at UN-Women, Ms. Puri was Director in the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Islands Developing States. Following a distinguished diplomatic career with the Government of India, Ms Puri joined the United Nations as Director of UNCTAD’s largest division and led the work of the organization in making trade work for development. From 2007 to 2009, she was the acting Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD.

Ms. Puri education is in history, public policy and administration, international relations and law, and economic development. She has a B.A. in First Division from Delhi University and a postgraduate degree from Punjab University, as well as professional diplomas.

Lakshmi Puri is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly. 

Semiti Qalowasa

Mr. Qalowasa is a Fijian national and the national director for the Peoples Community Network. The People’s Community Network (PCN) grew out of the work of the Economic Justice Program of the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA) in squatter (or people’s) settlements. Established as its own entity in 2009 and with representation in 160 of Fiji’s 230 settlements, PCN has grown in its outreach and developed its partnership base which includes working effectively with national government, city councils and international development agencies such as UN Habitat (through PSUP). A key development partner and financial assistance comes from ACCA (Thailand)

Mr. Qalowasa is known for his dynamism and charisma throughout Fijian communities as a leading advocate of community voices. He is a leader in social analysis, community empowerment and economic literacy. He and his team at PCN are aspiring to formulate a Pacific Community Network in which other countries can learn and embrace inclusive social development, building from community-level and enabling increased government recognition for responding to urban community needs.

Semiti Qalowasa is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Aline Rahbany

Aline Rahbany works with World Vision International,Middle East and Eastern Europe regional office as the Urban Learning Hub Leader. She is based in Beirut where she's currently pursuing her second masters degree in Urbanism after completing the first one in Public Health - health promotion and community development, in 2008. Throughout her experience with World Vision, she worked closely with the Center of Expertise for Urban Programming in World Vision International focusing specifically on oneurban pilot in Beirut. The pilot was a peace building project addressing youth coming from segregated urban communities in Beirut divided alongreligious and political lines. The project aimed to empower youth to become change agents promoting peace in their communities. Her work on this project, doing action research, between 2009 and 2013 resulted in the development of a framework for urban youth engagement which will be put to testing for validation in the next phases of the project. In 2012, she participated as a speaker at the WUF6 Youth Assembly in Naples, Italy, where she was part of a panel discussing youth and safety in the city.

Aline Rahbany is one of the speakers of World Urban Youth Assembly. 

Jonathan Reckford

Jonathan T.M. Reckford is Chief Executive Officer of Habitat for Humanity International, an ecumenical Christian housing ministry that, since 1976, has helped more than 3 million people construct, rehabilitate or preserve homes in more than 70 countries. Reckford graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead Scholar. He was also the recipient of a Henry Luce Scholarship, which enabled him to spend a year in Asia, where he did marketing work for the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee and coached the South Korean rowing team in preparation for the 1988 Olympics. He earned his MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business before spending much of his career in the for-profit sector, including executive and managerial positions at Goldman Sachs, Marriott, the Walt Disney Co. and Best Buy. Following his tenure as executive pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church near Minneapolis, Minn., he was appointed CEO of Habitat for Humanity International,in 2005.

Reckford and his wife, Ashley, have three children and live in Atlanta. The author of a book titled Creating a Habitat for Humanity: No Hands but Yours, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of Interaction. 

Jonathan Reckford is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Maria Ines Restrepo

Bio coming soon.

Maria Ines Restrepo is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Private Sector Roundtable. 

Maria Ines Restrepo de Arango

Ms. Maria Ines Restrepo de Arango is CEO, Caja de Compensación Familiar de Antioquia-Comfama and a social worker specialized as an organizational consultant in the areas of Personal Administration and Conflict Management Group at Harvard University. She holds various academic titles, with studies of Social Management at INDES (IDB), economy at University of Columbia, Sustainable Development and inclusion in the economy of innovation at MIT, Equitable globalization at University Johns Hopkins, Globalization and Economy at the Sorbonne, among others. Currently, she is a member of the board of Asocajas (the National Association of Colombian compensation system) and, since 1994, the CEO of Caja de Compensación Familiar de Antioquia-Comfama.

Maria Ines Restrepo de Arango is one of the speakers of WUF7 Private Sector Roundtable.

Lisa Rice

In her capacity as a Vice President with the National Fair Housing Alliance, Ms. Rice oversees the communications, resource development, public policy and enforcement initiatives of the agency. She is responsible for helping to achieve the organization’s goal of addressing the crisis of segregation in America and the ultimate goal of realizing a truly open society. Lisa joined NFHA after serving as CEO of the Toledo Fair Housing Centre and the Northwest Ohio Development Agency (NODA). The Fair Housing Centre is one of the nation’s premier fair housing organizations. NODA, which Lisa helped to found, is a community development financial institution providing below- market interest loans, grants and financial services to historically under-served markets. While serving at these organizations, Lisa developed and implemented the state of Ohio’s first predatory lending remediation program.

Ms. Rice has provided extensive fair housing and fair lending training to consumers, government agencies, insurance companies, lending institutions, regulatory agencies, housing industry professionals, real estate management companies, fair housing agencies, and non-profit organizations. She has also helped to develop fair lending training courses and materials for federal and state regulated financial institutions.

Under her direction, the National Fair Housing Alliance has provided helpful insight to Congress on the development and enactment of numerous laws including the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Roberto Ridolfi

Roberto Ridolfi is Director for Sustainable Growth and Development at DG Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid.

Twice Ambassador/ Head of delegation to the European Union, Mr Ridolfi was first in Suva where he served from 2005 to 2007. There he was in charge of all the relations of the European Union with 15 countries and territories as well as with the Pacific Forum. Later, in 2011 he was appointed in Uganda by HRVP C. Ashton where he served till September 2013. In between, during his duty as head of unit of Europe Aid F3, he managed programmes dealing with Environment, Food security, migration and asylum as well as the One-Billion-Euro Food Facility in 50 countries.

Mr Ridolfi joined the European Commission in 1994 and took up duty in the European Delegation to Malawi as infrastructure and development advisor dealing with infrastructure, transport and health.

Roberto Ridolfi is one of the speakers of WUF7 Private Sector Roundtable. 

Hernán Rincón

Hernán Rincón is President of Microsoft Latin America. He is responsible for the long term business strategy for the 46 countries and territories in Latin American and the Caribbean in which Microsoft has presence. He is also responsible for the overall people strategy focused on hiring and retaining the best talent in Latin America and the development of the senior leaders, to run the large organizations that Microsoft has built in all Countries. He oversees all sales, marketing, and services operations. He is an ambassador for Microsoft, deeply engaged in the Corporate Citizenship programs that enable jobs, opportunities and local innovation to support the economic and social development of Latin America. As part of his ambassadorship role, he serves in the Board of Directors of the Trust for the Americas (Organization of American States) and the Council of the Americas.

Before being named President, Mr. Rincón served as the Sales, Marketing and Services Vice President for Microsoft Latin America, in charge of leading sales for small and mid- size businesses, OEM Manufacturers, large corporations, and local governments, as well as Microsoft’s extensive Partner ecosystem. Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Rincón was President and CEO of Ferag Americas, a Swiss company specializing in state-of-the-art, high-tech solutions for the printed media industry. His tenure at Ferag was marked by a quick, positive turn-around of the company’s business in the Americas.

At Unisys, where he worked for 11 years, Mr. Rincón held several positions at the company’s global headquarters in Pennsylvania, USA, including Global Chief Information Officer and Worldwide Vice President of the Financial Services Line of Business. Previously, as part of the Unisys Latin America Group, he served as Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Services and Vice President of the Financial Services Line of Business.

A Harvard University graduate, Mr. Rincón holds a Masters degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he held a prestigious Edward S. Mason Fellowship. Prior to that he received a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the Andes University, in Colombia, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the State University of New York.

Hernán Rincón is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Hector Robles

Bio coming soon.

Hector Robles is one of the speakers of WUF7 Mayors Roundtable.

Judith Rodin, Ph.D.

Judith Rodin is president of the Rockefeller Foundation, one of the world’s leading philanthropic organizations. She was previously president of the University of Pennsylvania, and provost of Yale University. Since joining the Foundation in 2005, Dr. Rodin has recalibrated its focus to meet the challenges of the 21st century and today the Foundation supports and shapes innovations to strengthen resilience to risks and ensure more equitable growth around the world.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University, Dr. Rodin has actively participated in influential global forums, including the World Economic Forum, the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton Global Initiative and the United Nations General Assembly. Dr. Rodin is also a member of the African Development Bank’s High Level Panel, a Board member of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (co- created by The Rockefeller Foundation)

A pioneer and innovator throughout her career, Dr. Rodin was the first woman named to lead an Ivy League Institution and is the first woman to serve as the Rockefeller Foundation's president in its nearly 100-year history. She has also been recognized as one of Forbes Magazine's World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Judith Rodin is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 5: Raising Standards of Urban Resilience 

Haydee Rodriguez

Ms. Haydee Rodriguez was born in the municipality of Regadio in the city of Esteli at 65 kilometers from Jinotega, Nicaragua. She has dedicated her life to her work with women producers for the past 25 years. With ample knowledge in ‘cooperativismo’, community leadership and organizing, Ms. Rodriguez has been especially committed to fight against eviction experienced by women. She has been involved in improving livelihoods of women producers, environmental sustainability, the conservation of soil and the preservation of natural resources, and building sustainable and resilient communities.

Ms. Rodriguez is the current president of the Board of Directors of the Union of Cooperatives Las Brumas where she has helped 20 cooperatives and a total of 1200 producers. As a member of the Network of Women and Peace in Central America, Huairou Commission, and Groots International, her organization is also part of the Cafe Conglomerate through the Ministry of the local government. Ms. Rodriguez has been participating in the Huairou Commission MDG 3 Accountability Initiative, part of the Dutch MDG 3 FUND, for the past two years. She is also a member of the UN Women Global Civil Society Advisory Group.

Haydee Rodriguez is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Gender and Women Roundtable. 

José Luis Rodríguez

José Luis Rodríguez, is a journalist who graduated from the University Externado de Colombia, Bogotá in 1993. In the beginning of his career he covered themes related to Bogotá. He later specialized in information regarding armed conflict and law and order, informing from the Defense Ministry. The last six years, he has been the broadcast director of the evening news at Noticias Caracol, sending in prime time from 7 pm to 11:30 pm. In addition, he works as a journalist professor at the University of Sergio Arboleda and has been a professor at the University of La Sabana for television interviews.

Maité Rodríguez Blandón

Maité Rodríguez Blandón María Teresa is the Program Coordinator for the Fundacion Guatemala in Guatemala. She leads the Women and Peace Network in Central America with grassroots women’s organizations from Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras. For over 10 years she worked directly with grassroots women's movements struggling for land rights, women's rights and safer cities for women. She is member of the Women and Habitat Network of Latin America. She is a member of the Coordinating Council of the Huairou Commission, and also served on the UNDP Gender Expert Task Force, UNDP Gender Unit. Growing up during Guatemala’s civil war and when the armed conflict ended in 1996, and Peace Treaties were signed in Guatemala, Ms. Blandón actively contributed to include women and gender approach in the Land Cadastral Process in Guatemala. She also became one of the co- founders of the first Program of Gender and Feminist Studies in Guatemala and Central America in partnership with the National University of Mexico-UNAM. She has also worked to advance advocacy plans for women on community resilience and safety supporting women in cities and communities to claim safe space and create partnerships with government stakeholders to design public policies that reduce risk and vulnerable conditions for women and girls.

Maité Rodríguez is one of the speakers of WUF7 Roundtable: Civil Society Organizations.

Cynthia Rosenzweig

Bio coming soon.

Cynthia Rosenzweig is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session 4.

Jerko Rošin

In a professional career spanning over 40 years Jerko Rošin has designed over 700 titles, within a vast range of different architectural tasks, including tourist and residential pieces, various industrial plants, health care buildings, theatres, concert and exhibition halls, libraries, casinos, and other public and welfare buildings. He is also the author of a great numberof urban plans of various planning levels, as well as of project programmes.

He has been professionally engaged as the Secretary of the Split Association of Architects, as President of Town-planning of Split district and the Chairman of the Council for Urban Planning of the Government of the Republic of Croatia from 2004 to 2008. In 2006, he was elected senior lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Split.

His political career started in 2007 when he was elected to the Croatian parliament and took the chair of Parliamentary Board for urban planning and construction. In addition to numerous professional awards, he has been recognised for his architectonic tribute to Croatian culture (1978), with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Croatia and he received the Order of Merit to the Croatian people (1997).

He trained in Development of French Mediterranean tourism in 1972 and completed a postgraduate study of Protection and revitalization of building heritage in 1976/77.

Jerko Rošin is one of the speakers of WUF7 Global Parliamentarians on Habitat Roundtable. 

Chandra Roy-Henriksen

Bio coming soon.

Chandra Roy-Henriksen is one of the speakers of WUF7 Indigenous Peoples Roundtable.

Anna Rubbo

Anna Rubbo, B.Arch (Melbourne), D. Arch (Michigan) joined the Centre for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD) at the Earth Institute at Columbia University in 2012. Prior to this she was Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, Australia. A member of the United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers (2002-04), she went on to found the Global Studio (www.theglobalstudio.com), a people-centered action research project that helps urban professionals work more effectively with the urban poor. Working with academic partners, local government and NGOs since 2005 the program has attracted over 600 students, academics and professionals to its programs in Istanbul, Vancouver, Johannesburg, and Bhopal. Global Studio work was included in the 2009 International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam, and the 2011 Cooper Hewitt exhibition ‘Design with the other 90%’. GS, a UN World Urban Campaign partner, offered networking sessions at WUF in 2006, ‘08, and ’10. Rubbo is project director of the travelling exhibition, People Building Better Cites (www.peoplebuildingbettercities.org) which has been shown in eight countries and 12 cities in 2013.

Anna Rubbo is one of the speakers of WUF7 Habitat Professionals Roundtable. 

Siraj Sait

Siraj Sait is a graduate of University of London and Harvard Law School; he is a well-known human rights lawyer and activist with experience as government official and Human Rights Prosecutor in India. His development expertise includes gender and age in land/housing, refugee and post-conflict studies and Islamic law. He regularly provides technical assistance and capacity development in the Muslim world on development themes, including gender equality.  Siraj recently completed a UN-Habitat Evaluation of its Iraq country programme. He has been closely associated with several grassroots campaigns on abolition of forced labour, minority rights and gender equality. He has been a consultant to UNHCR, UNICEF, FAO and served as legal officer and gender rights specialist at UN-HABITAT. He was on the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) International Advisory Board (2006-2012) and a key contributor to the GLTN gender evaluation criteria and instrumental in devising the training manual on Evaluating Land Tools with Gender Perspective (2012). His publications include Land, Law & Islam (Zed: 2006, with H.Lim), African Land Law (2012, World Bank/PULP) and Youth and Land (2011,GLTN).  Sait is presently Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. 

Tayiona Sanangurai

Tayiona Sanangurai currently leads a youth network in Zimbabwe of youth groups that work and live in marginalised communities and is the chairperson of the Institute for Young Women’s Development. In 2011 he was voted 29th in the 100 most influential young people under 40 in Zimbabwe.

Tayiona has worked significantly in the areas of HIV and AIDS, Gender, Human rights and Conflict transformation. He has helped develop a Masculinity manual for training young men to be involved in the fight for gender justice. Working on how homelessness affects young people and prevents them from moving forward, with support from the UN-Habitat urban youth fund, he pioneered the development of a seven point manifesto on ending homelessness, in addition to this he further spearheaded the development of a local government reader to help young people understand how local government works and how to participate in building local democracy. He has also worked with young people in peace building programmes, focusing on how young people can be active change agents in building a violence-free environment.

Tayiona Sanangurai is one of the speakers of WUF7 Youth Roundtable. 

Sara Ronsen

Bio coming soon.

Sara Ronsen is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Luz Helena Sarmiento

Bio coming soon.

Luz Helena Sarmiento is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue: Raising Standards of Urban Resilience.

Saskia Sassen

Saskia Sassen is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and Co-Chairs The Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University. Saskia Sassen's research and writing focuses on globalization (including social, economic and political dimensions), immigration, global cities (including cities and terrorism), the new technologies, and changes within the liberal state that result from current transnational conditions. In each of the three major projects that comprise her 20 years of research, Sassen starts with a thesis that posits the unexpected and the counterintuitive in order to cut through established "truths".

In addition to her appointments at Columbia University, Saskia Sassen serves on several editorial boards and is an advisor to several international bodies. She is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Cities. She has received a variety of awards and prizes, most recently, a Doctor honoris causa from DePaul University (USA), University of Poitiers (France), Royal Stockholm Institute of Technology, Ghent University (Belgium), Warwick University (UK), Delft University (Netherlands), the first Distinguished Graduate School Alumnus Award of the University of Notre Dame, and was one of the four winners of the first University of Chicago Future Mentor Award covering all doctoral programs. She has written for The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde Diplomatique, the International Herald Tribune, Newsweek International, Vanguardia, Clarin, and the Financial Times, among others.

Her recent books are Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages (Princeton University Press 2008), A Sociology of Globalization (W.W.Norton 2007), and the 4th fully updated edition of Cities in a World Economy (Sage 2011). The Global City came out in a new fully updated edition in 2001. Her books are translated into twenty-one languages. She is currently working on When Territory Exits Existing Frameworks (Under contract with Harvard University Press). She contributes regularly to www.OpenDemocracy.net and www.HuffingtonPost.com.

Saskia Sassen is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly. 

Nelson Saule

Bio coming soon.

Nelson Saule is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Sandy Schilen

Ms. Schilen is the Global Facilitator of GROOTS International (Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood), a global network of grassroots women's groups and is the Strategic Director of Huairou Commission working from the Williamsburg, Brooklyn Secretariat.

She is a community organizer with advanced degrees in political economy from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and has sought to effectively bridge the divide between grassroots realities and global policies, academic and activist, North and South, and values and practice.

Ms. Schilen has two decades of experience in enabling grassroots women's groups in the Global South to replicate and mainstream their community development approaches through organizing, peer learning and forging strategic partnerships with government officials and others.

Sandy Schilen is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly.

Peter Seidel

Peter Seidel is a political reporter/editor at “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger“, a newspaper based in Cologne, Germany. He has been covering issues of development cooperation for the past twelve years. He has travelled widely through African and Arabian countries. During his trips he has had the opportunity to get deep insight into the challenges for fast developing cities such as Cairo, Tunis, Lagos and Nairobi. In particular he has covered efforts in waste and waste water management, problems of slum communities, fresh water supply to poor neighbourhoods and hygienic education.

Prior to his work in the politics department, Mr. Seidel has worked in local bureaus of “Kölner Stadt- Anzeiger” based in Leverkusen and Bonn. There he has covered a wide variety of issues connected with urban development such as traffic, education, structural development and local politics.

Mr. Seidel holds a Magister Artium (M.A.) university degree in Italian, English and history. He has studied in Kiel, Milan and Bonn. He started his journalistic career at a Bonn monthly newspaper, worked at a youth magazine in Frankfurt and joined the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” as a free lancer in 1994.

Babu Kaju Shrestha

BK Dalit is the Chief Founder, President and Developmental Campaigner for the Team for Nature and Wildlife (TNW), the Chief Founder and President of the National Farmer Forum (NFF) and the Chief Founder and Coordinator of the Global Young Farmer Forum (GYFF), all in Nepal.

He has participated as a speaker at a number of international conferences, including a learning exchange workshop on Youth and Land issues organized by UN-Habitat, the Global Land Tool Network and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations General Assembly side events on Youth, Land and Agriculture organized by UN Habitat and Global Land Tool Network in 2013. He also spoke at the Youth Roundtable during the sixth session of the World Urban Forum held in Naples, Italy last year.

BK Dalit is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Youth Roundtable. 

Ludwig Siegele

Ludwig Siegele is The Economist's online business and finance editor. He joined The Economist as US technology correspondent in 1998. In 2003 he was sent to Berlin as the newspaper's Germany Correspondent, before relocating to London in 2008 to cover the IT industry until 2011. Mr Siegele started his journalistic career in 1990 as the Paris Business Correspondent of Die Zeit, a Germany weekly. In 1995 he moved from France to California to write about the internet for several German publications. He holds a degree in economics and political science from Cologne University and degrees in journalism from the Kölner Journalistenschule as well as the Centre de Formation des Journalists (CFJ) in Paris. He is also co-author of a book on SAP ("Matrix der Welt - SAP und der neue globale Kapitalismus"). He is the author of The Economist's recent special report on startups. He is married and lives in London with his wife and two children.

Ludwig Siegele is the moderator of WUF7 Dialogue 5: Raising Standards of Urban Resilience

Hans Skotte

Mr. Skotte is an Associate Professor in International Planning Studies at the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. After years of practice in Norway and abroad as an architect and project manager in the private and public service, Skotte returned to academia to investigate how international non-governmental organizations and government organizations contribute toward the recovery of societies ravaged by war or disasters. Much of his energy goes into developing the field of urban studies dealing with the global south. He lectures and teaches internationally, and presently advises Masters and PhD-level planning and architecture students from around the world. He also coordinates the cooperation with government and local bodies in Kampala, Uganda, including Makerere University.

Hans Skotte is one of the speakers of WUF7 Universities Roundtable

Hilary Smith

Hilary F. Smith’s career began when she interned with the Ministry of Housing and Construction to conduct socio-economic surveys in informal settlements in the Kingston Metropolitan Area of Jamaica, whilst a student majoring in physical planning technology. Hilary resolved to seek employment at local level within the parish council for Kingston and St. Andrew to enable her to work with communities. She made her way through the ranks within the Local Government Ministry, strengthening community-based organizations and later worked with a micro-financing company with a focus on lending money to small to medium enterprises run by women within the inner cities of Kingston and St. Andrew.

Between 2001and 2006, Smith worked in research and planning in the solid waste management sector of the Kingston Metropolitan Region of Jamaica and on secondment to the Cayman Islands for the Pan-American Health Organization.

In 2007 Smith received an Organization of American States (OAS) scholarship and has lectured in Urban Governance and Management, Development Planning and Spatial Development Planning. She formed a consortium in 2010 of female recipients of the OAS scholarship for research and development to assist with national policy and decision-making.

Hilary F. Smith is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable.

Bert Smolders

Bert Smolders is senior consultant urban development and program manager, specialized in climate change adaptation and urban flood protection. As program manager of the Shelter program, the partnership of UN-HABITAT with ARCADIS consultants, he organized over 50 projects, seminars and workshops in cooperation with UN-Habitat in Asia, Africa and Middle America. Many of these projects for UN-HABITAT are part of the Cities and Climate Change Program. Graduated from Delft Technical University in urban planning Bert Smolders has been consultant for urban development projects in Europe, the Middle East, Thailand and Indonesia. In China he is the advisor to the municipality of Wuhan and was awarded the Yellow Crane Tower Friendship Award.

Bert Smolders is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: World Urban Campaign and the Private Sector Roundtable. 

Martin Smolka

Bio coming soon.

Martin Smolka is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Sri Husnaini Sofjan

Grassroots women’s leader and member of the Advisory Group on Gender Issues Sri Husnaini Sofjan is the immediate past Chief Executive Officer of the Penang Women’s Development Corporation, in Penang, Malaysia. Her role was to advance and translate gender responsive policies and good governance at the state level.

Over the past 15 years, Ms Sofjan’s experience has grown to cover a wide spectrum in settlements - ranging from good local/urban governance, regional and global coordination of women’s networks and cities that have enhanced her perspective and skills in the design, communications and programming of gender equality programmes.

Sri served as a Senior Fellow for Programme Coordination and Development at the Huairou Commission, a New York-based global membership and partnership coalition that empowers grassroots women's organizations from mid-2004 to mid-2006 and from January 2010 to December 2011. She was the Programme Manager of the United Nations Women's Development Fund (UNIFEM), now known as UN Women) project in Aceh, Indonesia, from mid-2006 to April 2009, leading an initiative that promote women's legal rights in the province during the reconstruction period after the 2004 Tsunami and the signing of the Peace Agreement. Earlier, she gained regional coordination expertise on urban management and urban governance from 1993 and was the Regional Programme Manager of the UNDP’s popular Urban Governance Initiative (TUGI) for three years (2001- 2004).  

She has degrees from Western Kentucky and Iowa State Universities, both in the USA.

Sri Husnaini Sofjan is moderator of the WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly

Relinda Sosa Perez

Relinda Sosa is a grassroots leader and organizer in Peru. Since 2005 when CONAMOVIDI was created and Ms. Sosa was elected president, they decided to work to strengthen the citizenship of women in rural and urban areas, protecting them from violation of their rights, using the example of their status as users of social programs. They then began an organizational process of women from community kitchens, artisans, farmers, promoting social organizations from 65 provinces and in 16 departments, and have trained 120 women to improve participation in social management with local governments. They have also implemented community mapping processes to identify areas of vulnerability and risk, submitting these to the authorities to influence them to place these issues in their future investment plans.

They have promoted the implementation of a gender equality plan, involving the board of the Ministry of Women and civil society to monitor this gender equality plan, for which Ms. Sosa was the Chair from 2008 to 2009. Currently, she is involved as an advisor to the leaders, in a process of advocacy with the Ministry of Development of Social Inclusion, to incorporate gender in social programs through the pilot program "program together."

Relinda Sosa Perez is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly

Ana Naomi de Sousa

Ana Naomi de Sousa is a filmmaker at Al Jazeera English where she works for Witness, the network’s flagship observational documentary strand. She was born in London and has lived in various countries in Europe, Africa, and South America. She has a special interest in architecture and urbanism, and is the director of two of the films coming out this summer as part of Al Jazeera English’s new series, Rebel Architecture. These films will be previewed at theWorld Urban Forum Cinema Room in Medellin.

Suzanne Speak

Suzanne Speak is a Senior Lecturer in International Spatial Planning in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University, England. She is also the School's Director of Internationalisation and Degree Programme Director of two internationally focused post graduate programmes. She has 20 years of teaching and research experience in both the UK and developing and emerging economies of Asia, Middle East, Africa, China and Latin America, where she has experience of a range of social and cultural contexts. Her main interest is in housing, homelessness and informality. In recent years her research interests have diversified to include research on the role of urban planning in enhancing food security in developing countries. Suzanne also undertakes consultancy and training work for external agencies on behalf of the University.

Suzanne Speak is one of the speakers of WUF7 Universities Roundtable. 

Bruce Stiftel

Bruce Stiftel (for GPEAN - Global Planning Education Association Network) is Professor of City and Regional Planning and Chair of the School of City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia. Bruce has a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His major areas of interest include: Adaptive governance - collaborative means of building consensus on policy and planning; and Planning School Performance - measurement of school productivity and demonstrating success in the integration of practice into scholarship.

Bruce Stiftel is one of the speakers of WUF7 Universities Roundtable

Mahendra Subba

Dr. Mahendra Subba is a Joint Secretary at Ministry of Urban Development, Nepal. He received Masters in City Planning (MCP) from University of California, Berkley and eventually earned PhD in Town and Regional Planning from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). In thirty-year career, Dr. Subba has undertaken various roles and responsibilities both as a professional planner and a civil servant. He began his career as a Project Chief in a remote district of Nepal, then as a Town Controller followed by a Senior Planner, Section Chief, Director General and at present a Joint Secretary. He has represented Nepal and presented on its urbanization issues in various international conferences in Japan, USA, India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Thailand, Maldives, Cuba and also at World Urban Forum 5 in Brazil. In addition to government service, Dr. Subba has been persistently engaged in the academic field and is a visiting Resource Person at Institute of Engineering and Khowpa Engineering College. He is also a regular contributor to national daily newspaper Republica and has authored several research papers on pressing urban challenges in Nepal. He has received technical and administrative trainings at both national and international level; that include training in urban development, energy and environment, construction management, and Senior Executive Development Programme Training to name a few. He was actively involved in preparation of the National Urban Policy, 2007 and the Long-term Development Plan of Kathmandu Valley. At present, one of his major responsibilities is in formulation of Nepal Urban Development Strategy for next 15 years.

Mahendra Subba is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialoge: Basic Services - Local Businesses for Equitable Cities. 

Juanita Olarte Suescún

Juanita Olarte Suescún tiene una licenciada en Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad del Rosario en Bogotá y un posgrado en Diplomacia y Negociación Estratégicas de la Universidad de Paris. Nueve años de experiencia profesional en relaciones internacionales, con particular énfasis en direccionamiento, gestión y negociación de cooperación internacional. Fue asesora de la cooperación educativa bilateral con la Embajada de Francia en Colombia por más de 2 años (2004-2006) y trabajó con la UNESCO en París y en Nueva York en el marco de la Asamblea General de la ONU (2007 - 2008). Desde agosto de 2008 se ha desempeñado como asesora de la Agencia de Cooperación Internacional del país, especialmente en los temas relacionados con el direccionamiento estratégico, de cara a las agendas internacionales de cooperación. Actualmente es la Directora de Oferta de Cooperación Internacional de la Agencia Presidencial de Cooperación Internacional de Colombia, APC-Colombia.

Juanita Olarte Suescún is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: Financing the New Urban Agenda. 

Walter Tejada Alonso Bustamante

Walter Tejada graduated from the National University of Colombia, gained a Master’s degree in Gender Studies and Culture in Latin America at the University of Chile and has specialized in the study of sexualities and gender identities in the context of gender studies researcher.

He is a defender of human rights of LGBTI people and women and author of the Invisibles in Antioquia 1886-1936: an archaeology of discourses on homosexuality and Homophobia and verbal punishment for transgressing hegemonic masculinity, Colombia 1936-1980. He is an advisor on diversity issues in municipal and departmental administrations.

Walter Tejada is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly

Martha Thorne

Martha Thorne is currently the Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize a position she has occupied since 2005. She also holds the position of Associate Dean of IE School of Architecture & Design, Madrid/Segovia, part of a private university with an international focus and dedicated to innovative architectural studies. She teaches an upper level seminar on Urban Issues- Global Cities.

From 1996 to 2005, she worked as a curator at the Department of Architecture at The Art Institute of Chicago, organizing numerous exhibitions such as; Bilbao, the Transformation of a City and Modern Trains and Splendid Stations among others. She is the co-author of the book Masterpieces of Chicago Architecture, editor and author of The Pritzker Architecture Prize: The First Twenty Years, co-editor of Skyscrapers: The New Millennium, and author of numerous articles for architectural journals and encyclopedias.

Ms. Thorne received a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Affairs from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She undertook additional studies at the London School of Economics in the field of Town and Regional Planning.

She served for six years as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and for three years on the Board of Advisors of the International Archive of Women in Architecture. She currently sits on the Board of Advisors for IE Business School and IE University.

Martha Thorne is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: Urban Data for the New Urban Agenda.

Carolina Toha

Born on May 12, 1965, Carolina is the daughter of José Tohá, former Minister Government of President Salvador Allende In 1974, after the death of her father, who was killed while prisoner of the Pinochet regime, her family was sent to exile to Mexico until 1979. She studied law at the University of Chile and later became part of the founding team of the Party for Democracy (PPD) along with Ricardo Lagos in 1987. Between 1989 and 1994, she studied Political Science at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. In 1996 she became Executive Secretary of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Social Affairs, and in 1999, she joined the Executive Committee of the presidential candidature of Ricardo Lagos Escobar who once in office nominated her Undersecretary-General of Government. Tohá was elected Deputy for the Congressional District of Santiago in December of 2001 and 2005. In addition, she worked as a member of the Special Committee for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Media, as well as a member of the Special Inequality and Poverty Committee. On March 12, 2009, President Michelle Bachelet nominated her Minister Secretary General of Government. Tohá chaired the Party for Democracy between August of 2010 and June of 2012. She was elected Mayor of Santiago and took office in December 2012.

Carolina Toha is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 1: Equity in Urban Development Law

Aminata Dramane Traoré

Malian author, politician, and political activist Ms. Traore served as the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Mali from 1997 to 2000 and is a former coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme. She is the current Coordinator of Forum pour l'autre Mali and Associate Coordinator of the International Network for Cultural Diversity and was elected to the board of the International Press Service in July 2005. She is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank.

She is a prominent critic of globalization and the economic policies of most developed nations. Specifically, she has voiced opposition to the Western countries' subsidization of their own cotton farmers which, she believes, leaves West African countries at a disadvantage in competing for space in Western markets.

Ms. Traoré is one of the signatories, or members of the Group of Nineteen, of the Porto Alegre Manifesto drafted by the 2005 World Social Forum. She emphasizes self-sufficiency, the use of local skills and materials and is active in mobilizing communities to build infrastructure, networks and enterprises.

Aminata Dramane Traoré is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly

Xavier Trias

Bio coming soon.

Xavier Trias is one of the speakers of WUF7 Mayors Roundtable.

Marc Trouyet

Marc Trouyet is a speaker for the Special Session on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Bio coming soon. 

Josemarie Valdepenas

Josemaría Valdepenas is the Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft Latin America and The Caribbean. In this role, he is responsible to work closely with governments to assist in the development of information technology strategies, allowing countries to increase their level of efficiency, competitiveness, growth, and social development.

Previously, Josemaria held the position as Chief Security Advisor in Microsoft Latin America. Josemaria is best known as a visionary who has been involved in leading edge technologies for more than twenty five years, sharing his passion on how technologies used strategically can make a difference in companies, countries and ultimately, people.

Before joining Microsoft in January 2005, Josemaria was an Associate Partner with Accenture in Boston, Massachusetts. In such role, Josemaria was responsible for the management and execution of high caliber projects in the Financial Services Industry, more specifically in building the strategic architecture of straight thru processing, -the ability to run processes without human intervention- for financial securities. Other previous professional experiences were held at Lotus Development Corporation and Wang Laboratories.

Josemaria has a Bachelor in Computer Science and a Bachelor in Computer Systems Engineering from Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire. Josemaria holds a patent as one of the inventors of what is known today as RAID 5 from Berkeley University. Josemaria also holds a patent on the optimization of document storage on massive capacity devices.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Josemaria resides in the United States of America since 1983. He is married to Maria Antonia, from Caracas, Venezuela and has two sons, Antonio Jose and David.

Josemarie Valdepenas is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: Urban Data for the New Urban Agenda.

Taliana Vargas

Colombian actress Mrs. Taliana Vargas will attend the World Urban Forum. She is the spokesperson for the Santa Marta City Changer Campaign. Meet Taliana at the World Urban Campaign Special Session on Wednesday from 2.00 to 4.00 pm in Grand Salon, room 4.

Mrs. Taliana Vargas has been selected for the Santa Marta Campaign to support the “Achieving Sustainable Urban Development” Project. She has been appointed for her commitment for social endeavors and her positive image among Colombians and Samarios.

As a city changer she has worked through her Foundation "Casa en el arbol" in the slums of the city, where she has focused her activities in particular to support children at risk. With her project, the actress is contributing to improve the livelihoods of more than 500 children of Magdalena region, that have been displaced by armed violence. The foundation covers population of the informal settlements in Los Milagros, El Socorro and Santa Marta Villa Bethel.

Varinia Taboada

Bio coming soon. 

Varinia Taboada is one of the speakers of WUF7 Indigenous Peoples Roundtable.

Derek Vaughan

Derek Vaughan was born in Merthyr Tydfil on 2nd May 1961. He lived in Aberfan for most of his early life, moving to Neath in 1984. He was educated at Afon Taf High School and later at Swansea University, where he gained an Honours Degree in Politics and History.

Derek became an engineering apprentice at Hoover Limited in Merthyr Tydfil after leaving school. From there he went on to work in the Valuation Office Agency. He took three years sabbatical from work to undertake his degree at Swansea University. After completing his degree he went back to the Valuation Office Agency for a short time before working full time for the PCS Trade Union. He worked in this job until being elected Leader of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.

Derek was elected as Labour Party Member of the European Parliament for Wales in June 2009. Derek has been a member of the Labour Party for 29 years. In that time he has held a number of positions in his Ward and Constituency Party. In the mid-1980’s he was elected to Neath Town Council and became Mayor of the Town Council. In 1995 he was elected to the shadow Neath Port Talbot Council as the Member for Neath North.

As a Councillor on Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council he has held a number of positions, including Cabinet Member for Economic Development. Following the elections in June 2004 he became Leader of the Council. In 2005 he became Leader of the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and since the 2008 election Deputy Leader.

Derek Vaughan is one of the speakers of WUF7 Global Parliamentarians on Habitat Roundtable. 

José Alberto Vélez Cadavid

José Alberto Vélez Cadavid was born in 1950 and has Business Engineering degree from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Master of Science in Engineering from University of California, UCLA, U.S.A. He has also taken specialized courses at Harvard University, Northwestern University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. He recently received an Honoris Causa from ENIM, in Metz-France. He was professor at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín city council member and Assistant to the Governor of Antioquia. Worked in Suramericana de Seguros for 19 years in different positions and assumed the CEO position during his last 4 years in the company. Nowadays he is the CEO of Grupo Argos, a conglomerate focus in five businesses Cement, Energy, Real Estate, Ports and Coal. Mr. Vélez is member of the Board of Directors of Grupo Sura (largest insurance company in Colombia), Bancolombia (largest bank in Colombia), Cementos Argos (largest cement company in Colombia), Celsia, (4th largest energy generation company in Colombia) Situm (Real Estate business) and Arcos Dorados (McDonald’s Latin America). His name is in the Boards of Proantioquia, Codesarrollo, Fundación Suramericana, Fundación Fraternidad Medellín, EAFIT University. He is President of Consejo Empresarial para el Desarrollo Sostenible – CECODES, member of the Private Council for Competivity in Colombia and member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development of the America’s Society / Council of Americas with headquarters in New York.

José Alberto Vélez Cadavid is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Pierre Victoria

Pierre Victoria is Director of Sustainable Development of Veolia; Managing director of the French Water society which promotes an ambitious policy in water and wastewater management; and Network Coordinator of Re(sources), a think tank on access to water and energy.

From 1991 to 1993, he was a member of French parliament (Rapporteur of cooperation funds to the Finance Committee, author of a bill on the reform of the international cooperation).

He is Co-author of the collective work "democratic management: a new paradigm for development" (Karthala-2008), coordinator of the book "Access to water and energy: From Vision to Action" (Lavoisier Editions: 2005) and co-author of the essay "Business against Poverty" (Editions JJ-June 2011). He was awarded Chevalier of the National Order of Merit.

Pierre Victoria is one of the speakers of WUF7 Private Sector Roundtable. 

Kathryne Vines

Katie Vines serves as the Director of the Climate Change Risk Assessment Network for the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. She convenes a network of cites working to identify, understand and manage their climate change vulnerability to ensure city resilience in a changing future climate.

Prior to joining C40 Ms. Vines worked at the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) at the New South Wales (NSW) Government in Australia. She served as a Principal Project Officer, organizing and delivering Integrated Regional Vulnerability Assessments and working with a variety of stakeholders to improve capacity to manage climate change impacts and vulnerability.

Ms. Vines holds a Masters of Environmental Management from the University of NSW, a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney and a Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Technology Sydney.

Katie Vines is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue: Raising standards of urban resilience

Kalpana Viswanath

Ms. Viswaneth is a researcher who has been working on issues of violence against women and safer cities for women for more than 20 years. She has led research studies on violence against women in public spaces in the city. She spearheaded the Safe Delhi for Women campaign led by Jagori since 2005 and led the research work that included conducting women's safety audits and surveys and played a role in creating partnerships with key stakeholders. She is the co-founder of Safetipin, a mobile app launched in 2013 and developed to support community and women's safety.

As the Project Director of the Gender Inclusive Cities Programme, she led an action research study on the factors leading to gender inclusion or exclusion in four cities (New Delhi, Dar es Salaam, Rosario and Petrozavodsk) and on designing interventions in partnership with local government led by community women to address safety and inclusion concerns.

She has been involved with UN-Habitat and UN Women in planning safe city programmes. She has also provided technical support to safe city for women programmes in Cambodia, Pakistan, Kerala, Mumbai and Kolkata.

She is on the Advisory Committee of the Second State of Asian Cities, a publication of UN-Habitat and UN ESCAP. She is the Chair of the International Advisory Committee of Women in Cities International and has been published widely.

Kalpana Viswaneth is one of the speakers of WUF7 Gender Equality Action Assembly

Margareta Wahlström

In November 2008, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of Margareta Wahlström as his first Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Disaster Risk Reduction. Ms Wahlström has extensive experience in both disaster relief operations and disaster risk management, with the United Nations system and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Her broad experience spans conflict and non-conflict emergencies, and addressing long-term issues of sustainable development. Ms Wahlström is also the head of UNISDR, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, that is the focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of disaster reduction. Under the SRSG’s leadership, UNISDR is in charge of supporting the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters throughout the world and to facilitate the process of developing a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.

Margareta Wahlström's previous appointments include:

• Coordinator of the Independent Panel on Safety and Security of UN Personnel and Premises, chaired by Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, 2008 
• Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and Assistant-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2004-2008, and United Nations Special Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance to the Tsunami-Affected Communities, 2004-2005
• Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Relief, Recovery and Rehabilitation, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, 2002-2004 
• Under-Secretary-General for Disaster Response and Operations and Deputy Director Operations, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 1995-2000

Margareta Wahlström is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 5: Raising Standards of Urban Resilience 

Darren Walker

Darren Walker is the 10th president of the Ford Foundation, the second largest philanthropy in the United States. For more than two decades, Walker has been a leader in the non-profit and philanthropic sectors, starting with a local community and economic development initiative in Harlem, then shifting to global work on an array of social justice issues, including human rights, urban development and free expression. His career in the social sector followed a decade in international law and finance.

Darren Walker is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Lawrence C. Walters

Dr. Walters is the Stewart Grow Professor of Public Management at the Romney Institute of Public Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA. His teaching includes courses in public finance, economics, program evaluation, and performance management in organizations. In addition, he teaches courses on land and real estate taxation at the International Institute of Urban Management (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

He has over fifty publications on public policy and management topics, several of which have received national awards for excellence. He has served as an advisor to a number of governments at all levels. He recently completed a co-edited volume on property tax policy and administration, a property tax policy guide for developing countries sponsored by UN- Habitat and a book on managing environmental problems. His most recent work is focused on developing land-based financing tools and training materials for developing countries. He is internationally known for his work on land-based finance and property tax administration. Dr. Walters received his PhD from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Lawrence C. Walters is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialogue 4: Innovative Financing Instruments for Local Authorities 

Sarah Rosen Wartell

Sarah Rosen Wartell, a public policy executive and housing markets expert, became the third president of the Urban Institute in February 2012. Wartell co-founded the Center for American Progress in 2003, serving as its first chief operating officer and general counsel. Later, as executive vice president, she oversaw its policy teams and fellows. Her work focused on the economy and housing markets, and she directed the Mortgage Finance Working Group and "Doing What Works" government performance program. Wartell was President Bill Clinton's deputy assistant for economic policy and the deputy director of his National Economic Council. In the White House from 1998 to 2000, she led over a dozen interagency working groups, negotiated legislation, and managed policymaking in housing and community development, financial markets and banking, insurance, consumer protection, pensions, and tort reform. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 1998, Wartell advised the federal housing commissioner on housing finance, mortgage markets, and consumer protection.

Wartell practiced law with the Washington, D.C., firm of Arnold & Porter and was a consultant to the bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission. She has an A.B. degree with honors in urban affairs from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She holds a J.D. degree from Yale Law School.

Sarah Rosen Wartell is one of the speakers of WUF7 Dialoge: Basic Services - Local Businesses for Equitable Cities

Christian Wehrtmann

Christian Wehrtmann is a Professor at the Institute of Landscape Architecture, Leibniz University, Hannover. He is a trained landscape architect with extensive professional and academic experience in Europe and the United States. In his academic work, he researches the implementation of ecological infrastructure in heavily urbanized areas, especially in the non-formal cities of the Global South - a line of research that he initiated as an Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His most recent research is concerned with the development of landscape strategies for post-disaster management in Port-au-Prince in Haiti and pre-emptive urbanization strategies for the landslide prone hills of Medellin in Colombia. In 2010 Werthmann was awarded the Hans Fischer Senior Fellowship by the Technical University of Munich for his innovative research. Since 2013 he has been the coordinator of the Hub on Informal Urbanism.

Christian Wehrtmann is one of the speakers of WUF7 Universities Roundtable.

Marc A. Weiss

Bio coming soon.

Marc A. Weiss is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Carlos Raul Yepes

Bio coming soon.

Carlos Raul Yepes is one of the speakers of the WUF7 Business Assembly.

Nicholas You

Nicholas You is the chairman of the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign Steering Committee, the Assurance Group for Urban Infrastructure of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and of the Urban Strategy Council for GDF-Suez. He also serves as member of the board of Citiscope, the Huairou Commission, the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities and the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation. He regularly advises governments, cities, technology companies and civil society organisations on urban issues. Prior to his current positions, he was the Senior Policy Advisor to UN-Habitat. He is the author of numerous books and articles on sustainability.

Nicholas You is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Session: World Urban Campaign. 

Lorena Zarate

Bio coming soon.

Lorena Zarate is one of the speakers of WUF7 Civil Society Organizations Roundtable. 

Alicia Ziccardi

Alicia Ziccardi is a researcher at the Institute for Social Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), a member of the National System of Researchers and the Mexican Academy of Sciences. She is professor of the Graduate Faculties of Political Sciences and Architecture. Ms. Ziccardi is currently the Director of the University Studies City Program City of UNAM.

She has a BA in Sociology from the University of Buenos Aires and Master in Sociology from the University Research Institute of Rio de Janeiro, and has completed Graduate Research Training in Urban and Regional Development CEUR at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella. She obtained her PhD in Economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she earned an Honorable Mention and was awarded the Gabino Barreda Medal. In 2001 she won the Mexican National Award in the University Area of Social Science Research.

Ms. Ziccardi is the author and coordinator of several books and 170 journal articles on urban poverty, social exclusion, social urban policy, citizen participation, governance and development of local governments. She has been President of the Steering Committee of the Network of Researchers in American Local Governments (IGLOM) and is currently coordinator of URBARED, a network of urban social policy makers, and member of the Social Economic Council of Mexico City.

Alicia Ziccardi is one of the speakers of WUF7 Urban Researchers Roundtable.

Zione Ntaba

Zione Ntaba was recently appointed to the High Court of Malawi as a Judge. Before her appointment as a Judge, she worked at the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) as Director of Legal Affairs and Board Secretary. She has also worked with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs as a State Advocate as well as Legislative Counsel. Zione has done civil litigation and criminal prosecution in all three levels of the court system i.e. subordinate, high and supreme courts. Besides this, Judge Ntaba has also been involved in drafting principal and subsidiary legislation. Her professional career has also involved giving legal advice to government on various legal issues like contracts and international agreements on water projects, construction issues, loan agreements and energy projects. She has also done human rights and state party reporting.

Academically, Judge Ntaba holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Malawi and a Master’s Degree in Advanced Legislative Drafting for the University Of London Institute Of Advanced Legal Studies.

Judge Ntaba is actively involved as a member of the Woman Judges Association of Malawi focusing on providing legal advice to women and children, holding legal clinics and offering mentorship programmes. She is passionate about development issues as well as women and child rights issues. Furthermore, Judge Ntaba sits on the Tilitonse Board and Disability HIV and AIDS Trust as part of her national and regional service. Lastly, Zione passionately works with young Malawians especially through her work with the United World Colleges Malawi.

Zione Ntaba is one of the speakers of WUF7 Special Sessions: Equity in Urban Development Law.

Margaret Zziwa

Rt Hon (Dr) Margaret Nantongo Zziwa was elected the 3rd Legislative Assembly (EALA), on June 5th 2012. Rt. Hon Zziwa, a Ugandan, is the first woman Speaker at EALA. In her role, Rt. Hon Zziwa consults with Presidents of EAC Partner States and National Parliaments as she steers EALA in delivering the integration agenda. Rt. Hon Zziwa was first elected to EALA in 2007. She served the 2nd the Committees of Communication, Trade and Investment, General Purpose and Regional Affairs’ and Conflict Resolution.

Rt. Hon Zziwa is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Stirling (UK). She holds an Honorary Ph.D. degree from the Kampala International University and an Msc in Policy (Applied Social Research in Policies on Housing) from the University of Stirling, Scotland. Rt. Hon Zziwa also holds an MA in Gender and Women Studies from the Makerere University, Uganda as well as Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Post Graduate Diplomas in Education and Legislative Drafting respectively.

She joined politics in 1987 and was elected a Member of Parliament until 2006. Rt. Hon. Zziwa served as a Parliamentary Commissioner and spearheaded MPs’ Medical Health Scheme, Pension Scheme and the Parliamentary Human Resource Policy.

She was the first Chairperson of the Kampala District Women Council (1993-98). Before joining politics, Rt. Hon Zziwa worked as a banker with the Uganda Commercial Bank. She also taught Economics and Geography at Kololo Senior Secondary School and lectured at the Makerere University.

Globally, the Speaker currently serves as the President of the Global Parliamentarians on Habitat (GPH), Africa Chapter. She has been committed to the Habitat Agenda both on the legislative and oversight front participating in the UN General Council 22, 23 and the Rio+20 Summit among others.

Margaret Nantongo Zziwa is one of the speakers of WUF7 Global Parliamentarians on Habitat Roundtable.