Welcome to the United Nations
Rolf Alter, an experienced economist, is a Senior Fellow at the Hertie School of Governance, a private university in Berlin where he specializes in Executive Education. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report. Dr. Alter spent over 25 years at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris. In 2006, he was appointed Chief of Staff to the OECD Secretary-General and in 2009, became Director of Public Governance. Dr. Alter built a team of over 200 staff to support governments in improving their public sector performance for inclusive growth and economic competitiveness. He previously worked for the International Monetary Fund, in Washington, D.C., and for the Ministry of Economy of Germany, in Bonn. Dr. Alter’s interests include institutional and regulatory reform, productivity, innovation, public finance, leadership and integrity. In 2016, he was awarded the O.P. Dwivedi prize by the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration for outstanding contributions to public administration and policy in the world. He holds a doctorate from the University of Göttingen and, in 2013, received a doctorate (honoris causa) from the National University of Hungary.
On 30 July 2025, ECOSOC approved the UN Secretary-General’s nomination of 24 experts of the Committee for a four-year term beginning on 1 August 2025 and expiring on 31 July 2029.
Note by the Secretary-General: Appointment of 24 experts to the Committee of Experts on Public Administration (E/2025/9/Add.13)
Arabic | Chinese | English | French | Russian | Spanish
Current members
Associate Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
Eduardo Araral is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore and has more than 30 years of scholarship and public-sector practice. As an academic, he specialises in the study of governance institutions for collective action. His articles appear in Nature Human Behaviour, Public Administration Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Governance, World Development and other leading journals. He has held fellowships at the Stanford University Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences as well as at the research centres of three Nobel laureates. His awards include the Ostrom Prize, a Presidential Award for Outstanding Overseas Filipinos, and has consistently ranked in Stanford’s global top-two-percent citation list. He is also an editor of World Development journal. As a practitioner, Araral has had a large and active portfolio of government advisory, consultancy, executive education and media engagement. He has undertaken consultancy projects for the Asian Development Bank the World Bank and UNDP, as well as several Governments and large multinational firms. He has run executive-education programmes for officials from more than 50 countries and appears on and has written for numerous international media outlets. He leads the artificial intelligence, digital technologies and public policy cluster at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and has served as Vice Dean for Research, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Co-director of the Institute of Water Policy. He helped establish three public policy schools in Asia and Africa, co-edits volumes for Cambridge and Oxford presses, sits on three journal boards, and is Vice-Chair of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum and an IPPA executive-committee member. Araral has taught graduate modules spanning policy analysis, public management, artificial intelligence governance, public finance, research methods, programme evaluation and water policy. He earned a PhD in Public Policy from Indiana University-Bloomington on a Fulbright Scholarship under Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom and has been affiliated with the Ostrom Workshop, Paris-Sorbonne and the Ronald Coase Institute.
Former Deputy Comptroller General of the Republic of Chile
Patricia Arriagada Villouta is a Chilean lawyer, a graduate of the Universidad de Chile with extensive experience in public and administrative law, audits, special investigations and information technology management. She is also a specialist in anti-corruption matters. Her experience has been gained through various positions at the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Chile and in international organizations. Her posts at the Comptroller General’s Office included Head of the Municipalities Division, from 2002; Head of the Administrative Audit Division, from 2006; and Deputy Comptroller General from 2011 to 2016. She also served as acting Comptroller General in 2015. From 2013 to 2016 she was Executive Director of the Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS), a regional arm of INTOSAI whose functions include analyzing the different realities of public law in the region. Patricia Arriagada Villouta has participated as an expert in assessments conducted in Ecuador, Dominica and Venezuela on the compliance of those countries with the Inter-American and United Nations Conventions Against Corruption. From 2013 to 2019 she was a member of the United Nations Independent Audit Advisory Committee, serving as Vice-Chair of the Committee in 2015 and Chair in 2019. In 2015, she was elected member of the Board of Governors of the International Anti-Corruption Academy, a pro bono role she continues to perform to date. She served as its Chair from May 2022 to May 2023. Ms. Arriagada Villouta currently chairs an arbitration committee responsible for resolving disputes and controversies between infrastructure concessionaires and the Chilean Ministry of Public Works. Since November 2023 she has also served as Vice President of the Commission for Setting the Remuneration of High-level Authorities of Chile, a position for which she was proposed by the President of the Republic and approved by the Senate of the Chilean Republic. In December 2022, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award of the Nido de Aguilas Alumni Association.
Adjunct Professor, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town
Adeyemi Dipeolu is an Adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance of the University of Cape Town and a Fellow of the Development Leaders Dialogue Institute of SOAS, London. He serves on the Board of the Centre for African Development and Investment, Advisory Council on Trade and Industrial Policy of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Advisory Board of the Productive Capacities Index of UNCTAD, and as Co-Chair of the Technical Committee on Domestic Resource Mobilisation of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Lead City University, Ibadan. Mr. Dipeolu is a Fellow of the Nigerian Economic Society and an Officer of the Order of the Niger. He served as Special Adviser on Economic Matters in the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria in 2023. Mr. Dipeolu was Chair of the Fiscal Policy Reforms Committee which did the technical work leading to four Finance Acts from 2019 to 2022 and a member of the National Council on Privatisation. He was previously Director of the Capacity Development Division of the UNECA where he led innovative work on transformative industrial policy and its project on conflict and development in Africa. He was also member of the Technical Committee of the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa and the Head of its Secretariat. Mr. Dipeolu earlier served as ECA Chief of Staff where he led conceptualization and implementation of key programmatic initiatives such as the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, African Climate Policy Centre, African Minerals Development Centre and African Statistical Centre and establishment of AU-AfDB-ECA Strategic Partners Dialogue. Mr. Dipeolu obtained his doctorate degree in economics from the University of South Africa and his M.Phil degree with distinction from the University of Cambridge, winning the Jennings Prize for outstanding performance. He was a Chevening Scholar at the Oxford University Foreign Service Programme where he graduated with all round distinction. Mr. Dipeolu studied economics at the University of Ife where he won two merit scholarships as a National Scholar and UAC of Nigeria Scholar.
Research Professor, Cornivus University of Budapest and former President, NISPAcee
György Hajnal is Professor at the Corvinus University of Budapest, where he heads the Department of Public Policy. He also serves as Research Professor at the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, a Centre of Excellence of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on comparative public management reforms, reform doctrines at central and local levels, administrative culture, and the structural dynamics of central government organizations – particularly in Central and Eastern Europe and within the context of illiberal transformations. Professor Hajnal has played a leading role in international academic organizations in his field. He is a past President of the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe (NISPAcee), and a former Vice-President for Eastern Europe of the International Research Society for Public Management. Currently, he chairs the Board of the European Association for Public Administration Accreditation. Over the past three decades, he has also served as a consultant and adviser to a broad range of international governmental and corporate actors. In the 1990s and 2000s, he worked in – and later led – a public administration and policy research and training entity of the Hungarian government. Beyond his academic career, he has an extensive track record in consulting and capacity-building, with experience spanning diverse international contexts including South-East Asia, the MENA region, and the Balkans.
Professor of Public Policy and Governance, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex
Anuradha Joshi is a political scientist and expert on governance and public accountability. She is the Director of Research at the Institute of Developing Studies, Sussex, where she also teaches public policy for development. Her core research interests lie in the areas of public accountability, collective action, service delivery and bureaucratic behaviour. She has published extensively on issues of mobilizing ‘demand’ in basic services and in the scaling-up of innovative service delivery approaches in a variety of sectors including poverty programmes, basic public services, social protection, forest policy and taxation of the informal economy. Her experience includes leading multi-country comparative research programmes in collaboration with partners in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, Indonesia, India, Macedonia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam. She has extensive experience of consulting for bilateral and multilateral development agencies including the UN, World Bank, FINNIDA, SIDA, IDRC and FCDO, and leads a consortium which supports the work of the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation on peace, governance and equality. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Development Studies. is an advisor to the Legal Empowerment Network hosted by Namati, and advisor to the Accountability Research Center based at the American University in Washington DC. Since 2024 she has been a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Public Administration and Development. Previously, she has been a member of several high-level advisory body memberships, including the International Experts Panel of the Independent Reporting Mechanism of the Open Government Partnership (2015–2018), the Advisory Council of the World Bank Group’s Civic Engagement Strategy (2014–2019), the Swedish Research Council’s Review Panel for Humanities and Social Sciences (2020–2022), and the Fund for Global Human Right’s Legal Empowerment Fund (2022–2023). She has worked for UK Aid (DFID) as a Senior Research Fellow for their Research and Evidence Division (2012–2014). She holds a PhD in Public Policy, as well as a Master’s in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Scientific Secretary, Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Aigul Kosherbayeva was appointed Scientific Secretary of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2025. Prior to this, she served as Chief Researcher at the same Institute. Before joining the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies in 2024, she held a number of senior positions at the Kazakhstan Academy of Public Administration, where she worked from 2014 onwards. Her roles included Director of the Institute of Applied Research, Deputy Rector for Strategic Development, Research, and International Partnerships, and Professor at the Institute of Management. Ms. Kosherbayeva currently serves as a part-time professor at the National School of Public Policy at the Academy of Public Administration of Kazakhstan. She began her career in 1990 as a Research Assistant in the Department of Economic Theory at the Shymkent Technology Institute. From 1991 to 1994, she pursued postgraduate studies in the Department of Economic Theory at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and was awarded the Candidate of Economic Sciences degree in 1995. Between 1995 and 2001, she served as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Economic Relations at the same university. From 2001 to 2002, she was Director of the Centre for World Market Studies at the Economic Research Institute. From 2005 to 2012, Ms. Kosherbayeva was Director of the Project Analysis and Evaluation Group at KazMunayGas Consulting, Senior Manager at United Chemical Company of Samruk-Kazyna, and Director of the Centre for the Development of Manufacturing Industries at the Kazakhstan Institute of Industry Development. From May 2012 to 2016, she held key positions at the Economic Research Institute under the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including Director of the Centre for World Economy and Integration Studies and Director of the Centre for Regional and Social Analysis. Ms. Kosherbayeva holds a Ph.D. in Economic Science from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, as well as a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Leadership and Management from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University in the United States.
Visiting Professor, Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation, University of Johannesburg and former CEO, African Peer Review Mechanism
Edward Maloka is the former CEO of the African Peer Review Mechanism and a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. He was the Chairperson of the African Governance Architecture, a platform for dialogue among AU institutions with the mandate to promote good governance and strengthen democracy in Africa, and formerly the President of the Convocation of the University of Cape Town and Visiting Professor at the University of Witwatersrand’s School of Governance, Public and Development Management. His other previous appointments include: Special Advisor to the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation in the Republic of South Africa; South Africa’s Special Representative to the Great Lakes Region; Special Advisor to the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa; and Advisor on Governance, Public Administration and Post-Conflict Reconstruction to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. Professor Maloka holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Rhodes University in South Africa, a Master’s in development studies from the Geneva-based Institute of Development Studies, in Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Cape Town. He was Post-doctoral Fellow at Princeton University and a Research Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He served as President of the Association of African Political Science, and the President of the South African Association of Political Science. He is a widely published scholar with interests in African and international affairs.
Professor of Society and the Internet, Oxford University
Helen Margetts is a leading expert on digital government and artificial intelligence. She has held the Chair in Society and the Internet at the University of Oxford since 2004, and was Director of the Oxford Internet Institute from 2011 to 2018. She is Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics (LSE) Data Science Institute. She was Director for Public Policy from 2018 to 2025 at the Alan Turing Institute, leading a research programme working with government agencies nationally and internationally to maximise the potential of data science and artificial intelligence to improve policymaking and public services, while minimising harms. She sat on the UK Government’s Digital Advisory Board from 2011 to 2015 and Digital Economy Council from 2018 to 2024. She sits on the UK Home Office Scientific Advisory Council and is Formal Senior Adviser to the International Scientific Report on Advanced AI Safety. She has authored or co-authored numerous influential policy reports, books and articles on digital government, democratic governance and AI. She played a leading role in establishing digital government as a policy critical field, particularly for work on digital era governance, recognized as a paradigm for public governance and cited nearly 7,000 times. In 2020 she became Distinguished Affiliated Professor, Technical University of Munich (TUM) and was awarded the University of Düsseldorf Mayer-Struckmann Prize for research on digitization and democracy. She was elected Fellow of the British Academy and awarded the OBE for services to social and political science in the Queen’s 2019 Honours List. She held the Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress, Washington DC in 2019. She was awarded the TUM Friedrich Schiedel Prize for research and research leadership in 2018. Previously, she was University College London’s first professor of political science and Director of the UCL School of Public Policy. She holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Bristol and an MSc in Public Policy and PhD in Government from LSE.
Executive Chairperson, National Planning Authority, Government of Uganda
Pamela Mbabazi is a scholar and policymaker with extensive expertise in African political economy, peacebuilding, and land governance. As the newly re appointed Executive Chairperson of Uganda’s National Planning Authority, she spearheads the country’s strategic initiatives for sustainable development, leveraging her understanding of state-building, resource management, and socio-economic transformation. Prior to this role, Prof. Mbabazi served as Head of Research for the GIZ-supported Africa Peace and Security Program at Addis Ababa University’s Institute for Peace and Security Studies. Her academic leadership includes serving as Dean of Development Studies at Mbarara University from 1998 to 2010, where she established the Faculty of Development Studies. She also served as Deputy Vice Chancellor from 2010 to 2015, overseeing institutional growth and strategic planning. As a researcher, her work explores the evolving nature of the African State, the political economy of oil, land governance, and peacebuilding. Her publications include articles such as “Winners and Losers: Contestation over Land in the Advent of Oil Exploration in Uganda” and edited volumes such as “The Potentiality of Developmental States in Africa (2005)”. Her insights have informed policy debates on land deals, resource governance and rural development. Her international fellowships include being a Fulbright African Scholar at Johns Hopkins University (2006), a Claude Ake Visiting Professor at the Nordic Africa Institute (2013), and a Commonwealth Visiting Scholar at the University of Leeds (2012). Prof. Mbabazi’s service extends to governance and advisory roles on several boards, reflecting her commitment to Africa’s development. Professor Mbabazi holds a Master of Arts in development studies from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, a Master of Science in development planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana and Ph.D. in development studies from Mbabara University of Science and Technology in Uganda.
Regional Director Melanesia, Pacific Community
Sarah Mecartney is a seasoned policy and programme management practitioner with over 20 years of experience in international development focusing on issues in sustainable development and institutional effectiveness. Having joined the Pacific Community (SPC) in 2019, she currently serves as Regional Director for Melanesia. She brings a keen appreciation for incorporating diverse perspectives to strategic planning and policy development processes to this role and a proven track record of driving strategic change across multilevel systems, enhancing governance frameworks, and implementing agile solutions in complex and fast changing environments. She is skilled in the practical application of futures and foresight tools and approaches to anticipate risks and opportunities and has made a notable contribution to the OneSPC institutional effectiveness programme, championing strategic co-design, mobilizing resources, and fostering innovation to support transformational change across the Pacific subregion. Prior to her tenure at SPC, Ms. Mecartney served with the United Nations in both Afghanistan and the Pacific, where she led and supported high-impact initiatives focused on institutional reform and organizational transformation, including the time-bound OneUN initiative at country level in Afghanistan in 2017. Through her work with UN-Habitat, the Asian Development Bank and Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme, she has advised numerous national and subnational Pacific Island governments on rural and urban policy with an emphasis on management of settlements, tenure security for urban citizens, housing and urban social policy., as well as climate and disaster resilient development. She holds a Master of Science from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts with honours from King ’s College in London.
Auditor General of Jamaica, Secretary General of CAROSAI
Pamela Monroe Ellis has been a leading figure in financial accountability and governance in Jamaica since her appointment as Auditor General in 2008. Throughout her extensive career, she has been actively involved in international and regional auditing bodies, making significant contributions to public finance management. Notably, Ms. Monroe Ellis served on the Board of the International Federation of Accountants from 2012 to 2018, where she chaired the Governance Committee and was a member of the Audit Committee. She also served as a board member of the INTOSAI Development Initiative from 2017 to 2022. Additionally, she chaired the Steering Committee for the International Financial Reporting for Non-Profit Organizations from 2020 to 2022. In her role as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions since 2016, Ms. Monroe Ellis has fostered collaboration among Caribbean Supreme Audit Institutions. She has also chaired the CARICOM Secretariat Audit Committee, serving in this capacity from 2016 to 2019 and again in 2024. Mrs. Monroe Ellis has received notable recognition for her outstanding contributions to public leadership. In 2021, she was awarded the Jamaica Gleaner’s Platinum Award for Exemplary Leadership in the Public Sector. She also received an Honorary Professorship certificate from Nanjing Audit University in 2019, acknowledging her dedication to promoting excellence in auditing practices. Throughout her career, Mrs. Monroe Ellis has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to the accounting profession. She spent over 15 years contributing to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica through various committees, including the Audit Practice Committee and the Public Sector Committee. Notably, she chaired the Investigations Committee for four years. Currently, Mrs. Monroe Ellis serves as a Commissioner of the Integrity Commission of Jamaica, where she chairs the Information Complaints Committee, overseeing the review of statutory declarations from public officials. She is also a member of the Governor-General of Jamaica’s Kings House Trust. Recognized for her expertise, she is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Executive Secretary, Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services
Cristina Kiomi Mori is Vice Minister at the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services of Brazil. In her current official role, she works in defining strategic guidelines and implementing actions to transform the Brazilian state towards the principles of inclusion, diversity, and sustainability. Her work encompasses several areas, including digital government, artificial intelligence in public services, strategic and organizational design, civil service management, public procurement, state-owned enterprises, and the management of federal property. She has held leadership positions in the São Paulo municipal government, serving as Deputy Secretary of Management. She has also worked as a consultant at Pacto Organizações Regenerativas, where she facilitated participatory processes in strategic planning, organizational development, and leadership training for government and civil society. Dr. Mori was a professor in the Master’s in Public Management and the Advanced Public Management Program courses at Insper Institute in São Paulo, where she taught courses on government performance management, civil service, and public leadership, as well as executive education programs focused on early childhood policies and personnel management in the public sector. She is part of the Pessoas à Frente (People Ahead) movement and has participated in communities of practice focused on regenerative organizations. Dr. Mori has also engaged with other civil society activities, having worked with institutions such as the Sírio-Libanês Hospital (ProSUS public health system improvement projects), Projeto Saúde & Alegria (Health and Happiness Project in Amazon Forest Communities), and Cidade Escola Aprendiz (public education innovative initiatives). She serves on strategic boards and committees, and has published nationally and internationally on digital inclusion, public governance, and innovation. Dr. Mori holds a Ph.D. in Social Policy from the University of Brasília, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Social Communication from the University of São Paulo.
Professor of Comparative Public Policy, Department of Political Science, LUISS Guido Carli
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi holds the professorship of Comparative Public Policy at the Department of Political Science at LUISS Guido Carli in Rome after being the Professor for Democracy Studies at Hertie School (Berlin) from 2007 to 2023. She has studied social psychology in Romania, where she earned her Ph.D., and political science at Harvard’s Kennedy School and has degrees in medicine and social psychology. She holds the honorary presidency of Romanian Academic Society, chairs the multi-site European Research Centre for Anticorruption and State-Building (ERCAS) and is the Academic Coordinator of BridgeGap, a 6 million euro EU Horizon research project. Her main monographs are “Europe’s Burden. Promoting Good Governance across borders” and “A Quest for Good Governance. How Societies Build Control of Corruption” (Cambridge University Press, 2015), and “A Tale of Two Villages” (CEU Press, 2010). She published in Nature and Nature Behavior alongside political science journals. AMP is q -promoter of fact-based governance measures and the designer of www.corruptionrisk.org, a forecast on good governance, of the Index of Public Integrity, of the T-index (computer-mediated transparency for 143 countries) and of the public accountability tools repository Europam.eu. She has served as a governance expert for the World Bank, the European Commission and Parliament, the European Court of Auditors, the governments of Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, UNDP and UNODC on the Statistical Framework to Measure Corruption. Between 2002 and 2012 she led the Romanian Coalition for Clean Parliament, a civic anticorruption campaign scaled up by Open Society Foundations network in over 10 countries, most notably as Chesno! in Ukraine before the Maidan revolution. She is frequently cited in the Economist and her documentary film a Tale of Two Villages was screened by the BBC.
Executive Director, Stockholm Environment Institute
Måns Nilsson currently serves as Executive Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute. He oversees all work at the institute globally, with 7 centres and 380 staff around the world. He is an accomplished scholar in the policy sciences related to sustainable development, with key areas of interest on policy integration and policy coherence, institutions and governance, and innovation systems in energy, agriculture, industry and transport sectors. Between 2010 and 2022, he was part-time Professor of Practice at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Professor Nilsson has published more than 60 papers in academic journals and has edited two books. From 2021 to 2023, he was listed as a Web of Science “highly cited researcher”. Professor Nilsson is a regular advisor to, inter alia, the United Nations system, OECD, the European Commission and several national Governments on topics such as policy coherence, the 2030 Agenda and science policy. He was appointed to the scientific advisory council with the Swedish Export Credit Agency and with Course Corrected, a climate-positive international venture capital fund in Stockholm and serves on the Programme Advisory Committee of Bioinnovate Africa at ICIPE, Nairobi, as well as on the UN DESA/UNFCCC Expert Group on Climate & SDG Synergies. Professor Nilsson is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. He also serves on the Board of Directors IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet AB. Previous appointments include the Scientific Council on Sustainable Development to the Government of Sweden, and the Board of Directors of Sveaskog AB and Blekinge Institute of Technology. Professor Nilsson has an M.Sc. in economics and business from University of Lund, Sweden, and a Ph,D. in policy analysis from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Visiting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania and former Mayor of Quito
Mauricio Rodas served as the Mayor of Quito, Ecuador, from 2014 to 2019. During his tenure, Quito hosted the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – Habitat III. He successfully led the construction of the country’s first Metro line and implemented numerous initiatives to promote urban sustainability, social equity and economic development. Mr. Rodas also held prominent international positions in the main mayoral networks, such as World Co President of UCLG, Vice-Chair of C40 Cities, and board member of the Global Covenant of Mayors and ICLEI. Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania lecturing on cities climate-resilient infrastructure finance; Senior Fellow at the Columbia University Center on Sustainable Investment; and Senior Advisor at the Atlantic Council Climate Resilient Center. Rodas is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Commission on Nature-Positive Cities, and the Executive Committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors. Mauricio has conducted extensive work in exploring innovative mechanisms to fund urban sustainability initiatives. He launched the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance, where he serves as Executive Secretary. Rodas is a former Young Global Leader and a member of the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization of the WEF. He was also selected for the Bloomberg Harvard Mayors Program. Recognized as one of the 100 World’s Most Influential People on Climate Action by Apolitical in 2019, he received the University of Pennsylvania’s World Urban Leadership Award and ICLEI’s Climate Action and Sustainability Leadership Award. He began his professional career in Mexico, where he worked as a consultant on sustainable development for the Federal and state governments. Later, he founded and served as Executive Director of Ethos Public Policy Lab. Upon returning to Ecuador, he founded SUMA, a national political party, and ran for President of Ecuador in 2013. The following year, he was elected Mayor of Quito, becoming the youngest mayor in the city’s history. He holds a JD from Universidad Católica de Quito and two master’s degrees, in government administration and political science, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Director of Policy Research, Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government
Fadi Salem is the Director of Policy Research at the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government. He leads the Future Government and Innovation Research Group in the School, is Editor-in-Chief of the “Dubai Policy Review” journal, and founded the School’s governance and innovation and MENA digital government programmes. He serves as a member of the Artificial Intelligence Ethics Advisory Board of the Dubai Digital Authority, the Digital Government Society Board, the Global Council on SDG 16 of the World Government Summit, Expert Group on Governance Implications of Artificial Intelligence of ISO SC42 Working Group and the Open Loop initiative of Global Experts on the Governance of Emerging Technologies. Professor Salem is a recognized authority on digital governance, technology and data policy with expertise in the societal implication of artificial intelligence, data governance, digital transformation, government technology, open government and smart cities, and has served as an adviser to various international organizations and senior officials on technology policy and digital economy. He has written extensively on future of government applications, electronic participation, social media and public policy, and the impact of digital transformations in the Arab region. His work and interviews have also been featured in numerous global and regional media outlets. Fadi Salem holds a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Oxford, an MSc in Information Systems Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a B.Eng. in Computer Engineering from Aleppo University.
Dean, School of Governance and Politics, Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Henry Sardaryan is President of the Academic Council of School of Governance and Politics at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and a member of the academic council of the University. He is also the Dean of the School of Governance and Politics, MGIMO University. In May 2024, he was awarded the title of professor in History and Theory of Politics. From 2020 to 2023, Professor Sardaryan was elected and served as member of the Сivic Chamber of the Russian Federation. He teaches modern public administration as well as the theory and practices of public administration. Between 2009 and 2018, he was full-time lecturer, Deputy Director of the International Institute of Administration at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and Acting Dean of the School of Governance and Politics, MGIMO University. Professor Sardaryan serves as the Editor in Chief of the Russian Journal of Governance and Politics. His main areas of research are political philosophy, political theory and public administration, and he has authored numerous publications on these topics. Professor Sardaryan holds the equivalent of a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and has completed post-doctoral work in Political Science at Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Professor of Future Foresight and Strategic Planning, Senior Advisor in Governance, Public Policy, and Sustainable Development
Ozcan Saritas is a Professor of Future Foresight and Strategic Planning at the Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai, where he focusses on enhancing public administration and governance for sustainable development. He also holds an Honorary Professorship at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, of the University of Manchester, where he earned his Ph.D. in Foresight and Prospective Studies. He has assisted governments and international organizations in navigating future challenges and leveraging opportunities to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, collaborating with over 80 countries. A recognized authority in foresight, futures studies, innovation and strategy, Dr. Saritas has had extensive experience with various United Nations agencies, OECD, the World Bank, European Commission and INTERPOL. His international engagement centres on applying foresight methodologies to strengthen governance, inform public policy and build institutional capacities. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of “Foresight,” a leading academic journal. Dr. Saritas’s expertise covers qualitative and quantitative foresight methods, including horizon scanning, scenario planning, strategic road mapping, big data analytics and collective human-artificial intelligence. He designs and implements foresight programmes for national and international bodies, exploring emerging trends, developing scenarios, formulating actionable visions and crafting innovative strategies for public service delivery and policy effectiveness. His counsel aims to help Governments anticipate future needs, improving national plans, policies and legislation. He has advised numerous national Governments on long-term science, technology and innovation policies and strategies. His research spans critical SDG-relevant sectors such as energy, health, circular economy, climate change, agriculture, water resources, security, transportation and information and communications technology with an emphasis on integrated development solutions. Committed to knowledge dissemination, Dr. Saritas develops and delivers academic and executive courses on foresight, supervising doctoral and master’s researchers. He has authored over 100 scientific articles, including “Foresight for Science, Technology and Innovation” and “21st Century Foresight.”
Executive Director, National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development
Sherifa Fouad Sherif is a tenured Professor of Public Administration at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science of Cairo University and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Egyptian National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. Dr. Sherif was the Executive Director of the National Management Institute from 2018 to 2020 and headed the Governance Center in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development from 2017 to 2018. She was the Acting Dean and Vice-Dean for Environment and Community Services and Chairperson for the Public Administration Department at Future University in Egypt, and an Adjunct Professor at several universities in that country. In 2024, she was appointed as the head the Thunderbird School of Global Management Center of Excellence for North Africa. From 2015 to 2018, she was the Director of the Public Administration Research and Consultation Center at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science of Cairo University. Dr. Sherif has been teaching for more than 25 years in the areas of public administration, management, corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, social entrepreneurship, environmental management, gender equality and governance. She has published many research papers and articles in both national and international journals. Dr. Sherif has worked with multiple international organizations as a researcher and lead consultant on development projects. She was appointed in 2017 as a member of the Egyptian National African Peer Review Mechanism Committee, as well as the Egyptian National Coordinator for the Public Governance Committee of OECD. In 2025 she was appointed to serve as a board member on the National Council for Women and Head of the Training Committee. Dr. Sherif was chosen in 2020 as one of the top 50 most influential women in Egypt recognized for her contributions to the social, economic and development sectors. Dr. Sherif has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration, Master of Public Administration from the American University in Cairo and PhD from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, as well as a diploma from the Executive Public Leadership Program of Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.
Professor of Public Finance and Planning, Wagner School of Government, New York University
Paul Smoke is Professor of Public Finance and Planning and Director of the Public and Nonprofit Master of Public Administration program at the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He is an expert on public sector reform and teaches graduate courses on institutions, governance, public finance, and development assistance. He focuses on public sector decentralization from a fiscal and political economy perspective. He previously taught in International Development in Urban Studies and Planning at MIT and was a Harvard Institute for International Development resident advisor in Kenya and Indonesia. Professor Smoke is on the Millennium Challenge Corporation Economic Advisory Council, the Board of Directors of the Local Public Sector Alliance, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Global Commission for Urban Sustainable Development Goal Finance. In 2022 he was named to Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential Academics in Government. He is also Acting Director of the NYU Center on International Cooperation. Smoke has experience in multiple countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He has worked with various international organizations such as UNCDF, UN DESA, UNDP, UN-Habitat, UNRISD, UNICEF, ADB, IADB, AfDB, the World Bank, IFC and the EU, bilateral development agencies of the Danish, German, Swedish, Swiss, UK and US Governments, and other global actors, such as the OECD and United Cities and Local Governments. Smoke has published in various journals, including World Development, Public Administration and Development, where he is on the editorial board, International Journal of Public Administration, Public Budgeting and Finance, Economic Development Quarterly, and Journal of Developing Areas. He edited multiple books, including Fiscal Decentralization in Developing Countries, Decentralization in Asia and Latin America, and Making Decentralization Work: Democracy, Development, Security. Edited volumes on Decentralized Governance and Climate Change and Meeting Future Global Challenges of Fiscal Decentralization are forthcoming. Professor Smoke received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
High Representative of the President of the Republic of Senegal and former Prime Minister
Aminata Touré was appointed High Representative of the President of the Republic of Senegal in August 2024. Dr. Touré served as the Prime Minister of Senegal from September 2013 to July 2014 and subsequently as Special Envoy of President for Internal and External Affairs. She was Justice Minister from 2012 to 2013, during which time she focused on anti-corruption campaigns. Since 2014, she has led several Presidential election observation missions, including in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Liberia and Mauritius, where she co-led the first round of the election observation mission on behalf of the Carter Center, based in the United States. Dr. Touré held the position of Fisher Family Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the 2018–2019 academic year. She was Director of the Gender and Human Rights Department of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) from 2009 to 2012, a Senior Adviser at UNFPA from 2003 to 2009, an UNFPA Senior Adviser in Côte d’Ivoire from 1998 to 2001 and an UNFPA Senior Adviser in Burkina Faso from 1996 to 1997. Dr. Touré has led observation missions for the African Union and the Carter Center. In addition, she was a parliamentarian in 2022. Her areas of competence include economy, good governance and gender. Dr. Toure has led the preparation of more than 30 UNFPA global publications. She holds a PhD in International Business Administration and Finance and a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Burgundy in France.
Director, Postgraduate Studies, LUISS Guido Carli University
Lorenzo Valeri is Director of Postgraduate Studies at Luiss Guido Carli University in Italy, where he oversees the academic and scientific activities of both the Luiss School of Government and the Luiss School of Law. In particular, he coordinates a broad portfolio of national and international postgraduate programs and applied research initiatives, with a focus on public management and policy in multilevel governance structures, public communication, digital government with a focus on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, anticorruption policies, global public diplomacy and sustainable development. Prior to his tenure at Luiss, from 2001 to 2006 and again 2008–2010, he served as a Research Leader at the European offices of the RAND Corporation. There, he led numerous public policy and training projects in areas such as digital government services, cybersecurity, and privacy. During this period, he was also seconded to the OECD, where he contributed to the development and evaluation of international cybersecurity guidelines and policies. Between 2006–2008 he was manager at Accenture where he led IT implementation projects for private and public institutions. From 1997 to 2000, Dr. Valeri was a researcher at the International Centre for Security Analysis at King’s College London where he on the strategic impact of information technology and digital transformation on international affairs and institutions. Dr. Valeri holds an MA and a PhD from King’s College London, supported by a European Union Marie Curie Fellowship and a British Chevening Scholarship. He has completed the Senior Manager in Government Executive Program at Harvard Kennedy School, while during his doctoral studies, he was a visiting researcher at Purdue University. Dr. Valeri earned his undergraduate degrees in political science from Luiss University and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Cheung Kong Chair Distinguished Professor and Dean, Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University
Lan Xue is a Counsellor of the State Council of China, a Distinguished Chair Professor and Dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University. At Tsinghua, he also serves as Director of the China Institute for Science and Technology Policy and Co-Director of the Global Institute for Sustainable Development Goals. His teaching and research interests include science, technology and innovation policy, crisis management and global governance. From 2000 to 2018, he served as Associate Dean, Executive Associate Dean and Dean of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University. He also serves as Convener of the State Council Public Administration Disciplinary Review Committee, Chair of the Expert Committee for the Governance of New Generation Artificial Intelligence, Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, and a board member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Dr. Xue is a recipient of the Fudan Distinguished Contribution Award for Management Science and of the Distinguished Contribution Award from the Chinese Association of Science and Technology Policy. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.