Adrian Torres joined ADB in 2010 and is the Chief of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Thematic Group. Before his current role, Adrian was involved in strategy and policy work where he led the development of ADB’s first Private Sector Window and held the role of Chair of Blended Finance Committee.
During his time at ADB, Adrian worked on several infrastructure projects, PPP projects, and public finance transactions in the regional departments.
Before joining ADB, Adrian worked for ANZ Investment Bank’s Capital Solutions team, Societe Generale’s Project Finance team, and Westpac’s Specialised Capital Group in Australia on the financing and acquisition of infrastructure and utility projects including PPPs.
In addition, Adrian has advised government agencies on several PPP projects which include toll roads, health, and social infrastructure during his time at Ernst & Young Corporate Finance and Andersen.
Adrian received a Master’s of Commerce (Economics & Finance) from Sydney University and dual degrees in Civil Engineering and Business Administration from RMIT University. Adrian also received a diploma in Strategic Finance from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Ajay Suri is an economist and a development expert with long standing experience in formulating strategies and managing people-centred development programmes across various states and cities in India, south Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal and Maldives), south-east Asia (Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam), West Asia (Lebanon), Central Asia (Iran) and Africa (Kenya).

His main areas of expertise are urban policy and strategy formulation, urban poverty assessment, city-wide service delivery profiling, participatory planning for livelihoods promotion and service delivery, programme management, and institutional strengthening for improved governance. He has earlier worked with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) at Bangkok and New Delhi besides Government of India and an eminent urban policy think tank.

Anacláudia Rossbach from São Paulo, Brazil holds a master’s degree in political economics and has been working for 20 years in the housing and urban fields, as a practitioner and researcher for international organizations, local and national governments, universities, and non-profit organizations. She worked most part of her professional life in Brazil but also participated in a diverse and large number of international endeavors, projects, knowledge exchange activities, publications, reviews, and conferences. During her professional life, she had the opportunity to provide support and advice for key stakeholders from the urban sector from Brazil and a broad range of countries, such as the Philippines, China, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Egypt, Namibia, Bolivia, Paraguay, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile, and Peru. During the Habitat III process, she acted as an expert for the Policy Unit on National Urban Policies. Currently, she is Regional Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean at Cities Alliance, based in Mexico City.

Alexander is an education specialist at the Asian Development Bank specializing in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) with a focus on work-based training. His research interests include cross-sectoral approaches and embedding education in local economic development and infrastructure projects. Prior to working with ADB, he was a project manager at the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) working in the field of regional cooperation in Southeast Asia based in Viet Nam. He has a master’s degree in Political Economy from the University of Sussex as well as in Management of Development Projects from the University of Manchester.

Angelo Tan is the Country Lead for the Philippines (Climate Business) of the International Finance Corporation, a sister organization of the World Bank, and a member of the World Bank Group.

In this role, he forges partnerships with real estate developers, investors building professionals, certification providers, academia. and public policy markers across the Philippines, towards advancing the adoption of EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) and BRI (Building Resilience Index) — integrated online platforms, green building and resilience standards, and rating systems designed to make green and resilient buildings much more accessible, affordable, and inclusive for emerging markets and developing economies.

Angelo has a decade of real estate experience in mixed-use development management, commercial real estate transactions, and architecture business development. He is an industrial engineer by profession, and finished his Master of Sustainable Built Environment at UNSW Sydney under an Australia Awards Scholarship.

Anindita Mukherjee is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Research. As part of CPR’s Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI FI) Initiative, she anchors the research on demystifying the urban land-planning-housing intersections with a specific focus on residential vulnerability among the urban poor. Currently, she is supporting the Governments of Odisha and Punjab in forming strategies towards unlocking land tenure security enabling slum upgradation, and improving the inclusion of the urban poor settlements into the city fabric. She has supported in formulation of various programmes and policies: National housing programmes and policies of MoHUA e.g. Rajiv Awaas Yojana (RAY) and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY), Rural Sanitation Policy of Odisha and provided specific support in developing Credit risk Guarantee fund Scheme, affordable housing policies among others. Apart from that, as part of CPR she has worked extensively on areas related to the economics of sanitation service delivery in India, monitoring and evaluation of government rolled out national schemes and programmes, in economic and planning issues related to urban development, land management and sanitation. Her key sectors of expertise include urban economics, slum upgradation, inclusion, housing & urban basic services (water & sanitation) for the poor and other marginalized sections of the society, issues pertaining to land and land tenure in urban areas, and associated research work. Spanning almost 18 years of her career she has worked with different sector partners; Government agencies e.g. the Ministry of Housing and urban Affairs, various State Governments, urban local body in Kolkata, civil society organisations, other bilateral agencies such as erstwhile DFID, GIZ India and the World Bank. Anindita is an Economist and has a specialization in Statistics and Econometrics.

Principle Investment Specialist

Anshukant Taneja, the Principle Investment Specialist in Private Sector Operations Department at the Asia Development Bank (ADB). He leads ADB’s Micro Finance Program, which focuses on financial inclusion and helping microfinance institutions deepen their access to commercial finance. Before joining ADB, he worked as regional director of ratings at Standard & Poor’s in Singapore, and with ABN AMRO Bank in India.

Humanitarian Shelter and Settlement Practitioner

Arwin Soelaksono currently based in Jakarta, Indonesia and works as Humanitarian Shelter and Settlement Practitioner. Before joining the humanitarian sector, Arwin worked in the construction of public infrastructure and private housing for 15 years. After the Asian Tsunami of 2004, he began working for NGOs in Aceh in the sphere of housing reconstruction. He continues to work in the humanitarian sector and has worked for NGOs, donors, UN agencies and the Red Cross movement.

He brings his experience from his previous work to humanitarian sector i.e. project management for massive reconstruction and earthquake resistant structure. During 16 years in humanitarian sector, he added his experience on managing project with total budget more than USD 90 million, built and retrofit more than 8,000 houses and more than 50 clinics and schools.

Ashna Mathema is an architect and urban planner with 24 years of experience in nearly 40 countries. She specializes in housing, and her work ranges from in-depth micro-level field work in poor communities to more macro-level market assessments and policy / strategy formulation. She brings extensive experience in all facets of the housing sector, including housing and land markets, urban infrastructure and services, informality and poverty, urban upgrading, city planning and regulations, housing finance/ microfinance, energy efficiency, and disaster risk reduction and reconstruction.
Ashna is the Principal and Founder of Total Housing Inc., established in late 2019, that offers advisory services in housing. From 2012 until January 2020, she served as a Senior Urban Development Specialist with the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia group where she contributed significantly to housing policy development in several client countries. Her previous experience includes working with the World Bank’s Housing Finance team (2008-10); with PADCO/ AECOM (2000-04); as an independent international development consultant for over 6 years; and as an architect/Partner in Mathema Associates (1995-98).
Ashna is the co-author of “Development Poverty and Politics: Putting Communities in the Driver’s Seat”, with a Foreword by John F.C. Turner. This book was inspired from her field experiences and interactions with people in low-income communities around the globe, and emphasizes meaningful community participation as a path to real development.

Senior Shelter, Settlements, and Hazard Mitigation Advisor

Mr. Charlse Setchell has more than 40 years of experience in managing the process of physical, social, and economic change, both in the US and abroad. This professional experience is rooted in undergraduate (University of California, Davis) and graduate (University of California, Berkeley) degrees in urban and environmental planning, doctoral studies in urban planning at MIT, and doctoral research supported by a Fulbright Fellowship and MacArthur Foundation award.

Mr. Setchell has participated in all major international disasters/crises involving a shelter response since his arrival at the USAID Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA; now BHA) in 1998, designing and implementing Shelter and Settlements projects and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities in numerous countries.

Regional Urban Development Task Team Leader

Clément Larrue, French Development Agency – AFD - has over 15 years of working experience in consultancy firm in local public policies before joining the French Development Agency in 2013.
As Senior project manager in the Urban Development and Local Authorities Division in Paris HQ, Clement follow and evaluate projects related to sustainable urban development and urban planning in emerging countries (Ivory Coast, Brazil, China, Peru, Uganda) with different types of counterparts (municipalities, local urban development companies or ministry at national level).
From 2015 to 2018, he was AFD Lead Specialist on cities and climate change. In this capacity, Clement led AFD efforts to innovate and strengthen with new financial mechanisms benefit to cities. He contributes actively with advocacy role to the GCA Cities & Regions dynamic and participates actively in the COP 21 action linked with the French Ministry COP 21 negotiation team.
Since August 2018, he’s Regional urban development task team leader, in Bangkok AFD technical hub, in charge of Cities & urban operational activities in the Southeast Asia Region

Curt Garrigan is Chief of the Sustainable Urban Development Section for the Environment and Development Division of UN-ESCAP. In this role, he contributes to ESCAP’s efforts to work with governments to localize the Sustainable Development Goals and promote sustainable urban development solutions in cities throughout the Asia Pacific region. Before joining ESCAP, he spent seven years with UN Environment Programme in Paris, France as Coordinator of the Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative and as Cities and Buildings Programme Manager. He led UNEP’s efforts to launch the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, which promotes building sector climate actions. He also coordinated a UNEP project assisting countries in Southeast Asia to develop Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). Prior to joining the UN system, Mr. Garrigan served more than 22 years in a number of operational and management roles for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville, Tennessee USA, including Deputy Mayor, Parks Director, and Infrastructure and Planning Coordinator of the city’s post-Flood Recovery Team.

Senior Housing Specialist for the Asia-Pacific

Dao Harrison is the Senior Housing Specialist for the World Bank serving markets in the Asia Pacific region from the Singapore Urban Hub. Her work focuses on deepening and strengthening housing markets, policies and programs, particularly in developing market economies. Prior to the World Bank, Mrs. Harrison was the International Risk Director for Genworth Financial where she worked to develop and extend mortgage guarantee / insurance products and platforms in new markets. Her housing-related work has led her to work with governments and/or institutions in Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Mongolia, Maldives, Thailand, S. Korea, Japan, Mexico, and Fiji.

Dr Donovan Storey is currently Head of Global Policy and Influence at REALL, where he works to influence and leverage key stakeholders to bring about changes which transform global affordable housing markets through innovative solutions, including those which create synergies between affordable and climate-smart housing for the bottom 40%. Previous positions have included as Deputy Director and Urban Lead – Green Cities, at the Global Green Growth Institute, Seoul, and with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) in Bangkok, first as Chief of Social Policy and Population and then as Chief of the Sustainable Urban Development Section. Prior to the United Nations Donovan was a researcher, senior academic and consultant specializing in development management, urban planning, social inclusion and environmental management. Donovan has a PhD in International Development and postgraduate qualifications in Public International Law. He is a member of ISOCARP, The Planning Institute of Australia and the British Institute for Comparative and International Law.

Associate Director for Operations, Asia Pacific

Gregg is currently the Associate Director for Operations in the Asia Pacific Region with Habitat for Humanity International Regional office based in Manila. Previous roles have included the Country Manager for Australian Red Cross in the Philippines and Global Focal Points for Coordination with UNHCR and the International Federation of the Red Cross assisting various country operations in complex and protracted emergencies. He has over 15 years of direct field experience as a humanitarian practitioner in various settings having worked with different international non-government organizations (NRC, IRC, SCI, ACAPS) and the Red Cross with a focus in the Asia Pacific region.

Roles have included being environmental health manager, site planner, water and sanitation program manager, construction and program manager amongst others.

He has specific technical expertise in a shelter and extensive cluster coordination experience in various emergencies.
He has extensive experience in the design and facilitation of training including the development of curricular materials for direct staff training and mentoring as well as organizational capacity building.
Gregg is a graduate of the Humanitarian Leadership Programme and holds a Masters degree in Humanitarian Assistance from Deakin University.
Previously he worked as an environmental engineer and consultant with over 10 years of project and construction management experience across various industry sectors.

As a regional manager within Kadaster International, the international branch of the Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency of the Netherlands, Haico is responsible for the business development in Asia, Arab States, and Europe. As a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) expert, he is involved in many national and international SDI implementation projects. He has also been working on the design, implementation, and further development of the national geoportal ‘PDOK’, as part of the Dutch SDI. He has led projects in a number of countries, focusing on developing a fit-for-purpose land administration.
Haico has worked for nearly 5 years in France for EuroGeographics, the association of European national mapping and cadastral agencies, as marketing communications and business manager. Haico is graduated as a Geographer and Cartographer at the University of Utrecht.

Mr. Hirotaka Koike is a programme management consultant of the Sustainable Urban Development Section for the Environment and Development Division of United Nations ESCAP. In this role, he coordinates the Asia Pacific Mayors Academy, which provides executive-level training for newly-elected/appointed mayors with tools, methods, and networks to implement future policy pathways, and the global inter-UN Regional Commissions’ project on “building urban economic resilience during and after COVID-19”, in which UNESCAP supports four cities across the Asia-Pacific region to develop sustainable recovery plans. Before joining ESCAP, he was a policy researcher at the City Taskforce of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), coordinating activities around the Voluntary Local Review (VLRs) and localization of the SDGs in the Asia-Pacific, and supporting the IGES’ engagements in the UN and global fora. Prior to IGES, he was the Global Focal Point for Habitat III process and the Organising Partner for the High-level Political Forum in the UN Major Group for Children and Youth and the founder of the Japan Youth Platform for Sustainability.

Senior Urban Specialist (Smart Cities)

Hong Soo Lee is a smart city expert with a background in urban policy, planning, and development. Before he joined ADB, he worked at Seoul Housing Corporation and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport in the Republic of Korea, and Urban Redevelopment Authority in Singapore.

James Samuel, currently serves as the National Director for Habitat for Humanity International, Bangladesh. His diverse regional and national level experience, including two previous national director roles, and technical strengths in Disaster Risk Reduction and Response (DR3), shelter, and WASH set him well placed in the Bangladesh context. Starting his development career with World Vision, he has worked with several international organizations in leadership roles including the WASH Advisor at the UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) now FCDO, Country Director at Samaritan’s Purse International Relief at Haiti with additional responsibility for Latin America and Caribbean leadership team and Country Director of Mission East, Nepal. He has successfully resourced and managed institutional funding from USAID/OFDA, DFID, WFP, DANIDA, EU, and BMZ among others.

Jana is a performance-driven professional with 10+ years of experience in the international and non-governmental environment. Dedicated to making an impact on people and society, she is carving her way in international development, project management, research and policy making. Currently, she works as Head of Mission of Caritas Czech Republic (CCR) in Mongolia and overviews several development projects funded by the European Union, SWITCH-Asia and other co-funding entities. These include: Sustainable Plastic Recycling in Mongolia (ongoing), All for youth, youth for all (ongoing) and Recycling Building Materials (completed). Before joining CCR, Jana had worked in several European and Asian countries, including Slovakia, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Singapore. She received a BA degree in International Economic Relations from the University of Economics in Bratislava and an MSc degree in European Affairs from the Aalborg University in Denmark. She is currently pursuing an Executive Master's of Public Administration at Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. Jana is fluent in English, German, Czech, and Slovak and has a good knowledge of Russian, Mongolian and French.

Mr. Jawed Ali Khan joined UN-Habitat in September 2017 after retiring as Director General Environment and Climate Change at the Ministry of Climate Change, Government of Pakistan, where he worked for 30 years. He has remained the National Focal point for several Environmental and Climate Change Treaties and Conventions, and has also served as Projector Director for many GEF, World Bank and UNDP projects including One UN Program component on Policy and Planning.

Mr. Jawed works as technical expert for various UN Agencies, including EU SWITCH ASIA, where he is the Lead Expert on Green Building Code and Guidelines for Pakistan Prime Minister’s Five Million Housing Programme. He also works as the UN Environment National Coordinator for developing the National Action Plan for SCP as well as the National Sustainable Development Strategy for Pakistan (NSDS). Mr. Jawed holds postgraduate degrees and diplomas in Housing and Human Settlements Planning, Environment and Climate Change from renowned International Universities and institutions such as Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand, the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Tufts University in Boston, USA.

Jitendra works as an Associate Director-Financial Inclusion and Capital Markets with Habitat for Humanity's Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter. He supports financial institutions to develop, test, and scale affordable housing finance solutions, develops global advisory solutions, manages portfolio relationships, and drives the regional strategy and growth of the work with financial institutions. He has 12 years of experience in advisory, consulting, and investment services in the financial inclusion sector, focusing on thematic areas of microfinance, digital financial services, and housing finance. Jitendra has worked with more than 70 financial intermediaries in 12 countries across Asia and Africa. He has provided support on a broad range of topics, including strategy, risk, operations, digital transformation, products, and delivery channels. Before joining Habitat for Humanity, Jitendra was a manager for the inclusive finance and banking domain at MicroSave Consulting, where he led and delivered several consulting assignments across Asia and Africa, including a two-year full-time stint in Indonesia. Jitendra has a master's degree in Development Management, an undergraduate degree in Commerce, and a professional certificate of financial modeling and valuation analyst (FMVA).

Julie LaPalme is Secretary General for Cooperative Housing International, one of the eight sectors of the International Cooperative Alliance. Since 2014, Julie has been raising awareness about housing cooperatives at a global level, facilitating peer to peer exchanges, and sharing good practices through a comprehensive communications program.
Her career in cooperative and non-profit housing began in the 1990s in organizational development, government relations, and property management. In 2006 she began working with the Agency for Co-operative Housing, a cooperative housing administrative body, as an Information Officer and later as a Relationship Manager. She also delivered the Agency’s social media strategy for three years.
In an effort to offset carbon emissions and raise awareness about environmental sustainability in housing co-ops Julie founded the Greener Co-op Microgrants program which she manages for the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. She also delivers their Diversity Scholarships and Grants programs.

Head of Research and Development

Julieta Moradei, Partner at Hometeam Ventures; Head of Research and Development at NewStory Charity

As a Partner and founding member of Hometeam Ventures, Julieta drives dealflow and operations of the venture fund investing in founders bringing breakthrough technology to the world's largest - but least innovative - industries: construction and housing.
Previously, she was the Head of R+D at New Story and an engineer at Arup. At New Story, she formed 50+ partnerships with key academic and industry leaders (Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Thorton Tomasetti, Arup, SOM, etc.) to pioneer groundbreaking solutions for affordable housing. In partnership with ICON, New Story permitted and built the world's first 3D printed housing community.

She has an M.S. in structural engineering from UC Berkeley, a bachelor’s in structural engineering and architecture, and was a research assistant in Boston, Berkeley, and Switzerland. She postponed her Harvard Business School MBA to kick-start Hometeam VC.
Her academic and industry research in AEC is focused on circular economy, virtual reality, automated drone inspection, resiliency, and sustainability. Julieta is passionate about bridging the gap between architecture, engineering, and construction through collaborative design to maximize innovation for social impact.

Karima works as an Urban and Disaster Risk Management Specialist and task team leader at the World Bank’s Urban, disaster risk management, Resilience and Land Global Practice (URL). Based in Washington DC, she focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, and with an emphasis on post-conflict urban recovery and reconstruction, DRM, low-income housing, and local economic development. Karima holds a PhD in architecture and urban studies focusing on post-disaster reconstruction of dense agglomerations from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an M.Arch with focus on post-disaster shelter design from l’Ecole Nationale d’Architecture de Rabat. Prior to joining the World bank, she has worked for over 10 years in the private sector and with international NGOs and international organizations on housing policy, urban disaster risk management, and urban planning.

International Relief and Development Executive and Expert

Luis has extensive experience in nonprofit management, having held several leadership roles at Food for the Hungry, and currently with Habitat for Humanity International.
Luis had a progressive experience of more than 27 years in International Relief and Development that started in his country of birth, Bolivia. In 2006, he was Country Director of FH Bolivia. Subsequently, Regional Director of Latin America and the Caribbean, and in 2009, was invited to be part of the Global Executive Office of FH and to move to Washington, D.C. in order to serve as the Chief International Operations Officer. In his last years with FH, he served as the Vice President for Transformational Engagement. He currently works with Habitat for Humanity International as the Vice President for the Asia Pacific area based in Manila, Philippines.

Luis has a Bachelors in Agricultural Engineering from University Mayor San Simon in Bolivia, a Master of Science in Agricultural Development from the University of Ghent in Belgium, a Master of Arts in Development Evaluation and Management from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and an NGO Management Executive Certificate from Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Renu Khosla is the Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE). Her work is aimed at unthinking and reimagining slum and inclusive urban development – building resilience and nudging change in community-led initiatives. Through her work, she has been seeking to strengthen local capacities for participative planning, data visualization and analytics using spatial technologies, localizing and de-engineering solutions and simplifying institutions – hoping to change the policy narrative and deepen the policy discourse on urban poor, slum upgrading and improving quality of living. Her projects are innovative and awarded. She was also recognized by the Government of India on International Women’s Day for her work in sanitation and promoting equality.

Founder and Director, International Housing Finance Program

Drs. Marja Hoek-Smit, Founder and Director, International Housing Finance Program, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and an Adjunct Professor in the Real Estate Department of the Wharton School. She teaches executive education programs in housing finance and housing market analysis. Marja is a frequent advisor to governments and private- and non-profit sector clients in Emerging Market and Developing Countries in the field of housing and housing finance policy, institutional and product development. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Habitat for Humanity Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Housing.
Marja is also the Executive Director of the Housing Finance Information Network—HOFINET—a global web portal that consolidates international housing finance information and statistical data for public use.

Senior Coordinator and Technical Specialist for Humanitarian Policy and Practice

Mohamed Hilmi is InterAction’s Senior Coordinator and Technical Specialist for Humanitarian Policy and Practice. He is a humanitarian shelter and reconstruction specialist who works to improve the collaboration, capacity, practice, and policies of stakeholders who respond to humanitarian disasters and crises.
Before joining InterAction, Hilmi worked for U.N. Agencies and INGOs in complex humanitarian emergencies and development programs. He has responded to and managed emergencies such as the conflict and famine in Somalia, the post-genocide refugee crisis in Tanzania/Rwanda, the Asian tsunami and armed conflict in Sri Lanka, the cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh, as well as emergencies in Haiti, Eretria, Pakistan, Yemen, Lebanon, and Sudan. He has also managed several large infrastructures, reconstruction, and refugee resettlement programs in the MENA region. In the private sector, he has worked for Shell Petroleum in Singapore and with SAIC on a U.S. Government chemical weapons demilitarization project in Maryland.

Mohammad Riaz is the was appointed program manager for Kabul Green Homes Project funded by EU through SWITCH – Asia program. He currently works as deputy country director & project manager for Geres- Afghanistan. Mohammad Riaz have over 18 years’ experience in project management, energy efficiency in public and private houses, climate change and environment related projects. He has been participated in more than 25 conferences worldwide and trained over 500 engineers and technicities on energy efficiency in buildings and housing. He holds a Bachelor on Civil Engineering from Kabul University.

Olivia Nielsen is an Associate Principal at Miyamoto International where she focuses on resilient housing solutions. From post-disaster Haiti to Papua New Guinea, she has developed and worked on critical housing programs in over 30 countries. Olivia has a decade of experience in housing finance, housing public-private partnerships, post-disaster reconstruction, and green construction. Through her work, she hopes to make safe and affordable housing available to all.

Pranab Choudhury has founded and coordinates the NRMC Center for Land Governance (CLG) that espouses the criticality of Land Tenure Security for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development. CLG contributes to expanding India’s Land Governance space with actors, evidence, and innovations, through policy and action research, piloting and scaling up solutions, capacity building, and triggering partnerships. First, as a scientist, researching landscape restoration in India’s tribal regions, and later as a consultant engaging on inter-disciplinary issues around agriculture, forestry, and rural livelihoods, across South Asian geographies, Pranab is exposed to diverse land use and tenure dynamics and how they influence development.

Prachi Acharya is a built environment professional with over eight years of experience in research, policy and practice and has recently completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Risk in the Built Environment. Prachi's interdisciplinary study focused on India's welfare housing programme in settlements with high flood risk in the coastal State of Odisha. Prior to the PhD, she consulted for UNDP India. Prachi holds a MSc with Distinction from the Centre for Alternative Technology, Wales and a Bachelor of Architecture from CEPT University, where her research focusing on urban housing received a number of awards. Prachi is currently a member of St John’s College, Cambridge.

Associate Director, People-Public-Private Partnerships (P4)

Puja Sawhney is the People-Public-Private Partnerships (P4) Associate Director at Habitat for Humanity. She leads the formulation of a global P4 framework that will build upon and help to accelerate Habitat’s P4 multilateral existing initiatives. She also leads in developing and establishing national, regional, and global coalitions focusing on addressing affordable and adequate housing challenges.

Puja has more than two decades of development work, from research, policy analysis, program and project implementation, policy research, and coalition building. She has served as an expert on various development concerns, from climate change to disaster management, and sustainable development, and has established and led many networks and platforms. Her work has covered the breadth of the Asia Pacific Region, as her various engagements have spanned 48 countries.

Puja has extensive experience working for international organizations, the UN, International Organizations, and NGOs.

Puja holds a Ph.D. in Natural Science, a double Masters of Arts degree in Environment and Development and Geography, and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography.

Senior Development Professional, Quentin Moreau was appointed Central Asia Regional Director for Geres – Acting for Climate Solidarity INGO in 2019. Based in Dushanbe, he is supervising international development programmes in the fields of access to energy, energy efficiency, renewables and climate – energy policies mainstreaming in Mongolia, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

He has previously contributed to building meaningful programmes & teams for several INGOs in Mongolia (AVSF, People in Need, Mercy Corps), serving the needs and best interests of its civil society and peoples. Looking tirelessly at linking research with practitioners' experience, he has renewed recently an academic collaboration with the Oxford University Silk Road Society think tank on the co-definition of sustainability frameworks around BRI projects and countries.

Keen advocate of climate justice, he has hands-on experience in matters related to resources management, land use, value chain development, energy, governance, education & climate related policies.

Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow

Serene Ho is a Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow at RMIT University, Australia. Her interdisciplinary research explores issues of social innovation in land administration, especially around how new geospatial technologies used to map land rights impact trust relationships between communities and governments.

Shubhagato Dasgupta is a senior fellow at CPR and director of the Scaling City Institutions for India (Sci-Fi) Sanitation initiative. His current research focuses on informal settlement, drinking water and sanitation in India and the world, with particular reference to flagship government programs and service delivery challenges in smaller cities. Before joining CPR, Shubhagato led the Support to National Policies for Urban Poverty Reduction project, a collaboration between the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and India’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation to develop pro-poor urban policies in 20 cities across 15 states. Prior to this, he has also worked on issues of urban development with a wide range of other public, private, multilateral, and non-governmental organisations, including as Senior Urban Specialist at the World Bank, Assistant Vice President at the Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC), the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and The Action Research Unit. In addition, Shubhagato has also worked on private sector participation projects in urban and drinking water programs in eastern and southern Africa for the International Finance Corporation and the Acumen Fund. Shubhagato Dasgupta is trained as an architect Urban Planner and currently undertaking a PhD at the Centre for Urban Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Rithika Thomas works with integrating multidisciplinary experts and resources to provide innovative solutions to build sustainable communities. She strives to ensure that all her projects have a positive impact on the built environment, workspaces, and the communities that we live in.

Currently, she leads the Future Community vertical at EcoLabs Center of Innovation for Energy@NTU and her focus is on designing and deploying a prototype of a self-sustaining civilization kit for the future, through co-creation collaborations with start-ups, SMEs and educational institutes. Her research focus for the past 6 years, is on multidisciplinary sustainable design, passive design strategies and designing zero energy buildings in the tropics through testing and deploying these innovative solutions for smart building technologies, applications and solutions.

Before joining EcoLabs, she practised architecture in India and completed her Masters in Integrated Sustainable Design from NUS, School of Design, Singapore. She is a registered LEED Accredited Professional and has obtained her Green Mark Manager certification.

Mr. Piaskowy currently serves as Global Program Director at Cadasta Foundation where he manages project implementation processes and strategies, including partner training and grants administration. He holds more than 15 years of international experience working with community-based NGOs and governments at the national, sub-national, and local levels.

Before joining Cadasta, he worked for USAID in managing and evaluating global land tenure and property rights programs. His research and field experience focuses on land and urban development in East Africa and Southeast Asia. He holds a graduate degree in international public service from American University, and an undergraduate degree in urban planning from Ball State University.

Zinaida Fadeeva is the Team Leader of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Facility (SCP Facility) of the SWITCH-Asia Programme. Zinaida has over 25 years of leading international professional experience in policy for and practice of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and Education for Sustainable Development, amongst others working with the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Studies of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). Her work has focused on diverse topics such as tourism, plastics, construction, small and medium enterprises, procurement, and lifestyle. Zinaida has worked extensively with governments, the private sector, international organizations, and academia in East, South East, South, and Central Asia.

Dr. Zhi Liu is Senior Fellow and Director, China and Asia Program, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and Director, Peking University – Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy. He is specialized in land and housing policy, urban and infrastructure finance, and urban and regional planning. Previously he was a lead infrastructure specialist at the World Bank, with years of operational experience in the infrastructure and urban sectors. He is a member of the Expert Committees for Housing and Real Estate, and for Human Settlements, Ministry of Housing and Urban & Rural Development, China. He co-edited International Housing Market Experience and Implications for China (Routledge 2019) and Infrastructure Economic and Policy: International Perspectives (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, forthcoming).

Sukumaporn Jongpukdee is the Assistant Governor of Thailand's National Housing Authority and has been with the organization since 1995. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, and a Master's degree in Urban Environmental Management from Pathumthani's Asian Institute of Technology. Sukumaporn has participated in several international housing and urban development training programs in the Netherlands, Japan, and Singapore.

Ana Falú is an Argentine architect and a social activist for human rights and for women's rights. She has been Regional Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM; now part of UN Women) for the Andean Region (2002–2004) and for Brazil and the Southern Cone Countries (2004–2009). She is a researcher and Professor at the National University of Córdoba (UNC), where she is the Director of the Housing and Habitat Research Institute (INVIHAB). In the field of feminist action, she promoted numerous institutional initiatives and contributed to the establishment of women's rights to the city, to housing, and to the habitat. She is co-founder of the Women and Habitat Network of Latin America, of the Centro de Intercambio y Servicios para el Cono Sur Argentina (CISCSA), of UNC's Interdisciplinary Program of Women's and Gender Studies (PIEMG), and of Articulación Feminista Marcosur, among other areas of action in favor of women's rights. In 2013 she won the Feminist Career Award together with other Argentine women

Pablo Jorillo Jr. studied Civil Engineering and Master of Science in Structural Engineering at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He received his Doctor of Engineering degree from Nihon University (Tokyo, Japan). As part of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Monbusho programs, he earned post-doctoral grants from Rajamangala Institute of Technology (Thailand) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan).

In 1990, he was promoted to full Professor IV at the university and had exchange professorial assignments in Thailand and Japan. From 1995 to 2000, he was the Executive Director of the Integrated Research and Training Center (a JICA Grant) leading engineering research in SUCs (state universities) in the Philippines. He has worked on various researches on underwater concrete, fiber concrete, alternative cementitious materials and structural composites.

In 2000, he joined Hilti Philippines Inc., an MNC subsidiary of Hilti Group as the Engineering Manager. In 2005, he was appointed as the company’s first local General Manager, leading a local executive management team, a first for Hilti in Region Asia at the time. He was instrumental in developing and growing Hilti Philippines to ten times its revenue size in ten years, with a CAGR growth of 30%.

In 2020, he left the corporate world to become the General Manager of Hilti Foundation’s initiated organization in the Philippines – BASE-Bahay Foundation. BASE is a non-profit, non-government organization with a mandate to build communities through a network of partners by utilizing alternative building technologies and providing comfortable, affordable, resilient, eco-friendly houses with social impact. The vision is to scale-up partnership and the use of bamboo and other green building materials for socialized housing.

She is the President and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for Base Bahay Foundation, an initiative supported by the HILTI Foundation. Maricen also serves as the liaison for the projects of Hilti Foundation in Asia which covers Affordable Housing and Technology, Economic Empowerment and Music for Social change. She is responsible for providing the strategic direction for the organization, in coordination with the other Board members ,as well as ensuring that it continues to live up to its Vision and Mission as technology provider for high quality social houses that have a social, environmental and economic impact. This involves working with a network that can initiate, organize, undertake, and participate in livelihood, economic, cultural, educational, and social development programs and activities for the benefit of selected beneficiaries Prior to Base, Maricen presents over 30 years of Sales, Marketing and Operations experience covering consumer goods, banking and real estate, in different senior management positions. She is also engaged in entrepreneurial ventures and continues to support private relief and livelihood projects and is focused on her calling for nation building.

Loraine is currently a Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Senior Adviser at the EU SWITCH-Asia Programme, SCP Facility. For the past 20 years, she has worked on international and national projects focusing on environmental and sustainable development issues in the Asian Region, with a focus on SCP and resource efficiency, climate change, biosafety, access rights in environmental decision-making, transparency and accountability.

She worked in the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Environment Programme - Regional Office in Asia and Pacific, and in the Asia-Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP). She also worked at the Climate Change Commission (CCC) Philippines, the Ateneo School of Government and the Maximo Kalaw Institute for Sustainable Development. She holds a Master of Arts Degree on Politics of Sustainable Development in Keele University, UK. She obtained her BA degree in Ateneo de Manila University.