Visiting Professor - Srikantha Herath
Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability United Nations University
Srikantha Herath is a visiting professor of UNU-IAS Postgraduate Programmes and a Senior Academic Programme Officer. He engages in research and education in water security, climate change and natural disaster risk reduction. His postgraduate teaching and research currently focuses on global change impacts on environmental processes, especially related to hydrological and atmospheric process with applications in urban hydrology and water cycle change assessment.
Associate Professor - Oliver Williams
University of Notre Dame
Williams specializes in the areas of business ethics, corporate governance, and Catholic social teaching. He is the Director of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business in the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. A former Naval Officer, Williams earned his doctorate from Vanderbilt University and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Notre Dame. He served as Associate Provost of the University of Notre Dame from 1987-94 and is a past chair of the Social Issues Division of the Academy of Management. In 2006, he was appointed a member of the three-person Board of Directors at the United Nations Global Compact Foundation. The United Nations Global Compact is the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative with over 8,000 businesses around the world as members.
President - Serafin L. Ngohayon
Ifugao State University
Dr. Ngohayon obtained his MS and PhD in Psychology in Hiroshima University, Japan in 2002. Currently, he is a University Professor and President of the Ifugao State University (IFSU) in Lamut, Ifugao, Philippines. A dynamic and prolific leader of Philippine Higher Education, he led the transformation of the Ifugao State College of Agriculture and Forestry (ISCAF) into the IFSU in 2009 after seven years since assuming the presidency in 2003. As Chairman of the Cordillera Administrative Region Association of State Universities and Colleges (CARASUC), he is spearheading the amalgamation and working together of all 6 state universities and colleges towards a harmonized curricular programs that will facilitate faculty and student mobility and spur academic excellence and regional research, development and extension programs aimed at making Cordillera a prime education center in Asia.
Vice President for Development - Surendra Shrestha
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
Surendra Shrestha currently serves as the Vice President for Development at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). His past positions include: Director of UNEP IETC in Osaka; Special Advisor and Focal Point for SDGs at the Secretary General’s Office in New York; Task Manager at the Secretariat for Rio+20 in New York; Director in UNEP HQ with Strategic Planning and Resource Mobilization in Nairobi; Regional Representative and Director for UNEP in Asia and the Pacific region.
CEO - Wouter T. Lincklaen Arriëns
TransformationFirst.Asia Pte Ltd
Coach Wouter is a thought leader on transformational change, with three decades of
experience in development in Asia and beyond, of which 20 years as the ADB’s leading water specialist. With his leadership, ADB doubled its water investments to $2 billion annually. In his work he has engaged with local communities, professionals, entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, journalists, ministers, CEOs and royalty. He now helps executives and emerging leaders to become influential change makers in business, government and civil society.
Former President - Monte Cassim Ritsumeikan
Asia Pacific University
Professor Cassim, the former President of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Oita and Vice-Chancellor of Ritsumeikan Trust – is the Assistant Trustee and Councilor of Ritsumeikan Trust and the Director of the Kyoto Museum for World Peace. He is also a Professor at the College of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan University (Health, Environment and Life Science). In September 2015, he was appointed Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. His latest research focuses on science and technology-led innovation for solving grand challenges facing the earth and humanity, such as agricultural adaptation to climate change, biodiversity restoration and inventorizing by mobilizing the “citizen scientist” and for dealing with debilitating disease through trans-disciplinary, trans-border collaboration.
Deputy Director & Associate Director - Janette Lindesay
Australian National University
Janette Lindesay is a climatologist and is Director of the Australian National University Climate Change Institute. Her research, conducted in academic and research organisations in Australia, the UK and South Africa, focuses on the nature of climate variability and change and their impacts; seasonal climate forecasting; and climate change science in relation to adaptation. She convenes education programs and courses in climate science and policy and climate adaptation at the ANU.