Her professional experience spans over twenty years with both domestic and international NGOs. She holds an M.S. in Finance from the Simon School of Business, University of Rochester, an MPAP from the Bloustein School of Public Policy, Rutgers University, and an M.A. in Economics from Madras Christian College, India. She is a Fellow of the Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University.

Gopaul is the Founder and Executive Director Emeritus of the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN), a coalition of companies and organizations addressing the skills mismatch and youth unemployment crisis. She has over 20 years of experience in the UN system (ILO, UN, WHO), and has authored numerous articles on private sector engagement, youth unemployment and employer driven education. She is recognized as an IZA Fellow, is a member of the G20/B20 Employment and Education Taskforce and an International Gender Champion. Gopaul holds a master’s degree in international education from Columbia University, an Honorary Doctorate degree in Humane Letters and undergraduate degree from Point Park University.

Yera brings to the UN over 20 years of experience in international relations and multilateral affairs, with a focus on intergovernmental policy coordination and sustainable development governance. Before joining the UN, Yera served as Permanent Observer of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to the UN. Prior to that, Yera was posted at the Spanish Permanent Mission and then the European Union Delegation to the UN. A career diplomat, she has also served in Irak and Jordan and held a variety of positions at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Commission in Brussels.

Prior to joining UNAIDS, Ms. Hou worked in the philanthropic field, with a focus on health and children’s issues. She was the Communications Director at Casey Family Programs, an operating foundation dedicated to child welfare issues started by the founder of UPS.  

Annemarie also served as the first Global Health Communications Manager at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as the family’s spokesperson. An award-winning writer, she started her career as a television journalist. 

She is a member of the Alumni Advisory Board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Caroline also works for the World Bank, where she has gained considerable knowledge of international and UN processes to support sustainable development in Africa. Her work in the Resilience Academy, a partnership between universities in Finland and Tanzania facilitates North-South and South-North knowledge exchange and effectively engages local communities in planning resilient solutions. She also co-wrote a policy advisory report for the World Bank on the use of Machine Learning for Disaster Risk Reduction and gave three invited presentations at the first UN World Geospatial Information Conference. These activities demonstrate experience in utilizing levers 1, 3, and 4.

In sum, Caroline’s expertise combines cutting-edge scientific research through her distinguished academic career with operational knowledge of implementing sustainable development projects through more than six years of consulting experience with the World Bank.

From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Sitaldin was Consul General of Suriname in Miami, United States.  He was a Desk Officer in the Ministry’s International Organizations Division from 1995 to 2001, during which time he was a member of his country’s delegation to the general assembly of the Organization of American States and of the United Nations General Assembly.  He first entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Business, and International Cooperation as a Protocol Officer in 1993.

Fluent in Dutch and English, Mr. Sitaldin has a bachelor’s degree in law from Anton De Kom University’s Faculty of Legal Sciences.

Born on 20 August 1968 in Paramaribo, he is married and has two children.

His cutting-edge conceptual work makes sense of complexity, building much needed clarity on everything from how partnerships can deliver more than the sum of their parts through their collaborative advantage, to what organisations must do to become institutionally fit for partnering; from the process of partnering to the building blocks of effective platforms that catalyse collaboration. He is lead author of the SDG Partnering Guidebook (developed as a TPI / United Nations collaboration), quickly becoming the ‘standard textbook’ for in-country partnering around the world.

He has had considerable influence in helping to shift the UN system to become more collaborative, particularly with business. As well as training over a thousand UN staff, he has worked on the partnering strategies of multiple agencies, as well as analysing and supporting them to become more fit for partnering.

Darian was previously a theoretical quantum physicist, including as a NASA scientist. Darian has a somewhat unusual career path: following a physics degree at Oxford and a Ph.D. at London and Harvard, he became a quantum physicist, first as a NASA scientist and then as a Marie-Curie Fellow at the University of Paris, before segueing into sustainable development and cross-sector partnerships.

Mr. Abani is from the Federal Republic of Nigeria and holds a BA in History from the University of Nigeria, an MSC in Political Science from Ahmadu Bello University and an executive management certificate from Oxford University.

He takes over from Ms. Sylvia Lopez-Ekra who served in dual capacity as UN Resident Coordinator ai for 18 months and as Chief of Mission for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in charge of Ghana, Togo and Benin.

She was Deputy Permanent Representative at Qatar’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from May 2010 to July 2011, having previously been Minister Plenipotentiary from June 2009 to April 2010 and Counsellor from April 2007 to May 2009.

From September 2006 to March 2007, Ms. Al-Thani was the Director of the Division of the Rights of the Child in the General Secretariat of Qatar’s Supreme Council for Family Affairs, having served as Acting Director between June 2004 and August 2006.  From October 2003 to May 2004, she was a Senior Specialist in the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council’s Department of International Relations.

Born in Doha in 1974, Ms. Al-Thani holds a Master of Arts in international studies and diplomacy from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, and a Bachelor of Science in economics from Qatar University.

Prior to joining the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly, Sofia worked as Special Adviser on the 2030 Agenda to the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA).

Previously, she was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Timor-Leste to the UN from 2010-2016. She was the Chief Negotiator for her country during the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals (2013-2014) and Chief Negotiator for Timor-Leste on the Post-2015 Inter-Governmental Negotiations on the SDGs (2014-2015). She was Chair of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (2014-2016). Sofia also served as Chair of the g7+ (2010-2014), a role that was critical in the negotiations on the 2030 Agenda. Sofia was also a member of the Advisory Board UN Democracy Fund (2012-2013) as well as a Member of the Executive Board of UN Women (2012-2013). Before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sofia worked as a Women’s Anthropologist at the Central Land Council in Australia.

Sofia holds degrees in Anthropology, Political Science, and Law from the Australian National University, Canberra, and Northern University, Darwin. She speaks Tetum, English, and Portuguese.

Experience to enable new organizational model under strategy focused on business growth, go to market strategy, business transformation and putting in place a new business model to enable better performance. She has 23 years experience in FMCG, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson with Professional in Quality, Organization Development, and Talent Development and an experience in Engineering, Technical Support, Quality, LEAN, HR Development, Integrated Work System

STRENGTHS: Adaptive, flexible, resilient, deliberate and resourceful for facing with challenges, strive to learn and improve with a positive attitude, be able to work under high pressure.

Social Relation: Support execution of community relations programming and initiatives. With over 10 years of experience in CSR, NGO and SDGs.

Her passion are in: Innovation, SDGs, Human Development