Mr Löfven has been the Prime Minister of Sweden since 2014 and the Leader of the Social Democrats since 2012. Prior to becoming Prime Minister, Mr Löfven had been an active trade unionist, and was chair of the trade union IF Metall. Mr Löfven also worked as a welder and an ombudsman in northern Sweden for over fifteen years.

Mr Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa is the President of the Republic of South Africa; a position he was appointed to on 15 February 2018. Mr Ramaphosa was appointed Chairman of the National Planning Commission on 3 June 2014. In December 2012, he was elected Deputy President of the African National Congress (ANC). He received the Olof Palme prize in Stockholm in 1987 and was included among the Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2007. In 2009, he was awarded the National Order of the Baobab in Silver by President Jacob Zuma for his contribution to the multiparty negotiations and for chairing the Constitutional Assembly to draft the new Constitution.

Mr Albrecht has been a Permanent State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs since 2014. Among his most important legislative projects has been the introduction of a statutory minimum wage in Germany. He also launched the “Work 4.0” dialogue - a public dialogue of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on the future of work, which provided important input for a broader debate within society on shaping quality jobs in the digital age. Until 2007, Mr Albrecht worked for the National Executive Board of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) as head of division, responsible for the coordination of European affairs. From 2008 until 2013, he was head of office of Andrea Nahles and of the policy department of the Executive Board of the German Social Democrats (SPD). As State Secretary, Mr Albrecht is a member of the German Government’s IT Council and of the “digital agenda” steering group. In addition, he is a member of the future of work advisory council set up by the German Union of Metal Workers (IG Metall).

Ms Al Kaylani, Founder Chairman of the Arab International Women’s Forum is well known in international government and business circles as a high- impact change agent focusing on leadership in cultural and gender issues. A development economist and graduate of the American University of Beirut and Oxford University, she brings a wide range of skills and experience to her personal mission of encouraging greater cultural understanding between Arab and international communities, supporting a strong role for women and youth in that process. Ms Al Kaylani holds senior roles in several cultural, commercial and educational UK and international organizations. These include: Board Member, the Women's Leadership Board at Harvard Kennedy School; Advisory Board Member, the Middle East Institute, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Advisory Board Member, the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World, Lebanese American University, Beirut; Board Director, EastWest Institute in New York, and Board Member of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce in London. Ms Al Kaylani also serves on the Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance. In January 2017, Haifa Al Kaylani became a Fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University.

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director at Oxfam International, is a global authority on economic inequality and women’s rights. Oxfam is a confederation of 20 national organisations working together in more than 90 countries worldwide for a just world without poverty. In her role at Oxfam, Winnie supports social justice movements and leads Oxfam’s global research and advocacy on economic inequality and gender inequality. Ms Byanyima is a global ambassador for the Open Government Partnership. She has acted as Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum and served on the United Nations (UN) High-Level Panels on Access to Medicines and on Women’s Economic Empowerment. Prior to Oxfam, Ms Byanyima led the directorates of gender and development at the UN Development Programme and the African Union Commission as well as serving eleven years in the Ugandan Parliament. She has a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering from Manchester University, an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Cranfield University, UK and was also awarded a Ph.D. (Honoris Causa) from Manchester University.

Dr Chung is a professor of sociology at Seoul National University (SNU). Dr Chung received her Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Chicago. She published books including Social movements in Japan, Japanese military sexual slavery, Human rights situation in Korea and Japan, and Koreans in Japan (forthcoming). She also published many papers at various prestigious academic journals including Human Rights Quarterly, Critical Asian Studies, Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, and Development and Society. She has served as Director of the Institute for Social Development and Policy Research of the SNU, and as President of the Korean Association of Women’s Studies, President of the Korean Sociological Association. She is currently the President of the Korean Association of Human Rights Studies. Dr Chung has served as Member of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee. She was elected as Member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2017, and will start her term in 2018.

Ms Costin is the Director of the Center for Excellence and Innovation of Education Policies (CEIPE), a think tank within the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a leading private University in Brazil where she is a professor. She has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Senior Director for Global Education in the World Bank. Before joining the World Bank, Ms Costin was Secretary of Education of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. Under her stewardship, learning results rose by 22 percent in the city. She also implemented a strong Early Childhood program, working seamlessly across sectors with the Health and Social Protection secretariats. Ms Costin has been vice-president of the Victor Civita Foundation, dedicated to raising the quality of public education in Brazil. Believing in the transformational power of education, she helped to create the civil society movement Todos pela Educação, also serving on its technical committee. Her former positions include Secretary of Culture, Sao Paulo State and Federal Minister for Public Administration and State Reform. Ms Costin has held academic positions at the Catholic University of São Paulo, the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, the Institute of Education and Research (INSPER), and the École Nationale d’Administration Publique in Québec.

Mr Dehaze has been the CEO of the Adecco Group since 2015. Mr Dehaze graduated as a commercial engineer at the ICHEC Brussels Management School in Belgium. From 1987 to 2000, Mr. Dehaze held senior positions in a number of European countries at Henkel and ISS. In 2000, he became Managing Director of Creyf’s Interim in Belgium (now Start People). From 2002 to 2005, he was Chief Executive Officer of Solvus. In 2005 he was appointed CEO of USG People – when the latter took over Solvus. From 2007 to 2009 he was CEO of the Dutch staffing services company Humares. Mr Dehaze joined the Adecco Group in 2009 as Member of the Executive Committee. Since January 2016, Mr Dehaze has been Chair of the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN) as well as Steward of the World Economic Forum System Initiative on Education Work and Gender. Furthermore, Mr Dehaze has been Vice President of the Board of the World Employment Confederation Europe and member of the Board of the World Employment Confederation (formerly EUROCIETT).

Mr Giovannini is an Italian economist and statistician, member of the Club of Rome and of the World Academy of Arts and Science. Since 2002 he is full professor at the Rome University “Tor Vergata” and professor of Public Management at the LUISS University. He was Minister of Labor and Social Policies in the Letta Government (2013-2014), President of the Italian Statistical Institute (2009-2013) and Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician of the OECD (2001-2009). He is the founder and Director of the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS), a coalition of more than 170 civil society organizations established in December 2015 to implement in Italy the 2030 Development Agenda. He is Senior Fellow of the LUISS School of European Political Economy, member of the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board responsible for supervising the functioning of the European Statistical System, member of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (HLEG) established by the OECD and of boards of several Italian and international institutions. Over the last few years, he was Vice-president of the High Level Group on Competitiveness and Growth of the European Council, Visiting Fellow at the European Political Strategy Centre of the European Commission, Co-Chair of the “Independent Experts Advisory Board on Data Revolution for Sustainable Development”, member of the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Committee, President of the Global Council of the World Economic Forum on the "Evaluation of Societal Progress" and Chair of the Conference of European Statisticians. In October 2014, the President of the Italian Republic made him “Cavaliere di Gran Croce al Merito della Repubblica”, the highest ranking honour of the Italian Republic.

Ms Golodets graduated in 1984 as an economist from the Lomonosov Moscow State University. She holds a PhD in Economics and was a researcher at the Central Research Laboratory of Labour Resources of the R&D Institute of Labour and the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Employment Problems Institute from 1984 to 1997. Subsequently, she became the director of the Reformugol Foundation from 1997 to 1999. She also served as Director at the Social Policy and Human Resources Department and then as Deputy Director General for Human Resources and Social Policy at the Norilsk Nickel company (1999 – 2001 and 2002 – 2008 respectively). In 2001, she was appointed Deputy Governor for Social issues in Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Area. From July 2008 to December 2010 she served as the President of the All-Russian inter-industry Association of Employers and also as a board chair at the Soglasiye Insurance Company. She was appointed as the Deputy Mayor of Moscow in charge of education and healthcare and was a member of the Moscou city government from 3 December 2010 to 21 May 2012. On 21 March 2012, she was appointed as one of the seven Deputy Ministers to the cabinet led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. She is in charge of social affairs and policies in the cabinet.

Ms Grynspan is the Ibero-American Secretary-General, an international multilateral institution which brings together the 19 Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Latin America plus Spain, Andorra and Portugal. Ms Grynspan was born in Costa Rica, on December 14, 1955, and prior to this appointment she held the post of Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) since February 2010. As a recognized leader in promoting human development, she has greatly helped to focus the attention of the world and Latin America on critical issues such as the reduction of inequality and poverty, gender equity, South-South cooperation as tools for development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, among others. Previously, from 2006 to 2010, she was Deputy Secretary General of the UN and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. Before joining the United Nations, she served as Vice President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. She was Minister of Housing, Minister Coordinator of Economic and Social Affairs and Deputy Minister of Finance; also, she was a member of the High Level Panel on Financing for Development convened by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2001. She has contributed to key UN initiatives such as the Millennium Project on Poverty and Economic Development, and the High-Level Panel on Financing for Development. She was also delegate to the United Nations Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti.

Mr Jennings is General Secretary of UNI Global Union, the global trade union for the services sector, with 900d unions in 150 countries. His mission is to Break Through for workers to allow them to unionise and collectively bargain with the conviction that their rights are part of human rights. Mr Jennings is a global union pioneer, recognized as the ‘global warrior’ for workers’ rights. His dedication and ingenuity have led to a transformation of global union work from supply-chain justice, notably the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, through global agreements with multinationals, to union solidarity. Mr Jennings is a long-standing member of the UN Global Compact. The University of Cardiff this year recognized Philip’s contribution to the international labour movement with an Honorary Fellowship.

Dr Lopes is a Bissau-Guinean development economist, author, educator and civil servant. Professor Lopes has a distinguished academic background in development and strategic planning, having authored or edited 22 books to date and having taught at academic institutions including Oxford, Lisbon, Coimbra, Zurich, Uppsala, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The recipient of several honorary doctorates in addition to his own PhD from the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, he has used his influence to help establish various non-governmental organisations and centres for social research, particularly in Africa. Professor Lopes has lead several UN institutions and was Political Director for Secretsry General Kogi Annan. Most recently, Professor Lopes was UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. He is currently over the one of a small, distinguished group of Africans who, under the leadership of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, leading the African Union reform process. He is a member of several Boards and a member of the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate, chaired by former Mexican President Filipe Calderon. Previously he was vice-chair of the Commission on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, chaired by former South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Ms Nanavaty has been working with the Self Employed Women’s Association since 1984 and was elected as the General Secretary in 1999. She managed to expand SEWA’s membership to new heights making it the single largest union of informal sector workers. She negotiated the first ever International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) loan to rebuild lives and livelihoods of 60000 earthquake affected rural women, and is running post conflict economic reconstruction for 40000 members affected by 2002 riots; she is leading rehabilitation programmes in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, providing vocational training in agro and rural livelihood. She is expanding the activities of the Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) making women’s voice and contribution central to world trade decisions. Currently she is replicating the Trade Facilitation Centre model in all the SAARC countries, building social enterprises of home-based women workers. She initiated the food security programme which covers one million households through its rural distribution network, named RUDI, where women farmers and workers trade their products with each other. She is spearheading the Hariyali – Green Energy and Livelihoods Initiative to provide 200,000 women farmers access to renewable energy tools such as cooking stoves and solar lights. She oversees 3200 self-help groups, 110 co-operatives and 15 federations totalling 428,281 members. She focuses on women’s economic empowerment by building women owned enterprises, building women led supply chains in energy, agribusiness, food processing, waste recycling, textile and garmenting. Ms Nanavaty is currently member of the Advisory Council on Gender of the World Bank Group.

Ms Ouedraogo started her professional career in 1974 as a sociologist in in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. After eight years of experience in the various socio-economic contexts and rural development challenges in 1970-80s, Ms. Ouedraogo was called upon to hold a ministerial position in the government of the National Revolutionary Council (1984 -1987) by the late Thomas Sankara. This national responsibility has enabled her to acquire both strategic and political analytical skills that have facilitated her access to positions of responsibility in regional and international organizations, in particular: the Pan-African Institute of Development (IPD - Douala ), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA - Addis Ababa), where she , during seven years, led the African Center for Gender and Development and the international NGO Enda-Tiers Monde (Dakar-Senegal) until September 2011. Upon returning to Burkina Faso, Ms. Ouedraogo participated in the Transitional Government as Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Civic Promotion (Nov 2014-Dec 2015). She has been in Rome since December 2016 as Ambassador of Burkina Faso to the Italian Republic and Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the FAO, the World Food Program (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Mr Samans is a Member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He is responsible for the Forum’s action and policy oriented multistakeholder initiatives on major global challenges, relations with intergovernmental and civil society organizations and portfolio of public-private cooperation projects. He also co-directs the Forum’s new Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. From 2011 to 2013, he served as Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute, where he led the organization’s transformation from a start-up non-governmental organization to a treaty-based intergovernmental institution active in over 20 countries. Before an earlier stint at the World Economic Forum from 2001 to 2011, Mr Samans served in the US White House as Special Assistant for International Economic Policy to President Bill Clinton and Senior Director for International Economic Affairs at the National Security Council. Prior to that, he was Economic Policy Adviser to US Senate Democratic Leader Thomas A. Daschle and served in a range of roles in other public, private, and research institutions. Since 2007, he has also served as Chairman of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board, a consortium of business and environmental organizations that has established a common framework for reporting of carbon-related corporate performance and risks in mainstream reports to the investment community.

Professor Seike became Executive Advisor for Academic Affairs in May 2017 after serving two terms for a total of eight years as the President of Keio University. His current roles in government committees include Chairman of the Council for the Promotion of Social Security System Reform, Chairman of the Manufacturing Industry Committee of the Industrial Structure Council, and Honorary President of the Economic and Social Research Institute. He was President of the Japan Society of Human Resource Management, Chairman of the National Council on Social Security System Reform, Chairman of the Policy Studies Group for the Aged Society, and a member of the Labor Policy Council. He has also served as President of the Japan Association of Private Universities and Colleges and a member of the World Economic Forum Global University Leaders Forum (GULF) and World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Ageing. He was awarded the Honorary Degrees of Doctor from the École Centrale de Nantes in 2012 and the Yonsei University in 2015 as well as the title of Chevalier of the Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur of France in 2016. A labor economist, he has authored many articles and books and received numerous academic prizes for his publications.

Dr Singh, author and former civil servant, retired as Secretary to Government of India, was appointed in November 2012 as Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICC). From September 2017, he has been the Principal Adviser to the President of the FICCI. Dr Singh functions as Chair of the Diaspora group of KNOMAD (Knowledge Network on Migration), World Bank and in March 2017 was named as Global Fellow at the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas, USA. He has served on the International Experts Group of the World Bank for Pandemics Preparedness (2016-17). Dr Singh is presently member of the Governing Councils of St. Stephens Hospital and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Delhi. Dr Singh served as a member of the Global Agenda Council on Migration (2011-15) of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and has been conferred an Award for his service to the Indian Diaspora by the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO International) (). He was named as Distinguished Alumnus of the St Stephen's College, Delhi in 2012 and was awarded Honorary Doctorate from the University of Birmingham in July 2014. He served as a Member on the India-Indonesia Eminent Persons Group (EPG), nominated by the Ministry of External Affairs of India (2016-17). Dr Singh has a Bachelors and Masters from St. Stephens College; a Masters in Development Administration from Birmingham University, UK; and has the distinction of having done the first PhD in India on the Policy and Administration of e-Commerce (Panjab Univ, 2006). Dr Singh has four books and several publications to his credit and has given talks and lectures in over 50 Institutions and 20 countries around the world.

Ms Skogen Lund was appointed CEO of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise in 2012. Prior to that she was Executive Vice President of Telenor, CEO of Aftenposten, CEO of Scanpix Scandinavia and CEO and editor of the Scandinavia Online web portal. She has had international management positions in Unilever and Coca-Cola, and has been an export fellow at the Embassy in Madrid. Ms Skogen Lund is a board member in Ericsson, and has previously served as president of NHO and board member of Orkla ASA. She holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor of International Studies and Business Administration from the University of Oregon, USA.

Doctor of State in Law (Bordeaux, 1979), Associate of Law Schools (1980), Doctor h.c. of the University of Louvain, Doctor h.c. of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and corresponding member of the British Academy (2015). Dr Supiot was a professor at the University of Poitiers then Nantes (UMR-CNRS 6028), and member of the Institut Universitaire de France (2001), before being elected to the Collège de France in 2012. From 1998 to 2000, he presided over the National Development Council Humanities and Social Sciences. His career has been marked by several years of research abroad (1981: Institute of Industrial Relations, Berkeley, 1989/90: European University Institute of Florence, 1997/98: Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin). In 2007 he founded the Institute of Advanced Studies, which jointly hosts scientists from the "south" and "north" countries, and he chaired the Strategic Committee, having headed it from 2008 to 2013. Dr Supiot has published 24 books, as a sole author or co-author, including several translated into many foreign languages, and contributed to 45 collective works. He is the author of 71 articles in French and 85 in foreign languages. His work has focused on two complementary fields: social law and the theory of law.

Mr Walker is President of the Ford Foundation, the nation’s second largest philanthropy, and for two decades has been a leader in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. He led the philanthropy committee that helped bring a resolution to the city of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy and chairs the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance. Prior to joining Ford, he was Vice President at the Rockefeller Foundation where he managed the rebuild New Orleans initiative after Hurricane Katrina. In the 1990s, as COO of Harlem’s largest community development organization, the Abyssinian Development Corporation, Darren oversaw a comprehensive revitalization program of central Harlem, including over 1,000 new units of housing. He had a decade long career in international law and finance at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and UBS. He is a member of the Commission on the Future of Riker’s Island and serves on the boards of Carnegie Hall, New York City Ballet, the High Line, the Arcus Foundation and PepsiCo. Educated exclusively in public schools, Darren received the “Distinguished Alumnus Award,” the highest honor given by his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. In 2016, TIME magazine named him to its annual list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World.” He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the recipient of thirteen honorary degrees and university awards.

Mr Wang is currently the Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China after being elected as a deputy of the 12th NPC in 2013. He is also the President of the China Association for Continuing Engineering Education (CACEE), and a Commissioner of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) of the United Nations. Mr Wang received his Master of Science degree in information management from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science of the Simmons College in the United States in 1983. He joined the Chinese public service in 1977 and has worked in the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) under the State Science and Technology Commission, the Department of International Exchange and Cooperation of the Ministry of Personnel, the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations (UN) in New York and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. He was Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel from 2003 to 2008 and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security from 2008 to 2014, responsible for national policies and programs on human resources development and management as well as personnel system reform in public institutions. Mr Wang served in China as a member of the National Coordination Group on the Work for Talents, Vice Chairperson of the State Leading Group for Education System Reform, and member of the Leading Group for Culture System Reform.

Ms Wickramanayake was appointed as the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in June 2017 at the age of 26. In this role, Ms Wickramanayake works to expand the UN’s youth engagement and advocacy efforts across all four pillars of work – sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action – and serves as a representative of and advisor to the Secretary-General. Originally from Sri Lanka, Ms. Wickramanayake has worked extensively on youth development and participation, and has played a key role in transforming the youth development sector in her home country. Prior to taking up her post, Ms. Wickramanayake was instrumental in creating the movement for civic and political engagement of young people, especially young women in Sri Lanka named “Hashtag Generation”. Previously, she advocated for global youth development on an international level including as the first ever Sri Lankan Youth Delegate to the United Nations and as the youth lead negotiator and member of the International Youth Task Force of the World Conference on Youth 2014 where she played a critical role in mainstreaming youth in the Post-2015 Process and in the establishment of World Youth Skills Day.

In 1972, after his studies at the Social High School of Leuven, Mr Cortebeeck was appointed trade union officer in the youth section ACV-CSC Mechelen/Malines. The ACV-CSC is the most Representative Union Confederation in Belgium. He joined the national staff of the ‘Enterprise-department’ in 1973 (Workers’ Councils, Human Resources, Occupational Health and Safety). In 1983 he was elected Secretary of the Federation of Mechelen/Malines. In 1987 he was elected National Secretary in charge of the Region of Flanders and chaired in this function the Flemish Economic and Social Council (SERV) for three years. From 1999 to end 2011 he was the elected President of the ACV-CSC and Regent of the Central Bank of Belgium (2000-2012); Member of the G-10, the ‘Group of Ten’, representing the social partners of Belgium (2009-2011); Vice-president of the World Confederation of Labour (1999-2006); Deputy-president of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) (2006-2014); Vice-president of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) OECD (1999-2012); Chair of the Workers’ Group of the Committee on Application of Standards of the ILO (2000-2011); President of World Solidarity (Development NGO) 2011-2016; Chair of the Workers’ Group and Vice-chair of the ILO Governing Body(2011-2017).

Mr Mdwaba, a BA (Industrial Sociology) and LLB graduate from Wits University is an entrepreneur, businessman, executive and passionate advocate for business in all its diverse forms and across developing and developed nations. He is a fierce defender of skills development, the conditions required for sustainable enterprises and business and human rights. He is the founder, President and CEO of TZoro IBC, an investment and business consultancy. Until November 2010, Mr Mdwaba held the post of Group Chairman & CEO of Torque IT, South Africa. Under his leadership Torque IT won numerous business awards annually, including “Cisco Partner of the Year” for 7 years in a row. Mr Mdwaba has also personally won numerous business awards, nominated by his peers, including IT personality of the year (2004), and businessman of the year by two organisations (2009) among numerous others. Within organized business in South Africa he has held numerous leadership positions. He has held the position of Chairman of Employer Organisations, namely, the BITF (Black Information Technology Forum) made up of black IT professionals in South Africa and for two terms was President of the ITA (Information Technology Association), made up of all the major IT & Telecoms companies such as Cisco, SAP and Siemens. He subsequently held the positions of firstly, Vice-President for Professionals, made up of all members of the professional organisations of BUSA (Business Unity South Africa) and, subsequently, Vice-President of the Uni-sectoral Sector, made up of the technology, hospitality, banking and mining sectors. He was until recently, a board member of the Business Women’s Association in South Africa. He currently holds many strategic positions within the global employer arena, including that of International Organization of Employers (IOE) Vice President for the ILO, making him the Global Spokesman for Employers in the ILO and consequently, the Vice Chairman of the ILO’s Governing Body. He is also a member of the B20 Task Force on Employment; Chairman of the CSR & Business and Human Rights Policy Working Group of the IOE; Chairman of the University of the Western Cape, as well as Chairman of Productivity SA.

Born in 1955, Ambassador De la Puente is a Peruvian career diplomat; he has a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Pontificia Universidad Católica and the University of San Martín de Porres in Lima, and graduated in International Affairs at the Diplomatic Academy of Peru (1977). Post graduated in International Trade at the Ecole Solvay at ULB Brussels University. He served as Secretary at the Peruvian embassy in the United States (1981-1985); Charge d’Affaires in Denmark (1985-1986); Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission in Brussels 1990-1994 (Belgium and the EU); Minister and Deputy Head of Mission in Bogota (1997-1999) and Washington D.C. (DCM 1999-2001). From 2005 to 2010 he served as Peruvian Ambassador to Australia and later (2015-2017) Ambassador to the United Kingdom. In October 2017 Ambassador De la Puente was appointed Peruvian Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the WTO in Geneva, and then elected Government’s Vice-Chairperson in the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization. During his career, Ambassador De la Puente has held different positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lima, including Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Director General for the Americas, Director of South American Affairs, Director General Security and Defense Affairs, Chief of Cabinet of the Prime Minister, Advisor to the Congress Foreign Affairs Committee, among others.

Born in Liverpool (UK) in 1956, Mr Ryder studied Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge and Latin American Studies at the University of Liverpool. He started his professional career in 1981 as assistant at the International Department of the Trade Union Congress in London. From 1985, he held the position of Secretary of the Industry Trade Section of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET) in Geneva. In 1988, Mr Ryder became Assistant Director and – from 1993 - Director of the Geneva office of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). Mr Ryder first joined the International Labour Organization in 1998 as Director of the Bureau for Workers’ Activities and, from 1999, as Director of the Office of the Director-General. In 2002, he was appointed General Secretary of the ICFTU. He was elected as first General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) when it was created in 2006. He headed international trade union delegations to high level talks with the UN, IMF, World Bank and WTO and to the G20 Leaders’ Summits. In September 2010, Mr Ryder came back to the ILO in Geneva as Executive Director, responsible for international labour standards and fundamental principles and rights at work. Mr Ryder was elected as ILO Director-General by the ILO's Governing Body in May 2012 and was re-elected as ILO-DG on 7 November 2016.