Amitav Acharya
Amitav Acharya is Professor at the School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C. He is President of the International Studies Association and also holds the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance, and directs the Transnational Challenges and Emerging Nations Dialogue (TRANSCEND), a global network of research and action on transnational challenges, multilateralism and governance. He is the Chair of American University’s ASEAN Studies Center. His previous appointments include Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Centre for Governance and International Affairs at the University of Bristol; Professor, Deputy Director and Head of Research of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Professor of Political Science at York University, Toronto; Fellow of the Harvard University Asia Center, and Fellow of the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Professor Acharya’s publications number over 20 books and 200 journal and magazine articles. His latest books include: Indonesia Matters: Asia’s Emerging Democratic Power (World Scientific 2014); The End of American World Order: Rethinking Power, Institutions and Ideas in World Politics (Routledge 2013), He has published widely in international journals. His media appearances include interviews with CNN International, BBC World Service, and Al-Jazeera covering such topics as Asian security, regionalism, democratic transitions, human security, the war on terror, and the rise of China and India.
Dewi Fortuna Anwar
Dewi Fortuna Anwar is Deputy Secretary for Political Affairs to the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia. She is a Research Professor and has held the position of Deputy Chairman for Social Sciences and Humanities at The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) from 2001-2010. She is also the Chair of the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights at The Habibie Center, a member of the Board of Advisors of CIDES (Center for Information and Development Studies) in Jakarta, Indonesia, and a member of the Board of Advisors of The Institute for Peace and Democracy, The Bali Democracy Forum. Dewi Anwar briefly held the position of Assistant to the Vice President for Global Affairs (May-July 1998) and that of Assistant Minister/State Secretary for Foreign Affairs (August 1998-November 1999), during the Habibie administration. She had worked as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore (1989) and as a Congressional Fellow at the US Congress in Washington D.C. (1990-1991). Prof. Anwar is a member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, and is board member of several international organizations. She obtained her PhD from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, while her BA (Hons) and MA were obtained from SOAS, University of London.
M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra
M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra is the Governor of Bangkok. He was re-elected in 2013. A scholar, politician and philanthropist, he was a Member of Parliament for Bangkok between 1996 and 2008, serving as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1997 and 2001. Before being elected to Parliament, he was an associate professor at Chulalongkorn University, serving as Director of its Institute of Security and International Studies (1987-93). While an academic, he held many positions, including those of Advisor to the House of Representatives Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs, Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister, Chatichai Choonhavan, and Chairman of the Ministry of Commerce’s Advisory Committee on International Commerce. He has also held the post of President of the Social Science Association of Thailand and is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London. Since 1986, he has been Chairman of the Chumbhot-Pantip Foundation, one of Thailand’s largest philanthropic organizations. He chaired the IRC’s ASEAN-Vietnam Study Group projects in the 1990s. Since 1999, he has served as Chairman of S.E.A. Write Award, the only regional literary awards in Southeast Asia. In 1994 he was selected one of Time Magazine’s “Global 100”, a list of potential leaders for the 21st century. He holds degrees from Pembroke College, Oxford University, and Georgetown University.
M. Rajaretnam
M. Rajaretnam has done extensive work in the countries of ASEAN, East Asia, India, Central Asia and the South Caucasus. His work has largely focused on research, training and development, publishing and business and political consultancy and corporate social responsibility issues. He has interacted with governments, political leaders, the private sector, academic institutions and philanthropic organizations since 1972. In 2003 he convened a “fellowship” of “friends and citizens of Asia” informally called the Asian Dialogue Society committed to the pan-Asian idea of “building a better Asia”. He initiated the “Building a Better Asia ‘Young Asian Leaders’ Retreats”. A total of nine retreats have been held in China, India and ASEAN. He holds the following appointments currently: Advisor on Development and Investment Promotion to the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam, 2014; Advisor to the ASEAN Studies Center of American University; Executive Director, Asian Dialogue Society. His previous positions included the following: Special Advisor to the Secretary General of ASEAN on Community Building and Outreach, 2008-12; Chief Executive Officer/Director, International Centre Goa, India (2005-08). He has written and edited a wide number of publications since 1974. Rajaretnam is a Singaporean. He was educated in Singapore and completed his tertiary studies at the University of Singapore and the University of Michigan, U.S.A.
Yonosuke Hara
earned his doctorate in Agricultural Economics from the University of Tokyo, and is currently professor of Asian Economy, Economic Development and Agricultural Economics, National Gradate Institute for Policy Studies, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Tokyo. Author of many publications, his most notable have been Towards a New Paradigm of Asian Economic Development (1992), Economic Development in Southeast Asia (1996), and Evolution of Agricultural Economics in Modern Japan (2006). Since the early 1970s, he has made many different research trips to different Asian countries, including Korea and Hong Kong, which lie at the centre of Asia-Pacifi c dynamism, and ASEAN countries which are catching up with the centre. He has come to believe that active contacts with foreign economies through trade and investment and guarantee of freedom in economic activity are the prerequisites for economic development.
Shuichi Ohno
is Executive Director at The Nippon Foundation. A graduate of Kyoto University, he worked for the trading house, Marubeni Corporation, for almost thirty years. An economist by training, he worked for various economic and development organizations such as the OECD and World Bank during his employment with Marubeni. He joined The Nippon Foundation in 2001 as Director of International Affairs, and was appointed Executive Director in 2004. Under his leadership, The International Program Department of The Nippon Foundation has been developing and supporting a wide range of programs aimed at alleviating poverty and promoting human development around the world.
Louis Goodman
has been Professor and Dean of the School of International Service since 1986 and in 1992 served as the President of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs. Prior to assuming this position, he directed the Latin America Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Latin America and Caribbean Program at the Social Science Research Council and served on the faculty of Yale University’s Sociology Department. The author of numerous books and articles, Dr. Goodman’s current research focuses on democracy-building and civilian control of the armed forces in Latin America. His Small Nations, Giant Firms: Capital Allocation Decisions in Transnational Corporations (Holmes and Meier: 1987) discusses the determinants of capital allocation decisions in transnational corporation and the impact of transnational corporations on national development. The Military and Democracy in Latin America (D.C. Heath-Lexington: 1990) and Lessons from the Venezuelan Experience (Johns Hopkins: 1995) are volumes he has co-edited which focus on the role of the military in political and economic development. His publications also include works on international affairs education including International Affairs Education on the Eve of the 21st Century (APSIA, 1994).