Sri Moertiningsih Adioetomo is a Professor Emeritus in economics of population at the Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta. She continues to teaching and coordinating (Head of) the Master Program in Economics of Population and Labor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Indonesia. Her area of focus has been demographic and population analysis and its socio-economic consequences. She served as an advisor to the government and continues to conduct research and consult for many agencies domestic and international.

John Beard is the Director of Department of Ageing and Life Course, World Health Organization, Geneva. He was lead editor of the World report on ageing and health, coeditor of the 2014 Lancet series on Ageing and is a past chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on an Ageing Society. His team drafted the 2016 Global Strategy and Action Plan on Ageing and Health and oversees many ongoing initiatives, including the Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities.

Ferdous Ara Begum is a gender and ageing issues specialist and member of the Board of Trustees of HelpAge International. She is involved with the International Institute on Ageing (UN-Malta) and the Satellite Centre for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Countries. She is a former member of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (2007-2010). She was the first woman to lead Bangladesh Television as Director General, and also the first female Commissioner of Taxes in Bangladesh.

Mathew Cherian is Chief Executive of HelpAge India, a leading advocacy and caregiver non-profit for the elderly. He is currently on the Board of HelpAge International, Guidestar International, Care International and Sightsavers, all well-known non-profits. He is Member of the National Council of Senior Citizens and the National Foundation for Communal Harmony. He is the current Independent Commissioner for Geriatric Health with India’s Ministry of Health. His most recent big initiative was the Credibility Alliance, which works to establish accountability and transparency in Civil Society.

Vichai Chokevivat is currently a member of Quality Control Committee under the National Health Security Act, a Councilor of Chandrakasem Rajabhat University Council and the President of Senior Citizen Council of Thailand. Previously, he served in the Ministry of Public Health including as Secretary General of Food and Drug Administration, Director General of the Department for the Developments of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, and Expert in Health Promotion. He established and become the director of the Institute for the Development of Human Research Protections in the Health System Research Institute (HSRI), Thailand.

Peh Kim Choo is the Chief, Programmes of Hua Mei Centre for Successful Ageing, the Tsao Foundation's collective of seven pioneering aged care programmes. Trained as a social worker, counselling therapist and clinical supervisor, she has worked in team-managed primary care, home-based health and psychosocial care, as well as care management for elders living in the community. She is the project leader for a community-wide approach to forge an integrated system of comprehensive programmes and services to promote health, wellbeing and enable ageing in place.

Susana Concordo Harding is the Director of the International Longevity Centre Singapore providing overall direction and leadership of its research and policy advocacy efforts and to develop new programmes that will support active ageing and enhance older people’s participation in the community. She has 25 years of experience in the non-profit sector, especially in the areas of community development, project management, needs assessment, programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation, social policy advocacy, partnership development and networking. 

Professor Lakshman Dissanayake is the Vice Chancellor and Senior Professor in the Department of Demography at the University of Colombo and teaches and researches with several other institutions. He is also a member of the Research Advisory Group appointed by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection of the Australian Government. His recent work includes four policy briefs on population dynamics in the Asia-Pacific Region for the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD).

Hon. Mr. Feroz, of Bangladesh, serves as Chief Whip in the 10th Parliament, Chair of the House Committee, General Secretary of the Parliament Members’ Club, President of the Parliament Members’ Forum on Climate Change and President of the Bangladesh-German Parliamentary Friendship Group. Hon. Mr. Feroz is also an active member of the Bangladesh Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (BAPPD), which is a National Committee member of AFPPD. He was first elected to the House in 1979 and was subsequently elected from the seat in the fifth, seventh and ninth general elections.

Tengku Aizan Hamid is the founding Director of the Malaysia Research Institute on Ageing at Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2002. Her areas of research include mental health of older persons, quality of later life, elder abuse, social protection in old age, as well as socioeconomic and psychosocial aspects of ageing. She is a member of the National Advisory and Consultative Council of the Elderly (NACCE), the Technical Committee on the Health of Older Persons, and is President of the Gerontological Association of Malaysia.

Hon. Ms. Hasbullah serves as Deputy Chairperson of Commission IX (Population and Health) of the Indonesian Parliament. She has also been the Chairperson of the Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (IFPPD) since 2015. Previously, she has served as Senior Adviser to the Minister of Cooperative and Small Business and Senior Adviser to the Minister of Religious Affairs and has also held various roles with international organizations such as UNICEF and Save the Children, as well as with several institutions under the Nahdatul Ulama.

Michael Herrmann is Senior Adviser on Economics and Manager of the Innovation Fund at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Michael leads analysis on some of the greatest development challenges (poverty, inequality, employment, social protection, green growth, sustainable development and financing for development) and demographic mega trends (population growth, population aging, urbanization and migration), and on the basis of this analysis he informs global, regional and national policy dialogues.

Chrysanthus Herrera is the Medical Science and Government Affairs Manager of Merck Philippines. His main focus of work is public-private ventures to increase access to health. Chrys works with the Philippines Department of Health (DOH) to implement the Healthy Women, Healthy Economies initiative of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Prior to joining Merck, Chrys was a health policy consultant providing technical assistance to the DOH and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in the Kalusugan Pangkalahatan (Universal Health Care) Initiative.

Xiao Hongyan is the Chief of the International Affairs Section of the China National Committee on Ageing. With 19 years’ working experience in the Chinese government, focusing in the field of international communication and cooperation, she is quite familiar with the domestic and global settings of the ageing issue. She has published several academic papers, including “Study on the ICT Model of Long-term Age care Service in line with the Uneven Evolution of China’s Population Ageing”(2015), and “Actively Promote Construction of the National Information Service System for Decision Making on Ageing”(2013).

Cho Hyunse is the President of HelpAge Korea. He has been involved in developing Older People’s Associations in Korea and Southeast Asia, promoting regional initiatives for age care policies, worked with ASEAN governments to focus on community care and consulted for the ASEAN Secretariat, Social Welfare Labour and Migrant Workers Division. He is a member of the board of HelpAge International, the Korea NGO Council for Overseas Cooperation and is a member of the Consultation Committee of Human Rights Policy in the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.

Thelma Kay is the former Chief of the Social Development Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and also the former Senior Advisor on Ageing Issues, Ministry of Social and Family Development, Singapore. Ms Kay currently serves as an independent expert and as advisor and consultant to governments and international organisations. She has also collaborated with private sector bodies such as the Asia Business Advisory Council and the Asia Pacific Business Forum.

Bazlul Haque Khondker is a Professor in Economics at Dhaka University. His areas of expertise include the formulation of national planning strategies; assessment of cost effectiveness and value for money; assessing resource gap implications of investment interventions; construction of Social Accounting Matrices (SAM); conducting impact assessment of micro-meso level interventions using cost effectiveness; and econometric methods. He has worked as a consultant in numerous countries around the world for UDPA, ADB, ILO UNRBAP, UNICEF, World Bank, DFID, the Central Bank of Venezuela, Harvard University, and the East West Centre among others.

Janjarang Kijtikhun is a Deputy Coordinator - Strategic Social Investment (SSI) at Monkey Forest Consulting. Her current work focus on livelihoods restoration and building resilient communities for the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical (NSRP) project in the Economic Zone of Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. Her past works involve international development projects with a wide range of clients from international organizations, NGOs, and startups in Southeast Asia and Europe.

John Knodel is Research Professor Emeritus at the Population Studies Center, University of Michigan and international affiliate of the College of Population Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. During the last two decades his studies focused mainly on issues related to the older aged population with a focus on older persons in Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Current research focuses on long term care of older persons, widowhood and grandparental care of children left behind by migrants from Myanmar to Thailand.

Charles Knox-Vydmanov is Social Protection Policy Advisor at HelpAge International. His work involves direct technical support and training to government, and supporting HelpAge offices and network members to advocate for better pension policy. He has been involved with policy engagement and analysis in countries across Africa, Latin America and Asia, and in extensive research on pensions, leading to the development of HelpAge’s Social Pensions Database. Currently he is overseeing a piece of research on income security in 5 countries in Asia as part of a joint UNFPA and HelpAge programme.

Soonman Kwon is the Chief of Health Sector Group (Technical Advisor on Health) in the ADB (Asian Development Bank). He was the president of the Korean Gerontological Society (2015-16) and Korean Association of Schools of Public Health (2013-14) and is the president-elect of Korean Health Economic Association. Kwon is the associate editor of Health Policy (Elsevier) and was the editor of the Korean Journal of Health Economics (2014-15) and Korean Journal of Public Health (2007-09).

Sang-Hyop Lee is a Professor in the Department of Economics and Director of Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Senior Fellow at the East-West Center. He is also the Asian Team Leader of the National Transfer Accounts project. His studies focus on population aging and social welfare issues and he has published on population aging, fiscal policy, and labor market with emphasis on Asian economies.  

Timothy Ma is a consultant for Project Flame at the City University of Hong Kong and a strategic consultant of the Hondao Elderly Welfare Association of Taiwan. He was the Founding Executive Director of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association from 1996 to 2012, currently the largest social enterprise in Hong Kong serving more than 80,000 elders via its 24-hourly operating Life-Line Service. He has previously served as a member of the Ageing of the Global Agenda Council, World Economic Forum. 

Mika Marumoto is the Executive Director of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD). Mika is currently working with AFPPD’s Standing Committees on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, Investing in Youth, and Active Ageing. Prior to her current position, Mika was a special advisor for management and governance, serving on the AFPPD Task Force on Transparency, Accountability and Governance. Mika also worked as a development practitioner and strategy consultant for organizations including the ADB, UNFPA, UNDP, the World Bank Group, and McKinsey & Company.

Ritsu Nacken is the Deputy Representative of the UNFPA Viet Nam Country. During her 15 years of service with the United Nations, she served as Head of the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in Ethiopia, Learning and Training Specialist at the UN System Staff College in Italy, UN Coordination Specialist in the Pacific region, based in Fiji. Through these assignments, she contributed to a number of joint UN initiatives, including policy advocacy, strategy development and capacity building.

Naohiro Ogawa is Project Professor at the Graduate School of Economics of the University of Tokyo, and Professor Emeritus at the College of Economics of Nihon University. He has written extensively on population and development in Japan and other Asian countries. His research has focused on issues such as socioeconomic impacts of low fertility and rapid population aging, modeling demographic and social security-related variables, as well as policies related to fertility, employment, marriage, child care, retirement and care for the elderly. His recent work includes measuring intergenerational transfers.

Diego Palacios has been the UNFPA Representative to India and Country Director in Bhutan since February 2016. From 2012-2014, he served as Executive Coordinator for the Post 2015 Development Agenda advising the UNFPA Executive Director. With UNFPA since 1989, he has held posts in numerous countries in the Americas and south and southeast Asia. He has supervised programmes that aimed at providing technical support to the governments and civil society organizations in matters related to population and sustainable development, gender equality and reproductive health. 

Thangavel Palanivel is a Senior Strategic Advisor and Chief Economist at the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. Previously, he has worked with the UNDP as an economist and programme coordinator on poverty and MDGs, inclusive growth and pro-poor macroeconomic policies, among other areas. He has researched capacity building activities on sustainable development and macroeconomic modelling, forecasting and policy simulations. His recent publications include UNDP 2016 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report on Shaping the Future: How Changing Demographics Can Power Human Development.

Du Peng is director and professor of the Institute of Gerontology, Renmin University of China. He is the vice-president of China Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics. He has been a member of Experts Committee of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (Since 2006), board member of HelpAge International (2008-2016) and board member of United Nations International Institute on Ageing (since 2008). He served as the chair of International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics Asia/Oceania Region from 2009 to 2013. His research interests are population ageing and ageing policies.

Celine Peyron Bista is Chief Technical Adviser on Social Protection, International Labour Organization. Her experience is in the field of social security and social protection at the international level. She joined the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2001, first with its Training Center in Turin, and then at headquarters in Geneva, where she worked among other issues on promoting social security for migrant workers. She also worked with the Asian Development Bank as a Social Sector Specialist in Beijing.

John Piggott is Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR), at the University of New South Wales, Australia, where he is Scientia Professor of Economics. Dr Piggott has a long standing interest in retirement and pension economics and finance. He was a member of the Henry Tax Review Panel and, for several years, the Ministerial Superannuation Advisory Committee. Internationally, he has been a consultant to governments on pension issues, including Russia and Indonesia, and a visiting professor to institutes in China and the United States.

Nguyen Ngoc Quynh is Social Protection Analyst at the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam, and in charge of UNFPA's work in Vietnam on ageing population and social protection. She is also responsible for UNFPA’s work on policy and advocacy on population issues. Quynh is an economist and has been working for many years as policy advisor and researcher on poverty reduction, economic development, social protection, migration and social capital for the government and development organizations in Vietnam, Australia, and the Philippines.

Ravi P. Rannan-Eliya is a Fellow/Executive Director for the Institute for Health Policy in Sri Lanka. He has specialized in International Public Health. He has worked in Latin America, Africa & Asia as a member of Harvard University. Has undertaken research and consulted in several countries working with World Bank, WHO, ADB, other agencies and governments and is recognized as a leading international expert in health equity research and health accounting. His current research focuses on issues of health systems financing, ageing, equity, non-communicable disease and child under-nutrition.

Chris Roles has been Director of Age International, the UK member of the global HelpAge network responsible for UK-facing policy, fundraising and communications, since 2012. Before joining Age International, Chris was Chief Executive of Y Care International, a youth-focused international relief and development agency. He has also held senior positions at Christian Aid, ActionAid, and on UK public policy at YMCA England. Chris is a member of the BBC’s Appeals Advisory Committee.

Thaworn Sakunphanit is Program Director of the Health Insurance System Research Office, Health System Research Institute, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. His research areas are health and other social protection policies; health care financing; health insurance management and health economics. His previous working experience includes hospital director, deputy director of Health Insurance Office of Ministry of Public Health, and member of Committees and Subcommittees in Ministries and Parliaments. He has also worked as an international consultant on health insurance.

Aura Sevilla is a Project Coordinator with the Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE), a civil society organisation working with and for older people in the Philippines. Aura has led COSE’s efforts on improving the country's means-tested social pension program, gathering evidence, advocating for change with the government, networking, and building the capacity of older people to affect institutional change. With HelpAge International, she co-authored a four-year assessment of the Philippines’ Social Pension and now a feasibility study of a Universal Social Pension.

Hon. Dr. Sirathranont, of Thailand, has been the Secretary-General of AFPPD since 2014. Hon. Dr. Sirathranont is a medical doctor and has been working on health issues as a legislator. In his capacity as the current Chairperson of Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly’s (NLA) Public Health Committee, Hon. Dr. Sirathranont is leading advocacy efforts to address teenage pregnancy issues through a Reproductive Health Protection Bill in Thailand.  Hon. Dr. Sirathranont has served twice as member of the Senate of Thailand from 2008 to 2011 and from 2011 to 2014.

Vanessa Steinmayer is a Population Affairs Officer in the Social Development Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok.  Her work areas include analysis of population ageing, including analyzing of and advocating for establishing pension systems, the review of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and international migration as well as other areas of social policy analysis. She has a PhD in Economics and work experience in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Wanchat Suwannakit has been a policy and planning analyst at the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), the Royal Thai Government for over twenty years. He has been involved in various national policy/strategic formulation such as National Development plan, life-cycle development strategy and various social policies’ monitoring and evaluation including the MDG Thailand report. His current work examines the linkages of older people to national development and linkages of the Thai philosophy of sufficiency economy to SDGs.

Srinivas Tata is currently serving as the Chief of Social Policy and Population in the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok. He oversees the work of the section in relation to overall formulation of social policy and the impact of population dynamics. The focus areas covered by the section include population ageing, population policies, migration, health and development linkages including access to reproductive and sexual health and HIV services.

Giang Thanh Long is an Associate Professor & Director of the Institute of Public Policy and Management (IPPM), National Economics University and Senior Researcher at Institute of Social and Medical Studies (ISMS) in Hanoi. His research interests include the economics of aging and health protection for older people, using actuarial and micro-simulation techniques to provide evidence-based policy studies. He was involved in the development of the Vietnam’s Social Protection Strategy 2011-2020; and a key member of taskforce for reforming social assistance system in Vietnam, under MoLISA.

Bishwa Nath Tiwari is a Programme Specialist at the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub where he engages in the preparation of analytical products such as human development report, SDG report, and ensures the quality of national human development reports working with UNDP country offices of Asia and the Pacific Region. He served as core team-member of the Asia-Pacific Human Development Report 2016 – “Shaping the Future: How Changing Demographics can Power Human Development”. Previously Bishwa served as a professor and consultant for government and civil society organisations.

Prakash Tyagi is the Executive Director of GRAVIS and has been with the organisation since 2000. GRAVIS is one of the leading NGOs in India which focuses on livelihood promotion, health and education. GRAVIS has been a major facilitator in setting up and strengthening over 2,900 Community Based Organisations (CBOs). He has also contributed to a number of development and health projects locally and internationally as well as to research studies focusing on community and public health.

Hiroko Uchimura-Shiroishi is Financial Sector Specialist of Public Management, Financial Sector and Regional Cooperation Division, East Asia Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and leads projects mainly in the areas of social security system development, public finance, and governance. She has about 20 years of experience in development with specialization in economic development and public sector management, including fiscal decentralization, social assistance, and social security. Her work on social security has further covered issues of long-term care systems and financing.

Kim Walker is the Founder and CEO of Silver Group, a unique consultancy that helps companies and brands respond profitably to the ageing population. He is a globally recognised thought-leader and has appeared repeatedly on television and in numerous print and online publications. He co-authored a pivotal reference book; ‘Marketing to the Ageing Consumer’ and co-created the AF iPad app to measure and monitor Age-Friendliness of brands, cities, workplaces and more. Prior to establishing Silver, Kim held regional CEO positions for several global advertising agency networks.

Dharmapriya Wesumperuma, Social Protection Adviser for the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Wesumperuma is an expert in ageing, development and social protection. After 18 years as Executive Director of the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Dr Wesumperuma became the Senior Strategy Adviser and Regional Head of Programmes, East Asia/ Pacific, for HelpAge International.