Agenda

The Rev. Dr. Liberato C. Bautista is a civil society leader whose professional life has been dedicated to working with faith-based, ecumenical, and non-governmental organizations worldwide, spanning the last four decades. Dr. Bautista serves as President of CoNGO—The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations—an international non-governmental organization with general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Bautista is an ordained minister of The United Methodist Church and, since 1996, served as the Assistant General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs for the church’s General Board of Church and Society. Bautista serves as an NGO representative to the United Nations worldwide for both CoNGO and UMC-GBCS. He was previously the Chair of the Council of Organizations of the United Nations Association of the USA (COO UNA-USA) and the Committee of Religious NGOs at the UN (CRNGO).

Mr. Verma joined the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) in 1994, serving in the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. Throughout his career, he has worked in various districts including NC Hills, Nagaon, Goalpara, and Sibsagar, and served as the District Magistrate in Dibrugarh. He was also the Managing Director of the Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) and held positions as Commissioner & Secretary/Secretary in the departments of Industries, Information Technology, Agriculture, Science & Technology, and the Chief Minister’s office until 2011.

In August 2011, Mr. Verma moved to New Delhi on central deputation with the Government of India, where he joined the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways as Joint Secretary. From March 2016 to August 2018, he was a Member (PPP) at the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), and he held additional charge as Member (Finance) until December 2016.

After November 2018, Mr. Verma was posted as Principal Secretary (Power) for the Government of Assam. In this role, he also served as Chairman of three power utilities—APGCL, AEGCL, and APDCL—responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution. He additionally held the position of Principal Secretary, Home & Personnel, until November 2023.

On November 22, 2023, Mr. Verma rejoined the central government and is currently working as the Administrator of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) in the Department of Telecommunications.

As Delegate General Wallonia-Brussels in Geneva since September 2023, Ms Sharon Weinblum represents the governments of Wallonia and of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation at the Permanent mission of Belgium to the UN in Geneva.  She previously held the same position in Quebec city, Canada. In both positions, she had the chance to be involved in discussions on the link between digital, cultural diversity and discoverability, a topic of high relevance for the francophone governments of Belgium. Prior to her role as a Delegate general,  Sharon Weinblum was seconded national expert at the EU commission where she worked on innovation and innovative financing in humanitarian action, policy officer at Wallonia-Brussels International, and a researcher in political science for ten years, at the Université libre de Bruxelles, at Harvard University and at the University of Oxford.

Ambassador Ernst Noorman has a long career within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as within other ministries. Before taking up his new position as Ambassador at Large for Cyber Affairs one and a half month ago, he has served the past 13 years as ambassador for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Burkina Faso, Suriname, Afghanistan, and Colombia respectively.  

Before that he worked amongst others at the Ministry of Finance in the Euroteam, responsible for the introduction of the euro in the Netherlands, and for the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, where he was responsible for the financial negotiations leading to the constitutional changes of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 

As a junior diplomat he has served in India and Tanzania. 

Ambassador Noorman obtained his master’s degree in economics at the University of Amsterdam, the city where he was born and presently is living with his wife. 

Dr. Pol Vandenbroucke is the Vice President of Global Government Affairs at Shionogi. In this role, Pol directs the company's engagement with government bodies, policymakers, and regulatory agencies around the world, including the global fight against AMR. He has dedicated his career to Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, and Marketing worldwide. Previously, he held roles overseeing Medical Strategy at Pfizer Inc. and Medical Affairs for Pfizer’s Essential Health portfolio in North America. He led Clinical Development globally for Pfizer compounds and spearheaded initiatives targeting diseases prevalent in developing regions. Dr. Vandenbroucke sits on the boards of AFAR and BIO Ventures for Global Health and serves on advisory boards for several prominent institutions. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Medicine of the United Kingdom. As a prominent speaker on health and policy issues, he also teaches at King’s College and coordinates the Medical Affairs module at IFAPP \Academy and King’s College London.

Maya Plentz is the founder and chief editor of THE UN BRIEF, a weekly newsletter with exclusive interviews and analysis focusing on the United Nations, tech policy, and the global digital economy. She has over two decades of experience in the news media sector. Her work has aired at UN Radio, BBC World, RFI and Bloomberg TV.

During her tenure as a producer and presenter at Bloomberg TV in New York, she covered Google, Microsoft, and the 2000 dot-com boom. She also produced a daily segment on science, medicine, and technology.

At the UN News and Media Division in New York, she served as a broadcast producer and website news editor, conducting interviews with UN officials, government representatives, and diplomats. Her programs reached millions of viewers weekly across the globe, airing on UN national broadcast partners in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

As a member of the European Commission High-Level Group of Experts, under the leadership of Pascal Lamy, former WTO Director General and Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, she was tasked with reviewing the EU's research and innovation funding framework, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. She provided advisory on communication strategies to promote innovation funding at the EU.