Kostas Mavromaras is an applied economist who specializes in social and economic policy relating to work, education, and health.

Mavromaras is director and professor of Economics at the Future of Employment and Skills Research Centre, University of Adelaide, Australia, where he leads a multidisciplinary research team specializing in economic and social policy primarily related to work, health, and education. He was the director of the National Institute of Labour Studies, Flinders University in 2009–2017 and programme director at the Melbourne Institute, Melbourne University in 2005–2009. He was previously employed at the University of Aberdeen (2000–2005) and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1991–2000). He completed his PhD in the early 1980s (University of York, UK) and held short-term appointments at the University of Hull and at the IAB of the German Federal Employment Office. He is a research fellow of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation and the IZA (Germany), the Manchester School (UK), GLO (Netherlands), and the ESRI (Ireland).

He has consulted several governments and organizations, including Germany, UK, Greece, Scotland, European Union, Malaysia, Indonesia, OECD, CEDEFOP, ADB, and World Bank. Since 2005, he has consulted widely within Australia on issues relating to social and economic policy. He publishes consistently in top national and international applied economics, social policy, and econometrics journals.

Mavromaras’ research focuses on the changing nature of employment and skills, employment and health pathways, critical workforces (including aged care and disability support), and has been the chief investigator in a number of major national policy evaluations in Australia.

Michael Fung is the group director (Training Partners Group), chief human resource officer, and chief data officer at SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), a statutory agency under the Ministry of Education. He oversees the development of the continuing education and training system in Singapore, through managing funding and contractual partnerships with private training providers, institutes of higher learning, and enterprises. He also oversees the human resource function and champions the data capabilities, governance, and reporting practices at SSG. He previously led the strategic policy and resource planning functions at SSG and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency.

Fung is an adjunct senior fellow at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, and was a senior advisor to the Office of the President at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He formerly held the position of director of Planning and Institutional Research at HKUST, and provided leadership and support for the University’s strategic and academic planning, decisionmaking, resource allocation, and assessment of institutional effectiveness. He also led the University’s participation in international rankings, and was an advisor to several leading international ranking bodies.

He is the founding president of the Higher Education Planning in Asia Association, serves on the Carnegie Mellon University Admissions Council, and sits on the board of IP Academy Singapore. He is an alumnus of the University of Southern California and Carnegie Mellon University in the US, and Tsinghua
University in China.

Elizabeth King is currently nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, commissioner of International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, Board member of Room to Read and Echidna Giving, co-editor of Comparative Education Review, and technical adviser to the Gender Innovation Lab and the Systems Assessment for Better Education Results programs of the World Bank, the Office of Population Studies at the University of San Carlos (Cebu City), and Teach for All. She was the World Bank’s senior spokesperson and professional head for global policy and strategic issues related to education and human development in 2009–2014. She has published on topics such as household investments in human capital and the link between those investments and poverty and economic development; returns to education and other human capital in the labor market; gender issues in development; and decentralization and governance. She worked extensively on economic and education issues in several developing countries across different world regions. She has taught Economics courses at the UP, University of California Los Angeles, Tulane University, the National Graduate Research Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Developpement International at the University of Auvergne in France, and Georgetown University. King received PhD and Master of Philosophy degrees in Economics from Yale University and Master and Bachelor of Arts degrees from UP.

Ma. Victoria Carpio-Bernido and her husband, Christopher Bernido, are 2010 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees for “their purposeful commitment to both science and nation, ensuring innovative, low-cost, and effective basic education even under conditions of great scarcity and daunting poverty”. They introduced the Central Visayan Institute Foundation, Inc. (CVIF) Dynamic Learning Program (DLP), an evidence-based strategy that devotes 70-percent class time to learning activities with well-defined targets for independent learning. Indicators show high performance levels of their students, many of whom come from economically challenged families.

Bernido is presently directress of the CVIF High School Department, while also a visiting Physics professor of the University of San Carlos, Cebu, and honorary Physics professor of the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology. She obtained her Master of Science and PhD in Physics from the State University of New York at Albany, USA (1986, 1989). She was a postdoctoral research fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany in 1996–1997. She taught physics courses for several years at the UP National Institute of Physics, where she was recognized for excellence in teaching and research. Her publications in international journals are on quantum mechanics, stochastic and infinite dimensional analysis, and non-Markovian transport phenomena.

Arnulfo Azcarraga is a professor of Computer Science at DLSU-Manila. He obtained his PhD in Computer Science from INP Grenoble, France and Master of Science in Computer Science from the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.

He was vice chancellor for Research of DLSU Manila until May 16, 2013. He was also assigned to various other administrative posts at DLSU: associate vice chancellor for External Relations; executive vice president (Canlubang Campus); and dean, Graduate School director, and vice dean of the College of Computer Studies. Prior to graduate studies, he was with the National Computer Center. He was also a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore, managing a very large Programme for Research into Intelligent Systems.  

As a certified Senior Quality Assurance (QA) assessor of the ASEAN University Network (AUN) and member of the AUN QA Council, he has given numerous QA trainings for QA practitioners and has led numerous QA assessment of several top universities in the ASEAN region. He has published in high-impact journals and presented papers in national and international conferences mainly in the area of the theory and applications of artificial neural networks. He is also a member of the Artificial Intelligence Council of the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development of the DOST.

Emmanuel de Dios has been a professor of Economics at the UPSE since 1989.

He has also served as the president of Human Development Network (Philippines) since July 2012. He was the dean of the UPSE from 2007 to 2010.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics degree from the Ateneo de Manila University (cum laude) in 1978 and his PhD in Economics from the UP in 1987. He pursued postdoctoral studies at the Universität Konstanz in Germany from 1987 to 1988 and is the author or editor of various books, monographs, articles, and reviews in economics.

Ramon Lopez is the secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). His extensive government experience with the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), DTI, and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in the early part of his career provided him with a solid background on macroeconomic and industry policy and program development that allowed him to adopt a more holistic approach when he moved to the private sector and became a top executive of a major Philippine food and beverage company for over 23 years. He led the entrepreneur advocacy Go Negosyo for 12 years until he was called to serve the country again under President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s administration as the DTI Secretary. He chairs several institutions under DTI such as the Board of Investments (BOI), the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), the Small Business Corporation (SB Corp.), the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and several councils for MSME Development, Industry Development, Export Development, and Price Coordination. He also chaired the ASEAN Economic Ministers when the Philippines assumed Chairmanship in 2017. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines and topped his Master’s degree in Development Economics at Williams College, Massachusetts.

Diwa Guinigundo rose from the ranks of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and is now Deputy Governor for the Monetary and Economics Sector, BSP. He has been serving the BSP for 40 years. He was assistant governor for monetary policy and international operations prior to his appointment as deputy governor in 2005.

In 2001-2003, he was Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. Earlier he was Head of Research at The SEACEN (Southeast Asian Central Banks) Centre in Kuala Lumpur in 1992-1994.

Since 2000, Deputy Governor Guinigundo has co-chaired with Bank Negara Malaysia the SEACEN Experts Group on Capital Flows and in 2010-2013, the ASEAN Senior Level Committee (SLC) on Financial Integration. He serves as co-chair of the SLC for the second time in 2016-2018. He also chaired the SEACEN Task Force on SEACEN membership.

For the period 2009-2012, he chaired the Executive Meeting of East Asia and the Pacific (EMEAP) Monetary and Financial Stability Committee of EMEAP central bank deputies that is tasked to conduct regional and global surveillance.

Deputy Governor Guinigundo graduated, cum laude, at the top of his AB Economics Class at the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Economics. He earned the M.Sc. degree in Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) as a scholar of the Central Bank of the Philippines.

Peter Draper has extensive experience as a policy and regulatory analyst with a focus on trade and investment policies in Southern African and emerging markets. He is the founder of Tutwa Consulting Group where he was the managing director from 2015 to 2018. He is currently a director.

Draper is currently the executive director of the Institute for International Trade at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He is a nonresident senior fellow at the European Centre for International Political Economy, based in Brussels. He is a former senior research fellow in the Economic Diplomacy Programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs and is a part-time lecturer at Wits Business School where he won two teaching awards.

He was formerly head of Economic Analysis and Research in the Trade Policy Division at the Department of Trade and Industry in South Africa. He was also the head of the Economics Department at the University of KwaZulu Natal (then University of Durban-Westville). He holds a Master of Commerce degree from the University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal).

Eliseo Rio Jr. has been acting secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) since May 10, 2018. His office is in charge with the formulation of policies, planning, and programming of cybersecurity and emergency communications and the implementation of strategic programs and projects, and regional operations. He also holds a supervisory role of the Cybercrime Investigation Coordination Center, the National Privacy Commission, and the COMELEC Advisory Council, as well as overseeing duties regarding the participation of the DICT in the activities of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

He is an electronics and communication engineer (ECE) and was one of the topnotchers (4th place) in the ECE Licensure Examination conducted in 1971.

He served the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and is now a retired Brigadier General. He held various positions in the AFP Research and Development Center from September 1968 to April 1969. Rio was assigned with Communication Company, 4th Infantry Division in Mindanao, from October 1969 to May 1971.

He was selected as the Most Outstanding Professional in the Field of Electronics and Communication for 2002 by the Philippine Professional Regulation Commission. He was a former commissioner at the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). One of his significant accomplishments in NTC was the enactment of NTC MC 08-07-2002 on the Rules and Regulations Authorizing Entities Other Than Public Telecommunications Entities to Install and Operate Public Calling Stations/Offices and Telecenters in 2002, which has paved the way for the growth of call centers and business process outsourcing in the country.

Page 3 of 4