APPC Speakers' Profile
SESSION 1: TWIN TRANSITION: CONCEPT, CHALLENGES, AND PROSPECTS
Editor in Chief, UNESCO Science Report United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
As Editor in Chief, Susan Schneegans was responsible for producing the editions of the UNESCO Science Report released in 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2021; this series tracks the development path that countries are following by regularly analysing global trends in science, technology and innovation policy, as well as in scientific endeavour. In 2013 and 2014, Ms Schneegans co-edited three reports profiling the national innovation systems of Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe, within UNESCO’s Global Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Instruments. From 2002 to 2013, she was Editor of UNESCO’s quarterly magazine, A World of Science, which she also founded. She holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Auckland (New Zealand).
Senior Economic Advisor, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Dr. Aladdin D. Rillo is currently a Senior Economic Advisor for the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). Prior to that he worked at the ASEAN Secretariat for many years where he served in various positions; the latest as the Deputy Secretary-General for the ASEAN Economic Community (2018-2021), during which he provided the overall leadership in the implementation of the AEC Blueprint 2025 and ASEAN’s economic integration agenda. He also held positions at the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo as Senior Economist (2013-2018) and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Toronto as Senior Manager Transfer Pricing (2006-2007).
Executive Member, National Innovation Council of the Philippines
Mr. Ibrahim joined the public service in 2006 and retired as Undersecretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in July 2019. On June 30, 2023, he is back in public service after President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. appointed him as an Executive Member of the National Innovation Council representing the Business Sector. Before joining the government in 2006, he had a long successful career with multinational companies like Fujitsu, Siemens-Nixdorf, Comparex Germany, and Unisys Australia in various executive positions.
SESSION 2: HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE DUAL TRANSITION
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Wake Forest University
E. Mark Curtis is currently an Associate Professor at Wake Forest University, having previously served as an Assistant Professor at the same institution. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Georgia State University, an M.A. in Economics from Duke University, and a B.A.from Furman University. Curtis specializes in Environmental, Labor, Public, and Energy economics. His research has been published in esteemed journals such as the Review of Economics & Statistics, Journal of Environmental Economics & Management, and Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy. His work has been cited in popular press outlets including the New York Times, The Guardian, MarketWatch and Business Insider.
Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
Samantha Sharpe is Associate Professor and Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures. Her research focuses on the employment and labour market implications of climate change and climate action. This includes understanding the process of enterprise and industrial transition to sustainability, at the firm, sector, and labour market levels. Green jobs and greening employment have been a particularly focus of her work with current projects investigating employment impacts of circular economy, increasing climate resilience in SMEs and employment and emerging markets in climate adaptation services. Samantha's work is focused on environmental and social sustainability in the global textile and garment sector and energy sectors and public policy development for just transition
CHED Technical Committee Management Member and Immediate Past President, Tourism Industry Board Foundation. Inc. (TIBFI)
Ma. Christina G. Aquino is the immediate past Chairperson of the Tourism Industry Board Foundation Inc, (TIBFI). She is an Associate Board Member of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP); member of CHED Technical Committee of Tourism and Hospitality Management and the NCR Regional Quality Assurance Team (RQAT); a resource person for TESDA for the Tourism sector and a STAR External Validator; a DTI Philippine Quality Award (PQA) Assessor, and an ASEAN Master Tourism Assessor for Housekeeping. She is a Past President of the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Educators of the Philippines (COHREP), Asia Pacific Council of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (APacCHRIE), and a former Board & Corporate Secretary of International Center for Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality Education (THE-ICE).
Executive Director, Analytics Association of the Philippines
Sherwin Pelayo is the Executive Director and a founding board member of the Analytics Association of the Philippines which is the country’s National Industry Board for Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. As Executive Director, he executes AAP’s nationwide programs in, among others, education, labor market research, and policies and standards, in support of AAP’s mission of building a healthy and vibrant Philippines Analytics and Artificial Intelligence sector through the forging of relations of trust with the government, academic and learning institutions, and the private sector. He continuously shares this advocacy to learners of Analytics most notably with DOST’s Project SPARTA and the University of Asia and the Pacific’s Master’s in Applied Business Analytics program.
OIC- Executive Director, Planning Office, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)
Ms. Charlyn B. Justimbaste currently serves as the OIC - Executive Director of the Planning Office of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Prior to this assignment she was the Acting Assistant Executive Director and Chief of the Project Development Division of the same office. Ms. Justimbaste holds a degree in Human Ecology major in Human Settlements Planning and a Masters in Development Management and Governance from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños.
SESSION 3: REDUCING THE DISRUPTIONS TO TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Assistant Secretary, Department of Energy (DOE)
Mario C. Marasigan is a Career Service Officer III who currently serves as Assistant Secretary of the Philippine Department of Energy. Asec Marasigan supervises the Electric Power Industry Management Bureau (EPIMB), which he served as Director for more than five years prior to his appointment as Assistant Secretary. Asec Marasigan also served as Director for the Renewable Energy Management Bureau, which handles the overall administration, regulation, and promotion of renewable energy resources development in the country. He is also the former Director of the Energy Utilization Management Bureau, in charge of administering and implementing alternative fuel use and energy technologies including energy efficiency and conservation programs of the Department.
Deputy Director of the Supervisory Policy and Research Department, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Rhodora M. Brazil-De Vera is a Deputy Director at the Supervisory Policy and Research Department (SPRD), Financial Supervision Sector (FSS), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). She is a member of the FSS Technical Working Group on Sustainable Finance. She is involved in the development and implementation of the BSP’s Sustainable Central Banking Strategy and issuance of sustainability-related policies. She is a member of the Philippine Sustainability Reporting Committee and BSP Representative to the NGFS Workstream on Supervision, and ASEAN SLC Task Force on Sustainable Finance. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a Financial Risk Manager.
Chairman Emeritus, PwC
Alex, both a Certified Public Accountant and lawyer, is the Chairman Emeritus of PwC Philippines and served as Chairman and Senior Partner for eight years. He leads the firm’s Environment, Sustainability and Governance (ESG) practice and continues to be a Tax Partner. He is the managing partner and co-founder of the law firm Cabrera & Company, a member firm of the PwC network. He is the Vice Chair of the Management Association of the Philippines and the Chairman of Integrity Initiative, Inc., a private sector led movement to fight against graft and corruption. Alex has been given the Accountancy Centenary Award of Excellence, Honorary Life Member by the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), CEO of the Year at PICPA, CEO of the Year at the Asia Leaders Awards 2019, Outstanding CPA in Public Practice Award, and the Young Achiever in Public Practice Award in 1998.
Member, Board of Advisors, AIM-Dr. Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism
Cherry Lyn Rodolfo is a Member of the Board of Advisors of the AIM Dr Andrew Tan Center for Tourism. She is part time faculty of the University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics. She has done and is engaged in consulting work with government and private companies on tourism and transport projects.
Founding Executive Director, Tech for Good Institute
Dr Ming Tan is founding Executive Director for the Tech for Good Institute, a non-profit founded by Grab to catalyse research and collaboration on social, economic, and policy trends accelerated by the digital economy. She is concurrently a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore. Her interests lie at the intersection of technology, business and society, including sustainability and innovation.
SESSION 4: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN A WORLD OF DUAL TRANSFORMATION
Disaster and Climate Risk Data Fellow, The World Bank, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR)
Isabelle Tingzon is a Disaster and Climate Risk Data Fellow under the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) at the World Bank and an incoming Data Science Consultant at UNICEF. Prior to this, she held research positions at the Technical University of Munich and UP Diliman. Her research focuses primarily on the applications of machine learning and Earth observation for socio-economic development and humanitarian response. Her recent works include poverty estimation, informal settlement detection, and hazard exposure mapping, done in collaboration with humanitarian organizations and government agencies across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She also serves as the Technical Lead for AI/ML at Women Who Code Manila and is a Core Member of Climate Change AI.
Ph.D. Student, Bonn Sustainable AI Lab, Institute for Science and Ethics, Bonn University
Sophia Falk is a Ph.D. student at the Bonn Sustainable AI Lab, hosted at the Institute for Science and Ethics at Bonn University (Germany). She completed her Bachelor in "International Culture and Business Studies" at the University of Passau in 2019. In 2022, she received an MSc in “Environmental and Resource Economics” from Kiel University. From 2021- 2022 Sophia worked as a research assistant in the working group ‘Global Commons and Climate Policy’ at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. In her current research, Sophia Falk investigates whether the increasing dedication to addressing the climate crisis with technological solutions such as Artificial Intelligence is an approach that can effectively contribute to achieving a sustainable sociotechnical transformation.
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman
Associate Professor Peter Sy is UP Project Director, MICROCASA ("MICRO-credentials for life-long learning and employability: Building Capacities for developing Agile educational interventions in Southeast Asian Universities"), an EU-funded project; Chairman, eHealth Privacy Experts Group (DOH)/DOST); Consultant, Development of a National AI Governance Framework (DTI); Independent Consultant, National Ethics Committee (NEC); Foundation Faculty, Asia Open RAN Academy. He has been the Director of the ELSI (Ethical, Legal, Social Issues) Program of the Philippine Genome Center, 2011-2014; the Executive Officer (2003-2014) of the International Association of Bioethics (IAB); a research consultant of the Public Assessment of Water Services (PAWS), National Engineering Center. He has been a Research Fellow at the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies and at the School of Public Health, Harvard University.
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