Ms Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT)
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Doreen Bogdan-Martin was elected Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau in November 2018 and took office on the 1 of January 2019. She is a strategic leader with 30 years' of high-level experience in international and inter-governmental relations, and a long history of success in policy and strategy development, analysis and execution.
From 2008-2018, she led the Strategic Planning & Membership Department of ITU, and also served as Coordinator of United Nations Affairs. She was one of the architects of the annual Global Symposium for Regulators and leads ITU's contribution to the EQUALS Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age. She serves as Executive Director of the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, and is leading ITU's collaboration with UNICEF and others on the GIGA project to connect the world's school.
She holds a Master's degree in International Communications Policy from the American University in Washington, DC and a post graduate certificate in Strategies for Leadertship from the Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is an affiliate of the Harvard University Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, and a Generation Unlimited Champion. She serves on a number of advisory bodies, including the Geneva Tsingua Initiative, the SDG Lab Advisory Board, and the UN Technology Innovation Labs. She is also an amateur radio operator.
Ms Bogdan-Martin is married with four children.
Ms Vanessa Gray
Head, BDT's Environment and Emergency Telecommunications Division
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Ms. Vanessa Gray is the Head of the Division for Environment and Emergency Telecommunications within the ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT). Ms Gray coordinates the Telecommunication Development Bureau's work in the area of Emergency Telecommunications, to develop ICT projects and provide assistance for disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. This includes the development of national emergency telecommunication plans, the deployment of emergency telecommunication equipment to countries hit by disasters, and regional and national capacity building exercises for disaster management. She is also responsible for the organization of the Global Forum on Emergency Telecommunication (GET) and specific ICT for disaster management tools and publications, for example in the area of disruptive technologies, gender, and ICT drills.
In the area of the environment, Ms Gray coordinates the BDT's work on developing e-waste policies and monitoring the amount of electronic waste, in particular through the publication of the Global and Regional E-waste Monitors. Her role is to build public-private partnerships, develop projects and strengthen the role of the BDT in terms of e-waste coordination, for example with the E-waste Coalition, the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership, and with the private sector.
Prior to this position, Ms Gray was part of the ITU's Data and Statistics Division and contributed to the design and preparation of the Division's analytical publications, including the Measuring the Information Society Report (MISR). She also contributed to and coordinated the analysis of information society developments, organized ICT-related meetings, and delivered national and regional trainings and workshops on ICT statistics to ITU member states. Ms Gray holds a Master's degree in Political Science and Economics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ms. Sylvia Poll
Head, BDT's Digital Society Division
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Since January 2020, Sylvia Poll is the Head of the Digital Society Division in the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This Division focuses on digital inclusion, ICT applications and digital innovation ecosystems. Before that, she was for five years the Head of the ITU Project Support Division.
Sylvia Poll was the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office in Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland from 2010 to 2014, where she was the main focal point for Costa Rica, on sport for development and peace, as well as ITU, WIPO, WHO and IOM. Prior to this position, she was the Latin America Regional Manager of Executive Programs at the INCAE Business School and a manager at a Costa Rican communications company.
Ms. Poll was also an accomplished elite swimmer. She represented Costa Rica in two Olympic Games, Seoul, Korea 1988 and Barcelona, Spain, 1992. She won a silver medal, the first Olympic medal ever at that time, for Costa Rica and Central America, in addition to winning over 600 medals at national, regional and world swimming competitions. She was chosen the Best Athlete in Latin America two years in a row, in 1988 and 1989. Since 2010 she is a Member of the international organization “Peace and Sport", as one of their “Champions of Peace", a special Sport Ambassador, to help build sustainable peace through sport. She has also written on sport in different media outlets and worked as an expert swimming commentator during the broadcasting of the recent Rio Olympic Games 2016. Ms. Poll holds a Master in Business Administration and an Executive Master in International Negotiations and Policy Making.
Ms. Diya Nanda
Programme Management Specialist
UN Women Jordan Country Office
Diya Nanda is an international gender and development specialist with over 10 years of experience on programme management, inter-agency coordination and humanitarian action, with UN Women and the UN Resident Coordinator system.
Diya is currently a Programme Management Specialist with the UN Women Jordan Country Office. She manages key programmes including on Resilience and Empowerment of Vulnerable Women, Women Count, Men and Women for Gender Equality, Second Chance Education and Women's Economic Empowerment.
Diya has a MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a B.A (Hons) in Political Science from Delhi University.
Ms.Sandra Aceng
Program Manager
WOUGNET
Sandra Aceng is a Gender & ICT Researcher, Policy Analyst, Writer, and Wikimedian. She works at WOUGNET as a Program Manager, Information Sharing and Networking. Sandra coordinates a caucus called Women ICT Advocacy Group (WIAG) that comprises of organizations and individuals interested in ICT and gender issues to advocate for internet access for all. She advocates for the integration of gender perspectives in ICT policy and analyses threats to free expression in Africa introduced by regulatory initiatives.
Sandra is a Global Voices contributor, Impakter Magazine contributor, Freedom House Contributor on digital rights and elections, 2020 Global Network Initiative (GNI)/Internews Fellow, and Ttaala 2020 Fellow. She is a volunteer at Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda. During her free time, she contributes articles on women for women on Wikipedia, aimed at closing the gender gap.
She is also a Cherie Blair Foundation Mentee Alumni 2018, a one-year online mentorship program for women entrepreneurs.
Sandra’s key interests are policy analysis, writing, entrepreneurship, volunteering, Gender & ICT, and research.
Dr. Kim Mallalieu
Senior Lecturer, The University of the West Indies
Deputy Chairman, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Trinidad and Tobago
Kim Mallalieu leads the Caribbean ICT Research Programme and the Communication Systems Group in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of the West Indies. She is also the Deputy Chairman of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago.
Kim has led many institutional, national and regional initiatives designed to build capacity for ICT-enabled developmental interventions and innovation. Her interests lie in communication systems and their purposeful application for human good; with an emphasis on building the resilience of underserved populations, particularly in emergency situations. Her works include the report on Women, ICT and emergency telecommunications: opportunities and constraints, prepared under the direction of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in close collaboration with the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC).
Kim is the recipient of local, regional and international teaching as well as research awards, and other awards of distinction. She holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from MIT, an MS in Optics from The University of Rochester and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from University College London.
Ms. Masha Saleh
Services for Communities Officer at the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC)
UN World Food Program (WFP)
Masha (Maria) Saleh is a humanitarian and international development professional with more than 7 years of experience in community engagement, emergency supply chain management, project management and research. Masha has worked in Washington DC, Moscow, Dubai, and Rome in various international NGOs and at the UN World Food Programme.
Most recently, in her capacity as Services for Communities Officer at the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster, she has worked on projects enabling populations affected by crises to access life-saving information and communicate with humanitarians and each other through technology, including in Libya and the Central African Republic.
Masha has a Master's degree in International Affairs from Washington University in Saint Louis (USA). She has also published several written works, including "Spiral into the Arab Spring: The Surprising Rise of Yemeni Women" in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's book World in Their Hands: Ideas from the Next Generation. Maria speaks English, Russian and Arabic.
Ms. Aarti Holla-Maini
Secretary General
EMEA Satellite Operators Association (ESOA)
Ms. Aarti Holla-Maini has been Secretary General of the ESOA since 2004. She is a Member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Space, the WEF Global 5G Coalition Network and the WEF Essential Digital Infrastructure & Services Network.
Under Aarti's leadership, ESOA & its member CEOs lead the effort to showcase the benefits of satellite communications for a more inclusive and secure society - vital to bridging the world's digital divide, achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and realizing the 5G ecosystem. Since joining the association, Aarti has led the expansion of ESOA from a European association to one that represents the interests of 21 global and regional satellite operators. She reports directly to their Chief Executives.
Aarti has 23 years' experience in the aerospace industry, starting at Daimler-Benz Aerospace/EADS (now Airbus) in Germany. In 2000, she moved to Brussels, representing Airbus interests in the European satellite navigation program: Galileo.
Aarti holds a Masters of Business Administration from HEC, France & Stern Business School, NYC, USA. She qualified as Solicitor of the Supreme Court in the UK in 1995, holding a 2:1 graded LLB Hons Law with German Law degree from King's College, University of London & the University of Passau, Germany. Aarti is of British-Indian origin and holds British and Belgian nationalities. She lives in Brussels, has 3 children, and speaks 5 languages.
Ms. Branwen Millar
Gender Advisor
UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Ms. Branwen Millar is the Gender Advisor for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Branwen has worked for UNFPA, UNESCO, UNICEF, the New Zealand Mission to the United Nations, and a number of NGOs in both the United States and her native New Zealand. Her professional work has primarily been focused on advancing gender equality and human rights. She obtained her Masters in Public Administration in Human Rights and Gender and Public Policy from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs on a Fulbright Scholarship.
