Agenda

Minister of Community Development since 2017, Her Excellency also currently holds several memberships: Chairman Board of Directors of Zakat Fund, Chairman of Community & International Games Heritage Committee during 9th Regional Olympics 2018, International Games of Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi 2019, Chairman of Wellbeing Council and Deputy Chairman of Digital Wellbeing Council, Member Board of Ministerial Development Council, Member Board of Education & Human Resources Council, Member Board of Federal Youth Authority, Member Board of General Pensions & Social Security Authority, Member Board of Federal Demographic Council, Member Board of Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, Member Board of Dubai Future Foundation, Member of Supreme National Committee for the Year of Tolerance and member of Early Childhood Committee in Abu Dhabi, Chairman of the Wellbeing Council and Deputy Chairwoman of the Digital Wellbeing Council, Member of Supreme Committee for Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Excellence and Community Intelligence Program. BSc (Hons) in Business Sciences, Zayed University; Master’s (Hons) in Business Administration, American University of Sharjah; Executive Diploma in Public Administration, Lee Kuan Yew School of Government, National University of Singapore; graduate, Mohammed Bin Rashid Young Leadership Program; PhD degree candidate in Total Quality Management in the field of Government Services, Hamdan B in Mohammed Smart University. Two-time winner, Sheikh Rashid Award for Outstanding Scientists; winner, Arabian Gulf National Olympic Committee Award for outstanding youth (2013); winner, Dubai Government Excellence Program, newly appointed employee category (2003).

Baroness Barran was appointed as the Minister for Civil Society for the UK Government on 26 July 2019. In this role she is responsible for policy related to the UK's Civil Society, including but not restricted to responsible business and social enterprise, youth and social action, and loneliness. She was the founder and Chief Executive of SafeLives from 2004-2017, a national charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse. She was head of grant development at the think tank New Philanthropy Capital from 2001 to 2004, and worked in asset management before founding one of the first European hedge funds in 1993. Baroness Barran was a trustee at the Royal Foundation and Comic Relief, and was chair of the Henry Smith Charity. She received the Beacon Prize for England in November 2007 and an MBE in 2011 for her work addressing domestic violence.

Co-founder of the SoHappy Institute , professional coach and trainer with Happy at Work and volunteer with Action for Happiness, Sophie d'Hooghe dedicates her professional life to enabling individuals and companies developing happier lives and workplaces.

Active in the film industry since 2008, Salar shifted to Virtual Reality in 2014, joining the studio apelab on the series Sequenced after developing transmedia strategies for the animation hit My Life as A Zucchini. Since 2016, he has initiated a global hub for XR in Crans-Montana and extended his expertise in China notably curating for Shangha’s top contemporary art museums. Salar’s production company Dirty Bacon develops original content with Swiss and global talent. Its latest co-production, Terrain, premieres at Venice VR Expanded in 2020 while he is producing Daniel Schweizer’s and Céline Tricart’s Cosmic Birds to be released in 2021. He recently inaugurated a Virtual Travel Lounge in Crans-Montana which was officially recognised as one of the world’s first digital well-being public space.

Dr David Bakker is a clinical psychologist and Founding Director of mental health app MoodMission. MoodMission helps users find new, better, cognitive behavioural therapy based ways of coping with low moods and anxiety. David is passionate about ensuring that psychological interventions and apps are backed by rigorous research, and MoodMission is one of the few apps available that has published supportive experimental evidence, including a randomised controlled trial. David also works clinically in private practice and is a lecturer and research supervisor at Melbourne’s Institute for Social Neuroscience.

Mr Diego Ruiz Proano joined ITU as Chief of the Human Resources Management Department on 1st March 2021.

Diego has more than 20 years’ experience in human resources, finance, information technology and administration in the private and public sector; in international NGOs and in the United Nations common system.  Before being appointed as Chief, HRMD at ITU, he was Deputy Director and Chief of Strategic People Management at the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, in New York. In this role, he managed the business partnering, policy and organizational development functions for a workforce of over 20’000 personnel located in more than 160 countries. Before joining UNDP, he worked for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, in Switzerland as Global Director for Human Resources.

Diego believes in nurturing a culture built on excellence, trust, client orientation and creativity. He enjoys developing innovative solutions, working in start-up environments and collaborating across disciplines. He brings demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary, diverse and highly decentralized teams, as well as broad experience in conflict management and employee relations.
 
He holds a degree in Economics from the Catholic University of Ecuador and a Masters’ of Science in Computing for Commerce and Industry from the Open University.  He is fluent in Spanish, English and French.