Agenda

Ms. Daniela Bas, of Italian nationality, is the Director of the Division for Inclusive Social Development at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs since May 2011. Political scientist with a major in International Politics, she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a dissertation on “The elimination of architectural barriers and the employment of people with physical disabilities”. She is also a certified journalist and worked for major press, Radio and Television networks and is also a certified multicultural/life coach. Ms. Bas interest has always been people-centred in the various activities, associations, and professional roles she has held. In addition to her work at the United Nations from 1986 to 1995, she held managerial roles until 2000 in the private sector in Italy. From then until 2011, before joining UNDESA she was, inter alia, adviser for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in Italy. On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was Board Member of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights and of the Committee to Promote non-Armed and non-Violent Civil Defense of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Ms Bas was also the special adviser to the Vice President of the European Commission (On. Frattini) on human rights, democracy, and social affairs.

Danielle D. Duplin, President, FreeWind Productions, is an award-winning public speaking coach and strategic event curator, and innovation catalyst. Danielle combines her unique background in software engineering, executive leadership, and ideas theater to help clients inform, inspire, and influence their audiences. Previously, Danielle served as co-founder of TEDxBoston, an inaugural producer for HUBweek, and Vice President, Innovation and Technology at Fidelity Investments for 26+ years.
 
Danielle currently serves as an advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank Working Cities Challenge, and a mentor for startups in MassChallenge and the FinTech Sandbox. Danielle’s latest venture is co-founder and Global Launch Director of AGENCY: Worldwide Innovation for Living Longer and Aging Better.

Joined the Department in August 2015. In addition to his role as Senior Advisor to the Department, Dr Banerjee will lead WHO's work to operationalize the UN Secretary General's Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health - a road map to end all preventable deaths of women, children and adolescents by 2030 and improve their health. Dr Banerjee will also work on the new Global Financing Facility (GFF) in support of the strategy.

Stephen Johnston MBA is a co-founder of Aging2.0 a global innovation platform for aging and senior care, founder of Fordcastle, an innovation consultancy and a member of the Future Agenda, the world’s largest open foresight initiative. Stephen serves on the board of Music and Memory a New York 501c3 nonprofit focused on improving the quality of life for older people, He is co-author of Growth Champions (Wiley, 2012), a book about sustainable corporate growth. He has an MA in Economics from Cambridge University and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Fulbright Scholar.

Roxana WIDMER-ILIESCU has been working at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Development Sector (ITU-D) since 1998. As Senior Programme Officer in charge of Digital Inclusion, she promotes the empowerment through ICTs of persons with specific needs – including Indigenous peoples, women and girls, youth, persons with disabilities (PwD) and the elderly. To achieve this, Ms. Widmer leads and coordinates the development of activities that enable these groups to further their social and economic development through access to and use of ICTs. As ITU-D Focal Point for ICT Accessibility, she also advises ITU Members on designing policies and executing strategies for promoting and implementing ICT accessibly services and solutions for PwD in their respective countries. To support global implementation, she directed the development of several ITU-D key resources, including: the “Web Accessibility Programme ”Internet for @ll”, the on-line trainings “ICT accessibility: the key to inclusive communication”, video-tutorials on the development and remediation of accessible digital content. These are concrete tools that can be used by all stakeholders to ensure that PwD can use affordable and accessible ICTs as well as to promote inclusiveness in the digital era. In her work with the ITU regional offices, Ms. Widmer also advocates for the promotion of the accessibility of ICTs and encourages implementation of ICT accessibility policies and services for PwD. Moreover, to strengthen regional capacity in ICT accessibility she also delivers ITU-certified executive trainings to stakeholders during regional events, most recently at ‘Accessible Americas: ICT for ALL’ held Jamaica from 28 to 30 November. The ultimate goal of Ms. Widmer’s work is to contribute to building inclusive digital societies globally.