WSIS Forum Special Track on ICTs and Older Persons

Dr Banerjee has over 30 years of experience in public health and has worked in a variety of capacities for civil society organizations and bilateral and funding agencies. Dr. Anshu Banerjee is the Director for the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organization (WHO). Previously he was Director of the Department of Global Coordination in the Office of the Assistant Director-General of Family, Women’s and Children’s Health at WHO. Prior to that, he was the WHO Representative in several countries.

Roxana WIDMER-ILIESCU has been serving for the past 26 years the Development Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), dedicating their efforts towards achieving the overarching goal of Digital Inclusion.

As the Senior Coordinator for Digital Inclusion, Ms. Widmer provides guidance to ITU Members and relevant stakeholders on the creation of digitally inclusive policies and strategies. She is advocating for ICT/digital accessibility as an essential prerequisite to ensure equal and equitable inclusion in the digital society, economy, and environment for all people, regardless of their age, gender, physical capabilities, or geographical location. She spearheads the development of essential ITU-D tools and resources, including the guideline report on Ageing in the Digital World from Vulnerable to Valuable and the online, self-paced course, ICT for better ageing and livelihood in the digital landscape that promotes accessible, affordable and human centered technology for an active, independent, and healthy ageing of present and future generations. Ms. Widmer is passionately committed to her work, striving to support the realization of global commitments and endeavors towards building a digitally inclusive world in which no one is left behind.

Before joining ITU, Roxana Widmer worked in the International Relations department of the Chamber of Deputies in the Romanian Parliament. Ms. Widmer has a background education in law and Master’s degrees, in International Law and in Strategic Management of Telecommunications. She is fluent in English, French, Romanian and Spanish.

Before becoming Chief of the Employment, Labour Markets and Youth (EMPLAB) Branch of the Employment Policy Department in the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Dorothea Schmidt-Klau was the Head of the Department Management and Coordination Unit of the Department. In both functions she supported the work of the Department to promote full and productive employment by developing integrated employment, development and skills policies.

She was the Senior Employment Specialist for North Africa, based in the Decent Work Country Team for North Africa in Cairo between 2009 and 2013. She worked with Governments, Employers’, Workers’ Organizations and other key stakeholders providing advice on analytical work, policy development and advocacy on employment-related issues.

Ms Schmidt has published extensively in the area of family economics during her time as a research assistant at the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany. Since then her work continued to have a strong gender focus. Other areas of expertise include poverty reduction, youth employment, ageing societies, employment policies, labour market transitions, labour market information systems and labour market indicators. She has worked on many major ILO publications, including several World Employment Reports, Global Employment Trends Reports and most recently the ILO’s COVID-19 Monitors. She has also published numerous working papers and articles in her areas of expertise.

Ms Schmidt-Klau holds a PhD in Economics from Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg.

Deniz Susar is a Governance and Public Administration Officer, Digital Government Branch, Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government of UNDESA. Deniz’s main work areas include digital government and preparation of the biannual UNDESA flagship publication, United Nations E-Government Survey. As part of his current role, he also supports the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). His main research areas include e-government, open government, citizen engagement, internet governance, artificial intelligence and other frontier technologies and open government data. Deniz holds a Master’s Degree in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University and a Computer Engineering degree from Bosphorus University.

Dr. Pol Vandenbroucke is the Vice President of Global Government Affairs at Shionogi. In this role, Pol directs the company's engagement with government bodies, policymakers, and regulatory agencies around the world, including the global fight against AMR. He has dedicated his career to Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, and Marketing worldwide. Previously, he held roles overseeing Medical Strategy at Pfizer Inc. and Medical Affairs for Pfizer’s Essential Health portfolio in North America. He led Clinical Development globally for Pfizer compounds and spearheaded initiatives targeting diseases prevalent in developing regions. Dr. Vandenbroucke sits on the boards of AFAR and BIO Ventures for Global Health and serves on advisory boards for several prominent institutions. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Medicine of the United Kingdom. As a prominent speaker on health and policy issues, he also teaches at King’s College and coordinates the Medical Affairs module at IFAPP \Academy and King’s College London.

Surya Kolluri is Head of the TIAA Institute, overseeing research on enhancing lifelong financial security and organizational effectiveness in higher education and the broader nonprofit sector. The TIAA Institute was established 25 years ago to advance TIAA’s longstanding commitment to scholarship and strengthen the company’s partnership with the higher education community. Surya joined the TIAA Institute from Bank of America, where he spent 16 years, most recently as managing director of the Retirement Research and Insights team. Prior to that, he spent 14 years in corporate strategy consulting, first at A.T. Kearney and then Bain & Co. He is an advisor to the Wharton Social Impact Investing Initiative and sits on the boards of the Wharton Pension Research Council and the MA/NH Chapter of the U.S. Alzheimer’s Association.

Preeti Kaur is the Senior Vice President and Head of Engineering at Honor. She is a seasoned technology leader with a passion for driving innovation and fostering collaboration. With a track record spanning over a decade, Ms. Kaur has led engineering teams at prominent companies like Carta and Adobe Systems, focusing on scalable solutions and strategic vision. Currently serving as Senior Vice President, Head of Engineering at Honor, Ms. Kaur excels in aligning technical strategies with long-term business goals while maintaining a strong emphasis on employee engagement and team development. Ms. Kaur has extensive expertise in software architecture, agile methodologies, and cross-functional collaboration.

Bieke Van Gorp is Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Qompium, the medical device company behind FibriCheck, focused on improving the outcome of cardiovascular diseases by creating device agnostic solutions that are accessible anywhere, anytime. Today, FibriCheck has been successfully implemented in multiple care settings around the globe and has been used by over 1 million end-users. Bieke holds a Master’s in Business Administration from KU Leuven – part of which she completed in Bangalore, India – and a Master’s in Finance at LSBE. Prior to starting her own company, Bieke was active in Corporate Finance (Mergers & Acquisitions) in both Europe and the United States. Besides being very motivated to let people live longer and healthier, Bieke is the proud mom of 2 boys. In her spare time, she is active as she is in her work time. She loves to travel, do sports, support her kids in their adventures and hobbies, and hang out with friends.