Behjat Al Yousuf

Dr. Al Yousuf is an Associate Director at Dubai Women's College-Higher Colleges of Technology. In her current post, she strategically heads the Technology and Science academic programs in addition to Academic Services and Career Center. She obtained her Ph.D. in Software Engineering from Reading University in UK, MSc in Computing from Cardiff University and BSc in Computer and Electrical Engineering from University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA. She received different prestigious awards such as UAE Business Women Award for Career Achievements in 2006, Sh. Rashid Award for Scientific achievement and HCT awards for Outstanding Community and Leadership awards.

Dr. Al Yousuf is an active member of different international organizations on Women's Education and Women in ICT.

Rim Belhaj

Rim Belhaj's main skills include Information Technologies strategies, Policy and Management, Telecommunication system Architecture, Switching, Broadband Networks, ATM & SDH. She holds positions as a Member of the Executive Board of the National Union of Tunisian Women (UNFT), Chief Engineer in Telecommunications at the High Institute of Telecommunication Technologies, (ISET.Com), Chair of the Humphrey Alumni Association of Tunisia, and she is a member of the National Council for Women, Family and Elderly people. Her educational background includes a diploma in Management, The EuroArab Management School, Granada Spain & The Institut Arabe des Chefs d'Entreprises Tunis, Tunisia, February 2004, a diploma in Depth Studies in systems analysis and digital treatments, telecommunication option, Ecole Nationale d'Ingenieurs de Tunis, ENIT, Tunisia, September 1994, a diploma in Telecommunication Engineering, ESPTT, Tunisia, July 1993, and a diploma in Electrical Engineering, ENIT, Tunisia, July 1991. From October 1993 to November 1998, Ms Belhaj taught undergraduate engineering students and in charge of the DMS switch Lab at ESPTT (Ecole Supérieure des Postes et Télécommunications de Tunis). From November 1998 to October 2000, she was the head of means and Logistic Section at ISET.Com. From July 2001 to July 2002, she was a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow at Maryland University (USA) and a Consultant at the Policy Division (CITPO-GICT), World Bank. From September 2004 until June 2006, she has been the head of the innovation division at The Technopark Elgazala of Information Technologies. She was a member of the Local Organization Committee for WSIS (Tunis phase, 2005), in charge of the logistics of the parallels events from July 2005 to December 2005. She was a member of the High National council for Human Rights from December 2005 to June 2007 in Tunisia. Ms. Belhaj speaks Arabic, French, and English.

Tonia Blackwood

A seasoned professional, Tonia Blackwood, brings BR MarketLaunch LLC (BRM) over 18 years of experience in all facets of sales and marketing strategy, channel communications, customer service and program management. Tonia is recognized in her industry for her ability to make cutting-edge decisions, build and execute successful programs and lead energetic result-oriented teams. These qualities support her ability to manage all types of business challenges and support the marketing communications and operational needs of start-up, turnaround and growth organizations, while effectively controlling the bottom line and providing value for all concerned.

Before BRM, Tonia served as the Member Engagement Manager for CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association. Tonia successfully implemented and managed both the Membership Lifecycle and Member Education Programs for a membership base exceeding 10,000 members. Prior to this role, she served as the Industry Information Manager to the Technology Learning Group where she managed all internal and external marketing communications, print media, web content development, and events marketing. During her time with CompTIA, Tonia also supported the Events Director in various capacities given her previous experience in event development, session content, speaker management, speech and presentation development, and registration.

As a prelude to CompTIA, Tonia's professional contributions at Thomson-Prometric included departmental supervision of marketing communications, corporate communications and events, domestic and international channel communications for over 3,000 channel partners, and operations management and training for five international call centers. This afforded her the opportunity to gain international experience doing business in over 10 different countries.

In her role as BRM Chief Launcher, Tonia offers a unique blend of creativity and leadership skills. Her natural ability to identify, develop and execute creative marketing solutions for her customers has enabled Tonia to consistently meet high-level business goals and objectives. Her daily activities include assisting clients with strategic development, project management and the launch of new products, programs and events, providing creative design services from basic collateral to website development, management of media and advertising relationships and BRM event management services include promotion, logistics, production, sponsorship and speaker management.

Tonia currently resides in Harford County. The BRM offices are located in the heart of Baltimore City, Maryland. She holds a degree in Business Communication, is a decorated Rotarian and currently sits on the board for two non-profits, the Village Learning Place and Maryland Women in Technology.

Gloria Bonder

Gloria Bonder, Director of the "Gender, Society and Policies Area" at the Latin American Postgraduate Institute of Social Sciences (FLACSO Argentina). Within this Area she coordinates, two Regional Programs:

• The UNESCO Regional Chair on Women, Science and Technology in Latin America www.catunescomujer.org
• The E-learning Master's Program on Gender, Society and Public Policies (PRIGEPP) www.prigepp.org

Organizer of the UNESCO Regional Forum: "Women, Science and Technology in Latin America: Diagnoses and Proposals," Bariloche, Argentina, 1998. (Preparatory meeting for the UNESCO WORLD CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE, Budapest, 1999).

Consultant on Women, Science and Technology for several national, regional and international organizations such as: DAW, United Nations, Women and Development Unit, ECLAC and the Office of Science and Technology, OAS, IDRC/CRDI, UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNDP and UNESCO.

Coordinator for Latin America & the Caribbean of the WSIS Gender Caucus (2003-2005).

Has developed several research projects on issues such as: technology and science, gender and education, communication, health and youth.

Member of the Steering Committee of the International Taskforce on Women and ICT.

Among her most recent activities are:

• The "Virtual Program for Career Development and Capacity Building for Latin American and Caribbean Junior Women Scientists" in partnership with Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health. USA.
• Research on Youth and ICTs: "From Discourse to Facts: Gender Equity in Internet Access and Use by the Latin American Youth." Supported by IDRC (2004-2006).
• Research on "Gender Strategic Plan of Action for ICT4D-Americas" for IDRC (2007).
• Advisor on gender analysis for the eLAC Programme for The Information Society, ECLAC.
• Coordinator of the Side Event "Gender Parity Policies in and for the Information Society: New Agendas, New Alliances" in the frame of the X Session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, Quito, 2007.

Recent publications:

• "From Data to Action: A 'Success Story' with Latin American Women Scientists," published in Género,
  Salud y Ambiente, edited by Luz Helena Sanin, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua (2007).
• "Youth, Gender, and ICTs: Social Imaginary in the Construction of Information Society in Latin America," impress FECYT (2007).

Patrice Braun

Patrice is Deputy Director of the Centre for Regional Innovation & Competitiveness at the University of Ballarat, which has a focus on enterprise and community capacity building; regional clustering and networks; and integrated resource management for regions.

Patrice holds a PhD in the adoption and diffusion of information and communications technologies (ICT) by small business in regional network settings. She also holds a Masters by Research on the use of the Internet for community informatics. Prior to joining the University of Ballarat, Patrice held positions at Swinburne University of Technology and James Cook University as an Educational Development Adviser for the development and delivery of flexible ICT-based learning solutions for industry and academia. Patrice’s expertise includes the implementation of changing business paradigms through action research methodologies and the weaving of technology with sustainable business and regional development practices. Patrice has collaborated with government and industry, both in Australia and abroad, on SME policy, eLearning strategies for industry innovation, and small business skills development.

Much of Patrice’s work has a focus on women entrepreneurship and capacity building for women-led businesses in the digital economy. Patrice is a regular speaker at APEC forums and is the Australian focal point for an APEC-wide research project on Women’s Participation in the Digital Economy. This 5- year initiative (2005-2009) aims to serve as a catalyst to promote the use of ICT by women-owned businesses across APEC economies.

Chuan Chin Chew

Chuan Chin is currently leading the Deal Hub for IBM Asean. It is a new organization in IBM which she recently set up to provide pre-sales proposal support to the sellers. She has served IBM for 14 years, having held several senior positions from Software Country Manager to Services Country Manager to Client Unit Executive.

She has over 25 years of working experience, with over 23 years in the IT and banking industry. Prior to joining IBM, she worked in several organizations including Scott & English, Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Bhd, and Axis System, .

She has been the women diversity leader for IBM Malaysia since 2002. Recently she was appointed as the Asean Women Diversity Council Leader and is also a member of the IBM Asia Pacific Regional Women Council. She is passionate about the development of the women in IBM and spends a fair bit of her time mentoring and coaching them, and developing programs that contribute to building women leadership pipeline through increased visibility and involvement of women leaders.

She enjoys new challenges and working with people. She is married to a great husband who is very supportive of her career aspirations.

Chong Sheau Ching

Having graduated from Canada and the US, Chong Sheau Ching has two Bachelors' degrees in Agriculture and Home Economics, majoring in food and nutrition. She also has a Master's in International Administration. Her fourteen years' experience with international organizations in policy planning, program¬ming, management and training has given her extensive knowledge on social issues, grassroot empowerment and cross-cultural communication.

As a speaker, columnist in The Star (Malaysia's most popular English paper), author and trainer, she has been actively involved in community empowerment and poverty alleviation programs. She has been a policy planner and a gender/poverty alleviation consultant for some UN country programs in the Asia Pacific. She believes in personal development at an individual level.

Sheau Ching has authored Stories for My Mother (a collection of short stories on social issues and cross-cultural communication), co-authored and edited "Working @ Home- A Guidebook for Working Women and Homemakers" (a precise guidebook on homepreneurship and teleworking), and wrote chapters in several management publications.

She has also founded a community network of women who work from home, "Mothers for Mothers/eHomemakers." Sheau Ching is presently heading a community trilingual portal 'www.ehomemakers.net' which has an e-membership of 13,000. The 'Working@Home' cause is her passion. She was awarded the 2003 Women in Electronic Network Training Award (WENT Award) at the World Summit for Information Society, Geneva, Switzerland by APC (Association of Progressive Communication Network) and Sookmyung Women's University, South Korea, for founding the working @ home network and growing it into a vibrant community. She is also an active contributing member of several international women in ICT networks.

Under Sheau Ching, the eHomemakers network and its pilot marketing website for disadvantaged women 'www.justmarketing.info' have won two international award grants for research in competition rounds: the "Pan Asia Networking Grant 2002," and the "Pan Asia R/D Small Grant 2003." In October 2005, eHomemakers was the runner-up for the Gender and ICT Award, sponsored by the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) and the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP).

Sheau Ching has brought a local community network of homemakers and homeworkers, which did not have social status and any form of acknowledgement, to national and international recognition with their efficient and quality output and services. eHomemakers has also completed several research on homeworkers.

After nine years of advocacy to the Malaysian government, eHomemakers has finally convinced the cabinet to adopt working @ home for women and disadvantaged persons in 2005.
Sheau Ching is a single mother with a home office. She takes care of her 11- year old daughter, a Down Syndrome brother and her 76-year old parents.

Suchita Dadhich

Suchita R. Dadhich is a technical leader responsible for strategic innovation and organizational capability for IBM Rational, Americas. Her leadership focus is to drive greater efficiency and agility within the organization on various topics; morale, talent development and revenue attainment.

Outside of work, Suchita volunteers with a core team of IBMers to create stronger links with the local universities, colleges and the Girl Scouts of Southeastern PA to create a support network for young females exploring careers in science, math and technology. Her passion for promoting females in the IT field has been recognized by the Philadelphia community. She has been featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal as well as other local community newspapers for her breakthrough ideas and continued inspiration in the community and at work.

Anita Gurumurthy

Anita Gurumurthy is a founder member and Executive Director of IT for Change. She has worked in areas of gender equality and health, apart from information society issues. She has co-authored case studies for UNDP which were inputted into the work of the WSIS Task Force on Financial Mechanisms; she has undertaken research for UNIFEM on gender and ICT projects; and authored a primer on gender and ICTs for the Institute of Development Studies. As a part of a project backed by the WSIS Gender Caucus and IDRC, she led a multi-country study of key issues involved in the area of ICTs and women's empowerment.

She has been actively involved with the WSIS process, submitting statements and position papers on development and gender concerns. She was a part of the steering committee of the Gender Caucus for WSIS, and its Asia-Pacific coordinator. She is at present coordinating a Community of Expertise under UN-GAID on 'Gender, Development and Information Society Policies'. She is the co-coordinator of two projects at IT for Change - the 'Information Society for the South' research and advocacy program and the 'Information Society Watch' program. She is at present heading a research activity for developing policy analysis and briefs on gender and ICT policy for Asia Pacific division of UNDP's HDR Unit.

Ann Holmes

Ann Holmes is the principal consultant in Ann Holmes & Associates. Her professional activities include contributing expertise in education and social issues, particularly science, engineering, and technology (SET) work and study as well as gender and leadership; and providing strategic advice and coordination to organizations and groups. Ann is experienced in facilitating sessions to address issues and move a group forward to action.

Ann worked in the Ontario government for over two decades developing and realizing partnership projects on gender equity in education with community-based organizations and education groups. Based in Toronto, Canada, she has published and spoken nationally and internationally on gender, science and technology education issues. Ann is a member of the advisory committee for the NSERC/Hewlett Packard Chair for Women in Science and Engineering (Ontario Region). She has been commended by the Minister Responsible for Women's Issues for her leadership in promoting equality for women and, in particular, the advancement of women in education, training and employment in Ontario.

Ann began her career as a teacher and has 13 years experience in the Ontario classroom. She contributes to the workings of three international organizations, GASAT: the Gender and Science and Technology Association, ITF: the International Taskforce on Women and ICTs and WIGSAT: Women, knowledge, technology.

Yvonne Hunt

Yvonne Hunt is vice president of Global Philanthropy for Hewlett-Packard Company and Executive Director of the HP Company Foundation. She provides strategic direction for HP's philanthropic efforts, guiding grant making of more than $45 million in HP cash and equipment to improve the lives of people in communities around the world.

Most of HP's innovative and widely recognized philanthropy programs are directed at fulfilling HP's community investment objective: to contribute to improving economic viability and quality of life for individuals and communities around the world through investments of HP resources and technology that support economic development, educational opportunity and environmental sustainability. The company donates both cash and leading-edge HP computing technology.

Hunt oversees philanthropy initiatives that are implemented at a country, regional and local level in communities worldwide, as well as HP's employee charitable-giving programs, community engagement programs and strategic partnerships.

Prior to taking on the role with HP Global Philanthropy, Hunt spent 6 years as the Vice President of Global Internal Communications for HP. She began her HP career in the Human Resources Department in the United Kingdom sales offices in 1985. She also spent time on international assignments in Dublin, Ireland, and Barcelona, Spain before transferring to the U.S. in 1999.

Hunt graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science from Bradford University in England in 1985.

Sophia Huyer

Sophia Huyer is the founding Executive Director of WIGSAT. She has published and spoken widely on international gender, science and technology issues policy, including ICTs and social development. She is also Senior Research Advisor for the Gender Advisory Board of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, and has done work for international agencies such as the Canadian International Development Agency, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), UNESCO, the Organisation of American States, the UN Institute for Training and Research on Women (INSTRAW), and others. Recent reports and publications include "Women, ICT and the Information Society: Global Perspectives and Initiatives" published in the ACM International Conference Proceeding Series; lead author on "Women in the Information Society", in From the Digital Divide to Digital Opportunities: Measuring Infostates for Development published by Orbicom, and "Gender Equality and S&T Knowledge and Policy at the International Level" prepared for the Organization of American States in 2004.

Sophia represents WIGSAT as co-lead of the International Taskforce on Women and ICT with the Center for Women in IT at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and is a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Global Women's Leadership Centre at Santa Clara University. She received her Ph.D. from York University, Toronto.

She is co-editor, with Nancy Hafkin, of Cinderella or Cyberella? Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society published by Kumarian Press.

Vinnie Jauhari

Vinnie Jauhari Ph.D, is M.Sc. (Hons.) in Electronics from Panjab University, Chandigarh and MBA (Gold Medalist) (Marketing). She received her Ph.D. on Corporate Entrepreneurship from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and her Post-Doc from the United Nations University, Tokyo in the area of Technology and Society. Dr Jauhari heads the University Relations Division in India at Hewlett-Packard India. She is also currently Adjunct Professor and earlier the Head of the School of Management and Entrepreneurship at IIMT. She is also the founding editor of the Journal of Services Research, which features in the EBSCO and PROQUEST database. She has over seventy publications in National and International Journals and has also authored several books such as Business Strategy, Services Management, Readings in Services Management, Humanised Science and Technology. Her area of expertise is Corporate Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Technology issues. She is widely travelled and has been a speaker at numerous International Conferences. She is involved with numerous international projects on Technology and has been a frequent visitor at IIASA, Laxenburg. She is a reviewer for Technovation. She is on the Editorial Board of International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

Wayne Johnson

Wayne C. Johnson is the Vice President for Hewlett-Packard Company's University Relations Worldwide, located at HP Laboratories in Palo Alto, California. He is responsible for higher education programs in research, marketing and sales, recruitment, continuing education, public affairs and philanthropy.

Johnson joined HP in 2001 from Microsoft's University Relations department where he managed Program Managers and administrative staff across a customer base of 50 tier-one universities. From 1967 to 2000, he held a variety of positions at the Raytheon Company in Waltham, Massachusetts, including National Sales Manager for Wireless Solutions, Manager of International Financing and Business Development, Manager of Administration and Strategic Planning for Raytheon?s Research Division, and Manager of Program Development and Operations for Technical Services.

Johnson received his B.A. from Colgate University, Hamilton, NY and his M.B.A. from Boston College's Carroll School, Boston, MA. He was an Adjunct Professor of Management at Boston University from 1977 to 1999.

Johnson currently manages a worldwide organization of Program Managers and administrative staff working across 94 universities worldwide.

Johnson serves as a board member of:

• Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABIWT)
• MentorNet Advisory Board (MN)
• Industrial Advisory Board, the International Conference on Engineering Education (ICEE)
• Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT)
• Alliance for Science and Technology Research for America (ASTRA)

His memberships include:

• The Glion Colloquium
• Olin College's President's Council-Chair
• Government-University-Industrial Research Roundtable (GUIRR)
• Association of American Colleges and Universities National Leadership Council (AACU)
• Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Industrial Advisory Council (ABET)
• Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium (BASIC)
• University-Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) Founding Sponsor

Abdul Waheed Khan

As Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Abdul Waheed Khan has led UNESCO's Communication and Information Sector since the last 6 years. In this capacity, he is responsible for driving UNESCO's programmes and activities aimed at empowering people through the free flow of ideas by word and image, and by access to information and knowledge.

Dr Khan's responsibilities include advancing global standard setting, establishing international, regional and national policies, and coordinating the implementation of concrete projects for harnessing the power of communication and information for development. He provides global leadership in fostering digital opportunities for social and economic inclusion, building alliances between public and private sector initiatives in communication and information and mobilizing resources for enhancing the scope of the programmes of the Communication and Information Sector. He represents UNESCO at major international events and fora in the field of information and communication, such as the Strategic Council for the Global Alliance for ICT for Development (GAID), its predecessor, the UN ICT Task Force, and the United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS), and coordinated UNESCO's contribution to the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005).

With extensive international experience in designing, planning and managing communication and information technology applications in education, sciences, culture, agriculture and rural development, Dr Khan has worked for several international organizations including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) and the Asian Productivity Organization (APO).

From 1998 to 2000, Dr Khan served as President and Chief Executive Officer (Vice-Chancellor) of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), one of the largest universities in the world with an enrollment exceeding 1, 5 million students. At IGNOU, he was responsible for strategic planning, resource mobilization and management of a knowledge network, comprising a consortium of 72 universities. He was also Chairman of the Distance Education Council of India, which is responsible for coordinating all open and distance learning programmes in India.

Prior to joining IGNOU, Dr Khan worked at Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, firstly as Senior Programme Officer (1992-1995), then as Acting Head of the Communications and Information Technologies Division (1995-1996), as Principal Communications Specialist (1996-1998) and as Director of Training and Development (2000-2001).

From 1986 to 1992, Dr Khan served as the Founding Director and Professor of the Communications Division of IGNOU in New Delhi, where he developed and managed one of the largest state of the art electronic media centres in Asia. He also served as a Visiting Professor/Scientist (1990 1991) at the National Institute of Multimedia Education (NIME) in Chiba, Japan.

Currently a member of several Board of Directors, including that of Wawasan Open University (Malaysia), and Digital Opportunities Trust (DOT) (Canada), Dr Khan has actively contributed to the boards of various national and international bodies including the ISS INFOTECH Ltd, India, IDS International (Thailand), WETV Foundation (Canada) and the United States Educational Foundation (USEFI) (India). He has served as Chairperson of the Distance Education Council of India, as Vice President of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) and as President of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU). He is a member of numerous professional associations including the International Institute of Communications of the United Kingdom (IIC).

Dr Khan is the recipient of several awards and distinctions such as the 2006 "Dayawati Modi Award for Art, Culture and Education," a Honorary Doctorate of Hamdard University, New Delhi, India (2005), the "India 2000 Millennium Award for Education and World Peace", the 2000 "Super Brain of India Gold Award", the 1998 "Distinguished Service Award" of the Commonwealth of Learning, and the 1998 "Rajiv Gandhi National Integration Award".

Dr Khan is the author of a number of books and articles published in various academic journals, especially on development communication, distance education and multi-media technology applications.

Born in 1947 of Indian nationality, Abdul Waheed Khan holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communication (1973) and a Master's degree in Agricultural Journalism (1970) from University of Wisconsin, Madison (USA), and a Master's degree in Agricultural Extension (1965) from Agra University (India).

Sarbuland Khan

Sarbuland Khan is the Executive Coordinator of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development. Prior to this assignment Mr. Khan was the Director for the Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Mr. Khan directed the preparation of the Ministerial meeting of the Economic and Social Council on ICT for development and has been responsible for its follow-up and the establishment of the United Nations Information and Communication Technology Task Force. Among his twenty-four years of professional experience within the United Nations, he has held positions as the Branch Chief for the Policy Coordination and Interagency Affairs, Chief for the Office of the Under-Secretary-General of the Department for International Economic and Social Affairs, and Special Assistant to Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Decolonization. From 1979 to 1981, he served as delegate of Pakistan to the General Assembly of ECOSOC.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Khan was the Director for the Economic Coordination in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, and served in embassies in Morocco, Brussels and The Hague. From 1967 to 1969, Mr. Khan was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics in Punjab University of Lahore and staff Economist at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics in 1966-67.

Mr. Khan has a Masters degree in economics, a post-graduate diploma in International Economic Relations from the institute for Social Studies, The Hague.

Irina Khomeriki

Irina Khomeriki has served as the head of Georgian Branch Office of the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) since its establishment in June of 2001 year. In parallel she headed the International Projects' Coordination Center at Georgian Technical University (GTU), where she is Full Professor till today. She was member of Degree Awarding Scientific Council in above-mentioned university in the field of Computers, Complexes, Systems and Networks and is member of Editorial-Publishing Council of GTU. Her job experience includes research and educational work. Her recent award includes State Premium of Georgia in the sphere of science and technology and she was the only woman awarded by State Premium in 2004 year in above-mentioned field. In Moscow, Russian Federation she served as the manager of Public Relations for the Eastern European at the Corporation "ICN Pharmaceuticals." She is member of: Scientific Council of the International Center of Biocybernetics of Polish Academy of Science; Scientific Research Society "SigmaXi-Georgia," Board of the Georgian Association of German Alumni (Georgia); Program - "International Women In Science and Engineering (IWISE)-Georgia." Until that she headed the Moscow Department of the International Association "Georgian Women for Peace and Life" and was member of International Women's Club (Russia).

Mmabatho Matiwane

Ms Mmabatho Matiwane is the HEAD of the dti Gender and Women Empowerment Unit, and also Acting Chief Executive Officer of SAWEN.

Mmabatho Matiwane was born in Soweto, did her postgraduate studies in Cape Town and further studied in Holland Amsterdam. A policy and a strategy development expert on women's economic empowerment issues, she continues to play a significant role in the further advancement of the empowerment of women in related government policies and programmes. Part of her experience has involved being in the driving initiatives like the South African Women Ministers Forum, the Technology for Women In Business (TWIB), the South African Women Entrepreneurs Network (SAWEN). She has been the key driver in the drafting and the finalization on the Strategic Framework on Engendering ASGI-SA as well as the Strategic Framework on Gender and Women's Economic Empowerment for 2007. Again she is in the forefront of establishing the first ever to be launched by government the Women Entrepreneurs Fund, aimed at providing financial assistance and business support to women owning and managing enterprises.

Mmabatho was raised by her grand mother who contributed largely in shaping and building her character. In her professional life, she has worked very closely thus been mentored by great South African women leaders like Ms. Josette Cole, Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Ms. Lindiwe Hendricks and Ms. Zanele Mbeki. All of these people have contributed largely to her approach to business development initiatives as well as her passion for the broader economic empowerment of women. She has presented in different international and local conferences, hosted and co-hosted local and international women's economic forums including Women and Trade, International Courageous Women in Leadership 2002, International Women in Business Forum 2005. As part of her work, she has hosted the Global Summit of Women 2000 featuring former President Nelson Mandela, followed by the first 2005 SAWEN Annual Conference and AGM featuring the current President of South Africa-Mr. Thabo Mbeki, who re-committed the South African government to more tangible benefits for women entrepreneurs. Her motto in life is "My World Is Within Myself", since she believes that individuals life circumstances are shaped by their determined by their inner beings.

Bria McElroy

Bria McElroy is the Director of International Relations for the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). In her first three years with the organization, she led two of the Center's major initiatives to attract more young women to the fields of information technology and engineering. The CWIT Scholars program offers scholarships to approximately 30 talented undergraduates per year in the fields of chemical engineering, computer science, computer engineering, information systems, and mechanical engineering. Under the direction of Ms. McElroy, the program maintained a 94% retention rate. Ms. McElroy also introduced a new recruitment effort that brings high school girls to the UMBC campus to explore the opportunities available in information technology and engineering.

With a background in international relations, Ms. McElroy will focus on the dissemination and implementation of CWIT's many effective practices at the international level.

Bria McElroy received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Towson University in International Relations and Economics. She resides in Baltimore, Maryland.

Samia Melhem

Samia Melhem is a member of the e-Government practice group in the Global ICT department at the World Bank. Her current responsibilities include technical assistance and advisory services on ICT Policies. She is focused on ICT4D in a wide variety of sectors from telecoms policy and regulation to public sector reform, taxes, customs, trade, education, knowledge Economy and private sector development. In her last 20 years in the World Bank Group, Samia has held several positions in Africa, Middle East and Europe and Central Asia regions, Information Solutions Group and infoDev. Her expertise is mostly in planning, developing and implementing large scale information systems for governments, and on using ICT as a tool to support public administration reform. Samia also manages GICT's learning and training program and chairs the e-development Thematic Group. She holds degrees in Electrical Engineering (BS), Computer Sciences (MS)and Finance (MBA).

Claudia Morrell

Claudia Morrell is the executive director of the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Under her leadership, the Center's programs and resources have expanded dramatically, including the development of a CWIT Scholars program which retains 94% of its students; increased funding of $8 million in scholarships, research, and program funding to support girls' and women's participation and advancement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers in education and industry; and the expansion of personnel from two to forty-one staff, students, teachers, and faculty. She also served as the executive producer for an international award-winning women and technology video entitled, You Can Be Anything. Ms. Morrell effectively maintains an active 25-member advisory board with CEOs, CIOs, and high level executive women and men representing business, education and government leadership across the U.S. Currently she is directing several major initiatives that will increase the participation of girls and women in IT, from middle school through the college and university to the workforce and technology entrepreneurship. Ms Morrell was instrumental in drafting legislation that was signed in to law on May 26, 2004 that established the first statewide Governor's Taskforce on the Status of Women and IT. She served as co-chair of the Taskforce that recently released the highly endorsed Report entitled, In the Center of the Storm: Addressing the Challenges of Maryland's Tightening IT Labor Market. The Center's award-winning website, www.umbc.edu/cwit, is recognized internationally as "the best resource for women and IT on the web." In 2006, Ms. Morrell was recognized by the Daily Record, the region's business-focused newspaper, as one of the 100 top women in Maryland.

Ms. Morrell speaks at state, national and international events, including recent presentations at the United Nations and World Bank. She serves on the Champion's Network of the UN Global Alliance for ICT for Development. CWIT hosted the first International Symposium on Women and ICTs in June 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland that established the International Taskforce on Women and ICTs. She also led a second international meeting of world experts on this topic by invitation only at UNESCO in Paris, France in November 2006. With CWIT serving as the secretariat, the International Taskforce on Women and ICTs has been recognized as a Community of Expertise by the UNGAID, led the Global Colloquium on Women and Technology in Tunis in June 2007, is providing expertise on developing an innovative strategy for mainstreaming gender throughout the Global Knowledge Partnership Conference (GK3) in December 2007.

Claudia Morrell received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Arts degree from Loyola College of Maryland, and a Master of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She lives in Maryland with her husband and three daughters. Her eldest daughter recently completed a computer science degree and is working in the field.

Monique Morrow

Monique Morrow is currently Distinguished Consulting Engineer and Asia-Pacific Service Provider Chief Technology Officer at Cisco Systems, Inc. She has over 20 years experience in IP internetworking that includes design, implementation of complex customer projects and service development for service providers. Monique has been involved in developing managed Network Services like Remote Access and LAN Switching in a Service Provider environment. Monique has worked for both enterprise and service provider companies in the United States and in Europe. Monique led the Engineering Project team for one of the first European MPLS-VPN deployments in 1999 for a European service provider.

Monique has presented in various conferences on the topic of MPLS, Additionally, Monique is co-author of the book Designing IP-Based Services: Solutions for Vendors and Service Providers. Monique is co-author of the book, MPLS VPN Security and co-author of the book, MPLS and Next-Generation Networks: Foundations for NGN and Enterprise Virtualization. Monique is currently working on a book one that presents enterprise drivers and concerns for IP-based service delivery. She was co-guest editor of a special issue of the IEEE Communications Magazine on the subject of “OAM in MPLS-based Networks”, published in October 2004 ; co-guest editor of a special issue of the IEEE Communications Magazine on the subject of “Challenges in Enabling Inter-Provider Service Quality on the Internet” published in June, 2005 as well as co-guest editor of a special issue of the IEEE Communications Magazine on the subject of, “GMPLS: The Promise of the Next Generation Optical Control Plane,” published in July 2005.

Monique, has also presented in conferences on the topic of RFID and GrID networking.

Monique is active in both the IETF and ITU-T SG 13 with a focus on Operations, Administration and Management (OAM).

Monique was the editor for ITU-T Recommendation y.1714 (MPLS Management Framework). She is also co-author of RFC 4377, “Operations and Management (OAM) Requirements for Multi-Protocol Label Switched (MPLS) Networks; ” RFC 4364, “BGP/MPLS IP Virtual Private Networks (VPNs);” and several other IETF drafts.

Additionally, Monique is the Vice-Chair of the IPsphere Forum (IPSF).; and, is a member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, (IEEE) the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology.

She is also working on Next Generation Networks (NGN) for service providers; and, on emerging technologies.

Monique has worked in North America; Europe and is currently on assignment in Asia as SP APAC CTO leading the Technology Architecture team for FY08.

Monique has an M.S in Telecommunications Management and an MBA. She speaks French, German and is learning Mandarin.

Customer affirmation from former Group CTO Mick Reeve at BT:. “Monique is technically an expert, insightful and skilled at getting agreement in difficult situations,” says Reeve. “She is a tireless worker and it has been a pleasure to work with her.”

Sahar Nasr

Sahar Nasr, Senior Economist at the World Bank's Middle East and North Africa Department for the Finance and Private Sector Development, covering Egypt, Yemen, and Iraq. Ms. Nasr is the lead person in the World Bank Cairo Office in the financial sector and private sector development work, as well as, the gender focal person leading the gender policy dialogue, and responsible for gender mainstreaming in World Bank's projects and operations. In her 10 years with the World Bank, she has worked in technical and managerial positions across MENA in areas such as economic management, private sector development, financial sector reform, and corporate governance. She has written on a range of development topics, including the social impact of privatization, business climate, banking sector reform, economic security for Arab women, and economic empowerment of women. Ms. Nasr has a Ph.D. in Economics from the Cairo University, Faculty of Economics and Political Science and is an Associate Professor of Economics at the American University in Cairo and a Member of the National Council for Women.

Nancy Pascall

Nancy Pascall was born in Greece, studied in England and now lives and works in Belgium. She joined the European Commission in 1984. Since 1995 she has been dealing with gender issues and in particular, the integration and participation of women in the Information Society.

Tegwin Pulley

Tegwin Pulley, Vice President, Texas Instruments (TI), is responsible for Workforce Development, Diversity and WorkLife Strategies. Previously, she directed financial and capacity planning for TI’s Semiconductor Group worldwide

Under Tegwin's leadership, TI's Diversity and WorkLife Strategies have received significant external recognition including the Catalyst award for women's advancement and the National Society of Black Engineers' Golden Torch award for diversity leadership. Asian Enterprise honored TI as a Top 20 Company for Asian Pacific Americans. The National Association of Female Executives named TI to its Top 30 list. TI has appeared on Hispanic Magazine's Corporate 100 list for 11 years, on Working Mother Magazine's list of 100 Best Companies for 11 years, and on Fortune Magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for 8 years.

Tegwin’s workforce development efforts include: founding chair of the Texas Engineering and Technical Consortium of seven technology companies and thirty-four colleges and universities, founding co-chair of the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Regional Workforce Leadership Council, and founder of the DFW Semiconductor Executive Council. She’s a member of International Taskforce on Women and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Currently, Tegwin is President of the Board of the Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future. She is Vice President of the Board of Regents of Texas Woman’s University. Awards in recognition of her efforts include: Women Helping Women, ATHENA, One Person Can Make a Difference, Women of Excellence, Profiles in Leadership, Girl’s Champion and Tech Titans.

Chat Garcia Ramilo

Chat Garcia Ramilo is a Filipino national residing in the Philippines. She has been specializing in gender, information and communication technology and women's electronic networking for the last nine years. Ms Ramilo is currently the Global Coordinator of the Association for Progressive Communications' Women's Networking Support Program. For the last three years, she has managed APC WNSP's ground breaking Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) project.

As a gender and ICT specialist, Ms Ramilo has worked as a gender and ICT consultant for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), United Nations Economic and Social Council for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, and the World Bank. She has also been a speaker and resource person in international workshops and conferences in many countries. The most recent of these are at the UNESCO Expert Group Meeting on Gender Issues in the Information Society (Paris, July, 2003), United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, 47th Session (New York, March, 2003), Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on the World Summit on the Information Society (Tokyo, January 2003), Expert, Expert Group Meeting on "Information and Communication Technologies and Their Impact on and Use as an Instrument for the Advancement and Empowerment of Women," United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (Seoul, November 2002).

Norrita Rani

Norrita M. Rani joined Texas Instruments Malaysia in 1994 as a Planner in the former Custom Manufacturing Service operations and moved to Human Resources in 1997 as HR Generalist. She was later held the position as Senior Staffing & Industrial Relations Specialist and most recently in August 2007 as Employee Relations & Communications Manager. As Head of the new section, her center of attention is on employee relations - HR services, policy management, open door, and industrial and labor relations; as well as employee communications - developing and executing strategies to improve employee engagement and awareness. She has a degree in Business Administration majoring in Human Resources from Northern University of Malaysia. She is married and blessed with two lovely children.

Raj Rengalakshmi

Dr. R. Rengalakshmi is basically trained as an Agronomist, specialized in production agronomy and her subsequent professional and research expertise are in biodiversity and natural resource management; multiple livelihoods, ICT4D and gender and rural development. Currently working as a Principal Scientist / Programme Coordinator in JRD Tata Ecotechnology Centre of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, India which is primarily concerned with operationalizing Sustainable Development in the field. She has nearly a decade of grassroot level field experience in working with multidisciplinary groups as a development practitioner, trainer and researcher in various activities like Participatory Technology Development, Ecoenterprises, Market Linkages: ICT enabled Development to strengthen/diversify the livelihood activities and grassroot insitutions.

Isabelle Roy

Isabelle Roy joined the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in 1990 as a technical resource in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. She is providing ICT for development (ICT4D) support and advise to CIDA projects and programs in Asia and Africa including contracting the right resources. Over the years, she has developped an extensive ICT4D network of practicioners from the public sector, private sector and academic both in Canada and internationally. Isabelle is an electrical/computer engineer (U of Ottawa, 1989). She also has a M. Eng in Technology Management (2003, thesis - Medical Technology Assessment Model for Developing Countries). She is fluent in French, English and Spanish.

R. Christopher Rueppell

Chris works collaboratively with for profit and non-profit clients around the globe whose businesses are at all stages of development. His experienced counsel in corporate/business and intellectual property (IP) fields assists clients with identifying needs and/or goals, building comprehensive (strategic) plans for achieving those goals, and executing the proper actions to accomplish the goals correctly. For example: 1) a computer science/software technology client wanted to develop its IP portfolio rights and market products with a sale of the business being a preferred "exit strategy," his counsel, to the directors, led to the development of a strategic IP portfolio, including providing multiple IP and commercial opinions, the handling of various business/legal matters regarding issues ranging from product development to teaming, and negotiated a nine-figure agreement providing a comprehensive, custom tailored business solution; 2) a materials science technology client whose directors/officers wanted to develop and license proprietary IP rights and also sell products to customers, he assisted in development of a comprehensive business plan covering branding/marketing, IP portfolio development (preserving vital trade secrets), labor issues, product manufacturing, distribution/supply, eventually leading to the negotiation and closing on a multimillion dollar combination IP license (limiting the IP rights bundle) and supply agreement. Importantly, this client preserved multiple income streams by our leveraging of its IP rights to generate licensing revenue of those rights and the development and sale of commercial product(s) embodying those rights; 3) a life science/biotech client, he negotiated a multimillion dollar option and license of protein biomarkers; 4) a power company client when considering a billion dollar plus investment decision turned to him for business and legal consulting regarding "New" market entry analysis and strategy - his identification and analysis of competitors and their position(s) in this new market, from a resource and IP ownership and potential enforcement perspective, helped define the client's goals and build strategic plan for market entry. As a professional he believes that he has a duty to serve and teach others, and be a community leader by exemplifying the highest ethical standards. His practice includes pro-bono work with individuals and emerging businesses and presenting and speaking in commercial and academic settings on various US and international business issues, such as corporate policy and regulatory considerations, entrepreneurship, partnering, venturing, intellectual property strategy, development, and enforcement, and technology transfer. Through his work as a volunteer and Board member for non-profit and corporate clients, he serves the communities surrounding him and strives to positively impact the people in those communities. Regardless of what or where on the business life cycle a client's needs/goals are focused, from business planning, formation, managing, market analysis, or negotiation/closing of deals, to IP portfolio development or enforcement, to product R&D, manufacturing, sales or supply, to project and crisis management or halting of operations, or assisting in the identification and/or creation of new opportunities, his clients rely on his professionalism, experience at the nexus of the legal and business "worlds," and his commitment to them. His clients know him as a "One-Stop" comprehensive business solution provider and resource they can trust.

Marianne Schwarz da Silva

Marianne da Silva holds an MSci in Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry from Imperial College London, UK. During her time as an undergraduate student, she spent one year working as a research chemist at Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals (now Pfizer) in Ann Arbor, USA. Following her MSci, she graduated from the same university with a PhD in Organic Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. A.G.M. Barrett FRS, in the field of Natural Product Synthesis where she completed the total synthesis of an analogue of a Clavilactone.

In 2005, she undertook a traineeship in the European Commission, working for the NEST (New and Emerging Science and Technology) unit of the DG Research. During this time, she primarily worked on the development of a new call for proposals entitled "Transmission of Culture" as part of the PATHFINDER project.

She is now Project Manager Networking for the European Platform of Women Scientists EPWS. She is in charge of member relations and outreach, as well as networking for the Platform on both an European and international level.

Naren Sukurdeep

Extensive research on development of a dashboard integrating Economic Productivity, Quality, and Capability Dimensions to use in Benchmarking and improvement in Corporate Performance Management is the area of expertise of Naren Sukurdeep as a productivity consultant at NPCC. In 2005, he was awarded a bursary for presenting his research work for his Masters at the University of Mauritius.

Naren Sukurdeep was born on 25th October 1959 in Mauritius, a period where sugar was the main backbone of the economy. He studied Crop Science and Production at the University of Mauritius and worked for quite a long period, 1981 to 2001, in the field of food and agricultural research.

After joining the NPCC in 2001, Naren has contributed significantly in all of NPCC's programmes so far from design to implementation, assuming responsibility either directly or as part of a team, including: Computer Proficiency Programme(CPP); English Literacy using IT(ELIT); Computer Clubs; Empowerment of women, youth, social workers, NGOs, Civil Society; Muda Free Mauritius; Benchmarking; Networking; National Cleaner Production Center(NCPC); Building Entrepreneurship Capabilities at district level [Mohunlall Mohit Award]; and 5S Certification.

Jacinta Teofilo

Jacinta is the project coordinator for ICT4D programme at the national level in the independent state of Samoa. She is leading the rural connectivity programme focussing on Women and ICT through training women to use and manage telecenters. Jacinta is also an Executive Member of the Tagiilima Handicraft Association (THA) which is a recipient of GKP Seed Funding for ICT. She attended the WSIS first phase in Geneva 2003 and applied for ICT funding for Tagiilima under GKP seed funding. THA now enjoys using computers, fax, photocopier, digital camera and video, and the internet in their new office opened last June.

Barbara Tobin

Barbara started her career in the Computer Industry as the State Manager of Netcomm in 1984. Over the past twenty three years she has worked for ERP companies as well as owning her own Distribution Company. This company grew from $7 million when purchased to a $38 million company eight years later when the Company was sold. Her current position is Regional Manager (Qld & NT) for Lan Systems, which is a specialist Distribution Company.

Barbara has a keen interest in mentoring women in the ICT Industry. She has been a member of Women In Technology for the past nine years. Barbara's involvement in this organization has included Chair of the Executive Women's Special Interest Group and Chair of the Mentoring Program. She is also Chair of the Board Readiness Program. She has been a Judge of the WIT Scholarship Awards in the Business Category, the IT Asia Pacific Awards in the Business category and is currently a Judge of the Smart Women Smart State Awards. Barbara currently sits on the Board of Women In Technology and is President.

She is on the Board of The Queensland Youth Orchestra where she is involved in encouraging youth (up to the age of 24 years) who have an enjoyment of classical music grow as individuals through their playing by traveling internationally and developing an appreciation of other cultures. Barbara is Vice President.

Barbara is President of AWISE (Australian Women in IT and Science Equity). This organization is a National communications umbrella that connects the Information, Communication and Technology Women Networks across Australia.

In September 2005 she attended the National skills Participation Summit convened by the Honorable Helen Coonan (Minister for Communications Information Technology and the Arts) there were 70 invited participants from all over Australia to discuss the Skills Shortage in the ICT Industry. In 2006 she participated in Premier Beattie's National ICT Skills Summit.

She currently sits on the Smart State SET Task Force responsible for providing initiatives to Parliament through the Office of Women on activities to encourage more women to enter Science, Engineering and Technology. The Task Force reports to Margaret Keech (Minister for Women).

She is a member of The Rotary Club of Brisbane Planetarium.

She is listed in the Australian Who's Who.

Barbara Waugh

Barbara Waugh joined Hewlett-Packard 24 years ago, and used her successive positions as company recruiting manager, personnel director and worldwide change manager for HP Labs to transform HP's corporate culture. She is currently director for strategy and change in University Relations, and focuses on diversity challenges and opportunities in the US, and on engineering education for economic development in Africa.

Lessons learned feature in her book, Soul in the Computer (Inner Ocean Press, 2001), enthusiastically reviewed by Dow-Jones; Fast Company; Business 2.0 and the San Francisco Chronicle; and in numerous talks and publications including The Dance of Change; The Rebel Rules; The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women; Surfing the Edge of Chaos; Fast Company; Business 2.0; Strategy & Business and Fortune; Faith and Fortune; Speak the Truth and Point to Hope; the Stanford Innovation Review; Enlightened Power: How Women Are Transforming the Practice of Leadership; and Business Ethics.

Barbara developed breakthrough programs for women and minority recruiting, mentored outstanding people throughout HP, and received Management Legacy awards from both the HP Technical Women's Conference and the HP Deaf and Hard of Hearing Forum. She co-founded HP's Sustainability Network, as well as e-Inclusion, a business initiative and program to provide the four billion people at the bottom of the economic pyramid access to the social and economic opportunities of technology.

Barbara has a PhD in Psychology and Organizational Behavior, an MA in Theology and Comparative Literature, and an MA in German. She's served or serves on boards of directors or advisors for many organizations including the State of the World Forum, the Pacific Cultural Conservancy International, the Global Fund for Women, Engineers for a Sustainable World, the Global Women's Leadership Network, the Khadafy Foundation for Non-violence, Net Impact, Oxfam America, the Center for Women and I.T. and the International Task Force on Women and I.C.T.

She lives with her family in Northern California.

Larry Weber

Larry H. Weber is currently serving as Senior Program Manager in the Office of International Science & Engineering (OISE) East Asia and Pacific Program. He served as Head of the NSF Tokyo Office from January-August 2007 and as Acting Deputy Director of OISE from March 2005 through February 2006. In 1999-2000, Weber was a fellow in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he worked on issues related to global change, carbon sequestration, polar research, ocean science, and environmental education. Weber served as Director of the NSF Tokyo Office in the American Embassy in Japan from 1991-1996.

Before joining NSF in 1987, Weber was a research oceanographer at Texas A&M University, with international collaborations on projects in the Antarctic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

Weber received a B.S. in Biology from Brigham Young University - Hawaii Campus, and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from Texas A&M University.

Gisele M. Yitamben

An economist by training, Gisele M. Yitamben is a dynamic leader and a senior international expert consultant well known on questions of information technology and communication (ITC) and that of genders. She is founder and President of the Association for the support of women entrepreneurs, best known by its French acronym ASAFE, a social enterprise. She is also the Vice-President of the board of digital initiative (UNIFEM).

She has in the actively contributed in the preparation of Africa for the World Women Summit in Beijing-China (1995) ; and presided over the Economic and Political Empowerment of Women organized by the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA). She is an elected member of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Handicraft of Cameroon, where she is presiding over the Vocational training commission. She is also the Vice-President of Vocational training commission of the African consultative chambers.

She has received several awards for her contribution in ICT and actions towards women, including the 1994 Theresa Hoover Prize, for her contribution in advancing the status of women in Africa; the 1995 Prize of the Comite de lÕ excellence Africaine; the 2002 Prize for the exceptional social entrepreneur at the world level by the Schwarb Foundation for social Entrepreneurship; 2003 Digital Partners prize for social innovator; finalist for the 2002 world technology network; and 2005 SMME Africa Award in the category of Non governmental organizations.

Caroline Yap

Caroline currently works in IBM Malaysia as the Country Business Operation Manager for the IT Delivery services group. She also leads the country competency group in End User Services. Caroline was recently nominated to the IBM Women council team in Malaysia and she holds the Women In Technology portfolio in promoting women's interest in Technology in IBM. She has also spearheaded some activities for Young Women in promoting their awareness in Technology and Engineering field. The Young Women program involved camp events held for a week duration in which 15 years old girls were given a chance to experience the "technology workspace" through career talks, field trips, and creativity sessions in building a "LEGO Robotic" that moves according to program instructions.

Caroline graduated with a Master of Business of Administration degree from University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama. Having spent 15 years in the IT industry, she started her career in the Customer Support division in Digital Equipment Malaysia as an operations and support manager. Her wide area of expertise in the technical support fields covered services support from hand-held, desktops to enterprise servers platform. She was their first woman appointed to be the operations and support manager in the Customer Support division, a job which was historically given to a man. She achieved multiple accomplishments that included the pioneering of a Channel Service Partner program in which she received a Digital Excellence award in 1997.

She also pioneered two Service Centers for Compaq Computer Malaysia (one for Northern region and one for KL central region) infrastructure in terms of design and implementation. The Northern Service Center was opened and graced by the Chief Minister of Penang Datuk Seri Koh Tsu Koon. Caroline also held the role of country manager of Product Volume Delivery support group and later as Country Delivery Manager for the Managed Services group in Hewlett Packard Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

Caroline is a member of Project Management Institute. She is also a practising project manager working in project management related fields covering the financial, oil and gas, telecommunication and transportation industry. Her years of experience in various fileds has given her many insights into specific areas of interest. Her exposure in the Project Management field has taken her on a regional assignment covering the European countries. At the local front, she has contributed to an outsourcing deal in which IBM has been awarded a major deal in the financial industry.