Dr. Shu Tian is a Senior Economist at the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department (ERCD) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Prior to joining ADB, she was an Associate Professor of Finance at Fudan University in China. Her main working area is financial sector development and sustainable finance. Dr. Tian works in the teams that produce ADB’s flagship reports, Asian Development Outlook and Asia Bond Monitor.

Aimee is an urban development specialist and economist working on urban development and water supply and sanitation, economic analysis of investment projects, and private sector development (tech startups, entrepreneurship, and business environment). Currently she is processing and implementing solid waste management projects in the Solomon and Marshall Islands and is supporting the ADB due diligence of economic analysis of urban development projects in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Ms. Sujata Gupta is the Energy Director of the East Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) since November 2017. She joined ADB in 2003 and has worked on the public and private sectors of ADB as well as for resource mobilization from development partners. Prior to her current position, Sujata was the Director, Office of Cofinancing Operations (2013–2017), South Asia Head and Principal Investment Specialist, Private Sector Operations Department (2007–2012) and Senior Energy Specialist with the South-East Asia Regional Department (2003–2007).

Yvonne has devoted herself to supporting cities being circular. She aims to facilitate global cities in East Asia and worldwide shifting towards the circular economy. With her interdisciplinary background in greenhouse gas mitigation, spatial planning, and economics, Yvonne is interested in integrating different schools of thought to solve sustainability challenges in cities. Yvonne joined ICLEI East Asia Secretariat to initiate the ‘Green Circular Cities Coalition’.

William Easterly is Professor of Economics at New York University and Co-director of the NYU Development Research Institute, which won the 2009 BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge in Development Cooperation Award.

India has followed an idiosyncratic pattern of development, certainly compared with other fast-growing Asian economies. While the importance of services rather than manufacturing is widely noted, within manufacturing India has emphasized skill-intensive rather than labor-intensive manufacturing, and industries with higher-than-average scale. Some of these distinctive patterns existed prior to the beginning of economic reforms in the 1980s, and stem from the idiosyncratic policies adopted after India's independence.

Michael Kremer is the Gates Professor of Developing Societies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.