Aimee is a senior 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). 

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.

Barry Eichengreen is Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a columnist for Project Syndicate.