Gilberto Llanto was formerly the President of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), and currently is a member of PIDS' Board of Trustees. He previously served as the Deputy Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority, Vice-President of PIDS, and Executive Director (with the rank of Assistant Secretary/Assistant Minister) of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council.

Lisette is passionate about mobile financial services and their impact on poverty alleviation. She has in-depth expertise in payments, card acquiring and issuing, and alternative payment methods having worked in Europe, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific. She is currently working as a Senior Digital Technology Specialist in the Finance Sector Group at the Asian Development Bank.

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.

Robert C. Merton is the School of Management Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the John and Natty McArthur University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. His research focuses on finance theory, including lifecycle and retirement finance, optimal portfolio selection, capital asset pricing, pricing of derivative securities, credit risk, loan guarantees, financial innovation, the dynamics of institutional change, and improving the methods of measuring and managing macro-financial systemic risk.

Nicola Armacost is the Managing Director of Arc Finance whose mission is to link the fields of finance, energy, water, and sanitation. Arc’s financial institution partners have provided access to clean energy for over 4.5 million people in a range of countries including Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nicaragua, and Haiti. Arc’s partners offer financing for distributed solar, roof-top solar, e-vehicles and a range of other uses as well as micro and mini-grids.

Meherban Khan is the Head of Utility Companies at Agra Khan Rural Support Program in northern Pakistan. He has more than 17 years of experience in the development sector and is skilled in project and program planning, implementation, management, financial budgeting, and community-based enterprises development. He has a master’s in Economics and master’s in finance from the University of Peshawar and also has a post-graduate diploma in Project Management from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands.

Jamil is a Manager in the Risk & Regulatory Practice of PwC Philippines.  He has nine years of professional experience in the areas of annual statutory audit, financial due diligence, corporate finance and valuation, risk control and compliance, and systems implementation.