Jaco Cilliers assumed the role of Manager of Bangkok Regional Hub in August 2019. He was Chief, Regional Policy and Programme Support for Asia and the Pacific during September 2017 – July 2019 where he also served as Senior Advisor for Innovation and Business Development at UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub. He was the Country Director of UNDP India during July 2014 - September 2017. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Resident Representative for UNDP in Uzbekistan, where he was responsible for the management and coordination of Programmes and Operations.

Junghun Kim has been deeply involved in the OECD Network on Fiscal Relations across Levels of Government, the OECD Committee specializing on intergovernmental fiscal relations, since its establishment in 2004, and has served as its chair since 2011. He is president and CEO of Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) in Seoul, Korea. Previously he was Vice President of Korea Institute of Public Finance (KIPF), a government research institute specializing on fiscal and tax policy. He also served in the KIPF as Director of Fiscal Policy Research Group between 2004 and 2018.

Karibaiti Taoaba is the Pacific Regional Director for the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF). Based in Suva, Fiji, she has been in this role, strengthening democratic local governments to support sustainable development across 10 Pacific Islands Countries, since 2009. Before joining CLGF, Karibaiti worked for the Government of Kiribati for 18 years. She has served as the Permanent Secretary for three ministries in Kiribati, including the President's Office.

Arjun Bhattarai obtained a Master’s Degree in Rural Development from the Tribhuvan University of Nepal in 2006, a Master’s Degree in Social Work–Comparative Perspective (MSW) from University of Nord, Norway, and an MPhil Degree in Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Oslo, Norway in 2016. He has been working with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) since 1995 and continues to work on issues related to poverty reduction, inequality, community empowerment, youth leadership, civic space, and policy advocacy on different issues.

Dr. Celia M. Reyes is the first woman president of Philippine Institute for Development Studies. She specializes in the field of econometrics and has conducted and published numerous research and policy papers on poverty assessments and evaluations of social protection programs. She is also the network leader of the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS), providing free technical assistance to local government units in the country in the implementation of the CBMS.

Bakytgul Khambar is providing expert and analytical support for building an integrated national financing system in the Republic of Kazakhstan. She conducted gender analysis of the documents of the local executive body for planning and budgeting for the period 2017-2020 (on the example of Akmola region) and participated in other projects and served as speaker and moderator at seminars for NGOs and government agencies.

Mr. Thomas M. Clark holds a Doctor of Laws degree from Columbia University, where he was Notes Editor of the Columbia Law Review, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Harvard University. He has over 30 years of experience in legal and government affairs practice, spanning the financial services, energy and infrastructure sectors.