Vita is a chartered structural engineer who currently works at Arup where she supports development clients on the implementation of infrastructure, particularly in health and education. She is currently also the Chair of the board at the Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) operational HQ in Amsterdam which has governance over programming decisions for their portfolio of humanitarian response projects globally as well as an elected trustee of MSF UK.   

Mark Hiram began working with the Nauru Utilities Corporation since 2008 as a Technician. For more than 10 years as a Technician, he has devoted most of his time as part of a team involved in operating and maintaining the RO plants with all its auxiliary. During his time with Nauru Utilities, Mark worked his way up and became the Team Leader whereby his primary role was taking lead in problem solving situations and ensuring effective and efficient operations of the Desalination Plant Operation.

Ben is the founding CEO of Water Sensitive Cities Australia, continuing his work from his time as CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC), where he also served as the Chief Operating and Finance Officer. He leads multidisciplinary projects on water-sensitive city approaches. Before CRCWSC, Ben spent ten years on Melbourne Water’s executive team, handling water resource and sewerage system planning, regulation, customer service, public affairs, and research and development.

Lyndon works to advance NBS in cities and communities to maximize outcomes for people and nature. He leads efforts to implement and scale nature-based and green infrastructure projects that improve water quality and provide local communities with climate resilience and other co-benefits. He collaborates closely with government agencies and the water sector, including utilities, researchers, and policymakers. Lyndon is a city and environmental planner who can work at multiple scales, from watershed-wide planning to site-specific design.

Erik is a senior project lead for TNC’s Nature for Water Facility, a specialist team that helps local programs analyze, develop, and execute NBS for water security. Erik led Nature for Water’s first project and has since directly supported 15 NBS programs worldwide with various detailed analyses. As a trained economist, he typically focuses on return on investment, economics, sustainable finance, and governance, as well as developing “program intelligence” analyses and dashboards. Before joining TNC, Erik worked at Pegasys, a management consultancy based in Cape Town.

Neka has multi-country experience in the processing and implementation of ADB-funded projects and technical assistance. She has been an independent financial consultant since 2018 covering various sectors with knowledge and experience in financial due diligence, fiduciary and governance assessment, financial and tariff modeling, and financial management capacity building. Before moving to individual consulting, she worked for over eight years for Deloitte Consulting Overseas Projects managing USAID-funded energy and governance programs.

Luc Verelst is an ICT/GIS specialist with more than 25 years of professional experience in the use of GIS, ICT, and Remote Sensing for Ecosystems Engineering and Asset Management. He has confirmed experience in designing irrigation Asset Management Systems in combination with irrigation modernization programs in the Philippines (ADB TA-9971) and Vietnam (ADB TA-9681) and irrigation asset inventorying in Tajikistan (Zarafshan basin, EU) and Afghanistan (Amu Darya Basin, EU) through extensive field surveys.

Tim Stats is a design and construction professional specializing in the delivery of resilient infrastructure in the Pacific.

He has been working as a Technical Assistance Officer for the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility, based in Suva, for the last three years coordinating work on Local Content, Improving Building Codes, and Value for Money in the Procurement of Pacific Infrastructure.

Dr Amit Chanan is an experienced senior executive with a career spanning over two decades within the international water industry and infrastructure services.