Bios of Speakers

51st Session of the Commission for Social Development 6-15 Feb. 2013, New York

High-Level Panel on the Priority Theme 6 Feb. 2013, Conference Room 4 (NLB) 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm

"Promoting empowerment of people in achieving poverty eradication, social integration and full employment and decent work for all"

SHORT BIOS OF SPEAKERS

Moderator: The Right Honourable Kim Campbell P.C.; C.C.; Q.C. served as Canada’s nineteenth and first female Prime Minister in 1993. She previously held cabinet portfolios as Minister of State for Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, and Minister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans’ Affairs. She was the first woman to hold the Justice and Defence portfolios, and the first woman to be Defence Minister of a NATO country. Ms. Campbell participated in major international meetings including the Commonwealth, NATO, the G-7 Summit and the United Nations General Assembly. After her tenure as Prime Minister, Ms. Campbell was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics (Spring 1994) and the Joan Shorenstein Center for the Study of Press and Politics (1994-1995) at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She served as the Canadian Consul General in Los Angeles (1996-2000), then returned to Harvard to teach at the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School (2001- 2004). Ms. Campbell served as Secretary General of the Club of Madrid (2004-2006), and is a founding member and has served as its Acting President in 2002, its Vice President in 2003-2004 and served on its Board of Directors from 2007-2011. Today, Ms. Campbell does consulting in the areas of governance and leadership, and chairs the international advisory board of the Foundation for Effective Governance in Kiev, as well as the steering committee for the World Movement for Democracy. She is a Trustee of the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) at King’s College London. She serves on advisory boards of several international organizations such as the Arab Democracy Foundation in Doha, the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI), and the Forum of Federations. Ms. Campbell was educated at the University of British Columbia (BA, 1969, LLB, 1983) and the London School of Economics (Doctoral studies in Soviet Government, ABD, 1970-73) where she is an Honorary Fellow. She holds nine honorary doctorates. The 3rd Edition of her best-selling political memoir Time and Chance was released in May of 2008 with an updated epilogue by the University of Alberta Bookstore.

H.E. Ms. Maria Soledad Arellano is Vice Minister of Social Development of Chile. Ms. Soledad Arellano Schmidt is an economist and has a Masters in Applied Economics from the Catholic University of Chile. She earned her Ph.D. in economics at MIT and has published numerous studies in the most prestigious journals. She has been Academic Director of the Master in Applied Economics at the University of Chile, and consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), for the governments of Chile, Peru and El Salvador and Chilean companies. She is also Deputy Minister of Economics, Court of Defence of Free Competition and Research Professor of the School of Government at the University Adolfo Ibáñez. She was named one of the 100 Young Leaders in the magazine “El Sábado de El Mercurio”.

H.E Mr. Ahmad Zahir Faqiri is currently the Deputy Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations, since May 2011. He has a master degree in Diplomatic Strategic Affairs from Paris, France. He worked in different high positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan as General Director of Information and spokesperson, director of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation and desk officer of United Nations department. He has also served as diplomat at the Afghanistan UNESCO Office.

Mr. Lauris Beets is Director for International Affairs and principle advisor to the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment of the Netherlands on international matters. The policy areas of the Ministry cover Employment and the Labour Market, social security, income, industrial relations and working conditions (Health and Safety at Work). Mr. Beets was Chair of the EU Social Protection Committee in 2011-2012, is a rotating member of the ILO Governing Body and member of the Governing Board of the European Foundation in Dublin. Through his active involvement and participation in international organizations and his position within the ministry, he is well informed about national and international policy developments in the social and economic domain. In his previous position as Director for Communication of the Ministry, Mr. Beets had acted as spokesman and advisor of many Ministers of Social Affairs and Employment. Before his career at the Ministry, Mr. Beets was Head of the Information and Communications Strategy Department of the University of Leiden.

Dr. Ronnie Goldberg is chief policy officer of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), oversees wide-ranging activities on international trade, investment, economic and regulatory matters, and supervises a staff of policy professionals whose expertise covers a host of issues affecting American companies engaged in business abroad. She also coordinates USCIB policies in relation to those of our international affiliates – ICC, BIAC and IOE – and various other groups. She serves as the U.S. employer representative on the International Labor Organization’s Governing Body, and chairs the BIAC Employment, Labor, and Social Affairs (ELSA) Committee. Prior to joining USCIB in 1987, Dr. Goldberg served as Vice President for International Affairs at the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and as a Vice President in the Trade and Export Finance Division of Chase Manhattan Bank.

2 From 1978 to 1982, she was a project director at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, specializing in East-West trade, technology transfer and Soviet energy development. Ms. Goldberg received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Bryn Mawr College. The recipient of both Woodrow Wilson and Ford Fellowships, she holds a master’s degree in the history of political thought from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

H.E. Ms. Suraya Paikan is Deputy Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Disability in Afghanistan. Ms. Suraya Paikan will participate in the high-level panel discussion on the priority theme to share the experiences of the Government of Afghanistan in reducing poverty among people with disabilities and in ensuring their social integration. Ms. Suraya Paikan has previously served as Member of Scientific Board of the Ministry of Higher Education (1989 – 1991); Teacher of Law, Faculty of Balkh University (1992-1995); Officer of the HABITAT Project (1997); Member of UNCHR Human Rights Committee (1995); Member and assistant of Political and Human Rights Section of UNAMA (2002); Representative in the Emergency and Constitution Loya Jirga (Parliament); Director of Afghanistan Women Lawyer and Professional Association and Founder of Women Law Magazine (2002-2007); Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Higher Education (2004-2007). She has also written on ‘International Law and Development of Science and Technology’; Situation of Consulate Law; Foundation of legal theories; Regulation of Marriage in Afghanistan, and has published articles on various issues in the Tajikistan Academy of Science, Law Magazine of Kabul University, and the Justice Magazine of the Supreme Court.