Rohan SAMARAJIVA
Professor Rohan Samarajiva is currently assisting the government of Sri Lanka as Team Leader of the Public Interest Program Unit of the Ministry for Economic Reform, Science and Technology. His responsibilities include the establishment of the Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) and the development of legislation and regulations for industries that would come under the PUCSL. In addition, he is responsible for the implementation of telecom reforms and contributing to the implementation of infrastructure for the e Sri Lanka Initiative. He is a director of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka. He also serves as Director of External Programs of the Learning Initiatives for Reforms in Network Economies (LIRNE.NET, a collaboration between leading universities of Denmark, the Netherlands, South Africa and the UK); and a member of the management team of the World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies (www.regulateonline.org).

Samarajiva was Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission in Sri Lanka (1998-99), Associate Professor of Communication and Public Policy at the Ohio State University (1987-2000), and Visiting Professor of Economics of Infrastructures at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands (2000-2003). He chaired the expert workshop on fixed-mobile interconnection for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2000 and served on the ITU’s expert group on International Telecommunication Regulations. He has provided expert assistance to government authorities, regulatory agencies and consumer and citizen groups in Australia, Bhutan, Canada, Denmark, India, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa and several US states.

Susan TELTSCHER
Dr. Susan Teltscher is an Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva. Since 1998, she has been working on issues related to the impact of new information and communications technologies on developing countries, especially in the area of electronic commerce. In 2001, she joined UNCTAD's Electronic Commerce Branch and has played a substantial role in the preparation of the annual E-Commerce and Development Report.

From 1992-1998, Dr. Teltscher has worked in technical cooperation related to small and medium-sized enterprise development in Latin America. Dr. Teltscher received her Ph.D. in 1992 from the University of Washington (Seattle, United States), and her Diplom in 1987 from the University of Tübingen (Germany).

Tariq BANURI
Dr. Tariq Banuri is the Chairman of ePoor.org, and Senior Research Director at SEI-B in Pakistan. He has extensive experience in policy development through research and analysis, organizing and leading multi-stakeholder participation. In general, his work focuses on conceptual as well as practical issues in sustainable development, including the analysis of macroeconomic and trade policies, institutions, governance, legal systems and community development.

Dr. Banuri has served on several national and international institutions oriented towards public policy formulation, including most recently, the Steering Committee on Higher Education, established by the President of Pakistan. He has also acted as coordinating lead author on the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, as elected Chair of the Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) on the Governing Council of IUCN-the World Conservation Union and on the Board of Directors of the State Bank of Pakistan.

Subhash BHATNAGAR
Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar's extensive years of academic research, teaching and consulting work have covered national IT policy, corporate IT strategy, IT for development, e-government and e-commerce. He has a considerable number of publications to his credit and is associated with the advisory board of several educational institutions at tertiary level. Prof. Bhatnagar is an active member of numerous societies in the field of information and telematics and is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Information Technology for Development. He is a Fellow of the Computer Society in India in recognition of his contributions.

Presently, Prof. Bhatnagar leads an initiative on e-government in the Public Sector Group of the PREM network at the World Bank in Washington. He has authored several case studies on e-Government applications in developing countries featured on the World Bank e-Government site.

John URE
Dr John Ure is an economist, associate professor and director of the Telecommunications Research Project at the University of Hong Kong - see http://www.trp.hku.hk. Among his publications is Telecommunications in Asia: Policy Planning and Development (HKU Press, 1995, 1997) and 'Privatization of Telecommunications: The Asian Experience' with A.Vivorakij in D.Ryan (1997) ed. Telecommunications: Privatization and Competition. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

He serves on the editorial boards of Telecommunications Policy and Info, also on the international advisory board of the APDIP and on the Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong (SAR) Government. He is a regular delegate to APEC Tel and PECC. He consults for both the public and private sectors including the World Bank and the ITU.

Virgilio L. PENA
Virgilio L. Pena assumed the position of Undersecretary for Information and Communications Technology of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) on August 1, 2002. He is also the Executive Director of the Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (ITECC), which is a government/private sector planning and advisory body chaired by the President, responsible for the development of Information and Communications Technology and the promotion of e-Commerce in the country. Prior to his appointment in the DOTC, he served as Presidential Assistant for Information and Communications Technology.

Hon. Pena has been in the IT industry for almost his entire professional career and was the President of IBM Philippines up to 1994. He then joined San Miguel Corporation where he eventually assumed the position of President and Managing Director of San Miguel Brewing International in Hong Kong.

Salman ANSARI
Salman Ansari brings more than 30 years of professional experience in telecommunications, electronics and software technologies. He has worked with government think tanks and task forces, and his achievements in the field of ICT range from policy and enabling activities to telecommunications operations, education and distance learning to manufacturing and technology transfer. Policy-wise, Mr. Ansari has played a vital role in the drafting and implementation of Pakistan's first IT Policy and standards for the country's ISP industry.