Elisabeth von Capeller is a distinguished professional in development and diplomacy. She earned a Master’s degree in Agricultural Engineering from ETH Zurich in 1987. Throughout her career, Ms. von Capeller has made significant contributions to gender equality, conflict resolution, and international development.

In 1989, she began her career with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), FDFA, as an Associate Expert in Cameroon. In 2000, she was appointed as a Gender Equality Officer, and in 2004, she became a Deputy in the Conflict Prevention and Transformation Division at SDC. By 2007, Ms. von Capeller was leading the SDC Coordination Office in Nepal as Head of Cooperation and Deputy Head of Mission. Her role expanded in 2011 when she was appointed Head of the South Asia and Conflict and Human Rights Division.

From December 2014 to December 2017, Ms. von Capeller served as Deputy Director-General of SDC and Head of the Cooperation with Eastern Europe Division. Between February 2018 and October 2023, she represented Switzerland as Ambassador to Kathmandu, Nepal.  From October 2023 onward, Ms. von Capeller has a mandate as Special Representative for Transitional Justice in Nepal.

Sneh Rajbhandari is the Communications Director at Curves n’ Colors, a private company working in the nexus of art, design and technology to optimize online presence for brands. She has worked as the Director of Communications with Ullens Education Foundation for a year. Additionally, she has worked with the Leadership Team at the Ullens Kindergarten, School and IBDP to deepen communications and relationships within the community during the time of the pandemic. From 2016 to 2018, she was the Public Affairs and Communications Manager at Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd, where she managed stakeholder engagement, sustainability (TCCF, water replenishment and recycling), and brand PR on behalf of the INSWA Business Unit.

She was nominated as a Global Shaper for the Kathmandu Hub in 2014 for her work with the local community through INCLUDED. Later she became the Curator for the Hub in 2015, where she co-led the largest project of the hub to date. She is currently a member of the WEF RSB for South Asia where she is part of the working group focused on Accelerating Digital Transformation for Education & SMEs; and a Board Member of the Duke of Edinburgh International Award Nepal.

She initiated her professional career in the development sector, as the Programs Manager and Co-Founder of INCLUDED, a non-profit working to provide education and social services to internal migrant families living in slums and squatter settlements. She is interested in issues related to strategic communications, sustainability, public-private partnership and women in the workforce.

She is a graduate from the London School of Economics with an MSc focused in Development Management.

François-Xavier Léger is a seasoned career diplomat. Since 1992, he has served in various global postings, including Japan, Senegal, and Jerusalem. He was appointed as the Ambassador to Nepal from 2018 to 2021, followed by his role as the Ambassador to Fiji from 2021 to 2024. While his primary expertise lies in political affairs, Léger has also placed significant emphasis on economic and trade issues, environmental concerns, and sports diplomacy. Throughout his career, he has developed valuable skills in crisis management, demonstrating adaptability and resilience in diverse international contexts.

Giuseppe Savino is a specialist in migration policies. He builds on his experience in the field of South Asia’s labor migration to propose implementable solutions addressing dysfunctionalities affecting migrants’ recruitment processes. With over thirty years of professional experience in investment banking and financial markets, he shifted his area of expertise to migration policy in 2014, mainly by developing financial solutions for migrants with a view to reducing the cost of migration. He is the founder of ‘Migration Protocol’, a consultancy firm specializing in migration.

As a labor migration consultant, he has worked with UKAid Nepal, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) both in Nepal and Bangladesh, and with other major national and international migration stakeholders. His work addresses topics ranging from migration market inefficiencies leading to over- indebtedness and destitution to migrants’ socio-economic reintegration in their country of origin. As a policy advisor, he has worked closely with various governments to develop improved migration regulation, including cost reduction and positive use of remittances.

He has a Postgraduate Degree in International Politics obtained with Magna Cum Laude (Grande Distinction) at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and a university degree in economics from the Centre Universitaire Luxembourgeois.

Kenichi Yokoyama has a distinguished career in development operations across South Asia and Japan. With a robust academic background, including a Bachelor of Agriculture in Civil Engineering from Iwate University and a Master of Arts in Food Research and Agricultural Economics from Stanford University, he initially served the Government of Japan in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF). His early career focused on planning and executing large-scale irrigation and flood management projects, both in the field and at MAFF headquarters, where he honed his expertise in public sector project operations. Additionally, he played a pivotal role in international trade negotiations on agricultural products and contributed to development cooperation efforts in Bangladesh through the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka.

In 1999, Yokoyama joined the Asian Development Bank (ADB), where he devoted his career to advancing water resources management across South Asia. His contributions were particularly notable in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, where he facilitated innovations in infrastructure design and institutional systems for water management. From 2012 to 2017, Yokoyama served as ADB’s Country Director in Nepal, where he led strategic planning, pipeline and portfolio restructuring, and management system improvements. His leadership resulted in a significant increase in annual loan and technical assistance commitments. He later served as ADB’s Country Director in India from 2017 to 2020, overseeing substantial enhancements in operations and policy reform dialogues in critical sectors such as logistics, industrial corridor development, power, and urban development. He also played a key role in regional cooperation and integration initiatives, particularly in the Northeastern corridor states of India.

From 2020 to 2023, Yokoyama held the position of Director General of ADB’s South Asia Department, where he steered the department’s COVID-19 response and aligned its operations with ADB’s Strategy 2030. He significantly increased the proportion of policy-based loans and climate change financing, solidifying South Asia’s status as ADB’s largest operational region. Throughout his career, Yokoyama was recognized as one of ADB’s most trusted experts in water resources management and project implementation, serving on various committees and working groups. His leadership was characterized by a client-oriented approach, strong analytical skills, and a strategic understanding of ADB’s mandate and business model, earning him the respect and confidence of his colleagues, senior management, and the Board of Directors.

Kul Chandra Gautam is a former senior official of the United Nations, a distinguished diplomat and a development professional. Owing to his extensive experience in international diplomacy, development cooperation and humanitarian assistance, he serves on the boards of several international and national organizations, charitable foundations, and public-private partnerships. In Nepal, he advises senior politicians and civil society leadership on issues related to socio-economic development, peace, democracy, and human rights.

Previously, he served as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. In an international career spanning over three decades in many countries and continents, he worked at the policy and managerial level to promote the rights and wellbeing of children, women, and people in poverty through international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance.

Over the course of his long and distinguished career at the United Nations, he engaged with government leaders, donor agencies, multilateral organizations, NGOs and the corporate sector in policy dialogue, advocacy and resource mobilization. At the global level, he was responsible for the highest levels of policy making at the United Nations, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, ECOSOC and the UNICEF Executive Board. In addition, he supervised UNICEF cooperation in over 150 developing countries.

Mahendra Krishna Shrestha is the Chairman of Himalayan General Insurance. He has been committed to the financial sector in Nepal for more than two decades. His contribution in heading and shaping some of the leading insurance and banking organizations is greatly valued. For example, he initiated the Himalayan General Insurance Company in 1993 and spearheaded the reform process for Lumbini Bank Limited.

Over the years, he has been involved in a number of additional sectors, including hydropower, telecommunications, health and media. In addition to being a member of all the major local chambers of commerce, he was also the President of the Nepal-Britain Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  His background in business enables him to draw varied inferences and holistic perspectives into the economic development dialogue and discussion. According to him, there is an inextricable connection between education policy and national development which he has been cultivating by serving on the Board of Governors of Welham Boys’ School in India. He holds a Masters’ degree from the Delhi School of Economics (DSE).

Prativa Pandey is a researcher and science entrepreneur who studies the significance and characteristics of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Nepal. She is the founder/CEO of Catalyst Technology and Herveda Botanicals, a S&T research and product development company that mainly focuses on value addition through technical interventions to solve existing market problems.

She has been working in the intersection of public, academic and private sectors. She is a Council Member in Science Technology and Innovation Policy Implementation and Promotion Council, and a member of the High-level Industry and Investment Policy Forum, Ministry of Industry Commerce and Supplies, Nepal. She also co-founded two platforms for women and young scientists, Women Scientists Forum Nepal and Young Scientists Forum Nepal, in the initiation of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). She is also a researcher at the Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology, and a visiting faculty at Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

She has over a decade of research and industrial experience with several published research reports, articles, and three US patents. She is an active member of the Intellectual Property Protection Society Nepal. She received the prestigious UNESCO-OWSD Early Career Fellowship 2019 and NAST-NABIL Science and Technology Award 2019 in recognition of her leadership and excellence in STEM. She completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Northwestern University (US), Management Certificate from Kellogg School of Management (US), and B.S. Honors in Chemistry from Salem College (US).

Saloni Sethia is a dynamic entrepreneur and thought leader with a diversified career spanning across the music, audio-visual, water technology, and construction industries. She currently holds the position of Executive Director at VIE TEC, a company that specializes in efficient water solutions, AV solutions and construction and building technology, and serves as the CEO at MAW Music, a leading distributor and retailer of top global musical and AV equipment brands in Nepal. Saloni is also the founder and host of the podcast “Unheard with Saloni,” which explores the challenges and achievements of Nepalese women.

Saloni’s career began at Google, working with India’s largest firms across the Auto, Government, Education, and Retail sectors to implement effective digital marketing campaigns. She has also been a part of the Global Shapers Community, where as Curator of the Kathmandu Hub, she led numerous community initiatives. Saloni’s leadership extends to her founding role at HereThere, a startup facilitating shopping from India for Nepalese residents, and her recent venture, Urban Pulse, a direct-to-consumer company offering innovative fashion and tech products.

She has also worked as a Research Consultant at the Nepal Economic Forum, assisting with the book launch of “Unleashing Nepal” and contributing to economic analysis through the Nefport publication. Her entrepreneurial spirit is further evidenced by her cofounding role at The Empowered Women, a network and capacity-building space for women.

Saloni graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) and attended the London School of Economics for Summer School in Management and Entrepreneurship. She recently completed the Stanford Seed Transformation Program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Shraddha Gautam is an international macroeconomics and development specialist with expertise in international trade, investment, industrial and fiscal policy. She holds a masters’ degree in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an undergraduate degree in Economics (Hons.) from the University of Delhi.

She joined the World Bank Group as a Consultant-Economist in 2020 where she assisted the Macroeconomics Trade and Investment team in conducting the annual Public Expenditure Review. She was involved in analyzing spending allocations of local and provincial governments and determining their revenue potential. She was also engaged in coordinating the Economic Growth and Private Sector technical working group that closely monitors and advocates to build support for key structural reforms in promoting inclusive growth in Nepal.

She has extensive experience working with government institutions. As a Program and Research Associate at Daayitwa, she worked closely with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies to address policy gaps in the entrepreneurial eco-system and domestic youth (un)employment in Nepal and has contributed to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security’s (MoLESS) research initiatives aimed at promoting the dignity of labor. She is the co-author of a flagship report on ‘Political Economy of Domestic Youth Employment’. Prior to this, Shraddha was involved in providing research support to the Pocket Area Development program, a Poverty Alleviation Fund initiative.