Moderator：Ms. Pitchaya Sirivunnabood（Deputy Head and Senior Economist, Capacity Building and Training Department, ADBI）

Pitchaya Sirivunnabood has served as the Deputy Head of Capacity Building and Training Department since September 2022. She is also a senior economist. Her expertise is international economics and finance, specializing in regional economic integration and financial cooperation as well as bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, development of financial markets, and international/ transnational investment.

Prior to joining ADBI in 2018, Pitchaya was an assistant director and the head of finance integration division at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia. She was senior researcher, providing policy advocacy and consultancy for a Thai government think tank, the UNDPʼs Asia Pacific Regional Office, and the European Association for Business and Commerce. Pitchaya was also an assistant director and macroeconomist at the ASEAN Integration Monitoring Office, in charge of surveillance and monitoring process for the ASEAN Economic Community. She holds a PhD in international economics from the University of Utah, United States.

Panelist：Mr. Pornphrom N.S. Vikitsreth（Advisor to Bangkok, Environment Affair, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration）

A youngest advisor to governor of Bangkok who has a passionate about environment. He is also an environment columnist and a former PM at UN Environment Programme.

Panelist：Mr. Satoru Sadohara（Vice President, Yokohama National University）

Specializes in urban energy systems and urban environmental engineering. In 1989, assistant professor of Yokohama National University, and in 2000 professor.

In Yokohama National University, he belongs to the Graduate School of Urban Innovation, and is in charge of the Faculty of Urban Sciences.

Director of Japan District Heating and Cooling Association, vice-chairman of the Kanto Region Energy and Global Warming Countermeasures Promotion Council, expert member of Yokohama City, vice-chairman of Yokohama City Environmental Creation Council, chairman of Kawasaki City Environment Council, etc.

He is engaged in research on energy systems to realize decarbonized and resilient cities.

Panelist︓Mr. Takeshi Ishikawa（Director General of the Climate Change Policy Headquarters, City of Yokohama）

After graduating from the Faculty of Law, Meiji University, he joined City of Yokohama in 1991.

He served as Director of the Konan Ward Administration Promotion Division, Director of the Sports Promotion Division of the Citizens Bureau, Director General of the Administrative Reform Office of the General Affairs Bureau, and Deputy Director General of the Policy Bureau before assuming his current position in April 2022.

Panelist：Mr. Sanjay Grover（Unit Head of the Creating Investable Cities initiative, ADB）

Sanjay Grover is the Unit Head of the Creating Investable Cities initiative at the Asian Development Bank. He brings more than 25 years of experience working with cities across Asia and the Americas in different capacities ‒ as a planner, as a PPP grantor, as a transaction adviser, and as a debt and equity investor.

Prior to joining ADB in the Office of Public Private Partnerships, Sanjay worked as an urban sector consultant for the World Bank and ADB. Previously, Sanjay was a Senior Equity Investments Manager with Fannie Mae in the US, where he sourced, structured, and managed more than $4 billion of equity and mezzanineloan financing in workforce housing. Prior to Fannie Mae, Sanjay led the planning, structuring, and closing on more than $1.5 billion in transit-oriented development projects in Washington DC and Boston metropolitan areas. Sanjay started his career with AECOM, where he led the planning and technical due diligence for many large-scale urban infrastructure projects in the US and Asia. Sanjay has an MBA from MITʼs Sloan School of Management, graduate degrees in City Planning and in Transport from Georgia Tech, and a bachelorʼs degree in Architecture.

Panelist：Mr. Helmy Budiman（Regional Development Planning Agency, Government of Makassar City, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia）

Helmy Budiman is the Head of the Regional Development Planning Agency, City of Makassar, Indonesia. His work focuses on city document planning, in terms of long-term (RPJP) (25 years), medium-term (RPJMD) (5 years), and short-term (RPKD) (1 year). His working area also includes the main program activity and sub-activity of each department in the local government of Makassar City.

Moderator：Ms. Yatsuka Kataoka（Programme Director, City Taskforce, Brookings Institution, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies）

Yatsuka Kataoka joined IGES in 2001, after she engaged in environmental technology transfer and capacity building projects targeted at the Southeast Asian countries in Global Environment Centre Foundation (GEC). At IGES, she worked for water management related research projects, especially focusing on groundwater management policy and water quality management in Asian countries. After serving the Senior Coordinator for Networking and Outreach and the Deputy Director of Kitakyushu Urban Centre, she joined City Task Force She is now engaged in city-to-city collaboration projects for sustainable development between EU and Japan as well as Japan and other Asian countries. Her recent study focus also includes localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Voluntary Local Review (VLR). She obtained LLM, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies of Kobe University.

Panelist︓Mr. Ken Akaoka （Director General for Global Network, International Affairs Bureau, concurrently serve as Executive Director, Office of the City of Yokohama Representative to the Americas）

He joined City of Yokohama in 1983. He served as Director of Tourism and Convention Promotion Department, Culture and Tourism Bureau, Director for Office of Foreign Affairs, Policy Bureau, and Director General of the International Affairs Bureau before assuming his current position in April 2021.

Panelist︓Mr. Le Minh Tuong（Director General of the Climate Change Policy Headquarters, City of Yokohama）

Being the representative of Danang Department of Planning and Investment, openminded, enthusiastic and imparted to be internationally integrated at the same time, I would like to share with the world about our goals and desire for building a sustainable city at this conference. If my presentation interests you, do not hesitate to contact me.

Panelist：Mr. Takehiko Nagumo（Executive Managing Director, Smart City Institute Japan）

Executive Managing Director, Smart City Institute Japan. Concurrently, Senior Managing Executive Officer at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, Ltd. Committee member of Regulatory Reform Promotion Council (Cabinet Office), Public Records and Archives Management Commission (Cabinet Office), Well- Being City Indicator Committee (Digital Agency). Policy advisors to Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Yokohama City, Chiba City, Hamamatsu City, Kobe City, Aizuwakamatsu City, Maebashi City, and Kamakura City.

Adjunct Professor at Kyoto University Graduate School of Management, Tokai University, Kanazawa Institute of Technology. Visiting Professor at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia.

Senior Industry Fellow at RMIT. Senior Visiting Fellow at Global Communication Center, International University of Japan, Senior Researcher at Keio Research Institute at SFC.

Moderator：Mr. Christopher Pablo（Senior Urban Specialist and TDLC Team Lead, World Bank）

Christopher Pablo is Senior Urban Specialist and Team Lead of TDLC. Before joining TDLC, he was based in Jerusalem, leading the urban program in West Bank and Gaza. Chris has years of experience in the Bank in lending and analytical work spanning municipal finance, city development strategies, metropolitan planning, slum upgrading, local economic development, urban transport, tourism, and resilience. Before his West Bank and Gaza assignment, he was in Dhaka, Bangladesh, leading the work on municipal infrastructure and governance improvements and non-lending technical assistance on local service delivery. Prior to his South Asia Region assignment, Chris was in the Manila office leading municipal finance operations, urban transport, and slum upgrading projects. Before joining the Bank, Chris worked in the Philippines National Economic Planning Agency. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Panelist︓Mr. Alfonso Vegara （Special Advisor for Y-PORT Center）

FOUNDER AND HONORARY PRESIDENT FUNDACION METROPOLI.

PhD in City and Regional Planning; degrees in Architecture, Economics, and Sociology. Former President of ISOCARP -International Society of City and Regional Planners- which
has members in over 70 countries. He is Fellow and Trustee of the Eisenhower Fellowships; heʼs also been appointed as Honorary Consul General of Singapore in Madrid since 2005.

Alfonso Vegara has been lecturing Urbanism at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, Universidad de Navarra, and Universidad CEU San Pablo. He was also a visiting professor at the School of Design of the University of Pennsylvania, and Advisor of ETH Zurich Polytechnica.

Panelist︓Ms. Carli Bunding-Venter （Senior Urban Development Specialist, World Bank）

Carli Venter, a South African national, is a Senior Urban Development Specialist with the World Bank based in Washington DC. She has extensive experience spanning both the private and public sectors, with an in-depth understanding of public management, urban governance and economic development at local and regional level. Her skillset includes policy and strategy formulation, facilitation, the design and implementation of participatory process, design of governance processes and the ability to navigate the intergovernmental and public-private space. She holds an undergraduate and honors degree in Financial Management, a Mastersʼ degree (cum laude) in Environmental Management and a PhD in Public Management.

Panelist：Mr. Shinken Sakawa （Chairman, YOKOHAMA MINATO MIRAI 21）

Specialized in architecture and urban planning. Formerly, he was a chief engineer and the director of the Building Bureau of City of Yokohama. Currently, he is in charge of the area management organization of Minato Mirai 21, which consists of industry, academia, and government.

During this period, he was mainly engaged in urban planning, urban redevelopment, revitalization of large-scale housing complexes, disaster prevention, and environmental policy for the entire city of Yokohama. In particular, in relation to Minato Mirai 21, he has served as the head of the planning section and the head of the maintenance department. Currently, he is taking on a variety of challenges to create “new urban industries and culture” that urban projects can play a role in.

Panelist：Mr. Tan Xin Ji Alan（Senior Manager, JTC Corporation）

As a team lead in JTC’s Smart District Division, Alan Tan is involved in the development work of Open Digital Platform (ODP), the digital infrastructure that will integrate various smart systems across the district.

Moderator: Mr. Toru Hashimoto(Director General, International Affairs Bureau, City of Yokohama)

Toru Hashimoto was in charge of program Y-PORT (Yokohama Partnership of Resources and Technologies). Y-PORT is public private partnership endeavor to deliver knowledge and cutting-edge technology for urban solutions. He was instrumental to initiate collaborations under City Partnership Program with the World Bank and to conclude Memorandum ofUnderstanding between ADB and the City of Yokohama in regards of urban management and solutions. Before joining the City of Yokohama he took technical as well as managerial positions in World Bank and Asia Development Bank Institute. He was educated in University of Tokyo, Asia Institute of Technology, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology on urban planning, engineering

Panelist: Mr. Bindu N. Lohani(Special Advisor for Y-PORT Center)

Dr. Bindu N. Lohani was Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development until June 2015.  Prior to that, Dr. Lohani was Vice-President (Finance and Administration) of ADB. He was The Secretary of the ADB Board, Director General of Regional Sustainable Development and Chief Compliance Officer.  He has several years of experience and expertise in infrastructure projects development and financing (clean energy, transport, urban and water sectors), sustainable development and sustainability issues (especially in environment and climate change ).

He is serving as:
•Global Head of Climate Change Practices and Distinguished Fellow, Emerging Markets Forum, The Centennial Group, USA;
•Founding Board member, Asian Water Council, Korea;
•Board of Director, UNESCO International Water Security and Sustainable Development, Korea;
•Chairman of Board, Clean Air Asia, Philippines;
.Chair, Global Green Growth Committee, International Finance Forum ( IIF ), China . Advisory Board, Urban Research & Innovation Center, National Academy of Science and Technology, Nepal

Panelist: Ms. Mary Jane Crisanto Ortega   (Special Adviser of YPort -2009-2023 and Former Mayor of the City of San Fernando, La Union – 1998-2007, City of Yokohama and City of San Fernando, La Union, Philippines, respectively)

Former Sec Gen CityNet, now Special Adviser; Past President  FAWA, Past President IWCPI, Past IIW Rep, President NFWCFoundation, Board Member St. Louis College, ISA, GITOC. UN Habitat Scroll of Honour and Konrad Adenauer Awardee