From 1999 until September 2002, Mr. Barton was responsible for facilitating co-operation and co-ordination of information and communication technologies among all organizations of the United Nations System, working as part of the inter-agency machinery - the Chief Executives Board for Coordination.  The work covered all aspects of ICT, from policies through joint purchasing to inter-agency projects.

He has been involved with ICT since 1965, working in international organizations since 1978.  Most of his work has been oriented towards making high quality information resources more easily available. 

In September 2002, Mr. Barton returned to his former UN system organization - the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, where he is the information architect.

Mr. Bashor is a Doctoral Candidate at the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy. His research interests have been focused on the five U.N. Outer Space Treaties (1967-1979), their low level of signature and ratification, and the evolving legal regimes. Interested in empirical linguistics, he is currently qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing international documents and treaties.

Mr. Bellone coordinates security and assurance services to WHO missions spanning the globe to include such places as Denmark, Egypt, India, the Philippines, Switzerland, the United States and Zimbabwe, and over 100 country offices.

Prior to taking post with WHO, Mr. Bellone held several public service positions with the U.S. Government in the area of information security. During his tenure with the U.S. Department of Energy, he provided sworn expert testimony to the U.S. Congress hearings on Protecting America's Critical Infrastructures: How Secure Are Government Computer Systems? In his capacity with DOE, Jason led teams of technical "penetration" experts to provide friendly capabilities for breaking into government systems.

Mr. Bellone served with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Computer Analysis Response Team (CART), an expert team providing rapid response and analytical capabilities for the forensic examination of computer crime incidents. Jason was certified by the FBI Laboratory as a Forensic Examiner of Computer Evidence with a specialization in Internet Security. He has conducted numerous specialised training sessions and lectures for the FBI, International Law Enforcement Academy (Budapest, Hungary), Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and other national and international organisations.

Mr. Bernarda is responsible for creating online communities, promoting interaction through the use of the internet, researching new knowledge management tools and coordinating the development efforts of the Forum's partners. He holds a Political Science degree from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and Butler University of Indianapolis. Before joining the World Economic Forum, he worked in Marketing and Sponsoring for Swatch AG, in Biel, Switzerland.

Mr. Jose Maria Figueres, former President of Costa Rica has been the Managing Director of the World Economic Forum for the last two years. His expertise and experience in issues related to the environment and information technology has been gained from his years as senior management in the Agricultural sector and Minister of Foreign Trade and later Agriculture in Costa Rica. He serves on the Board of Directors of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), USA, World Resources Institute (WRI) and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). He is the President of the Board of Leadership in Environment and Development (LEAD).

Dr. Gelbstein is an author, conference speaker and independent information technology consultant. He was made a Senior Special Fellow of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UNITAR, in March 2002 and with them, he has developed several events for the diplomatic communities in New York and Geneva.

From 1993 until February 2002 he was Director of the International Computing Centre (ICC), Geneva, Switzerland. The ICC provides information technology services to several United Nations organisations. 

Most of his 40 years at work with electronic and digital technologies were devoted to the introduction and management of change in complex environments. 

Prior to joining the ICC, he was the IT Strategy Manager for Network SouthEast, largest business unit of the UK railways before privatisation. In this capacity, he advised the UK Railway Privatisation Study Group on IT matters and was chairman of the Business IT Steering Group for the whole of the UK railways.

Ms. Catherine Habib is counsellor for knowledge management and development to the director of the Public Affairs and Communications Directorate (PAC) at the OECD. She initiated a process of knowledge management in the organisation aimed at improving information development and sharing as well as identifying and employing more effectively OECD specific skills and know-how.

She supervises the management of the content of the Internet site and ensures that it is constantly improved via technical upgrades, the launching of thematic sites so that www.oecd.org becomes a user-friendly, interactive and updated on-line information site. 

She also lays foundations of an internal communication strategy for the organisation thanks notably to the staff journal and to the progressive reshaping of the current Intranet site into a functional, modern and dynamic site more suitable for training and information sharing. 

She joined the organisation in 1988 as an editor. From 1995 to 1999 she launched rights management in the OECD and ran the editorial team. Since 1999, she has turned towards more specific projects, such as the design of a new logo and corporate identity for the organisation, the launching of thematic series and the Internet site management.

Mr. Hunter began his computing career in the Scottish Office of the UK government in the early 1970s, where latterly he was responsible for development of several online information systems, including an office automation system that linked senior officials in Edinburgh and Glasgow with Ministers in London. He joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in early 1986. He became Head of the Computer Services' Client Services division in 1988, with responsibility for the OECD's online information service for Member countries.

In 1996 he took up his current position as head of the new Network Information Services division. His responsibilities include the development and operation of the OECD's Internet, Intranet and Extranet environments and international communications services. 

A key element of his work is promotion of intergovernmental co-operation through secure online networks, which involves working with OECD Delegations in Paris and ministries in national administrations. Some 40,000 experts from national administrations participate each year in the work of 200 or so OECD Committees and working parties, and use the OECD's Extranet (OLISnet) as their primary information source and interaction environment in support of this activity.

Ms. Kamal is an international development specialist with over 20 years experience in promoting economic, social, and political development. She has extensive experience in the area of governance; developing partnerships with UN agencies, private sector and bilateral donors and South-South collaboration. 

Presently, Ms Kamal is the Project Manager of the United Nations Virtual Development Academy (VDA) that she established in 2001 to assist the UNDP organisational change and strengthen the UNDP staff competencies through learning interventions to meet the increasing organisational expectations. She is also the founder of the VDA Advisory Group on e- Learning, a committee of the heads of all UNDP departments and has extensive experience in developing "communities of practice".

She has worked on development projects with governments, donors, international organisations, private institutions and NGOs and has extensive experience in developing electronic networks. Ms. Kamal has authored several books and papers on governance, democracy and poverty alleviation and organized several international conferences. 

Mr. Kurbalija's academic and professional background is in diplomacy, international law and computer science. Along with academic research, Mr. Kurbalija has developed many applications in the field of diplomacy (knowledge management systems, databases, online learning courses, etc.). His major research interests focus on a multidisciplinary study of the influence of information technology on diplomacy and international relations.

Mr. Maccari joined the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in late 1987 and has been head of Information Technology and Network Services (ITN) since 1996. In this capacity, Mr.Maccari is responsible for the development, implementation and support of computing and networking systems and services for the Organisation. 

Over the last few years, Mr. Maccari has undertaken extensive reforms to ICT services, focussing on stronger client orientation and more effective support to the OECD system of intergovernmental cooperation committees. On the technical side, the emphasis has been on the migration from mainframe computers to Y2K and Euro compliant client-server facilities, the establishment of common desktop systems for cost-effective information creation and management, and the development of a worldwide infrastructure to service the exchange, of information and networking needs of the Organisation. These services also extend to the OECD Information Centres around the world, the Permanent Delegations of Member countries in Paris, and the OECD Committee Delegates from its thirty Member country governments.

Mr. Maccari has an academic background in Statistics and forty years of professional experience in information and communications technology. Before joining the OECD, Mr. Maccari worked for 14 years with the United Nations - as Management Systems Analyst in New York, Head of Data Processing Services in Geneva offices and Executive Counselor to the Director of Information Systems also in New York. Prior to the United Nations, Mr. Maccari has held professional positions in Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Philadelphia with a commercial Italian company, the FAO and a large computer manufacturer.

Dr. Noureldien is an assistant Professor at the College of Technological Sciences in Omdurman, Sudan. Dr Noureldien has an M.Sc.in Computer Science for the University of Khartoum and recently a Doctorate in Computer Science from the Sudan University of Technological Sciences. His area of research is ways in which internet servers can be made safe against attacks. He has published papers on internet security for international event such as IEEE TENCON 2000.

Until recently, Mr.Olejarnik worked in the Press and Public Information Section at the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna where he was a member of a four-person team leading the development of the OSCE’s public Internet presence www.osce.org.  He has now joined NATO as internet editor and electronic publishing coordinator.

His major interests include web management in international organisations and the use of the Internet as a communication and information tool by international organisations and institutions. He is currently co-writing a book on effective management and development of international organisation websites. He holds Master’s degrees in political science and international economic and political relations.

Trained as an engineer at  the National School of Chemistry in Paris, Ms Pélissier joined the Scientific and Technical Documentation Centre of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in 1967 as an abstractor and indexer where she was involved in the dissemination of the PASCAL database.  

In 1988 she became marketing manager and chief of the specialized information publishing department of the newly created Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique (INIST). She joined UNESCO in 1990, where she was in charge of the Clearing House feasibility study and became chief of the Clearing House Centre on its establishment in 1992. 

She is currently chief of  the Information, Library and Archives Section and acting Director of  the Information Systems and Telecommunications Division. She is the IT project  manager of the UNESCO Knowledge Portal.

With an academic background in Computer Science, Ms.Quacchia has twenty years professional experience in the field of Information Technology (IT) with Geneva based International Organisations.

In the early stages of her career, at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), she took responsibility for large and complex data storage system on mainframes. She also worked in the group headed by Robert Cailleau, at the early conceptualization of methodologies for the distribution of documents across computer platforms, which then evolved into the World Wide Web . 

Subsequently, within the International Labour Office (ILO) she took increased responsibilities with the deployment and maintenance of network applications in the communication's area and with the definition and implementation of standards in a client/server architecture.

Just over a year ago, she became the head of the ILO Web Development Unit with responsibility for both the ILO Intranet and Public website. During this assignment she accomplished the re-design of the ILO Intranet site, leading a team of people with expertise in many different disciplines and applying web engineering techniques. She is currently building the team to re-design the ILO Public website.

Mrs. Vogt is a Senior Information Security Officer in the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. In this capacity, Mrs. Vogt coordinates information security related activities in WIPO and is in charge of the WIPO's Information Security Program. Her responsibilities include development and implementation of information security policies, standards and procedures, information security risk management, access control and compliance, assurance related activities, security assistance and advisory function, staff awareness and training, incident handling, business continuity and disaster recovery planning.

Prior to taking post with WIPO, Lilia held positions in the United Nations System, Oracle and CERN. During her work at CERN and Oracle, Lilia was responsible for UNIX and database system administration for large mission critical installations.

Mrs. Vogt worked for the International Computing Centre (ICC) where she designed and carried out Internet services related projects with focus on security for various United Nations agencies. Lilia has extensive experience with firewalls, Internet services and networking. 

Prior posts include work for the Institute of Telecommunications in Sofia, Bulgaria where Ms Vogt was involved in development of diagnostic systems for telephone channels. She graduated the Technical University in Sofia, Bulgaria with a Master of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science degree. She is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).