Bios Speakers Civil Society Forum
Ms. Margaret Mayce
Margaret Mayce is a Sister of St. Dominic, Amityville, New York. She is the main representative for the
Dominican Leadership Conference, which represents over 22,000 Dominican Sisters working in over 90
countries. Her main areas of focus at the UN are a human rights-based social development; financing for
development and sustainability. For the past four years she has served as Chair of the NGO Committee
for Social Development.
Ms. Eileen Reilly
Sister Eileen Reilly is the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) Representative to the United Nations since
2010. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the College of Notre Dame of Wilton and served
as teacher in primary and secondary education. Her main focus lies on social justice with a particular
concern for the lives of women, girls and marginalized persons throughout the world. Within Sister
Eileen’s work at the UN she builds coalitions on relevant subjects and connects SSND with partners
around the world.
Mr. Daniel Perell
Daniel Perell is the Vice Chair of Chair of the NGO Committee for Social Development and Chair of the
Civil Society Forum. He joined the Baha'i International Community’s United Nations Office as a
Representative in 2011. His areas of work include social development, gender equality, the role of
religion in society, and defense of the Baha'i Community. He has worked extensively on the Post-2015
development agenda, leading the Baha'i International Community’s delegation to the Rio+20
Conference. In 2010, Mr. Perell received a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and an MA in
Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and was admitted to the New York State
Bar Association. Mr. Perell has worked with the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva, the
UN in Aceh, Indonesia and other organizations in the Marshall Islands and Chile.
Ms. Bettina Luise Rürup
Bettina Luise Rürup is the Executive Director of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) at the United Nations
in New York. Having been associated with FES for more than 20 years, Luise served as head of
department at FES Headquarters in Berlin as well as at offices in Chile, India and Turkey and at the
federal state level in Germany. Prior to joining FES, Luise was assigned with interdisciplinary field
research on rural development in Costa Rica and Tanzania. Luise earned a master’s degree in Political
Sciences from the University of Hamburg (Germany) and a bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences from
the Free University of Berlin (Germany). She was enrolled with a DAAD exchange program at the
L'Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo (Italy) and holds a postgraduate certificate from the Centre for
Rural Development (SLE) at the Technical University of Berlin (Germany).
H.E. Mr. Ion Jinga
H.E. Ion Jinga is the current Ambassador of Romania to the UN and chairs the current Commission on
Social Development. He holds this position since August 2015. Between 2003 and 2008 he served as the
Romanian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and between 2008 and 2015 he held the position of
the Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He graduated in law from the University of Bucharest and holds
an MA in European Administration from the Collège d’Europe in Bruges (Belgium). In the following, he
completed a course in International Relations at the University of Leeds. Besides his diplomatic
activities, he held several lectures on European Integration and published several books on the subject.
USG Mr. Wu Hongbo
Wu Hongbo is the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs since August 2012. Prior
to his appointment, Mr. Wu served as Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to in Germany.
Among his various diplomatic assignments, Mr. Wu served as China’s Ambassador to the Philippines. Mr.
Wu was previously extensively engaged in a broad range of social and economic issues relating to Hong
Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) and Macao SAR, having served as Director and DirectorGeneral of the Department of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and China’s Chief Representative of Sino-British Joint Liaison Group. He was a leading official
responsible for handling Hong Kong SAR’s ties with over 30 international organizations and the
continued application of over 200 international conventions to Hong Kong SAR.
Ms. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr is Professor of International Affairs at the New School. She is a development
economist who has published widely on a broad range of development policy related issues including
poverty, gender, technology, capacity development and agriculture. She is best known for her work as
director and lead author of the UNDP Human Development Reports 1995-2004. She started her career
at the World Bank working on agricultural projects and moved to UNDP where she worked on aid
coordination in Africa. She is a member of the UN’s Committee on Development Policy, the LancetNorway Commission on the Global for Health Governance and serves on the Boards of the International
Association of Feminist Economics, Centre for Economic and Social Rights, and the Knowledge Ecology
International. She is a co-convenor of Metrics for Human Rights, and of a research initiative: The Power
of Numbers: Critical Review of MDG Targets for Human Development and Human Rights.
Ms. Daniela Bas
Ms. Daniela Bas is Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development of the United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DSPD/UNDESA) since 2011. With her specialization in
international politics, and social development, Ms. Bas has most recently served as Secretary General of
the Inter-ministerial Committee for Human Right within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as Senior
Consultant designated by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as expert on social development and
human rights to Institutes that operate internationally. She has also provided her expertise on antidiscrimination issues at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in Italy. In the past she has also held a
number of other significant assignments including as Special Adviser on fundamental rights and social
policies for the Vice President of the European Commission, as the Italian representative on the topic
“Tourism for All” to the EU and as journalist and broadcaster for Radio and TV both in Italy and abroad.
In 2008 she also got her Master as Business and Life Coach. She graduated in Political Science in 1985,
with a major in International Politics.
Ms. Maryann Broxton
Maryann Broxton is currently an adviser at the Constituent Adviser (CA) team at the Center for Social
Policy, UMass Boston since 2012. In 2015, Maryann was the Master of Ceremony for the
commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty at the UN. In 2013, she
represented the CA team as a delegate to UNICEF in a discussion on the discrimination and exclusion
individuals experiencing poverty often face on a daily basis. She has also participated in ATD Fourth
World's "People's Voices Video," "Stigmatization and Discrimination: Inequality in Social Programs and
Employment" video conference, and ATD Fourth World's festival of learning in Brooklyn and Queens,
NYC. Maryann's passions lie in housing/shelter access and food insecurity. She is also a member of the
Consumer Advisory Team (CAT) at Homes For Families, a Massachusetts non-profit which deals with
policy affecting families experiencing homelessness. Maryann is currently completing a BA with a focus
on Sociology and Social Policy at Lesley University.
Jasmin Burgermeister
Jasmin Burgermeister is one of two official German Youth Delegates on Sustainable Development since
2015. In this function, she not only attended HLPF 2015 but also the UN Summit for the adoption of the
2030 Agenda last September. In this way, Jasmin acts as a mouthpiece of the German youth and thus,
she also regularly meets political decisions-makers in Germany. After finishing high school she has
worked for the Goethe-Institute (German cultural institute) in France for one year. Jasmin studies
International Relations and Global History at the University of Erfurt (Germany) and is scholar of the
Foundation of the German Businesses. She is a young European federalist since her time in middle
school and strives for more European integration and more European collaboration not only in external
affairs but also concerning social and sustainable development.
Mr. Michael Cichon
Michael Cichon holds a Master’s degree in Pure and Applied Mathematics (RWTH Aachen, Germany)
and in Public Administration (Harvard University) as well as a PhD in Economics (University of Göttingen,
Germany). He is a member of the German Actuarial Association (DAV), joined the ILO in 1986 as senior
actuary and health economist. Between 1992 and 1995 he served as social security specialist on the ILO
advisory team for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest. Between 1995 and 2005 he was the Chief of
the Financial, Actuarial and Statistical Services Branch of the ILO's Social Security Department. In May
2005 he was appointed Director of the Social Security Department. He undertook and supervised
technical co-operations project in more than 30 countries, writes and social security policy, financing
and governance issues. In July 2013, he was appointed as honorary professor for Social Protection at
UNU-MERIT/School of Governance in Maastricht, Netherlands.
Ms. Beulah Walker
Beulah Walker was born and raised on the East side of the great City of Detroit, Michigan. She is a
proven product of Detroit Public Schools System, a graduate of Jared W. Finny High School. She is a
graduate of Detroit College of Business ABA with a concentration in Accounting/Management. She holds
3 Seminary Certifications from Michigan Theological Bible Institute (2006-2010). Since the Detroit water
crisis, she has been involved in the Detroit Water Brigade. The Brigade delivered water to those who
have been shut off and gives a voice to the affected communities. Beulah is free spirited, loves people
for who they are and can meet everyone on their level.