WPC60-NCC Conference Keynotes
Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan
Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan has been a member of the Philippine President’s Cabinet since 2022, serving as secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority, a post he had previously held from 2012 to 2016. He served as the inaugural chairperson and chief executive of the Philippine Competition Commission from 2016 to 2022. Before his initial Cabinet appointment in 2012, he was professor and dean of the University of the Philippines School of Economics, director-chief executive of the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), and undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture.
Before joining the University of the Philippines faculty in 1987, he was a research fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and an economist at the World Bank in Washington, DC.
Before joining the University of the Philippines faculty in 1987, he was a research fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and an economist at the World Bank in Washington, DC.
In his current role as NEDA Secretary, he concurrently chairs the governing boards of various state agencies, including the Philippine Statistics Authority, Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Public-Private Partnership Center, Development Academy of the Philippines, Commission on Population and Development, and Philippine Center for Economic Development.
He has served in various capacities in many academic and professional organizations, including President of the Philippine Economic Society, President of the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists, Secretary-General of the Asia Pacific Agricultural Policy Forum, and Advisory Council member of the American Committee on Asian Economic Studies. He has advised and consulted with numerous development agencies and multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, OECD, ASEAN, and various United Nations agencies.
As an academic, he has specialized in development economics, agricultural economics, resource and environmental economics, and applied welfare economics. He has authored and co-edited seven books and published close to 100 academic papers and book chapters on various development issues, particularly in the Philippines and East Asia. Among these books are Sustainable Economic Development: Resources, Environment, and Institutions (Academic Press), The Dynamics of Regional Development: The Philippines in East Asia (Edward Elgar), and The Philippine Economy: Development, Policies, and Institutions (Oxford University Press). His latest co-authored, co-edited work is the upcoming book entitled Designing Competition Policy for Economic Development in Asia.
For his public service and contributions to economic science and society, he was conferred the lifelong title of Academician by the National Academy of Science and Technology, the Most Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University of the Philippines Alumni Association, the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii, and the Lifelong Honorary Member by the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists, among other numerous awards.
He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Hawaii, an MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, and a BS in Agriculture (magna cum laude) from the Mariano Marcos State University.
Sylvester Wong
Sylvester Wong has planned, designed, and delivered sustainable cities and infrastructure around the world for nearly 30 years, and is AECOM Vice President and Asia Lead for ESG + Sustainability Services, driving competitiveness through decarbonization, climate resilience, energy transition, and socioeconomic outcomes. He is the country executive of AECOM Philippines, and holds degrees in architecture and city planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
A certified planner by profession, Sylvester is an Urban Land Institute Global Governing Trustee, and Chair of the ULI Philippines National Council, focused on blended finance and global best practices. He is diversified investor in Proptech, Fintech, and climate technology startups that empower small businesses. He is a co-founder of a Southeast Asia impact fintech, and a startup ecosystem hub, and is an avid diver and marine blue-carbon economies advocate with his 13-year old daughter.
Jo Williams (online presentation)
Jo Williams is a Professor in Sustainable Development at UCL. She is also Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Delft, Netherlands and Director of the Circular Cities Hub. Jo is an expert in regenerative urban systems. She is best known for her work addressing climate change and planetary overshoot, particularly focussing on circular urban systems, zero carbon development, systems transformations. She has produced may publications including two books: two books published by Routledge: Zero Carbon Homes – A Road Map and Circular Cities: A Revolution in Urban Sustainability. Jo has worked as a policy advisor for OECD on circular economy; the European Commission on urban circular bio-economy; the European Investment Bank and Ellen Macarthur Foundation on circular cities.
She has also provided policy briefings on the use of circular development approaches to the regeneration of European cities post-covid, used by European policy think-tanks. She has also produced guidance for urban planners in Europe wishing to implement circular urban systems to be published later this year: Williams, J. van Buren, E., van den Berghe, K and Dabrowski, M. Going circular: unlocking the potential of regions and cities to drive the circular economy transition.
Guy Castelain Perry
Guy is an architect, urban designer, and developer with global experience in creating economically viable, environmentally sustainable, human-centered environments. He applies this expertise to McKinsey’s work on some of the Middle East’s largest and most complex multidisciplinary projects.
For over 30 years, Guy has spearheaded development and design in a wide range of urban settings around the globe, receiving accolades from the International Academy of Health and Design, ISOCARP, the SOM Foundation, and the Urban Land Institute.
Ann Forsyth (online presentation)
Professor of Urban Planning. Chair, Department of Urban Planning and Design. Program Director, Master in Urban Planning Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard GSD
Trained in planning and architecture, Ann Forsyth is a professor of urban planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, focusing on the social aspects of physical planning and urban development. The big issue behind her research and practice is how to make more sustainable and healthy cities. She is the Director of the Masters in Urban Planning program at Harvard, the Healthy Places Design Lab, and the New Towns Initiative. She is the author or co-author of five books including New Towns for the Twenty-First Century: A Guide to Planned Communities Worldwide.
Christopher Rollo
Mr. Christopher Rollo assumed his post as the Country Programme Manager of UN-Habitat in the Philippines in January 2012, after serving as UN-Habitat Knowledge Manager from 2007. Before joining UN-Habitat, he was the Chairman of the National Committee on Visual Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (2001-2007) and Deputy Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (2004-2006).
Mr. Rollo holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from the Asian Institute of Management, Philippines, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. He has also had three years of law studies at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law.
