John R. Block currently serves as a senior policy adviser at Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC. He was director of agriculture in Illinois from 1977 to 1981 and secretary of the U.S. Agriculture Department from 1981 to 1985, playing a key role in the development of the 1985 farm bill. He was president and chief executive officer at Food Distributors International, formerly known as the National-American Wholesale Grocers’ Association, from 1986 to 2003.

Sen. John Boozman, Republican from Arkansas, is serving his first term in the U.S. Senate. Before becoming a senator, he represented the 3rd District of Arkansas in the U.S. House of Representatives for five terms. Sen. Boozman serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs. He is a member of the Senate Caucus on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases as well as the founder and former co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases.

John Chaloner is the country director of Plan International in Haiti. He has been working in the development sector since 1974, firstly in teaching in East and West Africa and then in development programming and administration in the U.K., Sudan and the Pacific. He started working for Plan in 1990.

John Coonrod is the executive vice president at The Hunger Project and is the co-founder and global coordinator of the Movement for Community-led Development. John was trained and was working as a research physicist when he became The Hunger Project’s first volunteer in 1977. At the height of the 1984 African famine, he made a career change, joining the staff of The Hunger Project. Today, John is an expert on bottom-up, gender-focused development and decentralized local governance and has been invited to lecture at the United Nations, Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Princeton University, and the United States Air Force Academy.

John Crockett left the United Kingdom in October, 2008, with his partner Betty Alié to join a Voluntary Services Overseas program in Zambia. John will serve as fundraising and project management advisor to the Lundazi District Council for two years, while Betty will work as monitoring and evaluation officer with Thandizani, a local NGO focusing on HIV/ AIDS. John has worked in fundraising and communications for several U.K. nonprofits. Both hold master’s degrees in development economics from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, where they met.

John Crockett administers Devex's international correspondent fellowship before starting work for Zambia's Lundazi District Council in October 2008. He has worked in communications for several U.K. nonprofits; volunteered for nonprofits in Malawi, Ethiopia and Zambia; and spent a year teaching in South Africa. John holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Leeds University and a master’s in African economics from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

Ambassador John Danilovich is a member of the Consensus for Development Reform and formerly served as the CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

John served as a Devex News correspondent based in London in 2010, covering DfID and U.K. aid reform. During a 10-year stint at the Sunday Times in the '80s and '90s, he was shortlisted as reporter of the year at the U.K. Press Awards, one of several accolades he has received. John has worked for the Independent and Conde Nast Traveller, among other publications. Most recently, he served as publisher of Christian Aid News, part of his role as head of media for Christian Aid.

John Finnigan is the head of development organization in the banking, capital markets and advisory division of Citi. Citi’s clients for development organization include supranationals, development financial institutions, and NGOs. Finnigan leads a team of coverage bankers that provide financial services including capital markets, credit, risk management, treasury and trade solutions, and securities services.

John Gilroy leads on climate and sustainable development at the Mission of Ireland to the U.N. He has extensive knowledge of the SDGs, negotiating the 2030 Agenda in 2014-2015. This year he led Ireland’s team on the SDG Summit political declaration, supporting Ambassador Fergal Mythen as co-facilitator with Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani of Qatar.