José Szapocznik is professor and chair emeritus of public health sciences and director of the Public Health Policy Lab at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He founded the Panel for a Global Public Health Convention and was the senior author of the Lancet Public Health article that guides its work.

José Tissier is deputy director of Agence Française de Développement's agriculture, rural development and biodiversity division — a position he has held since early 2010. In 1993, Tissier joined Caisse Française de Développement where he successively held positions as head of agricultural and rural development in Yaoundé, Rabat and Ouagadougou. At the end of 2006, he joined AFD’s headquarters in Paris as chief project engineer.

Jose Viera is chief executive officer of the World Blind Union (but the views in this piece are personal views, not those of the Union). He has also worked as Latin America Coordinator for Disability Rights Promotion International, and as a consultant to the UNCRPD Committee Secretariat, and as associate professor of the International Relations Department at the Siglo 21 University in Cordoba, Argentina.

Josea Rono, Ph.D., is the managing partner at E&K Consulting Firm, an advisory and investment firm in the health, finance, innovation and renewable energy sectors. His work on the first malaria vaccine was featured by Time Magazine and he is among the Top 100 Most Influential Personalities of African Descent.

Sef Cagoco served as one of Devex's international development correspondent from mid-2008 to mid-2009. Her writing focused on social entrepreneurship and multilateral agencies such as the U.N. and Asian Development Bank. She previously worked as senior reporter for the national daily BusinessWorld and a production journalist for the Financial Times.

Ambassador Josefa Sacko is a leading African agronomist and commissioner for agriculture, rural development, blue economy, and sustainable development at the African Union Commission. Prior to her reelection in 2021, she was special adviser to the Angolan minister of environment and climate change — and adviser to the minister of agriculture in charge of food security and poverty reduction. Sacko was also the former secretary-general of the Inter-African Coffee Organization for 13 years.

José Graziano da Silva is the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization. He has worked on issues of food security, rural development and agriculture for over 30 years. Prior to his election as FAO's director-general, he headed the organization's regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean. He led the team that designed Brazil's "Zero Hunger" program, which helped lift 28 million people of out extreme poverty. In 2003, he was named special minister of Food Security and Fight against Hunger by then Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

José Luis Castro is the executive director of The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. Founded in 1920, The Union draws from scientific evidence to advance health solutions to public health challenges affecting people living in poverty around the world. With a headquarters in Paris and 11 regional and affiliate offices, The Union's staff and consultants work in more than 150 countries.

José Luis Castro is president and CEO at Vital Strategies, where he has led a rapid expansion of its portfolio and worked with governments to tackle the world’s leading killers, primarily in low- and middle-income countries. The organization now reaches into 73 countries and has touched the lives of more than 2 billion people.

Jose Maria Lorenzo Tan is CEO and vice chairman of World Wildlife Fund Philippines. A staunch activist for biodiversity conservation in the country, Tan is also the chairman of the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation and a member of the WWF Enabling Team for the Coral Triangle Initiative.