Louise Sperling is a senior technical adviser at Catholic Relief Services. Since 1988, she has managed projects in some 30-plus countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America with work encompassing ‘normal’ smallholder farmer systems as well as high stress ones. See seedsystem.org for new community of practice.

Louise is a senior policy analyst for WaterAid. She focuses on policy analysis for water security, including WASH sector engagement in water resources management. She also works on climate change policy development and climate finance tracking at national and global levels. Louise was previously with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific where she worked on a range of water governance, irrigation and food security issues. Prior to this, Louise advised the Minister for Water in Australia throughout the Murray-Darling Basin reform period.

Loyce Pace, a leader who has worked on the ground in more than 15 countries delivering health programs and mobilizing advocates, currently serves as president and executive director of Global Health Council, a membership organization supporting and connecting advocates, implementers and stakeholders around global health priorities worldwide. Ms. Pace came to the role having held leadership positions in global policy and strategic partnerships at LIVESTRONG Foundation and the American Cancer Society.

Luc de Clerck heads the clinical and wellbeing program of Philips Africa Innovation Hub, implementing programs that strengthen health care delivery in Africa and other emerging markets. He is one of the driving forces behind the Community Life Center platform, working closely together with local governments and NGOs to improve access to primary care in regions where it is needed most.

Luc Gnacadja is the executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Born in Benin, he is an architect with a passion for fighting land degradation. Before taking up his position as UNCCD executive secretary, he served as Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development of Benin from 1999 to 2005. In March 2003 Mr. Gnacadja was honoured with the 2002 Green Award in Washington by the World Bank.

Luca Alinovi is the newly appointed executive director of the Global Resilience Partnership. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, he will focus on convening local, regional and international actors across a range of sectors, and bringing together the private sector with traditional actors to tackle resilience challenges. Previously, he served as the representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Kenya, the Eastern Africa resilience hub director, and the global deputy resilience coordinator for FAO.

Lucas Spiro is an analyst at the Affordable Housing Institute where his work has concentrated on integrating the connections between housing’s affordability with pro-poor and anti-poverty initiatives. Lucas is deeply involved with AHI’s work in the US, working on projects related to organizational and strategic planning, housing and community development assessments, and the redevelopment of the largest public housing project in New England as an adviser to the public housing tenant organization.

Lucas Tschan has over 10 years of experience in the financial sector and is currently head of advisory at iGravity. Prior to joining iGravity, he assumed several positions at responsAbility Investments, covering micro- and SME-finance and buy-side deals.

Lucía Cholakian Herrera is an independent correspondent based in Buenos Aires who covers politics and human rights in Argentina and Latin America. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Rest of World, BBC, Al Jazeera, and The Dial, among others. She covered Latinx immigration in New York City as an ICFJ emerging media leader.

Lucy Espila is the regional secretary general of Caritas Africa. In her over 10 years with Caritas, she has led advocacy efforts across Caritas Africa’s network and engaged in international advocacy work with the United Nations. She is a member of the Caritas Internationalis debt task force and humanitarian policy task force.