Dr. Sharon Hillier is professor and vice chair for faculty affairs, and director of reproductive infectious disease research in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In addition, she is a senior investigator at the University of Pittsburgh-affiliated Magee-Womens Research Institute. As co-principal investigator of the Microbicide Trials Network funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Hillier oversees an expansive portfolio of clinical trials focused on evaluating a range of HIV prevention products for different high-risk populations.

Sharon Lewin is president of IAS, the International AIDS Society, and the director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Sharon Tshipa is a media practitioner, writer and social entrepreneur based in Gaborone, Botswana. She currently works for Chinese news agency Xinhua and as a freelance video journalist for French newswire service AFP. Tshipa is also co-founder and chairperson of the Botswana Society for Human Development, a local NGO.

Sharon Van Pelt is the director for the Democracy and Governance practice at Chemonics. She has 25 years of experience in policy dialogue, transparency, local governance, civil society, conflict and violence prevention, and peace building. In 2002, she received the USAID Meritorious Honor Award for advancing policy dialogue and reform on decentralization and transparency in a difficult political environment. Ms. Van Pelt has previously worked in Guatemala, Moldova, and Sri Lanka on policy reform as well as for USAID and UNDP, as well as chief of party for a civil society and media project in Moldova. She has also directed governance and peace building efforts worldwide, including Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. In 2012, she was designated as a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) from the International Society for Performance Improvement.

Sharon Cohn Wu is the principal advisor on violence against women and children for International Justice Mission, leading IJM’s center of excellence in addressing sexual violence against children and intimate partner violence and developing globally applicable best practices from IJM’s extensive programmatic experience worldwide.

Shashi Buluswar is the co-founder and executive director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Institute for Globally Transformative Technologies. Before founding LIGTT, Shashi was a partner at Dalberg Global Development Advisors, an organization which gives strategic advice to governments, the United Nations, NGOs and foundations on issues such as economic development, health, agriculture, climate change, education and post-conflict reconstruction.

Shauna Caria is a senior manager on Chemonics’ Gender Equality and Social Inclusion practice. With more than eight years of international development experience in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia, South Africa, and Eastern Europe, Caria is an expert on disability inclusion, women’s empowerment, mainstreaming gender and social inclusion, combating gender-based violence, gender and inclusion in conflict, and youth engagement.

Shawn Baker is chief program officer at Helen Keller Intl, a global organization that partners with communities to protect vision, improve nutrition, and eliminate disease, helping millions of children and families live healthier. Shawn serves as chair of the board of The Micronutrient Forum and on the international advisory group for the 2025 Nutrition for Growth Summit. He lives in Dakar, Senegal.

Shawn Cole is a professor of business administration, finance unit, Harvard Business School. He has conducted research on corporate and household finance in emerging markets, with a focus on banking, microfinance, insurance, and the relationship between financial market development and economic growth. He is an affiliate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, MIT’s Jameel Poverty Action Lab, and the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development. He has extensively studied impact of providing agricultural advice through mobile phone services in India.