Vanessa Pizer is the director of Climate Resilience Initiatives at Episcopal Relief & Development, where she has played an integral role in building the organization’s gender-based violence and climate resilience portfolios. Vanessa and her team test innovations at the nexus of long-term livelihood resilience and short-term emergency response. Prior to joining Episcopal Relief & Development, Vanessa was an instructor with the Earth Institute. She has worked in Uganda, Cambodia, and Mali on various natural resource management projects. Vanessa has a master’s degree in public administration & development practice from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Vania Montalvo works for Transparencia Mexicana, the national chapter of Transparency International in Mexico. She coordinates the Climate Finance Integrity Program, which aims to ensure that the financial resources allocated to climate actions are not thwarted by corruption. To do so, the CFIP promotes greater accountability, transparency, openness and integrity in the management of project funds at national and global levels.

Varad Pande is an associate partner in the Mumbai office of Dalberg, a strategic advisory firm dedicated to global development. Before coming to Dalberg, he was special adviser to India’s Minister for Rural Development and Environment and Forests, where he drove the agenda on sustainable livelihoods, water and sanitation, financial inclusion, environment, and climate change.

Vasiliki Koukoulioti is a lecturer in Tax Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on tax policy, technology and sustainability.

Vaughn F. Graham is an expert in aid and development programming. He specializes in modeling development effectiveness at the country and sectoral levels. He has worked on programs supported by various bilateral and multilateral partners who do work throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. A Jamaican national, he has significant experience working in government, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate programs, being a peer reviewer for leading academic journals on development, and also doing consultancy work. He attended the University of the West Indies, Mona, as well as completed doctoral qualifications in international development at the University of Birmingham, on account of being awarded a U.K. Commonwealth Scholarship in 2010.

Venge Nyirongo joined UN Women's Economic Empowerment Section at the organization's Headquarters in March 2014, to support the organization's strategic and policy focus on Sustainable Development. He builds on his work in gender equality and, particularly, the advancement of women's economic empowerment, from prior experiences in UNEP and UNDP. He is an economist with a research interests in economic modeling of access to products and services in developing countries.

Venkatesh "Venky" Raghavendra is vice president of advancement at Safe Water Network, where he creates partnership opportunities with high net-worth individuals and corporations. Prior to this, he worked with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public and as chief philanthropy officer at the American India Foundation. He brings more than three decades of philanthropy and social entrepreneurship experience, and both teaches and speaks on social entrepreneurship and innovation. Venky is also a trainer and advisor to the government of India.

Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva is the head of the WHO FCTC Secretariat. She is a medical doctor with a Ph.D. in public health and epidemiology and an MBA for the health sector. For 16 years she coordinated the department of epidemiology and cancer prevention at Brazil’s National Cancer Institute and was involved in legislative, economic, surveillance and regulatory tobacco-control measures, the establishment of a countrywide tobacco control network and the introduction of tobacco products as part of the recently established health regulatory agency.

Veronica Stratford-Tuke is head of peace economies at International Alert. She oversees work on economies that support lasting solutions to violence, including through business and investment. Prior to this, Veronica worked for the U.K. government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with over a decade of experience in policy, programming, and research on conflict and governance.