Nine Distinguished Leaders Join the SDSN’s Leadership Council

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is pleased to announce that nine esteemed leaders across the sustainable development sector have joined the SDSN’s Leadership Council. These leaders join more than 70 eminent experts on sustainable development from academia, business, civil society, and the public sector, helping the SDSN continue to shape the global conversation and path forward for sustainable development. New members include the following individuals:

H.E. Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders

H.E. Judge Abdelsalam is the Senior Representative of His Eminence Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders, and Co-President of Religions for Peace. He also serves as the Secretary-General of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity. He is the first Arab Muslim to receive the Medal of Commander with a Star from the Pope. This medal is among the highest honors awarded by the Vatican in recognition of his efforts to promote interreligious dialogue and tolerance.

Gustavo Béliz, Member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Gustavo Béliz has 17 years of experience as an international civil servant at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), where he led the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL), researching issues related to sustainable development, violence prevention, and exponential technologies associated with social inclusion. He served as Minister of the Presidential Cabinet of the Argentine Federal Government on three occasions in the areas of Justice, Security and Human Rights; Home Affairs; and Strategic Affairs. He also presided over the National Institute of Public Administration and the Social and Economic Council of the Presidency of the Nation. He was Governor of Argentina in the Board of Governors of the IADB, the World Bank, the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), FONPLATA, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, FIDA, and the African Development Bank. His career also includes experience as a leader in the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) and Representative of the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires. Pope Francis appointed him as a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. He received his Law Degree from the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires, with a research scholarship at the London School of Economics.

Ishac Diwan, Professor at the American University of Beirut and Research Director, Finance for Development Lab at the Paris School of Economics

Ishac Diwan is a Professor of Economics at the American University of Beirut and the Research Director of the Finance for Development Lab at the Paris School of Economics. Diwan served as the World Bank’s Country Director for several African nations and has taught at Harvard University, Columbia University, and New York University. His work focuses on the political economy, economic development, and the economies of the Middle East and Africa.

H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the Cities Alliance and Executive Director of Global Women Leaders for Change and Inclusion

H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa is the first woman from Latin America and the Caribbean to be President of the United Nations General Assembly (2018-2019). She has over 30 years of multilateral experience in international negotiations, peace, security, defense, disarmament, human rights, Indigenous peoples, gender equality, sustainable development, environment, biodiversity, climate change, and multilateral cooperation. Throughout her career, she served as Ecuador’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of National Defense, and Coordinating Minister of Natural and Cultural Heritage, in which she promoted the creation of the South American Defense School of the Union of South American Nations. In 2008, she was the first woman to become the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in New York.

Currently, Ms. Espinosa continues to hold several influential positions in the global arena, including as President of the Cities Alliance and Executive Director of Global Women Leaders for Change and Inclusion. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, the Board of Trustees of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Human Security, the High-Level Advisory Council for the UN Alliance of Civilizations, among others as well as the co-chair of the Climate Governance Commission, the Coalition for the UN We Need, and the Debt Relief for a Green and Inclusive Recovery.

Dr. Miroslav Lajčák, National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic

Dr. Miroslav Lajčák is a distinguished diplomat with over three decades of experience representing both the Slovak Republic and the international community. He served four terms as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, also holding the position of Deputy Prime Minister from 2012 to 2016. His extensive diplomatic career includes ambassadorships to Japan, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Albania. He played a pivotal role in conflict resolution in the Western Balkans, notably overseeing Montenegro’s 2006 independence referendum on behalf of the European Union and serving as High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007–2009). From 2020 to 2025, he served as the European Union Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other regional issues in the Western Balkans. Dr. Lajčák has also held several high-ranking international positions, including President of the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (2017–2018) and Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe during Slovakia’s 2019 Chairmanship. He is currently the National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic and serves on the advisory boards of several multinational companies.

Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Professor of Economics and Finance, Cairo University

Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin is an economist with over 30 years of experience in international finance and development. Dr. Mohieldin currently serves as a Professor of Economics and Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University, and is a Visiting Professor at several renowned universities worldwide and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Global Economy and Development Program at Brookings Institution.

He most recently served as the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and leads a group of prominent experts appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to promote solutions for resolving the debt crisis. He was the former Minister of Investment of Egypt from 2004-2010 and served as the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations and Partnerships. His roles at the World Bank also included Managing Director, responsible for Human Development, Sustainable Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Finance and Private Sector Development, and the World Bank Institute; World Bank President's Special Envoy on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Post-2015 Development Agenda (later, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)), and Financing for Development; and Corporate Secretary and Executive Secretary to the Development Committee of the World Bank Group's Board of Governors. Dr. Mohieldin holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Warwick; a Master’s in Economics and Social Policy Analysis from the University of York; a Diploma of Development Economics from the University of Warwick; and a B.Sc. in Economics from Cairo University.

Luis Alberto Moreno, Managing Director, Allen & Company LLC

Luis Alberto Moreno is Managing Director at Allen & Company LLC, a role he assumed in 2021. In 2020, Moreno concluded his 15-year tenure as President of the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB), elected in 2005, and re-elected in 2010 and 2015. There he led a profound transformation of the organization, while also chairing the Board of Executive Directors of IDB Invest, the Group’s private sector arm, as well as the Donors Committee at IDB Lab, an innovation laboratory for development to test and scale up ideas that improve human lives. Under Moreno’s leadership, the IDB modernized its operations and structure, adopted a new capital adequacy model to preserve its AAA rating, implemented stronger safeguards and evaluation tools, and became the first regional development bank to achieve EDGE certification for gender equality.

Prior to the IDB, Moreno served as Colombia’s Ambassador to the United States, where he helped secure bipartisan support for Plan Colombia, significantly improving his country’s security and economy. Earlier in his career, he was Colombia’s Minister of Economic Development, head of a national industrial holding company, a strategic business advisor, and an award-winning journalist. Moreno has received Colombia’s Grand Cross of the Order of Boyacá and top honors from Brazil, Spain, Paraguay, and Guatemala, as well as the Clinton Global Citizen Award, Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, Atlantic Council Leadership Award, and honors from Georgetown, Arizona State, Baruch College, INCAE, and Universidad ICESI.

Dr. Vera Songwe, Chair and Founder of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility, Brookings Institution

Dr. Vera Songwe is Chair and Founder of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility at Brookings Institution. She has championed the need to focus both on solvency and liquidity issues in Emerging Market economies emphasizing the importance of different instruments needed. She co-chairs the G20 Expert Group on climate, finance, and debt (TF Clima) and is also a visiting senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Department of Global Economy and Development. In addition, she is the Co-Chair of the Independent High-Level Expert Panel on Climate Finance alongside Lord Nick Stern. Under the last three COP presidencies, they have worked to build the climate investment narrative as the growth story of the 21st century. She is also the former United Nations Under-Secretary General and the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the first woman to lead the organization in 60 years. Prior to that, she was a Regional Director at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and a Country Director at the World Bank.

Professor Rocky Tuan, Institute for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, and Immediate Past Vice-Chancellor and President, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Professor Rocky Tuan (Ph.D., Rockefeller University), the immediate past Vice-Chancellor and President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2018-2025), is an internationally renowned biomedical scientist specializing in musculoskeletal biology, tissue regeneration, stem cells, biomaterials, 3D bioprinting, and tissue/organ-on-a-chip technologies. He is currently the Lee Quo Wei Lee Yick Hoi Lun Professor of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he founded the Institute for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (iTERM) in 2016. A highly cited author of over 650 publications, his recognitions include the Marshall Urist Award, Clemson & Carnegie Science Awards, and Fellowships in the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), American Association of Anatomy (AAA), Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) and International Combined Orthopaedic Research Societies (ICORS), and Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS). He is the founding editor of Birth Defects Research (2003-2017) and Stem Cell Research & Therapy (2009-present), and Associate Editor of Stem Cells Translational Medicine (2011-present).

He served in leadership roles in the Worldwide University Network (WUN) and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU, Vice-Chair/Chair, 2019-2025). He led CUHK in establishing the SDSN Hong Kong Chapter in 2018 and oversaw the CUHK Museum of Climate Change that has hosted more than 1.6 million visitors. He currently serves as a member of the SDSN Network Strategy Council as well as the SDG Academy High-Level Advisory Council.

Learn more about the SDSN’s Leadership Council here.