Director of the Burma Project/Southeast Asia Initiative of the Open Society Institute
Moderator

Maureen Aung-Thwin is Director of the Burma Project/Southeast Asia Initiative of the Open Society Institute, a network of foundations and programs funded by philanthropist and financier George Soros. Ms. Aung-Thwin is on the Asia Advisory Board of Human Rights Watch and a trustee of the Burma Studies Foundation. In her past incarnations she worked at the Asia Society, was a freelance journalist, and attempted graduate school.

Director, Asian Social Issues Program, Asia Society

Suzanne DiMaggio joined the Asia Society in September 2007. As the Director of the Asian Social Issues Program, her work focuses on a range of political, economic and social challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region. She is currently in the process of launching an Asia-Pacific Environment Initiative aimed at developing policy solutions at the national, regional and multilateral levels to address climate change and related global threats to security, and informing public policy dialogue in Asia and the United States.

Ms. DiMaggio previously served as the Vice President of Global Policy Programs at the United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA), where she oversaw the Association's activities focused on promoting multilateral approaches to global problem solving and encouraging constructive US international engagement. In addition to these responsibilities, she directed UNA-USA's "Track Two" dialogues with partners in the Middle East and Asia on issues, including regional security, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, multilateral peace operations, and global environmental governance. Prior to joining UNA-USA, Ms. DiMaggio was a Program Officer at the United Nations University (UNU), where her work focused on international security issues and sustainable development.

Representative for UN Affairs, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma

Thaung Htun was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee and Secretary for Foreign Affairs Department of the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) in February 1989. He was re-elected to the same post that same year and in 1991. As senior student activist during his studies at Rangoon Institute of Medicine, he took part in the U Thant Funeral Uprising in 1974 and Centenary of Thakin Ko Daw Hmine's Uprising in 1976.

After graduation from medical school, he worked as an assistant surgeon in Taungoo Military Hospital for three years. In his native town, Dr. Htun became the leader of Kytaunggon Township's Strike Committee during the 1988 democratic uprising. He escaped arrest by the Burmese Army and later took refuge at the Thailand-Burma border in November of that year. When the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) was formed, on December 18, 1990, he became a member of the Government Secretariat and was involved in the international activities of the NCGUB. Currently, Dr. Htun serves as the representative of the NCGUB for UN affairs.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Scot Marciel is Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southeast Asia in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. He is responsible for U.S. bilateral relations with the ten ASEAN member nations and Timor Leste, as well as relations with ASEAN itself. Mr. Marciel most recent assignments were as Director of the Department's Office of Maritime Southeast Asia, and before that as Director of the Office of Mainland Southeast Asia.

His other Southeast Asia experience includes stints at the U.S. Embassies in Vietnam and the Philippines, and in the Department’s former Office of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodian Affairs. He was the first U.S. diplomat to serve in Hanoi after the Vietnam War, establishing the initial State Department Office in 1993 and then serving as Chief of the Political-Economic Section in the U.S. Embassy when it was established in 1995. Mr. Marciel also has served in Brazil, Hong Kong, and Turkey. His foreign languages are Vietnamese and Portuguese. Mr. Marciel is a graduate of the University of California and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Co-Founder and Editorial Board Member, Burma Economic Watch; Professor of Economics, Macquarie University (Australia)

Sean Turnell is Co-Founder and Editorial Board Member of Burma Economic Watch and a Professor of Economics from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Formally a senior analyst at the Reserve Bank of Australia, he has had a long-time interest in Burma's monetary and financial system, and its economy more broadly. He has written on Burma in many academic journals (including Asian Affairs, The ASEAN Economic Bulletin and the Journal of Asia-Pacific Economic Literature), as well as for publications such as the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Sean Turnell's book on Burma's financial history, Fiery Dragons: Banks, Moneylenders and Microfinance in Burma is being published by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies in 2008.