Cherie Booth QC
Barrister, mother of four children and the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair

Born in Bury, England in 1954 and raised in Liverpool, she studied Law at the London School of Economics, where she finished at the top of her year in her Bar examinations and was called to the Bar in 1976. She became a Queen’s Counsel in 1995 and now specializes in Public, Employment and European Community Law at Matrix Chambers, Grays Inn and London. She is a Recorder and Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn.

She is a founding member of the European Employment Lawyers Association and the European Women Lawyers Association. Cherie Booth’s many duties outside of the law include being President of Barnardo’s, President of the Loomba Trust; Vice-President of 4Children, Vice President of St Joseph’s Hospice Association, Vice President of the Family Mediators Association, and of the Douai Abbey Library Appeal. She is Ambassador for London 2012, Weston Spirit, Education for SCOPE, and Emmaus 20/10 Initiative.

She is also a patron of numerous organizations, including: Breast Cancer Care, The Lord Slynn European Law Foundation, Victim Support London, Greater London Fund for the Blind, WHEN! (Women’s Human Rights and Empowerment Network) Asian Women of Achievement Awards, and Believe to Achieve.

Cherie is Chancellor and Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University, and Governor and Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics and the Open University (DUniv.Open 1999). She has received an LLD (Hons) from the University of Liverpool (2003), a Hon.DLitt from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (2003), and an LLD (Hons) from the University of Westminster.

She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, a Doctor of Laws (Westminster
University) and a Fellow of the International Society of Lawyers for Public Service. Cherie Booth married Tony Blair in 1980 and they have four children, Euan, Nicholas, Kathryn, and Leo. Her primary interest away from work is spending time with her family

Ambassador Luis Gallegos
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations

Ambassador Gallegos chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2002-2005), a subsidiary body of the General Assembly of the United Nations charged with the mandate of elaborating an international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. Approved December 13, 2006 by the General Assembly’s 192 member states, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the start of equalizing opportunities around the world.


Mr. Gallegos, who began his foreign service career in 1969 as a general assistant in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Organization of American States Department, is taking up his new position after having served since January 2002 as Ambassador Designate, Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations.


Prior to that posting, from 1997 to 2000, Mr. Gallegos was his country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva. From 1994 to 1997, he served as Ecuador’s Ambassador to El Salvador. Mr. Gallegos’ other foreign postings include as Minister, from 1985 to 1989, in the Ecuadorian Embassy in Bulgaria, and as Counsellor, from 1979 to 1980, in the Embassy of Ecuador in the United States. From 1975 to 1978, he served as Ecuador’s Consul-General in Chicago, United States. He was the Alternative Representative of Ecuador to the Organization of American States from 1978 to 1979.

From 1984 to 1994, Mr. Gallegos held the position of Director-General in his country’s Foreign Ministry with responsibility for a succession of areas, including: International Projects; Eastern Europe; Information and Press; and Technical Cooperation and External Credit.

In addition to representing his country at many international conferences, Mr. Gallegos served as Vice-Chairman of the Human Rights Commission, Geneva, 1998; Vice-Chairman of the General Assembly of the Parties to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), 1997 to 1999; Chairman of the Second Main Committee of the Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of a New Act of the Hague Agreement, WIPO, Geneva, 1999; Vice-Chairman of the Group of 77 Meeting, Morocco, 1999; and Chairman of the Berne Union, 1999-2001. He is an expert of the Committee against torture since 2006.

Mr. Gallegos received a Master of Arts from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, in 1983. He also holds a diploma from the Institute of Advanced National Studies, Ninth Course on Security and Development. He received both his law degree and his Doctorate in Jurisprudence from the Universidad Central, Ecuador, in 1975.

Anthony Kennedy Shriver
Founder and Chairman of Best Buddies International

Anthony Kennedy Shriver created in 1989 Best Buddies International to foster one-to-one friendships between people with and without intellectual disabilities. Recognizing the tremendous volunteer potential of university students, Mr. Shriver first inspired his college peers to personally collaborate in expanding the realm of opportunities that persons with intellectual disabilities should experience.

Today, through Mr. Shriver’s stewardship and entrepreneurial spirit, Best Buddies® has grown into a leading nonprofit entity with increasing international reach across six continents – creating mutually enriching one-to-one friendships and integrated employment opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities.

Best Buddies is comprised of six programs that will positively impact more than 350,000 participants this year. The organization is active in each of the 50 United States, and operates accredited international programs in
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, England, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates. By 2010, Best Buddies will continue to build on its successful volunteer base in all 50 States, further expand its accredited international programs to 50 countries and annually engage more than 500,000 people worldwide.

A graduate of Georgetown University, Mr. Shriver has been recognized for his work on behalf of Best Buddies International with such honors as the 2005 Excellence in Mentoring Award for Programmatic Leadership; the 2004 President’s Call to Service Award by the President of the United States’ Council on Service & Civic Participation; the 1999 Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Younger; the 1998 Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award; and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Loyola College. Mr. Shriver additionally is a founding member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders.

Tim Sebastian
Chairman of the Doha Debates

Tim Sebastian is well known as the former presenter of the BBC’s international flagship interview programme, HARDtalk with Tim Sebastian. For the last seven years he traveled the world for HARDtalk, interviewing the world’s newsmakers and personalities - from presidents, prime ministers and kings to authors, actors and musicians.

Tim worked for the BBC for 25 years, starting his career in Poland before becoming the BBC’s Europe Correspondent in 1982. Two years later he was posted to Moscow before moving to Washington in 1986.

In 1982, Tim was awarded the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Richard Dimbleby Award and was named Television Journalist of the Year by the Royal Television Society. Additionally Tim has also twice won the Royal Television Society’s Interviewer of the Year Award for his HARDtalk interviews.

Born in London in 1952, Tim speaks Russian and German and is the author of eight novels and two non-fiction books. He is a graduate of Oxford University.

Suzanne Wright
Co-founder Autism Speaks

In addition to co-founding Autism Speaks, Suzanne has an extensive history of being actively involved in community and philanthropic endeavors, mostly directed toward helping children.

She has teamed up with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Metro New York, the YMCA, and other local organizations to provide children with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, such as attending the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

Suzanne serves on the board of directors for several organizations, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Metro New York; the Laura Pels Foundation; the Inner-City Foundation for Charity and Education; and the Philadelphia-based Champions of Caring Project; among others.

Suzanne is a graduate and member of the board of trustees of Sarah Lawrence College. She and her husband Bob, who is Vice Chairman of General Electric and was Chief Executive Officer of NBC for more than 20 years, live in Connecticut. They have three children and four grandchildren.