ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS Astrid S. Tuminez is Vice-Dean (Research) of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (NUS), and
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heads the school’s project on “Women’s Pathways to Leadership in
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Asia.” She holds an MA from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Formerly, she was a senior research fellow of the U.S. Institute of Peace; director of research (alternative investments) at AIG Global Investment Group; program officer at Carnegie Corporation of New York; and senior adviser to the Salzburg Global Seminar. She also led the Moscow office of the Harvard Project on Strengthening Democratic Institutions in the early 1990s. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is the author of a book on Russian nationalism and numerous articles. She sits on the international advisory board of the Institute on Disability and Public Policy (Thailand) and the Asian Women’s Leadership University project. Vishakha N. Desai is president and CEO of Asia Society, a global organization committed to strengthening partnerships among the people, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States, Appointed president in 2004, she leads the institution's activities in the areas of policy, business, arts, culture and education as well as an institutional expansion that includes multimillion-dollar facilities in Hong Kong and Houston. Dr. Desai is a frequent speaker at national and international forums on a wide variety of subjects that include US-Asia relationships, cultural roots of Asian economic development, regional connections within the Asia Pacific region, as well as the arts and cultures of Asia and Asian America. Dr. Desai serves on the boards of The Brookings Institution, Citizens Committee for New York City, Bertelsmann Foundation (USA), and the New York City Mayor’s Advisory Commission for Cultural Affairs. Kerstin Duell was a research associate of the “Women’s Pathways to Leadership in Asia” project at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the National University of Singapore. Haseena Abdul Majid is an experienced NGO worker in the field of gender and development and a research assistant at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. She is a graduate of Nanyang Technical University (NTU) in English literature.