Catherine Cullen

President of the UCLG Committee on culture and Vice Mayor of Lille

Born March 5th 1950 in Paris
Deputy Mayor in charge of Culture since 2001, City of Lille, France

For the last 30 years, Catherine Cullen, who is of French and British nationality, has created, managed or supervised cultural projects and events, based on her experience of different cultures and artistic activities. After several years in publishing (Cambridge University Press, le Seuil, Albin Michel), in the late 80s she became editor in chief of LIBER, the first European cultural supplement issued by  Le Monde, El Pais, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Times Literary Supplement and l’Indice, under the direction of Pierre Bourdieu. She was also advisor to the French Presidency for the implementation of the Académie Universelle des Cultures.

A free lance writer and translator, she has also contributed to many national and international meetings on various aspects of culture.

She is Deputy Mayor in charge of culture for the city of Lille since 2001, and since 2008 councillor delegate Culture for Lille Metropole Communauté Urbaine. She is presently President of the Culture Committee of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the first world organization of local governments. The Committee is dedicated to working on the Agenda 21 for Culture.

Charles Vallerand

General Secretary of International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity

The international NGO plays a lead role in advocating for participatory governance in policy making for the protection and the promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions and the recognition of the distinctive nature of cultural goods and services in the context of global trade liberalization. It is recognized by UNESCO as an official partner with consultative status and serves on the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee. Mr Vallerand has 25 years of experience in cultural policies, public broadcasting and international cooperation.

Chien Joanna Lei

International Affairs Advisory Council, Taipei City Government

Dr. Joanna Lei began her career as a media and development scholar at the University of Pennsylvania in early 1980’s. From 1987-96, she worked in a media conglomerate Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. in New York, initially covering broadcast standards, news and prime time programming. She was later promoted to Vice President/Director, Capital Cities Capital, overseeing strategic investments in new media and consumer companies.

In 1996, Joanna was recruited as Investment Partner by the Baring Communication Equity Asia, Singapore. From 1997-2002, Joanna managed the fund’s investment activities in the Asia Pacific region.

Since repatriating to Taiwan in 2000, Joanna Lei was elected Senator and appointed chairman in a state-owned enterprise KKL. In addition to serving on government advisory and corporate boards, she currently chairs two companies and a number of NPO/NGOs in Taiwan.

Joanna Lei received her B.A. from the National Taiwan University. Her M.A. and Ph.D. are from the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

Christine M. Merkel

Head of Division for Culture, Memory of the World, German Commission for UNESCO 

Historian, Psychologist, expert in international relations in arts and culture. Executive Co-ordinator, Federal Coalition for Cultural Diversity; Chair, Steering Committee for Culture, Council of Europe (2010-2012).  

Areas of focus: Capacity building of civil society leaders and young experts through world-wide knowledge networks (U40). Seasoned designer of strategic multi-stakeholder policy dialogues (CONNEXXIONS 2012-2017). Among her recent publications are contributions to a legal commentary on the 2005 UNESCO Convention, Springer publishing 2012. Since 2011, one of 30 UNESCO technical experts to advise local and national governments on cultural policies aligned with the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of cultural expressions.

Hugues Ngouelondele

Maire de Brazzaville, Président de l’Association des Maires du Congo

Sorti de l’école des Douanes Koléa d’Alger (Algérie)en 1998, avec un diplôme d’Officier des Douanes,  Hugues NGOUELONDELE, est nommé, Représentant du Congo auprès de l’Organisation Mondiale des Douanes (OMD) en 1999.

Son parcours politique commence en 2002, en tant que Président de l’Association Espoir et Vie. A la faveur des législatives de 2002,  il est élu Député de la 2^ème circonscription de Moungali. A l’issue des élections locales  de la même année, il est élu Président du Conseil départemental et municipal, Maire  de la ville de Brazzaville, et  réélu maire de la ville en 2008 jusqu’à nos jours.

En 2003, il est élu Président de l’Association des Maires du Congo. A ce titre, il participe aux Assemblées Générales Constitutives de CGLU en France et de CGLUA à Tshwan en 2005 en Afrique du Sud. Hugues NGOUELONDELE a été Vice-Président CGLU section Afrique, et Président par intérim de CGLU-Afrique. Il est membre du Bureau Exécutif depuis 2005, Vice-Président de l’AIMF et Vice-Président CGLU-Afrique pour la zone Afrique Centrale.  

Hugues NGOUELONDELE, est Officier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur (France), Grand Officier dans l’Ordre du Mérite Congolais, Commandeur dans l’Ordre du Mérite sportif congolais et Ambassadeur de la paix.

Marianne Prodhomme

Adjointe au Maire, Angers, France / Vice-Présidente de la Commission Culture de CGLU

Marianne Prodhomme est élue écologiste de la Ville d'Angers. Elle a successivement été conseillère municipale (2001 - 2008), puis adjointe au Maire d'Angers. En tant que déléguée à la Culture, elle pilote un projet intitulé « Charte culture et solidarité », en étroite collaboration avec 33 associations du secteur social et 20 organismes culturels. Elle a également co-piloté l'élaboration de l'Agenda 21 des Cultures, en lien avec des citoyens, des structures culturelles, les services de la Ville d'Angers et d'autres acteurs locaux. Elle assure, en parallèle de son mandat d'élue, une activité de consultante psychologue du travail dans la SCOP qu'elle a créée.

Ngoné Thioune

Adjointe au Maire Chargée de la Culture, Saint-Louis du Sénégal

Enseignante professeur d‘anglais.
Maire adjointe de la culture, ex conseillere economique et sociale, Ville de Saint Louis-de-Sénégal.
Officier d etat civil de 2007 a 2009 deux mandats d elue municipale.
Presidente comite pilotage 140 ans de st louis senegal.
Mariéé