Celito F. ARLEGUE

Mr. Celito Arlegue is a political science instructor at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna.  He was previously CALD program officer working on the first NDI-CALD Political Party Strategies to Combat Corruption Workshop (Bangkok, January 2002) and was the co-writer for the Philippine section in the research report.  He is currently finishing his Master’s Degree in international relations at the University of the Philippines in Diliman where he also obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in political science, cum laude.

John Joseph S. CORONEL

Mr. John Joseph S. Coronel is the executive director of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD).  He is also the vice president of the National Institute for Policy Studies (NIPS), the liberal think tank for Philippine Democracy.  He is also a consultant of Philippine Senator Francis Pangilinan.  On the non-political side, Mr. Coronel is a freelance writer and art reviewer.  He studied at the University of the Philippines in Diliman and the University of Hawaii in Manoa as a grantee of the East West Center.

Ivan DOHERTY

(Workshop Presenter)

Mr. Ivan Doherty is the director of Political Party Programs at NDI.  As the Institute's in-house expert on political party development, he currently oversees party development programs in more than 45 countries and is responsible for building NDI's relationships with political party international organizations and other democracy foundations.  Mr. Doherty also serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy, and leads NDI's participation in a number of other global and regional initiatives, including the Community of Democracies, the OAS Inter-American Forum on Political Parties, and the UN Conference on New or Restored Democracies.

Mr. Doherty has an extensive background in political party development and international affairs.  He worked for more than 15 years with Ireland's Fine Gael Party in a number of senior positions, including assistant national director of organization, deputy general secretary, and general secretary from 1990 to 1994.  Appointed government program manager in 1994, Mr. Doherty was assigned to Ireland's Ministry of Tourism and Foreign Trade.  He has served as senior advisor to the European People's Party parliamentary grouping in the European Parliament, played a role in the Irish Presidency of the EU and the WTO Ministerial in 1996, and conducted Irish trade promotion missions around the world.

Jennifer EIKREN

 

Ms. Jennifer Eikren currently works on NDI’s Asia Team as program officer for the Asia Regional, Burma, China and Hong Kong programs.  Prior to joining NDI, Ms. Eikren spent a year and a half at the International Republican Institute (IRI) as an assistant program officer for China.  She also spent a year teaching English in northeast China at Dalian University of Technology.  Ms. Eikren has a Master’s Degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Bachelor’s Degree from St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

 

Ram GURAGAIN

 

Mr. Ram Guragain is a Senior Program Officer at the National Democratic Institute in Kathmandu Nepal.  He is responsible for coordinating civic and voter education programs throughout the country, managing parliamentary and civic anti-corruption programs and organizing high-level seminars and workshops on ethics for national level political representatives, party leaders, senior government officials and civic leaders. Mr. Guragain has over 16 years of experience in teaching at Tribhuvan University, Nepal Law Campus. He was heavily involved in conducting research of various major political parties of Nepal in the course of preparation for the Bangkok I workshop in January 2002. He was one of the NDIs representatives to assist organizing the workshop. Mr. Guragain received his Bachelor's Degree in English and Social Studies and his Master's Degree in English Literature from Tribhuvan University Nepal.  

 

Peter M. MANIKAS                                                            

(Workshop Presenter)

 

Mr. Peter Manikas serves as NDI’s regional director for Asia programs.  Previously, he was NDI’s chief of party in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Malawi.  From August 1998 to October 2000 he served in Washington, DC as NDI’s regional manager of Southern Africa programs.  Mr. Manikas has been associated with NDI, first as a consultant, and later as a senior associate, for the past 12 years.  He has been involved in NDI’s democratic development work in more than 20 countries.

 

Before joining NDI full-time, he served as a consultant to the chairman of the UN Commission of Experts for the former Yugoslavia, providing advice and research on the law applicable to the conflict.  He also served as a senior fellow in International Human Rights Law at DePaul University College of Law’s International Human Rights Law Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and he is the co-author of a major treatise on the law applied by the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal at The Hague.  Mr. Manikas has also served as a consultant to the World Bank, the UN and the United States Agency for International Development on human rights and anti-corruption issues.  Earlier, he held the position of research social scientist at Northwestern University’s Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, and served as the executive director of a court reform commission in Cook County, Illinois, appointed by the chief judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County.  Mr. Manikas earned his JD at DePaul University Law School.  He is the author of more than 20 publications on international law, elections and public policy.

 

Sukhumbhand PARIBATRA                                          

(Workshop Presenter)

 

M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra is a member of parliament representing the Democrat Party.  He is the current chairperson of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) and an associate professor in the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Political Science of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.  He served as Deputy Foreign Minister during the administration of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai from 1997 to 2001.  From 1987 to 1993, he was director of the Institute of Security and International Studies.  He has also been an advisor to the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs (1986-988 and 1989-1991), policy advisor to Prime Minister General Catichai Choonhavan (1988-1989), and advisor to the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee for House Affairs (1989-1991).  Since 1992, M.R. Paribatra has served as chairman of the Ministry of Commerce’s Advisory Committee of International Commerce.  From 1986 until the present, he has also been the chairman of the Chumbhot-Pantip Foundation.

 

Sirinun SENAKANT

 

Ms. Sirinun Senakant has been a member of the Bangkok Committee of the Democrat Party of Thailand since 1996.  She has twice run as a MP candidate representing the Democrat Party in Bangkok.  She was an advisor to the Finance Committee in parliament from 1997 to 2000.  Prior to her work in parliament, she worked for Loxley International and Tisco Financial Company Ltd.  She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Indiana University and Master’s Degree in development management from the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines.  Ms. Senakant has served as an advisor to CALD since 1997.

 

Laura L. THORNTON                                                        

(Workshop Presenter)

 

Ms. Laura Thornton is a senior program manager at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and is based in Singapore.  She designed and manages NDI’s regional program on political party reform and is co-editor of the program’s publication, Political Parties in Asia:  Promoting Reform and Combating Corruption.  Previously, she served as NDI’s resident director in Thailand, and managed the Institute’s programs in Malaysia.  Ms. Thornton earned her Bachelor’s Degree in history from Northwestern University and her Master’s Degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs.

 

Paolo Antonio A. ZAMORA

 

Mr. Paolo Antonio A. Zamora is the NDI-CALD program officer currently working on this workshop.  He was project assistant to the following CALD activities: CALD Communications Workshop (Manila, April 2003), documentation of CALD-ELDR Meeting (Seoul, November 2001), and CALD Young Leaders’ Workshop (Manila, September to October, 2001).  He studied at the University of the Philippines in Diliman where he obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in political science.