Professor Rounaq Jahan taught political science at Dhaka University, Harvard University and Columbia University; headed women’s programs at UNAPDC, Malaysia and the ILO, Geneva and is currently a Distinguished Fellow of CPD. She obtained her Ph.D. from Harvard and is the author of several internationally acclaimed books which include: Pakistan: Failure in National Integration, New York: Columbia; Women and Development: Perspectives from South and South- East Asia (co-editor), Dhaka: BILIA; Bangladesh Politics: Problems and Issues, Dhaka: UPL; The Elusive Agenda: Mainstreaming Women in Development, London: Zed; and Bangladesh: Promise and Performance (editor), London: Zed. Professor Jahan was the founder-president of Women for Women, served on the board of the Population Council, is at present on the board of Human Rights Watch: Asia and is a recipient of the Radcliffe Institute Graduate Society award of Harvard University.
Rehman Sobhan is a Bangladeshi economist and freedom fighter. He played an active role in the Bengali nationalist movement in the 1960s. He was also a member of the first Planning Commission in Bangladesh and a close associate of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He was awarded the Independence Day Award in 2008.