Born in the little village of Peresandra in Chikkaballapura district in Karnataka, Dr K. Sudhakar hails from a humble agrarian family. Right from the days of his grandfather, his family has had a tradition of the serving society through various philanthropic and charitable works. Although a medical doctor by training, Dr Sudhakar has always been a social worker by spirit and eventually chose politics to serve society at large. Dr K. Sudhakar has also served as the Chairman of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).

Dr K. Sudhakar has been elected three times to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Chikkaballapura constituency in the 2013 and 2018 general elections and 2019 by-election. Dr Sudhakar is currently serving as the Member of Parliament representing the Chikkaballapura Lok Sabha constituency in the India Parliament and also serves as the Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance.

Dr Sudhakar was the youngest Cabinet Minister in former Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa’s Cabinet and has served as the Minister for Health and Medical Education Minister in C M Basavaraj Bommai's Cabinet with a vision to transform the state’s public healthcare system. He is also spearheading the state’s battle against the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Sudhakar’s leadership and proactive role in spearheading the state’s battle against the pandemic as Health Minister was widely appreciated and acknowledged by the public, the medical fraternity and the media. Karnataka was awarded the best state in combating COVID-19 by the India Today Group in its annual Healthgiri Awards.

Dr K. Sudhakar also serves as the managing Trustee of Sri Sai Krishna Charitable Trust which is carrying out several philanthropic works in Chikkaballpaura and he also runs Shanta Education Institutions in memory of his late mother which is providing quality education and skill development to rural and economically deprived students.

Hon. Savitri Sonia Parag, MP, who is originally from the Essequibo Coast, was born at Suddie, where she resided for 13 years. In her formative years, she attended the Anna Regina Primary School (now known as C. V. Nunes Primary).

In 1994, Parag attended the prestigious Queen's College upon sitting the Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE) but opted to attend President’s College as it catered for live-in students. After completing her Secondary education in 1999, she entered the University of Guyana the same year as an English Major and subsequently went on to pursue Law, from 2002-2005, where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Degree. She then advanced to the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad & Tobago, from 2005-2007, where she obtained her Legal Education Certificate which permitted her to practice law.

Hon. Savitri Sonia Parag was admitted to the Guyanese Bar in October 2007 and was in private practice from 2007 to 2020.

Hon. Savitri Sonia Parag was appointed and sworn in as a Member of the President of Guyana, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s Cabinet and as a Member of the twelfth Parliament of Guyana in August 2020. Her initial portfolio was as the Minister of Public Service from August 2020 to January 2024. In January 2024, she was appointed and sworn in as the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development – the first female to hold this pivotal position.

As a Member of Parliament, Hon. Savitri Sonia Parag is a Member of the Parliamentary Management Committee, the Constitutional Reform Committee and a Member of the Standing Committee on Sustainable Development of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Ms Nerusha Naidoo is the Secretary of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Legislature, the highest administrative office in the legislative arm of government. She has served in this position for four consecutive terms, totalling 19 years, making her the longest-serving Secretary in the legislative sector in South Africa. With over 27 years of management experience, she has transformed and strengthened management structures to enhance institutional performance.

She has presided over the digitization and modernization of the KZN Legislature and is credited for its stability, fostering harmonious interaction between the administrative and political wings. Furthermore, she has ensured that young employees grow into management and facilitated opportunities for staff to advance their careers nationally and internationally. She is also a member of the board of the Parliamentary Institute of South Africa.

Andrew Young is a Research Fellow at Deakin University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Victoria, Australia.  He is a former Clerk of the Legislative Council and Clerk of the Parliaments, Victoria and former Assistant Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Western Australia. During some of this time, he was also President of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Clerks-at-the-Table (ANZACATT) and Hon. Secretary of the CPA Victoria Branch.

Since leaving the Victorian Parliament, Andrew has undertaken consultant work with the UNDP in the Pacific and with the Centre for Public Integrity in Australia. He is the current Chair of the Australasian Study of Parliament Group (ASPG) for Victoria, the current Chair of the Bachelor of PPE Degree Advisory Board at Deakin University and a current independent member of the Audit Committee of the Senate of Australia.

As part of a Deakin University team, Andrew co-authored the Standards for Codes of Conduct for Members of Parliament and the Parliamentary Workplace for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in 2024.

Dr Elizabeth Macharia is the Legal Adviser and Head (Ag) of the Rule of Law Section at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. In this role, Dr Macharia leads a dynamic team of lawyers who support governments in Commonwealth member countries in improving access to justice. Key among the activities of the Section are capacity building with Law Ministries and judiciaries and Legislatures across the Commonwealth; development of knowledge products, toolkits and model laws; and frameworks to support development of law in the Commonwealth; and convening the biennial Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting (CLMM).

Prior to joining the Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr Macharia served as the first female Head of the Department of Law at the University of Botswana (2019 – 2022) where she had a vibrant career teaching and researching International Law and Criminal Procedure in an academic setting. Dr Macharia was called to the Botswana Bar in 2003 and has also served as a Magistrate on the Botswana Bench. Dr Macharia’s doctoral theses is on Sentencing and the Law. She is also widely published in criminal procedure and international law.