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 Axel Leblois
President and Executive Director, United Nations G3ict
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Accessibility of people with disabilities to ICT in 2017 : A global survey
Axel Leblois spent over 20 years at the helm of information technology companies in the United States including as CEO of Computerworld Communications, CEO of IDC - International Data Corporation, Vice-Chairman of IDG - International Data Group, President of Bull HN Worldwide Information Systems - formerly Honeywell Information Systems, CEO of ExecuTrain and President of W2i, the Wireless Internet Institute. Axel Leblois served as a Senior Special Fellow of UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and is a founding trustee of its North American affiliate CIFAL Atlanta. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of USICD, U.S. International Council on Disabilities, and GAATES, Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies and Environments. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Board of Mada, Qatar Assistive Technology Center, and on the Scientific Advisory Board of Cloud4all. He is an adjunct professor at OCAD University/Inclusive Design Institute. He served as chairman of the board of the Atlanta International School and is chairman of the board of CASIE, the Center for the Advancement and Study of International Education. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars on ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities organized for policy makers, civil society and the private sector to foster collaboration among multiple stakeholders. In his capacity, Mr. Leblois oversees all the publishing, capacity building and advocacy activities of G3ict. Mr. Leblois holds an MBA from INSEAD and is a graduate of Sciences Po Paris.
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Prof. Asha Singh Kanwar
President & Chief Executive Officer Commonwealth of Learning
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Is Open & Distance Learning inclusive? The Role of Technology
Professor Asha Singh Kanwar, one of the world’s leading advocates of learning for development, became President and Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in June 2012. She has served COL first as an Education Specialist – Higher Education and Policy and then as its Vice President for six years. Before joining COL, Professor Kanwar was a consultant in open and distance learning at UNESCO's Regional Office for Education in Africa (BREDA) in Dakar, Senegal.
Professor Kanwar's engagement with distance education began when she joined Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) where she served as Professor, Director of the School of Humanities and Pro-Vice Chancellor. Professor Kanwar has over 35 years of experience in teaching, research and administration. She has written, edited and co-edited a dozen books and published over 50 papers and articles. Professor Kanwar is invited to give keynotes at prestigious international conferences and her speeches and presentations are available at www.col.org.
A recipient of several awards and fellowships, Professor Kanwar brings with her the experience of having studied and worked in different contexts, both developing and developed. She received her undergraduate, Master’s and MPhil degrees from the Panjab University in India and a DPhil from the University of Sussex. She was a Fulbright Fellow for post-doctoral research at Iowa State University, where she was later invited to teach.
Professor Kanwar has received the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) Prize of Excellence and the Meritorious Service Award for outstanding contributions in open and distance education from the Asian Association of Open Universities. She was made a Fellow of the National Teachers’ Institute, Kaduna, Nigeria. She has been conferred six honorary doctorates: from the Vardhman Mahaveer Open University, KK Handiqui State Open University, India; the Open University, UK; the Open University of Sri Lanka; University of Swaziland and Wawasan Open University, Malaysia.
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