[Press Kit, International Conference on AIDS (16th: 2006: Toronto, Canada)]

honorary director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and former trustee of the Ford
Foundation.
Mr. Haas graduated as class valedictorian from the University of California, Berkeley in 1964
and received his MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1968. He served in
the Peace Corps in the Ivory Coast from 1964 to 1966 and was a White House Fellow from
1968 to 1969. From 1969 to 1972, Mr. Haas was an associate with the management
consulting firm of McKinsey and Company.
Noeleen Heyzer (Singapore), Executive Director, United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM)
Noeleen Heyzer is the first executive director from the South to head UNIFEM, the leading
operational agency within the United Nations to promote women's empowerment and
gender equality. Since joining UNIFEM, Ms. Heyzer has worked on strengthening women's
economic security and rights in the context of feminized poverty and globalization;
promoting women's leadership in conflict resolution, peace-building and reconstruction;
ending violence against women; and combating HIV/AIDS from a gender perspective.
Previously, Ms. Heyzer was the policy adviser to Asian governments and was instrumental in
the formulation of national development policies, strategies and programmes from a gender
perspective. In 1994-95 she played a key role in the preparatory process for the Fourth
World Conference on Women in Beijing, including organizing 1,000 non-government
organizations (NGOs) in the Asia Pacific region to develop the first-ever NGO Action Plan.
Ms. Heyzer was a founding member of numerous regional and international women's
networks and has published extensively on gender and development issues.
Born in Singapore, she received a BA and MA from the University of Singapore and a
doctorate in social sciences from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She has
received several awards for leadership including the UNA-Harvard Leadership Award, the
Woman of Distinction Award from the UN-NGO Committee on the Status of Women and the
Dag Hammarksjold medal in 2004.
Vincent J. Hughes (United States), State Senator, Pennsylvania State Senate
Mr. Hughes served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1987 to 1994 and
was elected to the Senate in 1994 representing Philadelphia County. He is the Minority Chair
of the Senate Public Health & Welfare Committee and serves on the Appropriations and
Education Committees. He is the former Chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus
and a member of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. He is a
member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation
and Philadelphia International Airport Advisory Board.
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M.,
C.D. (Canada), Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada
Michatlle Jean was appointed Governor General of Canada--Canada's de facto Head of
State--in 2005 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Office of the Governor General is
the highest and oldest public institution in Canada.
Born in Port au Prince, Haiti, Micha~lle Jean, left her country as a young child in 1968 with
her family and sought refuge in Canada. While pursing her university education, Micha~lle
Jean worked for eight years with Quebec shelters for battered women. She has taken in,
supported and accompanied hundreds of women and children in crisis while contributing to
the establishment of a network of emergency shelters throughout Qubbec and elsewhere in

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