Plenary Presenters

Professor Norbotten is the Author of about 150 publications and papers on official statistic, statistical methods, system design and implementations of computer and communication technology applications. He has been invited lecturer to several international and national conferences, organizations and universities.

He is member of several councils and committees appointed by the Norwegian Government, and a number of different professional committees.

In his long career he has been an international consultant and expert for: UN, FAO, UN/ECE, UN/ECA, EU/EUROSTAT, Statistics Sweden, Statistics Denmark, Statistics Canada, Australian Bureau of Statistics, UK Office for National Statistics, a.o.

Professor Nordbotten has served as the President of International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC), Vice President of International Statistical Institute (ISI), and Board member of several other professional organizations.

She has served as President of the International Association for Official Statistics. Currently she is the Chair of the Conference of European Statisticians UNECE/CES and the Vice chair of the UN Statistical Commission. She has also been a board member of several other professional organizations.

Ms Jeskanen-Sundström has written several articles in the field of statistics and has been invited lecturer to several international and national conferences, organizations and universities.

Before joining Statistics Netherlands he worked in Zambia, Surinam and Botswana in the fields of education and statistics.

Throughout his career in Statistics Netherlands Geert Bruinooge has managed organisational changes. In 2000 he was appointed as Director of Business Statistics and in 2002 as Director of Macro Economic Statistics and Dissemination.

At present Geert Bruinooge is in charge of the redesign of the complete chain of economic statistics at Statistics Netherlands.

Born in Shanghai, China, Li-Chun Zhang received his education in China and Norway. He obtained his Dr. Scient. in Statistics in 1996 at the University of Tromso, Norway.

Since he joined Statistics Norway in 1997, Li-Chun Zhang has worked and published on a number of subjects in official statistical production. These include sampling design, estimation based on sample surveys, non-response, measurement errors, small area estimation, index number calculations, editing and imputation, statistical registers, etc.

Dev has several years experience of wider statistical needs for regional and area-based policies, both national and European, and has represented the UK on Eurostat’s Regional Statistics Working Party and Urban Audit Think Tank for many years. He is the current chair of the OECD Territorial Indicators Working Party, within the structure of the Territorial Development Policy Committee. He is also Vice Chair of the Standing Committee on Regional and Urban Statistics (SCORUS), which is a section of the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS).

Dev's current ONS roles include managing the ONS Regional Statistician teams in the nine regions of England (established in April 2007), creating a statistical presence to work alongside the Regional Development Agencies and help to provide the evidence base for Regional Economic Strategies. He is leading the ONS work on regional economic analysis and advice and is currently the Joint chair of the interdepartmental Government Statistical Service Regions and Geography Group, and leading a sub-group looking at the definitions and statistical needs of urban and rural areas.

He has also served on various government-wide steering groups, such as those overseeing the State of the Countryside Report, the State of the Cities Report, the Indices of Deprivation and Opportunity for All, and overseen production of ONS publications such as Regional Trends and Focus on London.

Prior to 2000, Pali Lehohla was a Chief Director for Demography and Surveys at Statistics South Africa where he was responsible for South Africa's first post apartheid population census. He has also been a Director of Statistics for the North West Province of South Africa.

He has 24 years experience in the areas of governance of statistical organisations; population census demarcation, enumeration, data processing, analysis and publication; Demography of South Africa; and Development Research.

Pali Lehohla is aged 50 and married with three sons. He holds a BA double major in Economics and Statistics and a post-graduate diploma in population studies as well as a certificate in Topynymy. He has also completed a senior leadership programme with the business schools of Wits and Harvard.

Mr. Bruhn has been the Swedish delegate to several task forces and working groups within UN/ECE and EU/Eurostat. He also has participated in several International Consulting Projects in African, Asian and former East European countries.

Prior to his appointment, Professor Cheung has served as Chief Statistician of the Government of Singapore (1991-2004). In this role, he has been the National Statistical Coordinator as well as the Chief Executive of the Singapore Department of Statistics.

Born in Hong Kong, Professor Cheung received his education in Singapore and the United States. He did postgraduate work at the East-West Center, Hawaii, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received his PhD in 1983 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. He has taught at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University for many years since graduation on full or part-time basis.

Professor Cheung served as President of the International Association of Official Statistics, (2001-2003). He was the past Chairman of the Governing Board, Statistical Institute of Asia and the Pacific (UN-SIAP), the Chair of the UNESCAP Committee on Statistics, as well as Chairman of the Regional Advisory Board of the Asian Development Bank's International Comparison Program for Asia and the Pacific.

Professor Cheung is well known in the Asia and the Pacific region for his pioneering research in the fields of manpower, population, social planning and official statistics. He has written widely in his areas of research.

He has received the following national and professional awards: The Von Neumann-Spallart Medal awarded by the International Institute of Statistics (1999); The Public Administration Medal (Gold) ‘Pingat Pentadbiran Awam’ awarded by the President of the Republic of Singapore (2001); The Honorary Doctorate Degree by the National University of Mongolia (2008).