JAN MEEUWISSEN

Jan Meeuwissen is Senior Human Settlements Adviser of the UN Commission on Human Settlements (UNCHS) (Habitat) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Fukuoka, Japan.

In that position he is responsible for the managerial and substantive support to UNCHS (Habitat) development projects in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma and East Timor.

He also co-ordinates the activities of the Campaign for Secure Tenure in Asia.

Jan has worked for UNCHS (Habitat) since 1982 in a range of projects and programs in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Bolivia, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Before joining the Fukuoka Office in 1997, he worked for nine years at the UNCHS Headquarters in Nairobi, coordinating a Training Program for Community Participation with projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He has studied Architecture and Urban Planning at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. Jan will speak on Re-establishing Land Administration in East Timor.

FREDERIC DE DINECHIN

Frederic de Dinechin is a land administration specialist at the World Bank in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. He currently manages or technically assists World Bank land administration projects preparation and supervision in Central America. These operations involve cadastre and registry modernization, private and public land regularization, titling, indigenous land, protected areas and natural resources management. He is member of the Land Policy and Administration and the Geographic Information System (GIS) thematic groups. He has a master in Regional and Town planning and a senior survey engineer degree. Frederic will draw on his experiences on many World Bank projects in many countries to speak to us about Spatial Data Infrastructures and the World Bank.

HELGE ONSRUD

Helge Onsrud is Senior Adviser with Norway's Statens Kartverk. He leads the FIG Task Force on Sustainable Development, which was established in 1998 to present FIG’s policy in implementing UN Agenda 21 (from the Rio Earth Summit) and Global Plan of Action (from the HABITAT II Conference, Istanbul).

The Task Force is also to review fields of surveying expertise to develop FIG’s own Agenda 21 to promote sustainable development and undertake activities in furtherance of FIG’s Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Commission on Human Settlements (UNCHS). Helge will speak on the recently released FIG Statement on Sustainable Development.

STEVE BERGLUND

Steven W. Berglund was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Trimble (the major Sponsor of the Congress) in March 1999. Prior to joining Trimble, Steve spent 14 years at Spectra Precision and during his tenure as President, initiated the merger of five companies to form the Spectra Precision Group, of which he remained President. After joining Trimble, Berglund spearheaded the strategic acquisition of both the Spectra Precision Group and Tripod Data Systems, a leading developer of data collection software and hardware for the land survey, construction and Geographic Information System (GIs) markets. Those acquisitions position Trimble as the world leader in advanced positioning technology, helping to define and transform the way position-centric information is used. Steven’s presentation will outline his vision of what the Engineering, Construction and Survey Industry will look like in the coming years.