People

Board News

Ms. Janet Ecker has been nominated as the Government of Canada’s new representative on COL’s Board of Governors. Ms. Ecker is currently President of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance and a Public Policy Advisor in the Tramore Group. Previously, she has served as Minister of Education, Minister of Finance, Minister of Social Services and Government House Leader in the Government of Ontario.

Her Excellency Mrs. Mariam Yalwaji Katagum has been nominated as the Government of Nigeria’s new representative on COL’s Board of Governors. Mrs. Katagum is
Ambassador and Permanent Delegate for the Federal Republic of Nigeria to UNESCO. Previously, she was Deputy Director for Policy Planning, Management and Research at Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education.

COL thanks Ms. Denise Chong (Canada) and Professor Michael Omolewa (Nigeria) for many years of dedicated service and contributions as Board members. As major funders of COL, Canada and Nigeria are entitled to a representative on the Board of Governors.

www.col.org/board

Staff News

Dr. Venkataraman Balaji has been appointed Director, Technology and Knowledge Management with COL. A specialist in information and communication technology (ICT) applied to rural development, Dr. Balaji has been active in the area of learning technology for the past decade. He received the World Technology Award in the Education category in 2001.

Dr. Balaji holds a Masters degree from the Indian Institute of Technology and a PhD in Energy Studies from the University of Madras. He has worked with a host of international organisations. While on the staff of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in India, Dr. Balaji led development of the Information Villages research project that has created a globally recognised model for applying contemporary ICT in rural development. Dr. Balaji served as the Global Leader for Knowledge Management and Sharing with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and most recently led groundbreaking ICT projects with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.