UNITAR Instructors
Module: Project Management
Gilbert Silvius
Dr. Gilbert Silvius is an experienced ‘practitioner-turned-academic’. His academic experience spans almost 20 years in which he initiated, developed and led several accredited programs and courses. He currently holds academic positions at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences, LOI University of Applied Sciences and University of Johannesburg. Gilbert is engaged by several other universities in programs on project management, business administration and information management. His engagements include classroom, online and blended training/lecturing and supervising research projects. Gilbert is a fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, and honorary fellow of Turku University of Applied Sciences and the International Information Management Association.
Gilbert authored or edited 13 professional and academic books and over 100 academic papers. He is a frequent speaker on international conferences and a recognized expert on project management and the alignment of business and IT. Gilbert is recipient of the IPMA outstanding contribution research award (2020) and the GPM sustainability award (2013).
Next to his academic work, Gilbert advises organizations as part of the enable2change network of experts. His professional experience spans three decades, in which he has been responsible for numerous projects, groups and departments.
Module: Public-Private Partnerships and Business Diplomacy
Dr. Huub Ruël, Ph.D.
He was a Professor of International Business and Diplomacy & Global Talent Management at Hospitality Business School – The Hague, one of the top 5 Hospitality Business School in the world (CEO World and QS ranking) and University of Twente (FT100 university, most entrepreneurial university in The Netherlands - 4th time in a row - and most impactful university in the Netherlands). Has previously been at American University Beirut, Kuwait-Maastricht Business School, Utrecht University, University of Twente.
He has 20+ years of international academic experience, is a thought leader in the cross-over / intersection of business & diplomacy. In addition, he is co-founder of the academic field on HRM and technology (most cited author on e-HRM).
Dr. Ruël has guest edited more than 10 special issues of international research journals, guest-edited several internationally published books on e-HRM, commercial diplomacy, business diplomacy, organized multiple international academic conferences, international invited speaker, and has a very rich international research and teaching experience.
H-index: 30+ , most cited academic author on e-HRM/electronic/digital Human Resource Management.
Module: Mediation and Negotiation
Dr. Jack R. Williams
Module: Leadership in International Organizations
Mr. Jérôme L'host
Mr. L'host studied Public Administration & Economics (AES) at the University of Savoie. He later specialized in Marketing at the Plus-Values Institute in Paris. Mr. L'host is a certified Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Coach, a UN-certified Coach and Trainer, as well as a Synaps-certified, and LSA (Leadership Style Analysis) Coach.
Over the last 16 years, he performed numerous presentations (Leadership, Competencies Management, Emotional Intelligence, Performance Management, Corporate Identity & Values, Post-mergers integration, Change Management, Persuasive Presentations) as well as Motivational Speeches for HEC Geneva, EPFL Chair of Entrepreneurship, Nestlé, Association pour le Progrès du Management and the Swiss-French Chamber of Commerce.
Before establishing as an Independent Consultant in 2009 and founding The November
Company in 2012, Mr. L’host has been active for thirteen (13) years with Dynargie
Switzerland SA (International Training & Consulting group) as a European Board Member
and Country Manager of Switzerland and Russia.
Mr. L’host managed more than 40 large-scale international projects (Performance development,
Crisis management, Sales-Team Development, Restructuration, Post-conflict & Post-disaster
management, Leadership, Change management, Top Management & Team Development, Reengineering,
Values Implementation, Strategic Retreats, International Surveys, Post-Mergers Integration...)
in more than 30 different countries.
He dealt with more than 120 companies/organizations world-wide and delivered training for more than 3800 participants.
Mr. L'host is also a former UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) volunteer, serving 6 months in Naqura-South Lebanon.
Ms. Cindy Hancock
In her way of working, Cindy values integrity and a high standard of ethics. She has worked with tenacity, climbing the corporate ladder over the last 20 years, up to General Management.
Her passion for coaching inspired her to qualify as a Professional Ontological Coach in 2013, opening the door to her people-centered management style. Cindy is an accomplished and well-known coach within the private and public sectors. Her passion for Learning and Development has led her to enroll in further education and self-development receiving her qualification as a registered Facilitator, Assessor, Learner Support including Skills Gap Analysis, Training Matrix development, Skill Audit Reporting as well as Designing and Developing of course material.
Her ability to forecast organizational training needs has led her to customize a diverse list of training material, including but not limited to: Corporate Communication, Leadership Development and Sales Force Effectiveness.
As the founder and pioneer of Sprout Coaching, Cindy continues to be inspired by the rapid development and need for coaching within organizations, however, remains centered on the individual. Her vision remains focused on improving human interaction within the public and private arena enabling people to grow.
Module: Public and Cultural Diplomacy
Dr. Elizabeth Colton
Dr. Elizabeth ("Liz") Colton has served as Moderator for UNITAR online courses, including both Public Diplomacy & Cultural Diplomacy, since 2016, and also as a Collaborative Professor in UNITAR's Master's degree programmes. Currently, in addition to teaching for UNITAR and collaborating international universities and working as a "worldwide-connector" promoting diplomacy, Dr. Colton serves as Diplomat & Journalist in Residence at Warren Wilson College.
As an award-winning Public Diplomacy officer, her Foreign Service career comprised a wide range of diplomatic assignments--in Egypt, Pakistan, Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Washington, DC, including public affairs chief/ spokesperson/ press attaché/ information, cultural affairs, and collaborative work on global issues with U.S. missions worldwide and multilateral diplomacy with other governments and international organizations.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Professor Colton, head of Shenandoah University’s program in mass communication, politics and journalism, established that university’s International Journalism Centre and advised universities on journalism education and lectured on diplomacy, politics and the media on six continents. She was also a Fulbright Scholar, a Knight International Journalism Fellow, and a MacArthur Fellow in Globalization Studies at the University of Chicago. Emmy Award-winning journalist for ABC News, Liz Colton also worked worldwide for other news organizations, including NBC News, Newsweek, NPR, Reuters, AsiaWeek, and as executive editor of 10 Virginia newspapers.
Colton holds degrees from Randolph College, Vanderbilt University, and the London School of Economics & Political Science, where her doctoral thesis focused on Maldives and the Indian Ocean. She also studied at Scotland’s University of Glasgow, Columbia University's Teachers College, and the University of London’s School of Oriental & African Studies.
Colton serves on the advisory board of the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres and also the Washington DC-based DACOR organization for diplomats/foreign affairs professionals and is an active member of the new Citizen Diplomacy Research Group (CDRG), the Public Diplomacy Council and Public Diplomacy Association of America.
Colton has taught on International Shipboard Education’s Semester At Sea (ISE/SAS) Voyages, advised DiplomacyWorks.org on public diplomacy, also served as Visiting Research Scholar at UNCAsheville and as Diplomat in Residence at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Professor Elizabeth Colton is now completing for publication several books on diplomacy, global politics, and the news media, much based on her oral-history recently conducted by the Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training (ADST.org) for its archives and the U.S. Library of Congress.
Module: Diplomatic Communication
Sandra Coulibaly
She has conducted and/or facilitated no less than thirty seminars and workshops in Africa and Europe in conjunction with national and international institutions and strategic think-tanks. She contributed significantly to the reference publication "Anticipation in the 21st century" under the direction of UNESCO/Routledge press for the English version and UQAM for the French version.
This mandate, created in 2015, was entrusted to her after she had served as Assistant Director for Cultural Diversity and Development in charge of the re-launch of MASA (African/Abidjan market for performing arts) and previously as Deputy Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and to various specialized institutions. In this multilateral framework, she has successfully undertaken a number of projects, including the support of French-speaking countries for the Universal Periodic Review, the creation of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights, the OIF-HCHR partnership, etc.
Since 2013, she has been involved in teaching at the EAC in Paris, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the field of cultural policies and intercultural relations. She has been a visiting professor at Senghor University in Alexandria since 2013/Cultural Department, currently in charge of teaching "cultural entrepreneurship and innovation" in order to contribute to the capacity building of African executives.
In addition to her work as an international civil servant and teacher, Sandra is active in the field of poetry. Her poems have been published regularly and some have been selected for reading at prestigious events. Her musical and concert vocation, since she trained at the National Institute of Arts in Abidjan (INA) in violin class, then at the Regional Conservatory of Rueil Malmaison and distinguished by teachers of international stature such as Gérard Jarry, Vera Reynolds, has enabled her to acquire a musicality that she tries to retranscribe in her poems.
Sandra Coulibaly Leroy holds several postgraduate degrees from French universities
in the field of culture, communication and information technology, as well as an Executive
Master's degree in politics and international relations from the Graduate Institute
of Studies and Development in Geneva. This training is complemented by a certificate
in strategic foresight/master's degree in organisational transformation from the CNAM
(Paris).