PEMSEA Welcomes New PRF Secretariat Services Staff

Quezon City, Philippines — PEMSEA welcomes Dr. Won-Tae Shin, Ms. Kazumi Wakita, Ms. Magnolia Uy and Ms. Jesusa Defensor of the PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF) Secretariat Services and Ms. Vanessa Bautista as library assistant.Dr. Won-Tae Shin joins PEMSEA as Programme Specialist for the PRF Secretariat Services. Before joining PEMSEA, Dr. Shin worked at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MOMAF) in RO Korea. Under MOMAF, Dr. Shin gained extensive working experience with PEMSEA and other UN regional organizations, such as YSLME, NOWPAP and COBSEA.Dr. Shin has Doctor of Philosophy degree in Environmental Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA. As Programme Specialist, Dr. Shin will provide secretariat support to the East Asia Seas Partnership Council, East Asian Seas Congress, Ministerial Forum, and Executive Committee, including monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the 2007-2010 work programme adopted by Council.Ms. Kazumi Wakita from Japan is Programme Officer for Partnership Programmes at PRF Secretariat Services. Kazumi has a Masters of Science in River Engineering and brings to PEMSEA over 10 years of scientific and technical experience in coastal development and planning. Wakita began her professional career as Coordinate Associate of Coastal Planning for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 1996. She then moved to promote integrated coastal management through capacity building of local governments and relevant stakeholders while working for the Foundation Systems Research and Development Institute of Japan (SRDI) and the Japanese Association for Coastal Zone Studies (JACZS) from 2001. As Programme Officer, Ms. Wakita will be responsible for developing work programs, collaborative activities and capacity-building activities with PEMSEA Partners towards the implementation of the ten-year rolling work plan for the implementation of the SDS-SEA.Ms. Magnolia Uy joins the PRF Secretariat Services as Technical Officer for Communications and will be responsible for planning, coordinating, operationalizing and monitoring the implementation of the Communicate strategy of the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia. Maggie has a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor in Fine Arts major in Visual Communication from the University of the Philippines. Prior to joining PEMSEA, she worked for a multinational company and a local IT company as brand manager and product manager, respectively.Ms. Jesusa Defensor is Administrative Assistant for the PRF Secretariat Services and will provide support in the execution of administrative actions, overseeing ongoing activities in several administrative areas in support of substantial programme activities. Susan obtained a BA in Organizational Communication from the University of the Philippines. Prior to joining PEMSEA, she worked for a Japanese trading firm providing administrative and human resource support.Ms. Vanessa Bautista is a licensed librarian. Van obtained her Bachelor's degree in Library and Information Science from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. She was Makati Hope Christian School's Librarian for two years prior to joining PEMSEA.