At the time of this interview, Kunzang Wangdi was chief election commissioner of Bhutan.  In that capacity he set up and ran Bhutan’s first democratic elections.  Prior to his appointment as commissioner in 2005, Wangdi served as auditor general of Bhutan’s Royal Audit Authority.  He was also director of the Royal Institute of Management.  Wangdi began working for Bhutan’s civil service in 1977.  He received a bachelor’s degree in English from St. Stephens College in India and completed a master’s degree in public administration at Penn State.

At the time of this interview, De Lorenzo was a Senior Research Scholar and Deputy Director of the Urbanization Project at New York University's Stern School of Business.  Before joining NYU, De Lorenzo was Vice President at the John Templeton Foundation and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. From 2007-2010, De Lorenzo served in a pro bono capacity as the deputy to Senator Bill Frist on the board of directors of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation. 

Previously, De Lorenzo served as Assistant to the Coordinator of the Refugee Elections Steering Group, Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.  He was an intern at the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) at the time, which became the Secretariat for the refugee elections component of the first Bosnian elections. As his presence around the office coincided with the impending crisis to implement the refugee-voting mandate, De Lorenzo became a member of the steering group assigned to make refugee voting happen. In 1997, he served as a refugee elections specialist with the Refugee Policy Group in Monrovia, Liberia.   De Lorenzo studies private sector-based approaches to political development in post-conflict countries, focusing on reforms that have made some developing countries attractive to foreign and domestic investment. He also researches Chinese investment and political influence outside the Pacific region, particularly in Africa; the design of policies that promote democratic accountability in aid-receiving countries; and refugee and humanitarian policies.

At the time of the interview, Steve Surujbally was the chairman of the Election Commission in Guyana. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in veterinary science, and was a practicing veterinarian.  He was appointed chairman of the Election Commission after stints with other government agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture. Surujbally also was a columnist, writing both satirical political articles and response articles in veterinary science.  

At the time of the interview Petrit Gjokuta was the director of the Information Technology Directory in Albania. From 2002 to 2005 he served as the director of the National Registry of Voters for the Central Election Commission. During his time with the Central Election Commission he was responsible for the reform of the voter registry.

At the time of this interview, Idrissa Kamara worked for the National Electoral Commission in Sierra Leone as the district electoral officer in Bonthe, where he oversaw voter registration, voter education, recruitment and training of staff, and liaising with stakeholders.

At the time of this interview, Nyimbi Odero was a consultant for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nigeria.  A native to Kenya, Odero has extensive experience as a software, Internet, and network entrepreneur with various startups in Africa.  Prior to joining INEC as an electoral assistant, he worked as the Office Lead for English-speaking West Africa at Google.  In that role, he created programs, initiatives and projects to increase the number of Internet users in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia.  He has experience engaging the government as well as the public and private sector regarding policies regulating the competitiveness and accessibility of the Internet.  Odero has a special interest in education, and he initiated the Google University Access Programme, which delivers bandwidth, wireless networks and inexpensive computing devices to university students and communities.  

Limakatso Mokhothu was nominated by one of Lesotho’s main political parties to serve as an electoral commissioner in 2003.  She was one of three commissioners who oversaw Lesotho’s controversial 2007 election.  The following year she was appointed chairwoman of the commission.  Before joining the Independent Electoral Commission, Mokhothu worked on governance issues at the Irish consulate in Lesotho.