Tho Ha Vinh, PhD, was born in 1951, the son of a Vietnamese father and a French mother. He was the program director of the Gross National Happiness Center (GNH) of the country of Bhutan from 2012 to 2018. Serving as the Head of Training, Learning, and Development at the International Committee of the Red Cross, he trained humanitarian professionals working in war zones and emergency response in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, and Darfur. He holds a PhD in psychology and education from Geneva University, Switzerland.

Thakur S. Powdyel served as Bhutan's first democratically elected government's Minister of Education from 2008 through 2013 and is the recipient of the Global Education Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education.