Biographies of Participants

HE Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen

President of the Norwegian Parliament (Storting)

HE Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen is the current President of the Storting, Norway’s Parliament.  First elected from Akershus in 2013, she was a member of the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services in her first term as member of parliament. Trøen was reelected in 2017 and appointed to the Election Committee and also as chair of the Standing Committee on Family and Cultural Affairs.  She was elected to President of the Storting on 15 March, 2018.  Prior to her political activities, Ms. Trøen was a registered nurse.

Chris Sagona

American Journalist and League of Women Voters of the United States, UN Observer

Chris Sagona is an award winning American journalist and author in addition to serving as a LWVUS UN Observer.  She won Press Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the NJ Press Association for Best Feature Writing, Best Deadline Reporting, Best Breaking News Reporting and Excellence in Journalism for Distinguished Public Service.  Author of the book, Park Ridge, by Arcadia Publishing, Sagona has also served as Board Member of the Pascack History Project.

She was Managing Editor of Community Life for two years, crime beat reporter and Religion Editor at The Montclair Times, and a journalist for North Jersey Media Group, with her work appearing in the Herald News and The Record. She also did photography for publications including the Herald News. Sagona moved to television in as Associate Producer, then Assignment Editor, for News 12.

In her role as UN Observer, has focused her work at the United Nations in the areas of human rights, preventing gender violence and women’s political and economic leadership and empowerment.