Ms. Mary Jane C. Ortega was part-time lecturer at the Ateneo School of Government where she taught Governance and the Local Government Code. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree Major in English and Spanish from the Letran College and Master of Arts in Language Teaching from the Ateneo de Manila University. She is now a Mentor at Synergeia Foundation, Inc. for the improvement of Basic Education in Public Schools. She is currently a Special Advisor to the Y-PORT Center, City of Yokohama (2015-2017) as well as to CITYNET, a regional association of cities in the Asia Pacific region (2013-2017), where she was the Secretary General in 2009-2013. She is a member of the Global Network for Safer Cities of UN Habitat. She is also a member on the Board of Trustees at the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) and of the Board of Trustees of Clean Air Act Asia. She was Charter  President of the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines in 2000 and was elected President again in 2010-2004. Ms. Ortega was recognized and awarded by different local and international organizations for her outstanding leadership and advocacies, among them are: La Union Service Award in 1989, Saranay Award (the highest award from the Provincial Government of La Union) in 1990, Gintong Ina Award in 1995, Outstanding Letran Alumna Award in 2000, Likas Yaman Award, Department of Environment and Natural Resources 2001, Habitat Scroll of Honor Award (First Filipino Awardee) given by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements in Fukuoka in 2000, Meritorious and Special Recognition Award from the Konrad Adenauer in 2003, Outstanding Mayor, for her full support and various activities for the development of the “Social Welfare and Development Sector”, presented by the Association of Local Social Welfare Development Officers of the Philippines in 2004. Ms Ortega was the Centennial Awardee of the College of the Holy Spirit, Manila, the Philippines (2013) and won the Sonia Lorenzo Outstanding Woman in Governance Award in 2015 given by the University of Santo Tomas and Kaya Natin Foundation.