A German national, Dr. Gust studied Law and Economics at the Universities of Hamburg, Berne, and Cambridge, earning post-graduate degrees in both academic disciplines. In his 40-year professional career, he held positions of responsibility in international banking and business, the International Civil Service, postgraduate teaching, and in NGO work. During his service of three decades with the International Labor Organization (ILO) he held such field assignments as deputy director of the office for West Africa in Lagos, as regional program officer/economic analyst at the office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, as director and liaison officer with the ADB at the Manila office as well as director of the Beijing office for China and Mongolia; at ILO HQ in Geneva he was, inter alia, Head of the office of the deputy director-general for technical and field programs, chief of personnel for expert services and director of the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC). A resident of the Philippines since the late 1990s, he worked as professor for international labor law and economics at the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR) and as consultant to governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations. He is president of the ILO Association of the Philippines, an NGO promoting ILO principles of decent work.