Austere A. Panadero is Executive Director of the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF). He has wealth of experience in ensuring local governments have the capacity to effectively deliver public services and become accountable, transparent and results-based.

He worked for close to three decades in various capacities at the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), where he was undersecretary from 2007 until his retirement in
2018.

An Industrial Engineering graduate of the University of the Philippines, he began working in the government as technical staff of the Development Academy of the Philippines, where he eventually became its vice president.

In the DILG, he ensured the continuity of program and policy implementation amid multiple leadership changes. For being an exemplary public official who has dedicated his life to
improving local governance, the Ateneo de Manila University conferred to him the 2016 Government Service Award.