President Gitanas Nausėda

President of the Republic of Lithuania

President Gitanas Nausėda was born on May 19, 1964, in Klaipėda. In 1987, he received a bachelor’s degree in economics and continued his studies in the master’s program. In 1993, he became Doctor of Economic Sciences. From 1990 to 1992, he studied at the University of Mannheim in Germany under prestigious DAAD scholarship. Before he was elected President, Gitanas Nausėda worked in both private and public sectors. This experience shaped his broad and comprehensive approach to the economy. His career in the public sector started in 1993 as Head of the Financial Markets Department at the Lithuanian Competition Council. One year later, he moved on to work at the Bank of Lithuania and became Director of the Monetary Policy Department in 1996. From 1998 to 2000, he was member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania.

From 2008 to 2018, Gitanas Nausėda was adviser to the chairman of SEB Bank – a leading bank in Lithuania – and its chief economist. During this time, he was actively involved in academic activity, becoming associate professor at Vilnius University International Business School in 2009.

In 2018, Gitanas Nausėda left SEB Bank to run for President of the Republic of Lithuania. He was elected on May 26, 2019, and inaugurated as President on July 12.

President Bernardo Arévalo

President of the Republic of Guatemala 2024-2028

Member of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala (2020-2024) and Secretary General of the Semilla Movement (2022-2025).

Without prior involvement in partisan politics, the political crisis in Guatemala propelled him to participate in the founding of the Semilla Movement.

Ph.D. in Philosophy from Utrecht University (Netherlands) and Bachelor of Sociology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel).

Until December 2019, he served as Senior Advisor for Peace Consolidation in the International Advisory Team of Interpeace (IPAT).

He has led several initiatives and programs for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Interpeace, seeking the transformation of the state security apparatus.

He was Deputy Director-General for Research and Development at Interpeace between 2011 and 2013.

Between 2005 and 2011, he was Director of the Joint Program Unit of the United Nations and Interpeace with UNOPS, supporting research and dialogue strategies for peace in Israel, Palestine, Cyprus, and Liberia, among others.

He served as Director and Head of the Interpeace Regional Office for Latin America between 1999 and 2005.

Between 1996 and 1998, he participated in post-conflict consensus management following the signing of the Peace Accords in Guatemala.

He served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala for over 12 years, holding various positions, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to Spain.

He is the author of several books and articles published in Guatemala and abroad. He is a member of the International Commission for Inclusive Peace, a global initiative that seeks to redefine peacebuilding strategies worldwide.

Ingrida Šimonytė

Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania

Educational background:

1998 Vilniaus University, Faculty of Economics, Master of Economics

1996 Vilnius University, Faculty of Economics, Bachelor of Business Administration and Management

1992 Vilnius 7th Secondary School (current Vilnius Žirmūnai Gymnasium), graduated with a silver medal

Work experience:

2014–2016 Vilnius University, Chair of the Council

2013–2016 Bank of Lithuania, Member of the Board

2013–2016 Vilnius University, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Institute of International Relations and Political Science, lecturer

2009–2012 Minister of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania

2004–2009 Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania, Secretary of the Ministry, Vice Minister

1997–2004 Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania: Chief Economist at Tax Division, Fiscal Policy Department; Head of Indirect Tax Division, Tax Department; Director of Tax Department

Political career:

2022– Member of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats

11 December 2020 Appointed Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania; Member of the 13th Seimas, member of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats political group

2020–2024 Elected in Antakalnis single-mandate constituency, leading the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats electoral list

2019 Candidate for President of the Republic of Lithuania; Member of the 12th Seimas, member of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats political group; Elected in Antakalnis single-mandate constituency, participated in the elections in the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats electoral list

2016–2020 Chair of the Audit Committee; Member of the European Affairs Committee; Member of Anti-Corruption Commission (2016–2019); Member of Disability Rights Commission (2017–2020)

Other:

Awards: Officer’s Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great (2015)

White Wave Initiative Award “For Transparent and Responsible Activities” (2012)

Attended various development and refresher trainings held by international institutions (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, US Agency for International Development, European Union organisations, etc.)

Has written a number of relevant commentaries on various economic topics

Hobbies: books, music, dogs

Languages: English, Russian, Polish, basic Swedish

Family: single, no children

Linas Pernavas

Director of the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania / President of the EPAC/EACN

Mr Linas Pernavas from the 19th of June, 2023 is serving as a Director of the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania.

In 1999 he graduated from the Lithuanian University of Law, in 2005 from Vilnius University and obtained a Master of Law qualification.

With a career spanning over two decades, Mr Pernavas joined the interior affairs system in 1995 and steadily climbed the ranks. His career began at the Ignalina District Police Headquarters.

In 2005-2008 he was the Chief of Zarasai District Police Headquarters, in 2008-2014 he served as a Chief of Utena County Police Headquarters and in 2014 he was a Chief of Kaunas District Police Headquarters.

Between 2014 and 2019 he was the Commissioner General of Lithuanian Police.

Mr. Pernavas launched the Police reform which increased public safety, increased the number of police officers on patrol and improved working conditions for officers. The reform made it possible to double the number of officers on the streets, to respond more quickly to the most dangerous calls, and to raise officers’ salaries. During his service as the Commissioner General of Lithuanian Police the public trust in police was on the rise and the highest.

Mr. Pernavas together with other heads of the Lithuanian Police established the Charity and Support Fund for Police Employees. The main and only purpose of the fund is to help officials and employees in extremely critical and difficult situations.

From 2019 (November) till 2023 (June) he served as Lithuania’s police attaché to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and remained there.

In May 2023 the Lithuanian Parliament approved Mr Pernavas as the director of the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania. The agency’s main functions are the investigation of corruption cases, corruption prevention, and anti-corruption intelligence.

In 2023 he was elected as the President of the European Partners Against Corruption (EPAC) and the European Union Anti-Corruption Contact Network (EACN). EPAC/EACN is the largest and oldest European network of anti-corruption authorities and police oversight bodies. The aim of the EPAC/EACN network is to strengthen cooperation in the exchange of good practice in the fight against corruption and police oversight.

Mr Pernavas was awarded numerous times throughout his career: the Officer’s Cross of the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminasof Lithuania, the Medal of the Lithuanian Armed Forces “For Merit”, the 1st Degree Cross “100 for Estonian Police”, the 1st Degree Badge of Honour of the Dignitary Protection Service and many other.

Tatiana Molcean

Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 26 July 2023 the appointment of Tatiana Molcean of Moldova as the next Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). She will succeed Olga Algayerova of Slovakia, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.

Ms. Molcean brings to the position twenty years of experience in the public sector with extensive international cooperation and development experience, and in-depth knowledge and expertise across the entire ECE membership. She is currently the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the United Nations Office, World Trade Organization and other international organizations in Geneva.

She served as State Secretary and Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Bilateral Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (2017-2020), Deputy Director General for European Integration and Head of the Division for Economic and Sector Cooperation with the European Union (2012-2017) and Head of the Division for Economic Cooperation and Sectorial Coordination at the General Directorate for European Integration (2004-2008). A career diplomat, she has also served as Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova to Sweden (2008-2011).

Ms. Molcean holds a LLM Degree in Law from the Faculty of International Law at Moldova State University and completed the Multilateral Diplomacy Program from the Graduate Institute of Geneva, Switzerland. She is fluent in Romanian, English and Russian, with advanced knowledge of French.

Darius Urbonas

Advisor to the President of the Republic of Lithuania

Darius Urbonas has been working as an Advisor to the President of the Republic of Lithuania in the National Security Group since August 2020. He is responsible for internal security issues, also focusing on corruption prevention.

Darius Urbonas has over 30 years of experience in the public sector. Starting his career as a police investigator, he worked his way up the ranks to become the head of a police station in Kaunas. He also served as a judge and Vice-Minister of the Interior. Concurrently, he worked as a research lecturer at Mykolas Romeris University and Vytautas Magnus University.

Richard Nephew 

Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption, U.S. Department of State

Secretary Blinken announced Richard Nephew as the Department of State’s Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption on July 5, 2022.  Nephew is returning to the Department from Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, where he was a Senior Research Scholar.  He is a published author, including of a book, chapters for edited volumes, and articles on sanctions, deterrence, and nuclear proliferation.  Prior to his tenure at Columbia, Nephew served as deputy special envoy for Iran, Principal Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy, and Director for Iran on the National Security Staff.  He also served in the Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, as well as in the Office of Nonproliferation and International Security at the Department of Energy.  Nephew holds an MA in Security Policy Studies and a BA in International Affairs from The George Washington University. 

Marija Pejčinović Burić

Secretary General of the Council of Europe

• June 2017 – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs
• May – November 2018 Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
• November 2016 – June 2017 State Secretary, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
• 2013 – 2016 European Policy Expert – Independent consultancy (work on EU, UNDP and bilaterally funded projects in the candidate and potential candidate countries, as well as in European Neighbourhood countries)
• 2008 – 2011 Deputy in the Croatian Parliament (HDZ): Chairperson – Delegation of the Croatia – EU Joint Parliamentary Committee; Head of the delegation of the Croatian Parliament to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly; Member of the European Integration Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, the National Committee for the Follow-up of Negotiations; Member or alternate member of the Croatian Parliament delegations to Parliamentary Assemblies (PA) of: the Council of Europe, the Western European Union, the Parliamentary Mediterranean Union; Member of the Parliamentary Public Relations Committee, PA Western European Union; the Economic and Development Committee, PA Council of Europe; Chairperson of the Sub-committee for Development, PA Council of Europe; Chairperson of the Croatian – USA Friendship Society in the Croatian Parliament
• 2005 – 2008 State Secretary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration
• 2004 – 2005  State Secretary, the Ministry of European Integration
• 2000 – 2004 Assistant Minister, the Ministry of European Integration
• 2006 – 2008  Member of the Croatian Negotiation Team for membership in the EU, Negotiator for Chapters: 30 External Relations, 31 Foreign, Security and Defense Policy, 34 Institutions and 35 Other Issues
• 2005 – 2006 Member of the working group “Free movement of capital” in the Croatian Negotiation Team for EU membership
• 2006 – 2008  Chairperson for Croatia in the EU Stabilisation and Association Committee
• 2005 – 2006 National Coordinator for Assistance Programmes and Co-operation with the EU
• 2004 – 2006 National Coordinator for ISPA Programme
• 2000 – 2001 Member of Negotiating team for Stabilisation and Association Agreement Croatia – EU
• 1997 – 2000  Director of Corporate Communications, PLIVA Inc., Zagreb
• 1995 – 1997  Director of the Europe House Zagreb, Zagreb
• 1991 – 1994 Secretary General of the Europe House Zagreb; Deputy Secretary General of the European Movement Croatia
• 1988 – 1991 Expert Associate for Foreign Trade, “Končar Engineering”, Zagreb

Other Work Experience

• 2003 – 2011; 2017 –  Lecturer at the seminars of the Diplomatic Academy of Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, History of European Integration and Founding Treaties; Parliamentary Democracy; EU Institutions and the Decision   Making Process; Croatia as the member of European Union – challenges and opportunities
• 2012 – 2013  Lecturer at the seminars of the State School for Public Administration – the Lisbon Treaty
• 1991 – Lecturer at seminars and conferences on European integration in Croatia and abroad

Board Memberships and Projects

• President of the Initiative – Partnership for Open Government, Croatia, 2017
• Member of the Board of Directors of CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies), Brussels, since 2016
• Member of the Board of Management of the Alliance française in Zagreb, 2003 – 2013
• Member of the Board of Management of the Foundation for Civil Society Development, 2003 – 2008; 2017
• Member of the Steering Committee of the “Public Administration” magazine, since 2005
• Participant in the scientific project “Europeisation of the Croatian Public Administration”, 2006 – 2011
• Member of the Steering Committee of the “civilsociety.hr” magazine,  2004 – 2008
• Representative of the Republic of Croatia at Le Conseil permanent de la Francophonie 2012 – 2015
• Vice-President for Central Europe, Institute Robert Schuman for Europe (IRSE), Chantilly, 1996 – 1997
• Representative of the Croatian Section at the European Committee of the Europe at School/ L’Europe à l’Ecole, 1995 – 1996
• Permanent Representative of the Republic of Croatia, Alps Adriatic Working Community, Working Group for Youth, 1991 – 1993

Author and editor of articles on topics related to European Integration

• Role of the Croatian Parliament in the European Integration, Etudes européennes, ENA, Strasbourg, 2011
• Reversing the sharp Decline in Youth Unemployment, Report to the PA Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 2011
• Council of Europe as a Promoter of European Integration: Case Study Croatia, Crossroads, Skopje, 2010
• The Efficiency of the Use of the EU Pre-Accession Funds in Croatia, Croatian Public Administration – 3, Zagreb, 2010
• EUphorie in Kroatien, Kulturreport, Fortschritt Europa, Stuttgart, 2004
• Should we discard Croatian Identity while joining the EU?, Croatian Identity in the EU, Centre for Advancing of the Church Social Tenet, Zagreb, 2003
• A brief Overview of the History of European Integration, Croatia and Europe, European Movement Croatia and Europe House Zagreb, Zagreb 1997
• Co-operation in the south-east Europe, Europe House Zagreb Seminar, Zagreb, 1996
• Last Chance for Peace in Bosnia and Croatia, The Sunday Times, Valletta, February, 1996
• Istria and European Integration, Istrian Club Conference, Zagreb, 1995
• Phare: a part of Strategy for EU Integration, Europe House Zagreb Seminar, 1995
• All about Phare Programme, Pan Liber, Osijek, 1994
• The Goals and Consequences of the Previous Enlargements, Europe House Zagreb Seminar, April 1994
• The European East Today: Romania and Bulgaria; Hungary and Albania EM Magazine, Zagreb, May-June 1994
• L’Elargissement de l’Union européenne, Collège d’Europe, La these de DEA, Bruges – Varsovie, 1994
• Editor in Chief of PLIVA Magazine (1997 – 1999) and Euroforum, Magazine of the Ministry of the European Integration of the Republic of Croatia (2002 – 2005)

Dunja Mijatovic

Human Rights Expert, Former CoE Commissioner for Human Rights

Dunja Mijatović was elected Commissioner for Human Rights on 25 January 2018 by the Parliamentary Assembly and took up her position on 1 April 2018. She is the fourth Commissioner, succeeding Nils Muižnieks (2012-2018), Thomas Hammarberg (2006-2012) and Alvaro Gil-Robles (1999-2006).

National of Bosnia and Herzegovina, she has been working to promote and protect human rights for the past two decades, thus acquiring extensive knowledge in the field of international monitoring, in particular as regards freedom of expression.

Prior to her appointment as Commissioner for Human Rights, she has served as OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (2010-2017), Director of Broadcast of the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001-2010), Chair of the European Platform of Regulatory Agencies (2007–2010) and of the Council of Europe’s Group of Specialists on Freedom of Expression and Information in Times of Crisis (2005-2007).

Dunja Mijatović has regularly given lectures in national and international fora and has been awarded several human rights prizes. She has also been active in supporting NGO activities in the field of human rights education and asylum.

Mathias Cormann

Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Mathias Cormann is the 6th Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

His five-year term commenced on 1 June 2021.

Working with OECD members, his priorities as Secretary-General are:

• Optimising the strength and the quality of the post COVID recovery while responding to the economic and social impacts of the war in Ukraine.
• Leadership on climate action to help secure global net-zero by 2050 in a way that is effective and fair.
• Seizing the opportunities of the digital transformation while better managing some of the associated risks, challenges and disruptions.
• Helping to ensure well-functioning global markets and a global level playing field with a rules-based trading system in good working order.
• Global engagement: advancing OECD standards, through membership and partnerships and a sound approach to development.

Prior to his appointment to the OECD, Mathias served as the Australian Minister for Finance, the Leader of the Government in the Australian Senate and as Federal Senator representing the State of Western Australia.

In these roles, he has been a strong advocate for the positive power of open markets, free trade and the importance of a rules-based international trading system.

Mathias was born and raised in the German-speaking part of Belgium.

He migrated to Australia in 1996, attracted by the great lifestyle and opportunities on offer in Western Australia.

Before migrating to Perth, Mathias had graduated in law at the Flemish Catholic University of Louvain (Leuven), following studies at the University of Namur and, as part of the European Erasmus Student Exchange Program, at the University of East Anglia.

Between 1997 and 2003, he worked as Chief of Staff as well as Senior Adviser to various State and Federal Ministers in Australia and for the Premier of Western Australia

Between 2003 and 2007, Mathias worked for major Western Australian health insurer HBF in a range of senior management roles.

Mouhamadou Diagne

Vice President Integrity, World Bank Group

Mouhamadou Diagne serves as the Vice President of Integrity (INT) at the World Bank Group. In this role, Diagne oversees the independent unit responsible for conducting investigations of fraud and corruption allegations involving projects and activities financed by the World Bank Group, as well as World Bank Group staff and corporate vendors; pursuing and litigating sanctions for credible allegations; introducing best practices in preventing fraud and corruption into World Bank Group operations; and helping to raise compliance standards among private sector entities.

Diagne has more than 25 years of experience managing teams in the fight against fraud and corruption. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Inspector General of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, one of the world’s largest international health financing mechanisms. In this capacity, Diagne led both the Investigations and the Audit functions of the organization and oversaw investigations of alleged fraud, corruption, misappropriation, and other forms of abuse in Global Fund financed programs as well as in corporate operations.

Before joining the Global Fund, he was the Director of Strategy and Operations for Internal Audit at the World Bank Group, where he led the strategic shift from compliance-audits to more strategic risk-based audits. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Diagne was the Director of Internal Audit at Fannie Mae, one of the largest financial institutions in the US and the largest provider of mortgage financing in North America, and also worked in managerial positions in international public accounting firms, among other positions.

Mitzi Jonelle Tan

Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP)

Mitzi Jonelle Tan is a full-time climate justice activist based in Metro Manila, Philippines. She is an organizer with Fridays For Future International and FFF MAPA (Most Affected Peoples and Areas) making sure that voices from the Global South are heard, amplified, and given space. She is also part of the steering committee of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Youth Climate Justice Fund. A strong voice on anti-imperialism, anti-colonization, and the intersectionality of the climate crisis, she is committed to changing the system and building a world that prioritizes people and planet, not profit, through collective action, system change, love and joy.

Francine Pickup

Deputy Assistant Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Francine Pickup is UNDP’s Deputy Director in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) beginning 1st June 2022.

Prior to her appointment, Francine was Resident Representative in Serbia, Resident Representative a.i. / Country Director in India and Deputy Country Director in Indonesia. Before that, she worked as the Strategic Planning Advisor in RBAP and led the UN’s Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit under the Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary General in Iraq. Francine joined the UN in 2002, working with OCHA in Lebanon, Palestine and New York, as well as the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) and FAO in Palestine, and ILO in Central Asia. Aside from the UN, she has worked with several developmentorganisations, including Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the World Bank.

Francine received her undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology from Cambridge University, her Masters in Development Studies and PhD on local level responses to new market forces in Russia, both from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has publications on topics including innovative and Islamic financing, aid effectiveness, humanitarian aid policy, economies in transition, livelihoods, the informal economy and gender and development. She is married with three children and loves tennis, running and the outdoors.

François Valérian

Chair, Transparency International

François Valérian was elected Chair in 2023. Since 2019 he had been a member of the International Board where he was active in various committtees, including the Membership Accreditation Committee, which he chaired until 2022. From 2013 to 2023 he was a member of the board of Transparency International France, where he worked on illicit financial flows, political integrity and strategic litigation. Formerly the leader of business integrity programmes at the Transparency International Secretariat, François initiated Transparency International’s advocacy at the G20 around financial regulation and anti-corruption. In his professional career, François worked both in public and private sectors. He negotiated social agreements with coal mine trade unions, worked for BNP Paribas and was a partner at Accenture. He was the editor-in-chief of the Annales des Mines, an economic review. He was an associate professor of finance at CNAM and taught financial regulation and oversight at École des Mines de Paris, a course he created in 2013. He is the author of several books and articles, graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines de Paris, and holds a PhD in History.

Abigail Bellows

Director for Anti-Corruption, National Security Council at The White House

Abigail Bellows serves as the Director for Anti-Corruption at the White House, as part of the National Security Council staff. She is detailed from the U.S. Agency for International Development, where she leads the policy and partnerships team in the new Anti-Corruption Center. Previously, Bellows served for five years at the Department of State (as an advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights) and at the Department of Defense (as a policy advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). Bellows also wrote on democracy topics as a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, coordinated a yearlong global anti-corruption initiative for the Open Society Foundations, and consulted for a range of international organizations. She started her career as a community organizer and consultant to small NGOs. Bellows received her master’s degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, where she was awarded both the Public Service Fellowship and the Center for Public Leadership’s Gleitsman Fellowship. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Rueben Lifuka

Chair, IACC Council

Rueben Lifuka has been involved in anti-corruption work for nearly 25 years. He is one of the pioneers of Transparency International Zambia where he first served as a consultant for the interim contact group which finally achieved chapter status in 2001. Rueben later served as Vice Chapter President of TI Zambia in 2005 and subsequently was elected as Chapter President in 2007. He served in this role until 2012. Later in 2017, he was again elected to serve as Chapter President until 2021. At the international level, Rueben was first elected to serve on the board of Transparency International in 2008 and he served two terms of office until 2014. In 2017, he was elected as Vice Chair of the Board and served with Dr. Delia Rubio Fereira for two terms, concluded his tenure in 2023.

Alongside his role on the Transparency International Board, Rueben was in 2014 appointed to serve as a member of the Council of the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC). He is currently the longest serving member of the Council. In 2017, he was appointed Vice Chair of the Council under Dr Huguette Labelle and in 2023, he was elected to serve as Chair of the IACC Council. Rueben also serves on the International Board of the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative (CoST), having previously served as the Chair of the CoST Multistakeholder Group for Zambia between 2007 and 2010. He has also previously served as one of the interim steering committee members for the Open Contracting Partnership and a member of the Board of a UK Charity- Build It International.

In Zambia and Africa, Rueben continues to play an active role in the promotion of good governance, transparency and accountability. He previously served as Chairperson of the National Governing Council for the African Peer Review Mechanism in Zambia. He also served on the Technical Committee appointed by late President Michael Sata to review the Zambian constitution. He has chaired and served on many boards of local and regional NGOs and he is a respected and renowned Civil Society leader.

Professionally, he runs an Environmental Management and Governance Consulting firm – Riverine Zambia Limited and provides professional consulting services in the areas of environmental planning, environmental impact assessments and auditing, political economy analysis and general management advisory services to local and international clients. Rueben is also a part time consultant with the Chandler Foundation, promoting the Open Government Partnership in Zambia and Africa in general.

Rueben holds Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) degree from the Copperbelt University in Zambia, a Master of Science (MSc) in Integrated Environmental Management from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, and a Master of Development Policy and Practice from the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He is also a PhD student at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance with research interest in Power, Politics and influence in the mining sector in Zambia. He also has research interests in corruption and the construction sector, climate change and land governance. Rueben is one of a few Africans who hold the distinction of being a Chartered Environmentalist with the Society of the Environment (UK).

Pia Ranada

Rappler head of community, John S. Knight Journalism Fellow '22-23

Pia Ranada is Rappler’s Community Lead, in charge of linking our journalism with communities for impact. Previously, she was an investigative and senior reporter for Rappler. She is best known for her coverage of the Rodrigo Duterte administration when she was Rappler’s Malacañang reporter.

She has also covered international affairs, security, environment, climate change, and disasters.

In 2021, she was named a panelist at the prestigious Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar which recognizes Filipino journalists for outstanding work. In 2022, she was named one of The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS 2022). She was a 2022 to 2023 John S. Knight International Journalism Fellow at Stanford University where she studied disinformation and engaged journalism.

She graduated magna cum laude from Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in communication, after which she worked as a writer-producer for a late-night newscast on GMA. She is also a Carlos Palanca Award winner.

Follow her on Twitter via @piaranada.

Luísa Franco Machado

Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Luísa Franco Machado is an award-winning international activist for digital rights and data justice. She is also a technical advisor in feminist data governance and intersectional AI ethics for international organizations worldwide. Luísa has spent most of their career carrying on policy research at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Sciences Po Paris on the intersection between technology and socio-economic development.

Luísa is a prominent voice advocating for youth participation in policy-making. At the 75th UN General Assembly they publicly evoked the need for greater youth participation in tech policy decisions. Luísa has also co-led key youth negotiations on data ethics at the European Dialogue on Internet Governance, and advanced AI and international development policy research at UN DESA, OECD.AI, and GIZ.

By sharing her research findings in an accessible language on social media, she has reached more than 10 million people with her multilingual content. In 2022, the United Nations recognized her as a global Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in 2023 she made it to the Future Minds 25 Under 25 list. 2024 marks her 12th year advocating for civil and human rights worldwide.

Simon Taylor

Co-Founder and Board member, Hawkmoth

Simon Taylor is a co-founder and Board member of a new NGO, Hawkmoth.  Hawkmoth will conduct investigations, legal action, publish findings and policy thinking, together with broader campaigns on the Polycrisis and its constituent parts.  Corruption, from its broadest interpretation, is the glue that sustains the polycrisis.

Simon is a co-Founder and Board member of Global Witness (www.globalwitness.org).  Leaving staff after 30 years, Simon was involved across the spectrum of campaigns and the strategic direction of the organisation, from its inception working on shutting down financing to the genocidal Khmer Rouge.  Global Witness exposed the scandal of “Blood Diamonds”, for which it was a co-Nominee for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.  Simon began the organisation’s work on oil, gas and mining, centred around the sector’s corrupt activities, seeking transparency and accountability.  Simon was the co-founder of the Publish What You Pay Campaign (www.pywp.org), now an international movement of more than 1,000 organisations.

Simon was a co-signatory to complaints which led to international criminal investigations into the corrupt deal for the OPL 245 oil block in Nigeria, in turn leading to the trial of Shell and Eni, and 15 co-defendants, including highest-level executives in Milan.  The defendants were acquitted.

(Italy has since been subjected to OECD peer review, after which the reviewers strongly criticised the judgement of this case (and two others), finding that Italy has fallen out of compliance with its obligations as a signatory of the OECD Convention).

(See: https://shellandenitrial.org/  for documentation related to the case).

Simon is a Steering Committee member of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative (https://fossilfueltreaty.org/steering-committee).

Simon is a 2005 Gleitsman International Activist Award winner; received an Honourable Mention for the 2013 Allard Prize; and in 2014, was an awardee of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

Peter Eigen

Founder of Transparency International (TI)

Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen is the founder of Transparency International, a non-governmental organization promoting transparency and accountability in international development. From 1993 to 2005 he was Chair of TI and until 2019 Chair of its Advisory Council.

2006-2011 he was the founding Chair of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). In August 2014 he co-founded the “HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA Governance Platform” in Berlin, he founded in 2015 and chaired its Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), and co-chairs now its Climate Transparency Initiative. Since 2018 he co-chairs the Africa Progress Group (Abeokuta), a successor initiative to The Africa Progress Panel (Geneva).

Peter Eigen worked at the World Bank on economic development for 25 years. He taught at the universities of Frankfurt/ M, Georgetown, Harvard, Johns Hopkins/ SAIS and from 2002 – 2011 at Freie Universität, Berlin.
In 2004 Peter Eigen has been awarded the Readers Digest Prize “European of the Year 2004” and in 2007 the Gustav Heinemann Award. In 2013 Germany awarded Peter Eigen its Grand Cross of Merit in recognition of his efforts to combat corruption. In 2015, he was awarded the Inamori Ethics Prize (USA/ Japan), in 2019 the Deutschen Kulturpreis (München) and the award Persönlichkeit des Jahres (German-Brasilian Chamber of Commerce: Natal, Brasilien).

Peter Eigen serves on the boards of Care, Stiftung Kinder-Hilfe, Childaid and German Doctors.

Olajobi Makinwa

Former Senior Adviser on Africa to the UNSG, UN Global Compact

Olajobi Makinwa, is a a highly experienced international development expert. She is also a corporate governance and compliance executive with deep knowledge of government, private sector and non-governmental organizations. She has more than 20 years experience in leading organizations, strategies, and high-level relations in various parts of the world. Until recently, Olajobi was a Senior Adviser to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) UN Global Compact on Special Initiatives.

As Senior Adviser on Africa at the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), Olajobi Makinwa conceptulaized, developed and managed the organization's Africa Strategy. She was the Head of the Global Africa Business Initiative – a private sector-led initiative for the accelaration of Africa’s business, trade and investment prospects to repostion Africa. In addition, Olajobi led the UNGC Africa Business Leaders Coalition, a CEO- led coalition committed to advancing sustainable growth, propsperity and development in Africa.

In her previous position as Chief, Intergovernmental Relations and Africa at the UNGC, Olajobi spearheaded high-level interactions with governments to strengthen relations and enhance understanding of the UNGC. She championed responsible business practices and UN values among the business community.

Whilst also Chief, Transparency and Anti-Corruption at the UNGC, Olajobi successfully led UNGC’s global anti-corruption initiatives and developed numerous tools and resources on governance and business integrity, as well as initiated projects on transparency and anti- corruption including on Collective Action against Corruption.

Olajobi is a member of the International Bar Association, the Athena Alliance and an Advisory Board member, Business Day Media Foundation, Nigeria.

Ms. Makinwa holds a law degree with honours (LL.B Hons) and a Master of International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos. She was called to the Nigerian Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Ms. Makinwa completed further postgraduate studies in Business Leadership at the School of Business Leadership, University of South Africa. She has attended courses in various institutions.

Shannon Green

Assistant to the Administrator of the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG)

Shannon N. Green serves as the Assistant to the Administrator of the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG). In this role, she leads USAID’s efforts to invigorate democracy, enhance human rights and justice, and bolster governance that advances the public interest and delivers inclusive development.

Previously, Ms. Green was the Senior Advisor to the Administrator and Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Task Force where she led USAID’s historic elevation of anti-corruption and aligned the Agency’s policies, programming, and resources to counter corruption at a global scale.

Before returning to public service in 2021, Ms. Green was the Senior Director of Programs at the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) and Director and Senior Fellow of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where her research focused on addressing threats to democratic institutions and norms, enhancing justice and accountability, and improving security forces’ respect for human rights.

From 2004 – 2015, Ms. Green held a number of positions in the U.S. Government, including as the Senior Director for Global Engagement on the National Security Council. In that role, she spearheaded efforts to deepen and broaden U.S. engagement with critical populations overseas, including the President’s Stand with Civil Society Agenda and young leader initiatives around the world. Prior to that, Ms. Green served in the DRG Center, where she developed policies, strategies, and programs to advance political reform and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa.

Ms. Green received her B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of Georgia and her M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University, and has served as an adjunct professor for Syracuse University Maxwell School.

Tamara Wittes

President, National Democratic Institute (NDI)

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Tamara Cofman Wittes became the fourth president of NDI in March, 2024. Before joining the Institute, she served as Director of Foreign Assistance in the U.S Department of State. Previously, she led the Russia sanctions effort for the State Department’s sanctions coordination office. Dr. Wittes also served in the State Department from 2009 – 2012 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, coordinating U.S. policy on democracy and human rights in the Middle East during the Arab uprisings. Dr. Wittes spent nearly twenty years as a foreign policy scholar at the Brookings Institution, including as director of its Center for Middle East Policy. She is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where she has taught courses in international relations, Middle East policy, and security studies. Dr. Wittes was one of the first recipients of the Rabin-Peres Peace Award, established by President Bill Clinton in 1997. Dr. Wittes has published three books, two on Middle East policy and her most recent, coauthored with Professor Jim Goldgeier, Foreign Policy Careers for PhDs: A Practical Guide to a World of Possibilities (Georgetown University Press, 2023). She holds a bachelor’s in Judaic and Near Eastern studies from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees in Government from Georgetown University. She is a founder of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security, and served on the board of the National Democratic Institute from 2014 – 2022. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Women in International Security. A native of Michigan, Dr. Wittes lives in Washington, D.C., where she tends a robust pollinator garden.

Christopher Stone

Professor of Practice of Public Integrity University of Oxford

Chris Stone is Professor of Practice of Public Integrity at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. His work focuses on the leadership challenge of transforming cultures of corruption into cultures of integrity in public-sector organisations, large and small. At Oxford, Chris also chairs the Chandler Sessions on Integrity and Anti-Corruption and teaches on the rule of law.

Chris has previously served as president of the Open Society Foundations (2012–2017), as Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (2004–2012), as faculty director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University (2007–2012), and as president and director of the Vera Institute of Justice (1994–2004). In 2005, he received an honorary OBE for his contributions to criminal justice reform in the United Kingdom. He is a graduate of Harvard College, the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge, and the Yale Law School.

Gabriel Labrador

Journalist, , El Faro (El Salvador)

Gabriel Labrador is an investigative reporter for El Faro, an independent, award-winning Central American news outlet that produces in-depth and investigative journalism on many platforms since 1998.

Gabriel’s coverage of corruption and politics has appeared in The New York Times, El Pais and ElDiario.es (from Spain), Gatopardo Magazine (from Mexico) and in several Central American media outlets.

Gabriel also collaborates with Radio Ambulante, a Latin American podcast that has been recognized with several journalism awards.

Some of Gabriel’s investigative reports have been awarded in journalism contests, such as the Latin American Investigative Conference held by the Press and Society Institute of Peru. He began his career in 2004 in El Faro, and then spent six years in La Prensa Grafica, one of the major newspapers in El Salvador. In 2011 he joined El Faro again, where he was part of the team that received the Excellency Award by the prestigious Gabo Foundation. In March 2023 he was elected by his colleagues as Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES, for its initials in Spanish).

Alison Taylor

Clinical associate professor at NYU Stern School of Business

Alison Taylor is a clinical associate professor at NYU Stern School of Business, and the executive director at Ethical Systems. Her previous work experience includes being a Managing Director at non-profit business network BSR and a Senior Managing Director at Control Risks. She holds advisory roles at VentureESG, sustainability non-profit BSR, Pictet Group, and KKR, and is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Good Governance. She has expertise in strategy, sustainability, political and social risk, culture and behavior, human rights, ethics and compliance, stakeholder engagement, anti corruption and professional responsibility. Her book Higher Ground: How Business Can do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World was published by Harvard Business Review Press in February 2024. Alison received her Bachelor of Arts in Modern History from Balliol College, Oxford University, her MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago, and MA in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University.

Paula Santos Da Costa

Director of the Office of Integrity & Anti-Corruption, Africa Development Bank (AFDB)

Ms. Paula Santos Da Costa, a national of Guinea Bissau, is a seasoned lawyer with more than twenty years of experience in ethics, compliance, fiscal law, banking and money-laundering.

Paula is currently the Head of the Ethics Office at the African Development Bank where she has undertaken several actions to significantly sharpen and improve the Ethics ecosystem for the Bank.

Paula joined the African Development Bank in December 2010 as a Principal Ethics Training and Liaison Officer. She later served as Special Assistant to the Vice President, Corporate Services and Human Resources. In this capacity, she contributed to the initiation, development and review of the Bank Group’s corporate policies, rules, regulations, processes and standards.

Prior to joining the Bank, Paula worked at the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) as Lead and Coordinator of the Litigation Division from 2004 to 2010, where she helped to establish the litigation service in the Legal Affairs Directorate, developed a rating system for lawyers, as well as the legal status of the Anti-Money Laundering Control Cells of the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

Paula started her career in Portugal, serving in the Treasury Department, several commercial banks and a private law firm, before joining the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Guinea-Bissau.

Paula holds a master’s degree in Fiscal Law (1998) from the Lisbon Institute of Economics and Management (ISTEC), Portugal and a master’s degree in Private Law (1995) from Jean Moulin University in Lyon, France. She also holds a post-graduate diploma in private law (1994) from Jean Monnet University in Saint-Etienne, France. She is a member of the Lisbon Bar Association, Portugal and a certified anti-money laundering expert, a certification issued by the Central Bank of France.

Daniel Eriksson

Chief Executive Officer, Transparency International (TI)

Daniel Eriksson is the CEO of Transparency International’s Secretariat in Berlin. Daniel joined the Secretariat in January 2019 as Head of Technology and oversaw Transparency International’s work on the role of emerging technologies in corruption. Prior to his appointment as CEO in April 2021, Daniel served as an Interim Managing Director of Transparency International Secretariat for a year.

Daniel brings with him a wealth of leadership experience in both the private and not-for-profit sectors, developing and implementing strategy for multi-country teams in a variety of sectors. Daniel has been an employee with the Swedish government, the United Nations, the European Commission, civil society organisations and, in recent years, in leadership roles of publicly listed corporations. Notably, he was the country manager for a multinational corporate security services firm in India which provided services, including investigations into suspected corruption.

Having started his career as a military peacekeeper in the conflict in former Yugoslavia, Daniel was inspired to work in the humanitarian sector. Subsequent work in sustainable development in Africa, Asia and the Middle East redirected his focus towards corruption as an obstacle to human development. He is a passionate anti-corruption advocate and a big believer of the role of technology in global efforts to end the injustice of corruption.

Daniel is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and has a BSc in Information Systems Analysis from Linköping University, Sweden, and a PhD from Coventry University, United Kingdom.

Carolina Jiménez Sandoval

President, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

Carolina Jiménez Sandoval is the President of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). She brings to WOLA over 20 years of experience in research and advocacy for human rights in the Americas and throughout the world. As a leader in the field who has worked extensively throughout the region and in Washington, she is poised to guide WOLA’s team to a new era of strategic impact for social justice and human rights.

She comes to WOLA from Amnesty International where she was Deputy Research Director for the Americas in Mexico City. In her almost seven years there, she led a team of researchers documenting human rights violations and designing advocacy strategies to guarantee respect for human rights. Her work included a wide variety of themes and countries, from addressing grave crimes under international law in Venezuela and Nicaragua to promoting the rights of migrants and refugees in Central America, Mexico and the United States. Prior to that, she was program officer for the Open Society Foundations’ Latin America Program and International Migration Initiative where she led the creation of CAMMINA (the Central America and Mexico Migration Alliance), a donor collaborative funded by OSF, AVINA and the Ford Foundation to support migrants’ rights organizations in the region.

Earlier in her career, she was a program manager in the Democracy, Governance and Human Rights unit at the Trust for the Americas, a non-profit affiliated with the Organization of American States, where she led a regional initiative to promote the rights of migrants in Central America and the Caribbean. From 2008-2010, she was country director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Venezuela and on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.

She also brings extensive experience in the international arena. She was project and research assistant at the United Nations University in Japan and worked in Argentina with the Gender and Public Policy Unit of the Latin American Faculty of Social Science, and as a research assistant for the International Gender and Trade Network.

She has a PhD in international studies from Waseda University, Japan, and did a postdoctoral program in human rights and ethics at the Central University of Venezuela. She holds a master’s degree in international law and Asian studies from Chuo University, Japan, and a master’s of philosophy in international relations from the University of Cambridge, England. She graduated from the Universidad Central de Venezuela with a BA in international relations.

She is a frequent contributor to media outlets and publications across Latin America and the US, especially on the human rights situation in Venezuela, refugees and asylum seekers’ rights and other issues. She is a national of Venezuela and Mexico.

H.E. Ms. Giedrė Balčytytė

Chancellor of the Government of Lithuania

Giedrė Balčytytė, Lithuanian Government Chancellor, the principal civil servant. She oversees legislative and operational Government program delivery, inter-institutional coordination and Prime Minister’s and Government’s strategic priorities implementation. She is heading the Government Chancellery with priorities of: strengthening of national crisis management system through establishment of National Crisis Management Center; data driven decision making; coordinated support to Ukraine; and legal and institutional response to disinformation. Before being nominated to this position by the Prime Minister, she was Lithuania’s Alternate Executive Director at the World Bank Board, was leading consultancy work in private sector, was taking high-level Government positions in the Lithuanian Government.

Peter Maurer

President, Basel Institute on Governance

Peter Maurer is President of the Board of the Basel Institute on Governance and a leading voice internationally on humanitarian and related issues. He joined the Basel Institute in October 2022, following over 10 years as President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Born in Thun, Switzerland, Peter Maurer has had a distinguished career in the Swiss diplomatic service. Among various positions he served for five years as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, where he worked to integrate Switzerland into multilateral networks. Prior to joining the ICRC, Peter Maurer was the Swiss Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in charge of five directorates and around 150 diplomatic missions around the world.

Among other engagements, he is a Member of the Advisory Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and a Member of the Board of Directors of Zurich Insurance.

Peter Maurer holds a PhD in History and International Law from the University of Bern. He has been awarded honorary PhDs from the University of Basel and Waseda University.

Brandee M. Butler

Deputy CEO, The Fund For Global Human Rights

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Brandee M. Butler is the Deputy CEO of The Fund For Global Human Rights . She oversees the Fund’s operations in pursuit of its mission to provide resources and support to frontline human rights activists and movements.

Previously, she served as a division director at the Open Society Initiative for Europe, leading the Civil Liberties Division. Brandee has over fifteen years of experience working with international foundations, civil society organizations, and the private sector to promote human rights. She has served in leadership and grantmaking positions, supporting human rights funding at the C&A (now Laudes)

Foundation in Amsterdam and Levi Strauss & Co. in Brussels.

Earlier in her career, Brandee received the Yale Law School Bernstein Fellowship for International Human Rights to combat child trafficking in Gabon. She later practiced law at the Alliance for Children’s Rights in Los Angeles and specialized in international justice as a program officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Brandee has published articles on structural racism, modern slavery, gender-based violence, and supply chain transparency. She currently serves on the boards of Women Win and Ariadne Funders Network. She received a BA with honors from Harvard University and a JD from Yale Law School. She is currently based in Barcelona.

Amitabh Behar

Executive Director (interim) of Oxfam International

Amitabh Behar, Executive Director (interim) of Oxfam International, is a global civil society leader, and an authority on tackling economic and gender inequality and building citizen participation. Prior to this role, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Oxfam India.

Mr. Behar was the Vice Chair of the Board of CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society across the globe. He also serves on the boards of several other organisations, including the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), an Indian public policy think tank and the Global Fund for Community Philanthropy (GFCF).

Prior to Oxfam India, Mr. Behar was the Executive Director of National Foundation for India and served as the Convener of National Social Watch Coalition and the Co-Chair of Global Call to Action Against Poverty, a network of over 11,000 civil society organisations.

Ketakandriana Rafitoson

Vice Chair, Transparency International

Ketakandriana “Ke” Rafitoson is a Political scientist and a Human Rights Defender from Madagascar. She is serving as Transparency International Madagascar’s Executive Director since 2018 and has been elected as Transparency International’s Vice-Chair in November 2023. Ke holds a PhD in Political science from IEP Madagascar and a PhD in Social sciences applied to Development from the Catholic University of Madagascar, where she is also lecturing. She is a member of the International Board of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), and of the African Women Against Corruption Network (AWACN)’s Advisory Board, and is also serving as the volunteer National Coordinator of the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Coalition in Madagascar.

Sanjay Pradhan

Chief Executive Officer Open Government Partnership

Sanjay Pradhan joined the Open Government Partnership in May 2016 as Chief Executive Officer. Sanjay supports the countries, local governments and thousands of civil society organizations working to make governments more open, participatory and less corrupt. He leads OGP’s policy dialogue with Heads of States, senior ministers and civil society organizations across the partnership, and serves as OGP’s global spokesperson.

Bringing a wealth of open government and innovation experience to the role, he previously served in three senior positions at the World Bank: as the Vice President for Leadership, Learning and Innovation, the Vice President of the World Bank Institute, and the Director for Governance. While at the World Bank, Mr. Pradhan tirelessly promoted open development. He led the World Bank’s Governance and Anticorruption Strategy, launched the Global Partnership for Social Accountability, incubated ICT-mediated citizen feedback to improve governance, initiated Open Contracting with Partners, and rolled out a flagship Collaborative Leadership for Development program to help government and civil society leaders undertake collaborative actions. During his tenure at the World Bank, Sanjay gained extensive experience working in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia.

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Twitter: @SPradhanOGP

Andreas Schwarz

Deputy Director-General, European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)

Academic qualifications

• 1996 – 2001 PhD in Economics, University of Potsdam, Germany
• 1993 – 1995 Diplom (Master) in Economics with specialisation in the international economics, University of Bamberg, Germany
• 1989 – 1993 Master of Science in the areas of information and communication technologies, Union College, Schenectady, Unites States

Professional experience in the European Institutions

• Since 01/03/2023: Deputy Director-General, European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
• 07/2018 – 02/2022: Director for Revenue and Multiannual financial framework (DG BUDG)
• 11/2016 – 07/2019: Head of Unit for MFF and economic and budgetary analysis (DG BUDG)
• 11/2014 – 11/2016 – Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Georgieva (portfolio: Budget, Olaf and Human Resources)
• 02/2010 – 10/2014: Deputy Head of Cabinet / Member of Cabinet of Commissioner Lewandowski (portfolio: Budget and Financial Programming)
• 09/2007 – 02/2010: Member of Cabinet of Vice-President Verheugen (portfolio: Enterprise and Industry)
• 11/2005 – 08/2007: Team coordinator for trade defence policy, Market Economy Status China (DG TRADE)
• 05/2003 – 10/2005: Policy Officer for private sector development, microfinance (DG DEV)
• 09/1997 – 08/1999: Case handler for state aid (DG COMP)

Professional experience before joining the European Institutions

• 09/2001 – 03/2003: Economist, Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ/GIZ), Germany
• 06/1996 – 06/1997: Research Assistant, University of Potsdam, Germany

Catherine De Bolle

Executive Director of Europol

Before taking up her post as Europol’s Executive Director in May 2018, Catherine De Bolle served as General Commissioner of the Belgian Federal Police from 2012. Prior to her appointment as Belgian Police Commissioner, Ms De Bolle was Chief of Police in Ninove. In January 2015, she has received the title of Public Manager of the year. From November 2015 until November 2018, she was a member of the Executive Committee of Interpol. Ms De Bolle studied law at Ghent University and then went on to graduate from the Royal Gendarmerie Academy in Belgium.

Ingrida Kalinauskiene

Executive Director, Transparency International Lithuania

Ingrida joined the TI Lithuania team in 2014. Since then she has been working with initiatives related to public procurement transparency, academic integrity, transparency in healthcare, and social experiments. She has also been teaching Corporate Governance and Anticorruption at the ISM University of Management and Economics in Vilnius. Ingrida holds a Bachelor‘s degree from the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University.

Isaac Kehinde Oginni

Director, INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre

In his capacity as Director of the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, Dr Isaac Kehinde Oginni leads INTERPOL’s global response in addressing fraud and payment crime, money laundering, asset recovery, and corruption across the Organization’s 196 member countries. This includes coordinating global thematic operations, engaging strategic partnerships, and strengthening capabilities development.

Prior to joining INTERPOL, Dr. Oginni had worked in private and public sectors where he advised and supported institutions on a broad spectrum of legal, operational, policy, regulatory and compliance issues. He was once a Special Assistant on Financial Crimes to the President of Nigeria, where he contributed to the implementation of far-reaching anti-corruption initiatives. He also  served as Head of Advisory, Guidelines and Legal Notices at the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, where he offered bespoke legal, operational, policy and strategic guidance for the countering of money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation of weapon of mass destruction.

Dr. Oginni holds LLB, LLM, and Doctorate degrees in Law. In addition, he holds a master’s degree in Anti-Corruption Studies and another master’s degree in International Public Policy, from universities in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

He is a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Raymond Baker

Founding President, Global Financial Integrity (GFI)

Raymond Baker is the Founding President of Global Financial Integrity and the author of Capitalism’s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free-Market System, published by John Wiley & Sons and cited by the Financial Times as one of the “best business books of 2005.” He has for many years been an internationally respected authority on corruption, money laundering, growth, and foreign policy issues, particularly as they concern emerging market and developing countries and impact western economic and foreign interests. He has written and spoken extensively, testified often before legislative committees in the United States, Canada, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, been quoted worldwide, and has commented frequently on television and radio in the the United States, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia on legislative matters and policy questions, including appearances on ABC News’ Nightline, Al Jazeera, BBC, Bloomberg TV, the CBS Evening News, CNN, NPR, PBS, and Four Corners (ABC1 in Australia), among others.

Mr. Baker founded Global Financial Integrity in 2006, and the GFI team has produced more than 25 economic analyses of resource transfers affecting countries, regions, and the world. GFI has led in securing the terminology and the reality of illicit financial flows onto the global political-economy agenda. He also serves on the Policy Advisory Board of Transparency International-USA and on the Advisory Board of the Ethical Research Institute.

In 1996 he received a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for a project entitled, “Flight Capital, Poverty and Free-Market Economics.” He serves on the World Economic Forum’s Meta-Council on the Illicit Economy. He traveled to 23 countries to interview 335 central bankers, commercial bankers, government officials, economists, lawyers, tax collectors, security officers, and sociologists on the relationships between bribery, commercial tax evasion, money laundering, and economic growth. From 1985 to 1996 Mr. Baker provided confidential economic advisory services at the presidential level for developing country governments. Activities focused principally on issues surrounding anti-corruption strategies, international terms of trade, and developing country debt. Research was conducted with 550 business owners and managers in eleven countries, concerning import and export mispricing and movement of tax-evading capital, and money laundering.

From 1976 to 1985 Mr. Baker conducted extensive trading activities throughout Latin America and in ten Asian countries including the People’s Republic of China. An affiliated company in London handled transactions in Europe. From 1961 to 1976 he lived in Nigeria and established and managed an investment company which set up and acquired manufacturing and financing ventures, the subject of two Harvard Business School case studies. Educated at Harvard Business School and Georgia Institute of Technology, Mr. Baker is the author of “The Biggest Loophole in the Free-Market System,” “Illegal Flight Capital; Dangers for Global Stability,” “How Dirty Money Binds the Poor,” and other works published in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

Thuli Mandonsela

IACC Council Member

Thuli Madonsela is an advocate from South Africa. She is the Public Protector of South Africa. Madonsela is an ordinary member of the Pretoria branch of the African National Congress (ANC). During the apartheid era Madonsela served in the ANC and in the United Democratic Front anti-apartheid organisation. Madonsela was also one of the drafters of South Africa’s current constitution in 1994.

She is an advocate for Gender equality and the advancement of women, Madonsela is a member of South African Women Lawyers Association (SAWLA) and Business Women’s Association of South Africa (BWASA). In 2012, she was honoured with South Africa’s most Influential Women Award. She has authored and co authored several publications including books, chapter, journals and handbooks on gender management and gender mainstreaming.

Nicola Allocca

Risk, Business Integrity, Resilience & Quality Director at Autostrade per l’Italia and Chair of the Business at OECD Anticorruption Committee

Senior executive with proven experience in various international Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) across the EU, UAE, Brazil, and China, specifically in Governance, Finance & Control functions; specialized in Risk Management, Anticorruption, Performance Improvement and Strategic Consulting; expert in transformation programs and change management.

Currently he holds the position of Risk, Business Integrity, Resilience & Quality Director at Autostrade per l’Italia. Additionally, serving as the Chair of the Business at OECD Anticorruption Committee, co-chair of the B20 Brazil “Integrity & Compliance” Task Force and member of the OECD Blue Dot Network Executive Consultation Group.

He holds an MBA from Hult International Business School and is Professor of the “Responsible Business Conduct” course within the Economics and Management Master’s program at the University of Rome Torvergata.

Throughout his career, he has demonstrated an exceptional ability to manage cross-cultural teams with diverse backgrounds, thriving in complex and dynamic contexts. His commitment to excellence and passion for fostering positive change underscore his professional journey.

Bjørg Sandkjær

State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway

Ms Bjørg Sandkjær has been State Secretary (Deputy Minister) for International Development at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2021.

Ms Sandkjær has a broad background in international development, particularly in the fields of global health, human rights and aid effectiveness. She has held positions at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and the Church of Norway.

Mary Lawlor

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders United Nations

She became a Board member of the Irish Section of Amnesty International in 1975, was elected Chair from 1983 -1987 and in 1988 became its Director.

She founded Front Line Defenders in 2001 to focus specifically on the protection of human rights defenders at risk. As Executive Director from 2001-2016, Mary had a key role in the development of Front Line Defenders into the prominent international organisation it is today.

On 1 May 2020, she took up the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, where she has adopted a people-centred approach to the mandate. Her mandate was renewed for another three-year term by the UN Human Rights Council in April 2023.

She is also currently an Adjunct Professor of Business and Human Rights in the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), School of Business, Trinity College Dublin. She is a member of the Advisory Board of both the School of Business of Trinity and the Centre for Ethics in Public Life, School of Philosophy, University College Dublin.

Among her awards are the French insignia of Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur, the Franco-German Award for Human Rights and the Rule of Law and the Irish Red Cross Lifetime Achievement Award.

She was awarded Honorary Doctorates in Law from University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin.

Paul Radu

Co-Founder and Head of Innovation, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

Paul Radu is Co-Founder and Head of Innovation at OCCRP. He founded the organization in 2007 with Drew Sullivan. He leads OCCRP’s major investigative projects, scopes regional expansion, and develops new strategies and technology to expose organized crime and corruption across borders.

Paul initiated and led the award-winning Russian, Azerbaijani, and Troika Laundromat investigations, and coined the term “laundromat” to define large scale, all-purpose financial fraud vehicles that are used to launder billions of dollars. He is a co-creator of Investigative Dashboard — a research desk that sifts through datasets to help journalists trace people, companies, and assets — and the Visual Investigative Scenarios software, a tool that lets reporters sketch out the people, institutions, and connections in criminal networks so people can easily follow complex investigations. He is also a co-founder of RISE Project, a platform for investigative reporters in Romania.

Paul is an Ashoka Global Fellow and has held a number of other fellowships, including the Milena Jesenska Press Fellowship, the Rosalyn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, the Knight International Journalism Fellowship with the International Center for Journalists as well as a 2009-2010 Stanford Knight Journalism Fellowship. He is a board member for the Global Investigative Journalism Network, a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a member of the jury for the global Sigma Data Journalism Awards, and a member of the Allard Prize advisory board.

Paul is a winner of the Daniel Pearl Award, the Global Shining Light Award, the European Press Prize, and the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and was part of the Panama Papers team that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Journalism. He has also authored or contributed to handbooks and digital guides such as “Against Corruption: a collection of essays,” “The Data Journalism Handbook,” and “Follow the Money — A Digital Guide to Tracking Corruption.”

Dr Graziella Marok-Wachter

Minister of Infrastructure and Justice, Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein

Graziella Marok-Wachter is a Liechtenstein politician. She has been a member of the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein since March 25, 2021. Within the government, she is in charge of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Justice.

After graduating from law school, she became an assistant for legal history and comparative private law at the University of Zurich in 1991, while pursuing doctoral studies in law.

In 1996, she was admitted to the Liechtenstein Bar and later became a partner in a law firm in which she worked as an attorney until 2003. Thereafter, in 2003, she started her own law office. From 1999 to 2007, she was a member of the Board of Directors of Liechtenstein Post AG and from 2000 to 2007 she was a substitute judge of the State Court. Further, Graziella Marok-Wachter was a member of the University Council of the University of Liechtenstein from 2015 to 2018.

From 2007, Graziella Marok-Wachter was Head of Group Legal at the Liechtensteinische Landesbank, where she became Head of Group Legal & Compliance in 2011. From 2016 to 2017, she was a designated member of the Board of Directors of Administral Anstalt, and from 2017 to 2018, she was Head of Group Legal, Compliance & Tax at VP Bank. In 2018, she finally took over as Head of the Office of Justice in the Liechtenstein National Administration, becoming Liechtenstein’s top justice official.

Since 2021, Graziella Marok-Wachter is a member of the party presidium of the Vaterländische Union, one of the two major popular parties in the Principality of Liechtenstein. After the 2021 Liechtenstein parliamentary elections, she was nominated by her party as a government councillor for the coalition government with the Progressive Citizens’ Party and subsequently became a member of the government. As a member of the government, she heads the newly formed Ministry of Infrastructure and Justice.

Klaus Moosmayer

Member of the Executive Committee and Chief Ethics, Risk and Compliance Officer of Novartis

Klaus Moosmayer joined Novartis in 2018 as Chief Ethics, Risk & Compliance Officer and a member of the Executive Committee. He was previously chief compliance officer at Siemens AG, where he spent 18 years in roles of increasing seniority. He began his career as a lawyer in Germany, specializing in white-collar crime, business law and litigation.

Today, Klaus is transforming ethics, risk and compliance at Novartis in the same way the company is reimagining medicine – by pursuing innovation, using data and digital, and unleashing the creative power of employees to embed ethics into the core of the business.

Doing what’s right for patients and society is, and must always be, our priority. It’s a journey, and we remain humble in our understanding that this will take time. But we are well on our way.

Klaus led the launch of a new Code of Ethics in 2020, based on crowdsourced feedback from employees and on behavioral science. He introduced new integrated risk and compliance management systems and related digital platforms that help senior management and employees prioritize and manage risks in an increasingly complex regulatory landscape. And he set up a new process to ensure human rights are further integrated into core business practices, especially external partner risk management.

Klaus brings a global reputation as a leader in the field of ethics and compliance. He was the first head of compliance from a company to be invited to address the General Assembly of the United Nations about the fight against corruption. He represents business in global integrity, governance, compliance and anti-corruption platforms at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), G20/B20, World Economic Forum (WEF) and other organizations.

As a believer in collaboration, Klaus co-founded and chaired a nonprofit association of compliance heads from major European companies and is driving collective action efforts to foster joint integrity standards within the pharmaceutical industry and beyond.

Outside of work, Klaus enjoys spending time with his family, practicing sports and driving his vintage car.

Cynthia Gabriel

Senior Anti Corruption Consultant, CIPE and Founder of C4

Cynthia Gabriel, is easily recognized as a key advocate of human rights and good governance in Malaysia and on the global platform. In June 2021, at a rare and exceptional invitation by the President of the United Nations General Assembly. Cynthia addressed the plenary of member states at their special session against corruption. Cynthia was appointed into the prestigious Global Future Councils of the World Economic Forum (WEF), on economic and anti- corruption issues for the term 2019-2020, an advisory body to the World Economic Forum, which meets every year in Davos, Switzerland. In 2020, Cynthia received a meritorious award by the King of Malaysia, for her outstanding efforts in fighting corruption and courage in advancing democratic freedoms in Malaysia and the region. Academically well-rounded, she has degrees in both the science and legal fraternities.

Jisha Dymond

Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, OneTrust

Jisha Dymond is the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Head of the Ethics Center of Excellence at OneTrust where she oversees all aspects of the company’s global ethics, compliance, and sustainability programs with the mission of ensuring responsible innovation and growth. Previously, she was the Global Lead for Risk Management and Regulatory Compliance at Twitter. Prior to Twitter, she held legal, compliance, and risk roles, including as Head of Enterprise Risk, at Och-Ziff Capital and a decade in private practice litigating and advising clients on corporate governance and regulatory matters.

A proud daughter of immigrants, Jisha is a member of the board of directors of Behind the Book, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping young people cultivate their vast potential through literacy programs.

Gerard Ryle

Director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)

Gerard Ryle is the Pulitzer Prize and Emmy-award winning director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington, DC. He led the worldwide teams of journalists who worked on the Offshore Leaks, the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, FinCEN Files, and Pandora Papers investigations – the six biggest collaborations in journalism history.

The work of he and his colleagues helped force the downfall of four world leaders – the Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Iceland, Malta and the Czech Republic – and prompted government inquiries and legislative reform across the world.  Many people went to jail as result of these reports, and they led to official inquiries in dozens of countries.

Under Gerard’s leadership, ICIJ has gone from obscurity to one of the best-known journalism brands in the world. He has been credited with revolutionizing the way investigative journalism is done, convincing many of the world’s biggest and smallest media companies to join forces to work together on global stories.

The Pandora Papers project involved more than 600 journalists at more than 150 news outlets in 117 countries working together.

An immigrant from Ireland, Gerard founded the investigative reporting team at Australia’s biggest newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, before joining as ICIJ’s first non-American director in September 2011.

He is a book author and TED speaker, and he has won or shared in more than 90 major journalism awards from eight different countries. In 2021, ICIJ was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Daniel Malan

Director, Corporate Governance Lab, Trinity College Dublin

Daniel Malan is the director of the Corporate Governance Lab at Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and the founder of IntegrityIQ, an AI-driven integrity platform supported by Enterprise Ireland which is in the process of becoming a Trinity Campus Company. He was the co-chair of the B20 Task Force on Integrity and Compliance (2022 and 2020), is a former member of the Global Future Council on Transparency and Anti-Corruption of the World Economic Forum (2019 – 2022) and is the regional partner for Africa and Ireland at the International Board Foundation in St Gallen, Switzerland. He is a former associate director of KPMG Forensic Accounting, where he was the regional service specialist for ethics and integrity services in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Dr. Beth Van Schaack

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (GCJ)

Dr. Beth Van Schaack was sworn in as the Department’s sixth Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (GCJ) on March 17, 2022. In this role, she advises the Secretary of State and other Department leadership on issues related to the prevention of and response to atrocity crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Ambassador Van Schaack served as Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large in GCJ from 2012 to 2013. Prior to returning to public service in 2022, Ambassador Van Schaack was the Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights at Stanford Law School, where she taught international criminal law, human rights, human trafficking, and a policy lab on Legal & Policy Tools for Preventing Atrocities. In addition, she directed Stanford’s International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic. Ambassador Van Schaack began her academic career at Santa Clara University School of Law, where, in addition to teaching and writing on international human rights issues, she served as the Academic Adviser to the United States interagency delegation to the International Criminal Court Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda. Earlier in her career, she was a practicing lawyer at Morrison & Foerster, LLP; the Center for Justice & Accountability, a human
rights law firm; and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Ambassador Van Schaack has published numerous articles and papers on international human rights and justice issues, including her 2020 thesis, Imagining Justice for Syria (Oxford University Press). From 2014 to 2022, she served as Executive Editor for Just Security, an online forum for the analysis of national security, foreign policy, and rights. She is a graduate of Stanford (BA), Yale (JD) and Leiden (PhD) Universities. 

Tim Hanstad

Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors, Chandler Foundation

Tim Hanstad serves as the Vice-Chair of the Chandler Foundation’s Board of Directors. Prior to this Tim was the Chandler Foundation’s first Chief Executive Officer, a position that he held for five years.  Before joining the Foundation, Tim co-founded Landesa with Roy Prosterman and served as its CEO for many years, helping to grow the organization and its impact from a two-person start-up to a Global Top Ten NGO. He launched Landesa’s programs in China, the former Soviet Union, and India, where he has lived for many years.

Tim is a Skoll Social Entrepreneur Awardee, a World Economic Forum Outstanding Social Entrepreneur, a Leap of Reason Ambassador, and a Co-Founder of Catalyst 2030, the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs and innovators. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Foreign Affairs, Scientific American, and beyond. He holds two law degrees from the University of Washington, a bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University, and has completed certificate programs at Harvard Business School and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. His greatest learning, however, has come from spending time with those on socioeconomic margins in more than 20 countries around the world. Tim is the proud spouse of Chitra and the father to four adult children from whom he draws inspiration.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timhanstad/

@TimHanstad

Anita Ramasastry

Special Representative on Combatting Corruption to the OSCE

Anita Ramasastry is the Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law and the Director of the Sustainable International Development Graduate Program at the University of Washington School of Law. She is an expert in the fields of anti-corruption, commercial law, sustainable development and business and human rights. She is one of the leading academics and a pioneer in the field of business and human rights. She also serves a Senior Advisor for Global Faculty engagement to the University’s Office of Global Affairs.

Ramasastry’ s scholarship has been cited in two major Supreme Court decisions in the United States focused on the issue of corporate accountability for transnational human rights abuses. She has authored numerous expert studies including the groundbreaking, Commerce Crime and Conflict study, which examined civil and criminal business liability for human rights violations in 16 jurisdictions. More recently, Ramasastry chaired an expert panel of jurists to develop the Corporate Crime Principles, focused on when States should investigate and prosecute cross border corporate crimes having significant human rights impacts.

She currently serves as a member of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, having been appointed as a rapporteur by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2016 and she previously served as its chair in 2020. In 2021, Ramasastry also was appointed as the Special Representative on Combatting Corruption at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Ramasastry is a founding co-editor in chief of the Business and Human Rights Journal, published by Cambridge University Press. She is the Co-President of the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association and launched its annual research scholars forum.

From 2017-2019, Ramasastry served as president of the Uniform Law Commission, the 127-year old organization comprised of lawyers from the 50 States that work to harmonize the laws where uniform is desirable. She was previously Chair of its Executive Committee and is an appointed Commissioner from Washington State.

As of 2019, Ramasastry is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Transparency and Anti-Corruption. She served a member of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Human Rights from 2012–2016. Ramasastry sits on the advisory boards of Transparency International, the Institute of Human Rights and Business, and Global Witness. She also sits on Export Development Canada’s CSR Advisory Committee and is a member of the Port of Seattle’s Ethics Committee. In the past she has advised and worked with development organizations including the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Commission, the Commercial Law Development Program of the US Department of Commerce and USAID. In 2019, she served as a commissioner on the Lichtenstein Initiative Commission on Finance against Slavery and Trafficking.

From 2009 to 2012, Ramasastry served as a senior advisor in the International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce, working under the leadership of then Secretary Gary Locke. She directed the ITA’s anti-corruption and trade efforts, and helped to launch new initiatives with the G20, APEC and the OSCE. She developed a new anti-corruption and business and human rights curriculum for US trade officers in embassies worldwide.

In 1998–99, she served as a special attorney and advisor to a special claims resolution tribunal in Zurich, Switzerland, established to resolve claims to World War II-era bank accounts. She has been a visiting professor and Atlantic Fellow in Public Policy at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary Westfield College, and University of London and has been a recurrent visiting professor at the National University of Ireland in Galway and the Central European University in Budapest.

She has served as a staff attorney at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, an associate attorney at the international law firm of White & Case in Budapest, Hungary, and assistant professor of law at the Central European University in Budapest. She was the symposium editor for the Harvard International Law Journal and has clerked for Justice Alan B. Handler of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Ramasastry has been recognized by the students as the Philip A. Trautman Professor of the Year on numerous occasions. In 1998, she received the UW Distinguished Teaching Award during her second year of teaching, and in 2002, she received the UW Outstanding Public Service Award for her work focused on domestic violence.

Brahim Benjelloun-Touimi

Member of the Board and Delegate General Manager, Bank of Africa – BMCE Group

Mr Brahim BENJELLOUN-TOUIMI is Member of the Board and Delegate General Manager of BANK OF AFRICA. As such, he is Member of the Strategy Task Force, a Board of Directors Committee, responsible for assisting the latter in determining the Group’s medium- and long-term strategy and overseeing implementation of its strategic development plans. He is also a Member of the Chairman’s Committee, the body responsible for steering Group strategy.

As part of BANK OF AFRICA Group’s international strategy, Mr Brahim BENJELLOUN-TOUIMI acted as Chairman of BOA Group Luxembourg from 2015 to 2024, a banking group in which BANK OF AFRICA Group has a stake of over 73%, with operations in almost 20 countries in Africa. He is also Member of the Board of the Group’s European banking subsidiaries.

As far as his other posts are concerned, he is either Chairman or Administrator of a number of Group companies in Morocco in investment banking and specialised financial services.

Within the framework of strategic partnerships with reference shareholders, Mr Brahim BENJELLOUN- TOUIMI is a Member of the Board of Royale Marocaine d’Assurance, an insurance company and of O Capital Group, its holding company.

Reflecting the Group’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, Mr Brahim BENJELLOUN-TOUIMI is an Administrator of BMCE Bank Foundation for Education and Environmental Protection as well as of Othman Benjelloun Foundation.

He also sits on the Board of Proparco, the French development financial institution, as well as on the Board of the Casablanca Stock Exchange.

Born in 1960, Mr Brahim BENJELLOUN-TOUIMI holds a PhD in Money, Finance and Banking from the Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne. He began his career in financial markets in France. He joined BANK OF AFRICA in 1990. He is married and has 3 children.

During his PhD studies he was selected by the IMF to conduct research on the financial system of one of the member countries. He began his career on the French financial market and headed research on the trading floor of a large French investment bank.

Sheila Khama

Former CEO of De Beers Diamond Botswana and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House)

In 2020, Sheila Khama founded SK Resources Consulting (Pty) Ltd is a Botswana-based natural resources consulting firm. Trading as SK Consulting, the firm offers services in mineral, oil and gas policy, governance and sustainability strategies to private and public sector clients.

Other support services include land tenure, PPPs and SMEs development initiatives. Sheila Khama has advised boards of extractive companies doing business in and outside Africa. She understands Africa’s geo-politics and the development environment and conduct business at the highest levels of government and industry.

She serves on advisory boards and technical committees of international NGOs, UN agencies and academic institutions concerned with human development, sustainable exploitation of natural resources and a low-carbon future, notably the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Extractives and Land Resources, the United Nations Office of Operations, the Columbia University Sustainable Investments Centre and the former Oxford University Natural Resources Charter.

She has written thought pieces, documented policy tools and coordinated research and cases studies carried out by experts to support fact-based policy reforms in renewable and non-renewable resources.

Veronica Dragalin

Chief of the Anti-corruption Prosecution Office in the Republic of Moldova

Beginning on August 1, 2022, Veronica Dragalin began her current mandate as the Chief of the Anti-corruption Prosecution Office in the Republic of Moldova, responsible for investigating and prosecuting high-level corruption cases, overseeing a team of 50 prosecutors, 20 officers, and 30 additional staff.  Prior to her current role, Veronica was a U.S. federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, California, where she specialized on public corruption and civil rights cases. She spent the first years of her career before becoming a prosecutor as an associate at a U.S. law firm, working on international criminal investigations including in Europe, Asia, and South America. Veronica is a dual citizen born and raised in the Republic of Moldova and educated in the United States.  She received her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and her Bachelor of Science degree from Duke University.

David Rodin

Founder and Chair of Principia Advisory

David is one of the world’s foremost authorities on ethics and organizational culture. His work has helped to transform the fields of organizational and military ethics, and he advises some of the world’s largest private and public organizations.

A distinguished moral philosopher, David worked for almost two decades at the University of Oxford where he was Co-Director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict and Co-Founder of the Oxford Changing Character of War program.

A Rhodes Scholar from New Zealand, David began his career at Boston Consulting Group. In 2011 he was honored by the World Economic Forum as a “Young Global Leader”, recognizing the most distinguished young leaders in all fields below the age of 40.

Noam Perski

Global Public Sector Lead, Palantir Technologies

Noam Perski is the International Government Lead at Palantir Technologies. Since joining Palantir in 2012, Noam has directed engagements in Intelligence, Defense and Law Enforcement and now oversees Palantir’s work with government agencies and institutions around the world.

Annette Kraus

Chief Compliance Officer, Siemens

Annette Kraus, herself an attorney, can draw on many years of expertise in compliance. She has been with Siemens since 2009, most recently as Chief Counsel Compliance and head of the global investigation team. Before that, she gained experience with every aspect of compliance management at Siemens in a variety of management positions. Annette Kraus also served as an advisor on compliance before joining Siemens, initially as a member of an international law office and later working for a management consulting firm.

Lisa H. Miller

Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Since her appointment in October 2021, Lisa H. Miller has served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General with responsibility for overseeing the work of more than 200 prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Fraud and Appellate Sections. Her responsibilities include review and approval of all of the Fraud Section’s corporate resolution and declination terms to ensure consistent implementation of the Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (ECCP), Inability to Pay Guidance, Clawback Pilot Program, and Memorandum on Monitor Selection; and the supervision of domestic and multijurisdictional fraud and foreign corruption matters. Lisa also chairs the Division’s Committee on Monitor Selection.

Prior to her appointment as a DAAG, Lisa served as the Chief of the Market Integrity & Major Frauds Unit within the Fraud Section, supervising 45 white-collar prosecutors as they conducted investigations and prosecutions of some of the Department’s most significant securities, commodities, government procurement, cryptocurrency/digital asset, and pandemic fraud matters across the country. She previously served as the Principal Assistant Deputy Chief of the Fraud Section’s Health Care Fraud Unit; as a Trial Attorney in the Fraud Section; and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in the Economic Crimes, Major Crimes, and Appellate Sections of that Office. Lisa is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and Cornell University. Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Lisa clerked for a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

James Reynolds-Brown

Mandiant Intelligence at Google Cloud

As part of the government team, James assists client governments across the EMEA region with translating their intent and objectives on national cyber security into practical strategy to deliver change in their approach to governance and leadership of their nation’s cyber security.

Mr Reynolds-Brown has joined Mandiant with 18 years of experience working for the UK Government. His national security background includes working closely with UK and coalition military forces in conflict zones, delivering transformational intelligence support to central government departments and working in multinational organisations and
environments.

From 2017 to 2024 Mr Reynolds-Brown represented the UK in NATO on cyber defence. His broad range of responsibilities included delivering UK cyber policy in NATO, working closely with other Allies to enhance Alliance wide cyber resilience, leading cyber elements of NATO’s top level crisis management exercises and enhancing how NATO exercises cyber more broadly, and providing leadership on new policy initiatives to enhance the overall approach to cyberspace in NATO.

EDUCATION
● LLB (Hons), Brunel University, 2002
● Open MA, Open University (current study)

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & CERTIFICATIONS
● GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC), 2014

Ilze Znotina

Former Chair of the Latvian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)

Ilze Znotiņa is the former Director of FIU Latvia. Prior to joining FIU Latvia she has had a career as a sworn attorney-at-law specializing in dispute resolution. Her main areas of expertise included regulatory issues, insolvency, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering, fraud and white-collar crime.

A former Partner of law firm Deloitte Legal, Ms. Znotina has represented a wide range of local and international clients in courts as well as performed an anti-fraud reviews at many international and local companies where she led investigation of corruption, false accounting, fraud, theft, asset recovery, tax evasion, money laundering and obstruction of justice cases.

Her recent activities before the appointment related to leading the preparation of Latvian National AML/CFT Risk assessment and several sectoral assessments.

Ms. Znotina has submitted her doctoral thesis in the Faculty of Law, University of Latvia. She holds a Master degree in International and European Law from Riga Graduate School of Law and a Bachelor degree in Law from the University of Latvia. She is an author of a number of publications related to law, fraud and corruption as well as a frequent speaker on these topics.

Céline Guillet

Deputy Head of National Financial Prosecutor's Office, France (PNF)

She is currently the Deputy Head of National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, France (PNF), and she has been with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office since September 2019. She has had the opportunity to handle a number of complex corruption cases, negotiating a judicial public interest agreement in five separate cases and representing the public prosecutor’s office in sensitive trials such as the « wiretapping case ».

Prior to this, she worked as judge or prosecutor in Paris, Pontoise and Beauvais, and for 6 years she worked in the Criminal Affairs Department of the French Ministry of Justice, notably as head of the International Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Office.

Monica Chipanta Mwansa

Deputy Director General, Anti-Corruption Commission, Zambia

Monica Chipanta Mwansa is a result-oriented professional with exemplary record in legal practice and anti-corruption advocacy and has over 18 years of experience in public service. Currently, she is the Deputy Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Zambia a lead institution in the fight against corruption in Zambia. As Deputy Director General, she deputizes and acts as the Director General in his absence.

Monica also coordinates the operations of the Commission in order to ensure achievement of the strategic objectives, staff motivation and integrity and professionalism in the performance of duties. In pursaunce of the Commission’s mandate, she authorises the investigation and prosecution of corruption and other financial crimes including Anti Money Laundering cases by the Commission. In her role, Monica interacts with stakeholders both from the public sector and private as well as local and international on strategies in fighting corruption in all aspects.

Monica possesses an MBA in Organisational Leadership (University of Zambia), Masters in Law, (London South Bank University in the UK), LL.B (University of Zambia), a Certificate in Legislative Drafting, Certificate in Management and Public Leadership Training [Bridgewater State University, Massachusetts (US)] and she is a Mandela Washington Fellow.

Previously, she headed the Taxation and Financial Crimes Department of the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) of Zambia where she prosecuted and supervised the prosecution of financial crimes in all courts of Zambia. She established presence of the NPA in the Western Province of Zambia where she was the first Provincial Attorney and during her leadership, the Province was awarded as the Most Robust Institution in the Against Corruption in the Province (2018).

Monica sits on the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorist Proliferation (AML Task Force of Senior Officials and represents the Institution at the Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG). She is also a Nominee of the Zambian Government to the UNAFRI’s Technical Advisory Committee.

Monica has facilitated at both national and international conferences and workshops for training of prosecutors, advocates and investigators where she presented papers on a number of topics.

Recently, she was one of the speakers at the OECD Global Forum 2024 Against Bribery and for Integrity where she spoke on “Dirty Business for a Cleaner future? Navigating Corruption Risks in Transition Mineral Supply Chains”.

Jonathan Taylor

Former corporate and in-house lawyer, FBI informant, key witness in Brazil’s notorious Carwash corruption mega-scandal

Former corporate and in-house lawyer, FBI informant, key witness in Brazil’s notorious Carwash corruption mega-scandal, victim of a spurious Interpol Red Notice, and recipient of the 2021 Blueprint Prize for Whistleblowing: Jonathan has had an eventful decade since he first helped unearth evidence of multi-million-dollar corruption at his former employer, Dutch listed multinational SBM Offshore, in 2012. Jonathan offers a unique insight into corporate fraud, how not to manage a crisis, cross-border investigations, and the life changing risks that whistleblowers face when they dare expose the wrong-doing of the corporate and political elite. With a degree in law and his professional qualifications obtained, Jonathan embarked on a career with a top UK law firm with stints in Cairo, London, including a secondment to Shell, and Muscat. In 2003, he joined the oil services company SBM at their head office in Monaco and rose to be the company’s number two in-house lawyer. In 2012, he was a senior member of the investigation team that discovered concrete evidence of massive top-down corruption at his then employer. Within months he had resigned, appalled by what he saw as the start of full-scale cover-up. When his fears where confirmed, he formally went public in January 2015 in Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland. In May that year, following headline stories in the Brazilian media, a delegation of Brazilian MPs flew to the UK to hear Jonathan give a five-hour presentation on illicit payments from SBM relating to the national oil and gas company, Petrobras. By February 2015, the entire board of Petrobras, once the biggest company in the southern hemisphere by market capitalisation, resigned on the back of Jonathan’s revelations and within a year, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff had been impeached, found guilty of crimes, and expelled from office.

One month after the Brazilian visit, SBM sued Jonathan for defamation in the Dutch courts, in a classic example of a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). SBM later dropped the case after a comprehensive defence was filed. In the summer of 2020, he was arrested as he and wife and three children arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia for a family holiday. The Interpol Red Notice had been issued by Monaco after a formal complaint of “attempted extortion” from his former employer SBM was made in 2014. He spent a year in detention, first in prison and then under house arrest, awaiting the outcome of the extradition proceedings that ensued. Two dozen British MPs of all parties openly supported his case in response to an urgent question was asked of the FCDO by his MP in the House of Commons. He has been the subject of sustained and substantial international media interest including in the UK where the BBC, The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian all followed his plight. He has received the unstinting support of scores of civil society organizations, NGOs, pressure groups and charities across the globe. He was finally released and allowed to return to the UK in July 2021 after the intervention of Croatia’s Minister of Justice.

Jonathan has assisted the authorities in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Brazil, Switzerland, and the US, including the FBI who flew him to Washington DC following the publication of the Dutch article in which he went public. To date, SBM has paid more than US$840 million in penalties to various government agencies. Two of its former CEOs have been convicted for crimes of corruption, one of whom served time in a US jail. Investigations continue into current and former managers. Whilst stuck in Croatia, Jonathan was offered neither help or protection from any of the authorities he assisted including the UK Government. In October 2022, the Appeal Court in Monaco upheld the first instance decision that Jonathan had no case to answer. With his life now unrecognisable after his detainment in Croatia, this was too little too late.

A leading whistleblower of the twenty-first century, Jonathan is a confident and engaging speaker who has a compelling, truth is stranger than fiction, story to tale. He is happy to talk about his firsthand experiences and but also offer a thorough understanding of corruption at the highest levels of international society and how the world is ill equipped for whistleblowers.

Andrés Ritter 

Deputy European Chief Prosecutor, European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).

Andrés Ritter joined Germany’s prosecution service in 1995 and served at different prosecution offices before he became Deputy Prosecutor General in the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2008. From 2010 on, he headed various public prosecution offices, most recently in 2013–2020 as Chief Prosecutor at the specialised Public Prosecution Office for Economic Crime and Cybercrime in Rostock. He is a German representative at the International Association of Judges, which is committed to worldwide judicial independence, and is a member of the Study Commission on Criminal Law.

Ritter was appointed Deputy European Chief Prosecutor by the College of the EPPO on 11 November 2020. On 12 July 2023, his mandate was renewed by the College for another three years.

Anna Day

Award-winning reporter and filmmaker

Focused on social movements, human rights, and the intersection of technology and security. In 2021, Day was honored with the James Foley World Press Freedom Award for her conflict journalism and advocacy.

In recent years, Day’s domestic investigations into America’s radical right-wing movements received the 2021 Religion News Association Award for Excellence and the 2020 New York TV & Film Award. Previously Middle East-based, her international coverage focuses on security, youth and women’s movements, and the impacts of US foreign policy. Her reports have appeared on CNN, Al Jazeera English, VICE News, among others. From 2015-2017, Day served as a regular contributor to The New York Times Women in the World, and her print reporting has been translated into Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish.

For her work, Day was recognized as one of Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in Media in 2017. She is a 2018 Atlantic Council Millennium Fellow, a 2016 Truman National Security Partner, 2013 Fulbright Fellow, a 2012 United Nations Press Fellow, and was named one of Google Zeitgeist’s Great Young Minds of Our Time in 2011. The Shorty Awards for Social Media recognized her as one of the Top 10 journalists of the Year in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, she was named a national finalist for Running Start’s Emerging Young Leader Awards and selected as one of Mic.com’s #Mic50 Millennial Leaders. Day was Skype’s global brand ambassador for “The Things We Can Do” English-language campaign in 2015.

Day is the co-founder of Fovrth Studios, an independent multimedia documentary house. Day’s series, AUTHENTICALLY US, was selected by Cannes, Tribeca, and SxSW film festivals in 2018. Day’s latest immersive film, Children Do Not Play War, premiered at Tribeca Film Fest in 2019.

Day regularly speaks on international affairs, women’s issues, human rights, and press freedom for broadcast news channels, at government and international forums, and in university and educational settings. For interviews or speaking engagements, contact Day here.

In 2013, she was selected for The Progressive Women’s Voices Training by the Women’s Media Center and is currently recognized as a foreign policy expert in their SheSource interview database. In 2012, Day completed her first speaking tour, “Social Media and the Revolution: the Arab Spring and Beyond.” She was also popularly selected for widely publicized debates with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, and President Barack Obama. Day is also known for her high-profile interviews with renowned politicians, activists, and celebrities, including Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman, feminist icon Eve Ensler, award-winning activist journalists Jeremy Scahill and Mona Eltahawy, and Oscar award-winning actor Forest Whitaker.

Day is a founding board member of The Frontline Freelance Register a representative body for freelance conflict journalists organized by freelance conflict journalists, supported by the Frontline Club Charitable Trust in London. Day is a former board member of the ACOS Alliance for journalist safety. Since 2012, Day has been a proud member of the International Anti-Corruption Conference’s Journalists For Transparency network of investigative reporters.

You can follow her on the ground via

Twitter
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Anrike Visser

Founder Global Ground

Anrike Visser is an independent policy advisor with The Sentry and the founder of Global Ground Media. She has 10 years of experience investigating financial crime and corruption in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In addition, she advises European governments, EU institutions, international

financial institutions and private companies on AML/CFT policies. Previously, she worked at the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets

Hazel Feigenblatt

Regional Journalism and Media Programs Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean Regional, Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Hazel Feigenblatt is a practitioner-scholar working in the fields of anti-corruption and media development, with a particular interest in corruption and disinformation among religious groups, gender, accountability frameworks, and monitoring and evaluation. She has a Ph.D. in journalism studies, a Master’s degree in Political Science, and a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs Reporting.

She currently leads IWPR’s journalism programs in Latin America. Previous positions include Research Director in Global Integrity (Washington DC), Investigative Journalist at newspaper La Nación (Costa Rica), and instructor at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

Other experience includes consulting and advisory roles with international organizations like the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank,Transparency International, the Open Government Partnership, and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation,among others.

Publications include book chapters with prestigious academic institutions and serving as lead editor of publications about corruption, disinformation, gender and corruption, citizen monitoring mechanisms and access to information, as well as research reports with the Center for Public Integrity (States Integrity Investigation), the World Wide Web Foundation, The Economist Intelligence Unit, and others.

Neha Wadekar

Independent Multimedia Journalist former fellow of the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, the United Nations Foundation

She reports at the intersections of climate, gender, conflict, health, human rights, emerging democracies, and politics.

Neha’s written and video work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, PBS NewsHour, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Mother Jones, CNN, and others.

She has received fellowships from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, the United Nations Foundation, the Fuller Project, the Overseas Press Club, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and the Groundtruth Project.

Neha is originally from Boston, MA. She attended Tufts University and received a masters in journalism from the University of California, Annenberg School.

Olajobi Makinwa

Senior Corporate Governance & Compliance Executive and former Senior Adviser to the Assistant Secretary-General of the UN Global Compact

As Chief of Intergovernmental Relations & Africa, Olajobi Makinwa leads high-level interactions with Governments to strengthen relations and enhance understanding of the UN Global Compact. She aligns priorities of Governments and regional intergovernmental bodies with key directions of the work of the UN Global Compact. Ms. Makinwa leads the implementation of the Global Compact’s Africa Strategy 2021-2023.

During her tenure as Chief of Transparency & Anti-Corruption, Olajobi led the UN Global Compact Working Group on the 10th Principle, a multistakeholder advisory group that sets the strategic direction for the 10th Principle on transparency and anticorruption. She worked with companies to develop their anti-corruption policies and practices and successfully led the development of numerous UN Global Compact projects on transparency and anti-corruption, notably the Project on Collective Action in the fight against corruption. She is currently the Project’s Chief Technical Director where she works with Global Compact Local Networks in the design and implementation of their Collective Action against corruption projects.

Prior to joining the UN Global Compact, Ms. Makinwa was the Executive Director of Amnesty International South Africa. Previously, she served as a Legal Officer with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Kenya, and with the UNEP Regional Office for Europe in Switzerland.

Ms. Makinwa holds a law degree with honours (LL.B Hons) and a Master of International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos. She was called to the Nigerian Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Ms. Makinwa completed further postgraduate studies in Business Leadership at the School of Business Leadership, University of South Africa.

Drago Kos

Chair, OECD Working Group on Bribery

Drago Kos is currently the Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions, Co-Chair of MENA – OECD Business Integrity Network, member of International Anti-Corruption Advisory Board (IACAB) and of the Defence Corruption Monitoring Committee

(NAKO) in Ukraine and advisor to the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency. Between 2011 and 2015 he used to be International Commissioner and Chair of the Joint Independent Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) in Afghanistan. Between 2003 and 2011 he was the

Chairman of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).

Sarah Chayes

Independent Analyst

Sarah Chayes is internationally recognized for her innovative thinking on corruption — especially its role in fueling security crises.  Her 2015 book Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security has proven prescient.  After living and working in Kandahar, Afghanistan for half a dozen years, she served as a special advisor to two commanders of the international forces in Kabul and then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  After Thieves of State, she turned her unflinching gaze closer to home, in On Corruption in America — And What Is at Stake.  She lives in Paw Paw, WV.

Maria Fernanda Cruz Chavez

Former Editor in Chief La Voz de Guanacaste, Costa Rica and Journalist

Maria Fernanda Cruz Chaves is a 2018 Professional Fellow from Latin America with ICFJ.

 María is the former editor-in-chief of La Voz de Guanacaste, a local and alt-monthly newspaper located on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Along with a group of talented journalists and communicators, she has developed in-depth investigations on issues related to water scarcity, local government corruption, refugees and how big companies use tax havens to hide their profits from the government. For this last investigation, she was among more than 300 journalists who dug into the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers databases.

 She started her career in 2010 working for the biggest media group in Costa Rica where she reported about international, national and cultural issues. She also wrote for a women-focused magazine where she investigated deep gender-equality stories for almost three years, and for a financial newspaper where she developed her skills in politics, economic and data journalism. She is passionate about how local media survive when producing strong and independent journalism stories.