Delia Matilde Ferreira Rubio was elected chair of Transparency International, the global anti-corruption movement, at its Annual Membership Meeting in Berlin.
Rueben Lifuka was elected as vice-chair, along with seven new board members. All will serve a three-year term.
“Globalisation and technology have changed the nature of corruption. It is the role of Transparency International to face up to this changed world. Our work will be guided by our strong principles of transparency, integrity and accountability. We shall walk the talk and in this I will lead,” said Ferreira Rubio.
Ferreira Rubio is from Argentina and was the former president of Transparency International’s Argentine chapter, Poder Ciudadano. She has served as chief advisor for representatives and senators at the Argentine National Congress and has advised the Constitutional Committee of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Ferreira Rubio has a PhD in law from Madrid’s Complutense University and is the author of numerous publications on democratic culture and parliamentary ethics. She served on the international board of Transparency International from 2008 to 2014.
Rueben Lifuka is from Zambia and is an architect and an environmental consultant. He is the founder and a director of the consultancy firm Dialogue Africa and chair of the National Governing Council of the Africa Peer Review Mechanism process in Zambia. He was appointed by the Zambian President to the technical committee responsible for drafting the country’s new constitution. Lifuka served on the Transparency International board from 2008 to 2014 and was president of Transparency International Zambia from 2007 to 2012 and re-elected in 2017.
The elections took place as representatives of more than 100 chapters, the movement’s Advisory Council and individual members came together for the Annual Membership Meeting to discuss their work around the world.
The newly elected board members are:
Robert Barrington is the executive director of Transparency International UK, a post he has held since 2013 having joined the chapter in 2008. Within the chapter he has led campaigns for key anti-corruption legislation, including the UK Bribery Act. Before joining TI, Barrington was the European CEO of Earthwatch, a global environmental organisation.
A.J. Brown has been a board member and committee chair at Transparency International Australia since 2010. He is professor of public policy & law at Australia’s Griffith University, president-elect of the Australian Political Studies Association and project leader on two of the world’s largest whistleblowing research projects, Whistling While They Work parts one and two.
Karen Hussman was one of the first employees of Transparency International following its foundation in 1993 and helped build-up the first national chapters in Eastern Europe and Latin America. She also co-founded and chaired Integrity Watch Afghanistan and is currently the project director of La Fundación Internacional e Iberoamericana in Colombia.
Samuel Kimeu is a lawyer and a human rights activist who has served as executive director of Transparency International Kenya since 2007. Through this role he has contributed to governance provisions in the constitution of Kenya and was the national convenor for transparency and accountability in Kenya’s National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights.
David Ondracka is the Director of Transparency International Czech Republic and has worked there since 2008. He is an international consultant on anti-corruption legislation, policy design and governance with 15 years of professional experience in the field of public investments and procurement reforms.
Oya Özarslan has been the chair of Transparency International Turkey since 2008. In this capacity she served as co-chair of the C20 Anti-Corruption Working Group during Turkey’s G20 Presidency in 2015 and has been involved in Turkey’s country review processes for the UNCAC and OECD Conventions and for GRECO.
Kol Preap founded Transparency International Cambodia in 2010 and has been its executive director since then. Before founding the Cambodian chapter, Kol held a range of anti-corruption and good governance roles with the World Bank, UNDP, the National Democratic Institute and the European Union Election Mission to Cambodia.
