International Advisory Board
Martti Ahtisaari
Chairman of the International Advisory Board
Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and founder of Crisis Management Initiative, acts as the Chairman of the International Advisory Board. Mr. Ahtisaari was elected President of the Republic of Finland in February 1994. He held office from 1994 to 2000. His post-presidential activities have included the present appointment as the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the future status process for Kosovo, facilitating the peace process between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement, chairing an independent panel on the security and safety of UN personnel in Iraq, appointments as UN Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa and Personal Envoy of the OSCE CiO for Central Asia, and inspection of the IRA's arms dumps. Mr. Ahtisaari has a long career in the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which he joined in 1965. He also served in several positions in the UN, firstly as Special Representative of the Secretary General for Namibia from 1978. In 1987 he became the Under-Secretary General for Administration and Management. He also led the UN operation (UNTAG) in Namibia (1989-1990). Mr Ahtisaari graduated from the University of Oulu, Finland in 1959.
Alyson Bailes
Visiting professor, Department of political science, University of Iceland
Alyson Bailes has been the Director of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) since July 1, 2002. She graduated from Oxford in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree (First Class Honors) in Modern History and a Master of Arts in 1971. Alyson Bailes started her diplomatic career in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1969. Ms Bailes served in several posts in the FCO – in Budapest, the UK Delegation to NATO, Bonn, Beijing and Oslo as well as in London – and in the Ministry of Defence. In between posts she served as a researcher at the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London, as Vice President for the European Security Programme at the Institute for EastWest Studies (now EastWest Institute) in New York, and as Political Director of the Western European Union in Brussels. Returning to the Diplomatic Service, Ms Bailes became British Ambassador to Finland from November 2000 to June 2002. She left that appointment, and resigned from the British Service, to take up her post at SIPRI from July 2002.
Vasu Gounden
Executive Director, ACCORD
Vasu Gounden is the Founder and Executive Director of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD). He is a mediator, trainer and researcher in the field of conflict resolution. He is an experienced Conflict Resolution Trainer, having been an active trainer in the field since 1990. Gounden has extensive international training experience and has conducted trainings for, among others, the South African Department of Foreign Affairs, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the United Nations (UN) and was a consultant to the Commonwealth Gender and Youth Division, where he has trained Parliamentarians, women and youth groups from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Gounden has been involved in mediation work both in South Africa and throughout the continent, including Somalia; working with former President Nelson Mandela in facilitating the role of civil society in the peace process in Burundi; and serving as an advisor on strategy to former President Masire in the InterCongolese Dialogue Peace Process. Mr. Gounden also worked in preparing rebel groups for the negotiation process in Burundi, facilitated by the South African Government. In September 2005, Mr. Gounden was the first member of an African NGO in the history of the United Nations Security Council to address the Council. Mr. Gounden has been elected by the World Economic Forum as one of their Global Leaders for Tomorrow (GLT).
Priscilla Hayner
Director, International Center for Transitional Justice
Priscilla Hayner, a co-founder of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), is an expert on truth commissions around the world and has written widely on the subject of official truth-seeking in political transitions. She is the author of Unspeakable Truths (2001), which explores the work of more than 20 truth commissions worldwide. Prior to joining the ICTJ, she was a consultant to the Ford Foundation, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and other organisations. Ms. Hayner was previously a program officer on international human rights and world security for the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation in New York. She holds degrees from Earlham College and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Stephen Heintz
President, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Stephen B. Heintz is president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Mr. Heintz has held top leadership positions in both the nonprofit and public sectors. Until he joined the RBF on February 1st, 2001, Mr. Heintz was Founding President of Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action. Demos is a public policy research and advocacy organization working to enhance the vitality of American democracy and to promote a more broadly-shared prosperity. Prior to founding Demos, Mr. Heintz served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the EastWest Institute (EWI), where he worked on issues of economic reform, civil society development, and international security. Prior to joining the EastWest Institute, he developed an extensive track record as a policy analyst and cabinet official in the State of Connecticut, where he served as Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development and Commissioner of the Department of Income Maintenance (Social Welfare). He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Yale University.
Juan Rada
Senior Vice President, Oracle Corporation
Juan F. Rada is Senior Vice President of Oracle Industries, responsible for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. From 1979 to 1992, Dr. Rada was a Professor of Technology Management as a member of the faculty of the International Management Institute in Geneva, and then at IMD in Lausanne. From 1989 to 1992, he was the founding Director-General (Dean) of IMD. From 1992 to 1998, Dr. Rada was Vice President of Digital Equipment Corporation International (Europe), responsible for Strategic Alliances and New Initiatives, and subsequently led The Environmental Partnership, a company devoted to the implementation and promotion of environmental initiatives. He joined Oracle Corporation as EMEA Vice President for Public Services in June 1998. He was a member of the Advisory Council for AT&T EMEA, and was a member of the European Commission Information Technology Review Board. He is Chairman of the Lombard Odier & Cie (one of Geneva’s main private banks) Infology Fund Advisory Board. He is also a member of the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Council. Dr. Rada studied economics and sociology at the Universidad Catolica de Chile, followed by studies at the University of London, where he obtained his PhD.
Annika Söder
Assistant Director-General, FAO
Annika Söder is Under Secretary-General the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in charge of FAO’s Office of UN Coordination and Millennium Development Goals Follow-up. Annika Söder studied journalism at Stockholm University. She started to work with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1982. In 1994 she became the Head of the Foreign Minster´s Office. She was a Foreign Policy Advisor at the Swedish Prime Minister´s office (1995) and Spokesperson and Head of Press and Information Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1996-2000). She was the ambassador for the IGC-negotiations (2000) and on EU Affairs (2001). From 2001 to 2002 she was Director General for Development Cooperation and Deputy Director for Development Cooperation in 2002. She became Swedish State Secretary for Development Cooperation in 2002.
Ramesh Thakur
Distinguished Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation
Ramesh Thakur is a political scientist and peace researcher. He was appointed by United Nations University Rector Hans van Ginkel to the position of Vice-Rector on 1 April 1998, and was promoted to Senior Vice-Rector at the Assistant Secretary-General level in October 2003. Professor Thakur is a member of the UNU's senior academic staff and works as part of the University's Peace and Governance Programme. After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Calcutta, he emigrated to Canada where he earned his Ph.D. in political studies at Queen's University. Professor Thakur moved to New Zealand in 1980, where he joined the University of Otago as a Lecturer in the Department of Political Studies. In recognition of his research achievements, he was appointed to Associate Professor and then Professor. In 1992, the University granted him a Personal Chair in International Relations. In 1995, he was appointed to Head of the Peace Research Centre at the Australian National University.
Pertti Torstila
Secretary of State, Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Pertti Torstila joined the Finnish Foreign service in 1970. He participated in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki and its preparation in 1975, and has since served at the Finnish embassies in Paris and Budapest, and as Ambassador and Head of the Finnish Delegation at the CSCE-negotiations in Vienna. He has further served as Ambassador to Hungary, Croatia and Sweden. In the Ministry for Foreign Affairs he has held the posts of, for example, Deputy Director-General in the Political Department, Director-General for Political Affairs and Under-Secretary of State. In 2006 he was appointed as the Secretary of State. Mr. Torstila holds a Master of Political Sciences from the University of Helsinki (1970) and has studied in Ecole Nationale d'Administration in Paris.