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The IFOAM World Board |
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The IFOAM World Board is a diverse group of individuals working
voluntarily to lead IFOAM. The current World Board was elected at the
IFOAM General Assembly in Adelaide, Australia, which took place from
September 25-27, 2005.
Current World Board Members:
President:
Gerald A. Herrmann, Kapuziner Platz 1, 80337 München, Germany
Gerald A. Herrmann has been involved in the organic sector since 1985
and first began working with farmers assisting their conversion to
organic. He was the President and Executive of Naturland, an IFOAM
Accredited Certifier, for more than a decade, and has authored many
publications and spoken widely about organic agriculture. He has been
serving as the IFOAM Executive Director for the last year. He was
member of the Board since 1995, the Treasurer of the World Board from
1998-2000, and its Vice President from 2000-2005. He currently is the
Director of Organic Services GmbH, Vice President of Ecoland and board
member of the Nature & More Foundation.
Vice President:
Alberto Pipo Lernoud, Salguero 925, 1177 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Alberto (Pipo) Lernoud began writing articles in 1980 as editor of the
magazine Expreso Imaginaro and edited the first book on organic farming
in Latin America. He is co-founder of MAPO, the umbrella organization
for the organic movement in Argentina. He has served on the IFOAM World
Board since 1998, and has been the Vice President since 2002. Together
with his wife Maria Calzada, he runs an organic shop, restaurant and
catering service El Rincon Organico and has established the foundation
Cocina de la Tierra to promote indigenous products and knowledge and
support biodiversity in Latin America.
Vice President:
Mette Meldgaard, Denmark
Mette Meldgaard has been involved in the organic movement since 1983,
first as a small-scale farmer, and subsequently as a policy analyst for
the Danish Association for Organic Farming. She worked as the Danish
representative in the IFOAM EU Regional Group serving as chair of the
policy committee thus participating in the advocacy for the EU Organic
Action Plan. Currently she is involved in organic agriculture policy
research projects.
Members:
Antonio Compagnoni, Via Barozzi M3, 41058 Vignola (MO), Italy
Antonio Compagnoni has been an organic farmer since the mid 1980s, and
was later founder and president of an organic farmer’s cooperative,
which subsequently became one of the founding organizations of AIAB,
the Italian umbrella organization for organic agriculture. He has
served IFOAM in different capacities including the Norms Management
Committee, the International Task Force on Harmonization, and as an
IFOAM World Board member since 1998. He currently works to expand
certification services of ICEA, the Institute for Ethical and
Environmental Certification and serves as the Vice President of AIAB
Emilia Romagna and as a board member for Fairtrade-Transfair Italia,
among a host of other local and cooperative activities related to
organic farming.
Prabha Mahale, M-13/27, DLF Phase II, Gurgaon -122002, Haryana, India
Prabha Mahale has been a university professor, researcher, development
worker and consultant for most of her 35-year career, and has focused
on anthropology, gender studies, rural development and environmental
issues. She has been extensively engaged in organic agriculture for the
last 13 years, has worked for the promotion of the local market for
organic products in Delhi, and has worked for a certification body. She
has served as an IFOAM World Board member since 2002. Currently, she
supports NGO capacity building and trains small and marginal farmers to
operate organic farms and manage Internal Control Systems (Smallholder
Group Certification) and organic certification.
Brendan Hoare, New Zealand
Brendan Hoare, New Zealand * Brendan Hoare has been committed to
organic agriculture for 23 years. Over the last seven years he has
served as the President of the Soil and Health Association, a Director
of BioGro and Co-convenor / Chair of the Organic Federation of Aotearoa
New Zealand. He was instrumental in establishing and the development of
the National Organic Sector Strategy and the formation of the new peak
organisation Organics Aotearoa New Zealand.
He is the Team Leader for the Pacific-focused Journal of Organic
Systems, audits a national participatory guarantee program and serves
as Chair of the 'econation2020 Trust'. He is also employed as a senior
academic in Sustainable Production Systems at Unitec New Zealand, is
the Director of the Unitec Hortecology Sanctuary/ Mahi Whenua, a
certified organic demonstration and research facility. His family run a
certified 4 hectare property designed on polyculture systems of Asia/
Pacific.
Ong Kung Wai, Malaysia
Ong Kung Wai first became involved in the organic sector in 1983 during
a period of voluntary service with disabled adults in the US, which
lead him to enroll in training in Biodynamic Agriculture and Rural
Development at Emerson College in the United Kingdom. He has been
involved with IFOAM since 1990 in various capacities including as a
member of the Norms Management Committee, and has served as a board
member of the International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS) since
1998. He is founder of Humus consultancy for the development of organic
agriculture.
Jacqueline Haessig Alleje, Philippines
Jacqueline Haessig Alleje has been involved in organic agriculture for
the last 15 years. She has been owner and manager of the Rizal Dairy
Farms since 1992, and one of the founders of the first organic market
in the Philippines in 1994. In 1995, she co-founded the Organic
Producers Trade Association of the Philippines (OPTA). She has been a
key player in the development of national organic standards in the
Philippines, and is a strong advocate for the recognition of women’s
roles in agriculture. She is founder and President of ‘Petra’s
Naturally’, the first organic catering service in the Philippines, and
Ecological Earth Planners & Consultancy (EEP).
Mwatima Juma, Tanzania
Mwatima Juma holds a PhD in crop physiology from London University. She
has been involved in the organic sector since 1997, having been
recruited as an organic inspector. She served as the Commissioner for
Agriculture, Research and Extension in the Tanzanian Ministry of
Agriculture. She is currently the Tanzanian representative for the
International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), an active member
of the International Task Force for Harmonization and Equivalence in
Organic Agriculture (ITF) a board member of the Tanzanian Certification
Organization (TanCert) and Chair of the Tanzanian Organic Agriculture
Movement (TOAM). She is also a member of the IFOAM Africa Organic
Service Center advisory committee and runs her own organic spice farm
in Zanzibar.
Johan Cejie, Sweden
Johan Cejie works since many years for the Swedish certification and
standard setting body KRAV as the quality and environmental manager,
and is responsible for accreditation, project management and process
development, including managing a project to establish standards and
certification for sustainable fisheries. He has served as the Chair of
IFOAM’s Norms Management Committee since the General Assembly in 2002.
Katherine DiMatteo, United States
From 1990 until 2006, Katherine DiMatteo was the executive director of the Organic Trade Association (formerly OFPANA, the Organic Foods Production Association of North America). She has also served on the Board of Directors of Northeast Coops (1985-1995), including terms as president and treasurer. DiMatteo is internationally recognized for her efforts to build consensus on organic standards and practices, and for making the connection between organic agriculture and a sustainable future.
Statutory rules governing the World Board:
6. Elections
Every regular General Assembly elects ten World Board members.
Candidacies must be received at least three months before the regular
General Assembly and must be endorsed by five members. A presentation
of the candidates must be sent to the members at least 60 days before
the General Assembly.
The World Board chooses an Executive Board (see § 8) from amongst the
elected members before the end of the General Assembly. The World
Board may co-opt up to three further World Board members. The World
Board may elect additional Executive Board members and replace them as
appropriate during the term.
7. World Board
The World Board decides all issues not yet determined by the General
Assembly. The World Board establishes rules of procedure for the World
and Executive Board and the General Assembly, which are to be approved
by the General Assembly. The World Board may set up Working Groups,
Committees, and regional or thematic task groups. It may also delegate
specific tasks to such bodies or to individuals. The World Board takes
decisions by simple majority with at least half of the members present
and by open vote. On the request of three World Board members a meeting
is called with six weeks notice.
8. Executive Board
The Executive Board is constituted by three to five members of the
World Board: The President and two to four Vice-Presidents. The
Executive Board represents the Federation, executes the decisions of
the General Assembly and World Board, decides on issues not yet decided
upon by the General Assembly or the World Board, reviews the
organisation performance and initiates the remedy of short-comings.
Executive Board decisions are taken by simple majority with at least
half of the members present and by open vote. IFOAM is legally
represented by two members of the Executive Board acting jointly. |
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