The IPS Board of Directors is comprised of distinguished journalists, academics, communications experts and specialists in international cooperation - chosen by the IPS International Association’s 130 members.
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Mario Soares Mario Soares, lawyer, historian and politician - president of Portugal from 1986 to 1996 - was born in Lisbon on Dec. 7, 1924. He married Maria Barroso in 1949, has a daughter, a son and 3 grandchildren. He graduated in Historical-Philosophical Sciences in 1951 and in Law in 1957 at Lisbon University. He taught at a private secondary school and was director of the Colégio Moderno, in Lisbon. He practised law for some years and during his exile in France he was “Chargé de Cours” at Vincennes University and at the Sorbonne. He was associate professor at the Faculty of Arts of Haute Bretagne (Rennes). More recently, he was guest professor in International Relations at the School of Economics of the University of Coimbra. |
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Fifi Benaboud Fifi Benaboud - Algerian. Divorced, 3 children. PhD in Political Science. Coordinator of Transmediterranean Program (”Transmed”), North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. Senior Advisor of Scientific Boards for several global organisations. Committed in International Cooperation for 30 years. In charge of cooperation and partnership between the Council of Europe and the Mediterranean region; based on political dialogue, intercultural dialogue, human rights promotion, education and communication, mainly with Maghreb and Mashrek countries. |
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Mario Lubetkin, IPS Director General. Mario Lubetkin served as correspondent for several Italian and Latin American print media, and as communications adviser for several U.N. agencies and regional integration organisations such as ALADI (Latin American Integration Association), CEFIR (Training Centre for Regional Integration), ARPEL (Latin American Oil Companies Association) and also for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (PNUD). |
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Kerry Kennedy Kerry Kennedy is the mother of three daughters, Cara, Mariah, and Michaela. After graduating from Brown University and Boston College Law School, Ms. Kennedy established the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights to ensure the protection of rights codified under the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights in 1988. The Center provides an on going base of support to leading human rights defenders around the world. |
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René Castro René Castro has held various positions in the Costa Rican government: Minister of Environment and Energy, deputy-minister of the Ministry of Governance, National Director of the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works, President of the San José City Council. He served as chief of Costa Rican delegations to the international conventions on Biodiversity, Climatic Change and Ozone. He holds a doctorate in Design from Harvard University, with an emphasis on Natural Resource Economics and Sustainable Development, and obtained a Master’s Degree from the same university. He graduated as a civil engineer from the University of Costa Rica. |
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Aminata Dramane Traoré Aminata Dramane Traoré (born 1942) is a Malian author, politician, and political activist. She served as the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Mali from 1997 to 2000 and is a former coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme. She is the current Coordinator of Forum pour l’autre Mali and Associate Coordinator of the International Network for Cultural Diversity and was elected to the board of the International Press Service in July 2005. |
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Halle Jorn Hanssen Halle Jorn Hanssen, 66, Norwegian. History, Sociology and Political Science make up his educational background. He is a member of the IPS International Board of Directors and the chairman of the Executive Committee. He has a long-standing relationship with IPS, dating back to 1983 when he was part of the launch of IPS in Norway. He has been a member of the Core Group representing Norway from 1984 to 1992 and also a member of other governing bodies within the IPS organisational structure. |
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Henny Helmich Henny Helmich (1956, Netherlands). Executive Director of National Commission for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO), Amsterdam, since Jan. 1, 2001. He served as Administrator for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) External Co-operation Programme, Paris, from 1989 to 2000. He was the Executive Director of the Society for International Development at its international headquarters in Rome, 1986 to1989. |
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Giovanni Spinelli Giovanni Spinelli, born in 1942, is an Italian journalist. In the 1960s he was the national representative of Italian NGOs and worked as a political reporter. From 1979 to 1985 he served as Mayor of the Municipality of Historic Central Rome, and in 1980, UNFPA commissioned him to organise the First World Conference of Mayors in Rome. He also worked as a consultant for UNESCO on the creation of a Francophone African news agency. |
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Walther Lichem Walther Lichem, Head of the Department for International Organisations in the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, with studies in law (Univ. of Graz, Austria) and political science (Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna) started his professional career in 1966 at the United Nations Secretariat in New York in the field of international water resources with development cooperation missions to Ethiopia (1971), Argentina (1971-74) and to the Senegal River Development Organisation (1980). He was also Rapporteur on international river basins at the International Conference on Water Law (Caracas, 1976) and at the IVth World Water Conference (Buenos Aires, 1982). |
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Ramesh Jaura Ramesh Jaura is a member of the Board of Directors of the IPS International Association and Director of IPS-Inter Press Service Europa (IPS Europe), the news agency’s regional entity for Europe and the Mediterranean. A journalist with an experience of more than 40 years, most of which he has spent reporting on global communication and development affairs, Jaura is also tasked with the planning and implementation of IPS’s communication and outreach strategy. He is Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual KOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL - GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES, a monthly magazine for international co-operation published by IPS Europe. He is also publisher and Chief Editor of The Global South, a monthly internet publication. South Asian Outlook, IDN-InDepthNews are other internet publications he is associated with. |
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Farai Samhungu Farai Samhungu has worked for 14 years in the area of development communications and media. She is currently the Regional Director for IPS Africa, with management responsibilities for the news service and related media and communication projects in Africa. |
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Joaquín Costanzo Joaquín Costanzo was born in Uruguay, is married and has three children. In 1980 he began working as a journalist for different newspapers, radios, and TV stations in his country. He was Chief of Political and Society Information of La República and La Hora newspapers; Director of the Information Department of Radio Nacional; Director of News Programs of the TV station TevéCiudad; and Editor-in-Chief of the Uruguayan news agency Pressur. |
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Govin Reddy Govin Reddy is the India Manager of the International Marketing Council of South Africa and Visiting Professor of Journalism at Stellenbosch University. He has been involved in media for almost 30 years, holding several senior executive positions. |
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Johanna Son A Philippine national, Johanna graduated with a journalism degree from the University of the Philippines, magna cum laude, and has covered the diplomatic and political beats in her country. She joined IPS as regional correspondent for the Asia-Pacific and became regional editor in 1997. She was appointed concurrent regional director in 1998, and oversaw the transfer of the regional headquarters from Manila to Bangkok in late 1999. |
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Thalif Deen Thalif Deen, U.N. Bureau Chief and Regional Director, Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, has been covering the United Nations since the late 1970s. A former deputy news editor of the Sri Lanka Daily News, he was also a senior editorial writer on the Hong Kong Standard. |
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