Ariel Guarco

President of the International Cooperative Alliance

Ariel Guarco is President of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). He was first elected to the position in 2017 and was re-elected for a second term in 2022. He has served on the ICA Global Board since 2013.

His involvement in the cooperative movement began through the Electric Cooperative of Coronel Pringles, in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he held several leadership positions and later became President.

Mr. Guarco is also President of the Cooperative Confederation of the Argentine Republic (COOPERAR), a position he has held since 2011, and President of the Federation of Electric and Public Utilities Cooperatives of the Province of Buenos Aires (FEDECOBA), which he has led since 2008.

Throughout his career, he has contributed to strengthening the cooperative movement in Argentina and to expanding its regional and global presence. He is also the author of The Argentine Cooperative Movement: A Hopeful Look into the Future.

José Alves de Souza Neto

President of Cooperatives of the Americas

Dr. José Alves de Souza Neto is President of Cooperatives of the Americas, the regional organization of the International Cooperative Alliance. A dental surgeon by training, he was the founder and first President of the Uniodonto Athenas Paulista Cooperative in 1994. He later served as Vice President for Administration and Finance of the Federação Paulista de Uniodontos from 2001 to 2004, before becoming President of the organisation until 2007.

He currently serves as President of Uniodonto Athenas Paulista and Uniodonto do Brasil. He is also a member of the Supervisory Council of OCESP, the Organization of Cooperatives of the State of São Paulo, and Coordinator of the Health Sector at the Organization of Brazilian Cooperatives (OCB).

José Alves holds an MBA in Health Management from Fundação Getulio Vargas in Brazil and has completed an Executive Course in Negotiation at the University of California, Irvine, in the United States.

Ericka Vargas

Executive Director of the Panamanian Autonomous Cooperative Institute (IPACOOP)

Erika Vargas de González is Executive Director of the Panamanian Autonomous Cooperative Institute (IPACOOP), where she leads the institution’s efforts to strengthen the cooperative sector and promote its sustainable development and innovation.

She has a background in administration and management and is a graduate of Universidad Santa María la Antigua. She also holds two postgraduate degrees in Business Administration from the Latin American University of Science and Technology (ULACIT), with specialisations in Human Resources and in Marketing and Advertising. She is also certified at consultant level through the IIAFA Anti-Fraud Forensic Audit Programme

Ana Graça

United Nations Resident Coordinator in Panama

Ana Graça is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Panama, where she provides strategic leadership to the United Nations Country Team and coordinates the UN system’s support for the country’s development priorities.

Prior to this role, she served as United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cabo Verde. She has also held several senior positions with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), including Team Leader and Global Advisor on Rule of Law, Justice and Human Rights in New York, and Regional Advisor on Governance and Crisis Prevention for Asia and the Pacific, based in Bangkok.

Earlier in her United Nations career, Ana managed governance and rule of law programmes in Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Timor-Leste, and served in advisory roles supporting different UN funds and programmes across Africa and Asia. She holds a Master’s degree in European Law and a Law degree, with a specialisation in International Law, from the University of Lisbon.

Bjørg Sandkjær

Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)

Ms. Bjørg Sandkjær has served as Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) since March 2025.

Previously, Ms. Sandkjær served as Deputy Minister for International Development at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2021. In this role, she was responsible for developing Norway’s strategic vision and engagement in international development cooperation, and played a key role in negotiations on Norway’s budgetary allocations for official development assistance (ODA). She also led Norway’s engagement in multilateral processes and fora, including the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

Ms. Sandkjær began her career in civil society, holding advisory positions at the UK Stakeholder Forum for Our Common Future and the Church of Norway. Since then, she has held positions across civil society, the private sector, government and multilateral organisations. These include serving as deputy leader of the Standing Committee on Health and Welfare of the Oslo City Council (2019–2021), as well as positions at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

She has published on rural and social development related to human security and HIV and AIDS, as well as on global health financing and human rights-based approaches to development.

Ms. Sandkjær holds a master’s degree in Demography from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an undergraduate degree from the University of Oslo.

David Fernández Puyana

Ambassador & Permanent Observer of the UN-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE) to the United Nations. Chief Diplomatic Officer, Cahero Family Office

Dr. David Fernández Puyana is the Ambassador and Permanent Observer of the the UN University for Peace to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Vienna, and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. He chairs the Geneva Multilateral Center, which is a diplomatic initiative led by the Shanghai University on Political Science and Law, and UPEACE Geneva.

He cooperates with the Foundation Peace without Borders, Geneva Institute for Leadership & Public Policy, the King Hamad Global Center for Coexistence and Tolerance, and the Diplomatic Institute “Doctor José Gustavo Guerrero” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador.

He is also co-founder of the UNESCO Chair on Peace, Solidarity and Intercultural Dialogue at the University Abat Oliba CEU (Spain).

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Silke Staab

Regional Policy Advisor on Women's Economic Empowerment at the UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean

Silke Staab is Regional Policy Advisor on Women’s Economic Empowerment at the UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean. Previously, she was part of the Research and Data team at UN Women’s headquarters, where she led the development of flagship research and reports on social protection, the care economy, feminist climate justice, and gender-responsive economic transformation.

Before joining UN Women, she worked at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Manchester and is the author of numerous publications on gender equality, social protection, care policies, and inclusive economic development.

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Simone Gamberini

President of Legacoop Nazionale

Simone Gamberini is President of Legacoop Nazionale, one of Italy’s major cooperative representative organizations, and Co-President of the Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane. He has been active in cooperative development since the 1990s, with particular experience in the promotion of cooperatives in the cultural and creative industries, innovation, digital transformation and cooperative finance.

Before being elected President of Legacoop in 2023, Gamberini served as Director General of Coopfond, Legacoop’s mutualistic fund, and previously as Director General of Legacoop Bologna. His career also includes public service as Mayor of Casalecchio di Reno from 2004 to 2014. Through his current leadership roles, he represents a significant part of the Italian cooperative movement in dialogue with national and European institutions and promotes cooperation as a model for innovation, social inclusion and sustainable economic development.

François Dionne

Director of the International Program Organization, SOCODEVI

François Dionne is Director of the International Program at SOCODEVI, a Canadian cooperative organization dedicated to strengthening cooperatives and mutual enterprises as drivers of sustainable and inclusive development. An expert in project planning and management, he has more than 25 years of experience working with international organizations, particularly in Latin America and the Maghreb.

His professional experience focuses on inclusive economic development and strategic development planning. At SOCODEVI, he promotes collective entrepreneurship and the role of cooperatives and civil society organizations in addressing inequality, discrimination, violence, and social and economic exclusion through locally rooted development initiatives.

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Xiomara Núñez de Céspedes

President of the ICA Gender Equality Committee & Member of the ICA Global Board. Member of the Board of Directors of COOPROENF (Dominican Republic)

President of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) Gender Equality Committee. Member of the ICA Global Board. Second Vice-President of the Board of Directors of Cooperatives of the Americas, representing the Dominican Republic.

Member of the Board of Directors of the Cooperativa de Servicios Múltiples de Profesionales de Enfermería (COOPROENF). Founder of the COOPROENF Committee for Women’s Development. Vice-President of the Committee of Cooperative Women of CONACOOP of the Dominican Republic.

Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. Trainer of Trainers for the Women Entrepreneurs Project of the Andalusian School of Social Economy Foundation. Diplomas in Training Methodology for Virtual Learning Environments, Leadership and Gender Equality, Technical Master’s Degree for Teachers, Prevention of Money Laundering, among others.

Coordinator and speaker at national and international seminars and workshops on Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Gender, Services, Positive Attitude, Governance, among other topics.

Advisor to various cooperatives on Cooperative Education in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, Bolivia, among others. Trainer of Trainers for Women’s Development Projects. Trainer of Micro-entrepreneurs. Trainer of Women Micro-entrepreneurs. Columnist for El Cooperador newspaper, author of the Bendiciones de Lo Alto blog, among others.

Awards received: Cooperative Woman of the Year; ENECOOP Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year; Golden Lamp for Excellence in Teaching, Dominican College of Nursing Professionals (CODOPENF). Selected by the international organisation She-Coop as one of the 100 global women leaders in the cooperative movement. Received recognitions in El Salvador, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Panama, among others.

Donna C. Dizon

Vice president, CLIMBS Cooperative

Donna C. Dizon is Group Senior Vice President for Administration and Corporate Planning at CLIMBS Life and General Insurance Cooperative, one of the leading cooperative insurance organizations in the Philippines. She also serves as CEO and Principal of the Co-operative College of the Philippines, where she leads initiatives focused on cooperative education, leadership development and professional capacity building.

Through her roles at CLIMBS and the Co-operative College, Dizon contributes to strengthening the institutional and human capacities of the Philippine cooperative movement. Her work connects organizational planning and management with education and training, supporting cooperative leaders and professionals in responding to emerging challenges and opportunities within the sector.

Thérèse Faye Diouf

Member of Parliament and Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs of the Pan-African Parliament

Thérèse Faye Diouf is a Senegalese sociologist, Member of Parliament and Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs of the Pan-African Parliament. She is also Mayor of the Municipality of Diarrère, a position she has held since 2014, becoming the first woman to lead the municipality.

She has held several senior positions in Senegal’s public administration, including Ministerial roles and Administrator General of the Priority Investment Guarantee Fund (FONGIP). Earlier in her career, she also led the National Agency for Early Childhood and the Case des Tout-Petits, contributing to the implementation of Senegal’s national policy for integrated early childhood development.

Her public service career combines experience in national and local government, public finance and territorial development, with a particular focus on women’s leadership and socioeconomic development.

Thérèse holds an advanced degree in Sociology from Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar.

Shobha Shetty

Global Director for Agriculture and Food at World Bank

Shobha Shetty is Global Director for Agriculture and Food at the World Bank, where she leads the institution’s global work on agriculture and food systems.

Prior to this role, she served as Agriculture and Food Practice Manager for both the Africa and South Asia regions. She also served as Practice Manager for Global Partnerships and Resource Mobilization within the Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice, and has worked across the East Asia and Pacific and Middle East and North Africa regions.

Her areas of expertise include irrigation and water resources management, digital agriculture, agribusiness development, women’s empowerment, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, urban food systems, rural youth employment, climate resilience and rural-urban linkages.

Shobha has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Tata-Cornell Agriculture and Nutrition Initiative (TCI) at Cornell University and at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Anna University in India, as well as a Master’s degree and PhD in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University.

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Sabelo Mbokazi

Head of Labour, Employment and Migration of African Union Commission

Dr. Sabelo Mbokazi is Head of Labour, Employment and Migration at the African Union Commission, where he provides strategic leadership on migration, labour and employment policies in support of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

He has extensive experience in policy formulation, research, analysis and high-level advisory work with Heads of State and government ministers. In his current role, he contributes to the implementation of the African Union Migration Policy Framework and to the development of continental labour and employment policies.

Dr. Mbokazi has led and supported several major continental initiatives, including the establishment of Africa Migration Centres, the Africa Climate Mobility Initiative (ACMI), the AU-Gulf Labour Migration Dialogue, the Africa Cooperatives Centre and the Africa Labour and Employment Council. He also provided technical leadership in the development of the African Union Strategy for Social and Solidarity Economy.

His professional experience includes work with multilateral institutions such as the SADC Parliamentary Forum and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). He also serves as Co-Chair of the AU-EU Continent-to-Continent Migration and Mobility Dialogue and provides leadership to the AU-EU-UN Tripartite Taskforce coordinating efforts related to stranded migrants in Libya and the Mediterranean region.

Dr. Mbokazi represents the African Union in global policy discussions on migration and contributes to international technical working groups and communities of practice.

Akram Al-Taher

Director General at the Economic and Social Development Center of Palestine (ESDC)

Akram Al-Taher is Director General at the Economic and Social Development Center of Palestine (ESDC). He holds a Master’s degree in International Studies and has over 25 years of experience working in cooperative development and livelihood improvement in the Palestinian community.

His work has focused on strengthening the institutional capacities of Palestinian cooperatives, as well as designing and implementing development and humanitarian projects in the agricultural sector. He has also contributed to the development of businesses and infrastructure for Palestinian cooperatives and to strengthening the technical capacities of small producers and households to help them access domestic and international markets.

Sarah Alldred

Lead at the Fund for International Cooperative Development (FICD)

Dr Sarah Alldred is the Lead at the Fund for International Cooperative Development (FICD), where she is responsible for the overall management and strategic alignment of the Fund. In this role, she ensures that the Fund’s activities remain aligned with its goals and coordinates efforts with its Organisational Members and Directors.

Her areas of interest include Peace Studies, Conflict Resolution, Co-operatives, Solidarity Economies, International Co-operative Development, the Sustainable Development Goals, Labour Rights and Decent Work.

María Ortiz Pérez

Executive Director of Leadership Initiatives at the Aspen Institute

María Ortiz Pérez is a seasoned executive with over two decades of leadership experience spanning international organizations, think tanks and the private sector. She has built a reputation for advancing large-scale initiatives with diplomatic and political acumen, that unite governments, corporations, and civil society to address pressing global societal challenges.

She currently serves as the Executive Director of Leadership Initiatives at the Aspen Institute’s Center for Leadership, where she oversees strategic planning, operations, and partnerships. Prior, she was Managing Director of the Institute’s Energy & Environment Program, where she secured significant corporate and philanthropic support, launched global initiatives that convened international thought leaders and decision makers, and designed innovative management practices to foster talent growth and organizational alignment.

Prior to Aspen, Ms. Ortiz Pérez spent over a decade with the United Nations, where she rose to the role of Deputy Chief of Staff at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. She managed operations for a 500-person, multi-country organization, advised senior officials on UN system reform, and spearheaded initiatives that deepened regional collaboration on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Earlier, she led conflict-related projects in the Middle East, including managing a multimillion-dollar project in Iraq and convening high-level officials to reflect on democratic transition following the Arab uprisings.

Her career began in economic development and public policy, including leadership roles at the Pioneer Institute in Boston and the City of Somerville, Massachusetts. She also worked in the private sector for Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), helping open the Mexican subsidiary.

Ms. Ortiz Pérez earned her Master’s in Public Administration from Suffolk University, graduating as Valedictorian, and holds a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard Kennedy School.

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Ana Aguirre Uriz

Director of Open Government and Good Governance at the Basque Government

Director of Open Government and Good Governance at Eusko Jaurlaritza – Basque Government where she works with transparency, civil participation, accessibility, frame development for impact measurement in transparency and accountability… all things that enable the Government and the citizens to work more, better and more clearly together.

She graduated from the Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (LEINN), and has devoted her career to the cooperative environment, specially worker cooperatives, and cooperative development (local and global) at TAZEBAEZ S.Coop, where she was a co-founder, worker owner and team entrepreneur. For years she has lead the line of cooperative development, international development and platform and digital cooperatives, as well as being part of the TravellingU – LEINN International team in the international development.

She’s served in various roles at the International Coooperative Alliance since 2015. She first was part of the founding of the YECN Young European Cooperators’ Network and later served as vicepresident for Europe at the Youth Committee, before becoming president of the Youth Committee and becoming the youth representative at the ICA Global Board.

She is a firm believer in applied democracy, participation and shared ownership, wealth distribution and the parallel development of global and locally enrooted growth.

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Akkanut Wantanasombut

Coordinator of the Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) Thailand

Akkanut Wantanasombut is a scholar activist based in Bangkok, and coordinator of the Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) Thailand. He founded Tamsang-Tamsong, a multi-stakeholder cooperative delivery platform that offers a community-centred alternative to extractive gig platforms, and ThaiEconoMap, a community-owned digital commons.

He heads the ISSIE Research Group (Innovation for Social Solidarity and Inclusive Economy in Asia) at the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, where his work centers on the solidarity economy, platform cooperativism, and fairer models of digital labour. As a member of the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social Solidarity Economy (RIPESS), he supports initiatives to adopt cooperative principles and the social and solidarity economy (SSE) in the digital economy. As Principal Investigator of Fairwork Thailand, he assesses working conditions on digital platforms and advocates for cooperative approaches that put ownership and voice in workers’ hands.

Through these networks he hopes to connect Thai and Southeast Asian cooperativism more closely to the global movement, learning from international practice and bringing it back to local organizing.

His fieldwork keeps him in direct contact with motorcycle taxis and informal workers, grounding his cooperative advocacy in the realities of those the movement seeks to serve.

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Aline Nyirabaruta

CODERVAM Cooperative, Rwanda

Aline Nyirabaruta is a representative of CODERVAM, the Cooperative for Rice Development of the Mutara Valley, an agricultural cooperative operating in Rwanda’s Nyagatare District. CODERVAM brings together rice producers and works to improve agricultural production and the socioeconomic conditions of its members through access to training, financing and technical support.

Jayati Ghosh

Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts Amherst

Jayati Ghosh is Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She previously taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi for more than two decades. She holds a PhD and an MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge and has published extensively on economic development, globalisation, labour, inequality, gender and macroeconomic policy.

Dr Ghosh has worked extensively with international organisations and has served on several high-level international advisory bodies, including the United Nations High Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism and the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All. She is also Co-Chair of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT).

Harsh Sanghani

President of the ICA Youth Committee & Member of the ICA Global Board. Chairman of Ray Infrastructures (India)

Harsh Mukeshbhai Sanghani is President of the ICA Youth Committee and Youth Representative to the ICA Global Board, the first person of Indian origin elected to this role. Since 2025, he has worked alongside young cooperators across the world to transform the Youth Committee into a more active, connected, and self-reliant global network.

Harsh is also Founder and President of the Indian Youth Cooperative Society (IYCS) and Chairman of Ray Infrastructures Pvt. Ltd., bringing hands-on entrepreneurial and institution-building experience to the movement.

Helena Gorroño

Vice President for Europe of the ICA Youth Committee. Project Development Coordinator at TAZEBAEZ (Spain)

Helena Gorroño is Vice President for Europe of the ICA Youth Committee. She is Project Development Coordinator at the workers’ cooperative TAZEBAEZ, where she leads projects related to Social Economy and Youth, focusing on strategic innovation, complex project design and implementation, impact assessment and the internationalisation of business units.

She is also Coordinator at U-BAI, where she works on regional economic and territorial development in the Busturialdea-Urdaibai region of the Basque Country, promoting entrepreneurship in educational centres and supporting established business initiatives through the U-BAI Up! programme.

For the past decade, Helena has been committed to contributing to a fairer, safer and more equal society from a “glocal” perspective. Beyond her professional work, she considers activism a transversal part of her life and regularly engages in learning opportunities and open civic processes where citizen participation and decision-making play a key role.