Team

Before joining the Open Contracting Partnership, Gavin was Director of Campaigns and then Executive Director of Global Witness. He oversaw the organisation’s groundbreaking and award-winning investigative, campaigning and advocacy work uncovering secret deals, corruption and conflict around the world. He helped create the international Publish What You Pay campaign and helped negotiate the intergovernmental Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative that brings together oil and mining companies, home- and host-governments and civil society to improve disclosure and oversight of over $1 trillion dollars of oil and mining money.

He is an expert on illicit financial flows, and helped lead global efforts to end the abuse of anonymous shell companies for money laundering and financial crime, including working with the British government’s recent presidency of the G8 and the Open Government Partnership. He has a Doctorate from the University of Reading and has worked with Chatham House in London and the United National Environmental Programme in the past on analysing and investigating global environmental crime.

Kathrin is the Deputy Executive Director and Gavin’s co-pilot in leading the Open Contracting Partnership. Kathrin’s journey as a social entrepreneur started in an unlikely place – the World Bank Institute, the incubation lab of the World Bank. Kathrin worked in countries such as Nigeria, Uganda, and Mongolia on challenging but potentially transformative sectors including mining, construction, and service delivery. Once she realized the potentially massive impact that more accountable procurement processes could have, there was no turning back. While still at the World Bank, Kathrin and her team there began a user-centered iterative process to create a global organization that was better equipped than the World Bank to work across stakeholder groups in developed and developing countries to open up government contracting. Kathrin now co-manages the Partnership with Gavin where she is still thrilled by the daily opportunity to change how contracting can deliver value for everyone. Before working at the World Bank for ten years, she got a Masters in Advanced International Relations from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Economics from the University of Vienna.

Lindsey is OCP’s Director for Data and Engagement. She leads OCP’s engagement with country implementers, is responsible for the stewardship of the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) and manages the OCDS helpdesk. She also oversees our research portfolio. In her work, she advises on legal and policy reform to implement open contracting and supports the co-creation of tools, methodologies, and feedback loops to ensure that open contracting delivers impact.

Lindsey is a lawyer who previously worked with the World Bank, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, and in private practice in Canada.

Andidiong was introduced into the world of data in 2017 when she volunteered for Code for Africa, a not-for-profit organized focused on using data to build digital democracies. As project manager for partnerships and communications she trained and managed a community of journalists and civic tech enthusiasts with the goal of using data and technology to improve storytelling and ultimately hold governments more accountable. She also managed the Nigeria team at Code for Africa. She is 2016 Fellow from the Mandela Washington Fellowship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative and has previously worked for Microsoft’s public sector team.

Andidiong is a graduate in Economics from Covenant University and holds a Master’s Degree in International Development from the University of Bath. With years of professional experience in investment banking and public sector financial advisory at BGL Plc, she went on to establish Andies Candies in 2013 with the goal of becoming Nigeria’s foremost indigenous confectionery company.

In her leisure time, Andidiong is a candy connoisseur for Andies Candies, enjoys running, speaking up for the rights of women, traveling, singing and is a member of an Abuja-based book club, the Book Trybe.

Before joining the Open Contracting Partnership, Bernadine was Associate Director and Regional Manager for Latin America and Southeast Asia at CoST International, the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative. She led on concept design as well as the practical implementation of complex multi-stakeholder programmes aimed at improving the business environment, fighting corruption, and delivering value for money from infrastructure investments.

Before CoST, Bernadine worked with the Overseas Development Institute, where she was responsible for the Climate Funds Update, a climate finance transparency initiative. She began her development career at Deloitte & Touché working on Iskandar Malaysia, a regional mega-infrastructure and economic development initiative. Since then, she has worked extensively in renewable and conventional energy technologies and infrastructure.

She is a barrister by trade, with 20 years of experience across the legal, consulting and international development sectors. She graduated with Distinction from the London School of Economics with an MSc in Environment and Development.

Camila is a social data scientist who is passionate about analyzing open data to generate social impact and drive change.

She has experience as an analyst and data consultant in Latin America, where she worked on research to quantify the cost of late payments in public procurement. She also trained public servants, journalists, university students and civil society in open government, open data, data analysis and data journalism. She was a Fellow at the School of Data, where she developed learning materials and workshops for the local and international open data community. As a data and investigative reporter in Costa Rica, she used data-driven methods to report on politics and uncover corruption schemes. Her team was a three-time finalist in the Data Journalism Awards, an international award recognizing outstanding work in the field of data journalism.

She holds a BA degree in Economics, a BA and a Licentiate degree in Journalism and Communications from the University of Costa Rica, and is currently finishing an MSc in Applied Social Data Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science as a UK Foreign Office Chevening Scholar. She is a native Spanish speaker and she is also fluent in English and French.

Carey Kluttz leads our country engagement and open contracting implementation. She previously served as a Fulbright-Clinton Fellow with SODEMI, the national mining company of Côte d’Ivoire, where she also supported the development of Côte d’Ivoire’s first Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Action Plan.

Prior to her Fellowship, Carey was with the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice, where she focused on open contracting as well as governance of the extractive industries. Before joining the World Bank, Carey served as Executive Director of the Bridges of Understanding Foundation, dedicated to fostering understanding between the United States and the Arab world. Carey holds an MA in Middle East and Islamic Studies from the American University of Paris and a BA in French and Anthropology from the University of Virginia. She has studied Arabic and is fluent in French.

Open contracting is collaborating, communicating and using technology for innovating development – all of which have been a focus of Georg’s professional career prior to joining the Open Contracting Partnership where he manages communication and advocacy. At the Inter-American Development Bank, Georg has led the Digital Strategy of the Multilateral Investment Fund focussed on supporting micro, small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs in Latin America. He also co-initiated the organisation’s portfolio of projects testing social innovations such as crowdfunding. The nexus to transparency and anticorruption originated at Transparency International where he managed online and internal communications of the global movement and led the discussion of solutions to use technology to fight corruption. He has worked in development projects in Mexico and Morocco and holds a Masters in Strategic Economic and Social Communications from the University of Fine Arts in Berlin.

Karolis joins us with an ambition to demonstrate the positive impact of opening up contracting data worldwide. He contributes to the creation of tools and methodologies for evaluating change propelled by open contracting. He is passionate about smart strategic planning, and helps to design and implement open contracting initiatives around the globe.

Before joining the Open Contracting Partnership, Karolis worked with Transparency International Lithuania, focusing on citizen engagement using ICT. He also contributed to global open data advocacy efforts, together with the Epsi platform, Open Knowledge International, Open Data Institute and others. From 2014 to 2016, he was a national researcher within the Open Government Partnership Independent Review Mechanism.
Karolis earned his bachelor’s degree in international law from the University of Westminster, UK and master’s degree in European Union law from the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Kaye is the program manager of Lift, Open Contracting Partnership’s impact program that provides technical support to teams of procurement reformers and assists them in applying new approaches and skills to more effectively plan for, introduce, and sustain contracting reforms.

Before joining Open Contracting Partnership, Kaye conducted research on municipal innovation and provided programmatic support to Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Government Innovation Team. Kaye has also provided strategic planning, research and communications assistance on issues pertaining to the future of work and technology policy to nonprofits and foundations, including the Ford Foundation and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Global Philanthropy.

A Fulbright scholar, Kaye earned her (very useful) Bachelors degree in Philosophy with Honors, Cum Laude, from Scripps College, and her Masters degree in Political Science from the University of Ljubljana.

Kisha leads our community building strategy to support reformers around the world who are transforming public contracting.

She has spent her career helping organizations increase their impact through stronger communications and engagement. Before joining the Open Contracting Partnership, she implemented the advocacy strategy at Reboot, a social impact firm driving collaborative, user-centered design in the public and social sector. While at Reboot, she closely supported co-design efforts with the open data community in New York City and the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics—managing a City-wide, multi-stakeholder process to shape the future of the open data program.

Kisha is also experienced in bringing together diverse communities, both on- and offline. At LitWorld, she worked with 50 grassroots partners to grow the annual World Read Aloud Day campaign. Her global reach has also led her to conduct extensive ethnographic research and data collection for public health, cultural tourism, public-private partnership, and workforce development projects in Zambia, Tanzania, and Nigeria.

Kisha holds a BA in International Development from Washington University in St. Louis. She is based in New York City.

Kristen leads Open Contracting Partnership’s advocacy, building on her 15 years’ experience in policy advocacy, strategic communications and campaigning. She is passionate about all things open government, open tech and open data, having previously served as Communications and Campaigns Director at the Web Foundation and in public communications before that.

At the Web Foundation, she drove multi-stakeholder coalition building, policy advocacy campaigns and media relations work with a focus on normative and narrative change. She managed external communications for web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee in his capacity as founding executive director.

She has consulted and advised a number of NGOs, multilateral organizations, governments and businesses on their public reputation and external affairs, including during high stakes crises in the areas of peace and security, financial crime and corruption. Her consultancy clients have included: Kofi Annan Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Africa Progress Panel, Google, Orange, The Elders, Omidyar Network, Millicom, UN Women, UN Population Fund and a number of governments in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.

Kristen began her career with roles for the US and German governments in investment and trade promotion, with stints in Mexico City and Shanghai. She graduated from the London School of Economics with an MSc in International Political Economy with merit, and speaks Spanish, French and German proficiently.

James guides the development and governance of the Open Contracting Data Standard, and supports and advocates for governments, businesses and civil society to publish, use and build tools with open contracting data.

James regularly contributes to civil society initiatives relating to government, legislative and corporate transparency and accountability. He has worked with governments in Canada and internationally to improve the data and information they publish, through mechanisms like the Open Government Partnership and the Open Data Charter. He has authored, edited and contributed to standards used by dozens of governments, from the local to national levels, in Canada and around the world. He previously founded Open North, a Canadian nonprofit that creates websites to promote government transparency and public participation. He also organized the Canadian Open Government Civil Society Network, which successfully convinced Canada to commit to establishing a multistakeholder forum on open government.

Mariana’s expertise is in strengthening public procurement systems in Latin America and the Caribbean, having worked on projects including applied research, facilitating South-South cooperation and knowledge transfer through regional networking, assessing procurement country systems, and leading procurement strategies for regional development banks. She worked for the Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), the Inter-American Development Bank, FONPLATA, and collaborated with the Organization of American States and projects funded by the International Development Research Centre.

Mariana earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics at USAL, Argentina and a master’s degree in Applied Economics from the Sorbonne, France thanks to a Directorate’s scholarship on Research, Innovation and Higher Education of the Regional Council of Ile-Region. Recently, she finished a master program in Public Policy Evaluation at the University of Seville in Spain.

Before joining the Open Contracting Partnership, Mariana has been working on the open government and infrastructure for more than 10 years, including for several regional governments in Argentina, the World Bank, and the Infrastructure Sector Transparency Initiative – CoST.

She created the first open government platform for infrastructure in the city while at the Ministry of Urban Development and Transport of the City of Buenos Aires. It visualizes all of the city’s public works in an accessible and open format. As the Provincial Director for Open Government at the Ministry of the Chief of Cabinet in the Province of Buenos Aires, she was in charge of the strategy, coordination, and development of the open government agenda. She created the first open government website of the Province, including the disclosure of public works.

Mariana was the CoST’s country manager for Argentina and worked on the open government agenda for the World Bank. She graduated with honors as Sociologist and MA in International Relations.

Marie is our behind-the-scenes wizard whose attention to detail and analytical skills help keep the wheels of our organization running smoothly. She is fluent in budget analysis and ensures each member of our globetrotting staff is well equipped for their missions through her provision of logistical and administrative support.

Prior to joining the Open Contracting Partnership, Marie worked for different non-profits and government entities that seek to make the world a better place. Marie has a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations and is fluent in Wolof, French, and English. She is studying Arabic and hopes to have a good command of the language in the very near future (InshAllah).

Nkechi is our Senior Manager for Africa. She leads OCP’s advocacy, implementation, and community-building effort helping partners to achieve progress and impact in the region.

Over the last ten years, Nkechi has worked with national and sub-national governments, civil society organization, journalists, and the private sector in Africa and Asia, championing open data, open government, govtech, civic tech, open contracting, and building data-driven communities. Prior to joining us, she worked for Code for Africa as the Senior Program Manager data academy, Country Manager for Nigeria, and Pan-Africa GovTech Program Manager. As the Open Data Manager for the Edo State Government’s open data initiative, she led the establishment of Nigeria’s first open government portal. She has consulted for the World Bank’s Nepal Data Literacy Program and the Engine Room’s Match Box Program.

Nkechi is a Mandela Washington Fellow, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, and a School of Data fellow. She enjoys writing, reading, and traveling in her spare time.

Oscar executes our strategy in Latin America and supports our city portfolio in the US. Through this work, he helps reformers achieve and measure the impact of open contracting, with the goal of improving service delivery.

Oscar is proficient in using evidence-based approaches to increase the effectiveness of public policies. Prior to joining the Open Contracting Partnership, he was an Innovation Fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab, where he led multiple projects with US and Latin America cities implementing outcomes-based procurement strategies and evidence-based policies for human services and core government operations (including corrections, children education services, sanitation services, and public works). He also worked with the Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in India, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and served as team leader of Colombia’s Ministry of Defense Strategic Analysis Group. In these positions, he led efforts to design and implement monitoring and evaluation systems.

Oscar has an M.P.A. in International Development from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and holds a B.Sc. in Economics and a B.A. in Philosophy from Universidad de los Andes. He is based in Bogotá.

Sofia is our program manager for Colombia. She’s leading the implementation of a sub-national project to enhance the disclosure, quality and use of open procurement data in Colombia and supports our strategy in Latin America.

Sofia has worked in Colombia’s Ministry of Health, and in the National Public Procurement agency where she structured national framework agreements mostly related to the health sector and worked in the public procurement innovation team. Previously, Sofia worked on consumer-focused market research doing data analysis and planning effective campaign strategies for global brands.

She is an industrial engineer from Los Andes University, where she is currently studying a Master in Public Administration.

Before joining the Open Contracting Partnership, Viktor was acting CEO at SOE Medical Procurement of Ukraine – the central purchasing body set up by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine for medical public procurement. Between 2015-2018 he was a Program Director at Transparency International Ukraine. His portfolio included five significant initiatives – ProZorro, ProZorro.Sale systems development, DOZORRO community building, e-Health system development, and Construction Sector Transparency Initiative implementation.  He has experience in the private sector and in government. He headed the procurement risk assessment division in one of the biggest agro-holdings of Ukraine and worked in the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine.

Viktor has a Master’s degree in international economy from Kyiv National Economic University in Ukraine and studied organizational behavior and intercultural marketing at the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien in Austria. Viktor’s ambition is to help Eastern Europe and Central Asia become a global open contracting leader.