Team

Gavin is honored to be the Executive Director of Open Contracting Partnership, a silo-busting collaboration across government, business and civil society to open up and transform public contracting and procurement. Gavin plans to reinvent one of the largest markets in the world – covering 1 in every 3 dollars spent by government – as a smart, user-centered digital service, improving trust, inclusion and sustainability.

Before joining the Open Contracting Partnership, Gavin was Director of Campaigns and then Executive Director of Global Witness. He oversaw the organization’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 negotiated the intergovernmental Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to improve disclosure and oversight of over trillion dollars of oil and mining money paid around the world.

He is also 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 at the G8 and 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 analyzing and investigating global environmental crime. Gavin is a 2021 Fellow of World Commerce & Contracting for his work on improving trust and the emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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. Kathrin is a 2021 Fellow of World Commerce & Contracting for making a significant contributions to the development of commercial and contract management.

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.

Edwin Muhumuza is the Head of Africa at OCP where he leads the portfolio to open up and transform public procurement across the continent. He works closely with frontline government teams in several African countries to respond, recover and rebuild together by reforming procurement systems for better contracting outcomes. Edwin works with teams of reformers in government to redesign government processes and systems through open data, better civic and business engagement, monitoring and research. Through engagements with senior decision makers at country, regional and global levels, he advocates for changes in how procurement and procurement systems serve African governments and their citizens, turning procurement from a compliance driven, complex, paper-based process into an open, results-driven digital service that delivers value for money, as well as value for many.

Before joining OCP, Edwin worked as Director Corporate Affairs at the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA ), the public procurement regulator in Uganda. He was responsible for strategy, partnerships and performance monitoring and was at the forefront of some key reform initiatives such as e-procurement, open contracting and promotion of partnerships with non-state actors in contract monitoring.

Edwin holds a MSc in Procurement from Makerere University and a Masters in Public Administration (International Development) from the University of York (UK). He has attended several post graduate courses in areas such as public policy, monitoring and evaluation, strategic planning to mention but a few. Edwin lives in Kampala, Uganda with his wife and three sons.

Félix is our Senior Data Support Manager and is responsible for helping our partners to take a data-driven approach to improve public procurement outcomes. He offers guidance on how to collect, structure, and use data to make better decisions and create a better user experience for procurement systems. In addition, Félix advises our partners on data digitization and publication.

Before joining OCP, Félix worked as a data science manager helping governments to design and evaluate evidence-based public policies. He has experience in research initiatives, implementing quantitative and statistical models in organizations, and has participated in open data initiatives in the public sector. He also was in charge of the designing and teaching of data science courses.

Félix holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with honors and a Specialization in Quantitative Methods for Data Analysis from Universidad de Buenos Aires. He is interested in evidence-based decision making, the use of data and technology for social good, and advocates for more efficient public procurement systems that allow the implementation of more and better public policies.

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.

Guillermo is Senior Program Manager for Latin America helping governments and civil society to get the most of open contracting in order to boost efficiency and regain trust in the public sector.

Before joining OCP, Guillermo worked as Head of Research and Business Intelligence at Chile’s central procurement agency, ChileCompra, where he contributed to innovations such as the implementation of open data and the definition and introduction of new procurement methods. He also served as part of the OECD peer reviewer’s team for the procurement systems of Colombia and Mexico. Before that, he worked in the private sector as Research Manager for the industrial markets of Construction and Agro Chemicals, among others.

Guillermo holds a title of Sociology from Universidad of Chile, a Masters degree in Public Policy from UDD and Diplomas of Business Intelligence and Consumer Behaviour at UAI and Defense and Internal Security from Chile’s Ministry of Defense. Before that he pursued (but not finished) studies in Music and Mathematics, which helps him to interact in groups with diversity.

James is Head of Technology at OCP. He guides the development and governance of the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS), and supports 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 drives research, capacity-building and network collaboration across and within sectors to advance the responsible and effective use of data and technology. He also organized the Canadian Open Government Civil Society Network, which successfully convinced Canada to commit to establishing a multistakeholder forum on open government.

James is based in Toronto, Canada.

Karolis is OCP’s Head of Europe working with the European institutions, country governments and civil society to improve public spending in the region. Driven by impact and that alone, he focuses on strengthening institutions and their public spending using openness principles. He is interested in how open contracting can help power sustainable transition in Europe. Karolis is a member of the European Commission Multi-Stakeholder Expert Group on eProcurement (EXEP) and he also co-leads the Open Spending EU Coalition – a community of open spending champions in the EU.

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.

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.

Reilly is Senior Program Manager for the United States. She helps set and lead OCP’s strategy in the United States, which includes hands-on technical assistance to and building a community of practice for procurement reformers at all levels of governments or anyone looking to make change in their community. As part of her work, Reilly supports two of our Lift teams in Des Moines and El Paso.

She joins OCP bringing experience with procurement, technology, and digital services in state and local government. She saw firsthand the need for open contracting and value of rethinking procurement can lead to better outcomes.

Reilly is based in Portland, Oregon, and grew up in the U.S. Midwest. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring the outdoors.

Sofia is Program Manager for Colombia. She leads our open contracting strategy in Colombia. She has been working with our partners to improve public procurement outcomes in Colombia, making data more accessible and procurement processes more strategic and inclusive. 

Through a project with the Prosperity Programme from the British Embassy, Sofía has gained experience in increasing the participation of women-owned and women-led businesses in public procurement. She has also worked to build species for multistakeholder collaboration that can lead to better results in public procurement at the local level. 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 for innovation team. 

Sofia is based in Bogotá, Colombia. She is an Industrial Engineer from Los Andes University (Colombia), and she holds a Master in Public Administration from the same university.

Sophie is the Digital Strategist and Content Manager at Open Contracting Partnership (OCP). She works with the Head of Communications to help define and maintain OCP’s brand across digital platforms, as well as reach new audiences using multimedia, marketing, and technology approaches and tools. Sophie supports regional and program teams with developing and executing communications strategies that increase the visibility of our work.

Sophie has experience working with private, government, and non-profit sectors. Before joining OCP, she was the Communications Coordinator at eHealth Africa where she developed and implemented communication and digital strategies for public health impact.

With a background in Computer Science and a Masters degree in Cybersecurity, Sophie has a good understanding of the digital space and uses her communication experience to ensure that our work and impact are conveyed appropriately to our audiences. She is creative, curious, and loves to learn. Sophie is a ONE Campaigns Champion and is passionate about empowering young girls. She is based in Abuja, Nigeria.

Viktor is leading our support to Ukraine to reconstruct and modernize the country after Russia’s illegal invasion, leveraging the transformational open contracting reforms in Ukraine since 2014 to help the country build back better. He also chairs Ukraine’s Reconstruction Integrity, Sustainability and Efficiency (RISE) Coalition, a group of 35+ organizations focusing on embedding open contracting principles and approaches into the recovery program. Viktor works closely with government, business, and civil society to make sure that Ukraine’s reconstruction is a role-model of open government and open contracting for the world. He is also an advisor to Nadiia Bigun, Deputy Minster of Economy responsible for public procurement.

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 and 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.

Zoia is the Senior Manager for Medicines Transparency, OCP’s newest program area focused on enabling medicines procurement reforms using on open data and open government. She advocates for medicines prices transparency and medicines procurement reforms, and provides guidance and support to government and community organizations globally in their efforts to build cost-effective medicines procurement systems. Zoia guides partners in development of reform strategies, advocacy campaigns, and conducting data analysis to achieve sustainable changes in state medicines procurement programs. She also aims to expand collaboration and to build an active regional medicines procurement community to share best practices and lessons learned.

Before joining OCP, Zoia was a Senior Program Manager in the biggest patient-led organization in Ukraine and led multi-stakeholder Global Fund advocacy projects aimed at implementing strategies to increase affordability and availability, as well as decrease prices of the HIV medicines for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and South-Eastern Europe.

Zoia started her career as a lawyer and provided legal services on compliance, economic competition and anti-corruption regulations for international pharmaceutical companies. She holds a Master of Laws degree from the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” (Ukraine). Zoia is based in Kyiv, Ukraine.