Independent Diplomat is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation supervised by the following board:

Donald Baladasan

Don Baladasan has extensive experience executing the strategic plans of high growth companies. He has operated as Group MD, COO, and CFO for businesses that have undergone rapid transformation. This includes raising capital, IPOs, internationalisation, restructuring, and developing management teams. Don has integrated newly acquired brands, products and companies with a focus on finance, governance, and commercial synergies.

Don founded Mataxis, a consultancy that specialises in advising and partnering fast-growing entities. Don initially studied Medicine at Guy’s Hospital before completing a BSc in Economics at Bayes Business School. He is a qualified chartered management accountant having trained on the Financial Times graduate scheme. He holds a PGDip in Artificial Intelligence for Business from the University of Oxford. Don has held senior finance and operational roles in blue chip businesses such as Pearson, WPP and BUPA.

Hilarie Bass

Hilarie Bass is a global evangelist for gender parity and an outspoken advocate for expanding the ranks of women leaders at corporations, nonprofits and other institutions. She is also one of the most recognized attorneys in the United States, having served as co-president of the international law firm Greenberg Traurig from 2013 to 2018 and as president of the American Bar Association (ABA) from September 2017 to August 2018. In late 2018, Hilarie left the law profession to launch the Bass Institute for Diversity & Inclusion.

Throughout her law career, Hilarie fought for greater participation for women in the top ranks of law firms. At Greenberg Traurig, in addition to serving as its president and heading the firm’s 600-member litigation department for eight years, she founded and chaired its Women’s Initiative for many years. At the ABA, the world’s largest voluntary professional organization with more than 400,000 members, Hilarie traveled the world speaking about the insidious damage of implicit bias in the workplace and the importance of retaining and promoting female leaders. She also created a task force at the ABA on implicit bias in the justice system.

During her illustrious 38-year career in litigation, Hilarie worked on landmark legal cases, including widely recognized pro bono work on behalf of two foster children that led to the elimination of the state of Florida’s 20-year-old ban on gay adoption. Hilarie is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an invitation-only organization that includes only the top 1% of lawyers. She is also the current Chair-Elect for University of Miami’s Board of Trustees. She was also consistently ranked among the top US lawyers by Chambers USA Guide, The Best Lawyers in America, Lawdragon 500, Legal 500 United States, Florida Trend magazine’s “Legal Elite,” Super Lawyers and many others

Susanna Emmet

Susanna Emmet previously served as ID’s Managing Director, where she was responsible for global operations and organizational strategy. Susanna has been part of ID since its beginning, helping to launch the organization in the US and growing it across the globe. Prior to joining ID, Susanna worked at Human Rights First, Chechnya Advocacy Network, International Service for Human Rights and other NGOs as a consultant on organizational strategy issues.

Neal Grenley (Chair)

Partner of Counsel at White & Case, Neal Grenley advises clients on international corporate and commercial transactions, with a particular emphasis on international mergers and acquisitions and cross-border joint ventures. Neal’s long experience in emerging markets and the Arabian Gulf region in particular provides his US and international clients with insight into business practices and cultural norms underlying their transactions. He is a member of the International Bar Association, as well as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

Larry D. Johnson

Professorial Lecturer, Vienna Diplomatic Academy; former UN Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs; served as the legal adviser for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna; served as chef de cabinet, Office of the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague; formerly served in the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs. Previously taught at Columbia Law School, the University of California Davis Law School and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the New York City Bar Association.

Alexander Moczarski

Chairman of Marsh & McLennan Companies International; former President and Chief Executive Officer of Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC. Previously served as President and CEO of Marsh’s International Division, comprising all countries outside of the United States and Canada. From July 2004 to May 2006 he was President and CEO of the company’s International Specialty Operations, a region that encompassed Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Aryeh Neier

President emeritus of the Open Society Foundations (president from 1993 to 2012); founder and former executive director of Human Rights Watch; former national executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.  Served as an adjunct professor of law at New York University for more than a dozen years, and has also taught at Georgetown University Law School and the University of Siena. Since 2012, he has served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Paris School of International Affairs of Sciences Po.

Scott Ogur (Treasurer)

Managing Director & CFO of Spruce Investment Advisors; former CFO of Delaware Valley Financial Group; former CFO of Algorithmic Trading Management; former CFO and Chief Investment Officer of Scimitar, a private venture capital firm investing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Romania, Switzerland, and the U.A.E.; former portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Private Bank; former auditor and accountant at Price Waterhouse, Chemical Bank and J.P. Morgan.

Joseph Rinaldi

Managing Director of Fennecourt Partners, an investment advisory and consultancy firm. Chairman of Solid Scientific Ventures, an investment holding company. Joseph was previously a partner of the international law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell. Based in the Paris and New York offices of Davis Polk, Joseph advised both U.S and non-U.S clients on a range of strategic domestic and cross border transactions as well as corporate governance matters.

James R. Silkenat

Director and Treasurer, World Justice Project; previously a partner in the New York office of the national law firm of Sullivan & Worcester and a member of its Corporate Department; past President of the American Bar Association and former member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession; Honorary Bencher, Middle Temple Inn, London, England; member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Law Institute; former Chair of the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights (now Human Rights First); former Chair of the Council of New York Law Associates (now the Lawyers Alliance for New York); previously a Fellow in the U.S. State Department Scholar/Diplomat Program and a Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities; and author/editor of 18 books on law, business and public policy.