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

Aimee Barnes

Senior Advisor to the Governor in the Office of California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. Aimee has worked for more than a decade on climate change and environmental sustainability issues in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining Governor Brown’s office, Aimee was a partner at Allotrope Partners and had previously been appointed by Governor Brown to lead the state’s international climate, energy and environmental work. Her work as Assistant Secretary for Border and Intergovernmental Affairs with the California Environmental Protection Agency included the negotiation and execution of climate change and clean energy agreements with China, Mexico and others; participation in the Paris climate talks; and the development and execution of a subnational-level climate agreement among 130 state and regional level jurisdictions on long-term de-carbonization goals.

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.

Lukas Haynes

Executive Director of the David Rockefeller Fund; former Vice president of Mertz Gilmore Foundation; former acting director of international peace and security and the NY office of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; former fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; former policy planning staff for U.S. Department of State as speechwriter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Larry D. Johnson

Adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Law; former deputy legal counsel for UN; 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 University of California School of Law and served as Visiting Professor of International Law at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the New York City Bar Association.

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.