Speaker biographies

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  HAKAN ARIKAN

  Chief Inspector, Board of Inspection, Ministry of Interior, Turkey

  HAKAN ARIKAN is a chief inspector to the Board of Inspection of the Ministry of Interior in Turkey, where he investigates complaints and allegations about law enforcement officials, mayors, and governors and performs periodic investigations. Mr. Arikan coordinated some of the European Union projects on behalf of the Ministry of Interior. Previously, Mr. Arikan was a district governor in the Ministry of Interior for seven years, and was a deputy legislative expert in the Grand National Assembly. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in public administration from Ankara University in Turkey, and a Master’s degree in policy and administration from Nottingham University in the United Kingdom. He was a 2014-2015 Fulbright-Humphrey fellow based in American University Washington College of Law. Under the scope of the fellowship, he served as a short-term consultant at the World Bank's Integrity Vice Presidency. Mr. Arikan is passionate about human rights, corruption prevention, and civilian oversight of law enforcement.
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  PASCALE HÉLÈNE DUBOIS

  Chief Suspension and Debarment Officer, World Bank

  As the head of the World Bank’s Office of Suspension and Debarment (OSD), Ms. Dubois determines whether to suspend and debar firms and individuals accused of fraud and corruption in World Bank-financed projects. Ms. Dubois has been involved with the World Bank’s anti-corruption efforts for over a decade. Prior to her appointment as Chief Suspension and Debarment Officer, Ms. Dubois managed the Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) in the World Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency (INT). She also worked as an operational lawyer advising the Africa region of the World Bank for seven years. Before joining the World Bank, she was in private practice for ten years in the United States and Belgium. Ms. Dubois is a Senior Advisor to the American Bar Association Section of International Law’s Anti-Corruption Committee, having earlier served as Co-Chair for three years, and is now the incoming Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Anti-Corruption Committee. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). For the past seven years, she has been an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches a course on international anti-corruption. She teaches and lectures widely, and publishes regularly on anti-corruption topics. Ms. Dubois received her Lic. Jur., cum laude, from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and her LL.M. from New York University.
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  MAJED EL-BAYYA

  Lead Procurement Specialist, Governance Global Practice, World Bank

  Majed M. El-Bayya is a Lead Procurement Specialist working in the Governance Global Practice, Public Integrity and Openness in the Procurement Practice Manager office -- the Europe and Central Asia region at the World Bank-- Washington DC, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. and Master degrees in Civil Engineering—Hydraulics from the University of Missouri-Columbia, MO, USA and his B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Birzeit University, Palestine. He is involved in providing assistance to the Procurement Practice Manager in procurement oversight and management and lead country procurement reform. He has worked extensively on country public procurement reviews and public procurement reforms. He has provided many capacity buildings training on World Bank procurement procedures and contract management. He is involved in review of complex/large value procurement financed by the World Bank. He also worked as Sr. Operation Officer and Sr. Procurement Specialist on several countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and Central Asia. He is the coordinator for the Public Procurement Knowledge Exchange Platform. Before joining the World Bank in 1997, he was a Director General of Research and Development at the Ministry of Housing in Palestine. He also taught hydraulic courses at the Islamic University in Gaza, worked as a civil engineering designer at the Municipality of Gaza, Palestine as well as worked as a water specialist with a private consulting office in Gaza.
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  FRANK FARIELLO

  Lead Counsel, Operations Policy, Legal Vice Presidency, World Bank

  Mr. Frank Fariello is a Lead Counsel with the Operations Policy Practice Group of the World Bank’s Legal Vice Presidency (LEG). He is the Bank’s primary legal focal point for its Governance and Anti-Corruption (GAC) strategy and legal advisor to the Bank's new Governance Global Practice. Mr. Fariello has played a major role in the Bank's sanctions system, having coordinated its 2009-2010 reforms and recently concluded a comprehensive review of the system. He is currently heading a study on the Drivers of Corruption in IFI Operations, together with representatives from other IFIs, OECD, academia and civil society. Mr. Fariello is also active in LEG's knowledge agenda, among other things, as co-editor of the World Bank Legal Review. Mr. Fariello has been Vice Chair of the ABA International Anti-Corruption Committee since 2012. His publications include The World Bank Sanctions System and Its Recent Reforms (World Bank 2012), “Coordinating the Fight Against Fraud and Corruption” (WB Legal Review, Vol. 3; UK Serious Fraud Office (2011)) and “Transforming Through Transparency: Opening Up the World Bank’s Sanctions System” (WB Legal Review, Vol. 4 (2013)). Mr. Fariello speaks regularly on the World Bank and its GAC Strategy. Engagements include the Korean Institute of Criminology Anti-Corruption Forum (Seoul), Russia & CIS Anti-Corruption Summit (Moscow), Colloquium on Suspension & Debarment (WB), Using History to Inform Development Policy (WB), International Fight Against Corruption (George Washington University School of Law) and the American Society of International Law. He has lectured at the Joint Vienna Institute, The George Washington University, George Mason University and New York University School of Law. Mr. Fariello holds a B.A. in History magna cum laude from Brown University (1980) and a J.D. from New York University Law School (1983). He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
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  ELIZABETH LIN FORDER

  Secretary to the World Bank Group Sanctions Board

  Ms. Elizabeth Lin Forder was appointed the first full-time Secretary to the World Bank Group Sanctions Board on September 1, 2010. In this position, she heads an independent Secretariat charged with providing all legal and administrative support necessary to ensure the effective functioning of the Sanctions Board in taking final decisions in contested sanctions cases. Prior to her appointment as Secretary, Ms. Forder was Senior Counsel in the World Bank’s Legal Department where she provided legal advice on a wide range of matters including corporate governance, ethics, internal investigations, and institutional policy. She played a key role in the World Bank’s early sanctions reforms culminating in the first Sanctions Board statute, procedures, and sanctioning guidelines, and extension of the sanctions regime across the World Bank Group. Before joining the World Bank, Ms. Forder worked for the law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP and clerked for the Honorable Harry Pregerson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She received her law degree from Yale Law School and undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Yale University. She is a member of the Bars of the State of California and the District of Columbia.
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  RODNEY A. GRANDON

  Deputy General Counsel (Contractor Responsibility and Conflict Resolution), Department of Air Force, USA

  Rodney A. Grandon, a member of the Senior Executive Service, serves as the Deputy General Counsel for Contractor Responsibility and Conflict Resolution, Department of the Air Force, Washington, D.C. In that capacity, he is the Air Force’s Suspending and Debarring Official, and is responsible for providing legal advice concerning contractor responsibility matters to senior Air Force and DoD leadership, as well as leading the Air Force’s Procurement Fraud Remedies Program. Mr. Grandon also has responsibility for the Air Force’s Alternative Dispute Resolution/Conflict Resolution Program. Prior to assuming his present duties, Mr. Grandon served as the Chief of Procurement Law and Chief Trial Attorney for the U.S. Coast Guard
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  SRI MULYANI INDRAWATI

  Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, World Bank

  As Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Sri Mulyani Indrawati is responsible for the institution’s operations in all regions. She also oversees the new global practices and cross-cutting solution areas which bring together the best expertise from across the Bank Group and from partners to help tackle the most complex development challenges. In addition, she oversees other administrative vice presidencies and functions, including the Integrity Vice Presidency, Sanctions Board Secretariat and the Office of Suspension and Debarment. Ms. Indrawati joined the World Bank in June 2010. Previously she served as Indonesia’s minister of finance in addition to being the coordinating minister of economic affairs. She led the Indonesian National Development Planning Agency prior to her position as Finance Minister. Her earlier positions include Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, faculty member at the University of Indonesia and Visiting Professor at the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University. Ms. Indrawati holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois and a B.A. in economics from the University of Indonesia.
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  GIULIANA DUNHAM IRVING

  Senior Counsel, Legal Vice Presidency, World Bank

  Giuliana Dunham Irving joined the Bank Group in 2006 as an Institutional Integrity Officer in the Institutional Integrity Department (now the Integrity Vice Presidency). From 2008 to 2012, she held the position of Senior Counsel in Legal’s Institutional Administration Unit. From 2012 to 2014, she served as Senior Counsel and Special Assistant to the General Counsel and Senior Vice President of the World Bank Group. She currently holds the position of Senior Counsel for Sanctions Policy in the Legal Operations Policy Unit. Giuliana received her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law in 1992, and completed her undergraduate studies in economics at Columbia College of Columbia University in New York and Universita’ Commerciale Luigi Bocconi in Milan. Giuliana began her legal career as a litigation associate with the firm Debevoise & Plimpton in New York. Prior to joining the Bank Group, she served as a Trial Attorney in the Fraud Section of the United States Department of Justice and as an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington, D.C.
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  LUIGI LA MARCA

  Policy Advisor, Inspectorate General, European Investment Bank

  Luigi La Marca is Policy Advisor, Inspectorate General, European Investment Bank (EIB). At the EIB, Mr. La Marca has held various positions in the Legal Department including Managerial Advisor for EU Policies, where he was in charge of the EU Legal Affairs Unit dealing with Procurement, Anti-Fraud, Environment, Transparency and other legal aspects of EIB activities. From 2005 to 2008 he focused on compliance, ethics, integrity, prevention and the fight against fraud and corruption as Deputy Chief Compliance Officer at the EIB. Mr. La Marca was from 2008 to 2011 Chief Compliance Officer at the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). Mr. La Marca was also involved, as Senior International Expert, in the Procurement Law Reform Project at the Ministry of Finance in Sarajevo. He was Legal Secretary (Référendaire) from 1994 to 1998 at EU Court of Justice, Chambers of Justice La Pergola. He has published extensively on issues of procurement, environment and, more generally, EU law. Mr. La Marca is frequently invited to teach and lecture on EU Law at various universities and he has held positions in various international organizations, including as Observer for the CEB at the OECD Working Group on Bribery, GRECO and Moneyval. He has a Degree in Law summa cum laude from the University of Palermo, Italy, an LL.M. of High European Studies in European Community Law from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium and was a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University. Mr. La Marca is admitted to the Italian Bar.
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  ANNE-MARIE LEROY

  Senior Vice President and World Bank Group General Counsel

  Anne-Marie Leroy, a French national, was appointed senior vice president and general counsel for the World Bank Group in March 2009. Prior to joining the Bank Group, she had been a partner of the Paris office of Denton Wilde Sapte LLP since 2005, where she was in charge of the Department of Public Law. A graduate of both the Paris Institute for Political Science and the National School for Public Administration (ENA), with a graduate degree in the Sociology of Organizations, Leroy joined the Council of State (Conseil d'Etat) in 1986, the highest court in France for public and administrative law, where she worked as a judge for five years. In 1991, she was appointed to the Ministry of National Education as a director of legal and international affairs, managing the ministry's representation in courts and providing legal advice to the minister and ministry units, and bilateral relations with partner countries in the field of education. Her work included technical assistance projects in developing countries, as well as in multilateral institutions, especially the EU and the OECD. From January 1995 to May 1998, she served in the World Bank's Middle East and North Africa region as a senior public sector specialist, working on public management issues especially in Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. Returning to Paris in 1998 to take up the position of department head in charge of Governance and Civil Society issues in the Public Management Service of the OECD, she was soon appointed as senior advisor to the Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, in charge of government reform. Following the presidential election of 2002, she returned to the Council of State and her functions as a judge. In 2003, she was also appointed by the Board of Executive Directors of the Inter-American Development Bank as a judge with the IDB's Administrative Tribunal.
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  LISA MILLER

  Integrity Compliance Officer, Integrity Vice Presidency, World Bank Group

  Lisa K. Miller is an Integrity Compliance Officer in the Integrity Compliance Office of the World Bank Group’s Integrity Vice Presidency. She previously was a Senior Counsel in the World Bank’s Legal Vice Presidency. Prior to joining the World Bank, she was in private legal practice in the U.S., where her practice focused on public procurement, sanctions and integrity compliance matters. She is a graduate of The School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University (B.S.), George Washington University National Law Center (J.D.) and Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M)
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  AKERE T. MUNA

  Sanctions Commissioner, African Development Bank

  Akere T. Muna is the founder and former President of Transparency International Cameroon. Called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1978, he is a lawyer by training. In 2007-2008, he was a member of the independent High-Level Audit Panel of the African Union. From 2008 to 2014 he was President of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC). He is a former President of the Pan African Lawyers Union (2005-2014) and former President of the Cameroon Bar Association. He is a former member of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) Advisory Group for Sub-Saharan Africa (2010). In January 2010, he was elected for a 4-year term to the Panel of Eminent Persons, which oversees the African Peer Review process, and at the 19th AU Summit of the APR Forum, he was appointed Chairperson of the Panel for the rest of his term which ended in 2014. He is a Member of the Governing Board of the Africa Governance Institute and a Member of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, chaired by Thabo Mbeki, former President of South Africa. He is currently the first ever Sanctions Commissioner of the African Development Bank. He was actively involved in the TI working group that helped draft the AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, and authored a guide to the Convention. He was elected Vice-Chair of TI’s Board in 2005 and again in 2008 and 2011. His term ended in 2014. Since then, he serves as Chair of the International Anti-Corruption Council.
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  CAROLINE NICHOLAS

  Senior Legal Officer, UNCITRAL

  Caroline Nicholas is a Senior Legal Officer with the International Trade Law Division of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs (the UNCITRAL Secretariat). As Secretary to its Working Groups on Procurement and Infrastructure Development (which drafted the UNCITRAL Model Law on Public Procurement) and Online Dispute Resolution, she provides legal and policy advice and technical assistance to governments, workings with donor organisations to support international trade and development and the rule of law, including the World Bank, other MDBs, the WTO, OSCE and OECD. Caroline provides regular technical assistance to national governments in all regions. Caroline previously advised on international war damage claims at the UN Compensation Commission, was an UN internal investigator, and has practised law in the City of London and Hong Kong. She is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales and of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong, an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Vienna International School. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Public Procurement Law Review and regular contributor to it and other journals.
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  HANS-JOACHIM PRIESS

  Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (Germany)

  Hans-Joachim Priess is head of the Freshfields’ public procurement group, which comprises 16 partners and more than 40 lawyers in 11 offices across Europe. His skill lies in the brokering of pragmatic and creative solutions and in his assured and effective negotiating manner. He advises governments, trade associations and multinational companies and represents them in litigation, in particular before the European courts. He has also represented many clients before the German procurement review bodies. Mr. Priess was a member of a Federal Ministry of Economics commission of experts tasked with the reform of German public procurement law and is a member of the board of the external trade law center at the University of Münster. In May 2009, he was appointed a board member of forum vergabe e.V., the German association for procurement law. He writes extensively on public procurement, customs and trade issues and has a long list of publications to his credit, including Handbuch des europäischen Vergaberechts (3rd edition, 2005) and WTO Handbuch (2003). He is the joint editor and author of Beck’sches Formularbuch Vergaberecht (2nd ed, 2011) and VOL/A-Kommentar (2nd ed, 2011), and co-editor and author of Kommentar zur VOB/A (2011). He is also a member of the board of editors of Neue Zeitschrift für Baurecht und Vergaberecht, a leading German procurement law periodical. The German legal directory JUVE (2011/12) describes Mr. Priess as a leading authority with a brilliant mind.
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  GEO QUINOT

  Director, African Public Procurement Regulation Research Unit; Professor, Department of Public Law, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

  Geo Quinot is Vice Dean in the Faculty of Law and Professor of Law in the Department of Public Law at Stellenbosch University, South Africa; Founding Director of the African Public Procurement Regulation Research Unit (APPRRU) and Co-Director of the Socio- Economic Rights and Administrative Justice Research Project (SERAJ). Quinot is also admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. Quinot mainly teaches administrative law and constitutional law. He also regularly instructs public administrators at Stellenbosch University’s School of Public Leadership and in the University of Cape Town’s Professional Development Project in both administrative law and public procurement regulation. His research focuses on general administrative law, including a particular focus on the regulation of state commercial activity such as public procurement. He is the author of various articles in academic journals and electronic publications, chapters in book publications and author, co-author and/or editor of five book publications: Administrative Law Cases and Materials (2008) Juta & Co; State Commercial Activity: A Legal Framework (2009) Juta & Co; Law and Poverty: Perspectives from South Africa and Beyond (2012) Juta & Co (with Professor Sandra Liebenberg); Public Procurement Regulation in Africa (2013) Cambridge University Press (with Professor Sue Arrowsmith) and Administrative Justice in South Africa: An Introduction (2015) Oxford University Press. Quinot is a past editor-in-chief of the journal, Stellenbosch Law Review, and a founding editor of the new open-access journal, African Public Procurement Law Journal. Quinot often participates in national and international conferences in his fields of expertise, including on public procurement regulation and legal education. In 2012 and 2013 he served on a ministerial task team in the South African National Department of Health, focusing on the reform of health procurement systems in South Africa. In 2014 he completed an extensive research project for the South African National Treasury on the establishment of the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer ("OCPO"). Quinot is currently continuing to serve the OCPO in an advisory capacity on reform of the South African public procurement regulatory regime. Quinot also currently holds a teaching fellowship at Stellenbosch University, which is aimed at the development of a pedagogy of law in South Africa. The fellowship builds on his earlier work on the development of transformative legal education, a theoretical framework for teaching law in contemporary South Africa. In 2012 he was awarded the South African Council for Higher Education (CHE) and Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA)'s National Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award. He also serves on a CHE standards development expert group, which is tasked with drafting a national standard for the LLB qualification in South Africa. In 2015 he was invited to participate in the South African Teaching Advancement at University (TAU) fellowships programme for 2015/16. Quinot obtained the degrees BA(Law) and LLB, both cum laude, at Stellenbosch University and was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal upon graduating from the LLB; LLM at the University of Virginia School of Law in the USA as a Fulbright scholar; MA (Higher Education Studies) cum laude at the University of the Free State and LLD (doctorate in law) at Stellenbosch University on a dissertation entitled: “The judicial regulation of state commercial activity”.
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  DENIS ROBITAILLE

  Director, ITS Operations and Corporate, World Bank

  Mr. Robitaille is the Director of the Operations and Corporate Department in ITS, providing services to the Global Practices, Cross-Cutting Solutions Areas, Regions and the corporate group at the World Bank. Under Mr. Robitaille’s leadership, his department maintains the governance framework for ITS engagement with business units; delivers value-added IT business solutions that serve the needs of a large and diverse group of front-line staff, task teams, managers, clients, donors, and the public; provides global access to internal and external information, including current and historical materials, to empower World Bank Group staff and the global development community with business intelligence for project and analytical work. Previously, Mr. Robitaille held three managerial positions at the World Bank: two at headquarters and one in the field. He offers deep operational knowledge of development projects coupled with his reputation as a results-oriented manager, mentor and innovator. Over a period of four years, he managed the Development Effectiveness Unit in the Latin America and Caribbean Region where he led the provision of integrated and innovative services to all regional staff in the areas of operational quality, portfolio management, results, trust funds, safeguards, knowledge management and learning. Prior to that, Mr. Robitaille held the position of Portfolio Manager based in Bangkok for the South East Asia hub of countries including Lao PDR, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, where he oversaw the performance of the World Bank-financed portfolio. He also held the positions of Regional Procurement Manager for the East Asia and Pacific Region, and Task Team Leader of various projects in the transport sector. Mr. Robitaille is a Canadian national, with a Civil Engineering degree from Laval University.
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  JUAN GABRIEL RONDEROS

  The Sanctions Officer for the IDB Group Sanctions System

  Juan Gabriel Ronderos is a Canadian-Colombian citizen with a law degree from Universidad de los Andes, a Specialization in Taxation from the same university, and an LL.M from Osgoode Hall Law School in Canada. Since October 2010, he has served as the Sanctions Officer for the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) in Washington, DC. In this position, he acts as the first instance reviewer of the IDB Group’s two-tier Sanctions System. As Sanctions Officer, he is in charge of adjudicating cases of Prohibited Practices brought forward by the Office of Institutional Integrity (OII), related to allegations that corporations and/or individuals have engaged in corrupt, fraudulent, coercive, collusive and/or obstructive practices, all according to the IDB Group’s Sanctions Procedures. If warranted, the Sanctions Officer imposes appropriate sanctions. His determinations can be appealed before the IDB Group’s Sanctions Committee. Prior to joining the IDB Group, Mr. Ronderos was the Regional Team Leader for the Latin America and the Caribbean investigative team at the World Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency (INT). After joining the World Bank in 2003, Mr. Ronderos participated in different units of INT, including the South Asia investigative team where he conducted investigations in India, Bangladesh, and Cambodia, among other countries. Prior to his work for the two Multilateral Development Banks, Mr. Ronderos worked for KPMG Forensics in Canada and in the United States, where he held the level of director. Mr. Ronderos’ career started in the early nineties in Colombia where he held different posts, ranging from being a front line investigator at the Attorney General’s office to commanding a special task force in charge of investigating money laundering and financial crimes related to the drug cartels. Later, Mr. Ronderos worked in academia in Canada as Assistant Director for the Nathanson Center for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption at Osgoode Hall Law School. Mr. Ronderos speaks frequently at national and international events about the IDB’s Sanctions System and international anti-corruption issues. He has been an adjunct professor on taxation at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, guest lecturer on organized crime at Osgoode Hall Law School, and guest lecturer on corruption and international development at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, American University and Georgetown in Washington D.C., and Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy. Mr. Ronderos has published on issues related to law enforcement, transnational organized crime and corruption in international development.
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  STEVEN L. SCHOONER

  Nash & Cibinic Professor of Government Procurement Law, The George Washington University Law School

  Steven L. Schooner is the Nash & Cibinic Professor of Government Procurement Law and Co-Director of the Government Procurement Law Program at the George Washington University Law School, where he previously served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Before joining the faculty, Professor Schooner was the Associate Administrator for Procurement Law and Legislation (a Senior Executive Service position) at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). He previously tried cases and handled appeals in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Department of Justice. He also practiced with private law firms and, as an Active Duty Army Judge Advocate, served as a Commissioner at the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals. As an Army Reserve officer, he served for more than fifteen years as an Adjunct Professor in the Contract and Fiscal Law Department of the Judge Advocate General's School of the Army, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Outside of the U.S., he has advised hundreds of government officials on public procurement issues, either directly or through multi-government programs. His dispute resolution experience includes service as an arbitrator, mediator, neutral, and ombudsman. Professor Schooner received his Bachelors degree from Rice University, Juris Doctor from the College of William and Mary, and Master of Laws (with highest honors) from the George Washington University. He is a Fellow of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA), a recipient of NCMA’s Charles A. Dana Distinguished Service Award, a Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM), and he serves on the Board of Directors of the Procurement Round Table. He is a Faculty Advisor to the American Bar Association’s PUBLIC CONTRACT LAW JOURNAL and a member of the GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR Advisory Board. He is author or co-author of numerous publications including THE GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS REFERENCE BOOK: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO THE LANGUAGE OF PROCUREMENT (now in its fourth edition). Professor Schooner’s recent scholarship is available through the Social Science Research Network at http://ssrn.com/author=283370.
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  MARIA C. SWABY

  Suspension & Debarment Official; Agency Protest Official U.S. General Services Administration

  Maria Swaby is the Suspension and Debarment Official (SDO) for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). As SDO, Maria takes appropriate suspension, debarment or other administrative actions with government-wide effect to protect the Federal Government’s interests. In addition, Maria supports GSA’s Senior Procurement Executive on a variety of acquisition policy and government contracts issues. Maria is also GSA’s Agency Protester Official (APO) and she hears and decides protests filed at the agency level. Prior to the SDO and APO positions, Maria was the Director, Suspension & Debarment and Contract Remedies Division for GSA. In that role, Maria was responsible for the management and oversight of GSA’s suspension and debarment program, and the agency protest, eligibility determination, task order, and metrication ombudsman functions. Maria received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and French from the University of Connecticut and a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law. Maria studied for one year in Rouen, France, during college, and for one semester in Aix-en-Provence, France, during law school. She also has an LL.M. degree from The George Washington Law School. Maria is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association, the American Bar Association - Public Contracts Law Section, and the National Contract Management Association. She is a former co-chair of the ABA Suspension & Debarment Subcommittee, speaks regularly on the topic of suspension and debarment to the legal, government, contractor and public procurement communities, and serves as a consultant to foreign governments on their suspension and debarment systems.
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  PETER TREPTE

  Professor, Public Procurement Research Group, University of Nottingham (UK); Littleton Chambers (UK); Grayston & Company (Belgium)

  Peter Trepte is a practicing barrister with Littleton Chambers in London and of Counsel to Grayston & Company in Brussels. He is a Senior Fellow in Public Procurement Law at the University of Nottingham and Head of the Unit on Corruption and Public Procurement. In the case of regulated procurement, he advises and represents public and private sector clients on issues of EU procurement rules as well as on the application of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and the effect on the procurement rules of the EC’s preferential trade arrangements. At the international level, he has extensive and wide geographical experience in public procurement reform. He has lectured and published widely on public procurement issues and is the author of Public Procurement in the EU, 2nd edition (OUP, 2007) and Regulating Procurement (OUP, 2004).
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  MARIA VANNARI

  Lead Operations Officer, Operations Policy and Country Services, World Bank Group

  Ms. Maria Vannari was appointed to lead a new Anti-Corruption policy program in the Operations Policy and Country Services Vice Presidency (OPCS) in 2014. In this position, she serves as a corporate liaison with the Internal Integrity Vice Presidency (INT), leads the analysis of the findings of INT’s investigations from the perspective of Operations, and coordinates management response and a follow up on recurrent and systemic issues at the institutional level. She also chairs the Bank-wide Governance & Anti-Corruption in Operations (GAC-in-Operations) Working Group and a community of practice. Prior to that, she worked with the Chief Procurement Policy Officer of the Bank on procurement and operational aspects of the Bank’s sanctions’ regime, MDBs’ cross-debarment agreement, and task managed the 2011 revision of the Bank’s Procurement and Consultants’ Guidelines. Her prior work at the Bank includes task management of human development sector operations in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region, quality assurance at the office of ECA Regional Procurement Manager and representation of the fiduciary & quality department at the regional GAC Steering Committee. Her academic background is in foreign trade and international relations. Prior to joining the Bank in 1992, she worked in the private and public sectors in Russia and China.
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  SANDEEP VERMA

  Home Secretary, Government of Rajasthan (India)

  Sandeep Verma holds an L.L.M. with highest honours, having specialised in Government Procurement Law from The George Washington University Law School, Washington D.C. in 2009. Earlier, he obtained his postgraduate and graduate degrees in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1992 and in 1990 respectively. He has been a member of the Indian Administrative Service since 1993, and has worked in senior positions in federal and state governments in India for over 20 years. He presently works as Secretary to the Government of Rajasthan in the Home, Prisons, Home Guards and State Anti-Corruption Bureau Departments, where his portfolio includes police & prisons administration and internal security management. In 2009, he established www.BuyLawsIndia.com: a free-to-use website dedicated to advancing the state-of-the art in public procurement law research in India through dissemination of original sources, scholarly work and legal developments of interest to government contracts professionals and other stakeholders. He also authors The Procurement Flyers on SSRN: an issue brief aimed at resolution of common problems routinely faced by government contracting officials at various stages of award and administration of public contracts in India.
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  SOPE WILLIAMS-ELEGBE

  Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Lagos, Nigeria

  Dr. Sope Williams-Elegbe has an LL.B from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, an LL.M (with distinction) from the London School of Economics, and a doctorate degree in Anti-Corruption and Public Procurement Law from the University of Nottingham, UK. Sope has taught law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the universities of Stirling and Nottingham, both in the UK, and has been a visiting scholar at the Universities of Cape Town (2006), Stellenbosch (2011) and Lagos (2011). Her research and teaching interests lie in the fields of public procurement law, development procurement, commercial law, corporate governance, anti-corruption law, business ethics and international economic law. For several years she contributed to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office sponsored short-course on Responsible Business at the University of Nottingham. Sope is the author of over 35 publications in international law journals, including the book: Fighting Corruption in Public Procurement: A Comparative Analysis of Disqualification or Debarment Measures (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2012), which compares debarment regulations and practices in five jurisdictions, including the World Bank. She is currently working on her second book, which examines procurement regulation in international development banks. In 2008, her research was cited by the Constitutional Court of South Africa in the important case of Shaik v The State (2008), in which corruption allegations were leveled against President Jacob Zuma. Sope is an editor of the Journal of African Law (Cambridge University Press), the African Public Procurement Law Journal (Stellenbosch University) and she sits on the advisory board of Beni American University. She was a member of the World Bank’s International Technical Advisory Group from 2008-2011. Sope is currently the Deputy Director of the African Public Procurement Regulation Research Unit and a Research Fellow at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. She is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Prior to this, she was the Head of Research at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Lagos and a Lecturer in Law at the University of Nottingham, UK. She is also an executive director at The Glass Centre, a legal research and consulting firm based in Lagos. Sope has provided consultancy services in the form of procurement and anti-corruption training to civil servants from a number of countries and has been involved in advising international financial institutions and government bodies on anti-corruption matters. In 2014 she assisted the UN to develop the guidelines for open government in Africa, a tool to assist African governments implement the principles of open government. She has been an invited speaker to conferences and workshops in Asia, Europe, the United States and Africa and is keen to see corruption-free procurement being used as tool for development.
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  CHRISTOPHER YUKINS

  Professor of Government Contracts Law and Co-Director of the Government Procurement Law Program, The George Washington University Law School

  Professor Christopher Yukins serves as co-director of the government procurement law program at George Washington University Law School, and has taught there on contract formations and performance issues in public procurement, bid protests and claims litigation, state and local procurement, anti-corruption issues, foreign contracting, procurement reform, and comparative and international law. He has spoken as a guest lecturer at institutions around the world, and he was a contributing editor to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime manual, Guidebook on Anti-Corruption in Public Procurement. He is an active member of the Public Contract Law Section of the American Bar Association, and is a member of the Procurement Roundtable, an organization of senior members of the U.S. procurement community. He is a faculty advisor to the Public Contract Law Journal, is a member of the editorial board of the European Procurement & Public-Private Partnership Law Review, and is on the advisory board of The Government Contractor. He has worked on a wide array of international projects on capacity-building in procurement, and he was an advisor to the U.S. delegation to the working group on reform of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Procurement Law. Together with Professors Daniel Gordon and Steven Schooner, he runs a colloquium series on procurement reform at The George Washington University Law School. In private practice, Professor Yukins has been an associate, partner and counsel at leading national firms; he is currently counsel to the firm of Arnold & Porter LLP.
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  STEPHEN ZIMMERMANN

  Director of Operations for the World Bank Integrity Vice-Presidency (INT)

  Stephen Zimmermann is the Director of Operations for the World Bank Integrity Vice-Presidency (INT). Mr. Zimmermann directs a multi-disciplinary team of more than 60 lawyers, investigators, forensic accountants, analysts and anti-corruption experts charged with detecting, investigating, sanctioning and preventing fraud and corruption in Bank-financed activities around the world. Since assuming his position, he has had a leading role in developing and implementing an expanded strategy for the World Bank’s integrity agenda, including the introduction of negotiated resolutions of investigations, reforms to the World Bank’s sanctions process, expansion of joint investigations with national authorities, introduction of restitution and enhancements to the Voluntary Disclosure Program. In addition, he led efforts to reach a historic cross-debarment agreement signed by the World Bank and four leading regional multilateral development banks for mutual enforcement of sanctions decisions. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Mr. Zimmermann was the first Chief of the Office of Institutional Integrity for the Inter-American Development Bank. He also has served as the interim Chief of Staff for the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil for Food Program. Mr. Zimmermann has also served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Department of Justice and as an attorney with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering.