Message from the CEO

It is not often that someone gets to do their “dream job” so I am feeling very grateful and humbled by the opportunity to serve as CEO of TINZ. The first month in the role has been a very eventful one. Here are some of the highlights.

International Anti-Corruption Academy

Day one in the role coincided with the first day of the International Anti-Corruption Academy’s (IACA) Summer Academy 2016 in Laxenburg, Vienna. The IACA Summer Academy is an intensive programme with eight days of rich discussion and interaction with around 80 peers and world-leading experts. Participants came from more than 40 countries and represented the public and private sectors, international organisations, academia, media, and civil society.

It consists of approximately 55 lecture hours, roundtable discussions, group work, team-building activities, and social events. The interdisciplinary programme blended theory and practice, addressing topical anti-corruption and compliance issues from multiple perspectives: politics, compliance and collective action, integrity and corruption prevention, law, psychology, economics, good governance, and development.

Our lecturers came from a wide variety of leading institutions, including IACA, the World Bank, Transparency International (featuring TI’s very own Peter Eigen – co-founder of Transparency International), London Business School, University of Passau (Germany), Flinders University (Australia), and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).

This was an invaluable opportunity for me to shift my thinking from the strategic role on the Board of TINZ as Deputy Chair to the operational role of CEO. The classroom hours were wonderful and the range of topics covered impressive. Just as helpful however was the time spent networking with practitioners from all over the world and making new like-minded friends.

Transparency International United Kingdom

Following on from the Summer Academy I spent a few days in the UK (an interesting place to be post Brexit) and caught up with the TIUK Chapter, led by the very competent Robert Barrington. It was fantastic to spend a day in their office and see how they operated. With a staff of around 30 it was an inspiration as well! We have much in common with the UK; I intend to collaborate with them when beneficial to the TINZ agenda. I also spent an hour at the Institute of Business Ethics with their inspiring Director Philippa Foster-Back whom I had met previously in New Zealand.

Transparency International Secretariat Berlin

Next stop on the itinerary was at the Transparency International Secretariat in Berlin. Despite the fact that they were in the middle of a restructuring process, they kindly arranged a day of meetings for me with the various directors of areas of interest to TINZ, ranging from the Open Government Partnership to Public Sector Integrity systems.

I was very fortunate to spend an hour with Peter Eigen, whom I met when he lectured at IACA. Peter has very fond memories of New Zealander Jeremy Pope, who was a co-founder of Transparency International with Peter and its first ever CEO. We shared our hopes and our dreams for the world. He offered his friendship and support where needed for my work as CEO of TINZ.

My first day back in New Zealand culminated in my first Board Meeting as CEO. Despite the jet lag making this seem a little like a dream too, my feet are now firmly back on NZ soil and walking steadily in the direction of making the dream a reality. I look forward to you all joining me on that journey.

Ngâ mihi

Janine