Meet Your Blogger

Greetings all guests and supporters of the Global Forum on NGO Governance! I’m honored to take part as a regular contributor to this site. I’m a governance consultant based in Belgrade, Serbia, and Prague, Czech Republic. My activities ranges from facilitation at board meetings to help with strategic planning, self-evaluations, and board orientations—in short, any activity in which NGO boards engage and might need some help.

Granted, it’s a specialized line of work that not many people have heard of. I first got my start at BoardSource, where I was director of global programs in Europe and Asia. When my family moved to Central Europe six years ago, I realized that there was a big need for consultants who could supply services—and sometimes simply moral support—to new and relatively inexperienced board members in this region. I started working in countries such as Ukraine, Hungary, and Croatia and since then have gone on to work with boards throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. My clients range from small grassroots organizations to large foundations and international schools.

I love what I do because it allows me to look into the very heart of an NGO and help its leaders deal directly with knotty problems they may have overlooked or prefer to ignore. Because it’s a new and small field—not to mention that we deal with issues that can be very country- or organization-specific—those of us who consult with NGO boards often feel that we must improvise or ad-lib in our work.

But that’s what keeps it exciting and challenging! In future posts I look forward to sharing my experiences as a consultant and hearing from those among you who also provide support and services to NGO boards—whether as a consultant, board member, executive director, or simply as a supporter of good governance.