The CHS Alliance welcomes its new governing board

21 November 2019

The CHS Alliance is pleased to announce the appointment of seven newly elected board members and reappointment of Robert Tickner as the CHS Alliance board chair.

The CHS Alliance is pleased to announce the appointment of seven board members.

Four of these newly elected board members represent CHS Alliance full member organisations, these are:

  • Coleen Heemskerk, International Director of Strategic Planning, Act Church of Sweden​
  • Rehema Kajungu, Deputy Country Director, TPO Uganda​
  • Jacqueline Koster, Deputy Director, Disaster Response & Preparedness, World Renew (Re-elected)
  • Robert Sweatman, Head of Performance and Accountability, British Red Cross (Re-elected)

Three of our new board members take up independent places on the board, these are:

  • Mohamed Zahid Almasri, Independent, Director of International Coordination and Missions, Physicians Across Continents
  • Yegana Guliyeva, Independent, Cofounder & Former Institutional Development Adviser, Agra Information Centre (AIM-Azerbaijan)
  • Robert Tickner, Independent, Former Acting Under Secretary General, Partnerships – International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Former CEO, Australian Red Cross​ (Re-elected)

The list of all current Board members can be found on our Governance page: https://www.chsalliance.org/about/our-governance/

Reappointment of CHS Alliance Chair 

We are also very pleased to announce that Robert Tickner has been re-elected as chairperson of the CHS Alliance board, effective 20 November 2019.

Robert is former Federal Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs in Australia, with a distinguished career at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, most recently as the Acting Under Secretary General, Partnerships. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Australian Red Cross from 2005 to 2015.

Robert notes that: I am honoured to be re-elected for a second term as the Chair of the CHS Alliance Board, and have a deep respect and appreciation for the work of my fellow Board members.

I am particularly pleased that the German government now recognises verification against the CHS as part of their Partner Capacity Assessment process, and find it very encouraging that other donor agencies are looking to adopt this approach. I look forward to leading the CHS Alliance Board at this pivotal time for the humanitarian sector.”