Roy Berg Pedersen was first elected by the General Assembly in
Oslo in September 2003 and again at the Cartagena General Assembly
in September 2005. He has had extensive experience in the Norwegian
Federation of Co-operative Housing Associations (NBBL). From 1974 to
1985, Mr Pedersen held the position of Adviser on economic and
political matters at NBBL. He then became Section Manager and later
Organisational Manager. Since 1994 he has held the position of
Deputy Managing Director of NBBL. Other positions held include
Chairperson of the Board of BS Insurance and Chairperson of the
Board, BS Media.
Esther Gicheru (Kenya)
Esther Gicheru has a long and distinguished career in
co-operatives both nationally and internationally. As principal of
the Kenya Co-operative College , she has contributed a lot to the
promotion of co-operative HRD in the African region. At the global
level, she is currently serving as Vice Chair of the ICA Global
Human Resource Development Committee. She is also an active co-opted
member of the Board of the ICA . Mrs Gicheru has many years of
experience on public and co-operative bodies and has been widely
published on co-operative issues.
Phil Holmes (United Kingdom)
Phil Holmes is a qualified accountant and a fellow member of the
Chartered Association of Certified Accountants in the UK. He is
currently the Finance Manager for Co-operatives UK. He has been a
co-opted member of the ICA Audit and Control Committee for the last
two years and was a member of the working group involved in the
production of the ICA financial control handbook which was issued in
December 2004. He is also a member of the special working group on
international accounting standards.
Toshifumi Yamashita (Japan)
Mr. Toshifumi Yamashita was elected as the President of the Japanese Consumers' Co-operative Union (JCCU) at its 57th General Assembly on 15 June 2007. He succeeded Mr. Shugo Ogura. Mr. Yamashita started his career in the co-operative movement in 1967. As a leader of consumer co-operatives, he has played important roles in the organisation of a business federation and seeking amendments of the Consumer Co-operative Society Law. Mr. Yamashita holds other positions including Vice Chairmanship of CCW (Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide). He is a member of the ICA Governance Group and member of the ICA Working Group on International Accounting Standards.
Mr. Silva holds a Bachelor of Arts honors degree in Social Statistics. He has a Post Graduate Degree with a diploma in Social Statistics (Australia) and a Masters in Women's Studies. While specialising in many fields of study he is an expert in Micro-Finance and Micro Insurance, Institutional Capacity-Building and Strengthening Social Mobilisation and Project Formulation. He is a Consultant Co-ordinator to the UNDP Oxfam GV, CARE, World Vision, NGO Management Development Centre (NGOMDC). He is also a Lecturer in Economic and Statistics at the University of Colombo.
