ICA Staff

Director-General

Charles "Chuck" Gould (American) 
Charles Gould came to the ICA in 2010 having been named one of the fifty most influential leaders in the United States in the non-profit sector for the five preceding years. Since his arrival he has helped the Board to transform ICA strategy, which has now resulted in a Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade, designed to build on the International Year of Co-operatives and take the global co-operative sector into a period of growth and impact. He has partnered with co-operatives and others to expand the knowledge of the co-operative sector, recently launching the World Co-operative Monitor, which analyses co-operatives, including the sector’s largest, within a statistical and comparative framework. And he has circumnavigated the  globe to put the co-operative sector on the mainstream map.

Before he joined the ICA, Gould had been Chief Executive Officer of Volunteers of America, a health care, housing and human services organisation headquartered in Washington D.C. During his 15 year tenure he oversaw the growth of the organisation from a mid-tier non-profit into an organisation with a staff of 16,000 and an annual budget of USD 1 billion.

Before joining Volunteers of America, Mr. Gould practised as an attorney-at-law with Arnold & Porter and with Hogan & Hartson, US law firms in Washington D.C.

email: gould@ica.coop | phone: +32 2 743 10 32 | skype: ica_gould 

Director of Policy

Elizabeth "Betsy" Dribben (American)
Betsy Dribben joined the ICA on July 1, 2011 as the Director of Policy and is based in Washington DC.  Ms. Dribben has extensive political experience both in the US and internationally.  For more than eighteen years she ran the Humane Society of the US European office (which she created) and in that capacity lobbied the European Union and member states on environmental issues. She played a direct role in the EU’s establishment of a comprehensive ban on large scale driftnets in EU waters.  During her tenure as EU director, she also served as the organization’s chief United Nations representative at ECOSOC for more than a decade lobbying throughout the United Nations system and worked on Agenda 21  issues.  Her experience also includes five years on both the US House and Senate sides as a press and legislative aide as well as having served as a federal counsel for the American Bankers Association (ABA) where she worked on consumer regulatory issues and focused on Federal Reserve decisions.  Ms. Dribben is an attorney with a BA degree from Wheaton College in Norton Mass and a Juris Doctor degree from George Mason University in Northern Virginia. She is fluent in French.  

email: dribben@ica.coop | phone: +1 202-442-2308 | skype: edribbe1

Director of Communications

Nicola Huckerby (British) 
Nicola Huckerby was appointed as Director of Communications in September 2011, having joined the ICA in February that year as a secondee from The Co-operative Group to the post of International Year of Co-operatives Co-ordinator. Based in the UK, Nicola is responsible for developing the ICA's global communications strategy her remit includes managing the ICA's web presence and overseeing the rebranding and launch of the global co-operative identity.  Prior to joining the co-operative movement in June 2010, Nicola had been Chief Executive of three UK tourism organisations, leading up to 100 staff with budgets of c.£7 million.  Her destination branding and event management career spans over twenty five years. Nicola has a BA in Economics (Birmingham City University, England) and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management.

email: huckerby@ica.coop | phone: +44 (0) 20 3286 8212 | skype: ica_kelly1

Director of Membership

Gretchen Hacquard (American)
Gretchen Hacquard joined the ICA in 2006 and is currently the Director of Membership and coordinator for the ICA Youth Network.   Gretchen comes from the US co-operative movement and was a youth representative to the ICA.  For five years, she was Legislative Director of the U.S. Overseas Co-operative Development Council (OCDC) where she represented co-operative members with various domestic and international government bodies.  She also worked for NRECA International Foundation and Land O`Lakes International Development Programmes.  Ms. Warner has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Montana State University (USA); and a Masters degree in International Affairs from American University’s School of International Service (USA). 
email: hacquard@ica.coop | phone: +41 22 534 99 29 | skype: ica_hacquard

Agricultural Advisor & Sectoral Information Manager

Gwangseog Hong (Korean)
Gwangseog Hong worked for the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) in Seoul, Korea since 1996.  Gwangseog was seconded to the ICA in February 2011 for a two-year period as Agricultural Adviser and sectoral Information Manager. Mr. Hong most recently worked with the NACF international co-operative office, but has also held positions at NACF in finance and research. Prior to joining NACF he was a journalist for the Korean Farmers Newspaper and a researcher with the World Agriculture Policy Institute in Korea. He holds a master's degrees in agricultural economics from the Ohio State University (USA) and Seoul National University (Korea). 
email: hong@ica.coop | phone: +41 (0) 22 534 9919 | skype: ica_hong

Administrative Manager

Soizick Menais (French)
Soizick Menais joined the ICA in September 2011 as Administrative Manager. Based in Brussels, Soizick provides overall administrative support to the ICA Global Office. Prior to this assignment she worked in international companies in Paris and Brussels.
email: menais@ica.coop | phone: +32 (0) 2 743 10 31 | skype: ica_menais

Project Administrator

Antonina Guarrella (Italian)
Antonina Guarrella joined the ICA in November 2011 as Project Administrator.  She began working in the co-operative movement in 1982. In 1984, Antonina joined the European Confederation of Workers' Co-operatives, Social Co-operatives and Social and Participative Enterprises - (CECOP) where she especially appreciated the broad range of activities and work she was involved in and the very dynamic professional environment.  In 2006, after 22 years, she left CECOP for the newly created Cooperatives Europe, the European Regional Office of the ICA. 

email: guarrella@ica.coop | phone: +32 (0) 2 743 10 30 | skype: ica_guarrella

Regional Director - ACI Americas

Manuel Mariño (Swedish)
Manuel Mariño joined ICA's family as ROAM's Regional Director in October 2001. Before joining ICA, he was the Director of the Swedish Co-operative Centre (SCC) Regional Office located in San José, Costa Rica for four years (1996-2000). The SCC is a Swedish organisation constituted by the Swedish co-operative movement, which is focused in international co-operation and offers support to co-operatives in developing countries. Mr. Mariño has also worked at SCC Head Office in Stockholm, Sweden from 1984 to 1996. He was the Director of the Latin American Department and was also responsible for projects in Kenya and Zimbabwe and the relations with the European Union, Inter-American Development Bank, and UN among others. He has an expertise in project development and co-operation. Mr. Mariño has published two books 'Commercialisation of agricultural products in Mozambique, ASDI', in September 1984 and 'International Co-operation and Co-operative Development' and has written various articles on many topics. He has also been invited as a speaker to seminars, conferences on co-operative issues in Europe and the Americas. 
email: direccion@aciamericas.coop 

Regional Director - ICA Africa

Dr Chiyoge Sifa (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Dr Chiyoge Buchekabiri Sifa is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her experience with co-operative movement dates back to the 1990s when she was working as management trainee with the Central Co-operative for Savings and Credits (COCCEC-KIVU) in Bukavu, Zaire. More recently, she was engaged with the movement in developing strategic plan for co-operatives in Kenya, as deputy director in charge of co-operative capacity building and training with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDT) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Most recently, she was director, Cooperatives Program at the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation agency (ATA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In that capacity, she spearheaded the development of a five-year sector development strategy for agricultural cooperatives in Ethiopia that entailed consultations with diverse range of stakeholders.

She hold PhD in Strategic Management from University of Nairobi  and has taught for more than five years at various universities within Africa where she was involved in both administrative and academic duties as member of the senate, chair of the MBA program and external examiner for MBA projects. Before joining academia, she worked with both private and public organizations at various levels from both for profit making and non-profit making enterprises across industries and countries.

email: chiyoge.sifa@icaafrica.coop 

Regional Director - ICA Asia & the Pacific

Dr Chan-Ho Choi (Korean)

Dr Chan-Ho Choi assumed his position as Regional Director for ICA Asia-Pacific on 1 January 2010.  Dr Choi was formerly General Manager of the International Co-operation Office of the National Agricultural Co-operative Federation (NACF) of Korea, Secretary-General of the ICAO, ICA’s agricultural co-operative organisation, and Secretary-General of the Korean Co-operative Council. He comes to the ICA with more than 30 years co-operative experience and strong academic background in agriculture. Dr Choi also spent three years at the ICA Central Office on secondment from NACF. 
email: choi@icaroap.coop

Regional Director - Cooperatives Europe

Klaus Niederländer (German)

Klaus Niederländer became the Director of Cooperatives Europe and the Regional Director for Europe on 15 November 2010.  Mr. Niederländer comes to the ICA with a professional background in enterprise development via his experience as a financial analyst, management consultant and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) programme manager in Europe, Africa and the United States. He has hands-on experience of developing co-operative enterprises and movements in various countries of Africa e.g. in the artisanal textile sector and for the development of fair trade cotton. Co-operative development has deep roots in his family's history with their involvement in the creation and development of the local co-operative banking and agricultural sector in the South Western part of Germany. 

email: k.niederlander@coopseurope.coop