This blog is the first in a series of seven we’ll be publishing about OpenCorporates Phase Two. Read the other blogs in this series here.
Just under a year ago, we announced we’re working on a new corporate structure to provide a strong, long-term foundation for OpenCorporates, now that it is becoming essential data infrastructure.
We’re delighted to formally announce the creation of the OpenCorporates Trust, the legal entity that will guarantee OpenCorporates’ mission, ensuring we always operate to open up company data for the wider public good.
It is a testament to OpenCorporates success, and to its importance, that we have attracted a truly world class set of trustees, from business to tech, anti-corruption to data journalism, NGO to corporate. It was vital to us that our trustees represented the diversity of our users, as was attracting people whose reputations and experience would guarantee that we would not stray from our mission.
Introducing our new trustees
Patrick Alley
Co-founder and director of Global Witness, the world’s leading anti-corruption NGO. Since co-founding Global Witness in 1993, Patrick has taken part in over fifty field investigations in South East Asia, Africa and Europe and in subsequent advocacy activities.
Esther Dyson
Executive founder of Wellville and chairman of EDventure Holdings, Esther is an active angel investor, best-selling author, board member and advisor concentrating on emerging markets and technologies, new space and health.
John Githongo
John is a veteran anti-corruption investigator, whose fight is told in Michela Wrong’s book It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower. He is now the CEO of Inuka, a Kenyan grass-roots NGO working to create an informed citizenry.
Mike Olson
Mike co-founded Cloudera in 2008 and served as its CEO until 2013 when he took on his current role of chief strategy officer (CSO). He was also heavily involved in setting up the Cloudera Foundation in 2017, and was Chair of the board of Datakind, which encourages the use of data science to solve humanitarian challenges.
Giannina Segnini
Giannina Segnini is the director of the Data Journalism at Columbia University in New York. She also leads the Columbia Journalism Investigations, a team of post-graduate fellows who investigate cross-border collaborative stories using data.
Jane Wales
Jane Wales is CEO of the Global Philanthropy Forum and World Affairs, vice-president of the Aspen Institute, and host of the nationally-syndicated National Public Radio interview show World Affairs. Wales is the former Associate Director of the White House Office of Science Technology Policy, and Senior Director of the National Security Council.
This trust will form a key part in the new governance structure of OpenCorporates, safeguarding OpenCorporates’ public mission of making company information more widely available for the public good. How it will do so will be covered by our next post on the restructure, “The Triple Lock – how OpenCorporates’ new structure actually works”.
Finally, a huge thank you to our new trustees – welcome to OpenCorporates, we look forward to working with you!
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