IDEAS Associates & Staff

IDEAS Centre was created in 2002 by late Arthur Dunkel, former GATT Director-General, and by Nicolas Imboden, former Swiss Government Trade Delegate and Ambassador in charge of Swiss economic cooperation with developing countries.

IDEAS Centre is totally independent and does neither represent, nor pursue specific interests. We are strongly dedicated to contributing to the formation of a more development-friendly international trading system, one that contributes to peace, prosperity and stability for all in the world.

The Centre has a strong and dedicated team with extensive experience in trade negotiations and development assistance thus combining the trade policy and WTO knowledge with the development concern.

Nicolas IMBODEN
Executive Director

Nicolas Imboden (1946) a Swiss national, graduated in law at the University of Geneva, holds a degree in development studies from the then African Development Institute; a M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston and was an AMP student at Harvard.
 
He is partner and cofounder of IDEAS Centre. Previous he was Senior Vice President of SGS (1999-2002), a Swiss Government trade and aid official with the rank of an ambassador (1992-1999), Governor of the regional development banks (ADB, AFDB, IDB) and Executive Director at the EBRD (1992). He was the Swiss negotiator for market access and agriculture during the Uruguay Round negotiations (1987-1992). He also worked in the World Bank as an agricultural economist (1978-1982), OECD (1974-1978 as researcher on aid monitoring) and UNDP (1972-1974 as Program Officer in Chad).
 
He is currently a member of the Board of the Foundation of the "Institut Universitaire d'Etudes de Développement" (Geneva) and of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in Canada. He has been a member of various Expert Groups of the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and of the UNDP Human Development Report.

Nicolas IMBODEN, Executive Director
email: nicolas.imboden@ideascentre.ch
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Philippe BOREL
Senior Policy Advisor

Mr.Philippe Borel (1974) holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Middle East Studies from McGill University (Montréal, Canada) in addition to a Diplôme d'études supérieures from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (IUHEI) in Geneva Switzerland. During his studies in Canada , he worked as a research assistant in the regulatory and juridical affairs division of a telecommunications company in the early days of telecommunications liberalization in Canada . Subsequent to his studies in Switzerland , he joined the Trade in Services Division of the World Trade Organization where he served for four years as an Economic Affairs Officer and co-secretary to the negotiating body (Special Session) of the Council for Trade in Services. His duties also included extensive technical assistance to Members and acceding countries ( Bhutan , Lebanon , Sudan ) to the WTO.

Philippe Borel, Senior Policy Advisor
email: philippe.borel@ideascentre.ch

Josip PERVAN
Senior Policy Advisor

Mr. Josip Pervan (1970) holds a MA degree in business economics from the Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria. After finishing his studies he joined the Croatian Ministry of Economy where he participated in the completion of the Croatian WTO accession negotiations. Later on he moved to the Ministry of European Integration of Croatia where he worked as a part of the team which concluded the negotiations on the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between Croatia and the EU. Between 2002 and 2007 he was a trade diplomat at the Croatian Mission in Geneva responsible, among other issues, for the Croatian representation with the WTO and WIPO. As a leader of two negotiating groupings in two separate negotiating processes he was articulating and advocating specific interests of developing countries and transition economies. In WIPO, he coordinated the Regional Group of Central European and Baltic States, while in the WTO he served as a long-term leader of the Recently Acceded Members (RAMs). Josip has also published articles and analyses on issues concerning International trade in Croatian business newspapers and in the Bulletin of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce.      

Josip Pervan, Policy Advisor
email: josip.pervan@ideascentre.ch

Natacha BOGORAD
Project Manager

Natacha Bogorad (1977): Project Manager. Graduated in international relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies of Geneva (IUHEI) in 2002. During her studies, she worked as the executive assistant to a partner of a law firm. At IDEAS Centre she has managed the cotton project and was in charge of its training component. She now manages the Geneva Trade & Development Forum (www.gtdforum.org). She also is the co-author of the chapter on trade of the “Annuaire Suisse de politique du développement” for 2004 and its author for 2005, published by the Graduate Institute of Development Studies of Geneva (IUED).

Natacha BOGORAD, Project Manager
email: natacha.bogorad@ideascentre.ch
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Anne-Sophie NIVET
Project Manager

Anne-Sophie Nivet (1973) holds a Ph. D in Political Science from the Centre d’Etudes d’Afrique noire (Bordeaux University, France) and a masters of research in African studies. As a researcher, she worked on European development and trade policies, regional integration in West Africa and aid for trade issues. Parallel to  her research activities, she taught political science and development issues at the Institute of Political Studies (Bordeaux) and Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris). She also worked as an occasional consultant for various French institutions (Haut Conseil de la Coopération internationale, Direction générale de la Coopération internationale et du Développement, Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales).

Anne-Sophie NIVET, Project Manager
email: anne-sophie.nivet@ideascentre.ch
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Solange GUYE
Project Manager

Ms. Solange Guye (1979) holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (IUHEI) in Geneva in addition to a Certified Project Management Associate Diploma from the Institut suisse pour la formation des chefs d’entreprise (IFCAM) in Lausanne. Solange started her career at SOFI (Swiss Organisation for Facilitating Investments), where she was trained to become World Bank Group (WBG) Private Sector Liaison Officer. Later on she moved to SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance) as a consultant within the Governments and Institutions division which is dedicated to providing a wide range of trade facilitation and sustainable development services aimed at promoting commercial exchanges and legitimate trade. Before joining IDEAS Centre, Solange worked as a Project Officer at the Business Humanitarian Forum, a Geneva-based non-profit organisation which encourages effective cooperation between the private sector and development/humanitarian organizations. In her present position she is responsible for managing IDEAS Centre project in Vietnam. She is also responsible for the Trade and Climate change initiative under the Geneva Trade and Development Forum (GTDF).

Solange Guye, Project Manager

email: solange.guye@ideascentre.ch

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Laurent CHARLET

Project Officer

Laurent Charlet (1980) holds a postgraduate diploma in sustainable development from the University of Geneva (2006) where he specialized in issues related to international trade and agriculture, and a degree in International Relations from the Institute of International and Development Studies (HEID) (2002). Before joining IDEAS Centre, Laurent worked on a short term basis with UNCTAD, IATP and for a longer period with the Bern Declaration. He was able to further his experience with issues related to development in particular with trade and agriculture. With Ideas Centre, he is working for the Geneva Trade and Development Forum since June 2007.

Laurent CHARLET, Project Officer

email: laurent.charlet@ideascentre.ch

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Finance Manager
Finance Manager

email: odile.eichenberger@ideascentre.ch
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Odile EICHENBERGER
Administrative Service

Odile Eichenberger , Administrative Service
email: odile.eichenberger@ideascentre.ch
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