Governance Board

Our Governance Board provides advice, checks and balances on the structure and operation of the organisation. The Governance Board:

  • Fulfils the duties and responsibilities of Company Directors
  • Advises on and approves organisational structure, including the structure and composition of the Governance and Advisory Boards and any other Boards and Committees it deems necessary
  • Advises on and approves organisational policies and commitments, including grant and commercial agreements
  • Advises on and approves annual roadmaps, plans and budgets, and any changes to these
  • Provides oversight on the Executive Director, including their appointment, performance reviews, remuneration decisions, and delegated powers

The Board:

  • Ensures our organisational set up reflects our values and supports our mission and strategy, so we are more successful
  • Supports the development of the Executive Director, so they are more effective as a leader, manager and external voice
  • Provides assurance for prospective funders about the good governance and sustainability of the organisation

The Governance Board is complementary to the Advisory Board, which provides strategic advice. Unlike members of the Advisory Board, members of the Governance Board are Directors of the organisation and have official decision making powers and responsibilities.

Karin Christiansen

Board Chair and Non-Executive Director

Karin is the managing director of Datapraxis. Before that she served as the General Secretary of the UK Cooperative Party, set up and ran the aid transparency campaigning organisation Publish What You Fund, chaired and stepped in as interim CEO the open data non-profit Open Knowledge Foundation. She started her career as an aid and public finance expert including as a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute.

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Louise Crow

Non-Executive Director

Louise Crow is the Chief Executive of mySociety, where she has been working on developing digital technologies that enable civic and democratic participation for the last 15 years in a variety of leadership roles. As part of her work there, she developed and led mySociety’s programmes around climate and access to information. With a background in software development, and a PhD in artificial intelligence, she has worked in a wide range of organisations, including digital and biotech startups, academia and the UK Parliament.

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Karien Bezuidenhout

Non-Executive Director

Karien studied business and emerging market economics at the University of Stellenbosch and the University of Cape Town. As a Director of the Shuttleworth Foundation, she works to increase equity in the philanthropic exchange. As an experienced practitioner, she partners with individuals who employ openness as a tool to advance systems change towards social justice.

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Hera Hussain

Non-Executive Director

Hera is the Founder and CEO of CHAYN - a global nonprofit that creates resources on the web to address gender-based violence. Chayn’s multilingual resources, designed with, not for survivors, have reached more than 500 000 people. Raised in Pakistan and living in the UK, Hera knew from early on she wanted to tackle violence against women. She believes in using the power of open source technology, trauma-informed design and hope-filled framing to solve the world’s pressing issues. Hera is an Ashoka Fellow, and was on the Forbes 30 Under 30, MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 and European Young Leader 2020 list.

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Jeni Tennison (she/her)

Founder and Executive Director

Jeni is an expert in all things data, from technology, to governance, strategy, and public policy.

She is the founder and Executive Director of Connected by Data. She undertakes this work as a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow, Adjunct Professor at Southampton’s Web Science Institute, and an Associated Researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.

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