Open Ownership- Executive Director

Executive Director APPOINTMENT BRIEF | FEBRUARY 2019

Welcome Thank you for your interest in becoming OpenOwnership’s first Executive Director.

We were established by multiple civil society and private sector stakeholders (Global Witness, One, OpenCorporates, Open Contracting Partnership, The B Team, Transparency International and the World Wide Web Foundation) as a part of their collective efforts to tackle corruption, money laundering and illicit financial flows.

OpenOwnership is dedicated to increasing corporate transparency across the world by making it easy to publish and access high-quality data about who owns companies. Anonymous shell companies enable corruption, fraud, organised crime and tax evasion. The wider the access to high quality data on who owns what, the harder it will be for corrupt individuals to hide. By leading the development of an open, global beneficial ownership data and policy ecosystem, we aim to create a new set of norms and end anonymous company ownership. We have a strong track- record of collaboration with governments, civil society and business. As the momentum behind beneficial ownership has grown, with many governments now committed to implementing public registers, OpenOwnership has recognised the opportunity to expand its mandate and impact.

We are now seeking our first Executive Director, to move us to our next phase of development as we seek scale and impact for our cutting-edge work to end anonymous companies.

Entrepreneurial in approach, you will have the drive and vision to take our work to a new level, transforming it from its technical focus to drive global advocacy, implementation and knowledge exchange on registers of beneficial ownership. To achieve this, you will need to be an inspiring leader, a strategic thinker and have outstanding representation skills in order to increase our funding, build partnerships and advocate for us on high-level global platforms.

You will be supported by a robust and well-networked Steering Group and a committed and talented team of staff.

We believe that this is one of the most exciting roles in the anti-corruption sector. We have ambitious plans for the coming years and we are looking for a dynamic leader to ensure we achieve our ultimate goal of ending anonymous company ownership.

If you share our passion and vision, we want to hear from you!

Gavin Hayman, Robin Hodess and Chris Taggart (Nominations Committee, OpenOwnership Steering Group)

About Us Who We are

Our Mission

OpenOwnership is led by a Steering Group of the world’s

Each year, billions of dollars in illicit funds – the fruits

leading transparency organisations and allied business,

of crime, corruption and tax evasion – pass through

including Transparency International, Global Witness, the

anonymous shell companies. They are the most popular

ONE Campaign, The B Team, Open Contracting Partnership,

getaway vehicle for grand corruption by far, used in 70%

and OpenCorporates.

of cases between 1980 and 2010. By remaining hidden,

Our Vision

owners of shell companies escape accountability and the

Anonymously-owned companies stand in the way of better,

communities.

costs of their illicit activities are inevitably passed on to

fairer markets and a more just society. Our vision is of a world in which it is standard practice for companies and

Our mission is to drive greater corporate transparency

trusts to publish trusted beneficial ownership information

across the world by making it easy to publish and access

publicly – not just to banks, law enforcement, or potential

high-quality, linked data about who owns companies.

business partners. A world in which the availability of beneficial ownership data has become normalized as an essential part of every business transaction that takes place in the world.

Beneficial ownership data is accessible to a wide variety of users, from business to government to civil society, in the cloud. Corporates don’t need to submit the same information to multiple platforms, making it easier and less costly for them to provide and maintain reliable beneficial ownership information. Beneficial ownership data is also linked across jurisdictions, rather than remaining in individual national silos, allowing users to visualize the transnational connections between people and companies.

The result will be greater accountability for people operating companies for unethical purposes. When corporate opacity is rarer, it will also be far more difficult for these companies to evade scrutiny by law enforcement.

And with the easy availability of high-quality, linkable data, investigators will find it easier to track down the ultimate destination of illicit financial flows.

Ultimately, our goal is to end anonymous company ownership by leading the development of an open, global beneficial ownership data and policy ecosystem and creating a new set of norms around corporate transparency.

Governance and Finances OpenOwnership was established by a coalition of international organisations, including Global Witness, Open Contracting Partnership, OpenCorporates, The B Team, Transparency International and ONE. These organisations compose the Steering Group, which has a rotating Chair.

In September 2017, Fund for the City of New York (FCNY) became the fiscal sponsor of OpenOwnership. FCNY was established by the Ford Foundation in 1968. For over three decades, in partnership with government agencies, nonprofit institutions and foundations, the Fund has developed and helped to implement innovations in policy, programs, practices and technology in order to advance the functioning of government and nonprofit organisations.

OpenOwnership staff are employed by FCNY and are responsible for delivery of activities and financial management of the project. FCNY provides light-touch technical oversight of funds and legal governance, but the Steering Group remains responsible for strategic long-term

Background On the first anniversary of the Panama Papers leak, the OpenOwnership Register was released to the public as the first global, open database of company ownership information, bringing the true owners and beneficiaries of companies into the open.

governance, including the direction and strategy, and as the

The Panama Papers – which detailed the offshore assets

ultimate ‘owners’ of the organisation.

of hundreds of thousands of people across the world,

Funding

including politicians and heads of state – revealed a complex

We have £3,000,000 in funding from the Department for International Development (DFID) and are in a strong position to increase our funding from diverse sources in the future, led by our new Executive Director.

Find out more here And here

web of fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. These illicit and illegal activities impose a tremendous drain on global development – squandering resources which could otherwise be used to build schools, health clinics, roads and bridges or to deliver vital social services. These are unacceptably high costs for citizens – and businesses, too.

Grand corruption is a networked problem; to fight it we need a networked solution. OpenOwnership’s work builds on commitments made by over 40 countries, led by the UK, to tackle corruption. Of these, several countries have committed to or are considering public beneficial ownership registers.

Our Strategic Priorities 2017-2019

We are focused on three closely connected strategic priorities...

01

02

03

Ensuring beneficial ownership data is

Ensuring beneficial ownership data is

Articulate the benefits and incentivise

accessible and usable, covering a wide

used by a wide variety of users, and is

companies to disclose their beneficial

swathe of jurisdictions and sectors,

an essential part of business processes.

ownership.

high-quality, and open data.

Our Actions To deliver on these strategic priorities, we provide a range of support for beneficial ownership data publishers and users, including: Building the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard.

The Standard is being developed in collaboration with dozens of international experts in company data and in technical standard setting. It will enable the resulting beneficial ownership data to be interoperable, more easily reused, and higher quality.

Find out more here Delivering the OpenOwnership pilot program. We provide technical assistance to support data publishers in national governments and multinational institutions to publish high quality, highly usable beneficial ownership data. The outcome is high-quality beneficial ownership data infrastructures that comply with our data Standard and integrate with the OpenOwnership Register.

Find out more here Building the OpenOwnership Register. The data on the OpenOwnership Register continues to grow (currently showing 5.5 million companies) as more governments implement public company ownership registers, providing users with access to global beneficial ownership information within a single, streamlined platform. The

Providing 1-1 technical assistance. We are committed to providing technical assistance to beneficial ownership data publishers in both the public and private sectors.

Our helpdesk will answer questions about technical implementation and provide a hub for sharing best practice and learnings from different implementations.

Find out more here Engaging the private sector. We are encouraging corporations and financial institutions to use the OpenOwnership Register as part of their due diligence processes and to submit their ownership data to the Register.

data is available in an open format for anyone to access,

Sharing knowledge and best practice. We will continue

download and reuse, free of charge.

to champion beneficial ownership transparency amongst

Find out more here

all our key stakeholder groups. This includes holding regular workshops and events to engage users and gather feedback, and collating and sharing briefing papers and real world use cases.

*Role may change.

Program Manager

Product Owner

Lead Developer

Project Lead*

Executive Director

Communications Associates

Organisational Chart

Operations Manager

Beneficial Ownership Lead

Data Standards Adoption Consultant

Open Standards Adoption Lead

Role Profile Job Title:

Reporting to:

Executive Director

Chair, Steering Group

Location:

Direct Reports:

London preferred, with international travel.

If located elsewhere, frequent travel to London is expected.

Project Lead

Salary:

circa ÂŁ80,000 negotiable, depending on skills and experience

Role Description Core Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Monitor and advise on the composition of any committees.

• Ensure that OpenOwnership fulfils its constitutional, legal

Leadership • Lead, develop and manage the performance of OpenOwnership.

• Drive and deliver the recently refreshed strategy to

and regulatory obligations.

• Manage key areas of risk, namely funding, operational and reputational risk.

Management

maximise OpenOwnership’s impact, collaborating with the Steering Group for direction and support.

• Lead the scaling up of OpenOwnership from a small project team to the next step in its evolution, to proof its concept and ensure its sustainability.

• Enable OpenOwnership to respond effectively to the fast pace of growth and demand for its services/support internationally.

• Provide strong and focused leadership across all of OpenOwnership’s advocacy, development, partnerships and operations to ensure excellence, cohesion and strong results.

• Ensure consistent engagement with all staff, the Steering Group, partners and other stakeholders.

• Take lead responsibility for making OpenOwnership a great place to work, and build a culture of high performance, continual learning and accountability.

• Ensure OpenOwnership’s ethos and values are upheld at all times.

Governance • Cultivate a strong and transparent working relationship with the Chair and Steering Group, encouraging and enabling input and support and ensure that OpenOwnership executes its governance responsibilities diligently.

• Ensure effective management of OpenOwnership to deliver its strategy through the business plan and budget • Ensure all aspects of human resources, finances and operations are to a high standard, in line with best practice and compliant with local legislation.

• Motivate, support and develop the staff team, enabling all individuals to fulfil their potential and perform effectively as a group.

• Ensure ongoing organisational performance monitoring and analysis with the Steering Group.

• Develop effective systems to track scaling progress, and regularly evaluate program components, to measure successes and effectively communicate it.

• Foster a culture that is inclusive, transparent and valuesled, especially in a distributed team that may grow internationally.

• Create regular opportunities for reflection, learning and staff professional development.

• Ensure that the Steering Group receives timely, accurate and appropriate information that enables it to fulfil its governance responsibilities and its statutory obligations.

Role Description Finance

External relations

• Be responsible to the Steering Group for the financial

• Lead OpenOwnership’s external relations strategy,

health and integrity of OpenOwnership.

• Ensure that annual budgets are prepared for approval by the Steering Group, expenditure is controlled and annual statutory financial reporting is fulfilled.

• Ensure open communication with the Steering Group regarding financial and organisational performance against agreed objectives.

• Ensure OpenOwnership has sustainable sources of income to fulfil its objectives, and minimise risk.

• Ensure relationships are maintained and strengthened with DFID (and future donors) including regular communication, engagement and timely and effective reporting.

including opportunities for engagement with donors, the media and on key platforms.

• Lead the fundraising and development strategy and be responsible for ensuring that OpenOwnership increases and diversifies its financial resources to achieve its vision.

• Represent OpenOwnership globally, engaging at the highest levels nationally and internationally and ensuring that OpenOwnership engenders trust in key stakeholders and partners.

• Establish partnerships with key organisations and governments that enable OpenOwnership to leverage its strengths and scale its influence.

• Provide the public face and voice of OpenOwnership, serving as a thought leader on beneficial ownership and a spokesperson on ending anonymous companies and the broader anti-corruption field.

• Create strong communications practices within the organisation and externally, to feature OpenOwnership in a range of formats and across audiences.

• Maintain and develop strong relations with partner organisations, government agencies and suppliers • Uphold OpenOwnership’s vision, mission and values at all times.

Other • Other duties as reasonably required by the Steering Group.

Person Specification Experience

• Experience running campaigns or programmes in a similar field.

Essential • Experience building a mission-driven organisation, driving vision to action.

• Previous experience in a senior leadership role at CEO or executive team level.

• Proven ability to build an effective team through guidance and coaching.

• Demonstrated history of working in complex international and politicised environments, in particular working with government.

• A track record of identifying and establishing strategic partnerships with a range of stakeholders.

• Experience with technology, open data and civic tech.

• Proven effective management of resources.

• Track record of fundraising success.

• Collaborative working with a Board of Trustees; strong understanding of good governance and strategic planning.

• Financial management experience and capability.

• Proven track record of successful people management and development.

• Change management abilities, with a track record of leading growth and developing a cohesive team.

Desirable

• A broad network of senior contacts in government, business and civil society relevant to anti-corruption.

• Experience in social entrepreneurship and startup environments.

• Experience of leading remote working teams and empowering distributed members towards a single strategy.

• Fluency in languages other than English.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities • Outstanding public speaking and writing in English and the ability to engage stakeholders around OpenOwnership’s work.

• In-depth knowledge of best practices in management and governance.

• Strong understanding of not-for-profit finance and measures of performance.

• Knowledge of the NGO fundraising environment; resource mobilisation capability.

• Ability and willingness to travel regularly, nationally and internationally.

• Visionary and inspirational leader, demonstrating sound judgement and diplomacy.

• Excellent networking skills, with the ability to build relationships and partnerships.

• High level of comfort in managing complexity.

• Understanding of issues around corporate transparency, corruption and beneficial ownership.

• Effective project management and organisational skills.

Person Specification Personal style and behaviour • Entrepreneurial approach, with the personal drive and hands-on approach to thrive in a start-up environment.

• Collaborative approach, able to work effectively with a wide range of people including the Steering Group, staff and external stakeholders.

• Gravitas, resilience, and a robust approach.

• Exceptional interpersonal skills across different cultures.

OpenOwnership is an equal opportunity employer.

Right to work in the United Kingdom is strongly preferred.

How to Apply Please forward a CV together with a supporting statement

Recruitment Timetable

of approximately 500 words. Please ensure that you have included relevant contact numbers, as well as any dates

Deadline for applications:

when you will not be available for interview as per the

4th March 2019

recruitment timetable.

Interviews with Prospectus:

Applications should be made via the Prospectus

11th – 14th March 2019

website at:

First interviews with Nomination Committee:

www.prospect-us.co.uk/executive/job/HQ00174274

w/c 25th March 2019 Second interviews with Steering Group: w/c 1st April 2019

Queries If you wish to have an informal discussion about the opportunity, please contact our retained advisors Fiona Wansborough or Eva Farina at Prospectus on 020 7691 1920, or email: fiona.wansborough@prospect-us.co.uk eva.farina@prospect-us.co.uk

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