Introducing the new Advisory Board of Civio

We are quite pleased with what we have been able to achieve thus far. Despite the difficulties faced when trying to measure it quantitatively, we believe we have had substantial impact in several key fronts over the last three years. The number of users of our projects shows significant growth, and we have built a widely recognized solid reputation for rigor and quality in all of our work and, thanks to our donors, we have also been able to increase our funding successfully.

Having said this, we believe our biggest challenges still lie ahead. We need to dramatically expand our reach among the general public –beyond our current highly motivated audience–, consolidate our diversified revenue sources and draw up the right strategies to achieve the targeted cultural and legislative changes over time.

With this challenges in mind, we have asked five individuals with an international profile who share our values and connect with our objectives to join the new Advisory Board of Civio. Highly qualified figures whose work we admire. Persons committed to increasing the quality of international democracy through a combined deployment of ‘old’ and new digital tools; people who share our vision of a society built by a better informed, active and participative citizenry.

We are proud to count with:

Nathaniel Heller (R4D, USA)

Nathaniel (@integrilicious) is Managing Director at the Results for Development Institute (R4D), which he joined in 2014, and leads R4D’s Governance Program. At R4D, Nathaniel works to harness citizen-centric transparency and accountability efforts as drivers of development outcomes

Prior to joining R4D, Nathaniel co-founded and led Global Integrity, a non-profit organization that promotes government transparency and accountability worldwide through high-quality research, cutting-edge technology, and innovative policy insights ¹. Nathaniel also conceptualized and established the OpenGov Hub, the world’s first open government-themed co-working community with locations in Washington, DC and Kathmandu, Nepal. Before, Nathaniel served at the US Department of State focusing on European political-military affairs; as a fellow at the Center for Public Integrity reporting on public sector accountability and ethics issues; and as a foreign policy fellow to the late-Senator Edward Kennedy.

Nathaniel holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Spanish Literature from the University of Delaware and a Master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He also serves as a civil society steering committee member of the Open Government Partnership.

Víctor Lapuente (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Víctor Lapuente (@victorlapuente) is a Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and a Research Fellow at the Quality of Government Institute (QoG Institute), University of Gothenburg. He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Oxford and the Juan March Institute (Madrid) and joined the QoG Institute in 2007.

Lapuente’s research deals mostly with comparative public administration and corruption. He is currently working on the effects of a politicized administration vis-à-vis a meritocratic one on a series of economic and political variables. In addition, he is involved in a large research project to map the level of corruption (and Quality of Government) in Europe, both at national as well as at sub-national level. Víctor is a regular contributor for El País and other media outlets.

Luis Martín Cabiedes (Cabiedes and Partners, Spain)

Luis Martín Cabiedes (@luismcabiedes) is one of Spain’s most relevant investors in in early-stage tech startups. He first operated as a business angel in this investment activity and then set up his own venture capital fund (Cabiedes and Partners), which now constitutes his main occupation. He has invested in more than sixty Internet and tech startups, including Privalia, Blablacar, Trovit and many others.

Luis Martín Cabiedes has been a part-time lecturer at IESE since 2008 and teaches “Entrepreneurship” and “Entrepreneurial Finance.”In 1989, he joined the Europa Press Group, where he was co-president for 12 years. Luis holds a degree in Philosophy from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, an MBA from IESE, and is a financial analyst with a charter from CFA Institute.

Momi Peralta (La Nación, Argentina)

Angélica –Momi– Peralta Ramos (@momiperalta) is a multimedia development manager and data project manager at the Argentinian daily La Nación, the multi-award-winning news site whose data-based investigations are internationally recognized for their quality.

Since 2006 she has been in charge of La Nacion Multimedia, a research, development and training area that has helped La Nacion transform its newsroom into a multiplatform, including the introduction of multimedia, social media and mobile journalism skills, technology and tools and new formats for digital content. Since 2011 she also has led the project La Nacion Data (LNData) that is developing data journalism and news applications, such as “Senate Expenses”. Momi also collaborates with other data journalists, open data platforms and the pro-transparency community.

Chris Taggart (OpenCorporates, UK)

For most of his career, Chris Taggart (@countculture) worked as a magazine journalist, editor and publisher, including working on The Face and Arena. After selling his company, Chris developed OpenlyLocal to make local public data in the UK open and accessible. He then developed OpenCharities to match charities and their registration numbers to the council spending data published on OpenlyLocal. In 2010, Chris Taggart and Rob McKinnon created the website OpenCorporates. Since its launch, OpenCorporates has grown to be the largest openly licensed database of companies in the world (over 84 milllion), working with governments and international bodies such as the World Bank to increase the quality and openness of company data worldwide. It is used by journalists and anti-corruption investigators as well as by the banks and the financial community. Chris Taggart also advises governments on transparency and open data, was the originator of the Open Election Data Project

Nathaniel, Víctor, Luis, Momi and Chris wil help us to identify new opportunities and take better decisions. In return, we can only offer the thrill of accompanying us, as key partners, in this fascinating journey and a rock-solid commitment to professional diligence in every aspect of our activity.

It is a huge privilege to have them at our side.