Our Team

As a communications institution with a global news agency at its core, IPS raises the voices of the South and civil society and brings a fresh, diverse perspective on globalization and development.

IPS main objective is the production of editorial content to establish and demonstrate how events and global processes affect the marginalised and voiceless, from the perspective of the South with a focus on sustainable development and the role of civil society.

IPS builds capacity and creates awareness through targeted dissemination of information, reports, analysis and views from journalists and global experts; it counts on a network of over 350 journalists in 140 countries worldwide reporting on the varied aspects of political, socio-economic and cultural development.

Local ownership, authenticity and offering diverse perspectives are core values of the IPS reporting network. Through its capacity-building activities, IPS helps journalists and experts to understand, analyse and communicate more effectively.

 

Our Board

The IPS Board of Directors is comprised of distinguished journalists, academics, communications experts and specialists in international cooperation – elected by the IPS International Association’s members.

 

Walther Lichem, Chair 

Retired Austrian Ambassador. After joining the Austrian Foreign Service in 1974 he served as Head of the Department for International Organisations, in the Cabinet of the Minister, as Consul General in the SR Slovenia (1976-1980) and as Ambassador to Chile (1980-1984) and Canada (1993-2000).

 

 

 

 

 

Walter García – Director General AI

Walter García has worked with IPS in different capacities since 1994. He is Uruguayan,  a Computer Systems Engineer with over 20 years of experience in planning, developing and delivering editorial products related to sustainable development. He has wide experience in project management and service management, with a focus on web site production, redesign, outreach campaigns and web strategies, leading cross-functional, cross-platform, cross-cultural international teams.

 

 

 

 

Javier Francisco Alvarez

Javier Alvarez graduated as an Agricultural Engineer from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (Santa Fe) and obtained a Master of Arts (MA) in Environmental Politics and Globalization from the University of London – King’s College (London) in 2005. Further academic achievements include a post graduate course in Management of Non-Governmental Organizations at the Tinker Foundation’s supported Institution CICOAM (Asuncion, Paraguay).

 

 

 

 

Farhana Haque Rahman, Senior Vice-Chair

Farhana Haque Rahman has more than three decades of experience as a senior official at United Nations organizations. A journalist and writer, she was the elected Director General of IPS from 2015-2019. Since 2019 she is the Executive Director of IPS North America (including IPS UN Bureau) and Senior Vice President IPS.
For over 25 years she served at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a financing institution and a specialized agency of the United Nations, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations where she led and provided strategic leadership in media relations and advocacy. Under her guidance, the media and outreach sections harnessed knowledge to disseminate to a broad spectrum of national and international stakeholders, targeting primarily international, regional and national decision makers and influencers.

 

 

 

 

Estrella Gutierrez

Estrella Gutiérrez has been with IPS since the 1970s, holding positions including office director in Caracas, correspondent and editor in Rome, editor at the Latin America desk and head of the Latin America and Spanish services. She has taken part in IPS coverage of global events, such as the Beijing World Conference on Women, led gender workshops for IPS staff and edited the Spanish editions of two gender glossaries published by IPS.

Originally from Spain, Estrella has lived abroad since the 1970s and considers herself Latin American. She holds a journalism degree from the Complutense University of Madrid. She lives in Caracas.

 

 

 

 

José Washington Rodríguez

Financial Officer and legal representative of IPS INTER PRESS SERVICE América Latina. José has worked in financial services since the early 1970s, in Mexico and Uruguay, including long-held positions for the Faculty of Engineering at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay, and for the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Uruguay.

 

 

 

 



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