IMI Board of Directors

The IMI Board of Directors sets the overall direction of the IMI public service activities and ensures efficient operation and appropriate financial control. The Board also has an important responsibility to ensure that IMI is funded to meet its goals and properly staffed. All members of the IMI Board serve in a pro bono capacity.

The Board comprises people drawn from among leading stakeholder groups:

Chair - Ute A. Joas Quinn, Associate General Counsel, Shell Upstream International Functions, Shell International B.V., NL
Secretary - Shawn Conway, Conway & Partners, Rotterdam
Treasurer - Mark Appel, Senior Vice President, AAA/ICDR
Patrick Deane, Senior Counsel and Head of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group, Nestlé, Vevey
Jason Fry, Secretary General, ICC International Court of Arbitration and Director, ICC International Centre for ADR
Wolf Juergen von Kumberg, Assistant General Counsel, Northrop Grumman Corporation, London (IMI Chair 2008)
Michael Leathes, Former Executive Director, IMI
George Lim, Director, Singapore Mediation Centre
James MacPherson, CEO, BCDR-AAA
Michael McIlwrath, Senior Counsel-Litigation, GE Oil & Gas, Florence (IMIChair 2009)
Minn Naing Oo, CEO & Registrar, Singapore International Arbitration Centre
Diana Wallis, Former Vice President of the European Parliament.

Chair - Ute A. Joas Quinn, Associate General Counsel, Shell Upstream International Functions, Shell International B.V., The Netherlands

Qualified as a U.S. attorney and trained as a mediator, Ute has a wide range of experience in conflict management, including (among other things) ADR and community grievance mechanisms. In her current role, she leads global UI focal points advising on conflict prevention as related to sustainable development (including human rights) and social performance aspects, as well as manages legal advice to non-technical UI functions such as HSE, external affairs, compliance and human resources. Ute is based in The Netherlands. For Ute's full biography, please click here

Secretary - Shawn Conway, Conway & Partners, Rotterdam

Shawn Conway (1956) is Managing Partner of the law firm Conway & Partners, Advocaten & Attorneys-at-law, and is based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He represents and advises multinational and other internationally operating companies on (international) business transactions as well as resolution of disputes.

In addition to representing parties in (international) arbitrations, Shawn is an arbitrator and mediator. He is a founder and board member of the International Mediation Institute and the Netherlands Mediation Institute.

Shawn obtained his Bachelors degree (Summa Cum laude) in 1979 from Northern Illinois University, and his Juris Doctor degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Notre Dame in 1982. He obtained his Dutch law degree from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1997. For Shawn's full biography, please click here

Treasurer - Mark Appel, Senior Vice President, AAA/ICDR, EU - US

Mark Appel is Senior Vice President of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the international division of the American Arbitration Association (AAA). A member of the Association’s senior management team, Mr Appel is charged with primary responsibility for operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

An Experienced mediator, Mr Appel has conducted negotiation, mediation and arbitration skills training for ICDR, the International Bar Association and various government agencies, courts and bar associations globally. Mr Appel received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Manhattan College and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Denver College of Law. For Mark's full biography, please click here

Patrick Deane, Senior Counsel and Head of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group, Nestlé, Vevey

Patrick Deane is a Senior Counsel and Head of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group in the Nestlé Legal Department based at Nestlé’s international headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland.

He is an Australian citizen and a qualified attorney with extensive international experience both in cross border transactions and disputes.

Patrick is an Accredited Mediator and is an advocate of the use of mediation as an effective tool for resolving commercial disputes and the application of mediation techniques to resolve deadlock and conflict in difficult negotiations. For Patrick's full biography, please click here

Jason Fry, Secretary General, ICC International Court of Arbitration and Director, ICC International Centre for ADR

Jason Fry is the Director of Dispute Resolution Services of the International Chamber of Commerce and Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. Prior to his appointment as Secretary General of the International Court of Arbitration in 2007, he had been a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration for seven years, representing New Zealand, and a partner at Clifford Chance in Paris. Mr Fry is qualified as a Solicitor in both New Zealand and England and Wales and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Wolf Juergen von Kumberg, European Legal Director and Assistant General Counsel, Northrop Grumman Corporation (IMI Chair 2008), London

Wolf von Kumberg has been the European Legal Director and Assistant General Counsel to Northrop Grumman Corporation and its predecessor, Litton Industries, Inc., for over 15 ye, ars. He is in addition a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and sits on its Practice and Standards Committee. He is also a member of CPRS European Advisory and Steering Committees.

Wolf qualified as a mediator in 2001 and has since sat as a mediator on a wide range of commercial disputes. He has also taken a keen interest in furthering ADR education, particularly for In House Counsel. In this context, he has worked with both the Chartered Institute and CPR in hosting mediation awareness programs throughout Eastern Europe. In addition, Mr von Kumberg has spoken on the subject of mediation and arbitration at many forums and seminars. For Wolf's full biography, please click here

James MacPherson, CEO, BCDR-AAA.

James McPherson photo James MacPherson is CEO of the BCDR-AAA (The Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution's joint venture with the American Arbitration Association). With over seventeen years experience, James has specialized in conflict resolution for corporate and governmental organizations, including designing and directing international, multilingual arbitration and mediation programs.

Prior to launching the BCDR-AAA, James' extensive experience in the Middle East included serving as a Country Director with the American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative, focusing on judicial and legal reform programs within the Bahrain Ministry of Justice and delivering ADR training programs to judges and lawyers in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Syria. James holds a BA in history and political science from Bishop's, University of Toronto and an LLB from the University of Edinburgh. For James' full biography, click here

Mike (Michael) McIlwrath, Senior Counsel - Litigation, GE Oil & Gas, Florence

Mike McIlwrath is Senior Counsel, Litigation, for the GE Oil & Gas division in Florence, Italy. His experience in international arbitration includes representing the company in disputes under the rules of various international and regional arbitration institutions and under ad hoc procedures around the world, and in coordinating the activities of outside counsel in domestic court and arbitral proceedings. He has published numerous articles in the fields of international arbitration, mediation, and negotiation.

He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (AB) and Cornell Law School (JD). He was Chair of the International Mediation Institute (IMI), in 2009. In addition, he was the co-vice chair with mediator Judith Meyer (and chair, Singapore ambassador at large Tommy Koh) of the IMI independent Standards Committee. For Michael's full biography, please click here

Michael Leathes, Former Executive Director, IMI, UK

Michael Leathes is a former in-house lawyer with various international corporations and a user of mediation worldwide. He was pro bono Executive Director of IMI from 2007 to 2009 and is now a member of the IMI Board of Directors - Honorary Chair. For Michael's full biography, please click here

George Lim, Senior Counsel, Singapore

George is a Senior Counsel and former President of the Law Society of Singapore.

He is a partner in the firm of Wee Tay & Lim LLP, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Singapore Mediation Centre (SMC). George also serves on the Boards of the Singapore Institute of Legal Education, the Law Faculty's Advisory Body (NUS) and the Singapore Land Authority.

George is the Dispute Resolution Counsellor of the National Electricity Market of Singapore. He has been mediating regularly since 1997, and is on SMC's regional training faculty. He was the first Chairman of the Asian Mediation Association (2009-2010).

Minn Naing Oo, CEO & Registrar, Singapore International Arbitration Centre

Minn started his legal career with Drew & Napier and later joined Rajah & Tann, practising commercial litigation and arbitration, with a specialisation in shipping and admiralty matters. He then joined the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in 2002 and rose to head the Ministry’s WTO and International Trade Negotiations Division. During this time, Minn was closely involved in the formulation of Singapore’s trade policy, the WTO Doha Round negotiations, as well as several Free Trade Agreements, including with the United States, Australia and China. He moved to SIAC in October 2008.

Diana Wallis, Former Vice President of European Parliament

Diana Wallis photo

For five years until January 2012, Diana Wallis was a Vice President of the European Parliament. She was one of the driving forces behind the EU Mediation Directive of May 2008 among many other distinctions in her 12-year period as a Member of the European Parliament representing the British constituency of Yorkshire and the Humber (1999-2012), following a successful career as a solicitor in commercial litigation. Diana has served throughout her parliamentary career as Coordinator of the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, and in that role has been a powerful champion of better access to justice across civil society. For Diana's full biography, please click here

IMI Honorary Directors

Annette van Riemsdijk, Mediator; Director, Mediators Beyond Borders, The Netherlands

Annette M. van Riemsdijk is a Certified Mediator with several bodies and has a distinguished record in ADR practice as a solicitor since 1988 and as a mediator since 1993. She is an arbitrator, trainer and director of The New Resolution Group.