IMI Board of Directors
The IMI Board of Directors sets the overall direction of IMI’s 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 - Patrick Deane, Senior Counsel and Head of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group, Nestlé, Vevey
Secretary - Shawn Conway, Conway & Partners, Rotterdam
Treasurer - Mark Appel, Senior Vice President, AAA/ICDR
Ute A. Joas Quinn, Associate General Counsel, Shell Upstream International Functions, Shell International B.V., NL
Wolf Juergen von Kumberg, Assistant General Counsel, Northrop Grumman Corporation, London (IMI Chair 2008)
James MacPherson, CEO, BCDR-AAA.
Michael McIlwrath, Senior Counsel-Litigation, GE Oil & Gas, Florence (IMIChair 2009)
Michael Leathes, Former Executive Director, IMI
Loong Seng Onn, Executive Director, Singapore Mediation Centre
Minn Naing Oo, CEO & Registrar, Singapore International Arbitration Centre
Annette van Riemsdijk, Director, Mediators Beyond Borders, NL
Francesco Rossi, Senior Vice President, CFO and Treasurer, AAA/ICDR, US
Chair - 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
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
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 dispute resolution, compliance, social performance and external affairs legal issues. Ute is based in The Netherlands.
For Ute's full biography, please click here
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 years. 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 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 IMI's Board of Directors.
For Michael's full biography, please click here
Loong Seng Onn ,Executive Director, Singapore Mediation Centre
Loong Seng Onn is the Executive Director of the Singapore Mediation Centre and holds a concurrent appointment as a Director at the Singapore Academy of Law. Seng Onn is currently the Chairman of the Singapore Tourism Board’s Fair Trading Review Panel and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Motor Industry Disputes Resolution Centre Pte. Ltd.. He is also a member of the Subordinate Courts ADR Advisory Council.
Seng Onn graduated from the National University of Singapore with a bachelor’s degree in law in 1988. In 1989, he was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore.
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.
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.
For Annette's full biography, please click here
Frank (Francesco) Rossi, Senior Vice President, CFO and Treasurer, AAA/ICDR, US
Francesco Rossi is SVP, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer of American Arbitration Association, Inc. (AAA) where he is responsible for the oversight of all financial matters impacting the AAA and its international subsidiaries. He manages the Finance, Information Systems, Human Resources, Corporate Services, Intake/Account Management, and Statistics & Research Departments and has day-to-day oversight of the Internal Audit Department. Prior to becoming CFO in 2001, Frank served as the AAA’s VP/Controller and its first Internal Auditor.
Frank is a New York Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and Financial Executives International (FEI). He earned his BBA in Accounting from Hofstra University (1991) and his prior career included positions as Internal Auditor at Cablevision Industries and Senior Accountant at Vanacore, DeBenedictus, DiGovanni and Weddel, CPAs. Frank is based in New York and holds dual citizenship in the United States and Italy.