Leadership changes – IMI Board and Investor-State Taskforce

Pierrick LeGoff steps in as Deborah Masucci departs from her role as IMI Board Chair

After joining the IMI Board in 2012 and overseeing its activities as Board Co-Chair for nearly that entire time, Debbie Masucci has departed the IMI Board. We are delighted that she will remain as an Honorary Director, and she stays on as an invaluable part of the Mixed Mode Taskforce.

During her time with IMI, Debbie championed an incredible array of initiatives: IMI expanded certification and specialties; collaborated with the Singapore Ministry of Justice to form the Singapore International Mediation Institute; collaborated with the Florence Chamber of Commerce to form a relationship with the Florence International Mediation Chamber; launched the Global Pound Conference Series; recruited major international ADR providers to be part of the Board; established a centre for international provider organizations to share ideas and collaborate; participated as a delegation to the UNCITRAL WG II on the development of the Singapore Convention; studied on line dispute resolution; adopted training standards and certification of training organizations; established a network for young mediators; and established the Investor State Task Force that is working with UNCITRAL’s WG III.

On a more personal note, Debbie has been an invaluable part of the IMI leadership team. We are grateful to have had her, and happy to have her as a friend.

Debbie receiving the CPR James F Henry Award for Oustanding Achievement in ADR earlier this year

Pierrick LeGoff now joins Kimberly Taylor as IMI Board Co-Chair. Pierrick is a thoughtful member of the IMI Board. He is a partner at De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés in Paris, where he focuses on international arbitration and dispute resolution, infrastructure projects and compliance. Prior to joining De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés, he was Group General Counsel of Alstom and a member of its Executive Committee. Welcome, Pierrick!

Shanti Abraham takes over the helm of the Investor-State Mediation Taskforce from Mark Appel

In mid-May, former Taskforce Chair Mark Appel officially handed over the Investor-State Mediation reigns to Shanti Abraham. Shanti is an experienced IMI and SIMI Certified Mediator, arbitrator and counsel working internationally, and is particularly active in her home state of Malaysia.  Shanti provided leadership assistance to the Malaysian State in its adoption of the Singapore Convention, and more recently has been leading efforts to assist Malaysia in the development of an effective access to justice plan in the wake of COVID-19. We are delighted to welcome her.

Mark Appel—also a former IMI Board member and ongoing Honorary Director—has been an incredibly productive Chair over the past three and a half years. In that time, the taskforce finalised and published the IMI Competency Criteria for Investor-State Mediators, which were later used to develop a series of training programs with ICSID, ECT, CEDR, and UNCITRAL. The taskforce provided written commentary to the EU on several mediation policy matters, as well as advising on both the ICSID and UNCITRAL Mediation Rules and supporting documents. They likewise collaborated with the Energy Charter Treaty in drafting their Model Instrument on Management of Investment Disputes. Mark remains on the Investor-State Taskforce, where he is part of the Certification Subcommittee.


A big thank you to Debbie and Mark, and welcome to Pierrick and Shanti!

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