It gives me great pleasure to inform you of the appointment of Anne Simon as our new Executive Director. She will be based at our Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Anne Simon worked with Pricewaterhouse Coopers for some 20 years in various positions in Geneva, London, New York, and most recently in Dubai where she launched and led the Middle East Strategy and Survey Unit. Her focus was Women's Empowerment and Leadership in the Arab World. She summarised the challenges faced by Arab women striving to reach leadership positions in the publication, “The Arab Women Leadership Outlook”.

Prior to Dubai, she worked in New York and Geneva as the Director of Pricewaterhouse Coopers Global External Affairs. She successfully led the World Economic Forum/PwC Partnership for over 15 years and created innovative programmes for their regional summits and annual meetings in Davos. In addition, she has organised several conferences and congresses around the world, and assisted PwC offices across 160 countries in standardising website design and contents.

After leaving PwC in 2009, she served as a member of the Senior Management team for “Global Forum for Health Research” in Geneva. Anne Simon is currently studying for an MSc in Public Policy and Management at the University of London.

Anne Simon is pleased to join such “a reputable organisation” that serves “the noble cause” of improving the lives of women and girls. Anne Simon lives with her family just outside Geneva. She has French-Swiss dual nationality and speaks fluent English.

Anne Simon will begin work in January 2012. The SI/E Board and the staff at headquarters are certain that Anne Simon will be an excellent asset to our common commitment as “a global voice for women”.

Kathy Kaaf
Soroptimist International of Europe