Board
The board of the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies was elected at the second General Assembly held in Newcastle, England, on 14 June 2006 immediately prior to the opening of the third World Summit on the Arts and Culture. The current members are listed below.
Risto Ruohonen, Chair
Director General, Finnish National Gallery
Risto Ruohonen was appointed Director General of the Finnish National Gallery in August 2006. He was previously Director of Arts and Cultural Heritage and Special Government Advisor at the Ministry of Education, Finland from February 2003, having previously been the chairman (CEO) of the Arts Council of Finland since 1998. He also served as the president of the ARSBALTICA network from 1999 to 2001. Before joining the Arts Council, Mr Ruohonen was the Managing Director and Theatre Director first in the Lahti Municipal Theatre and then at the Helsinki City Theatre for 12 years. In the 1980s he worked as the Director of Culture in the cities of Turku and Vantaa. He was chairman of the National Council for Dance from 1989 to 1994. Mr Ruohonen has a Master of Political Science from the University of Turku. For more detail, see Mr Ruohonen’s ConnectCP profile.
Lee Suan Hiang, Deputy Chair
Chief Executive Officer, National Arts Council, Singapore
Lee Suan Hiang is currently Chief Executive Officer of the National Arts Council. Prior to this, he served as the Chief Executive of the Singapore Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board; the Productivity and Standards Board; the National Productivity Board and the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research. He was also Deputy Managing Director of the Economic Development Board. In addition, Mr Lee is Chairman of PSB Corporation and a member of the Board of Governors of the Singapore International Foundation and the Institute of Technical Education, and Board Member of SPRING Singapore and The Old Parliament House Ltd. He also holds directorships in several Singaporean companies. Mr Lee has studied in the UK, France, Singapore, the USA and China. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management, UK, a Fellow of the World Academy for Productivity Science. Mr Lee was awarded the National Day Public Administration (Silver) Medal in 1992 and the Public Administration (Gold) Medal in 1998, the World SME Association Award in 2001 and the JETRO (Japan External Trade Organisation) Award in 2002. For more, see Mr Lee’s ConnectCP profile.
Robert Sirman, Treasurer
Director, Canada Council for the Arts
Robert Sirman was appointed Director of the Canada Council for the Arts in June 2006. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s of Arts in sociology, Mr. Sirman joined the Ontario Government as a speechwriter and policy advisor. In 1980, he moved to the Ontario Arts Council, where he served for 10 years as Director of Operations and Director of Research and Policy Planning. While at the Ontario Arts Council, he undertook an independent study tour of England and Wales under the auspices of the British Council to study the funding practices of the Arts Council of Great Britain. He also spent five months in France, including three months as an intern in the research department of the French Ministry of Culture and Communications in Paris. In 1991, Mr. Sirman was appointed Administrative Director of the National Ballet School. During his 15 years in that position, he stabilized the School’s finances and oversaw a $100-million capital expansion program to triple the School’s physical plant and re-animate the North Jarvis community in which the School had operated since 1959. In 2002, Sirman was librettist for James Kudelka’s full-length ballet, The Contract, and in December 2004 was featured by the Toronto Star as one of the city’s top 10 “leading lights” in arts and culture. For more, see Mr Sirman’s ConnectCP profile.
Clarisa Ruiz Correal
Head of Arts, Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia
Clarisa Ruiz has dedicated much of her professional life to the promotion of the arts, artistic education and cultural life, covering a wide area of creative practices in both the private and the public sectors. Along with heading the Arts Division of the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, Ms Ruiz’s public sector roles have included Cultural Attaché to the Colombian Embassy in France, Director of the Bogota Art Gallery, and Director of Bogota’s Academy of the Arts. Ms Ruiz also has arts sector experience, having held senior management positions in a number of Colombian arts organisations including the National Theatre Foundation and the Latin American Theatre Festival. She also created the CIRCOCIUDAD New Circus School Company of Art. Ms Ruiz, an author of books for children and young adults, is currently finishing her Masters degree in Social and Educational Development. For more, see Ms Ruiz’s ConnectCP profile.
Li Mu
Vice President, CFLAC, China Federation of Literary & Art Circles
Li Mu is Vice President and member of the Secretariat of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, with responsibility for international cultural exchange, publications, and human resources. After a number of years coordinating culture and art management for the Beijing Municipal Government, Mr Li Mu was assigned to oversee the administration, organization and research of national arts awards. Mr Li Mu has a background in television. He has been vice president and deputy editor general of Beijing Television Station, and director of Beijing Television Art Centre, where he produced and directed a number of popular television dramas.
Quresh Ahmed
Chief Executive Officer, Bomas of Kenya
Quresh Ahmed joined the Bomas of Kenya in 1982 and has been its Chief Executive since 1998. Over the years he has worked to maintain, promote and educate the public about the rich and diverse cultures of all Kenyan ethnic communities, and has advocated the importance of culture and art as a resources for creating wealth and economic development while also preserving culture and art for posterity. A certified public accountant, Mr Quresh has served as the Chairman of ‘Kenya a land of diverse cultures’, an Inter-Ministerial Committee Promoting Kenya’s Cultural Heritage, and was a member of the Tourism Board’s committee on the promotion of cultural tourism.
Georgia Iliopoulou
Georgia Iliopoulou has been Managing Director of the Hellenic Culture Organization since 2004. She founded the cultural society LAVRIS in 1989 and served until 2004 as its president and managing director. During this time she produced and organised major cultural events and exchanges. Produced major cultural events, brought foreign artists and groups to Greece, created and supervised cultural institutions, promoted Greek artists abroad, and arranged cultural exchanges with government agencies. Dr Iliopoulou has an MA in International Relations and a PhD in International Law and speaks Greek, English, French, Spanish and Italian. For more, see Ms Iliopoulou’s ConnectCP profile.
Kathy Keele
Chief Executive Officer, Australia Council for the Arts
Kathy Keele was appointed to a three-year term as chief executive officer of the Australia Council for the Arts in December 2006.
Combining 30 years business development and marketing experience with a passion for the arts, Kathy previously worked in developing private sector support for the arts in her role as chief executive officer of the Australia Business Arts Foundation (AbaF). Prior to this, Kathy held executive positions in marketing, business development and strategy with a number of iconic Australian and international companies including BHP, Telstra and Siemens.
Kathy has served on the boards of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Cabrini Institute for Research and Clinical Education, the BHP Foundation and Young Achievers Australia. She is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, CEDA, The Australian Institute of Management and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in languages and a Masters in Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University, Seattle. For more detail, see Ms Keele’s ConnectCP profile.
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