IFRS Foundation announces appointments of Trustees

The IFRS Foundation has today announced the appointments of five new Trustees and the re-appointments of five Trustees.

The newly appointed IFRS Foundation Trustees bring a diverse range of skills and expertise from Asia, Europe and North America. The appointments broaden the Trustees’ insights into accounting and sustainability to reflect its newly set dual board structure.

The Trustees are responsible for the strategy, governance and oversight of the Foundation, including the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

• Bertrand Badré is the Managing Partner and Founder of Blue Like an Orange Sustainable Capital, an investment fund that aims to finance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in Emerging and Developing economies. Previously Mr Badré has served as Managing Director and Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the World Bank Group. Before joining the World Bank, he was Group CFO for Société Générale and Crédit Agricole and a partner at Lazard. Mr Badré is also Co-chair of the advisory board of Project Syndicate and a “co-Gérant” of the leading French press group SIPA Ouest-France. He has authored several books, including of Can Finance Save the World?
  
  
• Rudolf Bless has been the Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) for Bank of America, since 2014. Previously, Mr Bless was Deputy Chief Financial Officer and CAO of Credit Suisse AG Zurich, and prior to that a PwC Audit Partner, active both in the US and Europe. During his career, Mr Bless has had responsibility for financial, regulatory and sustainability reporting. He has served on the boards of the SASB Foundation and the Value Reporting Foundation, and as a member of the IFRS Advisory Council and the US Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council.
  
  
• Morgan Després is Executive Director for international climate finance, land use and net zero macroeconomy at the European Climate Foundation (ECF). Mr Després joined the ECF after 18 years years working in the French official sector on financial stability and international and European financial regulation issues most recently as Director of Strategy at the Banque de France. He was the founding Head of the Secretariat of the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), and co-authored The Green Swan: Central Banking and Financial Stability in the Age of Climate Change.
  
  
• Chong-Tee Ong is Chairman of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority in Singapore. Prior to this, he had an extensive career in the Monetary Authority of Singapore of over 35 years. He retired in 2021 from his role overseeing Financial Supervision. Mr Ong has deep knowledge and experience in banking, insurance and capital market matters and in corporate disclosures, including financial and sustainability reporting. His expertise also covers broader issues of central banking such as in monetary policy and financial stability. In addition to his other private sector board roles currently, Mr Ong is a Board of Trustee member of the National University of Singapore, and a member of GIC Board Risk Committee.
  
  
• Richard Sexton is currently a member of the Board and the Audit Committee Chair for Northumbrian Water and a Trustee and Audit and Risk Committee Chair of Our Future Health. He served three years, from 2018 until 2021, as a member of the board of the International Integrated Reporting Council and was, until its consolidation with the IFRS Foundation, Co-Chair of the Value Reporting Foundation. Mr Sexton retired from PwC in June 2018 having held a number of senior leadership roles latterly Vice-Chair, Global Assurance and a member of the Global Leadership Team.

All the newly appointed Trustees will serve an initial term of three years. Dame Colette Bowe, Michel Madelain, Ross McInnes, Larry Leva, Vinod Rai and Lucrezia Reichlin step down from their positions at the end of December 2023, after completing their second terms. The IFRS Foundation Trustees are working to fill one remaining vacancy to complete the group of Trustees.

Four current Trustees have also been re-appointed for a second term of three years:

• Masamichi Kono
• Robert Pozen
• Kenneth Robinson
• Erhard Schipporeit

As an exceptional step, Vice-Chair Teresa Ko has also been re-appointed for a further year in light of her role as Chair of the Due Process Oversight Committee and the need to provide continuity in the Committee’s work to reflect the establishment of the ISSB.

The due process enables the IFRS Foundation’s diverse group of stakeholders to inform and scrutinise standard-setting, helping to ensure that the requirements reflect the best thinking worldwide.

All 10 Trustees will begin their terms on 1 January 2024.

Erkki Liikanen, Chair of the Trustees, said:

I am delighted to welcome the new Trustees of the IFRS Foundation and congratulate our reappointed Trustees. I am grateful to Teresa Ko in particular for agreeing to continue in her role in exceptional circumstances, as her experience is invaluable. All of these Trustees bring a wealth of experience to the IFRS Foundation that will be beneficial to the work that the IASB and ISSB does.

My sincerest thanks go to Colette Bowe, Michel Madelain, Ross McInnes, Larry Leva, Vinod Rai and Lucrezia Reichlin for their invaluable contributions to the IFRS Foundation mission.

The Trustees are also responsible for appointing members to the IASB, the ISSB, the IFRS Interpretations Committee and various advisory bodies; and for ensuring funding arrangements are in place.