Publish What You Pay

Alan Detheridge spent 30 years with the Royal Dutch Shell Group, retiring in April 2007 as the Group’s Vice President for External Affairs. He is a long-term supporter of extractive industry revenue transparency and has written articles and testified before the US Congress on the subject. In addition to PWYP, Alan is a board member of Management Sciences for Health, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the Natural Resource Charter and the Open Contracting Partnership.

Susan is an experienced lawyer, having worked as a litigator for 20 years at a major law firm (the majority of that time as a partner). This has given her great insight into litigation strategies used by and against PWYP members. She has deep knowledge of charity law through her current role as UK Executive Director of International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP – a US/UK registered NGO) which is regulated by the Charity Commission. She is also very familiar with company law and charity accounting. Susan is passionate about the work of PWYP, believing it closely aligns with and complements the work of ISLP. She is heavily involved in ISLP’s anti-corruption work, with a particularly strong focus on better natural resource management, greater transparency and accountability by governments, and support for civil society.

Carlo Merla is the chair of the board. He is a civil society activist and senior international development practitioner. Carlo has a long history of engagement in volunteering and campaigning in civil society organisations. At first, while studying, Carlo engaged in street social work and advocacy to improve public services and raise awareness around homeless people and new urban poverty in his hometown of Pisa. After finishing his university studies, Carlo started his experience in international development at first in Cameroon and Chad, then in Bolivia and other South American countries. It is during these years that Carlo developed a passion, deep understanding and commitment to work together with local communities to uphold their rights to access land, natural resources and sustainable livelihoods as well as quality public services. Over the years, Carlo has taken up roles to address issues of civil society and citizens engagement from a policy and capacity building perspective, engaging in countrywide initiatives aimed at enhancing the enabling environment and improve government – CSOs relations. Over the past few years, Carlo has been deeply engaged in the Publish What You Pay campaign and the fight for transparency in the extractive industries, particularly in Africa. His engagement in PWYP was characterised by a strong contribution to strategy development, improved governance and advocacy at national, regional and international levels, always determined to ensure that every global action would be directed to empower the communities and people living at the margins of the extractive manna.

Carlo is founding member of two local CSOs active in Pisa, Italy, and the Mayo Danay region in Cameroon. Carlo is honorary member of the board of ROTAB, Niger. Carlo studied business economics and social sciences at the University of Pisa, Italy and at the Universidad de la Cordillera, La Paz, Bolivia. Carlo has worked for local CSOs, international NGOs, multilateral organisations and Governments in Africa, South America, South East Asia and Western Europe.

Julie McCarthy is director of the Fiscal Governance Program. Most recently she served as director of the support unit at the Open Government Partnership (OGP), where she provided strategic advice, conducted outreach to stakeholders, and fundraised. In 2011 she served as Senior Adviser to the Transparency and Accountability Initiative, working with the Obama administration and the Brazilian government to implement OGP initiatives.

In 2009, McCarthy was selected as a Franklin Fellow and Peacebuilding Advisor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, helping to launch a multimillion dollar peace-building program in Liberia. Prior to this, McCarthy directed the Open Society Foundations’ Revenue Watch Program and then cofounded the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), serving as its deputy director until 2009. And from 2002 to 2004, McCarthy was program associate for Globalization Reform/Iraq Revenue Watch at the Open Society Foundations as well as global coordinator for the Soros Foundation Network on the Millennium Challenge Account.

McCarthy graduated from Cornell University in 2002 and received an MA in International Relations with a focus on conflict and governance from Yale University in 2012. She sits on the advisory boards of the Revenue Watch Institute and International Budget Project and is a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations.