Alissa Kole is a senior advisor to government and private sector leaders, leveraging her extensive experience as an internationally recognised expert in economic and corporate governance. She is the Founder and Managing Director of GOVERN Center, a governance, strategy and economics think tank and advisory firm. Before founding GOVERN she has spent a decade at the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, leading initiatives on governance and investment.^[1]

Alissa Kole
Born	Ukraine
Occupation	Managing Director
Website	https://govern.center

Education

Alissa Kole holds a Business Administration degree from York University, a Master of Sciences in Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and professional certificates from Yale.

Career

Over the past 15 years, Ms. Kole has been supporting policymakers, boards, and senior executives address challenges related to private and state-owned governance, financial market development and innovation, institution building, and regulatory reform. While at the OECD, Alissa piloted a number of strategic initiatives such as the creation of the Middle East Corporate Governance Programme,^[2] which brought together stock exchanges, capital market and banking regulators. She was also responsible for examining and negotiating the accession of several countries to the OECD. During her career, she has advised Ministers and senior executives, primarily in emerging markets in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. She is the author of a number of governance laws and codes and was involved as an advisor in major corporate restructurings and transactions.

For her work with regulators and boards, she was acknowledged by the Yale Law School, which awarded her the Rising Star of Corporate Governance Award in 2014.^[3] She was also named one of the Top 100 Leaders in Europe and the Middle East by the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence in 2011.

Alissa has contributed to a number of key policy forums including those held by the WEF,^[4] the United Nations^[5] and the G20^{[6] [7]} and the European Commission^[8].

Over the last years, she has also contributed to a number of high-profile events by international organisations including the OECD, the WB, the UN, G20. She gave a TED talk in London in 2018 on Governance for a New Social Contract in the Middle East.^[9] In 2020, she launched Governance Dialogues, a programme featuring conversations with prominent governance experts and thinkers.^[10]

Works

She is the author of a number of books published by the OECD, Wiley, Springer and has contributed to editorial boards of magazines. She is a frequent media commentator: her work has appeared in the Financial Times,^[11] the Project Syndicate,^[12] the Wall Street Journal,^[13] Forbes,^[14] Harvard Business Review,^[15] Bloomberg,^[16] Aspen Institute^[17] and other sources. Her research and views have also been featured in leading academic forums such as the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance ^[18] and the London School of Economics Business Review.^[19]

Books and Reports

• Governance of Arab Think Tanks for Impact and Sustainability, G20 Report, GOVERN, 2019^[20]
• Flagship Report on Corporate Governance of Arab Banks, for IFG, GOVERN, 2018
• Flagship Report on Corporate Governance in Lebanon, for IFG, GOVERN, 2017
• MENA Corporate Governance Factbook, for the OECD, GOVERN, 2017^[21]
• A Decade of Change in GCC Boardrooms, Report for the GCC BDI, GOVERN, 2017^[22]
• The Role of Institutional Investors in MENA Capital Markets, GOVERN, 2016^[23]
• The Role of Institutional Investors in the Egyptian Capital Market, GOVERN, 2016^[24]
• Case studies on Corporate Governance (Maaden and Savola), GOVERN, 2015 ^{[25] [26]}
• WEF, Corporate Governance for Competitiveness in MENA, Report for the Regional Business Council, 2015^[27]
• Corporate Governance Enforcement in the Middle East and North Africa, OECD, 2014^[28]
• Guide on Related Party Transactions in the Middle East and North Africa, OECD and UASA, 2014^[29]
• Survey of Listing Requirements of MENA Stock Exchanges, OECD, 2014^[30]
• Privatisation and Demutualisation of MENA Stock Exchanges: To be or not to be?, OECD, 2014^[31]
• The Role of MENA Stock Exchanges in Corporate Governance, OECD, 2012^[32]
• The Role of Stock Exchanges in Promoting Transparency and Disclosure, International Accounting and Reporting Issues, 2012 ^[33]
• The Second Corporate Governance Wave in the Middle East and North Africa, OECD, 2011^[34]
• Corporate Governance Review of Russia, OECD, 2011^[35]
• A survey on MENA Corporate Governance Frameworks, OECD, 2011^[36]
• Report on Insolvency Systems in the Arab World, INSOL-WB-OECD, 2010 ^[37]
• The Role of Stock Exchanges in Corporate Governance, 2009 ^[38]
• Arab States as Shareholders: Origins and Consequences, Revue Internationale de Politique du Développement, Geneva, 2017 ^[39]
• From Regulation to Enforcement in the Middle East and North Africa, in The Handbook of Board Governance, Wiley, 2016^[40]
• Shareholder Spring in the Middle East?, in Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets: Theories, Practices and Cases, 2014 ^[41]
• MENA State-Owned Enterprises: Engines of Development and Competitiveness? OECD, 2013^[42]
• Corporate Reporting and Knowledge-Based Capital, in Supporting Investment in Knowledge Capital,
• Growth and Innovation, OECD, Paris 2013
• Towards New Arrangements for State Ownership in the Middle East and North Africa, OECD, 2012 ^[43]
• Policy Brief on Corporate Governance of MENA Banks, OECD and UAB, 2009 ^[44]
• Private Sector Development in the Middle East and North Africa, OECD, 2009 ^[45]

Ms. Kole has served as a Fellow at the London School of Economics Middle East Center and acts as a member of several international advisory boards and commissions.^[46]

Personal life

Alissa Kole is fluent in English, French, Russian, Italian and has notions of Arabic, Ukrainian and Portuguese. She is also an author of fiction, essays and poetry.^[47]

External links

GOVERN CENTER

References