ILGA to look soon for a new Executive Director

New York, Friday 1 March 2013

Following his desire to pursue new research and activities in LGBTI international human rights, Sebastian Rocca, the current Executive Director of ILGA, announced to the Board of the organization his desire to leave by the end of July this year.

ILGA co-Secretaries General, Gloria Careaga and Renato Sabbadini, who had known of Sebastian’s wish for quite some time, said:
“Though we knew this day would eventually come, it is nevertheless cause for sadness that these extraordinary years of work with Sebastian are coming to an end. On behalf of the whole Board, the Membership and the Staff of ILGA, we would like to thank Sebastian for the exceptional work done in the last three years, which both consolidated and expanded upon ILGA’s most valuable assets: the membership and the staff. Under Sebastian’s leadership ILGA doubled both its staff and its budget, mobilizing more resources for staff and conferences in the regions and making ILGA more reachable for members and allies alike thanks to improved communication tools and opportunities. While the ability to work hard and keep focused on the crucial matters are two of Sebastian’s most noticeable qualities, it is mainly his leadership style, both endearing and firm, that has made the difference. We know that both Staff and Members felt and feel they could find in Sebastian someone who would always listen and act to work together on the best possible solution.

We all will miss him very much, but we also understand the natural desire of expanding one’s own experience by following one’s aspirations and by pursuing new paths – we wish him all the best with his future work, confident that more remarkable achievements lie before him, while being sure that our paths will cross again in the future within the international LGBTI movement.

We are also very grateful to Sebastian for continuing to work with us until the end of July and for helping us out with the process leading to the selection of his successor – a challenging task, as thanks to Sebastian’s work ILGA is now in condition to expand even further its range of action and the quality of its work, while actively increasing the involvement of its members and making its commitment to the advancement of LGBTI rights worldwide more effective.

ILGA will publish the call for applications by March 15.”