Governance

Katerina (she/her/hers) is a human rights legal expert, who for over 20 years works with organisations, movements, authorities and philanthropists to protect civic freedoms.  As the Executive Director of the ECNL since 2012, she leads the only regional organisation in Europe focused entirely on law and policy that affect civil society. Katerina has been with ECNL through the phase of transition from a branch office to an independent and established European organization now based in the Hague. Under her leadership ECNL broadened its expertise to respond to new trends impacting on the non-profit sector (e.g., securitization and counter-terrorism) while continuing to address challenges in public participation and the right of peaceful assembly. She has helped empower partners to defend their spaces and freedoms through designing innovative tools to monitor civil society laws, and researching trends and good practices to guide reforms.  She has spoken at different forums to reflect on various civic space issues e.g., at TEDx event, EU Parliament hearing, launch of Community of Democracies’ Democracy and Security Dialogue Initiative. Katerina engages with the European Union, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the UN Human Rights Council and works to strengthen international standards to safeguard freedoms. She is member of the OSCE/OIDHR Panel on Freedom of Assembly and of Association and the Council of Europe Expert Council on NGO Law. She also volunteers her time in the board of several organizations.

Ms. Hoffs is a business and human rights advisor at ABN AMRO bank. She advises on international legislative developments in the area of corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability due diligence and (anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT). Projects include minimizing the negative impacts of AML legislation to prevent financial exclusion of nonprofits and derisking of vulnerable groups. Previously she has worked at UN international tribunals, the Dutch government, law firms and as an independent consultant for UN projects. She was a Research Fellow at the Australian Human Rights Institute focusing on the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights and has contributed to World Bank reports on the economic position of women.

Ms. Tornikoski is Secretary General for Vastuullinen Lahjoittaminen VaLa ry (Finnish Fundraising Association). In this position she has served as board member of European Fundraising Association EFA last five years. She has also number of duties in international networks like GivingTuesday. Ms. Tornikoski has been an advisor to Finnish government on various issues concerning civil society’s rights to resources. She has been a key person to develop national Certified Fundraiser educational program and legacy fundraising campaign. She has extensive experience in advocacy work and funding for the Finnish NGO sector. Her previous career has focused on marketing, communication and fundraising for different causes. As a consultant she has worked from 2010 with several charities, institutions and networks in Finland and abroad. Her earlier experience in corporate sponsorship for different international sport events organised in Finland supports her partnership insights. Pia is the author of the first guidebook on fundraising in Finnish. She has been involved with ECNL as a member of the Core Group of Experts on ‘Principles for statutory regulation and self-regulation of fundraising.