Governance - MSMGF Men Who Have Sex With Men Global Forum

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The MSMGF’s governance is a reflection of its commitment to upholding a diverse global perspective on issues concerning the health and human rights of MSM. The MSMGF is led by an international Board of Directors and a collegially appointed Steering Committee of globally recognized advocates and HIV and AIDS professionals representing every major region of the world.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Othman Mellouk

An orthodontist by profession, Othoman Mellouk joined the Association de Lutte Contre le Sida (ALCS) in Morocco in 1994, where he participated in the development of the first prevention program targeting men having sex with men in North Africa and the Middle East.

From 2002 to 2010 he was the chair of the Marrakech city branch of ALCS, and was in charge of international relations of ALCS. He is also one of the most active advocates for access to treatment in the MENA region with a particular focus on the question of intellectual property rights and their effect on access to treatment. In January 2010, Othoman Mellouk became co-chair of the MSM Global Forum.

Carlos García de León

Dental Surgeon and sexologist, Dr. García de León was involved in the HIV/AIDS field since 1989. He was member of AVE de México (a local NGO) from 1990 to 2009 when he was invited by the Mexican National Program to run Prevention and Social Participation.

During his tenure, AVE was awarded by the National AIDS Program for 3 of their projects as “best practices,” opened the first condom shop (social merchandise in Mexico City) and was elected as the national LACCASO organization (Latin American and Caribbean Council of Aids Service Organizations). He was the President of AVE from 1992 to 2005. He was candidate to be a deputy as LGBT and AIDS activist in Mexico City. He is now part of the ICASO board of directors as a PLHIV. He coordinated IMPULSO, an effort that provides technical assistance to the National Aids Council of Business. He was part of the IAC Coordinating Committee representing local civil society in 2008, and part of the MSMGF since its creation.

Craig Thompson

Craig E. Thompson joined AIDS Project Los Angeles as Chief Operating Officer in 1997 and became the Executive Director in July 1998. He is now CEO of APLA Health – a five site federally qualified health center providing medical, dental and behavioral health services to the LGBT community in Los Angeles and Long Beach, comprehensive HIV support and health education services and advocacy at the local, state and federal level on behalf of the LGBT community and those impacted by HIV disease.

Prior to joining APLA, Thompson was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) from 1992 to 1996. From 1988 to 1992, Thompson was employed by Security Pacific Burns Fry, an investment banking firm, working as part of the advisory team in mergers and acquisitions.

Thompson received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington State University and graduate degrees from the University of Washington School of Law and New York University School of Law. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Robyn Goldman

Robyn Goldman joined APLA in 2010 as the Chief Financial Officer. She is responsible for the financial operations of the organization, as well as its information technology resources.

Prior to joining APLA, Goldman spent five years at non-profits, including most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania and as Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Montgomery County in Pennsylvania. From 1997 to 2002, she was the Executive Director of Ventures at WHYY, Philadelphia’s public broadcaster. From 1991 to 1996, she was the co-founder, COO, and CFO of NYT Video News International, which was sold to the New York Times in 1996. Goldman began her career at the CPA firm of Goldfarb, Whitman and Cohen in West Los Angeles.

Goldman received a bachelor’s degree in business economics at UC Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in business administration at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a certified public accountant in the state of California, inactive.

Peter Perkowski

Peter Perkowski is the founder of Perkowski Legal, PC. With nearly 20 years of experience advising clients and litigating high-profile cases, he has appeared in state and federal trial-level and appellate courts across the United States in intellectual property and business litigation.

Perkowski’s patent practice has focused on litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act, which established a regulatory framework for development, approval, and sale of generic drugs. Under this statute, he has litigated cases involving drugs for the treatment of a wide variety of medical conditions. He has also counseled generic pharmaceutical companies on regulatory and pre-litigation issues related to drug approval. His litigation and regulatory work has been critical in helping his clients bring low-cost drugs to market sooner than otherwise, benefiting more than just the clients he represents. For his work, Managing Intellectual Property has named him an “IP Star” (2013-2016), and Intellectual Asset Management has given him a Bronze rating in its IAM Patent 1000 (2012-2016). In 2010, the National LGBT Bar Association included Mr. Perkowski on its inaugural Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 list.

Perkowski has also assisted clients in immigration matters before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly the INS), immigration courts at all levels, and federal appeals courts. His work has focused on helping people fleeing their home countries because of persecution based on real or perceived LGBT identity and/or HIV status. In addition to serving on the Board of MSMGF, Perkowski is the Chair of the Board of Directors of AIDS Project Los Angeles and APLA Health & Wellness.

Tom Whitman

Tom Whitman is the Senior Vice President of Ion Marketing Group, with offices in Los Angeles and New York. Tom has made a career of specializing in connecting Fortune 500 national and major regional brands to the LGBT and mainstream consumer through a range of integrated marketing plans, including experiential, digital, print, influencer marketing and social media.
His deep experience in delivering creative and innovative programs and production ranges from television and event production to advertising, marketing and communications.
A much sought after thought-leader and expert on LGBT marketing and promotions, Tom also serves in leadership positions on the Board of Directors of AIDS Project Los Angeles, GLAAD, the Global Forum on MSM and HIV, and is active in the regional, national and global LGBT non-profit space.
For Tom’s commitment to the LGBT community, he received the LA Pride Berman Schaffer Service Award in 2012; the Heart of APLA Award in 2011; The Trevor Project Circle of Hope Award in 2009; and was named one of OUT Magazine’s “100 People of the Year” in 2008.

Don Baxter

Don Baxter is a founding Co-Chair of the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) since its establishment in 2006. He served as the Executive Director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), the national federation for the HIV community response in Australia, for the period 2001-2011. During that decade and the years subsequently he has been involved in a range of board director positions with global and Asia Pacific HIV agencies, with a particular focus on MSM in the HIV pandemic.

In addition to the MSMGF (2006 - ) these include the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB & Malaria (2011-14) and its Communities, Rights & Gender Advisory Group (2014-2016) and on-going roles with the board of APCASO (2002 - ), ICASO (2005 - ) and AIDS Project Los Angeles (2015 -).

Don’s early HIV involvement was in the initial grass-roots HIV community response in Sydney’s gay community from 1983 – from which he subsequently served in national leadership positions and as a member of key advisory and decision-making bodies in Australia’s national HIV response – in both elected positions and Ministerially-appointed ones.

Daniyar Orsekov

Daniyar Orsekov is the founder and Executive Director of “Kyrgyz Indigo”, an LGBTIFAQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, families, allies, queer people) organization based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He has been engaged in LGBT activism in Kyrgyzstan since 2004 and have worked extensively with LGBT people, not only in the capital city of Bishkek, but also throughout the country and in other parts of Central Asia.

In 2004, working with other activists, Daniyar helped to found an initiative support group for lesbian and bisexual women and transgender people which provided training and inspiration and support for its members.

As executive director of Kyrgyz Indigo, he is responsible for development of the operational, financial planning and management of the organization in addition to overseeing monitoring, evaluation and risk management. In his role, he is actively involved in drafting the anti-discrimination draft law in Kyrgyzstan, which will include SOGI in the processes of writing HIV state programs as member of Country Coordinating Mechanisms on behalf of MSM/TG in Kyrgyzstan. His membership in the Country Coordinating Mechanism allows him to advocate for increases to the state budget for health issues and to include costs for HIV prevention programs for MSM/TG. Together with UNFPA and ECOM he organized the first ever training on MSMIT in Kyrgyzstan.

Julian Boghos Kerboghossian

Julian Kerboghossian is an HIV/AIDS advocate focusing mainly on youth and key population issues in the MENA region. Julian joined MSMGF’s Board of Directors in 2016 after serving as a steering committee member of MSMGF’s youth reference group.

In 2015 he joined the global network of young people living with hiv (Y+) and then elected to serve as the Y+ committee’s Co-chair. As a Y+ leader his main goal was to ensure that the voices of YPLHIV were heard in addition to maintaining the sustainability of Y+ network.

Julian became engaged in the HIV/AIDS response by the age of 19, starting as a volunteer at local NGOs implementing projects at the local/country level. Julian delivered awareness sessions, conducted outreach work and eventually moved on to represent youth in the MENA region in several regional and international forums.

Julian Kerboghossian was born in Lebanon in 1991. He earned a BA degree in Banking and Finance and MBA degree in Business Administration in Lebanon, where he still resides.

STEERING COMMITTEE

MSMSGF’s Board Chair (Don Baxter) and Vice Chair (Othman Mellouk) also serve as Co-chairs of the Steering Committee.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STEERING COMMITTEE

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