About us

About us

The Board

The BoardThe Board is responsible for overseeing the strategic developments of the Foundation. It meets four times a year, where it reviews and selects the project proposals submitted to the Foundation.

 

It counts currently with 5 members. From left to right: Graham Sharp, Philippe Blavier, Sabine Simkhovitch-Dreyfus, Eric de Turckheim, Daniel Posen

 

Graham Sharp (Chairman)

Graham was one the founders of Trafigura in 1993, he  held particular responsibility  for all the group's oil activities east of Suez, both in trading and in asset investments. He was part of the 6-member Oil Management Team of the Group.

Graham retired from Trafigura's operational business in 2007. He spends now a lot of time in many philanthropic activities, for the Trafigura Foundation of course but also on a personal basis.

Prior to Trafigura, Graham has developed his career in top executive positions with a variety of major corporations, all connected to the oil and oil derivatives trading sector.

Graham is a British national and graduated from St. Johns College, Oxford, in 1983, with a 1st Class Honours Degree in Engineering, Economics and Management.

Eric de Turckheim (Treasurer)

Eric was one of the founders of Trafigura some fifteen years ago. He is currently a Director of the whole Trafigura Group after having been Finance Director for more than 10 years and sits on the Management Board of the group. He has now moved to the Group's 3-member Supervisory Board.

He is also a Board member of ECORE B.V., a European industrial recycling company which promotes a socially-responsible approach of recycling.

Before, Eric has been holding several top executive positions in Finance departments within world-class companies.

A French national with a wealth of international experience, Eric holds a Master in Political Science from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Paris, France), 1974, as well as a  Doctorate in Economic Science from the Paris University, 1975. He is a most accomplished sportsman, fond in particular of marathons in which is regularly participates, often in support of a charitable cause. Eric shares his life between Geneva, Amsterdam and London.

Philippe Blavier (Vice-Chairman)

Philippe is currently a Director of Iberian Minerals, a Canadian public mining company (of which Trafigura is a 40% shareholder), of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, an Italian wholly-owned subsidiary of BNP Paribas, and of Algonquin, a Belgian private equity group. He is also a member of the Trafigura Supervisory Board.

Until 2006, Philippe held various top international executive positions in several major banks, especially BNP Paribas and Chase Manhattan Bank.

Philippe graduated from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris (1967) and holds a Masters Degree in Law. He received the French Légion d'Honneur in 2003. He currently lives in Brussels (Belgium).

Daniel Posen

A German national, Daniel has been amongst the founding members of Trafigura in 1993 and has remained closely involved in the company's developments since then.

Daniel is the Managing Director of the Posen Foundation in Luzern (Switzerland). Founded by Felix Posen, his father, the Posen Foundation works internationally to promote and support educational and cultural initiatives.

He brings to the Trafigura Foundation his wealth of experience in the strategic management of a foundation with international outreach.

Sabine Simkhovitch-Dreyfus

Sabine is an attorney-at-law, admitted to the Geneva Bar since 1979. Currently a practicing lawyer and partner in Cabinet Mayor, in Geneva, Sabine has 30 years of experience in corporate & contract law and arbitration with some of Geneva's most prominent law firms. Before, she has been involved in research and teaching in corporate law at the University of Geneva and held executive functions in the Geneva-based European Association of Universities.

Sabine has studied law and political science in Bern, Jerusalem and Geneva.

She is also strongly involved in associative work; in particular, she is currently Vice President of the Swiss Federal Commission against Racism and of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities.

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