Named one of the U.S’s “cool mayors” by the Mayors for Climate Protection, Mayor Cownie believes in looking to the future and has a long history of civic leadership and community involvement. In his second term as Mayor, he continued to promote the Des Moines’ sustainability goals. Some of his recent achievements include establishing the Des Moines Energy and Environmental Task Force, and securing a grant for purchasing a fleet of resource-efficient hybrid automobiles.
East Asia
- East Asia Secretariat
- Korea Office
- Japan Office
- Beijing Office
- Kaohsiung Capacity Center
- World Secretariat
- Africa Secretariat
- European Secretariat
- Canada Office
- USA Office
- Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean Secretariat
- Oceania Secretariat
- South America Secretariat
- South Asia Secretariat
- Southeast Asia Secretariat
Our leadership
ICLEI is led by an elected group of local and regional leaders from across our network.
Elected in 2013, Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh serves as the first female Mayor of Malmö. In this capacity, she has been on the board of SKL (Swedish Municipalities and Counties), which gave her invaluable insight into the opportunities and challenges faced by cities around Sweden. In her role as Mayor, Jammeh manages finance, public procurement, business and commerce and steers the city’s corporations and agencies.
Our leadership comprises three main governance bodies elected every three years: The Global Executive Committee (GexCom), the Regional Executive Committees (RexComs) and the ICLEI Council.
The GexCom represents ICLEI towards international institutions and has the authority make strategic decisions concerning the organization. Each of the nine ICLEI regions also has its own RexCom, which approves new initiatives and programs in that region.
All RexComs come together to form the ICLEI Council, the overarching decision making and guiding body. The Council shapes and approves the ICLEI strategy, has the sole power to amend our statues and elects the GexCoM portfolio seats.
Election Process
All eligible ICLEI Members can vote and stand for election to RexCom positions. The elected RexComs subsequently elect the GexCom, which includes one person from each RexCom and thematic portfolio representatives. These portfolio representatives are each responsible for a specific working area. The regional and portfolio representatives work together as the full GexCom.
The ICLEI President, First Vice President and two Vice Presidents are elected by the GexCom. They are the executive officers that represent the global organization and lead the global governing bodies of the Council and GexCom.
FORMER LEADERSHIP