The annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the CDRSEE took place on December 6th, 2007.  Among the Board’s usual business, plans for the 10th Anniversary of the Center and the selection of new officers of the Board were discussed.

With one year of service as the Chair, (having been unanimously voted into the position at the previous meeting in 2006) Dr Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe, oversaw the proceedings.  These included two changes to the Officers of the Board: namely the voting in of Rigas Tzelepoglou (former Deputy Treasurer and Acting Treasurer) to the post of Treasurer and Costa Carras (current Rapporteur) to the post of Deputy Secretary, retaining his role as Rapporteur.   

The Board of Directors December, 2007 L-R:  Dr Selcuk Erez, Dr Dusan Reljic, Pieter Stek, Nikos Efthymiadis, Nenad Sebek (foreground)  Gazmend Pula (background) Dr Erhard Busek (centre), Costas Carras (back row) Smaranda Enache (front)  Antoinette Primatarova (middle row), Rigas Tzelepoglou (back row) Corinna Noack-Aetopulos, Professor Zarko Puhovski. (absent Board Members:  Matthew Nimetz, John Brademas, Saso Ordanoski.

As of December 2007, the Center's Board of Directors is composed of 14 men and women from Southeast Europe, North America and Western Europe who support the goals of the Center.  The Board is assisted by an 8 member Advisory Council of former Board Members.

Chair:  Dr Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe

Hon. Matthew Nimetz, a New York lawyer and partner of an investment firm who is also Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, chaired the Center's Board from the founding of the organisation until 31 December 2001 and continues to be a Board Member.

Vice Chairs of the Board are Smaranda Enache (Targu Mures, Romania),Co-Chair of Linga Pro Europa a Romanian NGO; and Nikos Efthymiadis, a Thessaloniki businessman who also serves as Chair of the Board of the Association for Democracy in the Balkans and theCo-Chair of the Business Advisory Council of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI). The Treasurer and previous Deputy Treasurer is Rigas Tzelepoglou, Professor of Business and President of the International Center for Business Studies (ICBS) in Thessaloniki. The Secretary is Dr. Selcuk Erez, a Medical Doctor, Professor and journalist in Istanbul and the Deputy Secretary is Costa Carras.

The two Rapporteurs of the Board of the Center for Democracy are John Brademas, a long-time Member of the U.S. Congress, President Emeritus of New York University and former Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy; and Costa Carras, the Greek Coordinator of the Greek-Turkish Forum.

Ambassador Richard Shifter, former Chair of the Board retired from his position after a long and distinguished service from 2002 to 2006.  He remains an active member of the Advisory Council.

Spiros Voyadzis, Former Director of the World Bank Group Office in Brussels and current President of Partnerships for Finance and Development, served as the Treasurer until may 2007, and is currently a member of the Advisory Council.

The other Members of the Board are:

• Saso Ordanoski, Editor, "Forum" magazine (Skopje)
• Antoinette Primatarova, Programme Director of the Centre for Liberal Strategies (Sofia)
• Zarko Puhovski, Former Executive Director, Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and Professor of Philosophy (Zagreb)
• Gazmend Pula, Founder and Director of the Kosovo Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (Pristina)
• Dusan Reljic, Senior Researcher, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Berlin)
• Pieter Stek, former Executive Director of the World Bank Group (Amsterdam)

Members of the Advisory Council are:

• Elsa Ballauri, Executive Director of the Albanian Human Rights Group (Tirana)
• Pekin Baran, Businessman (Istanbul)
• Tony Baynes, Businessman (Athens)
• Zdravko Grebo, University Professor (Sarajevo)
• Vlasta Jalusic, Director and Senior Research Fellow of the Peace Institute (Ljubljana)
• Maritta von Bieberstein Koch-Weser, Head of Centennial Group’s Social and Environmental Practice (Berlin)
• Richard Schifter, former Chair of the Board and retired Ambassador (Washington DC)
• Neslihan Tombul, Managing Director and Senior Representative of the Bank of New York (Istanbul)
• Spiros Voyadzis (Paris) Former Director of the World Bank Group Office in Brussels and current President of Partnerships for Finance and Development (Paris)