IAIA welcomes new Board members
IAIA is pleased to share the results of our recent Board of Directors election. Please join us in welcoming President-Elect Alberto Fonseca and Board Directors Yunae Yi and Andres Amaya. Learn more about these three new incoming Board members below.
Alberto, Yunae, and Andres will join an active, dedicated, international group of existing Board members. Their three-year terms will start on 5 May, at the Board meeting immediately following IAIA25. We look forward to working with them in forwarding IAIA’s mission and vision.
We also extend our sincere thanks to all candidates who stood for election and for all members who took time to cast their votes.
Alberto Fonseca is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering at the Federal University of Ouro Preto, Brazil, and a former president and scientific director of the Brazilian Association for Impact Assessment. He is also an Associate Editor for the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review. Alberto’s relationship with IA is a long and diverse one. Since the early 2000s, he has worked in the private and public sectors seeing the challenges of IA from multiple angles: writing and reviewing IA reports, predicting and verifying impacts, setting up and following up on license conditions, proposing and criticizing IA bills, among others. Alberto is a proud member of the international IA community since 2013 when he attended his first IAIA conference. He sincerely cares about the future of IAIA and its bold mission, and as President, he plans to build on IAIA’s 2024-26 strategic plan, working to deliver member value, increase memberships, build bridges with other sectors, propel digitalization, involve the youth, promote best practices and innovation, strengthen IAIA’s financial independence and elevate its profile and influence. Given the growing threats to IA’s role in the world, he also looks forward to promoting firm (yet diplomatic) actions, with the help of social media and academia, to influence IA practice and lawmaking globally.
Yunae Yi is a seasoned professional in sustainable development, impact assessment, and safeguards policy, with a PhD in economics specializing in labor, poverty, and gender, and 20 years of experience in the environmental field. As the Safeguards Advisor and Head of the Gender and Safeguards Unit at UNEP, she developed UNEP’s Safeguard Policy, established implementation procedures, and built related capacity in the organization. She has been part of the UN Inter-Agency Safeguard Working Group since 2013, where they have worked to harmonize safeguard frameworks, ensuring a consistent approach to safeguards across UN agencies. They are working towards ensuring that every UN agency has its own environmental and social sustainability commitments, which are then endorsed by the Chief Executives Board, the highest decision-making body in UN management. Yunae joined IAIA in 2014, where she values the professionalism, dedication, passion, and support she receives. IA has an increasing importance in the UN community, and she sees the value in bridging the two to create truly effective change from a wealth of collective knowledge and experiences. Yunae is retiring from UNEP in March 2025 both ready and eager for her work to become impactful in a new way through the IAIA’s Board, Council, and conferences. Her goal is to strengthen IAIA’s global influence by fostering cross-sector collaboration and expanding its reach within the UN system by leveraging her network of IA practitioners within UN agencies as IA and accountability mechanisms continue to gain traction.
As a Civil Engineer from Los Andes University in Colombia, Andres Amaya furthered his education at the University of Florida, earning Master’s degrees in Environmental and Civil Engineering. His career began as a designer and project manager in the water and wastewater industry. After returning to Colombia, he has spent over 15 years leading a multidisciplinary team at INGETEC, where they specialize in social and environmental studies for infrastructure projects across Latin America, navigating diverse, multicultural, and complex contexts that have honed his expertise and leadership skills. Andres is committed to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and transcending geographical boundaries. His vision for IAIA includes expanding and continuing efforts to integrate Latin America, through innovation and by leveraging the region’s capacity and diversity to enhance the organization’s knowledge base and global impact. Broadening IAIA’s reach and services will strengthen its role as a leader in addressing critical issues of our time and being the most relevant reference on impact assessment. Andres looks forward to contributing his experience and dedication to IAIA’s mission, promoting the integration of diverse perspectives, and advancing our collective ability to present the best practices in impact assessment.
