Biography: Suneeta Kaimal is the Chief Operating Officer of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), ensuring citizens realize the benefits of their countries’ endowments of oil, gas and minerals. NRGI is an independent non-profit organization that works with innovative agents of change within government ministries, civil society, the media, legislatures, the private sector, and international institutions to promote accountable and effective governance in the extractive industries. Suneeta is responsible for overseeing strategic planning and implementation, and institutional growth and development. She ensures regional and country level engagements in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa, as well as global work of the Capacity Development, Research and Data, Governance, and Legal and Economic Programs align with and further the organization’s mission.

Suneeta is a steering committee member and former civil society co-chair of the Open Government Partnership, a 70-country partnership in which governments and civil society work together to advance transparency, accountability and citizen participation. She is the Chair of the Global Council of Publish What You Pay, a civil society movement of more than 800 organizations working to improve natural resource governance. Suneeta holds a Masters in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University, where she was a Hart Leadership Fellow.