GATC Board of Directors

Mawya has served as a member of the FCA and GATC Board and is currently chair of the World Heart Federation tobacco control expert group. She has been working in tobacco control since 2006 and leading author for the TII country Index (3 reports). Prior to holding her current positions, she was Director of the Lina and Green Hands Society in Jordan where she worked closely with national/ regional NGOs in the EMRO region in association of WHO and other partners. While becoming a member of GATC (formerly FCA) she received many trainings and obtained certifications in tobacco control while attending many regional /global training, formal meetings for FCTC treaty, and after that working closely demonstrating her expertise in presenting the FCA around EMRO region, involved in training and customizing TC workshops and materials, and translations many related documents, while co-authoring, several articles of the treaty especially related article to WHO MPOWER strategies as well as other article like 5.3,8,13,15. She also played an instrumental role in the formation of the National Tobacco Control Alliance and NCD Alliance. In 2011, Mawya was the recipient of a World No Tobacco Day Award from the WHO and in the same year became cancer control Ambassador

Celine Awuor is the Chief Executive Officer at the International Institute for Legislative Affairs, a not-for-profit organisation in Kenya working on policy and legislative advocacy on various thematic areas; particularly NCDs prevention. Celine has over ten years of experience in policy advocacy, capacity building and development communication in public health and promotion. At IILA, she provides leadership in the organisation’s advocacy work and has been a key pillar and driving force in Kenya’s CSOs advocacy agenda on NCDs prevention and control particularly in the areas of fiscal measures on tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy diet and road safety.

Emmanuelle Béguinot has a degree in political science from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and a master’s degree in information science. After having worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the framework of cultural cooperation programs, she was in charge of studies and missions manager in the private sector before joining the tobacco control community. She is the Director of the CNCT, French national committee for tobacco control and received the WHO Award for her involvement in the fight against smoking. The CNCT is the first NGO in France specialized and involved in the prevention and the protection of people regarding the damages due to tobacco and its industry. The association conducts studies, experimental projects and awareness-raising activities on all the harmful effects of tobacco, as well as advocacy activities to ensure that strong protection measures are adopted and respected. The association regularly takes legal action against tobacco manufacturers and is at the origin of a major case law. It is currently particularly involved for the dissemination of good practices especially for French speaking stakeholders through an information platform called générationsanstabac.org

Shane is from the nation of Aotearoa-New Zealand. He is experienced in the Indigenous Peoples space, in central Government and Non-Government context from local to international. Shane has spent over 23 years in public health (tobacco control) and have developed a broad-based platform that includes: legislative development, advocacy (planning, campaign development, workshops media etc.), management, and academic. lecturing. FCA NGO delegate for New Zealand to the UN-WHO FCTC responsible for inclusion of Indigenous Peoples clauses; Worked on UN Ad Hoc Interagency Taskforce on Tobacco Control; Brokered agreement by the UN – WHO and Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to work on Indigenous tobacco use; Worked on national Tribal Leaders Group re UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; Advocated within Indigenous Peoples context in Australia, Canada, USA. Challenged and received apology from PMI/Altria for cultural misappropriation of ‘Maori Mix’ cigarettes; Instigator of Māori Affairs Select Committee Inquiry on the Tobacco Industry in New Zealand that led to Smokefree 2025 goal; Progressed various Smokefree legislation and regulations through the New Zealand Parliament; Developed various Indigenous-centric social marketing campaigns Developed and implemented various national and regional Strategic/Action Plans; Co-author on numerous academic tobacco control papers; Developed business contracting in tobacco control; Attended governance training.

Maria has worked in public health for most of her career, beginning with a focus on illicit drug problem prevention and later alcohol problem prevention while based at a non-profit public health research institute. In 1992, she began working in the field of tobacco control. Maria was responsible for directing teams charged with assessing state-level compliance with federally mandated tobacco control policy and preparing evidence-based guidance to support the effective implementation of policy. In 2010, she began working in international tobacco control when she joined the global division at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, assisting civil society organizations to advocate effectively for FCTC-compliant tobacco control policies. She directed the development of evidence-based materials and oversaw the conduct of field-based evidence generating projects designed to educate and compel policymakers to act in support of fulfilling country obligations under the FCTC. She was also instrumental in developing annual strategic plans for country-level tobacco control policy change campaigns and tracking progress on these plans. Before moving to public health, Maria worked in the field of education, first as a teacher and later as an applied anthropologist, with a focus on the social and political factors that served or undermined education policy goals.

Deborah Chen is the Executive Director of The Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HJF), with over 30 years’ experience in cardiovascular care and extensive experience in the field of tobacco control she has been the driving force behind the continued growth and success of HFJ. A Registered Nurse by profession, she has a specialist certificate in coronary care and holds a Master of Public Health Degree from the University of the West Indies. Deborah is a founding member of and has oversight responsibility for the Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control which successfully lobbied for the passage of The Public Health (Tobacco Control) Regulations-2013. She is currently the project director of the Global Health Advocacy Food Policy Project and a Tobacco Control project, a board member of the National NCD Committee in Jamaica and Co-Chair of the Tobacco and Alcohol subcommittee. She is a past Vice President of the World Heart Federation and former board member of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition; and is also a past board member of the NCD Alliance. Currently, Deborah is the President Elect of the InterAmerican Heart Foundation (IAHF). She is passionate about public health the inequities and injustices in our environment that contribute to the NCD epidemic.

Patricia was born in South Africa and lived and worked there until 2006. By the time she reached adulthood, Patricia was aware that as a white South African she was privileged in ways that she did not merit and that she was living in a society that was fundamentally unjust and unequal. This realization transformed her into an activist for political and social justice. Before Patricia qualified as lawyer in 1993, she worked as a teacher and a teacher of teachers. After South Africa’s first democratic election, she worked as a labour and human rights lawyer and became an advisor to the Cabinet during the Presidencies of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. Patricia was appointed as the Chief Delegate and lead negotiator for the drafting of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. In 2007, she moved to the United States to work with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, where she built the International Legal Consortium (ILC), a group of experience lawyers who specialize in tobacco control and the implementation of the WHO FCTC. As a team, the ILC has provided legal assistance to almost 100 low- and middle-income countries.

Master of Public Health, Post Grad Dip (Health Promotion), BAppSci. Kylie is the Senior Advisor for National and International Tobacco Control Policy at Cancer Council New South Wales in Australia. She has worked in tobacco control for over 25 years, holding various positions within both government and non-government organisations. Kylie’s expertise and achievements have resulted in being awarded the Nigel Gray Award for career achievement in tobacco control in Oceania in 2017 and a WHO Director-General Special Recognition Award for the Western Pacific Region on WNTD in 2022. She is currently Chair of the Board of the GATC and she also manages a major contract provided by the Australian Department of Health to support implementation of the FCTC in the Western Pacific Region via the GATC. Kylie played a key role in the introduction of plain packaging in Australia and worked intensively with colleagues in Ireland, the UK, New Zealand, France, Norway and Canada to assist them when progressing plain packaging in their countries. She continues to collaborate with colleagues in many other regions to provide ongoing advice on all tobacco policy matters. Her work spans all aspects of tobacco control, with expertise in policy, public and political advocacy and legislative development.

Guy Muller is the Public Affairs consultant international of the Dutch Cancer Society (DCS). His work focusses on public affairs, policy, project coordination and management, stakeholder management, and strategic advice. He has a proven track record of bringing organizations together, actively managing stakeholders, and keeping relations good. He is a team-player, balancing ambitious goals with a sustainable and long-term relations. He is the founder, together with Dr. Wim van Harten (OECI), of the European Fair Pricing Network. The EFPN is established by Cancer Charities from over 10 European countries and is established to work for fairer prices of cancer medicines. Guy Muller is also a member of the steering committee of the Access to Medicines Task Force for the Association of the European Cancer Leagues (ECL).  He works on the strategy and action planning for the Task Force. 

Monique Muggli, J.D., M.P.H., is Vice President of the International Legal Consortium which provides legislative, litigation, and advocacy support to civil society and government attorneys and advocates in low and middle- income countries to further the effective implementation of the WHO FCTC. The ILC also offers essential legal resources and delivers advance legal training to lawyers from around the world. Prior to joining the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Monique was a research and litigation consultant for numerous domestic and international health organizations, as well as for government and private party plaintiffs. In that capacity, Monique led ground-breaking research and published her findings from the once–secret internal tobacco industry documents made public through two U.S. litigation settlements. Her research contributed to the evidentiary foundation and the then growing global movement to expose the multinational tobacco companies’ efforts to subvert tobacco control measures aimed at protecting the public from their deadly and addictive products. Monique has authored nearly 30 peer-reviewed articles and has prepared several seminal reports for the WHO and its regional offices. Monique is the 2016 recipient of the Alumni Award of Merit from the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health and is a Board Member of the Association for Nonsmokers’ Rights – Minnesota.

Leonce is the Executive Secretary of the African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA), a Pan African a civil society network, with more than one hundred organization members in 39 African countries in Sub-Saharan Africa dedicated to the prevention of tobacco epidemic on the African continent and its overarching impact on the health, economy, environment and well-being of the population. He oversees and contributes to the execution of various activities undertaken by the Alliance such as monitoring, and denouncing tobacco industry interference, building the capacity of tobacco control stakeholders, guiding them during the drafting, adopting and implementing tobacco control policies, and providing technical assistance in advocacy.

Alex Wright is Global Lead at Cancer Research UK, with responsibility for CRUK’s International Cancer Prevention programme which has a focus on tobacco control and economics, as well as CRUK’s global partnerships and advocacy to advance effective global cancer control policies. He is also a board member of Smoke Free Partnership Europe. Prior to joining Cancer Research UK in 2021, Alex was Head of Policy & Public Affairs for the Association of Commonwealth Universities, a global membership organisation focussed on higher education’s contribution to sustainable development. Alex has over 20 years’ experience in the international development sector working across programme management, policy, and advocacy. He has worked as an independent consultant for intergovernmental organisations, membership organisations and foundations, with assignments including advocacy around the drafting of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and as an NGO Director. Alex also has extensive experience of intergovernmental organisations and negotiations, having worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat, playing a significant role in the organisation of several multi-lateral ministerial meetings, and representing the Commonwealth in international policy forums and working groups.