Announcing the 2024 GALA Board of Directors

GALA is honored to announce the results of the Board Elections 2024-2025 term. The GALA Board of Directors is comprised of volunteer members who are elected by the GALA membership to serve for two-year terms. Their mandate is to set the association's strategic direction.

We had ten highly qualified candidates representing GALA's diverse community running for three open positions. After a record voter turnout of 232 votes submitted, we are delighted to welcome the following three candidates to the Board:

• Britta Aagard, Chief Business Officer, Semantix [elected for second term]
• Johan Sporre, Engineering Manager Global Language Services, IKEA Retail (Ingka Group)
• Paulo Pereira Guimarães, Managing Director, Inside Language Solutions

They will be joining the current directors:

• Edith Bendermacher, Director of Globalization Strategy and Localization Operations, NetApp
• Dave Ruane, Digital Content and Partnerships Manager,  XTM International
• Jose Palomares, Director of Localization, Coupa Software
• Shirley Yeng, Chief Strategy Officer, Successglo Pte. Ltd.

We also want to offer a sincere and heartfelt thank you to the two Board members that completed their final term in 2023: María Jesús de Arriba Díaz (Senior Manager, Global Language Services at Workday) and Patrick Nunes (Director, Global Communications & Design at Rotary International). María and Patrick have been dedicated Board volunteers for four years, guiding the association through an international pandemic, a return to in-person events, shifting strategic priorities, and the AI explosion.