Kumi Naidoo is announced as the new Greenpeace International Executive Director.
Kumi Naidoo will take over from Gerd Leipold on 15th November 2009. Born in 1965, Kumi is a well-known activist, involved with the anti-apartheid struggle from the age of 15. As he continued to have a strong involvement in South African politics, in 1986 was arrested and forced into exile in the UK in 1989. He is a Rhodes Scholar and earned a doctorate in political sociology at Magdalen College Oxford. For the last ten years he has been the Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and has also sat on the board of Greenpeace Africa. As announced earlier this year, Greenpeace's current serving ED, Gerd Leipold steps down after nearly nine years leading Greenpeace.