Meet our Board
Leading the way at WFA is our Board, ensuring we stay on course towards our mission. Elected by and from our members at our General Assembly, these remarkable individuals bring a wealth of passion, commitment, and expertise to the table.
Luciana D’Abramo
President of the Board and Chief Programme Officer of FOUR PAWS
Luciana D’Abramo is the Chief Programme Officer, incoming CEO (as of April 2027), and Board Member of FOUR PAWS International, the global animal welfare organisation headquartered in Vienna. In this role, she leads the organisation’s global programmes, driving sustainable change for animals worldwide.
Through her leadership, she works to keep animal welfare at the forefront of public discourse, decision-making and policy, encouraging people, organisations, and governments to play an active role in creating a better future for animals.
From 2020-2024, she served as Chief Development Officer at FOUR PAWS, where she demonstrated her strong commitment to leadership development, organisational culture and values-based management. She continues to champion diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging across the organisation, and the belief that strong collaboration, organisational wellbeing, and empowered teams are essential to achieving long-term impact and success.
Before joining FOUR PAWS, Luciana held senior leadership roles at SOS Children’s Villages International. With more than 20 years of experience across the non-profit and corporate sectors, D’Abramo grounds her leadership in the conviction that animal welfare and human wellbeing are inseparable, and that the way we treat animals and the environment is integral to achieving a healthier, more resilient future for all.
Reineke Hameleers
Vice President of the Board and CEO of Eurogroup for Animals
Reineke Hameleers (MA) is the CEO of Eurogroup for Animals, the leading Pan-European animal advocacy organisation convening 70 members in the EU and all over the world. She is passionate about driving long lasting, positive change for animals by improving corporate practice and better legislation whilst ensuring optimal enforcement.
Reineke holds a Master’s degree in Arts and Science Studies from Maastricht University and specialised in the human-animal relationship. She has been active in animal advocacy since 2003 and worked before as Regional Director of the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals. Reineke is a member of the Netherlands Committee for the Protection of Animals during Scientific Purposes.
Last but not least, Reineke is happily living together with 4 rescue hens, 2 rescue rabbits and a cat.
Wim de Kok
Secretary of the Board and President of the National Council for Animal Protection
Wim was co-founder and President of World Animal Net, based in Boston, US. Originally from the Netherlands, where he grew up on a dairy farm, he joined a farm animal welfare organisation and applied his campaigning skills that he had honed as a rebellious high-schooler in the 1970’s. Working in animal welfare all his life, he founded several animal protection organisations and coalitions in the Netherlands and later internationally: most notably, the Anti-Fur Committee which ended fur sales and, helped by COVID-19, has been instrumental in closing all fur farms in the Netherlands.
He was also founder of the Dutch Animal Coalition assembling 20 prominent groups. Internationally he initiated the global NO FUR campaign (before the internet) with materials in 22 languages. Later he co-founded World Animal Net and the European Alliance of Rescue centres and Sanctuaries.
The formation of the World Federation for Animals together with others is his collaborative latest project. The Wim DeKok Animal Rights Collection at the Special Collections Research Center of the North Carolina State University Libraries consists of 13 metres of archives available for historical research.
Roly Owers
Treasurer of the Board and CEO of World Horse Welfare
Roly trained as a veterinary surgeon, lives with his family just outside Cambridge, and has been Chief Executive of the charity World Horse Welfare since 2008.
He graduated from Cambridge University in 1992 and acquired his Master’s degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1997. His previous veterinary roles included with the Blue Cross and the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. Roly plays an active role in much of World Horse Welfare’s work supporting the horse-human partnership across four continents, including the charity’s work with veterinary universities, and also advises the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) and the British Horseracing Authority on horse welfare.
He is currently Treasurer of the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA), Chairman of the UK Equine Disease Coalition, a Director of the British Horse Council and a Board member of the European Horse Network.
Britta Riis
CEO of Dyrenes Beskyttelse
Britta Riis is the former President of WFA and has been the CEO of Dyrenes Beskyttelse, Animal Protection Denmark, since 2009. She is an experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organisation management industry.
Her career has been centred around voluntary NGOs (professionalising NGOs/change management), leadership and organisational development. In her daily job as CEO Britta has doubled Dyrenes Beskyttelse in size and professionalised the organisation, always keeping a close working relationship with Eurogroup for Animals as a board member, VP, and President, until 2020 when her attention was directed more internationally towards working on establishing the World Federation for Animals.
She truly believes in working together for greater impact.
Having worked with boards for over 20 years, she is a highly experienced board member, having also served on the Board of the National Olympic Committee in Denmark. Britta has a Master’s in Political Science and an Executive Board education from Copenhagen Business School.
Glenys Oogjes
CEO of Animals Australia
Glenys Oogjes grew up on a northern Victorian dairy farm in Australia, before leaving for university and realising a broader perspective of our relationship with animals. She is an experienced animal advocate, having contributed to numerous national reviews of Codes of Practice/Standards and animal welfare laws in each State and Territory, served as an instigator of the (former) Australian Animal Welfare Strategy, and has represented the animal movement on the Australian Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (and similar bodies).
Glenys is the long-standing CEO of Animals Australia, a prominent animal advocacy NGO that conducts investigations, exposes entrenched cruel practices, seeks to raise community awareness, and lobbies to press for a better life for all animals. Animals Australia and its global arm, Animals International, maintain a focus on farmed animals and transforming our food system towards a kinder and more sustainable world.
Tozie Zokufa
President of the Coalition of African Animal Welfare Organisations (CAAWO)
Tozie Zokufa is an animal welfare advocate, food safety expert, and veterinary public health professional with more than 20 years’ experience across the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He is President of the Coalition of African Animal Welfare Organisations (CAAWO).
Tozie began his career as a meat inspector and veterinary public health practitioner, gaining extensive experience in abattoir hygiene, food safety auditing, and hygiene management systems. He later served as an animal welfare consultant for Humane Society International (now Humane World for Animals) and Compassion in World Farming, where he contributed to farm animal welfare programmes, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable food system initiatives. He has also led the South African Veterinary Council’s animal welfare portfolio and served as founding chair of the Pan African Animal Welfare Alliance.
He has contributed to initiatives such as Green Mondays and Meat Free Mondays and has presented on animal welfare and sustainable food systems at forums in Africa, Europe, and North America. He serves on several animal welfare and environmental boards and on international platforms.
Philip Lymbery
CEO of Compassion in World Farming
Philip Lymbery is the Global Chief Executive of Compassion in World Farming, Visiting Professor at the University of Winchester and President of Eurogroup for Animals, Brussels. He’s an award-winning author, ornithologist, photographer, naturalist and self-confessed animal advocate.
Philip has played leading roles in many major animal welfare reforms, including Europe-wide bans on veal crates for calves and barren battery cages for laying hens. He has directed global engagement with over 1,000 leading corporations, resulting in commitments to better lives for over 2 billion animals a year.
Philip works extensively on issues relating to industrial agriculture, including its impact on animal welfare, wildlife and the environment. He is a recognised thought leader and media spokesperson on these issues, as well as a renowned public speaker, having spoken on platforms in over 20 countries globally.
Philip’s first book Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat was listed as one of The Times Writers Books of the Year and his awards include Eurogroup’s ‘Outstanding Campaign’ award and the 2015 ‘International Golden Dove’ peace prize in Rome.
María Francisca Tapia
Research Director and Intercontinental Coordinator at LatinGroup for Animals
María Francisca, better known as Franny, is the Research Director and Intercontinental Coordinator at LatinGroup for Animals, a network uniting Latin American organisations to strengthen animal protection laws and public policies. In her role, she drives the organization’s international strategy, building strategic alliances and leading research on comparative law and regional policy.
A Chilean lawyer who graduated with the highest honours from the Universidad de Chile, Franny has spent nearly a decade as an associate member of Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal, an organisation dedicated to defending animals through a comprehensive legal approach that combines academic research, legal counsel, and legislative advocacy. She is also a World Animal Justice legal expert, a board member of Más Insectos, and previously held the role of Regional Co-Director at the World Moot on International Law and Animal Rights.
Passionate about ethical and legal responsibility and international collaboration, Franny believes that unity is the key to a stronger movement. A vegan of seven years, she has been based in France since 2022.
Sirjana Nijjar
Asia for Animals Coalition
Sirjana Nijjar is the deputy CEO of Asia for Animals Coalition, which unites hundreds of organisations for animals in Asia.
Animals have always been an integral part of Sirjana’s life. She comes from a family of animal lovers and was surrounded by animals while growing up in India. She dreamt of becoming a veterinarian but couldn’t pursue that field and decided to study law. Her journey started with rescuing animals off the streets, providing first aid to injured street animals and setting up animal treatment camps for dogs and donkeys. After completing law she tried working with a senior lawyer in Indian courts but her heart was somewhere else and in 2015 she left legal practice to join the animal welfare sector full-time.
She believes that to highlight the suffering and the abuse of animals, it is important for the organizations to come together as one voice. She has worked with several Indian and international animal welfare organizations in varied roles.
Jürgen Plinz
Treasurer of Deutscher Tierschutzbund
Born in 1963 near Cologne, I began my journey into animal welfare during the late 1980s, in my local animal shelter in Düren. During my growth of experience and knowledge, I incorporated my professional expertise in the media and marketing industry, to the benefit of protecting animals. In 1994 I took the position of Vice-President in my local shelter, and in 2018 I was elected President. My shelter is one of the largest in Germany, homing an average of 400 animals at any one time. I started out cleaning cages and worked my way up the ladder, absorbing and learning, turning my passion into my career. In 2007 I was elected Treasurer of Deutscher Tierschutzbund (The German Animal Welfare Association), a German umbrella organisation, with more than 700 member associations and over 530 animal shelters. I am proud to have had a significant influence on the financial development of the company since being in my job.
Since 2017, I am also responsible for the Foundation of Deutscher Tierschutzbund as Managing Vice President and enjoy to represent Deutscher Tierschutzbund, since the summer of 2020, on the Board of Eurogroup for Animals.
Therefore, it is an honour for me, together with all the other animal protectors from WFA and its team, to share my knowledge and experience to create a better future for the defenceless animals worldwide waiting for our help.
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