Elena A. Panfilova, an inspiring activist and established researcher, is from Russia.

She was elected to Transparency International Board of Directors for the first time in 2011 and served as a vice-Chair of the Board from 2014 to the spring of 2017.

As an activist with broad consulting and academic experience, Elena has held various positions at the OECD and the Institute for Economy in Transition. Nevertheless, she served as a member of the Russian Governmental Commission on Open Government for a number of years. In 1999, Panfilova founded Transparency International Russia where she also worked as an Executive Director. Until 2018, a Russian researcher was in charge of the Laboratory for Anti-Corruption Policy, which she founded in 2008.