PASOS Secretariat staff

Jeff Lovitt was Director of Communications at the Berlin-based international secretariat of Transparency International, the global anti-corruption NGO, from November 2000 until leaving to become the first Executive Director of the PASOS Secretariat upon its establishment in Prague in March 2005. From 1999-2000, he worked as an editor and media consultant in Prague and Bratislava for international companies, including Commerzbank Capital Markets Central Europe, and NGOs, including Forum 2000, the foundation of then Czech President Václav Havel. From 1995-1998, he was Central Europe correspondent for The European newspaper. From 1987-1995, he worked as an editor and journalist in London for The European, the Sunday Times, New Statesman and other publications. He has also reported for the Financial Times, and written as an op-ed contributor for the International Herald Tribune. From 1991-93, he was Reviews Editor of the British political weekly Tribune.

In 2007, he was co-editor of a PASOS report for the European Parliament on The Challenge of European Development Co-operation Policy for New Member States. He was co-editor in 2008 of Democracy's New Champions. European Democracy Assistance after EU Enlargement, a PASOS study into the democracy assistance policies of the Visegrad Four countries.

Alexandra McGehee specialises in programme development and fundraising for the third sector. From 2002-2009, she worked in a variety of managerial positions for NROS (Civil Society Development Foundation), the largest grantmaking foundation in the Czech Republic, most recently as Programme Manager/Deputy Programme Authorising Officer, co-ordinating the administration of European programmes (Block Grants for NGOs and Transition Facility). From 2006-2008, she served as NROS Development Programme Manager, responsible for finding and designing new programmes, developing new partnerships, and maintaining relations with donors. Prior to that, she worked closely with the European Commission delegation on pre-accession PHARE grant schemes in her capacity as NROS Procurement Manager in 2002-2006.

She has a Masters degree in Political Science from Charles University in Prague, and in 2009 earned a certificate in the Executive Education Programme “Strategic Management for Leaders of NGOs“ from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She speaks fluent Slovak, Czech and English, as well as basic Russian.

Petr Jan Pajas retired from the post of Vice-President (Administration) of the Anglo-American College in Prague after holding the post from 2002-2005. Originally a physicist and mathematician, he was forced to work as a transportation system analyst from 1972-1989. After November 1989, he became known more as a leading NGO spokesman and as an expert on the NGO legal environment. Since 1992, he has worked in co-operation with ICNL - International Center for Non-Profit Law (USA) - and as co-founder and Executive Manager of a consulting company advising NGOs. From 1995-2000 he was Deputy Director of the Center for Democracy and Free Enterprise in Prague. Before, he held several senior NGO roles, including as Executive Director of the Czechoslovak Charta 77 Foundation during 1989-1992, as Executive Director for the Office for Establishing the Central European University in Prague during 1991-1993, and as Executive Director of the Institute of Municipal Informatics of Prague during 1993-1995. Affiliated with EUROPEUM, the PASOS member in the Czech Republic, he is also the author and editor of a number of books on the European Union, and is a trainer on EU affairs.

Petra Steigerová joined the PASOS Secretariat in February 2009. Petra has more than two years‘ experience as Finance and Office Coordinator with International Young Naturefriends, an international youth NGO, also based in Prague. At International Young Naturefriends, she led a team that won the Best Feasibility Study in the Czech Republic for the Social Enterprise Competition, awarded by the Nonprofit Enterprise and Self-sustainability Team (NESsT) in 2007. She has degrees in Public Administration, and in Public and Social Policy, from Charles University in Prague.