Our Board
Our board is made up of eight Directors who are elected by membership.
The Board
The Board of the European Pride Organisers Association are elected by the membership at the Annual General Meeting. They must be nominated by a member organisation, and serve for a maximum of four terms of two years each. The roles are voluntary and unpaid, though board members can claim expenses for their travel and other out-of-pocket costs.
Image: The current board at the AGM in October 2022. Credit Mazz Image.
Board members
Kristine Garina, President
Member organisation: Mozaika, Latvia
Kristine is a human rights activist with experience in organising prides in hostile and homophobic environments and has a vast experience in security of prides and human rights defenders in Eastern Europe and post-Soviet states.
Kristine was a co-chair of EuroPride 2015 in Riga. Kristine is one of the founders of MOZAIKA has been on the organisation’s board since 2006. She has held a position of chair of Mozaika’s board for several years. She was elected President in 2015 and re-elected in 2017, 2019 and for a final term in 2021.
Uwe Hörner, Treasurer
Member organisation: CSD Rhein-Neckar, Germany
Uwe represents CSD Rhein-Neckar / Pride in Mannheim in Germany where he has been a board member since 2008. His responsibilities there are as treasurer and the national and international networks.
Uwe is also on the board of CSD Deutschland (our associate member), the German national pride organisers platform and InterPride regional director for region 12 – the German speaking countries. Uwe has been working in the finance sector for over 30 years. He joined the board in 2018 and was re-elected in 2020 and 2022.
Lilly Dragoeva, Secretary
Member organisation: Sofia Pride, Bulgaria
Lilly is passionate about social justice, youth empowerment and civic education.
Since 2017, Lilly has been Executive Director of Bilitis Resource Center Foundation, Bulgaria’s longest standing LGBTI civil society organisation, founded in 2004. In 2016, Lilly joined the organising committee of Sofia Pride and in 2018, she undertook the position of Coordinator of Sofia Pride 2018. Since September 2018, Lilly is also Regional Director and Board Member at InterPride for Region 15.
She was elected to the Board in 2019 and re-elected in 2021.
Steve Taylor, Communications & Media
Member organisation: Copenhagen Pride, Denmark
Steve is Secretary General of Copenhagen Pride, and was previously Director of Communications & Marketing for Copenhagen 2021 WorldPride & EuroGames. From 2013-2019 he was a member of the Pride in London team in various roles including communications, operations and community engagement. He is co-founder and was Co-Chair of the UK Pride Organisers Network, founded in October 2016 to bring together Pride organisers in the UK, and was Co-Founder of the Global Pride initiative. He is a patron of Isle of Wight Pride and was Communications Director for ILGA Europe from 2017-2018.
He has worked with civil society organisations in the field of disability, human rights, children’s rights, disfigurement and health research. He has a background in campaigning and is a regular media contributor, and was shortlisted for the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ British LGBT Award in 2018.
He was elected to the board in 2016 and re-elected in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Patrick Orth, Conference
Member organisation: Hamburg Pride, Germany
In 2014 Patrick started volunteering at Hamburg Pride where he took care of the cooperation with other Pride organisers and LGBTI+ organisations in Hamburg and beyond.
He has been involved in HIV and STI prevention for over ten years and is now the head of the department for prevention among men who have sex with men of Aidshilfe NRW, the largest state association for HIV/STI prevention in Germany.
Patrick was elected to the Board in September 2021.
Stein Runar Østigaard, EuroPride
Member organisation: Oslo Pride, Norway
Stein has been working with Pride since 2006, when he was the Parade Manager in Oslo. In the period of 2007-2011 he became the chair of Oslo Pride.
At the start of 2013 Stein became once more a member of the board, and was elected chair from September 2013 to September 2014. In this period he was responsible for the planning and running the EuroPride 2014 in Oslo. Stein’s professional background is as a registered nurse and PR. He’s been working with communication within the health sector for many years, and now works in the Norwegian Medical Association.
Email stein.ostigaard@europride.info
Lenny Emson, Human Rights
Member organisation: Kyiv Pride, Ukraine
Lenny Emson is a Ukrainian-born LGBTQI human rights activist, a person that identifies as a bigender individual. (S)he (him/his) has about 20 years of experience in the fields of human rights and advocacy for LGBTQI freedoms. He is the Executive Director of TGEU.
Lenny has been involved in the LGBTQI movement as an activist, founder, and employee of several LGBTQ non-profit organisations, has been representing the trans community on ILGA’s Steering Committee for 4 years, and for three years was serving the community as a member of Grant Making Panel of the International Trans Fund.
Since 2021, he has served as the Executive Director for Kyiv Pride, the largest pride non-profit in Ukraine. Lenny was a co-founder of Kyiv Pride back in 2012 when a group of Ukrainian activists launched the very first pride march in Ukrainian history, and of Kyiv Pride Canada where he sits on the board of directors.
Julia Maciocha, Membership & Outreach
Member organisation: Warsaw Pride, Poland
Julia is a Polish LGBTQIA activist and Obama Foundation Leader 2022. She has been associated with the human rights sector since 2011. With roots in feminist and environmental movements, she represents cross-sector inclusive activism. Since 2017 she has served as a chair of Warsaw Pride – the largest pro-equality event in Poland. Julia is also founder and member of the Board of the Polish Pride Alliance.
She joined the Board in 2022 and is responsible for membership and outreach.
Join the board
For more information on joining the board, click here.