Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen is from Germany. A lawyer by training, he founded Transparency International in 1993. Prior to that he worked in different capacities at the World Bank.

Peter has worked as a World Bank manager of programs in Africa and Latin America and was the Director of the Regional Mission for Eastern Africa of the World Bank from 1988 to 1991. Under the Ford Foundation sponsorship, he provided legal and technical assistance to the governments of Botswana and Namibia to strengthen the legal framework for mining investments. From 1993 to 2005 Peter was the Chair of TI and now serves as the Chair of the Advisory Council. In 2005, he chaired the International Advisory Group of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), served as the Chairman of the EITI from 2006 to February 2011, and is now EITI Special Representative.