26 June 2025 – Ms Patricia O’Brien has taken on the role of interim Chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Ethics Commission until the next IOC Session. This was announced during the meeting of the IOC Executive Board (EB) today. Ms O’Brien succeeds Mr Ban Ki-Moon, whose second four-year term as Chair of the IOC Ethics Commission ended on 24 June 2025 following his election as an IOC Honour Member by the IOC Session in March 2025.
In accordance with the Commission’s Statutes, Ms O’Brien, the longest-serving independent member, will serve as interim Chair until the next IOC Session, scheduled to be held ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, where a new Chair will be elected.
Ms O’Brien currently serves as the Ambassador of Ireland to Italy, having previously held ambassadorial roles in France and Monaco, and at the United Nations. From 2008 to 2013, she served as Legal Counsel and Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs at the United Nations.
New IOC Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer (CECO)
The IOC has appointed Giuseppe Deleonardis as its new CECO, starting on 1 July 2025. Deleonardis joined the IOC in 2017, and has served as Deputy CECO since 2023. In his new role, he will lead the IOC’s Ethics and Compliance Office, with a focus on upholding the highest standards of integrity, transparency and accountability. With a background in financial governance, risk management and internal control, Deleonardis will continue to strengthen the IOC’s compliance framework and advance its broader agenda on sports integrity.
Deleonardis will take over the role from Pâquerette Girard Zappelli, who joined the IOC in 2002, and took on the newly created role of CECO in 2015. She will continue to serve as Secretary of the IOC Ethics Commission.
An independent Commission since 1999
The IOC was the first sports organisation to set up an independent Ethics Commission, in 1999, to safeguard the ethical principles of the Olympic Movement. These principles are set out in the Code of Ethics and its Implementing Provisions.
The Ethics Commission keeps the Code of Ethics updated, examines situations involving possible breaches of the ethical principles and, if necessary, proposes sanctions.
The Commission’s independence is ensured by its nine members. The Chair and the majority of the members are not IOC Members, Honorary Members or former IOC Members, but rather independent personalities. The Chair and all the Commission members are elected by the IOC Session, for a term of four years, and they may be re-elected no more than twice.
