27/02/2026 – Ms Maria José Garde, a Spanish national, has been appointed the new Head of Secretariat of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum), at the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration in Paris, France. She will take up her duties on 23 March 2026.
In this role, Ms Garde will lead the Secretariat’s work in supporting the 172 members of the Global Forum to promote transparency and the effective exchange of tax information worldwide. The Global Forum plays a crucial role in strengthening tax systems, enhancing international tax co-operation, and reinforcing domestic resource mobilisation through its extensive capacity building initiatives.
“I am delighted to join the Global Forum Secretariat at such an exciting time for the international tax transparency agenda. Our work will continue to empower all member jurisdictions for a robust, and inclusive implementation of the global tax transparency standards,” said Ms Garde.
“We are delighted to welcome Maria José Garde as the new Head of Secretariat of the Global Forum. Her leadership, deep expertise and previous experience as Chair will strengthen the Global Forum’s contributions to boost tax transparency and help advance efforts to tackle tax evasion and avoidance through the implementation of internationally agreed standards and capacity-building efforts,” said Manal Corwin, Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration.
Ms Garde joins the Global Forum as an accomplished senior civil servant in the public administration of Spain, with extensive experience in both national and international tax matters.
Ms Garde’s work experience has focused on international taxation for over 25 years.
From 2015, she has been a member of the Bureau of the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs, where she currently serves as Deputy Chair. From 2017 to 2022, she served as Chair of the Global Forum, where she led the development and implementation of the international tax transparency standards.
Since 2018, Ms Garde has served as the Director General of Taxation at the Ministry of Finance in Spain.
From 2023 onwards, she has served as Chair of the European Union Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation.
Ms Garde holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid (CUNEF).
About the Global Forum
The Global Forum is the leading multilateral body mandated to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement the standard on transparency and exchange of information on request (EOIR) and the standards of automatic exchange of information (AEOI), covering financial accounts under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and crypto-asset transactions under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). These objectives are achieved through robust monitoring and peer review processes. The Global Forum also runs an extensive capacity-building programme to support its members to implement the standards and help tax authorities make the best use of cross-border information sharing channels.
For more information, please contact gftaxcooperation@oecd.org.
