Markus Zimmer

Ex Officio - Lifetime Member, Advisory Board Member

Markus Zimmer, a native of Switzerland, is the founding President of IACA. He currently serves as the semi-retired Principal of Justice Systems Advisors providing advisory and consulting services to court and justice systems globally.  He retired from the federal court system of the U.S. after 30-years as a court manager and executive.  From 1978 - 1987, he served in several senior staff positions at the Federal Judicial Center.  Zimmer was appointed District Court Executive/Clerk of Court of the U.S. District Court of Utah in September 1987 and retired in 2006.  In 2006-2007, he served as interim Chief of Court Management at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.  In 2007-2008, he was Deputy Chief of Party for the Millennium Challenge Corporation Ukrainian Anticorruption and Rule of Law Project based in Kyiv, Ukraine. In 2008-2009, he was employed by and served as a member of the Program Management Office of the Abu Dhabi Government Restructuring Committee, leading the Commercial Courts Modernization Project.  In 2009-2010, he led the Judicial Modernization Advisory Board for the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Justice’s multi-billion dollar judicial reform and modernization program.  In 2010, he was tasked by the UN with conducting a three-month court management assessment of the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge Genocide Tribunal.  From 2010 – 2014, he worked part-time with the USAID Changes for Justice Project in Indonesia, focusing on the Attorney General’s Office and restructuring the Supreme Court.  He also taught at the University of Maryland and was Research Professor at the University of Utah College of Law. Zimmer's international work in judicial reform and court administration began in 1992 and includes assessments of judicial and justice systems in diverse political environments. He has worked with officials in the judicial, legislative, and executive powers of government in more than 30 countries to date in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, South-East Asia and the Middle East in programs sponsored by ABA-CEELI, ABA/Iraq, the CEELI Institute, USAID, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Justice Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assessment and Training, Council of Europe, United Nations, International Legal Assistance Consortium, and World Bank. Zimmer earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Utah and Ed.M. and Ed.D. degrees from Harvard University. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Zürich in Switzerland and received the national Director's Award for Outstanding Leadership from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts in 1994.