Human Rights First Welcomes Two New Directors to Its Board

NEW YORK, NY – At its board retreat last week, Human Rights First elected Fiona A. Philip and Nithya Thadani to its board of directors.

Michael Rozen, co-chair of the board of Human Rights First, said, “the expertise in law and technology that Fiona and Nithya bring to Human Rights First’s board will complement the organization’s already strong work in those areas.”

“It is critically important to include skilled experts like Fiona and Nithya to the board of Human Rights First as the organization works to address the urgent human rights issues in the U.S. and around the world,” added Human Rights First’s Board Co-Chair Mona Sutphen.

“The election of Fiona and Nithya to our board of directors provides both deep legal experience and strong leadership in technology, two vital sectors for Human Rights First,” said Human Rights First’s President and CEO Michael Breen. “The addition of their expertise and foresight makes our already formidable board an even stronger partner in our work to protect and defend human rights.”

Fiona Philips serves as principal and associate general counsel at KPMG LLP where she primarily advises the firm’s audit and advisory businesses. Nithya Thadani is the CEO of RAIN, a leading voice technology firm that builds conversational AI experiences and software.

Fiona has over two decades of legal experience managing complex investigations and regulatory inquiries, providing pre-litigation counseling, and advising clients at all levels of Fortune 500 companies. She is a former partner at Am Law 10 Sidley Austin LLP and served from 1999 to 2004 as enforcement counsel to the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman and as counsel in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, including its inaugural Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF).

Fiona has been recognized in 2017 by Securities Docket as an Enforcement 40, which recognizes lawyers who have been key players in the most significant SEC enforcement matters of the past few decades; the National Bar Association cited her in 2010 as one of the “Nation’s Best Advocates: 40 under 40 Lawyers; The Root 100 also in 2010; and the SEC Chairman’s Award for Excellence and SEC’s Division of Enforcement Directors Award.

Fiona earned a BA and her JD from Georgetown University and the Georgetown University Law Center.

Under Nithya Thadani’s leadership, RAIN has helped dozens of Fortune 500 companies including Nike, Starbucks, Amazon, Marriott and Blackrock design best-in-class voice applications.

Nithya brings over a decade of experience in product innovation, investment banking and private equity to fundamentally change how people interact with technology in ways that are human-centered and drive measurable business value.

Nithya was named as one of Voicebot.ai’s Top Visionaries in Voice 2020 and Adweek’s 10 Young Influentials in Tech. She serves as the chairwoman of TechMamas, a community for mothers balancing careers in technology, and she is a Women in Voice NY founding member and ambassador.

Nithya holds a BS from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from The Wharton School.