Colin is a trial attorney in the Technology Enforcement Division of the Federal Trade Commission, where he works to monitor competition and investigate potential anticompetitive conduct in digital markets.

Prior to joining the Federal Trade Commission, Colin was a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.  Colin regularly volunteers pro bono services, including to support refugees at all stages of the U.S. asylum process.

Colin holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College.  He is admitted to practice law in New York State.

Isaac Todd is the Chief Legal Officer at Auramet International, Inc., a merchant bank, investment and advisory services firm focused on the precious metals value chain.

Prior to joining Auramet, Isaac was a corporate attorney at the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, where he advised clients on mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring, and corporate governance matters. He also previously served as a U.S. Army officer, specializing in reconnaissance and counter-terrorism.

Isaac has served on a number of nonprofit boards and committees and regularly volunteers pro bono legal services, including to support Afghan refugees and Americans impacted by COVID-19. He is interested in foreign affairs, the arts, education, and in strengthening democratic institutions at home and abroad.

Isaac holds a Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management, and a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University. He is admitted to practice law in New York State.

As the director of Human Rights First’s Refugee Protection program, Eleanor Acer oversees Human Rights First’s research and advocacy on issues relating to refugee protection, asylum, and migrants’ rights. Eleanor advocates, speaks and writes regularly on issues relating to the human rights of refugees and migrants, including legal representation, detention, U.S. asylum law and policy, U.S. global refugee protection and resettlement policies, and protection from xenophobic and bias-motivated violence. She works closely with Human Rights First’s pro bono legal representation team, conducts field research, has authored numerous reports and articles, and has testified before the U.S. Congress.

Eleanor was awarded the Louis J. Lefkowitz Award for Public Service by Fordham University School of Law in 2007. She was selected by the American Bar Association to serve on its Commission on Immigration, and serves on the Advisory Board of the International Detention Coalition. She was also vice chair of the Refugee Council USA from 2006 to 2008. She has taught classes on refugee protection and migrants rights as an adjunct professor at the New School’s Graduate Program in International Affairs.

Before coming to Human Rights First, Eleanor was an associate handling federal litigation at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP. She has coordinated mentoring programs and has served on the International Human Rights Committee and Immigration Committee of the Association of the Bar of New York, as well as the Board of Advisors to the Crowley Program in International Human Rights at Fordham University School of Law. Eleanor received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and her B.A. in History from Brown University.

Aaron is a recognized thought leader and strategist discovering and evangelizing the adoption of emerging technologies in Sports and Entertainment. Currently Serving as Deputy CIO of the NFL, Aaron brings a competitive pragmatic approach that is focused on driving long-term outcomes through highly adaptable and sustainable structures. Aaron has built authentic and mutually enriching technology partnerships with world-wide recognized brands that have resulted in industry-leading solutions. Aaron inspires and leads teams by establishing a connection to purpose in their work, fostering individual growth, communicating shared values and building collaboration.

Catherine serves as Co-Chair of Debevoise’s International Dispute Resolution Group and the Public International Law Group, and is a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Her practice focuses on public international law, international commercial and treaty arbitration, and complex international commercial litigation.

With over twenty years of experience, Ms. Amirfar has argued before federal and state courts throughout the United States, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and arbitration tribunals sitting around the world. She has deep expertise representing states, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and multinational companies.

Ms. Amirfar maintains a highly active pro bono practice, advising NGOs and individuals in a wide variety of human rights matters. Most recently, she has led work in conjunction with the Clooney Foundation for Justice on a number of high-profile cases seeking the release of unlawfully imprisoned journalists around the world. She is also representing plaintiffs in Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victims Protection Act cases in U.S. courts with co-counsel the Center for Justice and Accountability. These include civil suits against the alleged commander of the Lutheran Church massacre of approximately 600 unarmed civilians in Liberia, and the former Secretary of Defense of Sri Lanka for his alleged involvement in the attack, torture, and murder of a journalist. In 2014, Ms. Amirfar was selected by Chambers USA as the Pro Bono Private Practice Lawyer of the Year.

She received a J.D. cum laude from New York University Law School in 2000, where she was a Root-Tilden-Snow Scholar. She served as an editor for the NYU Law Review and was awarded top honors in the NYU Orison S. Marden Moot Court Competition. She received a B.A., with honors, in International Relations from Stanford University in 1995.

Winston Ardoin (he/him) is a researcher and human rights advocate based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Currently, he is a PhD student in Political Science at the University of North Carolina where his research focuses on public security, social movements, and the politics of accountability and justice. At UNC, he is affiliated with the Authoritarian Politics Lab and Institute for the Study of the Americas. His research work has led him to Brazil where he conducted interviews with several racial justice advocates and movement leaders from around the country. He continues to work with Brazilian academics and activists on academic and policy projects.

Formerly based in New York City and Washington, DC, he holds an MA in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University and a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. During his time at Georgetown, he also studied in Ecuador and South Africa and interned at a social impact startup incubator in Colombia. In the human rights space, he has worked with a range of institutions and organizations focusing on labor rights, migrant issues, transnational justice, and inclusive and effective democracy. While at Columbia, he worked both with the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law and with the Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability at Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights.

In the future, Winston hopes to continue researching and writing about human rights-related questions in academic and policy publications.

As Director of Research & Analysis for Refugee Protection, Christina Asencio advocates for the U.S. government to bring immigration laws, policies, and practices in line with international refugee and human rights law.

Most recently, Christina was an attorney with the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona where she represented detained asylum-seekers in their immigration removal proceedings, including as court-appointed counsel for individuals deemed incompetent to represent themselves.

Prior to that, Christina spent a decade working in refugee protection in the Americas, Middle East, and Southeast Asia with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and various NGOs. As Head of Protection with UNHCR Brazil, she coordinated the agency’s national refugee protection response to the influx of Venezuelan refugees and migrants, including at Brazil’s northern border, and oversaw technical support provided to the Brazilian asylum authority.

Previously, she worked with UNHCR in the Dominican Republic on issues of asylum and statelessness and in Jordan adjudicating complex asylum claims. Christina was awarded a Public Service Fellowship by Boston University School of Law to work with Asylum Access Ecuador to provide free legal assistance to refugees in their asylum claims and later worked with Asylum Access Thailand supporting the provision of free legal services for refugees in Bangkok. Christina also previously represented survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking in their affirmative U.S. immigration applications such as VAWA, U, and T visas.

Christina received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law, spent a semester studying international law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, and received her B.A. cum laude in Political Science and International Studies with a minor in Foreign Languages from the University of Miami. She speaks Spanish and Portuguese. She is licensed to practice law in Florida, New York, and Massachusetts.

Tom Bernstein is President and Co-Founder of Chelsea Piers, L.P. He is also Co-Chairman of Chelsea Piers Connecticut and Chairman of Chelsea Piers Fitness. Mr. Bernstein was one of the two principals of Silver Screen Management, Inc., and the affiliated Silver Screen companies. which financed 75 films with the Walt Disney Company, including such box office successes as “Beauty and the Beast,” “Pretty Woman” and “The Little Mermaid.”

From 1989 to 1998, Mr. Bernstein was one of the principal owners of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club with the ownership group led by George W. Bush. Mr. Bernstein serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Partnership for Public Service, Chairman of the Human Freedom Advisory Council of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, and Chair of the Advisory Council of the NYU Stern Center for Business & Human Rights. He is also Co-Chair Emeritus of Human Rights First and Chairman Emeritus of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

From 1978 to 1983, Tom was an attorney with the entertainment department of the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York.  He served as a law clerk from 1977-1978 for the Honorable Jack B. Weinstein in Federal District Court in New York.

Tom is a graduate of Yale College (’74 summa cum laude) and Yale Law School (’77), where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.  He is married to Andrea E. Bernstein.  They are the parents of three young adults: Sam (Yale 2014), Lee (Brown 2015), and Will (Yale 2018).

As the Administrative Assistant for the Refugee Representation Team, Lilia Brooker works closely with the Program Manager on overseeing programmatic operations and spearheading projects that help support the team.

Prior to her role at Human Rights First, she founded an EdTech company that taught debate and public speaking to children during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as collaborated with the country’s leading environmental lawyers during her internship at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School.

Lilia received her BA in Human Rights with a specialization in Public Health from Columbia University. Also during her undergraduate years, she completed a rigorous program in Copenhagen, Denmark, focusing on International Humanitarian Law and Armed Conflict. Lilia wrote her senior thesis on human rights abuses within the renewable energy supply chain and strategies to ensure human rights are respected in this growing industry. She is currently based in New York City.

Joseph Bustamante serves as the User Experience Designer in Human Rights First’s Innovation Lab. He is a human-centered design specialist with expertise in user research, interface, and interaction design,

Joseph was an external UX consultant for our Innovation Lab on Glimpse, its flagship artificial intelligence project that uses computer vision and natural language processing to detect violence in videos for human rights investigations. Joseph previously served as an entrepreneurial UX and Product Design consultant, supporting new initiatives and product launches at startups, software agencies, and Twilio’s SendGrid.

Joseph earned his Bachelor of Science in Informatics with a specialization in human-computer interaction from the University of California, Irvine.

Carney joined Amazon in March 2015 to run the company’s new Global Corporate Affairs organization. In this role, he oversees Amazon’s Public Affairs and Public Policy divisions, and reports to the CEO.  From January 2011 through June 2014, Carney served as White House Press Secretary to President Obama. As press secretary, he was the primary spokesperson for the president, the administration and the United States government. In the first two years of the Obama Administration, Carney served as director of communications for Vice President Joe Biden.

Before moving to the White House, Carney spent 21 years as a reporter, 20 of them at Time Magazine. From 2005 – 2008, he was Time’s Washington Bureau Chief. Earlier assignments for Time included stints covering the Clinton White House, the George W. Bush White House and Congress. He joined Time as its Miami bureau chief in 1988. From 1990-1993, he was a correspondent in Time’s Moscow bureau, covering the collapse of the Soviet Union. His first job out of college was at The Miami Herald.

Carney has been deeply involved in global policy and communications throughout his career. As a journalist, he wrote extensively on domestic and foreign policy issues, legislative battles and political campaigns. On September 11, 2001, he was one of just a few reporters on board Air Force One with President Bush. Carney later won the 2003 Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. In government, he was a senior adviser to both President Obama and Vice President Biden and represented each of them before the press and the public.

Carney was raised in Virginia and earned a B.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University. His wife, Claire Shipman, is the best-selling co-author of The Confidence Code and Womenomics. They live in Washington, DC, with their two children.

As director of information technology, Peter Chan oversees the technological environment for Human Rights First.  He is responsible for designing and implementing technological strategies to provide solutions that align with the organization’s mission.

Peter earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from St. Johns University and is accredited as a Cisco Certified Network Professional.

Dr. Welton Chang is co-founder and CEO of Pyrra Technologies. Most recently he was the first Chief Technology Officer at Human Rights First and founded HRF’s Innovation Lab. Prior to joining HRF, Welton was a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory where he led teams and developed technical solutions to address disinformation and online propaganda. Before joining APL, Welton served for nearly a decade as an intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency and in the Army, including two operational tours in Iraq and a tour in South Korea. Welton received a PhD and MA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA from Georgetown University, and a BA from Dartmouth College.

Farida Chehata is the managing attorney of the Los Angeles office of Human Rights First where she oversees the pro bono legal representation of indigent asylum seekers.  She provides support and guidance to volunteer attorneys in law firms located in Los Angeles, California, who represent asylum seekers at all levels of the immigration system.

Before joining Human Rights First, Farida was the Director of the Immigration Practice Group at Inland Counties Legal Services (ICLS), where she oversaw direct legal representation of survivors of domestic violence and other serious crimes.  Prior to that, Farida founded the Immigrants’ Rights Center at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area (CAIR-LA) office.  As Managing Attorney, she positioned CAIR-LA as a legal resource on immigration matters through varied publications, speaking events, and media interviews on issues impacting AMEMSA immigrants.

Farida has a dual degree in political science and economics from the University of California, Irvine. She received her Juris Doctor degree from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law and is admitted to practice law in California. She is fluent in Arabic.

Lynda Clarizio serves as co-chair of Human Rights First’s Board of Directors.   

Lynda Clarizio has over 20 years of experience in the media industry growing and scaling businesses with a focus on data and technology. She is currently the Co-Founder and General Partner of The 98, an early-stage venture fund investing in tech-enabled businesses led by women.

Lynda previously served as President of U.S. Media at Nielsen Holdings, the global measurement and data analytics company, where she worked from 2013 to 2018.  Prior to joining Nielsen, she served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Operations of AppNexus, a leading programmatic advertising platform.  From 2009 to 2012, Lynda served as Chief Executive Officer and President of INVISION, a provider of multi-platform advertising solutions.  From 1999 to 2009, she held a variety of executive positions with AOL, including President of AOL’s global advertising business (then called Platform-A) and President of Advertising.com (then the industry’s largest online advertising network).  Prior to joining AOL, Lynda was a partner in the Washington, DC law firm Arnold & Porter, where she practiced law from 1987 through 1999.

Lynda is a recognized leader in advertising and media, having been named one of 2017’s “50 Most Powerful Women in New York” by Crain’s, one of 2011’s top 100 “Tech Titans” in the Washington, DC region by The Washingtonian, one of 2009’s “25 Executives to Watch in Digital Entertainment” by Digital Media Wire, and one of 2008’s “Women to Watch” by Advertising Age.  She also was selected as one of 1998’s “Top 40 Lawyers Under 40” by The Washingtonian.

Lynda has held numerous board seats and currently sits on the boards of CDW, Intertek Group, Taboola, Emerald, Simpli.fi and Cambri and is the Vice-Chair of Human Rights First. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and of Princeton University.

Brendan Condon is an industry-leading Senior Media Executive with extensive global experience in strategic prospecting, evaluating, and acquiring or partnering with companies of scale across varying media sectors as well as internal start-ups. He is a sought-after thought leader on developments in multi-platform initiatives within advertising sales, consumer marketing, strategic planning, operations and finance. His history of successes managing private equity-backed companies and public corporations include the creation of B2B brands, successful business turnarounds, acquisition integrations, and value proposition expansions. Highly regarded as a change agent, Brendan possesses an innate ability to recruit and motivate strong performance-based executives and their teams. Brendan brings a unique C-Suite and Executive Leadership background perspective to his roles having served as CEO, CRO, EVP, CFO, and Managing Director, International – across Media, AdTech, and MarTech companies.

Currently, Brendan is working with Gartner’s Research and Advisory practice (www.gartner.com) advising their c-suite clients on their go-to-market sales strategies.  Prior to that role, Brendan served as the Global Chief Revenue Officer of the martech firm: GDS Group (www.gdsgroup.com).  Previously, he was the CRO of Captify (www.captify.us) – the world’s leading independent provider of search intelligence for global marketers and their advertising agencies. In this role, Brendan is taking the company to new heights of sustainable and profitable revenues. Prior to that, Brendan was the Chief Revenue Officer for Comcast Advertising (Effectv). He was recruited to streamline and oversee $2.5 Billion in advertising revenue streams across national, regional and local agencies and clients (>25K) covering cross-screen, addressable, audience-based, linear TV and digital video solutions.

He is a contributor to business trades and various digital media outlets as well as a keynote speaker and panelist at domestic and international television industry conventions, digital media conferences and global trade shows.

He holds an MBA, Finance from Columbia University and a BS, Mathematics from St. John’s University. He attended The Courant Institute of Mathematics for Graduate Studies and was a student at the Juilliard School Masters Division for piano performance. Brendan is an avid and competitive equestrian who also enjoys golf, running, and fly fishing.

Warren is a supervising senior staff attorney at Human Rights First’s Los Angeles office. His responsibilities include helping to administer Human Rights First’s pro bono refugee representation program, mentoring pro bono attorneys, supervising Human Rights First staff and associate attorneys, and directly representing asylum seekers before the Immigration Court and USCIS Asylum Office.

Before joining Human Rights First, Warren worked for over seven years as an immigration attorney in private practice in Austin and San Antonio, Texas. He has successfully represented many asylum seekers and their families in removal proceedings before the Immigration Court, affirmative applications before the USCIS Asylum Office, and appeals before the Board of Immigration Appeals. He has also helped clients obtain immigration relief such as special immigration juvenile status, temporary protected status, U and T visas, benefits under the Violence Against Women Act, cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, naturalization, immigrant visas, and DACA. Additionally, Warren has worked on federal litigation cases involving immigration and human rights issues, including several cases that led to favorable precedent decisions.

Warren is licensed in California and Texas and is a graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. Prior to law school, Warren was a high school English teacher where he taught students who recently immigrated to the United States.

As the Finance Supervisor at Human Rights First, Vlad oversees the organization’s accounting and ensures the accuracy and integrity of its financial data. He performs the monthly closing entries, assists with audits, and conducts finance orientations for new employees.

Vlad graduated from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Baruch College.

Donald Francis Donovan serves as co-chair of Human Rights First’s Board of Directors.   

Mr. Donovan has long been regarded as one of the leading international advocates and public international lawyers in the world. He recently retired from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where he headed the international disputes and the public international law groups. He now devotes his practice to serving as arbitrator in major international cases.

Mr. Donovan has argued before the International Court of Justice and other international courts and tribunals throughout the world and before the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal and state courts throughout the United States. He served as President of the American Society of International Law, President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, and Chair of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration. He was a member of the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Law and the ALI’s Advisory Committees for the Restatement (Fourth) of U.S. Foreign Relations Law and for the Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration. He has long taught international arbitration and international investment law and arbitration at New York University School of Law.

Mr. Donovan served as law clerk to Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Jerome J. Farris of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Judge Abraham D. Sofaer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and as legal assistant to Judge Howard M. Holtzmann of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal.  Mr. Donovan is a graduate of Stanford Law School.

Matthew is a founding Partner of Dontzin Nagy & Fleissig LLP. A trial lawyer, his practice focuses on commercial litigation, international litigation, white-collar criminal law, and sophisticated commercial transactions. He represents international banks, corporations, hedge funds, law firms, and high-net-worth individuals. He has devised and coordinated litigation strategy for civil and criminal proceedings involving $50 billion under the laws of seven jurisdictions and has supervised over 135 lawyers from 30 firms of international repute. He has tried cases in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the New York Supreme Court and has argued appeals in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits, and the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division.

Matthew has been a grant recipient from the Ford Foundation and New York Bar Association for his human rights work in South Africa.

Matthew is a graduate of Hampshire College and New York University School of Law.

As Senior Advisor, Brian supports Human Rights First’s work with human rights activists in hostile environments.

Prior to serving as Senior Advisor, Brian directed Human Rights First’s engagement with the U.S. government and other partners to end threats and obstacles to human rights defenders.

From 2020 to 2023, he served as Senior Advisor to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders.

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Brian spent twenty years working for U.S., Irish, and international NGOs. He led Amnesty International’s work on partnering with national NGOs in the global South. Brian has also worked as Head of Media for Amnesty International in London and in Dublin and as Director of Communications for Public Citizen in Washington, D.C.

He is the author of several books about civil rights and U.S. politics. He had early experience on Capitol Hill, serving as a legislative researcher for Senator Edward Kennedy in the mid-1980s when he contributed to what ultimately became the 1986 Anti-Apartheid Act.

In 1981 and 1982, Brian lived and worked as an English teacher and community organizer in a black township in South Africa, which was prohibited under apartheid’s racial segregation laws.

Brian earned a PhD in the transnational history of rights from the University of East Anglia, an MPhil in Government and Politics from The Open University in London, and a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of East Anglia.

Ethan Duncan serves as the Data Scientist in our Innovation Lab. He has expertise in cross-functional team collaboration focused on the design and implementation of data science solutions.

As a researcher at NASA, Ethan led and implemented advanced computer vision techniques for recognizing and classifying ice blocks on the Jovian moon Europa, resulting in published conference papers and presentations at multiple scientific conferences.

Ethan earned his Master of Information and Data Science (MIDS) from the University of California, Berkeley, where his work culminated in a waterpoint functionality predictor to that used machine learning to assist those in water scarce areas of the world find reliable sources of water. Ethan earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Astrophysics and Physics at Arizona State University.

As HR Manager, Diyerly Duque oversees all human resources processes and programs. She manages the overall recruitment and hiring process — benefits management, onboarding, payroll administration, and our internship and fellowship programs.

DJ joined Human Rights First in 2018 as a Bilingual Administrative Assistant Volunteer at the Washington, DC office, and then served as HR Assistant, HR Coordinator, and HR Generalist. In addition to currently serving as our HR Manager, DJ is the organization’s DEI Council Co-Chair.

Prior to joining Human Rights First, DJ served as a Human Development Intern at the Venezuelan National Assembly, where she was responsible for training employees in professional tools, improving work culture, and developing a citizen participation project to promote democracy and government accountability in communities.

DJ is passionate about freedom and committed to defending human rights and social justice. In 2017, she was a speaker at the HDCA Annual Conference held in Cape Town, South Africa where she presented her thesis work, based on Amarya Sen’s perspective of freedom, on emigration and its relationship to Human Development.

DJ is SHRM certificated and has earned a Management Certificate from Harvard Business School Online. Diyerly graduated cum laude from Lisandro Alvarado University of Venezuela, where she received a bachelor’s degree in human development.

As a legal services coordinator in New York, Maya El Cheikh conducts screenings of potential clients; writes case assessments; supports pro bono and in-house attorneys; helps manage the New York office’s client database; assists in supporting advocacy efforts; and helps select, train, and supervise interns.    

As a Department of Justice (DOJ) fully-accredited representative, Maya directly represents immigrants in removal proceedings before the Department of Homeland Security and the Executive Office for Immigration Review under the supervision of our New York office’s managing attorney. She helps clients secure various immigration-related benefits, including asylum, employment authorization, family reunification, and adjustment of status. 

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Maya worked with the Victim Services Unit at the District Attorney’s office in Brooklyn. There, she assisted victims of various crimes, including domestic violence, with VAWA and U-visa petitions. 

In addition to her legal background, Maya holds a master’s degree in Special Education and Inclusion from the University of Roehampton, a master’s degree in Social Work from New York University, and a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University in Canada. Maya is a native Arabic speaker and is conversationally fluent in Spanish.

Andrew Feinberg, the Equal Justice Works Legal Fellow sponsored by Latham & Watkins LLP, provides pro bono representation to asylum seekers and works to dismantle systemic barriers that prevent indigenous peoples from Central America from receiving asylum in the United States.

During law school, Andrew was a student attorney with UCLA’s Immigrant Family Legal Clinic, where he successfully represented asylum seekers and petitioners for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. Andrew was a summer legal fellow with the UCLA Law Center for Immigration Law and Policy and worked as a legal intern with Al Otro Lado on immigrants’ rights litigation before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Andrew served as Executive Director of UCLA Law Students for Immigrant Justice and Managing Editor of the UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs.

Andrew holds a J.D. with a specialization in Public Interest Law and Policy from the UCLA School of Law, and a B.A. from Hampshire College.

Michael Feinberg is responsible for Ducera’s legal and compliance functions. Prior to joining Ducera, Michael worked at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Credit Suisse, and WilmerHale. He also served as a law clerk to United States District Judge Harold Baer, Jr., in the Southern District of New York. Michael earned a B.A. from Amherst College and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Shala leads Project:  Afghan Legal Assistance, Human Right’s First’s nationwide coordination of legal stakeholders responding to the resettlement of at-risk Afghans by the U.S. government.  She also oversees the pro bono program that provides legal screenings and representation to Afghans eligible for asylum, Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), and other forms of humanitarian protection.

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Shala served as Director of Mercy Center’s Immigrant Services Department and as Supervising Attorney with Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of NY.  Previous to that, she was a Blossom Hill Legal Fellow with Refugee Rights Turkey in Istanbul, and worked in Greece for Greek Council for Refugees and HIAS, serving Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers.  Shala worked on a report documenting reconciliation following the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina and served in anti-poverty projects in Guatemala and Costa Rica.

Shala obtained her B.A. in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from New York University, and her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She is admitted to practice law in New York and is fluent in Dari, Farsi, and Spanish.

As Senior Research and Policy Counsel with Refugee Protection, Rebecca supports Human Rights First’s efforts to promote the protection of refugees and reform the U.S. asylum system.

Rebecca received a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School in 2019. In law school, Rebecca was a student director of the Immigration Legal Services Clinic, where she represented asylum seekers and green card applicants. She was also a research coordinator for the Immigration Policy Tracking Project, which catalogues every immigration policy from January 2017 to January 2021. During law school, Rebecca interned at the Capital Area Immigrants’  Rights Coalition and the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Appeals Bureau.

Rebecca graduated Cum Laude from Williams College, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with honors.

Jenna Gilbert is Senior Director of Refugee Representation, where she oversees Human Rights First’s pro bono legal representation program, which provides indigent asylum seekers with high quality legal representation in the New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. 

She previously served as the Managing Attorney of the Los Angeles office of Human Rights First, leading the Los Angeles team, overseeing the legal representation of indigent asylum seekers in the Los Angeles area, and training and mentoring pro bono volunteer lawyers. Prior to her role as Managing Attorney, Jenna was a Staff Attorney in both the New York and Los Angeles offices of Human Rights First. 

Before joining Human Rights First, Jenna was an associate attorney at an immigration law firm in Los Angeles, CA, where she managed a large caseload of defensive and affirmative immigration cases. Jenna specialized in removal defense, and frequently appeared in the Los Angeles Immigration Court representing clients with various forms of relief, including asylum, cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, NACARA, and criminal waivers. She also successfully appealed cases before the Board of Immigration Appeals and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prior to that, Jenna received a public interest fellowship to work for Asylum Access Ecuador, where she provided legal services for refugees and led a prison advocacy project in an effort to ensure that detained migrants were guaranteed protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol. Jenna litigated and presented oral arguments before Ecuador’s highest court in a case involving Ecuador’s unlawful imprisonment and denial of reparations to a Guinean refugee.

Jenna has a dual degree in international relations and Spanish language and literature from the University of San Diego. She received her Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is admitted to practice law in California. She is a frequent speaker on immigration-related topics affecting asylum seekers and is fluent in Spanish.

Sara Gormley is a Program Manager supporting the operation of the Refugee Representation team.

Sara joined Human Rights First with seven years of experience in logistics and project management, most recently as a senior associate at UNICEF USA and as a volunteer with HIAS, where she worked with immigrant detainees. Previously, Sara worked for the United Nations Secretariat in New York, managing operations for the UN General Assembly meetings.

She received her B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from Northeastern University, and her MSc in International Development from the University of Edinburgh. Sara has spent many years of her professional and academic career living outside of the United States, where she studied French, Spanish, and Arabic.  She is currently based in Washington, D.C

As Operations Manager, Miranda supports the development team in all in-person and virtual fundraising activities, from meetings to annual awards celebrations.

Miranda comes to Human Rights First with years of experience in both non-profit and corporate organizations.  She has held positions in events management and operations at Sony Music Entertainment, Columbia University’s Earth Institute, Drum Major Institute, and most recently Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of New York.

Miranda earned a BS degree in psychology from Morgan State University and a JD from the University of Maryland. She serves as co-founder of The Light Community Service Ministry and actively volunteers with many local service organizations in her community of Mount Vernon, New York.

Shae Heitz is an international human rights advocate and graduate from the University of Connecticut School of Law where she obtained a Juris Doctor and Certificate in Human Rights. Currently, her work focuses on law and policy, women’s rights, conflict resolution, and forced migration. At UConn Law, Shae served as President of the Human Rights Law Association, where she worked to build community connections with local human rights organizations. As Chapter Director of the UConn Law International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and UConn Law Asylum and Human Rights Clinic fellow, Shae worked with refugees from across the Middle East and North Africa. Shae has also worked with refugees in Jordan, where she completed UNHCR refugee resettlement referrals, and Poland, where she provided immediate aid and support through small–NGOs.

Previously, Shae has interned with the U.S. Department of Justice, Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section. She also served as a visiting Postgraduate Fellow at the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham in England, where she researched the intersection of forced migration and modern slavery. Currently, Shae is an intern with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, where she works to help strengthen the integrity of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Most recently, Shae served as a U.S. Delegate at the 2024 Global Youth Migration Forum, co-hosted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNICEF.

Prior to starting law school, Shae received a Masters of Science in International Relations from Troy University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Boston College.

Susan Hendrickson is a nationally recognized lawyer, human rights advocate, and expert on emerging technology. As Human Rights First’s President and CEO, she is charged with leveraging her extensive global expertise at the intersection of law, technology, business, and human rights to bolster Human Rights First’s work countering extremism, combatting authoritarianism, supporting accountability, challenging systemic injustice, addressing the use and abuse of technology, and protecting the rights of refugees. She brings decades of experience working with legal frameworks and multi-stakeholder forums to foster rights-respecting and responsible business practices and government policy. She was also instrumental in the development of the innovation lab at Human Rights First to empower the human rights movement with new technology tools.

Hendrickson joins from the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society where she was the Executive Director and a Global Technology Governance Fellow. She also was a lecturer at Harvard Law School on classes relating to human rights and technology. While at Harvard, Hendrickson’s work focused on how AI and other emerging technologies impact democracy, human rights, and societal well-being.

Hendrickson recently advised the Christchurch Call on its launch as a Foundation to continue its mission of eliminating terrorist and violent online extremism; participated in consultations with the U.S. government on AI and rights-respecting technology; and serves on the steering committees of the Laboratory for Women’s Rights Online and the Laboratory for Online Child Protection, initiatives with global reach that bring together governments, international organizations, NGOs, private platforms, researchers and key stakeholders, working to defend women’s and children’s rights online.

Prior to working at the Berkman Klein Center, Hendrickson was a partner at Arnold & Porter, where she co-headed the Technology and Life Sciences Transactions practices. In addition to serving on the Human Rights First board, Hendrickson also currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Laboratory for Women’s Rights Online, the Executive Committee of the Child Online Safety Lab, the AI Governance Advisory Board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, the board of KID Museum, and as a senior fellow at the Datasphere Initiative.

Hendrickson was named as one of the Leading Lawyers in America for Technology Law, as one of the Top 250 Women in IP, and as the Best Lawyers’ “Technology Lawyer of the Year” in Washington, DC.  She graduated from Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Kennedy School, and was an editor at the Harvard Law Review.

Anwen Hughes helps oversee Human Rights First’s pro bono representation program for indigent asylum seekers. Anwen provides training and support to volunteers from law firms in New York and New Jersey who represent asylum seekers through our program and assists in Human Rights First’s local and national advocacy on asylum issues. She also provides information and legal services to asylum seekers in INS detention, and helps coordinate their legal representation.

Before joining Human Rights First, Anwen was a staff attorney with the Passaic County Legal Aid Society in Paterson, New Jersey, where she represented recipients of public benefits and coordinated legal services for the elderly.

She graduated summa cum laude from Yale University (1993) with a B.A. in Classics, and from Yale Law School (1998).

Tom Iler serves as Chief Product Officer for Surge Software and Catalyte. Having managed technology, data science and product teams for the last 20 years, he has experienced the convergence of creativity with big data and the powerful results it can produce. Previously, Tom was Chief Technology Officer at Integral Ad Science. Tom has also served in technology, data science and product management executive roles at technology companies such as Advertising.com, AOL, and Billtrust. Tom holds a B.A. in Economics from Loyola University and an M.B.A from Baltimore University.

Jung Rae Jang is a Full Stack Developer; he is responsible for the development, testing, maintenance, and launching of Innovation Lab projects.

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Jung Rae was a software development analyst at Citi.  Before becoming a software engineer, Jung Rae worked at various non-profit organizations as a community organizer working on issues including affordable housing, immigration reform, and language access for immigrants with limited English proficiency.

His previous experiences compelled him to combine his passion for technology with the goal of fighting injustice.  He earned a B.A. at Hunter College.

Jealous has decades of experience as a leader, coalition builder, campaigner for social justice and seasoned nonprofit executive. In 2008, he was chosen as the youngest-ever president and CEO of the NAACP. During his tenure, he doubled the organization’s budget, grew its online activist base by hundreds of thousands, and increased its number of donors eightfold, from 16,000 to 132,000. He also positioned the organization at the forefront of critical social justice issues such as the Trayvon Martin case, the fight against voter ID laws and major protests over the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policies. He pushed for the organization to fight more aggressively for marriage equality, led efforts to register 374, 000 voters and mobilize 1.2 million new voters to the polls, and worked to pass key legislative accomplishments during President Obama’s first term, most notably the Affordable Care Act.

In 2013, the Baltimore Sun named Jealous Marylander of the Year for his work on marriage equality, abolishing the death penalty and passing the DREAM Act. Jealous was the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor of Maryland, and most recently served as a partner at Kapor Capital. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and he has taught at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

Piibe Jogi is the managing attorney of the Refugee Representation team at the New York office of Human Rights First, overseeing the pro bono legal representation of indigent asylum seekers.  She mentors pro bono attorneys from New York and New Jersey law firms who represent asylum seekers at all levels of the system.

Before joining Human Rights First, Piibe was a senior staff attorney at Immigration Equality, a nonprofit organization that represents and advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and HIV-positive immigrants.  She co-managed Immigration Equality’s pro bono asylum program, mentored pro bono attorneys, and also directly represented clients in affirmative and defensive proceedings.

Prior to joining Immigration Equality, Piibe worked for several years as a corporate attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, then briefly as a solo practitioner.  She also worked pro bono for several nonprofit organizations in Westchester County, assisting undocumented immigrant survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking to gain legal status in the United States. 

Piibe has taught law courses at Tartu University in Estonia, Uppsala University in Sweden, and Seton Hall Law School’s online program.  She is the author of the textbook “Law and Ethics” (in Estonian) and several other publications.

Piibe’s degrees include an LL.B. (with the highest distinction) from Tartu University, Faculty of Law in Estonia, an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, England, and an LL.M. and a J.S.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a Fulbright Scholar.

Ms. Johnson leads at the intersection of social justice and culture change, cultivating over a decade of experience marrying cultural cornerstones — advocacy, politics, corporate and entertainment — together to achieve justice. As Founder and Chief Impact Officer of 1063 West Broad — a social impact agency specializing in the intersection of culture, impact and purpose — Alencia connects brands, organizations and people to mission driven solutions.

She has worked for the presidential campaigns of President Barack Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and was a senior advisor to now President-elect Biden’s campaign. Alencia has also held national roles at Planned Parenthood and GEICO — leading efforts in each organization to address systemic issues facing marginalized communities through brand, engagement and narrative strategies. At Planned Parenthood, she was the architect behind the “Stand With Black Women” branding and framework as well as led the organization’s election strategies with Secretary Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Alencia has been recognized by Harvard University with a “Woman of the Year” award, EBONY Magazine’s “Power 100” list of influential African Americans and PRWeek’s “40 Under 40” list and more. She serves on the Warner Music Group/Blavatnik Family Foundation’s Social Justice Fund board of directors and was appointed to the Virginia Council on Women by Governor Ralph Northam.

Alencia is a sought-after thought leader and cultural critic featured on MSNBC, BET, NPR, Washington Post, ESSENCE, Glamour and more.

Chris Jones ensures the Innovation Lab’s technology projects and tools drive impact in the field, with a special focus on investigations. Chris is an accomplished domestic extremism investigator targeting anti-government and extremist violence. 

After leaving the Marine Corps in 2014, he worked as a photographer and investigative reporter covering Afghanistan and the rise of domestic extremism in America. His work is featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vox.com, Pacific Standard, 100 Days in Appalachia and other outlets.  His coverage of domestic extremism in Appalachia won a 2021 National Edward R. Murrow Award.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian activist, politician, and filmmaker, has been a senior advisor to Human Rights First on human rights accountability since 2020. He was arrested in Russia in April 2022 for speaking out against the Russian government’s brutality in Ukraine and at home, and he remains arbitrarily imprisoned after being convicted in a sham trial and given a 25-year prison sentence.

A longtime colleague of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir played a key role in the passage of the original Magnitsky legislation, which imposed targeted sanctions on Russian human rights violators. Twice, in 2015 and 2017, he was poisoned and left in a coma; the attempts on his life were widely viewed as the Russian government’s retribution for his work on the Magnitsky sanctions. Since his imprisonment, governments around the world have imposed Magnitsky sanctions on his persecutors.

Vladimir is a contributing writer at the Washington Post and has continued to write op-eds from prison. He previously hosted a weekly show on Echo of Moscow radio, and has worked for the BBC, RTVi, and Kommersant. He has directed three documentary films, They Chose Freedom, Nemtsov, and My Duty to Not Stay Silent, and is the author of Reform or Revolution: The Quest for Responsible Government in the First Russian State Duma.

He has received several awards, including the Sakharov Prize for Journalism as an Act of Conscience, the Magnitsky Human Rights Award, and the Geneva Summit Courage Award. He holds an M.A. (Cantab.) in History from Cambridge. He is a Russian and British citizen and a U.S. permanent resident.

As Senior Director for Accountability, Adam Keith is responsible for Human Rights First’s work advancing human rights in U.S. foreign policy, with a focus on tools and institutions that help promote accountability for serious abuses and corruption.  He oversees our work coordinating a coalition of NGOs that use the Global Magnitsky Act and other targeted sanctions tools to pursue such accountability.   

Adam worked for ten years as a career civil servant for the U.S. Department of State, including an assignment to the National Security Council staff’s Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights directorate as director for war crimes and atrocity prevention (2013-14).  He also served as principal policy advisor to the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice; a desk officer for the African Great Lakes region and for Iraq; and a short-term political officer in Juba, South Sudan.  

After leaving the U.S. government in October 2017, Adam consulted for the Open Society Policy Center, Open Society Justice Initiative, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Human Rights First.  He is the co-author of the Holocaust Museum’s 2019 report, “By Any Other Name,” on the U.S. government’s policy and practice in making genocide determinations.  

Adam has a Master in Public Affairs degree from Princeton University’s public policy school and a Bachelor of Arts from Rice University.  He was a Fulbright fellow in Ghana, where he worked for the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, and he interned at the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.  He has lived and worked in Zimbabwe and South Sudan and studied in France.  He speaks French, holds on to fragments of other languages acquired in the course of his travels, and lives in New York City.

Nadia Khalid is a Supervising Senior Staff Attorney for Special Projects in Human Rights First’s Refugee Representation program. In this role, Ms. Khalid leads a nationwide pro-se asylum clinic series, provides training and mentorship to pro bono volunteer attorneys, and facilitates advocacy and representation for Afghan arrivals.

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Ms. Khalid was the Senior Staff Attorney for Catholic Charities Dallas where she coordinated the Afghan legal response through large-scale pro-se asylum workshops in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area. In the last year, Ms. Khalid has spoken on the refugee crisis at the State Bar of Texas Annual Poverty Law Conference and on leveraging services for recent Afghan arrivals for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) Annual Convening Conference. Ms. Khalid was recently published in the State Bar of Texas’ Immigration Bulletin Journal where she wrote on Title 42 as a Covid-19 crisis or a border crisis. Additional recent publications include  “Examining the Crossover of Immigration and Family Law in Determining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status” for the UNT Dallas College of Law Accessible Law Journal and the “Evolution of the Migrant Protection Protocol Program” for the Dallas Bar Association Headnotes Newspaper. Ms. Khalid has also written about the Afghan Adjustment Act and the search for permanent residency.

Ms. Khalid has been practicing immigration for five years with a focus on refugee and asylum law. Ms. Khalid received her Bachelors in Classical Languages from Rice University and her Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Khalid was an intern for then-First Lady Michele Obama. Ms. Khalid is admitted to practice law in Texas and is fluent in Urdu, Spanish, and conversational Arabic.

Philip serves as in-house counsel to Accenture’s contracting practice. His practice focuses on the negotiation of complex contractual agreements in the digital, consulting, and systems integration fields. With over nine years of transactional law firm and in-house experience, Philip has successfully closed a variety of contractual matters from both the buy and the sell side.

Philip regularly participates in pro bono activities and has assisted numerous clients in the screening, mock interviewing, and declaration drafting of their asylum applications.

He received a J.D. from St. Johns University School of Law and served as part of the Senior Staff on the St. John’s Journal of International & Comparative Law. He received a B.S. in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2008.

Alexa Koenig is the Executive Director of the Human Rights Center (winner of the 2015 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions) and a lecturer at UC Berkeley’s School of Law. In 2016, she co-founded the first university-based investigations lab to train students and professionals to discover and verify human rights violations and potential war crimes using online open sources. Alexa has been honored with several awards for her work, including the United Nations Association-SF’s Global Human Rights Award, the Mark Bingham Award for Excellence, and the Eleanor Swift Award for Public Service, and was honored as a 2020 “Woman Inspiring Change” by Harvard Law School. Her most recent book, which she co-edited with Sam Dubberley and Daragh Murray, is Digital Witness: Using Open Source Information for Human Rights Documentation, Advocacy and Accountability (Oxford University Press 2020).

Charlie brings to Human Rights First a well-rounded perspective and passion for human rights, developed through her professional experience, community work, and tertiary endeavors.

Prior to joining the Human Rights First team, Charlie worked as the US Initiative Development Associate at Human Rights Watch. She is also the founder of here4HER, a global initiative fostering collaborations between women’s rights organizations through events and multimedia awareness campaigns. Charlie has also served as a volunteer with the Anti-Human Trafficking initiative at Sanctuary for Families, and at the Arab American Association where she assisted in a teen career development program for refugee communities.

Charlie studied international human rights frameworks and ethnolinguistic perspectives at the Roosevelt Institute of Public Policy at Hunter College, and is currently pursuing an MA in Mass Violence; War Crimes, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at the CUNY Graduate Center.

She currently resides in Brooklyn- the unceded land of Lenapehoking.

Jayshawn is an artist-scholar and human rights advocate. His work explores the complex relationship human rights have with global solidarity and personal stakes in which art and scholarship are bridges for understanding.

He works at Echoing Green, a nonprofit that funds global leaders engaging in social impact and racial equity through its biannual fellowship. There he focuses on grantmaking initiatives, fellow search & selection systems, and supporting global community programming for the 75M racial equity philanthropic fund.

He is also a Poet at Ars Poetica, a global poetry and literary agency that brings creativity and language arts to partnered spaces. His work as an artist has led him to working with museums, universities, and other institutions to foster writing as a gateway for social change and learning. Jayshawn’s passion for community building led him to previously establish Write-Up Group, an NYC-based writer collective that offered free public workshops.

While working as Advocacy Committee Chair with Human Rights First, he hopes to connect the anecdotal experiences of its members to the public eye as a means to showcase where change is possible in a new generation of world shapers.

Jayshawn holds a MA from Columbia University in Human Rights Studies and a BA from New York University with a focus on Political Economy & Global Equity, where he studied as a GUIDE Scholar. There Jayshawn received an Interdisciplinary Academic Excellence Award, openEARTHstudio Artistic-Activism Award, and served for numerous years as the host of Say It Loud!, a Showcase of the Arts and Black Activism, which he continues annually.

Jason Long provides technical and strategic guidance to Innovation Lab projects and manages the Lab’s tech partnerships.  Jason founded and built Blue Witness, an AI tool incubated at Human Rights First’s Innovation Lab to combat police violence in the United States. 

 Jason Long is a software engineer, founder, and technology executive with a passion for social change.  He served as Chief Technology Officer at the digital product firm Sevenstar.  Born and raised in Chicago, Jason is active in organizations providing opportunities to formerly incarcerated and otherwise marginalized people.

Marvelous Maeze is a human rights defender specializing in international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Her areas of concentration are counterterrorism, climate and environmental policy, transitional justice, and women’s rights.

She currently works as a Research Associate at RepresentWomen, a gender parity organization that works to increase women’s representation in elected office and advocates for systemic reforms to the recruitment process, voting systems, and legislative rules. Prior to this, she interned at the Council on Foreign Relations for Foreign Affairs Magazine. While there, she worked in the Digital Analytics and Audience Development Department, assisting the Editorial Team in SEO optimization and data compilation. 

Marvelous holds a Master of Arts degree in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from New York University.

Ambassador Robert “Bobby” Mandell is a retired U.S. Ambassador and real estate developer. Bobby served as U.S. Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg from 2011 to 2015. Prior to being nominated by President Obama, he served as chairman and CEO of Greater Properties Inc., a real estate development company in Orlando. Bobby also served as the chairman and CEO of The Greater Construction Corp. from 1998 until 2005, and as member of President Obama’s Export Council from 2010 to 2011.

Bobby is a member of the advisory board of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, as well as a cabinet member at the Wilson Center. Bobby previously served as the capital campaign co-chair for UCP of Central Florida’s East Orange Bailes Campus. Under his guidance and leadership, UCP raised more than $6.5 million toward a new facility where more than 350 children, including those with disabilities, would receive support, education, and therapy all in one place. He also chaired the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and the Environmental Regulation Commission of Florida.

Bobby is a graduate of the University of Florida and its law school, and a graduate of the OPM Executive Program at Harvard Business School.

As a Legal Services Coordinator in Human Rights First’s Los Angeles office, Andrea Martinez supports the Refugee Representation team by assisting clients and their pro bono attorneys on asylum cases. Andrea conducts screenings of potential clients, writes case assessments, and helps manage the Los Angeles office’s client database.

Andrea previously worked at an immigration non-profit as a paralegal, assisting clients with U-Visa applications. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Andrea attended UCLA where she studied Political Science and later went to receive her Master of Public Administration from CSULB.

David is the founding partner of Matthews & Associates, a personal injury law firm. With offices in Houston and New York, the firm seeks to help those who have been injured by pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and corporate negligence. Voted one of the top 100 trial lawyers in Texas and a Super Lawyer nearly every year since 2003, David has been featured on CNN and Dateline MSNBC, and interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR) and several other television and radio outlets across the country. He has been quoted for his legal expertise in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Boston Globe and many other local and national newspapers. Board certified in personal injury law, he has tried over 150 cases to verdict.

David is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and South Texas College of Law.

As an Associate Attorney, Accountability, Nina Moraitou-Politzi supports Human Rights First’s efforts to hold human rights abusers and corrupt actors accountable through the imposition of targeted sanctions tools, including the Global Magnitsky sanctions program and other relevant legal authorities

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Nina was the Dale and James J. Pinto Fellow in the International Advocacy and Litigation team at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, where she worked in partnership with civil society organizations across Africa and Southeast Asia to protect human rights and civic space.

Nina earned her J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center with a certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies, graduating as a Public Interest Fellow and member of the Order of the Coif. During law school, she was granted the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Student Advocacy Award for her work representing a Syrian doctor and his family with their claim for asylum. Nina interned with EarthRights International in Washington, D.C. and Earthjustice in Anchorage, Alaska on corporate accountability cases on behalf of human rights and environmental defenders, as well as with the U.S. Department of Justice, Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, and the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Legal Adviser.

Previously, Nina worked to support refugees and asylum seekers through direct service and policy advocacy at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Albany, New York, and at the British Refugee Council in London, U.K. She received received a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh, and an M.Sc. with Distinction in Psychology from the University of St. Andrews.

Benedict Morelli leads the Morelli Law Firm and is a past president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the Brooklyn-Manhattan Trial Lawyers Association.  He was appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2012 to his judicial screening panel for the Court of Claims and Appellate Division, 2^nd Department.  He is a member of the American Association for Justice, emeritus on the Board of Directors of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, advocate rank in the American Board of Trial Advocates, member of the New York State Bar Association, American Bar Association, New York County Lawyer’s Association, and National Employment Lawyers Association.

As a Legal and Social Services Coordinator in Human Rights First’s Los Angeles office, Nicolas Moritz supports the Refugee Representation team by assisting clients and their pro bono attorneys on asylum cases. Nic conducts screenings of potential clients, writes case assessments, and helps manage the Los Angeles office’s client database.

Nic spent a year and a half working for a large corporate immigration law firm before joining Human Rights First.

After growing up in Los Angeles speaking both French and English, Nic attended New York University where he studied International Relations and Political Science with a focus on migration.

Nicole has a background in organizational management, project management, and human resources. She has worked in several industries managing others and supporting organizations’ operational needs. Currently she works in talent acquisition for Community Change, a non-profit based in Washington D.C. which builds power for low income communities, especially low income communities of color and low income communities of women to change policies and institutions that impact their lives.

She has previous experience working with faith based organizations promoting peacebuilding education, interfaith dialogue, and engagement in specific conflicts such as Israel/Palestine. Nicole also works with Solidarity 2020 and Beyond assisting their organization with website services, an unarmed civilian protection mission via press releases, and getting their grassroots led blog created through project management and editing.

She is currently pursuing her Masters in Philosophy in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Nicole is interested to learn more about the reasons we engage in violence, how to manage conflict on national, state, and interpersonal levels, how grassroots nonviolent campaigns can benefit the progression of societies, and the ways that gender is impacted by conflict. Through the Emerging Leaders Advisory Board (ELAB), Nicole is hopeful to continue advocating and engaging others in the field of human rights.

Hassan Murphy is a Founder and Co-Managing Partner of TRGP Investment Partners LP and is responsible for overall corporate management and oversight, deal sourcing, investment selection, portfolio construction and commercial litigation initiatives. Hassan is also a member of TRGP’s Board of Directors. Formerly, Hassan was a nationally recognized trial lawyer in tort, products, consumer class-actions, environmental, civil rights, and complex-commercial litigation, leading the firm he managed – Murphy , Falcon & Murphy – to over $800 million in verdicts and settlements. Hassan also served as defense counsel to Fortune 500’s in bet-the-company litigation in venues across the country, working with C-suite leadership to obtain results resolving significant claims. Hassan has been named National Trial Lawyer of the Year by Lawyers for Public Justice and to the Top 100 Black Lawyers in America.

Hassan received a B.A. from Williams College and a J.D. from Georgetown University.

Negin was born and raised in Denmark, originally with roots from Iran and currently residing in New York. She is a dedicated student pursuing a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Law and Justice and U.S. Law at Fordham Law School. With a background in law from the University of Copenhagen, Negin’s interests lie in criminal law, international courts, international criminal law, and human rights law.

As the Associate Attorney in the Black Immigrant and Refugee Equity (BIRE) Project in Los Angeles, Madhavi provides provides pro bono representation of Black asylum seekers, particularly those in immigration detention and expedited removal. She is a member of the New York State bar.

Prior to joining Human Rights First in 2023, Madhavi worked at Lawyers for Human Rights in Johannesburg, South Africa as a fellow with funding from the Promise Institute of Human Rights at UCLA School of Law where she represented and assisted asylum seekers and refugees from all over the African continent, as well as assisting in strategic litigation cases.

Madhavi earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2022 where she was a member of the International Human Rights Law Clinic and co-Editor in Chief of the Indigenous People’s Journal for Law, Culture, and Resistance. Madhavi also worked as an intern for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in London and New Delhi, Mwatana for Human Rights in Yemen, and the Danish Refugee Council in Ethiopia and Djibouti. She previously worked as a Teach for India fellow for two years in an under resourced school in Chennai, India.

Ms. Nelson is the Budgets and Grants Manager at Human Rights First.

Nelson constructs programmatic, departmental, and grant budgets, providing cost analyses, fiscal allocations, and budget preparation. She oversees the administration of restricted grants, including preparation of financial reports.

Nelson has experience in nonprofit and government accounting and holds a B.A. in Public Accounting and an MBA.

As the Senior Design and Innovation Strategist for the Innovation Lab, Isabelle Ohlson focuses on strategy, human-centered methods, user research, service design, and systems thinking.

Before joining Human Rights First, she worked for the UK’s Ministry of Justice where she helped build and lead a multidisciplinary team that used systems design and human-centered methods to improve outcomes for people in prison. She also worked on the rollout of video calling technology across the prison system so people in prison could communicate with their families during Covid-19.

Isabelle holds an MA in Service Design from the Royal College of Art, London, and a BA in Graphic Design from Kingston University, London.

A thought-leader, changemaker, and creative, Krishna is the founder of Return on Equity, an economic and philosophical agenda to situate stakeholder capitalism in a model that harnesses the power of inclusion, empowerment, and social change as a strategy for better business, and sustainable profitability.

In 2020, Krishna convened a round table of CEOs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, to discuss stakeholder capitalism and the role of corporations in effecting social change (watch: here). In 2019, he spoke at the World Economic Forum alongside CEOs and philanthropists on the question of the role of the business sector in advancing inclusion and equality. A lawyer by training, at the invitation of the UN Assistant Secretary General, Krishna co-convened the 2019 UN consultation on LGBTQI+ rights in Berlin, and also advised pro bono in the successful 2018 appeal to decriminalize same sex relations in India, collaborating with lead counsel and writing a brief that was referred to in the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment.

Passionate about theatre, film, and the performing arts, Krishna has featured as an actor and director: directing Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at Oxford’s Bodleian Library and the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Hamlet at Hatfield House under the RSC’s Open Stages project; as well as an immersive performance of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at Dartmouth House.

Krishna received a BA in English Literature from St Stephen’s College, the University of Delhi; an MPhil in Sociology from the University of Oxford; and spent time as a visiting researcher at Sciences Po / Institut d’études politiques de Paris.

Sanja Partalo is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of S4S Ventures.

A long-time WPP (NYSE: WPP, $17Bn in Rev) executive, Sanja has worked directly with WPP’s C-suite in a variety of roles focused on driving growth through development of new technology products & solutions, strategic partnerships & alliances, and venture investments.

Most recently, she served as Global Head of Strategic Development & Partnerships. In this role, she lead WPP’s channel strategy, product & solution development, and go-to-market with all major technology platforms that are transforming the value chain of marketing, media and consumer experience orchestration – Google, Meta, Adobe, Salesforce, Microsoft, Snap, ByteDance/TikTok and Amazon, among others – and oversaw a $$B+ strategic partnership portfolio. She spearheaded numerous market-leading partnerships at WPP, including the first global agency partnership with TikTok, Google’s Waze and augmented reality partnership with Snap.

Sanja is recognized for her ability to identify emerging trends in the industry and was instrumental in leading and driving success of numerous venture investments, including Gimlet (leader in podcasting, acquired by Spotify) and SuperAwesome (leader in kidtech, acquired by Epic Games). She has served as Board Director and Board Observer for numerous venture-backed companies, including YouEarnedIt (acquired by Vista Private Equity), Gimlet, Fatherly (acquired by SomeSpider) and the Mighty.

Sanja holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she serves as a Lecturer and Adjunct Professor of Marketing, Media & Technology.

She was born in Bosnia and came to the US as a teenager through a refugee resettlement program, having spent 3 years living in a war zone and two years in a refugee camp. Her story was captured in President George W. Bush’s book “Out of Many, One” and in accompanying exhibit of portraits painted by the President to inspire understanding and highlight contributions by refugees and immigrants to the United States.

Carlos is Senior Vice President for Global Energy and International Affairs at S&P Global Commodity Insights, responsible for leading all business lines in Latin America.

As the energy envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs for the United States, Carlos established and directed the new Energy Resources Bureau at the U.S. Department of State and was senior advisor to the Secretary of State on energy issues. He had previously been a United States Ambassador to both Mexico and Ukraine and was special assistant to the President and successively as director and then senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia on the National Security Council. At the Brookings Institution, Carlos served as both vice president and director of foreign policy studies and launched the Brookings Energy Security Initiative. He taught and wrote on energy geopolitics at Columbia University. Carlos created the position of coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization, establishing the State Department’s first civilian response capacity to conflicts. He also was the State Department’s coordinator for American assistance to Europe and Eurasia. He has also held leadership roles at the U.S. Agency for International Development, including as deputy assistant administrator for Europe and Eurasia, chief of policy and strategy for Africa and in field postings in Mozambique, South Africa and Sudan.

Carlos received his Masters of Public Policy degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University. His book, Power and Responsibility, won a 2009 award for the best political science book published by an independent publisher.

Fernanda is the Special Assistant to the Commissioner at the NYC Mayor’s Office for International Affairs. She works closely with the 193 Permanent Missions, the 116 Consulates, the Trade Commissions, the United Nations, and other entities.

Throughout her life, Fernanda has worked to uphold human rights at different capacities. During her undergrad, she worked as a journalist at a nonprofit where she helped refugees and new immigrants integrate into their new lives in the United States. After graduation, she worked at a human rights organization educating and mentoring high school youth on social justice and healthy relationships. During that time, she helped lead an after-school program for underserved youth and empowered them to be leaders in their communities. She continues to be a strong advocate and supporter of human rights everywhere.

Fernanda holds a graduate degree in diplomacy from the University of Oxford and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia. At Oxford, she served as the Student Representative of her cohort, and the Women’s Officer of her College.

She hopes to continue to work in a diplomatic capacity and push towards sustainable peace with human rights, equity, and disarmament as center roles.

Keri Pflieger (they/she) is a lawyer and human rights advocate based out of Seattle, WA.

They are passionate about advancing the rights and protections of communities affected by limited resources, abuse of power, armed conflict, and climate emergencies through legal redress and policy development and reform.

In joining the Emerging Leaders Advisory Board, Keri is excited to promote awareness of pressing human rights issues and expand opportunities for involvement to young leaders.

Most recently, Keri has worked with public defender’s offices in both Oregon and Alaska serving indigent clients through client-driven representation. Keri also volunteered as a mentor with Minds Matter Portland to help high school students with college planning and academic advising. Prior to that, they volunteered with SPLC’s Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative by assisting pro bono legal representation of clients facing deportation along the United States’ southern border.

Keri earned a Juris Doctor from Lewis and Clark Law School with dual certificates in International Law and Criminal Law and Reform in Spring 2022. There, they served on the Lewis and Clark Law Review, Public Interest Law Project, and Lewis and Clark OutLaw. Keri graduated from the University of California, Davis in Spring 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and English.

Fiona Philip is a known problem solver with 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. Fiona currently serves as Principal & Associate General Counsel at KPMG LLP where she primarily advises the firm’s Audit and Advisory businesses. She is a former partner at Am Law 10 Sidley Austin LLP and from 1999 to 2004, Fiona served as Enforcement Counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Chairman and as Counsel in the Division of Enforcement, including its inaugural Financial Fraud Task Force.

Fiona has been recognized for her legal work: Enforcement 40 by Securities Docket, recognizing lawyers who have been key players in the most significant SEC enforcement matters over the past few decades (2017); “Nation’s Best Advocates: 40 under 40 Lawyers” by the National Bar Association (2010); The Root 100 (2010); SEC’s Chairman’s Award for Excellence, and SEC’s Division of Enforcement Directors Award.

Noah Ponton is an Associate Program Manager at Humanity United, where he provides program and grantmaking strategy to the foundation’s forced labor and human trafficking portfolio. He works directly with human rights NGOs, grassroots activists, and journalists working across South Asia and the Arab Gulf, including policy coordination with the U.S. State Department and the International Labour Organization. Most recently, his work has included raising awareness around the abuses of migrant workers in Qatar ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Before working in philanthropy, Noah served in the offices of Senator Thomas Carper (DE) and Representative G. K. Butterfield (NC), where he conducted legislative research on issues related to U.S. foreign policy and humanitarian aid reform. As an aide to Liberal International’s Chief Human Rights Officer, he conducted policy research on the United Nations Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Doctrine and the politics of Western-backed humanitarian intervention in Libya and Rwanda. Noah has also worked at the National Women’s Law Center, providing support to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.

Noah holds a B.A. in Political Science and Peace, War, and Defense from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an Honors Carolina Laureate. He has also been selected as a 2022 Out Leader by the New America Foundation.

Noah is thrilled to serve as an Emerging Leaders Advisory Board (ELAB) member for Human Rights First and to build on the organization’s existing legacy of supporting a human rights centric U.S. foreign policy. He is also looking forward to sharing Human Rights First’s mission with a new and younger generation of human rights and foreign policy advocates.

As Vice President for Advocacy, Jennifer Quigley oversees Human Rights First’s efforts to advance critical human rights policy reforms in Congress and the executive branch. Jennifer also leads the organization’s advocacy work to protect the rights of refugees and ensure the United States commits to refugee protection at home and abroad, including access to asylum protections and resettlement.  Jennifer has testified before Congress and been quoted in numerous print, television, and online news sources. 

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Jennifer worked for the U.S. Campaign for Burma for nine years, including as President/Executive Director focusing on U.S. Burma policy and the promotion of human rights, refugees, and democratic change in Burma. Jennifer also previously worked with the Women’s League of Burma and its thirteen member organizations on international advocacy and capacity building of women to advocate in international fora. Jennifer received an M.A. in Intercultural Management from the School for International Training and a B.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University.

As a Communications Strategist for Human Rights First, Sydney works to amplify the objectives of all pillars of the organization through social media, digital content creation, and other outreach efforts.

Before joining Human Rights First, Sydney worked at a variety of nonprofits as an educator and communicator, including The Safina Center, The Rockaway Institute for Sustainability and Equity, The Audubon Society, and Girls Inc. She also worked as an editor at the American Institute of Physics and studied shorebirds in Canada with the Quebec Labrador Foundation.

Sydney recently graduated with a master’s in marine conservation and policy from Stony Brook University. She has a bachelor’s degree from Skidmore College in Environmental Studies and Sciences.

As a Communications Associate for Human Rights First, Camila Rice-Aguilar works to amplify the organization’s effort areas and objectives through social media, digital content creation, coordination of bilingual communications campaigns, and collaboration across ally coalition groups.

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Camila was a founding staff member and Program Coordinator at the Partnership for Central America (PCA). During her time there, she helped to build the organization’s communications and program strategies for collaborative, cross-sectoral, and human-centered projects to advance inclusive economic opportunities across underserved populations in Central America. Her primary responsibility was to ensure communication, alignment, organization, and coordination across PCA’s partners and stakeholders in government, civil society, and the private sector. 

In addition to her experience in communications and project coordination, Camila also has a background in legal and administrative support work, policy advocacy, and services coordination. In 2020, she worked at Freedom for Immigrants developing policy advocacy strategies and systems for human rights monitoring within immigrant detention centers and community-based alternatives to detention. In 2019, she served as a bilingual paralegal and interpreter on the Refugee Representation team at Human Rights First connecting Spanish-speaking asylum-seekers to pro-bono legal services. 

Between her upbringing in Nicaragua and the U.S., Camila developed an interest in migration, international human rights, and climate justice. Camila graduated from Brown University with a dual bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Latin American and Caribbean Studies with Honors. She also completed her thesis with Honors on the Central American Migrant Trail, which aims to tackle the root causes of migration as a means of mitigating human rights abuses towards migrants in transit and forced displacement in the region.

Perris Richter, a design and operations strategist with expertise in issues of the information landscape and democracy, serves as Senior Director of Human Rights First’s Innovation Lab. 

Previously, Perris served in leadership at MIT Media Lab’s Center for Constructive Communication, which brings together practitioners in emerging technologies and social science to address the effects of deepening societal fragmentation in America. Before that, Perris was Lead Design and Innovation Strategist at Fuseproject, where she supported new initiatives and product launches with USAID, Paypal, Samsung, and the city of San Francisco. 

Perris earned an MsC in Behavioral Economics at the London School of Economics, and a BA from Northwestern University.

Diana Rodriguez Flores is a senior staff attorney for Refugee Representation in our Washington, DC office, where she provides mentorship and support to pro bono attorneys who represent asylum seekers and directly represents asylum seekers living in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. She has experience with asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, DACA, U Visa, NACARA, naturalization, and other immigration reliefs.

Prior to joining Human Rights First in 2022, Diana served for three years as a Staff Attorney for the Esperanza Center, Catholic Charities, in Baltimore, Maryland. At Esperanza, she represented non-detained clients before the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Board of Immigration Appeals, and affirmatively at the United States Citizenship and Naturalization Services. Because of her commitment and passion for bettering the Latino Community in Baltimore, Diana received the 2021 Community Service Award from the Latino Providers Network. She previously worked as an attorney in private practice and served in the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Puerto Rico to help victims of Hurricane Maria.

Diana received her J.D. from the Pontifical University of Puerto Rico School of Law in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and her B.A. in Forensic Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, Puerto Rico. She is a member of Puerto Rico and Maryland State Bars. Diana is bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English

As a Program Associate, Annie Roebuck provides operational and administrative support to the Refugee Representation team.

Annie’s work and academic research centers around immigration, identity, race, gender, and cultural diplomacy.  Prior to joining Human Rights First, Annie worked as an administrative assistant for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. Annie previously served as a Princeton in Asia fellow and worked on the communications team at RECOFTC in Thailand, an international organization working in community forestry in the Asia Pacific. She has also worked for the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project and the United States Senate.

Annie received an B.A. in international studies from American University’s School of International Service with minors in Communication and Spanish Language.

Daniel Rogers is the co-founder and CTO of the Global Disinformation Index, providing the world’s first global rating system of disinformation carried out on the internet. Danny is a computational physicist with experience supporting Defense and Intelligence Community Cyber Operations, as well as startup experience in the defense, energy, and biotechnology sectors. He served as the co-founder and CEO of Terbium Labs, an information security startup based in Baltimore, Maryland. There, he created Matchlight, the premier dark web data intelligence system designed to detect stolen data on the dark web immediately and automatically.  Danny is an author and expert in the field of quantum cryptography and has published numerous patents and papers on that and other subjects. Prior to co-founding Terbium Labs, Danny managed a portfolio of physics and sensor research projects at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Danny holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University of Maryland and a B.S. from Georgetown University.

As Systems Security Analyst, Dennis is responsible for maintaining and supporting the direct user environment for Information Technology operations at Human Rights First. He works with the IT Director to ensure that all our staff has access to a secure and stable computing environment.

Dennis has over 20 years of experience in information technology, having worked in high-profile and time-critical environments for Brown Advisory, Exelon, AEGON, and Lockheed Martin. A United States Air Force veteran, Dennis supported missions in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf.

Dennis studied Business Administration at Towson University and Communications-Computer Systems at the Air Force’s Air University. He holds various information technology certifications including MCSE, MCP, and Security+.

Michael K. Rozen is President and CEO of the boutique alternative investment company, and the founding partner of Rozen Law Firm, LLP. Michael is recognized as a leading strategist and negotiator of complex, multi-party disputes, having resolved many thousands of cases in a wide variety of litigation settings. Michael has been appointed by Courts around the country as a Special Settlement Master, and served as Deputy Special Master of the United States government’s September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001, Deputy Administer of BP’s Gulf Coast Compensation Fund, and Court-appointed Mediator in the Upper Big Brand mine disaster, among others. Michael is also a member of the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

Michael is a graduate of Tufts University and Georgetown University Law School.

Jenine Saleh is a staff attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Human Rights First. She provides mentorship and support to pro bono attorneys who represent asylum seekers. She also directly represents asylum seekers living in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

Before joining Human Rights First, she worked to combat the Afghanistan crisis by advising and training pro bono attorneys and self-petitioners regarding immigration relief for Afghans, to include the Afghan USRAP program, the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, Humanitarian Parole and Petitions for Alien Relatives. She previously worked for the Department of Homeland Security where she worked with victims of trafficking and assisted unaccompanied alien children regarding their eligibility for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and asylum. Prior to joining DHS, she was the Senior Supervising Attorney at Freedom House Detroit, where she supervised, managed, and oversaw the legal department and pro bono legal services of Freedom House Detroit, a homeless shelter for victims of torture funded by the U.N. Fund for Victims of Torture. She oversaw all representation in matters involving asylum, family reunification and adjustment of status. She engaged in advocacy on refugee and immigration issues. 

From 2013 to 2018, Jenine served as Founder, Chief Executive Officer and President of an international NGO, Global Health Conscious, which donated $2.5 million in medical supplies to five different United Nations Relief and Works Agency refugee camps. Global Health Conscious also co-sponsored a multicultural health center providing clinical services to women, infants, and children in Central Illinois.

Jenine has a degree in Honors Political Science from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and a Juris Doctorate with a concentration in immigration law and policy from the University of Chicago Law School.

Sophie Salmore is the Program Associate with the Special Projects team within Human Rights First, where she coordinates, with partner organizations, the legal representation efforts for recent Afghan refugee arrivals.

Before joining Human Rights First, Salmore served as the Peace and Security Assistant at the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), where she coordinated high level and working group meetings between civil society, diplomats, and UN personnel. She previously worked at The Rachel Maddow Show MSNBC and earlier at Independent Diplomat, helping to develop a coalition of Syrian refugees to inject their voices into intergovernmental policy decisions at the UN. Previously, Salmore also worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State. 

Salmore holds a Master’s Degree in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor’s Degree from Wesleyan University.

As Grants Manager for Institutional Giving, Robin works closely with the Director of Institutional Giving to develop strategies to secure new grants, steward existing relationships, maintain current foundation and government funding, and cultivate new institutional support.

Robin brings more than 15 years of non-profit management experience to her role. Prior to joining Human Rights First, Robin served as the Director of Operations and Grants Administration at the Innovation Studio of Manhattanville, where she aligned the organization’s mission with strategic plans for fundraising initiatives.

Robin is a graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Business’ Institute for Not-for-Profit Management. She completed her undergraduate degree at Wesleyan University. As an extension of her professional career, Robin is committed to volunteering in her community. When not spending time with her family, Robin can be found swimming or listening to Spanish guitar and classical jazz.

Jackie Schaeffer is an associate at Crowell & Moring LLP’s New York office. Her practice focuses on providing strategic advice and counseling on sanctions, export controls, and anti-money laundering compliance, as well as other international trade and national security matters.

Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Jackie worked with the International Organizations and Human Rights Bureau at the Estonian Foreign Ministry and served as a Research Assistant to Commissioner Pablo De Greiff in his capacity as Commissioner on the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine. In both positions, she worked on various legal and diplomatic efforts to ensure Russian accountability for its crimes in Ukraine. In 2021, she served as a law clerk for the Honorable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Rwanda.

Jackie enjoys providing pro bono legal services to support refugees and asylum seekers. Additionally, she is passionate about anti-corruption work, international development, foreign affairs, and efforts to seek accountability and justice for Ukraine.

She earned her Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School with highest pro bono distinction, and earned an LLM in European Union and International Business Law at the University of Vienna Law School. Before law school, she served as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs in San Francisco.

Born in January 1958 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Melvin and Bess Simon, Cindy has spent most of her adult life serving the Marion and Hamilton County communities. She graduated from Carmel High School in 1976 and earned her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in 1980. Cindy later earned her master’s degree in Family & Marriage Therapy from Butler University in 1996.

Cindy continues to dedicate her time, attention, leadership, and financial resources to Central Indiana nonprofit charity boards as well as a few national and international charities that have touched her heart. She is often called upon to lead local philanthropic initiatives and campaigns because of her unparalleled track record of success as a leader and her fierce determination to make a difference. Besides striving to make the world a better place; her commitment to community has improved the lives of underserved youth, filled the shelves of food pantries, championed youth sports activities, and she has been a true advocate for the needs of mental health and psychotherapy. Cindy was a founding director of the Pacer Foundation in 1981 and remains actively involved today. Mrs. Skjodt also meets the demands of her beloved Samerian Foundation, of which she is Chairman.

Within the last twenty-five years, Cindy Simon Skjodt has served on 43 local Boards of Directors, 27 action committees, and 13 Advisory Councils. Twice she has been awarded the highest honor in the State of Indiana by the Governor, the Sagamore of the Wabash. She has also been bestowed with the honor of “Cindy Simon Skjodt Day” on three separate occasions by three separate Indianapolis Mayors. Her honors are numerous and include the like of Herman B Wells Visionary, Profiles in Leadership, Woman of the Year, Anne Frank Award, Living Legacy, Major Benefactors Award, and the Pathfinder Award. The list of her awards for philanthropic endeavors and community leadership is unending and continues to grow annually. Her passion for helping others is well known. Cindy’s network of colleagues, family, friends and business associates has been beneficial in her pursuit of empowerment of women. She has shared her generosity with nearly everyone in her life. She has channeled her talents and intelligence in positive directions to raise much-needed funds for the charities and causes that are near and dear to her heart.

The most important aspect of her life is family. Cindy married Paul Skjodt in 1987 and raised her family, including children Erik, Samantha and Ian in the Indianapolis area. She remains active in civic and cultural organizations, in addition to overseeing the perpetuity of her private family foundation. Cindy is a true advocate for mental health issues as well as a champion for all animals. Mrs. Simon Skjodt continues to lead the philanthropic legacy engrained within her as a child by her loving and benevolent parents for whom she credits her work around the globe.

Rebecca Soroka provides support to volunteer lawyers at law firms in the New York and New Jersey area, directly represents asylum seekers in New York, and oversees the New York Refugee Representation team’s internship program.

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Rebecca served as a staff attorney at African Services Committee, where she represented low-income individuals in the areas of immigration, family law, housing, and public benefits. Previously, Rebecca was a staff attorney for New York Legal Assistance, where she represented homeowners impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Rebecca is from Montreal, Canada and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia. She earned her J.D. from the University of La Verne and is admitted to practice in New York state.

As Digital Director, Emma Storm (she/her) leads Human Rights First’s digital strategy across all pillars to uphold and amplify human rights domestically and internationally.

A lifelong advocate and digital specialist, Emma has worked in both the progressive movement and the arts. Most recently, Emma was the Digital Communications Manager at the Tahirih Justice Center, specializing in immigration and gender-based violence.

Prior to that, she was the Director of Marketing and Communications at Opera NexGen, Digital Marketing Manager at OPERA America, and a Marketing Consultant for Opera Philadelphia. Emma is also a founding contributor of A Modern Reveal: Songs and Stories of Women Composers.

Emma has been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer and Opera America Magazine. Her work has been featured by Capacity Interactive, Digital Marketing Consulting for the Arts, and her speaking engagements include sessions with the New York Opera Alliance and the Career Blueprints for Singers program. Emma has been trained by Arena Academy and Becker Digital Strategies. 

Emma holds a B.M. from Temple University and is based in Brooklyn, NY.

As Senior Counsel for Accountability at Human Rights First, Amanda Strayer coordinates the Targeted Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Sanctions Coalition, a group of more than 330 NGOs using the Global Magnitsky Act and other legal authorities to hold human rights abusers and corrupt actors accountable. In this role, she serves as the primary liaison with U.S. government personnel and assists NGOs and pro bono attorneys working to produce recommendations for sanctions in Africa, the Near East, and Europe and Eurasia.

Previously, Amanda worked with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights as the Dale and James J. Pinto Fellow focused on human rights advocacy in South and Southeast Asia. She received her juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center and a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies. During her time at Georgetown, she co-authored a report on violence and discrimination against LGBT persons in Guyana as part of the Human Rights Fact-Finding Practicum. She prepared a strategic litigation case to challenge child marriage laws in Botswana with the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic and participated in the Guantanamo Observers Program. During her summers, Amanda worked with the South African Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

Prior to law school, Amanda worked with Women for Women International on communications and advocacy focused on challenges faced by women in conflict-affected countries. She has a B.A. in Foreign Affairs and a minor in French from the University of Virginia.

Lev Sviridov is an associate professor of chemistry and the director of the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Lev emigrated from Russia in 1993 when he was eleven years old and his mother, journalist and filmmaker Alexandra Sviridov, was an asylum client of Human Rights First.

Lev serves on the board of the 21st Century Foundation for The City College of New York and the selection panel for the Sloan Awards for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics in New York City public high schools. Elements of Lev’s life have been recorded in books such as How to Raise an American by Myrna Blyth and After Etan by Lisa Cohen.

Lev is a graduate of The City College of New York, CUNY, and the University of Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Selam Tesfai is the Legal Services Coordinator for Human Rights First’s Refugee Representation team.  As the Legal Services Coordinator in our Washington, D.C. office, Selam works closely with pro bono attorneys who represent indigent asylum seekers in their claims for protection.  She also oversees the screening, intake, and case placement for our asylum-seeking clients.

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Selam worked as a Pro Bono Coordinator for the Immigration Justice Campaign where she recruited, engaged, and retained volunteers in the Justice Campaign network and placed them with asylum volunteer opportunities. She also worked as a Faculty Advisor at Envision EMI, where she facilitated leadership skills training for middle school and high school students from across the United States.  Selam also worked as a legal assistant at a private law firm and served as an interpreter and documents translator at the Arlington Asylum Office, among other immigration agencies.

Selam received her BA in Archaeology from the University of Asmara in Eritrea and her Master’s in African Studies degree from Ohio University.  She also has an Associate’s degree in Paralegal Studies.  Selam speaks Tigrinya and Amharic fluently. 

Nithya Thadani is CEO of RAIN, a leading voice technology firm that builds conversational AI experiences and software. RAIN has helped dozens of F500 companies design best-in-class voice applications including Nike, Starbucks, Amazon, Marriott and Blackrock.

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

As the Chief Administrative Officer, Marc strengthens and aligns Human Rights First’s central administrative and infrastructure functions, providing leadership on a range of operational functions including human resources; performance management; diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; office services; facilities management; and information technology. He empowers the staff to advance the organization’s objectives by ensuring Human Rights First is equipped with state-of-the-art policies and procedures.   

Marc has a diverse background in the nonprofit sector, with over 30 years of experience in trade and membership associations, advocacy organizations, and association management companies. Before his tenure at Human Rights First, he served as the Chief Operating Officer for the New York Bankers Association. Previously, Marc served in various roles with Americans for the Arts, culminating in his role as Senior Vice President of Business Operations.

Marc’s commitment to excellence is underscored by his professional achievements, including earning the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from the American Society of Association Executives in 2007 and the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation from the Convention Industry Council in 2003. He is a proud alumnus of The University of Maryland, which has played a significant role in shaping his career in the nonprofit sector.

Justine Tran is a first generation Asian-American from Los Angeles, California. Coming from a family of war refugees and genocide survivors, advocating for human rights holds a deep level of importance for her.

Justine has worked as a legal clerk for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office in both the Misdemeanor Unit and Juvenile Department. Furthermore, she advocated for victim rights through the following organizations: Children’s Advocacy Center, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, National Crime Victim Law Institute, and Crime Victim Litigation Clinic.

Justine attended Lewis & Clark Law School, where she obtained a Juris Doctor and Certificate in International Law. During her time in law school, she was a board member of the International Law Society. Currently, she is sitting for the July 2024 California Bar Exam.

Alexander Urbelis is Senior Counsel for cybersecurity with Crowell & Moring LLP.  Bridging the gap between legal and technical services, Alex is also the sole architect of an award-winning DNS monitoring and cyber threat intelligence platform, designed to identify hallmarks of impending cyberattacks, cybersquatting, counterfeiting, and other malicious activities.  Making international news in March 2020, through his intelligence platform, Alex detected and helped to neutralize a state-sponsored intrusion attempt on the World Health Organization.

Alex previously served as the Chief Information Security Officer of the National Football League, overseeing cyber risk and the NFL’s worldwide information security strategy.  In addition, working out of London, Geneva, and New York, Alex also served as the Chief Compliance Officer of Richemont, one of the world’s largest luxury conglomerates. Alex has additional experience as an appellate lawyer addressing national security and constitutional issues, and his federal service includes positions within the Office of General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency and the US Army JAG Corps.

Alex believes in a multidisciplinary approach to cybersecurity and the law and regularly counsels companies on hybrid technical and legal measures to deflect and deter cyber incidents, matters of information security governance, threat intelligence, and responding to attacks from sophisticated cyber adversaries.

Mara spent ten years in nonprofit management before joining Bain & Co. in San Francisco. There she was a founding member of The Bridgespan Group, a strategic consulting firm serving the nonprofit sector. She has served on numerous boards in the education sector including Teach For America and Peninsula Bridge and currently serves as a Trustee of The Nueva School in the San Francisco Bay Area and the North Country School/Camp Treetops in Lake Placid, NY.  Wallace is the daughter of Judge Marvin E. Frankel, founder and long-time board chair of Human Rights First.

Cherrelle Yates is a multi-disciplinary professional whose career has existed at the intersection of Human Rights and protecting people online. She’s held senior roles in the non-profit, Federal Government, and private sectors, in the fields of child safety, analysis, and policy development. Cherrelle is currently a Sr. Product Policy Specialist for a large US based technology company and a strong advocate of people with non-technical backgrounds entering the tech field. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from Hampton University and a M.A. in Forensic Psychology from Marymount University.

Dr. Elizabeth Yates is the Associate Director of Democracy Protection at Human Rights First.

Dr. Yates leads our research on the far-right antidemocratic extremist movement, extremism in the military, antisemitism, and anti-immigrant extremism. In 2022, she provided expert testimony to the Senate Homeland and Government Affairs Committee during a hearing on the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.

Prior to joining Human Rights First, Dr. Yates spent four years as a Senior Researcher/Researcher on the domestic radicalization team at the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). While at START, Dr. Yates tracked trends in domestic extremism and hate crimes in the United States, and co-authored reports, briefs, and articles on topics including extremism in the U.S. military, the growth of anti-Muslim terrorism, mass casualty hate crime attacks, and disengagement from right-wing extremism, among others.

In addition, Dr. Yates has taught undergraduate classes at the University of Maryland and the University of Pittsburgh, and worked at several other non-profit organizations.

She earned a doctorate in Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, and a BA in International Relations at Tufts University.

As the Development Manager at Human Rights First, Hazal’s focus revolves around supporting the management of a dynamic portfolio of corporate donors and law firms.

She holds a B.A. in Arts and Cultural Management from Istanbul Bilgi University, graduating with high honors. Throughout her academic journey, she actively participated in the Cultural Policy and Management Research Center at Bilgi University, pursuing her passion for minority rights in Turkey. She completed her M.A. in Sociocultural Anthropology at Columbia University. Hazal’s academic pursuits center around Kurdish culture and language, ethnicity, and patterns of nation building. During her graduate studies, she extensively explored the underground Kurdish press in Turkey, analyzing its resistance and resilience in the face of an authoritarian state.

Committed to making a positive impact, she dedicated her time to various nonprofit organizations in Turkey, including Rotary International, where she spearheaded cultural development projects as the Committee Coordinator. Prior to joining Human Rights First, she contributed her expertise as a Program Assistant at the American Turkish Society (ATS). In this role, she managed a diverse portfolio of corporate donors, assisted in membership development, played a key role in New York Turkish Film Festival (NYTFF) programming and operations, and contributed to the planning of the annual gala. Her background in arts and cultural management, sociocultural anthropology, and experience in nonprofit work collectively fuel her dedication to advancing Human Rights First’s mission.

William Zabel is a founding partner of the firm Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP and head of the Individual Client Services Group. Based in New York, he practices in the areas of estate planning, wills, trusts, charitable foundations, income and gift-tax planning, estate administration, and family law.

Bill’s civic and philanthropic activities are legion. He has served as trustee or director of: New York University, The New School, Princeton University Planned Giving Committee, Sakharov Archives, Soros Foundations, Lincoln Center Theater, and The Academy of American Poets. Bill is a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations, a fellow of Brandeis University, a member of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel and the American Bar Foundation, and an academician of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law. Bill is the recipient of many honors for his legal and community service. In 2006, Bill received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Lawyer and has also received an Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award, Brandeis University Distinguished Community Service Award, Distinguished Service Award (conferred by The New School) and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First) Extraordinary Leader Award.

Bill is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.