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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.