Noah Ponton

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.