Juan Arteaga is a partner in the antitrust and white collar & regulatory enforcement groups in Crowell & Moring’s New York office. His practice focuses primarily on advising companies, boards of directors and executives on a broad range of civil and criminal antitrust matters, including litigation, merger reviews, government and internal investigations, and counseling regarding various business practices.

From 2013 to 2017, Mr. Arteaga was a senior official in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Justice Dept. Serving as deputy assistant attorney general for civil enforcement, he worked on and oversaw investigations and litigation in various industries, including financial services, aviation, food and beverage, health care, technology, cable, manufactured products, transportation and telecommunications. He also served as chief of staff and senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division.

Mr. Arteaga earned a bachelor’s with honors in history and political science from Boston College, where he elected to Phi Beta Kappa and earned the Archbishop Oscar Romero Scholarship, and earned his law degree with honors from Columbia University Law School, where he served as managing editor of the Law Review and was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He is admitted to practice in New York and Connecticut, and is a member of the New York City Bar Assn., the American Bar Assn., the Hispanic National Bar Assn., and the Puerto Rican Bar Assn.

He has received the New York Legal Aid Society’s Outstanding Pro Publico Award in recognition of his pro bono representation of lawful immigrants in removal proceedings. He has received the Her Justice Commitment to Justice Award for his pro bono representation of indigent women in family court proceedings.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Evelyn Chumbow is a survivor of child labor trafficking turned anti-trafficking activist and public speaker. She has focused her life’s work on ending modern slavery. Ms. Chumbow was brought to the U.S. from Cameroon at age 9 and forced to cook, clean, and care for her trafficker’s children. She was never paid for her work, and any hope that she might escape her miserable life was undermined by beatings she received from her trafficker. For seven years, she lived in constant fear, working day and night.

Today, Ms. Chumbow works tirelessly to raise awareness and help other survivors. She serves as an adviser to human trafficking nonprofits and has been invited to brief government agencies about human trafficking from a survivor’s perspective, including the Dept. of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Dept. of Justice. She was appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. Ms. Chumbow fulfilled a lifelong dream in 2015, graduating with a bachelor’s in homeland security studies from the University of Maryland University College. She works as a project assistant at the law firm of Baker McKenzie in Washington.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Davina P. Durgana is an award-winning international human rights statistician with more than a decade of experience developing leading global models assessing risk and vulnerability to modern slavery. She is an American Statistical Association Statistical Advocate of the Year, Vice Chair of Statistics without Borders, and a Forbes Top 30 Under 30 in Science for 2017 for her work on statistical modeling, human security theory, and human trafficking. Dr. Durgana is an inaugural 2020-2022 Ambassador for the American Association for the Advancement of Science to motivate women and girls to pursue STEM careers. She is co-lead of the D.C. Forbes Under 30 Board. Dr. Durgana is affiliated faculty at National Defense University’s College of International Security Affairs and Oxford University’s Green Templeton College.

Dr. Durgana was selected as a Google Fellow for Technology and Social Change for her work in human trafficking and technology. She was awarded the Trafficking in America Task Force Award for Service and was named a Disruption Awards Foundation Fellow for 2018. She serves on several expert groups for the United Nations, the Department of Justice and the National Science Foundation, and has authored more than 20 publications. In 2015 she received the University Award for Outstanding Scholarship at the Graduate Level from American University, where she received her Ph.D. in international relations with distinction. She received her master’s degrees in Paris, France while studying human trafficking at the Sorbonne and the American University of Paris, and her bachelor’s degree at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Lila Leno is the treasurer of the board of directors. Dr. Leno is a principal at Calibre CPA Group PLCC in Bethesda, Maryland. She has decades of auditing and accounting experience, including work with nonprofit organizations and government entities. She specializes in organizations that receive federal and state government funding and has performed numerous compliance audits in accordance with Government Auditing Standards, prepared 990s, and solved issues pertaining to tax exemption.

Dr. Leno earned a bachelor’s in accounting and finance from the University of Tirana in her home country of Albania, then continued her studies to earn a law degree and doctorate in fiscal policy. After moving to the United States, she graduated from Sonoma State University with a bachelor’s in accounting.

Before joining Calibre CPA Group, she served in various audit and accounting positions at Squire Lemkin, McGladry & Pullen, Goodman & Company, among other firms, as director of finance at CORE International, and as a fiscal and legal policy expert for the Albania ministry of finance.

Dr. Leno is a registered CPA in the state of Maryland and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

R. Wade Litchfield is vice president and general counsel for Florida Power & Light (FPL) in Palm Beach County, Florida, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc., one of the largest investor-owned electric utilities in the nation. He is responsible for all of FPL’s legal matters. Before joining FPL, Mr. Litchfield was senior counsel for Entergy Corporation in New Orleans. Mr. Litchfield is a member of the New York and Louisiana bars and practices in Florida as authorized house counsel.

A native of Alberta, Canada, Mr. Litchfield holds a bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in in economics from Brigham Young University and earned his law degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He received a master’s degree in business administration from Tulane University.

Mr. Litchfield is a member of Leadership Florida and has chaired FPL’s Palm Beach County United Way campaign. He chaired An Evening of Hope: Florida Unites to End Human Trafficking, a 2016 educational event live-streamed to more than 35 Florida college campuses. He serves on the board of Volunteer Florida Foundation and as volunteer coordinator for JustServe.org in South Florida. He also serves on the leadership advisory council at Place of Hope in Palm Beach County and has served on the board of Bella’s Angels, a nonprofit assisting families with CHARGE syndrome and other rare disorders. He has served in a voluntary ecclesiastical position as president of the Stuart Florida Stake for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Carolyn Long is the vice chair of the board of directors. She retired in 2013 from a career as an international development specialist. She was vice president of two organizations, including InterAction, the largest coalition of U.S. NGOs working in international development and humanitarian assistance. She has three decades of NGO- related experience with a main focus on sub-Saharan Africa, and she has worked at all levels of development from the grassroots to the global level. Her work has focused on capacity strengthening, aid effectiveness, evaluation and a range of advocacy initiatives. She was an activist in the anti-apartheid campaign for 20 years.

She has written extensively on the role of civil society organizations in development. She is the author of Participation of the Poor in Development Initiatives: Taking Their Rightful Place, and several published papers on civil society advocacy initiatives. She served on the boards of Africa Action and Volunteer: The National Center on Volunteerism. Her career began as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon, Equatorial Africa. She speaks fluent French.

Timothy Patrick McCarthy is the chair of the board of directors. An award- winning scholar, educator, public servant, and human rights activist, he has taught on the faculty at Harvard University since 2005, where he is Core Faculty at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. The adopted only son and grandson of public school teachers and faculty workers, Dr. McCarthy is also the Stanley Paterson Professor of American History in the Boston Clemente Course, a college humanities course for low-income adults and co-recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal.

Twice named one of Harvard Crimson’s “Professors of the Year,” he is the recipient of many awards for his commitment to students, including the 2019 Manuel C. Carballo Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Kennedy School’s highest teaching honor. Dr. McCarthy is the author or editor of five books from the New Press, and a frequent media commentator whose work has been featured in Salon, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, Pangyrus, The Nation, NPR, and several documentary films. In June 2019, he served as guest editor for The Nation’s historic “Reclaiming Stonewall 50” forum.

Shaped by the anti-apartheid and AIDS activism of his college years, he has devoted his life to public service and social justice. As founding director of Harvard’s Alternative Spring Break Church Rebuilding Program, he spent fifteen years organizing hundreds of students to help rebuild black churches destroyed in racist arson attacks. A respected leader in the LGBTQ+ community, Dr. McCarthy was a founding member of Barack Obama’s National LGBT Leadership Council, gave expert testimony to the Pentagon Comprehensive Working Group on the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and was a member of the first-ever LGBTQ delegation from the U.S. to Israel/Palestine. He currently hosts and directs The A.R.T. of Human Rights and Resistance Mic! through the Tony Award-winning American Repertory Theater, where he serves on the Board of Advisors.

Dr. McCarthy graduated with honors in History and Literature from Harvard College and earned his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in History from Columbia University.

(Twitter: @DrTPM)

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Anesa “Nes” Parker is a senior manager in Deloitte’s Government & Public Services Practice. During her consulting tenure, Ms. Parker has led engagements for government, nonprofit and philanthropic clients related to strategic transformation. She’s served the European Commission, U.K. Home Office, World Economic Forum, United Nations, U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, State, Health and Human Services as well as Defense. Ms. Parker is passionate about applying Deloitte’s capabilities and solutions to social causes such as anti-human trafficking, refugee response as well as gender and inclusion.

Her work and commentary has been in the Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, Business Insider, the Huffington Post, Public CIO, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Governing Executive, Profiles in Diversity Journal, and Deloitte University Press. She has also spoken at, among other venues, SXSW, Washington Post Live and as a guest lecturer at Yale University, Georgetown University, George Mason University, and Columbia University.

Ms. Parker graduated magna cum laude from Vassar College with a bachelor’s in political science and economics, and earned a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She’s a board member for BUILD DC and the Chamber of Commerce Human Trafficking Task Force, and resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband and their English Bulldog.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Karen Stauss is the secretary of the board of directors. She serves as senior policy counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit (HTPU). She works on legislative and executive branch policy proposals affecting the capacity of the unit and of U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to prosecute trafficking, and supports building capacity among HTPU’s enforcement partners.

Ms. Stauss was previously the director of programs for Free the Slaves from 2010 to 2016, where she was responsible for overseeing the organization’s policy advocacy work and its partnerships with community-based organizations in eight countries. She was managing attorney and policy counsel at Polaris Project, a national anti-trafficking organization, from 2006 to 2010. From 2003 to 2006, Ms. Stauss was an Africa researcher with Human Rights Watch, where she operated the field office in Democratic Republic of the Congo after holding a yearlong fellowship conducting human rights research in Nigeria. She investigated war crimes and other human rights abuses, conducted advocacy, and strengthened human rights group networks.

Ms. Stauss holds a bachelor’s from Duke University and her law degree from Columbia Law School. Karen is fluent in French and speaks basic Spanish and German. She is a lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Amy Komoroski Wiwi is a partner at Lowenstein Sandler LLP in Roseland, New Jersey. Long fascinated by the complex relationships among members of the workforce, managers and their employees, Ms. Wiwi translates a passion for problem-solving into strategic counsel and effective dispute resolution. Praised by clients as very knowledgeable and objective – and praised as a superior strategist – she thrives on crafting creative solutions to the most intricate of employment problems.

Ms. Wiwi counsels employers on the myriad issues they face related to hiring, disciplining and termination of employees; family and medical leaves; disability leaves and accommodations; compliance with antidiscrimination and anti-retaliation laws; and workforce reductions. She also drafts and negotiates executive employment and consulting agreements and corporate covenants. Her practice covers a wide range of litigation involving federal and state laws.

Ms. Wiwi is admitted to the bar in New York and New Jersey. She earned a bachelor’s of fine arts (cum laude) from the Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts, and her law degree (cum laude) from Boston University. She is deeply committed to serving her local community. Ms. Wiwi sits on the Jersey Battered Women’s Service board of directors, supporting its work against domestic violence by protecting and empowering victims, rehabilitating family members, advocating social reform to prevent partner violence, and educating the public.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Bukeni Waruzi has helped put a Congolese warlord behind bars at the International Criminal Court (ICC), has helped women trafficked into domestic servitude in the Middle East, and has served as a human rights champion with American, European and African organizations for more than 20 years.

As executive director of Free the Slaves, he works closely with the board, the global team and headquarters to provide strategic leadership and set a vision for one of the world’s most widely-known and respected anti-modern slavery organizations.

Waruzi has documented human rights abuses, designed and implemented advocacy campaigns, made public presentations around the world, and trained hundreds of human rights advocates and activists in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), his home country, he formed the grassroots nonprofit group AJEDI-KA/Child Soldiers Project to confront the widespread enslavement and the use of children as soldiers by armed militias and forces. Through video, he documented evidence that led to the conviction of a Congolese warlord at the ICC, released more than 360 children from militia in eastern DRC.

In Kenya, Waruzi worked for the Porticus Foundation, overseeing projects on human rights, civic engagement, education, and climate change. For nearly a decade he was a senior program manager for WITNESS in New York, a group that empowers victims worldwide to collect evidence that brings perpetrators to justice. He recently served as executive director of Watchlist in New York, an organization that protects children in conflict zones and advocate for children at the United Nations Security Council.

Waruzi has spoken to high level audiences including the United Nations Security Council, the International Criminal Court and the Children’s Caucus of the U.S. Congress. He currently represents anti-slavery groups as a civil society member of the Global Coordinating Group of Alliance 8.7, the global initiative to attain Sustainable Development target 8.7, the end of child and forced labor worldwide.

Grace Nana Adwoa Banasam is the program coordinator for Free the Slaves in Ghana. She has six years of experience in the humanitarian and development sector with civil society organizations.

Before joining Free the Slaves, Grace worked as a management information systems officer at Modesty Foundation, project officer and program support officer during her service with the Social Development and Improvement Agency, and monitoring and evaluation officer at Nature Aid Ghana.

She is experienced in facilitating transparency and accountability processes for decision making; health system strengthening; promoting education, specifically for girls; enhancing the development and improvement of women’s rights and livelihoods; and identifying, monitoring and organizing remediation on child labor issues.

Grace holds a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Her passion is to see the elimination of all forms of modern slavery with a system enhanced through participatory monitoring, prevention and remediation.   

Sonia Adu-Gyamfi is the monitoring, learning and evaluation associate of FTS, based in Ghana. Prior to joining FTS, she worked as a Senior Research Assistant with the Center for Migration Studies, University of Ghana for the past six years.

She has been part of several policy-driven research projects to bring about the needed change in the area of migration in Ghana. Key areas of interest in research have been human trafficking, forced labor, migration & development, child migration and migration & gender. She has also worked as a communications officer for the research project “Migrating out of Poverty” for four years. She collaborated with the research team both locally and internationally to develop and implement communications strategies tailored to effectively engage diverse but relevant stakeholders in academia, government, CSOs, community members and key individuals. She has done consultancy work for the Women’s Health to Wealth NGO in Ghana in the areas of monitoring and evaluation.

Sonia is passionate to see young girls succeed and become strong pillars of hope in society, and she mentors young girls in her community to help them make right choices in life, assist and encourage them to excel academically.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in migration studies, both from the University of Ghana, Legon.

Sonia is passionate about issues that promote the wellbeing of women and children, hence her desire to be part of a team that seeks to end modern slavery. 

Gemma Bardají Blasco is the FTS Europe and Latin America manager. She has degrees in social and cultural anthropology and postgraduate degrees in culture of peace and gender in development.

Gemma has 25 years of international experience, touting expertise in women’s rights; mainstreaming the gender perspective; political participation of women; and, electoral system designs. She managed the Free the Slaves project with the International Association of Women Judges and MUDHA, funded by the U.S. State Department, working to ensure prevention of trafficking in persons, and protection of survivors in majority Haitian descendant-populated batey communities in the Dominican Republic.

Prior to working with Free the Slaves, she worked at the National Migration Institute in the Dominican Republic, where she was responsible for projects pertaining to gender and human trafficking issues. Specifically, she contributed to the development of the National Plan to Combat Human Trafficking and the Illicit Tracking of Migrants with the government of the Dominican Republic. Ms. Bardají also previously worked for more than seven years as an independent consultant within the United Nations system, working both at regional and international levels. She served as a contributor to the Network for Experts on Gender for the United Nations Development Program in Latin America for four years.

Her work has largely focused on social research, methodological design, and planning. In addition to her work in the Dominican Republic, Gemma has also worked in other countries throughout Latin America, including in Bolivia and Guatemala.

Joha Braimah is the West Africa regional director for Free the Slaves. He represents and overseas FTS West Africa Regional anti-human trafficking programs by liaising with implementing partners, forming coalitions and collaborating with government agencies, media outlets and other stakeholders to achieve regional program goals.

Joha has more than 15 years of practical experience in community development. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work; a postgraduate diploma in international development and has been a doctoral candidate in migration studies.

Joha has helped to design and implement anti-trafficking programs in sectors such as fishing, cocoa, mining, and sex trafficking — as well as coalition building and fund raising. Joha also serves on the board of International Cocoa Initiative, Geneva, where he is also an executive committee member. He is a member of Ghana National Steering Committee on Child Labor and the Technical Working Committee of Ghana Anti Human Trafficking Management Board.

He is experienced in persuading authorities to take action for vulnerable groups and has been an active participant in the development and formulation of national policies such as the Ghana National Action Plan on Child Labor, Ghana National Action Plan on Human Trafficking, Standard Operating Procedure on Human Trafficking, Child and Family Welfare Policy, among others.

He was also a professional teacher for five years. Joha is an alumnus of University of Ghana, American Express Leadership Academy, International Visitors Leadership Program and Trent in Ghana Program.

Eddy Byamungu Lwaboshi is a human rights attorney, youth trainer, researcher, and expert in peacebuilding through community-based engagement with armed groups.

Before joining Free the Slaves, Eddy worked as a consultant for Peace Direct U.K. and with World Vision International as a senior peacebuilding and advocacy officer. He has also worked for Aide et Action pour la Paix as a program manager in charge of land and natural resources projects. As well, he has worked as a facilitator for Watchlist and the MONUC peacekeeping mission’s work to end the recruitment and use of children in armed groups in eastern DRC.

Eddy holds a master’s in international humanitarian law and is a law school lecturer and researcher at the Free University of the Great Lakes Countries. He has authored books on the legal status of children enlisted in armed groups, the protection of child prisoners of war, judicial independence, and the recognition of customary power in land management.

Eddy speaks English, French, Lingala and Swahili. He likes traveling, gospel songs and peace.

Kuldeep is passionate about human rights, social justice issues, community-initiated solutions and improving access to opportunities for marginalized, economically-disadvantaged communities. He values the field perspective, builds trust and rapport with stakeholders and believes in a problem-solving attitude. His pragmatic approach has been forged through years of designing and implementing development programs in several Asian countries.

Kuldeep has worked in recent years managing donor funded programs, training and capacity building in private sector supply chains, stakeholder relations, resource mobilization and oversight of resources and operations. Prior to joining Free the Slaves Kuldeep, worked with Oxfam, Leonard Cheshire Disability, and Fairtrade in Asia Pacific in various operational and senior leadership roles.

As the India and South Asia director, Kuldeep’s mission is to change the conditions that allow modern slavery to exist. He represents Free the Slaves in the region; provides ongoing technical assistance to partner organizations in strategic design, implementation, measurement and reporting; and holds responsibility for overall management of the regional program, strategy development, business development and program oversight.

Kuldeep holds bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a double master’s in business management specializing in human resource management and marketing.

In his role as Free the Slaves finance officer, Munya not only ensures that day-to-day finances are in order but assists all departments in tracking income and expenditures against a range of different grants, aiding in the budgeting and planning processes for the organization. His work ensures that fund distributions are accurate to the decimal.

Munya Chitambo was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe. He joined Free the Slaves in 2015 first as an intern, then as bookkeeper, to his current role as finance officer. His role allows FTS departments to operate at maximum efficiency.

Justine Betuur Dery has been the finance and administrative officer for the FTS Ghana office for the past six years. He manages the finance and administrative processes, including partner financial review and budgeting. He also provides back up support to the program team and the country director.

Before joining FTS, Justine worked as a team leader with Baah, Quartey & Associates, a leading private audit firm in Ghana. He led audit exercises for both the private sector and state agencies such as the Ghana Airport Company, the Internal Audit Agency under the office of the president of Ghana, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, and others. His team developed the financial and operational procedure for the Ghana Airport Company and Lex Consult, an international women’s law firm.

He previously managed project funds for MIHOSO International Foundation, a child-rights gender-based NGO, as finance officer.

Justine holds a bachelor’s of commerce with a specialty in accounting and finance from the University of Cape Coast Ghana, a diploma in commerce from the same university, and diploma in business studies from Sunyani Polytechnic in Ghana.

He is passionate about child rights and gender issues, and is always seeking to safeguard child welfare.

Tsering’s commitment to the betterment of society, as well as her respect for the Free the Slaves approach to ending all forms of modern slavery, motivated her to join FTS in 2018 as the India country program officer. She supports partner organizations technically and by building their capacity to implement anti-slavery programs successfully. She has also managed the FTS India program’s finance and monitoring, learning and evaluation efforts. She has documented success stories of successful interventions in Indian communities.

Tsering was born & raised in a beautiful place called Ladakh in northern India. She earned a master’s in social work from Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, India. She started her career with GoodWeave India as an assistant inspection monitoring and certification supervisor.

She is motivated to improve the lives of people and committed to ending all forms of inequality, exploitation and discrimination. She is dedicated to build a world free from all forms of slavery.

Terry FitzPatrick has more than 35 years of radio, television, print and Internet journalism and communications experience, serving as an organizational spokesperson, media relations officer, campaign strategist, social media and website content creator, video photographer-producer and on-camera presenter, media skills and interviewing trainer, newsroom and communications unit manager, and event organizer and producer.

He has extensive experience documenting human trafficking and best practices to confront it, serving as the communications and advocacy writer, film producer, and media relations officer for Free the Slaves. He has produced films on modern slavery in 12 countries and has conducted media skills training projects in 17 countries. He serves as the co-chair of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking policy coalition, supervised coordination of the 2019 and 2020 Freedom from Slavery Forums, and has supported Free the Slaves participation in the Global Coordinating Group of Alliance 8.7.

Before joining Free the Slaves, he reported for public radio and television, as well as writing for the Dallas Morning News and producing documentaries for the Discovery Channel and History Channel. He majored in broadcast journalism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Brittany Hamzy is passionate about tackling the social, cultural, and political issues that hinder peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Before joining FTS, much of her work focused on the Middle East. She promoted human rights education in Iran and conducted research and advocacy on human trafficking in the Arab Gulf. Her work on human trafficking has been published on platforms such as Open Democracy and Newsweek.

An avid traveler and serial language learner, she has lived in Italy, the United Arab Emirates and the U.K. She received a bachelor’s in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies from New York University and a master’s in Near and Middle Eastern studies from SOAS, University of London.

Romcy Madronio brings a decade of experience to Free the Slaves from previous work in academics, government, nonprofits and businesses in the Philippines and Vietnam.

Before joining Free the Slaves, Romcy managed a community-based youth leadership program in the Philippines for the Ayala Foundation, which he expanded to several sites including Muslim Mindanao conflict areas. He became the Ayala Corporation’s Business Club coordinator, enabling efforts to foster business synergy and community outreach. As a project management officer, Romcy developed financial monitoring and report streamlining for various initiatives of Ayala’s corporate resources group.

Romcy holds a university degree in education from Xavier University in the Philippines and a diploma in global environmental issues from the East-West Center in Hawaii, which he attended as a U.S. State Department scholar. He is also an active mentor of the U.S. government’s YSEALI (Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiatives) in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region.

Smith Maximé has served as Haiti country director for Free the Slaves since 2011.  A Haitian national, Smith completed his primary, secondary and university studies in Haiti. Early in his career, he worked in journalism and communications. He later devoted his time to organizational capacity building, the promotion of the rights of vulnerable groups, gender equality and project management.

During the past decade, Smith has worked alongside Haitian non-governmental and community-based organizations to strengthen organizational and institutional systems, conducting organizational assessments and developing and implementing programs to strengthen institutional capacity. In his work against discrimination, he has worked with organizations of people living with HIV/AIDS, disabled people and individuals involved in the sex industry.

A strong focus of this work has been assisting these groups to build networks for the promotion of their own rights. In 2006, Smith joined the office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Haiti, where he spent five years as the gender and rights program manager. In this role, the promotion of women’s rights, especially the prevention of gender-based violence, was an important part of his work.

Smith completed his university studies in law, and earned a master’s degree in project development at Quisqueya University.

Jackline Mwende is a pan-African feminist, human rights researcher and an expert in human trafficking, labor migration and gender issues with more than 10 years of experience in Africa, Europe, and North America. She has consulted for the African Union and the Government of Germany on the Africa-Europe Action Plan to Combat Trafficking of Persons Especially Women and Children in Africa. She also was involved in a campaign against sexual exploitation of children in detention centers while at the Center for Children Law and Policy  in Washington D.C., and a project with WITNESS in New York City.

In Kenya, she supported an International Labor Organization project on elimination of child labor, and a U.K. Department for International Development project promoting education and sports as alternative pathways to child marriages and sex exploitation in coastal Kenya.

Mwende has also worked for Equality in Tourism U.K. and consulted for Women Deliver. She is a recipient of both academic and professional awards, and a graduate in human rights law and policy.

Bismark Quartey is the Ghana program manager. He represents FTS Ghana in its programs and supports partner organizations in program design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. He joined Free the Slaves in December 2014.

Before joining FTS, Bismark held positions with nonprofit consultancy firms. Bismark is a social development practitioner with more than 15 years of hands-on experience in proposal development, capacity building, participatory techniques, project/program design and management, mixed method research and organizational strengthening and development.

Bismark holds a master’s degree in organization development and consultancy, a post graduate certificate in project management, a bachelor’s in management and a HND in marketing.

As program associate, Lianet Rosado supports Free the Slaves country and regional offices and partners in their day-to-day operations, development and monitoring of plans and budgets, strategic planning and implementation, and coordination of activities such as partnerships, training and capacity building, research and advocacy.

Her core passions are international development and global justice. Prior to joining FTS, she worked with Food for the Poor, where she supported relief and development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. She also has experiences with International Justice Mission and ChildHope UK researching slavery and trafficking within the South Asian context and providing programmatic support. Her alma maters include Wellesley College, where she completed a bachelor’s in peace and justice studies with a concentration in international human rights law, and SOAS, University of London, where she earned a MSc in violence, conflict, and development. Her thesis explored vulnerability to forced labor during the Nepal Civil War (1996-2006) and the diverse typologies of slavery likely to be present in conflict settings.  

Lianet is committed to helping create a world where the most vulnerable are empowered to live out their human rights without hindrance. She is an avid learner and hopes to continue to shed light on the misconceptions and nuances around modern slavery.

Nour Sibaai is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional manager at Free the Slaves. Her role is to represent FTS in MENA, implement and design projects in the region, explore new partners, and manage regional programs and partners.

Prior to joining FTS, Nour worked in the private sector at IBM and Resolute Forest Products in Montreal, Canada. She moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to work with the King Khalid Foundation on capacity building programs and grants. She managed and implemented projects throughout the country, working with local NGOs as well as local and international partners and social entrepreneurs. She later moved to Dubai, UAE to focus on education during her role at Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education (AGFE), where she managed and developed a database to help underprivileged students in the Arab region get university scholarships.  

Nour holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce, majoring in management information systems, from Concordia University, and a post graduate diploma in healthcare management from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Nour is multilingual, a native Arabic speaker, fluent in English and French and proficient in Spanish. Nour is also a holistic health coach from Integrative Institute of Nutrition in the U.S. and has created a social media account encouraging others to live a healthier lifestyle. 

Nour is passionate about improving people’s lives, specifically providing equal access to healthcare and education opportunities for all to reach a world free of any form of inequality. 

Marie Soveroski has worked at Free the Slaves since January 2017. Prior to that she was managing director at EarthRights International for 10 years. Before returning to the U.S in 2005, Ms. Soveroski was director of the European Center for Judges and Lawyers in Luxembourg, the legal arm of the European Institute of Public Administration, where she worked for 13 years.

During her time in Europe she lived in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. She earned her LLM in international and comparative law at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, and her law degree at the Gonzaga University School of Law, as a Thomas More Scholar. She earned two bachelor’s degrees from Penn State University, in environmental resource management and biology.

Ms. Soveroski has been a long-time member of the American Society of International Law, where she served as co-chair of the International Environmental Law Interest group, and served as a board member of the Washington Peace Center for more than eight years. She has U.S. and Dutch nationality.

A graduate from McGill University in political science and economics, Pauline works with Free the Slaves country and regional teams to support successful planning and implementation of programs as well as assisting headquarters staff with operations and reporting needs.

She has prior experience working with grassroots community organizations with Outreach International, in education at the Pulitzer Center, and in public health at the World Health Organization.

She is French-American and is committed to realizing the structural change needed to eradicate slavery at its roots. 

Peggy Callahan’s sense of fairness  has driven her work as a human rights activist, documentary filmmaker, television reporter, director and television executive.

Peggy has spent 18 years fighting modern day slavery and decades reporting and producing films on poverty, the foster care system, the death penalty, farmworkers, racism, homelessness and slavery.

Peggy co-founded two international anti-slavery organizations that have helped free thousands of people from slavery. Peggy’s powerful, award-winning storytelling has
helped change laws and lives. She has worked on five continents and 15 countries.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Jolene Smith is a trailblazer in the anti-slavery movement, serving as an adviser and speaker. In 2000, she co-founded and later became the CEO of Free the Slaves, which grew to have programs in six countries that dismantle the systems that allow slavery to exist, and help people out of slavery and into sustainable freedom.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.