Lina AbiRafeh, Executive Director, The Arab Institute for Women
Lina AbiRafeh, PhD (she/her) is a global women’s rights expert and former humanitarian aid worker with decades of experience worldwide. She is a strategic advisor for organizations – including the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University, where she served as Executive Director for seven years.
Lina speaks and publishes frequently, with appearances on global stages and in media such as CNN, France24, BBC, Good Morning America, and others. Her second book “Freedom on the Frontlines” was released in February 2022.
Lina sits on the board of numerous global women’s rights organizations and has received awards and recognitions for her work including the Gender Equality Top 100, a Vital Voices fellowship and a Women inPower fellowship, amongst others. For more information: www.LinaAbiRafeh.com
Nicole Arrindell, Senior Director and Government Relations Counsel, Equitable Holdings, Inc.
Nicole Lester Arrindell (she/her) is a wife, mother, attorney, entrepreneur, speaker, and civic leader. She currently works as Senior Director and Government Relations Counsel at Equitable Holdings, Inc. Previously, she was Associate General Counsel at the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, Senior Staff Attorney at Mobilization for Justice, Chief of Staff for a New York State Assembly Member, and Senior Business Development Manager at Fannie Mae in Washington, DC. Nicole is CEO of NLA Strategies LLC a leadership coaching, speaking, and consulting firm. Nicole is committed to service and civic engagement. She is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; board member for the Metropolitan Black Bar Association; and mentor to law students. Nicole earned a J.D. from Cleveland State University, a Master of Public Administration degree (with distinction) from American University, and a B.S. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Radhika Bajpai, Global Lead, Risk & Controls Assurance Engineering for Google Cloud, Google LLC
Radhika Bajpai (she/her) is a Senior Executive with 20+ years of financial services experience performing operational, compliance and regulatory internal control reviews, risk assessments, analysis, and risk mitigation. Radhika has expertise within Risk Management, Control Oversight, Strategic Planning, Regulatory, Sarbanes Oxley (SOX), Risk and Control Self-Assessment (RCSA), SSAE18/SOC1 domains. She is an IT risk and cybersecurity professional with exceptional interpersonal skills and “hands-on” experience in information risk management, incident response, policy development, regulatory compliance, and training & awareness program development.
Radhika has led external audit assurance programs with responsibility for continuous control monitoring and data analytics in various top tier global financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and Bank of New York Mellon. Radhika joined Google last year and is currently leading the Compliance Engineering programs for Google Cloud.
Throughout her career, Radhika has led various projects in designing IT general controls following NIST Cybersecurity, ISACA COBIT and Unified Compliance. Radhika has a keen understanding of national and international laws, regulations, policies, and ethics related to cybersecurity controls in the financial industry. In 2019, she also completed her second Master’s degree in Cybersecurity Risk & Strategy from NYU School of Law and NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Radhika is an experienced Public Speaker and Advisory Board Member currently serving on the Board of Sightline Security and ThriveDX. She is also an active member of ISACA New York Metropolitan Chapter. She has been a session presenter, panelist and judge in various industry events and seminars organized by multiple renowned institutions.
Nechama Bakst, Senior Director, Family Violence Services, Met Council
Nechama Bakst, LCSW-R, (she/her) is the senior director of the Family Violence Services program at Met Council. She obtained her MSW from Loyola University Chicago and spent close to two decades providing clinical and case management services to individuals and families with a variety of needs ranging from trauma and abuse to couples’ treatment, anxiety and depression. Nechama also co-chairs the UJA Task Force on family violence which is a collaboration of community based organizations focused specifically on addressing challenges related to family violence. In December 2020, Nechama was nominated as NYC’s Advocates of the year by the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence. In addition to her agency work, Nechama maintains a private practice in NYC and works with individuals couples and families. She has attended post-graduate training at Ackerman Institute for the Family and has trained in both Emotionally Focused Therapy and Internal Family Systems.
Zahra Banyamerian, Senior Program Officer, NYFA Learning, Leadership Initiatives and Curatorial Affairs, New York Foundation for the Arts
Zahra Banyamerian (she/her) is the Senior Program Office at NYFA Learning at the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). In her role, she oversees NYFA’s Leadership Initiatives and Curatorial Affairs. She provides leadership development training to art administrators from arts and cultural New York City-area organizations representing all creative disciplines. In addition to her affiliation with NYFA, Zahra pursues curatorial projects in alternative venues, creating space for emerging artists whose work may not conform to the standards of mainstream art.
Zahra has a master’s degree in Art History from the City College of New York. In her thesis, she explored the intersection of nostalgia, politics, and gender in the cultural productions of Iranian women artists. Besides her experience as an art administrator and her passion for the Middle Eastern contemporary art, she is trained as a painter and printmaker and holds a BFA in Painting and MA in Art Studies from the University of Tehran, Iran, and a Post-Bacc in Studio Art from the School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Constance Barnes-Watson, Founder and Lead Consultant, UnmaskEDU, LLC
Constance Barnes-Watson (she/her) is the Founder and Lead Consultant at UnmaskEDU, LLC. Constance previously served as the Director of Programs & Partnerships at The Knowledge House. Constance’s passion for tech began in high school when she was chosen to attend an engineering program at Georgia Tech. Constance received a Presidential Scholarship to the University of Alabama, where she enrolled as a Computer Science Major, hoping to engage in the work she’d been exposed to in high school. After receiving her Bachelor’s, she pursued additional degrees in education at Mercy College and the College of St. Rose. Prior to the pandemic, Constance led teams to increase k-12 access to technology at two of the nation’s largest virtual education companies, Stride Inc. and Connections Academy. Currently she is the Director of Programs & Partnerships at The Knowledge House, a tech-based, non-profit located in the South Bronx.
Constance is a 2017 4pt0 Schools Fellow, 2019 Communitas America Social Impact Entrepreneur, 2020 Leaders of Color Fellow and current Doctoral Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh.
Leigh Baxt, Associate Director of Biology, Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute
Leigh Baxt (she/her) is an Associate Director of Biology on the at the Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute (Tri-I TDI). The Tri-I TDI is a collaboration between Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, and biopharmaceutical partner Takeda. The mission of the TDI is to encourage researchers in the Tri-I community to advance groundbreaking biological discoveries to preclinical studies. Dr. Baxt provides strategic and technical guidance for early preclinical drug development projects. She has expertise in supporting projects from target validation, lead identification and optimization through animal proof-of-concept studies. Dr. Baxt has been a key contributor to multiple commercially licensed programs and has experience across a wide variety of disease areas having worked on more than 30 early discovery programs. Dr. Baxt received a B.A. in biology from Brown University and a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Stanford University School of Medicine. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, and was a research scientist at the Broad Institute prior to joining the Tri-I TDI. She resides in New York City with her husband and two young children.
Deanna Bitetti, Head of External Relations and Communications, UNHCR Liaison Office, New York
Deanna Bitetti (she/her) is Head of External Relations and Communications at UNHCR Liaison Office in New York. Previously, she served as a Senior Communications Officer at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, for Global Communications based in New York City, after a stint as Head of Communications/Senior Project Lead in the UNHCR Representation Office in Tokyo, Japan. In this capacity she works to mobilize public, political, and financial support for forcibly displaced people around the world. She has served as the Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Communications at the New York City Mayor’s Office for International Affairs and represented the UK Mission to the United Nations negotiating consensus outcomes in the UN Fifth Committee as a Senior Policy Advisor. Deanna has also held senior positions in local and state government in NY and is the former Associate Director of Common Cause/NY. She holds a BA degree from Hunter College as part of the Macaulay Honors College University Scholars Program and a MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Jasmin Chitrakar, Managing Director, Madison International Realty, LLC
Jasmin Chitrakar (she/her) is a Managing Director at Madison International Realty, LLC. In her current role, she leads the Fund Finance and Accounting team. Her primary responsibilities include all aspects of Funds management including financial reporting, tax structuring and compliance, fund operations, financing, hedging and oversight of external administration teams. She also supports Madison International Realty’s Women of Madison and the Philanthropy Committee efforts. Ms. Chitrakar has over 15 years of finance and accounting experience. Prior to joining Madison in 2010, Ms. Chitrakar served as a Supervising Senior at Ernst & Young in the New York Real Estate practice. She managed audit engagements of private equity real estate companies as well as retail clients. Ms. Chitrakar earned Master of Business Administration in Accountancy from Baruch College, City University of New York and is a Certified Public Accountant. She lives with her husband and two children in Harlem.
Laura Grady, Director of Project Management, C&G Partners
Laura Grady (she/her) is Director of Project Management at C&G Partners, a multi-specialty design studio dedicated to mission-driven organizations. She specializes in managing complex exhibit and digital installation projects for cultural and corporate organizations such as the Smithsonian, National September 11 Museum, and JPMorgan Chase. She is also a proud mother of two young children. Prior to joining C&G, Laura worked for over ten years in the non-profit performing arts world. Highlights include large-scale construction projects and board relations at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and professional development events and conferences at the Broadway League. Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Theatre from American University (cum laude) and a Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration from NYU (cum laude). A native of Philadelphia, Laura now lives with her family in Queens, NY.
Annette Gray, Assistant Vice Provost for Research Planning and Analysis, New York University
Annette “Nina” Gray (she/her) is the Assistant Vice Provost for Research Planning and Analysis at New York University. In this role, she works closely with academic and administrative leaders across NYU to foster the strategic development and growth of the research enterprise, and nurture a culture of knowledge creation, scholarship, innovation, integrity, and inclusion. Dr. Gray completed her undergraduate degree at MIT and her PhD from Brown University in Neuroscience in 2006. After a postdoctoral position at Brandies University studying synaptic plasticity, Dr. Gray moved to New York City and worked at the New York Academy of Sciences. She joined NYU Langone’s Neuroscience Institute in 2011, initially as a program manager focused on graduate education and then as the Institute’s Executive Director in 2014. In 2019, she became Associate Dean for the Sciences at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and the Executive Director of its Advanced Science Research Center. She assumed her new role in February 2022.
Tamara Hove, Director, Compliance Strategy, Stash
Tamara Hove (she/her) is a seasoned Compliance Strategy Director at Stash, a Fintech that is focused on making it affordable for everyday Americans to build wealth and achieve their financial goals. She led the Regulatory Compliance programs for two Registered Investment Advisors here in the US, consulted on licensing for a GE/Coles joint venture and is currently focused on strategic compliance initiatives at Stash. Tamara has over 15 years of risk and compliance multi-sector financial services experience (namely, in asset management, insurance, lending and private funds). She is also a progressive social impact leader who has led two special interest resource groups and sits on the Board of Active Plus (a non-profit that promotes fitness, nutrition, leadership, and mindfulness for children). She holds a Law Degree from Western Sydney University in Australia and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.
Manuela Londoño, Founder & Managing Director, Marianne Strategies
Manuela Londoño (she/her) is the Founder & Managing Director of Marianne Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in International Law. She is currently International Arbitration Counsel to the National Association for Professional Soccer of a Latin American country; works on investor-state arbitrations; serves as External General Counsel to a healthcare company doing business in over 50 countries; does pro bono work on behalf of nationals from Afghanistan seeking Humanitarian Parole from the United States; and has a keen interest in impact storytelling and media that is driven by social justice. Previously, Manuela was an International Arbitration associate at two Am Law 100 firms where she focused on public and private international law, as well as anti-corruption matters. She also worked on human rights cases before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and U.S. Federal Courts. Prior to her work with law firms, she worked with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT), the World Bank, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). She holds a Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law; a Master’s II in International Economic Law from the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas; a Master’s I from the École Normale Supérieure & the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense; and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Miami.
Sandy Maltzman, Senior Director, Strategic Communications at JUST Capital
Sandy Maltzman (she/her) is Senior Director, Strategic Communications at JUST Capital, a nonprofit whose mission is to build an economy that works for all Americans by helping companies improve how they serve all their stakeholders – workers, customers, communities, the environment, and shareholders. Prior to this role, Sandy was at CNBC for over 15 years where, most recently, she was Senior Producer, Special Projects and responsible for all aspects of production for both in-person and virtual events. Sandy has held a variety of roles at NBC News and CNBC including Assignment Desk Editor, Field Producer, Planning Editor, Senior Social Media Editor, and more. Outside of work, Sandy is a passionate volunteer for Emily’s Entourage, a leading nonprofit organization that raises money and awareness to help find a cure for rare mutations of cystic fibrosis. Sandy has a BA from the University of Rochester with a Political Science major and a Psychology minor. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and her two children.
Sean Merriweather, VP, Product Marketing & Strategy, Publicis Media
Sean Merriweather (she/her) is a collaborative strategy executive with diverse experience working with internal/external clients and stakeholders in conceptualizing and articulating the mutual value of recommendations, initiatives, and phases of strategic roadmaps for enterprise and client-side solutions and projects that solve real-world business problems. Currently, she is the VP, Product Marketing & Strategy within Publicis Media’s Investment division (PMX). She’s previously held roles in product & marketing strategy, research, insights & analytics and innovation at NBCUniversal, AT&T and IBM. Sean received her BA from Emory University and MA from New York University. She also leads courses in New York University’s MS Integrated Marketing program. In her spare time, Sean enjoys volunteering, traveling and experiencing both the visual and performing arts.
Kathryn Milani, Senior Policy Advocate, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Katy Milani (she/her) is the Senior Policy Advocate for ILSR’s independent business program where she works closely with coalition partners and policymakers on antimonopoly and small business policy and advocacy. Previously she was Director of Advocacy and Policy at the Roosevelt Institute where she led strategic engagement with allies, partner organizations, and elected officials on a range of corporate power policy areas, including banking reform and corporate governance. Prior to joining Roosevelt, Katy served in government as a budget analyst for the New York City Office of Management and Budget and a legislative fellow in the Office of Sen. Sherrod Brown, where she focused on banking and housing policy. Katy received her MSc in regulation from the London School of Economics and a BA in international affairs and Spanish from the University of Colorado.
Kate Nadolny, Chief Executive Officer, Bandier
Kate Nadolny (she/her) is Chief Executive Officer at Bandier. Previously, she served as the SVP Operations & Innovation with PVH Corp. She oversees global innovation alignment and is responsible for Operations for PVH Americas. Before PVH, Kate managed wholesale at Lacoste & VF Corp (Nautica). She started her career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. Additionally, she is a Board Member of Algo, an omnichannel supply chain intelligence platform, AlgoFace, a facial analytics AI company, and of the Non-Profit for the Bronx Academy of Letters, providing supplemental support to the arts, college prep and academic expansion within the school. Kate graduated from the Dyson School of Business at Cornell University, where she serves on the advisory board both at the school and university level. In 2020, Kate graduated from the Trium Global Executive MBA program with a degree jointly issued by New York University’s Stern School of Business, The London School of Economics and HEC Paris.
Jen Noborikawa, Director of NYCx Moonshoots & Senior Advisor of Inclusive Innovation, NYC Mayor's Office of the Chief Technology Officer
Jen Noborikawa (she/her) is acting Director of Moonshots and Senior Advisor of Inclusive Innovation at the NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer. She leads NYC’s flagship civic innovation program, NYC[x] Moonshots, that invites anyone to tackle seemingly intractable citywide challenges of inequity with bold solutions, leveraging emerging technology or groundbreaking business models. Jen engages with government, industry, community, funder, and academic stakeholders. She co-founded the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights: Applied Digital Rights Initiative, spearheaded universal broadband initiatives, and is a member of NYC’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity. Previously, Jen worked at edtech and workforce development nonprofits as Development Director at Mouse and Associate Director of Programs, Operations, and Marketing at Code/Interactive. Jen graduated from Fullstack Academy’s Software Engineering Immersive. She holds a MEd from the University of Hawaii and BA in American Studies from Scripps College. Systems thinking, morning runs, and crispy edges bring her joy. The views expressed in the work, teaching, or speaking engagements do not necessarily represent the views of the agency or the City.
Ngozi Ogbonna, Head of Growth, Mobile Apps, Overtime
Ngozi Ogbonna (she/her) is the the Head of Growth, Mobile Apps at sports media brand, Overtime. Ngozi has an extensive background in both the mobile and media industries. Her tenure includes integrated and digital marketing roles at Clear Channel Radio (now iHeartMedia) and Fox Cable Networks. With a marketing and digital media MBA from NYU, Ngozi got her start a decade ago in mobile app monetization and distribution with marketing and partnership roles at several DTC mobile tech startups. She has managed client strategy at ad tech firms, InMobi and Drawbridge, and has led user acquisition at Jump Ramp Games, TodayTix and Fairygodboss.
Nonny Onyekweli, Director of Criminal Justice, National Urban League
Nonny Onyekweli (she/her) is a passionate advocate for social justice. She serves as the Director of Criminal Justice at the National Urban League where she develops and implements racial, social, and criminal justice reform-related campaigns. She uses advocacy and public education strategies to advance racial justice on the federal, state and local level with a particular focus on policing. Prior to the League, she was a litigation attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. She served as the co-chair for the Law Firm Anti-Racism Alliance Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Committee and worked at the Legal Aid Society as an immigration public defender. She was a fellow at NYU Law’s Policing Project and a member of the Cleveland Police Federal Monitoring Team. Nonny is a writer and focuses on gender, race, and intersectionality. She holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law and B.S. from the University of Maryland.
Sandra Paunksniene, Global Administration Manager, IBM
Sandra Paunksniene (she/her) is a Global Administration Manager at IBM. Recently, Sandra served as a program director for an international Historical Dialogues and Accountability Fellowship program at Columbia University and worked with practitioners and researchers from conflict and post-conflict countries. Sandra’s prior experience includes foreign policy and international affairs (UN, EU and the Council of Europe). She designed and led workshops for civil society organizations in Myanmar in 2019. Sandra has earned her Master’s degree in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Organizational Psychology from Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania).
Bipasha Ray, Vice President, Scalable Solutions, Panorama Global
Bipasha Ray (she/her) is Vice President of Scalable Solutions at Panorama Global, a platform for social change that partners with visionary leaders and social impact organizations to implement systemic solutions to pressing global challenges such as pandemic prevention, climate change, mental health, human rights of marginalized populations and women’s political participation.
She has 18 years of experience in journalism, human rights, political philanthropy, and policy research, with a passion for supporting activists, nonprofit organizations and movements working towards a more just and equitable society. She was most recently the Project Director running the New Executives Fund and the Contested Spaces Initiative at the Open Society Foundations. She joined the Foundations in 2008 to help launch and scale its Open Society Fellowship program. Previously, she was a research associate at the Project on Defense Alternatives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and an Associated Press reporter in Boston and Philadelphia.
Originally from Mumbai, Bipasha has a Master’s degree in International Politics from Queens University Belfast in Northern Ireland funded by a full Rotary Ambassadorial scholarship, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from North Dakota State University. She serves as a board member for Riverside Language Program, an immigrant integration and English language education center in New York City, and as a helpline volunteer for Sakhi supporting domestic violence survivors of South Asian origin.
Vanessa Rios, Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning, Vera Institute of Justice
Vanessa Rios (she/her) facilitates learning, reflection, and adaptation within organizations working to advance gender, racial, and social justice in her role as an internal evaluator. She is the Director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, at the Vera Institute of Justice, an organization focused on ending the overcriminalization and mass incarceration of people of color, immigrants, and people experiencing poverty. She has also worked in the field of abortion rights and access for 8 years, currently serving as a Co-Director and Board Member of the New York Abortion Access Fund, a grassroots, volunteer-run organization that supports New Yorkers and people traveling to New York who are unable to fully pay for their abortions. Vanessa holds an MPH in global health from Emory University and a BS in human development from Cornell University. She lives in Brooklyn with her fiancé Oliver and their dog, Luna.
Maryum Saifee, Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Department of State
Maryum Saifee (she/her) is a career U.S. diplomat. Ms. Saifee started her career in Cairo during the early days of the Arab Spring in 2011 and later served in Baghdad during the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq and as spokesperson for the U.S. Consulate in Lahore. In Washington, she was a policy advisor in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, and the Secretary’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs. She is currently a senior advisor for the first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the U.S. Department of State. Prior to joining the State Department, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan and an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Seattle. She also consulted for the United Nations Development Program, Acumen Fund, and the Ford Foundation. In 2018, Maryum took a sabbatical from the State Department to pursue a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship where she worked with the Human Rights Foundation, a global network of dissidents fighting authoritarianism. She also led a 30-person task force on State Department reform as a senior visiting fellow at the Truman Center for National Policy. Maryum is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is a proud Texan and rediscovered her love for painting during the pandemic.
Shihadah Saleem, Director of Youth Pathways and Programs, New York Hall of Science
Shihadah “Shay” Saleem (she/her) is Director of Youth Pathways and Programs at New York Hall of Science. She previously served as Senior Manager of Teen Leadership and Alumni Programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. As a co-founder of GOALS (Greater Opportunities Advancing Leadership and Science) and manager of the long-standing Youth Leadership at the Intrepid Museum, she developed and delivered programs and workshops for diverse audiences. For over 10 years, Shay continues to provide rich STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and youth development programs and opportunities for students, parents and the community. Shay graduated with a B.A. from Alfred University, majoring in Environmental Sciences with an emphasis in natural sciences and geology. She is also a graduate of University of South Florida, College of Marine Science with her Master of Science Degree in Marine Geomorphology.
Aliza Shvarts, Director of Artist Initiatives, Creative Capital
Aliza Shvarts (she/her) is an artist, writer, and scholar who takes a queer and feminist approach to reproductive labor and language. Her recent work focuses on testimony and circulations of speech in the digital age. Shvarts has worked extensively in artist education, professional development, and cultural philanthropy. She has taught at New York University, Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, Barnard College, Sotheby’s Institute of Art-New York, and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally at venues including Tate Modern in London, Athens Biennale in Greece, Centre for Contemporary Art FUTURA in Prague, Art in General, and SculptureCenter. Shvarts was a recipient of an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant in 2014. She is a graduate of Yale University, was a Helena Rubinstein Fellow in Critical Studies at the Whitney Independent Study Program, and holds a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University.
Param-Preet Singh, Deputy Director, Strategy and Collaboration, Human Rights Watch
Param-Preet Singh (she/her) is the Deputy Director for Strategy & Collaboration in the Office of the Chief Programs Officer. Prior to this role, she was an associate director in the International Justice Program where she conducted on-the-ground fact-finding missions, authored reports and led advocacy campaigns to press for justice for grave crimes in Myanmar, North Korea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Bosnia and Herzegovina. She also led Human Rights Watch’s Fellowship Program from 2016-2020. Before joining Human Rights Watch, Singh worked as a lawyer with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo and the Department of Justice in Toronto, Canada. She was also a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School (2013) and a Schell Center Senior Visiting Human Rights Fellow (2013) at Yale Law School. She is a graduate of the University of Alberta and McGill Law School. https://www.hrw.org/about/people/param-preet-singh#
Dorothy Stuehmke, SVP, Philanthropic Advisory, Citi Private Bank
Dorothy Stuehmke (she/her) is a social impact leader with two decades of global multi-sector experience. She currently serves as SVP, Philanthropic Advisory, Citi Private Bank. In her prior role as Senior Vice President with Citi Foundation, Dorothy spearheaded global philanthropic initiatives that advance economic opportunity for marginalized communities across 85+ markets, aligned with Citigroup’s Action for Racial Equity commitments. Prior to joining Citigroup, Dorothy was a diplomat under two U.S. presidential administrations and represented the U.S in North Korea to oversee the largest humanitarian aid effort in North Korea’s history. Dorothy has also held positions with the United Nations and UNICEF. Dorothy was a Boren National Security Education Program Fellow and a Korean Language Flagship Fellow. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dorothy was a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member (2008-2013) and speaks Korean and German.
Nicole Vlado, Principal, Shakespeare Gordon Vlado Architects
Nicole Vlado (she/her) is an architect committed to enhancing the quality and experience of public space and the built environment. She has been a Principal of Shakespeare Gordon Vlado Architects (SGVA) since its formation 2017 where she leads her team on projects dedicated to the construction and preservation of affordable housing. She believes that collaboration and engagement are critical to the successful execution of projects and has enjoyed working closely with clients and creative teams on architectural and site-specific public arts works throughout her career. She also continues her design research through architectural art projects, including a recent site-specific commission for the 33rd Sao Paulo Bienal set within and designed in response to Oscar Niemeyer’s iconic Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion. Nicole has a Bachelor of Science and Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Lauren Weiner, Director of Strategic Communications, ACLU
Lauren Weiner (she/her) is Director of Strategic Communications at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she oversees communication strategies for a range of issues including criminal justice reform, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights and electoral engagement. She has directed media outreach and communications for large ACLU institutional priorities, including the ACLU100 multi-city tour and revived the communications internship program, creating a pipeline for talent. Prior to the ACLU, Lauren served as a Principal with Precision Strategies, where she developed messaging, engagement and media strategies for a wide range of clients. Lauren oversaw national media outreach and coalition efforts as the Director of Rapid Response for Wendy Davis’ Texas gubernatorial campaign, managed the press, social media, and external engagement work at Americans United for Change, organized battleground communication efforts as a Press Secretary at the Democratic National Committee and has also has a background in broadcast news as a fellow at ABC News and as a producer for a regional cable news network.
Kerri-Ann Wright, Director of Training & Professional Development, The Legal Aid Society
Kerri-Ann Wright (she/her) is an experienced trial attorney and inclusive leader. She is the Director of Training & Professional Development with The Legal Aid Society’s Civil Practice. With an equity lens, she develops programming on substantive legal topics in addition to modules covering leadership, feedback, implicit bias, trauma-informed lawyering and client-centered advocacy. She enjoys teaching, learning and encouraging others to honor the power of their lived experiences. Kerri-Ann has presented workshops at the local, state and national level. She is a member of the NYS Legal Services Diversity Coalition, the Black Defender Leadership Institute and serves on the advisory committee for the Housing Justice Leadership Institute. Kerri-Ann honed her litigation skills by collaboratively working with her clients and centering their stories. In Bronx Family Court, Kerri-Ann advocated on behalf of survivors of Intimate Partner Violence and represented young people with fierce determination to create space for Black and Brown families to thrive.