Management & Leadership :

Ka Hsaw Wa, Co-Founder and Executive Director, is a member of the Karen ethnic nationality of Burma. He was one of the student leaders in the 1988 nation-wide student uprising for democracy and freedom, and has been a human rights activist since he fled Burma in 1988. As well as managing and directing the overall operations of EarthRights International, Ka Hsaw Wa coordinates a grassroots field staff that has successfully documented human rights and environmental abuses within Burma. The evidence collected has served as a cornerstone in the ground-breaking lawsuit against Unocal and in the decision of the International Labor Organization to pressure Burma’s brutal regime. Ka Hsaw Wa has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, Reebok Human Rights Award, Whitley Fund for Nature/Sting and Trudie Styler Award for Human Rights and the Environment, and the Conde Nast Environmental Award for his work in defense of human rights and the environment. Ka Hsaw Wa splits his time between the U.S. and Southeast Asia offices.

Chana Maung, Southeast Asia Office Director, has been with ERI since 1997, and is currently responsible for leading and overseeing all of ERI Southeast Asia’s program work, fact-finding and research activities. He also provides oversight for management issues, such as hiring and finances in Asia. Chana is a Karen man, who has worked for years to document forced labor, violence, economic and social rights violations in Burma. Chana has received training from the School for International Training in NGO management. He also has additional training in conflict resolution. Chana speaks Thai, Karen, Burmese, and English.

Katharine Redford, Esq., Co-Founder and US Office Director, is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Human Rights and Public Service. She is a member of the Massachusetts State Bar and served as counsel to plaintiffs in ERI's landmark case Doe v. Unocal. Katie received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 1995 to establish ERI, and since that time has split her time between ERI's Thailand and US offices. In addition to working on ERI's litigation and teaching at the EarthRights Schools, Katie currently serves as an adjunct professor of law at both UVA and the Washington College of Law at American University. She has published on various issues associated with human rights and corporate accountability, in addition to co-authoring ERI reports such as In Our Court, Shock and Law, and Total Denial Continues. In 2006, Katie was selected as an Ashoka Global Fellow.

Marie Soveroski, Managing Director, lived and worked for 15 years in Europe, where she served as Director of the European Centre for Judges and Lawyers, the Luxembourg-based Antenna of the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), from 2001-2005. Prior to that she worked out of EIPA headquarters in Maastricht (NL) on legal and capacity building projects in the countries in transition in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe. Her focus and passion has been environmental law and protection, as well as human rights issues, which she has pursued both as a lawyer and as an activist. She has an LLM in International and Comparative Law, which she earned at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels (B). She earned her JD at Gonzaga University School of Law as a Thomas More Scholar, a full-tuition scholarship program for persons pursuing a career in law in the public interst. She has Bachelors degrees in Biology and Environmental Resource Management. She has both US and Dutch nationality.

Southeast Asia Office:

Rachel Morris, Assistant Team Leader, supports the Southeast Asia Team Leader in tasks related to management, funding and program oversight for the region. Dr. Morris is a citizen of Canada and the UK. After completing a BA in Social Sciences by correspondence while working as a mail carrier, she completed undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Law at Cardiff University in Wales. She has worked in a volunteer capacity for environmental and minority rights groups, and on an AIDS helpline. Between 1996 and 2003 she was Coordinator of the Traveller Law Research Unit at Cardiff Law School, and was twice nominated for the 'Liberty' Human Rights Award for her work in reshaping law and policy affecting the UK's nomadic peoples. She speaks English and a little Korean, and is currently studying Thai and Spanish.

Naing Htoo, Program Coordinator, is a Karen man and graduate from the EarthRights School. He has worked with ERI since 1998, coordinating ERI’s documentation on forced labor, particularly surrounding development projects in Burma. Naing Htoo also conducts advocacy with international financial institutions on Burma. His research and fact-finding have reached key policymakers at the International Labour Organization, the United Nations, and various governments around the world. Naing Htoo speaks Skaw Karen, Thai, Burmese and English.

Nang Aung, Administrative Associate, joined ERI as an Administrative Associate in July 2004. She previously worked with Shan Women's Action Network as a volunteer on a women's education project and also worked for some time with the Shan School (SSSNY) as their Office Manager. Nang Aung completed a Women and Development Course run by the Women's League of Burma in 2003. She speaks Shan, Thai, English, Burmese and Chinese (Mandarin).

Matthew Smith, Project Coordinator (Pipelines & Mining), received a B.A. from Le Moyne College in Political Science and Philosophy, and a M.A. from Columbia University in Human Rights Studies and Religion. During graduate study he held an internship as an analyst at the Early Warning Analysis and Contingency Planning Unit of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in New York. Before joining ERI he worked with Kerry Kennedy and Nan Richardson at Speak Truth to Power, a division of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial. He has experience in community organizing in New York City, and in social work in Mobile, Alabama.

Alek Nomi, Program Coordinator, is a graduate of School of Oriental and African Studies from the University of London.  Alek has conducted research for ERI about Chinese multinational corporations involved in Burma’s energy sector.  He currently coordinates ERI’s work in China and South America, and speaks English, Chinese and Spanish.

Khun Ko Wein, Program Assistant, is responsible for assisting the Burma Project in organizing information, database maintenance, and community outreach & advocacy. He is a member of Pa-O ethnic group and has worked with a Pa-O youth organization since 1998. He graduated in 2002 from the Earthrights School and worked as a training intern at the Earthrights School in 2003. He has attended several trainings on human rights issues, environmental protection and conflict transformation on the Thai-Burma border. He speaks Pa-O, Burmese, English, Shan and Thai.

Sandra Visbal, Alumni Program Coordinator, comes from Colombia and recently finished her MA in Social Sciences in Germany, India, and South Africa. Before that she did a BA in Languages and Socio-Cultural Studies. She is interested in minority rights, multiculturalism and gender. She is experienced in research and working on indigenous issues. She speaks Spanish, English, German, and some French.

Jennifer Thao, Executive Assistant, received her B.A. in Geography and Southeast Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin and is completing her M.S. in Management from the S.I.T. Graduate Institute, an educational division of the international development NGO, World Learning.  She has worked for a variety of nonprofit organizations and is passionate about social corporate responsibility, sound organizational management, and human rights issues.  Jennifer speaks English, Hmong, and Thai.

EarthRights Schools -- Southeast Asia:

Khin Nanda, Burma Program Training Coordinator, assists with coordinating the ERS training program, helps to create a positive, cooperative learning environment and assists participants with translation. She co-facilitates classes on environmental issues and conflict transformation. Khin Nanda is a Shan alumna of the EarthRights School, and she has also received advanced training of trainers as well as participated in a conflict resolution short-course at the School for International Training (SIT) in Vermont in the United States. She interned with ERI's Burma Project for six months before joining the EarthRights School in late 2001.

Daniel Aguirre, Training Coordinator, has a PhD in International Law from the National University of Ireland. His recent publication of The Human Right to Development in a Globalized World examines foreign investment and links it to human rights in development. Daniel holds a Master of Law (LLM) degree in human rights law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He has lectured on human rights at the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights in Venice, Italy and Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Outside of academia, Daniel has worked with a number of Non Governmental Organizations on human rights education projects including Relatives for Justice in Belfast, Amnesty International in Dublin and Human Rights for Change.  

Maggie Holden, EarthRights School Teacher, received her MA in International Peace & Conflict Resolution from American University's School of International Service.  During her time at American, where she also received her BA, she worked in the Office of Community Action & Social Justice and the Kay Interfaith Spiritual Center. During her studies, Maggie led multiple student delegations to explore human rights issues on the Thai-Burma border. For her masters’ thesis on the role of educational exchange in US-Cuba relations, Maggie traveled to Cuba and conducted numerous in-depth interviews.  Maggie has worked on conflict diamond issues with Global Witness and has been published by the Robert F Kennedy Center for Human Rights in a report examining the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline. Before joining ERI, Maggie worked for the US Refugee Program in West Africa.

Tong Teng, Administrative Associate, is a member of the Karen ethnic group and has worked at the school since 2001. His responsibilities have grown significantly with time, and now include accounting, buildings and grounds maintenance and coordinating overall logistics. He took a four-month computer class in 2003 in preparation for overseeing our computerized accounting. Tong Teng speaks Skaw Karen, Po Karen, Thai, Burmese, and English.

Sabrina Gyorvary, Mekong Program Coordinator, is responsible for overall coordination of the inaugural EarthRights School Mekong program. Sabrina holds an undergraduate degree in Asian Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and MA in International Studies from the University of Oregon. She comes to ERI after a number of years with the Chiang Mai University Women’s Studies Centre where she developed curriculum and organized exposure trips and seminars on human rights, environmental justice and the impacts of globalization on women in the Mekong region. Sabrina speaks fluent Lao, Thai, English, intermediate Mandarin and basic Khmer.

Yaowalak Srikhampa (Tin), Mekong Program Associate, has been a leader in her local youth group campaigning to protect her home town and the environment for over ten years. Most recently, she worked with Southeast Asia Rivers Network (SEARIN) on the Pak Moon Dam in Ubon Ratchathanee, the Rasi Salai Dam in Sisaket Province and the Kaeng Sue Ten Dam in Phrae Province. In 2003, she also coordinated the 2003 World Dam-Affected People's meeting in Northern Thailand. She is currently completing her Master's thesis on Gender, Local Knowledge, and Community Food Security under Globalization at Chiang Mai University. Tin speaks Thai and English.

Paiboon Hengsuwan (Heng), Mekong School Coordinator, has experience working with the Association to Promote the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens in Northern Thailand, building awareness of local communities’ rights under Thai law in areas of conflict over access to natural resources. He later worked with the Wildlife Fund of Thailand (WFT) to organize anti-dam campaigns with dam-affected communities nationwide. Paiboon is currently writing a doctoral thesis on the negative impacts of dams on the Salween River and other SPDC (Burmese military regime) projects in Eastern Burma, and local peoples' resistance.  He has travelled extensively in the region, studying the impacts of foreign investment on communities and local peoples' movements for greater social and environmental justice.

Si Phoung, Mekong Alumni Program Associate, is herself an ERSM alumna. As a student in our class of 2006, she conducted research on the ADB's role in funding the Tasang Dam power transmission line near her hometown in Shan State, Burma. Upon graduation, she served as an intern at the NGO Forum on the ADB in Manila, where she lobbied at ADB headquarters around the bank's involvement in Burma, and worked with other ERSM alumni to organize a Global Day of Action against the Salween dams. She has worked with the ImagesAsia Environmental Desk, and is a member of the Salween Watch Coalition and the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization, which focus on Salween dam issues.

U.S. Office:

Marco Simons, Esq., Legal Director, is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he received the Robert L. Bernstein Fellowship in International Human Rights to work with EarthRights International. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Dorothy Wright Nelson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He then worked for Hadsell & Stormer, Inc., a Pasadena civil rights law firm, which is co-counsel with ERI on Doe v. Unocal and Bowoto v. Chevron. He also served as Communications Director for the campaign of Ro Khanna for U.S. Congress in California's 12th District, and has taught human rights law at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Marco holds an undergraduate degree in environmental science and, prior to law school, worked on developing educational materials on conservation biology. He is currently admitted to practice in California, Washington DC, and Washington state.

Richard L. Herz, Esq., Litigation Coordinator, is a 1993 Order of the Coif graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served on the Virginia Law Review. In 1994, he clerked for the Hon. Raymond A. Jackson, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. Rick was the 1997-1998 Natural Resources Law Institute Fellow at Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College, where he wrote"Litigating Environmental Abuses Under the Alien Tort Claims Act: A Practical Assessment" , an article about suing multinational corporations for environmental abuses under the Alien Tort Claims Act. He is a member of the New York State Bar. At ERI, Rick directs our work on cases against multinational corporations for international human rights and environmental abuses. As such he is co-counsel for the plaintiffs in Doe v. Unocal, Bowoto v. Chevron, Sahu v. Union Carbide and Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. He has also filed amicus briefs in various U.S. Circuit and District courts on behalf of NGOs and law professors in important human rights cases, and he advises human rights and environmental activists and lawyers on international law.

Jacqui Zalcberg, Legal Fellow, is 2008 LL.M. graduate of Columbia University Law School, where she was the Charles B. Bretzfelder Fellow in International Law, a James Kent Scholar, and participated in the Human Rights Clinic. She is admitted to practice as a lawyer in Australia, where she graduated in 2005 with Honors in Law (LL.B. (Hons)) and a Bachelors degree in Political Science from Monash University. In 2006 she clerked for the Honourable Justice Kaye, Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Jacqui speaks Spanish and French and has experience working with indigenous peoples in Latin America, Australia and Canada. She has worked on indigenous issues at the international level, including UN bodies in both New York and Geneva, and in the Inter-American Human Rights System.

Jonathan Kaufman, Legal Fellow, holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School (2006) and a Master in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton (2008). He has worked on human rights and land rights issues at both the international and local level. Jonathan has been a member of the legal team on two cases in front of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, represented dozens of clients in front of public housing authorities and disability benefits review boards, and researched and written on human rights and indigenous issues in Guyana, Tanzania, and Taiwan. In 2002-2003, after graduating from Yale University with both a B.A. and M.A. in Chinese, Jonathan was a Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan. He speaks Mandarin Chinese, French, and Spanish.

Paul Donowitz, Esq., Campaign Coordinator, is a 2003 graduate of Columbia University Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar along with serving on the Human Rights Law Review and in the Human Rights Clinic. He then worked as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Service Employees International Union, focusing on new market organizing in the public sector. He has served as the grassroots and national coordinator for an international human rights organization, and is currently on the organizations' board of directors. Other experience includes work for Social Accountability International, a labor standard setting and accreditation organization, and experience conducting research and training in India with the human rights groups. Paul holds an undergraduate degree in South Asian Studies and Sociology from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Maggie Schuppert, Development Coordinator, is primarily responsible for coordinating ERI's grant submissions, foundation relations and proposal writing. Most recently, she was residing in San Francisco where she was the Development Coordinator at the Global Citizen Center, a non-profit initiative of Global Exchange, which works to promote our transition to a Green Economy. Prior to this, Maggie was at the Social Science Research Council's Program on Global Security and Cooperation, where she provided support to the Program's various projects including the administration of an international fellowship program aimed at nurturing innovative research and collaboration between academics and practitioners around the issues of human security. She holds a BSFS from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and an MA in International Relations from the University of Essex (UK) where she focused her studies on human and environmental rights and normative political theory.

Brad Weikel, Web & Communications Coordinator, is experienced in print, online & multimedia communications, as well as software engineering. In his previous position, he was the Managing Editor for gnovis, Georgetown University's peer-reviewed Journal of Communication, Culture & Technology (CCT). Prior to that, he was webmaster for the Middle East Institute. He holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Washington and an MA in Communication, Culture & Technology from Georgetown University, where he studied emerging social media systems and collaborative production and wrote a thesis on procedural tropes in software development practices.

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