Executive/International Office:

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.

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:

Chana Maung, Team Leader, 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.

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.

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.

EarthRights School -- Southeast Asia:

Da Do Wa, Project Leader, teaches human rights and co-facilitates earth rights units at the school, and assists with recruitment and student life. Da Do Wa was a university student in Rangoon until he fled Burma in 1988. He is a Karen and fluent in Burmese, English and Skaw Karen. He began working for ERI in early 1997 documenting human rights abuses and assisting in the Doe v. Unocal lawsuit. He has also spoken at Oilwatch meetings, written ERI newsletters in Burmese, and supervised translations of ERI publications. He has been a coordinator at the EarthRights School since 2000, and received additional human rights training through Columbia’s University Human Rights Advocate Program as well as advanced training for trainers.

Khin Nanda, 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.

Maggie Holden, School Teacher, received her MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from the American University (AU) School of International Service. During her time at AU, where she also received her BA, Maggie worked in the Office of Community Action Social Justice and the Kay Interfaith Spiritual Center, and 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 conducted in-depth interviews in Cuba. She 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.

U.S. Office:

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.

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.

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.After law school, Paul worked as a litigation associate for Jones Day in New York.  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. Mr. Donowitz holds an undergraduate degree in South Asian Studies and Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Adrienne Shaw, Individual Gifts & Events Coordinator, received her Master of Arts degree from GMU in American Cultural History as well as a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies in spring of 2005 where her research focused on sweatshops through both a contemporary and an historical lens. Before coming to ERI, Adrienne was on staff at Public Citizen and Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, D.C. She is an accomplished public speaker and was individually ranked in the top ten speakers at the 1998 AFA-NIET Forensics Collegiate National competition. She also spent time in 2001 and 2002 teaching acting and speech to youth in the South Bronx. Adrienne plans ERI events and raises money through the generosity of individual donors to help fund programs that bring an end to international human rights abuses and the environmental destruction linked to those abuses. Accordingly, she is not only a member of ERI’s staff, but also donates monthly as an EarthRights Sustainer. She enjoys SCUBA diving with her partner Matt.

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.

Anisha Gade, Communications Coordinator, is experienced in Print, Online & Multimedia Communications.  In her previous position, she maintained the Communications Archives for the Global Health Division at the Academy for Educational Development. Prior to that, she worked extensively on a public-private partnership with the DC Department of Parks & Recreation and a non-profit advocacy group, Washington Parks & People. In that capacity, she developed outreach and media materials for the environmental restoration of a major community park in upper Northeast Washington, DC.  She holds a B.S. in International Relations & Economics from American University where she studied economic policy/planning as well as rural infrastructure development in China and India.

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