People

Photo Credit: Rosemary Ketchum
Team

All

India Adams

(she/her)

Executive and Board Coordinator

Noorjahan Akbar

(she/her)

Director of Communications and Advocacy

Belguun “Bella” Bat-Erdene

(she/her)

Senior Grants Officer

Raisa Borshchigova

(she/her)

Senior Program Officer

Keishla Gonzalez-Quiles

(she/her)

Communications Officer

Alex Grossman

(she/her)

Communications Managing Officer

Samaria Johnson

(she/her)

Development Operations Coordinator

Kate Kroeger

(she/her)

Executive Director

Amy Leichtman

Director of Partnerships

Debbie Li

(she/her)

Director Of Finance

Jesse Maeshiro

(she/her)

Development Officer

Nathalie Margi

(she/her)

Senior Advocacy Officer

Adelaide Mazwarira

(she/her)

Partnerships Managing Officer

Maylott Mulugeta

(she/her)

Senior Program Officer

Huong Nguyen

(she/her)

Senior Learning & Impact Officer

Somer Nowak

(she/her)

Senior Collective Care Officer

Otibho Obianwu

(she/they)

Director of Programs

Cecilia “Cecy” Ramirez Suero

(she/her/ella)

Director of People, Culture, and Operations

Elsa Saade

Senior Program Officer

Nia Scott-Hamilton

(she/her)

Human Resources Coordinator

Allison S.

(she/her)

Senior Operations Officer

Johnny Tohme

(he/they)

Grantmaking Managing Officer

Celia Turner

(they/them)

Urgent Action Funds Partnerships Managing Officer

Grace Yuen

(she/her)

Finance Officer

Val Napoleon

(she/her)

Board Chair

Ruth Baldacchino

(they/them)

Board Vice-Chair

Lina Abou-Habib

(she/her)

Board Member

Milena Abrahamyan

(she/her)

Board Member

Dorianna Blitt

(she/her)

Board Treasurer

Charlotte Bunch

(she/her)

Board Secretary

Chinyere Ezie

(she/her)

Board Member

Sarah Hunt/ Tłaliłila’ogwa

(she/her)

Board Member

Wanda Nowicka

(she/her)

Board Member

Fariza Ospan

(she/her)

Board Member

Former board members

Sunila Abeysekera

Former Board Chair Sri Lanka

Maryam Al-Khawaja

Former Board Vice Chair

Chela Blitt

Former Board Member, United States of America

Ariane Brunet

Urgent Action Fund Co-founder, United States of America

Kamala Chandrakirana

Former Vice Chair, Indonesia

Hope Chigudu

Former Board Chair, Zimbabwe

Jelena Dordevic

Former Board Secretary, Serbia

Eleanor Douglas

Former Executive Director Urgent Action Fund-Latin America, Colombia

Marta Drury

Former Board Member, United States

Amalia Fischer

Former Board Vice Chair, Brazil

Mariam Gagoshashvili

Former Board Member

Roshmi Goswami

Former Board Member

Terry Greenblatt

Former Urgent Action Fund Executive Director, Israel/United States

Xiaopei He

Former Board Member, China

Anissa Helie

Former Board Vice Chair, Algeria and France

Rachel-Alouki Labbé

Former Board Chair, First Nations of Canada – Abenaki

Paulette Meyer

Former Board Member

Nadine Moawad

Former Board Member, Lebanon

Kaari Betty Murungi

Former Urgent Action Fund-Africa Executive Director, Kenya

Vahida Nainar

Current Board Member Urgent Action Fund-Africa, India

Indai Lourdes Sajor

Former Urgent Action Fund Board Member, Philippines

Paola Salwan Daher

Former Board Member

Margaret Schink

Urgent Action Fund Co-founder, United States of America

Patricia Sellers

Former Board Chair

Julie Shaw

Urgent Action Fund Co-founder and former Urgent Action Fund Executive Director, United States of America

Rita Thapa

Former Urgent Action Fund Board Member, Nepal

Rachel Wareham

Former Urgent Action Fund Board Member, Afghanistan

team member photo

Chinyere Ezie

Pronouns

Role

Chinyere Ezie is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where she advocates for racial justice, gender justice, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) rights, and challenges governmental abuses of power. Chinyere previously worked at the Southern Poverty Law Center where she brought cases defending the rights of LGBTQI+ Southerners. She also served as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where she litigated employment discrimination cases and secured a $5.1 million jury verdict on behalf of workers subjected to unlawful treatment. Chinyere is a William J. Fulbright Scholar, a White House Fellows Program Regional Panelist, and a cum laude graduate of Yale University. She also received a Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School, where she was an Alexander Hamilton Scholar and served as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Gender and Law. Chinyere serves on the Board of Directors of the Transgender Law Center and the feminist grant-making organization the Urgent Action Fund. She was also a Founding Board Member of the National Trans Bar Association.In 2018, she was named one of the nation’s Best LGBTQI+ Lawyers Under 40.