Our Team

For Bonnie Abaunza, running Hans Zimmer’s Special Projects and Philanthropy division has been one step further in a life dedicated to humanitarian work and human rights advocacy. From Zimmer’s studio, Remote Control Productions, she develops and spearheads initiatives with non-governmental organizations and charities – from the arts to human rights groups – so they may benefit from the Academy Award winner’s philanthropic endeavors.

Her initiatives at Remote Control have included raising humanitarian aid for Haiti, Pakistan, and Japan for International Medical Corps, and working with Madeline Albright and the National Democratic Institute to advocate for the Roma in Europe. In 2010, she helped launch a successful internet effort to support the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with Elizabeth Warren. She helped John Prendergast and ENOUGH Project on their work on conflict minerals in the Congo, supported the efforts of Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection, and produced public service announcements and viral videos for numerous human rights campaigns. Another key project is the development of an online interview series teaming youth with Nobel Peace Laureates and activists.

Bonnie is presently working with the United Nations agency, the International Labour Organization and assisting with outreach to the entertainment community. She helped launch their Artworks/Artist Relations initiative and is spearheading their End Slavery Now campaign.

Bonnie regularly advises NGOs on human rights and social justice campaigns, speaks at conferences, workshops and seminars and participates in fact-finding missions for these NGOs. Prior to joining Hans Zimmer’s company in 2009, Bonnie served as Vice President, Social Action and Advocacy at Participant Media for two and a half years. Before joining Participant Media, Bonnie served as Director of the Artists for Amnesty program for Amnesty International from 2001 to 2007. As liaison to the artistic community for the world’s leading human rights organization, she worked closely with internationally recognized artists and entertainment industry professionals interested in leveraging their visibility for critical human rights campaigns. As a result, Bonnie raised Amnesty International’s profile in the entertainment industry and attracted a new generation of activists through the power of mainstream media.

Recipient of the 2004 KCET Local Hero/Hispanic Heritage Award, she has also received commendations for her human rights work from the United States Congress and from the City of Los Angeles. She received the Women in Leadership Award in 2011 from the City of West Hollywood and was recently named Goodwill Ambassador to the Government of East Timor (appointed by former Timorese President and Nobel Peace Laureate, Jose Ramos-Horta). Bonnie is a member of the Foundation Board of the ACLU of Southern California. Bonnie graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with specialization in International Relations. She is currently writing a children’s book series, with her teenage daughter, which addresses human rights issues.

Sr. Pauline Acayo is a highly experienced and award-winning peacebuilder whose skills in project management and conflict resolution have consistently won her the praise of her colleagues. Sr. Pauline Acayo currently works as a peace building and partner's relations Manager for Catholic Relief Services, or CRS, Uganda program.

Sr. Pauline has worked at Catholic Relief Services for the past twelve years in consistently progressing levels of responsibility. For instance,she worked as Head of Office in CRS' Gulu office,where she oversees the day-to-day management of northern Uganda projects and leads the design and implementation of nationwide projects in the peacebuilding field. In her experience as CRS' Peacebuilding Program Officer during the northern Uganda crisis,Sr. Pauline coordinated the re-integration of child soldiers,participated in the creation of Peacebuilding manuals,provided health and psychosocial support to children orphaned during the war. Sr. Pauline is also experienced in facilitating community dialogue,conflict mediation,designing inter-ethnic reconciliation interventions,and helped design the 2009 CRS-ARLPI land conflict mitigation pilot project. She has been nominated as a board member of Chantal Foundation Organization in USA.

In 2005,Sr. Pauline was named a Woman Peacemaker of the Year by San Diego University's International Justice and Peace Department for her work in grassroots peacebuilding. In 2006,she was one of ten employees to be named a Beacon of Peace by Catholic Relief Services. Most recently,Sr. Pauline won an Outstanding Leadership Award from the International Development Committee of the Association for Conflict Resolution. A native of northern Uganda,Sr. Pauline is deeply knowledgeable about local land and development issues. Sr. Pauline's great skills,dedication to peacebuilding in northern Uganda,and knowledge of the northern Ugandan milieu make her one of the leading peacebuilding professionals in Uganda.

For over two decades, Dr. Taisier Ali has been involved in attempts to end civil wars in Sudan. In 1985, he was assigned by the Sudanese Trade Union Alliance (TUA) to coordinate peace talks with the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). From 1986 until the military coup of 1989 he was seconded from the University of Khartoum to the Sudanese Cabinet as coordinator for the Ministerial Peace Committee. Following the 1989 military coup in Sudan he was subjected to periods of detention and eventual dismissal from the University by a decree of the Sudanese “Revolution Command Council”. For several years following 1996, he headed the political department of the democratic resistance movement, Sudan Alliance Forces (SAF), which in 2004 merged with the SPLM/A. Subsequently, he helped establish an independent non-governmental institution, the Peacebuilding Centre for the Horn of Africa (PCHA), based in Asmara, Eritrea that engages in capacity building training for grassroots organization from Eastern Sudan, Darfur and Somalia.

Dr. Ali is a visiting professor at the University of Toronto, Canada and has published on the political economy of underdevelopment in Sudan and the processes of domination, resistance, conflict resolution, peacebuilding and crisis of the state in Africa.

Dr.Taisier Ali studied at the Universities of Khartoum and Toronto where he received a doctorate in the Political Economy of Underdevelopment.

Nicole Ball is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC. She is also a Senior Security & Justice Adviser at the UK Stabilisation Unit and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations (“Clingendael Institute”) in The Hague. Ball has previously held positions at the Overseas Development Council and the National Security Archive in Washington, DC, the Swedish Institute for International Affairs in Stockholm and the University of Sussex in the UK. She has conducted research and provided policy and programming advice on a broad range of issues relating to security and development, including the economics of security; democratic governance of the security sector; disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants; the international development community's role in assisting countries to recover from violent conflict and reform their security sectors. Her current work is focused on strengthening democratic security sector governance and on assessing the impact of funding mechanisms in fragile and conflict-affected states.

Other activities include taking part in a review of the International Security and Stabilization Support Strategy for Eastern DRC for the United Nations and major donors to the ISSS (2010); helping to develop the methodology for and analyze the findings of focus groups on the causes and remedies for insecurity in six cities in DRC for the UK funded Security Sector Accountability and Police Reform program (2010); and supporting the International Network on Conflict and Fragility’s program of work on improving the effectiveness of international support to security and justice reform through several studies, including a country study of security and justice work in Burundi, From Quick Wins to Long-term Profits? Developing better approaches to support security and justice engagements in fragile states: Burundi case study, with Jean Marie Gasana and Willy Nindorera, (2011-12). She is currently part of a team undertaking an evaluation of the European Union’s Africa Peace Facility.

Immaculee Birhaheka is one of the Congo's leading human rights activists. She is dedicated to protecting and promoting women's rights and leading efforts to end the massive rape of women and girls in eastern Congo. Birhaheka founded Promotion and Support of Women's Initiatives, or PAIF, and currently serves as the Executive Director. Prior to this, she was a program officer in charge of gender issues at GEAD, a local NGO working in Masisi and Walikale.

She was an Expert for Women before the Goma peace talks for the Kivus held in January 2008. Birhaheka has also consulted for CARE International and International Crisis Group on the consequences of sexual violence in Maniema province and the implementation of the UN 1325 resolution on the advancement of women in the Congo, respectively.

Birhaheka is a recipient of the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy in 2006. She received the Solidar Silver Rose Award for justice and human rights in 2002.

Immaculee Birhaheka is a graduate of the rural social development high institute in Bukavu (Institut Supérieur de Development Rural de Bukavu, ISDR) in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Marcus Bleasdale is a documentary photographer who uses his work to influence policy makers around the world. His work on human rights and conflict has been shown at the US Senate, The US House of Representatives, The United Nations and the Houses of Parliament in the UK.

Marcus' work also appears in the New Yorker, The New York Times, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Telegraph Magazine, Stern, Le Monde, TIME Magazine, Newsweek and National Geographic Magazine.

Exhibitions include "The Rape of a Nation" The Federal Building NYC (2006), The Central Library, Chicago (2006), The Holocaust Museum LA (2006), Visa Pour L’Image (2007), Nobel Peace Centre Oslo (2007), Ministry of Foreign Affairs France (2008), Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo (2009), US Senate (2009), UN (2009), The Houses of Parliament UK (2010). US House of Representatives (2011). Fotografiska, Sweden (2013). The Lincoln Centre NYC (2014)

He has published two books "One Hundred Years of Darkness" 2002 and "The Rape of a Nation" 2009.

Marcus has been awarded The UNICEF Photographer of the Year Award (2004), The OPC Olivier Rebbot Award for Best Foreign Reporting (2005), Magazine Photographer of the Year award POYi (2005), The Alexia Foundation Award for World Peace (2005), The World Press Awards (2006), The Freedom of Expression Foundation Norway (2007), Days Japan (2009), The Anthropographia Award for Photography and Human Rights (2010), The Hansel Meith Award (2010) and the Photo Book of the Year Award POYi (2010), Freedom of Expression Foundation Norway (2011). Webby Award (2011) News and Politics "Dear Obama". The Hood Medal for Services to Photography from Royal Photographic Society (2012). In 2012 Marcus film for MSF was nominated for an Emmy together with other VII photographers. In 2014 Marcus’ work for National Geographic Magazine won a World Press Photo Award and the Photography award at the Overseas Press Club of America.

Susan Braden was most recently a senior policy advisor in the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Women's Issues.

Formerly, Braden spent five years at one of the world’s largest relief organizations advancing the rights and well-being of vulnerable populations, particularly women and girls. She is currently Senior Director for Policy and Advocacy on Humanitarian Response at Save the Children. In this position, she traveled to and advocated on behalf of women in countries affected by conflict including Sri Lanka, Burma, Northern Uganda, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Nepal, Georgia, Armenia, Lebanon, Jordan and West Bank/Gaza.

Prior to joining Save the Children, Braden spent almost two decades in the United States Government at the National Security Council, Defense Department, and the CIA on the Middle East and Central Europe. In 2003, she received the Knight Cross Order of Merit from the Republic of Poland for her efforts to improve US-Polish relations and assist Poland’s entry into NATO. She also received the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Excellence and Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service.

Braden has a BA in history from Dartmouth College and an M Phil in International Relations from Oxford University.

Dr. Christopher Day is a political scientist who specializes in civil wars, insurgent violence, and African politics. Prior to entering academia Day worked for ten years as a humanitarian aid worker with Médécins Sans Frontières and other NGOs in Africa and South Asia. His research on armed groups in Africa has been funded in part by the National Science Foundation, the United States Institute of Peace, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Day earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University and holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is currently an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, his alma mater, where he also serves as faculty for its African Studies Program.

Adam Sterling is the executive director of the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy (BCLBE) at Berkeley Law. Previously he was a startup attorney at Gunderson Dettmer and the co-founder and director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force and Conflict Risk Network (CRN). Adam currently serves as a non-resident senior fellow for the Enough Project at the Center for America Progress. In 2007, Adam was one of six featured subjects in the theatrical documentary, Darfur Now. Adam’s writings and work have appeared extensively in the press; including contributions to The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and National Public Radio. He has appeared on a number of broadcast news programs, including CNN’s Situation Room and CNBC’s Street Signs.

Mia Farrow is an actress and dedicated activist. She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has worked extensively to draw attention to the fight to eradicate polio. Farrow also has been a high profile advocate for children's rights, working to raise funds and awareness for children in conflict-affected regions, predominantly in Africa. She has traveled to Darfur three times to advocate for Darfuri refugees.

Farrow was involved with the Olympic Dream for Darfur campaign. During the 2008 Olympics, Farrow broadcasted from a Sudanese refugee camp to highlight China's involvement in the region and show the poor living conditions of African refugees displaced by conflict. Farrow has set up her own website, miafarrow.org, which features a guide on how to get involved with Darfur activism, along with her photographs and blog entries from Darfur, Chad, and the Central African Republic.

In 2008, Farrow received the France Legion of Arts and Lettres award, the Refugees International McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award for "extraordinary service to refugees and displaced people", and the Tiannamen Square Award. In 2009, Farrow was the recipient of the Leon Sullivan International Service award. Farrow also testified in the trial against former Liberian President Charles Taylor in August 2010.

Melanie Cohen Greenberg is President and CEO of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, or AfP. Before joining AfP, she worked in philanthropy as the Founder of the Cypress Fund for Peace and Security, and Conflict Resolution Program Director at the Hewlett Foundation and academia, for the Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University. In her work on international conflict resolution, Ms. Greenberg has helped design and facilitate public peace processes in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and the Caucasus. She has taught advanced courses in international conflict resolution, multi-party conflict resolution and negotiation at Stanford Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, and the Elliott School of George Washington University.She was lead editor and chapter author of the volume Words over War: Mediation and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conflict (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000).

Ms. Greenberg is a frequent writer, lecturer, and trainer in areas related to international law, international security, and peacebuilding, and has served on numerous boards of conflict resolution and security organizations. She holds an AB from Harvard, and a JD from Stanford Law School. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two teenagers.

Howard F. Jeter served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs from June 1999 until July 2000. Previously, Ambassador Jeter was Director of West African Affairs from September 1997 until June 1999, and also served as the President’s Special Envoy for Liberia.

Recently, Ambassador Jeter has focused on promoting peace and reconciliation in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He has also been intimately involved in developing U.S. policy toward Nigeria, with special emphasis on supporting an enduring transition to democracy and prosperity. Prior to becoming the Special Presidential Envoy for Liberia in July 1996, he served with distinction as the U.S. Ambassador to Botswana from 1993 to 1996.

Ambassador Jeter, a career diplomat, was Deputy Chief of Mission in Namibia from September 1990 to July 1993. During that period, he also served as Charge d'Affaires, following the departure of the incumbent Ambassador in September 1992. Before going to Namibia, he was Deputy Chief of Mission and later Charge d'Affaires in Lesotho. He also held various political, economic, commercial, and consular positions in U.S. Embassies in Mozambique, Tanzania, and in the Temporary Liaison Office in Windhoek, Namibia.

In the Department of State, Ambassador Jeter served in the Bureau of Oceans, International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, where he specialized on issues dealing with the Law of the Sea. He is the recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Service Award, State Department Superior Honor Awards and Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards. Outside, he has received the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Charles Diggs Award for the Promotion of U.S.-Africa Policy and the prestigious Bennie Trailblazer Award from Morehouse College. Ambassador Jeter's languages include Portuguese, Swahili and French.

Ambassador Jeter holds a BA Degree in Political Science from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, a MA in International Relations and Comparative Politics from Columbia University, and a MA in African Area Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. Ambassador Jeter is a former Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellow, International Fellow at Columbia University, Merrill Overseas Study-Travel Scholar, Legislative Intern in the Georgia House of Representatives and a participant in Operation Crossroads Africa. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Foreign Service Association and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr. Douglas H. Johnson is a scholar specializing in the history of North East Africa, Sudan and South Sudan. He was a resource person in the 2003 Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement negotiations over the Three Areas (Abyei, Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile) and later a member of the Abyei Boundary Commission. He is a Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute and the author of Nuer Prophets (1994), The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars: Peace or Truce (revised ed. 2011), and When Boundaries become Borders: the Impact of Boundary-making in Southern Sudan's Frontier Zones (2011).

Ashley Judd is an actress and a dedicated humanitarian. A small sampling of her advocacy work includes: Giving the keynote address on the modern slave trade to the 2008 General Assembly of the United Nations, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the urgent need to prevent the spread of HIV to girls and women, speaking to the National Press Club, appearing on major news programs, and filming 3 documentaries seen by over a billion people worldwide. She has served as an expert panelist/moderator at conferences such as the Clinton Global Initiative, the Women Deliver Conference, the International AIDS conference, and the Global Business Coalition to stop HIV, TB, and Malaria, and the National Press Club.

Additionally, she actively supports a number of organizations, ranging from Women for Women International, Women Thrive Worldwide, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, Tennessee Refugee and Immigration Reform Committee. Her 2010 advocacy includes the DREAM Act, International Violence Against Women Act, the anti FGM bill, amongst others.

Ashley is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. She completed a major in French, and minors in Anthropology, Art History, Theater, and Women’s Studies. She also graduated from UK’s Honor’s Program and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government with an MPA. Amongst other achievements at Harvard, she was awarded the Dean’s Scholar Award for her work in the Harvard Law class, Gender Violence: Law and Social Justice.

Stephen Lewis is the board chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, and he is co-founder and co-director of AIDS-Free World in the United States.

Mr. Lewis is a member of the Board of Directors of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and Emeritus Board Member of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. He served as a Commissioner on the newly formed Global Commission on HIV and the Law. The Commission’s Report, Risks, Rights & Health, was launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in July 2012.

Stephen Lewis’ work with the United Nations spans more than two decades. He was the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from June 2001 until the end of 2006. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Lewis was Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF at the organization’s global headquarters in New York. From 1984 through 1988, he was Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations.

From 1970–1978, Mr. Lewis was leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, during which time he became leader of the Official Opposition.

In 2003, Mr. Lewis was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest honour for lifetime achievement. In 2007, King Letsie III, monarch of the Kingdom of Lesotho (a small mountainous country in Southern Africa) invested Mr. Lewis as Knight Commander of the Most Dignified Order of Moshoeshoe. The order is named for the founder of Lesotho; the knighthood is the country’s highest honour. In 2012, Mr. Lewis was an inaugural recipient of Canada’s Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Mr. Lewis is the author of the best-selling book Race Against Time. He holds 35 honorary degrees from Canadian universities as well as honorary degrees from Dartmouth College and Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

Richard “Rick” K. Orth, a highly successful senior executive with over 34 years of leadership and management experience, has led multidiscipline teams in business development and project management in the U.S. Federal Government, African Government and Commercial sectors. Additionally he serves as a consultant focusing on developing and winning business in Africa and providing Africa subject matter expertise. Orth's career has focused on the Intelligence and U.S. Government Africa Policy Communities. He served as the Military Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Department of State, and subsequently in the private sector with AECOM; SOC, a Day and Zimmerman company; Professional Solutions, Michael Baker International, Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions (AES) and currently Mid Atlantic Professionals DBA SSI.

Colonel Orth served 26 years as an officer in the U.S. Army. He retired from the U.S. Army as a Colonel in July 2008. He was commissioned as an Armor officer in 1982. Orth spent nine years in Armor units commanding at the platoon and company levels to include company command in combat during Operations Desert Shield/Storm and served in brigade staff positions. He was designated as a Sub-Sahara Africa Foreign Area (FAO) in 1987. He has worked on African issues for the U.S. Army serving as Central Africa Analyst DIA, (1994-1996) covering the Rwanda Genocide; the first resident Defense Attaché Rwanda (1996-1998); the first Africa Branch Chief, J-2 (Intelligence), Joints Chief of Staff (1998-2000); and as the Defense Attaché Uganda (2001-2005) where he was instrumental in formulating and executing U.S. action against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) starting in early 2002 as part of Global War on Terrorism; Defense Attaché Ethiopia and non-resident Djibouti (2005-2006); and Military Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (2006-2008).

Rick made a successful transition to the private sector in 2008, joining AECOM Government Services as Director, Strategic Plans, where he developed and executed a pipeline of $500 million-dollar business opportunities within the Department of State. He was instrumental in AECOM winning one of four contracts as part of the $1.5 billion Department of State AFRICAP Indefinite Duration/Indefinite Quantity contract awarded in 2009. Additionally, he played a key role in AECOM winning ten AFRICAP task orders worth about $100M in Fiscal Year 2010. As SOC’s Program Manager, Near East and Africa, operating from Nairobi, Kenya he led and established SOC in-country operations and recruiting efforts for Indians, Kenyans and Ugandans for $947 million Department of State Worldwide Protective Services Baghdad Embassy contract. At Professional Solutions as a Subject Matter for Central and Eastern Africa political-military affairs he revised and updated U.S. Marine Corps Regional, Culture, Language Familiarization Central and Eastern Africa modules. As Michael Baker International’s Director Business Development, Africa he led Business Development efforts in Africa, served as Corporate Africa Subject Matter Expert on Africa and represented the company at the Corporate Council on Africa. As Torres AES’s Director of Operations, he led over 6,000 employees serving as security guards at the U.S. Missions in Burundi, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia, Argentina, Curacao, Jordan, Panama, Pakistan Paraguay, Peru and Slovakia as well as the U.S. Military Base Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo. As SSI’s Overseas Program Manager, he leads contracts supporting the U.S. Missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and U.S. Air Force security missions in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Rick served two terms on the International Stability Operations Association (2009 – 2010 and 2010 – 2011). He is a lifetime and founding member of the Foreign Area Officer Association. He serves as the Deputy Chairman/Permanent Secretary for the Officers of the First Division Dinner Committee. He has published articles and lectured on security issues in Africa. He is an avid reader and military history buff. He enjoys lacrosse and running. Rick is proud of his wife of 35 years Kristin and their three sons Kevin, Matthew and Stephan.

Pierre-Richard Prosper is an American lawyer, prosecutor and former government official. He served as the second United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005.

Prosper is currently an attorney for Arent Fox, having joined the firm on January 1, 2007 after his term in public service, and member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Prosper was a Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County, California from 1989 to 1994. His last two years in this position were spent in the Hardcore Gang Division of the Bureau of Special Operations where he prosecuted gang-related murders. From 1994 to 1996, he was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. He was assigned to the Narcotics Section, Drug Enforcement Task Force, where he investigated and prosecuted major international drug cartels.

From 1996 to late 1998, Prosper served as a war crimes prosecutor for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Appointed lead trial attorney, Prosper successfully prosecuted the matter of the Prosecutor against Jean-Paul Akayesu, the first-ever case of genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In the 14-month trial, he won additional life-sentence convictions for crimes against humanity and broke new ground in international law by convincing the Tribunal to recognize rape committed in time of conflict as an act of genocide and a crime against humanity.

Prosper served as a career prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice where he was Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division in 1999. From 1999 to 2001, Prosper was detailed to the State Department where he served as the Special Counsel and Policy Adviser to the previous Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues.

Prosper was nominated by President George W. Bush on May 16, 2001 to become the second U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues. After being confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he was sworn in on July 13, 2001. He served until late 2005.

Mark Quarterman, currently a Senior Fellow for Enough, served as the Director of Research and Programs at the Enough Project. He was responsible for helping to formulate the Enough Project’s policy prescriptions to end genocide and crimes against humanity, and oversaw the production of reports and other publications based upon rigorous field-based research and analysis. Prior to joining the Enough Project, he was a senior adviser and director of the Program on Crisis, Conflict, and Cooperation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he focused on effective multilateral responses to global issues.

Quarterman has also served at the United Nations in a number of capacities for nearly 12 years. Most recently, he was chief of staff of the UN Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. At UN Headquarters, Quarterman served as special assistant (chief of staff) to the UN under secretary general for legal affairs and legal counsel; special assistant to the assistant secretary general for political affairs; and in other capacities in the UN Office of Legal Affairs and Department of Political Affairs. In the field, Quarterman served in Jerusalem and Gaza as chief of staff to the UN special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, and in East Timor and Indonesia as political adviser to the special representative for the East Timor Popular Consultation.

Before joining the United Nations, Quarterman was a staff member of the Africa Subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives; a program officer at the Ford Foundation for South Africa and Namibia; and an associate attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Earlier in his career he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone.

Quarterman holds a law degree from Harvard Law School, a master’s degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School, and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.

Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College; he has written and published extensively on greater Sudan for the past fifteen years. He has served as a researcher and consultant to numerous human rights and humanitarian organizations working in the two Sudans, and has testified formally on Sudan and South Sudan in a variety of governmental forums, including several Congressional hearings.

His publications have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, and many major American metropolitan newspapers, as well as international newspapers and journals. Longer academic essays on the Sudans have appeared in Dissent, The Nation, Human Rights Review, and African Studies Review. His weekly briefs are also published on a regular basis in a variety of Sudanese magazines, newspapers, and his own website (www.sudanreeves.org).

He is frequently asked to provide expert commentary on Sudan and South Sudan to the BBC, Radio France International, PBS, NPR, as well as to the major international news services and the foreign correspondents for a wide range of newspapers. He is author of two books on the Sudans, A Long Day’s Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide (2007) and Compromising With Evil: An archival history of Greater Sudan, 2007 – 2012 (2012).

For the last decade, Leslie Meyers worked for the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity as the Program Coordinator, overseeing daily operations of the Foundation’s programs. These included the Nobel Laureates Initiative, the annual Prize in Ethics Essay Contest for college juniors and seniors across the country and the Beit Tzipora Centers in Israel for Ethiopian-Israeli children. She organized all conferences, public relations, fundraising efforts and events for the Foundation. Ms. Meyers was also a trusted advisor and liaison to Professor Wiesel in all aspects of his public life.

Prior to working for the Foundation, Ms. Meyers was a talent manager in the movie industry. A native of Philadelphia, in 1988, after graduating from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Film Studies, she moved to Los Angeles. Starting at Addis-Wechsler Management and then moving to Propaganda Films she oversaw the careers of many prominent actors and worked with many of the most notable people in the film industry.

In 2014 President Obama appointed Ms. Meyers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

Sarah Cleto Rial is the Program Director at My Sister’s Keeper. Prior to My Sister’s Keeper, Cleto Rial was the Community Programs Case Manager for the Lynn Community Health Center of Lynn, Massachusetts, Employment Services Manager for the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Boston's Refugee and Immigration Services, and the Co-Founder and President of the African Women's Empowerment Group, a nonprofit organization helping immigrant and refugee women to achieve self-sufficiency.

A native of southern Sudan, Cleto Rial has a long history of dedication to organizations working to empower women and advocate for peace. Since her arrival in the United States, she has held leadership positions with the American Anti-Slavery Group, the Sudanese Women Alliance and the Fertit Association.

Former Governor Bill Richardson sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2008.

Richardson completed his second term as Governor of New Mexico in January 2011. He was elected Governor in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 with the support of 69 percent of voters, representing the largest margin of victory for any Governor in state history.

Prior to being elected governor, Gov.Richardson enjoyed a very successful and fulfilling career in public service; academia and the private sector-few can match his wide-ranging experience and his level of dedication to protecting the rights and improving the quality of life of people in New Mexico, the United States and around the world.

Richardson served for 15 years in northern New Mexico representing the 3rd Congressional District.Richardson served in 1997 as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and in 1998, he was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy.

While a congressman, Richardson served as a special envoy on many sensitive international missions. He successfully won the release of hostages, American servicemen and prisoners in North Korea, Iraq, Cuba and Sudan. Richardson has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Before serving as Governor, in 2001, Richardson assumed the chairmanship of Freedom House, a private, non-partisan organization that promotes democracy worldwide. He also worked as a business consultant in Santa Fe and served on several boards including the Natural Resource Defense Council and United Way International.

Since entering life as a private citizen in 2011,Gov. Richardson was named chairman of APCO Worldwide's executive advisory service Global Political Strategies (GPS) and Special Envoy for the Organization of American States (OAS), adding another platform for initiatives within peace and reconciliation in the Western hemisphere. In addition, Gov. Richardson serves as Senior Fellow for Latin America at Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and has joined several non-profit and for- profit boards, including Abengoa's International Advisory Board, the fifth largest biofuels producer in the U.S., WRI World Resources Institute, Refugees International and the National Council for Science and the Environment.

Bill Richardson has authored two books, “Between Worlds” and “Leading by Example.”

Richardson has been married to his high school sweetheart, Barbara, for 38 years. He received a BA from Tufts in 1970 and a MA from Tuft's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1971.

Professor Rosenblum is a professor at Columbia Law School and previously spent seven years with the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School. Before taking a full-time university position, Professor Rosenblum worked with the United Nations and with many of the major international human rights groups, including the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and Global Rights. Before that, he was an associate at Baker & McKenzie in Chicago.

Rosenblum is a member of the Human Rights Watch Africa Division Advisory Committee, a consultant to The Carter Center, and a board member of several small NGOs. In the course of his career he has conducted field research and worked with local human rights groups in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Much of his recent work has focused on the confluence of natural resources and human rights around the world, with special emphasis on Africa. In the past five years, he has undertaken research and advocacy with his students at Columbia in Chad, Liberia, Peru, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, and Equatorial Guinea, among other countries.

Dr. Sadoff is Managing Director of the Clooney Foundation for Justice. Prior to that, he served as the inaugural Executive Director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL) and Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, General Counsel of the Rome-based International Development Law Organization (IDLO), and the first Nepal Country Director for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI). He also has been Deputy Legal Adviser and Director of Intelligence Reform with the U.S. National Security Council (NSC), Assistant General Counsel at the CIA, Litigation Associate for Crowell & Moring LLP, and Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State. He is a Distinguished International Research Fellow with the World Engagement Institute (WEI) and a Senior Research Fellow with the Center for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL). He authored "Bringing International Fugitives to Justice: Extradition and Its Alternatives" (CUP 2016) and holds a J.D. from Georgetown University, a PhD in Public International Law and an LL.M in International Humanitarian Law from the Université de Genève in Switzerland, an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a B.A. from Dartmouth College.

David Scheffer holds an endowed professorship and serves as the Director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern Law School. where he teaches International Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law. Scheffer is the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Expert on United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials. He was selected by Foreign Policy Magazine as one of the Top Global Thinkers of 2011.

Scheffer was previously the U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues (1997-2001) and led the U.S. delegation in U.N. talks establishing the International Criminal Court. During his ambassadorship, he negotiated and coordinated U.S. support for the establishment and operation of international and hybrid criminal tribunals and U.S. responses to atrocities anywhere in the world. Scheffer also headed the Atrocities Prevention Inter-Agency Working Group. During the first term of the Clinton Administration, he served as senior adviser and counsel to the U.S. Representative to the United Nations, Dr. Madeleine Albright, and served from 1993 through 1996 on the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council. Scheffer has held visiting professorships at Northwestern Law, Georgetown University Law Center, and George Washington University Law School and taught at Duke University School of Law and Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. He has published extensively on international legal and political issues and appears regularly in the national and international media.

Scheffer is a member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars, the American Society of International Law (formerly serving on the Executive Council), the American Bar Association, and the Council on Foreign Relations, and was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Law Students Association (2004-2008). His book, All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals (Princeton University Press, 2012) received the 2012 Book of the Year Award from the American National Section of the International Association of Penal Law.

Eric Schwartz became President of Refugees International in June 2017. Eric has had a three-decade career focused on humanitarian and human rights issues. Between 2009 and 2011, he served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration. As Assistant Secretary, he was credited with strengthening the State Department’s humanitarian advocacy around the world, initiating and implementing critical enhancements to the U.S. refugee resettlement program and raising the profile of global migration issues in U.S. foreign policy. He was the senior human rights and humanitarian official at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration, managing humanitarian responses to crises in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. He also served as the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery after the 2004 Asian Tsunami; as Washington Director of Asia Watch (now the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch); and Staff Consultant to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, among other positions in the U.S. government, at the UN and in the non-profit sector. Just prior to arriving at Refugees International, Eric served a six-year term as Dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. During much of that period, he also served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and, ultimately, as the Commission’s vice chair. He holds a law degree from New York University School of Law, a Master of Public Affairs degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Ambassador Soderberg is an author, public commentator, and foreign policy expert. Most recently, she served as President of Connect U.S. Fund in Washington, D.C., a foundation initiative to promote U.S. engagement in today’s global challenges. She is also a Visiting Distinguished Scholar at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville and President and CEO of Soderberg Solutions, an international consulting firm. From 2001-2005, she served as Vice President for Multilateral Affairs of the International Crisis Group in New York, a non-profit conflict prevention organization. She served in the White House as the third-ranked official on the National Security Council (1993-1996) and as Alternate Representative to the United Nations (1997-2001), with the rank of Ambassador. Prior to joining the Administration, she served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. She has been active in national politics over the last twenty years, serving in a variety of positions on the campaigns of the Democratic nominee for President.

In 2012, President Barack Obama appointed Ambassador Soderberg as Chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board, an advisory committee established by Congress to promote pubic access to U.S. national security decisions. In 2011, Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown appointed her to the Jacksonville International Business Coalition, and as co-chair of the Mayor’s Public Safety Transition Team. In 2008, she was elected Precinct Committeewoman, Duval County Democratic Executive Committee, Jacksonville, Florida and currently serves as the chair of Florida’s National Security Network. She is on the board of the Naval War College as well.

Her second book, The Prosperity Agenda: What The World Wants From America -- and What We Need In Return, was published in July 2008.Her first book,The Superpower Myth: The Use and Misuse of American Might,was published in March 2005.She speaks and publishes regularly in leading newspapers and journals on national security policy. She is a frequent commentator on national and international television and radio. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the advisory board of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and the Stanley Foundation. She is on the board of the Jacksonville World Affairs Council.

Stephen Stedman currently serves as the Director for the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy, and Security, a body of eminent persons tasked with developing recommendations on promoting and protecting the integrity of elections and international electoral assistance. The Commission is a joint project of the Kofi Annan Foundation and International IDEA, an intergovernmental organization that works on international democracy and electoral assistance.

Stedman is also the Freeman Spogli Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law and FSI, an affiliated faculty member at CISAC, and professor of political science (by courtesy) at Stanford University.

In 2003-2004, Professor Stedman was Research Director of the United Nations High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change and was a principal drafter of the Panel’s report, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility. In 2005, he served as Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor to the Secretary- General of the United Nations, with responsibility for working with governments to adopt the Panel’s recommendations for strengthening collective security and for implementing changes within the United Nations Secretariat, including the creation of a Peacebuilding Support Office, a Counter Terrorism Task Force, and a Policy Committee to act as a cabinet to the Secretary-General. His most recent book, with Bruce Jones and Carlos Pascual, is Power and Responsibility: Creating International Order in an Era of Transnational Threats (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 2009).