Shalini Nataraj (Co-Chair)
Vice President, Ing Foundation
Shalini Nataraj is a visionary and performance-driven leader with significant experience in global grantmaking strategy and implementation, in both the non-profit and corporate sectors. She has deep expertise in women’s rights and human rights issues, environmental sustainability, health and economic development. Shalini has extensive experience in strategic planning, and proven experience in designing and implementing learning, monitoring and evaluation processes, as well as very strong public speaking and writing skills. Currently Shalini is Vice President of Programs at the Ing Foundation, she has held senior executive positions with the Global Fund for Women, Reebook Human Rights Award Program, and Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.
Laura Levine (Co-Chair)
Attorney
Laura Levine practiced litigation at Dickstein Shapiro LLP in Washington D.C. from 1989 to 2002. She had a diverse practice in both federal and state courts involving a wide range of issues, including environmental law, white collar criminal defense and commercial transactions. She has a long-standing interest in public service and has performed pro bono work for a number of public interest organizations, including the Legal Aid Society and the Legal Counsel for the Elderly. Before joining Dickstein Shapiro, Ms. Levine was a law clerk to the Honorable John M. Steadman of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. She is admitted to practice in New York and Washington D.C. Ms. Levine has also been an Adjunct Professor of English at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD. Ms. Levine graduated from Stanford Law School, where she was a note editor of the Stanford Law Review, in 1987. She received an M.A. in English Literature from Columbia University in 1984, and a B.A. from Brown University in 1981. Ms. Levine is an enthusiastic supporter of EarthRights’ mission and rejoined the Board in 2018.
Fernanda Hopenhaym (Treasurer)
Co-Executive Director of PODER
Fernanda has been Proyecto sobre Organización, Desarrollo, Educación e Investigación’s (PODER) Co-Executive Director since 2018. She joined the organization in early 2013 and has since contributed to PODER’s growth and consolidation. Under her leadership, PODER has become a member of the facilitation group of the Treaty Alliance, a founding member of the Feminists4BindingTreaty initiative, part of the Steering Committee of the Corporate Accountability Working Group at ESCR-Net, and an adviser for the Corporate Capture Project.
Prior to joining PODER, Fernanda was a consultant for several national and international organizations, and she managed the program “Where is the Money for Women’s Rights” at the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). She has been working on human rights, social and gender justice issues for two decades, focusing on corporate accountability and financial institutions in the past 10 years. She has been a presenter and facilitator in the UN Business and Human Rights Forum and the Regional Consultations on BHR in Latin America, among others. She was part of the planning committee of the People’s Forum on Business and Human Rights in the Philippines in 2018. She was elected by over 100 members of ESCR-Net to integrate its Board of Directors and was appointed as Chair in 2019. Fernanda is part of the Advisory Network of the Business and Human Rights International Award Foundation. She is a member of the faculty of the Instituto de Liderazgo Simone de Beauvoir (Mexico). Fernanda is a sociologist, specialized in Latin American studies.
Aaron Eske
Vice President, M+R
Aaron Eske is a Vice President at M+R where he supervises the media and marketing campaigns for nonprofits like Oxfam America, Greenpeace, GLAD, ASPCA, Center for the Prevention of Genocide, and the MacArthur Foundation. Prior to M+R, Aaron was the communications director at the Gates Foundation supported Global Action for Children and the press secretary for Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). During his two years as a Marshall Scholar, he circled the world researching and writing a book about the global orphan crisis, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2010.
Sarah Singh
Senior Legal and Policy Associate, Inclusive Development International (IDI)
Sarah Singh is the Senior Legal and Policy Associate at Inclusive Development International (IDI). She is a human rights lawyer with a decade of experience supporting community-led human rights and environmental struggles for justice. Sarah works with IDI’s regional teams and community partners in developing and implementing holistic advocacy strategies to defend community rights and conducts policy advocacy to strengthen human rights regulation and compliance. Previously, Sarah co-directed the Communities Program at Accountability Counsel, leading a team of attorneys to assist communities around the world to effectively use accountability mechanisms tied to international finance. Sarah is a graduate of UC Berkeley Law and was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Marsha S. Berzon on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Brown University. Sarah is a long-time supporter of EarthRights’ work and rejoined the Board in 2018.
Neil Popović
Partner, Sheppard Mullin Righter & Hampton LLP
Neil Popović is a partner in the San Francisco office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. His practice includes multijurisdictional litigation, international commercial arbitration and investment arbitration, he also practices international environmental law, counseling and representing clients in international negotiations. He serves as a Project Complaint Mechanism Expert for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. He holds a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley Law School. He holds an M.A. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Public International Law. Mr. Popović served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alicemarie H. Stotler of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles and Santa Ana, and as a judicial extern for Justice Joseph R. Grodin of the Supreme Court of California.
Graciela M. Mercedes (Meche) Lu
Scientist, Environmental Law Alliance
Meche is a Staff Scientist of the Environmental Law Alliance (ELAW). Since 1991 she provides on-site support for air, water and soil quality analysis, and expert opinion on environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and environmental health to public interest environmental lawyers and citizen groups. She is from Lima, Peru and her work has taken her to Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Eastern Europe. Meche has a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Oregon with research interests in political ecology and extractive industries (oil, gas and metal mining) in the Global South. She also has a M.A. in International Studies from the University of Oregon, with emphasis on environment and development in Latin America, a B.Sc. in Pharmacy and Biochemistry from the National University of San Marcos, Lima, and a certificate in Environmental Health Risk Analysis from Harvard University.
Amol Mehra
Director of Industry Transformation, Laudes Foundation
Amol Mehra, Esq. is the Director of Industry Transformation at the Laudes Foundation where he oversees programmes relating to transformation of the fashion and built environment sectors to address the dual crises of inequality and climate change.
Previously, Amol served as Managing Director of the Freedom Fund, a leader in the global movement to end modern slavery, and as Executive Director of the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), a leading human rights organisation harnessing the collective power of progressive organisations to push governments to create and enforce rules over corporations that promote human rights and reduce inequality.
Amol serves as a Founding Member of Funders Organized for Rights in the Global Economy (“FORGE”); on the Advisory Council for the Center for Business and Human Rights at NYU Stern; on the Human Rights Advisory Committee of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility; on the Advisory Committee of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights and as a Commissioner on the United Nations Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (“Liechtenstein Initiative”).
Amol’s work has appeared in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Forbes Corporate Social Responsibility and Leadership Section, CSRWire, the Guardian Sustainable Business Section, National Public Radio (NPR), as well as in various legal journals and periodicals.
Amol holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University and a Juris Doctor (JD) degree with a Honors in International Law from the University of San Francisco School of Law.
Specialties: Corporate Accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility, International Law, International Human Rights Law, International Trade Law, United Nations Advocacy, Inequality, Modern Slavery, Labor Rights, Disclosure and Reporting.
Solinn Lim
Founder & CEO of Saddhā
Solinn is a Cambodian social entrepreneur, a social and environmental justice advocate, an
independent mediator, a partnership broker, and a government relations strategist. She deeply
believes in mobilizing values-based collaborative leadership amongst leaders from across
commercial, public, and social sectors for transformative change. With 20+ years of leadership
experience in Cambodia, across Asia, Europe, and the United States, she has successfully
designed and effectively managed large and complex multi-countries long-term development
programs, large-scale humanitarian responses, transnational environmental conservation
programs, and local to global policy influencing. She brokered successful People-First Public
and Private Partnerships in a range of sectors including, FinTech for farmers, TVET for women
and vulnerable groups, renewable energy, agri-food production, and processing, using a range
of financial, technological, business, and human rights instruments in various countries.
Solinn has successfully mediated complex dispute resolutions between affected communities and
MNCs on a range of sectoral and transboundary issues. She co-founded a Cambodian NGO
specializing in environmental education and served as its Executive Director between 2000 to 2004. She chaired the Global Environment Facility’s inter-governmental and tri-sectoral board of
13 members overseeing the Environment and Poverty Grant Programme between 2002 to 2024.
Solinn is a member of Asia Society and the World Economic Forum. She holds a BA degree in
Sociology from Royal University of Phnom Penh and an MSc degree in Environmental Policy
from Oxford University.
