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.
Aaron Eske (Co-Chair)
Executive Communications Lead, Stanford University
Aaron Eske is Executive Communications Lead at Stanford University. Previously, Aaron served as Vice President at M+R where he supervised 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 Communications Director at the Gates Foundation and supported Global Action for Children, was also 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. Aaron joined the board in November 2016, and now serves as Co-chair.
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.
Laura Levine
Attorney
Laura Levine formerly practiced law at Dickstein Shapiro LLP in Washington D.C. where she had a diverse litigation 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 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, Laura was a law clerk to the Honorable John M. Steadman of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. More recently, Laura has been a teacher, both as an Adjunct Professor of English at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD and at the Washington English Center, which provides English language instruction and other services to immigrants. She also serves on the Board of the Washington English Center. Laura graduated from Stanford Law School and received an M.A. in English Literature from Columbia University and a B.A. from Brown University. She is an enthusiastic supporter of EarthRights’ mission and rejoined the Board in 2018.
Sarah Jaffe
Senior Legal and Policy Associate, Inclusive Development International (IDI)
Sarah Jaffe 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.
Dan Gerard
Retired Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
Dan Gerard is a committed leader with a wide-range of experience in the legal, economic, and finance fields. He has a personal passion for environmental preservation and sustainability, including the research and policy implementation that supports these endeavors. As a retired partner from the global law firm Sidley Austin, Dan has over 35 years of legal leadership experience in addition to the energy and ability to truly focus on environmental efforts in the non-profit sector. Dan received a B.A. in economics from Harvard University in 1982 and graduated with a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1986. Dan joined the Board of Directors in 2023, and is a dedicated member to the long-term value of EarthRights.
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.
Rachel Gore-Freed
Vice President and Chief Program Officer, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Rachel Gore Freed (she/her) is a human rights lawyer committed lawyer and educator working to advance global human rights and committed to global solidarity and movements for social justice. In addition to serving on EarthRights board of directors, Rachel serves as the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s Vice President of Programs.
Rachel’s career has been spent working with frontline communities against corporate abuse, government inaction, and global systemic injustice. From supporting youth peacekeepers in Northern India, to litigating against Exxon for violations of community rights in the United States, Rachel has worked with activists and advocates communities all over the world.
Rachel is also co-chair on the International Human Rights Funders Network and adjunct professor of law at Northeastern Law school’s Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy. In her local community, she serves as an advisor to her children’s Carlisle’s public school on diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and belonging.
Rachel attended the George Washington University Elliot School of International Affairs and Vanderbilt University, with an undergraduate degree in International Development and a law degree, respectively.
