AMNESTYUSA - Key Persons

Alexandra Durbak - Chairman

Job Titles:

Chairman of the Board
Director, Ecosystem Strategy

Alexandra is a long-time member of Amnesty International, having first gotten involved with AIUSA in high school. She has held global roles in international business, innovation, financial services, development, and partnerships for over 15 years. Currently, Alexandra works at Eisai as Director, Ecosystem Strategy, focusing on Alzheimer's dementia lifestyle innovations. Previously, Alexandra was a Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum, where she also served as the Lead for the Insurance & Asset Management community. Earlier, Alexandra spent over a decade with Prudential Financial in their International Insurance division, in varied roles with strategy, marketing, sales training, communications, IT, and business development. Alexandra began her career working with a foundation, in politics, and with venture capital. She received her MBA from Universidad Torcuato di Tella and her BA in Political Science, Cum Laude, from Bryn Mawr College. Alexandra's human rights focus includes: a strong commitment to Freedom of speech and expression (with a long history of family activism, including the imprisonment and exile of close relatives for such activism); Women's rights and gender-based violence (including having directed and produced a related short film, screened at festivals in NJ, Italy, and Ecuador); and Democracy (including having served as an International Election Observer in Ukraine in 2014). In addition to human rights activism, Alexandra is involved with various Ukrainian-American organizations and has a strong appreciation for different cultures and diversity. She has travelled to 65+ countries and has lived in Argentina and Mexico.

Bethany Criss

Job Titles:

Chief Movement Building and Member Engagement Officer
Chief Movement Building and Member Engagement Officer - ( She, Her, Hers )

Bethany Criss joins AIUSA as Chief Movement Building and Member Engagement Officer. She brings seventeen years of leadership experience in strategy and movements and a deep passion for justice and humanity. She joins us from Leading Educators where she served as Chief External Relations Officer, leading Advocacy, Board Engagement, Communications, and Development. She has also served as Director of Development with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Managing Director of Development with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and as National Director of Membership with the National Office of the NAACP. She is a proud alumnus of Northwestern University and serves on both the Board of Trustees of The Barrie School and the Board of Directors of EducateUs. When not working, she can be found just outside DC, kitchen adjacent and nose in a book while something delicious bakes in the oven.

Bruno Pereira

Job Titles:

Brazilian Indigenous Expert

Callie Moore

Job Titles:

Research Software Engineer at the Hospital for Sick Children

Callie Moore (she/her) is a research software engineer at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, where she researches the capacity of generative large language models to protect patient privacy with the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine team. Callie has been an activist and member leader with AIUSA since 2014, starting as a member and coordinator for her high school student group. Since 2017, she has served as a rapporteur and chair for the Membership Resolutions Process in AIUSA, leading the organization's grassroots governance processes and restructuring them to enable remote and hybrid participation. As a member of the National Youth Collective, she co-authored proposals to make AIUSA's democratic processes more accessible and inclusive and co-authored the 2022-2025 AIUSA Youth Strategy. As a consultant for the AIUSA Governance Committee, she is restructuring and making recommendations for our decision-making processes to make them more accessible, transparent, and accountable. She is AIUSA's 2024 Youth Delegate to the Americas Regional Forum and Global Assembly. Callie graduated with High Honors from the University of Toronto in 2022, where she received her Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science with a concentration in Engineering Physics and with a minor in Political Science. At the University of Toronto, she was the recipient of the Centennial Senior Project Award for her thesis on political representation in the Canadian Parliament using advanced natural language processing techniques.

Christopher T. Foley - Treasurer

Job Titles:

Treasurer

Christopher T. Foley, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is a senior attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center in its Helena, Montana office. Chris works on both international indigenous rights, supporting efforts to build and strengthen human rights standards relating to indigenous peoples within the United Nations and the Organization of American States, and on the Center's domestic litigation and law reform projects. He focuses much of his time on the Center's Safe Women, Strong Nations project which works to end violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women. Chris received his Bachelor of Arts with Honors from Swarthmore College with a major in Religion and a minor in Greek, and his J.D. from Temple University in Philadelphia. He is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania.

David Cheng-Kai Yu

Job Titles:

Member at Large

David Yu is an advocate for human dignity, justice and equality, specializing in non-profit fundraising, event planning, member mobilization, organizational governance and strategic development. His work has raised considerable resources for prominent non-profit advocacy organizations including Amnesty International USA (AIUSA); Her Justice (inMotion, Inc.); amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research; the Aperture Foundation; and Human Rights Campaign. An AIUSA supporter, member and donor for more than 25 years, David is currently Senior Development Officer - Major Gifts at the Human Rights Campaign. From 1991-2004, David was a staff member of AIUSA, working in key positions included Acting Assistant, Program to Abolish the Death Penalty; Executive Assistant to the Chief Financial Officer; Board Liaison; Coordinator, Annual General Meeting (AGM); Deputy Director, Training & Conference Planning; and Acting Director, National Field Program. In these roles David worked closely with grassroots members, volunteer leaders, board, and senior staff. He provided guidance and support for AIUSA's annual budget process, board governance and elections, AGM planning, national resolutions process, AI global assemblies, and youth membership trainings. At AIUSA, David met the late Sister Dianna Ortiz. She recruited him to serve as a multi-term board member of the organization she co-founded, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC International). He served on TASSC's Executive Committee (2005-2008) and helped develop their first strategic plan. During his second term (2016-2018), he led fundraising initiatives and the successful search for the organization's current Executive Director. Born in Malaysia, David's identity as an immigrant and proud, Asian member of the LGBTQ community fuels his motivation to advocate for equality and social justice, open opportunities for inclusion, fight back against hate, and secure resources to sustain this important work. David was the opening speaker for the 2021 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights' Speak Truth to Power "Good Trouble" program-providing international students and youth leaders with an introduction to community organizing. He recently completed a 375-hour Jivamukti Yoga teaching certification.

Deirdre Stieglitz

Job Titles:

Member of the Board

As a high school student in the 1980s I co-founded…

Dom Phillips

Job Titles:

British Journalist

Edvaldo Pereira Rocha

Job Titles:

Quilombola Leader

Ira Lefton

Job Titles:

Policy Officer
Chief Legal and Policy Officer - ( He, Him, His )

Ira Lefton is the Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Amnesty International USA. He joined the organization in 2019 after having provided legal counsel in a pro bono capacity for Amnesty International USA on an ongoing basis since 2005 while a partner with two AmLaw 200 law firms, Reed Smith LLP and Eckert Seamans LLC. In addition to his years of assisting Amnesty International USA on a range of governance, contractual, intellectual property and other issues, he provided counseling to numerous other national and regional nonprofits on a wide array of issues. With more than forty years of experience as an attorney focusing on commercial litigation, Lefton has developed expertise in addressing and resolving challenges facing organizations in all aspects of their operations. Lefton earned his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina. He resides in Philadelphia. PA with his husband, an interior designer.

Jean-Claude Toussaint

Job Titles:

Chief Finance and Administration Officer

Jean-Claude joins Amnesty International USA as Chief Finance and Administration Officer in October 2022. As a Haitian-American youth growing up in Brooklyn, NY, Jean-Claude served as the VP of the Youth Council for the United Community of Flatlands. It was during this time he realized the impact of his contributions to improving the community. This experience gave him a sense of pride in community service and has guided his career path. Jean-Claude began his community service career in 1998 with the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Over the past 20 years, Jean-Claude's progressive administrative experiences have included leading several social service organizations with strategic planning, financial management, contract development, and audit oversight. In addition, he was allowed the opportunity to drive capital planning, forecasting, and growth development for several organizations to help them realize their respective missions. His efforts ultimately helped organizations to increase their community presence, optimize their overall operating resources, and enhance their impact. He comes from the Operation Industrialization Center of South Florida, (OIC-SFL) where he served as the Vice President of Finance and Operations. Jean-Claude received his Bachelor of Science Degree from the City University of New York and his Master of Business Administration Degree from Long Island University. He currently resides in Fort Lauderdale, FL with his wife and sons.

Julie Hong

Job Titles:

Chief IDEA, People and Culture Officer
Chief IDEA, People and Culture Officer - ( She, Her, Hers )

Julie is AIUSA's Chief IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility), People and Culture Officer. Julie's (she/her) professional career has been dedicated to talent management and diversity, equity, and inclusion work in the social services, education, environmental, and human rights spaces of the nonprofit sector, and reflects her passion for embedding equity and inclusion into the culture, programs, and practices of mission-driven organizations. Prior to coming to Amnesty, she served as vice president of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice at Defenders of Wildlife, a national wildlife conservation organization. Julie earned her B.A. from the University of Washington and her M.B.A from Georgetown University. While a native Seattleite, Julie is currently based in Washington, DC.

Karen Robinson

Karen Robinson has over 35 years of experience in human rights, human rights education, community and youth development, and community organizing. Karen started her career in the field of community engagement and youth development at American University where she helped start what was then the Center for Volunteerism and Community Service. While at American University, she initiated service-learning programs, linking classroom learning with direct service projects throughout Washington, D.C. Karen then moved to Amnesty International, USA where she served as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Deputy Director and Director of the Human Rights Education program. In that capacity, she served six years as the Chair of the International Human Rights Education Coordinating Committee for Amnesty International globally. As the Director of Human Rights Education at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, she led the creation of the first Speak Truth To Power Human Rights Education packet, an educational tool using the stories of human rights defenders to teach about human rights. The STTP resources has been distributed to thousands of schools in the U.S. and internationally. Karen has conducted numerous training and professional development sessions and served as a speaker at educational conferences, within school districts and at educational meetings in the U.S. and globally. Working with local partners, she has helped start HRE programs in South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Greece and numerous schools across the U.S. Karen competed internationally in the sport of field hockey and now is an avid runner having completed multiple full and half marathons. She lives on a small farm in Bucks County, PA with her husband, daughters, dogs and a flock of feathered friends.

Marcel Kitissou

Job Titles:

Member of the Board

Marcel Kitissou is Regional Scholar Affiliate with Cornell Institute for African Development. He serves as Adjunct Professor in the Africana Studies Department at the University at Albany-SUNY, and Contributing Faculty in the PhD Program of the School of Public Policy and Administration at Walden University. He is Editor-in-chief of the International Journal of African Studies, and Editor of the Journal of African Foreign Affairs. He is Coordinator of the International Consortium for Geopolitical Studies of the Sahel (aka Sahel Consortium). Dr. Kitissou previously taught in the Cohort PhD program in Public Policy and Social Change at Union Institute & University; served as Faculty Director of the Global Humanitarian Action Program at George Mason University, Executive Director of the Africa Faith and Justice Network (Washington, DC). Dr. Kitissou earned a PhD in Political Science from Syracuse University and a doctorate in Contemporary History from the University of Bordeaux, France. His research and publications focus on international security, the politics of water, hunger and political stability, and China's presence in Africa.

Marcy Bourne

Job Titles:

Chief Development Officer
AIUSA 's Chief Development Officer
AIUSA 's Chief Development Officer, Brings 20 Years of
Chief Development Officer - ( She, Her, Hers )

Marcy Bourne, AIUSA's Chief Development Officer, brings 20 years of global non-profit fundraising experience and a deep passion for human rights protections to her role in overseeing the organization's fundraising initiatives. Marcy joined AIUSA in 2019 as the National Director of Major Gifts and Foundations where she managed all aspects of major giving, planned gifts, restricted giving and relationships with institutional funders. Under her leadership, AIUSA is now raising over $50 million annually to support the critical domestic and global efforts of Amnesty International. Prior to joining Amnesty, Marcy served as director of special contributor programs for Greenpeace USA, where she significantly grew revenue channels, both domestic and globally, through a variety of fundraising and leadership positions during her 17-year tenure. In addition to her professional role with AIUSA, Marcy volunteers with a local refugee resettlement agency and a local community food bank and regularly provides pro bono fundraising advice. She currently resides in Wake Forest, NC with her husband and two children.

Mohammed Tofail

Job Titles:

Credit

Nadia Daar

Job Titles:

Officer
Chief Strategy and Impact Officer - ( She, Her, Hers )

Nadia Daar joined AIUSA as Chief Strategy and Impact Officer in 2023 overseeing Campaigns, Programs, Research, Marketing & Communications, Government Relations, and the Silicon Valley Initiative. Prior to joining AIUSA, Nadia was on Oxfam International's senior leadership team and Head of their Washington DC Office for several years, leading Oxfam's advocacy, policy and activating their worldwide network to influence the World Bank and IMF across a range of issues, from fiscal justice to climate change, civic space and accountability. She was also a co-host on their podcast EQUALS for three years. Prior to joining Oxfam in 2015, Nadia spent seven years working with civil society across the MENA region at the Bank Information Center ("BIC") on stakeholder engagement, upholding community rights in development projects, and leading BIC's Yemen program. Through more than 20 years of social justice and human rights work including as a student and community organizer, Nadia has cultivated deep experience in driving impact through evidence-based research and policy proposals, media, and alliance building among others. Nadia grew up in Muscat, Oman, and holds an Honors BA from the University of Toronto and an MA from York University.

Nawal Benaissa

Nawal Benaissa, 36 yeards-old, is a mother of 4 who joined Hirak early on and became one of its main female leading voices. She took part to several protests with her husband and children and has been very active on social media. Her Facebook profile gained more than 80 000 followers, before authorities asked her to shut down during one of her detention in custody. She was arrested and held in custody for few hours four times between June and September 2017. This last time she was sued and on mid-February 2018, she was sentenced to 10 months suspended sentence and a fine of 500 hundred dirhams for inciting to commit an offence (by speech, cries or threats made in the places where public meetings, either through posters exposed to the public or by any means fulfilling the condition, advertising, including electronically, on paper and by audio-visual channel, if the provocation has not been followed by effect. Article 299 of the penal code). Her lawyer has appealed the sentence, the Court of Appeal has yet to rule. Benaissa responded to the court's decision on her Facebook page by expressing her continued support for the Rif protests. "I am proud to take part in the protests in the region and I denounce the imprisonment of Hirak activists. I demand their immediate release," she wrote. Few weeks ago, she moved from the northern city of Al Hoceima to another Moroccan city in order to flee harassment from authorities.