Board of Directors

Amy Rao

Co-Chair; Executive Vice President, Schmidt Family Foundation

Neil Rimer

Co-Chair; Co-Founder & General Partner, Index Ventures

Akwasi Aidoo

Vice Chair; Senior Fellow, Humanity United

Kimberly Marteau Emerson (*on leave of absence)

Vice Chair; Principal, KME Consulting

Ambassador Robin Sanders

Vice Chair; CEO-FEEEDS & FE3DS, LLC

Bruce Simpson

Vice Chair; Partner Emeritus, Partner AgeTech Capital

Joseph Skrzynski AO

Vice Chair; Co-Founder, CPE Capital

Bruce Rabb

Secretary; Legal Adviser to Nonprofit Organizations

Lishan Aklog

Chairman & CEO, PAVmed Inc.

Ghislaine Brenninkmeijer

George Coelho

Founding Partner, Astanor Ventures

Roberto Dañino

Regional Advisor, Goldman Sachs

Loubna Freih

Human Rights Activist & Performance Coach

Leslie Gilbert-Lurie

Writer, Lawyer, Human Rights Advocate

Paul Gray

Managing Director, Richard Gray Gallery

Caitlin Heising

Vice Chair, Heising-Simons Foundation

Morten Hummelmose

Founder & CEO, Frececo

David Lakhdhir

Partner; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Louisa Lee-Reizes

Luxury Brand Consultant

Gina Maya

Human Rights Activist

Alicia Miñana

Lawyer, Law Offices of Alicia Miñana

Simone Otus Coxe

Gloria Principe

Human Rights Supporter, Non-Profit Board Member

Donna Slaight, C.M.

Human Rights Activist

Isabelle de Wismes

Non-Executive Director

Masa Yanagisawa

Head of Prime Services Japan, Goldman Sachs

Andrew Zolli

Vice President Global Impact Initiatives, Planet

Former Board Chairs

Robert Kissane

Former Board Chair, 2016-2019; Chairman, CCS

Hassan Elmasry

Former Board Chair, 2013-2019; Partner & Lead Portfolio Manager, Independent Franchise Partners, LLP

Joel Motley

Former Board Chair, 2013-2016; Managing Director, Public Capital Advisors, LLC

James F. Hoge Jr. (In Memoriam 1935-2023)

Former Board Chair, 2010-2013

Jane Olson

Former Board Chair, 2004-2010; Chair, Landmine Survivors Network 1998-2010; Board Member, Pacific Council on International Policy

Jonathan F. Fanton

Former Board Chair, 1998-2003; Former President, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Franklin D. Roosevelt Visiting Fellow, Hunter College, CUNY

Robert L. Bernstein (In Memoriam 1923—2019)

Founding Chair, 1978-1998; Former Chairman & President, 1966-1990, Random House

In Memoriam

The In Memoriam page is where Human Rights Watch remembers and honors our closest supporters who have passed.

Board Members Emeriti

Lisa Anderson

Former President, American University in Cairo

David Brown

Principal, Penobscot Management, LLC.

William D. Carmichael

Human Rights Activist; Retired, Ford Foundation

Alice H. Henkin

Director, Emerita Justice and Society Program, The Aspen Institute

Betsy Karel

Vice Chair; Photographer; Chair, Trellis Fund

Stephen L. Kass

Partner & Co-Director, Environmental Practice Group Carter, Ledyard & Milburn; Adjunct Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School

Marina Pinto Kaufman

Human Rights Activist

Wendy Keys

Filmmaker, Former Executive Producer of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center

Bruce J. Klatsky

Former Board Chair & Chief Executive Officer, Phillips-Van Heusen

Joanne Leedom-Ackerman

Author; Vice President, International PEN

Joshua Mailman

Joshua Mailman Foundation

Susan Manilow

Human Rights Activist

Oki Matsumoto

Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Monex Group, Inc.

Samuel K. Murumba

Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School

Kathleen Peratis

Senior Partner, Outten and Golden

Sigrid Rausing

Sigrid Rausing Trust

Victoria Riskin

Human Rights Activist; Writer-Producer; Former President of the Writers Guild of America

Shelley F. Rubin

Co-Founder, The Rubin Museum of Art

Kevin P. Ryan

Chairman and Founder, MongoDB, Zola, Workframe and Nomad Health

Orville Schell

Director, Center on US-China Relations; Asia Society; Former Dean of Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley

Gary Sick

Senior Research Scholar & Adjunct Professor of Middle East Politics, Columbia University

Siri Stolt-Nielsen

Activist, Artist

John J. Studzinski

Vice Chairman, PIMCO

Darian W. Swig

Human Rights Advocate; Founder & President, Article 3 Advisors

Amy Towers

Founder, Nduna Foundation

Catherine Zennström

Chair & Co-Founder, Zennström Philanthropies