IGLHRC: Staff Directory

Hossein Alizadeh (Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator)
Hossein Alizadeh is the IGLHRC's Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator. From 2006 to 2009, Hossein worked as IGLHRC's Communications' Coordinator, while monitoring LGBT rights violations in Iran and Iraq. He previously worked as the Fellowship of Reconciliation's Coordinator for Iran and Iraq. Hossein is bilingual in Persian (Farsi) and English, and has an advanced comprehension of Standard Arabic. He has an M.A. in International Relations from the National University, Teheran, Iran and an M.A in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame.
212-430-6016
halizadeh@iglhrc.org

Bradley Chapman (Africa Office Administrator)
Bradley Chapman, IGLHRC’s Africa Office Administrator, is a born and bred Capetonian and says he "loves the city and its people." He got his first job in the provincial government of the Western Cape in the Health and Social Department shortly after completing high school at Spes Bona Senior Secondary School. He subsequently gained an MBA Certificate, and training in financial systems and management, computer programming in basic, standard chart of accounts and supply chain management. He joined IGLHRC in June 2008, after having spent almost seventeen years in office management with the Department of the Premier: Western Cape. At home he enjoys spending time with his wife Kim, and son Bradwin, composing and arranging music, directing choirs and conducting orchestras, and collecting classical music.
(27) 21-469-3700
bchapman@iglhrc.org

Sam Cook (Communications and Research Director)
Sam Cook joined IGLHRC as Communications and Research Director in February 2010. A lawyer from South Africa, Sam previously directed the PeaceWomen Project at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – a project focused on UN monitoring, policy advocacy, information sharing and coalition building around issues of women and armed conflict. She brings to IGLHRC experience in on-line advocacy, website development and collaborative advocacy connecting local and global organizations. Sam’s background includes research and policy advocacy within NGO and academic contexts with a focus on violence against women and other social justice issues, including working with Rape Crisis, the UCT Law, Race and Gender Unit and the Women’s Legal Centre in Cape Town. In South Africa Sam worked at the law faculty of the University of Cape Town and prior to that at a large Cape Town-based law firm. She has published articles in South African and international law journals and has been a contributing author to several books and NGO publications.
212-430-6023
scook@iglhrc.org

Cristina (Ging) Cristobal (Project Coordinator for Asia and Pacific Islands)
Ging Cristobal brings 12 years of LGBT activism in the Philippines and Asia to her position as Project Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific Islands at IGLHRC. She co-founded Lesbian Advocates Philippines (LeAP), and has lobbied for laws to protect LGBT rights, researched and documented LGBT discrimination cases, and facilitated various local and regional groups and networks on LGBT sexual health and rights. She is currently an active member of Asia Pacific Rainbow, a regional LGBT organization and Ang Ladlad, a national organization for LGBT people in the Philippines. She is committed to addressing the intersections of violence and poverty in LBGT communities.
gcristobal@iglhrc.org

Fernando D'Elio (Program Associate, Latin America and the Caribbean)
Fernando D'Elio, IGLHRC's Program Associate for Latin America and the Caribbean, has been actively working on human rights for sexual minorities since 1999, when he began volunteering with Nexo A.C. He has been a member of the board of directors at Nexo A.C. since 2005, and currently serves as advisor to many Argentinean-based organizations working on issues of importance to women, HIV-AIDS, and sexual minorities rights, such as AMMAR, RedTraSex and FUSAVI. Fernando has also published several articles in NX, a gay and HIV-AIDS related magazine. Fernando was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and graduated from Buenos Aires University as a public accountant.
00-54-11-4465-7527
fdelio@iglhrc.org
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Marcelo Ferreyra (Program Coordinator, Latin America and the Caribbean)
Marcelo Ferreyra brings 20 years of activism to his job as Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean at IGLHRC. He is a founding member of Biblioteca Gay Lésbica Travesti Transexual Bisexual and Gays y Lesbianas Por Los Derechos Civiles (1991 - 2000), an NGO devoted to protecting and advancing the human rights of sexual minorities. His work at that organization resulted in the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected category in the Buenos Aires City Constitution of 1996. Marcelo has also participated as InterPride Male Vice-President from 2000 to 2002. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Marcelo has a B. A. in Architecture from the University of Morón and a Master in Projects Design and Management, from Buenos Aires University and from the Politecnic School of Milan, Italy.
00-54-11-4665-7527
mferreyra@iglhrc.org

Michael Hartwyk (Operations Manager)
Michael Hartwyk, IGLHRC's Executive Assistant, dates his LGBT activism back to his time at the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in Sociology with a concentration in Structures of Opportunity and Inequality. While at PENN, he was a student leader in the LGBT and theatre communities on campus. Since his graduation, he has worked in higher education, K-12 education, software marketing, and market research.
212-430-6019
mhartwyk@iglhrc.org

Cary Alan Johnson (Executive Director)
Cary Alan Johnson, IGLHRC's Executive Director, is an author and activist with more than twenty years of experience in the LGBT movement and in African social and economic development. He has worked in management positions for Amnesty International USA, Africare (Rwanda and Zimbabwe), UNHRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), and Planned Parenthood (Southern Africa). Cary holds a Masters Degree in International Affairs and a certificate in African Studies from Columbia University and has written numerous articles on gender and sexuality in Africa.
212-430-6051
cjohnson@iglhrc.org

Rebecca Libed (Deputy Director of Development)
Rebecca Libed brings 12 years of experience to her position as IGLHRC’s Deputy Director of Development. Prior to coming to IGLHRC, Rebecca served as the Homeownership Initiative Project Manager for Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation in Brooklyn. She has also held positions at the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the NGLTF Policy Institute. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies from Hamilton College and a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management from New School University.

212-430-6020
rlibed@iglhrc.org

Michael Linares (Exec. Assistant to Cary Alan Johnson)
Michael studied History of Science and Medicine at Yale University. There he led various LGBT organizations and founded Yale Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which has garnered recognition for Yale as a top school for drug policy activism. Raised bilingual in Los Angeles, Michael has since studied five languages and traveled to Barcelona and Copenhagen to research safe injection facilities. Before IGLHRC, he worked as a designer and digital strategist for a children's book publisher in New York.
212-430-6033
mlinares@iglhrc.org

Monica Mbaru (Africa Program Coordinator)
Monica Mbaru, IGLHRC’s Africa Program Coordinator, holds an LLB from the University of Nairobi, and a Masters of Law (LLM) in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Before joining IGLHRC she worked as Programme Officer for the African Human Rights and Access to Justice (AHRAJ) Programme at the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists. She has published and undertaken protective litigation on behalf of women, people with disabilities, and various other minority and vulnerable groups. In addition, she has conducted human rights trainings and capacity building sessions for human rights activists.
(+27) 21-469-3702
mmbaru@iglhrc.org

Victor Mukasa (Program Associate, the Horn, East, and Central Africa)
Victor Juliet Mukasa, IGLHRC's Program Associate for the Horn, East and Central Africa, is a prominent transgender lesbian activist from Uganda with substantial experience in LGBT advocacy work. Aside from being the co-founder and the president emeritus of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Victor is a founding member of several Ugandan rights groups, including East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, EHAHRDN (2005), Freedom and Roam Uganda, FARUG (2002), and the Pan African group African Solidarity (2006). Victor has also served as a board member of many African and international LGBT groups, including Gender Dynamix (South Africa), Behind the Mask (South Africa), Coalition of African Lesbians (Pan African), and the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA).
(+27) 21-469-3701
vmukasa@iglhrc.org

Sara Perle (Ric Weiland Research and Policy Associate)
Sara Perle, IGLHRC's Ric Weiland Research and Policy Associate, is a former IGLHRC legal intern. A passionate feminist and LGBT activist, Sara studied women's studies at Vassar College and law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she focused on international law and social justice issues. At Cardozo, Sara co-founded Cardozo Law Students for Reproductive Justice and was a staff editor and symposia editor of the Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender. Prior to joining IGLHRC, Sara also worked on issues of gender, sexuality, and international law as a legal intern for the Center for Reproductive Rights and for the Global Justice Center. Sara is originally from Toronto, Canada.

212-430-6015
sperle@iglhrc.org

Grace Poore (Regional Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific Islands)
Malaysian activist, Grace Poore, has been working to end domestic violence and child sexual abuse in the U.S. for over 20 years, and was recently recognized for her anti-violence work by the Sunshine Lady Peace Foundation. Grace has written, directed and produced documentaries that have been screened in 18 countries, and won the 2000 Rosebud Award and 2001 Creating A Voice Award. She is a graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Communications.
gpoore@iglhrc.org

Rosa Posa (Project Consultant, LAC Institute Project)
Lesbian feminist Rosa Posa has run IGLHRC's Latin American Human Rights Advocacy Institute since 2005. Prior to joining IGLHRC, she worked for six years at the Center of Information on Women Rights in Cahors (France), and was a gender counselor for the UNDP in Paraguay for four years. Rosa is a founding member of Aireana, a Lesbian Rights Group in Asunción. Originally from Spain, Rosa has lived in Paraguay since 1997. She has a Bachelor of Education Sciences and a post-graduate degree in gender and development, and a degree in public politics and gender.
(011) 54-11-4961-3531
lacinstitute@iglhrc.org

Robert Smith III (Development Associate)
Robert has been working toward justice for LGBT people since his time at Brown University where he concentrated in Gender & Sexuality Studies and Africana Studies. While at Brown, Robert was an active leader in queer and people of color communities. He served as a counselor to incoming students of color, facilitated a series of anti-oppression workshops and co-founded The Agenda, Brown's only journal of queer politics and culture. As a visiting student at the University of Cape Town, he researched the political attitudes of gay and lesbian South African youth. A proud Brooklyn resident, Robert has continued his social justice work at the Black Gay and Lesbian Archive, the Audre Lorde Project and the Ali Forney Center.
212-430-6057
rsmith@iglhrc.org

Jessica Stern (Director of Programs)
Jessica Stern has led LGBT rights work at Human Rights Watch, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, and Amnesty International. She is a board member of Queers for Economic Justice and an advisory committee member of the New York Women's Foundation.
212-430-6014
jstern@iglhrc.org

Chivuli Ukwimi (Health & Human Rights Program Officer)
Zambian activist Chivuli Ukwimi was hired as IGLHRC Program Officer for Southern Africa, with a thematic focus on Health and Human Rights. Over his career, he has been active in various human rights and HIV portfolios. He was study coordinator of Zambia’s first study of men who have sex with men (MSM) with PSI Zambia. He was manager of the first Male Circumcision / Voluntary Testing and Counseling (MC/VCT) site in the world and manager of all national outreach programs under the Zambian Male Circumcision Partnership. Chivuli has been instrumental in building the Zambian LGBTI movement, where he now serves as vice-chair of the Board of Directors of Friends of Rainka, and in working on LGBT rights across the continent, including serving on the Executive Committee of African Men for Sexual and Health Rights (AMSHeR), an emerging network of African MSM. A graduate of the University of Zambia with a degree in Biological Sciences, he additionally holds a diploma in LGBT human rights and a certificate in psychosocial and HIV counseling.
(27) 21-469-3700
cukwimi@iglhrc.org