Speaker Bios

Jorge Barón, J.D.

Jorge Barón has been the Executive Director the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) since April 2008, after serving as a staff attorney with the organization since 2006. NWIRP is the only nonprofit organization providing comprehensive immigration legal services to low-income individuals and families in Washington State. He is originally from Bogota, Colombia and immigrated to the United States in 1986. He graduated from Duke University in 1995 and spent five years working the film and television industry in Los Angeles California before pursuing a legal career. Mr. Barón received his law degree from Yale Law School in 2004. After graduation, he served as a law clerk for Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Seattle. He then served as an Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellow at New Haven Legal Assistance Association in New Haven, Connecticut before moving back to the Pacific Northwest where he began his position at NWIRP. In 2008, Mr. Barón was appointed to serve on Washington’s New Americans Policy council by Governor Chris Gregoire.

Sutapa Basu, Ph.D.

Sutapa Basu is the Executive Director of the University of Washington Women’s Center and co-chair of its Task Force against Human Trafficking. Under Dr. Basu’s leadership, the UW Women’s Center has grown into the largest university-based women’s center in the country, where women and men work in partnership to build a culture of gender equity. At the UW Women’s Center, she ensures that through an array of educational, professional, and personal support programs, women and girls have access to the resources and information needed to make the best decisions for their future. Dr. Basu and the work of the Women’s Center is grounded in her dedication to empower women to speak out, take leadership roles, and demand equal treatment for women and children. Dr. Basu’s areas of academic specialization are women in developing economies and international development. She is passionate about women’s human rights and works extensively with women’s groups both locally and in India to promote girls education, gender equality, food security, sustainable development, and social justice. While abroad, Dr. Basu works on the ground, often times in red light districts to understand in-depth the daily experiences and brutality women and children face. Dr. Basu is a recognized national leader and advocate for young immigrant women, particularly those who have been victims of human trafficking abuse. Through her work at the UW Women’s Center, she helped create the first statewide anti-trafficking legislation and new protections for mail-order brides. Dr. Basu serves on many boards and committees statewide, and has received several local and national awards for her human rights work.

Emma Catague

Emma Catague is one of the founding mothers of the API Safety Center and former board co-chair. She is now serves as Community Organizing Program Manager and Advocate against Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking at Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Chaya. Ms. Catague implements educational programs in Asian and Pacific Islander communities on domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking prevention/intervention. She also conducts outreach in underserved communities to organize against domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking with an emphasis on culturally and linguistically appropriate education methods. Ms. Catague, a domestic violence survivor, is a dedicated advocate for ending violence against women and children. She has 30 years of experience in community and labor organizing, advocating for human rights, immigration issues, bilingual education, youth development, employment rights, and working for social change. Ms. Catague is member of several advisory boards and community organizations including Community Voices, a standing committee of Office of Crime Victims Advocacy, and the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Program. In addition, she has received several awards and recognitions for her work, including being recently honored by City of Seattle Council for her dedicated community work in ending human trafficking and violence against women and children.

Katherine Chon

Katherine Chon is the Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons to Acting Assistant Secretary George Sheldon at the Administration for Children and Families. Prior to joining the Department of Health and Human Services, she co-founded and led Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization combating modern slavery in the United States and Asia where she worked directly with victims of trafficking, established comprehensive service programs, and steered a partnership with law enforcement to create a community-wide victim response system. Katherine received her Sc.B. in Psychology from Brown University, M.P.A. from Harvard Kennedy School, and completed the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Sara R. Curran, Ph.D.

Sara Curran is a sociologist and demographer whose research focuses on migration, family demography, population and environment dynamics, rural development, immigration to the U.S., and gender equality. She teaches in all of the preceding fields as well as in research methods such as research design, qualitative methods, and mixed methods. Her research has appeared in the journals Demography (where she is a Deputy Editor), Journal of Marriage and the Family, Population & Development Review, Social Forces, Asia Pacific Migration Journal, International Migration Review, and Human Ecology. Dr. Curran is an active member of the Population Association for America, the American Sociological Association, and the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. She has served as the president of the International Migration Section for the American Sociological Association, served on special panels for the National Institute of Health (NIH), and is currently serving as an officer for the Population Section of the American Sociological Association. Dr. Curran previously directed undergraduate training programs in Sociology at Princeton University and currently chairs the International Studies Program at the University of Washington. She administers the graduate training program for the UW’s Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology (CSDE) while also serving as the Center’s Associate Director. In 2006, Dr. Curran led a taskforce that produced a comprehensive report on human trafficking in Washington State.

Lynne Dodson, Ph.D.

Lynne Dodson was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, in December 2010 and was sworn into office on Jan. 5, 2011. Lynne is the first woman to be elected as an executive officer in the history of the Council, which was formed in 1957 with the merger of the Washington Federation of Labor and the Washington Congress of Industrial Organizations Council. Prior to her election, Lynne was a professor at Seattle Central Community College, President of AFT Local 1789, First Vice President of AFT Washington, and an Executive Board Member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council. She has a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of Washington; an M.S. in Community/Clinical Psychology from Cal State Long Beach, and is a graduate of Inchelium High School in Inchelium, WA. She has two grown children, Joey and Kia Sanger, and is married to Richard Burton, a political organizer for the Washington State Nurses Association.

Bev Emery

Bev Emery, MA. Has 30 years in the crime victim advocacy/services field. When the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy (OCVA) was established through legislative action in 1990, I was selected as the Director and served in that capacity until 2012. Over time, OCVA has grown from 4 to 16 employees; now administering approximately ten programs related to crime victim services. Ms. Emery recently moved to a crime victim policy specialist position. Prior to OCVA, Ms. Emery was the Executive Director of the WA Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs for over seven years.

Tim Galante

Timothy Galante is the Director of Microsoft’s Justice and Public Safety Services and a subject matter expert in the field of technology and integrated justice. Mr. Galante currently serves as an industry representative on the U.S. Department of Justice Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global) Outreach Working Group and the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) Communications and Outreach Committee. Mr. Galante also represents Microsoft on industry committees within the IJIS Institute. His expertise lies in his ability to help government agencies with successfully defining the vision and scope of business initiatives and driving the alignment of governance, funding and technology to achieve organizational goals. Mr. Galante has previously held executive leadership positions with AIC Government Solutions, Sagestone Consulting, VIA NET.WORKS, and MCI. He also served our nation as an Information Technology and Communications Officer in the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Galante holds a degree in Government and Mathematics from Cornell University, a Master’s Degree in Information Technology from George Washington University, and a Masters in Business Administration from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Mike Gempler

Mike Gempler is the Executive Director of the Washington Growers League, an organization providing assistance on legal, housing, and safety requirements unique to the agricultural industry. Mr. Gempler previously served as President of the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE), based in Washington, DC. He also serves as Treasurer of the Washington State Farmworker Housing Trust, is a member of the Stewardship Council of the Food Alliance, and is Treasurer of the Mt. Adams Health Foundation.

Jayson De Guzman

Member of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) Survivor Advisory Caucus and National Survival Network.

Donna Hart

Donna Hart is the Seattle District Officer for the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DoL) Wage and Hour Division. In this capacity, she coordinates all federal enforcement, outreach, and compliance assistance activities For Washington, Alaska, and northern Idaho. She governs five federal offices in Anchorage, Spokane, Seattle, the Tri-Cities, and Tacoma. Ms. Hart has worked for the department for more than 30 years in all five regions of the U.S. and in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan) where she served as a senior investigator focused on the garment industry. Ms. Hart served as chair of the U.S. DoL’s Regional Executive Committee for Seattle federal agencies and has been extensively involved in the Washington Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking (WashACT). In this capacity, she has developed relationships to advance the network fighting human trafficking and has worked with prosecutors in developing restitution for victims. She has developed training for her investigators to discover victims that may be found in workplaces they investigate. Ms. Hart has received many Special Achievement Awards, was selected for the President’s Management Development Program, holds numerous Secretary’s Exceptional Achievement Award for her work, and recently received the Secretary’s Distinguished Career Service Award.

Larry Jensen

Larry Jensen is the grandson of immigrants, 3rd generation farmer. Has diversified farming operations in 3 counties (Skagit, Snohomish and King Counties), consisting of 1100 acres of potatoes, 550 acres of broccoli, 150 acres of berries, and approximately 200 acres of rotational forage crops including organic barley and grass for animal feed. Most of these products are for domestic consumption. He is the 2nd largest grower packer in Skagit County and his companies employ in excess of 250 employees at peak season.
Larry is a past Washington State Farm Bureau Board of Directors member and currently serves as a Board Member of the Skagit County Farm Bureau.

Honorable Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Ph.D.

Jeanne Kohl-Welles is a Washington State Senator (D-Seattle) serving the 36th Legislative district since 1994. Sen. Kohl-Welles currently serves on the Senate Labor, Commerce, & Consumer Protection Committee (Chair), and the Ways & Means, Judiciary, and Rules Committees. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Education, an M.A. in Sociology from UCLA, and a B.A., M.A. in Education from California State University, Northridge. She has been an adjunct faculty member in Women’s Studies, Sociology, and Education at UW and has served as an expert witness in lawsuits on Title IX, sexual harassment and misconduct in schools, and marriage broker cases. Sen. Kohl-Welles serves as Assistant Dean/Coordinator of Women’s Programs at UC Irvine and taught sociology and women’s studies at California State University, Long Beach & Fullerton. She was also an Educational Equity Specialist for the U.S. Department of Education. Sen. Kohl-Welles is an international speaker on trafficking, including the 2007 Vital Voices Global Partnership Women’s Leadership Summit in Kiev, Ukraine. She also recently participated in a program for women leaders from the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines on human trafficking. Her 2002 legislation regulation international match-making organizations (mail-order bride protections), SB6412, was the first enacted in the U.S. Her bill enacted this year, SB 6251, prohibiting minors from being sexually exploited through online ads for escort services such as on Backpage.com, is the first of its kind in the country. Ten of her trafficking bills have become laws. In 2010, Sen. Kohl Welles received Seattle Against Slavery’s Lincoln Freedom Award for her legislative efforts in combatting human trafficking.

Vanessa Lanza

Vanessa Lanza is the Director of Partnerships at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST). In this role, she manages partnerships with community-based organizations, agencies, and individuals working to coordinate and improve outreach, public awareness, and human trafficking identification efforts. She also manages the organization’s international partnerships with NGOs in Mexico, aiming to build the capacity of local nonprofits and service providers through training and technical assistance, as well as building and strengthening coalitions. Ms. Lanza also coordinates the CAST Survivor Advisory Caucus, a leadership-development program for survivors of human trafficking. CAST provides survivors with advocacy, media training, and support with the goal of helping them to become effective change agents in the anti-trafficking movement. In February 2011, she worked with the CAST Survivor Advisory Caucus to launch a National Survivor Network bringing together survivors across the country to advocate for a stronger survivor voice and mutual support. Prior to joining CAST, Ms. Lanza worked with Oxfam America and the World Health Organization Office at the United Nations.

Jasmine Marwaha, J.D.

Jasmine Marwaha is a community organizer for UNITE HERE Local 8, a union representing workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing and distribution, textile, laundry, and airport industries. In this capacity, she connects the struggle for economic justice for members to the larger cause of social and economic justice for all. Previously, Ms. Marwaha worked at Ensaaf, an Indian organization dedicated to promote human rights, justice, and accountability.

Ima Matul

Ima Matul is currently leading the survivor leadership program and coordinating the National Survivor Network at Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST) employee. She is a survivor of human trafficking, having been victimized as a nanny. After contacting a nanny next door, she arranged her escape and took her to CAST. Since 2005, Ms. Matul has been actively speaking at local and national conferences and trainings and meeting with state and federal legislators, officials, academics and celebrities to advocate for increased protections for survivors. In 2010, Ms. Matul received the CAST Seeds of Renewal award for her leadership, a recognition given to her by fellow survivors. While announcing a major U.S. government initiative to combat modern-day slavery in the United States and abroad, President Barack Obama recognized her at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Mike McGinn, J.D.

Mayor Michael McGinn was elected the 52nd Mayor of Seattle in November of 2009. He has been active in politics, law, and environmental advocacy since graduating college. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Williams College in Massachusetts, and then worked for Oregon Democratic Congressman Jim Weaver as a legislative aide. Mayor McGinn attended the University of Washington Law School and served as President of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, where he led campaigns to provide better housing and health benefits for students. After law school, he joined the Seattle law firm, Stokes Lawrence, where he later became partner. Mayor McGinn eventually left the law firm to found Great City – a Seattle nonprofit that brought together neighbors, environmentalists and business leaders advocating for smart and responsible urbanism as the solution to many local, economic, and environmental challenges.

Mary Miller

Mary Miller works as a Child Labor Specialist for the Department of Labor and Industries. In this capacity, she works extensively on child labor regulations, policies and strategies to prevent occupational injuries to young workers. She received a Master’s degree in Nursing from the University of Washington’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program where she specialized in Occupational & Environmental Health. She worked for 5 years at the University of Washington’s Occupational Medicine Program and was involved in clinical and research activities. She has worked at the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) since 1991 in wide variety activities including outreach and education, health and safety policy development, and numerous research activities. During 2001, she worked at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, assisting on a research project to evaluate seafood allergies among seafood processing workers. From 2010-2011 she was the young worker specialist at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Neha Misra, J.D

Neha Misra is the Senior Specialist for Migration and Human Trafficking at the Solidarity Center, AFL-CIO. Previously, Neha was the Deputy Country Director and Program Manager for the Solidarity Center’s Counter Trafficking in Persons Project in Indonesia. She worked in Indonesia for over five years, starting with the Solidarity Center as the Director of its Democracy Project. Before her assignment in Indonesia, she worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina on post-war elections and democracy, and in the United States as a Senior Attorney-Advisor with the U.S. Department of Justice. While at DOJ, she also served as the President of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3525. Neha is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Global Workers Justice Alliance. She has a Juris Doctor degree from the Washington College of Law, American University, where she focused her studies on international human rights law, and a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business Economics and Public Policy from Indiana University.

Misa Nguyen

Misa Nguyen currently serves as the Project Manager of Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition’s sub-contracted projects as well as Coalition Manager and Program Manager of the “Human Trafficking and Health Professionals: Look Beneath the Surface and H.E.A.R. Your Patient” (HEAR) healthcare training program. She received her Bachelor’s of Arts in Liberal Arts from the University of Texas at Austin with concentrations in Government and Asian Studies. During her time at the University of Texas, Ms. Nguyen was exposed to the social injustice of human trafficking and participated in faith-based initiatives to spread awareness of this growing crime. Since joining HRRC in 2010, her primary area of expertise is facilitating the HEAR program as well as managing HRRC’s four subcontracted outreach projects and coalition. She holds an enthusiasm and passion to educate and empower others in the anti-human trafficking movement.

Mark Niles, J.D.

Dean Mark Niles is Dean and Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. He teaches and specializes in civil procedure, administrative law, constitutional law, government liability, and law and literature. After graduating from Stanford Law School, Dean Niles served as a clerk for the Honorable Francis Murnaghan, Jr. of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, as an associate at the DC firm of Hogan and Hartson, and as a staff attorney in the civil appellate division of the US Department of Justice. He has also served as the Reporter for the Maryland Civil Pattern Jury Instructions Committee of the Maryland State Bar Association. He previously served as associate dean for academic affairs and professor at American University, Washington College of Law. Dean Niles has published numerous articles and essays on subjects including the Ninth Amendment, federal tort liability, airline security regulation, the impact of dramatic public events on the evolution of regulatory administration, the social and legal consequences of pre-crime incarceration, and the depiction of law and justice in American pop culture.

Sean O’Donnell, J.D.

Sean O’Donnell is currently King County Superior Court Judge-elect and former Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in the King County Prosecutor’s Office. He has worked on the Most Dangerous Offender’s Project which handles homicides occurring within King County. He also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington. Mr. O’Donnell was among a select group of prosecutors assigned to the Green River Task Force, responsible for the prosecution of serial murderer Gary L. Ridgeway. He also prosecuted the first case promoting commercial sexual abuse as a minor in Washington, the first human trafficking case, and the first case in which gang penalty enhancements were used in association with forced prostitution offenses. Mr. O’Donnell has also provided training for military lawyers, federal agents, police investigators, and prosecutors at the local, state, national, and international level for crimes of sexual violence against women. He is an adjunct faculty member at Seattle University School of Law, where he co-teaches a course on forensics. He also serves on the Chair of Washington State Bar Association’s Legislative Committee and is a member of the Green River Community College Criminal justice Advisory Board. His other volunteer work includes being on the Advisory Board for the Children’s Response Center and a member of the University of Washington Women’s Center Task Force on Human Trafficking. Mr. O’Donnell graduated cum laude from Seattle University School of Law in 2001 and Georgetown in 1994, cum laude, with a double major in English and Government.

Carole Petersen, J.D.

Carole J. Petersen is a Professor of Law in the William S. Richardson School of Law and serves as the Director of the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace, University of Hawai`i at Manoa. She teaches Gender and Law and International Protection of Human Rights. From 1991 to 2006, she taught in the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong and served, from 2001-04, as the Director of the University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Comparative and Public Law. Her publications include: Human Rights In Asia: A Comparative Legal Study Of Twelve Asian Jurisdictions, France And the USA (with R. Peerenboom and A. Chen, Routledge: 2006); “Forced Labour and Debt Bondage in Hong Kong: A Study of Indonesian and Filipina Migrant Domestic Workers” (with P. Lee, 2006); “Filipino Nightclub Hostesses in Hong Kong: An Analysis of Vulnerability to Trafficking and Human Rights Violations,” in Hewison and Young, “Transnational Migration and Work in Asia” (with R. Emerton, 2006); “Trafficking of Mainland Chinese Women Into Hong Kong’s Sex Industry: Problems of Identification and Response,” 2 Asia-Pacific Journal On Human Rights And The Law 35-84 (with R. Emerton and K.J. Laidler, 2007); “Bridging the Gap? The Role of Regional and National Human Rights Institutions in the Asia Pacific,” 13(1) Asian- Pacific Law & Policy Journal 174-209 (2011); and “Sex Offender Registration and the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Legal and Policy Implications of Registering Juvenile Sex Offenders,” 3(1) William & Mary Policy Review 1- 35 (with S.M. Chandler, 2011). Professor Petersen holds a BA from the University of Chicago, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a Postgraduate Diploma in the Law of the People’s Republic of China from the University of Hong Kong.

Nicole Phillips, J.D.

Nicole Phillips is a staff attorney at the Institute of Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), an organization dedicated to helping the peo¬ple of Haiti in their non-violent strug¬gle for the con¬sol¬i¬da¬tion of con¬sti¬tu¬tional democ¬racy, jus¬tice, and human rights. Preceding this role, she served as gen¬eral coun¬sel to various unions and employee ben¬e¬fit trust funds across the coun¬try, arbi¬trated col¬lec¬tive bar¬gain¬ing dis¬putes, and man¬aged a case¬load in fed¬eral and state courts involv¬ing labor, employ¬ment, health insur¬ance, and envi¬ron¬men¬tal reg¬u¬la¬tions at Wein¬berg, Roger & Rosen¬feld in the San Fran¬cisco Bay Area. Ms. Phillips has served since 2000 as a Mem¬ber of the Board of Direc¬tors of Human Rights Advo¬cates, a California NGO with con¬sul¬ta¬tive sta¬tus to the United Nations and has appeared before the UN Human Rights Com¬mit¬tee, Com¬mit¬tee on the Elim¬i¬na¬tion of all Forms of Dis¬crim¬i¬na¬tion and Com¬mis¬sion on the Sta¬tus of Women on var¬i¬ous human rights issues. She first worked with IJDH in 2006 while direct¬ing the Uni¬ver¬sity of San Fran¬cisco School of Law, Cen¬ter for Law and Global Jus¬tice, Haiti and Domini¬can Repub¬lic human rights pro¬grams, which she con¬tin¬ues to do. Ms. Phillips earned her B.A. from the Uni¬ver¬sity of Cal¬i¬for¬nia, San Diego in Polit¬i¬cal Sci¬ence with a con¬cen¬tra¬tion in Inter¬na¬tional Rela¬tions, and her JD from the Uni¬ver¬sity of San Fran¬cisco, School of Law.

Suzanne Poppema, M.D.

Suzanne Poppema is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and the Family Practice Residency at the University of Washington. She has been involved in reproductive health care and human rights activism since her first days of her private practice north of Seattle. While now retired from clinical practice, Dr. Poppema continues to teach and present at medical meetings nationally and internationally. She is currently on the University of Washington Women’s Center Advisory Board and the Task Force on Human Trafficking. She is the immediate past Chair of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health and a past President of the National Abortion Federation. Dr. Poppema is the author of a memoir, “Why I Am an Abortion Doctor.”

Dana Raigrodski, S.J.D

Dana Raigrodski is an Assistant Director and Part Time Lecturer at the University of Washington School of Law. She is a member of the University of Washington Women’s Center Anti-Trafficking Task Force and chairs the task force committee on continuing legal education, and assembled the program “Human Trafficking: Forced Labor and Corporate Responsibility.” Dr. Raigrodski holds an LL.B magna cum laude, Tel Aviv University and an LL.M with distinction and SJD from Tulane University. She is a member of the New York and the Israel Bar. She previously practiced law as a military prosecutor for the Israeli Defense Forces Military Advocate General Staff Command in Tel Aviv. Professor Raigrodski teaches legal research and writing and comparative legal studies; her scholarship and research interests examine criminal procedure and jurisprudence, human trafficking and globalization, and law and development.

Todd Rignel

Todd Rignel is a Special Agent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) assigned to investigate human smuggling and trafficking in Washington State, focusing primarily on the United States/Canadian border. He works in partnership with the Washington Action Committee on Trafficking (WashACT), one of approximately 40 federally-funded human trafficking taskforces, as well as acts as a HSI liaison to the Border Patrol’s Blaine Sector Intelligence Unit. Mr. Rignel has instructed HSI Special Agents at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, as well as foreign law enforcement officers at the International Law Enforcement Academies in Botswana, El Salvador and Thailand on human smuggling and trafficking investigative techniques. Prior to entering on duty as a HSI Special Agent, he served as a US Customs and Border Protection Officer at the Blaine, Washington Ports of Entry. He has a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication from the University of Portland.

Susan Ross, J.D.

Susan Ross is currently a Professor of Law and Director of the Law Center’s International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown University. In this role, she works with students to challenge laws that keep women socially and economically oppressed. Together, they have taken on cases of trafficking of women and girls, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, and sexual harassment. Professor Ross has also taught as an adjunct professor at the law schools of Columbia University, Rutgers, New York University, and also as a visiting professor at George Washington University. Before joining the Georgetown Law Center, she served as Special Litigation Counsel to the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Clinical Director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, and was an attorney with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Throughout her career, Professor Ross has worked hard to end champion women’s rights, including working to enact policies prohibiting sex and pregnancy discrimination at the EEOC. She received her J.D. from New York University.

Kanthi Salgadu

Kanthi Salgadu is a Certified Nurse Assistant, working to get her RN. She is also an active member of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking’s (CAST) Survivor Advisory Caucus, a one-of-a-kind leadership development program that provides survivors a platform to gain advocacy and leadership skills. To date, she has helped raise awareness of trafficking through art projects, the CAST video and media interviews, and panel presentations. She has also testified to Congress on increasing protections for victims of trafficking. Ms. Salgadu was born and raised in Sri Lanka. She became a victim of human trafficking at 18 when she was forced by her employer to travel to Los Angeles and work as a nanny and housekeeper. She was later rescued by Immigration authorities and brought to CAST, where she received social and legal services, along with shelter. In 2012 she participated in a congressional hearing on the U.S. Guest Worker Visa Program, advocating for reforms that would keep immigrant workers safer from exploitation. She also served on the Skirball Center’s advisory committee for the creation of the exhibit “Women Hold Up Half the Sky” based on the book by Nickolas Kristoff and Sheryl Wu Dunn, which features audio testimonies of survivors.

Lila Shahani

Lila Ramos Shahani is Assistant Secretary and Head of Communications of the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cabinet Cluster, which covers 26 government agencies dealing with poverty and development. She has worked for the National Anti-Poverty Commission, UNDP, UNICEF, Oxford University Press, the Philippine Senate, the University of the Philippines and the Cultural Center of the Philippines. She did her BA in Comparative Literature at Brown University, and her MA in Political Science and International Relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (joint degree with Harvard University). She is currently a doctoral candidate in English Language and Literature at Oxford University.

Suchi Sharma, J.D.

Suchi Sharma is Counsel for Policy and Regulatory Development at the Department of Labor and Industries’ Employment Standards Program. The Program administers and enforces laws relating to conditions of labor, wage and hour, child labor, farm labor contractor, and various protected leave from work. Ms. Sharma’s work at the Department is wide-ranging. She develops regulations and administrative policies, reviews complex cases, guides litigation strategy, and works on operational and legislative matters. Before her current position, Ms. Sharma worked as an Assistant Attorney General, advising and litigating on behalf of the Department of Labor and Industries’ Worker Compensation, Employment Standards and Apprenticeship sections. She represented the Department before the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, the Washington State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, and superior courts and administrative tribunals. Ms. Sharma graduated cum laude from California Western School of Law in 1998. Before coming to the United States to attend law school, she attended Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, as a research student in Comparative Sociology and received B.A. and M.A. degrees in Japanese from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India

Arthur Stamoulis

Arthur Stamoulis is the Executive Director of Citizens Trade Campaign, a national coalition advancing economic justice, human rights, healthy communities, and a sound environment through trade policy reform. Stamoulis advocates for policies that prioritize quality job creation, that create markets by raising living standards and that enforce consistent standards for labor and the environment across borders.

Velma Veloria

Velma Veloria, born in the Philippines, is the first Filipina American to be elected to the Washington State Legislature, serving from 1992 until 2004. Among her many accomplishments in office include the passage of HB1175, which made the State of Washington the first state in the nation to criminalize human trafficking. Linking her concerns of human trafficking to international trade agreements, she authored legislation that created a Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on International Trade Policy in the State Legislature. As a former labor organizer, Ms. Veloria has demonstrated a track record of successfully lobbying for and educating the broader community on important working family issues and in motivating and mentoring a multicultural workforce. In 2009, she launched the Political Empowerment Initiative (PEI) and solicited the help of a friend, Alice Coil, to develop and facilitate political empowerment training sessions. In 2010, she joined the rank of faculty advisers recruiting women to run for office with The 2012 Project housed at Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics. In 2011, Ms. Veloria was recognized by the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) with the Women of Courage Award, which is presented to women from diverse backgrounds that have demonstrated courage by taking a stand to further civil rights and equality and who exemplify women’s leadership. Currently, she serves as co-chair of the University of Washington Women’s Center Human Trafficking Task Force.

Julie Wade, J.D.

Julie Wade has practiced in the Starbucks Law & Corporate Affairs department for the last 12+ years as a commercial attorney focusing on commercial transactions and prepaid cards. She has also served as a legal advisor with regard to the development of ethical sourcing programs, including Starbucks coffee sourcing program known as “C.A.F.E. Practices” (Coffee and Farmer Equity), its cocoa sourcing program known as “Cocoa Practices”, and its manufactured goods and services sourcing program referred to as the Supplier Social Responsibility (“SSR”) program. She has also advised members of the store development team responsible for implementing Starbucks LEED building program. Before Starbucks, Ms. Wade served for as general counsel at the Seattle Housing Authority. She received her J.D. at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law and B.A. in Latin American Development from Harvard University.

Rogers Weed

Rogers Weed was appointed by Governor Chris Gregoire as Director of the Department of Commerce in March 2009. As director, he is charged with fulfilling the Governor’s clear mission to grow and improve jobs in Washington State. Mr. Weed earned a degree in Computer Science from Duke University and an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He started his career as a management consultant focused on strategy and planning for companies in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing and high tech industries. He joined Microsoft in 1990, managing teams in the Windows, Mobile Devices, On-line Content and Consumer Software Divisions and advanced to Vice President over his 15 years with the company. Mr. Weed has also been a board member and volunteer for several Seattle-based non-profit organizations.

Dongsheng Zang, S.J.D.

Dongsheng Zang joined the University of Washington School of Law’s faculty full-time in 2006, after serving as a visiting professor in 2005-06. His academic interests include international trade law and comparative study of Chinese law, with a focus on the role of law and state in response to social crises in China’s social transformation. He holds an S.J.D. and LL.M. from Harvard Law School, in addition to his LL.M. from Renmin University (Beijing) and LL.B. from Beijing College of Economics. His doctoral dissertation, One-way Transparency: The Establishment of the Rule-based International Trade Order and the Predicament of Its Jurisprudence, was awarded the 2004 Yong K. Kim ’95 prize. He was a research fellow at the East Asia Legal Studies at Harvard Law School during the 2004-05 academic year. His most recent publication was China’s “Attitude” Toward Human Rights: Reading Hungdah Chiu in the Era of the Iraq War.

Assistant Chief Dick Reed

Assistant Chief Dick Reed is the Commander of the Field Support Bureau. He began his career as a police officer in 1985. He worked vehicle, foot and bicycle patrol assignments during the first five years of his career in the East Precinct. He served in the audit and procedures unit and as a burglary theft Detective before being promoted to Sergeant in 1994. As a Sergeant, he was assigned as assistant to the Investigations Bureau commander. Later he served as a Bicycle Patrol Sergeant in the West Precinct. Dick served in Internal Investigations first as a Sergeant and then continuing after his promotion to Lieutenant in 1997. In his nine years as a Lieutenant, he worked in the North, Southwest and West Precincts in various roles. He served in planning, logistics and operational roles in a number of large scale security events. Dick served in the Human Resources section where he administered illness and injury rules and managed the background and recruitment unit. He also served for an extended period of time as the interim human resources director with the added responsibility of employment services, payroll and risk management. Promoted to the rank of Captain in 2006, he served as Director of the police 9-1-1 center where he led a staff of more than one hundred employees who answer and dispatch calls for police service in the City. Assistant Chief Reed earned his Bachelor of Arts from Whitman College in 1983 and a Masters in Public Administration from Seattle University in 1991. He is also a graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police at Boston University.