Focus: Philanthropy
Maria "Masha" Lisitsyna
Maria "Masha" Lisitsyna is a Senior Managing Legal Officer for Criminal Justice at the Open Society Justice Initiative. She focuses on criminal justice reforms as well as litigation and advocacy on improving protection from torture in Eurasia, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia. Previously, Maria was a researcher for Human Rights Watch, working on civil and political rights in Turkmenistan and the rights of migrant workers in Russia and Kazakhstan. She is the founder and former president of the Youth Human Rights Group, a prominent Kyrgyz NGO specializing in human rights monitoring and education. In 2005, she served as a member of Kyrgyzstan’s Constitutional Council, the body convened to…
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Sergey Lagodinsky
Sergey Lagodinsky is a German Member of the European Parliament in the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. He chairs the EU-Turkey Delegation and is a member of the Legal Affairs and Civil Liberties/Home Affairs committees. Until June 2019 he was the Head of European Union and North America Division of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, an independent political organization affiliated with Germany's Green Party. Prior to joining the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Sergey Lagodinsky worked as a lawyer for Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Program Director, later as Advisor, to the Board for the Berlin Office of the American Jewish Committee. His expertise lies in transatlantic…
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Ana Paula Hernández
As Program Officer for Latin America at the Fund for Global Human Rights, Ana Paula worked on a portfolio that provides strategic support and funding to over 55 human rights organizations in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. She also promoted a broader initiative across Mesoamerica to defend land and resource rights and increase corporate accountability, particularly in the extractive industries. As a leading human rights advocate in Mexico, Ana Paula supported drug policy reform aimed at more balanced approach, emphasizing prevention, treatment, and human rights rather than enforcement and criminalization. She was the deputy director of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center in the state of Guerrero, located in a mostly indigenous…
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Denis Mizne
Denis Mizne heads the private foundation established by global entrepreneur Jorge Paulo Lemann to increase the quality of public education in Brazil. He is also chairman of the board of Instituto Sou da Paz and serves on other boards in the areas of education, human rights and public safety. Before joining the Foundation, Denis was founder and Executive Director of Instituto Sou da Paz, a leading Brazilian NGOs focused on violence prevention. He has contributed to the approval of the "Disarmament Statute," one of the most modern pieces of legislation to control the use of guns. After being enacted, the law helped reduce homicides for the first time in decades…
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Lidia Kolucka-Zuk
Lidia Kolucka-Zuk serves as Vice President of Forum Energii, a European think thank supporting a fair, secure and effective energy transition towards climate neutrality.  She plays a leading role for the legal and financial affairs of Forum as well as a development strategy of programs and internal governance. She previously served as Director of PELION SA, leading in policy, regulatory strategy, public affairs, sustainable development and corporate responsibility and as Executive Director for the Warsaw-based Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe. Lidia is a lawyer by training and has worked as a strategic advisor to the Polish Prime Minister on issues of state efficiency, reforms in the judicial and legal sectors,…
More InformationEpisode 16: 2017 World Fellow Lorna Solis
Lorna Solis was born in Nicaragua, and came to the US as a refugee. She is the founder of Blue Rose Compass and Lynke. She helps refugees access university and the job market. Her work has been affected by Trump’s travel ban.
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