Our Directors
Eric N. Richardson, Geneva, Switzerland
Eric is founding President of INHR and leads our Geneva office’s engagement on health, human rights, migration and disarmament. As a diplomat and lawyer for the State Department, he served in and focused on China, North Korea, Libya, Tunisia, New Zealand, Israel, and the UN Human Rights Council. As an international attorney, he mediates between governments and hard-to-reach actors, teaches law at Michigan and UC Berkeley law schools; and represents trade associations, tech companies and NGOs. Eric leads INHR’s Student Legal Advisors program and published his negotiations handbook, Getting More Back, last year. He speaks Chinese, French & English.
Hans J. Hogrefe, Washington, DC
Hans has worked on international human rights and humanitarian affairs in the U.S. Congress and civil society for more than 30 years. As Executive Director of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Hans organized hundreds of Congressional hearings concerning human rights in every corner of the globe. A strong advocate for the under-represented, Hans has a particular interest in refugees and the women, peace and security agenda. Outside the Congress, Hans' advocacy has included work for the U.S. Department of State, Refugees International, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He has dozens of media appearances and publications to his name and is fluent in English and German.
Olga Bogdan de Millo Terrazzani, Brussels, Belgium
Olga is the Director of our new office in Brussels. Her 16 years of experience working on international issues includes stretches at the World Meteorological Organization, the Moldovan foreign service and in various non-governmental organizations. During her Master's at the Geneva Graduate Institute, Olga co-authored a paper titled, Gendered Impacts of Weather and Climate: Evidence from Asia, Pacific and Africa, (2019), and looks forward to utilizing this research at INHR. Before joining us, Olga launched a national and then international model UN. She is leading our work on a similar project to bridge youth empowerment and climate change mitigation.
T. Kumar, Washington & New York
Kumar was Amnesty International's USA Advocacy Director, based in Washington, for more than 20 years until he joined the INHR team as a Senior Human Rights Adviser. A former political prisoner in his native Sri Lanka, Kumar has analyzed and advocated for strong mechanisms to address human rights and humanitarian situations across the globe. His expertise ranges from Afghanistan to Myanmar and he has advocated in Washington, New York and Geneva for mistreated populations, particularly in Asia. Kumar represents INHR on the United States' Atrocity Prevention Task Force.
Our Experts
Jane Galvao, Geneva
Jane is a health policy professional with over 20 years of experience working in both governmental and non-governmental sectors, at national and international levels. Jane leads our projects on health and human rights from the Geneva office. She has managed grant portfolios in excess of $750 million. Examples of Jane's expertise include a PhD in public health from Brazil, research on the role of civil society organisations in the response to the HIV epidemic and various roles with the World Health Organisation, UNITAID, the World Bank, International Women's Health Coalition and presently as a consultant with the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA). See here Jane's letter to the Lancet on COVID-19.
Barry O'Sullivan, Ireland
Barry is an award-winning academic working in artificial intelligence. He works as our Senior Technology Advisor, engaging in our workshops on AI and diplomacy. He is founding director of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics at UCC and the SFI Centre for Research Training in AI. Barry served as Vice Chair of the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on AI and is a Fellow and a past President of the European AI Association. He is also a Fellow and a member of the Executive Council of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
John Sciamanna, New York
John specializes in children’s policy, economic and social rights, labor, health, and well-being for women and youth. John has more than 30 years’ experience advancing these issues on behalf of non-profit social welfare groups and coalitions, as well as in the United States Congress and state legislatures. Monitoring, advocacy, legislative and regulatory policy, and public affairs are among his specialties. John has drafted hundreds of statements for non-profit clients, including Congressional testimony, legislative agendas, and articles on issues of social welfare. Based in New York, John speaks English and Italian.
Dorina Xhixho, Geneva
Our lead Gender Advisor, Dorina is a former Albanian diplomat with significant experience in the Human Rights Council, World Health Organization and other Geneva-based UN institutions. Dorina has worked at the International Telecommunications Union as a UN staff member, staffed a member of the World Health Assembly, and has worked with the International Labor Organization, among other projects. A dual Swiss-Albanian national, she speaks French, Italian, Albanian and English.
Our Advisors
Mia Gray, London, UK
Mia works on INHR’s communications, research and development. She joined our team as a recent Human Sciences graduate from Oxford University, where her dissertation investigated the intersection between malaria, climate change and poverty in Ghana. Some of her experience with other NGOs includes reporting on carbon offsetting, analysing health supply chains, and research into the microbiome. Before joining INHR, Mia lived in Thailand for three months to help organise Global Green and Peace Summits at the UN Conference Center in Bangkok. Mia is now excited to be supporting a range of our programs, particularly in the areas of health and climate.
Chris Martin, Geneva
Chris is a legal expert (Juris Doctor) with a strong background in immigration law and a Master of Advanced Studies in Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law from Geneva's Graduate Institute. Following her previous role of 10 years as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Chris now supports our Student Legal Advisor programme and the development of our climate and refugee work. Most recently, Chris developed the budget for our Artificial Intelligence and New Technologies project.