Board of Directors

Anuradha Mittal

Anuradha Mittal is the founder and Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, an independent policy think tank that brings fresh ideas and bold action to the most pressing social, economic, and environmental issues of our time. An internationally renowned expert on development, human rights, and agriculture issues, Anuradha has authored and edited numerous books, reports, and articles in leading publications; given hundreds of keynote addresses; and been interviewed by dozens of media sources. Anuradha also serves as Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, providing leadership on social mission, brand integrity, and the company’s impact in 35 countries.

Conniel Malek

Conniel Malek is the Executive Director of True Costs Initiative (TCI), which seeks to increase corporate accountability and strengthen legal systems in the Global South by driving collaboration among communities, funders, and creative leaders in an effort to tip the balance so corporations are held accountable for and internalize the true environmental and human costs of their actions. She is a proud daughter of the Caribbean and particularly committed to advocating for the rights of those in often overlooked parts of the world and to grooming the next generation of human rights lawyers and advocates. Conniel is also a Board Member of EDGE Funders Alliance and serves on advisory boards of groups that work to ensure human and environmental rights accountability of economic actors. Prior to TCI, Conniel practiced corporate law at a multinational corporation. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and Cornell University.

Durwood Zaelke

Durwood Zaelke is the founder and President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD), which works to promote just and sustainable societies and to protect the environment by advancing the understanding, development, and implementation of effective, and accountable systems of governance for sustainable development. Prior to IGSD, Durwood co-founded and was President of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL); served as the Director of the Secretariat for the International Network for Environmental Compliance & Enforcement; and was a partner at an international law firm. He has taught at various law schools and is the author of the leading textbook on international environmental law.

Lewis Gordon

Lewis Gordon is the founder and former Executive Director of EDLC. Prior to starting EDLC in 2003, Lewis successfully defended environmentalists and environmental organizations from intimidation lawsuits, and represented them in environmental litigation as well. From 1989-94, Lewis served on the plaintiffs’ steering committee that managed the massive litigation arising from the grounding of the Exxon Valdez. Lewis has been invited to every continent to speak on human rights and corporate accountability issues before legal groups, NGOs, and foundations. See also staff biography.

Nick Hesterberg

Nick Hesterberg is the Executive Director of EDLC. Nick served as staff attorney for EDLC in 2009-2010 before entering private practice at international law firm Perkins Coie LLP, where he focused on challenging illegal price fixing conspiracies and monopolization schemes, in addition to maintaining an active pro bono practice. Nick returned to EDLC as its Executive Director in January 2020. Nick is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law and Lewis & Clark College. See also staff biography.

Advisory Board

José Roberto (Beto) Borges

Beto Borges was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. He is the director of the Communities and Markets Program for Forest Trends, and previously worked as a program officer with the Goldman Environmental Foundation. Beto was the director of the Brazil Program at Rainforest Action Network for nine years, promoting forest policies and indigenous land demarcation in the Amazon region. He has consulted for philanthropic foundations and environmental organizations including the Damien Foundation, Global Greengrants Fund, Conservation International and the Centro de Pesquisa Indígena.

Joshua Mailman

Joshua Mailman is internationally recognized as one of the leading social venture entrepreneurs and philanthropists in America. He is the founder of the Threshold Foundation, and a co-founder of the Network for Social Change U.K. Joshua has played an instrumental role in the founding of numerous organizations focused on business and social responsibility, including Social Venture Network, Business for Social Responsibility, and Social Venture Network Europe. He is a co-founder of Grameen Telecom in Bangladesh, the only phone company in the world one-third owned by a bank that represents the interests of the poor.

Kenneth L. Adams

Kenneth Adams is the founder of Adams Holcomb LLP in Washington, D.C. He was formerly a senior litigation partner at the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro LLP, where for more than thirty years, he concentrated on litigating and resolving the most complex, multifaceted disputes the firm was called upon to handle. Kenneth served for nearly twenty years on the Executive Committee appointed by state and federal judges in Alaska to coordinate the litigation against Exxon Corporation on behalf of more than 40,000 plaintiffs who were injured in the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Stuart Kirsch

Stuart Kirsch is an anthropologist who has worked extensively on indigenous rights in the Pacific, especially in relation to the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea. He earned a doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Reverse Anthropology (Stanford 2006) and Mining Capitalism (California 2014). Dr. Kirsch has consulted widely on environmental issues and land rights for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Bank, the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, and numerous NGOs and law firms.

Theodoros Chronopoulos

Theodoros Chronopoulos is currently a Senior Programme Officer for Africa at EMpower – the Emerging Markets Foundation while maintaining an independent consultancy practice advising NGOs and philanthropic foundations on corporate accountability; environmental justice; public participation; and social and economic rights. From 2006-2012, he was Programme Director for Social Justice at the Sigrid Rausing Trust.

Tom Sargent

Tom Sargent participates actively as an advisor to the non-profit sector and as an investor in social enterprises through his investment company, Highland Associates. He is Treasurer of the Kalliopeia Foundation; President of the New Field Foundation and its Seeds, Soil and Culture Fund, which supports agro-ecology and traditional farming practices in complementary relationship with current science; and Trustee of Tamalpais Trust, which supports the strengthening of Indigenous People’s led initiatives and institutions that promote and serve traditional cultures, values, knowledge, rights, and lifeways according to the needs set forth by Indigenous Peoples themselves. Tom is an active board member of the Global Whole Being Fund, which supports innovative grassroots refugee organizations that utilize a holistic approach to improving the lives of those who are on the move.