Team Geneva

Karen Tse – Founder and CEO

Karen founded International Bridges of Justice in 2000 to promote systemic global change in the administration of criminal justice. A former public defender, Karen first developed her interest in the cross section of criminal law and human rights as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow in 1986, after observing Southeast Asian refugees detained in a local prison without trial; thousands of prisoners of all ages being held without trial, often having been tortured into making so called confessions. In 1994, she moved to Cambodia to train the country’s first core group of public defenders and subsequently served as a United Nations Judicial Mentor. Under the auspices of the U.N., she trained judges and prosecutors, and established the first arraignment court in Cambodia.

In the initial stages, she negotiated groundbreaking measures in judicial reform with the Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian governments. Under her leadership, IBJ has expanded its programming to include Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe and India. In addition to the Defenders Resource Centers in those countries, IBJ also sponsors independent Justice Makers in 25 countries. IBJ has created a Global Defense Support Program to bring IBJ assistance to public defenders worldwide. In 2010, IBJ launched the Justice Training Center in Singapore. A graduate of UCLA Law School and Harvard Divinity School, Karen was named by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders in 2007. She has been recognized by the Skoll Foundation, Ashoka and Echoing Green as a leading social entrepreneur. Karen was the recipient of the 2008 Harvard Divinity School’s First Decade Award, and the 2008 American Bar Association’s International Human Rights Award. She also received the 2009 Gleitsman International Award at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.More on Karen

Paul Demakis – Deputy Director

Paul Demakis joined IBJ as its Deputy Director in January 2010. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Paul spent more than 20 years in Massachusetts state government first, as the General Counsel of the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction; then, as a tax counsel and hearing officer at the Appellate Tax Board, the agency charged with hearing all state and local tax appeals; and then, as a five-term member of the House of Representatives. During his ten years as a legislator, Paul played leading roles in the defeat of legislation to restore the death penalty in Massachusetts, in the enactment of a law extending the state's protections from hate crimes to gay men and lesbians, and in securing funding for legal services for low-income persons. He received awards for leadership and advocacy from Greater Boston Legal Services and the Community Legal Services and Counseling Center. From 2005 to 2007, he worked for the Venezuelan chapter of Transparency International, where he drafted model national, state, and municipal freedom-of-information laws. Three states and five municipalities in Venezuela have adopted laws based on his models. In 2009, Paul received a Master's degree in international relations, together with a Certificate in International Development with a specialization in Political and Social Change, from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Kellie Krake – Training Director

Kellie Krake directs the creation, development and implementation of IBJ's training programs. She joined IBJ in October 2010 after decades in service to indigent defendants. As a career public defense attorney, Kellie fulfilled many roles: Staff Attorney; Manager; Trainer; Director of Training and Development; and General Counsel. Kellie has been on faculty at various advocacy and management programs for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, National Legal Aid and Defender Association, University of Wisconsin Law School, the Wisconsin State Public Defender's Office and Justice Without Borders. She trained professionals in criminal justice systems and governments on negotiation skills and strategies, advocacy skills, and leadership and management skills. She authored various articles related to legal practice areas and organizational governance issues. She is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Her outreach efforts with national, state and local legal associations work to build justice system partnerships and networks. Kellie is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School and Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

Sanjeewa Liyanage – International Program Director

Sanjeewa oversees IBJ's international portfolio of programs and is working to develop new initiatives that bring IBJ methodologies to defenders worldwide. Originally from Sri Lanka, Sanjeewa assumed the role of IBJ's International Program Director in October 2006 after over 12 years of experience in project management in Asia. He began his career as the Asian Coordinator for International Young Christian Students (IYCS) in 1988, where he conducted social awareness and leadership training programs for students in 14 Asian countries. In 1995, he joined the Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC), a regional human rights NGOs based in Hong Kong, where he assisted human rights related legal training programs for different groups including civic group leaders, lawyers and judges from the Asia-Pacific region. He represented ALRC at numerous UN forums including the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Human Rights Committee in Geneva, preparatory meetings leading to the World Conference against Racism in Warsaw and Bangkok and the Committee against Torture. Sanjeewa was the East Asian focal point for the NGO Coalition for International Criminal Court (CICC). He has undergone human rights training at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in the Hague and Danish Institute (formerly Danish Centre) for Human Rights (DIHR) in Copenhagen. He obtained his Masters of Law (LLM) (Human Rights) at the University of Hong Kong in 2004.

Donna Reitano – Development Director

Donna has served the international non-profit community for 15 years through her work in NGOs, trade associations and intergovernmental organizations.  Her experience extends to general management, project management, conference organization, advocacy, and partnership building. She has lived in Europe continuously since graduating from the University of Delaware where she obtained her BA in French language and literature.  Donna served as CEO of the International Federation of Wines and Spirits for 11 years, a global trade association based in Paris, where she took the organization from a European focus to an international advocacy role.  During a sabbatical leave, Donna raised her young son at home and took her LLB and LLM in international business law at the University of London.  She is a member of the UK Institute of Fundraising.

Donna has been Development Director at IBJ since September 2011.  She had previously volunteered at IBJ as a consultant on development and strategy when she ran her own consultancy, Re-CreativeNonProfits.  As part of the management team, she is responsible for creating and overseeing an approach to strategic development, planning and fundraising.  In addition, Donna is looking to develop opportunities for partnerships and ways in which IBJ can connect its stakeholders across the globe. She will focus during her first year on expanding IBJ's funding base, heightening its profile and establishing the first-ever global World Defender Forum as a community of practice around specific issues as well as an online community.   

Brian Rohan – Special Projects Director

Brian coordinates special outreach and strategic initiatives at IBJ. Prior to relocating to Geneva in 2010, Brian lived in Cambodia for seven years, working as Land and Livelihoods Advisor for the American Bar Association. In this position he oversaw legal advocacy efforts focusing particularly on land and environmental rights and assisted Cambodian NGOs to conduct high profile legal advocacy. Complementing his work with IBJ, Brian remains active in Cambodia, working with lawyers who have launched the country's first public interest law firm. Prior to his work in Cambodia, Brian worked with the ABA's Rule of Law Initiative in Washington, D.C. first serving as Country Director for Moldova and Ukraine, and as Director of the Environmental Law Programs; later on, he worked as Associate Director of the Asia Law Initiative, in which position he oversaw the launch of ABA's environmental governance programming in China.

In addition to these positions, he has lived and worked on rule of law and environmental governance projects in East Africa and the former Soviet Union. He began his legal career at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's office in Boston, Massachusetts, after graduating from New York University School of Law in 1990. He is admitted to practice law in the U.S. and is fluent in Khmer.

James Vicente – Program Officer

James Vicente has been with IBJ in Geneva since April 2010. Prior to coming to IBJ, James worked in New York City as a prosecutor, clerk to a Criminal Court judge, and as a litigation associate at one of the City's top law firms handling white collar criminal defense. A 2002 Georgetown Law graduate, James first gained exposure to the work of indigent criminal defense in his law school's Criminal Justice Clinic. As Program Officer, James works under the International Program Director to manage IBJ's three country programs in Africa.

Sarah Croft - eLearning and Legal Training Volunteer

Sarah assists with the instructional design, delivery, and management of IBJ's international legal training programs. She obtained her Bachelors Degree from Williams College and her Masters in Technology, Innovation and Education from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Sarah has extensive experience in blended learning and curriculum development from her time at Kaplan, Inc in both the K-12 and Higher Education divisions. She is the Director of Instructional Design at UniversityNow.

Jana King Allen – Volunteer lawyer

Jana is an American-qualified lawyer with a background in corporate law. A graduate of Yale Law School, she has practiced law in the United States, Asia and Europe, working both in private practice and in-house. In addition to her law degree, she holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University where her dissertation focused on legal reform in China. Jana joined IBJ in 2011.

Candida Silver – Volunteer lawyer

Prior to joining IBJ at the start of 2011, Candida worked for a number of years as a lawyer for the UK government where she worked in the Department of the Home Office advising on wide range of human rights-related issues in the areas of police, immigration and asylum. Prior to that she worked as a media and entertainment lawyer in London. She obtained her bachelor of laws degree from the University of Sheffield and spent a year studying French public law at the University of Aix-en-Provence.

Kirstin A. McCudden –Social Media and Web Communications Volunteer

Kirstin graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri and has worked as an editor, designer and writer for publications such as The St. Petersburg Times, “TEXAS MONTHLY” custom publishing and The Kansas City Star in the United States. Since moving to Geneva in 2007 she has worked as a freelancer and returned to university for her Masters of Journalism in Strategic Communications, where she focused on effective uses of technology in the newsroom. Kirstin joined IBJ as a Social Media and Web Communications intern in January 2012.

Jeanne Salomé - Legal Training Volunteer

Jeanne joined IBJ in April 2012 as a volunteer for training programs. She is currently completing a Master's Degree in Theory and Practice of Human Rights at the Institute of Human Rights of Lyon. Before that, she got a Bachelor Degree in Public International Law. She spent one year in the United States, where she studied law and political science at the University of Oklahoma. She has volunteered for several associations abroad on a poncutal basis, in Morocco and in the United States. In Lyon she helped an association with welcoming victims of racism or discrimination. She plans to pursue a career in the field of human right

Marianne Salih – Legal Training Volunteer

Marianne joined IBJ in May 2012 as a volunteer for the training programs. Marianne has a Bachelor degree in political science and is currently completing her law degree from the University of Toronto. During her undergraduate studies, Marianne worked as a researcher on a campaign for electoral reform of Toronto’s municipal elections, and volunteered with several NGOs focused on international development. She spent four months in Kenya as a project manager working on children’s rights and anti-corruption projects. More recently, Marianne has worked as a legal intern at the Law Commission of Ontario, and at a legal clinic providing services to underprivileged communities. After her law degree, she plans to complete an L.L.M in international law and pursue a career in the field of human rights.

Sarah Collins – Intern

Sarah joined IBJ in May 2012 as an intern under the International Program Director. Starting her final year of undergraduate study, she studies International Relations and Biology at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. Originally from the Netherlands, Sarah graduated from the United World College in Hong Kong in 2009 where she first developed her interest in human rights and sustainable development. In 2010, she spent four months in Bhutan to research the effects of modernization on generations of Bhutanese women, for which purpose she travelled back to the Kingdom in January 2012. As the Boston District Director of the Millennium Campus Network, Sarah assists student organizations in the Boston area in promoting the UN Millennium Development Goals and working to end extreme poverty.

Annie Heiss – Intern

Annie joined IBJ as an intern in May 2012. She graduated with her Bachelors degree in Philosophy, Legal Studies, and Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2010. After completing one year of AmeriCorps, she began her J.D. at Boston University School of Law in 2011. She has a strong passion for international human rights, arising from her months spent abroad in Kenya working with several organizations to end poverty and create sustainable economic development. She hopes to pursue this passion in law school and find a career that allows her to combine her passion for law with the great need for representation of socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.

Yan Luo – Intern

Yan Luo, IBJ legal volunteer from China, was born in Southern China. From 2004 to 2008, she was studying International Politics in China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, China. From 2008 to 2011, she did her Masters in International Relations in the Shanghai Institute for International Studies in Shanghai, China. From 2010 to 2012, she was studying Euroculture (MA program) in La Universidad de Deusto (Spain) as an Erasmus Mundus student. Currently, she is doing her internship at the International Bridges to Justice in Geneva, Switzerland. Prior to this, she did her internships in the Institute for Culture Diplomacy in Berlin, Germany and Serveis Territorials de Cultura, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain.

Shen Enhui – Intern

Enhui joined IBJ in April 2012 and works in the areas of development and legal training. She is a senior undergraduate student from the Law School of Inner Mongolia. In 2011 she studied as an exchange student at the Peking University. She has been involved with IBJ’s work in China since 2009 when she joined in IBJ's Advisement of Rights Campaign in China on December 4th of that year. She later participated at the criminal law forum organized by IBJ in 2010 in China. Enhui speaks Chinese, English and intermediate German and will be pursuing her Masters Degree in International Law in Germany. She is a believer of IBJ’s mission and values IBJ is promoting and through this internship she wish to expand her knowledge on legal systems in the world and how international non-governmental organizations overcome challenges they face.

Sevar Soreni – Intern

Sevar joined IBJ in January 2012 to work for the Development Director at the administration department. She has a Bachelor degree in Development Studies from Södertörn University in Stockholm and she has also studied in Budapest. For the moment she is on a work placement for the academic year of 2012. She has also worked for Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Sweden (WIPLF Sweden). Sevar speaks Swedish, English, Kurdish, which is her mother tongue and she has also studied French in Paris. Sevar joined IBJ because of her passion for human rights issues and would like to work in this field in the future.

Araba Taylor – Intern

I am getting my bachelor's from Smith College in Government with a concentration in International Relations and am studying French. This year I am studying at the University of Geneva. I am interested in International Human Rights Law and development. I am originally from Orlando, FL and I first became interested in human rights while living in Nairobi, Kenya and volunteering at an Internally Displaced Peoples Camp. From there I began to work with other local NGOs and upon returning to the United States actively volunteered with ESOL programs for new immigrants at local elementary schools. I speak intermediate French and Spanish and this upcoming summer will be going to Stellenbosch, South Africa to intern as a program developer for the Stellenbosch Academy for Girls Leadership and Sport Development.

Yang Xu – Intern

Yang Xu joined IBJ in June 2012 as an intern. He graduated from Sun Yat-sen University with a Bachelor degree in Finance in 2011 and is currently a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University concentrated on Economic Policies. In the summer of 2009, Yang worked in the Qingdao Children Welfare Institution for two months. Since then, Yang has decided to reduce unfairness and help the vulnerable people as best as he can. He plans to go back China after graduation. Before that, he hopes to broad his view to get better prepared.