Global figures with the profile, expertise and experience to experience to drive action towards eradicating modern slavery.
Photo by Rory Lewis – www.rorylewis.studio
The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Chair of the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking
Theresa May served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2016 to 2019 - the second woman ever to hold the office.
Her premiership marked the culmination of 21 years’ continuous service on the front bench, having held a total of 14 ministerial or shadow ministerial posts, serving as the first female Chairman of the Conservative Party and the longest-serving Conservative Home Secretary for over a century. In addition to her duties as a Member of Parliament, Theresa regularly undertakes philanthropic and campaigning work around the world.
The Office of Theresa May - Biography
Adama Dieng
Former UN Under-Secretary General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide
Adama Dieng is a Senegalese jurist and former United Nations Under-Secretary-general and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of genocide (2012-2020). He also served as Registrar of the UN-ICTR (2001 to 2012). Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Dieng was for ten years the Secretary General of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (1990-2000). He was appointed as the UN Independent Expert for Haiti (1995-2000) and served in 1993 as Envoy of the UN Secretary General to Malawi. He was the driving force behind the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and produced also the draft of the African Convention to fight Corruption. He is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance as well as former President of the Martin Ennals Foundation
Alan Jope
Former CEO of Unilever, Director of Accenture, Not-for-profit Chair, Visiting Fellow Oxford University
Alan Jope joined Unilever in 1985 and worked for a total of 11 years in the UK, 14 years in North America, and 13 years in Asia (Thailand, China, Singapore). He was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in 2019 and retired from Unilever in 2023. Jope holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from Edinburgh University, Scotland. He also graduated from Harvard Business School’s General Management Program in 2001, and is a Visiting Fellow at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.
Ausamah Alabsi
Chief Executive Officer, Labour Market Regulatory Authority in the Kingdom of Bahrain and Former Chairman, National Committee for Combating Trafficking in Persons
Edward Braham
Chair of M&G and formerly the Senior Partner of Freshfields
Edward Braham became the Chair of M&G plc, the savings and investment group, in March 2022. He is also a non-executive member of the board of HM Treasury and a director of TheCityUK, where he chairs the International Trade and Investment Group. He was previously the Senior Partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, the global law firm.
Epsy Campbell-Barr
Former First Vice-President of Costa Rica
Epsy Campbell-Barr is a former Vice President of Costa Rica and Minister of Foreign Affairs. She was twice a congressional representative in the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica. She is an Afro-feminist and human rights and environmental activist. She is also the founder of the Center for Afro-descendant Women and the Afro-descendant Institute for Study, Research and Development, as well as the Black Parliament of the Americas. She is a researcher with dozens of publications on democracy, inclusion, women’s rights issues, the environment, and on issues of people of African descent and on racism and racial discriminat...
Grace Forrest
Human rights activist and Founding Director of Walk Free
Grace Forrest is a human rights activist and Founding Director of Walk Free, one of the world’s leading anti-slavery organisations. Walk Free produces the Global Slavery Index, the world’s most comprehensive dataset on modern slavery, and campaigns for systemic change against this abuse of human rights.
As a modern-day abolitionist, Grace works alongside survivors and frontline organisations to amplify expert voices in the anti-slavery movement. She also works to address the world’s most complicated issues by advocating for government policies that protect human rights and drive sustainable business practices...
Havovi Wadia
Director of Programs at the Freedom Fund
Havovi Wadia is Director of Programs at the Freedom Fund, a global collaborative fund working to end modern slavery. She oversees the Freedom Fund’s support to over 140 organisations in Asia, Africa and South America working on a range of issues including forced labour, forced marriage, commercial sexual exploitation of children, bonded labour and child domestic work. She was previously CEO of Vipla Foundation, a non-profit that leverages government and private partnerships to impact the education and safety of over 200,000 women and children in India. Havovi has over two decades of professional experience with organisations that work closely with communities both in rural and urban India. Her work has centred around the rights of children and women, with a focus...
Ilwad Elman
Chief Operating Officer, Elman Peace Centre
Ilwad Elman is a young female leader at the forefront of the Somali peace process, and a global authority on peace and security.
Ilwad and her family became refugees at the height of the conflict in Somalia, eventually finding asylum in Canada. Aged 19, she felt the responsibility to leave the safety of Canada and return with her mother to a Somalia still steeped in violent conflict, where they founded the Elman Peace Centre. The organization works to promote peace and reconciliation, and to support victims of violence, particularly women and girls. At just 20, she co-founded Somalia’s fir...
Jose Manuel Barroso
Former President of the European Commission and Former Prime Minister of Portugal
John Studzinski CBE
Investment banker and philanthropist
John Studzinski CBE, a US-born British citizen, is Managing Director and Vice Chairman of PIMCO, noted for its innovative approach to investment. Since joining PIMCO in 2018, he has advanced global strategy while serving as a key strategic advisor to major clients around the world.
In the vanguard of investment management and asset management for more than 40 years, he has pioneered transformation in senior roles at such organisations as Morgan Stanley, HSBC and Blackstone. He has also served on the board of the Saudi British Bank (SABB).
Studzinski’ s experience in both global business leadership and phila...
Manvinder (Vindi) Banga
Chair of UKGI
Vindi Banga has a wealth of professional experience from Chair, CE6O, and bBoard roles in the B2C & B2B – in FMCG, ESG, Retail, Manufacturing, Services in Public markets and Private equity, Government, and Not-For-Profit sectors. He has many years of commercial and international experience and a track record of delivering outstanding performance in highly competitive global consumer-focused businesses.
Banga is Chair of UKGI (UK Government Investments) - the governance & corporate finance arm of the UK Government. He is the Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of FTSE20 Haleon plc, and a Non-Executive Director of the The Economist Group. A Partner at Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), the global private equity firm, he serves on the Board of their portfolio company, Wm. Morrisons Supermarkets Limited, and on the Board of Kedaara Capital Advisors LLP, CD&R’s private equity partner in India. He is a...
Nasreen Sheikh
Survivor of Modern Slavery, Social Entrepreneur and Author
Nasreen Sheikh's life journey is a remarkable testament to human resilience, overcoming child labour, forced marriage, and modern slavery, to become an author, entrepreneur, and one of the most influential voices in the global movement to end Modern Slavery. Through her entrepreneurial social ventures, NGOs, and various initiatives, Sheikh's advocacy for a transparent global economic system, and her emphasis on supply chain transparency, corporate engagement, and modern slavery legislation, are important steps toward ending modern slavery. Sheikh’s impactful and inspiring interviews, speeches, articles and keynote presentations, have united millions of people globally in a grass roots awareness regarding the many interconnected issues of Modern S...
Professor Andrew Thompson
Professor of Global and Imperial History
Andrew Thompson is Professor of Global & Imperial History at Oxford, a Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College, and Co-Director of the Oxford Centre for Global History.
He was previously the Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the International Champion for UK Research and Innovation from 2015 to 2020. He was awarded a CBE for his “services to research” in 2021.
Thompson is currently completing a book for Oxford University Press: “Humanitarianism on Trial: How a Global System of Aid and Development Emerged from the End of Empire”. Alongside this, he was recently the Principal Investigator on an Arts & Humanities Research Council funded project, “International NGOs and...
Professor Anita Ramasastry
Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law & Director of the Sustainable International Development Graduate Program at the University of Washington
Anita Ramasastry is the Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law and Director of the Sustainable International Development Graduate Program at the University of Washington. She is a graduate of Harvard University, Harvard Law School and the University of Sydney. RamasastryShe is an expert in the fields of business and human rights, anti-corruption and sustainable development. From 2016-2022, she served as a member and chair of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. In this role, she worked with States, business and civil society on issues relating to human rights abuses in global supply chains. She also led its initiatives on the role of regulation and human rights due diligence to address forced labor and modern slavery. She is currently the Special Representative to the OSCE on Combatting Corruption. Ramasastry previously was a Commissioner on the Lichtenstein Commission on Financial Sector against Slave...
Sophie Otiende
Feminist, survivor advocate, Chief Executive Office of the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery and Founder of Azadi
Sophie Otiende defines herself as a feminist, teacher, and survivor advocate for human trafficking survivors. Over the past nine years, she has focused on creating ethical standards for protection of survivors of human trafficking, developing systems for grassroot organizations addressing the issue, training and development of curriculums for both protection and awareness of human trafficking. Her advocacy for standards of care and survivor engagement has deemed her a well renowned and sought-after international speaker. She is passionate about ethical engagement and storytelling of survivors of trafficking. She firmly believes in a future where empathy, harmony and trust can be articulated in processes and systems in instit...