Staff updates

Left to Right: Tania Valdez, Juanita Cabrera-Lopez, Karla General, Bo Scott, Lorena Vaca

Thank you and Good-bye:

Tania Valdez, Legal Intern, is a third-year student at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.  She served as a full-time legal intern in the D.C. office through the UCDC Law Program.  Tania contributed to a number of projects at the Center. She assisted Staff Attorney, Leonardo Crippa, with legal research for our work in Guatemala and new work regarding the Rapa Nui people of Chile.   She also assisted with a variety of activities regarding climate change initiatives, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and human rights accountability for multilateral development banks.

Juanita Cabrera-Lopez, Program Assistant, leaves the Center this December to pursue a Masters of International Public Policy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.  Juanita assisted the Center on all of our projects, but focused on Multilateral Development Banks, Guatemala mining and protected areas, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the OAS.  She has been an integral part of our team for the past few years, and her work and dedication to the Center and indigenous peoples worldwide will be greatly missed. 

We are pleased to welcome several new staff to the Center:

Karla General (Kawenniiostha) was hired in October 2010 as a Law Clerk in the Helena, Montana office.  Karla is deer clan and a citizen of the Mohawk Nation from northern New York.  In May, she earned her Juris Doctorate and Masters in Sociology from Syracuse University College of Law and the Maxwell School.  She is the great-granddaughter of the international pioneer Levi General (Deskaheh), who was among the first to seek Indigenous Rights at the League of Nations in the 1920s.

Bo Scott was hired in October 2010 and is the new Director of Finance and Administration for the Center. He was born in Aberdeen, SD and grew up in Montana where he received his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Great Falls.  He is currently pursuing a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Montana.

Lorena Vaca was hired in October 2010 and will start as the new Program Assistant in our Washington, D.C. office in December of this year. She is originally from Ecuador, and has worked extensively with indigenous peoples in South America, particularly in the Amazon.  She brings strong field experience in Guyana on climate issues.  She holds a B.A. in Government & International Politics from George Mason University.