Margaret Abam-DePass, CPJ’s deputy director of finance, has worked in not-for-profit organizations for 15 years. Prior to joining CPJ in 2010 as the Business and Accounting Manager, she worked as a staff accountant at both the PEN American Center in New York and at Friends of Firefighters, a Brooklyn-based organization. She also spent eight years as the office manager for the New York-based Association for Business Communication. A native of Cameroon, Abam-DePass received her bachelor’s in accounting from Kean University in New Jersey.
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David C. Adams is a CPJ’s Caribbean correspondent based in Miami where he works as a freelance journalist for several media outlets. He has covered Latin America and the Caribbean for the last 36 years and was previously a senior editor at Univision News and Miami bureau chief for Thomson Reuters. Before that he spent 15 years as the Miami-based Latin America correspondent of the Tampa Bay Times, Florida’s largest newspaper. A dual British-American citizen, Adams began his career in the U.K. and worked as a freelance journalist in the 1980s covering the civil wars in Central America and the U.S. invasion of Panama. After moving to Miami in 1992 he expanded his regional coverage of Latin America, including the Zapatista uprising in Mexico, the drug war in Colombia, and other historic events in Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti. He is a winner of the Paul Hansell Award for Distinguished Achievement in Florida Journalism, the top journalism prize in Florida, as well as the prestigious Maria Moors Cabot prize by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism for outstanding reporting on Latin America. He has also co-produced three documentaries: “Failing Haiti,” about the fall of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, “JDF16,” about the life and death of Cuban-born baseball player, José Fernández, and “#IamVanessaGuillen,” about sexual abuse in the U.S. military. Follow him on LinkedIn.
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Lamiya Adilgizi joined CPJ in 2024 as a Russia correspondent, bringing over 15 years’ experience in journalism. She specializes in reporting on democracy, human rights, media freedom, and ethnic conflicts, with a particular focus on Russia, the South Caucasus, Turkey, and Europe. Her work has been featured by the BBC, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Forbidden Stories, openDemocracy, and other international outlets. Born and raised in Baku, Lamiya has a bachelor’s degree in European Studies from Azerbaijan University of Languages, a master’s degree in Social Sciences in Transformation in South Caucasus from Georgia’s Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, and a second master’s degree in Theory and History of International Relations from the London School of Economics (LSE) as a Chevening Scholar. She speaks Azerbaijani, Turkish, Russian, German, and English. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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Emell Derra Adolphus focuses on press freedom challenges across the Americas. A New York City-based journalist, writer, and multimedia editor, his long-form essays, columns and international investigative reports have appeared in numerous publications, including The Daily Beast, Queerty, The Root, Edge Media Network, USA Today, Crain’s, Engineering News-Record, and more.
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Diana Alsip joined CPJ in November 2023 as manager of digital communications. Prior to CPJ, she was a communications associate for online presence and outreach at the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), managing the production of content across social media channels and driving user engagement strategy online. Before ICTJ, she was a data and design coordinator at Hunger Free America, worked on internal and external communications at The New School, and facilitated community building projects with rural communities in Colombia. She holds an MA in International Development from The New School and a BFA in Photography from Arizona State University. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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Cassandra Barragan joined CPJ as a grants officer for institutional giving in June 2023. Prior to joining the development team, she worked as a grants officer at the National Endowment for Democracy, managing a portfolio of projects in North Africa. She has previous experience at the Jesuit Refugee Service, Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, and International Rescue Committee. She holds a master’s degree in global development from the University of Sussex and a bachelor’s in international affairs and history from Florida State University. Barragan speaks Arabic and some Spanish. She is based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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Casey Bauer joined CPJ in 2023. Before joining the development team, she worked with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, a nonprofit legal organization that fights for health, disability, and environmental justice for New York communities. She also served as the development coordinator at the Center for Reproductive Rights from 2018 to 2021, a period during which several significant cases in the fight for abortion rights were decided at the Supreme Court. Prior to relocating to New York, Bauer spent a year teaching English in Ansan, South Korea. She holds a bachelor’s degree in theater with a minor in communications, and studied at the University of Oxford as part of an honors semester. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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Sofia Barbarani joined CPJ in 2026 as Assistant Editor for the Middle East and North Africa. She brings more than 14 years of international reporting and editorial experience across the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Europe, alongside communications and policy work with UN agencies and NGOs. She was based in Iraq for four years where she reported on the effects of war on the Iraqi and Syrian population for The Times of London, The Telegraph and Al Jazeera English, among others.
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Beh Lih Yi oversees CPJ’s research and advocacy in Asia. Beh has more than 20 years of journalism and media experience in Asia, with her reporting focusing on human rights and social justice issues. She started her career at the award-winning independent Malaysian news website, Malaysiakini, before going on to work for international news outlets Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Hong Kong, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. She speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay, Indonesian and English. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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Micheal Blasini joined CPJ’s Human Resources department as the People and Culture Administrator. Currently engaged in a temporary position, Micheal will focus on providing comprehensive support to the Director and Deputy Director of HR, as well as being a resource to CPJ staff for general HR matters. With a strong background in HR administration, Micheal brings years of experience and is adept at managing a wide range of HR functions. Micheal is skilled at fostering a collaborative work environment and creating inclusive workspaces, and will assist in smoothing operations within the HR department. In his previous role at a major nonprofit organization, Micheal was the Labor Relations & HR Operations Specialist; he processed and managed benefits for all U.S. employees, including creating, managing, and implementing key projects and initiatives related to organizational restructuring, labor, and operations. In addition, he was responsible for assisting in the management of the relationship between HR and non-union and union employees, including contract negotiations.
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Anna Brakha joined CPJ as a Europe and Central Asia researcher in 2022. Prior to CPJ, she worked in different structures at the crossroads of media and international relations. She holds a master’s degree in international relations and post-Soviet studies from INALCO University and a Master of Science of Management and Media and Digital industries from ESSEC Business School. She speaks French and Russian.
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Joan Chirwa joined CPJ in April, 2021, bringing 17 years of journalism experience. She is the founder of the Free Press Initiative Zambia, a non-profit media organization. Previously, Joan worked as managing editor of Zambian independent newspaper The Post, which the government shut down in June 2016 and liquidated in November the same year. At The Post’s successor, The Mast, she served as editor-in-chief and CEO until November 2018, when she left to concentrate on building the FPI Zambia. Chirwa holds a master’s degree in mass communication from Leicester University in the U.K., a diploma in journalism from Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka, and is completing law studies at the University of Zambia.
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Catalina joined CPJ in June 2019 as a Journalist Assistance Program Coordinator, and in April 2024 became CPJ’s Emergencies Director. She has more than 15 years of experience providing humanitarian and emergency assistance to journalists in crisis. Prior to joining CPJ in 2019, she was Senior Programme Officer for Safety and the Americas at the London-based Rory Peck Trust, managing the organization’s training and operations in support of freelance journalists in distress. A native Spanish speaker, Catalina studied law and holds a master’s in International Politics and Human Rights from City University in London. She is based in the U.K.
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Clár Ní Chonghaile joined CPJ in 2026 as Specialist Editor for Europe and Central Asia after working as a journalist, editor and communications consultant in Europe and Africa for more than three decades. During that time, she reported and edited for Reuters, The Associated Press and the Guardian, among others. She has lived and worked in Spain, France, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Kenya and Britain. She has also worked as a communications consultant for various United Nations agencies and has trained and mentored journalists and NGO staff. She was most recently Europe, Middle East and Africa editor at Context, the media platform of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Clár, who grew up in County Galway, Ireland, has also written and published four novels.
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Crystal Chunnu joined CPJ in 2024. Prior to joining CPJ, she worked with volunteers at Minds Matter, a college access nonprofit for low-income high school students. Chunnu also worked at the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and the office of the Queens Borough President, connecting constituents to vital resources and educating them on their rights. Chunnu holds a bachelor’s degree in public affairs from CUNY Baruch College, where she contributed to the university’s student newspaper as a writer and editor.
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Shawn W. Crispin has worked as a journalist and editor for over 15 years based in Thailand. He was bureau chief for the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review in Bangkok from 1999 to 2004, where he wrote on a wide range of political, business, and social issues. From 2001, Crispin also served as bureau chief for the Review‘s sister publication, The Asian Wall Street Journal. His coverage of Asia’s AIDS epidemic was part of a package recognized in 2004 for the “Excellence in Magazines” award of the Society of Publishers in Asia. From 2006 to 2015, Crispin served as Southeast Asia editor at Asia Times Online, where he wrote a regular political column and edited a team of over 20 regular contributors to the news site. Crispin is currently Southeast Asia columnist at The Diplomat. His journalism has also appeared in the International Herald Tribune, Institutional Investor and Yale Global Online, among others. In 2005, Crispin served as an investigative consultant with Human Rights Watch (Asia), where he researched press freedom issues in Thailand. for the past decade, he has served CPJ as advocate, researcher and spokesperson on Southeast Asia. He has conducted research missions and published special reports on Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Crispin has a master’s degree in Southeast Asian Studies and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, where he received a prestigious Freeman fellowship. He speaks fluent Thai. Follow him on LinkedIn.
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Somi Das joined CPJ as a Delhi-based correspondent in July 2024. A journalist with a decade of experience in the industry, she has held various editorial positions at prominent publications, including Indian Express, Rajasthan Patrika, Yahoo News, India Legal, and Newslaundry. Das’ writing portfolio spans a wide range of topics, including politics, culture, media commentary, legal matters, current affairs, rural health, elections, and gender issues. She played a key role in shaping the opinion section of the Indian Express’ youth website and holds a Master’s degree in clinical psychology. Das specializes in writing on mental health issues and health policy in India and authors a bi-monthly column, “The Millennial Pilgrim,” which explores themes of personal growth, relationships, and mental well-being.
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Gari De Ramos joined CPJ as the office manager and executive assistant in February 2023 and became CPJ’s strategic operations manager in January 2025. Prior to joining CPJ, she worked as a social media manager for Action for the Climate Emergency. She also served as an intern and contributing writer for Worcester Magazine and studied journalism at the School of International Training in Rabat, Morocco. She is currently pursuing her MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy at New York University. In addition, she is the founder of Radical in Progress, an educational platform offering free study guides on essential social justice literature. She graduated from Clark University with a BA in Political Science and an MSc in Communication. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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Madinah Diallo joined CPJ in 2020. Prior to joining CPJ, she worked for Grizzlies Prep, a school supported by the NBA team Memphis Grizzlies. She has also worked for the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF, and Attajdid Journal, Morocco’s national newspaper. Diallo has a bachelor’s degree in international relations & journalism, media, and communications from Mount Holyoke College. She speaks Arabic, Hindi-Urdu, and French.
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Embaló joined CPJ in 2021. She is the director of newspapers Valor Económico and Nova Gazeta and is on the board of Radio Essencial, where her weekly column airs. She was a co-founder of the first economics-focused newspaper in Angola and previously hosted an economics program on Channel 2 of public television. An Angolan, Embaló counts 12 years of journalism in the country. She holds a master’s degree in institutional communication from Rome Business School and a degree in media and political economy from University of East London in the U.K. She splits her time between Lisbon, Portugal and Luanda, Angola.
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Amelia Evans joined CPJ in December 2023. An international human rights lawyer by training, she spent more than a decade as the executive director of The Shifting Power Project (formerly known as the Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Integrity), a nonprofit human rights organization focused on rectifying power imbalances and abuses caused by corporations. Over the last 15 years, she has investigated and reported on business and human rights-related issues in a number of countries, particularly in the Central African and Asia-Pacific regions. Previously, she was a clinical supervisor at Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, and has received numerous fellowships focused on economic justice and human rights. Evans obtained her LL.M. from Harvard Law School, and LL.B. (Hons.) and B.C.A. (Economics and Finance) from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. In her other life, she is a documentary filmmaker.
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Loghman Fattahi joined CPJ as the U.S. advocacy representative in January 2023. Based in Washington, he leads CPJ’s advocacy with the U.S. government and Congress on press freedom and journalist safety policies, legislation, and initiatives. He also collaborates with Washington-based stakeholders and allies to advance these priorities globally. Before joining CPJ, Fattahi served as a U.S. diplomat for nearly a decade, with postings at U.S. embassies in Cairo, Paris, and Baghdad, and at the Office of Iranian Affairs. He also served as an advocacy advisor at SEED Foundation in Iraq, advancing human rights initiatives. Fattahi holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University’s Fletcher School. He is fluent in Kurdish and Persian (Farsi) and has strong working knowledge of Arabic and French.
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Andrés Fernández Carrasco joined CPJ in 2019. He guides the organization’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning efforts, manages various cross-departmental tools and projects, and helps to enhance organizational strategy and impact. Prior to joining CPJ, Fernández’ experience included research and program management experience at various nonprofit and academic projects, including UCLA Law School’s COVID BEHIND BARS, Democracy Works, the Association for the Recuperation of Historical Memory (ARMH), the Latino Family Engagement and Language Development Lab at NYU, and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA). Fernández is a graduate of Wesleyan University and has also studied at the University of Salamanca and the University of Buenos Aires. He is fluent in Spanish and English.
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Valentine Gavard joined CPJ as a Journalist Assistance Manager within CPJ’s Emergencies team, and in May 2024 became CPJ’s Journalist Assistance Program Coordinator. Before joining CPJ, she was the Assistance Manager at the London-based Rory Peck Trust, in charge of the organization’s operations in support of freelance journalists in distress globally. She also has professional experience in migration policy and refugee law with the French Refugee Protection Agency and the European Union Asylum Support Office. Gavard has a Ph.D. in Geopolitics from Royal Holloway, University of London. She holds a master’s degree in Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law from the University of Panthéon-Assas in Paris. She has published several articles on migration and freedom of expression, including in The Conversation and academic journals. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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Tom Gibson joined the Committee to Protect Journalists in January 2017 and is CPJ’s lead advocate in Brussels covering the institutions of the European Union. Between 2014 and 2016, Gibson managed Protection International’s Burundi and Congo desks, advocating for stronger state accountability for the protection of human rights defenders and journalists as well as developing emergency responses and protection measures. Previously, he worked in Amnesty International’s Africa program from 2005 to 2014, based in London and Nairobi. He worked as a campaigner on the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa regions, and then as a researcher on the Great Lakes. In both roles, he was responsible for leading the international response when journalists were harassed, intimidated, detained, or killed, engaging with state authorities in the region as well as with governments and multilateral organizations in Brussels, Geneva, London, Paris, and Washington. He is the author of numerous Amnesty International reports and publications on human rights abuses including crimes under international law and violations relating to freedom of expression, association, and assembly. He is fluent in French and is a graduate from the University of Sussex.
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Jodie Ginsberg is the chief executive officer of the Committee to Protect Journalists. A journalist by profession, Ginsberg joined CPJ in 2022 from Internews Europe, where she was chief executive officer. Ginsberg began her career as a graduate trainee with Reuters news agency and worked as a commodities reporter in London before taking up a posting as a foreign correspondent in Johannesburg, South Africa. She subsequently worked as Reuters’ chief correspondent in Ireland, and then bureau chief for the U.K. and Ireland. In 2014, Ginsberg was appointed chief executive of London-based freedom of expression group Index on Censorship, which she led until 2020. An internationally respected campaigner on issues of media freedom and freedom of expression, Ginsberg is a regular speaker on journalist safety and issues involving access to information. She serves on the boards of The Trust for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford, and as a Council member of IFEX, the international network for freedom of expression organizations. Ginsberg has a BA in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and a postgraduate diploma in newspaper journalism from City St George’s, University of London.
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Gypsy Guillén Kaiser joined the Committee to Protect Journalists as advocacy and communications director in 2021. A specialist in advancing structural change to ensure freedom of the press, defend human rights, and secure social and economic justice, Guillén Kaiser has worked nearly two decades with international non-governmental organizations and as a journalist. She has participated in missions to more than a dozen countries, including Argentina, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Peru, Singapore and South Africa. Most recently, she led strategic outreach to promote progressive family policies and to propel the Women, Peace and Security agenda at UN Women. Previously, she served as director of communications at the International Women’s Health Coalition and at Eisenhower Fellowships, after fighting corruption as the media and public relations manager at Transparency International’s secretariat in Berlin. She served on the boards of the Human Impacts Institute and Friends of Transparency International. Guillén Kaiser returned to CPJ after heading the organization’s advocacy and communications department from 2010 to 2013. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from New York University and a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. A native of the Dominican Republic who grew up in New York City, Guillén Kaiser is fluent in Spanish and German. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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Ishani Gupta joined CPJ in August 2022. She previously worked for the State of Connecticut, as their audit analyst. She is also the founder/lead trainer of the Go-getters Academy for International English Language Testing Systems, which provides a variety of flexible and effective prep services to candidates at international schools. She graduated from Punjabi University with a Bachelors in Accounting and holds an MBA in Finance & HR from Punjab Technical University.
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Joud Hasan joined CPJ in January 2026 as the Levant Program Coordinator. He has worked at the intersection of journalism, research, and program management for nearly two decades. His reporting and editorial work has focused on civic movements, displacement, and state violence, covering key developments in Syria since 2011, and later in Iraq and Lebanon. Alongside his journalism, he has led and coordinated multidisciplinary initiatives with international and civil society organizations across civic engagement, art and culture, human rights, and digital rights. In 2013, Hasan received the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press. He is the author of Table Ground (Syrian Association for Citizenship, 2014) and wrote Journalism and Creative Writing: A Handbook for Citizen-Journalists in Conflict Areas (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2016). A native of Syria, Hasan received his bachelor’s degre in media and journalism from Damascus University.