Board of Directors
The members of the Board of Directors of the ILF have extensive practical and academic expertise in criminal defense, and considerable field experience in post-conflict countries. Although their backgrounds are different, the board members have one common goal: the establishment of fair criminal justice systems in post-conflict countries.
- Natalie Rea is the ILF President and Executive Director and is also the founder of the ILF and Legal Aid Rwanda. Born in New York and raised in France, she graduated from the Universite d'Aix-Marseille and from Fordham University School of Law. After clerking for Judge Thomas C. Platt in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and working at the law firm of Shearman & Sterling, she joined the Criminal Appeals Bureau of The Legal Aid Society in New York, where she represents indigent defendants at the appellate level.
- Philipp Ackermann received a Ph.D. in art history from Bonn University and subsequently, joined the German Foreign Service. Among other appointments, Mr. Ackermann has served at the German Embassy in Rabat, Morocco and at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations in New York before becoming the principal speechwriter to former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. After being the civilian head of the German PRT in Kunduz, Afghanistan, from 2006 to 2007, he is now assigned to the German Embassy to India in Delhi.
- Richard Joselson graduated from Columbia College and Yale University Law School. After law school, he joined the Criminal Appeals Bureau of The Legal Aid Society in New York, where he is currently Senior Supervising Attorney. Between 1995 and 2004, when New York had a death penalty statute, Mr. Joselson worked with the Capital Defender Office providing representation in death penalty cases. He was also an active member of the Board of Directors of Legal Aid Rwanda.
- Polly Mallinson was born in the UK and graduated with a degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge, and received a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Between 1996 and 1998, Ms. Mallinson worked for the European Commission first in Brussels at the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) desk and later in the Economic and Political Section of the EC Representation in Jakarta, Indonesia. Since 2000 she has been working in production for documentary and feature films.
- Nicola Reindorp graduated from King's College Cambridge with a Masters in Social and Political Science and has a Masters of Science in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. She has worked for Oxfam Great Britain as a policy advisor, first on the Great Lakes region of Central Africa and in 2002, established Oxfam International's New York advocacy office, focused on influencing the policy and practice of the United Nations in responding to civilians caught in conflict, where she was the head of the office for 5 years.
- Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt received a BA from Indiana University and a Masters Degree from the Graduate Institute of International Studies of the University of Geneva. In 2007-08, she was an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, on sabbatical from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva where she last served as China Program Manager. She is currently working with the International Crisis Group in China.
- Sebastian von Einsiedel joined the United Nations in 2003 and currently serves in the Policy Planning Unit in the UN Department of Political Affairs. He has worked on emerging challenges to peace and security with the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change; on peace process support with the UN Mission in Nepal; and on counter-terrorism policies with the Secretary-General's Counter-terrorism Task Force. Prior to joining the UN, Sebastian worked at the International Peace Institute in New York on the UN's role in peace- and statebuilding. Sebastian holds Master's degrees from the University of Munich and Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
- Henry Gonzalez is a Vice President with Morgan Stanley Investment Management where he focuses in Emerging Markets Debt strategies and is a member of the Firm’s Environment and Social Finance Group. Before joining Morgan Stanley, Henry held positions at the Global Exchange for Social Investment in London, the United Nations Development Program in San José, Costa Rica, and the World Bank in Washington D.C. In his early career, he was the Chief of Staff to the Minister of Agriculture in his home country Costa Rica, and a Legislative Advisor to the Vice President of the Legislative Assembly. With a BA in Political Science from the University of Costa Rica, Henry received an MBA from Oxford University where he held the Skoll Scholarship for Social Entrepreneurship, and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government where he was a Fulbright Scholar.