Staff

Monti Aguirre, Latin America Campaigner
Ms. Aguirre works as part of International Rivers’ Latin America program to support local movements for the protection of rivers; to identify new dam projects in Latin America and to examine their economic, social, and environmental impacts; and to design strategies to counteract their effects. She has worked for more than a decade in support of Amazon indigenous peoples’ rights and is co-producer of Amazonia: Voices From the Rainforest, a film on the fight of grassroots groups in the Amazon to defend their lives and their land. Prior to joining International Rivers in 1998, Ms. Aguirre worked with the Environmental Action Coalition and El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice in New York City. Ms. Aguirre has a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and a Master’s degree from New York University in Environmental Education and Conservation.

Karolo Aparicio, Development Director
Mr. Aparicio works to advance International Rivers’ mission by helping increase and diversify financial support for its projects. A development professional and advocate for human rights and environmental sustainability, Mr. Aparicio previously worked at Global Exchange and Save The Bay to expand those organizations’ membership bases. He is also a co-founder of CASA - Salvemos Nuestros Pueblos, an all-volunteer grassroots organization that successfully fought against the San Nicolas Dam in Jalisco, Mexico (which would have displaced over 10,000 people), and currently seeks to aid downstream communities still threatened by new dam construction. Mr. Aparicio earned his Master’s degree in Anthropology at Vanderbilt University and completed a double major in Anthropology and French at San Francisco State University.

Peter Bosshard, Policy Director
Mr. Bosshard leads International Rivers’ efforts to strengthen the social and environmental standards of governments, financial institutions, and the dam industry. He has promoted corporate social responsibility since the early 1990s, was closely involved with the World Commission on Dams (WCD), and has coordinated campaigns to stop destructive projects in many countries. Mr. Bosshard leads our effort to strengthen the social and environmental standards of China’s overseas investors, and supervises our Policy, Africa, South Asia and Communications programs. Mr. Bosshard studied at the universities of Zurich, Minnesota, and the West Indies, and holds a Ph.D. from Zurich University. Before joining International Rivers in 2002, he was the coordinator of the Berne Declaration, a Swiss advocacy organization. Mr. Bosshard has authored numerous reports and articles in books, academic journals and the popular press, and blogs for International Rivers. His favorite river is the Albula in the Swiss Alps.

Nicole Brewer, China Global Program Associate
Ms. Brewer researches the role of Chinese financial institutions in overseas development, monitors Chinese dam projects around the world, and is helping to produce a major report on emerging financial institutions in overseas development and a citizens' guide on Chinese dam projects. Previously, Dr. Brewer worked in Washington, DC as an advocate for healthy rivers and community participation in river management through the Wild and Scenic Rivers program. She has a doctoral degree from the University of California, Berkeley where she completed a dissertation on the local politics and social impacts of dam building in China. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Yale University.

Elizabeth Brink, River Revival, International Day of Action for Rivers, and Internship & Volunteer Coordinator
Ms. Brink coordinates River Revival, International Rivers' river restoration and dam decommissioning project, as well as the annual International Day of Action for Rivers. Ms. Brink began working with International Rivers in 1998 as an intern helping to coordinate the first Dam Decommissioning Strategy Workshop, and joined International Rivers' staff in 1999. She is working to build the river restoration and dam decommissioning movement and to actively seek cooperation and coordination between US and international groups. Ms. Brink also coordinates International Rivers' Internship and Volunteer program, and serves as Technology Manager. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Environmental Science from California State University, Chico, and a Master’s degree in International Environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Colin Carpenter, Web Manager
Mr. Carpenter strives to ensure that our website smoothly and accurately displays all of the myriad informative works of International Rivers. Before arriving here, he worked as a freelance web and graphic designer, backpacking guide, whitewater rafting guide, construction worker, waiter, and gas-station attendant. Mr. Carpenter earned his Bachelor's Degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and holds certifications in Flash Actionscripting, Chilean Whitewater Rafting, Wilderness First Aid and Swiftwater Rescue. He is assisted in the Web Department by his trusty canine sidekick, Mojo.

Jamie Greenblatt, Assistant to the Executive Director
Ms. Greenblatt provides administrative support to the executive director, and assistance to other International Rivers program and administrative staff as needed. She also serves as liaison to the International Rivers staff and board of directors. Most of her employment experience, prior to joining International Rivers, has been as a paralegal, including fifteen years at a civil rights law firm. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from Oberlin College. In her spare time she writes plays and serves as her young son’s social director. She joined International Rivers in 2005.

Terri Hathaway, Africa Campaigner
Based in Cameroon, Ms. Hathaway works as part of International Rivers' Africa program to support local people’s efforts to protect their communities and natural resources from the impacts of large dams. Her work has focused on the proposed Grand Inga project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Lom Pangar and Nachtigal dams in Cameroon, plans for an extensive hydro-based grid expansion in Africa, and plans for new large dams in Ethiopia. Ms. Hathaway also works with local African NGOs and dam-affected communities to advocate for participatory water and energy planning and to promote decentralized, renewable energy options. Ms. Hathaway is an advisor to the African Rivers Network, which links African NGOs and dam-affected communities. Before joining International Rivers in 2004, Ms. Hathaway completed Pipe Dreams: People of the Cameroon Pipeline, an independent documentary about the local impacts of a World Bank sponsored project. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Master’s degree in Public Administration, both from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Inanna Hazel, Director of Finance and Operations
Ms. Hazel oversees International Rivers’s finance, human resources, and office management activities, and serves as a member of International Rivers’s management team. Before joining International Rivers in 2002, she worked at a variety of for-profit and nonprofit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, including serving as the office administrator at the San Francisco office of the Natural Resources Defense Council. She is trained as an herbalist, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies.

Aviva Imhof, Campaigns Director
Ms. Imhof manages International Rivers' Latin America, China and Southeast Asia programs, and is actively involved in monitoring the activities of the international dam-building industry and international development agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in East and Southeast Asia. She works with regional and international program partners in investigating hydropower projects in China and Southeast Asia, disseminating information, and providing technical, legal and campaign assistance when required. She was the lead organizer of Rivers for Life: The Second International Meeting of Dam–Affected People and their Allies, which brought together 300 people from 62 countries in Rasi Salai, Thailand in December 2003. She co-wrote Citizens’ Guide to the WCD, coordinated International Rivers' report, Power Struggle: The Impacts of Hydro-Development in Laos, published in 1999, and has written extensively on the movement to stop destructive river development projects in Southeast Asia. Ms. Imhof joined International Rivers in 1998. She has a Bachelor's degree in Law and a Bachelor's degree in Social Work from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Tim Kingston, Media Coordinator
Mr. Kingston is a veteran reporter and communications worker who is responsible for promoting International Rivers' campaigns to protect human rights and watersheds around the world. He joined International Rivers in 2006 and has worked all sides of the media spectrum—as a journalist, health care rights author and media activist. His stories on international development issues, politics, HIV/AIDS, queer rights, health care and civil rights have been published in numerous outlets around the US and internationally for the past 20 years. As a full time media activist for the human rights group Global Exchange he successfully garnered mainstream media coverage of social activism, political issues and progressive campaigns that ranged from getting outside observers to monitor the 2004 US elections, to Fair Trade products, to the Green Festival alternative economic gathering. Mr. Kingston graduated from the University of California Berkeley in 1984 with a degree in Development Studies and a taste for progressive activism that has kept him busy agitating for social change ever since.

Shannon Lawrence, Lao Program Director and Policy Analyst
As director of International Rivers' Lao program, Ms. Lawrence documents the impacts of existing hydropower projects in Laos, advocates for livelihood restoration for affected communities, and promotes alternatives to destructive dams. She also works with International Rivers' policy team to advocate for stronger environmental and social standards at international financial institutions and promote alternative approaches to water and energy development. Before joining International Rivers, Ms. Lawrence worked for Environmental Defense in Washington, DC as an international policy analyst. During her five years with Environmental Defense, she monitored World Bank and Asian Development Bank operations and policies, including large infrastructure projects in Laos, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries. Ms. Lawrence has written a number of reports and articles about international financial institutions and their environmental, social and accountability standards. Her previous experience includes development work with indigenous groups and local volunteers for International Voluntary Services in Ecuador and media and community relations for a national public relations agency. Ms. Lawrence has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and English from Georgetown University and a Master’s degree in Development Economics and Environmental Policy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Ms. Lawrence joined International Rivers in 2007 and is currently based in Tunis, Tunisia.

Berklee Lowrey-Evans, Campaigns Assistant
Ms. Lowrey-Evans coordinates International Rivers' re-granting program, along with assisting our campaigners with a variety of tasks. Her previous work experience includes sales associate, executive assistant, office manager, bookkeeper, sales representative, cheerleading coach, and ballet teacher. She is currently a member of a local competitive Salsa dance team and an avid knitter. Ms. Lowrey-Evans joined the International Rivers team in 2008.

Patrick McCully, Executive Director
Mr. McCully is author of Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams (Zed Books, London, 1996; updated edition 2001), described by Booker Prize-winning Indian author Arundhati Roy as "a truly dazzling book." Silenced Rivers has also been published in Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Farsi. He has written numerous articles and reports and made many presentations at universities, conferences and other public events on issues connecting dams, human rights, riverine ecosystems, international development, climate change, energy and water policies. Mr. McCully was International Rivers' Campaigns Director from 1994 to 2005. He has worked on numerous campaigns to stop or reduce the impacts of destructive dams, and to promote better methods of meeting water and energy needs. He was a member of the Steering Committee of the UN Environment Programme’s Dams and Development Project, of the World Commission on Dams Forum, and of the group that oversaw the establishment of the World Commission on Dams. He is an advisory board member of EcoEquity, a US-based NGO that advocates for a just and effective global climate treaty, and of two Indian organizations, the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People and the Manthan Research Centre. Before joining International Rivers, Mr. McCully was co-editor of the UK journal The Ecologist, and editor of an information service for NGOs based in Uruguay. Mr. McCully, originally from Northern Ireland, has a Bachelor’s degree in Archaeology from the University of Nottingham, England.

Lia Metz, Bookkeeper and Office Manager
Ms. Metz became interested in environmental and human rights issues in high school, where she headed her school's "Students for Environmental Action" club. Before joining International Rivers in 2008, she worked for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations, including a New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment for Healing) and First Equity Direct. She enjoys directing, choreographing, and acting in theatrical productions.

Carl Middleton, Mekong Program Coordinator
Mr. Middleton works to promote alternative energy in the Mekong region and monitors regional energy sector policies. Prior to joining International Rivers, Mr. Middleton spent three years living and working in Cambodia with local NGOs on a variety of environmental and natural resource management issues including: agriculture, industrial pollution, plantations, fisheries, and gold mining. Most recently, Mr. Middleton was based at the Fisheries Action Coalition Team researching and monitoring major development projects around the Tonle Sap Lake, promoting community fisheries, and developing a "Tonle Sap Community Database." In addition, Mr. Middleton held a part-time lecturer position within the Department of Environmental Science at the Royal University of Phnom Penh teaching environmental ethics and environmental chemistry. Mr. Middleton graduated from the University of Manchester, UK with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and a Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry. He joined International Rivers in 2006.

Lori Pottinger, Editor, World Rivers Review and Africa Program Director
Ms. Pottinger is the editor of International Rivers' quarterly publication, World Rivers Review and of our annual Dams, Rivers and People reports. In addition, she is the director for International Rivers' Africa program. She joined International Rivers in 1995. She has worked extensively on a number of key African dam projects, including the Bujagali Dam in Uganda; the giant Lesotho Highlands Water Project in Lesotho; the proposed Epupa Dam in Namibia; the Nile Basin Initiative in the Nile Region, and dam projects in Mozambique, Sudan, and elsewhere. Previously she was associate editor at Farmer to Farmer, an award-winning publication on sustainable agriculture for California farmers. Ms. Pottinger has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from San Francisco State University, and a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.

Elizabeth Sabel, Foundations Manager
Ms. Sabel oversees International Rivers' grant proposals and foundation relations. She works as part of the development team to support International Rivers' mission by raising money for its programs and working to ensure its long-term sustainability. Before joining International Rivers in 2003, she applied her research, editing and writing skills in her work for several non-profit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ms. Sabel has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Arizona.

Aaron Sanger, Patagonia Campaign Coordinator
Building on 18 years of experience as a successful trial lawyer, Mr. Sanger launched his second career as an environmental campaigner in 1999. After completing the Green Corps Field Organizing Program (1999-2000), he joined ForestEthics (2000-2007) and began working on the coalition campaign that led to protection for more than five million acres of temperate rainforest in coastal British Columbia. While with ForestEthics, Mr. Sanger also founded, designed and led the Chile Native Forest Campaign (2002-2004) that led to protection for more than a million acres of forests in Chile. For his work in Chile, he has been featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal (August 6, 2004), as well as in high-profile Chilean publications such as El Mercurio’s Revista del Campo (November 7, 2005) and Que Pasa magazine (December 29, 2006). To deepen his capacity for understanding, presenting and responding to scientific and technical claims, Mr. Sanger completed a Master's of Science degree in Scientific and Technical Communication at Oregon State University in December 2003. He joined International Rivers in 2007.

Ann Kathrin Schneider, South Asia Program Coordinator and Policy Analyst
Ms. Schneider supports communities in South Asia working to protect their access to basic services and natural resources from the privatization of public services and the construction of large dams. Her work focuses on monitoring the activities of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in South Asia. She advocates for strong environmental and social guidelines for development projects and a renouncement of the push for privatization of public services. Prior to joining International Rivers in 2004, she worked for the German NGO World Economy, Ecology and Development (WEED) as a campaigns manager on international financial institutions. She has written numerous articles and reports about development, international financial institutions and dams including From Commitment to Implementation: The Report of the World Commission on Dams After Five Years and Financing Dams in India: Risks and Challenges. Ms. Schneider holds a Bachelor’s degree in history from the Free University of Berlin and a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Glenn Switkes, Latin America Program Director
Based in Brazil, Mr. Switkes is responsible for International Rivers' campaigns in Latin America, including those in the Paraná-Paraguay and Amazon river basins. He joined International Rivers in 1994 to facilitate organization of a campaign on the Hidrovia project, which would open a shipping channel through Latin America’s second largest river system with potentially devastating environmental impacts to the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetlands. Currently, Mr. Switkes is helping to facilitate the creation of a network of grassroots groups working for protection of Latin American rivers, particularly in light of plans to build a network of 16 large dams in the Brazilian Amazon, and to convert three of the principal tributaries of the Amazon into industrial waterways. Before coming to International Rivers, Mr. Switkes coordinated Rainforest Action Network’s Western Amazon oil campaign, where he worked closely with environmental groups and indigenous peoples’ organizations to challenge the handing over of vast areas of the Amazon for oil drilling. Mr. Switkes is a journalist and filmmaker who has worked for more than 15 years in support of indigenous rights. Mr. Switkes has a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s degree in History from Columbia University.