Washington, D.C.—Rights and Resources Group, the coordinating body of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), is pleased to announce three key additions to its leadership team. These appointments will further extend the international research and advocacy-based coalition’s growth and strengthen programs and engagements across the world.

“Each of these individuals bring with them unique experiences and skills that will be indispensable as RRI continues to grow in its reach,” said Andy White, president of RRI and coordinator of its secretariat. “As we move closer to achieving our goals of accelerating reforms in forest tenure, governance and markets across our target regions, strengthening RRI’s capacity to operate at a higher level is imperative.”

Janis Alcorn, RRI’s new Director, Country and Regional Programs, is a well-known international expert on issues of Indigenous Peoples, governance and forest conservation. A biologist and anthropologist, Alcorn began her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India and served as Asia and Pacific Director for the Biodiversity Support Program at WWF. She has also worked with the InterAmerican Development Bank, Ford Foundation, Global Diversity Foundation, IUCN, USAID, and others. Most recently, she was Program Advisor for Garfield Foundation´s biodiversity and sustainable development program in South America, as well as an RRI Fellow. In her role at RRI, Ms. Alcorn will coordinate the country and regional activities of the Latin America, Asia and Africa Programs of the Initiative.

Jenny Springer, Director of Global Programs, contributes two decades of practical experience working on the relationships among local tenure rights, collective governance, sustainable natural resource management and poverty reduction. She has led development of WWF’s work community conservation over the last 10 years and was a key instigator of the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights.  She also has a strong record of designing and leading high-level fora on human rights and conservation, including with many of RRI’s Partners. Ms. Springer will provide leadership and oversight of the Coalition’s analytical portfolio, communications program and networking support program.

Luis Colomer, Chief Operating Officer, comes from the private sector and is focusing on strengthening RRI’s core functions. He brings with him more than a decade of expertise in the formulation and execution of strategic projects and the management of day-to-day operations, his major strengths being strategic planning, organizational operations management, business intelligence, and client services. Mr. Colomer holds an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and is fluent in three languages.

The complete biographies of the three new staff members can be found on the RRI website.