The Board also receives input on governance from regular meetings of RRI Partners, which often take place simultaneously with meetings of the Board.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gustavo Sánchez Valle
Chair of the BoardBiography
Gustavo Sánchez Valle
Gustavo is a member of the Executive Committee of the Mesoamerican Alliance for People and Forests and President of the Executive Council of the RED MOCAF Network in Mexico. With nearly 30 years of experience in community forestry and over a decade of engagement with RRI’s coalition, he has advanced Indigenous and local community rights, community-based economic initiatives, and cultural identity in Mexico and internationally. He participates in global policy forums and has recently worked with RRI and PCN to support the representation of local communities within the UNFCCC Platform of Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples.
Emma Norrstad Tickner
SecretaryBiography
Emma Norrstad Tickner
Emma Norrstad Tickner is a Sustainability Consultant, advising and supporting organizations and other actors with assignments related to environment, climate change, biological diversity and beyond. Before becoming a consultant, she held the position of Program Officer for the global portfolio on land rights and sustainable agriculture at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Earlier in her career, she worked and lived for many years in Mozambique, mainly with We Effect on issues of land rights, natural resource management and agriculture, but also at the Embassy of Sweden in Maputo as a controller. She holds a master’s degree in sustainable development.
Humberto Campodónico Sánchez
TreasurerBiography
Humberto Campodónico Sánchez
Humberto Campodónico Sánchez is an industrial engineer and has a Master in Economic Development at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University. He is currently working as a professor at the Faculty of Economics at the National University of San Marcos. He has been linked to the Center for Studies and Promotion of Development (DESCO) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as a researcher since 1984 and as a consultant in 2001 and 2002 respectively. In 2010 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Economics of the University San Marcos. Between July 2011 and December 2012 he served as chairman of Petroperu. Humberto has been working with RRI since 2013 in supporting the coalition in Peru, Latin America and globally. He has written books and scholar articles about privatization, the public sector, hydrocarbons, and state reforms.
Dr. Barbara Reynolds
MemberBiography
Dr. Barbara Reynolds
Dr. Barbara Reynolds is an Afro-descendant leader from Guyana, joins the RRI Board with over 30 years of experience in education, child protection, and human rights. Previously, she was the chief of education at Save the Children UK and a senior advisor for UNICEF. Currently, she is the vice president for administration, advancement and planning at the University of the Southern Caribbean and former chair of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. This is the first time that an Afro-descendant leader has been appointed as a member of the RRI Board.
Beverly “Sakongan” Litdog Longid
MemberBiography
Beverly “Sakongan” Litdog Longid
Beverly “Sakongan” Litdog Longid is an Indigenous Peoples’ rights advocate from the Igorot Bontok–Kankanaey community in the Philippines. She joins the Board with over 20 years of experience in Indigenous Peoples’ organizing, advocacy, and leadership at local, national, regional, and global levels. Previously, she served as the global coordinator of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation. She is currently the international solidarity officer of Katribu, and the chair of the executive council member of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP).
Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet
MemberBiography
Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet
Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet is an agronomist and social forester from rural Cameroon who specializes in women’s leadership. Her extensive experience includes work that addresses gender’s intersection with land tenure, climate change, and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+). She was recently named a Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action by the United Nations Environment Programme following three decades of advocacy for women’s land rights in Africa. Cameroon Ecology, an organization she co-founded in 2001, has restored over 600 hectares of degraded land and mangrove forest. In 2009, she founded the African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests (REFACOF), which encourages the representation of women’s interests in environmental policies across 20 African countries. Cécile was elected Climate Change Champion of the Central African Commission on Forests in 2012 and serves as a member of the advisory board of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Cindy Yohana
MemberBiography
Cindy Yohana
Cindy Yohana is the first ever youth leader to serve on the RRI Board. From the Wairasa Indigenous community on Sumba Island, Indonesia, Cindy has six years of experience in governance, leadership, and advocacy. She currently serves as a leader for Indigenous Youth of the Archipelago, where she supports organizing and network expansion. She is also the Indigenous Education Facilitator at AMAN.
Emily Kinama
MemberBiography
Emily Kinama
Emily Kinama is a human rights lawyer and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She is a litigation and research counsel at Katiba Institute, a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization based in Nairobi, Kenya. She undertakes public interest and strategic litigation cases for individuals and marginalized communities in Kenya. Over the years, Emily has built her expertise researching and litigating in domestic and regional courts on the rights of Indigenous and marginalized communities, land and environmental rights of communities, socioeconomic rights, and women’s rights. Before that, she worked as a judicial law clerk to the Supreme Court Judges of Kenya and the Constitutional Court of South Africa. She has an LLM (International Law) and an LLB Degree.
Jason Rasevych
MemberBiography
Jason Rasevych
Jason Rasevych is from Canada’s Ginoogaming First Nation, a Treaty #9 signatory in Northwestern Ontario. He joins RRI’s Board with over 20 years of global experience in leading Indigenous community development and corporate Indigenous relations strategies. In 2019, he co-founded the Anishnawbe Business Professional Association to advocate for the inclusion of Indigenous businesses in Canada’s economy. He currently serves as the Board Director of Waawoono Consultancy.
Kyle Whyte
MemberBiography
Kyle Whyte
Kyle Whyte is a Citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, a researcher of environmental justice for Indigenous Peoples, and a professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability. Kyle co-founded the Pathways Alliance for Change + Transformation (PACT), a strategic alliance of research organizations and academic allies that strengthens Indigenous-led solutions and self-determination. He served as a U.S. Science Envoy for the Biden Administration from 2023 to 2024, and on the Department of the Interior’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science from 2014 to 2017.
Mike Bryan
MemberBiography
Mike Bryan
Peter “Mike” Bryan is a seasoned financial executive with 40+ years of experience leading in the contract project sector worldwide. His experience ranges from small to large contractors across all United States government agencies and foreign project awards. He has been a Chief Financial Officer and Controller, leading small and large teams in competitive and difficult environments. In the last 10 years, he completed an LLC for successful and stressed/challenged companies related to audit issues, helped rebuild organizations, provided support and training for board members in financial matters and basic understanding, and surged support for close-downs or growth situations. Mike is a Virginia, US-based CPA.
Patrick Saidi Hemedi
MemberBiography
Patrick Saidi Hemedi
Patrick is the National Coordinator of the Dynamics of Indigenous Peoples Groups (DGPA in acronym) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a network of 45 Indigenous organizations and those working to secure the rights of Indigenous Peoples and improve recognition of their role in protecting forests. He has expertise in advocating for protecting the rights and culture of Indigenous Peoples at the national, regional, and international levels. Under his leadership, DGPA received the 2015 Equator Prize for its successful lobbying for a legal framework in the DRC that promotes and protects the rights of the Indigenous Pygmy Peoples. He also serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Network of Indigenous and Local Peoples for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems of the DRC (REPALEF-RDC/REPALEAC) and co-president of the DGM Mechanism in the DRC. Patrick holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Security and Global Warming.
Solange Bandiaky-Badji
MemberBiography
Solange Bandiaky-Badji
Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji is Coordinator of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). She also serves as President of the Rights and Resources Group, the nonprofit coordinating mechanism of the RRI Coalition based in Washington, D.C. Bandiaky-Badji previously led RRI’s strategy for engagement in Africa with a focus on tenure rights reform. She built synergies around new strategic analyses, giving local and global actors a more strategic understanding of trends, issues, options, and gender in Africa. She also spearheaded RRI’s Gender Justice thematic program, and ensured the implementation of a global gender strategy on women’s tenure rights. Before RRI, she was with PartnersGlobal, where she led programs on access to justice, security sector reform, and peace-building. She has also worked as a regional expert on gender and climate change for the Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) and the UNDP/ BDP Gender Team in New York. As Coordinator of RRI, Solange advises policy research, advocacy, and engagement in Asia, Latin America, and Africa and leads initiatives and networks to advance RRI’s mission. Bandiaky-Badji holds a PhD in Women’s and Gender Studies from Clark University, Massachusetts and an MA in Environmental Sciences and in Philosophy from Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal. She has published and contributed extensively to research in relation to natural resource management, decentralization, local forest tenure reforms, and women’s participation in climate solutions and peace-building.
To learn more about governance of the Rights and Resources Initiative, see the Memorandum of Understanding signed by all Partners and visit our institutional information page.