Brandee M. Butler is the Fund’s Deputy CEO. She oversees the Fund’s operations in pursuit of its mission to provide resources and support to frontline human rights activists and movements. Previously, she served as a division director at the Open Society Initiative for Europe, leading the Civil Liberties Division.

Brandee has over 20 years of experience working with international foundations, civil society organizations, and the private sector to promote human rights. She has served in leadership and grantmaking positions, supporting human rights funding at the C&A (now Laudes) Foundation in Amsterdam and Levi Strauss & Co. in Brussels. Earlier in her career, Brandee received the Yale Law School Bernstein Fellowship for International Human Rights to combat child trafficking in Gabon. She later practiced law at the Alliance for Children’s Rights in Los Angeles and specialized in international justice as a program officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Brandee has published articles on civic space, structural racism, modern slavery, gender-based violence, and supply chain transparency. She currently serves on the boards of Just Associates (JASS) and Ariadne, a network of European social justice funders. She received a BA with honors from Harvard University and a JD from Yale Law School. She is currently based in Barcelona.

Tracey was previously the Director of Resources at War Child UK (WCUK) and had oversight of the resources departments (Finance, HR, IT, Audit & Compliance, Governance), working collaboratively with all teams to establish, maintain and measure best practice operational standards, to ensure that programmatic support is in alignment with WCUK’s strategic plan and operational vision.

Before joining WCUK, Tracey was based in Senegal working with Helen Keller International, as the Africa Regional Director of Operations, working across 13 countries to establish stronger operational units and organizational systems. Prior to this Tracey worked for Save the Children in Sudan and Indonesia, two of their largest complex country offices managing finance and operational units in emergency settings.

Tracey has also worked in several other sub-Saharan African countries and in London for different international NGOs in the development, emergency and peacebuilding arenas where she has built up extensive experience through strategic and operational roles across the operations portfolio. Prior to working in international development, Tracey worked in senior finance and operational positions within the UK civil service. Tracey is also a Trustee for Lambeth and Southwark MIND (mental health charity).

“Supporting frontline human rights activists on their own terms isn’t only the right thing to do, it’s the best way we can enable deep and lasting social change.”

David B Mattingly is the Fund’s vice president for programs. He leads an international team of activist grant-makers to resource human rights movements and build stronger, more sustainable human rights organizations. Since joining the Fund in 2005 as one of its first program officers, David helped shape the Fund’s signature model of supporting frontline activists on their own terms and providing the funding and technical support that can boost their success. Prior to assuming leadership of the programs team, he built grants portfolios for rights groups based in Latin America, North Africa, and West Africa; coordinated an initiative to strengthen the capacity of Mexican activists to promote public policies that expand human rights protections; and developed the Fund’s grant-making strategy to challenge rights abuses related to sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. After earning a BA in International Development from American University, David monitored human rights in indigenous communities in Chiapas, Mexico. Prior to joining the Fund, he worked at the Moriah Fund, where he helped manage grant-making programs promoting indigenous rights, environmental protection, and women’s and reproductive rights in Central America, the US, and globally. David is particularly passionate about land and resource rights and climate justice and serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Center for International Environmental Law.

“I believe all people should have a voice in how they are governed. That is why I’m a human rights activist. I also believe that social justice organizations should embrace the same values they preach to others. That is why I work at the Fund—because it does.”

Rona Peligal is the Fund’s vice president for development and communications. She joined the Fund in July 2017, bringing a unique set of skills: knowledge of human rights issues, fundraising experience, and the ability to create materials and messages to promote the human rights cause. Prior to joining the Fund, Rona served for two years as vice president for development at American Jewish World Service (AJWS) where, as a member of the Executive Team, she oversaw a transition in AJWS’s fundraising model, helped build the Board, and launched an $18 million reserve fund. From 1999 to 2015, Rona worked at Human Rights Watch (HRW) in two main capacities. For the first nine years, Rona served as deputy director of development and outreach, where she was responsible for raising approximately one-third of HRW’s revenue from foundations and program-specific donors. For the latter six years, Rona was a deputy director of the Africa division. In that capacity, she oversaw HRW’s work on Nigeria, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, among other countries. In 2014, Rona authored an HRW report that investigated human rights abuses connected with iron ore mining in Sierra Leone. She has also contributed to HRW reports on LGBTQ rights and women’s rights. Rona has a PhD in African history from Columbia University, where she also specialized in women’s history. Rona speaks French and Swahili.