Vanessa oversees the Kawari Fund, a source of finance to Indigenous Peoples and local communities seeking to advance their rights in the context of jurisdictional forest carbon finance initiatives.

For over 25 years Vanessa has worked for governments, public institutions, the private sector, non-profits, and philanthropy. She focuses on the nexus between self-determination, human rights, environmental protection, and climate finance. An experienced litigator, Vanessa has defended the land and resource rights of Indigenous Peoples domestically and internationally, and she has advanced arbitrations in the Hague and in London. Vanessa’s many accomplishments include drafting Indigenous Peoples’ standards and guidance notes for the UNDP and the Accountability Framework Initiative for sustainable supply chains, as well as a grievance mechanism for the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA); she has also negotiated resource contracts and secession agreements in South Sudan; advised governments on constitutional drafting in South Sudan and Iraq; and led a 10-million-dollar sovereign debt campaign for Open Society Foundations.

Through her employment with institutions ranging from Human Rights Watch and Forest Peoples Program, to the UNDP, the HCSA, Skadden Arps , Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP and Open Society Foundations, Vanessa has experience in comparative constitutional practices; grievance mechanism development and use; negotiating, drafting, and implementing peace agreements, post-conflict constitutions, and domestic and international human rights instruments; contracting in the oil sector; Indigenous and minority rights; international investment and human rights litigation and arbitration; constitutionalism; the practices and obligations of international organizations and financial institutions; good governance; multi-stakeholder participation; corporate social responsibility, and the social and environmental standards applicable to land use projects and forest carbon initiatives.

Vanessa lives in the US with her husband, loves to bike, paint, and maximize time with her many nieces and nephews.