About Us
Our Mission
The Human Trafficking Institute exists to decimate modern slavery at its source by empowering police and prosecutors to stop traffickers. Working inside criminal justice systems, the Institute provides the embedded experts, world-class training, investigative resources, and evidence-based research necessary to free victims.
Our Model
We implement a proven 3-part model designed to decimate trafficking at its source by stopping traffickers and preventing them from exploiting more victims. The elements of the model provide prosecutors and law enforcement with the tools and expertise to decimate trafficking in their home country.
Our Model Includes:

Specialized Teams

Targeted Trainings

Embedded Experts
Our Impact
We established formal agreements with our first two Partner Countries in 2017. Our Staff, a mix of ex-pats and nationals, implement the proven model with the Departments of Public Prosecution. Last year, we assisted investigators and prosecutors in Partner Countries in
Protecting 918 victims who can receive proper services and care to rebuild their lives.
Charging 633 suspected traffickers, preventing them from exploiting more people.
Training 1,085 officials who then take their skills to communities to stop traffickers.
Our Leadership

Victor Boutros
Victor is the CEO and co-founder of the Human Trafficking Institute. Before launching HTI, he served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and trained law enforcement from different parts of the world on how to investigate and prosecute human trafficking. He is co-author with Gary Haugen of The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence (Oxford Press). In 2016, Victor and Gary received the Grawemeyer Prize for Ideas Impacting World Order, awarded annually to the authors of one book based on originality, feasibility and potential impact. Victor is a graduate of Baylor University, Harvard University, Oxford University, and the University of Chicago Law School.

John Freeman
At HTI, John is responsible for all aspects of HTI activities related to law enforcement. He directs efforts to build, enhance, and sustain specialized investigators wherever the Institute has impact and beyond. He manages focused training and mentoring for partners and facilitates cooperative efforts across a wide spectrum. John, a retired special agent with the Diplomatic Security Service – U.S. Department of State, rose through domestic and international postings culminating as the first DSS Human Trafficking Investigations Coordinator. He represented both his bureau and department in formulating national policy, expanding interagency task forces, and developing specialized anti-trafficking training. He simultaneously directed HT investigations, including victim interviews, coordinated multi-leveled responses for highly visible, highly sensitive cases, and supported numerous successful federal prosecutions. In 2019, he was named as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the annual United Nations Convention Against Transnational Crime’s (UNTOC) Working Group on Trafficking in Persons. Prior to his federal service, John was a U.S. Army paratrooper for eight years and earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of the State of New York – Excelsior College in 1997.

Kim Thompson
DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT
Kim leads the HTI Advancement team in its work to strategically communicate the mission and vision of the organization to develop key funding relations and opportunities for sustainable financial growth. Kim has more than 28 years of experience in fundraising, where she has developed meaningful relationships with individual donors and foundation partners—connecting their passions to the work of the organization. By providing strategic and intentional opportunities for donors to engage with the work of HTI, individuals are excited to partner with HTI to impact the mission of the organization. Kim’s past work includes serving as Vice President of Development and Marketing at Cho-Yeh Camp and Conference Center for 22 years, serving as a Director of Development for the Southern Division of Young Life, and most recently as the Vice President of Development for Fuller Seminary. Kim is a Certified Fundraising Executive.

Donna Hamilton
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND OPERATIONS
At HTI, Donna leads and oversees the Finance, Human Resources, and the IT functions. She is a strategic leader and plays a critical role on the senior leadership team. Donna has worked for the past 28 years in the nonprofit area with both The American Red Cross and March of Dimes. Donna has a proven success in managing entire accounting operations, evaluating existing systems and procedures, defining financial and operational controls and generating business strategies. One of her great accomplishments is in building successful teams with a key focus on streamlining processes. She earned her BS degree in Accounting from Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire and Saint Leo University in Florida.

Marie Martinez Israelite
DIRECTOR OF VICTIM SERVICES
Marie leads HTI’s efforts to implement trauma-informed, survivor-centered approaches in our work with trafficking victims. She also serves as the primary liaison with leaders in the victim services and survivor leadership communities and ensures that HTI’s efforts are informed by best practices and insights of those with lived experience. Marie has twenty years of experience in advocating for victims of crime, training criminal justice professionals, and developing national and international victim assistance programs. Prior to joining HTI, Marie worked at ICF, where she facilitated the work of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking and developed training related to trauma for U.S. government agencies engaged in anti-trafficking work. She led the development of the Department of Justice’s first grant program for human trafficking victim services. She was also the Section Chief of the Victim Assistance Program at the Department of Homeland Security, where she directed victim assistance operations and supervised programmatic areas in response to victims of child exploitation, human trafficking, white collar crime, and human rights abuse. Marie has a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania.

Annick Febrey
DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE RELATIONS
Annick serves as a bridge between HTI’s work and the U.S. government. In particular, she works with members of Congress and other U.S. government leaders to help shape anti-trafficking policy and priorities, as well as through partnership with key nonprofit allies such as the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) coalition. She also works with corporations to explore opportunities for collaboration and partnership with HTI in the U.S. and in our partner countries. She previously worked for Human Rights First as senior associate for their anti-trafficking campaign, leading their advocacy efforts directed at disrupting the business of human trafficking. During her tenure, Annick testified before Congress and has been quoted in numerous print and online news sources. Before joining Human Rights First, her past work included Oxfam America and International Justice Mission where she advocated for policies to make U.S. foreign assistance more transparent and accountable and campaigned for more effective U.S. anti-human trafficking policies abroad. Earlier in her career, Annick worked for the White House Fellows Program following nearly two years mobilizing grassroots constituencies for a Presidential campaign. She began her career working for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Annick received a B.A. in policy studies from Dickinson College.

Brianna Gehring
DIRECTOR OF GRANTS AND PARTNERSHIPS
Brianna provides strategic leadership and operational management for HTI’s portfolio of grants and leads the HTI’s work in developing partnerships with intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, government agencies, and other partners to expand HTI’s collaboration globally to combat human trafficking. Brianna has over a decade of experience in the anti-trafficking field, leading teams in the design and implementation of programs that have measurably reduced trafficking and sustainably improved protection for vulnerable populations. Brianna previously worked at International Justice Mission, where she served alongside teams in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe to implement programs combatting online sexual exploitation of children, labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and other forms of violence. She has spent time living and working in Cambodia at an aftercare center for survivors of child sex trafficking, has provided technical assistance to UNHCR in improving processes to identify victims of trafficking, and has trained and supported NGO teams and government partners all around the world in protecting the vulnerable from violence. Brianna has a master’s degree in Development Management and Human Rights from American University’s School of International Service. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two children.
Our Board

Eric Ha
Eric Ha serves as the Institute’s Board Chair and is International Justice Missions’s Chief People Officer & General Counsel and leads the support functions that are principally responsible for the scale, development, care, and protection of IJM’s people and culture. He additionally oversees the global organization’s legal affairs, corporate governance, and enterprise risk management. Eric also serves as legal counsel and Corporate Secretary to the IJM Global Board of Directors.
Eric previously spent nearly a decade at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago, where he managed large-scale commercial litigation, provided regulatory and strategic counseling, and conducted internal compliance investigations for major corporate clients. Prior to joining Sidley, Eric served as Advisory Counsel in IJM’s Chennai field office, where he provided training for the Indian legal teams and worked on cases to rescue victims of forced labor slavery. He also taught constitutional law at the University of Miami School of Law and served as a federal law clerk to the Honorable Jorge A. Solis, Chief Judge of the Northern District of Texas.
Eric earned a BA with honors from the University of Texas at Austin and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a Public Interest Law Initiative Fellow. He lives in northern Virginia with his wife and three children.

Victor Boutros
BOARD MEMBER
Victor is the CEO and co-founder of the Human Trafficking Institute. Before launching HTI, he served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and trained law enforcement from different parts of the world on how to investigate and prosecute human trafficking. He is co-author with Gary Haugen of The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence (Oxford Press). In 2016, Victor and Gary received the Grawemeyer Prize for Ideas Impacting World Order, awarded annually to the authors of one book based on originality, feasibility, and potential impact. Victor is a graduate of Baylor University, Harvard University, Oxford University, and the University of Chicago Law School. Click here to download a complete bio.

Lenny Moon
BOARD TREASURER & SECRETARY
Lenny currently serves as the Institute’s Board Treasurer and is CEO of a travel rewards technology company. Throughout his career, he has focused on FinTech, start-ups, M&A, and turnarounds and enjoys bringing strategic vision, financial clarity, and operational execution to companies.
Prior to his current role as CEO, and his various roles as a CFO, Lenny worked on Wall Street for several years as an M&A investment banker in both New York City and Los Angeles, at Bear Stearns and Lazard Freres. As an investment banker, he advised primarily large publicly-traded corporations and private equity firms on strategic and financial matters and has structured and executed complex M&A, debt, and equity transactions across a variety of sectors. Lenny also has several years of start-up and venture capital experience, including having been part of the core founding team that launched a Softbank-funded technology firm in Korea.
Lenny received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his MBA from Columbia Business School. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children.

Caroline Stevens
BOARD MEMBER
Caroline Stevens currently works as an investor at a Dallas-based private investment firm, MPK Equity Partners, that partners with entrepreneurs and executives to invest in and acquire growing, profitable, category-leading companies.Prior to joining MPK, Caroline was an investor at Insight Equity, a middle market private equity firm that makes control investments in businesses across industries, with a focus on asset intensive, manufacturing-dependent companies. Caroline spent the first five years of her career at The Boston Consulting Group, advising leading management teams on strategy and operational improvement. While at BCG, Caroline created digital marketing strategies for Consumer and Retail businesses, analyzed franchisee unit-level economics, wrote a turn-around strategy for an Automotive company prior to its Initial Public Offering, advised a non-profit board on its CEO succession, and more. Caroline received a B.B.A. in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin, graduating from the Canfield Business Honors Program.

Stewart Bertron
BOARD MEMBER

Ted Haddock
Ted Haddock serves as Executive Director for the Edward E. Haddock Jr. Family Foundation. The foundation works to advance restorative relationships between people and planet through human dignity and environmental stewardship.
Ted established Common Pictures, a filmmaking arm of the foundation to engage pressing social issues in a challenging and constructive manner. He served as lead producer for Long Time Coming: A 1955 Baseball Story that shares the journey of two men who participated in the first racially integrated Little League game in the South and what it means today.
Ted also established Trust Foundation to address natural preservation and endangered species; The Foundation Hub, a collaborative work space for nonprofits in Orlando; Kaley Square, an asset-based community development organization in a distressed community of Orlando; Friends of Tinker Field Foundation promoting Orlando’s civil rights history as a catalyst for community development; and Orlando Together, a multiethnic effort to undermine legacies of racial segregation in the city of Orlando. Ted serves on the board of The Nature Conservancy–Florida Chapter, Institute for Sport and Social Justice, the Human Trafficking Institute and on the Advisory Board for National Christian Foundation Orlando. Ted spent 10 years as Director of Photography for International Justice Mission based in Washington, D.C., where he provided a global voice for survivors of human rights abuses and helped brand the organization in its formative years.
Ted received his MFA in Photography from Indiana University (2001) and his BA from Furman University (1996). He has served as Editorial Assistant at Magnum Photos in New York and taught undergraduate courses at Indiana University. Ted and his wife Kellie live in Orlando and are the proud parents of three children.
Join Our Team
Head over to the Careers and Internships page to see current open positions at HTI.