Courtney Desilet is a nationally recognized survivor leader and public safety executive with nearly 20 years of experience addressing human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, and domestic violence. She brings a uniquely multidisciplinary background at the intersection of law enforcement investigations, national nonprofit leadership, and survivor-informed advocacy, shaping systems that protect the most vulnerable.

A former law-enforcement investigator and award-winning manager within the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Courtney supported large-scale child-protection operations, strengthened cross-sector collaboration, and helped advance victim-centered responses to emerging forms of exploitation—including technology-facilitated abuse. Her leadership has earned recognition for elevating operational excellence, trauma-informed practice, and multidisciplinary coordination.

As a published author and strategist, Courtney’s work focuses on improving outcomes for survivors through policy reform, innovation, and collaborative, systems-level solutions. She advises organizations, trains national partners, and contributes to legislative efforts that enhance prevention, response, and accountability.

Grounded in her guiding principle of turning trauma into purpose, Courtney champions survivor voice, resilience, and dignity at every level of change. Her lived experience not only informs her professional expertise—it fuels her commitment to building a world where exploitation is disrupted, communities are equipped, and survivors can thrive.

Candace Parrott is a subject matter expert in human trafficking who works directly with survivors. She is also a life coach, public speaker, and social entrepreneur dedicated to empowering at-risk youth, trauma survivors, and individuals seeking a fresh start. She serves as Chief Engagement Officer at Araminta, supporting survivors of human trafficking, and is the Founder of Freshwaters Inc., an organization offering a fresh start with life coaching, financial literacy, and personal development programs.

Candance co-chairs the Public Awareness Committee for the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force. Her former advocacy includes volunteer work as a CASA for foster youth and a Victim Assistance Advocate, and she is the former President of the Maryland Association of Victim Service Providers.

Rachel Taylor is the Domestic Violence Coordinated Response Analyst with the Prince William County Office of Community Safety, where she works to strengthen the community’s response to domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking. She brings over a decade of hands-on experience working with both traffickers and survivors of exploitation.

Rachel began her career with the Virginia Probation and Parole, where she spent nearly ten years supervising a team responsible for monitoring felony sexual offenders in Prince William County, including individuals connected to human trafficking. This role gave her direct insight into offender behavior, risk, and accountability.

She later served as the Director of Sexual Assault Services at ACTS, a nonprofit organization in Prince William County, where she worked closely with survivors of sexual violence, trafficking, and exploitation.

Rachel has been actively involved in the Greater Prince William Human Trafficking Taskforce throughout her career and has led the effort since 2022 as co-chair. Her work focuses on strengthening collaboration across systems, improving how victims are identified and supported, and building more effective, coordinated responses to trafficking.

An alumni of GMU, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology, with a concentration in Law and Society and minors in both Psychology and Sociology.

Nathan Whiteman joined the Human Trafficking Institute as the Law Enforcement Advisor in October 2024. In this capacity, Nathan collaborates with HTI’s Special Counsels to deliver strategic training for law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and key stakeholders on recognizing human trafficking indicators and implementing evidence-based investigative and prosecutorial best practices.

Nathan Whiteman joined the Human Trafficking Institute as the Law Enforcement Advisor in October 2024. In this capacity, Nathan collaborates with HTI’s Special Counsels to deliver strategic training for law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and key stakeholders on recognizing human trafficking indicators and implementing evidence-based investigative and prosecutorial best practices.

Nathan has significantly contributed to the fields of humantrafficking, online child exploitation, missing/abducted children, and criminal profiling. For twenty years, Nathan proudly served as a Special Agent with the FBI in Atlanta, Georgia, was a Team Leader for the FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Team, and served as a profiler in the esteemed Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) in Quantico, Virginia. During his tenure in Atlanta, Nathan investigated hundreds of human trafficking cases and worked closely with state and federal prosecutors across the United States to bring traffickers to justice. From 2007 to 2019, Nathan led the Metro Atlanta Child Exploitation (MATCH) Task Force, the FBI’s largest child exploitation/human trafficking task force. Nathan empowered local departments to collaborate and develop strong interagency partnerships, while mentoring task force officers in implementing best practices for human trafficking investigations. As a criminal profiler with the BAU, Nathan focused on cases involving human trafficking, serial homicides/sexual assaults, missing children, and severe child physical/sexual abuse. Additionally, Nathan has trained thousands of criminal justice and social service professionals across North, Central, and South America.

Nathan holds a Bachelor of Science in Spanish Education and a Master of Arts in Spanish from Millersville University of Pennsylvania.

Hollie Nadel is a business owner and survivor-leader in the anti-trafficking movement with expertise in operations, human resources, policy, public speaking, and anti–money laundering. Her work is rooted in lived experience and focuses on advancing survivor-centered, bipartisan protections and justice through cross-sector collaboration.

She has spoken for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, congressional briefings, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, and the National Governors Association. A 2025 Pembrook Fellow, Hollie partnered with the Human Trafficking Legal Center to expand survivor leadership initiatives. She holds an ACAMS (Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists) certification and continues to advance bipartisan, and survivor-centered anti-trafficking policy in her efforts at 3Strands Global Foundation.

Jean Bruggeman is the Co-Executive Director of Freedom Network USA (FNUSA), the nation’s largest alliance of survivors, social and legal service providers, academics, and advocates working to transform the human trafficking movement in the US.

FNUSA mobilizes its collective strength to build a transformative approach to human trafficking that is grounded in anti-racism and anti-oppression through field-building, training and technical assistance, and policy work. Jean served as a Human Trafficking Fellow with the Office for Victims of Crime within the US Department of Justice from 2012-2015. She provided leadership in the development of the Federal Strategic Action Plan for Services to Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States, the first OVC Human Trafficking Survivor Forum, and the OVC video series, “The Faces of Human Trafficking.” Jean has over 25 years of victim services experience and expertise in nonprofit management, language access, immigration, human trafficking and domestic violence. She has developed comprehensive legal and social services programs for survivors, provided direct legal representation to survivors, authored training resources, and developed an interpreter service to ensure access to legal services in the District of Columbia. She is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and Bryn Mawr College, and is a member of the DC and Maryland (inactive) bar associations. BD

Hollie Nadel is a business owner and survivor-leader in the anti-trafficking movement with expertise in operations, human resources, policy, public speaking, and anti–money laundering. Her work is rooted in lived experience and focuses on advancing survivor-centered, bipartisan protections and justice through cross-sector collaboration.

She has spoken for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, congressional briefings, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, and the National Governors Association. A 2025 Pembrook Fellow, Hollie partnered with the Human Trafficking Legal Center to expand survivor leadership initiatives. She holds an ACAMS (Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists) certification and continues to advance bipartisan, and survivor-centered anti-trafficking policy in her efforts at 3Strands Global Foundation.

Paola Echave, PhD, is a senior research associate in the Tax and Income Supports Division at the Urban Institute and an adjunct faculty member at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at George Mason University. Her areas of expertise include immigration and health. She has extensive training in quantitative and qualitative methods and experience using and designing large-scale social science and demographic surveys. Some of her more recent research focuses on the role of immigration enforcement on the health, economic, and social well-being of brown, Black, and immigrant communities. She is currently the project manager of the Annual Survey of Refugees for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is also the project manager of a study on preventing labor trafficking in Mexico, which is part of the Program to End Modern Slavery for the U.S. Department of State. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and has been featured in many media outlets, including DC New Now, ScienceDaily, Ohio State News, Fox 8 News, Chicago Tribune, and international outlets, such as The UK Times.

Before joining the Urban Institute and GMU, Echave worked as a research assistant at The Ohio State University where she conducted research and published work on the role of obesity on the risk of mortality and trends of specific health outcomes across birth cohorts in the U.S. Echave also worked for community re-entry programs in New Mexico and assisted Victims’ Advocates with translation and interpretation services for victims and witnesses. Echave holds a doctorate in sociology from the Ohio State University, master’s degrees in sociology from the same university and BA in criminology from the University of New Mexico.

Austyn (pronouns: she/they) is the Advocacy Coordinator for the Centreville Labor Resource Center. Having graduated from George Mason in May of 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and a minor in Spanish, Austyn brings an academic and research forward mindset to her work. Having dedicated most of her life and academic career to the study of human trafficking and exploitation, she has a particular passion in making sure people are not only treated fairly but that they have a support system they can rely on.

Although Austyn did not have much knowledge on the immigrant community before joining, she is excited to learn from the community and the CLRC members. Continuing to learn more about the cultures, languages, and experiences of others guides her in her work and allows her to be better equipped to help those around her in whatever way is needed.

Outside of work, Austyn spends time with her friends and family and she loves travelling. When she is not at home, she can be found driving down backroads and side streets, exploring without an endpoint in mind. As an avid Dungeons and Dragons player, she loves to spend her time solving puzzles and going on adventures, learning more about herself along the way.

Kira Finifrock (pronouns: she/her) attended the University of Dubuque where she graduated with a Bachelor of Art in both Communication and Sociology. Kira served as the president of their anti-human trafficking organization, connecting with professionals within the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and singlehandedly leading the communications work of the Tri-State Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Following, she attended Virginia Commonwealth University where she received a Master of Clinical Social Work along with a Graduate Certificate in Gender-based Violence Intervention.

Kira currently serves as a Victim Services Advocate within a hospital-based forensics team entitled the Violence Response Team. In this role, Kira accompanies survivors of violence presenting to emergency departments across the Greater Richmond Region, including, but not limited to: human trafficking, sexual assault, intimate partner violence and child exploitation. Kira provides crisis intervention and wrap-around ongoing care to survivors for long after they leave the hospital doors. Kira also serves as co-chair of the Violence Response Team’s documentation and education committee, furthering best practices and policy within the department.

Kira’s additional professional experience includes Safe Harbor, Highland Support Project, Dubuque Y Victim Services Shelter, Assisting Families of Inmates’ Children’s Program, and working as a special needs aide. Kira contributes to a plethora of multi-disciplinary teams dedicated to collaborative change, including the Chesterfield Domestic Violence Task Force, the Hanover Sexual Assault Response Team, and the Richmond Regional Human Trafficking Task Force. Her previous research focuses on best practices for serving trafficking survivors, best practices for serving those unhoused, and the intersection between intimate partner violence and substance use. Kira also serves on the communications subcommittee for the Virginia Coalition Against Human Trafficking and is a Qualified Mental Health Professional. Kira is dedicated to ethical, effective, and authentic intervention with human trafficking survivors, valuing the input of survivors above all else and believing firmly in the power of being present.

Ariel Ward attended Clemson University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology. Following, she attended the Medical University of South Carolina and received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In 2015 she started working for the Inova Ewing Forensic Assessment and Consultation Team (FACT) as a Forensic Nurse Examiner.

She has held various roles in the department as Nurse Educator, Manager, and now Director. She has worked closely with patients who have experienced domestic and sexual abuse, testified in court as an expert witness, educated team members and community partners, and worked closely with partner agencies participating in multidisciplinary team and sexual assault response team meetings across Northern Virginia as well as appointed positions for the state

Christina Ferris has been a prosecutor for nineteen years and currently serves on the Special Victims Division, focusing on a variety of offenses, including human trafficking, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and domestic violence. Christina earned her undergraduate degree from George Mason University and her Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School. Throughout her career, she has taken a trauma-informed and victim-centered approach, working closely with law enforcement and community partners to hold offenders accountable while supporting survivors.

Dr. Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco is a criminologist and nationally recognized expert on human trafficking, with extensive experience as an expert witness in criminal and civil litigation across the United States. Her work focuses on the empirical study of trafficking, commercial sex markets, and the intersection of law, policy, and victim identification. She has been retained in numerous high-profile cases and has provided expert analysis in jurisdictions nationwide, contributing to both prosecution and defense efforts involving complex trafficking allegations.

Dr. Mehlman-Orozco is known for her rigorous, evidence-based approach and her critical examination of commonly accepted practices in the anti-trafficking field. Her scholarship and expert testimony often address the limitations of so-called “best practices,” the challenges of identifying trafficking victims in real-world settings, and the risk of relying on unvalidated indicators. She has served as a contributor to national policy discussions and has been invited to participate in professional forums addressing law enforcement practices, victim services, and systemic responses to trafficking.

In addition to her litigation work, Dr. Mehlman-Orozco writes and speaks extensively on issues related to trafficking, criminal justice reform, and the misuse of trafficking statutes. Her work emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between evidence-based practices and speculative approaches, and she is widely recognized for bringing methodological rigor and clarity to a field often shaped by anecdote.

Rob Bowen is a Fire and EMS Battalion Chief with the Arlington County Fire Department. He earned his Master of Public Administration from GMU’s Schar School. He has served Arlington County as a fire fighter, advanced paramedic, and rescue specialist for the past 26 years. During his career, he responded to the Pentagon on 9/11, served on a global disaster response team at the Battle for Mosul, treating Iraqis fighting and fleeing ISIS, and worked as a flight paramedic for Children's National Medical Center. He previously served as Arlington’s Community Risk Reduction Program Manager where he identified opportunities to improve community resiliency through collaborative efforts with other agencies, non-profits, and local champions.

After leaving his community risk reduction role, he maintained leadership of two programs he is most passionate about, youth firesetting prevention and intervention, and anti-human trafficking. He co-chairs the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Collaborative, which is a multi-disciplinary team that started just over a year ago with a paramedic and a detective and now has over 90 members charged with identifying regional solutions to give human trafficking survivors opportunities for independence.