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CODEPINK's Speakers Bureau

We are never as knowledgeable individually as we are together. Please see our team of speakers covering all our campaign issues and more.


Ann Wright

Areas of expertise:
- Afghanistan
- Call to Disarm (weapons manufacturer stocks)
– Ukraine
- War Is Not Green (climate and militarism)

Ann Wright is a 29 year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December 2001 she was on the small team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book "Dissent: Voices of Conscience."

Contact: [email protected]


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Koohan Paik-Mander

Areas of expertise:
War Is Not Green (climate and militarism)
- Call to Disarm (weapons manufacturer stocks)

Koohan Paik-Mander is a Member of the Board of Directors of World BEYOND War. She is also a board member of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, is part of the CODEPINK working group “China is Not Our Enemy,” and is on the advisory committee of the Global Just Transition project at Foreign Policy in Focus. She formerly served as campaign director of the Asia-Pacific program at the International Forum on Globalization.

She is co-author of The Superferry Chronicles: Hawaii’s Uprising Against Militarism, Commercialism and the Desecration of the Earth, and has written on militarism in the Asia-Pacific for The Nation, The Progressive, Foreign Policy in Focus, and other publications.

Contact: [email protected]


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Danaka Katovich

Areas of expertise:
Saudi Arabia and Yemen
- Palestine
- Call to Disarm 
- Divest (weapons manufacturer stocks)
- Ground the Drones (U.S. drone program)

Danaka graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor's degree in Political Science in November 2020. Since 2018 she has been working towards ending US participation in the war in Yemen. At CODEPINK she works on youth outreach as a facilitator of the Peace Collective, CODEPINK's youth cohort that focuses on anti-imperialist education and divestment.

Contact: [email protected]


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Jodie Evans

Areas of expertise:
China
- Feminist Foreign Policy
- Local Peace Economy

Jodie is co-founder and board member of CODEPINK and has been a peace, environmental, women’s rights and social justice activist for fifty years. She has traveled extensively to war zones promoting and learning about peaceful resolution to conflict. She works locally to have governments, universities, churches and pension funds divest from war and to cultivate local peace economies through engagement with those who have felt the violence of the war economy locally and who have the vision for the future humanity and the planet need.

Contact: [email protected]


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Medea Benjamin

Areas of expertise
- Afghanistan
- Cuba
- Iran
- Latin America
- Ukraine

Medea is a co-founder of CODEPINK and the fair trade advocacy group Global Exchange. She has been an anti-war activist for several decades and is the author of various books including Drone Warfare and Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.–Saudi Connection. In 2012, Medea was awarded the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation’s Peace Prize; she is also the recipient of the 2014 Gandhi Peace Award and the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize from the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Contact: [email protected]


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Nancy L. Mancias

Areas of expertise
- BlackRock
- Divest (weapons manufacturer stocks)
- Ground the Drones (U.S. drone program)
- War is Not Green (climate and militarism)
- Iraqi Kurdistan

Nancy has worked for over 15 years in the non-profit sector, focusing on social services, social justice, and theater. She is CODEPINK's coordinator for its War if Not Green campaign and a doctoral student in Anthropology and Social Change at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Nancy she holds an MBA from Dominican University of California and a BA in Drama from San Francisco State University.

Contact: [email protected]


Marcy Winograd

Areas of expertise:
- Call to Disarm (Nuclear Proliferation and Disarmament)
- Cut The Pentagon (NDAA, military spending)
- Ukraine/Russia/NATO
- Militarism/Climate Crisis 

Marcy is a long-time anti-war activist and has served as a 2020 DNC delegate to Bernie Sanders and co-chairs the foreign policy team for Progressive Democrats of America. A member of Veterans for Peace’s Climate Crisis and Militarism Project, Marcy’s activism began in high school when she marched against the Vietnam War and later joined the defense team of Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. A retired English and government teacher. At CODEPINK, Marcy coordinates CODEPINK Congress and serves on the steering committee for the Peace in Ukraine Coalition. Marcy blogs about militarism and foreign policy. Her writings are featured in San Jose Mercury News, Antiwar.com, Responsible Statecraft. Presenza, CommonDreams, CounterPunch, and more. 

Contact: [email protected]

 


Michelle Ellner

Areas of expertise:
- Latin America
- Venezuela

Michelle was born in Venezuela and holds a bachelor’s degree in languages and international affairs from the University La Sorbonne Paris IV, in Paris. After graduating, she worked for an international scholarship program in Caracas and Paris and was sent to Haiti, Cuba, The Gambia. Subsequently, she worked with community based programs designed to promote productive endeavors in Venezuela and then served as an analyst of U.S.-Venezuela relations. Michelle is a Latin America campaign coordinator at CODEPINK.

Contact: [email protected]


Grace Siegelman

Areas of expertise:
- Feminist Foreign Policy
- Prison and police abolition

– Intersection of abolition and divestment
- Transnational feminisms 

Grace is a Women's and Gender Studies graduate student at DePaul University. Her organizing and research focus on prison and police abolition, gendered violence and anti-war efforts. She is CODEPINK's Feminist Foreign Policy coordinator.

Contact: [email protected]


Tim Biondo

Area of expertise:
- Digital media management in movement work

Tim holds a bachelor’s degree in Peace Studies from The George Washington University. Their studies centered around critically understanding questions of peace, justice, power, and empire. As a student, they organized against war, imperialism, and settler colonialism through political education, protest, art, and writing. Tim is CODEPINK’s digital media manager.

Contact: [email protected]


Nour Jaghama

Areas of expertise:
- Palestine
- Iran

Nour graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies in June 2022 and has been a passionate advocate for Palestinian liberation for over 5 years. Her extensive experience includes organizing within her university and addressing related issues, such as abolition. She has also contributed thought-provoking articles to Jacobin and Common Dreams, where she eloquently discusses the US Supreme Court's prioritization of Israel's interests over the First Amendment and the challenges of democracy coexisting with apartheid.

Contact: [email protected]


Jasmine Butler

Area of expertise:
- Antiwar Organizing and Movement Work

Jasmine is a captivating Black queer writer, cultural worker, and afrofuturist-abolitionist who specializes in collective liberation through mutual care and education. As a seasoned network weaver, educator, historian, and archivist, Jasmine brings a unique blend of principles and experience to the forefront. With a deep commitment to fostering meaningful change, Jasmine's journey is marked by their dedication to dismantling barriers and building bridges. Having earned a B.A. in Geography from Dartmouth College in 2021, Jasmine combines academic insight with grassroots wisdom, offering a dynamic perspective on the intersection of geography, culture, and activism.

Contact: [email protected]