Who we are

Deborah Stark Sigmund
Ms. Deborah Sigmund is the Founder and Director of Innocents at Risk, a non-profit, founded in April 2006, to help stop the trafficking of women and children. The United States Department of State has endorsed the organization’s efforts on behalf of the three million women and children who are trafficked annually worldwide.

Ms. Sigmund is currently President of the CMW Group, an international consulting firm specializing in Latin America. She also serves on the board of the U.S. Mexico Chamber of Commerce.

Along with her professional accomplishments, Ms. Sigmund is well-known in the Washington area for her work on behalf of charitable organizations such as Knock Out Abuse, Second Genesis and Arts for the Aging. Ms. Sigmund has held leadership positions in several prominent charitable organizations. She was on the Golden Circle for the Kennedy Center for the Arts from 1993-2005. She is currently on the boards of: The Washington Ballet and Second Genesis. She is active in activities at her church, Christ Episcopal Church of Georgetown. She is a member of the Capitol Speakers Club.

The Reverend Stuart Kenworthy
The Rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.  Recently, he served nine months in Iraq as Chaplain for U.S. troops.

Dr. Mohammed Mattar
Dr. Mattar is the Executive Director of the Protection Project of the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.

Claudia Barlow
Ms. Barlow is a management/marketing professional who has worked with the modern slavery issue since the first global data bank on trafficking in persons was formulated to pose a need for Congressional action and White House policy directives.  Claudia has been instrumental in coalition building and in policy advocacy with various experts and NGOs worldwide. She advises the State Department, is a consultant for HHS's Rescue & Restore campaign to find trafficked victims here in the US, and recruits and works with the medical profession in developing ways to work on the front lines of victim identification and rescue.  Claudia has worked with clients to help them achieve goals using public affairs, press and entertainment promotion and has a long history in Non- Profit development and organizational management.

Isabel de la Cruz Ernst
Isabel de la Cruz Ernst was born in New York City.  Her parents are Cuban.  After restoring the Hillandale Mansion as their home, she established her own development company, Ernst Development, dedicated to renovating and building very contemporary spaces.  Isabel is a member of the Washington National Opera Board and dedicates a significant part of her time to charitable work including Refugees International, the Seed School, and Innocents at Risk among others.  Isabel is married to Ricardo Ernst, a professor at Georgetown University and they have four children: Carolina (15), Felipe (14), Alejandro (10), and Sofia (2).

Dianne Bruce
Dianne Alfandre Bruce, a Washington native, has been a member of, and chaired, many non-profit boards in the area.  Her focus has always been the health and education of women and children through the arts.  Dianne is co-chair for the Innocents at Risk Gala on April 19, 2007

Judith Beard
Judith Willson Beard is vice president and financial advisor at Bernstein Global Wealth Management.  Previously, she served as director of solutions integration at Unisys Corporation where she developed the solutions line portfolio that combined leading-edge technology with world-class business consulting.  Prior to Unisys, Judith was with Arthur Andersen’s International Tax Practices in New York.  Judith earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (accounting and foreign management) from Georgetown University.

Rakela Ruperez
Based in New York City, Rakela Ruperez is currently head of Institutional Relations at the Spanish law firm Díaz-Bastien &Truan Abogados. She is also the US representative for this firm. She has a BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto, Canada and an MA in International Relations from the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. Rakela’s husband is the former Ambassador to the US from Spain.

Martha Slagel
Vice President of Neiman Marcus.

Patricia Cumming
Patricia Cumming is the Director of Public Relations at Neiman Marcus Mazza Gallerie. She is a resident of Georgetown in Washington, DC and a mother of two daughters.

Emily Miller
Emily Miller served as the Deputy Press Secretary for the U.S. Department of State. A political appointee in the administration of President George W. Bush, she was responisible for all media intereviews and public events for Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condolezza Rice. Previously, she was the communications Director for then Majority Whip Tom DeLay. She was also the Press Secretary for Congressman Rick Lazio. Before Capitol Hill, Miller was the Associate Producer for ABC News Sunday public affairs show "This Week" was Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts. She spent seven years in broadcast journalism at both ABC and NBC News.

Richard Marks
Richard Marks brings his extensive experience in feature film and television production, as well as educational outreach expertise to environmentally responsible companies and non-profit organizations, to bring sustainable design and education projects to the mainstream. As a CNN journalist, he recieved a Cable Ace Award for "outstanding contribution" to the award-winning productions on which he worked. In large budget feature film production management, Mr. Marks worked for all the major studios, including Disney, Paramount Pictures, Universal, and Castle Rock Pictures.

Carl Colby
Carl Colby is an Emmy-Award-winning documentary filmmaker. President of
Colby Films, Inc. based in Washington D.C. His credits include:
The White House Fellows Program
Ground Zero
Mr. Gehry goes to Washington
D.A.R.E./America- a promotional film for D.A.R.E/America, helping kids
resist drugs and gang- related violence. 25,000 videocassettes distributed.
Sponsored by Warner Bros. 1st version narrated by Mel Gibson; 2nd version
narrated by actor Ving Rhames.

Lorraine Riffle Naughton
Lorraine Riffle Naughton is an International Affairs Analyst for Chevron Government Affairs in Washington, DC.  As a member of the international government affairs team, Lorraine interfaces with key stakeholders in the Washington, DC community (including members of Congress, the Administration, Diplomatic community and business community) and plays a key role in helping to develop and manage processes to ensure that the D.C. international affairs function can more effectively advance Chevron’s business and policy agenda.

Erica Moorhead
Erica Moorhead has recently completed a Masters Degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University.  In the past few years, she has been active in various charities that focus on human rights and social justice.  In addition to her career in real estate, Erica and her husband, William Moorhead have two daughters in college.

Pat Scantz
After an extensive career in television and radio, modeling and producing fashion shows, Pat now concentrates on volunteer work for non-profit organizations (Board of Associates for the National Rehabilitation Hospital, diplomatic liaison for Welcome to Washington International Club, Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary).  She is active in the Capital Speakers Club and a former President.  Currently, she is President of the Women’s Committee of the Washington Ballet.

Marsha Nelms Muawwad
Marsha Nelms Muawwad is currently the Vice President and part owner of Mediling, a health care benefits company headquartered in Reno, NV, setting up sales and marketing operations for the U.S., preparing reports for investors and developing mission statement, operating policies, marketing literature and revising website.

Susan Feaster
Susan Feaster joined Steve Case's new initiative, Revolution Health as Senior Vice Resident of Partner & Employer Sales in September 2006. she is responsible for indentifying corporations and decision-makers who will join efforts to lower health care costs for employers and to offer better health care to Americans.

Lauren Camille
Lauren is an Attorney at Law in Washington, DC and Virginia with knowledge of import-export business and non-profit organizations.

Cidalia Luis-Akbar
Cidalia Luis-Akbar was born in Verssailles, France. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Maryland in College Park and her graduate work at the University of California in Santa Barbara. She is married to Masud Akbar and is the president of American Hauling & Paving, a local woman-owned road construction company. She is a board member of Circle of Care at Children's Hospital, and is involved in various children's charitable organizations.

Shahin Mafi
Shahin Mafi was born in Tehran, Iran.  She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Advance Institute of Accounting in Tehran, Iran.  She came to the United States and earned an MBA in Business Administration from Marshall University, in West Virginia.  She earned another degree, equivalent to a Masters Degree in Management Information Systems, from the University of Duphin, in Paris, France.
Her father was a practicing doctor, a pediatrician who loved helping children.  He served as a professor at the University of Tehran as well.  Shahin’s mother is an artist, and currently is writing a religious book.  She’s working diligently, and is excited about the idea of completing her first book.
Shahin is the founder of Home Health Connection, Inc., (HHC) founded in 1992, and has been in business for 16 years.  HHC services are for children and adults.
Shahin is a natural born artist, and has a passion for interior design.  She designed her own home interior, and everyone enjoys taking tours of her home.  She enjoys painting portraits in her spare time as well.  Shahin Mafi has been married since 1981.

Additional Executive Committee Members:

Articles about Innocents at Risk

Georgetowner May 2, 2007

Washington Post, June 2007

Capitol File, August 2007

September 15, 2007

Reception at the Residence of the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic. Photo: Eva Weigold, Assiant to Under Secretary Paul Dobriansky, Deborah Sigmund, Republic Ambassada Flavio & Minerva Espinal.

November, 2007

December 17, 2007

January14, 2008