Our Staff and Board | Corporate Accountability International

Staff Leaders (partial list)

Kelle Louaillier, Executive Director

Louaillier joined Corporate Accountability International more than two decades ago, serving as director of international outreach, campaign director, development director, and associate director prior to becoming executive director in 2007. Under her leadership Corporate Accountability International has helped move General Electric out of the nuclear weapons business and pass the World Health Organization's global tobacco treaty, the world's first corporate accountability treaty. In addition Louaillier has overseen the launch of the campaigns Challenging Corporate Control of Water and Challenging Corporate Control of our Food. Louaillier began her social change career by teaching math in the Central African Republic with the Peace Corps and working to empower homeless youth in Seattle. She holds a bachelor’s degree in French, Philosophy, and Mathematics from Seattle University

Leslie Samuelrich, Chief of Staff

Named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as "one of the environmental world's major new forces," Samuelrich brings twenty-five years of experience to her work guiding Corporate Accountability International's campaigns, communications, development, recruitment, and operations. Samuelrich was the executive director of Green Corps and director of The National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness prior to joining Corporate Accountability International. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Boston College.

Patti Lynn, Campaigns Director

Lynn joined Corporate Accountability International more than a decade ago and has held various positions including major gifts officer and press officer. Today Lynn manages the strategic direction and campaign organizing of the organization’s campaigns challenging Big Tobacco, corporate control of water, and corporate abuse of our food. Prior to joining Corporate Accountability International, Lynn campaigned successfully to stop rollbacks on federal clean water laws with Clean Water Action and taught in South Africa. Lynn holds a Masters degree in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame.

Lelia Elliston, Director of Philanthropic Partnerships

Elliston joined Corporate Accountability International in 2011 as the Director of Philanthropic Partnerships. She comes to us from The Cambridge School of Weston, where she was the Director of Alumni Relations and Planned Giving. Previously, Elliston worked at organizations such as The Neighborhood of Affordable Housing in East Boston, as Director of Development, and a social and environmental benefit organization called Land's Sake where she was the Executive Director. She currently lives on a small organic farm where she grows wholesale flowers and raises chickens for egg production, selling their farm products to local customers. She also consults on sustainable land use for private land owners. Elliston holds a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts/Boston in Environmental Biology.

Gigi Kellett,Campaign Director, Challenging Big Tobacco Campaign

Kellett joined Corporate Accountability International in 2004 as the director of the Think Outside the Bottle campaign, helping to grow the campaign nationally. She currently directs the campaign Challenging Big Tobacco, working with allies and government officials to root out industry interference in global efforts to protect public health and has successfully advanced the reach of the global tobacco treaty. Kellett began her career as an advocate with Maryland Public Interest Research Group where she advocated for environmental, public health, and consumer protections. Kellett holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the College of Charleston.

Sara Deon, Campaign Director, Value [the] Meal

Deon joined Corporate Accountability International in 2011 as the director for the Value [the] Meal campaign. She works with health professionals, elected officials, and grassroots leaders to reduce the marketing of junk food to kids. Before joining Corporate Accountability International, Deon worked for Defenders of Wildlife as their Outreach Representative in Denver, Colorado where she worked to protect and strengthen state and national environmental policy, including the Endangered Species Act. Deon was also the Deputy Field Director for the Kerry Campaign in Colorado. She began her career with Clean Water Action as a Field Manager. Deon has a BA in Environmental Studies from Rollins College and a MS in Political Science from Suffolk University.

Kristin Danielle Urquiza, Campaign Director, Think Outside the Bottle

Urquiza has directed Think Outside the Bottle since joining the organization in 2009. She currently works with local, state, and national leaders to strengthen public water systems, reduce spending on bottled water, and hold the bottled water industry accountable for its abuses. Urquiza began her career as a regional director with the Fund for Public Interest where she trained and recruited thousands of activists to build and run state level environmental campaigns. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Art History from Yale University.

Nick Guroff, Communications Director

Guroff has directed Corporate Accountability International’s media outreach, online communications, and publications work since 2007. He began his work in advocacy as a field organizer for Green Corps, field manager with MoveOn PAC, and as the California organizer for the National Environmental Trust (NET). At NET, Guroff effectively advocated for the passage of landmark children’s environmental health protections. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in Radio/TV/Film and Slavic Languages and Literature, as well as a Masters of Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a PBS FRONTLINE/World fellowship.

Sarah Bennett, Recruitment and Training Director

Bennett leads the organizations recruitment and internal training programs. Prior to joining Corporate Accountability International, Bennett spent 14 years working for the Public Interest Network including positions as U.S. PIRG's recruitment director and New Jersey PIRG's organizing director. She successfully coordinated recruitment efforts across the country resulting in over 100 college graduates joining the organization’s campus organizing and fellowship programs each year. Bennett is a graduate of Trinity College and holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies.

Joby Gelbspan, Senior Program Coordinator, Challenging Corporate Control of Water

Gelbspan got her start with Corporate Accountability International as a 14-year-old activist running street actions to stop GE’s manufacture of nuclear arms. Today, she coordinates the organization’s work to expose and challenge World Bank lending practices that are driving water privatization and deepening the global water crisis. Gelbspan previously worked for the Center for Democracy and the Constitution and the Coalition for Real Democracy, Diversity and Economic Justice and has a background in finance, serving as a Capital Markets Auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers where she audited Fortune 500 companies. Gelbspan holds master’s degrees in Accounting and an MBA from Northeastern University.

Sarah Holzgraf, Major Gifts Organizer

Holzgraf joined staff in 2009 and started her work organizing members and volunteers in Minnesota and across the Midwest. Today she keeps new and long-time members informed of, and involved in, the organization’s work around the country. Prior to joining staff, Holzgraf worked with Greenpeace in Los Angeles and Clean Water Action in New Hampshire, where she led public awareness efforts around the use of BPA and toxic chemicals in popular cosmetics. Holzgraf holds a Bachelor of Science in Cinema and Photography from Ithaca College.

Patricia Barber, Major Gifts Organizer

Barber joined Corporate Accountability International in 2011 as a Major Gifts Organizer. She keeps new and long-time members informed of, and involved in, the organization’s work around the country. Prior to joining staff, Barber worked as a Development Manager for La Alianza Hispana, a community-based social service non-profit in Boston, MA. Previous to that, she was a communications specialist for an engineering and architectural firm in NY for two years, where she first became interested in public water infrastructure. Barber also volunteered with Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and the SS Columbia Project in the Hudson Vally, NY to bring awareness to environmental issues and to inspire and energize the next generation of environmental leaders. Barber holds a bachelor’s degree in English Rhetoric and Sociology from Binghamton University.

Hannah Freedberg, Major Gifts Organizer

Freedberg joined Corporate Accountability International in 2011 as a Major Gifts Organizer. She engages new and long-time supporters in all of Corporate Accountability International's campaigns. Freedberg has spent fifteen years in the local and sustainable food movement, running educational programs on farms in New York and Massachusetts. From 2004 to 2011 she fund-raised and advocated for over 250 farmers markets in Massachusetts while building the development program at the Federation of Mass Farmers Markets. She is committed to ensuring equitable access to healthy food, air, and water for all, and believes this goal can only be met when corporations are held accountable for the impacts of their actions. Freedberg holds a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Swarthmore College and a Master's degree in Environmental Studies from Antioch University.

Adam Macon, Regional Campaign Organizer

Macon began his career with Corporate Accountability International in 2010 and mobilizes members in California. He is a graduate of Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing, where he most recently worked to educate and engage members for Environment Minnesota. He attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville and has a bachelor's degree in Environmental Management and Policy.

Erin McNally-Diaz, Regional Campaign Organizer

McNally-Diaz joined staff in 2010 and has since worked with New England members and leaders to advance the organization’s campaigns. Prior to joining the organization, she worked with Boston’s immigrant community, first as a community organizer and later as program coordinator with Agencia ALPHA and the Boston Higher Education Resource Center. She holds a degree in Spanish from Gordon College and a Master of Arts in International Development and Social Change from Clark University.

Yul Francisco Dorado Mazorra, Latin America Coordinator

Trained as a human rights lawyer, Mazorra worked with Consumers International to monitor and support the ratification and implementation processes of the global tobacco treaty in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Costa Rica prior to joining staff in 2005. In his work in Latin America, he has participated in various international and regional gatherings including the World Social Forum, Intergovernmental Working Group, and People's Health Assembly. Mazorra is based in Bogota, Colombia, and is working with NGO's and governments in Latin America on our water and tobacco programs.