Leadership

Nancy has served as an integral part of Shared Hope since its inception. In the early days of Shared Hope, Nancy hosted President and Founder Linda Smith during her travel to Washington, D.C. and served as a local volunteer. As Shared Hope grew, so did Nancy’s position within Shared Hope and she was elected to sit on the Shared Hope International Board of Directors, a position she held for six years. During this time, Nancy assisted in organizing the War Against Trafficking Alliance in 2002. She participated in the Path Breaking Strategies Conference in Washington, DC in 2003 and in the Next Steps Conference in Mumbai in 2004, as well as the Justice Department Domestic Trafficking and Prostitution conference in Tampa in 2004 and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Mid Term Review in DC in 2006. She represented Shared Hope at the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, she left her career in healthcare information technology at Cerner Corporation to begin a second career with Shared Hope International.

Today, Nancy is a Senior Director whose diverse responsibilities include speaking, writing, training, donor relations, restorative shelter initiatives, and partner relationships. Since 2008, she has been a member of the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force Victim Services Committee. She served as chair of the task force’s Legislative Committee in 2012 and 2013 and received the Governor’s Service Award for Volunteerism in 2013 for her leadership in that role. As a task force member and a Shared Hope employee, she provides expert testimony at committee hearings in the Maryland legislature in support of legislation that would toughen the state’s anti-trafficking laws. Nancy earned a B.S. in Biology from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN. She recently completed a Masters of Social Work at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, MD.

Focusing on domestic trafficking, Samantha co-authored The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America’s Prostituted Children based on research for the U.S. Department of Justice. The National Report and DEMAND were admitted into the Congressional Record in October 2009 and are the foundations for ongoing advocacy for stronger legislation to provide protection, justice, shelter and services for victims of domestic minor sex trafficking at the federal and state levels.

Samantha leads the development of the annual JuST Conference program and advises on policy strategies. Currently, Samantha leads the campaign to identify and reopen cases of survivors of child sex trafficking incarcerated in adult prisons for offenses related to their trafficking. She is a graduate of Boston College and the University of Miami School of Law.

As Senior Director of Public Policy, Christine directs Shared Hope’s legislative advocacy efforts to advance protections and services for child and youth sex trafficking survivors. Christine Raino joined Shared Hope International in 2011 as part of a new domestic policy initiative and helped draft the legal analysis of the 50 states and District of Columbia that laid the foundation for the annual Protected Innocence Challenge Report Cards. Following 9 years of state grades under that project, Christine led the development of a new framework for state grades under the Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking, which focus on advancing survivor-centered legislative reform.

She also authors and leads research initiatives on emerging topics related to child sex trafficking. To ensure that policy efforts advanced by Shared Hope’s Institute for Justice & Advocacy are shaped and informed by survivors and on-the-ground implementation, Christine convenes the JuST (Juvenile Sex Trafficking) Response Council, a group of over 30 experts from the areas of policy development, survivor leadership, federal and state child serving agencies and service provision, to examine the nuanced and complex challenges that advocates encounter when working to connect exploited youth to qualified and appropriate services.

Christine is a licensed attorney and obtained her J.D. from American University. Prior to obtaining her law degree, she worked with refugees, asylees and victims of trafficking through federal and state resettlement programs at the International Institute of Boston (now the International Institute of New England).

Sarah joined Shared Hope in 2016 to support the organization’s state legislative advocacy work and State Report Card project.  Sarah focuses her advocacy efforts and research on strengthening statutory and practice-based responses to child sex trafficking, striving to support the design and implementation of trauma-informed service responses for child and youth survivors. In her role as Director of State Legislative Advocacy, Sarah provides technical assistance, subject matter expertise, and bill drafting support to state legislators, survivors, ally NGOs, and advocates.

Prior to joining Shared Hope, Sarah worked with several child protection and women’s rights NGOs in Kenya, Senegal, Zambia, and the U.S., advocating for stronger legal protections and responses for survivors of all forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Sarah earned her undergraduate degree from Webster University and her law degree from DePaul University College of Law.

Sarah is a licensed attorney and obtained her J.D. from Regent University School of Law where she assisted with Shared Hope’s Protected Innocence Challenge through the Center for Global Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law. It was this work that inspired Sarah to obtain her LL.M. in human rights law and to join the fight to end child sex trafficking.

Mikayla was part of the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force and participated in several sting operations with law enforcement to recover and provide services for victims ages 10-24. She graduated with her Masters in Ethnomusicology from Liberty University in 2017 and recently completed her Masters in Social Work from the University of South Florida. Mikayla currently resides in San Diego, California with her husband, Scott, her energetic toddler son, Cormac, and her furry black labradoodle, Shelly.

She began her public health career more than twenty years ago with the Maryland State Department of Health where she managed Maryland’s Rape and Sexual Assault Prevention Program for 9 years. Ms. Myers-Martin had the honor of addressing the prevention of sexual violence through education and awareness while partnering with rape crisis centers, school systems, state agencies and community-based organizations. Prior to joining SHI, she held the position of Deputy Director of the Prince George’s County Family Justice Center where she focused on providing services to victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and elder abuse.

Ms. Myers-Martin is energized by the mission of Shared Hope International to eradicate domestic minor sex trafficking through the three-pronged approach of prevention, restoration of lives and bringing justice.

In his consulting capacity, Leif has created impactful messaging and advocacy campaigns for various political clients and professional associations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Society of Anesthesiologists, All Children Matter, Global Automakers, National Retail Federation, and American College of Emergency Physicians.

Recognized for his outstanding work in the industry, Leif has been honored with several national awards, including Pollie awards from the American Association of Political Consultants, PR Week awards for advocacy clients, and Telly awards.

Leif lives in Northern Virginia with his three sons, dog, turtle and a gecko.

Ernie Allen is a global expert on the digital economy; the dark side of the internet; public-private partnerships and child protection including the issues of child abduction, sexual exploitation, sexual violence, human trafficking and modern slavery. He frequently speaks to global audiences on these issues and serves as an advisor to governments, law enforcement, technology companies and nonprofit organizations. In 2015, Mr. Allen was appointed by UK Prime Minister David Cameron to serve as Chairman of a global initiative to combat online child abuse and exploitation.

Thirty years ago the problem of child abduction and victimization was unrecognized and unreported. Mr. Allen led the effort to create a comprehensive response to address the problem. Mr. Allen was the architect and a founder of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, served as the first Chairman and then as President and CEO for 28 years where the organization grew to $50 million in annual revenues. During his tenure, more than 180,000 missing children were recovered and the recovery rate increased from 62% to 97%. He created the national 24-hour missing children hotline, brought age progression and other forensic resources to law enforcement and provided training for more than 300,000 police officers. He established the CyberTipline for reporting child sexual exploitation; the Child Victim Identification Program to analyze millions of child pornography images to rescue victims; and helped U.S. Marshals track 100,000 fugitive sex offenders.

To extend the effort to protect children globally Mr. Allen founded the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children and served simultaneously as its President and CEO for 16 years. He built a global missing children’s network that included 23 nations, trained law enforcement in 121 countries and worked with parliaments in 100 countries to enact new laws.

Mr. Allen brought global attention to the risks of unregulated virtual currencies and the anonymous “Dark Web” and created a task force whose policy recommendations are being implemented worldwide. He chaired a coalition of the world’s leading financial institutions which reduced commercial child pornography from a $30 billion industry to virtually zero; involved leading technology companies to address child victimization; and led an effort involving major pharmaceutical and health care companies to address child sexual exploitation as a public health crisis.

His work has been widely recognized and he is the recipient of numerous awards. Mr. Allen was called “one of America’s foremost social entrepreneurs” by President George W. Bush, named “Executive of the Year” by NonProfit Times and named one of the “Most Influential People in Security” by Security Magazine. During his tenure NCMEC was named one of America’s 100 Best Charities by Worth Magazine.

Dr. Jay A. Barber, Jr. is President Emeritus of Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, after retiring following a twelve year stint as president.

In 1964 he received his baccalaureate degree from the college and later served on the Board of Trustees.  Jay received his master’s degree from the University of San Francisco and the Doctor of Laws Degree (Hon.) from Anderson University.  Jay also served as senior pastor of the Red Bluff, California First Church of God for 16 years, during those years Jay also served two terms as the mayor.

In 1981 he came to the administrative staff of Warner Pacific College, serving for eight years as Vice President for College Advancement and, then, as Executive Vice President. Barber returned to the college as president in 1996..  After 12 years of leadership of the institution the college for the first time in its history was debt free, had grown from 325 students to more than 1500 and was in good standing with the accrediting body.

Prior to returning to the College as president in 1996 he served as the Director of the Oregon Health Sciences University Foundation, overseeing fund raising programs for the Foundation, the largest university foundation in Oregon, including its three schools and a number of research programs.  Barber directed the development of corporate, foundation and major gifts fund raising programs as well as the oversight of estate planning and planned giving.

Active in the community, Barber served as a director for 15 years and 2 years as chair of the Board of Directors of Mercy Corps, a relief and disaster organization based in Portland.  In addition he served as chair of the Responder Life Board of Directors, a Portland based not-for-profit serving the needs of first responders and their families. In 2008 Barber was appointed the first Senior Fellow with the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Vancouver, WA.  Recently Jay was appointed to serve as Mayor of Seaside, Oregon where earlier he had been elected to a second four-year term on the Seaside, OR City Council where Jay and his wife Jan currently reside.

Jay is an ordained minister (1967, Church of God, Anderson, Indiana) and has served in interim pastoral roles for a number of congregations during times of pastoral leadership transition.

Barber currently provides consultation services to a wide range of not-for-profit organizations in the Northwest assisting with strategic planning, fund raising strategies, board development, staff recruitment and coaching with new and emerging leaders.  His special interest is in providing coaching with CEOs, Presidents and Executive Directors of not-for-profit organizations based on his 40 years of experience in those challenging roles.