Joy Olson is a consultant with more than 20 years of experience running human rights advocacy NGOs. She has helped a range of organizations and foundations work through problems, manage change, and create and carryout multi-sectoral advocacy strategies.

She is a subject matter expert on Latin America and US foreign policy, the intersection of human rights and organized crime, US border security and migration and regional drug policy. Ms. Olson testified before the US Congress seven times on Latin America policy issues ranging from human rights in Mexico to drug policy, to the problems of poverty and inequality in the region.

Ms. Olson is: fluent in Spanish; has a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the Political and Social Sciences School of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); a monthly column on the Mexican newspaper La Reforma’s English language site – Mexico Today; and currently serves on the boards of the Acacia Justice Center, Insight Crime and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL).