Louis Bickford has been working in the field of international human rights for over 20 years. He is the founder and CEO of MEMRIA, a social enterprise which develops partnerships with organizations to collect, analyze, and circulate narrative accounts of past violence with the aim of strengthening human rights. Before joining Memria, Bickford managed the global human rights program at the Ford Foundation. 

 

Prior to joining the Foundation, Bickford served on the executive leadership team at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, and before that, was a founding staff member and director of the Policymakers and Civil Society unit at the International Center for Transitional Justice where he developed capacity building programs in every region of the world. Bickford is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University and New York University, where he teaches regular graduate seminars on human rights. He is on the Board of FrontLine Defenders/USA and the Train Foundation, and he has a Ph.D. from McGill University and an MA from the New School, both in Political Science.