Charles J Brown
President and CEO

Charlie Brown has extensive leadership and policy experience in both the non-profit sector and government. From 2001 to 2004, he was a Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. In this leadership role, he helped lead Amnesty’s strategic response to a range of human rights crises and concerns, including September 11th, the war on terror, and conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

From 1999 to 2001 he was Chief of Staff for Assistant Secretary Harold Hongju Koh in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor (DRL) in the US Department of State, and Director of DRL’s Office of Strategic Planning and External Affairs. Brown advised the Assistant Secretary on all aspects of U.S. Government human rights policy and was a member of the senior leadership team responsible for designing, framing and implementing strategic solutions to a variety of foreign policy challenges and opportunities. Prior to that he was Senior Advisor on Public Affairs for DRL. He also served as spokesperson for US Delegations to the UN Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, the UN Commission on Human Rights, and the Community of Democracies.

From 1988-1998 he worked at Freedom House in a variety of positions, ultimately as Director of Program Development. He is co-author of The Politics of Psychiatry in Revolutionary Cuba and co-editor of Judges and Journalists in Transitional Democracies.

Don Kraus
Executive Vice President

Don Kraus regularly speaks on panels and at seminars on the importance of UN reform, UN peacekeeping and UN funding, as well as appearing regularly on TV and radio. He has participated in panels on UN reform at the UN headquarters in New York, and is also Citizens for Global Solutions chief lobbyist, working on the Hill to keep officials up-to-date with the latest UN and peacekeeping developments. Don Kraus has been quoted in several publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, St. Louis Post Dispatch, and National Journal, as well as appearing on BBC World Service and local U.S. radio stations. Kraus is also a regular contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus, recently publishing “Getting Peacekeeping Right at the G8” and “De Mello’s Delight”.

Kraus also edits the Global Solutions Rating Guide and administers the Global Solutions Political Action Committee.


Heather B. Hamilton
Vice President and Chief of Staff

Heather Hamilton is a leading expert on the International Criminal Court and U.S. policy towards the Court. She also speaks widely on U.S. global engagement and public opinion on foreign policy issues, as well as on genocide, gender and conflict, conflict prevention, the UN and the African Great Lakes region. Hamilton spent six months in Kenya with the United Nations, where she conducted research with Rwandan government officials, aid agencies and women's organizations on women's roles in post-conflict reconstruction. Her findings were published as a chapter in the Journal of Humanitarian Assistance's book, The Future of the African Great Lakes Region.

Hamilton is a regular guest on panels and forums in DC and New York, and has traveled widely throughout the US and abroad to speak on these issues. She also appeared on CNN International and the BBC World Service to discuss the International Criminal Court. Hamilton has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Foreign Policy among other publications, as well as appearing regularly on radio and TV debates. Hamilton is the co-chair of the Washington Working Group on the International Criminal Court (WICC).


Harpinder Athwal
Vice President, Strategic Communications
(Currently on Leave)

As former Peace and Security Program Manager Harpinder Athwal speaks regularly on peacekeeping missions and stability operations, specifically related to Afghanistan, Liberia and Sudan. She is also the communications liaison for the Washington, DC-based Partnership for Effective Peace Operations. Athwal has participated in TV and radio debates on the war in Iraq, post-conflict reconstruction issues, and the crisis in Liberia. Athwal also traveled to Afghanistan in 2003 with the Council on Foreign Relations and as a result of the trip co-authored an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor, “Afghan Progress Undermined by Drugs”. Athwal also writes regularly for Foreign Policy in Focus and other industry journals, and has been quoted in such print media as The Baltimore Sun. Athwal also edits the Global Solutions Quarterly and was a parliamentary candidate in the UK’s 2001 General Election and participated in various media interviews as part of the campaign in the UK.

Drew J. Asson
Deputy Director, Government Relations

Drew Asson coordinates all election-related activities including Global Solutions PAC. He manages candidates that Citizens for Global Solutions and its affiliated PAC have endorsed and/or supported. He is also working on linking global issues to local concerns, and devotes a portion of his time to working on global health issues.  Drew is the main contact person on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He helped build and sustain a coalition of industry, government, social justice, military, and environmental groups in support of Senate ratification. He has attended hearings and briefings, lobbied Senate and House staffers, and provided background material to print and online media. 

Before coming to Citizens for Global Solutions, Drew worked as a computer scientist. He received a BA from University of Rochester (1989) and an MS from Johns Hopkins University (1992), both in computer science. He received an M.A. in public anthropology from American University (2003), while studying cultural anthropology, human rights, urban poverty, and approaches to peace. Drew is strongly interested in global health policy and transitional justice mechanisms.

Valerie Schrock
Director of People, Outreach & Advocacy

Val Schrock is an expert on political e-activism and grassroots mobilization. As Outreach and Advocacy Director, Val set up and implemented an innovative grassroots outreach program via the internet for Citizens for Global Solutions, reaching new audiences and increasing our internet activist numbers by 300% in the first year.