Elisa Peter

Living alongside indigenous communities in the Arctic for five years, Elisa witnessed the often devastating impact of large-scale resource exploitation on people and nature. This drives her passion for equitable and sustainable resource use. She joined PWYP as Executive Director in 2016 to lead the development of its strategy and build the global movement for transparency, citizen participation and accountability in the extractives sector.She brings more than 20 years’ experience in international campaigning, high-level advocacy and building grassroots movements. This includes six years as Head of the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service in New York, advocating for meaningful civil society participation in U.N. decision-making processes. More recently, she advised The Elders, a group of former Heads of state and Nobel Prize winners, on political strategies for peace and security, sustainable development, climate change and women’s rights. Elisa has lived and worked in central and north America, Europe and Russia, and holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.