Meet our distinguished speakers
Dr. Holly Hapke is a geographer, feminist political economist, and interdisciplinary social scientist with research expertise in small-scale fisheries development, gender, livelihoods, and human-environment interactions. Over the past 30 years, she has conducted research on gender, fish markets, globalization, and livelihoods in southern India; agricultural development in India, Pakistan, and the United States; Gulf migration in South Asia; and Latino transnational migration in the U.S. South. Her recent projects examine the social economy of dried fish in India; the role of fish in food security for the urban poor in India and Ghana; and the gendered impacts of the blue economy in the Indian Ocean fisheries. She is a former Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright-Hays Fellow in India and has authored over 50 publications including peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, review essays, project reports, training manuals, and two textbooks. From 1996-2018 she was a professor of geography at East Carolina University and served as associate dean for faculty development in the College of Arts and Sciences from 2010-2014. She then served as a program director at the U.S. National Science Foundation from 2014-2017. Currently Dr. Hapke is a senior researcher and serves as director of research development in the School of Social Sciences at the University of California, Irvine.
Ms. Dornnapha Sukkree is the Co-founder and Executive Director of MAST Human, dedicated to combating human trafficking and forced labor in Southeast Asia. She leads innovative technology-driven initiatives like the MAST Human Intelligence App to protect and empower vulnerable workers and coastal communities. With a strong focus on collaboration among governments, businesses, and civil society, Dornnapha champions access to justice and protection for trafficked individuals. She also serves on advisory boards for nonprofits advancing child protection and labor rights, combining passion and expertise to create lasting social impact.
Ms. Angela Lentisco brings over 18 years of international experience in fisheries and aquaculture sectors. She has worked with leading international organizations, providing technical advice, managing projects, and strengthening institutional capacity in areas such as small-scale fisheries, gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment, the ecosystem approach, aquatic resource management, and sustainable fisheries livelihoods. She currently serves as Fishery and Aquaculture Officer at the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Her career includes extensive fieldwork across South and Southeast Asia and Latin America offering her valuable, ground-level insight into diverse community contexts.