Board of Directors
ICDR’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS provides policy and strategic direction for the organization’s governance systems and programs. The Board’s role includes advising technical expertise and endorsing the organization’s strategic objectives, its substantive areas of work, and strategic program activities. The Board evaluates the organization’s progress toward its objectives on an annual basis, reviews annual reports, and brings a broad range of philanthropic, communications, policy, business, and nonprofit management expertise to bear in helping govern the organization. Informed by their diverse experiences, ICDR’s Board is committed to the principles of good governance, transparency and ensuring that ICDR International operates in accordance with evolving best practices for nonprofit management and compliance. We invite you to learn more about our Board of Directors by reading their full biographies.
Rick Gold
Chair of the Board; International Development and Rule of Law Consultant
Rick Gold is an international development and rule of law consultant with an expertise in human rights and gender programming. He has led evaluations and assessments of justice systems and the status of minorities and women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Jordan and Timor-Leste. At two firms, he provided technical leadership for human rights, women’s rights, anti-corruption, and rule of law programs. He oversaw a human rights program in Colombia that targeted indigenous and Afro-Colombian groups in zones of conflict.
Steven Folmar, Ph.D.
Vice Chair of the Board and CFI Expert; Faculty Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Anthropology at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Dr. Steven Folmar has served as a founding Board member of the ICDR since 2009 and also Served as a CFI Expert. Dr. Folmar is currently Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Anthropology at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem. Since 2001, he has committed his research to issues affecting Dalits. He has written several articles and done extensive research on Dalit Identity, Rights and Mental Health. He also conducts workshops in Nepal for Dalit Scholars.
Rev. Gideon Jebamani, Ph.D.
Board of Director and Chaplain for New York State Ministerial Department, New York
Rev. Dr. Gideon Jebamani has joint the ICDR as an Advisor in 2014 and since then he has been servicing the organization in various capacities. Most recently, ICDR board has nominated Rev. Jebamani as a Board of Directors of the organization for the term 2020-2022. Rev. Jebamani from Chennai of Tamil Nadu, India and has been residing in the New York state since three decades. He has been serving as a Church Minister since 1984. Rev. Jebamani is working as a Chaplain for New York State Ministerial Department currently; and also a Priest and Pastor for the New York Episcopal Diocese.
Beside these services, Rev. Gideon Jebamani is an ardent Human Rights Advocate, an Ambedkarite and above all a grass root level Social Activist. Rev. Jebamani has been associated with local, regional and international level Dalit human rights conferences and advocacy campaigns. He has a great passion for the Socially Marginalized Communities and specifically the socially excluded Dalits in India and across the world. He introduced Dalit situation and Caste reality among the non-Indian North American and Churches and Theological Institutions throughout his lifetime service.
Myer Glickman
Co-Chair of CFI Committee, Board of Director and Senior Manager/Statistician with the UK government’s Office for National Statistics
Myer Glickman has been serving as a Board Director and a CFI Expert at the International Commission on Dalit Rights (ICDR International). Myer began conferring with the ICDR International in 2013 with a Statistics Without Borders (SWB) consulting team supporting the development of the CFI. A senior manager and statistician with the UK government’s Office for National Statistics, Myer has led the development of many statistical indicators for the UK government.
Purvi Mehta, Ph.D.
Board of Director; Assistant Professor at Colorado College
Dr. Purvi Mehta is an Assistant Professor at Colorado College in Colorado. She had served as an Advisor at ICDR International before serving on the board. She has been doing research on caste, gender, and human rights issues in India. Her book manuscript - tentatively titled Recasting Caste: Histories of Transnational Dalit Activism and the Internationalization of Caste Discrimination - analyses post-independence Dalit activism in India. It explores how activists have connected with other global social justice movements and how activists have increasingly turned to human rights for recourse against caste based discrimination and violence.
