Vance Center Announces Leadership and Staff Changes
The Vance Center is pleased to announce some exciting changes to our staff and leadership.
The Vance Center is pleased to announce the following changes to our staff and leadership, effective as of May 1, 2026. These new developments reflect the strength of our team and continued programmatic and operational growth.
Leadership
Marcia Tavares Maack is now Co-Chair of the Vance Center Committee, and a member of the Executive Subcommittee. She joins Committee co-chairs Werner F. Ahlers and Lorraine McGowen.
Marcia is the Global Director of Pro Bono for Mayer Brown, and is responsible for managing the firm’s pro bono program. Marcia acts as a liaison to the legal services and nonprofit community, develops and selects pro bono opportunities, and ensures a broad range of participation in the firm’s pro bono activities. She also assists and supervises the firm’s attorneys with their pro bono cases and spearheads the firm’s major pro bono initiatives and partnerships with corporate clients. Under her leadership, the firm has twice been named to the National Law Journal’s Pro Bono Hot List and has received numerous other awards and accolades.
Marcia’s pro bono work is concentrated in the areas of international human rights, asylum, and refugee matters.
She has also served on the board of directors of the Washington Council of Lawyers and the Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Marcia has been a speaker at public interest and pro bono conferences in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru, in addition to the Pro Bono Institute annual conference and the ABA Equal Justice Conference. She is fluent in Portuguese and conversant in Spanish.
Marcia has been a member of the Vance Center Committee since 2012. She has been instrumental in championing key initiatives including Keep Families Together, a unique effort that connects foreign pro bono counsel to pro bono immigration counsel representing children, families, and asylum seekers in the United States.
We look forward to benefiting from Marcia’s insight, guidance, and perspective in this new role.
“I am honored to serve as Co-Chair of the Vance Center Committee alongside Werner and Lorraine, and to continue supporting the Vance Center’s work advancing justice, human rights and the rule of law around the world,” Marcia said. “As a longtime Committee member, I have seen the organization’s remarkable ability to mobilize lawyers across borders to expand access to justice and strengthen communities. I look forward to working with my fellow co-chairs and committee members to advance the Vance Center’s mission and expand its global impact.”
Learn more about the Vance Center Committee.
Jaime Chávez Alor has been named Co-Executive Director, alongside Alex Papachristou. They share responsibility for leading the organization’s strategic direction and ensuring it fulfills its mission effectively.
Jaime joined the Vance Center in 2018. He directs the Vance Center’s Institutional Integrity Program, driving our work on judicial independence and anti-corruption efforts in Latin America and beyond. Since January 2024, he has also served as Associate Executive Director alongside Environment Program Director Susan Kath. He is co-coordinator of the regional clearinghouse consortium Pro Bono Network of the Americas, and oversees overall programmatic strategy and monitoring and evaluation.
Under his leadership, the Vance Center has expanded its efforts to support independent judges and civil society groups, engaged in high-impact strategic human rights litigation in the Inter-American system, and strengthened networks of pro bono collaboration throughout the Americas.
Jaime received his law degree from Escuela Libre de Derecho in Mexico City and an LL.M. from Columbia Law School, where he graduated as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and received the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law Recognition of Achievement. He is admitted to practice law in Mexico and has extensive experience in Mexico’s public sector, including as head of the Unit of Ethics, Public Integrity, and Prevention of Conflict of Interest in the Secretariat of Public Administration and head of the Unit of International Affairs and Attachés in the Office of the Attorney General.
Jaime joins Alex Papachristou, who joined the Vance Center as executive director in 2012. Over his tenure, the Vance Center has grown from three to 23 staff members and from a budget of $300,000 to one of $4.3 million. Alex continues to direct the Public Interest Reporting program, while serving as co-executive director with Jaime.
Staff
Emily Reers Wright is the Vance Center’s Development Director. Emily joined the Vance Center in 2021 as the organization’s first Fundraising Manager and became Senior Fundraising Manager in 2024. Emily has played a central role in significantly expanding the Vance Center’s sources of funding and ensuring its stable financial growth. She has led the Vance Center to double its revenue, securing support from governments, major foundations, and individual donors.
Emily has a BA in Public and Community Service Studies and Political Science from Providence College.
Nathalya Desterro is Senior Program Advisor of the Environment Program. Nathalya joined the Vance Center in 2019 as an Environment Program Fellow and became Program Advisor in 2021. Her work has focused on providing legal support to civil society organizations across Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, with an emphasis on protection of environmental defenders. Nathalya is admitted to practice law in Brazil and holds a double LL.M. from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.