Survivor Alliance Announces
New Co-Executive Directors

After nearly a decade of transformative leadership, Minh Dang, Founding Executive Director, will step down to embrace a new chapter in life as a full-time parent. Minh’s leadership leaves an enduring legacy. She transformed Survivor Alliance from an idea into a global, values-driven community, committed to survivor leadership and systems change.

As Survivor Alliance looks ahead to build upon our strong foundation, we are thrilled to announce that Narit Gessler Dahan and Alicia Ley will lead the organization into our next chapter as Co-Executive Directors. Their close collaboration over the years has laid the groundwork for a partnership rooted in mutual learning, resilience, and a shared commitment to authentic, empathic leadership.

Narit Gessler Dahan is a mission-driven human rights advocate dedicated to reimagining systems through human-centered program design, values-based nonprofit leadership, and purpose-driven project management. Emphasizing the importance of collaborative initiatives, she has spent her career strengthening social change organizations and advancing rights-based movements. Committed to building sustainable, survivor-centered systems, Narit leverages her strategic operations expertise to bridge vision and execution, turning big ideas into actionable impact.

Alicia Ley is a visionary leader and strategist committed to building healing-centered, survivor-led systems. With extensive experience in the anti-trafficking sector and a strong foundation in strategic planning, she brings deep expertise in program design, coalition building, and trauma-informed practice. Drawing from her lived experience, she weaves together bold vision and relational leadership to dismantle barriers, ensuring survivors shape the future of the movement.

In addition to their decades of combined experience in the anti-trafficking movement, Alicia and Narit bring foundations in grassroots organizing, direct services, advocacy, and collaborative partnerships. These diverse paths have shaped them into leaders who understand the complexity of systems change and are deeply committed to social justice and community-based solutions.

The collective decision to move into a co-leadership model was an intentional choice to elevate internal leadership and embody the values at the heart of Survivor Alliance. This model reflects the organization’s commitment to decentralized leadership as a principle of movement building. It allows us to share power, lean into our distinct strengths, and lead from a place of collaboration and care.  We also know that in the anti-trafficking sector, the divide between survivors and allies has too often reinforced harmful power dynamics. By grounding our leadership in both lived experience and allyship, we are bridging that divide and modeling the solidarity required to build a truly transformative movement. 

Together, Alicia and Narit will continue to lead Survivor Alliance in advancing the mission: to unite our global community of over 1,200 survivor members, empower survivors and allies through capacity building, and catalyze systemic change across the anti-trafficking field. 

Our new Co-Executive Directors look forward to creating space to dream beyond boundaries, call in diverse voices and perspectives, and work toward collective liberation.

More on the horizon!