Polaris Project is able to provide journalists with expert information on human trafficking. Below are the names and biographies of our spokespeople.
Bradley Myles | Executive Director and CEO
Sarah Jakiel | Deputy Director
Karen Galatz | Deputy Director
James Dold | Senior Policy Counsel
Bradley Myles | Executive Director and CEO
Bradley Myles currently serves as Polaris Project’s Executive Director and CEO. He has been working on combating the issue of human trafficking for the past ten years since 2002, and he is regarded as one of the leading advocates in the anti-trafficking field. Mr. Myles played an instrumental role in building Polaris Project’s national programs focused on systemic change in the areas of policy advocacy, training, and capacity-building. He also helped create and launch Polaris Project’s operation of the United States’ national human trafficking hotline at 1-888-3737-888. This national model is now regarded as one of the best-functioning anti-trafficking hotlines in the world, and it has played a role in identifying nearly 8,000 survivors of trafficking over the course of fielding over 60,000 calls.
Mr. Myles has provided consultation, training, and technical assistance on anti-trafficking strategies to hundreds of audiences, including human trafficking task forces and coalitions across the nation, government agencies, federal and local law enforcement, U.S. Members of Congress, foundations, corporations, media outlets, service providers, and foreign delegations.
In addition to overseeing all of Polaris Project’s day to day programmatic and operational areas, Mr. Myles is currently focusing his efforts on Polaris Project’s future strategy for the next decade, entitled Vision 2020, which includes building an alliance of all anti-trafficking hotlines around the world, launching a global coordination center and response network, and crafting an innovative research and data initiative designed to identify strategic intervention points that will target the vulnerabilities in human trafficking networks and syndicates.
Mr. Myles started his anti-trafficking work in 2002, spending his early years mapping out all the actors in the anti-trafficking field in the U.S., conducting outreach and providing direct services to survivors, understanding the patterns of criminal trafficking networks through field research, and helping to build the Washington, DC Human Trafficking Task Force from 2004 to 2007.
Mr. Myles holds degrees in Psychology and Political Science from Stanford University.
Sarah Jakiel | Deputy Director
Sarah Jakiel has been with Polaris Project since 2007 and currently serves as the Deputy Director and a member of the Executive Management team. Ms. Jakiel has been working in diverse capacities on the issue of human trafficking since 2004. In her current role, she is responsible for Polaris Project’s national programmatic efforts, including oversight of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline, the National Training and Technical Assistance Program (NTTAP), and Polaris Project’s Direct Victim Services program. Sarah also acts as the lead on all international capacity building efforts.
Ms. Jakiel managed the creation of the U.S. National Hotline and advises other countries on local, national and regional efforts to build effective anti-trafficking response mechanisms. She has conducted human trafficking training with dozens of audiences ranging from social services and criminal justice to community coalitions. Her specific areas of expertise include training, developing collaborative partnerships, strategic planning, and leadership and management training.
Immediately prior to joining Polaris Project she was working as a Researcher in the Professional Training department of the U.S. Institute of Peace. Ms. Jakiel has B.A. in Political Science and French from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs from American University where she focused her graduate research on both transnational and domestic human trafficking—looking specifically at links between local, state, and federal agencies working on the issue.
Karen Galatz | Deputy Director
Karen M. Galatz, Polaris Project Deputy Director, has 20 years of experience in humanitarian affairs/human rights, advocacy, communications, development and executive non-profit management. Her experience includes the U.S. Department of State, a large refugee resettlement program, an immigration policy/advocacy organization, a global health outreach non-profit, an international think tank and national news broadcasting.
She has worked to advance U.S. leadership in human rights, health and development on both policy and operational levels. On the policy side, she served as a special Assistant/White House Fellow to former Secretary of State George Shultz and then as a member of the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff, advocating measures to improve relations and help people in the former Soviet Union, Africa and Asia. On the operational side, she was statewide director of refugee resettlement services in Nevada.
Ms. Galatz has also held senior management positions with Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the National Immigration Forum.
A former broadcaster, Ms. Galatz’ national news credentials include the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour and the Nightly Business Report. She also created, produced and anchored the Edward R. Murrow-award winning Business in Nevada program which aired statewide on PBS stations.
As a fundraiser, she has worked with high net worth donors, corporations, foundations and government funders on behalf of the needs of refugees and individuals at risk or suffering from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Her BA and MA degrees are from Barnard College and Georgetown University. She also studied in the former Soviet Union at Leningrad State University and the Pushkin Language Institute in Moscow.
James Dold | Senior Policy Counsel
James Dold currently serves as Senior Policy Counsel for Polaris Project. In his role as Senior Policy Counsel, Mr. Dold works to advance state policy on human trafficking through drafting legislation, directly advocating for the passage of human trafficking bills, and coordinating efforts with coalitions, state human trafficking task forces, law enforcement, and prosecutors. Central to his work at the state-level, Mr. Dold helps build bi-partisan coalitions of law makers and develops strategies for success during each legislative session. As part of his efforts, Mr. Dold also engages in grassroots community organizing of citizens, the faith based community, and others who have a vested interest in advancing anti-human trafficking policies.
During his time at Polaris Project, Mr. Dold has helped pass 25 new laws to fight human trafficking that have given law enforcement greater tools to target traffickers, expanded victim assistance to survivors, and created prevention and awareness tools in states as far west as Hawaii and as far east as Massachusetts. Mr. Dold also oversees the development of Polaris Project’s Annual State Ratings Map and State Reports for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. He helps organize, plan, and staff Polaris Project’s annual appearance at the National Conference of State Legislature’s Legislative Summit. He also helps in the development of Polaris Project’s regularly published Comprehensive Model State Law.
Mr. Dold received dual baccalaureates in Criminal Justice and Psychology from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and graduated cum laude from the University of Maryland School of Law where he was named student body member of the year by the Student Bar Association. He is licensed to practice law in the state of Maryland. While in law school, Mr. Dold worked as a Legal Advocate where he provided legal assistance and represented low-income individuals and families who had their public benefits terminated or unjustly denied. He has spent time as a Law Clerk for a civil rights organization working on First and Fourteenth Amendment cases. Mr. Dold has also worked as a Legal Intern in the Maryland Legislature, as well as the U.S. Senate for Senator Ben Cardin.
Mr. Dold is an avid adventurist and in the past he has run with the bulls during the San Fermine Festival in Spain, gone sky-diving above the Nevada desert, white water rafting in the Tecos River in Costa Rica, swam with sharks in Hawaii, and gone cliff diving at Rick’s Café in Jamaica. In his spare time he enjoys reading biographies of past leaders of influence, volunteering, fishing, camping, attending professional baseball, basketball, and football games, and working out at the gym. He is also a very enthusiastic Pescetarian.
