Our Team
At Peace Pays, we believe people, relationships, and trust are the most powerful—and exponential—technology on earth. AI can amplify this work, but it can never replace it.
Our team combines decades of expertise in diplomacy, technology, philanthropy, and grassroots initiatives, uniting thousands of trusted expert women peace builders from over 100 countries in human-led, AI-enhanced networks to prevent violence before it escalates.
Jennifer Bradshaw
Co-Founder
Chief Executive OfficerJennifer Bradshaw, co-founder of Peace Pays, leverages two decades of expertise in developing conflict de-escalation and violence prevention systems across 70+ countries, integrating women's leadership with ethical AI to foster global prosperity.
Her insights stem from extensive frontline experience with organizations like the U.S. Department of State, USAID, Amnesty International, and multiple corporate foundations. Having lived and worked in conflict zones from Ukraine to Sudan, collaborating with groups such as the Ukrainian Coalition for Legal Aid. She has cultivated and stewarded vital global networks of trusted peace leaders, comprising over 1,000 peacebuilders across 100+ countries, ensuring frontline and grassroots insights directly inform high-level policy and funding
Bradshaw's impact includes managing a $20 million peacebuilding portfolio at the U.S. State Department, where she also co-designed its Violence Prevention Early Warning System and Rapid Response Fund, which deployed $11.2 million to civil society peace leaders; over her career, she has overseen more than $100 million in peacebuilding programs and influenced equivalent foreign assistance through initiatives like the U.S. 2023 Women, Peace, and Security National Action Plan, with her strategic counsel increasing women's participation in Sudan's ceasefire mediation by 40%.
A Rotary Peace Fellow, Bradshaw holds an MSc from Uppsala University in Peace and Conflict Research, and a BA in Sociology from the University of Oregon.
Kat Fotovat
Co-Founder
President Kat Fotovat is the former Acting Ambassador-at-Large in the U.S. Office of Global Women’s Issues, where she led global efforts on gender equality, and the prevention of gender-based violence.
She also served on the White House Gender Policy Council, and as the US Focal Point on Women, Peace, and Security at the UN for nearly a decade. Previously, she served as Principal Deputy Director in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, overseeing over $5 billion in programs supporting civil society and human rights, including transitional justice and internet freedoms.
Fotovat’s U.S. government service also included senior roles at embassies, the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons, Bureau of Conflict, Stabilization, Operations, and at USAID.. Prior to her government career, she worked with organizations including UNHCR, UNICEF, ABA-CEELI, and on peace negotiations and post-conflict constitutions with the Nobel-nominated Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG) where she currently serves as a Peace Fellow, focused on AI and Conflict Mediation.
Fotovat is also a Senior Advisor to the Swanee Hunt Foundation on Inclusive Security, and a board member of Afghan Women’s Network International.
Sabrina Pourmand
Co-Founder
Executive ChairwomanSabrina Pourmand is a humanitarian crisis responder and growth leader who has raised and managed over $1B for humanitarian causes.
She advises leaders and organizations around the globe, including: African Leadership Group, Airbnb.org, The Aspen Institute Finance Leaders Fellowship, American Journalism Project, Every.org, The Asian American Foundation.
Pourmand is also is the Founding Executive Director of Rideback Rise, a content accelerator for BIPOC creators, co-founded with Chairman of Netflix Film, Dan Lin. She sits on the board of Forward Global and Founders Pledge, two global philanthropic communities.
Martha Adams
Co-Founder
Chief Storytelling & Media CuratorNamed one of Newsweek’s “125 Women of Impact,” Martha Adams is an Emmy Award–winning filmmaker and impact strategist known for global storytelling campaigns that drive measurable change.
Her work—including Girl Rising (Forbes’ #1 Most Dynamic Social Initiative), We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World (CNN), and She Creates Change (Warner Bros. Discovery, International Women’s Day 2024)—has reached audiences in more than 150 countries and helped shape global policy and funding for girls’ and women’s rights.
Adams is also a Senior Fellow at USC’s Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab, a Film Expert for the U.S. Department of State’s American Film Showcase, a member of the Producers Guild of America, and the former President of Entertainment at Rebel Girls, the award-winning media company behind the NYT-bestselling Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series.
Amanda Van Dort
Senior Director, Policy and ProgramsAmanda J. Van Dort is a human rights and gender equality expert with over 15 years of experience spanning the U.S. government, nonprofit, multilateral, and academic sectors. She is a 2026 American Democracy and Technology Fellow at the McCain Institute, where her work focuses on countering foreign actors’ use of gendered disinformation to undermine democratic trust in the United States. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, teaching courses on feminist statecraft, women and global politics, and gender and conflict.
Until 2025, Amanda served as Chief of Staff and Division Chief for Policy, Planning, and Public Diplomacy in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State. In this role, she led institutional reform efforts to integrate gender equality into policy and practice. In 2021, she helped stand up operations at the Dulles Expo Center and Marine Corps Base Quantico to support evacuated Afghans during Operation Allies Welcome. Previously, she was Policy Team Lead and Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, where she managed U.S. government atrocity prevention efforts and advanced Women, Peace, and Security initiatives. As a Presidential Management Fellow, she worked on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and on adherence to international humanitarian law in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Prior to her government service, Amanda was a Harold W. Rosenthal Fellow with the International Organization for Migration in Geneva and Country Director for Emerge Global, a nonprofit supporting adolescent girl survivors of sexual assault and abuse in Sri Lanka. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan University’s School of Health Sciences.
Lauren Emerson
Senior Director, AI and Women's Economic SecurityLauren Emerson is a global impact strategist with over a decade of experience designing evidence-based programs and accountability frameworks for women's economic security. At Peace Pays, she leads the organization's work at the intersection of AI and women's economic security — helping companies identify where AI-driven systems may create economic exclusion and advising on the design of AI products and services that intentionally expand inclusion and profitability.
At the U.S. Department of State's Office of Global Women's Issues, Emerson led program strategy and impact measurement for a $50M+ portfolio of women's economic security programs, developed the metrics framework for the U.S. Strategy for Global Women's Economic Security spanning 10 federal agencies, and advised a $20M centralized fund advancing women’s economic security, reporting outcomes to the White House and Congress.
Previously, at the International Rescue Committee, Emerson drove organizational change on gender equality across 20 country programs — designing evidence-based program models for economic recovery in humanitarian contexts, leading innovative pilots in women's land rights and unpaid care work, and training 175+ staff globally on gender-responsive programming. In Iraq, she developed the technical strategy for livelihoods programming and managed a team of 18 implementing economic development programs for crisis-affected communities across the country.
Emerson holds an MA in Development Economics and Monitoring & Evaluation from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and a BA in Anthropology from Bucknell University. She serves on the Board of Directors of Hearts and Homes for Refugees and the Advisory Board of La Soeur Fund.