Theresa Menders

Theresa Menders attributes much of her professional business success and accomplishments to the lessons learned as a global explorer and humanitarian advocate. Having traveled to 50 countries – often as Expedition Team Leader – Menders understands how to navigate and thrive in rapidly shifting landscapes and uncertain environments. In the field, Menders is exceptionally accomplished in mobilizing scarce resources and negotiating cooperation from disparate stakeholders (ranging from military authorities to law enforcement to NGOs to tribal leaders to local boots-on-the-ground) to achieve complex mission objectives.

A former investment banker and management consultant by training, Menders has led major corporate initiatives for both global and startup organizations. Menders has been invited by Fortune 50 companies, leading universities, nonprofits, and historical institutions to share firsthand insights into navigating rapidly shifting landscapes, embracing innovation, promoting improvisation, and accomplishing outsized goals.

Menders is a co-founder of “The Power of Faces,” a global portrait project that shows displaced people and refugees with their inherent courage, beauty, dignity, and grace. Menders has worked in refugee camps across Greece as well as Turkey, Bangladesh, Mexico, and at the Poland/Ukraine border. Her photographs and reportage have been exhibited at Amnesty International, Middle East Institute, numerous museums, galleries, universities, in multiple TED Talks, and traveling exhibitions across the U.S.

As a humanitarian advocate, Menders is actively raising awareness of the importance of survivor mental health and psychological first aid for humanitarian crises. She is surveying the disparate resources that may currently be in place around the world and working to confer with universities, medical centers, practitioners, and advocates to aggregate resources and services that may be scaled for future crisis situations.

Menders has successfully collaborated with her husband and documentary photo partner, Daniel Farber Huang, on women’s and children’s issues and the alleviation of poverty. She has covered these and other important topics in the Republic of Vanuatu, Haiti, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Bhutan, and numerous other countries. Menders is also a National Fellow of the Explorers Club, which promotes scientific inquiry in the natural world.

Menders is completing her PhD in Public Health Leadership at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and also has earned an MPH degree in Global Health from George Washington University, an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, an MA degree in Latin American Studies and International Economics from The Johns Hopkins University, and BA degree in Mathematics from Dartmouth College.