Meet Our Staff

Defending Human Dignity

Our team is comprised of passionate, talented individuals who come from a variety of different backgrounds. We love people and fight for the human dignity of all. Every team member shares these principles and hopes for a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Dawn Hawkins

Chief Executive Officer

Dawn Hawkins is CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, the leading organization exposing the connections between all forms of sexual exploitation, including sex trafficking, prostitution, pornography, and child sexual abuse. Dawn’s energy, creativity and mobilization skills are deployed to build a world free from sexual violence, with freedom and human dignity for all.

Kindsey Pentecost Chadwick

Interim President

With over two decades in the criminal justice and anti-trafficking sectors, Kindsey has made significant contributions to combatting sexual abuse and exploitation, leading to changes that span the globe. She co-founded Turn Your Life Around, a prostitution diversion initiative, and established the Selah Freedom Sex Trade support group. She has helped raise over $20 million to combat global human trafficking.

Benjamin W. Bull, Esq.

Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Director of the NCOSE Law Center

Mr. Benjamin W. Bull leads the NCOSE Law Center fighting child sexual abuse, illegal pornography, sex trafficking, and other forms of sexual abuse and exploitation. A noted constitutional lawyer and former prosecutor, he has won numerous obscenity and child pornography appellate cases, including at the Supreme Court.

Haley McNamara

Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Programs

Haley McNamara leads joint campaigns within areas of legislation, litigation, and corporate advocacy regarding the full web of sexual exploitation issues. Her advocacy work has contributed to policy improvements in social media, online advertising, retail, and hotel industries. Haley regularly speaks and writes on topics including child sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

Marcel Van der Watt

Senior Vice President of Impact And Operations

Marcel van der Watt (Ph.D.) is an internationally accoladed investigative and research professional with more than 20 years of experience in combating sexual exploitation. His cumulative experience as a former police investigator, hostage and suicide negotiator, and human trafficking case consultant continues to inform his work.

Eleanor Kennelly Gaetan, Ph.D.

Vice President and Director of Public Policy

Eleanor Gaetan leads strategic efforts at the federal, state, and local government levels encouraging them to develop policies for a world free from sexual exploitation. A very accomplished writer, Eleanor also provides key analysis of research helping to connect the dots between all forms of sexual exploitation.

Lina Nealon

Vice President And Director of Corporate Advocacy

Lina spearheads NCOSE’s campaigns to hold corporations accountable for profiting from sexual exploitation. She has advised government officials, leading philanthropists, and business leaders in practices to reduce demand and has drafted legislation at the federal, state, and local levels to stop exploitation.

Lisa Thompson

Vice President of Research

Lisa oversees strategic planning for increased public understanding of a wide range of sexual exploitation related issues. Lisa conducts analysis regarding the impacts of sexual objectification, pornography, prostitution, sexual trafficking, consumer-level demand for prostitution, and other sexual exploitation topics on sex trade survivors and larger society.