Named executive director of the International Women's Media Foundation in 2013, Elisa Lees Muñoz has more than 25 years of experience in human rights, freedom of the press, and gender equality issues. She oversees multi-national, multi-million-dollar programming to support women in the news media around the world. Recently, with the support of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Lees Muñoz launched a $10 million reporting and security training initiative for women journalists in the Great Lakes region of Africa, Central America, Colombia, Mexico, the US-Mexico border; as well as a $5 million grant making initiative for women journalists. She has worked to promote safety for women journalists reporting in dangerous situations, research on the status of women in the news media and a report about the violence and harassment they encounter, as well as the establishment of the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award. Lees Munoz helped to establish the IWMF’s Emergency Fund for Women Journalists, and Reporting Grants for Women’s Stories initiative. She holds a  master’s degree in international relations. Before joining the IWMF, Lees Muñoz led the Crimes of War Education Project and before that was an election monitor for the OSCE in the Balkans and monitored the human rights of scientists for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.