Safeguarding Travel: Transportation’s Fight Against Human Trafficking

12:00-12:45p.m. (PT) | Link to register. 

An estimated 49.6 million individuals are currently trapped by human trafficking, with women and girls making up about 71% of trafficking victims worldwide. Transportation hubs are key locations where trafficking takes place, and it is critical for the transportation industry to understand how traffickers take advantage of weaknesses in networks and who they target in order to stop trafficking and help survivors. Featured speakers will share insights into how traffickers take advantage of transportation networks and discuss potential points for tailored interventions. Join this important conversation to learn how to support survivors and implement anti-trafficking strategies that will make transportation safer for everyone. 

Featured Speakers: 

• Evelyn Chumbow, Operations Manager and Survivor Advocate, Human Trafficking Legal Center (HTLC)
• Christi Wigle, Co-Founder & CEO, United Against Slavery
• Dr. Kezban Yagci Sokat, Research Associate, Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI)

Moderator: Karen Philbrick, PhD, Executive Director, Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI)

*0.75 PDH credit available

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About the Featured Speakers

• Evelyn Chumbow, Operations Manager and Survivor Advocate, Human Trafficking Legal Center (HTLC)

Evelyn Chumbow is a survivor of child labor trafficking turned anti-trafficking activist and public speaker. Chumbow has been invited to brief several government agencies about human trafficking from a survivor’s perspective, including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the State Department, and the Department of Justice. She was appointed by President Obama to serve on the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. She has been invited as a speaker to international events and has been awarded many honors for her work. Chumbow serves as an advisor to human trafficking NGOs and on the Board of Directors for Free the Slaves. Chumbow hopes to leverage her unique position as a former child slave to end human trafficking in her hometown and globally.

• Christi Wigle, Co-Founder & CEO, United Against Slavery

Christi Wigle is the CEO and Co-founder of United Against Slavery. She has worked on the frontlines of anti-human trafficking work for thirteen years, serving in leadership and survivor advocacy for sex and labor trafficking survivors. Drawing upon two decades of business and product development experience, she created an innovative methodology to perform comprehensive frontline research and data collection, creating a Collaborative Research Model. Christi co-founded United Against Slavery in 2014 as a research organization to identify and document the challenges faced by more than 20 stakeholder groups here in the United States and around the globe.

• Dr. Kezban Yagci Sokat, Research Associate, Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI)

Dr. Yagci Sokat is an Assistant Professor of Business Analytics at San José State University and a Research Associate at the Mineta Transportation Institute with a passion for using analytics to alleviate human suffering in the areas of public health, humanitarian logistics, and human trafficking. Supported by the United States Department of Transportation, IBM, Valley Transportation Authority and San José State University, she has led various multi-disciplinary anti-trafficking projects and has served on several local anti-trafficking committees. She received her PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University and holds master’s degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Fulbright scholarship.