Shelly Heald Han

Shelly Heald Han is FLA’s Executive Vice President and Head of Public Policy. In this role, she leads efforts to help FLA members navigate a shifting policy landscape and bring FLA’s decades of experience in human rights due diligence and labor standards to regulators and policymakers, promoting practical, effective regulation that improves workers’ lives and levels the playing field for companies that already take human rights seriously. Han also oversees management of FLA’s Labor and Civil Society Caucus and facilitates outreach to labor groups and other stakeholders. Han’s career has centered on human rights advocacy and corporate social responsibility.

Before joining FLA in 2016, Han was a senior policy advisor to members of Congress at the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. There, she wrote legislation, organized congressional hearings, and launched human rights advocacy campaigns focused on combatting corruption, supporting human rights defenders and journalists, and advancing online freedom. From 2000–06, Han held policy positions on trade, national security and immigration at the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security. Prior to joining the government, she worked in the private sector helping companies ethically do business in international markets.

Han has a master’s degree in international commerce and policy from George Mason University and a double-major undergraduate degree in political science and East Asian Studies is from the University of Arizona. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and in her spare time is a professional photographer.