Edwin Rekosh is Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Rights CoLab, an NGO which innovates and incubates new solutions to advance human rights across the areas of business, finance and civil society. He has served as a board member of Validity since 201?, when he joined the UK MDAC board. As a board member, he has served on the Staff/Board Committee on xxxx and the Finance Committee. 

Prior to co-founding Rights CoLab, Ed founded PILnet: The Global Network for Public Interest Law and directed it for 18 years. He also taught on the adjunct faculty of Columbia Law School for over 20 years. Ed spent the early 1990s in Romania, helping human rights groups become established there after the fall of communism. Shortly after attending Columbia Law School, he co-founded the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. 

While living in Budapest in the 2000s, Ed became familiar with Validity’s work from the time of its initial founding as Mental Disability Advocacy Center. After leaving PILnet, Ed was pleased to transition from his relationship as a peer collaborator to join the Board of Directors and contribute more to the development of the organization. He is gratified to see it grow into a widely respected, sustainable and effective advocate for the rights of people who have suffered from stigma, loss of autonomy and mistreatment because of their mental, developmental and emotional struggles. 

Ed lives in Brooklyn, NY, where his two sons also live, and he spends a lot of time in Asia, particularly in Taiwan and Indonesia, working on Rights CoLab projects. He enjoys biking, dancing and being in nature.