Wendy Via
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism
2022
Wendy Via is an expert in the intersection of technology and far-right extremism and in achieving change and influencing narratives and actions around civil and human rights issues, including the effects extremism and systemic racism have on our society, economic inequality, immigration, criminal justice reform, religious minorities, and LGBTQ rights. Via serves on the core committee of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network, founded by the governments of France and New Zealand, which seeks to stop the proliferation of online violent extremism and terrorism, and is the author of numerous reports on transnational extremism. For the last two decades, she has successfully directed impact philanthropy initiatives, designed influential policy and advocacy campaigns, leveraged research, and highlighted storytelling to educate the public and create lasting change. Prior to co-founding GPAHE, Via was the Chief Communications and Development Officer at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she led numerous teams. She also helped launch Justice for Migrant Women, dedicated to ensuring that migrant women can live and work with dignity and free from violence, and worked with Jeremiah Program, dedicated to disrupting generational poverty for single moms and their children.
At the Summit
The effort to eradicate hate requires the active participation of every component of our society, to include governments, the private sector, communities of faith and indeed every aspect of civil society. There is no more urgent task in front of us. The organizers of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit are doing the United States and the world an enormous service by tackling hatred and extremism with a focus on honest dialogue and conversation, genuine learning and practical solutions. This will not happen overnight, but the Pittsburgh community’s leadership in this effort is genuinely inspiring and motivating.
