Rod Khattabi

CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Rod Khattabi serves as Justice Initiative Director & Risk Officer for Grace Farms Foundation. In this role, he is responsible for all programs aligned with the mission to end modern day slavery, gender-based violence, and illegal wildlife trade, through effective policy, training, and advocacy.

Khattabi is also part of the Grace Farms Foundation Architecture + Construction Working Group, which aims to build awareness of forced labor in the architecture and global construction industry and establish auditing standards in the procurement of construction material. Khattabi is also responsible for assessing and executing the risk program.

Prior to joining Grace Farms Foundation, Khattabi was in charge of the New Haven office in Connecticut with the Department of Homeland Security. His career as a federal agent began in 1995 and since then he has received numerous  awards including the Medal of Valor for his heroic actions during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Khattabi was assigned to  temporary details/assignments in a wide range of countries: Philippines, France, Germany, Nicaragua, Morocco, Haiti,  Oman, South Africa, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Belgium, and Luxembourg. In most of these cases, Khattabi held the responsibility for leading and deploying investigative teams into foreign countries, gathering evidence while navigating complicated international law, and conducting successful forensic  interviews with victims. 

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As Chief Accountability & Justice Initiative Director, Khattabi advises and trains international, federal, state, and local  law enforcement in successfully combatting and prosecuting National and Transnational Organized Crime involved in human trafficking and environmental crimes. International trainings are conducted in Africa, Asia, and Europe by enhancing capacity of law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service providers, as well as strengthening networks for regional law enforcement to increase investigative collaboration. Rod maintains oversight of all elements  related to content creation and training deployment. Past workshop partners include Interpol, UNODC, USAID Asia,  UNDP, State Department, African Union Commission, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).