Our People

Arash Yomtobian is the president of Mercy For Animals. He is also a global executive leader, entrepreneur, and longtime advocate for compassion, with more than two decades of experience building and leading high-impact organizations. Before joining Mercy For Animals, Arash held senior leadership roles at Google, Meta, and TikTok, where he oversaw multibillion-dollar global partnership portfolios, developed new industry categories, and built scalable operating systems that transformed business outcomes. He began his professional career in investment banking, focusing on mergers and acquisitions and private equity, and has maintained more than 15 years of active nonprofit governance throughout his career, including serving as interim CFO for Global Potential and guiding the successful merger of Positive Health Project into Housing Works. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded Nomad Noé, a vegan luxury fragrance brand. An ethical vegan for nine years, Arash’s commitment to ending factory farming is deeply personal and rooted in a broader mission to build systems of care for human- and non-human animals, and the planet. He brings to Mercy For Animals a combination of operational rigor and heart-centered leadership, along with a vision for a compassionate food system.

Jodi Medoff is chief operating officer at Mercy For Animals, overseeing our regional offices, technology and operations across the international organization. In this role, she is responsible for leading the execution of MFA’s strategy and operationalizing its programmatic work. She also serves as corporate secretary. Jodi previously served as Mercy For Animals’ chief legal officer and general counsel with additional oversight over legal and people operations leveraging her legal expertise to drive operational excellence, mitigate risk, and ensure regulatory compliance.
With more than 20 years in business, operational and legal practice, Jodi brings a breadth and depth of corporate and transactional experience along with success in executing business and operational strategies. She also brings experience in law enforcement as a former federal special agent. Jodi is a strategic business partner, sustaining a culture of operational management and efficiency and mitigating risk while guiding legal strategy and compliance.  Jodi received her MBA from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, her and her bachelor’s in psychology from Brandeis University.

Anitha is chief marketing and communications officer at Mercy For Animals, where she leads global brand strategy, communications, marketing, and supporter engagement. She steps into this role with deep gratitude, recognizing the importance of this moment for the organization and the movement, and is committed to strengthening Mercy For Animals’ visibility and long-term mission impact.

Anitha brings over two decades of experience in brand and performance marketing, shaped by leadership roles at Google and Meta and later through advising mission-driven teams on strategic transformation and AI-enabled efficiency. Her approach centers on clear communication, thoughtful storytelling, and trust in service of collective change.

She has been deeply connected to the mission for years, shaped by her family’s lived integrity, from the food they choose to the children they’ve welcomed through fostering. Anitha views Mercy For Animals as one of the few organizations capable of reshaping the global food system while keeping dignity and empathy at the center. A teacher at heart, she also designs and leads automation and digital marketing courses across major universities, bringing an educator mindset to the movement rooted in clarity and care.

Patrick Sarsfield serves as Mercy For Animals’ general counsel, overseeing legal affairs and advising on all legal matters concerning the organization’s programs, operations, compliance, and corporate governance. Patrick earned his undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

As Global Vice President of Finance at Mercy For Animals, Alex drives the organization’s financial strategy and operational resilience. Since joining MFA in 2022, he has steered impactful budgeting, forecasting, grant reporting, accounting, and investment management initiatives, ensuring the financial infrastructure effectively supports the mission to end industrial animal agriculture.

Alex brings over a decade of high-impact finance experience to the nonprofit sector. His prior career includes roles as an auditor at Ernst & Young and in-house finance and accounting leadership at Square and Lyft, where he was responsible for a full P&L and specialized in internal controls, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings.

A compassion-first vegan for over a decade, Alex is committed to leveraging his financial acumen to maximize Mercy For Animals’ impact and make the world more peaceful. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from William & Mary and a Master of Science in Financial Reporting from the University of Virginia.

Fernando Gallart is managing director of Mercy For Animals in Latin America. Based in Mexico and fueled by his experience building high-performing teams, he provides strategic guidance for our Latin American operations and oversees a growing team of passionate professional activists. Before joining Mercy For Animals, Fernando worked in international business expansion and marketing, helping companies increase their revenue in France, Spain, and Latin America.

Cristina Mendonça is managing director of Mercy For Animals in Brazil. She brings more than 20 years of experience in local and global sustainability. This includes mobilizing people and financial resources, as well as leading, facilitating, and engaging national and international stakeholders in change processes that amplify impact for NGOs, governments, and companies.

Nikunj Sharma is Mercy For Animals’ chief executive officer in India. Based in New Delhi, Nikunj provides strategic leadership and guidance for our initiatives in the country, including building and managing teams, maintaining collaborative relationships with external stakeholders, setting goals, and implementing short- and long-term plans and policies to meet them. Nikunj’s over 12 years of rich experience strategizing and leading policy and advocacy efforts for animal protection campaigns have contributed to landmark victories for animals in India. Nikunj has worked with parliamentarians, bureaucrats, think tanks, corporations, and civil society leaders to build strong formal networks. The BBC, The Newsmakers, NDTV India, Aaj Tak, Times Now, and many more top news outlets have spotlighted Nikunj’s achievements for animals.

Michael Pellman Rowland is a partner and an impact expert at Baseline Wealth Management. He provides the full spectrum of sustainability- and impact-investment advice, emphasizing climate and food systems. Michael is a frequent public speaker and has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Financial Times, and Institutional Investor. He was selected for the InvestmentNews 40 Under 40 list of top wealth advisors and the Forbes inaugural list of America’s Top Next-Generation Wealth Advisors. He served as a founding member of the Forbes Impact Investing Community and wrote a column covering sustainable food companies for Forbes. He is also an advisor for The Good Food Institute and the EAT Foundation.

Ren Akinci is an executive vice president and a chief people officer in the advertising and events industry, where she leads people strategy to drive growth, innovation, and cultural transformation. With more than 15 years’ experience across public and private-equity-backed organizations, she partners with executives to align people strategy with business goals and build high-performing, inclusive workplaces that empower creativity and purpose.

Ren became vegan after learning about Mercy For Animals’ outreach and undercover investigations, which inspired her to connect her beloved dog with farmed animals. She is a passionate advocate for animal welfare and environmental sustainability, dedicated to helping create a more compassionate and conscious world.

Alan Darer is a vice president at Mobius, a family office deploying philanthropic, political, and investment capital to strengthen the farmed animal protection movement. He is also co-founder and managing director of a policy and lobbying organization, leading a nine-person team that has spent five years building political power for the alternative protein sector on Capitol Hill and in the states.

Alan has dedicated his career to reducing animal suffering. His involvement began at Mercy For Animals, where he interned in 2010 and went on to launch and manage a range of new programs from 2012 to 2019, before moving into philanthropy and strengthening the movement’s political infrastructure.

Alan holds degrees in biochemistry and mathematics from Vassar College. He grew up in New York and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Eitan Fischer is the CEO and co-founder of Spring Innovation Fund, a venture philanthropy studio dedicated to advancing solutions that improve animal welfare. Previously, he founded Mission Barns, a cultivated meat company, where he raised more than $70 million in venture capital and led a team of 60 people working to transform the future of food.

Eitan has spent more than 15 years working to advance animal protection through entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and movement-building. Earlier in his career, he founded Animal Charity Evaluators, a nonprofit dedicated to helping donors identify the most effective opportunities to improve animal welfare. His involvement in the movement began as a Mercy For Animals intern.

Eitan studied at Yale University and Stanford University and is based in San Francisco.

Mitch Howell is a managing director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where he is a member of the External Investing Group and develops private markets strategies while advising institutional and high-net-worth individuals globally. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 2014, he held a variety of investing and client relations roles across the investment management industry.

A vegetarian turned vegan for nearly 40 years, Mitch has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to animal advocacy and supports a range of organizations working to improve the lives of animals. He is passionate about strengthening the institutions and leadership needed to create durable change.

Mitch earned a bachelor’s degree in economics with highest honors from Williams College. He lives in New York City with his partner and their rescue dogs.

Natalie Mindrum is an operations and strategy executive with more than two decades of experience driving impact at the intersection of mission and performance. She leads global supply chain strategy and execution for a top plant-based food company and held leadership roles in sustainability and operations at United Airlines. Earlier in her career, she worked with Teach For America in the Bronx and the International Rescue Committee in Afghanistan.

A 20-year vegan and the daughter of a Minnesota farmer, Natalie brings both lived experience and professional expertise to the fight for animal protection, climate resilience, and food-system transformation. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and lives with her family in Evanston, Illinois.