Katherine Chon, Director of the Office on Trafficking in Persons
Katherine Chon is the founding director of the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) and senior advisor on human trafficking at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). OTIP is part of the HHS Administration for Children and Families, responsible for developing strategies and implementing programs to prevent trafficking, increase victim identification and access to services, and strengthen the health and well-being of survivors. OTIP also collaborates with government and nongovernment partners to raise public awareness, identify research priorities, and inform policy recommendations to strengthen the Nation’s public health response to human trafficking.
As director, Katherine leads the office, determines eligibility of services for survivors of human trafficking, and supports the HHS Task Force to Prevent Human Trafficking. As senior advisor, Katherine serves on multiple federal working groups on human trafficking, gender-based violence, child exploitation, and resilient supply chains. She is the federal executive officer of public-private collaborations, including the National Advisory Committee on the Trafficking of Children and Youth in the U.S. and the Joint Forced Labor Working Group.
Prior to her government service in 2012, Katherine was the co-founder and President of Polaris. Katherine received a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University with the distinction of Delta Omega, a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Brown University.
Carolyn Hightower, Deputy Director of the Office on Trafficking in Persons
Carolyn Hightower is OTIP’s Deputy Director, where she supports trafficking victim services programs, training and technical assistance efforts, and public awareness activities. She has devoted much of her career to crime victims' issues and services and has extensive experience in policy development, program planning and implementation, and management and supervision. From 1984 to 2007, she served at the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime as Principal Deputy Director. She was assigned responsibility for coordinating the delivery of victim services during the Oklahoma City bombing, assisting with the victim response to the East Africa Embassy Bombing, and developing the guidelines for the Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Fund including the compensation assistance for victims of terrorism.
For nearly a decade, she lived and worked abroad with her family in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. She served as a Contracting Officer in Bogota, Colombia, and as a Rule of Law Program Analyst in Mexico City, Mexico.
Carolyn received a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Judicial Administration from the University of Southern California.