Leadership

Nirva is the Global Policy Fellow in the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School and a passionate advocate for animal welfare. She is also a registered patent attorney, biomedical engineer, and executive producer for several plant-based films, including “The Game Changers,” “The End of Medicine,” and “Meat Me Halfway.” As Chair of the Board of Directors, Nirva is dedicated to furthering Farm Sanctuary’s commitment to addressing the full scope of interrelated social injustices rooted in animal agriculture.

For close to a decade, Nirva worked in animal advocacy in Mumbai, India. In the U.S., she has individually sparked many advocacy campaigns, including successfully pushing to ban the sale of fur in Weston, Massachusetts, and demanding Jain temples across the U.S. in 2018 remove ghee and dairy from their offerings.

She also serves on the International Vegan Film Festival board and is an Advisory Board Member of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA). She has provided strategic fundraising efforts for numerous non-profit capital and development campaigns in Boston.

Nirva holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University, a J.D. from The New England School of Law, and an M.S. in Animals and Public Policy from Tufts University. Her passion for animals was predicated by the Jain philosophy of ahimsa (non-violence), which advocates a vegan lifestyle. She lives in Boston with her husband, four children, and two rescued rabbits.

Sandee is a former corporate securities attorney who retired from the practice of law to raise her four children and to commit her energies to volunteering in the nonprofit sector. She recently completed her four-year term as Co-Chair of the Women’s Leadership Council of Brown University overseeing a council of 60 alumnae who serve as leaders to engage a wide array of Brown women through mentoring, programming and philanthropy. She was also Chair of the Board and President of the Brown University Club of Boston.

She is a member of the Board of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, a non-profit that seeks to empower Asians and new immigrants, and she has served on its Capital Campaign Committee and most recently on its CEO Search Committee.  She also sits on the Board of the Midas Collaborative which is a nonprofit committed to advancing the financial security of low income Massachusetts residents through asset savings programs.

Four years ago, she became vegan at the encouragement of her daughters and she has discovered a new passion for animal rights. After living in California for 20 years, she and her husband relocated their family to the Boston area where they now reside in Newton, MA.

Sandee received a bachelor’s degree with honors in Computer Science and English Literature from Brown University, and she earned her JD degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Juliana works on the climate investments team of a philanthropic foundation where she leads investment sourcing, due diligence, and strategy initiatives. Previously, Juliana worked as a Principal at Unovis Asset Management, a leading global alternative protein impact fund, where she led investment diligence, portfolio management, and board-level strategy activities, deepening her support for animal welfare. Juliana has held various roles in M&A and Corporate Development and she is actively involved in start-ups focused on products and services to improve wellness outcomes through dietary compliance of natural, plant-based functional foods.

Juliana, a licensed Certified Public Accountant, received her Masters in Finance & Accounting from the University of Virginia and a Bachelors in Integrative Biology from University of California at Berkeley.

Robert Procaccianti is a Senior Vice President of Wealth Management with UBS. He creates and implements investment portfolios that avoid all forms of animal exploitation. Robert also serves as Ambassador to the UBS Global Visionaries program, which connects private investors to leading environmental and social entrepreneurs. He has been a member of Farm Sanctuary since 2017, and is a member of the Friends of Hilda Club and Legacy Society.

He previously served as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Animal Rescue Rhode Island, a companion animal rescue organization. During his tenure, the organization experienced record-high adoption rates and became one of the first animal shelters in the United States to adopt the usage of certified cruelty-free cleaning products. In Rhode Island, he has been involved in legislative initiatives such as the Beagle Freedom Bill, elimination of chicken battery cages, prohibition of the use of live animals in medical training programs, and a sales ban of foie gras.

Robert graduated Magna Cum Laude from Stonehill College (MA) with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. Robert is a resident of Narragansett, RI, where he lives with his rescue hound. He is also a boxing coach.