Meet the Americas Steering Committee (ASC)

Marieke van Weerden has made her career in the humanitarian security sector, climbing through the ranks into her current leadership position as Director of Health, Safety and Security at Catholic Relief Services, one of the world’s largest aid agencies. Marieke has an academic background in history and human rights and has evolved her hands-on risk management experience with strategic insights at IE Business School, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School and Yale. She is passionate about building a career pathway for humanitarian security professionals, revolutionising the security narrative and driving the creation of a security community widely known for its innovation, resilience and agility.

Ben Whelan is the Global Risk and Operations Manager on the SecOps team for Access Now. He supports the organization's programmatic, operational, and senior management teams in identifying, assessing, and mitigating digital, physical, and operational security risks for the organization and its staff. This includes the development, implementation, and oversight of security related policies, programs, and strategies to support the organization. 

Access Now is a human rights organization that works at the intersection of human rights and technology and has operations in 30+ countries that provides global technical support and grants to civil society, policy advice, runs advocacy campaigns, and hosts RightsCon.org, the world's leading summit on human rights. 

Ben's excited to be joining the GISF Americas Steering Committee to help contribute to the invaluable convening space and community of security professionals created by GISF.

Steven Mercer serves as the International Security Director for Samaritan’s Purse International Relief. Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Steven’s role includes providing leadership and direction to field security teams operating worldwide, a 24/7 Global Security Operations Center, and a security training team. He is responsible for establishing policies, strategies, procedures, and standards that enable Samaritan’s Purse to operate in dangerous environments through appropriate and creative risk-mitigation measures. Prior to working at Samaritan’s Purse, Steven served as a Green Beret with the United States Army’s 5th Special Forces Group. He has also served on the steering committees for OSAC’s International Development and Faith-Based Sectors. Steven holds a Master of Theology and a Master of Divinity Degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his high school sweetheart have been married for over 20 years and have six children.