In 1945, at the UN Charter Conference, the League of Women Voters was invited by President Harry Truman to serve as a consultant to the U.S. delegation. Since that time, the League has continued its presence at the United Nations through its one official and two alternate observers. In July 1997, the League was granted Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which provides the opportunity to make interventions on issues the League supports. Consultative status allows the League to: make formal oral or written statements to the UN and be consulted by the UN in areas in which the League has expertise.
- Learn more about the history of the League and the United Nations.
- Learn more about the role of the UN Observer.
- Contact the UN Observers at [email protected].
- Follow the Observers on Twitter and Facebook.
Current LWVUS UN Observers:
Dr. Connie Sobon Sensor, Chief Observer to the United Nations
Connie Sobon Sensor, PhD, RN, CTN-A is a global health leader, nurse scholar, and advocate with extensive experience at the intersection of civil society, public policy, and the United Nations. She serves as Chief Observer to the United Nations for the League of Women Voters and is a member of the New Jersey State League. Through her leadership in multiple UN civil society committees, she has elevated the visibility and engagement of the League of Women Voters within the UN community. Her service includes the Commission on the Status of Women–New York, where she helped draft civil society conference outcome documents; the NGO Committee on Ageing, where she serves as an elected member-at-large; and the Global NGO Executive Committee, where she served as an elected vice president.
In 2024, she was appointed to the Panel of Experts that helped plan the UN Civil Society Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. She has organized and presented numerous briefings with the UN Department of Global Communications and the UN Commission on the Status of Women since 2016. She mentors League of Women Voters delegates attending both the Commission on the Status of Women and the Conference of the Parties (COP), the global climate conference.
Before joining the League of Women Voters in this role, Dr. Sobon Sensor served on the Board of Directors of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, where she was secretary and the organization’s appointed liaison to the United Nations. She is the past president of the Northeast Chapter of the Transcultural Nursing Society, a former secretary for Region 3 of the New Jersey State Nurses Association, and a former National Public Policy Workgroup member and regional Public Policy Advisor for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, where she promoted the organization’s public policy agenda and empowered members to influence policy development related to critical-care nursing and health.
A longtime professor at Rutgers University, Dr. Sobon Sensor holds a BS in Nursing from New Jersey City University, an MS in Clinical Management with a focus on Transcultural Nursing from Kean University, and a PhD in Nursing Research and Theory Development from Seton Hall University. She is a fierce advocate for human rights, democracy, and voting rights. Connie speaks locally, nationally, and internationally on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, leadership in global health, climate justice, and the health-related beliefs, practices, and experiences of migrant populations.
Camille Brewer
Ms. Brewer is beginning a four-year term as a member of the LWV UN Observer team. She is a retired federal senior executive who served at the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition as the Director for International Affairs. Working through partnerships with organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and sister federal and state agencies, Ms. Brewer and her staff developed and implemented a broad range of public health and scientific cooperation programs pertaining to foods, nutrition, labeling, and cosmetics. She led the US delegation for APEC’s Food Safety Cooperation Forum. She is the two-time winner of the FDA’s Award of Merit, which is the agency’s highest honor.
Ms. Brewer is a member of the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County (LWVMC). She serves on the Civic Education Action Committees and is an incoming member of the Board of Directors. She is the Co-lead for Redistricting at LWVMC and serves as the liaison with partners on various LWVMC activities. She coordinated advocacy, outreach, and education activities that led to the Montgomery County CEDAW Resolution in March 2026. She was previously a member of the Board of Directors for the League of Women Voters of Maryland and currently chairs the Nominating Committee for the state League. In addition, she is on the Board of Directors of Montgomery History, the county’s historical society, which has developed several successful joint programs with the League.
Ms. Brewer earned her Master's Degree in Public Health Nutrition from Case Western Reserve University and her Bachelor's degree in political science from Lincoln University. She is married to Beverly Vernon Dennis, Esq. Their daughter, Julia, lives and works in Atlanta.
Jane Colvin
Jane E. Colvin joined the League of Women Voters of the City of New York in 2006 and quickly became a member of the Legislative Action Committee that advocated for League positions in Albany. She has worked on many different committees, including Women’s Issues, Membership, Development, and Marketing, and was editor of the Inside the League newsletter. She served as a charter member of the newly formed Management Team from 2008 - 2010, as Secretary from 2012 - 2014, and as Treasurer from 2014 - 2018. At the 2012 LWVUS National Convention, Jane and a colleague from LWV South Carolina presented and secured the adoption of the concurrence on Sentencing Reform. In 2019, Ms. Colvin was elected to the Board of the League of Women Voters of New York State, where she is a member of the Voter Service, Investment, and Finance Committees.
Ms. Colvin's professional career included international and private banking in New York City where she worked for many years at Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank. Before joining the corporate world, Jane was the assistant to the director of the World Trade Institute, an international trade and commerce educational organization created by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to expand global trade. As program manager, she collaborated with USAID and UNIDO to develop work-study courses for manufacturers and government officials from developing countries responsible for increasing international trade.
She has a BA from Cornell and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.
Ms. Colvin is an active member of the All Souls Unitarian Universalist church in New York City since 2006. She has served on the Nuclear Disarmament, Adult Education, and Nominating Committees and is Chair of the Finance Committee of the Women’s Alliance. She headed the All Souls Caring Team and is a lay pastoral associate.
Sarah Diefendorf
Sarah Diefendorf is the Executive Director of The Capacity Collaborative at Earth Island Institute. Her work focuses on providing training and technical assistance to environmental justice communities throughout the United States and East Africa.
For over 25 years she has implemented tools and training to: build managerial, financial and fundraising capacity for nonprofit organizations, utilities, public agencies and small communities; help Native American Tribes manage their waste, water and wastewater and prepare for climate change; and foster leadership and communications skills for all of the above.
Sarah is also a co-founder of Women’s Climate Centers International, which builds women’s resilience through comprehensive climate adaptation training to support access to water, food, and economic security in Kenya and Uganda. Sarah has served on the San Francisco, California, and National LWV boards. She holds a BA in International Relations from San Francisco State University and an MS in Environmental Geography from Cambridge University.
Ann Hefter
Anne began her career as a management consultant with a focus on strategy and operations management, working in industries including financial services, pharmaceuticals, consumer, and industrial products. After years in the for-profit sector, including work in alternative energy, Anne transitioned to strategic consulting for nonprofits, working with Compass Pro Bono. Compass focuses on assisting nonprofits with their most pressing issues, including expansion, succession planning, board management, and board placement. She also served on the board of EveryMind, a nonprofit in the DC area focused on mental wellness.
In 2019, Anne spent a year at Harvard in the Advanced Leadership Initiative, focused on reducing political polarization and improving voting methods, including the use of ranked choice voting. She joined the League of Women Voters and served on LWVUS’ Lobby Corps, working with Senate and House offices on issues regarding voting rights and pandemic relief. She was the lead for ranked choice voting in Montgomery County, MD, and served on the League board in Montgomery County and the National Capital Area. More recently, Anne moved to Connecticut and works as a Legislative Specialist for the State League and serves on their Board. Anne has been a LWVUS representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women since 2023, is Treasurer of the League in Southeastern Connecticut, and served on the Resolutions Committee at the National League Convention in 2024. Anne received her AB from Brown University and her MBA from the Wharton School. She is married with three children, and splits her time between Lyme, CT, and New York City.
Dr. Madeline Motta
Madeline M. Motta is a Vermont Superior Court assistant judge and corporate and government ethics compliance consultant, lawyer, and academic. Dr. Motta completed her JSD, Doctorate in Law from the Faculty of Law, McGill University, focusing on fiduciary law, ethics, and bio-medical regulatory law. She holds a JD degree from the Univ. of Mass. with extensive experience in anti-trust in health care and an MSW in clinical social work and community organization from McGill University School of Social Work.
Madeline has advised Federal Agencies in Canada on complying with complex International and US human research regulations and authored Federal and Provincial policy and program recommendations on First Nations’ community health, mental health, public safety, and judicial administration. She teaches bioethics to pre-med and allied health college students and has written numerous journal articles on emergent legal and bioethics issues.
Madeline was instrumental in creating legislation and establishing the Vermont State Ethics Commission and was elected Chair of the State Ethics Commission.
Madeline established the LWV Inmate Voter Registration Initiative through an LWVUS grant to register inmates to vote in Vermont correctional facilities. In 2020, collaborating with the VT Department of Corrections, she produced a professional inmate instructional video to assist inmates in registering to vote, given that the COVID pandemic had closed correctional facilities to LWV volunteers. She was also responsible for translating LWV voter education materials into Somali, Nepalese, and Chinese to reach out to new citizens in Vermont. Madeline co-chaired the LWV education committee during the 2020 elections and, through the media, instructed Vermont citizens on mail-in ballot voting rules. She was awarded the LWVVT June Carmichael Award for Outstanding Service to the League in 2019.
Jane Ruby
Jane Ruby has been involved with the League of Women Voters (LWV) since moving to Chicago from New York City before the 2016 presidential election. She has served on the Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters of Chicago since 2018, including two years as vice president of Operations, and was elected president in 2022. In that role, she has continued to elevate the League’s public profile and civic impact. In 2025, she was included in Crain’s list of “Notable Leaders in Philanthropy.”
Jane’s work with LWV Chicago spans numerous initiatives. She spearheaded League efforts to rename Congress Parkway in downtown Chicago to Ida B. Wells Drive, an achievement that coincided with the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage and the League’s centennial. In 2020, she followed up that success by serving as chair of LWV Chicago’s Centennial State of the City event, the League’s flagship event of the year.
During the 2023 Chicago municipal elections, Jane helped coordinate 22 aldermanic candidate forums, as well as two televised mayoral debates on major local television affiliates. She has written and published op-eds and letters to the editor in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, and she is regularly interviewed and quoted in the press.
In 2026, Jane worked alongside coalition partners to see the passage of two pieces of legislation: The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Young Voter Empowerment Law, which passed statewide, and The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Protecting Democracy Ordinance, which passed citywide. Both legislative wins highlight Jane’s commitment to youth civic empowerment and ensuring our democracy is not only protected, but expanded to be more just and inclusive for all.
Jane has also emerged as an important voice within the League of Women Voters of the United States. She served for three years as a delegate to the United Nations’ annual Commission on the Status of Women before officially joining the LWVUS United Nations Observer Corps in early 2026. She is currently serving as vice chair for Bylaws for the LWVUS 2026 National Convention.
Her leadership within the League extends across a variety of critical issue areas, including civic engagement, democracy reform, and human rights. She currently serves on prominent coalitions advocating for ranked-choice voting in Chicago elections and for money-in-politics reform. She was also a founding member of the League of Women Voters of Illinois’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, established in early 2024, and serves as LWV Illinois’ Women’s Rights specialist, with a particular focus on ERA and CEDAW advocacy. In addition, she is a member of Congresswoman Delia Ramirez’s (IL-03) Defending Democracy Working Group, representing the League of Women Voters.
Jane is also a frequent presenter, giving talks on CEDAW and women’s rights advocacy, as well as presentations on the history of the League of Women Voters, to local Leagues and other organizations.
Sarah Warner
Sarah Warner, JD, MPA, is an award-winning advocate and leader with nearly two decades of service in the anti-trafficking space, providing legislative, legal, and policy leadership and serving as a subject matter expert at the local, state, federal, and international levels. In addition to training in EU law and UN international mechanisms at The University of Antwerp, Belgium, she also has a Juris Doctor in international human rights law & humanitarian law, as well as a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Ohio State University.
Her professional portfolio includes a 40 under 40 award, service at the US Office on Trafficking in Persons, years as a consultive delegate and human trafficking expert to the United Nations NGO Commission on the Status of Women, and over a decade of policy work at various statehouses as a subject matter expert in human trafficking and related issues.
Sarah also carries over 20 years of service on various NGO boards, including the State Board of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the League of Women Voters of Cincinnati, the Junior Leagues of Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Cincinnati, and AJLI SPAC for Ohio, the Lee Honors College, the American Constitution Society, and the Cincinnati Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition. She has served in leadership positions focused on advocacy, civil rights, policymaking, legislative affairs, community building, and coalition/partnership management, in addition to training, education, and public affairs.
Her research on global trafficking patterns and trafficking in conflict zones has been featured at numerous international conferences over the past decade, where she has presented on various aspects of anti-trafficking work, including detection, policy, recruitment, vulnerability, and conflict zones. You can also see her speak at the upcoming International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference on human trafficking and the funding of armed groups in conflict/post-conflict zones. In addition to her role as a guest lecturer at the Summer and Winter School on Human Trafficking on human trafficking in fragile contexts, Sarah currently serves as an LWVUS Observer to the United Nations and consultative subject matter expert in human trafficking, gender-based violence, fragile contexts, and conflict zones. She also heads the SWMI Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, a division of MAP (The Michigan Anti-Trafficking Project), and serves as President of The League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass Counties. You can connect with her at [email protected].
Robin Tokmakian
Dr. Robin Tokmakian represents the LWVUS as a member of the Observer Corps to the United Nations with an emphasis on Climate issues, beginning in 2017. Her primary work is to monitor the UN activities of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat based in Bonn, Germany. Part of her responsibilities is to organize observer delegates to the annual Conference of the Parties (COP), the primary venue for negotiating the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Her League participation has included being president of the LWV of Monterey County (CA), an LWV California board member, and a member of LWVUS task forces on international trade and climate change (current). She is currently a member of LWV Portland, OR, serving as the LWV Oregon’s representative to the NW Energy Coalition.
Dr. Tokmakian has a BA in Physics, an MS in Oceanography, and a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography and is, by profession, a physical oceanographer with experience in both teaching and research in the areas of the global ocean and climate modeling, remote sensing of the oceans, and model uncertainty.
