Chief Human Rights Officer
Email: minal@dallasfwc26.om
After a 20+ year career spanning the public, private, and non-profit sectors, Minal Patel Davis launched the HeneKom Group to lend her unique experience and skills to those that want to account for human rights policy integration. Davis was the founding Director of the Houston Mayor’s Office of Human Trafficking and was the Human Rights Chair of the HOU26 Men’s FIFA World Cup Host Committee.
She formulated Houston’s human trafficking strategic plan after speaking with 250 stakeholders in six months, assessing the gaps in the field, and forging public private partnerships to address the needs for a robust, whole government approach to trafficking. The plan was dubbed the first comprehensive municipal response to human trafficking by Polaris Project, a national human trafficking think tank. After solidifying the city’s model, Davis replicated it by creating a two-day immersion program for Mayors Offices across the US. She has also replicated aspects of the Houston model to some parts of the globe at the request of the US Department of State, and the assistance of Jones Day Foundation and others.
As HOU26 Human Rights Chair, Davis worked with 120 stakeholders in four months across eight human rights areas for a top-notch submission to FIFA during the bid process. Her effective translation of the UNGPs and OECD guidance caught FIFA Zurich’s attention. She conceptualized HeneKom Group in response to FIFA’s request for human rights and sustainability advisory services to support all 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup and has since taken on additional clients and grown her team. Davis has presented, trained, or conducted workshops for city governments, FIFA 2026, the US Department of State on human rights due diligence, strategic planning, or whole government responses to human trafficking. Her work has been covered in numerous national and international news outlets including the Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR.
The White House also awarded her the prestigious Presidential Medal for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons, the highest US honor. Sheis a board member of Verité, the global fair labor organization and she earned her JD and MBA from University of Connecticut and a BA in political science from New York University.
