Sasha Lezhnev (LinkedIn –X)  is Senior Policy Advisor at The Sentry, an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disrupt predatory networks that benefit from conflict, repression, and kleptocracy. At The Sentry, he helps lead engagement on conflict gold and minerals.

Sasha has spent the past 25 years working on human rights, conflict, corruption, and US policy in Africa, having worked at the Enough Project, Global Witness, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. While working in Uganda for 3 years, he founded the Grassroots Reconciliation Group, an award-winning NGO that has rehabilitated over 2,600 former child soldiers.

He is author of the book Crafting Peace: Strategies to Deal with Warlords in Collapsing States and has a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master’s in International Relations from Cambridge University.