Payal Sampat
Senior Program Manager, Minerals + Materials
Payal Sampat is Senior Program Manager for Minerals + Materials at the 11th Hour Project. She has spent over 25 years working in support of frontline communities affected by mining and advocating for human rights and environmental protections. Throughout her career, Payal has built deep collaboration with unions, tribes, Indigenous leaders and grassroots organizations.
Most recently, Payal served as Mining Program Director at Earthworks, where she represented the organization on the leadership groups of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), the multi-sector Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), and the Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Green Economy (SIRGE) Coalition. She also served on the Advisory Groups of the Global Tailings Review and the OECD’s Environmental Due Diligence in Mineral Supply Chains.
Prior to Earthworks, Payal was a senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, where she authored several publications on mining, water and a sustainable materials economy, and testified before Congress. She started her career as a community organizer at the Bombay Environmental Action Group in her hometown of Mumbai, India. She holds degrees from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and Tufts University.