In 2002 he co-founded Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), a leading Canadian non-governmental organization (NGO), where he served as Executive Director until November 2011.
[5] While completing university Peterson worked for Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy and for David Bonior, the Democratic Whip in the United States House of Representatives.
[7] While in Ghana, Peterson met Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque, employed with a similar internship in Côte d'Ivoire, and created the idea behind JHR over MSN Messenger.
[10] Under Peterson's leadership, JHR grew into a leading media development organization, working in over 15 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa.
[13] Newsana is "an online community of experts and thought leaders who share, discuss and work together to choose the five most essential news stories and ideas of the day on the topics of their expertise.