MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE - Key Persons
Admiral Loy retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2002, having served as its Commandant since May 1998. As head of the 90,000-person organization, he restored readiness through workforce development and modernized the Coast Guard's fleet of ships and aircraft. Prior to his service as Commandant, Admiral Loy served as Coast Guard Chief of Staff from 1996 to 1998, during which time he redesigned the headquarters management structure and overhauled the Coast Guard planning and budgeting process to focus more sharply on performance and results. From 1994 to 1996, he was Commander of the Coast Guard's Atlantic Area, supervising U.S. forces during the mass Haitian and Cuban migrations of 1994, and leading Coast Guard forces participating in Operation Restore Democracy. A career seagoing officer, he served tours aboard six Coast Guard cutters, including command of a patrol boat in combat during the Vietnam War and command of major cutters in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Admiral Loy is a member of the Board of Directors of RIVADA Networks, Inc.
Alan D. Bersin has held numerous high-level positions at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Most recently, after serving as the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, he served as the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Chief Diplomatic Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Policy Analyst
- Associate Policy Analyst With MPI 's National Center
Alexis Fintland is an Associate Policy Analyst with MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, where she supports research on workforce training, language access, adult education, and equity issues. She also provides administrative and logistical support for the Center's team members, events, and projects.
Prior to joining MPI, Ms. Fintland interned for Representative Adam B. Schiff, Senator Kamala D. Harris, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. As an undergraduate, she worked as a Research Fellow at The Worker Institute and a Migration Scholar at Cornell's Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.
Ms. Fintland holds a bachelor of science in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. She graduated with honors and was recognized for her award-winning thesis, which focused on migrant worker precarity and immigration status throughout COVID-19.
Job Titles:
- President
- Founding Director of the Wilson Center 's Mexico Institute
MPI President Andrew Selee and two colleagues who joined him at the U.S.-Mexico border to examine increasingly sophisticated U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations discuss the evolution of policies and procedures to address asylum seekers and other migrants arriving at official ports of entry.
Dr. Selee was a Co-Director of the Regional Migration Study Group, convened by MPI with the Wilson Center, and part of the steering committee for MPI's Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he served on the Board of Directors of the YMCA of the USA, the nation's largest membership organization.
Andrew Selee is President of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a global nonpartisan institution that seeks to improve immigration and integration policies through fact-based research, opportunities for learning and dialogue, and the development of new ideas to address complex policy questions, a position he assumed in 2017. He also chairs MPI Europe's Administrative Council.
Andrew Selee is President of MPI, succeeding Co-Founder Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Michael Fix. He came to MPI from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he served as Executive Vice President from January 2014 through April 2017.
The founding Director of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute, Dr. Selee is a respected scholar and analyst of Mexico and U.S.-Mexico relations. A frequent commentator in the media, he has also written and edited a number of books and policy reports on U.S.-Mexico relations, Mexican and Latin American politics, and Latino immigrant civic engagement in the United States, and is a regular columnist with the Mexican newspaper El Universal. His latest book, Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together, was published by Public Affairs in June 2018.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Executive Director
- Senior Fellow
Anna Terrón Cusí, Spain's former Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration, is a Senior Fellow at MPI and co-founder of InStrategies.
Ms. Terrón was CEO at the Fundación Internacional y para Iberoamérica de Administración y Políticas Públicas (FIIAPP, or the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies) from 2019 to 2024. She served as Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration from 2010 to 2012. In 2012, she was appointed Special Advisor on Migration and Mediterranean Issues to European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström. She also served in other positions, including Secretary for the European Union of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalan Government Delegate to the European Union, and Member of the European Parliament (1994-2004).
Her career in the public sector has primarily focused on the European Union and international affairs. Internationally, much of her activity has focused on the Middle East and Maghreb, as well as the Atlantic, African, and Latin American regions. She has worked extensively in the field of international migration and human mobility. Ms. Terrón holds a BA in political science and public administration.
Job Titles:
- President & CEO, California Community Foundation
- President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Community Foundation
Antonia Hernández is President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Community Foundation, a position she has held since 2004. Nationally regarded for her expertise in immigration, philanthropy, and civil rights, she has spent more than four decades advocating for social justice and improving the lives of underserved communities in Los Angeles County and beyond. The California Community Foundation is one of Southern California's largest and most active philanthropic organizations, serving Angelenos for over a century. The Foundation partners with more than 1,600 individual, family, and corporate donors and holds assets of more than $1.7 billion. During her tenure, the foundation has granted nearly $2 billion, with a focus on health, housing, education, and immigration programs.
Previously, Ms. Hernández was President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a national nonprofit litigation and advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights of the nation's Latinos through the legal system, community education, and research and policy initiatives. She is a member of the boards of the Automobile Club of Southern California, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Forest Lawn Memorial-Park Association, Grameen America, and the Urban Institute. She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute.
Job Titles:
- President of Sarukhan
- President, Sarukhan Associates, LLC Former Mexican Ambassador to the United States
Arturo Sarukhan is President of Sarukhan + Associates, LLC, and is the former Mexican Ambassador to the United States (2007-13). He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, an Adjunct Professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Annenberg School of Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California, an Associate Fellow at The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in the United Kingdom, and a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute.
Ambassador Sarukhan served as a career diplomat in the Mexican Foreign Service for 22 years, receiving the rank of Career Ambassador in 2006. He served as Consul General in New York City, Chief of the Policy Planning Staff in the Mexican Foreign Ministry, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, among other positions. A digital diplomacy pioneer, he was the first ambassador posted to the United States to start using a Twitter account as a public diplomacy and communications tool. He has been decorated by the governments of Sweden and Spain, and sits on several boards, including the Americas Society, the Inter-American Dialogue, the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center, the National Immigration Forum, and the International Migration Initiative at the Open Society Foundations.
Bertrand Steiner is a Research Assistant at MPI Europe, focusing on areas including the European Union's New Pact on Migration and Asylum, refugee integration, irregular migration, and return and reintegration strategies.
Before joining MPI Europe, he worked at Open Access Now in Brussels, where he focused on EU policy and advocacy for digital rights. He also worked at the French national asylum court (Cour nationale du droit d'asile, CNDA) and as a photojournalist. He also conducted conflicts of interest research for the UK-based nongovernmental organization Asylos.
Mr. Steiner has a master of public international law (cum laude) from the University of Groningen, with a focus on humanitarian law, human-rights law, and refugee law. He also holds a bachelor of law and a bachelor of modern state theory (both with distinctions) from the University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner, Fragomen Former General Counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
Bo Cooper is a Partner in Fragomen's Washington, DC office, and leads the law firm's Government Strategies and Compliance Group. Before entering private practice, Mr. Cooper served as General Counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from 1999 to 2003. He directed a legal program of 700 attorneys in 56 offices across the nation. He served in this capacity during two administrations, advising the Commissioner of the INS, the Attorney General of the United States, the White House, other executive-branch agencies, and Congress on all aspects of U.S. immigration law. He also served several years as a trial attorney in the Justice Department's Civil Division.
Mr. Cooper was involved in negotiating immigration-related agreements between the United States and other governments and has acted as a U.S. delegate to international organizations. He has taught immigration and related courses at the University of Michigan Law School, the Washington College of Law at American University, and the Georgetown Law Center. At Fragomen, he maintains a significant pro bono practice, with a strong asylum focus.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director
- Senior Policy Analyst
- Associate Director With
Camille Le Coz is an Associate Director with MPI Europe and Senior Policy Analyst with MPI, primarily working on migration and development and EU migration policies. Her research areas include refugee protection and development, climate migration, diasporas and remittances, labor migration, and return and reintegration. She has advised development agencies and multilateral development banks on how to better address associated challenges.
Ms. Le Coz represents MPI as Co-Lead of the UN Migration Working Group on Return, Readmission, and Reintegration. She also hosts a community of practice on voluntary return and sustainable reintegration with policymakers and practitioners from countries of origin and destination. She also is part of the Expert Group on Displacement at the Asian Development Bank.
Ms. Le Coz came to MPI Europe from Altai Consulting, a research and consulting organization, where she was a Project Director responsible for the migration practice. She was based in Kenya and Afghanistan, where she managed various studies for institutions such as the European Union, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the International Organization for Migration. She has conducted research in various countries in Africa and Asia.
She holds a dual master's degree in international relations from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics. She also holds a bachelor's degree from Sciences Po Paris.
MPI Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz discusses migration dynamics in West Africa and and how African leaders are responding to these trends with Leander Kandilige, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana.
MPI Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz discusses rising displacement in the Sahel, which is experiencing multiple crises, with development economist Alexandra Tapsoba.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Law at Yale Law School
Cristina Rodríguez is the Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Her fields of research include constitutional law and theory, immigration law and policy, administrative law and process, and citizenship theory. In recent years, her work has focused on constitutional structures and institutional design. She has used immigration law and related areas as vehicles through which to explore how the allocation of power (through federalism, the separation of powers, and the structure of the bureaucracy) shapes the management and resolution of legal and political conflict. Her work also has examined the effects of immigration on society and culture, as well as the legal and political strategies societies adopt to absorb immigrant populations. Her new book, The President and Immigration Law, coauthored with Adam Cox, will be published by Oxford University Press on September 1, 2020, and explores the long history of presidential control over immigration policy and its implications for the future of immigration law and the presidency itself.
Professor Rodríguez joined Yale Law School in 2013 after serving for two years as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice. She previously was on the faculty at the New York University School of Law and has been Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia law schools. She is a member of the American Law Institute, and a past member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2020, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Rodríguez earned her B.A. and J.D. degrees from Yale and attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where she received a Master of Letters in Modern History. Following law school, she clerked for Judge David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow for Education Policy
Job Titles:
- Senior Manager, Latin America and Caribbean Initiative
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program
Job Titles:
- Secretary
- Executive Director of Georgetown University Law Center 's Human Rights Institute
Elisa Massimino is the Executive Director of Georgetown University Law Center's Human Rights Institute and a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown Law. She is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Human Rights First, a position she held for nearly a decade. After 27 years with the organization, she stepped down to join Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government as a Senior Fellow with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Ms. Massimino serves as a Practitioner-in-Residence at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and in Fall 2019 became the Robert F. Drinan Chair of Human Rights at Georgetown University Law Center. She is Secretary of the MPI Board of Trustees.
Ms. Massimino has a distinguished record of human-rights advocacy. As a national authority on human-rights law and policy, she has testified before Congress dozens of times and writes frequently for both mainstream publications and specialized journals. She also appears regularly in major media outlets and speaks to audiences around the country. Since 2008, The Hill has consistently named her one of the most effective public advocates in the country.
Prior to joining Human Rights First, Ms. Massimino was a litigator in private practice at the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells), where she was pro bono counsel in many human-rights cases. Before joining the legal profession, Ms. Massimino taught philosophy at several colleges and universities in Michigan.
She is a founding trustee of the McCain Institute and serves on the board of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the bar of the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Massimino holds a law degree from the University of Michigan, where she was a contributing editor for the Journal of Law Reform, and a master of arts degree in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University. She is also a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio.
Job Titles:
- German Ambassador to the United States from June 2018 to June 2023 and Was the First Woman to Hold This Position
Emily Margarethe Haber was German Ambassador to the United States from June 2018 to June 2023 and was the first woman to hold this position.
Previously, Ambassador Haber, a career foreign service officer, was deployed to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, serving as State Secretary overseeing security and migration at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe. In this capacity, she worked closely with the U.S. administration on topics ranging from the fight against international terrorism to global cyberattacks and cybersecurity. In 2009, she was appointed Political Director and, in 2011, State Secretary at the Foreign Office, the first woman to hold either post. Earlier in her career, she served at the German Embassy in Ankara. She also served in Berlin as Deputy Head of the Cabinet and Parliamentary Liaison Division, as Director of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Division in the German Foreign Office, and as Deputy Director-General for the Western Balkans.
Ambassador Haber has extensive knowledge of the Soviet Union and Russia, having worked both in the Soviet Union Division at the German Foreign Office and, on various occasions, at the German Embassy in Moscow, where she served as Head of the Economic Affairs Section and Head of the Political Affairs Department. Ambassador Haber studied at schools in New Delhi, Bonn, Paris, Brussels, Washington, and Cologne. She holds a PhD in history.
Job Titles:
- Advisor to the President of Colombia for the Colombian
Felipe Muñoz, Advisor to the President of Colombia for the Colombian-Venezuelan Border, discusses how Colombia is coping with the influx of Venezuelan migrants, plans for future policy decisions surrounding this migration, and developments in regional and international cooperation.
Job Titles:
- Project Director for the University of California
- Project Director, University of California - Los Angeles Labor and Education Center Director, Institute for Transnational Social Change
Gaspar Rivera-Salgado is Project Director for the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) Labor and Education Center, and Director for the Institute for Transnational Social Change. At UCLA, he teaches classes on work, labor, and social justice in the United States and on immigration issues.
Dr. Rivera-Salgado has extensive experience as an independent consultant on transnational migration, race and ethnic relations, and diversity trainings for large organizations.
His most recent publications include the volume (with J. Fox) Indigenous Mexican Migration in the United States (University of California, San Diego, 2005), and the volume (with E. Telles and M. Sawyer) Just Neighbors?: Research on African American and Latino Relations in the United States (Russell Sage Foundation, 2011).
Reihan Salam is the Manhattan Institute's fifth President. Previously, he served as Executive Editor of National Review and a National Review Institute Policy Fellow. In 2017, he was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Gerald D. Jaynes is the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Economics, African American Studies, and Urban Studies at Yale University. In addition to his teaching and research duties at Yale, he has served as a legislative aide to State Senator Cecil A. Partee, President Pro Tempore of the Illinois State Senate (1971-72); Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania; and Chair of Yale's Department of African and African American Studies (1990-96).
He has served in many public capacities, such as Study Director of the Committee on the Status of Black Americans at the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC (1985-89); Chairman of the New Haven, CT, Minority Business Development Agency by mayoral appointment (1982-84); the Mayor's Blue-Ribbon Committee for the Redevelopment of New Haven (1990); Member of the Board of Economists, Black Enterprise magazine; Fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; and Member of the Council of Economic Advisors to the National Urban League. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on numerous occasions and served as a consultant to federal and local government agencies. He is recognized as an expert on race relations and the economic conditions of African Americans, and has lectured and spoken on these topics at many universities and forums around the world. His research has been cited internationally within forums such as legislative bodies and courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Jaynes has appeared on radio and television shows, including NBC's Today Show and The Bill Moyers Show. Listed in Who's Who Among African Americans since 1989, he has written extensively for scholarly journals, books, and popular essays. Among his more notable publications are: A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society (1989); Branches without Roots: Genesis of the Black Working Class in the American South, 1862-1882 (1986); Immigration and Race: New Challenges for American Democracy (2000); and The Encyclopedia of African American Society (2004). He earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1976.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of Migration Policy Institute Europe
- Is Director of Migration Policy Institute Europe. Full Bio
Hanne Beirens is Director of Migration Policy Institute Europe. She specializes in European Union policies related to asylum and migration, human trafficking, labor migration, and youth.
Prior to joining MPI, Dr. Beirens worked as a Lead Managing Consultant for ICF Consulting, where she focused on impact assessments, feasibility studies, and evaluations for the European Commission, with a particular focus on EU asylum and migration policy, as well as developing products within the European Migration Network (EMN), including pan-European studies and the EMN annual report. Topics covered include reception facilities for asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, and non-EU harmonized protection statuses.
Earlier, Dr. Beirens worked as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Applied Social Studies of the University of Birmingham, evaluating services, organizations, and community-based initiatives pursuing the integration of asylum seekers, refugees, and third-country nationals. She also has worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and as an independent consultant for the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO).
She holds a master's degree in race and ethnic relations (with distinction) and a PhD in sociology and ethnic relations on the participation of minors in armed conflict, both from the University of Warwick (UK).
Camille Le Coz is an Associate Director with MPI Europe and Senior Policy Analyst with MPI, primarily working on migration and development and EU migration issues.
Dr. Wrigley has been the subject matter specialist in a number of national research efforts, including the federally funded What Works for Adult ESL Students study and the National Adult ESL Literacy Demonstration Project. She is a senior advisor for the national project, Transitioning Adult English Language Learners.
Job Titles:
- Senior Counselor at the Cohen Group
James M. Loy is Senior Counselor at the Cohen Group, and completed a 45-year career in public service in 2005, retiring as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. In this capacity, he was involved in all aspects of consolidating 22 separate agencies into one unified Cabinet department as well as managing its day-to-day activities. Prior to the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002, Admiral Loy served in the Department of Transportation as Deputy Under Secretary for Security and Chief Operating Officer of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and later as Under Secretary for Security.
Jeh Johnson served as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security from December 2013 to January 2017, and now practices law again in New York City at Paul, Weiss LLP. Secretary Johnson has been affiliated with Paul, Weiss off and on since 1984, and was elected the firm's first African American partner in 1993.
Secretary Johnson has been a regular commentator on NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, FOX, FOX Business, NPR and Bloomberg News. He is on the board of directors of Lockheed Martin, U.S. Steel, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for a New American Security, and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City. He is the recipient of ten honorary degrees and has debated at both the Oxford and Cambridge Unions in England and is an honorary life member of the Cambridge Union.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Jesuit Refugee Service / USA
Johanna Farrugia is an Administrative Officer at MPI Europe, where she supports the team with various administrative tasks, from HR to general office organization. She comes to MPI Europe with extensive experience in administration and as an executive assistant, having worked in sectors including lobbying, public affairs, and motor insurance.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director for Immigration Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Executive Director of Immigration Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Jon Baselice is Executive Director of Immigration Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which he joined in 2014. He works with Chamber member companies to form Chamber policy positions on various issues and he advocates for sensible immigration policies before Congress and the executive-branch agencies.
Prior to joining the Chamber, Mr. Baselice served as an advisor to Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) for more than three years. In that capacity, he was one of the Senator's lead immigration advisors during the Senator's Gang of Eight involvement and push for comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the 113th Congress.
He is an attorney and is licensed to practice in New York and Florida.
Jose Luis Prado Becerra is Executive Advisor Partner with Wind Point Partners and Chairman of Tropicale Foods, a leading manufacturer of frozen novelty products under the Helados Mexico brand. Previously he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Evans Food Group Ltd. Prior to joining Evans, Mr. Prado had a distinguished career at PepsiCo Inc., holding various leadership positions over his 30-year career there.
From 2011-14, Mr. Prado was President of Quaker Foods North America. From 2002-10, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Gamesa-Quaker. He served as Regional Vice President of the Frito Lay International Andean Region from 2000 to 2002; President of PepsiCo Snacks in Argentina and Uruguay from 1997 to 2000; and President of Frito Lay Snacks Caribbean from 1994 to 1997. His early career included assignments in sales, finance, IT, and engineering.
In addition to his leadership experience in the global food and beverage industry, Mr. Prado serves on multiple boards of directors. On the corporate side, he is a member of the boards of Evans Food Group, the Hormel Foods Corporation, and the Northern Trust. Most recently, he served as Director of Brinker International, Inc. In the nonprofit sector, Mr. Prado serves on the boards of the National Museum of the American Latino at the Smithsonian, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, GENYOUth, the Latino Corporate Directors Association, and the Hispanic Associate on Corporate Responsibility.
He holds a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnical Institute in Mexico City, a master of science in information systems from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, and a master of business administration from the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Monterrey.
Job Titles:
- Retired Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP Former Board Chair, UnidosUS Former Lead Director, Walmart Board
Jose H. Villarreal, an attorney, was a consultant to Akin Gump and previously a longtime partner with the firm. In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appointed him U.S. Commissioner General for Expo 2010 Shanghai and in 2010 President Barack Obama accorded him the Personal Rank of Ambassador. Ambassador Villarreal has a broad political background and has served in senior roles in several presidential campaigns.
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced
Juan José Gómez-Camacho is a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where he is also a professor and lecturer on global challenges and on North America. He provides strategic advice to companies, mainly on Mexico and North America. He advises the World Health Organization (WHO) on ongoing efforts to improve prevention, preparedness, and reaction to global health threats after COVID-19.
In June 2022, he concluded a 34-year career as a diplomat, during which he served as Ambassador of Mexico to Canada (2019-22); Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2016-19); Ambassador to the European Union as well as to the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (2013-16); Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations based in Geneva, Switzerland (2009-13); and Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore and, concurrently, to the Union of Myanmar and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam (2006-09). He served as Director General for Human Rights and Democracy at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2000-06). He also served at the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the Organization of American States (1997-2000) and at the Embassy of Mexico to the United Kingdom (1994-97).
During his more than three decades as a diplomat, Ambassador Gómez-Camacho led many international negotiations, including as one of the two co-chairs that presided over and led the drafting, negotiation, and adoption of the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration as well as the creation of the pandemic influenza preparedness framework at WHO, after the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. As Ambassador of Mexico to the European Union and later to Canada, he was involved in the renegotiation of the Mexico-EU Free Trade Agreement, and on the North American Free Trade Agreement, now the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. He holds a BA in law from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico and an LLM in international law from Georgetown University.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program
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- Editor, Migration Information Source
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- Chief Executive Officer at Guidepost Solutions
Julie Myers Wood is Chief Executive Officer at Guidepost Solutions, an investigations, compliance, and security firm with offices throughout the United States, as well as Colombia, England, and Singapore. Before joining Guidepost Solutions, Ms. Wood started a consulting and software firm, ICS Consulting, which was acquired by Guidepost Solutions in 2012.
Prior to joining the private sector, Ms. Wood held several high-level positions with the U.S. government, including at the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury, and Commerce, as well as at the White House. In one of her most significant government roles, Ms. Wood served as head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She also served as the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security, where she oversaw all Export Enforcement Special Agents and supervised investigations relating to the Export Administration Regulations. Ms. Wood had responsibilities relating to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) while at the Departments of Treasury and Justice. She also served as Chief of Staff for the Justice Department's Criminal Division, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, and an Associate Independent Counsel for the Office of the Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr. Before joining the government, Ms. Wood served as an associate at Mayer, Brown and Platt. She also clerked for the Honorable C. Arlen Beam on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director for K - 12 Education Research
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- Author & Co - Founder, Ascend Education Fund
Julissa Arce is the best-selling author of My (Underground) American Dream (Entre Las Sombras del Sueño Americano) and Someone Like Me (Alguien Como Yo). A former Wall Street executive, she is a leading voice in the fight for social justice, immigrant rights, and education equality.
Her writing has been featured in the New York Times, TIME magazine, and CNN, among other outlets.
Her commitment to education for all young people led her to co-create the Ascend Educational Fund (AEF), where she serves as Chairwoman of the board. AEF is a college scholarship and mentorship program for immigrant students in New York City, regardless of their ethnicity, national original, or immigration status. Prior to becoming an advocate, Ms. Arce working for Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. She immigrated from Mexico at age 11 and was an unauthorized immigrant for almost 15 years, some of them spent rising to prominence on Wall Street. She became a U.S. citizen in 2014.
Ms. Arce serves on the board of directors of the National Immigration Law Center.
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow
- Development
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- Professor of Education, Stanford University
Kenji Hakuta is the Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education at Stanford University, where he has been since 1989, except for a three-year period where he helped start the University of California at Merced and was Founding Dean of its School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts. An experimental psycholinguist by training, Dr. Hakuta is best known for his work in the areas of bilingualism and the acquisition of English in immigrant students.
He is the author of numerous research papers and books, including Mirror of Language: The Debate on Bilingualism (Basic Books, 1986) and In Other Words: The Science and Psychology of Second Language Acquisition (Basic Books, 1994). He chaired a National Academy of Sciences panel resulting in the report, Improving Schooling for Language-Minority Children (National Academy Press, 1997), and co-edited a book on affirmative action in higher education, Compelling Interest: Examining the Evidence on Racial Dynamics in Higher Education (Stanford University Press, 2003).
Dr. Hakuta is also active in the policy applications of his research. He has testified before Congress and other public bodies on a variety of topics, including language policy, the education of language minority students, affirmative action in higher education, and improvement of quality in educational research.
He received his BA magna cum laude in psychology and social relations, and his Ph.D. in experimental psychology, both from Harvard University.
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- Editor and Publications Manager
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- Senior Events Manager and Liaison to MPI Board of Trustees
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- Associate Director for K - 12 Partnerships and Policy
Lucía Salgado is an Associate Policy Analyst at MPI Europe, where she focuses on European policies related to migrant integration and return.
Prior to joining MPI Europe, Ms. Salgado worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), first at the UNHCR Representation to EU Affairs in Brussels and later at its Liaison Office to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) in Malta. Previously, she worked as a Blue Book Trainee at the Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs within the European Commission, where she focused on return and irregular migration policies. She has also worked at the Consulate General of Spain in Melbourne and interned with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she assisted with asylum-related matters.
Ms. Salgado holds a master's degree in international relations, with distinction, from King's College London, where she specialized in EU migration policy. She also holds bachelor's degrees in sociology and political science from University Carlos III of Madrid.
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Director
- Senior Associate
- Senior Vice President
- Senior Vice President & Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and Global Officer, YMCA of the USA
Lynda Gonzales-Chavez is Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and Global Officer at the YMCA of the USA, where she leads national efforts to ensure that all segments of society can access the Y, feel welcome, and fully engage as participants, members, volunteers, and staff. She has worked at Y-USA since 1999 and has more than 25 years of experience with the Y as a staff member and volunteer. Most recently she spent five years as Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, providing strategic support to YMCAs working to ensure access, inclusion, and engagement for all.
Ms. Gonzales-Chavez previously was Senior Associate Director in Y-USA's International Group, helping to train more than 500 volunteers and staff annually on cultural competence, inclusion practices, and integration of immigrant and underserved communities.
She started her career as Youth Director at the YMCA of Central New Mexico and later focused on gang intervention for Youth Development, Inc., in Albuquerque. As Associate Director in the International Group from 2002 to 2007, she partnered with Ys in Latin America and the Caribbean on HIV/AIDS and substance-abuse prevention and outreach to high-risk and incarcerated populations.
Job Titles:
- Partner With Berry Appleman and Leiden LLP
Lynden Melmed is a Partner with Berry Appleman and Leiden LLP (BAL) and oversees the firm's compliance and government affairs practices. Before joining BAL, Mr. Melmed served as Chief Counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that agency's highest-ranking legal position. As Chief Counsel of USCIS, he managed a legal program of approximately 130 attorneys and was a key advisor to senior leadership within USCIS, DHS, the White House, and other federal agencies on all aspects of immigration law.
Prior to his appointment as Chief Counsel, Mr. Melmed served as Special Counsel to Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), who at that time was Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Citizenship. In that capacity, he was involved in oversight of federal immigration agencies and played a leading role in drafting and managing the comprehensive immigration legislation that passed the U.S. Senate in 2006. Earlier in his career, Mr. Melmed served as an attorney in the General Counsel's offices of INS and DHS, where he focused on immigration benefits, visa, and border security issues. Before joining the federal government in 2002, Mr. Melmed spent four years in private practice in Dallas, first at Jackson Walker LLP and later at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen and Loewy LLC.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University
- Director, Migration Observatory, University of Oxford
- Member of the Migration Advisory Committee
Madeleine Sumption MBE is Director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University. She is a policy specialist focusing on the impacts of migration policies and the role of migrants in the labor market. Her research interests include labor migration, the economic and social impacts of migration policies, and immigrant integration. Ms. Sumption has also done comparative research on government policies towards immigrant investors, immigration in trade agreements, and the recognition of foreign qualifications. Before joining Oxford, she was Director of Research for the International Program at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI). She remains a Nonresident Fellow with MPI Europe.
Ms. Sumption is a member of the Migration Advisory Committee, an independent panel that advises the UK government on migration issues. She is also Chair of the Migration Statistics User Forum, which brings together producers and users of migration data. In 2017, she received a Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to social science.
Malcolm Brown is the former Canadian Deputy Minister of Public Safety, a position he held from 2016 to 2019. He retired from the Canadian Federal Public Service in April 2019 after nearly 31 years as a public servant and a decade at the Deputy Minister level. As Deputy Minister of Public Safety, he led major policy and legislative initiatives in the areas of national security, cyber security, emergency management, and corrections reform. He also ensured coordinated actions across the public safety portfolio, which includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Correctional Service of Canada, and the Parole Board of Canada. He is Treasurer of the MPI Board of Trustees.
Previously, Mr. Brown served as Special Advisor to the Clerk of the Privy Council on the Syrian Refugee Initiative between 2015 and 2016, supporting the selection, screening, arrival, and settlement of more than 25,000 Syrian refugees. Between 2014 and 2015, he was the Deputy Minister of International Development. In this role, he oversaw Canada's international development agenda and served as Canada's Alternate Governor for the World Bank. He was appointed Executive Vice President of the Canada Border Services Agency in 2011 and Associate Deputy Minister of Natural Resources in 2009.
Mr. Brown began his federal public service career in the Federal Provincial Relations Office in 1990. He then worked at Health Canada and later at the Privy Council Office where, among other senior positions, he served as Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for the Reference Group of Ministers on Aboriginal Policy. Between 2002 and 2009, he occupied Assistant Deputy Minister-level positions with Human Resources Development Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), culminating with the position of Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy and Research at HRSDC.
He began his career as a Legislative Assistant on Parliament Hill, and has also worked in the Ontario government in the Ministries of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. Brown holds a bachelor of arts degree in political studies from Queen's University and a master of arts degree in political science from York University.
Job Titles:
- Director, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
- Health Care & Welfare Benefits
Job Titles:
- Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration
- President and CEO of the Henry Luce Foundation
Mariko Silver is President and CEO of the Henry Luce Foundation. She was previously President of Bennington College. During the Obama administration, she served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for International Affairs and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Policy. Dr. Silver also served as Policy Advisor for Economic Development, Innovation, and Higher Education for Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano.
Prior to her government service, Dr. Silver was instrumental in the transformation and expansion of Arizona State University, leading teams in economic development policy and metrics, science, technology and innovation policy, state K-12 and higher education policy, sustainability science, and global health.
Dr. Silver is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Previously, she worked with the Humanitarian Corridors Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, which evaluated humanitarian corridors in Italy and assessed whether these programs could serve as a model for migrant integration elsewhere in Europe. Ms. Zanzuchi also worked as an Economic Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce of Argentina, focusing on issues related to anti-trust policies, trade agreements, and sectorial policies, and coordinating with private and public stakeholders.
Ms. Zanzuchi has a master's degree in sustainable development from the University of Notre Dame, with a focus on refugee and migrant studies, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires.
María Belén Zanzuchi is an Associate Policy Analyst at MPI Europe, where she conducts research on refugee protection pathways, including resettlement, community sponsorship, and complementary pathways, and migrants' integration.
Job Titles:
- Director, International Program
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow
- Recruitment
Job Titles:
- Knowledge Enterprise Architect
- President, Arizona State University
Michael M. Crow is an educator, knowledge enterprise architect, science and technology policy scholar, and higher education leader. He became the 16th president of Arizona State University (ASU) in 2002 and has spearheaded the university's rapid and groundbreaking transformation into one of America's best public metropolitan research universities. As a model "new American university," ASU demonstrates comprehensive excellence, inclusivity representative of the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the United States, and consequential societal impact.
Dr. Crow's model has achieved record-breaking levels of traditional, online, and international student enrollment; freshman quality and retention; and nearly fivefold growth in research expenditures. ASU has been ranked one of the top 100 most prestigious universities in the world by Times Higher Education, and a top 100 position in Shanghai Jiao Tong's 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities.
The inaugural recipient of the American Council on Education Award for Institutional Transformation, and one of TIME magazine's "10 Best College Presidents," Dr. Crow previously served as Executive Vice Provost and Professor of Science and Technology Policy at Columbia University. He has advised the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, and Energy, as well as defense and intelligence agencies, and serves as Chairman of In-Q-Tel. He is also an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and National Academy of Public Administration, University Vice Chairman of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Job Titles:
- Director of Communications
- Media Contact
- Director of Communications and Public Affairs
- Media Requests
Job Titles:
- Director of the Forced Migration & Health Program Associate Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Monette Zard is Director of the Forced Migration and Health Program and an Associate Professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. She is an expert on forced migration and human rights, and her career has spanned the fields of policy, advocacy, and philanthropy. She has served as the Global Human Rights Program Officer at the Ford Foundation in New York and as Research Director at the International Council on Human Rights Policy in Geneva, a think tank focused on applied human-rights research.
Job Titles:
- European Commission 's Director General
Monique Pariat, the European Commission's Director General for Migration and Home Affairs, spoke to the DC policy community on Europe's rapid response to the Ukrainian displacement crisis, lessons learned, and considerations for future policies.
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow / Director, MPI Office at NYU School of Law
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director, International Program
Ravenna Sohst is a Policy Analyst at MPI Europe, where she conducts research and policy analysis on European migration, including on asylum, resettlement, integration, and the links between development and migration.
Prior to joining MPI Europe, Dr. Sohst worked with the International Organization for Migration's Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (IOM GMDAC) on migration forecasts and scenarios. She also worked at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on studies relating to immigrant integration and the social mobility of immigrants and their children. She has provided consultancy services to several organizations, including on labor migration and preparedness.
Job Titles:
- Contributing Editor at the Atlantic, National Affairs
- President, Manhattan Institute Former Executive Editor, National Review
Mr. Salam is a contributing editor at The Atlantic, National Affairs, and National Review. He is the author of Melting Pot or Civil War? (Sentinel, 2018) and the co-author, with Ross Douthat, of Grand New Party
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Founding Partner at Dinámica Americas
Roberta S. Jacobson is Founding Partner at Dinámica Americas, where she draws on more than 30 years of distinguished diplomatic experience. She recently served as Special Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Southwest border on the White House National Security Council. She is Chair of the MPI Board of Trustees.
Ron Barber is a former Member of the U.S. Congress, representing Arizona's 8th and 2nd Congressional Districts from 2012 to 2015. The Arizona Democrat was first elected to the House on June 12, 2012, to fill the vacancy created with the resignation of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He previously had served as the congresswoman's District Director, beginning in 2007. He and the congresswoman were both shot by a gunman during a constituent event in 2011. His committee assignments included serving on the House Armed Services Committee and on its Subcommittees on Tactical Air and Land Forces and Readiness; on the House Homeland Security Committee, where he was Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency; and on the House Committee on Small Business. He now serves as District Director for Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ).
From 1974 to 2006, Mr. Barber served as Regional Administrator and ultimately as Director for the Arizona Department of Economic Security's Division of Developmental Disabilities.
Russell C. Deyo is former Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), a position he assumed on November 1, 2016, making him second-in-command of a department with a $60 billion budget and a workforce of 240,000 people. He served as Under Secretary for Management at DHS in 2015-16, and has more than 30 years of management experience in both the government and private sectors.
Prior to joining DHS, Mr. Deyo retired from Johnson & Johnson in 2012 after 27 years of service, where he held positions including Vice President of Administration and General Counsel. For 16 years, he also served as a member of the Johnson & Johnson Executive Committee, the company's principal management group for global operations. His experience includes overseeing human resources, procurement, contributions, philanthropy, legal affairs, government affairs, and compliance.
Mr. Deyo was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1978 to 1985, serving the last three years as Chief of Special Prosecutions. From 1977 to 1978, he was an attorney at Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler in New York City.
He serves on the boards of the nonprofit organizations One Mind and the National Center for State Courts, and on the Advisory Board of the Miller Center at the Eagleton Institute, Rutgers University.
Samla Da Rosa is the Office Manager at MPI Europe, functioning as the central point to ensure the complete and efficient exchange of information within the organization. She provides invaluable support in human resources, contributes to the financial auditing process, and oversees financial reporting, leveraging more than 20 years of experience. Before joining MPI Europe, Ms. Da Rosa was Team Coordinator at the Africa-Europe Development Diaspora Platform (ADEPT), focusing on operational services for projects related to cooperation and development between Europe and Africa. Before transitioning to the corporate realm in Brussels, where she served as a communications officer for multinational companies, Ms. Da Rosa worked as an international journalist specializing in economics and foreign trade within European institutions. In her post-journalism career, her organizational and leadership skills led her to coordinate teams, expanding her responsibilities beyond communications into market research consulting. Ms. Da Rosa holds a dual master's degree in European politics from Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and in communications and journalism from the University of São Paulo (Brazil). Additionally, she achieved a bachelor's degree in journalism from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.
Mr. Verdery is a frequent guest on CNN and Fox News and is regularly quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, The Hill, Axios, Recode, Politico, and other influential media outlets. He is a member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's President's Advisory Circle, the board of advisors of the Project 2049 Institute, and the MITRE Homeland Security advisory board. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the National Foundation for American Policy
- Executive Director, National Foundation for American Policy
Stuart Anderson is Executive Director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a nonpartisan public policy research organization focusing on trade, immigration, and related issues. From August 2001 to January 2003, Mr. Anderson served as Executive Associate Commissioner for Policy and Planning and Counselor to the Commissioner at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Before that, he spent four and a half years on Capitol Hill, where he worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee's Immigration Subcommittee, first for Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and then as Subcommittee Staff Director for Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS).
Prior to that, Mr. Anderson was Director of Trade and Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, where he produced reports on the military contributions of immigrants and the role of immigrants in high technology. He is the author of the book Immigration (Greenwood, 2010).
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Index
- Co - Founder, Webber Phillips Ltd Former Chair, Equality and Human Rights Commission of the United Kingdom
- Writer
Trevor Phillips OBE is a writer, broadcaster, and businessman. He is Chairman of the Green Park Group, a leading executive recruitment consultancy, and Co-Founder of the data analytics firm Webber Phillips, which he created with Professor Richard Webber in 2014. He was, until June 2018, the President of the John Lewis Partnership, Europe's largest employee-owned company.
Mr. Phillips is an award-winning TV producer and presenter, with three Royal Television Society journalism awards to his name. He is a columnist for the Times of London, a leading daily newspaper in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Phillips is also Chairman of Index on Censorship, the international campaign group for freedom of expression, and was Founding Chair of both the Greater London Authority and of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. He has been the recipient of several honorary doctorates and an Order of British Empire (OBE), and was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by the French government.
Job Titles:
- Founder of Tech Apprenticeships
- Founder, Tech Apprenticeships.Co
Ximena Hartsock is the Founder of Tech Apprenticeships.co. She also co-founded Phone2Action, a comprehensive digital engagement and communications platform for grassroots advocacy, public affairs, and government relations. Prior to this, she managed grassroots advocacy for a national advocacy organization, where she ran hundreds of campaigns across the United States.
Dr. Hartsock also has held numerous leadership positions in Washington, DC, including as a school Principal, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, and Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. A native of Chile, she was appointed in 2009 to the Executive Cabinet of Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty.
Job Titles:
- Nonresident Senior Research Fellow / Senior Advisor, Skolkovo Innovation Foundation, Moscow