Michele Balfour Nathoo

Michele Balfour Nathoo joined the Refugees International board in 2024. She is a Principal at JOSS Realty Partners, a small private equity investor in commercial and residential real estate with assets in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Napa, and Silicon Valley. Ms. Balfour was a corporate attorney for Rogers & Wells/Clifford Chance focusing on cross border finance, M&A, and structured finance. Immediately following law school, she managed a technical assistance program for the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition with the former Soviet Bloc as well as Central and South America. She later served as a World Bank Consultant for the Russian Antimonopoly Office. 

Prior to joining JOSS, Ms. Balfour volunteered as the New York Liaison for Refugees International and participated in the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In this capacity, Michele followed and studied how issues such as access to food, water, and arable land affected displaced people and created crisis conditions for refugees around the globe. 

Ms. Balfour earned a BSFS from Georgetown University and a JD from Fordham Law School. She continues to be an associate of the Inter-American Dialogue which works to engage global leaders to promote democracy and social equity in Latin America. She worked on local political campaigns in New York for congressional candidate David Yassky, and assisted Tom Vilsack during his presidential run by contributing to a white paper on energy policy and helping to draft an OpEd.. 

As a way to give back to her weekend community in Washington, CT, promote a focus on families, and bring together local and weekend communities, Ms. Balfour volunteered at The Washington Club and served in several leadership positions.

She is married to Raq Nathoo, co-founder of TX3 Sage Rock. They have three children: Faris (26); Sofia (23); and Aden (16).