Rachel Schmidtke

Rachel Schmidtke is the senior advocate for Latin America at Refugees International. Previously, she was the Deputy Protection Coordinator for the ICRC and program associate at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where she played a key role in the development of the Mexico Institute’s migration portfolio.

Nicholas Noe is a Senior Fellow at Refugees International, where his work focuses on humanitarian localization and the reform of Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs)—including practical pathways to expand direct, principled funding to local and national organizations, strengthen governance and accountability, and shift decision-making closer to crisis-affected communities. He is currently Chair of the Interaction Ukraine…

Sarah Miller is a senior fellow with Refugees International where she helps manage the Labor Market Access initiative and leads engagement on IDP issues. She previously covered the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa, but has also worked, researched, and written on Latin America and the Middle East. She is interested in global governance questions…

Izza Leghtas is a senior fellow at Refugees International where she focuses on refugees’ access to the labor market. Izza was previously the organization’s Senior Advocate for Europe. She has researched and authored reports on the plight of refugees on Greece’s Aegean islands, refugees’ access to work in Turkey and Jordan, and abuses people on…

Hardin Lang is vice president for programs and policy at Refugees International. A veteran of six United Nations peacekeeping and humanitarian field missions, Hardin has worked in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Central America, Gaza and the West Bank, Iraq, Haiti, Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Tunisia, Turkey, and West Africa. During his UN tenure, Hardin helped launch the…

Alexandra Lamarche was a senior fellow with Refugees International. Previously, she served as the organization’s senior advocate for West and Central Africa. She has led research trips on displacement crises in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mali, among others. Prior to joining Refugees International in 2017, Alexandra…

Abdullahi Boru Halakhe is the senior advocate for East and Southern Africa at Refugees International. He is an African policy expert with over a decade of experience in security, conflict, human rights, refugee work, and strategic communications.  Abdullahi has worked with and advised various international organizations including the International Rescue Committee, the International Crisis Group,…

Martha Guerrero Ble is an advocate for Refugees International where she focuses on expanding labor market access to refugees. Martha is a graduate from Georgetown’s Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS), where she focused on the intersection of development and humanitarian issues. During her studies, Martha interned at the International Organization for Migration (IOM)…

Jeremy Konyndyk is president of Refugees International. A committed humanitarian advocate and seasoned emergency operator, he has served in senior appointments in two U.S. administrations and in a range of U.S. and overseas NGO leadership positions.   Prior to joining Refugees International, Jeremy served in the Biden administration as USAID’s lead official for COVID-19. He oversaw…

Yael Schacher is the director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International. Prior to joining Refugees International, Yael researched the relationship between immigration and refugee policy for her forthcoming book on the history of asylum in the U.S. since the late nineteenth century. She taught at the University of Connecticut and lectured on immigration…