Jina Krause-Vilmar is the president and CEO of Upwardly Global, a nonprofit organization focusing on refugee and immigrant economic inclusion. With nearly 20 years of experience in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, Krause-Vilmar has led efforts to build models for workforce inclusion of refugee women and immigrant professionals. She has worked internationally with various United Nations agencies, governments, and in the US with corporations to create systemic solutions and advocate for change. Krause-Vilmar holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the London School of Economics. She currently resides in New York City with her family.

Naomi Alboim is the senior policy fellow at the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration (CERC) at Toronto Metropolitan University, and a distinguished fellow at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University. Alboim is an active public policy consultant who has advised governments and non-governmental agencies across Canada, Europe, Caribbean, Vietnam, Indonesia, Ghana, Kenya, and South Korea. Previously, Alboim worked at senior levels in the Canadian federal and Ontario provincial governments for 25 years, including eight years as deputy minister in three different portfolios. Her areas of responsibility included immigration, human rights, labor market training, workplace standards, culture, women’s, seniors’, disability, anti-racism, and indigenous issues.

She is an engaged volunteer and advocate on immigration and refugee issues. Alboim is a recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medals and is a member of the Order of Ontario.

Mirvet Al Bassam is the lead job coach at the International Institute of Buffalo, serving in the role for almost three years, specializing in assisting skilled refugees and immigrants to secure employment that aligns with their expertise in the United States. Al Bassam’s work is funded by the New York State Office of New Americans and offers services such as online training, coaching sessions, employment, mentor matching, and exploring continuing education. Al Bassam has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Technology in Baghdad. She lives in Buffalo, New York, with her family.

Bob Doyle is the assistant director of Grants and Special Programs at the International Institute of Buffalo. He was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, and holds a bachelor’s in history and a master’s degree in education studies from the State University of New York’s University at Buffalo. Doyle has worked with Buffalo’s refugee and immigrant community since 2013 and is in his third year with the International Institute of Buffalo. For the past decade, he has worked on issues relating to the economic and civic integration of Buffalo’s New American community, on topics from small business creation to the establishment of community gardens. Doyle currently resides in Northern Virginia and is working towards his JD at the American University Washington College of Law in Washington, DC. In his spare time, Doyle is an avid baker and amateur linguist.

Paul Feltman is deputy executive director for Global Talent Policy and Programs at World Education Services (WES), a nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to helping international students, immigrants, and refugees achieve their educational and career goals in the US and Canada. He oversees WES Global Talent Bridge, establishing strategic partnerships, shaping programmatic innovation, and advocating for systemic change to support the inclusion of immigrants and refugees with international credentials. Feltman chairs the steering committee of the IMPRINT Coalition, a national coalition working to advance equitable public policies and promising models that remove barriers to the economic mobility of immigrants and refugees.

Guillermo Martinez is the deputy director and intergovernmental liaison for the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy. He brings over 20 years of significant leadership, management, and communications experience in both the nonprofit and government sectors. During his time in the New York State Legislature, he served as the director of policy development for the New York State Assembly Task Force on New Americans and legislative and communications director for the New York State Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force, having served in that role as the longest tenured staffer in the organizations 35-year history. In those capacities, he helped research, draft, and negotiate over 200 pieces of legislation that are now state law, including programs such as the SUNY Hispanic Leadership Institute, the SUNY Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion, the codifying of the Office of New Americans, the Immigration Services Fraud Prevention Act, the Idle-Free School Zone Act, Geriatric Mental Health Act, the Undocumented Immigrant In-State-Tuition Act, the School Energy Efficiency Collaborative Act, the establishing of the New York Latino Research and Resources Network (NYLARNet), and dozens of other laws, including consumer protection measures addressing online privacy, disaster preparedness, protecting children with disabilities, and the elderly. Prior to his time in the legislature, Martinez served as director of communications and legislative affairs for the Council of Community Services of New York State and worked at SUNY Oneonta’s migrant education program (ESCORT) assisting migrant farmworkers with the educational needs of their children in a region covering 23 states.

Dina Refki is the director of the Center for Women in Government & Civil Society (CWGCS) at the University at Albany. Refki studies and researches the interplay of gender with institutional structures in the US and international context. She applies gender mainstreaming and budgeting analysis from transnational perspectives. Prior to assuming leadership at CWGCS in 2009, she held different positions at the Center, including as director of the Immigrant Women & State Policy Program, which facilitated interagency collaboration, promoted dialogues with civil society and immigrant women at the state level, and worked to identify and address barriers to the integration of immigrant women in the social, economic, and political fabric of local communities. Refki studies the challenges of migration, the barriers facing immigrant women and their families, and the structural changes needed to better respond to the needs of immigrant women.

Joaquín Sánchez Gómez is an MA candidate in economics at CUNY’s City College of New York. He received a BA in economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He’s been a research assistant at CUNY’s Graduate Center and a consultant at the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Inter-American Development Bank, the Mexican Senate, and several government agencies. Previously, Sánchez Gómez was a lecturer at UNAM’s School of Economics, where he taught Introduction to Economic Theory and Mexican Economy. He is a member of the Labor and Employment Relations Association, the Latin American Studies Association, and the Urban Economics Association. His research focuses on industrial policy, labor economics, and regional development. His most notable research was published by the ILO, UNAM, the Belisario Dominguez Institute, and one of the most prestigious economics journals in Spanish, El Trimestre Económico.

Ken Silverman is a PhD student in political science at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, specializing in comparative politics and public policy. Sliverman’s current research focuses on comparative citizenship, migration politics, and international conditions’ role in migration policymaking. He has collaborated with the Center for Urban Research on voting patterns and civic engagement studies in New York City. Silverman designed and taught political science courses, including on immigrant integration, at CUNY Baruch, Hunter, and Queens Colleges. Silverman presented his original research on migration-related topics at the Japan Association of Migration Policy Studies, Midwest Political Science Association, and International Studies Association conferences. Prior to receiving his master’s of international affairs from CUNY Baruch College’s Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Silverman was an award-winning senior news producer at Japan’s largest private broadcaster, the New York Bureau of Fuji TV Network News, where he covered the United Nations as well as hundreds of international news events throughout Latin America and the US. Silverman is a recipient of the Presidential Research and Graduate Center Fellowships. He is also fluent in Japanese and Spanish.