Nazanin Ash
Nazanin Ash (she/her) is the CEO of Welcome.US. She most recently was the vice president of Global Policy and Advocacy at the International Rescue Committee, which serves people in crisis in over 40 countries and resettles refugees in 25 U.S. cities. Previously, Ash served as deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the Department of State, leading the Middle East Partnership Initiative and working to advance political and economic reform in the Middle East. From June 2007 to April 2012, she served on the secretary of state’s policy planning staff, designing initiatives to strengthen U.S. government aid effectiveness and approaches to political and economic development. Ash also served as principal advisor and chief of staff to the first director of U.S. foreign assistance and administrator at USAID, designing strategies for U.S. foreign assistance reform and policies for allocating foreign assistance. Prior to this, Ash worked for ActionAid–Kenya, one of the largest rights-based NGOs in Kenya and a leading advocacy and local capacity-building institution. She holds an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a BA in political science from Bryn Mawr College.