Ignacia Rodriguez Kmec is the Immigration Policy Advocate at the National Immigration Law Center, where she engages in legislative and administrative advocacy focusing on immigration executive actions and congressional action on immigration. She also engages in policy analysis, education, and advocacy to support the integration of low-income immigrant youth through access to education. Rodriguez’s experience as an activist in the immigrants’ rights movement and as an undocumented student has led to her devotion to improving the lives of low-income immigrants. She holds an A.A. from Santa Monica College, a B.A. from UCLA, and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law.

Meagan Roche is the Communications and Partnerships Coordinator at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. She previously worked as the West Michigan Communities Coordinator with Welcoming Michigan, a program at MIRC that focuses on building communities where immigrants experience equity and belonging both through institutional change and contact building. Meagan focuses on issues of language justice and language access at MIRC, in her organizing, and in broader community engagement. She speaks Arabic and French.

Scot Nakagawa is co-founder and Senior Partner of ChangeLab, a national racial equity think/act lab promoting innovative solutions for achieving racial equity. Scot is the 2017 Association of Asian American Studies Community Leader Award recipient, a Senior Fellow of Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation; and is currently hard at work on The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook, a resource manual for communicators and community leaders and advocates that he is creating as a Soros Equality Fellow of the Open Society Foundations.

Alvaro M. Huerta is a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, where works to defend and advance the rights of low-income immigrants and their family members through litigation, administrative advocacy, and community education. His practice includes litigation on due process, equal protection and civil rights, and challenging federal and state anti-immigrant legislation. He also helps state and local advocates ensure that immigrants and their families can obtain access to health care and economic support. He is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford Law School, and the son and grandson of Mexican immigrants to the United States.

Annie Chen is the program director of the Safety and Fairness for Everyone (SAFE) Network at Vera’s Center on Immigration and Justice. Launched 2017, the SAFE Network is a diverse group of 18 local jurisdictions across America dedicated to the goal of providing publicly-funded universal representation for people facing deportation. Annie works with jurisdictions, legal service providers, and advocates to advance universal representation for immigrants. Previously she worked in the Legal Aid Society’s Immigration Law Unit, where she represented immigrants in detention facing deportation. She holds a BA from Columbia College and a JD from Fordham Law School.

Stacey Simon is Director of IMPRINT, a coalition of organizations active in the emerging field of immigrant professional integration based at World Education Services (WES) in New York, where she is also Director of Policy Advocacy. Her career has included the leadership and development of international education and exchange programs, both here and abroad, notably with World Learning, One to World, and at NYU. Stacey holds an Masters of Teaching in ESOL and a B.A. in Japanese Studies. A resident of Brooklyn, she has lived and worked in Japan and in Hong Kong.

Margalit Tepper is the Integration Projects and Policy Lead at MIRA Coalition, where she works on education, child and family, and workforce development policy issues and impacts on immigrant and dual-language learner populations. She has previously worked in refugee resettlement and volunteers with African Bridge Network, a workforce development organization for high-skilled immigrants. Margalit holds a B.S. in Human Development and an M.S.W. from Boston College, where she wrote and researched for the School of Social Work’s Immigrant Integration Lab with Dr. Westy Egmont.

Rich Stolz has served as OneAmerica’s Executive Director since August 2012. During his tenure, OneAmerica has cemented its status as one of the most effective organizing, advocacy, and civic engagement organizations in the nation. Previously, Rich worked at the Center for Community Change, where he focused on the intersection of policy, politics, and organizing across a broad spectrum of issues impacting low-income communities and communities of color. In 2013, Rich was honored by President Barack Obama as a Cesar Chavez Champion of Change alongside other leaders in the immigrant rights movement.

Swathi Shanmugasundaram is a senior research analyst with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). She is an expert on forms of extremism including the organized anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim movements. Before joining the SPLC, Shanmugasundaram worked as a policy consultant for South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a national civil rights group based in Takoma Park, Maryland. She received her BA in immigration policy with minors in Asian studies and intergroup relations education from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Lauren Pongan is the Network Innovations Manager on APIAHF’s Policy and Network Innovations Team. She works to build and strengthen partnerships with community-based organizations on policy, advocacy, and mobilization for health equity. Using creative problem solving, Lauren helps to design strategies to strengthen communities and AA & NHPI leaders across the country. Before joining APIAHF, Lauren was running Asian American immigrant health programs at one of the Health Forum’s community-based partner organizations in Philadelphia, her hometown. She earned her MA in Southeast Asian Studies from the University of Washington.

Karen Phillippi, the Director of the Michigan Office for New Americans, has been working in the field of immigration law and immigrant/refugee integration for over 27 years. Karen began her work in immigration law by serving as the Immigration and State Department Specialist for US Senator Don Riegle. She has worked in various law firms developing and managing employment-based immigration practices and she speaks at numerous seminars on immigration-related topics. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Michigan State University.

Basel Mousslly is the Program Manager for Migrant Services at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). In this role, he oversees services provided to migrants and asylum seekers around the country including the U.S. side of the border with Mexico. His portfolio of programs includes the Reception & Welcome, Detention Visitation, and Family Reunification Support Program. Prior to working with LIRS, Basel was a Refugee Resettlement Supervisor at Refugee Services of Texas. He has over eight years of experience in serving refugees and displaced populations domestically and internationally.

Melissa Lazarín is Senior Advisor for State Early Childhood and K-12 Policy at the Migration Policy Institute. Her areas of expertise include education advocacy and policy development; testing, standards, and accountability; and education issues facing English Learners, Latinos, and immigrants. She has served in a variety of positions over the last two decades, including Managing Director of K-12 education policy at the Center for American Progress, Director of Education Policy at First Focus, and Associate Director of Education Policy at UnidosUS. Most recently Ms. Lazarin was at the National Governors Association, where she oversaw issues related to educational equity.

Jordyne Krumroy is Regional Manager at Welcoming America, where she is working to establish the nation’s first major metro welcoming region, the One Region Initiative. She also oversees Welcoming America membership in the South, providing technical assistance to advocates and municipalities working on immigration inclusion. As a current board member for El Refugio, a grassroots nonprofit providing visitation and advocacy alongside people in immigrant detention, she can often be found visiting detention centers and advocating for reform. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and Spanish from Appalachian State University and a Master of Social Work from Georgia State University.

Esperanza Guevara is part of CHIRLA's civic engagement team where she is working to ensure a full count of the immigrant, Latino and marginalized population. Previously, she worked for Congressman Jimmy Gomez, where she oversaw his immigration and census portfolio. She has also worked in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. and on campaigns in Florida and Los Angeles, and participated in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals program in Germany. She earned a Bachelor of Arts and minored in German Studies from Stanford University.

Leani García Torres is the State & Local Policy Manager at New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan research and advocacy organization making the economic case for smart, sensible immigration policies in cities, states, and nationally. At NAE, she is responsible for managing and expanding the organization's state-level policy portfolio and advocacy efforts. Leani has more than seven years of experience working on policy initiatives across the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She holds an MA from New York University's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and a BA in Political Science from California State University, Long Beach.

Ben D’Avanzo is the Senior Policy Analyst in APIAHF’s Policy and Network Innovations team. In this role, he develops policy positions, leads advocacy projects and provides strategic advice around issues that include health access, public health, and data equity. Ben works with policymakers and organizational partners to ensure the voices of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities are heard in federal healthcare debates. His previous employment experience includes Families USA and Bread for the World. Ben has a Master’s of Public Administration from George Washington University and a Bachelor’s in Political Science from American University.

Seongeun Chun is the Senior Manager of Health Policy. She works within the New York Immigration Coalition's Policy department to support work at the municipal, state and federal levels to improve access to high-quality care for immigrant New Yorkers. Most recently at Montefiore Medical Center, Seongeun directed a multi-site study to increase access to effective treatment for opioid use disorders in primary health care settings. Prior to Montefiore, she led research and policy analysis focusing on health care delivery, and access to maternal and neonatal care in Indonesia, Liberia and China. Seongeun received her MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Kate Brick is the Director of State and Local Initiatives at New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan coalition of business and political leaders working to create smart, sensible immigration policies in cities, states, and nationally. She has over a decade of experience working on immigration policy through her time at Americas Society/Council of the Americas, Unbound Philanthropy, the Migration Policy Institute and the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Kate holds an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in Latin American Studies from the George Washington University.

Nada Al-Hanooti is a Palestinian-American based out of Southeast Michigan where she serves as a community organizer. Inspired by her parents’ lifelong dedication to public service, both immigrants themselves, she organized her own campaign for a seat on the Dearborn City Council. Formerly, Nada served as a field coordinator for Rashida Tlaib for State Representative in Detroit, and was responsible for organizing events and door to door initiatives as well as recruiting and managing volunteers. Nada’s mission is to educate and empower the Muslim community through civic engagement and political literacy.