JRS is happy to officially welcome Kelly Ryan as the newest addition to our Senior Leadership Team in her role as JRS USA Regional Director. She officially assumed this position on 1 May 2024, succeeding the outgoing Regional Director Joan Rosenhauer. 

“I extend a hearthfelt welcome to Kelly Ryan. We are delighted to have her join us and confident that her extensive experience as a policy expert and leader in refugee services and migration will make her a valuable ally in accompanying, serving, and advocating on behalf of refugees and forcibly displaced people. I want to express my sincere gratitude to Joan, the outgoing Regional Director, for her dedication and invaluable contributions to the JRS mission during her six-year tenure. Joan, your passion and commitment have been crucial and we wish you all the best for the future,” Br Michael Schöpf SJ, JRS International Director. 

Ms. Kelly Ryan is an experienced diplomat, attorney, and policymaker with 30 years of experience in refugee and asylum law, migration management, and human rights law and policy.  

She is a two-time US Presidential political appointee who has also worked extensively with faith-based organisations, including the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and the Holy See. She spent years working as the Deputy Assistant Secretary at the State Department Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), and as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Immigration & Border Security at Homeland Security. Before joining JRS she was a senior advisor for the Refugee, Asylum and International Affairs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security.