Melanie Nezer

Senior Vice President for Public Affairs

Melanie Nezer is Senior Vice President, Public Affairs for HIAS, the global Jewish organization for refugees. In this role, she is responsible for planning, directing, managing and implementing strategies that represent and connect HIAS externally. HIAS Public Affairs is responsible for presenting HIAS to the world and creating powerful and sustained public support for our work and for refugees, with the goal of achieving just and humane global refugee and asylum policies and ensuring that people receive the support they need to rebuild their lives. Melanie has provided pro bono legal assistance to detained asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border and has visited many refugee communities around the world. Her 2019 Ted Talk, "The Fundamental Right to Seek Asylum," has been viewed over 1.6 million times. 

Extended Bio 

Melanie Nezer is Senior Vice President, Public Affairs for HIAS, the global Jewish organization for refugees. In this role, she is responsible for planning, directing, managing and implementing strategies that represent and connect HIAS externally. HIAS Public Affairs is responsible for presenting HIAS to the world and creating powerful and sustained public support for our work and for refugees, with the goal of achieving just and humane global refugee and asylum policies and ensuring that people receive the support they need to rebuild their lives. 

Melanie is a member of the executive team and manages a staff of 40 in four departments: Policy and Advocacy, which delivers our message to Congress, the White House, and the federal agencies that work with refugees; Communications, which develops compelling ways to talk about refugees and our work and makes sure we reach the public through mainstream and social media; Community Engagement, which educates and mobilizes the Jewish community in support of refugees; and Development, which works with individuals and institutions to raise funds for our work. Melanie also oversees the newly-launched HIAS Europe, headquartered in Brussels. 

Melanie has provided pro bono legal assistance to detained asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border and has visited many refugee communities around the world. Her 2019 Ted Talk, "The Fundamental Right to Seek Asylum," has been viewed over 1.6 million times. 

In her 17 years at HIAS, Melanie has also served as Vice President for Policy and Advocacy, Migration Policy Counsel, and Director of the Employment Visa Program. Before joining HIAS, Melanie was the Immigration Policy Director for the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Prior to her work in Washington, she was in private legal practice in Miami, Florida, where she specialized in immigration law and criminal defense. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Boston College Law School. Melanie lives in the Washington DC area with her family.