Ninette Kelley is Chair of the World Refugee & Migration Council and is focused on efforts to advance practical, innovative and rights-based responses to displacement and asylum challenges worldwide.
An internationally respected expert on forced displacement and humanitarian policy, Ms. Kelley brings more than three decades of leadership with the United Nations, government, and civil society. She served as Director of UNHCR’s New York Office representing the organization’s global operations and beneficiaries within the United Nations system. Prior to that, she served as UNHCR Representative in Beirut, Lebanon, where she led one of UNHCR’s most complex operations from 2010 to 2015. Ms. Kelley also has deep expertise in Canadian refugee policy, having served on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada’s Immigration Appeal Division and Convention Refugee Determination Division. Her published work spans Canadian immigration policy, global forced displacement, citizenship, and refugee protection.