Lynden Melmed is a Partner with Berry Appleman and Leiden LLP (BAL) and oversees the firm’s compliance and government affairs practices. Before joining BAL, Mr. Melmed served as Chief Counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that agency’s highest-ranking legal position. As Chief Counsel of USCIS, he managed a legal program of approximately 130 attorneys and was a key advisor to senior leadership within USCIS, DHS, the White House, and other federal agencies on all aspects of immigration law. He is the current Chair of the MPI Board of Trustees.
Prior to his appointment as Chief Counsel, Mr. Melmed served as Special Counsel to Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), who at that time was Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Citizenship. In that capacity, he was involved in oversight of federal immigration agencies and played a leading role in drafting and managing the comprehensive immigration legislation that passed the U.S. Senate in 2006. Earlier in his career, Mr. Melmed served as an attorney in the General Counsel’s offices of INS and DHS, where he focused on immigration benefits, visa, and border security issues. Before joining the federal government in 2002, Mr. Melmed spent four years in private practice in Dallas, first at Jackson Walker LLP and later at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen and Loewy LLC.
Cecilia Malmström is Global Outlook Senior Advisor at Lindholmen Science Park in Göteborg, Sweden and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She served as European Commissioner for Trade from 2014 to 2019, having previously served as European Commissioner for Home Affairs from 2010 to 2014. She is Vice Chair of the MPI Board of Trustees.
As Commissioner for Trade, she represented the European Union in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international trade fora. She was responsible for negotiating bilateral trade agreements with key countries, including concluded agreements with Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Mexico. From February 2010 until November 2014, she was the European Commissioner in charge of Home Affairs issues, including border control, asylum, and migration. In this role, she oversaw the European Union's fight against serious international crime and trafficking, as well as creation of a common asylum policy in Europe.
Prior to her appointment as Commissioner, Dr. Malmström was a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2006, working mainly on foreign affairs, human rights, EU enlargement, and constitutional issues. After the Swedish national elections of 2006, she was appointed Minister for EU Affairs by the Swedish government. She was responsible for EU issues such as the Lisbon Treaty, the EU strategy for growth and employment, and review of the EU budget. It was also her job to build support for the European Union among Swedish citizens. In the second half of 2009, she coordinated the preparatory work and implementation of the Swedish Presidency of the European Union.
Dr. Malmström holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Department of Political Science of Göteborgs University, where she also worked for a number of years as a researcher and taught European politics, among other things. She lives in Göteborg with her family.
Malcolm Brown is the former Canadian Deputy Minister of Public Safety, a position he held from 2016 to 2019. He retired from the Canadian Federal Public Service in April 2019 after nearly 31 years as a public servant and a decade at the Deputy Minister level. As Deputy Minister of Public Safety, he led major policy and legislative initiatives in the areas of national security, cyber security, emergency management, and corrections reform. He also ensured coordinated actions across the public safety portfolio, which includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Correctional Service of Canada, and the Parole Board of Canada. He is Treasurer of the MPI Board of Trustees.
Previously, Mr. Brown served as Special Advisor to the Clerk of the Privy Council on the Syrian Refugee Initiative between 2015 and 2016, supporting the selection, screening, arrival, and settlement of more than 25,000 Syrian refugees. Between 2014 and 2015, he was the Deputy Minister of International Development. In this role, he oversaw Canada’s international development agenda and served as Canada’s Alternate Governor for the World Bank. He was appointed Executive Vice President of the Canada Border Services Agency in 2011 and Associate Deputy Minister of Natural Resources in 2009.
Mr. Brown began his federal public service career in the Federal Provincial Relations Office in 1990. He then worked at Health Canada and later at the Privy Council Office where, among other senior positions, he served as Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for the Reference Group of Ministers on Aboriginal Policy. Between 2002 and 2009, he occupied Assistant Deputy Minister-level positions with Human Resources Development Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), culminating with the position of Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy and Research at HRSDC.
He began his career as a Legislative Assistant on Parliament Hill, and has also worked in the Ontario government in the Ministries of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. Brown holds a bachelor of arts degree in political studies from Queen's University and a master of arts degree in political science from York University.
Cristina Rodríguez is the Sol and Lillian Goldman Dean and Professor of Law at Yale Law School, which she joined as Professor of Law in 2013, and is faculty Co-Director of the Ludwig Program in Public Sector Leadership. From 2011-13, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice, and from 2004-12 she was on the faculty at the New York University School of Law. Professor Rodriguez also has been the Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School and the Henry L. Stimson Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She is a member of the American Law Institute, and a past member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2020, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is Secretary of the MPI Board of Trustees.
Her fields of research include constitutional law and theory, immigration law and policy, administrative law and process, and citizenship theory. In recent years, her work has focused on constitutional structures and institutional design. She has used immigration law and related areas as vehicles through which to explore how the allocation of power (through federalism, the separation of powers, and the structure of the bureaucracy) shapes the management and resolution of legal and political conflict. Her work also has examined the effects of immigration on society and culture, as well as the legal and political strategies societies adopt to absorb immigrant populations. Her book, The President and Immigration Law, coauthored with Adam Cox, explores the long history of presidential control over immigration policy and its implications for the future of immigration law and the presidency itself.
Professor Rodríguez earned her B.A. and J.D. degrees from Yale and attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where she received a Master of Letters in Modern History. Following law school, she clerked for Judge David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Paul S. Dwyer Jr. is Chief Executive Officer of Viamericas, which offers money transfer, bill payment, check processing and top-up services throughout Latin America, Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Prior to founding Viamericas, Mr. Dwyer was a Partner with the Latin American Practice Group of the Washington, DC-based law firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale), where he had first chair responsibility for a wide range of financing and acquisition transactions in Latin America. Before that, Mr. Dwyer practiced law with Rogers & Wells (now part of Clifford Chance) and as an Internal Counsel at the Inter-American Investment Corporation.
He was also a Fulbright Fellow to Colombia. He served for 12 years on the Board of Directors of Plan USA, the U.S. affiliate of Plan International.
Mr. Dwyer received his undergraduate degree at Tufts University in Latin American studies, his master’s degree in international business and Western Hemisphere diplomatic history at the university’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and his JD at Harvard Law School.
Juan José Gómez-Camacho is a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where he is also a professor and lecturer on global challenges and on North America. He provides strategic advice to companies, mainly on Mexico and North America. He advises the World Health Organization (WHO) on ongoing efforts to improve prevention, preparedness, and reaction to global health threats after COVID-19.
In June 2022, he concluded a 34-year career as a diplomat, during which he served as Ambassador of Mexico to Canada (2019–22); Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2016–19); Ambassador to the European Union as well as to the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (2013–16); Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations based in Geneva, Switzerland (2009–13); and Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore and, concurrently, to the Union of Myanmar and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam (2006–09). He served as Director General for Human Rights and Democracy at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2000–06). He also served at the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the Organization of American States (1997–2000) and at the Embassy of Mexico to the United Kingdom (1994–97).
During his more than three decades as a diplomat, Ambassador Gómez-Camacho led many international negotiations, including as one of the two co-chairs that presided over and led the drafting, negotiation, and adoption of the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration as well as the creation of the pandemic influenza preparedness framework at WHO, after the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. As Ambassador of Mexico to the European Union and later to Canada, he was involved in the renegotiation of the Mexico-EU Free Trade Agreement, and on the North American Free Trade Agreement, now the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement. He holds a BA in law from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico and an LLM in international law from Georgetown University.
Emily Margarethe Haber was German Ambassador to the United States from June 2018 to June 2023 and was the first woman to hold this position.
Previously, Ambassador Haber, a career foreign service officer, was deployed to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, serving as State Secretary overseeing security and migration at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe. In this capacity, she worked closely with the U.S. administration on topics ranging from the fight against international terrorism to global cyberattacks and cybersecurity. In 2009, she was appointed Political Director and, in 2011, State Secretary at the Foreign Office, the first woman to hold either post. Earlier in her career, she served at the German Embassy in Ankara. She also served in Berlin as Deputy Head of the Cabinet and Parliamentary Liaison Division, as Director of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Division in the German Foreign Office, and as Deputy Director-General for the Western Balkans.
Ambassador Haber has extensive knowledge of the Soviet Union and Russia, having worked both in the Soviet Union Division at the German Foreign Office and, on various occasions, at the German Embassy in Moscow, where she served as Head of the Economic Affairs Section and Head of the Political Affairs Department. Ambassador Haber studied at schools in New Delhi, Bonn, Paris, Brussels, Washington, and Cologne. She holds a PhD in history.
Charles Kamasaki is an analyst, advocate, and author. He is Senior Advisor to UnidosUS, formerly the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, where he long served as Executive Vice President. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Immigration Scholar at Cornell Law School.
While at UnidosUS, Mr. Kamasaki has authored or supervised the preparation of dozens of policy and research reports, journal articles, and editorials; testified frequently at congressional hearings; coordinated pro bono litigation and legal analysis; and represented UnidosUS at research and policy conferences and symposia. Mr. Kamasaki conducted research for his award-winning book on the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, Immigration Reform: The Corpse That Will Not Die (Mandel Vilar Press, 2019), while a Visiting Fellow at MPI.
He is the recipient, among other honors, of the Cesar Chavez Award from the American Association of Affirmative Action and the Public Service Award from the American Immigration Lawyers Association, was named an Asian American of Distinction by Pacific Citizen, and was listed as one of the “dream team” of civil-rights advocates by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Roberta S. Jacobson is Founding Partner at Dinámica Americas, where she draws on more than 30 years of distinguished diplomatic experience. She recently served as Special Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Southwest border on the White House National Security Council. She previously served as Chair of the MPI Board of Trustees.
From May 2016 until May 2018, she served as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, where she oversaw the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship and managed a broad array of issues, including trade and investment, security and immigration, the environment, and human rights.
Her senior-level U.S. government experience also included serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Canada, Mexico, and NAFTA; Director of the State Department’s Office of Mexican Affairs; and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Peru. In the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, she also served as Director of the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination and as coordinator for Cuban affairs.
Earlier in her career, she worked at the United Nations’ Center for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs.
Ambassador Jacobson was a Fall 2018 Pritzker Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, where she taught a seminar on “Big Issues in Latin America.” She is regularly interviewed on Latin American business and politics in outlets including Axios, CNN, NBC, National Public Radio, The New York Times, Reuters, and The Washington Post.
Ambassador Jacobson holds a master of arts in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a B.A. from Brown University. She is fluent in Spanish.
Gerald D. Jaynes is the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Economics, African American Studies, and Urban Studies at Yale University. In addition to his teaching and research duties at Yale, he has served as a legislative aide to State Senator Cecil A. Partee, President Pro Tempore of the Illinois State Senate (1971–72); Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania; and Chair of Yale’s Department of African and African American Studies (1990–96).
He has served in many public capacities, such as Study Director of the Committee on the Status of Black Americans at the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC (1985–89); Chairman of the New Haven, CT, Minority Business Development Agency by mayoral appointment (1982–84); the Mayor’s Blue-Ribbon Committee for the Redevelopment of New Haven (1990); Member of the Board of Economists, Black Enterprise magazine; Fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; and Member of the Council of Economic Advisors to the National Urban League. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on numerous occasions and served as a consultant to federal and local government agencies. He is recognized as an expert on race relations and the economic conditions of African Americans, and has lectured and spoken on these topics at many universities and forums around the world. His research has been cited internationally within forums such as legislative bodies and courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Jaynes has appeared on radio and television shows, including NBC’s Today Show and The Bill Moyers Show. Listed in Who’s Who Among African Americans since 1989, he has written extensively for scholarly journals, books, and popular essays. Among his more notable publications are: A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society (1989); Branches without Roots: Genesis of the Black Working Class in the American South, 1862–1882 (1986); Immigration and Race: New Challenges for American Democracy (2000); and The Encyclopedia of African American Society (2004). He earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1976.
Jose Luis Prado Becerra is Executive Advisor Partner with Wind Point Partners and Chairman of Tropicale Foods, a leading manufacturer of frozen novelty products under the Helados Mexico brand. Previously he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Evans Food Group Ltd. Prior to joining Evans, Mr. Prado had a distinguished career at PepsiCo Inc., holding various leadership positions over his 30-year career there.
From 2011-14, Mr. Prado was President of Quaker Foods North America. From 2002-10, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Gamesa-Quaker. He served as Regional Vice President of the Frito Lay International Andean Region from 2000 to 2002; President of PepsiCo Snacks in Argentina and Uruguay from 1997 to 2000; and President of Frito Lay Snacks Caribbean from 1994 to 1997. His early career included assignments in sales, finance, IT, and engineering.
In addition to his leadership experience in the global food and beverage industry, Mr. Prado serves on multiple boards of directors. On the corporate side, he is a member of the boards of Evans Food Group, the Hormel Foods Corporation, and the Northern Trust. Most recently, he served as Director of Brinker International, Inc. In the nonprofit sector, Mr. Prado serves on the boards of the National Museum of the American Latino at the Smithsonian, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, GENYOUth, the Latino Corporate Directors Association, and the Hispanic Associate on Corporate Responsibility.
He holds a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnical Institute in Mexico City, a master of science in information systems from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, and a master of business administration from the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Monterrey.
Andrew Selee is President of MPI, succeeding Co-Founder Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Michael Fix. He came to MPI from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he served as Executive Vice President from January 2014 through April 2017.
Dr. Selee has worked closely in the past on two of MPI’s signature initiatives: the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future, and the Regional Migration Study Group, which was jointly convened by MPI and the Wilson Center. He also served as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations' Task Force on Immigration.
The founding Director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, Dr. Selee is a respected scholar and analyst of Mexico and U.S.-Mexico relations. A frequent commentator in the media, he has also written and edited a number of books and policy reports on U.S.-Mexico relations, Mexican and Latin American politics, and Latino immigrant civic engagement in the United States, and is a regular columnist with the Mexican newspaper El Universal. His latest book, Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together, was published by Public Affairs in June 2018.
In his role as Executive Vice President of the Wilson Center and previously as Vice President for Programs, Dr. Selee was involved with the Center’s wide-ranging initiatives in Europe, Asia, Africa, Eurasia, and the Middle East. He is also the author of a major book on think tank strategy, What Should Think Tanks Do? A Strategic Guide to Policy Impact (Stanford, 2013).
Dr. Selee has regularly taught courses at Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University since 2006 and was a visiting professor at El Colegio de Mexico.
Prior to joining the Wilson Center as an associate in the Latin American Program in 2000, he was a professional staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives and worked for five years with the YMCA of Baja California in Tijuana, Mexico, helping to start a community center and a home for migrant youth. He later served on the National Board of the YMCA of the USA and chaired its International Committee.
Dr. Selee holds a PhD in policy studies from the University of Maryland, an MA in Latin American studies from the University of California, San Diego, and a BA in Latin American studies (Phi Beta Kappa) from Washington University in St. Louis.
Mariko Silver is President and CEO of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She previously served as the President and CEO of the Henry Luce Foundation, and before that as President of Bennington College. During the Obama administration, she served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for International Affairs and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Policy. Dr. Silver also served as Policy Advisor for Economic Development, Innovation, and Higher Education for Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano.
Prior to her government service, Dr. Silver was instrumental in the transformation and expansion of Arizona State University, leading teams in economic development policy and metrics, science, technology and innovation policy, state K-12 and higher education policy, sustainability science, and global health.
Dr. Silver is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Elizabeth Espín Stern is the former Managing Partner of Mayer Brown’s Washington, DC office (2021–24) and Founder and Head of Mayer Brown’s Global Mobility and Migration practice (2014–24), and she continues to advise both bodies as Senior Counsel. She is a seasoned veteran who has advised companies through every major immigration policy change since 1986.
Ms. Stern is consistently ranked as a leading business immigration lawyer by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Who’s Who Legal, The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, and national and local publications. She is in Legal 500’s Hall of Fame for Immigration (2020–22) as well as Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, and she a recipient of the National Law Journal’s Immigration Trailblazer award (2018) and its Crisis Leadership Trailblazer award (2020). Ms. Stern has been recognized by Corporate Counsel’s 2021 Women, Influence, and Power in Law Awards for innovative leadership, awarded Washingtonian’s Lawyer Lifetime Achievement honor for immigration, named as one of the top 10 most innovative legal practitioners by the Financial Times (2020), and received the Women Who Mean Business award from the Washington Business Journal. She has also been named a Mayer Brown Diversity Champion.
Ms. Stern regularly speaks and writes about immigration policies; talent optimization; and diversity, equity and inclusion, and she contributes to major news agencies and publications.
She received her JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and her BA, magna cum laude, from the University of Virginia.
C. Stewart Verdery Jr. is founder of the bipartisan advocacy firm Monument Advocacy. Previously, he was the first Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a position he held from 2003 to 2005 following his unanimous confirmation by the Senate.
At the DHS Border and Transportation Security Directorate, Mr. Verdery oversaw U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Transportation Security Administration, and led efforts to develop and implement policies related to immigration, visas, and travel facilitation; cargo security and international trade; transportation security; and law enforcement. He worked extensively with foreign governments, testified frequently before Congress, and represented the agency publicly on a diverse set of issues. He also chaired official government advisory committees on international trade and tourism and served on the President’s Advisory Committee to Protect Americans’ Civil Liberties.
Before joining the Bush administration, Mr. Verdery served as General Counsel to Assistant Senate Majority Leader Don Nickles (R-OK), playing a major role on a wide range of policy issues such as law enforcement, commerce, nominations, constitutional law, campaign finance, and telecommunications. He also oversaw the creation and management of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force and served as Counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Chairman John Warner (R-VA). His private-sector experience includes positions at Vivendi Universal Entertainment and the law firm Baker & Hostetler.
Mr. Verdery is a frequent guest on CNN and Fox News and is regularly quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, The Hill, Axios, Recode, Politico, and other influential media outlets. He is a member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s President’s Advisory Circle, the board of advisors of the Project 2049 Institute, and the MITRE Homeland Security advisory board. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a JD from the University of Virginia.
Julie Myers Wood is Chief Executive Officer at Guidepost Solutions, an investigations, compliance, and security firm with offices throughout the United States, as well as Colombia, England, and Singapore. Before joining Guidepost Solutions, Ms. Wood started a consulting and software firm, ICS Consulting, which was acquired by Guidepost Solutions in 2012.
Prior to joining the private sector, Ms. Wood held several high-level positions with the U.S. government, including at the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury, and Commerce, as well as at the White House. In one of her most significant government roles, Ms. Wood served as head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She also served as the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security, where she oversaw all Export Enforcement Special Agents and supervised investigations relating to the Export Administration Regulations. Ms. Wood had responsibilities relating to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) while at the Departments of Treasury and Justice. She also served as Chief of Staff for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, and an Associate Independent Counsel for the Office of the Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr. Before joining the government, Ms. Wood served as an associate at Mayer, Brown and Platt. She also clerked for the Honorable C. Arlen Beam on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.