Staff

DIRECTORS

Executive Director
Benjamin E. Johnson

Director, Immigration Policy Center
Mary Giovagnoli

Director, International Exchange Program
Lois C. Magee

Director, Finance & Operations
Yelena Bakaleva

Director, Communications
Wendy Feliz Sefsaf

STAFF

Legal Action Center

Emily Creighton, Staff Attorney
Mary Kenney, Senior Staff Attorney
Beth Werlin, Litigation Clearinghouse Attorney
Brian Yourish, Legal Assistant

Immigration Policy Center

Walter Ewing, Senior Researcher
Seth Hoy, Communications and Research Associate
Travis Packer, Policy Research Assistant
Michele Waslin, Senior Research Analyst

International Exchange Center

Rosie Griffin, Program Specialist
Kimberly Lindsay, Program Specialist

Community Education Center

Claire Tesh, Community Education Center Manager

Development

Elizabeth Stinebaugh, Fundraising & Development Associate

BIOGRAPHIES

Staff email addresses follow the format "first letter of first name, last name" followed by @immcouncil.org. The first half of each email address is listed below, but a complete "mailto" link is not provided in an attempt to reduce the amount of spam received by staff.

Yelena Bakaleva, Director, Finance and Operations
202-507-7500, etx. 7519 (ybakaleva)

Yelena Bakaleva is the Director of Finance and Operations. Yelena comes to the Immigration Council from a wealth experience in management, finance and operations. Most recently, she was the Director of Strategic Alliances for Martina Navratilova Inc, and spent nearly 8 years in various finance and management positions at AARP.  On a personal note, she is also an immigrant who came to the U.S. as a political asylee and was a direct beneficiary of AILF's litigation in the Ngwanyia case. Ms. Bakaleva received her MBA in Corporate Finance from the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. She also holds a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from Russia.

Emily Creighton, Staff Attorney
202-507-7500 ext.7505 (ecreighton)

Emily Creighton is a staff attorney at the Legal Action Center. She has represented amicus curiae in federal court litigation and contributes to the work of the Council Litigation Clearinghouse. Ms. Creighton joined the Immigration Council in 2006. She received her law degree from American University Washington College of Law in 2006. Prior to law school, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine.

Walter Ewing, Senior Researcher
202-507-7500 ext.7507 (wewing)

Walter Ewing, Ph.D., is the Senior Research Associate at the Immigration Policy Center. He has authored or co-authored 20 reports and opinion pieces for the IPC and has published articles in the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, Stanford Law and Policy Review, and Immigration Law Today. Before joining the IPC, he was an Immigration Policy Analyst at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Program Director of the National Citizenship Network at Immigration and Refugee Services of America. Mr. Ewing received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School in 1997 and his B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1987.

Mary Giovagnoli, Director, Immigration Policy Center
202-507-7500 ext.7511 (mgiovagnoli)

Mary Giovagnoli is the Director of the Immigration Policy Center. Prior to joining the IPC, Ms. Giovagnoli served as Senior Director of Policy for the National Immigration Forum and practiced law as an attorney with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security—serving first as a trial attorney and associate general counsel with INS, and, following the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, as an associate chief counsel for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Ms. Giovagnoli specialized in asylum and refugee law, focusing on the impact of general immigration laws on asylees. In 2005, Ms. Giovagnoli became the senior advisor to the Director of Congressional Relations at USCIS. She was also awarded a Congressional Fellowship from USCIS to serve for a year in Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s office where she worked on comprehensive immigration reform and refugee issues. Ms. Giovagnoli attended Drake University, graduating summa cum laude with a major in speech communication. She received a master’s degree in rhetoric and completed additional graduate coursework in rhetoric at the University of Wisconsin, before receiving a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. She spent more than ten years teaching public speaking, argumentation and debate, and parliamentary procedure while pursuing her education.

Rosie Griffin, Program Specialist
202-507-7500 ext. 7508 (rgriffin)

Rosie Griffin is a Program Specialist with the International Exchange Center. She has studied in several South and Central American countries including Costa Rica and Brazil. Before coming to the Immigration Council, Ms. Griffin held an internship with HelpArgentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received her B.A. in International Affairs and Political Science from the University of Maine in 2006, with minors in French and Spanish.

Seth Hoy, Communications and Research Associate
202-507-7500 ext. 7509 (shoy)

Seth Hoy is the Communications and Research Associate at the Immigration Policy Center. Prior to joining IPC, Mr. Hoy worked at an academic publishing company and more recently as a staff writer/reporter for a city paper in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he covered multiple beats. Mr. Hoy has also volunteered as an educator in China and the Marshall Islands through Harvard University's WorldTeach program. In addition to teaching students, Mr. Hoy organized and staffed professional development workshops for local educators. He received his B.A. in English with a minor in German from Boston College in 2003.

Benjamin E. Johnson, Executive Director
202-507-7500 (bjohnson)

Benjamin Johnson is the Executive Director of the American Immigration Council (formerly the American Immigration Law Foundation) in Washington, D.C.  The Immigration Council was established in 1987 as a tax-exempt, not-for-profit educational, charitable organization. The Immigration Council is dedicated to strengthening America by honoring our immigrant history and shaping how Americans think and act towards immigration now and in the future. The Immigration Council has developed four programs areas designed to address the core issues of immigration policy, law, education, and cultural exchange: the Immigration Policy Center; Legal Action Center; Community Education Center; and International Exchange Center.

Mr. Johnson has studied and worked in the immigration field for more than 15 years.  He has written extensively on immigration law and policy and has been an invited to present testimony on immigration issues before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.  He is a frequent guest commentator on television and radio, with appearances on CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, Fox News, BBC World News, National Public Radio and other television and radio programs.

A native of Arizona, Mr. Johnson was the co-founder and legal Director of the Immigration Outreach Center in Phoenix.  Prior to becoming involved in immigration issues he was a public defender and civil litigation attorney in San Diego, CA.  He earned a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and studied International and Comparative Law at Kings College in London. 

Mary Kenney, Senior Staff Attorney
202-507-7500 ext.7512 (mkenney)

Mary Kenney is the senior staff attorney with the Legal Action Center. Ms. Kenney was counsel in Ngwanyia v. Ashcroft, a national asylee adjustment class action. She has litigated cases at the Board of Immigration Appeals and in various federal courts around the country. Prior to joining the American Immigration Council, she spent seven years as the Executive Director for the Texas Lawyers' Committee, a statewide immigrant and refugee rights project. She also was a legal services attorney for eleven years. Ms. Kenney received her J.D. degree from Antioch School of Law.

Kimberly Lindsay, Program Specialist
202-507-7500 ext.7513 (klindsay)

Kimberly Lindsay is a program specialist with the International Exchange Center. Before joining the Immigration Council, she completed an internship with the U.S. Department of State in the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria. Ms. Lindsay received her B.A. in International Studies from American University in 2007.

Lois C. Magee, Director, International Exchange Center
202-507-7500 ext.7515 (lmagee)

Lois C. Magee was named Director of the American Immigration Council’s International Exchange Center in January 2006. Ms. Magee has been affiliated with a number of citizen exchange organizations including the International Christian Youth Exchange, AFS Intercultural Programs, and the YMCA International Branch. She has worked with and written on J-1 visa programs for over twenty years. Ms. Magee holds a Master's degree in International Administration from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT.

Travis Packer, Policy Research Assistant
202-507-7500 ext.7520 (tpacker)

Travis Packer is a Policy Research Assistant at the Immigration Policy Center. Prior to joining IPC, Mr. Packer worked at the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and before that at the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights. Mr. Packer received his B.A. in Political Science from North Carolina State University in 2005 and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2009.

Wendy Feliz Sefsaf, Communications Director
202-507-7500 ext.7524 (wsefsaf)

Wendy Feliz Sefsaf is the Communications Director at the American Immigration Council. Previously, she was a Washington D.C. correspondent for New America Media, a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic news service where she focused on immigration issues. From 2005-2008, Ms. Feliz Sefsaf was the Communications Officer at the Washington, DC policy office of the Open Society Institute (OSI), where she helped shape their communications and media strategy. She holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the New School University and an M.A. in Public Communication from American University.

Elizabeth Stinebaugh, Fundraising & Development Associate
202-507-7500 ext.7517 (estinebaugh)

Elizabeth Stinebaugh joined the American Immigration Council as the fundraising and development associate in February 2008. Previously, she was with Public Citizen Foundation, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization, where she worked in major gift and special event fundraising. Ms. Stinebaugh has also spent time in the development departments at NARAL Pro-Choice America and The Phillips Collection. Prior to moving to Washington, DC, Ms. Stinebaugh was the executive director of a small non-profit in Madison, WI. She graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with degrees in history, international relations and Spanish. In Madison, Ms. Stinebaugh was active in immigration issues and designed and produced a voting workshop for Spanish speaking immigrants in conjunction with the League of Women Voters.

Claire Tesh, Curriculum Center Manager
202-507-7500 ext. 7518 (ctesh)

Claire Tesh is a former public school teacher and served as a Teacher Advisory Board Member for the American Immigration Council before joining the staff full-time as the Community Education Center Manager. She holds bachelors degrees in Journalism and Media Arts from the University of Arizona and a M.Ed. in Elementary Education and Post-Graduate Specialist in Curriculum and Instruction from George Washington University's Graduate School of Education and Human Development. Ms. Tesh has been the recipient of many grants and fellowships including the Master Teacher Program through the Fulbright Memorial Fund in Tokyo, Japan and the Washington Post Fellowship in Salamanca, Spain. Before entering the world of education, she worked in advertising and marketing.

Michele Waslin, Senior Research Analyst
202-507-7500 ext. 7519 (mwaslin)

Michele Waslin, Ph.D., is Senior Research Analyst at the Immigration Policy Center. She has authored several publications on immigration policy and post-9/11 immigration issues. Ms. Waslin appears regularly in English and Spanish-language media. Previously, she worked as Director of Immigration Policy Research at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and Policy Coordinator at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. She received her Ph.D. in 2002 in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame, and holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Political Science from Creighton University.

Beth Werlin, Litigation Clearinghouse Attorney
202-507-7500 ext.7522 (bwerlin)

Beth Werlin is the Litigation Clearinghouse Attorney at the Legal Action Center. The Litigation Clearinghouse serves as a national point of contact for lawyers conducting or contemplating immigration litigation. Ms. Werlin joined the Immigration Council as a NAPIL Fellow in 2001 and was a staff attorney from 2003 until 2005. She has represented plaintiffs and amicus curiae in immigration litigation in the federal courts and before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Brian Yourish, Legal Assistant
202-507-7500 ext.7516 (byourish)

Brian Yourish is the Legal Assistant in the Legal Action Center. Prior to working at the Immigration Council, he was the Administrator and Outreach Coordinator for the Vancouver, Canada-based David Suzuki Foundation. Mr. Yourish has also worked as a Program Coordinator for a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Maryland in 2000. Mr. Yourish also lived in Vancouver for three years.