Full Name
Jina Krause-Vilmar
Job Title
President and CEO
Company
Upwardly Global
Speaker Bio
Jina brings 15 years of experience in the for-profit and non-profit sectors, including two years as President and CEO of Upwardly Global, where she oversees the agency’s workforce operations in four cities. Under Jina’s leadership, Upwardly Global has expanded to skill a growing number of immigrant and refugee professionals. The organization is implementing an ambitious strategy to bring clear outcomes, strong evidence, innovation through collaborative partnership with public and private sectors.

Prior to Upwardly Global, Jina worked alongside government, the UN and corporations, to craft and implement solutions to enable refugees and immigrants to integrate into the workforce. At HIAS, she was charged with reshaping and building the agency’s economic integration programming in the U.S. and internationally, bringing clear outcomes, strong evidence and collaborative partnerships with the public and private sectors. From 2013 to 2016, Jina started the Near East Foundation’s refugee portfolio in Jordan and Lebanon, advising the U.S. Department of State and USAID on Iraq and Syria response, and initiating the One Refugee Response.

Jina has been interviewed on Aljazeera America, the New York Times, Huffington Post, and the Guardian, and published in CNN, Times Magazine, and other news outlets. Jina co-chaired, alongside UN Women, an international network of agencies to advance women and girls. Jina earned her MSc in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Government from the University of Texas at Austin.
Jina Krause-Vilmar