Distinguished Fellows Program

The Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas (CEDA) Distinguished Fellows Program is a new initiative that will bring accomplished policy practitioners, researchers, and regional leaders into the organization to address consequential policy challenges across the Americas.

The program will pair senior expertise with CEDA’s field-grounded research, regional partnerships, and trusted engagement with policymakers, civil society, philanthropy, and governments. Distinguished Fellows will lead clearly defined, time-bound initiatives aligned with CEDA’s mission, contributing policy analysis, strategic advice, regional knowledge, and practical recommendations for decision-makers.

Fellowships may focus on migration and displacement, democratic governance, U.S.-Latin America relations, and other emerging issues or countries central to CEDA’s mission. Through research, strategic advising, consultations, publications, and carefully designed convenings, fellows will strengthen CEDA’s ability to respond to important policy opportunities while developing new areas of institutional expertise.

The Distinguished Fellows Program will enable CEDA to engage leading experts around clearly defined policy priorities while complementing the organization’s permanent staff and regional partnerships. CEDA expects to announce additional fellows and areas of focus as the program develops.

Our Current Distinguished Fellow

Lindsay Jenkins, Distinguished Fellow for Migration Policy

CEDA’s current Distinguished Fellow is Lindsay Jenkins, an expert on migration and refugee policy whose work focuses on innovation, partnerships, and practical solutions to displacement.

As Distinguished Fellow for Migration Policy, Lindsay works with CEDA to translate regional realities into actionable policy recommendations, strengthen bipartisan understanding of migration and displacement, and identify opportunities for greater regional cooperation. Her work includes advising CEDA on emerging migration and refugee policy developments, contributing to policy analysis and briefing materials, supporting engagement with Congress and the Executive Branch, convening policymakers and regional stakeholders, and exploring innovative approaches to financing responses to migration.

Lindsay is an expert on migration and refugee issues, whose work centers on innovations, partnerships, and solutions. She previously served as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, where she advanced regional cooperation on migration and protection in the Western Hemisphere and helped lead U.S. efforts to address the impacts of climate change on global migration and displacement. Before that, Lindsay spent more than a decade with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), focusing on U.S. and regional responses to displacement across Latin America and the Caribbean. Earlier in her career, she practiced immigration law and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras.

Lindsay is currently an affiliated scholar with Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration and cofounder/principal at Vantage Collaborative, an advisory consulting firm.