CEDA Launches Distinguished Fellows Program and Welcomes Lindsay Jenkins as Distinguished Fellow for Migration Policy
Washington, D.C. – The Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas (CEDA) today announced the launch of its Distinguished Fellows Program, 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.
“The region’s most difficult challenges require deep expertise, trusted relationships, and the ability to translate regional realities into action,” said María José Espinosa, Executive Director of CEDA. “The Distinguished Fellows Program will allow CEDA to bring exceptional leaders into our work around specific priorities, expand our capacity, and ensure that policy discussions remain connected to the people and communities most affected by them.”
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.
Lindsay Jenkins Named Distinguished Fellow for Migration Policy
As part of the program, CEDA is pleased to welcome Lindsay Jenkins as Distinguished Fellow for Migration Policy. Her work will focus on translating regional realities into actionable policy recommendations, strengthening bipartisan understanding of migration and displacement, and identifying opportunities for regional cooperation. She will advise CEDA on emerging migration and refugee policy developments; contribute to policy analysis and briefing materials; support congressional and Executive Branch engagement; help convene policymakers and regional stakeholders; and examine innovative approaches to financing migration responses.
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.
“Lindsay brings a rare combination of regional knowledge, policy experience, and trusted relationships across government and international institutions,” Espinosa said. “Her fellowship will deepen CEDA’s ability to connect regional expertise and lived realities with policy discussions in Washington, while helping us develop practical responses to some of the most complex migration challenges facing the Americas.”
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.
