Jen Smyers

Jen Smyers most recently served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, previously serving as Chief of Staff for three years. During her tenure with ORR, Smyers effectively aligned legal, budgetary, contractual, and operational realities to extend assistance for refugees, triple legal representation for unaccompanied children, and ensure 100 percent of unaccompanied children had access to post-release services (up from just 20 percent). Smyers represented ORR with litigators, congress, media outlets, and other stakeholders. Prior to ORR, Smyers co-founded Voice for Refuge Action Fund, the first refugee-focused 501(c)(4) organization, and served as Director of Policy and Advocacy at Church World Service’s Immigration and Refugee Program, where she mobilized refugee leaders and faith allies to demonstrate bipartisan support for refugee resettlement. Smyers holds a Masters degree in Public Policy and a dual Bachelors degree in Law & Society and Public Communication from American University.