Leadership
Email us for more information about the Women's Refugee Commission. For general information, email info@wrcommission.org. For media inquiries, email media@wrcommission.org. For ways to give to WRC, email dev@wrcommission.org.
Email us for more information about the Women's Refugee Commission. For general information, email info@wrcommission.org. For media inquiries, email media@wrcommission.org. For ways to give to WRC, email dev@wrcommission.org.
Your gift will change the lives of refugee women, children, and youth displaced by violence, persecution, and human rights violations.
Executive Director
Sarah Costa is the executive director of the Women’s Refugee Commission, a leading global organization advocating for the rights and protection of women, children, and youth displaced by conflict and crisis.
Under Sarah’s leadership, the organization has experienced significant growth, with the budget more than doubling, and has expanded its ability to ensure refugees’ right to sexual and reproductive health care, to safety from gender-based violence, and to economic and social empowerment.
Sarah has more than 25 years’ experience in the fields of women’s rights, reproductive health, gender, and youth development, as well as global philanthropy. Throughout her career, she has worked in partnership with those closest to the issues, from government officials to local women’s organizations.
Before joining WRC in 2010, Sarah served as regional director of the Global Fund for Women, a grant-making organization that supports women’s rights organizations working on economic security, health, education, and leadership. Previously, she was a program officer for the Ford Foundation in Brazil and New York, developing and managing international and national programs on gender, sexuality, reproductive health, women’s rights, HIV/AIDS, and health policy.
During her tenure as professor of women’s health at the National School of Public Health, Brazil, Sarah was active in the national women’s movement, serving as a member of the Advisory Committee to the National Council on Women’s Rights. She also served on the boards of several women’s organizations. She is a member of World Learning’s Global Advisory Council.
Sarah holds a master’s degree in medical demography from London University and a PhD in social medicine from Oxford University.
Vice President, Finance and Administration
Eldar Kekic is the Women’s Refugee Commission’s vice president, finance and administration. He leads the organization’s financial management function, including planning, budgeting, and reporting.
Eldar has more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit financial management and accounting. Originally from Bosnia, he has dedicated much of his career in the US to working with nonprofit agencies. Prior to coming to WRC as finance controller in 2011, he spent 12 years with Volunteers of America, where, most recently, he was senior staff accountant.
Eldar holds a master’s degree in accounting from Hunter College and a bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting from Baruch College, where he graduated magna cum laude.
Vice President, Advocacy and External Relations
Melanie Nezer is the Women’s Refugee Commission’s vice president, advocacy and external relations. Melanie and her team share WRC’s research and recommendations with policymakers, media, supporters, and the wider public in the US and at the global level to improve the lives and protect the rights of women, children, and youth displaced by conflict and crisis.
Melanie has over 25 years of experience in global refugee and humanitarian policy and advocacy, development, communications, and nonprofit management. She has extensive knowledge of immigration, asylum, and international refugee and humanitarian law through legal practice, drafting legislation and advocating in Washington and internationally, teaching and training, and monitoring refugee programs around the world.
Before joining WRC, Melanie was HIAS’ senior vice president of global public affairs and immigration policy director for the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Before her work in Washington, Melanie was in private legal practice in Miami, Florida, where she specialized in immigration law and criminal defense. She has been quoted extensively in major media outlets and her TED Talk, “The Fundamental Right to Seek Asylum,” has been viewed 2 million times.
Melanie received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and her Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School.
Director of Migrant Rights and Justice
Zain Lakhani is the director of Migrant Rights and Justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission. Along with her team, she develops research and policy recommendations on the needs of migrants seeking safety in the US, focusing on the needs of migrant women and girls.
Zain has built her career working at the intersection of gender and migration issues, both as an academic and policy maker. Prior to joining the Women’s Refugee Commission, she served on the White House Gender Policy Council, where she developed and led its first-ever portfolio on human trafficking and migrant women. She has also consulted with migration organizations such as the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project and Centro de los Derechos del Migrante on a variety of policy areas, including labor migration, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence.
Zain began her career as an academic, focused on gender, law, and human rights. She has worked on a variety of border and migration policies, including asylum, labor migration, and human trafficking. She has held academic positions at The University of California at Berkely, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law.
Zain holds a PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from Yale Law School. Her bachelor’s degree in history and sociology is from Queen’s University, in Canada.
Senior Director of Individual Engagement and Marketing
Katherine leads the Women’s Refugee Commission’s engagement efforts. She works to grow and strengthen relationships with the many generous individual donors and extraordinary friends whose meaningful commitment of unrestricted support empowers the WRC’s mission, expands our reach, and deepens our impact for displaced women, children, and the most vulnerable.
Before WRC, Katherine served in key marketing and fundraising roles at leading organizations—the International Rescue Committee and Helen Keller International—where she drove bold, all-embracing strategies to build vital, donor-centric brands rooted in client voices and humanitarian values.
Over 30 years in the nonprofit and social sector, Katherine has managed change, complexity, and crisis to shape campaigns, platforms, and partnerships that inspire connection and giving. She has been a grateful collaborator with global coalitions and local communities to help protect and transform human rights and lives.
Katherine holds a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from The New School.
Associate Director, Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights
Catherine Harrington is an associate director at the Women’s Refugee Commission and campaign manager of the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, a coalition of national and international NGOs, UN agencies, academics, and civil society partners. The Global Campaign is housed within the Women’s Refugee Commission.
Catherine has more than a decade of experience in advocacy and civil society capacity-building on issues related to gender equality, human rights, and citizenship. She represents the Global Campaign as a member of the advisory committees to the “Equality in Law for Women and Girls by 2030” initiative, the Global Alliance to End Statelessness, the Global Movement Against Statelessness, and served on the High-Level Group on Justice for Women.
She previously worked at Women’s Learning Partnership, where she was the senior program officer for advocacy and communications. Catherine has also been a research assistant at the Center on International Cooperation and an editorial assistant for Foreign Affairs at the Council on Foreign Affairs. She has co-produced two films – one on the backlash against women’s rights post-Arab Spring, Because Our Cause Is Just, and a documentary on combating gender-based violence, From Fear to Freedom.
Catherine holds a master’s degree in global affairs from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Tulane University.
