Please join us again at our monthly social gathering at Louis’ Lounge at Mory’s on Wednesday, March 11, from 5:30-7:30 PM.
Please join local Yale alumni, students, and community members on March 11 for another Gathering at Mory’s—an evening of socializing and networking—as we celebrate International Women’s Day. Our special guest will be Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) and a globally experienced manager and leader.
As always, your first drink (wine, beer, soft drink) and munchies are compliments of the Yale Club of New Haven.
Maggie Mitchell Salem joined IRIS as Executive Director in January 2024. Throughout her nearly 30-year career, Maggie has managed diverse teams focused on civic education, intercultural dialogue, social and political rights, and forced displacement. She arrived in Connecticut following three years leading the National Democratic Institute’s democratic governance program in Tunisia.
Given the exponential increase in the number of refugees, humanitarian parolees, and other immigrants that IRIS assists, Maggie has focused on organizational structure, systems, and policies that create a strong foundation for the organization’s continued growth. Her previous experience at Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Services) and Fugees Academy have underscored the importance of collaborative, communicative leadership and management.
For more than a decade, she was the founding executive director of Qatar Foundation International and expanded Arabic language and culture education to public K-12 schools across the U.S., UK, Ireland, and Germany. As the Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), she expanded or created new programs in Jordan, Jordan, Palestinian territories, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq. Maggie started up and led the Middle East Institute’s Communications Department from 2001-2004. She also served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in Mumbai and Tel Aviv, and as staff on the Executive Secretariat of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Maggie was a Fulbright Scholar in Syria while studying for her Masters in Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. She received a bachelor’s degree in political science and psychology from Johns Hopkins University. She is the proud mom of two sons and two daughters. She lives with her six dogs and two cats in East Haddam and enjoys volunteering with the Goodspeed Guild.
Please register for free on EventBrite by March 8 so we can provide Mory’s with numbers.