Coffee Chat: Humanitarian Efforts, Advocacy, & Support for Refugee Rights (Guest Speaker: Bernice G. Romero)
Join the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for a Coffee Chat with Bernice Romero on Thursday, March 24, at 1:00 p.m ET. As Executive Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council USA, Bernice fundraises for and leads humanitarian policies and advocacy in the US on behalf of Oslo-based NRC. Before coming to NRC USA, Bernice was the Senior Director of Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children US, where she led Save the Children’s US-focused policy and advocacy around humanitarian crises and served on the Humanitarian Senior Management Team that oversaw humanitarian operations. Bernice was also co-chair and member of the management team of Save the Children International’s Humanitarian Advocacy Working Group, which is responsible for Save the Children’s international humanitarian advocacy and campaigning efforts worldwide.
Prior to her role at Save the Children, Bernice was Oxfam International’s Advocacy and Campaigns Director, and oversaw Oxfam’s international advocacy campaigns on a range of humanitarian, development, and social justice issues. She also had oversight of Oxfam’s international advocacy offices in Washington, Geneva, Brussels, and New York, which focused on the International Finance Institutions, United Nations, European Union and World Trade Organization. Prior to that, Bernice was the Deputy Director for Policy and External Affairs at Oxfam America, focused on international humanitarian response and US human rights policy in Latin America.
Bernice earned her Masters’ degree in Latin American studies from Stanford University, and her undergraduate degree Magna Cum Laude in Hispanic Studies from Harvard College. Before coming to Washington she worked as an aide to Nobel laureate President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica and worked with him to establish the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation at the Arias Foundation in Costa Rica. Bernice also worked at the Latin America Program of the Woodrow Wilson Center where she focused on ethnic conflict, democratization, and gender.