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MPI Appoints New Director for Its Expanding Global Portfolio
 
Press Release
Thursday, July 7, 2022

MPI Appoints New Director for Its Expanding Global Portfolio

WASHINGTON — Migration Policy Institute (MPI) President Andrew Selee today announced the appointment of Meghan Benton as director of MPI’s International Program, which works to develop effective, forward-looking solutions to some of the top human mobility challenges around the world in ways that can benefit countries of destination and origin, as well as migrants themselves.

MPI’s global research, analysis and policy development has five chief areas of specific focus:

  • Strengthening humanitarian protection systems and new pathways for protection to address mounting humanitarian needs in ways that are sustainable, politically viable and resilient.
  • Creating labor migration policies for an era of profound labor market and economic change to attract, admit, recognize and retain immigrants with in-demand skills.
  • Developing effective approaches to borders and mobility at a time when the movement of people has become more complex and the interplay of migration with security and public health requires greater coordination and collaboration between countries.
  • Strengthening social cohesion and community resilience in increasingly diverse societies to adapt to rapid social change, including forced displacement crises.
  • Helping development actors target investments to manage migration and prevent forced displacement, including by building resilience to climate change and harnessing the potential of migration for development and climate action.

“Meghan Benton is a next-generation leader for MPI’s dynamic and growing global portfolio,” Selee said. “She has the knowledge and superlative track record to lead MPI’s work across a rich set of issue areas, world regions and initiatives. She also has the vision to help to extend the institute’s reach beyond its long-established focus in North America, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean to foster growing connections in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.”

The International Program’s work spans a number of highly effective initiatives at MPI, including the Transatlantic Council on Migration, which convenes key policymakers and experts globally to examine solutions to shared migration challenges; the Latin America and Caribbean Initiative, which provides policy analysis and policy design as countries in the Americas confront dynamic and fast-changing migration developments; the Beyond Territorial Asylum: Making Protection Work in a Bordered World Initiative, which is exploring new ways to facilitate access to protection that preserve existing norms by shoring up public trust and political confidence in the asylum and refugee resettlement systems; and the Task Force on Borders and Mobility During and After COVID-19, which is crafting a road map towards reopening borders and travel and promoting an evidence-based, coordinated approach to managing future outbreaks.

The International Program also works closely with MPI Europe, MPI’s highly respected sister organization in Brussels.

“The International Program has long acted as a policy laboratory for developing innovative, evidence-based and politically feasible solutions to cross-cutting migration policy challenges around the world,” Selee said. “Under Meghan’s leadership, I am confident the International Program will further build on its efforts to develop state-of-the art policy approaches that recognize particular contexts, position systems for the future and help new immigration countries leapfrog the challenges of the past.”

Dr. Benton joined MPI as a policy analyst in 2012 and later was promoted to senior policy analyst before becoming director of research for MPI and MPI Europe, in 2019. During her career at MPI, she has focused on technological and social innovation in immigration and integration policy, labor migration and labor market integration, Brexit and free movement and, more recently, how the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped global mobility. She also has worked at Nesta, the United Kingdom’s innovation body; the Constitution Unit at University College London; and the Institute for Public Policy Research.