Neil Grungras – Founder, Executive Director

A refugee and immigration advocate with over 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors, Neil Grungras has worked extensively on behalf of vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers. Before founding ORAM, Mr. Grungras was director for Europe & the Middle East at a leading U.S.-based refugee and migration organization. He had previously directed the U.S. Department of State Overseas Processing Entity (“OPE”) for Iranian refugees in Vienna, Austria. There, he managed the processing of thousands of refugees from case inception to arrival in the U.S. Mr. Grungras has served as a refugee law adviser to several NGOs, has lectured and taught extensively on the topic at leading law schools, and co-founded a law school clinic assisting refugees and asylum seekers.

Micah Bennett - Office Manager

Micah Bennett has extensive experience in nonprofit administration, volunteer coordination, program management, and community organizing with socio-economically marginalized populations. Prior to joining ORAM in 2011, Ms. Bennett was a case manager and programs coordinator for four years, working with individuals living in affordable housing and SROs. During college, she studied reconciliation efforts and development in the aftermath of conflict at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and was a student delegate at a United Nations Symposium on the Millennium Development Goals. Ms. Bennett holds a B.A. in Feminist Studies and Sociology with a concentration in Law, Politics and Social Change from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Kaveh Gilman - Paralegal/Interpreter

Kaveh Gilman has been involved in advocacy on human rights for six years. He was working on women rights and children rights and more recently on refugee issues. He is studying for a B.A. in Anthropology and Gender Studies of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University.

Cara Hughes - Legal Publications Manager

Before joining ORAM in 2010, Ms. Hughes worked as a graduate research fellow, where she analyzed national and international climate change regulations, with an emphasis on eco-refugees and indigenous communities. While in law school, she was the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal Symposium Editor. She participated in the U.C. Hastings Refugee and Human Rights Clinic, where she researched the issues of forced marriage in West Africa. Ms. Hughes holds a B.A. in International Affairs form Northern Arizona University and a J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

Derek Jentzsch - Director of Operations

Derek Jentzsch has nearly twenty years of professional experience developing, funding, and managing community-based and international programs. In his early career, Mr. Jentzsch was a community organizer and political fundraiser for efforts to support AIDS, the arts, breast cancer, choice, education, gay rights, and social justice. For the past ten years, his international focus has taken him to countries across Africa and Asia. Mr. Jentzsch is an avid athlete and devout San Franciscan. He holds a B.A. in Politics with a concentration in Music and Chinese from Whitman College.

Tim McQuillan - Bookkeeper

Tim McQuillan served the LGBTI community during college, when he interned at Lambda Legal and participated in their Marriage Equality campaign. He holds a B.S. in Linguistics from Iowa State University.

Michael Nabil Ruprecht- International Protection Specialist

Since 2009, Michael Nabil Ruprecht has worked in the field of human migration and refugee law both for the Swiss Ministry of Justice as well as UNHCR Ankara, Turkey. Mr. Ruprecht is currently based in Istanbul. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Melbourne, Australia and an M.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Switzerland. He speaks fluent French and Spanish.

Max Niedzwiecki, Ph.D. - Senior Researcher & Community Liaison

Max Niedzwiecki has worked with and on behalf of refugees and other marginalized populations for over two decades. Before joining ORAM, he was the head of a nonprofit agency that focused on the Episcopal Church and the LGBTI community, a national scholarship fund, and a national refugee mutual assistance association (MAA). He also consulted with several foundations and research organizations, as well as the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement; and he served as Vice Chair of Refugee Council USA. He has authored several policy-relevant publications. Dr. Niedzwiecki holds a B.A. in Clinical Psychology and Asian Studies from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Boston University.