Anya McMurray
President & COO
Anya McMurray is President of Welcome.US, a national initiative created to inspire and empower Americans from across the country to welcome and support people seeking refuge here. Founded in 2021, Welcome.US has catalyzed a reimagining of our national capacity to welcome, building a coalition of corporate and civic leaders, supporting hundreds of community organizations, and developing tools and technologies to empower over 2 million Americans in over 12,000 zip codes to privately sponsor refugee newcomers’ to come to safety in the U.S. This work demonstrates new possibilities for addressing global displacement challenges at scale, while easing divides around welcoming newcomers here at home through new and compelling opportunities for direct engagement.
Ms. McMurray brings to this role decades of experience in strategic and innovative policy development and coalition building, having served as Senior Director of Strategy and Policy for Immigration at the Emerson Collective, Deputy General Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee, program officer at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay. A native Iowan, Ms. McMurray has strong connections to the midwest and was a public defender in Minneapolis. She received a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
